Chapter 218 Huayi's Conditions Wang Zhonglei was indeed a little overwhelmed. They brothers originally thought that Huayi is now at its peak, and its appeal and cohesion cannot be underestimated. It is already amazing that Wang Jinghua can attract half of the star artists. Who knew that the closer it got to August, the more people would defect, and it had reached the point where Huayi was unable to cope with the situation and was running around in a hurry. Following this trend, even if Huayi is not completely drained, there will probably not be many stars left to carry the company’s wings. This is also related to Huayi's business strategy. In order to expand Huayi's influence and base in the circle, and to suppress Wang Jinghua's influence, Huayi has been a loyal believer of Karl Lagerfeld in recent years, adopting the policy of preferring to be friends with foreign countries rather than domestic slaves. Except for Feng Xiaogang's exclusive team and those young and beautiful female stars, many stars under Huayi cannot enter the crew invested by Huayi. This is also an important reason why Wang Jinghua can attract so much attention. Faced with such a dangerous situation, the two kings were a little flustered. Wang Zhongjun has been focusing on Li Bingbing and Fan Bingbing these days, and is prepared to keep these two most popular young actresses at all costs. Wang Zhonglei has set his sights on Xu Kun, who has been very popular recently and has a close relationship with Huayi.
The former is to prove that Huayi has the ability to retain its leading actresses; the latter is to prove that Huayi still has enough attraction and appeal to popular stars. Before coming, Wang Zhonglei had already thought of a plan. He knew Xu Kun and knew that he was a smart man who was mature beyond his years. His only obvious weakness was that he valued loyalty and nostalgia, so he planned to play the emotional card right from the start. Unexpectedly, when they met in the conference room, before Wang Zhonglei could even speak, Xu Kun consoled him with a look of regret: "Boss Wang, I heard about Huayi's situation. Well, all good things must come to an end. Don't be too sad. With Huayi's background, as long as they focus on training the people who stay, they will be able to recover sooner or later." With just one sentence, Wang Zhonglei knew that if he didn't come up with something real, he would have no chance of taking down Xu Kun. He immediately threw aside his thoughts and laughed, "I didn't come to see you today for these annoying things - I heard that you wrote a script for a New Year's comedy and planned to write, direct and act in it yourself. Is that true?" Although there is no impenetrable wall in the entertainment industry, Wang Zhonglei was able to speak out about this matter so easily, which shows that he must have done his homework in advance. Xu Kun smiled and said, "It's just a sudden idea. Compared with Director Feng's New Year's film, it can only be regarded as an imitation of the ugly woman - I have no intention of becoming a director. At most, I can be a part-time producer like I am now." Wang Zhonglei shook his head when he heard this: "Although the producer has considerable power in the crew, how can it compare to directing and acting in the film?" Without waiting for Xu Kun to reply, he exclaimed in admiration: "You are really young and promising. When I was your age, I could do nothing but fool around. But you have managed to raise 2000 million yuan twice on your own and made yourself a popular actor!" "It's just luck. My little achievement is still a far cry from the huge Huayi family and wealth." Although this flattery was quite good, Xu Kun was not moved at all. The success of "Zhu Yuanzhang" made him more confident than before. Now Huayi is about to enter its weakest stage. If he goes in at this time, it will be a timely help. If he does not have enough chips, he will never get involved in this muddy water. What he wanted, of course, was to be the leading actor in Feng Xiaogang's blockbuster films. It is not a verbal promise that is just empty talk, but a contract that needs to be put on paper and clearly states the terms of breach of contract and compensation matters. But what Xu Kun didn't expect was that Wang Zhonglei suddenly asked a completely unrelated question: "What do you think is the most important reason why "Heavenly Sword Heroes", which you put together with your own efforts, was so successful?" Xu Kun has actually thought about this question. The success of "Heavenly Swordsman" is inseparable from the efforts of the director and actors, as well as the financial support of Jia Yueting and Lao Baigan. But the real decisive factor is actually Xu Kun's delivery of food during the epidemic and the friendship he established with Beijing and Taiwan. Without this prerequisite, Xu Kun would never have come up with the idea of forming his own crew, and would never have been able to attract Jia Yueting to join.
