China Entertainment King of Science Fiction

Chapter 6 Xu Wenshen

The reason why Chen Jingxing temporarily put aside his film editing work and came to a company without employees was for an interview.

Interview with HR manager.

Xu Wenshen, who has a professional background, graduated from the Directing Department of the Central Academy of Drama. This school and the Beijing-Tianjin Academy of Film Art are known as the two cradles of domestic film and television and performing arts talents.

I studied directing, but I have never been a director. I joined Donghai TV as soon as I graduated. I caught up with the rapid development of Donghai TV. Not long after, I encountered a talent show that became popular all over the country.

He was promoted and soon became the producer of a film and television review program.

Within a few years, Donghai Satellite TV changed its director, and Xu Wenshen began to step aside. Frustrated, he left his job and moved to a larger film and television production company. He served as the producer of a youth romance TV series. After the ratings became popular,

, and has served as the producer or producer of several small-budget movies and TV series, with good box office and ratings.

Seeing that a big shot in the industry was about to rise, he suddenly encountered Waterloo.

A major project with a so-called investment of 150 million yuan, in which he was the producer, suffered an epic box office failure. There were a lot of articles and videos on the Internet complaining about this movie that failed miserably at the box office. One film scored 6.5, which is the highest score among domestic movies.

It's actually okay, but it can't save the business losses.

Then Xu Wenshen was kicked out.

Chen Jingxing flipped through the resume in his hand and asked: "Is "Armed Storm" a project assigned to you by the company?"

In fact, before the interview, he had basically determined that Xu Wenshen was the person he wanted, and the interview was just the last check.

Chen Jingxing understood.

The same is true for the stage management and even the directing team. Many directors are surrounded by fixed assistant directors or executive directors. Some assistant directors can recruit hundreds of extras with performance experience with just one phone call. You may not have such ability if you change others.

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"Even if you want to follow suit, an investment of 150 million is a bit risky, right?"

For a well-known photographer, the assistant photographers, photography assistants, mechanics, lighting technicians, lighting assistants, etc. around him may all be from the same hometown or even relatives. They are all masters and apprentices in a pre-industrial society.

The relationship between characteristics is not like a screw gear in a mature industrial system that can be replaced and removed.

Chen Jingxing nodded, no wonder the special effects looked a little 50 cents. This movie has two first-line stars. The production cost is 70 million, so the salary alone is probably at least 40 million.

"...It's not all because of this. You should have heard the news that Tianrun plans to go public. Mr. Wu of Tianrun once promised to give me stock options, but there has been no movement. I have urged him many times, but he keeps making all kinds of excuses.

Procrastination, to be honest, I think this is the main reason why I was kicked out."

The listing opens up a sea of ​​money in the secondary market for all film and television industry practitioners.

"Mr. Chen, since you know the reputation of director Wang Molin, you should also know that Wang Molin has a special relationship with Tianrun boss. Not to mention the failure of this movie, even if he loses three movies in a row, his status is still stable."

"Why do you think Armed Storm failed?"

Three years ago, a film and television production and distribution company successfully went public, which was a milestone event and opened a new door for the film and television industry.

This ranking takes into account foreign films released in China that year.

In recent years, the top pursuit of all film and television company executives has changed from promotion and salary increase to quickly pulling the company into the secondary market, cashing out equity, and achieving financial freedom.

This is just like a restaurant in a popular tourist attraction in a popular tourist city. They don't make money from repeat customers.

"So the blame falls entirely on you?"

The final box office of "Armed Storm" was 92 million, which was a huge loss no matter how you calculate it.

"When the box office performance was poor at the beginning, my first reaction was that the film market still didn't really accept this genre, and "Wolf Fang" was just a special case."

It turns out that the film and television industry can only attract coal bosses to play for money. First, the market size is not large, and second, there is no avenue to make a fortune.

Xu Wenshen, a veteran who has supervised the production of many film and television dramas, has many film and television drama practitioners working under him. If he has a complete team of projects, directing team, coordinator, finance, drama management, photography, art, sound recording, etc.

It can be assembled without any effort.

"Yes, actually I had this idea for a long time, but the success of "Wolf Fang" really gave me the courage to promote this project."

The key is that it has also achieved commercial success, with an investment of 50 million and a box office of 450 million. What is this concept?

"150 million is the official announcement, but the actual investment is 70 million. Counting the announcement, it's about 100 million."

