Chapter 311: DreamWorks and Transformers!

Today was just a simple chat about intentions in the theater. Everyone had the sincerity to cooperate.

Next, the formal cooperation had to be discussed on a formal occasion. Wei Ming and Webber agreed to meet at the company tomorrow.

The successful staging of every musical requires a large amount of capital investment and countless rehearsals, and it involves many people, so it must be handled with extreme caution.

On the way back to the hotel, Wei Wei Lingling looked at Melinda, wanting to say something but stopping. And Melinda also had some things that were not easy to say in front of Wei Wei Lingling.

"Little Ming, come in with me." After going upstairs, the little aunt called Wei Ming into her room, wanting to chat about blood being thicker than water.

"What exactly are your plans with Melinda? Are you planning to get back together? Do you have any plans to get married? Are you at ease handing such an important company to her to manage?"

Wei Ming shook his head: "We don't have plans to get back together. After all, neither of us can give up the country we grew up in for the other. And she doesn't have plans to get married either. She is a child who grew up in a single-parent family without knowing her father's identity and is influenced by her mother to reject marriage. And I..."

Wei Ming paused: "I think I long to be able to form a family."

That hesitation was a summary and reflection on his previous life. Since he had come back again, it was naturally more meaningful to change his way of living.

"As for handing the company to her, I'm definitely not that at ease, so I hope the two of you can jointly manage this company."

"Do you think I'm very free?" Wei Wei Lingling crossed her arms, seemingly not wanting to increase extra work for herself.

Wei Ming hurriedly hugged Wei Wei Lingling's arm: "Dear Aunt, you understand law, she understands stories. The two of you cooperating is simply a perfect match. And it's not like I'm letting you work for nothing. I'll pay you a salary, or every time there's a copyright transaction, you can get a commission from it. These can all be discussed."

"Do you think I'm short of money?" Wei Wei Lingling said disdainfully.

"Then tell me what it will take for you to help your nephew, whose blood is thicker than water," Wei Ming acted like a spoiled child.

Wei Wei Lingling held back a laugh. She thought for a moment: "If you can help me create a toy as popular as the Rubik's Cube, that would be great."

Because when signing with Macmillan Publishers before, it involved *Rubik's Cube? Anyone Can Play*, Wei Wei Lingling had an intuitive understanding of the sales of this kind of globally popular puzzle game for the first time.

Now that she wanted to carry forward her toy factory, she also needed this kind of flagship product, so she wanted to squeeze her nephew's smart brain.

"This, I'll think about it later," Wei Ming said with a troubled look.

"Then you think about it first. Once you think of it, I can provide legal support for your company for free, and being a North American head is no problem," Wei Wei Lingling said. "As for now, you'd better go next door and see your Melinda. She probably has something to say to you too."

"Alright, Aunt, you rest first."

Subsequently, Wei Ming went next door. The living room was empty. Melinda was taking a bath in the bathroom.

"Finished talking with your little aunt? What did she say?"

"High achiever, a bit disdainful of accompanying us in small-time playing," Wei Ming naturally took off his clothes and entered the bathtub.

Melinda: "Then what if we do something big?"

"Who?"

"You, me, Wei Wei Lingling!"

"How to do it?"

Melinda said: "Actually, before today, I had thought about starting my own business, engaging in the publishing and media industry."

Wei Ming was surprised: "The publishing industry is not a profiteering industry. The investment is large, the profit is low, and it tests one's vision. Who gave you the courage to want to stand on your own?"

"It's you guys," Melinda hooked Wei Ming's neck. "Your talent, plus your aunt's wealth, plus my rich industry experience and connections—my mother and grandmother are both veteran publishing editors."

"My talent is obvious, but how did you see my aunt's wealth?"

"Can't you tell?" Melinda was surprised. "When we first met, the earrings she wore were from the luxury brand Graff's classic series, worth no less than 100,000 pounds. And this series is not sold separately. Besides earrings, there must be necklaces and rings. Added together, it's an astronomical figure. For a girl like this, her family background definitely isn't simple—either powerful or rich, or both."

Wei Ming recalled. His aunt's earrings were indeed very beautiful, sparkling, but he hadn't expected them to be so valuable. He had thought they were plastic.

