novelnext Chapter 107 Everything Goes Well
Chapter 107 Everything Goes Well
Chapter 107 Everything Goes Well
To get a film made and released before the censorship window closes, the timeline has to be extremely precise.
For commercial blockbusters like "Mojin: The Lost Legend," the quality of the film itself is important, but the size of the film market is equally important.
The number of screens is its foundation.
In 2010, there were fewer than 7,000 movie screens nationwide, and many third- and fourth-tier cities did not even have a decent cinema.
However, starting this year, the number of screens will enter a period of explosive growth, exceeding 30,000 by 2014.
The box office ceiling rises along with the number of screens.
Therefore, August 2014 was theoretically the perfect time to release the film.
On the one hand, the scale of the cinema chain is already sufficient to support a box office behemoth of over 10 billion yuan.
On the other hand, the summer movie season is naturally suitable for adventure and exploration films like "Ghost Blows Out the Light," and can cleverly avoid the release of "Transformers 4" in July.
In August, its only competitors were "The Continent" and "Tiny Times 3", neither of which were in the same category.
"Mr. Zhou," Ren Pingsheng put down his teacup, "does the film and television adaptation rights for the latter four parts include television production and online distribution rights?"
"It includes the production, adaptation, and screening rights for all media, including movies, TV series, and web series," Zhou Hongli answered confidently.
Ren Pingsheng's heart stirred.
Multimedia means that he can not only make movies, but also web series.
Just like Detective Chinatown, they make blockbuster movies and long-running web series, achieving two goals at once.
"When does the 5-year authorization period begin?"
"From the date the contract is signed."
"If I only develop two of them within five years, what happens to the rights to the remaining two?"
Zhou Hongli pondered for a moment, "According to industry practice and the contract, the copyright of any undeveloped portion will be automatically reclaimed within five years."
"Mr. Zhou, this doesn't seem quite right."
Ren Pingsheng smiled and began to bargain, "The story of 'Ghost Blows Out the Light' is too large. Since I bought four books, I certainly can't just film one, right? But five years is too rushed for four works. The pre-production alone will take a year and a half, and filming and post-production will take another year. There is simply not enough time left for subsequent development. If I just do it casually, it won't be good for you either, right?"
He looked at Zhou Hongli and said, "So my idea is to keep the five-year term unchanged, but could we add a renewal clause? If two works are developed within five years, the term will be automatically renewed for three years, with the conditions remaining the same."
Zhou Hongli did not agree immediately, but picked up his teacup and took a sip.
Ren Pingsheng didn't urge him; such a change in terms wasn't something a copyright officer could decide on.
But he explained the logic clearly, so Shanda wouldn't lose out by doing this.
"I need to discuss this with the company," Zhou Hongli said, putting down his cup.
Ren Pingsheng nodded.
Four units for 5 million each, with a 500-year term and a renewal clause.
If all goes well, he could start filming his first movie no later than 2013, with a release in the summer of 2014.
At the same time, we will develop one or two web series to fill in the remaining plot and finish airing them before the policy tightens in 15.
I have enough time, but not enough money.
500 million is a considerable expense for him now.
"Mr. Zhou," Ren Pingsheng looked at him, "you just said that if you promise to start the auction within 1-2 years, the price can be discussed further?"
"Yes," Zhou Hongli nodded, "This is also the company's attitude. We don't want the copyright to be hoarded by the buyer and gather dust. If the buyer has a clear development timeline, we can offer a certain discount on the price."
"Then here," Ren Pingsheng held up three fingers, "300 million, and I promise to start filming the first part within two years."
Zhou Hongli frowned. "300 million... Director Ren, this is quite different from our expectations."
"President Zhou, you know very well what the higher-ups' attitude is towards this kind of subject matter right now."
Ren Pingsheng put it bluntly, "I'm already taking a huge risk by putting up 300 million."
Zhou Hongli was silent for a few seconds. "350 million is the bottom line that I can decide."
"make a deal."
Ren Pingsheng reached out his hand.
Zhou Hongli was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and shook hands. "Director Ren is so straightforward."
He stood up to pour tea, his tone much more relaxed. "To be honest, quite a few people have come to us to discuss 'Ghost Blows Out the Light,' but most of them just ask about the price and then nothing happens. You're the first one to sit down and discuss the specific terms like this."
Ren Pingsheng knew this perfectly well.
Few people in the film and television industry today realize the value of online literature.
