"Brother, should we buy a car?" Zeng Jia asked Li Tang, who was sitting in the passenger seat and texting on his mobile phone while driving.
The car she was driving at this time was the Nissan Bluebird that Naian had eliminated. She was fully prepared to start her own business with Li Tang, and was ready to formally submit her resignation to the company after Li Tang and Nai'an reached an agreement. Fortunately, her work was one-on-one with Li Tang and did not involve other business of the company. Once Li Tang left, she would have nothing to hand over.
It was rare for Xiaopang to rest for a long time today. After Li Tang told her that his role in "The Condor Shooting" had been completed, he kept asking when he would come to the capital. The two have been separated for two months now. Li Tang doesn't care, but Xiaopang misses him very much. So he could only explain patiently through text messages.
After finishing editing the long text message and clicking the send button, Li Tang raised his head and said, "Whether we leave this time or not, let's buy a car first."
With the increase in filming and activities, it is really inconvenient for him not to have a car.
Zeng Jia didn't take Li Tang's words to heart at all. According to her judgment, Nai'an had no strong desire to keep Li Tang from the beginning. To put it bluntly, DreamWork Culture and Art Company is a film investment and production company, and has little interest in actor management.
On the one hand, the company is small and its strength is limited. On the other hand, it is also determined by Nai An’s attributes as a middle-aged artistic woman who owns the company. Because agents are all philistines, and if you put aside the "teeth" in the "car and boat shop gangs" in the past, it is a low-level profession. If you are not guilty, you should be killed. It really does not match the temperament of a middle-aged literary and artistic woman.
"I think we should buy a commercial car first, and also have a driver." Zeng Jiada said.
She didn't ask Li Tang what car to buy because she felt that as the head of Li Tang's studio in the future, he should first have his own ideas and then seek the boss's approval, instead of asking the boss for everything.
Because this is not a person in charge, but an assistant.
Li Tang pondered and nodded: "Okay, you can figure it out."
At present, his remuneration, including the domestic box office share of "The Third Man", is recorded in the studio's account, and an old accountant is specially hired to do the accounting. On the one hand, it is for tax clarity, and on the other hand, it is also for reasonable tax avoidance. .
To be honest, the current domestic regulations and laws on taxation are still very imperfect. Sometimes individuals are confused and don’t know how to pay taxes. In addition, when it comes to reasonable tax avoidance, it is mainly to avoid double taxation and also to avoid the loss of some reasonable tax refunds.
Li Tang bought a car just for the convenience of traveling, and Li Tang was not very interested in the car itself. First, the current domestic vehicle brands and models are really lackluster and unattractive; second, they have just joined the WTO and the prices of imported cars are still high, which is really not worth the gain. And for a person like Li Tang who is good at running a household, cars are priced at half the price, so buying a car is not worth it unless it is necessary.
In an era when highways were not yet connected in all directions and navigation was imperfect, the road from Wuxi to Hangzhou was difficult. Although Zeng Jia checked the route well before setting off, the car got lost after driving to Yixing. Li Tang had no choice but to change with her. After checking the map, he found National Highway 104 and then followed it all the way to Hangzhou.
"Sister An, I'm sorry, it's not easy to walk on the road."
The two set off from Wuxi at noon, and it was already nightfall when they arrived in Hangzhou. The main reason was that there were many large cars on National Highway 104, so they walked slowly and stopped along the way.
Fortunately, I kept in touch with Nai'an on the phone along the way, and finally made an appointment to meet at a restaurant called Red Clay Pot on the edge of the West Lake.
"It's okay, you've been working very hard during this period. Are you hungry? Sit down, sit down quickly!"
Four cold dishes: mixed cucumber, vegetarian roast goose, hand-peeled bamboo shoots, plus a must-have sauce duck in Hangzhou. Four hot dishes: Longjing shrimp, steamed mandarin fish, southern beef, stir-fried vegetables, and a can of mushroom soup.
Li Tang had been hungry for a long time. He ate a big meal first to fill his stomach. Then he got to the point and said, "Sister An, my contract has expired a long time ago. What did the company think about it?"
Nai'an didn't seem surprised at all. He glanced at Zeng Jia first, and then said to Li Tang: "It depends on you. What are your plans?"
