Heads Up Hollywood

The problem of piracy is getting worse.

Mainly for China.

According to statistics, in 2004, the US music, film and software industries lost a total of 2.5 billion US dollars due to piracy in the mainland. Therefore, after the general election, these industries jointly petitioned the White House, calling on the US and the WTO to take legal action against China.

However, the issues involved in this great power struggle are too complicated.

If it wasn't for a tough president with great courage, he would never have dared to act hastily.

President Bush Jr. is bold enough.

However, the United States is still deeply mired in the quagmire of the Iraq War and is in a situation of internal and external difficulties. It is difficult to make a heavy hand at this stage.

Dunn did not attend the joint meeting on piracy solutions in January.

He did, however, get detailed minutes of the meeting.

The White House made it clear that it will be patient for a short time. The United States is currently in a predicament and is unable to solve this problem. At least it will not be able to implement it until the US military withdraws from Iraq and the domestic environment stabilizes.

This term of office is not enough.

It depends on the performance of the next president.

However, Tang En knew very well that when the next president happened to encounter a financial crisis, he couldn't do anything about it. Once the financial crisis was over, the Austrian government's policy of softness was soft, which only increased the export of Hollywood cultural products to China, and did not fundamentally solve the problem.

The real move is the next president.

In the short term, there is no way.

As Hollywood, whose intellectual property rights have been most severely infringed, certainly does not want such a result.

In Hollywood, New Universal has the richest intellectual property rights, followed by Time Warner!

Tang En knew China's environment and national conditions, so he didn't hold out any hope and remained unmoved.

However, Warner is different, they intend to take action to resist the problem of rampant dvd piracy in China.

The CEO of Warner Bros., Barry Meyer, brought the president of Warner Pictures, Barry Meyer, to visit.

"Twain, the authorities are in trouble, but we can't sit still. I think Hollywood should unite and take steps to resist Chinese DVD piracy." Barry Meyer came to the living room without even sitting down. Said a little impatiently.

Tang En looked at him amusedly, "Hollywood is united? Then you should find MPAA."

Barry Meyer said in a difficult way: "After the MPAA changed its chairman, it has completely become the dog of the White House. The White House refuses to express its position, so they will not participate."

"Then you are looking for me?"

"Universal and Warner have the most intellectual property rights, and have also suffered the greatest loss of interests. I think we can organize an anti-piracy alliance and call on colleagues and people with lofty ideals."

"Use a business alliance to fight against the will of the country? Barry, do you read too many conspiracy theories? China is not South Korea!"

Tang En really laughed angrily.

This Barry Meyer wants to be a leader in Hollywood, which is human nature.

But the idea is too naive!

At this time, his follower, Barry Meyer, said: "In the absence of policy means, we still have economic means. It may not be impossible. What Wall Street can do, Hollywood may not be able to do it."

Tang En twitched his lips and said speechlessly: "What has Wall Street done? In the past 30 years, the federal government's supervision of Wall Street has become more and more stringent, and it has become more and more ruthless. This is an indisputable fact. Refund 10,000 yuan Let’s just say that even if Wall Street can influence some of the White House’s decisions, it’s impossible for them to influence the country on the other side. Wall Street can’t, and Hollywood can’t!”

"If you don't try it, how do you know it won't work?" Barry Meyer was not convinced.

Tang En glanced at him, "So Warner already has a plan?"

Barry Meyer smiled and said, "Twain, I heard that you have only been to China once? Hehe, you may not know much about the situation in China. We are different, we have already launched a lot of business cooperation there , such as Hengdian Film and Television Base, such as Warner Wanda Studios, these are all film-based projects. I have many friends there, and I will get their support."

Tang En was stunned and didn't say a word.

Well!

You are a China hand, you are amazing!

Seeing that Tang En was silent, Barry Meyer thought he had persuaded him, so he smiled and said, "To be honest, we already have a plan to deal with piracy."

"Really? All ears!" Tang En looked very modest.

Barry Meyer spoke again at this time, talking eloquently: "Why is piracy rampant? It's very simple, the price is low! It can better meet the consumption needs of Chinese movie fans. As long as we lower the price of genuine discs significantly, we can check and balance Piracy. We have decided that in the next few months, we will release 125 types of genuine DVD movie discs at ultra-low prices in China to deal with the economic losses caused by Chinese pirated discs to Warner, and at the same time cultivate Chinese users’ legitimate consumption Habit."

Tang En seemed to be listening to heavenly scriptures, so he felt that his statement was too whimsical, and asked curiously: "Super low price? How low?"

Genuine dvds are expensive.

The regular edition is $20, the hardcover edition is $40, and the deluxe edition is $60... If it's an ultra-clear version like hd-dvd, which is rare and expensive, hey, the price of a set can reach $100!

With such an outrageous price, developing countries don't engage in piracy, and they simply look down on movies.