Everyone thinks online novels are vulgar and not presentable.
It will take two years for a group of early adopters to make a fortune from IP, after which the entire industry will go crazy scrambling for IP.
"Mr. Zhou, have the legal department draft the contract as soon as possible. My lawyer is available to handle this at any time. There's one more thing."
"Please speak."
"Besides 'Ghost Blows Out the Light,' there are a few other books on the list that I'd like to buy."
Zhou Hongli's eyes lit up. "Which ones?"
"So Young", "Why", and "Floating Life".
Ren Pingsheng paused for a moment, then flipped open the book list again and pointed to an inconspicuous name in the corner.
"And this one, *Nirvana in Fire*."
Zhou Hongli leaned over for a look. "Nirvana in Fire? This book's performance is so-so. It's not a top-tier work on our platform. How did Director Ren notice it?"
"I've read it, and I thought the story was pretty good."
He doesn't plan to film any of these books himself; he's just stockpiling them while they're cheap so that he won't lose money whether he resells them or collaborates on development in the future.
As for popular male-oriented works like "Battle Through the Heavens" and "Joy of Life," Ren Pingsheng didn't think anyone could make a good film about the former, and the latter was simply due to a lack of funds.
Shanda now understands that it is absolutely clear about how it prices these top-tier male-oriented content.
Zhou Hongli was overjoyed. "I'll give you a package deal for all of these, including 'Ghost Blows Out the Light' to make it a round number?"
"How many?"
"Four million."
After confirming the follow-up procedures with Zhou Hongli, Ren Pingsheng got up to say goodbye.
As he walked out of the Grand Building, he stood by the roadside and went over the accounts for the day.
Four million, and this amount must be paid in full upon signing the contract.
Based on the current cash balance, after all payments are made, the company will only have two million in working capital left.
Therefore, the financing must be finalized as soon as possible.
But fundraising has its own rhythm, and he needs a much larger sum of money.
A name popped into my mind.
-
Wang Sicong.
Looking at the profile picture of the newly added friend in my QQ list, I smiled slightly.
Perhaps Wanda is destined to be associated with "Ghost Blows Out the Light"?
He didn't rush to send a message; he put his phone back in his pocket and hailed a taxi.
"Driver, to the airport."
I arrived back in my hometown of Jiangcheng at nine o'clock in the evening.
My dad was watching a rebroadcast of "News Broadcast" in the living room when he saw me carrying a suitcase and paused for a moment.
"Weren't you very busy? Why are you back so soon?"
"I was passing through on a business trip, so I came back early."
"What a waste of time," Dad said, but he had already gotten up and gone to the kitchen.
During the meal, Ren Pingsheng took out two packs of Zhonghua cigarettes from his bag and placed them on the table.
"Here, you can draw it when you play cards with your friends."
-
My dad glanced at it, didn't take it, put some food on his plate, and after a long pause, finally asked, "How much money do you earn a month now?"
"Enough to spend."
"That 100,000 yuan you gave your mom last time, it wasn't borrowed, was it?"
"Dad, do I look like someone who could borrow 100,000?"
Dad was silent for a moment, then pulled the two packs of cigarettes toward himself.
"Then I'll get one for your uncle to smoke tomorrow."
Since he appeared on CCTV, Comrade Ren's status in the village has risen sharply.
Ren Pingsheng didn't make a grand return home. He simply accompanied his father to buy groceries, and a few familiar old men recognized him without him even noticing, and then smiled and took a few photos with him.
The balance was just right, satisfying my dad's vanity without being too ostentatious.
After returning to Yanjing, he resumed his high-speed work.
In the past few days, a series of things have been progressing in an orderly manner.
"Old Boys" has been submitted to the Golden Rooster Awards.
Changyou sent over the game information for "Tianlong 2" and "The Deer and the Cauldron". Xiao Ai was sitting alone in front of the computer screen, struggling to sort out the game plot and trying to find a starting point.
Dapeng and Baike went to the southwest to participate in a charity gala performance for drought relief, jointly organized by several TV stations.
This was the first time the punk brothers had stood on the stage of a provincial satellite TV broadcast.
Although it was a charity performance and didn't earn the company a single penny, the boost it gave to the two performers' image was something that money couldn't buy.
Most importantly, the tripartite meeting between Tencent, Baidu, and iQiyi has finally been scheduled for April 8th.
However, before that, Ren Pingsheng had to go to Shencheng first.
>