Chapter 464: International Red

"This is Mr. Schmidt Lawley, the boss of the American Green Valley Film Company."

After the media meeting ended, Tang Mu White brought Schmidt Lawley to meet the creators of *Road to Glory* and introduced him to Lu Yan He and the others.

Although Lu Yan He hadn't heard of the American Green Valley Film Company, since it was introduced by Tang Mu White, it definitely wasn't a shell company.

Everyone chatted with each other and exchanged contact information. Because Lu Yan He and the others had other schedules later, they could only chat briefly and then hurried away.

After leaving, Fu Kai said: "I thought that Schmidt was interested in our movie and was coming to talk about copyright purchase and distribution."

Lu Yan He said: "He might have this idea."

"Hm?" Fu Kai was somewhat surprised. "How so? He didn't mention it at all."

Lu Yan He: "These film merchants won't talk business with you right away. They have to suppress the price with us, so when they meet and chat for the first time, they won't show very strong interest—unless it's a play that has been very concerned and looks very popular at first glance."

Fu Kai had no experience in selling films at film festivals.

Shang Yongzhou added: "Another thing is, our movie has only received warm feedback from the audience at the scene, and the media evaluation hasn't officially come out yet. Film merchants will choose to wait and see at this time, waiting for the media's evaluation."

Why has the role played by critics in Chinese movies always been inferior to that in Europe and the United States?

There are various reasons, one of which is very important: their comments and attitudes have not really participated in the economic industrial chain of movies.

Before the rise of online media, their attitude was one of the limited channels for a large number of audiences to understand a movie, so no film company wanted to offend critics; on the contrary, they had to try their best to get along with them.

After the rise of online media, their influence was greatly weakened, and the impact on a movie's box office was visibly weakened, but there are still places like film festivals that retain places where they can play a role. Media scoring is the most important evaluation scale for film festivals besides the final big award. Movie fans all over the world are waiting for media scores to adjust their expectations for them. And film merchants from all over the world cannot wait until they have thought clearly before making a decision.

A movie pops up, there are many people fighting for it, and no one will give you a month or two to slowly make a decision on whether to buy it or not.

At this time, it relies heavily on the vision of the film selector and media scoring.

Fu Kai was also very nervous about what kind of media score *Road to Glory* could get.

Lu Yan He, on the other hand, had a count in his heart silently after watching the movie.

The basic plate of this movie is all there. How high it can go in the future is more about luck. Whether a good movie can become a good movie known by many people depends on the right time, the right place, and the right people. For a movie like *Road to Glory*, even if you make marketing into a flower, it is impossible to achieve the box office and influence of commercial movies. It is destined to take a longer road, and the only way to shorten the long distance is to rely on winning awards, relying on recommendations from media and famous critics, to take the shortcut belonging to this type of movie.

Several critics have already published their views and attitudes on their social media for the first time.

From the feedback collected so far, except for Yongshan Hesan saying in a non-yin-non-yang way that *Road to Glory* looks like an old movie dug out from twenty years ago, everyone's evaluation is positive. It's not that there are no places to criticize, but the overall evaluation is affirmative.

France's *Film* magazine evaluated: "If *Road to Glory* was shortlisted for the main competition section, this year's Best Actor would most likely come from this movie. The director is maintaining the restraint of the lens and picture from beginning to end, presenting a flowing sense of balance through the introverted and precise performances of the two actors. If its flaw is that the theme expression is too straightforward and not advanced enough, then its advantage lies in its high unity and completeness in scheduling, performance, and film style."

Italy's *Guardian* magazine evaluated: "It's been about four or five years since I saw Shang Yongzhou bring his new work to the film festival. He, who has been appearing in commercial comedies in recent years, has returned to his most proficient field, playing a person suffering from a terminal illness and facing death. His performance showed unprecedented restraint. Under the extremely restrained calm appearance, there is an emotional tension that seems to be about to erupt like a volcano. The rival scene, which seems to be evenly matched with another actor, is actually firmly controlled by him from beginning to end."

