What Cao Zhiqiang didn't expect was that before Cao Zhiqiang could find Xu Qingdong, Xu Qingdong came to find Cao Zhiqiang first.
Of course, since Cao Zhiqiang came to Hao Shuwen quietly alone and no one else knew about it, Xu Qingdong did not find Hao Shuwen.
In fact,
After Cao Zhiqiang and Hao Shuwen finished their second exercise, they took a shower together, and then returned to the Peking Hotel together, planning to have lunch here first and then meet with Xu Qingdong.
Who would have known that Cao Zhiqiang and Hao Shuwen had just entered the lobby of the Peking Hotel, and before they had even taken a few steps inside, they were stopped by Xu Qingdong.
"Director Xu?"
Seeing Xu Qingdong suddenly appearing in front of him alone, Cao Zhiqiang was also surprised.
"Why are you here?"
Xu Qingdong looked at Cao Zhiqiang, then at Hao Shuwen beside him, and then smiled again and said to Cao Zhiqiang: "President Cao, I come to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing. I came here to see you."
"Come to see me specially? What's the matter?" Cao Zhiqiang asked.
Xu Qingdong hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Can you say this in another place?"
Upon hearing this, Cao Zhiqiang knew that the other party wanted to talk to him privately and did not want outsiders to know.
After nodding, Cao Zhiqiang said: "Just in time, I also have something I want to discuss with you, so let me go to my room to talk."
"Very good, very good!" Xu Qingdong smiled and nodded.
After that, the group of people walked directly to Cao Zhiqiang's room.
Since Cao Zhiqiang has lived here for a long time, the waiters here are all familiar with it, so when he saw Cao Zhiqiang leading people inside, no one stopped him.
Therefore, the so-called foreign-related hotels in this period did not allow ordinary people to enter, but they were really aimed at ordinary people, and there were really no taboos for special personnel.
Afterwards, Cao Zhiqiang said as he walked: "Director Xu, have you been waiting for me for a long time?"
"It's okay." Xu Qingdong smiled, "It didn't take long."
Cao Zhiqiang also smiled and stopped talking.
Well, Cao Zhiqiang has figured out that Xu Qingdong should have gone to the publishing house to find him first, and then came here to wait for him.
Because there are only a few people who know that they are here, and the only people Xu Qingdong can contact are people from the publishing house.
However, Cao Zhiqiang went to Hao Shuwen's place privately without informing anyone, so of course Xu Qingdong couldn't find him.
In other words, after Xu Qingdong arrived, he was told by the front desk that Cao Zhiqiang was out.
Then Xu Qingdong had no other contact information for Cao Zhiqiang, so he could only wait in the lobby.
Seeing how Cao Zhiqiang came over to block the way as soon as he appeared, he must have been staring at the door eagerly.
From this point of view, when he came to find him, the matter should be quite difficult, otherwise it would not be like this.
Not long after, Cao Zhiqiang took Hao Shuwen and Xu Qingdong back to his suite, and invited Xu Qingdong to sit on the sofa in the reception room.
Hao Shuwen had been here many times, so she took the initiative to go to the refrigerator to get a drink.
At this time and in this environment, of course it is Coca-Cola.
"Coca-Cola?" Looking at the ice-cold glass bottle of Coca-Cola still smoking white smoke, Xu Qingdong was stunned. "Oh, this is a good thing. President Cao spent a lot of money." ...
"What's the point of spending money on this?" Cao Zhiqiang smiled, "There is plenty here, you can drink whatever you want."
Xu Qingdong took a sip from the glass and nodded: "Not bad, not bad, it still tastes the same, it tastes good."
Upon hearing this, Cao Zhiqiang knew that the other party had drank before, and more than once.
This is normal. Although Xu Qingdong is still a new director as a director, he is the son of a high-ranking official after all. Even if he doesn't drink Coca-Cola regularly, he must have drank it before.
