Chapter 8 Making money The day has finally arrived. The difficult first step finally went smoothly, and "Empty Room" won the same award as in the previous life. It was worth his four years of planning. In order to get into the Beijing Film Academy, he asked his parents for money for training course tuition. He did not dare to miss a class during college. After class, he either studied hard or went out to work and study. He didn't even recognize a few of the beautiful girls in the Beijing Film Academy. This day is finally here. The joy of success made him dizzy. After taking a few deep breaths, I calmed down. After adjusting his suit a little, Shi Lei walked onto the stage. Zhou Xun and Zhang Songwen in the audience showed envious expressions. They also wanted to go up and receive the award. The Grand Jury Prize is an award for directors.
"Thank you." While shaking hands, he took a silver-colored rectangular base with a pair of winged lion standing on it. Shi Lei spoke a templated message of thanks into the microphone. I would just like to thank Beijing Film Academy, my family, everyone in the crew, and my teachers and classmates. Thanks to the organizers of the film festival. Finally, he ended his acceptance speech with the words "I will continue to work hard to produce even better works!" Next, the Grand Jury Prize Silver Lion was awarded to Andrei Konchalovsky for "Asylum", and the Best Film Golden Lion was awarded to Peter Mullan for "Sisters in a Brothel". The film festival came to an end and the crews left the theater one by one. As soon as they went out, the crew of "Empty Room" was surrounded by a group of reporters, half of whom were Asian. In fact, they were not optimistic that Shi Lei could win the award. Before his debut film "Empty Room", Shi Lei had never made a movie, and the work he had done was only at passing level, not outstanding. The director is not good, and the crew members are even worse. Except for one assistant director, all the other members are students. How can they believe that "Empty Room" can win an award? Faced with these interviews, the experienced staff of Qingying Studio spoke first, allowing the reporters to ask questions one by one, while reminding Shi Lei to be careful. Shi Lei listened carefully to the reporter's questions and answered them carefully. Being interviewed is not a good job. Most of the questions are normal, but some are full of traps. In line with the principle of not making mistakes, Shi Lei avoided questions that he was unsure about and only answered a small number of questions that were absolutely not full of traps. Other members of the crew were also asked questions. Zhou Xun had similar experiences and answered the questions appropriately and satisfactorily. The assistant director also handled the questions with ease. Other members of the crew knew their own limitations and only answered questions about themselves, refusing to answer any other questions. Half an hour later, Shi Lei ignored the dissatisfied looks of the reporters and left with his people. The Q&A session at a press conference was just a small intrigue. He had no experience with it, either in his past life or this life, so it was better to say less. After returning to the hotel, Shi Lei made calls one by one. "Hey, Dad, Mom, I won a prize, the Silver Lion for Best Director." ……
"Okay, Mom and Dad, I will keep working hard." He could tell that his parents didn't actually know how glorious it was to win the Silver Lion Award for Best Director, but they were still happy for him. As long as it is a prize, no matter how small, they will be happy. This is what parents are like. "Director Hua, I won the Silver Lion Award for Best Director." Hua Shihong has been waiting for news from Shi Lei, who is his student and also serves as a consultant in the film. The award for "Empty Room" is not only an honor for Shi Lei, but also for him. After congratulating Shi Lei, he started making phone calls to inform people at Beijing Film Academy of the good news. He didn't plan to sleep. In fact, it was not just Hua Shihong. People who did not know Shi Lei also had trouble sleeping because of this news. People in Hong Kong and Taiwan were very concerned about the three major events. As soon as the Venice Film Festival closed, Hong Kong and Taiwan began to report. This year, Shi Lei, who was only 21 years old, won the Silver Lion Award for Best Director in Venice Film Festival. As soon as this news came out, the entire Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment circles were shocked, and everyone was investigating who Shi Lei was. As a result, the mainland entertainment industry also received this news, and they were all shocked. Although it is not the Golden Lion Award, the Silver Lion Award is of high quality! There was only one Golden Lion Award and two Silver Lion Awards in the entire film festival, and Shi Lei ranked third. The most surprising thing is that Shi Lei is only 21 years old, young and promising. Some people began to ask for Shi Lei's contact information. Those who knew Shi Lei called him directly. Shi Lei's phone has been ringing non-stop since then. "Hey, Yang Mi! ... Thank you... You want to treat me to a meal? No problem, I will definitely go when I have time..." "Dean?" Shi Lei's voice rose a degree, and he was ecstatic. The benefits of winning the award began to become apparent tonight. "Thank you, Dean. I will continue to work hard to create more brilliance and bring honor to the school..." …… The next day, Shi Lei discussed film sales with major film producers. During the previous screening, a film producer wanted to buy the copyright of his film. People from Qingying Studio advised Shi Lei to take the opportunity to sell it, otherwise the price would be lower after the awards ceremony. Shi Lei firmly stated that he had to wait until after the awards ceremony before he could sell it. The two of them argued endlessly, which made the people at Qingying Studio very unhappy. Now the people at Qingying Studio are extremely grateful for Shi Lei's decision and apologize to him repeatedly. Shi Lei always said it was okay. After winning the award, the film sold quickly! And the free state is very interested in the forbidden love of "Empty Room". In Europe, the copyright was sold directly to Europa Films in France for US$180 million. If it had been sold country by country in Europe, the price might have been a little higher, but in order to build a relationship with France and prepare for the future Cannes Film Festival, he sold it directly to Europa Films. The copyrights for North America, Japan and South Korea were sold to Columbia for 140 million. The remaining countries sold some of them for tens of thousands of dollars but some sold them for more than 40. That adds up to $368 million in revenue. The current exchange rate is , which is a full million. The cost of making "Empty Room" was 200 million, and now the copyright alone is worth million, which is a huge profit! But this is basically the end, and he doesn't have much hope for the domestic film market.
First of all, it is a problem for his film to pass the review. Secondly, it is an art film, and the box office of art films has always been sluggish. As a newcomer, he cannot break the convention, nor does he intend to break the convention. The main reason is that some cuts are inevitable before the film is approved for release, which reduces the quality of the entire art film to a lower level. Regardless of the domestic box office performance, Shi Lei is very happy. "The First Snow of 2002" made him achieve financial freedom, and "Empty Room" made him completely famous in the circle. His entertainment company officially launched! His happy life as a director also officially began. And it was the female stars who took the initiative to let him experience the joy of being a director. The first one to start was Dong Xuan. The night before returning home, Dong Xuan knocked on Shi Lei's door. (End of this chapter)