China Entertainment Mythology 2004

Two hours later, Director Yan Yiyun of Xiying Film Factory also called Li Mu’s cell phone.

"Li Mu, did Cheng Long call you just now?"

"Hit."

"Can I ask what he said?"

"Cheng Long said that Columbia Pictures is willing to offer $25 million to buy out all the rights to "Taken" in North America and parts of Europe."

"What did you say?"

"Of course I said yes. This time Columbia Film's bid was quite generous. With this single transaction, we not only recovered the entire cost of the film, but also made a huge profit. The remaining domestic, Hong Kong, Baodao, South Korea, rb,

The box office in Singapore and Southeast Asia is a net profit, not to mention the DVD copyrights, TV broadcast rights, etc. in these regions are all income."

Yan Yiyun said: "Yes, the young man is quite clear-headed. This is indeed the truth. From the beginning, our Xiying and Cheng Longyinghuang had the same opinion in this regard. The cooperation is about to be reached. Cheng Long said that you are the major contributor to this movie.

, he wanted to talk to you first, but what I didn’t expect was that Cheng Long changed his mind after talking to you on the phone. Now he wants to sign a box office sharing agreement with Columbia. I thought it was you who said it.

Cheng Long is moving, but according to what you just said, this matter has nothing to do with you, and I don’t know who Long spent the half hour discussing the mileage with."

"ah?"

Yan Yiyun added: "Cheng Long has been in the film and television industry for most of his life, and a newcomer like you can't understand it thoroughly. 25 million US dollars, how much box office does it have to get in North America and Europe to get this amount? Not to mention that there are still movies

If you get high box office, there is a risk that others may try their best to steal your profits."

""Taken" is a good movie, and most of the film producers at the film festival also recognized this, but before the movie is officially released, no one can tell whether it will make money or lose money. If Columbia Film's bid is not high,

, we decided to sign for the share, so we signed it. Now it’s clear that the other party has come up with a bloody price, and if we only know the share, we won’t be able to figure it out clearly.”

"Director Yan..."

"Ah? Say it!"

Li Mu then said: "Cheng Long and I were on the phone just now, and I did say that. But in the end, Cheng Long asked me another question, saying that if "Rescue" is a film made by myself, I alone can make the decision.

, then should I choose a one-time sale or a split."

"Then what did you say?"

"I said I would choose box office share."

"No more?"

"No more!"

"Cheng Long didn't ask you why?"

"No."

On both ends of the phone, both of them were silent.

After a while, Yan Yiyun said: "In fact, I can't blame you for this. You just said something casually and Cheng Long changed his mind. This can only show that Cheng Long had this idea in the first place. The purpose of his phone call with you was

It's just to strengthen my choice, but it doesn't matter. Xiyinghuang and Cheng Longyinghuang have the same investment. In this matter, everyone has the same say. Chenglongyinghuang wants to sign a share agreement, and there is no Xiyinghuang.

It’s easy to nod.”

…

The "Film Market" of the Cannes Film Festival exists in two places, one is the booth area on the ground floor of the Film Palace, and the other is in several large hotels opposite the Film Palace, where film company owners, producers, copyright companies, and film producers from all over the world

The sales agent sealed the "business" over coffee in the hotel.

The basement floor of the Cinema Palace is also known as the "outside" market, where film companies or directors with no connections buy a magazine and a booth to promote their films; while large-scale film transactions with connections are mostly held in hotels. In the circle of Cannes copyright transactions,

Locals like to call the luxury hotels opposite the Palais des Cinemas the “inner market” of Cannes movies.

At this moment, in the majastic hotel, the two major investors of "Hurricane Rescue" - Xiying Film Studio and Cheng Longyinghuang were quarreling with each other.

Cheng Long, Emperor Ying, and mainly Cheng Long, seemed to have decided to sign a box office sharing agreement at this time, while the West Film Studio, represented by Yan Yiyun, believed that this time Columbia Pictures' bid was quite generous, and there was really no need for their side to pay for the emptiness and elegance.

With the possibility of high box office, the US$25 million already obtained will be thrown away in vain.

In the end, the two sides argued for more than two hours, but in the end no one could convince the other.