After taking a sip of Coca-Cola, Xu Qingdong hurriedly talked about his purpose.
After listening for a long time, Cao Zhiqiang finally knew why Xu Qingdong came to him.
It turned out that the project "Love in Guting" was abandoned.
Or strictly speaking, Xu Qingdong applied for filming, but Beijing Film Studio rejected it.
"Why was it rejected?" Cao Zhiqiang frowned, "It doesn't require funding from Beijing Film Studio. Beijing Film Studio only provides some people and equipment. Is it that difficult?"
Xu Qingdong sighed: "It's all my fault. I didn't think carefully and thought of things too simply."
Then, he explained the ins and outs of the matter in detail.
It turns out that film studios during this period were all state-owned enterprises, and films generally had targets, which meant that they were based on a plan. You could not make whatever you wanted, even if it cost you investment.
For example, for a big studio like Beijing Film Studio, the schedule is already full, and it is impossible to start a new project for a new director like Xu Qingdong.
The limitation here is not the limitation of personnel and venue, but the limitation of equipment.
Because at this time, even a big company like Beijing Film Studio did not have many cameras, and everyone was rushing to use them.
In other words, the cameras at Beijing Film Studio had already been split, and there was no share left for Xu Qingdong.
It’s okay if Xu Qingdong wants to take pictures, so just line up.
But if you have to wait in line, even if you can raise your own funds higher, it will be the end of the year at the earliest before a camera can be freed up.
In this case, it’s already winter, and it’s impossible to take photos that feel like summer.
Of course, if that’s all, that’s it, the worst possible outcome is not filming.
But the problem is that although Cao Zhiqiang has sent the money, Beijing Film Studio cannot return the money to Cao Zhiqiang immediately.
Because that money has been misappropriated.
According to the relevant leaders of Beijing Film Studio, this project has been approved and has not been cancelled. It has just entered the queue.
To put it simply, this movie cannot be made in the short term, but because the project is still there, the money will not be refunded.
Unless the project is cancelled.
But Xu Qingdong has no say in whether to cancel the film project, and Beijing Film Studio and the investor China Audio and Video Company have the final say.
In other words, if Beijing Film Studio does not take the initiative to cancel the project, unless the investor, that is, Huaxia Audio and Video Company under Cao Zhiqiang's jurisdiction, actively applies to cancel the project, and both parties have discussed and verified it, and the argument has been completed, and it is determined that the cancellation of the project is reasonable, then the project can be cancelled. Photography project.
But as soon as I heard it, I knew that this argument would take a long time.
Under normal circumstances, even if everything is normal and all the arguments are passed quickly, Beijing Film Studio will not be able to refund until the end of the year at the earliest.
Therefore, if Cao Zhiqiang wants to forcibly withdraw capital, it will be super troublesome to go back and forth. Not to mention, he will have to wait until the end of the year at the earliest to get the investment of 100,000 yuan. …
It's clearly a scam.
To put it bluntly, the store is bullying customers.
Who knows that this is the 1980s? It's not an era where investors are king.
Because of this, Xu Qingdong was very embarrassed, so he hurried over to apologize to Cao Zhiqiang in person.
"Don't worry." Xu Qingdong said quickly, "This project is not bad, it just needs to be queued.
There is nothing we can do about it. There are many movies being shot in our factory now, but the equipment is limited and we really can’t get out the cameras. "
Cao Zhiqiang frowned and said, "If we just lack a camera, can't we borrow a camera from another unit?"
Xu Qingdong sighed: "It's not that easy. I'm not familiar with other film companies, so I can't borrow them."
Cao Zhiqiang touched his chin: "Then if I can borrow it, can I start shooting?"
"Of course!" Xu Qingdong nodded quickly.
Cao Zhiqiang said: "In such a big capital, it's hard to borrow a camera? For example, the Beijing Film Academy has a youth film studio? How about borrowing a camera from them or working together?"
