Chapter 385: Competing with the People for Profit

Anyway, it has a slightly shady meaning—when you run into trouble, you should turn to the state, and the state will solve it for you no matter how hard it is, instead of the protagonist solving it himself.

That's the only way to show how powerful the state is, and to slip in a plug for the people-oriented spirit.

Liu Tianxian and Fang Hong saw Zhang Hongsen fall silent, so neither of them spoke; the room felt very quiet.

The two of them had no idea what was going on inside Zhang Hongsen's head.

Actually, even if you grabbed any passerby off the street, it'd be hard for them to understand that train of thought—a perfectly normal script, yet he insists on piling on all sorts of unnecessary stuff.

Anyone who makes films regularly would understand.

"This script needs to be changed," Zhang Hongsen said.

"Changed how?" Fang Hong asked.

"Your script completely fails to show what kind of role the state plays in it, doesn't show the urgency and pressure the state feels to save people, doesn't have our people-oriented spirit—it's pure individualism," Zhang Hongsen said.

"This—" Fang Hong was dumbfounded. He glanced at Liu Tianxian; she was just as lost. She looked at the script and didn't see anything wrong with it—so why did it need changing?

"Does it really have to be changed?" Fang Hong asked.

"It's not that it has to be changed, it's just that it doesn't show the state's role," Zhang Hongsen reiterated.

Fang Hong rubbed his forehead. Fine, so it has to be changed.

"Director Zhang, can't you just treat this as an ordinary film and not pile on all that extra stuff? If you do, how am I supposed to release it internationally? It'll probably lose money." What Fang Hong meant was: if you add all that, foreigners won't want to watch it, and if they don't want to watch it, Yutu will lose money.

If there's a risk of losing money, he'd rather not make it. Why shoot something when you already know it'll lose money?

Zhang Hongsen fell silent. He understood what Fang Hong meant: given the current capacity of the domestic market, it simply couldn't absorb a big-budget Best Special Effects blockbuster like this—they had to rely on overseas markets.

But he kept wanting to slip in some main-melody themes. Such great Propaganda Department material—how could he waste it?

This was a classic case of wanting it both ways: wanting people to watch your film, wanting to show off your strength by making a Best Special Effects blockbuster, and also wanting to export all sorts of unnecessary stuff.

Actually, this script hadn't made any ideological mistakes. The ship gets hit by space debris, the astronaut rescues herself, goes to the International Space Station and returns to Earth—that shows international spirit.

It's the equivalent of not badmouthing anyone. A very clever approach.

The original version even took a shot at the Russians, saying the Russians fired a missile and destroyed an abandoned spy satellite, and the debris from the explosion took out a large number of spacecraft.

The current script just puts the blame on space debris and downplays the state's role.

Communications were cut off, so she couldn't get back and had to use a ship from the International Space Station.

The point is, people just can't feel the strength and pride of the state. If the female lead had been rescued with the state's help, that would have been perfect.

"Let me ask around for you. I can't promise I'll let you blow it up," Zhang Hongsen said, closing the script and handing it to Liu Tianxian.

Liu Tianxian took it and set it on her lap. She carried it with her, taking it out to read and mull over whenever she had a spare moment.

She'd already been mulling it over for half a year.

"Then we can only make something up—call it Yutu or Chang'e or something like that," Fang Hong said.

"Don't be in a rush. It's not that I'm not letting you shoot it, just whether it needs adjusting. If it does, we'll work it out together," Zhang Hongsen explained.

He definitely had to support sci-fi films. Without that support, the film industry couldn't get off the ground, and there'd be no way to train the related professionals.

So this film absolutely had to be made, and only the person in front of him could afford to make it—nobody else could.

But the trouble now was that the main-melody approach and the market were pulling in opposite directions. Sure, you could say the box office took off—a single film making a few billion is fine, organize group screenings, give it some support.

The problem is the market just isn't that big. People vote with their feet, and that's very uncertain. You can't prop up that many films.

You can't exactly drag every civil servant to go watch it!

"Alright, I'll wait for your news," Fang Hong said.

"Then I won't keep you any longer—I'm off," Zhang Hongsen said, finishing the talk and standing up.

"We'll see you out."

Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian rose and walked Zhang Hongsen to the door.

The three chatted as they walked. Zhang Hongsen reminded them, "Go ahead and prep this film, shoot it when it's time—don't worry about my end for now. There's nothing wrong with the plot."

That was meant to put Fang Hong's mind at ease, so he wouldn't let Zhang's issues hold things up. Actually, doing it without the main-melody stuff was fine too.

The main question was whether Tiangong could be blown up.

"Alright," Fang Hong nodded.

"Goodbye, Tianxian," Zhang Hongsen said, waving at Liu Tianxian.

"Take care, Director Zhang," Liu Tianxian said, seeing him off.

The elevator doors opened, and Chen Zhixi happened to be inside. She saw the group and greeted, "Director Zhang."

"Mm! I'm heading out now—this is far enough, no need to see me off." Zhang Hongsen gestured for them to stop, then walked into the elevator.

Watching the elevator doors close, the three of them—Fang Hong included—turned and walked back to that office. "Is there something you needed?" Fang Hong asked.