America's *Variety* magazine evaluated: "The darling of major world film festivals in the past two years—Lu Yan He, joined hands with the once-popular Chinese male actor Shang Yongzhou to bring this masterpiece, which moved many people. I think the most competitive film in this year's Horizons section has appeared. In addition, it is said that an American film company has taken a fancy to this movie and wants to buy the North American distribution rights and formulate an Oscar-chasing plan for it. Whether the news is true or not, let us wait and see."

For *Road to Glory*, the praise from major media gave it the capital to look forward to.

Because for a movie like *Road to Glory*, reputation and awards are its biggest reliance.

Lu Yan He, Shang Yongzhou, and Fu Kai all took advantage of the trend to accept some interviews, using this most traditional way of publicity, at a film festival that has been traditional for decades, to seize everyone's attention to this movie, rather than letting its good reputation ferment for a moment and then naturally dissipate.

Not being shortlisted for the main competition section also has the benefits of not being shortlisted.

Everyone naturally won't look at films in non-main competition sections with a judgmental eye. Therefore, the scrutiny encountered is also much less.

At noon that day, Fu Kai, Shang Yongzhou, and Lu Yan He invited all Chinese media friends to eat together to express their gratitude.

This meal was arranged by Shang Yongzhou, and he paid for it himself.

When the meal started, Fu Kai smiled and said: "My budget for filming this movie was so tight that I couldn't even take out the normal PR funds to treat everyone to a meal, and Shang Yongzhou had to pay for it."

Media friends made kind laughter.

They are all relatively knowledgeable about this line of work. For a film like *Road to Glory*, even if it has two big stars, Shang Yongzhou and Lu Yan He, it is impossible to get much production funding—they are not some people on the Internet who don't understand the market, opening their mouths and saying "such big stars, can they still lack investment?". In the art film market, it is really lacking. No matter how big the star comes, the investor has to calculate the account. The ceiling of the art film box office is right there. The bigger your star, the higher the production cost. It can be said that if Lu Yan He and Shang Yongzhou didn't lower their salaries to act, the investors couldn't afford their salaries—because they couldn't recover the costs.

"Thanks to the Best Actor!" Guan Sucheng, a very active entertainment critic in China, was also there today and raised his glass. "I am really too moved. It's been a long time since I saw the Best Actor act in this kind of movie. The acting is as cow as ever."

Shang Yongzhou had a smile on his lips.

"I see many foreign media and critics are also praising the acting of the two of you," Zhou Yuan, editor of *Film Jianghu*, also said. "It's really a pity. If *Road to Glory* was shortlisted for the main competition section, maybe this year's Venice International Film Festival Best Actor and Best Actress would be swept by our Chinese actors."

Now, Ning Xiulian of *Happy Hour* is still at the top of the Best Actress guessing list of various media.

Fu Kai said: "It's mainly because I dragged it down. If I wasn't shortlisted for the international film festival for the first time, *Road to Glory* would have been selected for the main competition section."

This is actually one of the facts.

In the vision of the international film festival, the biggest shortcoming of *Road to Glory* is that the director is a director who only filmed commercial comedies before. Once he went abroad, no one knew him.

Shang Yongzhou said: "*Road to Glory* is your self-written and self-directed work. Without you, there would be no such work. The Horizons section is also a competition section, and Venice is not its end point."

Lu Yan He nodded and said: "Yes, this is just the beginning. It's not that only winning an award in Venice is a real award. This movie will become our representative work in the future, which is more important than winning an award or not."

Neither of the two actors wanted Fu Kai to think at this moment that it was his own reason that caused *Road to Glory*'s results to be dragged down.

At this moment when he should have been enjoying the peak of his career glory, the least necessary thing was to suddenly become self-deprecating again.

At this time, the mobile phones of many people at the table vibrated or made a sound at the same time.

Guan Sucheng picked up his phone in confusion, and then showed a look of shock.

"Yu Qin announced that her new movie will start filming today, filming a brand new film with the Venice International Film Festival as the background?!" Guan Sucheng exclaimed and read out the message she received. "Starring Ning Xiulian and Chen Ziliang? What?!"

At the table, almost everyone showed an unbelievable, greatly shocked expression.

Lu Yan He and Shang Yongzhou and the others had known about the news of this play for a long time. Hearing Guan Sucheng say it out now, they weren't too surprised, just didn't expect that this movie actually started filming.

