Chapter 139

The main characters either put on airs or went home, leaving a legend in the martial arts world.

The grievances and entanglements of the 39th Golden Horse Awards fermented rapidly under the dissemination of countless media and on-site audiences, sparking various flame wars online.

"Golden Horse Awards issue gag order on Lu Kuan; mainland genius director quits in anger!"

"Why did the film festival turn into a farce? Mainland practitioners need to reflect!"

"Golden Lion-winning films don't need the affirmation of an amateur Golden Horse Awards; support Lu Kuan!"

Liu Liu Yifei's related issues were undoubtedly magnified and explored.

It was just that at this moment, there hadn't been a massive attack on entertainment industry figures regarding related issues in the country, and the slight ripples were suppressed and diverted by the official public opinion power of Blog. com before they could even rise.

Liu Liu Yifei's statement naturally won countless fans, and even some official media on Blog. com forwarded and liked it, praising the young actress's pure heart.

【Golden Horse Awards Official】: We regret that such a cultural event was ruined by Director Lu and several mainland actors. We regretfully announce that you are people not welcome at the Golden Horse Awards!

The Golden Horse Awards' official account on Blog. com was immediately subjected to cyberbullying, the unprecedented kind.

This wasn't entirely because of this incident, or because Lu Kuan's appeal was so strong, but because they really did have some behaviors that were not quite appropriate.

In 1997, Leslie Cheung was nominated for Best Actor for *Happy Together* but fell short in the competition against Xie Junhao's (the Wine Sword Immortal in *Chinese Paladin*) *The Mad Phoenix*.

This was originally understandable, but because of a small, slighting remark in Zhang Zhang Guorong's interview, the Golden Horse exposed his embarrassing zero-vote count afterward.

This kind of news was first of all difficult to distinguish between true and false, and all interpretation rights were in the hands of the officials.

Furthermore, even if it were true, to expose it like that, and so obviously targeting the content of Zhang Zhang Guorong's interview, the style was too low.

It was completely an insult to this well-known actor.

This time, they offended Zhang Zhang Guorong's fans.

At the Golden Horse Awards in 2003, hosts Cai Cai Kangyong and Zheng Zheng Yuling played jokes to liven up the atmosphere, and while knowing full well that the Best Actor was not Liu Liu Dehua, they frequently hinted through words and interactions, only to end up awarding the Best Actor to the absent Liang Liang Chaowei.

Immediately afterward, Heavenly King Liu presented the Best Director award to Li An, and this great director didn't know if he had taken the wrong medicine or if it was a program effect arranged by the organizing committee, but he teased Liu Liu Dehua again.

Li An comforted Liu Liu Dehua by saying: not winning an award isn't the most uncomfortable thing; the most uncomfortable thing is the eager feeling of waiting to win an award, only to be teased.

Liu Liu Dehua's face turned blue, yet he had to force a smile; the displeasure on his face was visible to anyone.

This time, they offended Liu Liu Dehua's fans again.

Boss Lu was an expert internet troll; he had been famous in the martial arts world since his conflict with Xie Xie Tingfeng of Emperor and Zhang Zhang Jianting.

This grand event of mutual trolling naturally couldn't do without him.

【Lu Kuan】: The first film festival I attended was Venice. I don't know if the threshold was set too high, but this Golden Horse Awards refreshed my understanding of film festivals. So a "three-no" film festival that is so unprofessional, unenthusiastic, and unfriendly can also run rampant?

The other side's response came quickly: We feel great indignation at the insulting address from a certain director surnamed Lu! This is an insult to art! We announce that we will blacklist Director Lu Kuan indefinitely!

【Lu Kuan】: Don't be in such a hurry to label me. The three regions across the strait are compatriots; we are all descendants of Chinese culture. My own *Shoplifters* was also filmed on location in Taiwan; we really like the local environment, food, and customs.

Besides, there's no need for you to blacklist me. As long as it's my film, it will absolutely never participate in the Golden Horse Awards again!

Now, the cultural celebrities related to the Golden Horse Awards couldn't sit still and spoke out one after another.

【Dai Liren】: The Golden Horse Awards have gone through 39 years, almost as old as Director Lu's father. I think the gold content and credibility of the Golden Horse are not yet for a mainland director in his early twenties to judge.

