Chapter 589: Not Filming, Leave It

The film and television market is in turmoil, with everyone constantly accumulating strength—if your pace slows, one slow step leads to every step being slow, and no one will wait for you.

Of course, there are no losers here, and no winners either—only those who claim a piece of the kingdom, and keep a piece of the kingdom.

Not relying on others, having your own autonomy, having your own voice.

In his past life, even though Wanda later withdrew, it wasn't because they lost—it was because problems arose in their core business.

What this industry fights for is "autonomy"!

Only with "autonomy" can you keep your own things from being taken away, can you keep the stars under you from having to sleep their way up, can you make others not dare to curse at you.

Can you refuse to call others "daddy," and instead become someone else's "daddy"!

At the end of March, Liu Xiaoli returned from visiting relatives outside—mainly because the wedding was coming up, this year, so she had to visit all those miscellaneous relatives and notify everyone properly.

Since Liu Tianxian was filming, Fang Hong went to pick up his mother-in-law.

His mother-in-law was wearing a purple sweater and skirt, with a silk scarf around her neck—no matter how she dressed, there was an inherent elegance and intellect about her.

Liu Xiaoli sat in the passenger seat, untied the silk scarf from her neck, looking radiant and in great spirits, "Xiao Fang, last year you introduced me and told me to buy film and television stocks—it's gone up again."

"That's good, you must have made quite a bit, right!" Fang Hong glanced at her.

Last year he said film and television stocks would rise, and they rose right at the start of the year—they'd been rising for a month or two now, still rising.

Although box office revenue was being siphoned off, the market had grown larger, letting people see the potential, and combined with the loosening up, it also let people see money laundering.

With this massive influx of capital, it was bound to rise.

"Made quite a lot this time." This time Liu Xiaoli fully trusted Fang Hong's judgment and put out all her savings to buy—though she bought in separate batches.

After all, her son-in-law had been right several times now.

She patted Fang Hong on the shoulder and said, "Thank you!"

"You're being too polite, we're family, why say such things." Fang Hong said.

"Hehehe, that's true."

Liu Xiaoli laughed lightly, saw that the road ahead led home, and said, "Let's go straight to Xixi's place!"

She wanted to see her daughter—hadn't seen her in a long time.

"You just got back, aren't you going home to rest?" Fang Hong said.

"I didn't go out to do labor, I'm not tired, why rest—let's go, it's been so long since she's been running around by my side, I actually miss her." Liu Xiaoli spoke with a smile, a kind of tenderness.

"Alright then."

Fang Hong turned the steering wheel and headed straight for the Yutu Film and Television Base in Huairou.

Since the distance from the city to there was quite far, taking several hours, the two chatted in the car along the way.

"I heard from Xixi before that you want to acquire a company from Bona, and you want to use a company under my name to do the acquiring, right?" Liu Xiaoli looked at him.

When she heard her daughter mention it at the time, she was quite amazed—how much money would that take, in just a few years he'd grown this much, wanting to swallow Bona whole.

"Yes, it's not convenient for me to acquire, so I'm troubling you with this." Fang Hong nodded.

"Have you thought this through? This company overlaps with your business, it won't help you!" Liu Xiaoli said.

"Whether it helps or not isn't important—what matters is who Bona belongs to, who it listens to—this is about the right to speak, this is a fight for control." Fang Hong explained.

"I don't understand you business people, then I'll just register an investment company for you to use—but I'm not managing it, you two young couple decide for yourselves, and don't let me bear any responsibility." Liu Xiaoli said.

Although she said it that way, using her name was equivalent to taking on the responsibility—she was willing to help.

If any problems arose later, they would be her problems.

Of course Fang Hong didn't plan to do anything—just hold Bona shares, take control of Bona, that was enough, nothing else.

He wouldn't drag his mother-in-law into any whirlpool.

It was only because it wasn't convenient for him that he did it this way; if it were convenient, he'd have used Yutu's name.

The car quickly arrived at the Yutu Film and Television Base.

The area around the Yutu Film and Television Base was still quite desolate, with no buildings, only a smooth road built leading to it.

But it was already confirmed—Beijing Film Academy was also about to move here, right next to the Yutu Film and Television Base.

When Fang Hong chose this location back then, he knew Beijing Film Academy would also come over, so it wouldn't be too lonely, and using Beijing Film Academy's resources would be convenient.

Since many films and TV dramas would陆续 be filmed here, extras gradually began gathering here, coming to take jobs and waiting to be recruited.

After all, Yutu's treatment was good—that was an open secret in the industry, so more and more people came here looking for work.

The car didn't stop outside the Yutu Film and Television Base, but drove inside. Through the car window, Liu Xiaoli saw the huge statue at the entrance, requiring one to look up to see it in full.

Too eye-catching—impossible not to notice.

"Whoa, isn't this too big!" Liu Xiaoli exclaimed in surprise.

"It's alright, just a dozen or so meters." Fang Hong said.

"You're being too flashy, you should keep a lower profile. Looking at the facial contours of this statue, why does it look like Xixi?" Liu Xiaoli thought it looked a lot like her daughter.

"It's her. At the time we didn't know what Chang'e looked like, so we just used her likeness." Fang Hong smiled.

Liu Xiaoli smiled along with him, saying nothing!

There were security guards at the entrance of the film and television base. Seeing it was the Principal's Porsche, they immediately raised the barrier to let it through.

"It's been so many years and the Principal still hasn't changed cars—they say this car is still Liu Tianxian's." The security guard gossiped.

"They don't need to distinguish between yours and mine."

