Chapter 421: Office Experience: A Thousand-Mile Horse Is Not Always Found

With the implementation of the China-US agreement, this year's Beijing International Film Festival is in full swing.

Although the film festival was only established last year, there are quite a lot of films coming to show support and participate, and both the quality and quantity can be described as unprecedented.

In the end, the organizing committee selected over 260 films from nearly a thousand submissions from 74 countries and regions to be screened at this year's festival.

Most of them are films that have won awards or nominations at the European Big Three, the Oscar, and various other international film festivals.

Therefore, the domestic side attaches great importance to this film festival, almost intending to bring out the entire film industry's representative faces.

At this moment, Wei Jin is surrounded by a massive number of various invitations for this film festival.

"Lao Chen, this is too much."

International Film Forum, Film Enterprise Forum, Director Forum, Producer Forum—looking at the signatures on each invitation letter, Wei Jin is somewhat between laughter and tears.

"President Wei, it's because we are too excellent."

Lao Chen is rarely humorous, and Wei Jin can only resign himself to it.

Not to mention state-owned enterprises like China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group, which must be present; among private companies, Shanhe Media is the most dazzling, so how could the organizers not invite it? Not to mention that he also holds numerous awards such as the Palme d'Or, Golden Bear, Silver Lion, and Oscar.

In fact, Wei Jin also knows that it is not just Shanhe Media and himself, but also notable industry players like Huayi, Enlight Media, Bona, and famous directors like Chen Shiren, Zhang Yimou, and Jiang Wen, who have all received invitations from all sides.

To be honest, Wei Jin is truly not interested in this kind of vanity project; the purpose of people coming to show support is almost an open secret—they are aiming for the domestic market.

But he cannot resist the leaders' desire for political achievements; he really cannot refuse the invitations from the city and the General Administration.

"Lao Chen, how about this: you represent the company to attend those enterprise forums, producer forums, and the like, and I will go to the rest that cannot be pushed away."

After some thought, Wei Jin offered a compromise.

"Okay."

Just as Chen Zhiming was about to leave, Wei Jin suddenly called him back, "Lao Chen, there is one more thing: next month's Cannes Film Festival, you lead a team to go."

"Is it about the copyright?"

"Yes, for Bottom-Tier Girl, except for Southeast Asia distribution, all other regions will be traded in the form of copyright."

Wei Jin has considered this matter very clearly.

Although it is a low-budget inspirational film, the values of Bottom-Tier Girl have universal applicability, the foreigners' acceptance will be very high, and the copyright price should not be low.

But if one looks for a distributor, it might not necessarily earn more than copyright, and it takes a long time, which is quite troublesome.

As for why not sell it at the Beijing International Film Festival? Who told him that the Cannes Film Festival is the world's largest copyright trading market? "Fine, leave it to me, President Wei."

Lao Chen nods; he has been responsible for copyright trading many times and can be described as familiar with the road.

"Hmm, go get busy."

Mid-April, Kung Fu Jungle is about to start filming, and Wei Jin met with the main creative team in the office.

Whether it is Lu Yang, or Zhao Wenzhuo, Wang Baoqiang, and Bai Bin, their faces all carry a sense of excitement and anticipation.

The former three might be looking forward to the wonderful script and the fun brought by the film after their respective efforts, while the latter might be looking forward to "This time, don't rush to start filming; get familiar with the shooting environment first."

Hearing Wei Jin's instructions, Lu Yang understood after a little thought; although the Golden Harvest team is already very mature and has Emperor Motion Pictures assisting from the side, for a director like him, Hong Kong is ultimately a strange environment, and getting familiar with it in advance can make the shooting go more smoothly.

"In addition, although the Hong Kong Circle has recently quieted down, there is no guarantee that someone with low intelligence won't do something extreme, so when shooting, you still need to be careful. If there is a problem, contact President Shi and Emperor Motion Pictures at the first opportunity."

Speaking of this, Wei Jin paused and added, "Also, the scenes can be adjusted; put the minor scenes at the end."

"Yes, Senior Brother, I know."

Lu Yang nods; after all, Saving Mr. Wu is to be released at the end of May, and he still has to participate in some promotion and roadshow activities, so some unimportant transition scenes can be reshot after the film is released.

After finishing the serious business, Lu Yang's face carried a trace of gossipy interest.

"Senior Brother, do you think Boss Yang is very angry recently?"

