I drank and chatted with Xu Zheng in the evening. The two talked a lot about the crew's planning, budget, actors, dubbing, scenes...
While chatting about the box office, Fang Jing said it was at least 300 million. Xu Zheng stopped laughing and said that he would be satisfied with 100 million. With 300 million, he would be able to wake up laughing in the middle of the night.
Actors prove themselves by their works, and directors prove themselves by their box office. If your works sell well, people will naturally recognize you, and a lot of investors will come to your door in the future.
The bigger the director, the more so.
Jiang Wenpai let the bullets fly, Huang Silang and the county magistrate Zhang Muzhi, the scene where Master Tang talked at the dinner table, the trademarks of several bottles of wine on the table were sold for tens of millions, and many wine merchants flocked to it.
But in the end, the director insisted that it was useless, saying that he was afraid that the audience would watch the show, so he tore off all the wine labels.
A few years later, the host Dou Wentao asked Jiang Wen why so many investors were willing to invest in his play, and were they not afraid of losing money? What was their psychology?
Jiang Wen was stunned and said, I don't know. If I invest in me, I want to see if they are strong and have sufficient funds.
Dou Wentao smiled and said: It means you are not worthy of losing money with me, is that what you mean?
…
Ten days later, the crew was divided into two groups, one group continued filming where they were, and the other group went to Chengdu to film the scene at the Zhang Family Ancient Building.
Cheng Weiting, Zhao Liying, Zhang Mingen and Ying Haoming were going to Rongcheng. There was no drama with Fang Jing there, so he didn't have to go there.
Xu Zheng went to the Magic City to buy the script from Liu Yiwei. After the price was agreed upon, he asked him to come over and discuss follow-up matters.
"Okay, I found a cousin to register an investment company. I negotiated with the crew of Big Fish and Begonia as you asked. Eight million will account for 17% of the shares."
"This is the signed contract. You can see if there is anything that needs to be changed. If not, I will ask the other party to sign it and it will take effect. You can pay for it."
In the Magic City Studio, after receiving the contract from Yang Ning, Fang Jing looked through it carefully and found that 8 million accounted for 18%, which was a reasonable ratio.
Big Fish and Begonia’s multiple investors together only cost 30 million. Without advertisers, including online crowdfunding and other miscellaneous things, the total is less than 40 million.
Among them, the manufacturer must lock up most of the shares, which can be as much as 18%.
"Just press this." Fang Jing returned the contract to Yang Ning, raised his head and asked, "Didn't you vote?"
"I invested, but I invested in the name of Guanlan, two million! I also benefited from you. I asked them to give me one more share, and I introduced big customers to them."
Fang Jing laughed: "So I am a big customer here."
"Don't let the wealth go to others, everyone gets what they need, and they thanked me." Yang Ning patted her head and said: "By the way, they said they want to invite you to make a theme song. The price is easy to talk about. What do you think?"
"No problem." Fang nodded, "Big Fish and Begonia, right? Got it, I'll give it to them in a few days."
He remembered this song, and it perfectly matched the tearful story in the play. However, the female voice was a bit difficult to sing, and he still needed to find a suitable middle point.
"Refreshing!" Yang Ning snapped her fingers and said with a smile, "I just like how confident you are."
Fang Jing waved his hand, "If you have nothing to do, go ahead and get busy. I've also made an appointment to talk to someone."
"What's going on?" Yang Ning became interested and asked curiously.
"For those who make movies, forget it. You can stay here. You can just listen and arrange the schedule for me. I won't be too lazy to repeat it later."
"Okay! Are you dating the director? Who is it?"
"Here we come!" He said Cao Cao Cao Cao had arrived. Looking at the caller ID on his phone, Fang Jing stood up and said, "I'll go out to pick someone up. You pour two glasses of water."
The person Fang Jing wanted to pick up was naturally Xu Zheng. He had already bought the book and was here to discuss the budget and preparations for the shooting.
"Hey! Where is your studio? Why didn't I see it? I'm already on the roadside."