Of course, Wei Wei Lingling definitely couldn't afford them herself. This was a gift from Wei Ming's great-aunt when she came of age.

Melinda inferred from this: "You can't tell, but your real background definitely isn't ordinary. And doing business, background is of course very important, the same in China and abroad. Later, I witnessed her fierce professional ability, so the idea popped up."

"First of all, let me disappoint you. Both my aunt's and my family are very ordinary, just having a few rich relatives," Wei Ming changed the subject. "But I'm very moved by your proposal."

Originally, he had only thought about setting up a company to be responsible for overseas copyright development, simply earning some foreign exchange. But Melinda thought bigger, directly opening a media company.

This way, an IP from publishing to film and television development, as well as the creation of subsequent derivatives, would all be there, and it could even tie Wei Wei Lingling's toy factory to the war chariot.

It's not just popular toys; he really knew quite a few. It's just that it's very difficult for a single category of toys to sell like crazy.

For toys to sell well, besides genius-like creativity like the Rubik's Cube, most need story support, so they must rely on animation, film and television, or even game development.

Hearing Wei Ming's words, Melinda knew that her and Wei Ming's relationship might change. From now on, they wouldn't just be exes, but comrades in the same trench.

Wei Ming, who had been soaking for a while, stood up directly: "I'm going to start working."

His strength was not in management and operation, but in creation. As for Melinda's ability, he didn't know if it was reliable. The person Wei Ming trusted most in his heart was still his little aunt Wei Wei Lingling. After all, in his previous life, she was a successful strong woman, with education, ability, and connections, and also many wonderful successful business war cases.

So the first thing he had to do now was to pull his aunt onto their pirate ship.

It's not just creative globally popular toys. Wei Ming took out the paper and pen that never left his bag and started working.

Melinda watched Wei Ming, who was writing furiously, and didn't disturb him. A man working seriously was the most charming.

Today, Wei Ming and Melinda hung up the "no-war" sign. Wei Ming worked until very late, returned to bed, hugged the sleeping Melinda, and entered dreamland directly. In his dream, he met aliens.

Wei Ming, who woke up the next day, couldn't care about the high-raised flag, picked up his manuscript, and ran to the next door to knock on the door.

"Morning, Little Ming," Wei Wei Lingling yawned.

Wei Ming went in directly and closed the door.

"Aunt, what is the most popular doll toy in the US now? I'm talking about the ones boys play with." "Boys?" Wei Wei Lingling, who had done relevant research, thought for a moment and answered, "It should be G. I. Joe, from Hasbro."

G. I. Joe, which could also be called "Special Forces," was later made into a series of movies by Hollywood, the first of which was *G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra*. This type of toy was popular in the US in the 70s and began to decline after entering the 80s. Hasbro was eager to launch more interesting and newer toys to empty the boys' wallets.

So in '83, Hasbro accidentally saw two toys, "Diaclone" and "Micro Change," launched by the Japanese toy company Takara at a toy exhibition.

Their characteristic was that they could transform, switching freely between doll toys and cars.

Hasbro keenly realized the market potential of this type of toy, so it cooperated with Takara, introduced this kind of toy to the US, and after redesigning and packaging, launched it to the market under the name "Transformers."

Once launched, this toy was very popular and welcomed orders from distributors all over the country, so Hasbro took advantage of the situation to launch an animated version to increase popularity.

Later, this animation *Transformers* was also introduced to China in the 80s, which was the "Transformers" familiar to a generation.

Wei Ming first showed Wei Wei Lingling a picture of a red big truck. She was confused. Selling truck toys? Even battery-powered car toys were not rare in the US, and the Langning Toy Factory had even done similar OEM work.

Then she saw Wei Ming's second picture. This was a, a red robot, looking very tall and fierce.

Robots are also a hot-selling toy category in the American market, but there are too many people making this kind of thing, so the competition is not just ordinary.

Looking at the confused Wei Wei Lingling, Wei Ming smiled slightly: "Didn't see the problem with these two pictures?"

"Hmm?" Wei Wei Lingling compared them and looked. Suddenly, her brows furrowed, "This robot is transformed from this truck?"

"Smart!" Wei Ming praised, and said again, "It's called Optimus Prime, the leader robot of the Cybertron planet. In addition, he has many subordinates and a nemesis, and the nemesis has many subordinates. And I collectively call them Transformers."

