The most popular places on Lido Island are cafes, followed by pizza shops and seafood shops. The cafe Nai An and Li Tangyue were in was not far from the cafe where he and Zhou Xun were just now, a five- to six-minute walk.
He collected his umbrella, hung it on the shelf at the door, and pushed in. The store is very quiet, with not many customers. The decoration seems to be more stylish than the one just now, and there is a row of elegant and secret compartments inside.
While he was still searching, he saw Nai'an popping his head out from a cubicle, raising his hand and saying, "Li Tang, this way."
"So fast!"
Nai'an was slightly surprised. She originally thought that Li Tang was at the trading market and was a certain distance away.
"Just having a cup of coffee with friends nearby."
Nai'an didn't ask which friend it was. No matter how good a friend or partner is, you must leave a certain amount of personal space for the other person unless the other person takes the initiative to tell you. This is probably how Naian has been able to perform well in the literary and art circles.
Li Tang walked into the cubicle and saw a very beautiful blond lady in her thirties sitting inside.
"This is Ms. Juliette Schrammaker from the French MK2."
"Nihao, Mr. Li!"
The French girl stood up and greeted Li Tang in extremely difficult to pronounce Chinese.
"Hello, Ms. Schramek!"
Li Tang did not show off his half-baked French this time, nor did he reply in Chinese. Instead, he replied in English.
The long-awaited people from the French MK company finally showed up, letting him breathe a long sigh of relief. He knew that today's meeting would soon involve a negotiation, so out of rigorous considerations, he still used his best English to communicate.
Although the French have always been proud of their mother tongue and their English proficiency is generally not high, as a business person, they can basically speak fluent English.
Sure enough, Juliet followed him and switched to English, and the communication between the two parties suddenly became very smooth.
"Mr. Li, I have watched your "Suzhou River" and this year's "The Third Man", and your performances were both excellent!" The French girl complimented her in a slightly exaggerated way.
"Thank you!" Li Tang nodded with a reserved smile on his face.
He doesn't know much about negotiations, but he also knows that I can't stand the enemy. And Nai'an must have discussed the specific matters with her. They just asked her to come over and listen to it and then make a decision. After all, time waits for no one, and the film festival will close tomorrow.
Fortunately, the French girl didn't say too much. After a few words of greeting, she turned to the topic: "I have talked with Ms. Naian before. We feel that the film "The Third Man" is very suitable for the French market, so We want to buy global rights.”
Hearing this, Li Tang, who had been pretending to be calm, almost stopped and looked at Nai'an in surprise. What a big breath, can you buy the global market as soon as you start?
Nai'an nodded to him, confirming the French girl's statement.
Originally, Li Tang planned to sign up for the Tokyo International Film Festival in October. After all, suspense themes are still very popular in Japan.
Of course, it would be best if a company could buy out the global copyright, saving worry and effort. But the premise is how much the price is. You can't lose money and make a profit.
But he immediately realized something was wrong and hurriedly said: "Ms. Schramek, one thing I want to make clear is that this movie will be released in China. I don't think this should be included in the global copyright, right?"
The French girl smiled and said: "Of course, I have just talked with Ms. Nai'an about this issue. What we purchased is the global copyright except China, Hong Kong, and Bay..."
Before he finished speaking, Li Tang interrupted and corrected: "No, no, no, it is the global copyright except Mainland China, Hong Kong, and the Gulf of China. Of course, you can also understand it as the global copyright except China. Because Hong Kong , Wanwan are all Chinese, okay?”
After hearing this, the French girl immediately apologized and said, "I'm sorry, it was my slip of the tongue just now."
As a business person, I am very politically sensitive. Moreover, MK2 has collaborated with Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang of Wanwan, and Wong Kar-Wai of Hong Kong, so we are very aware of the twists and turns involved.
However, the French girl is inevitably a little surprised, because she has met many mainland filmmakers before, such as Zhang Yimou, Director Chen, Jiang Wen and other big directors, including Nai'an who is sitting here right now. She has always said this before, and She had never taken this kind of problem to heart, but Li Tang was the first Chinese filmmaker to correct her mistakes in expression.
In fact, this is understandable. After all, China’s international presence is not high these days, and most foreigners can’t figure out the twists and turns, just like Chinese people can’t figure out the Kashmir dispute in the neighboring country of Asan.
