Chapter 89: Investing in Lu Yang, Xiaoma

*Ip Man* in the New Year slot was ultimately no match for *If You Are the One*.

After the box office stumbled to 120 million, it completely went out and announced it was off the screen.

In contrast, *If You Are the One* broke 100 million in five days, advancing all the way...

Emperor Motion Pictures was already very satisfied with this; for a long time before, the movies they made were not as profitable as this one.

"Lin Dao, let's strike while the iron is hot and prepare for the sequel?" Yang Shoucheng said on the phone.

"With the foundation of the first part, the sequel will naturally bring its own fans.

The quality of your filming and production cannot be worse than the first one," Lin Nan exhorted.

This was exactly what Yang Shoucheng wanted.

"Lin Dao, rest assured, the sequel will be more refined than the first one in terms of cast and production. What about the script?"

"Let your people come to my company to get it; 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 side has been busy; logically speaking, opening a sequel, they should be looking for us the first time, after all, you are the protagonist..."

The agent also felt a little guilty when saying this.

Even for a series, changing the protagonist is common.

Donnie Yen frowned; he had just crossed one foot into the ranks of first-tier stars, and the sequel was very important to him.

"Shall we go see Yang Dong ourselves and soften our stance?"

Donnie Yen's first visit to Lin Nan was indeed rash.

He had been intentionally or unintentionally knocked in the past few days, and this was also a knock.

"Well, let's go now," Donnie Yen nodded and said.

…………

In the vast film and television industry, divided by school, the Beijing Film Academy circle is definitely a big mountain.

Since the news that *The Equation of Love and Death* lost money and Lin Nan was still willing to invest in Cao Baoping spread, the eyes of the teachers in the academy looking at him became even more complicated.

Today, Old Jiang ran to find Lin Nan and talked about investment.

"Director Jiang, you don't want to make a movie too, do you?"

"Me? I don't have that idea for a short time.

It's a senior of yours, a 04-level directing graduate student, older than you, who ran back to find investment, and they thought of you."

"How many movies have you shot? Any representative works?"

If it were a veteran film and television practitioner like Cao Baoping, Lin Nan wouldn't ask these, but a newly graduated student had to be asked.

"Never shot a movie; this is the first one.

After graduation, he has been working as an executive director and assistant director; you go take a look, it's for the sake of other professors, if it really doesn't work, just refuse."

Old Jiang looked like he was dealing with an errand.

Lin Nan didn't care; he would just treat it as gold panning; maybe he could pan out something good.

When Old 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 he looked quite ordinary.

"Lin Dao, I remember what you said at the graduation ceremony, haha," the person said with a smile, greeting him.

At the beginning, Lin Nan's graduation speech included a promise to invest in the films of students in the directing department.

As long as the script was no problem and his own strength was not too bad, he would consider it.

"Good to remember, do you have the script?" Lin Nan asked with a smile.

"Definitely have it, here.

I was originally prepared to be an assistant director to continue saving money, but it's too slow; I don't know when it will be the end..."

Lin Nan took the script; it was an art-house drama. Well, this kind of thing is usually very money-saving.

"*Blind Cinema*?"

"Yes, the script I wrote myself," Lu Yang said with confidence.

Lin Nan flipped through the script quickly; the story was very simple, suitable for the film festival route, selling copyrights.

"Any intention for actors?"

Lin Nan didn't look up and asked.

"Teacher Wang Jinsong promised to give me the schedule..."

This sentence caught Lin Nan's attention; also, that person was very willing to support students from his own school.

Not long after, Lu Yang left the academy.

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

"Invested."

"How much."

"About 2 million."

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

Old Jiang gave a thumbs up. "Okay, your reputation is out there."

…………

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

This was the second Beijing Film Academy student Lin Nan invested in, from the directing department.

The first was Ning Hao, who is now a famous big director.

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

Many companies specifically inquired about the news, and after knowing it was an art film of about 2 million, they instantly lost interest.

Everyone thought it would be another *Crazy Stone*.

After *Ip Man* was off the screen, *If You Are the One* truly became the only one, with a daily box office stable at nearly 17 million; Huayi was already preparing for the subsequent celebration party.

Emperor Motion Pictures headquarters.