When Wei Ming introduced Optimus Prime and Transformers, Wei Wei Lingling's eyes began to shine.

As a new American immigrant who had lived in the US for many years, Wei Wei Lingling knew very well how developed the American car culture was. It was a place where you couldn't go anywhere without a car. The adult gift that every teenager most hoped to get when they came of age was a car, even if it was a second-hand one.

So American car toys would always be a huge market.

And Americans, who had no history, besides cars, also liked dinosaurs and aliens. This toy even melted aliens into it.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" Wei Wei Lingling praised, "How did you think of it?"

Wei Ming: "It's just that when I arrived in Hong Kong and saw so many cars on the street, I had some seeds. Yesterday, after being forced by you, I had this idea of car people, and I even helped them write a story background."

Wei Wei Lingling laughed: "Haha, so people still need to force themselves; otherwise, they wouldn't know how great their potential could be."

Wei Ming also laughed: "Wait until I write this story and draw the other types of Transformers; then I can authorize the Langning factory to research and produce them."

"What about the authorization fee?" Wei Wei Lingling asked.

Wei Ming: "Aunt, you decide. It's fine not to give any; I have absolutely no opinion. I haven't met Great-Grandpa, but I've heard Grandpa say that his loyalty to the country is clear to the sun and moon. Uncle Wei Lang is also a loyal martyr who died under the enemy's artillery fire. This can be considered a meeting gift for Great-Grandpa."

Wei Wei Lingling nodded with satisfaction: "Don't worry, we definitely won't take yours for nothing. We're not like some people."

Wei Ming couldn't take these words.

He changed the subject: "This Transformer still has some technical difficulty. I'll draw the intermediate form from car to robot later to facilitate your understanding of the principle of transformation."

Maybe Takara in Japan has already started research and development, so the Langning factory must accelerate. If it can't be done next year, just go to Japan to buy the technical patent.

Wei Wei Lingling exclaimed again: "You can even draw how to transform?"

She had thought Wei Ming only had an idea; she didn't expect the conception to be so detailed.

Wei Ming: "I lost a lot of hair last night. In order to earn your mountain, I racked my brains."

"Don't worry, I'll help you watch that copyright company."

Wei Ming shook his head: "It's not just a copyright company now, but a prototype of a media company."

"What?!"

"This will be discussed in detail after seeing Melinda later. We want to invite you to start a business together. However, you don't need to do anything at the beginning; just provide legal support. You can focus on carrying forward and strengthening the Langning Toy Factory."

Wei Wei Lingling digested it and sighed: "You came out of a socialist world, and now you actually want to start a media company, tsk tsk tsk."

Wei Ming laughed: "Now we advocate entrepreneurship there; I'm also responding to the call of the times. It's just that this kind of company is not suitable to be placed in the country."

However, there wasn't much time left for them to chat about starting a business. They had an appointment with Webber in the morning to talk about the *The Lion King* musical.

As for this media company still in the budding state, it could only be chatted about in the gaps of the negotiations.

Melinda didn't have enough experience in the publishing industry, so she couldn't resign for the time being. At least she had to publish Wei Ming's few new works satisfactorily.

And Wei Ming was also accumulating strength, preparing to offer a few heavyweight gifts for the birth of the new company.

Melinda hoped the headquarters would be in the UK, while Wei Wei Lingling hoped it would be in the US, because the market there was broader.

Finally, the two compromised and placed it in the British Cayman Islands in the Americas, which could take care of both sides.

In '78, the British government issued a tax-exemption decree in the name of the Queen to the Cayman Islands, stipulating that enterprises registered in the Cayman Islands, if the registration time was less than 20 years, besides needing to pay very little stamp duty, didn't need to pay any taxes at all.

In addition, enterprises didn't need to declare shareholder information to the official, only needing to pay 700 US dollars in maintenance fees every year.

Up to this point, the prototype of a tax haven appeared.

So next, during their days in London, the three, while negotiating with Webber and his company and discussing the details of cooperation, were also preparing to open a company in the Cayman Islands.

Finally, when Wei Ming signed the contract with Webber, this company had already been born in a hurry. Wei Ming named it "DreamWorks."

A factory that builds dreams for children and lets adults realize their dreams...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 312 =====