Chapter 106

Seeing his behavior, Liu Tianxian immediately felt reassured—this foreigner had truly been bluffing her.

She glanced at Fang Hong, and Fang Hong gave her an encouraging look.

"Mr. Zhasilafu, you say our film is bad, so we plan to seek other distributors—we can collaborate again if the opportunity arises."

"Although this film has flaws, it also has merits; the narrative structure is quite solid," Zhasilafu changed his tune.

Just moments ago he claimed the film was crudely made and misunderstood audiences; now he says the story is good—everything he says is whatever suits him.

Zhasilafu added: "Madam, our company is willing to pay eight million dollars for the distribution rights; your production cost was roughly five or six million—you've already made a profit."

Just by flipping it, Fang Hong stood to make around ten million RMB; Liu Tianxian thought it was acceptable and asked Fang Hong for his opinion.

"Tell him we want a revenue-sharing model—net profit sharing," Fang Hong couldn't settle for so little.

He'd traveled all the way to the United States, spent months here, just to make this little money? He might as well stay in China and muddle through.

Net profit means after taxes are deducted!

"There's over ten million in profit—aren't you satisfied? We don't even know if the box office will reach that much, and after splitting, who knows if we'll make that much at all."

Liu Tianxian thought it was enough—Chinese people making films here rarely get high box office returns.

Fang Hong explained to her: "On the negotiation table, you need ambition. If you have no ambition at all, others will swallow every bit of your rightful share."

"But you've already made over ten million!" Liu Tianxian looked at him.

"Then why should he let you make ten million? Because I'm handsome, or because you're beautiful?" Fang Hong shot back.

Liu Tianxian glared at the man—could he please speak seriously?

Women are too soft-hearted, with no ambition at all. Fang Hong leaned closer: "Don't care what he says—follow your own rhythm. Remember: a person must be greedy."

Liu Tianxian stared deeply at this man—she realized he wasn't teaching her how to see through his tricks, but how to gain psychological superiority.

Don't take the other side seriously; don't care about their status—build your own presence.

Ambition and greed are both expressions of presence!

"Mr. Zhasilafu, we still insist on revenue sharing—fifty-fifty!" Liu Tianxian said, making a hand gesture.

"You must think carefully—revenue sharing means assuming risk, and that risk might be too great for you to bear," Zhasilafu threatened.

He'd realized now: this woman was easy to fool, but the man was not.

And this woman didn't understand business negotiation at all—she'd been swayed several times, her composure broken—only the man was making decisions.

Liu Tianxian straightened her back and said calmly: "We've thought it through clearly—we want revenue sharing."

"Fine. If it's revenue sharing, we'll split based on profit," Zhasilafu said.

"No, we disagree with profit sharing—we want net profit sharing," Liu Tianxian said firmly.

"Profit" was something they had a massive finance team for, and they played this game constantly—they couldn't outmaneuver them.

Box office of two hundred million? They'll fabricate three hundred million in promotion costs—and then turn around and demand money from you.

Liu Tianxian might be naive, but she wasn't stupid!

Negotiations hit a stalemate as Liu Tianxian and Zhasilafu kept arguing over the revenue split.

This white man saw them as easy to fool and wanted to buy the film to release it himself and make more money.

This meant he was quite confident in Annabelle.

That's normal—he's in this business specifically; after watching the full film, he could roughly tell whether it would make money.

But with Fang Hong here, he knew more precisely than the other side—this film would make money, and make a lot of it.

The United States' distribution model isn't limited to theaters—it includes DVD, streaming, pay-TV, advertising, and merchandise.

Merchandise means soundtracks, games, toys, and so on.

Advertising refers to pre-roll ads during screenings—channels are highly mature.

Annabelle already had specially designed toys; though creepy and grotesque, with so many twisted people out there, who knows if anyone will buy them.

Horror games are also popular overseas—the market here is advanced and can generate revenue too.

Liu Tianxian mustered her focus to converse with him, then communicated again with Fang Hong.

"Tell him we want a 30% share—fixed 30% across all channels: theatrical, pay-TV, DVD, websites, merchandise—whatever they earn, we take 30%, and we don't care how much they get," Fang Hong said.

In this system, distribution includes all these elements—not just theatrical.

Thirty percent is already near the minimum—take theaters as an example: if the box office is strong, after giving the producer their share, distributors can split up to 60% with theaters—extremely high.

This is completely different from China's distribution system—and this applies only to good films and major companies, and Warner is already a top global studio.

"Also, we don't care about their promotion expenses—they handle it themselves," Fang Hong added.

After hearing Liu Tianxian's translation, Zhasilafu shook his head and refused: "Your demand to take the meat without bearing any risk? We won't accept it—no company anywhere would."

It's pure extortion—do nothing, just wait to split the profits. How could such a thing exist?