"That quota system you were pushing at the company before—some of the behind-the-scenes staff have already started cherry-picking projects. They look at the script first, see if it's good, see if it's a key company project—if it's good they shoot it, if not they turn it down.

For example, between Lucky Key and Ex-Files, some people would rather take Lucky Key than take Ex-Files," Chen Zhixi said.

The three of them entered the office. Fang Hong didn't say anything, just turned the problem over in his head. The other two didn't interrupt.

Actually, he'd already thought of this layer a long time ago—he just hadn't had the chance to change it yet.

At the time it was just a seat-of-the-pants idea, not a mature one.

Fang Hong and Chen Zhixi sat facing each other on opposite sides of the office; Liu Tianxian was in the sofa area.

"What do you think about Option Stock?" Fang Hong suggested.

"Option Stock?" Chen Zhixi didn't catch on right away.

Yutu's management team definitely wasn't as professional as Chang'e's management team—it was a shoddy, thrown-together outfit.

The company was only so big to begin with, so that was perfectly normal.

"Right. I'll issue a few tens of millions of shares first, one yuan per share—that price is just symbolic. With a one-year term: if the company does well, I'll bump the share price up—to three, five yuan, something like that," Fang Hong said, thinking it through.

"That's good, but isn't that a bit of an exaggerated bump?" Chen Zhixi said.

Five yuan, a few tens of millions of shares—that's over a hundred million. The old quota system never had that much.

"I'm not exaggerating—this will grow gradually, not jump all at once. Besides, the market keeps expanding. In the future, any random movie or variety show can earn this much." Fang Hong knew how big the market would become later.

Not to mention, tomorrow night's broadcast of "Dad Where Are We Going" will explode in popularity.

Although the first season's title sponsorship fee was only 28 million, the ad revenue will definitely earn over a hundred million.

Moreover, Jade Rabbit has already negotiated with Hunan Satellite TV—the online broadcast rights are represented by Jade Rabbit, and Jade Rabbit licensed them to Chang'e Video.

This is only the beginning; no one knows how wildly popular this show will become.

And Mango TV's online broadcast platform hasn't launched yet—their online broadcast platform won't go live until April next year.

So it's equivalent to Chang'e Video having the exclusive premiere!

The copyright was bought by Jade Rabbit from the South Korea side. Jade Rabbit also invested. Production is by Hunan Satellite TV and Tian Yu Productions, and the platform is Hunan Satellite TV.

It's equivalent to Jade Rabbit only providing the copyright and investment; production and distribution are all handled by Hunan Satellite TV.

Such a big company—if it can't share over a hundred million with its employees in a year, that's just too pathetic.

"Then who are you giving it to? How many shares per person? There has to be a rule. At one yuan, some people would definitely go all in and buy with everything they have," Chen Zhixi said.

If it were opened to her, she would definitely buy all of it, even borrowing money to do so. The Principal already said one yuan is just symbolic—it's clearly meant to let the people below make money.

Anyone with a slightly higher position and better family conditions can put out several hundred thousand or even over a million.

"There will definitely be restrictions. First, open it to those who have shares—those with shares buy first. In the future, we won't use the share system anymore; we'll use the Option Pool instead. That way they won't be so picky."

Fang Hong added: "You can explain to them that film and TV carries too much risk—there's risk in making money or not. If it doesn't make money, it's equivalent to a person working for nothing for several months, getting only basic pay with no shares. Some productions have varying cycles, so it wouldn't be fair."

Chen Zhixi nodded. She understood!

Just like "Gravity"—its preparation period is measured in years. Some people don't take other jobs for a whole year, just for this one film. They'd definitely feel unbalanced.

Doing it this way is much fairer. When the company makes money, they make money too—no need to keep their eyes glued to any particular film.

And options are simpler—once a year—reducing the finance department's workload. There's no need to calculate for every film who gets how many shares and how much money.

"How many shares are you planning to issue first?" she asked.

"First put thirty million shares into the Option Pool, limit one hundred thousand shares per person. First open it to thirty or more people. Directors and board members don't enjoy this. First take back the shares from those who have them. The rest, open up to behind-the-scenes, Best Special Effects, Animation Department and other technical talent and middle management. You can leak the word first and see how those people react before deciding," Fang Hong said.

These thirty million shares won't really be bought by just thirty people—some might only buy a hundred or two hundred thousand shares, or three to five hundred thousand.

It's possible these thirty million shares could benefit a hundred people.

But these are placed in the Option Pool. Anyone who hasn't reached the cap can buy again next time—of course, that's assuming the Option Pool still has shares.

If someone buys them all, they can only wait until Fang Hong puts more in next time.

Directors don't get this—they keep their shares as usual, no options. Whether to open it to them in the future, we'll see.

Leaking the word first is to gauge those people's acceptance level. You can't just say it and do it immediately—there has to be a transition.

Just like when a country wants to implement a policy—first float the idea, then implement it.

"Alright." Chen Zhixi was a bit disappointed. Board members not enjoying options meant she was excluded.

But they have shares, and now they're taking options too—it's equivalent to the development dividends being taken away mostly by these people.

Then Jade Rabbit would need extremely high growth to satisfy everyone. Completely inadvisable—this is competing with the people for profit.

(End of chapter)