Chapter 325: Policy Dividend

When the meeting ended, some people left, while others gathered in groups of three or five with friends to grab a meal.

It was already mealtime, so they figured they'd discuss how to cash in on the bull run while at it—the stock market was clearly about to surge.

A big bull market—got to cash in on a wave!

Chen Zhixi also headed back; she was planning to buy a round of stocks too, specifically Hua Yi and Enlight Media, and would pick up some shares for relatives and friends along the way.

High status has its perks—getting insider tips early. Too bad Jade Rabbit isn't publicly listed.

Fang Hong was called aside by Zhang Hongsen. The two of them sat across from each other, eating in the SARFT staff cafeteria.

The SARFT staff cafeteria was spacious and bright, clean and tidy, with the serving staff in formal uniforms and face masks.

The dishes were varied—home cooking, Sichuan cuisine, and creative dishes, with a balance of meat and vegetables that looked very appetizing.

Quite a few people were dining here, mainly because of today's meeting; many leaders from other government agencies were also eating here.

"The food here suits your taste, I hope." Zhang Hongsen said between bites.

"It's delicious, clean, hygienic, and cheap. If ordinary folks could eat meals like this, I think they'd be very grateful," Fang Hong said.

"Hahaha."

Zhang Hongsen shook his head with a laugh and didn't take the bait.

He knew this man had a somewhat compassionate streak—otherwise he wouldn't have given extras a bigger cut to boost their income, nor given behind-the-scenes workers a larger share.

All of that was real flesh carved off Jade Rabbit's back—where others gave a hundred, he gave two hundred.

Back in the day, capital interests in the film and television circle even jointly boycotted him, saying they wouldn't play along.

To those film and television capital interests, it was outright sinful—white money scattered to the poor—but he just went ahead and did it.

He used to think this man was vicious by nature, but now his view had shifted somewhat. The man only targeted vested interests in the industry—people at his own level—and had never gone after anyone else.

When this industry first started, it was very hard to break through—because there were no resources, no capital, and the resources were hoarded by the top tier, leaving very little for ordinary people.

Without resorting to some extraordinary measures, it was easy to get crushed—especially in the early years.

Of course, the environment got slightly better in the last two years; reforms were underway up above.

"Xiao Fang, this is your first time eating at a government cafeteria, right? Eat up, haha." A few SARFT leaders passed by and, recognizing him, were quite affable.

"Yes, leaders." Fang Hong was polite.

These were the leaders who had just been sitting on the stage during the meeting. He was a celebrity—basically everyone here knew him.

So sitting here made him stand out quite a bit, drawing extra glances.

"I called you over to discuss something. We're planning to send a few young directors to Hollywood to study film industrialization, to see how their visual blockbusters are made. Are you interested?" Zhang Hongsen said.

"Is it to study at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, or at one of the companies?" Fang Hong asked.

"A company—Paramount," Zhang Hongsen said.

"Sorry, Director Zhang, I don't have the time. You'd better find another director!" Fang Hong shook his head.

He had no interest and no time to learn those things. If he wanted to learn, he could just send his own people to Warner or Universal to study—offering them a share of the profits would do the trick.

No worse than Paramount—why take the unnecessary step?

Going to study, you can't really learn anything. The Film Bureau has sent dozens of young directors to Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Disney over the past three years, and the only one who made it was Guo Fan.

Ning Hao made Crazy Alien and openly said he'd never direct a Best Special Effects film again—it was too exhausting, utterly inhuman work.

Because the film industrial system is immature, you have to worry about everything and do everything yourself—it's an extremely draining affair.

Chen Sicheng made Mozart from Outer Space and swore off Best Special Effects films forever—the risk was too great.

Going to study means you don't actually get to participate in project production—they just let you look around, and what can you possibly learn from just watching?

The year before last, he had sent a bunch of behind-the-scenes personnel to study European and American filming techniques, but many of those techniques were simply unusable—because the basic conditions weren't there, and there were no blockbuster projects to practice on.

It's the same old saying: it needs nurturing, needs infrastructure, needs experience accumulated through practice. That's exactly why Fang Hong set up the Digital Film and Television Base.

If talent is really needed, it's better to just poach—at least the people you poach come with work experience and have participated in blockbuster production workflows.

Jade Rabbit has a dedicated talent pool. The two heads of the Best Special Effects company and the Animation Department were both poached from Hollywood at high salaries.

You can't learn it by studying—first get the infrastructure in order.