Taiwan Director 【Li Xing】: The Golden Horse Awards have their own problems and should be able to accept criticism from different cultural circles, but there is no need to kill them with one stick. This is disrespectful and irresponsible to all the behind-the-scenes staff!

Xie Xie Tingfeng and Zhang Zhang Jianting from Hong Kong had always had conflicts with Lu Kuan. Although Li Li Shoucheng now required the company to put aside prejudices on the surface, he also instructed Huo Huo Wenxi to have more contact with Lu Kuan and handle the relationship well.

But this didn't stop them from finding some people in the circle to give him some small public opinion pressure while Lu Kuan was tongue-lashing the crowd on the internet.

The turmoil caused in Taiwan was a bit large, so Lu Kuan temporarily put down his work and returned to Beiping.

Accompanying him, besides his bodyguard A Fei, were several core backbones that Wu Wu Anguo, An Yixuan's father, helped dig out from Xiji Animation.

Besides building his own public opinion position through Blog. com and later Weibo, building an industry closed loop around the film industry was also the top priority.

In his vision, special effects companies, cinema chains, online streaming websites, ticketing websites, and merchandise companies were all indispensable sectors in this closed loop.

Especially special effects companies that could break the monopoly of Hollywood blockbusters.

This was a technology-intensive industry that had to start as early as possible and transition to a self-sufficient stage in advance.

As mentioned earlier, Hollywood's encroachment and plunder of the global film market were accompanied by their technological upgrades.

From the magnificent *Titanic* in 1998 to *Avatar* in 2009, one special effects blockbuster after another impacted local films in various countries like a flood of beasts, while simultaneously carrying out cultural output and reaping huge profits.

For Boss Lu, laying out the special effects industry in advance was far more than just a casual move.

It was a winning move that was hidden and far-reaching!

He conducted multi-faceted considerations for the personnel formation of the fledgling special effects company, with the main personnel composition coming from several aspects.

First was the poaching of core backbones from Taiwan's premier Xiji Animation, settling them in the mainland through high annual salaries and stock option pool rewards.

Second was the poaching of core technical personnel from Hualong Digital under China Film, which was currently the only official film and television digital base in the mainland.

With the basic core backbones, he also had to find a talent in administrative affairs and internal management for the special effects company; he set his sights on Xie Ning of the later Base FX.

The works this special effects company participated in later were very bright: *The Pacific*, *Captain America: The Winter Soldier*, *Star Wars: The Force Awakens*, *Star Trek Beyond*...

Boss Lu's return to Beiping this time was to first swing his hoe at the yet-to-be-formed Base FX, and then poach China Film's corner!

Then, using the opportunity of attending film festivals to scout for some excellent special effects directors abroad, the basic framework would be considered built.

Not to mention the distant ones, he could use the special effects project of *Chinese Paladin* to practice.

Next year, there would also be Zhang Zhang Yimou's *House of Flying Daggers* and Zhou Zhou Xingchi's *Kung Fu*, both of which belonged to special effects productions with low difficulty, suitable for a company just starting out.

Lu Kuan went straight to the company after getting off the plane; Xie Ning was already waiting in his office.

He was one of the two founders of Base FX in later times; before entering the industry, he had a rich resume in the system and foreign enterprises, and his ability and connections in investment promotion, theme entertainment, etc., were quite good.

Later, as the vice president of Base FX, he initiated the founding of the Asian Visual Effects Preview Association and the China Film and Television Post-production Industry Alliance; he was a rare talent.

At this time, Xie Ning was still a civil servant in the Haikou Commerce Bureau of Qiong Province; later, he was also the one who met Base FX founder Chris Bremble during an investment promotion job for a theme park last year.

The King of Free-loading, Lu Kuan, swung his reborn golden finger and once again stretched his evil tentacles toward a side of the world, stealing the luck of later times.

"Hello, Director Lu! Sorry for the presumptuous visit!"

Xie Ning was wearing a standard jacket and shirt, wearing a pair of plain glasses, a classic look for someone in the system.

Lu Kuan also stood up: "Director Xie, welcome, please sit."

The two exchanged pleasantries and got to the point.

"Director Lu, to be honest, I am very surprised by your invitation, because I just received an invitation from another foreign director not long ago."

He spread his hands and smiled bitterly: "I don't even know how a small civil servant like me deserved your favor to participate in such a high-tech industry."

Lu Kuan's heart tightened; no wonder Xie Ning agreed so readily to come to Beiping for a face-to-face talk. It turned out that Bremble had already made a move; it seemed he wouldn't just be meeting with his own company on this trip.