Nai'an is right, the initiative lies with Li Tang when the contract expires. In other words, even if Li Tang now switches to another agency, there will be no problem at all, because the contract has long expired, which means that Li Tang personally has nothing to do with Nai'an's DreamWork Art Company.
Of course, it's not easy to do this in reality. After all, there are still human feelings involved. What Chinese people value is to get together easily and disperse easily, and to keep a line in life so that we can meet each other in the future.
Now that he had thought about it, Li Tang did not hesitate and simply said: "I want to go out and have a try on my own."
"It's okay to go out on your own. I thought you were just here for a temporary transition, but I didn't expect that it would be almost four years in the blink of an eye."
"Sister An, I'm sorry!"
Nai'an smiled and said: "I am the one who should be embarrassed. You see, your contract has expired long ago, and you still managed to make a lot of money by pulling the company."
With that said, Nai'an added: "Oh, by the way, MK2's share will arrive in the middle of next month. You can find someone to contact the company later. This is not a small amount of money."
Because the producer of "The Third Man" is DreamWorks Art Company, the original contract with MK2 was signed with DreamWorks. Although DreamWorks has no investment, a certain percentage of issuance expenses will be deducted according to the contract.
DreamWorks has always maintained contact with MK2. So far, the overseas copyright buyout and box office revenue of "The Third Man" combined have exceeded 5 million US dollars. MK2’s agency fee is 14 points, and after deducting DreamWorks’ distribution fees and taxes, it means that it can earn at least four million US dollars. According to the current exchange rate of 1:8.27, there are more than 30 million!
If domestic box office revenue is included, the return rate is even more than ten times.
This was also the biggest confidence that Li Tang finally made up his mind to set up his own business.
"Okay, let Jiajia contact the company then."
Li Tang's words made Zeng Jia somewhat embarrassed. After all, she had not formally submitted her resignation to the company. However, she has always been a girl with a strong heart. She immediately adjusted her mentality and said to Nai'an: "I'm sorry, Sister An, I want to go with Brother Li."
"Decided?"
Nai'an looked at Zeng Jia with a look of regret and said, "After Li Tang leaves, your work is over, but your ability is obvious to all. Originally, I wanted you to be the vice president of the company."
Although Dreamwork Art Company is small in scale, it is a mature film and television investment and production company. From the perspective of a worker, the position of Vice President of Dream Work is definitely much more attractive than the head of Li Tang Studio, where everything is still in the initial stage.
In other words, if Zeng Jia can work as the vice president of Dream Work for two or three years, he can definitely move to a larger platform to display his ambitions.
Although the current domestic box office market is still very sluggish, as a film and television practitioner, we know very well that with the rapid development of the domestic economy, people's lives are getting better day by day, and their material needs are met, and their spiritual needs are bound to increase. Growing bigger and bigger, the film and television entertainment industry will definitely be a blue ocean in the near future.
Since it is a blue ocean, the platform is very important.
When Li Tang heard Nai'an's words, he couldn't help but look at Zeng Jia. If Zeng Jia really chooses to stay, then he may have to reconsider his plan to start his own business. After all, it is not easy to find a person like Zeng Jia who is knowledgeable and capable and can make the studio run normally. matter.
Zeng Jia did not hesitate at all, and said with an apologetic look: "Sister An, thank you for thinking so highly of me. But I'm afraid I will let down your kindness. Brother Li and I are used to working together, and I still want to follow Brother Li to have a career." I want to try my abilities at the same time."
"You really don't think about it?" Nai'an looked at her and asked seriously.
Zeng Jia still shook her head firmly: "I'm sorry!"
"All right."
Nai'an finally sighed and said to Li Tang, "You still look more attractive than me!"
This sentence can easily cause ambiguity, and Li Tang didn't know how to say it for a moment.
Fortunately, Nai'an looked at Zeng Jia again and said: "Go back to the company and go through the resignation procedures. You have made a lot of contributions to the company in the past two years, and you must be compensated. I don't want to be said to have treated employees badly."
Zeng Jia secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly showed a sweet smile: "Thank you, Sister An."
Nai'an really valued Zeng Jia. When she was pregnant and giving birth last year, it was Zeng Jia who helped her manage the company. I can't say that her achievements were outstanding, but at least she didn't delay things.
"Today's meal can be considered our breakup meal! Li Tang, in any case, our cooperation this time is fate. Although I am not a competent agent, I still have some connections in this literary and art circle. I will have some connections in the future. If you need help with anything, just ask..."