Finally, Cheng Long suggested that since no one could convince anyone, it might as well listen to Li Mu's ideas.

Yan Yiyun also agreed with this. He and Li Mugang just finished talking on the phone, and Li Mu was generally in favor of signing a one-time sale agreement.

Then Cheng Long dialed Li Mu's number, explained the situation, pressed the speakerphone and placed the phone on the conference table.

Now that the matter has reached a standstill, Li Mu no longer refuses.

"Uncle Long, Director Yan, whether to sign a share-sharing agreement or a one-time sell-out agreement mainly depends on two issues - first, whether "Taken" can win high box office in North America and Europe; second,

If "Taken" can achieve high box office in North America and Europe, then will Columbia be able to obediently distribute the money to us as stipulated in the contract?"

"After all, Hollywood has a lot of dark history in this area."

"Now let's talk about the first question, which is whether "Taken" can win high box office in North America and Europe. I personally think it can. Of course, this is just my personal opinion."

"The second question is, if the box office sharing model is adopted, will Columbia Pictures steal our money? I think it is possible, and the possibility is very high, so is there any way for us to overcome this risk?

I think so."

"In 2001, in order to adapt to the new situation after joining the WTO, the country established the Export Credit Insurance Company to provide foreign exchange risk protection for enterprises to explore overseas markets through policy export credit insurance."

"Relevant statistics show that my country's copyright trade deficit in books, film and television products is 10 times or even more than 100 times. In 2004, my country exported 14 types of copyrights to the United States, and imported 4,068 types of copyrights from the United States."

"Facing this situation, the state encourages the export of our country's films, so can we seek support from the national credit insurance company?"

"If we can reach a cooperation with the National Credit Insurance Company, it will be equivalent to passing on the risks that may be encountered when entering overseas markets to the Credit Insurance Company. The National Export Credit Insurance will be able to delay payment or non-payment of film buyers, under-report box office revenue, and exceed

It provides us with foreign exchange protection when using copyright within a certain scope. And all we need to pay is a premium that is insignificant compared to the box office revenue."

"So my opinion is that if we want to adopt a box office sharing model, we might as well talk to the National Credit Insurance Corporation first to see if the two parties can reach a similar cooperation."

After Li Mu finished speaking, neither Xiying Studio nor Cheng Long had any reaction, because they lacked understanding of what Li Mu was talking about, were unfamiliar with it, and didn't know how to operate it.

It's normal not to know, because no domestic film company has done this so far. It will have to wait until next year, after Huayi Brothers Pictures has suffered losses in foreign markets, it will learn from the mistakes and learn something. In "The Night Banquet"

At the time of the release, we worked hard to formally sign a policy with the National Export Credit Insurance Corporation, and the credit insurance company would provide foreign exchange risk protection for the overseas distribution of "The Banquet".

However, although everyone didn't quite understand what Li Mu was talking about, the prospects seemed pretty good, so the dispute was put aside for the time being. Everyone first contacted the National Credit Insurance Company to see if the National Credit Insurance Company had such a business.

Two days later, I received an accurate reply from the National Credit Insurance Company. In response to the national policy, the Credit Insurance Company was willing to provide foreign exchange risk protection for "Hurricane Rescue" and only charge a premium of 30% of the market price.

At this point, Cheng Longyinghuang's idea of ​​signing a box office sharing agreement with Colombia began to gain the upper hand. Everyone knows the market potential of "Taken". Even if you don't understand it, you will understand when you see that Colombia is willing to pay such a high price. The previous worries were too much

Many, now there are national credit insurance companies willing to provide exchange risk protection, which is equivalent to resolving the biggest risk of signing a share agreement, so Yan Yiyun no longer insists on signing a one-time sale agreement for overseas copyrights.

In the end, "Taken" signed two agreements with Columbia Pictures in the United States. The first was a copyright buyout agreement for DVD and home video products in Europe and the United States, with a buyout price of US$7 million.

The second is a film distribution split agreement in Europe and the United States. Columbia Pictures will be responsible for the distribution of the movie "Taken" in Europe and the United States, and the producer will receive 30% of the movie's box office revenue.