In the ever-changing film and television circle, Yu Qin's behavior of filming as soon as she says, acting swiftly, and building a group immediately, will more or less bring some shock to these practitioners.

If every director or producer had her execution, maybe many projects wouldn't have died halfway.

Guan Sucheng looked at Lu Yan He and the others and asked: "You... did you already know this news in advance? Why do I feel that the three of you are not surprised at all?"

Lu Yan He said the truth: "We heard about this before."

Guan Sucheng asked in surprise: "So, is this true?"

She even didn't quite believe it.

Mainly because this thing sounds quite unreliable.

Coming to participate in the film festival properly, suddenly wanting to film a movie?

The media people present were all a bit stunned.

Lu Yan He and the others didn't participate in Yu Qin's movie, so it's not easy to say too much.

But Guan Sucheng and the others really wanted to find out some news.

After all, *Happy Hour* is now a hot favorite for awards at this year's Venice International Film Festival. Yu Qin and Ning Xiulian are collaborating again to film a new work. Any bit of relevant news will definitely be paid attention to by many people.

Lu Yan He said in a joking tone: "Friends, today at noon, our *Road to Glory* is treating everyone to a meal. Everyone is interested in their new play, so wait until this meal is over before going to find out the news! Anyway, the Chinese media who came to Venice are all here, and no one can lead anyone."

As soon as he said this, everyone came back to their senses.

"Yes, yes, yes."

"Yan He, don't worry, *Road to Glory* has such a good reputation here, we will definitely help you do a good job of publicity."

"Of course I'm relieved, I know everyone of you, and I've read the drafts you wrote," Lu Yan He said. "No one is allowed to be perfunctory. I will read them one by one. If they are written too perfunctorily, I won't repost them then."

He was in a joking tone on purpose.

But saying this is actually reminding these media people.

Everyone responded with laughter.

Because of the good reputation of *Road to Glory* at the film festival, the distribution company also communicated with Fu Kai, whether to take advantage of this heat and release it in the near future?

It just so happened that the two lead actors were there, and Fu Kai also asked Lu Yan He and Shang Yongzhou for their opinions.

Lu Yan He looked at Shang Yongzhou.

Shang Yongzhou shook his head directly, saying he didn't understand these things.

He only cares about acting.

Lu Yan He thought for a while and said: "Actually, if *Road to Glory* doesn't win a big award, I think it's better not to easily rub the heat of the film festival to set a schedule. September itself is not a month with a very high box office market. After all, few people in China pay attention to the news of the film festival. Only some movie fans who are truly interested in film art will pay attention."

"With such a short promotion time, it may not be able to push this film to most potential audiences. I think for a film like *Road to Glory*, we can do more advance screenings and special screenings."

"Because once it is publicly released, the attendance rate of our movie will definitely not be high, and there will be many audiences who don't know the truth, rushing to the movies you directed before, or rushing to the star status of Shixiong and me. They may not be able to accept this non-commercial narrative style. After watching it, they feel deceived, which instead affects the reputation of the film. It is better to use special screenings or advance screenings to slowly spread the reputation."

Lu Yan He can be considered to have some understanding of the film industry.

Now Lu Yan He also gradually feels that the domestic cinema release mode is actually quite "big pot rice" and "one size fits all."

No matter if it's an action movie, comedy, visual blockbuster, or art film, it's all released on a large scale nationwide in one breath. If it's tough, it can keep its own scheduling rate and defend its position. If it's not tough, some art films will lose their scheduling rate the day after release and directly declare failure.

Like the North American practice of small-scale release and then slowly increasing the number of cinemas, people have their own historical traditions and industry models, and it is impossible to copy them to China.

But Lu Yan He feels that for art films that are destined not to attract a large number of audiences in a short period of time, they should actually take the long-term release mode.

For a movie like *Road to Glory*, with him and Shang Yongzhou starring, the first-day box office can be 20 or 30 million, which is amazing. The final box office can be over 100 million, which is a huge success. In fact, it is very likely that the final box office will only be 30 or 40 million—the subject matter of the movie is placed here. Except for true fans and true movie fans, not many people will buy tickets to enter the cinema just to see their faces.