Seeing Lu Kuan didn't speak, Xie Ning turned to describe himself: "To tell you the truth, I can only say I have slight research on this line, because I have been responsible for foreign investment promotion for a long time and have met many Hollywood crews that came to Qiong Province for location shooting."

"Their special effects teams are very advanced. After knowing our preferential policies in Qiong Province, they all intended to open studios here, but due to the lack of talent resources in our local area, they all ended up with nothing."

The reason why special effects companies burn money, besides software and equipment consumables, is labor.

Around 2000, the average annual salary of an ordinary special effects artist in Hollywood was about 30,000 US dollars, while an ordinary special effects artist in a top team was over 100,000 US dollars, and the treatment of special effects supervisors and special effects directors was even higher.

Therefore, many special effects teams this year turned to establish studios in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, the Caribbean, and other regions, which was convenient for film location shooting and could reduce wage costs.

"Director Lu, personally, I am willing to come out of the system to make more attempts and explorations, but this line of special effects companies... domestic companies really started too late."

Xie Ning obviously didn't have much confidence.

This lack of confidence stemmed from Hollywood blockbusters that stood like mountains over the heads of the Chinese people in terms of box office records and word-of-mouth: *Titanic*, *The Matrix*, the *Star Wars* series.

Lu Kuan drank some water and said leisurely: "Director Xie, the other one who extended an olive branch to you is the American director Bremble, right?"

Xie Ning's indifferent expression fluctuated for the first time in a few days; he didn't know how the other party knew.

"Director Xie, I am a director. My next film is a blockbuster that involves special effects production, with a budget of at least 300 million, and I will invite Hollywood actors."

Boss Lu began to draw a big blueprint.

"Originally, I was prepared to take the special effects to Hollywood to do it. As you said, the top food chain of this industry is still in the US and the West."

"But our domestic film industry is also starting to stumble. Especially with more and more big scenes, big productions emphasizing special effects will emerge one after another. The domestic special effects industry can be said to be a blue ocean."

"This year, our company's first Xianxia drama *Chinese Paladin* will start production, and in September, Director Zhang Zhang Yimou's *House of Flying Daggers* will also start filming in Ukraine. These are all partners we are talking to."

*Chinese Paladin* was his own project, and *House of Flying Daggers* was Jiang Jiang Zhiqiang's investment.

"Even if we start very late now, it doesn't mean there is no chance. The gap is not as long as from primitive society to feudal society; it's just like from feudal society to industrial society, just missing the sound of that steam whistle."

"I will first introduce you to our current team members. Besides some basic special effects artists and professional talents, we will hire Zhou Zhenkun from Taiwan's Xiji Animation, visual effects artist Hongda Huang from Hong Kong, senior domestic special effects artist Chang Lin..."

Lu Kuan counted seven or eight names in a row; some had already agreed to participate in the company's formation, and some were still in contact.

Xie Ning was a bit moved, but limited by Bremble's invitation, he couldn't make up his mind for a while.

Lu Kuan pressed on step by step: "Director Xie, you can also consider the invitation from the American director's side."

"But there is one point you must consider clearly: even if they set up their headquarters domestically, they are still an American company. If the political relations between the two countries are tense and some key equipment and technology are embargoed, your situation will also be very awkward."

Saying this, he sipped his tea leisurely: "High technology still needs to be mastered in one's own hands to be at ease."

Xie Ning's heart tightened, but his naturally cautious character still didn't let him make the final choice.

The two sides exchanged some questions about company formation and future development, and then he said goodbye and left.

Watching Xie Ning's thin back leave, Boss Lu also felt a bit emotional; people in this period had too little confidence in the special effects industry.

Sun Sun Wenwen knocked on the door and came in: "Boss Lu, news from China Film. Director Han is waiting for you in his office tomorrow morning."

Lu Kuan collected his thoughts; this was the object he had to focus on conquering. This was not only for the purpose of poaching from Hualong Digital under China Film.

It was even more because domestic blockbusters now, besides co-productions, were all invested in by China Film. People like Jiang Jiang Zhiqiang and Han Han Shanping could bring business to the special effects company he had just formed.

This was an important part of his feeding and training the team with projects; otherwise, this industry would be like a bottomless pit that sucks money, which would occupy a large amount of his capital costs.

(End of chapter)