As soon as Lu Yang said this, the faces of the few people in the meeting room showed curiosity, even the usually honest Wang Baoqiang was no exception; it seems everyone has a heart for gossip.

"At the welcome banquet, you can ask him personally, haha."

Wei Jin shakes his head with a smile; this year's Hong Kong Film Awards, as expected, Emperor Motion Pictures had two films with a total of 14 nominations and came away empty-handed.

However, this is not a big deal; there were already speculations in the circle about the candidate group photo earlier, and Wei Jin even received a direct reply from Boss Yang, so Boss Yang would definitely not care about not winning an award; the key lies in the Hong Kong Circle's antics.

The crew of Let the Bullets Fly clearly did not attend, but at the awards ceremony, they were mentioned again and again, and the implication of being a stepping stone and being mocked was very strong.

Jiang Wen, with his explosive temper, wrote a short essay directly on Weibo, the kind that doesn't contain a single dirty word in the whole text.

But Wei Jin thinks that the elegant Boss Yang should have a bigger heart, right?

By contrast, Xu Anhua had a fruitful harvest here.

A Simple Life swept five major awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Golden Horse Best Actress, and Best Screenplay, becoming the well-deserved biggest winner of this year's Hong Kong Film Awards.

This is already the fourth time Xu Anhua has won Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards; although this is a recognition and praise for her strength, from another level, isn't it also that Hong Kong is already in its twilight years and there are no more directors who can be brought out? After giving instructions, everyone dispersed one after another, only Bai Bin remained in the office, looking at Wei Jin with spring in her eyes.

"Boss, I miss you so much."

While speaking, Bai Bin had already taken the initiative to sit on Wei Jin's lap and unbuttoned the buttons on her chest.

Seeing this, Wei Jin naturally cooperated with Bai Bin, one hand wandering on her black-silk-clad beautiful legs, and his face buried in them.

"Hmm~~ Boss is so great~~~"

Bai Bin, who hadn't eaten meat for more than four months, couldn't help but start singing soon, and she was very much looking forward to the story that followed.

Come to think of it, since 2008, Bai Bin hadn't been in the boss's office for four years, and her mood became increasingly excited.

Time was limited, and Wei Jin didn't have much foreplay; after tasting it for a while, he stood up, pressed Xiaobai onto the table with one hand, lifted her skirt, and covered her beautiful buttocks with both hands.

Just as he was about to proceed according to the usual rules, Wei Jin suddenly remembered something.

"Xiaobai, these stockings of yours..." "Boss, I have more in my bag, feel free to tear them."

As soon as Bai Bin's voice fell, she heard a "rip" sound and instantly felt a bit cold. "Boss~~~"

"Xiaobai, don't rush, there is plenty of time."

Two hours later, Bai Bin, with the flush still not faded from her face, set off from Beijing with the crew members for Hong Kong.

"Director Lu Yang and actors Zhao Wenzhuo, Wang Baoqiang, and a group of Shanhe Media staff rushed to Hong Kong today."

"It is estimated that the film Kung Fu Jungle is about to start filming!"

In the film market, *Titanic* was truly unstoppable; its second-week drop was quite small, and it raked in over 200 million more at the box office, bringing its total box office to 760 million.

All production companies in Mainland China were green with envy; this box office was truly heading toward 1 billion.

However, what was somewhat funny was that the film's producers actually went to apply for an Extended Key, but the result was as expected: it was rejected on the spot by the General Administration.

Although the extension was unsuccessful, its daily box office approaching 40 million still caused significant losses for domestic films.

*Whiplash*, on the other hand, bit off nearly 70 million in box office over the week, with its total box office breaking through 200 million, smoothly refreshing the box office record for domestic art-house films.

This caused a large number of industry insiders, especially film companies, to take notice.

One must know that in the past, art-house films were almost never associated with box office, and only a few art-house films had broken this curse.

Many art-house film directors were thinking about whether they could replicate the box office miracle of *Whiplash*.

The final conclusion reached was very helpless; first of all, the script itself made it unlikely, and secondly, one would need a director with the drawing power of Wei Jin, which is truly difficult.

"Strictly speaking, *Whiplash* is more like a drama film; I can't pull that off."

Facing the reporter's interview, Zhang Yimou smiled and shook his head.

"This is good news; for the entire art-house film market, it is definitely a benefit!"

When the veteran art-house filmmaker Jia Kezhang accepted an interview, he gave it a very high evaluation.

Looking at Jia Kezhang in the news report, Wei Jin was rarely somewhat impressed; this person has a Precious love for art-house films.