"Hollywood's industrial chain is after all refined and professional. This assignment lasts only a week—it won't take much of your time, and it's a learning opportunity for you too. I can see you do have the intention to make Best Special Effects blockbusters." Zhang Hongsen tried to persuade him.

He still wanted him to go—this was to show that the higher-ups were determined to develop the film industry.

This man had resources, had money, and could afford to make them.

"Director Zhang, going to look at visual blockbusters is pointless. They won't show us the real stuff, and besides, our basic conditions can't compare to theirs—we're at a disadvantage from the start. We still need to take it step by step, get the infrastructure in good shape, let the team break through the technology through practice. It's not like making chips—how hard can it be?"

Fang Hong said it very casually.

He had his own core team, an entire production crew serving him. Whatever effect he wanted, he just stated the requirement, and naturally someone would figure out how to deliver—he didn't have to go through the trouble others did.

"You've got plenty of nerve!" Zhang Hongsen was speechless.

"These things just take time, capital, talent, and computing power. As long as you have the courage, I don't see what's so hard about it." Fang Hong was full of swagger.

Zhang Hongsen was at a loss for words for a moment. When a General Manager speaks, it's just different—a bit infuriating.

What's so hard about it? Just let the team train through practice. If one film doesn't work, try two; if two don't work, try three—as long as you can afford to take the losses.

But how many can afford to take the losses? How many have the strength of a "Principal"?

"Besides, let me tell you, the predicament of Chinese films isn't limited by technology—that can be thrown together with money and talent. The predicament comes from the films themselves: literature has collapsed." This time Fang Hong spoke seriously.

In the 1990s, classics like In the Heat of the Sun and Farewell My Concubine were born precisely because they were works rooted in literary soil.

When literature collapses, naturally there are no more classic works.

"What you said does make sense, but let's leave it at that—no need to go further," Zhang Hongsen said.

What he'd just said really made him want to take a swing at him. You've got money and strength—others don't!

And the collapse of literature was something he couldn't solve either; there was a lot of melancholy wrapped up in it, so there was no need to discuss it further.

Fang Hong also timely shut his mouth and instead suggested: "Chen Sicheng, Guo Fan, Lu Yang—they're all quite good. Send them."

"We'll look into it. You're the leading figure of the new generation—it's fine if you don't go, but this burden still has to be shouldered." Zhang Hongsen was piling more responsibility on Jade Rabbit.???? If Jade Rabbit can't produce some Best Special Effects blockbusters to pull China's film industry forward, it's a real headache—there are only a handful of leaders in the field.

Bona is half-dead; Enlight Media shoots whatever makes money, no rules at all; Huayi has money but doesn't stick to its own business—either it's off doing real estate or investing in all sorts of other messy things.

Moreover, after this year his term would be up, and he had this task on his shoulders—it counted as his political achievement.

"We've always had this plan in motion. We intend to invest 2.1 billion to build one of the world's top-tier film and television production bases, and get the infrastructure in good shape—that's preparation for shooting blockbusters." Fang Hong revealed.

"Huh?! 2.1 billion? The world's top-tier film and television production base?" Zhang Hongsen suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

Fang Hong looked at his expression and thought, Isn't it that you know everything? So this is enough to keep you in the dark?

He didn't say it that way, but instead said: "Yes, the land has already been approved, the design work is still underway, and we can break ground very soon."

Zhang Hongsen was shocked, thinking how fast—something this big and he actually didn't know about it. This was a high-tech film and television industry project.

Mainly, he'd been too busy with reforms lately to pay attention, and Yutu Yiren had kept too low a profile—apart from a few main people in charge on the board of directors, they basically hadn't told any outsiders.

This project would definitely require multi-department consultation and coordination—the three companies of production, Animation Department, and Best Special Effects all had needs, and gaming had needs too.

It's just that gaming didn't need to take part; it was enough for those few companies to participate.

"2.1 billion—do you have that much money?" Zhang Hongsen couldn't help but ask.

"We're cooperating with a company in Hollywood to build it—they're putting up the money." Fang Hong said it, but even without him saying it, people could find out.

The cooperative project was registered with the local departments—whatever you're doing this for, which companies are doing it, all of that had to be reported.

That money was enough to build the supporting office buildings and basic infrastructure; the Three Goats headquarters was only 100 million, and look how beautifully it was built.

And the money now is worth much more than the money back then.

There was no choice—500 mu was just too big. Not only did they have to build the film and television base, but the supporting R&D, office, and housing facilities all had to be set up.

Hearing this, Zhang Hongsen roughly understood the situation—probably it was that company of his in the United States putting up the money.