In this way, the number of days this movie can truly survive in the cinema line may be less than two weeks, and even after the first week passes, the daily box office will fall to seven digits.

By the time the movie slowly ferments, more and more people learn about this movie through accidental channels, or become interested because of a good review from people around them, and are ready to watch it, the cinema has no scheduling. The market has declared its departure.

Lu Yan He's proposal is to stretch the battle line.

At first, it may only be to set up movie sessions in a few major ticket warehouse cities, one session a day, or two sessions.

In this way, a city may only have 100 to 200 audiences who can grab tickets a day.

With such small-scale screenings, not only is the attendance rate high, but those who will grab tickets to watch this movie are also likely to be the true audience of this movie. Therefore, the early audience reputation can slowly accumulate and spread. Once there is a lot of discussion about this movie, naturally, the number of audiences who enter the cinema without knowing the situation will decrease, and the number of audiences who are interested in this type of movie and walk into the cinema will increase, and the gathering effect formed by reputation will also slowly show up.

By this time, conducting a nationwide release again may have much better results.

Pushing movies to the market is the logic of operating products.

How to make it sell well is the core thinking. At this time, good reputation is not its amulet, but its advertising slogan.

Lu Yan He's suggestion was listened to by Fu Kai.

Fu Kai seriously communicated with the people of the distribution company about this mode.

Screenings are what every movie will do.

However, using two weeks or even longer to do organized screenings is a time-consuming and labor-intensive thing that may not be effective.

Because it has not become an industry practice. Things that have not formed an industry practice mean the cost superposition of communication costs, coordination costs, and operating costs.

However, after the people of the distribution company seriously studied it, the feedback to Fu Kai was that they thought *Road to Glory* was suitable for such an attempt.

Especially after Schmidt Lawley of the American Green Valley Film Company formally proposed to the *Road to Glory* film party that he wanted to buy the distribution rights in Europe and the United States and arrange for *Road to Glory* to sprint for this year's North American awards season, the domestic distribution company firmed up the idea of making such an attempt.

"If *Road to Glory* can really make some sound in the North American awards season, the screening sessions of *Road to Glory* can be completely arranged in combination with the rhythm of the North American awards season," the distribution company said.

Based on Lu Yan He's ideas, they proposed a bolder idea.

Start very small-scale screenings in China in September.

By October, when the nominations and awards for the precursor awards of the North American awards season are announced, if *Road to Glory* can really get one or two nominations, then continue special screenings to rub the influence and publicity heat of the North American awards season. If *Road to Glory* can't make any splash, then start a nationwide release after the National Day holiday in October, relying on domestic film awards in late October and November to sprint for the box office.

"Since this is an award-winning film, don't let the awards just do the work of adding luster, but also let the influence of those awards bring some real box office to the movie," the people of the distribution company said so.

"1.5 million US dollars, buy out the European and American distribution rights."

This is the condition proposed by Schmidt Lawley.

Because Fu Kai really has no experience in this regard, and the people in his production company have no experience in international transactions, in the end, Lu Yan He and Shang Yongzhou were helping Fu Kai come up with ideas.

Lu Yan He shook his head.

Fu Kai said: "Don't agree? This price seems to be not low anymore."

Indeed, converted into RMB, it is also nearly 10 million.

It can almost cover the production cost of *Road to Glory*.

Lu Yan He said: "Buying out means that any copyright income of this film in Europe and the United States in the future has nothing to do with you. Whether they are released in cinemas, or online copyrights, or some family entertainment copyright income such as DVDs, all added together, it is definitely not just this number. Not to mention anything else, for this movie of ours, HP came to buy our global streaming copyright outside of mainland China, and it is not just this number."

This is not a small film that really has no selling point.

The names of Lu Yan He and Shang Yongzhou are not worth just this little number in the European and American film markets. Not to mention, it also received such high media evaluation at the Venice International Film Festival.

"1.5 million US dollars, if it is only a buyout for the North American region, I can relatively accept it, but adding Europe? He is underestimating the price that such a movie that has achieved such attention and reputation at the Venice International Film Festival can sell for in the European market."

And soon, film merchants from other countries and regions came to quote.