Last month, Jia Kezhang announced on Weibo that he would pay out of his own pocket to build an art cinema in Beijing, specifically to screen art-house films.

He also promised that in the future, art-house films that were not favored by cinema chains or had no chance to be screened could choose to be shown there.

At the same time, Jia Kezhang also promised that ticket prices would be lower than at normal cinemas.

This move by Jia Kezhang, whether for fame or for ideals, is worthy of praise.

As for whether it could be for profit? Anyone with such a thought must have something seriously wrong with their brain! Perhaps because the pressure was too great, the premiere of *Pi Fu* was held almost a week early.

However, the scale of this premiere was not large, and there were relatively few major media outlets.

It wasn't that Huang Xiaoming lacked status, but rather that the Beijing International Film Festival was about to open, and stars and filmmakers from all over the world had been arriving one after another these days, with a large number of media reporters camping out at the airport.

By comparison, the premiere of a single film was of little importance.

However, Wei Jin had to admit that Huang Xiaoming's popularity in the industry was indeed quite good, as a large number of first- and second-tier actors, stars, and industry insiders came to show their support—though, of course, it could not be ruled out that they came for the sake of the production company, Enlight Media.

Facing the reporters' cameras, Wang Changtian was impassioned on stage.

"With the implementation of the China-US agreement, a large number of Hollywood films are entering the domestic market, and the Big Boat is still wreaking havoc; for *Pi Fu*, this will be a great battle. It determines the future of a new director and determines the audience's judgment of domestic films. We need a victory, a victory for domestic films!"

It sounded a bit tragic, and when it was Huang Xiaoming's turn to speak, he fully displayed his high emotional intelligence.

"We, this group of fearless and dauntless 'pi fu' (common men), are here to confront the strong ships and powerful guns of Hollywood, to win a breath of air for domestic films."

Wang Changtian and Huang Xiaoming—one tragic, one passionate—originally Wei Jin's emotions were almost infected, but when he saw the performance on stage, he instantly couldn't hold it together.

"Brother Wang, is this the program you all prepared?"

He saw Huang Xiaoming leading a group of men, wearing leather pants on their lower bodies, only wearing vests on their upper bodies, and wearing sunglasses, dancing street dance on stage.

Zhang Yi, who usually appeared honest, steady, and mature, even performed a backflip.

"Ahem, well, they are 'pi fu' (common men), so the spirit of a man must be brought out, haha."

Wang Changtian forced an explanation; he himself couldn't hold back either, and most of the guests at the scene were laughing, clearly this program was indeed very novel.

I have to say, Huang Xiaoming was quite sincere; he participated in all the performance segments personally, it was just a bit of an eyesore.

The film began to play, and Wei Jin was also watching it seriously.

He had not seen this film in his past life, but after watching the entire hundred minutes, he had to admit that Huang Xiaoming had indeed acted with heart, but... sitting to the side, Wang Changtian noticed Wei Jin's strangeness, "Brother Wei, what do you think?"

"Uh... if it were changed to a better release window, perhaps the results would be good..."

After some deliberation, Wei Jin gave a vague answer.

How should one put it regarding the film *Pi Fu*? It had a bit of the feel of *Let the Bullets Fly*, but overall, it was quite a bit worse.

If the release window were changed, perhaps it could still be saved, but in late April and May, the competition was too fierce; it was completely hopeless.

Once Wang Changtian heard this, he understood that Wei Jin was not optimistic about the box office this time, so he couldn't help but ask where the problem lay, and the latter did not hide it.

"Brother, in my opinion, the director is still too immature, and the plot is a bit wishful thinking. Of course, the biggest problem is still in the editing; it's too chaotic, which immediately lowers the quality of the film..."

After listening to Wei Jin's explanation, Wang Changtian glanced toward the director's direction, his tone somewhat emotional.

"Brother, I really envy you; you find a capable director every time you dig. I don't have this discerning eye, so I can only cast a wide net and look at luck..."

Wei Jin really couldn't respond to Wang Changtian's words; the director-centered system was prevalent domestically, and whether a film was good or bad almost entirely depended on whether the director was reliable.

But the caliber of a director is hard to see without being proven by their works, so most production companies are like Wang Changtian, using the form of casting a wide net to support young directors, hoping that a few heaven-sent geniuses will appear among them.

Unfortunately, Bo Le (a judge of talent) is common, but a thousand-li horse is not common; the cost of cultivation is too high. (End of chapter)