Xu Qingdong smiled bitterly and said: "Youth Film Factory, I asked, but the equipment there is also full, and the Bayi Factory is the same, all the equipment is full, unless you borrow it from other areas. "
Cao Zhiqiang asked again: "Aren't you very familiar with Director Liu of the Ministry of Culture? Let him help."
Xu Qingdong smiled bitterly again: "No matter how powerful Director Liu is, he only has one-third of an acre of land in the capital, and he has no say in such precious things as cameras."
When Cao Zhiqiang heard this, he immediately curled his lips.
I thought to myself, what has been said does not count, is it because I don’t have enough face and money?
No matter how expensive or scarce a camera is, as long as you have enough dignity and money, you won't be able to borrow it.
Even if Beijing Film Studio’s signboard is very bad-tempered, I really can’t borrow it.
But now there are many domestic film studios, but not all film studios have sufficient funds and are not willing to give up for five buckets of rice.
It shouldn't be difficult to find a small factory and borrow a camera from them in the name of cooperative shooting.
If you don’t talk about it far away, let’s talk about the Youth Film Factory. As long as you give enough money, you don’t have to worry about them not lending out the camera.
Just kidding, at this time, the Youth Film Studio was almost a grass-roots team with little funds. It was just a training ground for students from the Beijing Film Academy to practice, and there was not much money to make movies.
If we jointly shoot with the other party and give the relevant person in charge some benefits, it must not be difficult.
The so-called difficulty is only for Xu Qingdong, but for Cao Zhiqiang, who is wealthy and knows many leaders, he really doesn't think this is a problem.
"Let's do this." Cao Zhiqiang said, "I will take care of the camera issue, but let me make it clear first that if the camera is taken care of, will we be able to shoot?"
"Of course!" Xu Qingdong nodded, "As long as you can get me a camera, the kind that makes movies, all other problems can be easily solved.
After all, we are self-financing the film and don’t need to pay for it from Beijing Film Studio, so that’s no problem. "
"Wait!" Cao Zhiqiang suddenly waved his hand.
"What happened again?" Xu Qingdong asked.
Cao Zhiqiang frowned: "I suddenly remembered something that I forgot to ask you. After the filming of this movie is completed, how will the accounts be divided?" ...
"What kind of division of accounts?" Xu Qingdong was stunned.
"How do we divide the box office?" Cao Zhiqiang asked, "For example, if we make a movie and then show it, how do we divide the box office? How much of the box office revenue can we share among those who make the movie?"
"Ah, you said this." Xu Qingdong chuckled, "You don't have to worry about this. We don't need to divide the box office, we just buy it out directly, so as long as the cost does not exceed 900,000, we will definitely make some money."
"What? Buyout? Nine hundred thousand?" Cao Zhiqiang was stunned, "What do you mean?"
"You don't know?" Xu Qingdong frowned.
"I'm just asking you because I don't know!" Cao Zhiqiang said.
Xu Qingdong frowned again, and then began to explain to Cao Zhiqiang.
It turns out that the domestic film system at this time implemented a policy of unified purchasing and marketing.
That is to say, all film studios are only responsible for making movies. After the movies are made, as long as they pass the review, they will be handed over to China Film Company to buy out and distribute them.
As for China Film Company, if it wants to distribute your movie, it will buy your movie at a fixed price of 900,000 yuan.
In other words, after the movie is released, whether it does well or poorly at the box office, it has nothing to do with your film company.
The box office was sluggish, with less than 900,000 yuan, and it was China Film Company that suffered the loss.
The box office was great, and China Film Company was the one who made the money.
For example, "The Wrangler", which was a hit all over the country back then, had a box office of nearly 130 million in an era when movie tickets were only a dime, and it was so popular that it was so popular.
Don't look at that movie becoming such a hit. As the film's production company, SIPG still only received 800,000 from China Film Company, and the majority of it was earned by China Film Company.