So why did Wang Zhonglei ask this question? Xu Kun suddenly had an idea and blurted out, "Boss Wang wants to remind me that the distribution channel is the most important?" Wang Zhonglei slapped his thigh and laughed, "Haha, you can make yourself famous. Your brain is much better than that of ordinary stars!" Then he leaned forward slightly and said seriously, "The publicity and promotion of movies and TV series are different. There are TV stations in every province. If we can't reach an agreement with this one, we can just go to the next one. However, there are only a few companies in our country that control the theater distribution channels, and most of them only focus on distributing movies they invest in. It is extremely difficult for others to intervene. Even if it can be distributed independently, without the connections cultivated over the years, if the theaters conceal, underreport, or even fail to report, a movie that could have been a big hit will end up losing all the investors' money! " At this point, Wang Zhonglei paused for a moment, until he was sure Xu Kun had heard him, and then he continued, "Now the outside world believes that Huayi's two most important assets are the celebrity artists under Director Feng and Wang Jinghua. But they are all wrong. Huayi's real foundation is the 44% stake in Xi'an Film Studio and the layout of publicity and promotion over the years! As long as this publicity and promotion channel is in the hands of Huayi, Huayi's ability to create stars and blood will never be interrupted!" As he spoke, he waved his hand imposingly. Then he went back to make up for it and said, "Of course, Director Feng is also very important to Huayi. Young and promising actors, screenwriters, and directors like you are also very important to Huayi! As you know, Director Feng has recently been interested in changing his style and wants to shoot blockbusters with relatively serious themes. Huayi naturally fully supports this. However, Lunar New Year comedies have been Huayi’s signature film over the years. If someone can take over Director Feng’s legacy and carry the banner of Lunar New Year comedies, we would naturally be happy to see it happen.” This was very different from the conditions Xu Kun had expected. He never expected that Huayi actually intended to make him the successor of Feng Xiaogang! No wonder Wang Zhonglei always mentioned the matter of "self-directing" before. But isn't Huayi afraid of a failure? You know, Xu has never had any experience as a director, let alone filming a New Year's comedy! Xu Kun's confidence in "Lost on Journey" comes from the memory of later generations, but on what basis can Huayi be so sure that his "Lost on Journey" can carry the banner of a New Year's comedy? "Haha~" Facing Xu Kun's doubts, Wang Zhonglei smiled and said confidently: "As long as you agree to invest this film under Huayi, we will not only provide the filming funds, but also let Director Feng serve as the producer to help you get started and send you on your way." Now Xu Kun finally understood. The so-called successor of Feng Xiaogang is nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing! It is said that Feng Xiaogang will be the producer, but is there any need to ask who has the final say in the crew when the time comes? Xu Kun even suspected that as long as he agreed to this condition, Huayi would immediately hire a professional screenwriter to rewrite the script of "Lost on Journey"! This may seem like Huayi is making an effort to support itself, but in fact it is a sure-win business for Huayi. After all, there are certain doubts within Huayi regarding Feng Xiaogang's transformation into a blockbuster filmmaker, especially since this is the most turbulent time for Huayi and it simply cannot withstand too many storms. But Feng Xiaogang has already announced that he wants to transform, so it is impossible for him to go back on his word so quickly. Therefore, Huayi simply arranged for him to be the producer, using him as a shell to make another Feng-style comedy to provide Huayi with a guarantee. At the same time, they also used the gimmick of writing, directing and acting by themselves to win over Xu Kun, a popular young actor with widely acclaimed acting skills. This is simply killing two birds with one stone! If Xu Kun can really show his potential as a director, then he would be killing three birds with one stone! (End of this chapter)