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

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

"Sister Mani, Donnie is really sincere; at that time in the capital, he didn't think too much..."

The agent was fawning in front of Huo Wenxi.

"Some things are about rules."

"Sister Mani is right. What about the sequel?"

"Wait a while; after Yang Dong and the others finish the 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.

Not long after, Wilson Yip and others were seen coming down the elevator.

"Director Yip."

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

"According to the plan, work will start after the year; if someone else comes to act, everyone will have a headache; you talk to Yang Dong well."

Saying that, Wilson Yip patted Donnie Yen on the shoulder.

In his view, Yang Shoucheng would not change people, just a little angry in his heart.

"I will, thank you Director Yip."

"You're welcome."

Thanks to *Ip Man*, Wilson Yip successfully advanced to a 100-million director, and his mood was very good recently.

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

Until he left the Emperor Motion Pictures building and got into the car, his face instantly darkened.

"Drive."

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

"No problem, but the salary won't go up."

"Still 3 million?! Isn't this too low?"

Donnie Yen's face was cold, and he didn't speak.

Wait until he stands firm in the first tier...

On the 22nd, the press conference scene for Starlight's TV drama.

First and second-tier stars and media came a lot.

Huang Xiaoming, Zeng Li, Hu Jun, etc., were all actors in *The Martian*, which could be considered acquaintances supporting the scene.

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

As a favor, showing up was enough; Lu Zheng personally sent the two out.

"Is the post-production of *Hunt* finished?"

"Almost, just these two days."

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

"A company came to find me two days ago, wanting to sign the priority investment right for my later movies," Ning Hao started showing off again.

"Agreed?" Lin Nan gave face and supported.

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

Ning Hao's words made sense; now he has fame and strength, and can completely do projects himself without working for others.

Lin Nan was quite curious about which company it was.

"Which one? Actually having the confidence to ask you for priority investment rights."

"It's a company that mainly does TV dramas, Galloping Horse."

"They want to officially enter the film industry next year, seeing my Bad Monkey as a small family, so they threw an olive branch."

Ning Hao recalled and said.

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

You know, even for Huayi, after several rounds of financing, no time could compare to Galloping Horse's first round of financing.

Raising so much money, it must be entering the film circle.

After separating from Ning Hao, Lin Nan returned to the company.

*Lurk* had been broadcast for several days.

"From the data obtained from the TV station, the average ratings these days are 4.9%, and the highest ratings are 7%..."

Yue Jun reported the data with an excited look.

Obviously, this TV drama was on fire, not losing to the previous *Soldiers Sortie* and *My Chief and My Regiment*.

Not long after, Yue Jun talked about another thing, "There was a problem with Tudou; not long ago, Chairman Wang and his wife filed for divorce..."

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

"Yes. Because the competition between video websites is too fierce, this time the final payment, they want to delay it for a month to prepare for a rainy day.

Of course, they also said that if we don't agree, forget it; they will pay according to the agreed time."

Lin Nan tapped his fingers on the desk and thought.

"Go reply to them, I agree."

Yue Jun didn't ask much; the fact that Lin Nan was a Tudou shareholder was already well known.

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

After Yue Jun finished speaking, he left the office and closed the door on his way out.

Lin Nan thought about Yue Jun's words just now alone; Wang Wei still took this step.

But it doesn't matter; no matter where it develops in the end, it won't affect Lin Nan.

The intention of investing 10 million US dollars at the beginning was not just waiting for Tudou to go public.

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

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

The invitation for *Chinese Paladin 3* had been sent throughout the industry.

Tang Ren was very high-profile this time, not only because Hu Ge was a first-tier young actor, but also with the purpose of supporting people.

"How did she reply?"

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

The assistant conveyed the original words to Cai Yinong.

"What a pity. Go communicate with Rong Xinda about Yang Mi's commercial promotional film; Perfect World is still waiting for my reply."

"Well, I'll go right away."

On the other side.

Yang Mi was completely uninterested in Cai Yinong's solicitation.

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

And there was already a Liu Shishi there; even if she went, she wouldn't get a very good role.

It's better to wait for the contract to expire and go find Zeng Jia. ===== CHAPTER 90 =====

It would be better to wait until the contract expires and go find Ceng Jia.