He knew the film would make money, but how much box office it would reach? No one could say.

High splits only work if you bring in crowds—if you can't deliver audiences, theaters would never give you such a high percentage.

Liu Tianxian also thought Fang Hong was unrealistic and asked: "Then what percentage do you suggest?"

She didn't realize Fang Hong was opening with an outrageous offer, ready to bargain down.

"Twenty percent—that's my final offer," Zhasilafu held up two fingers.

That would guarantee them sufficient profit. Liu Tianxian thought it acceptable and turned to the man beside her to explain.

"Twenty-five percent—not a penny lower!" Fang Hong said.

Liu Tianxian conveyed it again, feeling like a mere messenger—but she still had to follow Fang Hong; she felt she wasn't good at this.

The calmness this man displayed was beyond her reach.

Zhasilafu considered: even if they lowered it as much as possible, they couldn't go below 60%—meaning if they gave Fang Hong 25%, they'd still keep 35%, the absolute floor, and likely more.

Of course, this wasn't profit—but the percentage was still impressive!

"Fine, but with one condition: if the box office doesn't reach one hundred million dollars, the share drops from 25% to 20%, then to 10%."

Zhasilafu feared that if box office earnings were low, the revenue would be insufficient, which would be problematic—they had signed a sliding-scale agreement with the theater, meaning the lower the box office, the smaller their share.

Of course, this agreement also revealed the capitalists' true colors: bearing zero risk, nowhere in China would anyone be this shameless.

After consulting with Fang Hong, Liu Tianxian agreed—it was initially somewhat difficult to operate.

She agreed because Fang Hong had absolute confidence the box office would exceed one hundred million U. S. dollars.

After finalizing the deal, Liu Tianxian felt mentally drained; this was her first time experiencing such a high-stakes business negotiation—previously, it had always been her mother and her agent handling it.

It felt more complicated than the backstabbing in the entertainment industry.

In entertainment, if someone slanders you behind your back, you can just ignore them.

Here, you must decipher the other side's intentions, probe their bottom line, and ensure your own composure doesn't crack!

If I had handled this, I would've already lost— the film would've been bought at a low price, with no back-and-forth like this.

But thinking about it, it was actually quite thrilling!

After the negotiations concluded, Zhasilafu shook hands with both of them; when shaking Fang Hong's hand, he smiled and said, "Sir, you shouldn't be selling movies."

"What's he babbling about?" Fang Hong said.

"He said you shouldn't be selling movies," Liu Tianxian translated.

"Then what should I sell? Health supplements?"

Fang Hong's remark was a joke, but Liu Tianxian, clueless as ever, translated it literally.

This made Zhasilafu burst into "ha ha" laughter.

His intent was that Fang Hong belonged at a higher dimension—selling movies was a waste of his talent.

As they were escorted out, Fang Hong asked, "Why did that old man laugh?"

"He laughed because you're naive, just sitting there giving orders blindly."

Liu Tianxian realized she had mistranslated—those words were Fang Hong joking with her.

She had translated them verbatim.

"He doesn't know shit—how could someone this incompetent become president? You're better than him," Fang Hong said.

Liu Tianxian struggled to suppress her laughter, but couldn't help letting out two "giggle" sounds.

Suddenly, she realized it was kind of nice that this man didn't understand English—he really was clueless.

"What are you laughing at? I feel like you're pulling my leg," Fang Hong said, sensing something was off.

"No, I just thought of something funny," Liu Tianxian said, putting on a serious face.

"I don't believe you," Fang Hong doubted.

"Really, you have to believe me."

Liu Tianxian placed her hand on his shoulder and pushed him forward.

They entered the elevator; Fang Hong kept glancing at her, his eyes still filled with suspicion.

He suspected Liu Tianxian was pulling his leg.

Liu Tianxian's gaze darted around, feigning nonchalance, as if nothing had happened.

"Miss Liu, how was this experience?" Fang Hong asked for a topic.

"Very good—it was a great experience, and your assistance was excellent, worthy of praise."

Liu Tianxian patted his shoulder, taking all the credit for herself.

In truth, from the start of negotiations to the end, she had been led around by the nose several times, felt insecure several times—yet it was this man who gave her strength, helping her project presence and match the other side blow for blow.

Without this man holding her up, she would've lost several times over.

Still, she deeply admired this man—throughout, he remained calm and composed, never wavering!

Hearing this, Fang Hong smiled; it was the first time he realized how good Liu Tianxian was at pretending.

"Then I'll appoint you as our U. S. representative, specifically handling Jade Rabbit diplomatic negotiations."

"You've finally found the right person," Liu Tianxian beamed.

Fang Hong fell silent—he didn't want her to get any bigger-headed.

At that moment, the elevator doors opened and two white women entered—one fat, one thin—each carrying a bag, chatting casually.

(End of Chapter)