The praise of media and critics and the extremely high field publication score of 3.4 points were all converted into clinking money at this moment.

Film merchants from several countries such as Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Russia all gave prices not lower than 500,000 US dollars, and high ones like the United Kingdom gave 1.2 million US dollars for the copyright of one country alone.

Fu Kai never thought that filming such a movie would be so popular in the international market.

"For any top film festival, awards are secondary. The key is that its influence can add a zero to the price of the movie, or even several zeros," Lu Yan He said.

Effectively promoting film sales is the foundation for major film festivals to stand tall for many years.

Many art films, if they don't achieve such good feedback and reputation like *Road to Glory*, may only sell for 100,000 or even tens of thousands of US dollars in a single market. But selling in dozens of markets is also a not-small number, and even for many art films, finally selling for hundreds of thousands of US dollars is also a big profit.

Fu Kai just doesn't understand, so he doesn't understand that the movie he filmed has surpassed the domestic definition of art films.

In China, because making money from movies can basically only rely on cinema lines, it leads to the impression that "art films don't make money."

In fact, in the European and American markets where art films have been made for decades, they have complete and rich sales channels, from DVD sales to disc rental, from TV broadcast rights to broadcast rights in airplanes, trains, and other special spaces, from traditional cinema release to streaming media playback, they have too many channels to collect money.

It's not that art films make a lot of money in Europe and the United States, which is of course unrealistic, but that in Europe and the United States, art films have a complete industrial chain that can make money.

Fortunately, Chen Ziyan is here, and Linyu is also here.

One understands negotiation, and one understands film translation.

After three consultations and negotiations, in the end, Schmidt Lawley bought out all the copyrights of *Road to Glory* in North America for 2.3 million US dollars. He gave up the European market. At this time, Lu Yan He also knew that the American Green Valley Film Company had not yet established a complete distribution channel in Europe. If they agreed to buy out both Europe and the United States directly to him at that time, he estimated that he would also resell it to European companies and make a big profit himself.

After Fu Kai found out, he scolded Schmidt Lawley for being a real turtle grandson.

Lu Yan He was happy, saying: "People are also doing business in business."

In the next few days, Fu Kai was busy negotiating with film merchants from various countries.

Under Lu Yan He's suggestion, Fu Kai basically chose the buyout mode.

"If you choose to let them distribute, and you and the production company continue to enjoy the share, to be honest, now we have no ability at all to ensure that they will give us the share that should be given to us," Lu Yan He said bluntly. "They are all experienced film merchants. They can try every means to make the movie a loss in their country and region. In the end, we won't get a penny, and we have nowhere to reason. In this state now, you buy it out at once, and getting the money in your hands is the most worry-free."

Because of Lu Yan He's reminder, Fu Kai avoided selling the European and American copyrights to Schmidt Lawley for 1.5 million US dollars. He trusted Lu Yan He's suggestions very much.

As a result, in just a few days, *Road to Glory* negotiated the copyrights of more than a dozen countries and regions, started drafting agreements, and the total amount has reached more than 7 million. If the follow-up goes smoothly, maybe just the international copyright sales, *Road to Glory* can sell for a high price of more than 10 million US dollars—without counting domestic income, it is a big profit.

Fu Kai was so excited that the smile on his face hadn't gone down for these few days.

He even asked Lu Yan He privately: "My next movie can actually continue to film a movie like *Road to Glory*? I thought it was really going to lose a lot, and I was prepared to lose money to film it, but I didn't expect it to sell to so many countries and places."

Lu Yan He said with a smile: "Don't be impulsive, Director. The reason why *Road to Glory* can sell so well is because it was shortlisted for the Venice International Film Festival, and because it received good reviews and good feedback from the media here. If there were no such things, the number you sold would have to subtract a zero, maybe even more."

Fu Kai woke up immediately.

But after a while, he couldn't help but sigh: "Who said art films can't make money, who said coming to the film festival is losing money to earn a shout, it's really sitting in a well and watching the sky."

Lu Yan He smiled without saying a word.

The popularity of *Road to Glory* among international film merchants also began to be slowly thrown out by domestic distribution companies, warming up for the movie and maintaining its heat on social media.