Xu Wenshen, who was wearing a suit, neat tie and no beard, was silent for a moment: "I can't say that. "Armed Storm" is a project that director Wang Molin and I promoted together."

"Is it because of the success of "Wolf Fang"?"

As for Wang Molin's reputation, even ordinary movie fans know that in his films, Xu Wenshen's producer only has a name at most.

After having a preliminary understanding of Xu Wenshen's "tragic experience", Chen Jingxing also expressed his sympathy with great empathy. If Xu Wenshen really got the stock options, and if Tianrun really went public, it might be tens of millions or even more.

With such large numbers, all Xu Wenshen has left is to pray that Tianrun can maintain normal operations for three years. Once the lock-up period is up, he will be as wealthy and free as Chen Jingxing. But now, the bubble like Jinshan suddenly bursts, and most people cannot bear this blow.

"Armed Storm" is the name of this street blockbuster.

"Wolf Fang" is a military-themed movie adapted from a special forces novel. It is considered a pioneer in today's domestic film market and has filled a gap in domestic films of this type.

There was another moment of silence.

Chen Jingxing knew clearly that Wang Molin was the director of "Armed Storm".

After a few more short conversations, Chen Jingxing decisively passed the interview with Xu Wenshen.

In fact, the Chinese film and television industry is not as timid as he thought, only focusing on those few themes and shooting to death. There is no shortage of people in any industry who want to expand their territory. Who doesn't know the mature talents of genre commercial films?

Is it a sign of the maturity of the film industry? Who doesn’t know that bad films are rampant in the current film market? The content supply is too poor? Which filmmaker doesn’t yearn for the film industry on the other side of the ocean?

Know that it is easier than doing, a small number of ventures succeed and most fail.

Last year, that is, in 2012, it ranked tenth in China's annual movie box office list.

"Of course, after slowly accepting this reality, I think it is not the problem of the audience, but the problem of the movie itself. The story and narrative rhythm of this movie are indeed worse than "Wolf Fang", much worse."

The domestic film and television industry has obvious attributes of a workshop handicraft industry. Film itself is an industry that is difficult to industrialize. This is determined by its basic creative rules.

The handicraft industry has strong technical stickiness and labor stickiness.

Xu Wenshen looked at Chen Jingxing with some surprise. He had specifically checked the information of DreamWorks before. The legal representative was a young and over-the-top college student. He thought it was a film and television production company founded by a young man who wanted to play with female stars like many rich second generations. He didn't expect this young man to do so.

The boss is quite knowledgeable about the film industry, and it’s not like he’s just playing for fun.

The film and television industry, which was originally utilitarian, has become even more utilitarian because of this. Most people in the industry don't think about how to keep the hens that lay eggs healthy and keep getting eggs, but about how to make movies faster.

Rushing to the finish line - going public, and then directly gaining wealth and freedom, then of course this industry will inevitably step on the accelerator and rush downhill. Why is there no lower limit?

The mainstream of the film industry on the other side of the ocean is a producer-centered system, but in China it is much more flexible. If a director is good, it is a director-centered system, and if an actor is good, it is an actor-centered system. If neither of these are good, the producer will have a greater say.

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This movie can be said to have made a lot of money, including both fame and fortune.

Chen Jingxing was still a little puzzled: "You have been with Tianrun for all these years and have produced many successful films and TV series. You have made a lot of contributions to Tianrun, but you were kicked out just because of this one movie? Isn't director Wang Molin still here?

Where is Tianrun? Everyone has heard of Director Wang’s reputation and the films directed by Wang Molin. I’m afraid you, the producer, don’t have much say in the film production process, so this scapegoat cannot be placed on you.”

The interpersonal relationships in the handicraft industry are extremely sticky and exclusive. If outsiders want to get in and gain a position, they can't do it without paying enough tuition. If you don't have enough ideas about this, think about the cross talk industry.

In China in 2013, the transformation and reshaping of this industry by capital has not yet been completely completed. Perhaps in another ten years, the nature of this handicraft industry will be reduced by more than half.

But now, Chen Jingxing wants to fill up DreamWorks as quickly as possible, and fill it up relatively reliably, and pay less tuition. The best way is not to issue a recruitment announcement, but to recruit a senior director, assistant director or supervisory producer, at least

It is not difficult to assemble a complete crew.

Of course, the quality is another matter, but this cannot be rushed. Many famous teams of great directors have also experienced many dramas, slowly eliminated and replaced. There is even a chemical reaction within such a team, and it is definitely not something that can be achieved in a short time.

organized.

(End of chapter)