Still, this truly surprised him greatly: "2.1 billion—how are you planning to build it, and what equipment and technology will you equip it with?"

"We're only building two studios. One is an LED Virtual Shooting System studio, equipped with advanced color grading and rendering technology; the other is a Digital Technology Studio, benchmarked against Hollywood Virtual Production industry standards, equipped with the most top-tier shooting equipment and lighting arrays."

The former can achieve highly realistic scene effects within a certain space; the latter has a large-scale virtual shooting space and high-brightness screens.

Fang Hong continued to introduce: "As for systems, it's the LED Virtual Shooting System, XR Extended Reality System, and Vicon Motion Capture system. I don't really understand it either—I also consulted professionals."

This made Zhang Hongsen somewhat surprised—such equipment and investment was far more advanced than the Digital Film and Television Base China Film Group built a few years ago.

China Film Group's Digital Film and Television Base cost 3.5 billion, with more than a dozen studios built, each studio about 200 million.

But Yutu Yiren only built two, each with about 1 billion in investment—five times the cost of one China Film Group studio. The gap was not a little bit.

One could say it was the only one of its kind in the country.

No wonder he spoke so arrogantly just now—turns out the man had long been prepared, had long been planning to build infrastructure like this.

His vision was more forward-looking than theirs—not bad, pretty good!

"It's just—sigh.!" Fang Hong suddenly sighed.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Hongsen couldn't help but put down his chopsticks, quite concerned.

"It's just that building this film and television base still has many difficulties." Fang Hong was trying to get some benefits.

He had been careless. When he first started this film and television base, he should have gone to the Film Bureau first to coordinate and get some benefits.

Maybe they could have given him the land, saving him tens of millions more.

He was still too kind-hearted, couldn't bear to pull the government's wool!

Actually, he just hadn't expected the higher-ups to attach so much importance to the film and television industry.

"What difficulties? Tell me." Zhang Hongsen said.

As long as it was beneficial for the development of film and television, he would definitely help.

If it really was as this person said, then China's film and television industry would step up to a new level—that definitely had to be supported.

"It's just that talent, taxes, and technology all put no small pressure on us, making Yutu Yiren overwhelmed. If we could get some preferential treatment, that would be great." Fang Hong sighed.

"How about this—if the situation is verified and you guarantee Yutu Yiren is genuinely operating, I'll go apply for you, giving Yutu Yiren corresponding preferential policies for talent settling down, housing subsidies, children's education, and so on. Outstanding talents who have worked at your enterprise for a full year can be given a one-time living subsidy to help you retain talent." Zhang Hongsen said.

"Then thank you, Director Zhang." Fang Hong nodded.

This was seeking benefits for the people under him—he himself didn't need it. He had no intention of settling down in Beijing; these perks weren't of much use to him.

But for those who wanted to settle down in Beijing, wanted to buy a house, wanted their children to have good schools, it was very tempting.

It didn't matter to him, but for ordinary people it really was a tremendous blessing.

"Additionally, on tax incentives, Yutu Yiren can be given a certain degree of value-added tax and income tax rewards; on technology, we can provide Yutu Yiren with technical consulting services and technology transfer." Zhang Hongsen said.

Technical consulting meant how the studio should be built, what equipment to buy and so on—after all, the country still had plenty of experience in this area.

Additionally, some production technology graphics and Best Special Effects production, 3D and special film production technology could be transferred.

This still had its benefits—there were many top-tier film talents in the country, and when shooting sci-fi blockbusters, one could also consult relevant field Experts.

"Thank you very much for your support, Director Zhang." Fang Hong was grateful.

"Don't thank me. If you're doing real work, supporting you is as it should be. But the premise of these preferential policies is that you must guarantee your Digital Film and Television Base is genuinely operating." Zhang Hongsen emphasized again.

Nowadays there were too many subsidy scams—everyone says they want to develop technology, do high-tech industry, but most of it is just empty slogans.

"I will definitely guarantee it."

Fang Hong's tone was firm, and he said again: "April 15th is the day we break ground. We've arranged a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and we invite Director Zhang to cut the ribbon on site."

This was something he had just thought of—he still couldn't be too low-key. If he was too low-key, others wouldn't know what he was doing, and he wouldn't be able to get benefits.

"I will definitely be there." Zhang Hongsen nodded in agreement.

This still required going over to show support, and also showed an attitude from above: the determination to develop the film and television industry.

Letting Yutu Yiren enjoy policy dividends was very necessary.

(End of this chapter)