When he came out, Fang Jing didn't see Xu Zheng, and there was no one on the roadside. "Are you sure you went right? I didn't see you at the door. Is there anything iconic around you?"
"There is a tree! There is also a bus stop sign."
Fang Jing...
"Okay, I understand, just follow the bus stop sign."
Five minutes later, Fang Jing saw Xu Zheng. His bright bald head could be seen from a distance. In addition, there were four or five people around him.
After meeting and chatting, Fang Jing also knew the identities of these people, including three assistant directors, an accountant and a prop.
To make a film, not only a lot of time is invested, but also money. The budget for all aspects must be clear, including scenes, props, extras, and lunch boxes. These cannot be calculated by one person.
"Director Xu, it's a pleasure to meet you. Everyone, please take a seat. Jiajia, come over and pour some water."
When she arrived at the studio, Yang Ning rolled her eyes at Fang Jing when she saw such a group of people. Didn't she mean one person?
"It's very lively here, there are a lot of people, what do they do?" Xu Zheng asked, pointing to the people in the publicity team.
"Responsible for public relations and publicity, there is strength in numbers."
Arriving at the conference room where the meeting was held, Xu Zheng said guiltily: "Fang Jing, there is something I want to say to you. I'm sorry. I don't dare to invest in this film because I don't have enough funds."
"I have brought you the crew. If you want to shoot, I can direct it for you. If not, forget it."
When they were drinking that day, the two of them talked about investing together. Xu Zheng promised to give 5 million. When he got home in the past few days, he calculated it again and found that 5 million was not enough at all. It would have to be doubled at least. The more he thought about it, the more he felt guilty.
It was my first time to invest in such a large amount. If I lost money, all my hard work over the past ten years would be lost. After some discussion with my wife, I finally decided not to invest.
The risk is too great. Lu Yang, Xiu Chun Dao, several movie stars and popular celebrities have all pounced on it, and they don't know what will happen if they go up there.
"It's okay! Leave the funds to me and the original plan remains unchanged." Fang Jing smiled, not caring at all.
Originally, he didn't want to let Xu Zheng invest money. It was Xu Zheng who used Jiu Jin to say that he would give half of the money, and he couldn't let him bear the risk alone.
"Fang Jing, why don't we make the film through crowdfunding? Even if we lose, we will have someone to back us up. If we succeed the first time, it's better. If we don't, we'll just practice."
"Okay, leave this matter to me. Let's discuss the budget first, how long it will take, and how the review will be conducted..."
On the side, Yang Ning winked wildly, telling Fang Jing not to agree. The film industry is very deep, and even a veteran like Xu Zheng would not dare to invest in it. If he goes in privately, there will be no scum left.
The group chatted for more than three hours, and Fang Jing used more than a dozen pages in his notebook. He listened carefully and asked questions about things he didn't understand, and Xu Zheng also answered truthfully.
After sending them downstairs and arranging a hotel for them to stay, it was already past seven o'clock when Fang Jing came back and the studio was off work. Only Yang Ning was still waiting for him.
"Are you crazy? You invest 20 million to carry it all by yourself?" She heard it all in the afternoon. The entire budget was 20 million, and Xu couldn't afford it. Fang Jing had to bear it all by himself.
"It's okay. I'm going to throw away some of my equity and attract a few advertisers. I won't be able to use that much, it's about 13 million."
After doing some calculations today, the result shocked him. The budget was 20 million. No wonder Xu Zheng was frightened.
This is also Fang Jing's mistake. The Last Life on the Road was released in 2010 and filmed in 2009. What were the prices like at that time? Six or seven years have passed and it must be different.
At that time, the production fee was three million. Since Wang Baoqiang and Xu Zheng were from the production company, their remuneration was lowered.
Now that Wang Baoqiang is so popular, three million is not even enough for an appearance fee, while a top-tier youngster needs tens of millions.
The budget of 20 million was the result of Xu Zheng's desire to get hundreds of thousands without asking for money.