Chapter 89: Investing in Lu Yang, Xiaoma

In the end, *Ip Man* was no match for *If You Are the One* during the Lunar New Year film season.

After stumbling to a box office of 120 million, it completely fizzled out and announced its withdrawal from theaters.

Conversely, *If You Are the One* broke 100 million in five days and continued to charge ahead...

Emperor Motion Pictures was already very satisfied with this; for a long time, the movies they had made previously could not compare to the profitability of this one.

"Director Lin, we should strike while the iron is hot and prepare the sequel, shouldn't we?" Yang Shoucheng said over the phone.

"With the foundation laid by the first film, the sequel will naturally come with its own audience and fans.

The quality of your filming and production must not be inferior to the first one," Lin Nan cautioned.

This was exactly what Yang Shoucheng wanted to hear.

"Don't worry, Director Lin. The sequel will be more refined than the first in terms of crew and production. What about the script?"

"Have your people go to my company to pick it up; I have already arranged it."

A few hours later, Emperor Motion Pictures announced the sequel plan for *Ip Man* to the outside world.

"Is the phone still not getting through?" Donnie Yen asked his agent.

"Mani's line has been busy. Logically, when starting a sequel, they should have contacted us immediately. After all, you are the lead..."

The agent felt a bit guilty while saying this.

Even in a film series, it is common to replace the lead actor.

Donnie Yen frowned; he had only just stepped into the ranks of A-list stars, and the sequel was very important to him.

"Should we go see Chairman Yang in person and humble ourselves?"

Donnie Yen's initial decision to go see Lin Nan had indeed been rash.

He had been intentionally or unintentionally reprimanded over the past few days, and this was another form of that reprimand.

"Yes, let's head out now," Donnie Yen nodded and said.

…………

In the vast film and television industry, categorized by school, the Beijing Film Academy circle is definitely a major stronghold.

Ever since the news broke that Lin Nan was still willing to invest in Cao Baoping after the loss on *The Equation of Love and Death*, the teachers at the academy looked at him with even more complex expressions.

Today, Teacher Jiang came to find Lin Nan to talk about an investment.

"Teacher Jiang, you aren't planning to make a movie yourself, are you?"

"Me? I don't have that thought in the short term.

It's a senior of yours, a 2004-class graduate student from the Directing Department. He's older than you and came back looking for investment, and they thought of you."

"How many movies has he made? Any representative works?"

If it were a veteran industry professional like Cao Baoping, Lin Nan wouldn't ask these things, but for a student who just graduated, he had to ask.

"He hasn't made any movies; this is his first.

Since graduating, he has been working as an executive director and assistant director. Go take a look; consider it a favor to the other professors. If it really doesn't work, just reject it."

Teacher Jiang had the air of someone just going through the motions.

Lin Nan didn't mind; he treated it as panning for gold. Who knows what good things he might find.

When Teacher Jiang brought the person to the editing room, Lin Nan was stunned.

Lu Yang, who graduated with a master's degree in 2007, was five years older than Lin Nan and looked quite ordinary.

"Director Lin, I remember what you said at the graduation ceremony, haha." The visitor smiled and greeted him.

One of the promises in Lin Nan's original graduation speech was to invest in films by students from the Directing Department.

As long as the script was fine and their own ability wasn't too poor, he would consider it.

"As long as you remember. Did you bring the script?" Lin Nan asked with a smile.

"Of course I brought it. Here.

I originally planned to work as an assistant director to keep saving money, but it's too slow. I don't know when it will ever end..."

Lin Nan took the script; it was an arthouse-leaning drama. Well, these are usually very cost-effective.

"*My Blind Cinema*?"

"Yes, I wrote the script myself." Lu Yang's tone carried confidence.

Lin Nan quickly flipped through the script. The story was simple, suitable for the film festival circuit to sell distribution rights.

"Do you have any actors in mind?"

Lin Nan asked without looking up.

"Teacher Wang Jinsong has agreed to give me his schedule..."

This sentence caught Lin Nan's attention. That was true; he was very willing to support students from his own school.

Not long after, Lu Yang left the academy.

Teacher Jiang ran over curiously, "Did you invest?"

"I did."

"How much?"

"Around two million."

Lu Yang's original budget was 2.5 million, but Lin Nan gave him 2.6 million and told him to go to the company to find Yue Jun to sign the contract.

Teacher Jiang gave a thumbs up. "Alright, your reputation is out there now."

…………

The news spread first in the school and was subsequently reported by the media.

This was the second Beijing Film Academy student Lin Nan had invested in from the Directing Department.

The first was Ning Hao, who is now a famous director with a great reputation.

"In terms of supporting new directors, Lin Nan does better than many big companies."

Quite a few companies specifically went to inquire about the news, but after learning it was an arthouse film with a budget of around two million, they instantly lost interest.

Everyone had thought it would be another *Crazy Stone*.

After *Ip Man* was pulled from theaters, *If You Are the One* truly achieved dominance, with daily box office stable at nearly 17 million. Huayi was already preparing for the upcoming celebration banquet.

Emperor Motion Pictures headquarters.

Donnie Yen and his agent had been waiting for a long time.

But the feedback received was that Yang Shoucheng was in a meeting, and the people attending the meeting were the director and production team of *Ip Man*.

"Mani, Donnie is truly very sincere. At the time in the capital, he didn't think too much..."