In the parking lot inside the film and television base, the Porsche parked, Liu Xiaoli got out, saw building after building tall and imposing, with a grand exterior, and the roadside greenery done quite nicely.

She couldn't help sighing, "You've done a great job here, it's just the transportation that's not so great."

Coming from the city took an hour or so—too far, too inconvenient.

"With production business attached, where could production be placed but the city? Land prices there aren't cheap either. Besides, we need a place like this as an office location—production is all wrapped up here."

Fang Hong pointed into the distance and said, "Look, they're still expanding over there, building some ancient or modern architecture as filming locations. Those people you saw at the entrance just now are extras coming here looking for work."

Liu Xiaoli looked into the distance and saw that indeed, some buildings were still being constructed deep within the base.

It's rare to build a film and television base in the city proper, because the city is noisy, land prices are high, and filming would be very inconvenient, requiring much greater expenses.

Generally, film and television cities are built in remote areas of third- or fourth-tier cities. First-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen rarely have film and television cities, and even second-tier cities rarely do.

Even the suburbs of first- and second-tier cities are very expensive.

And because of the nature of film and television cities, they don't need to be in very prosperous places. Many local governments provide land for free, and some even help the production crew build the film and television city.

The production crew is certainly willing. For example, when Chen Daren films a movie and builds a city, you think he's really that awesome and that rich? It's the local government that helps him build it.

Doing this not only brings the production crew, but if the movie becomes a hit at the box office, it can also bring tourism, which conveniently digests those wastelands and generates economic value.

For example, when Feng Kuzi filmed "1942," it gave Chongqing another AAAA-rated scenic spot.

Filming "No Thieves in the World" made Labrang Monastery a huge hit!

These all have value, and a film and television city counts as investment. Even if you invest 200 million, on the local government's balance sheet it's an asset worth 200 million — that's a political achievement.

Even if you just leave it there, even if no one comes, even if you can't see the money, it still shows 200 million in assets, so it's not a loss. The tricks involved here run deep.

That's why back then Fang Hong paid eighty million to buy the land!

If he went to some other third- or fourth-tier city, they'd be more than happy to give it to him for free, helping digest the wasteland and generate economic value. Such a large film and television base investment of 2.1 billion.

On the local level, that's 2.1 billion in asset value. You tell me, would the local government give it to you or not?

The hidden value is even greater — after all, he can bring many production crews, so there's no need to elaborate on that, it's impossible to calculate.

In first-tier cities, due to urban growth and expansion, even wasteland has value, and they don't lack that bit of asset from a film and television city, so they don't need it. If you come, you have to pay to buy.

Then production crews just won't go to first-tier cities. Going there would invisibly increase costs.

"What is this building for?" Liu Xiaoli had been walking for a while and saw they still hadn't left a long factory-like building, so she couldn't help but be curious.

"This is the Prop Warehouse. Any props — for example, the armor actors have worn, the props they've used — all get stored here. If other productions need them, they use them; otherwise, throwing them away would be a waste." Fang Hong explained.

"Oh, that makes sense." Liu Xiaoli nodded to show she understood.

"Up ahead is the Virtual Reality Studio. Xixi should be inside." Fang Hong pointed at the square building ahead, styled like the Water Cube.

Many production jobs in the future can be filmed here if possible. For example, "Nirvana in Fire," "Love O2O," "Chu Qiao Zhuan," and others all have scenes filmed here.

"The Lost Tomb," "Detective Chinatown," "Book of Love," "I Belonged to You" — these movies also have some scenes filmed here.

You can't really go find an actual "tomb" as a real location; nor can you really go outside to film every scene.

Many special effects, when there's no real location outside, are built here. Including "The Great Wall" — Lao Mouzi came here to inspect, and some scenes were also filmed here.

No other reason — this place is advanced and fully equipped.

The two walked toward the studio. It looked very spacious and tall here; people would look very small, and people kept coming and going, a constant flow.

Some people, seeing the Principal, would greet him.

Because this place is very large, it's not just one production filming — there are several other crews. It can accommodate five to eight crews at the same time, depending on the scale of filming.

"Lucy 2" is on a very small scale — only the female lead needs special effects, and there's no need for planes or tanks as background.

Walking along, they saw scenery like a graveyard, scenery like a gravelly Gobi desert, and rivers made of water.

This place is different from the LED Studio side. Here it's a combination of real and virtual; over there it's completely virtual, with no real scenery.

Since there were many people here, Fang Hong casually asked around, then headed to where Liu Tianxian was.

Liu Xiaoli saw from afar that her daughter was rehearsing with Xu Laoguai, script in hand, and called out: "Xixi."

"Mom!" Liu Tianxian's eyes lit up, and she immediately ran over, happily saying: "How come you're here?"

"Just came to see what you're doing."

Liu Xiaoli was also happy, and remembering something, said: "Hey, I heard you fired that bodyguard, right?"

"Yes, he was leaking my whereabouts."

The mother and daughter started chatting, while Fang Hong stayed by their side.

They chatted about previous matters — after all, the studio was managed by Liu Xiaoli, so she'd ask about the situation to some extent.

Xu Laoguai and those production crew creators, seeing the mother and daughter chatting affectionately and seeing the Principal here, all put down their work for the moment.

They weren't really working anyway, just preparing to film.

Chen Zhixi was also patrolling nearby. Hearing the Principal had come, she also came over to look: "Principal, what brings you in such a leisurely mood today?"

After seeing him at the beginning of the month, she hadn't seen him for this entire month — she'd been busy over at Chang'e Technology.

"Isn't it obvious, I'm accompanying someone." Fang Hong gestured toward the mother and daughter.

(End of chapter)