Chapter 109

Lenovo's advertisement had just been settled, when several mobile phone manufacturers such as Motorola, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson came looking, Jiang Heng was busy filming and had no time, so he ordered Li Xiaoping, vice president of Outstanding Rising Film Company, to receive them.

Li Xiaoping had worked at CCTV for many years, possessing rich experience in media management and operations; in 1999 she joined Guangxuan Media, taking charge of the company's daily operations.

Not long ago she was poached by Jiang Heng, and she has been busy participating in the preparations for *The Matrix*, managing the crew, etc., which can be considered a position of great responsibility.

Faced with globally renowned mobile phone manufacturers, Li Xiaoping also felt nervous inside.

Thinking about the huge investment in the two sequels of *The Matrix* and their broad box‑office prospects, Li Xiaoping's mindset also calmed down.

On top of the base price given by Jiang Heng, it was increased by another fifty percent.

After intense negotiations with the representatives of the three mobile phone manufacturers, they finally signed a contract with Motorola at a price of $4.86 million (about 40 million RMB) for advertising placement in the two films.

Afterward, representatives of companies such as Pierre Cardin apparel, Ford automobiles, and Coca‑Cola came one after another; the prices were slightly lower, but they made up for it in numbers.

In the end, thirteen brands signed advertising placement deals, bringing the production an extra income of 180 million RMB, roughly 22 million USD.

Although this matter was not disclosed to the media, it had already spread throughout the Chinese‑language entertainment circle, causing quite a stir.

In a teahouse in Jingcheng, Feng Xiaogang was discussing the *Cell Phone* script with Liu Zhenyun when the phone rang; after picking it up and hearing just a few words, his eyes widened.

"How much? Two hundred million? Holy shit, I can't even make two hundred million from a single film, yet he can charge two hundred million in advertising fees—it's unbelievable!"

Feng Xiaogang let out a string of "holy shit" exclamations, making Liu Zhenyun intensely curious.

"What's going on, Gangzi? Why are you so excited?"

Feng Xiaogang put down his phone and said, "Jiang Heng's new film, *The Matrix*, has advertising revenue of two hundred million."

"Holy shit, is that for real? That's too exaggerated! In the current Chinese‑language film market, aside from his films, no one has ever broken the two‑hundred‑million mark at the box office."

"Yeah, I don't want to believe it either, but Zhonglei said that a buddy from Outstanding Rising Film Company told him, and it's absolutely true."

"Too exaggerated, too exaggerated!" Liu Zhenyun still marveled, "Two hundred million? Looking at the current scene, only Old Mengzi's *Hero* might have a chance."

Feng Xiaogang nodded, "*Hero* should manage it, Old Chen's *Wuji* should be about the same, and Zhou Xingxing's new film might not even reach that."

Liu Zhenyun said, "Once we finish filming this *Cell Phone*, let's also make a big‑budget film."

Feng Xiaogang replied, "Yes, we should do one."

In original history, he should be considered among mainland directors who are relatively skilled at making commercial films.

But in this timeline, because of Jiang Heng, Feng Xiaogang's stature has seriously declined.

Moreover, he lacks any major international awards, which makes his desire to produce a big‑budget film extremely strong.

The problem is that he himself doesn't have much money and doesn't dare to invest his own fortune, so he's counting on Huayi Brothers to provide the funds.

No matter what, he has to help them make more money first; only then will Huayi Brothers consider giving him money to shoot a big film.

"By the way, we can also do product placement in our film!" Feng Xiaogang suddenly interjected.

"Of course we can—get in touch, maybe we can even pull in tens of millions."

……

In Xianggang, many film people, upon hearing this news, were already shocked into numbness.

"Advertising placement bringing in two hundred million in revenue—who'd dare even imagine that!"

"How many films would one have to make to earn that much? Jiang Heng actually obtained it easily just from advertising placement."

At the same time, they lamented that Jiang Heng has practically taken root in the mainland and no longer returns to Hong Kong.

They mourned the decline of Xianggang cinema and lamented that funds, projects, and stars are dwindling.

Since Jiang Heng is so wealthy, we still have to go to him for investment!

In a tea restaurant in Central, Xianggang, Mak Chiu‑fai proposed taking the script to Jiang Heng for him to see.

The inspiration for *Infernal Affairs* came from John Woo's film *Face/Off*, but Mak Chiu‑fai thought the "face‑swapping" segment in *Face/Off* is practically impossible in reality. He therefore suggested telling a story in which two characters exchange places, not through surgery, but merely by swapping their identities and inner selves.

While creating the *Infernal Affairs* script, Mak Chiu‑fai and Zhuang Wenqiang kept in constant communication. Mak would write a complete script and send it to Zhuang, who would revise it once and then send it back to Mak for further changes.

In Mak Chiu‑fai's original script concept, there was only the storyline of police going undercover in the triads; later Liu Weike added many elements to the original draft and also added a second line in which triad members go undercover at the police station.

Even so, when the script was first taking shape, no one was optimistic about it, naturally because Xianggang already had far too many cop‑and‑robber films.

Every year, numerous cop‑and‑robber films are produced and released, yet most of them fail to make money.

In original history, it was Wang Jing who recommended the *Infernal Affairs* script to the company Huan Da Yang.

This time, because *Around the Atlantic* had terrible word‑of‑mouth and its box office crashed to under ten million, it was considered to have offended Huan Da Yang's Lin Xiaoming, and Wang Jing didn't know whom to turn to for investment.

Mak Chiu‑fai, Zhuang Wenqiang, and Liu Weike refused to give up; when they gathered to discuss, they suddenly heard that Jiang Heng could pull in two hundred million from advertising placement, and felt that asking for an investment of twenty to thirty million was no big deal.

Liu Weike said, "I attended the premiere of his new film before, so I have a bit of a connection with Mr. Jiang; although I can't guarantee he will definitely invest, I still hope that sending the script to him might work."

Mak Chiu‑fai said, "Mr. Jiang has visionary insight; he is the most successful commercial‑film director in the country. If he doesn't like it, there's no need to look for other investors."

Each of them nodded, feeling that there was some sense in what was said.

Previously, Xu Ke had tried to ask Jiang Heng for investment, but he was turned down before even taking out the script.

Old Monster Xu couldn't swallow this indignity; after pleading with his grandparents, he finally managed to secure investment, and the project is now in post‑production.

But hearing some friends from the crew say that the film seems not to be shot very well, this can also be seen as indirect proof of Jiang Heng's discernment.

The three of them finalized their discussion, decided to go together, and immediately called to book plane tickets.

The next day, they all flew together to Jingcheng.

Among the three, only Liu Weike had Jiang Heng's phone number, which was kept in his assistant's hands; fortunately, they had managed to secure an appointment.

That noon, the three brought the *Infernal Affairs* script to the temporary office beside the set of *The Matrix*.

"Mr. Jiang, we've come because we have a script we'd like you to review and give pointers on."

Liu Weike spoke very politely, putting on no senior‑person airs at all.

Jiang Heng hastily replied, "Hey, no need for formalities, let's just discuss it together."

They flipped through the script, and sure enough it was *Infernal Affairs*, though its content differed somewhat from the finished film.

Jiang Heng didn't waste words, directly saying, "Hmm, looks not bad. How much investment are you planning to seek?"

"Twenty million, Mr. Jiang—just twenty million will do!" Liu Weike said, barely able to contain his excitement.

Jiang Heng laughed, "No problem, but regarding the actors, you go find them first; I think any unsuitable ones should be replaced immediately!"

(End of chapter)