The agent was fawning over Huo Wenxi.

"Some things are about following the rules."

"Mani is right. What about the sequel?"

"Wait a moment. Once Chairman Yang and the others finish their meeting, they will see you."

Huo Wenxi was very satisfied with the attitude of Donnie Yen's team; after all, the original cast was definitely the best choice.

Before long, they saw Wilson Yip and the others coming down in the elevator.

"Director Yip."

Donnie Yen and the others walked over with smiles on their faces.

"Work starts after the New Year as planned. If we change actors, everyone will have a headache. You talk to Chairman Yang properly."

As he spoke, Wilson Yip patted Donnie Yen on the shoulder.

In his view, Yang Shoucheng wouldn't replace him either; he was just still a bit angry.

"I will, thank you Director Yip."

"You're welcome."

Thanks to *Ip Man*, Wilson Yip successfully promoted himself to a 100-million-yuan director, and he had been in a very good mood lately.

An hour later, Donnie Yen walked out of Yang Shoucheng's office with a smile on his face.

It wasn't until he left the Emperor building and got into the car that his expression instantly turned gloomy.

"Drive."

"How was it? No problem with the sequel, right?" The agent asked hurriedly.

"No problem, but the salary won't increase."

"Still three million?! Isn't that too low?"

Donnie Yen kept a cold face and said nothing.

Once he stands firm as an A-lister...

On the 22nd, at the press conference for the Starlight TV series.

Many first and second-tier stars and media were in attendance.

Huang Xiaoming, Zeng Li, Hu Jun, and others were all actors from *The Martian* and were there to show support as acquaintances.

Lin Nan and Ning Hao were at the scene for only an hour.

As a gesture of goodwill, showing up was enough. Lu Zheng personally saw the two of them out.

"Has the post-production for *The Hunt* been finished?"

"Almost, just these next two days."

Ning Hao was now just waiting for *Crazy Racer* to be released, and then he could focus on filming *No Man's Land*.

"A company came to find me two days ago, wanting to sign a first-look investment deal for my future films." Ning Hao started showing off again.

"Did you agree?" Lin Nan asked, giving him face.

"Haha, if it were before, I definitely would have agreed, but now I certainly won't. In the future, it will at most be a choice of cooperation."

Ning Hao's words made sense; now that he had fame and strength, he could fully manage his own projects without needing to work for others.

Lin Nan was actually quite curious about which company it was.

"Which one? They actually have the nerve to ask you for priority investment rights."

"It's a company that mainly makes television dramas, Ma Ben Teng."

"They want to officially enter the film industry next year, and seeing that my Bad Monkey is a small operation, they threw out an olive branch."

"Their vice president is quite articulate; she's a powerhouse woman."

Ning Hao recalled as he spoke.

Lin Nan had an impression; at the beginning of the year, this company raised 40 million USD in financing, shocking the entire film and television circle.

One must know that even for Huayi, which had gone through several rounds of financing, no single time compared to the amount of Ma Ben Teng's first round of financing.

Having raised so much money, they were bound to enter the film circle.

After parting ways with Ning Hao, Lin Nan returned to the company.

"Lurking" had already been airing for several days.

"According to the data from the television station, the average viewership rating for these days is at 4.9%, with a peak rating of 7%..."

Yue Jun reported the data with an excited look on his face.

It was obvious that this television drama was a hit, not losing out to the previous "Soldiers Sortie" and "My Chief and My Regiment."

Before long, Yue Jun brought up another matter, "There's been some trouble over at Tudou; not long ago, Wang Wei and his wife filed for divorce..."

Lin Nan's eyes lit up, "Nothing else?"

"There is. Because the competition between video websites is too fierce, they want to delay the final payment by one month to be prepared for any contingencies."

"Of course, they also said that if we don't agree, that's fine, and they will make the payment according to the agreed time."

Lin Nan tapped his fingers on the desk and thought for a moment.

"Go and reply to them that I agree."

Yue Jun did not ask further; the fact that Lin Nan was a shareholder of Tudou was already known to everyone.

"Alright, I'll go notify them now."

After Yue Jun finished speaking, he left the office and closed the door behind him.

Lin Nan sat alone thinking about Yue Jun's words just now; Wang Wei had still taken this step.

But it didn't matter; no matter where it eventually developed, it wouldn't affect Lin Nan.

The intention behind investing those 10 million USD back then was not simply to wait for Tudou to go public.

"Whether it goes public or not, I can accept it."

Lin Nan muttered to himself; he would still follow up on subsequent financing.

The invitation letters for "Paladin III" had already been sent throughout the circle.

Tang Ren was very high-profile this time, not only because Hu Ge was a first-tier young actor, but also because they had the goal of promoting people.

"How did she reply?"

"Yang Mi said her contract still has one year left, so she cannot consider us for the time being."

The assistant relayed the original words to Cai Yinong.

"What a pity. You go and communicate with Rong Xinda about the commercial promotional video for Yang Mi; Perfect World is still waiting for my reply."

"Understood, I'll go right away."

On the other side.

Yang Mi had absolutely no interest in Cai Yinong's solicitation.

In her view, Tang Ren could not provide film resources, and signing with this company was no different from retiring.

Moreover, Liu Shishi was already there; even if she went over, she wouldn't get any very good roles.

It would be better to wait until her contract expired and go find Zeng Jia.