Li Tang opened his mouth to express his gratitude, but Nai An waved his hand: "Listen to me first. I made a mistake this time and missed the golden doll of "The Third Man". But in the future, if Don’t forget if there are any good opportunities left!”
"I promise I won't forget it!" Li Tang's chest was slapped loudly.
"Oh, by the way, I almost forgot about the real thing."
As he spoke, Nai'an took out a stack of printed manuscripts from his bag and handed it over: "The script for Lou Ye's new movie has been released. You can take a look first."
Lou Ye has been preparing for this cooperation with Shanghai Film Studio for more than half a year. Li Tang thought it was still the "Summer Palace" book he had read last time, but he picked it up and saw the three words "Purple Butterfly" on the cover.
Purple butterfly?
Has the name been changed?
When he turned to the first page, he saw the first sentence: "1928, Manchuria. Japanese translator Itami Hidehiko left his Chinese lover Ding Hui and returned to Tokyo. A few years later, when he came to Shanghai, he had become a spy..."
Hey, new script!
Just when Li Tang wanted to continue reading, he heard Nai'an say: "Stop reading, take it back and read again. We all said today is a breakup dinner, come on, come on, have a drink!"
After the business talk was over, the next step was, of course, drinking.
At the end of the day, Nai An drank a little too much. He took out a small card with a yellow cover from his bag and threw it to Li Tang and said, "The room has been opened for you. It's at Wangzhuang opposite. You can go there by yourself."
Then he turned back to Zeng Jia and said, "Jiajia, take me home. You are about to leave. It is a rare opportunity for us two sisters to have a good chat."
Zeng Jia is a big drinker, and a bottle and a half of red wine is too much for her. There were no drunk driving checks these days, so she gave Li Tang the keys to the Nissan Bluebird and drove Nai'an's new Audi A6 to take Nai'an home.
Don’t drive when you drink, don’t drink when you drive.
This rule has long been deeply ingrained in Li Tang's bones.
Wangzhuang is very close to Red Clay Casserole, and it takes about ten minutes to walk there.
As one of the two major state hotels in Hangzhou, there are armed police standing guard at the gate, and you can only enter after checking the key card. This is a good thing for stars like Li Tang, who can at least avoid harassment from reporters and fans.
Building No. 5, double bed room facing the lake. The large glass window is only two or three meters away from the shore of the West Lake. Looking around, the other side of the dark lake is the busiest Hubin Road in Hangzhou.
After taking a hot shower, I sat down next to the large glass window in the leadership office that I had only seen on TV or on the old-fashioned wood-framed fabric spring sofa at home, and I couldn't wait to read the script of "Purple Butterfly".
At the dinner table, he asked Nai'an about the script. Lou Ye originally started writing this script more than ten years ago and revised it intermittently several times, but shelved it until there was no good opportunity.
When cooperating with Shanghai Film Studio this time, Lou Ye originally wanted to shoot "Summer Palace", but the time point involved in this book was too sensitive and he couldn't even mention it, so he gave it a pass during the internal review of Shanghai Film Studio. Lost.
Originally, Lou Ye would definitely not compromise easily based on his level of strength, but this time the Shanghai Film Studio gave him too much, with a quota of 30 million. Lou Ye had never fought for such a wealthy life. You must know that when I was filming "Suzhou River", I was still scrambling for an investment of one to two million. What's more, if he can lift the ban in advance this time, he must give the General Administration some face and cannot always embarrass others with sensitive subjects.
So Lou Ye compromised and came up with the script that had been prepared for more than ten years without a script.
The script is about 50,000 to 60,000 words long. Li Tang spent almost an hour reading it carefully. Although the words were full of depressing emotions, Li Tang's first feeling after reading it was that he wanted to laugh.
Lou Ye is still the same Lou Ye.
At first glance, this script seems to be a Wei Zhengguang script describing the anti-Japanese war. But if you look closely, you will find that this script is just a shell of anti-Japanese. What Lou Ye really wanted to portray was Shanghai of that era, and the love between men and women in that era.
To put it bluntly, it is almost the same as "Suzhou River", but the times are different. And compared to the illusion of "Suzhou River", "Purple Butterfly" is more realistic.
(End of chapter)