Basically, there is news every day.

American Green Valley Film Company took the North American distribution rights for seven figures in US dollars!

French Caesar Film Company took the French distribution rights at a high price!

German XX Company took the German distribution rights and announced that it would be released on a large scale in Germany!

In short, these news and publicity are based on facts, carrying out fuzzy exaggeration, creating an image of the movie being super red and super popular, hanging the appetite of domestic audiences, and letting everyone start to accumulate expectant emotions for the movie release.

At the same time, the Venice International Film Festival was finally coming to an end, ushering in the end.

At this time, a piece of news suddenly came out of Yu Qin's new film crew.

—Yu Qin is suspected of being very dissatisfied with Chen Ziliang's acting skills and wants to change people to reshoot.

When hearing this news, Lu Yan He was chatting with Shang Yongzhou in a bookstore cafe.

The two looked at each other.

Lu Yan He said silently: "Why... hearing such news, I don't feel surprised at all?"

Shang Yongzhou smiled.

Lu Yan He asked puzzledly: "Who released such news?"

Shang Yongzhou shook his head.

At this time, Chen Ziyan came in.

"Did you see the news?" Chen Ziyan asked Lu Yan He.

Lu Yan He nodded.

This look is asking about the Yu Qin new film crew.

Chen Ziyan said: "Do you know what Guan Sucheng told me? Guess who released the news that Yu Qin is dissatisfied with Chen Ziliang's acting?"

Chen Ziyan's two eyes were glowing.

Lu Yan He: "I didn't want to guess like this, but since you asked, I think I guessed right before."

Chen Ziyan laughed.

"Ning-laoshi is really... the wrist is powerful enough," Lu Yan He sighed.

Chen Ziyan: "It depends on how determined Yu Qin is to film this movie."

Lu Yan He recalled the sentence Ning Xiulian said to her in his mind.

—You've collaborated with Yu Qin on a movie, so you'll be like me. Rather than worrying so much, it's better to go crazy with her.

Ning Xiulian should know that with Yu Qin's personality, no matter how much she opposes, she cannot stop Yu Qin's idea of wanting to film this movie.

Therefore, she does not do useless obstruction.

Entering the crew, you Yu Qin can go crazy to film a movie to satirize me, and I can also go crazy to make your crew smoky and chicken-flying-dog-jumping.

Lu Yan He sighed again, these two women, really not one is a fuel-efficient lamp.

The closing ceremony came just like that.

The *Road to Glory* crew received an official invitation from the film festival, indicating that they must have an award in the Horizons section.

They also ran into Yu Qin and Ning Xiulian in the red carpet waiting area.

However, the two of them didn't stand together, but each chatted and laughed with the people around them, as if the other didn't exist.

Even if they saw them, they greeted them staggered.

Lu Yan He: "..."

How should he describe his mood?

He felt that after many years, when he recalled this Venice International Film Festival, the most impressive thing would definitely not be the glory of *Road to Glory*, but these two women.

In the entertainment circle, he can be considered to have seen some extreme people.

For example, Chen Ziliang, who has two faces inside and outside the lens, for example, Meng Li, who makes people feel that their mental state is abnormal, for example, Ma Zhiyuan, who has a bad character, for example, Zhou Changying, the director of *Behind the Golden Clothes*, who will do anything to achieve his goals.

However, Yu Qin and Ning Xiulian are the first two people he has seen for so long who are truly talented and full of personality, and can even be said to be a bit paranoid.

Lu Yan He felt that some of the characteristics of these two people, if put into a movie, would also be an absolutely dramatic existence.

Of course, just like the story of the female star Yu Qin told.

Lu Yan He took a deep breath.

Fortunately, fortunately, the people he truly gets along with are all people who can get along well, have principles and bottom lines.

Lu Yan He was thinking about these things while hearing the award presenter announce that the Best Film of the Horizons section of this year's Venice International Film Festival is *Road to Glory*.

Lu Yan He just came back to his senses to congratulate Director Fu Kai, and as soon as he turned his head, he saw Director Fu Kai's face full of excitement, and heard him sigh in a low voice: "Oh, sold at a loss."

"..." ===== CHAPTER 465 =====