Barry Meyer said: "Because China has strict import restrictions, many new Hollywood films exist in the form of pirated copies. We have communicated with them and obtained permission to distribute DVDs. Although they cannot enter theaters, But this is also a sales channel after all. If it is an old film, we will price it at US$1.98; if it is a new film, we will price it at US$2.65. If there are additional content such as multiple languages ​​and filming and production highlights in the dvd, the price can be raised to $3.38."

Is it super cheap?

indeed so.

Compared with the pricing in the European and American markets, this price is indeed super low.

However, compared with pirated versions, there is still a big gap.

The current exchange rate is 1:8.

The price of old movies is 16 yuan? The price of the new film is 20 yuan? The price of the deluxe version is 26 yuan?

too expensive!

At this time, the retail price of pirated movies was 10 yuan. If you go to a special hypermarket to buy... 3 yuan, 5 yuan can buy a disk.

If you are going to rent a video tape, it only costs 1 yuan.

Of course, pirated disks are usually VCD disks, which are far inferior to DVD disks in terms of resolution, clarity, fluency, and content richness.

But, who cares?

China's film market is only in its infancy now, and the taste of moviegoers has not improved at all. Watching movies only needs to have an interesting story, and there is no need for other pursuits.

"Disaster!"

Tang En blurted out without thinking.

He could guess that Warner must have made a lot of sacrifices and compromises in order to be able to sell genuine films in mainland China, and made great efforts. However, there will be absolutely no good results.

"If we think we can enter this market, we can solve problems, not create problems." Barry Meyer vowed.

Tang En shrugged, "Okay, then I wish you good luck."

Barry Meyer frowned, "Don, don't you plan to do it with us? If we join forces, maybe we can really achieve a lot. Even if we can't clean up all the pirated discs, at least we can develop a legitimate video disc living space."

Tang En pondered for a while, then sighed, "Barry, I can feel your enthusiasm. But... I have to say, your direction is wrong, completely wrong!"

"oh?"

"The video disc market in Asia, especially China, is mainly VCD discs, not DVD discs."

Barry Meyer said disapprovingly: "In front of DVD, VCD has no soil for survival. DVD has multiple languages, multiple subtitles, multiple angles, as well as menus and hyperlinks. Large-capacity DVD discs can present more movie elements , These are far from being comparable to VCD discs. Even though the price of our genuine discs may be higher than that of pirated discs, the content we provide is of higher quality and more refined!"

In any case, Warner is indeed paving the way and contributing to Hollywood this time.

Although Tang En was very pessimistic about it, he didn't want to hit him too hard, so he said, "You are right. Compared with VCD discs, DVD discs do have too many advantages. Compared with pirated discs, the advantages are even greater. That's too much. But, Barry, there is a prerequisite that you have overlooked. If you want to watch DVDs, you must first have a DVD player."

Barry Diller was slightly taken aback.

Barry Meyer was a little nervous. He was mainly responsible for this matter, so he hurriedly said: "Not necessarily, the current VCD players can also play DVDs."

Tang En shook his head and said, "Mr. Meyer probably usually uses big-brand players like Sony and Philips, which are naturally powerful. But as far as I know, there are many non-brand VCD players in China, or pirated VCD players. The machine, the price...is around $30, and it doesn’t have the function of playing DVD disks at all.”

"Oh no?"

Barry Meyer is kind of incredible.

Today's DVD players pay more and more attention to compatibility. It is understandable that the vcd player cannot play hd-dvd discs, but even dvd discs cannot be played, is that an exaggeration?

Tang En said softly: "You say that I don't understand the situation over there...I'm sorry, but I may actually understand it better. The industrial chain of piracy is very complicated and huge. There are pirated disks, and of course there are pirated DVD players. , and pirated editions can only be used in conjunction with pirated editions. The problem of pirated disks is far from being solved by selling cheap genuine disks. The Chinese government has stated many times that it will severely crack down on piracy and resist piracy, but is this possible? Various Piracy and counterfeiting are worth trillions of dollars every year. Such a large-scale piracy market can create tens of millions of jobs every year. What do you think the government will do?"

Barry Meyer said in disbelief: "However, if they are all legitimate industries...they will create more wealth."

Tang En said: "If more wealth is created, so what? It will only allow more wealth to flow into the genuine industry, which will further exacerbate the gap between the rich and the poor, and increase the living difficulties of the bottom class. The pirated industry solves the problems of some low-end population. Employment issues, let them have jobs and have food to eat. The genuine industry makes less money and suffers grievances, and it is always better than those low-end population groups who cannot survive."

Barry Meyer showed a wry smile, "Twain, I didn't expect you to be a sociologist!"

Tang En shook his head, "It's really not a high-end theory. As long as you go over there and conduct some market research, you will definitely be able to draw some more accurate conclusions and judgments than mine."

. Nine Heavens Emperor