But whether he was confused or pretending to be confused, Li Tang felt that he needed to correct their wrong wording.
Because of the "slip of the tongue", Li Tang's goodwill with this beautiful French girl was greatly reduced. He simply stopped going around in circles with her and asked Nai'an directly: "Sister An, since they want to buy our global copyright, what are they going to do?" What's the condition?"
Nai'an noticed Li Tang's impatience. She didn't expect that Juliet's "slip of the tongue" would cause such a big reaction from Li Tang.
how to say? Weak countries have no diplomacy. These days, Chinese people generally feel inferior when dealing with foreigners. Even if foreigners have any language problems, they will explain it by saying that foreigners do not understand our national conditions, and will not take the initiative to correct anything.
But at this time, facing Li Tang's righteous and forthright words, Nai'an was both surprised and ashamed. Especially after Juliet immediately expressed her apology, she realized that the foreigner's "slip of the tongue" could be corrected.
"MK2 wants to represent our global copyright."
"acting?"
Li Tang couldn't help but be stunned. Generally speaking, the most film copyright transactions are buyout and sharing.
A buyout is a one-time deal; while the share is divided according to the box office. This model is generally adopted by Hollywood blockbusters.
The so-called agency means entrusting the other party with full authority to handle the matter. You have no control over how they want to deal with it, whether it is a buyout, dividends, or showing it in their own theaters. Then, from the gross profit, the other party deducts a certain percentage of commission, which is counted as agency fee, and the rest is given to the producer.
However, this method of cooperation has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it can maximize profits, but the disadvantage is that if the agency is unreliable and sells your copyright at a low price, you will have no place to cry. After all, as an agent, he does not need to pay any costs, as long as he gets the agency commission.
Of course, it is unlikely that MK2, the third largest cinema chain in France and the largest art cinema chain in Europe, would do something so tasteless. After all, everyone is prosperous, and only by maximizing profits can they extract more commissions.
Another point is that once the film is handed over to them for agency, the producer may not see cash for a while, and can only collect copyright fees on a stage-by-stage basis according to the terms stipulated in the agency contract. Recovering costs can be a long process, but the benefits come in small steps.
"Suzhou River" and MK2 have this kind of cooperation model, but at the beginning they were agents for European copyrights.
"Then how many points are their commissions?"
Although Li Tang doesn't know how to negotiate business, he still understands things like agency fees, and he also knows that the agency commission for "Suzhou River" is 12 points.
Nai An glanced at Juliet and said helplessly: "At first they proposed 15 points, but now when it comes to 14 points, they won't give in anymore."
Juliet could obviously understand a little and said from the side: "Mr. Li, please understand that "The Third Man" is not used in "Suzhou River". Director Cheng Er is a new face to European audiences. And for We also have to bear certain risks in representing "The Third Man", for example, there are great uncertainties in the box office in France and the distribution in other countries."
The French girl is right. Compared to Lou Ye, who has been famous in the art film industry for a long time, Cheng Er is just a rookie. Moreover, it is a general consensus that commercial films look for stars, and art films look for directors, unless the leading actors of art films are also big stars.
Li Tang ignored the French girl and directly asked Nai'an in Shanghainese: "Sister An, how can I do this?"
"I think it's acceptable."
In a word, Li Tang took out his mobile phone and called Cheng Er and Zeng Jia who were in the trading market.
MK2 is undoubtedly capable, and given their previous good performance as an agent for "Suzhou River", they are also worthy of trust. All that remains is to seek Cheng Er's opinion, negotiate a contract, and reach cooperation.
For Cheng Er, the biggest victory is that the film can be filmed and go to Venice. As for the fact that he has been working hard in the trading market with Zeng Jia during this period, it is mainly to give Li Tang an explanation. If he can successfully recover his investment and still make a small profit, then everyone will be happy.
Now that Li Tang agrees, he naturally has no objections.
Zeng Jia was just a little regretful. In her words, as long as they lasted until tomorrow, the two Italians might be able to accept the $120,000 buyout condition.
However, in terms of business, she still feels that cooperation with MK2 is the best choice at present. The premise is of course that she has confidence in her own movies.
"Okay, I didn't get the commission, I'll give you a big red envelope later!"
Although he won't be able to see any cash for a while, Li Tang is still very satisfied with the result this time, and of course he won't treat Jiajia badly, who has been busy during this period.
Second update!
(End of chapter)