By 1983, the acquisition price of China Film Company had increased to 900,000.
In other words, as long as China Film Company agrees to distribute your movie, no matter how much your movie costs, their purchase price will be 900,000.
For this reason, this period is also called the fixed-price era.
From this perspective, if you want to make money by making a movie at this time, you must control the cost, and it must be within 900,000.
Generally speaking, modern feature films have the lowest cost. As long as they are well shot, the income is quite considerable. It is still possible to earn hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands from a film.
Just like Cao Zhiqiang's movie, if it can be shot for 100,000 yuan, then the purchase price of 900,000 yuan will have a gross profit of 800,000 yuan, which is quite a bargain.
In particular, this movie is exclusively sponsored and invested by Huaxia Audio and Video Company. Beijing Film Studio only provides people and equipment, plus a sign. Lilan usually gets 37%, Beijing Film Studio 30%, and Huaxia Audiovisual Company 70%. become.
If Beijing Film Studio produces no equipment or people, but only a sign, then Lilan can get a score of 28 points, and it will be difficult to get any lower.
Upon hearing that this was the buyout method, Cao Zhiqiang immediately became furious.
"Ma Dan, it's too deceptive if you can't share it! Isn't this a money grab?"
Seeing that Cao Zhiqiang was suddenly angry, Xu Qingdong was stunned for a moment, and then quickly advised: "How can this be a money grab? It's like this now!"
"Everything is like this, but it's not like that in Xiangjiang!"
"But we are not Xiangjiang, we have our own national conditions here!"
Upon hearing Xu Qingdong's words, Cao Zhiqiang choked up: "I..." ...
Xu Qingdong quickly apologized and said with a smile: "President Cao, please calm down first.
In fact, everything has pros and cons.
As for our system, if you think about it on the bright side, at least this way we don't have box office pressure.
Regardless of whether the movie is a hit or not, as long as we control the shooting costs, we will not lose money.
Therefore, we can shoot what we want to shoot, and we don’t have to shoot according to the market trend like those in Hong Kong. Instead, we make some vulgar stuff, which has no artistic quality at all and is purely commercial garbage. "
Cao Zhiqiang curled his lips.
Also, in the case of a buyout, the director can indeed shoot what he wants. There is no need to cater to the mainstream or not, and there is no need to cater to the market, but this is not what he wants.
Just kidding, Cao Zhiqiang went to great lengths and even thought of using his stage name to increase traffic for this movie.
Then you tell me that after the movie is released, the box office performance has nothing to do with me? Is my movie being bought out at a fixed price?
Then I'd better play with my balls!
It's a mess, it's a total mess!
"No more filming, no more filming!" Cao Zhiqiang slammed the table, "Axi, mother Ganlin! I won't jump into this big trap of making a movie! Refund the money, hurry up!"
Seeing Cao Zhiqiang suddenly become like this, Xu Qingdong was embarrassed: "Well, then you can apply to our factory in the name of Huaxia Audio and Video Company, and then you have to hold a meeting to discuss it. Even if everything goes well..."
"Then you have to refund the money!" Cao Zhiqiang said angrily, "At least you can still get money by refunding the money, but if you continue to make movies, it will be a big trap."
"Why is this a big pit?" Xu Qingdong quickly advised.
"This movie is so good, China Film Group will definitely want it. As long as they agree to acquire it, it will cost 900,000 yuan!
Let's control the cost. I don't think it will cost 200,000 yuan, but at most 300,000 yuan.
If you compress it a bit, it's not impossible to get it to 100,000 yuan.
Therefore, this movie is still very exciting! "
Cao Zhiqiang glanced sideways at Xu Qingdong:
"What do you know? I want to participate in this movie myself, and my time is not money?
Damn it, do you know how precious my time is? Do you know how much money I can make in a day?
I... in short, I won’t make this movie anymore. I love so-and-so! "
