Chapter 400
Qin Shaoyan has heard about subsidy fraud in the animation industry, and this kind of thing is not news.
As long as there are policy subsidies, fraudulent subsidies will follow, and all walks of life cannot escape.
It ranges from electric cars and chips to culture and art.
There is no such thing as the ease of cheating if you do things honestly.
Those with big connections cheat big money, and those with small connections cheat small money.
For example, "The Story of Lei Feng" was said to have cost 30 million, and when the finished film was released, it looked like a student internship work.
Government subsidies disregard quality, even to the point of ignoring plagiarism.
Because there are no standards for identifying "plagiarism and copycats", incidents of plagiarism and copycats occur frequently.
For example, after "Window to the Soul", known as the first large-scale series of moral education cartoons in China, was broadcast on CCTV, it was discovered that the animation storyboards paid homage to "5 Centimeters per Second".
There are also a large number of scenes that are completely identical, reaching 25%. It is such a copycat cartoon that was not only broadcast on CCTV, but also won the Bronze Drum Award, the highest literary and artistic award in a certain province.
Because animation support policies are roughly the same in various places, 3D animations are often rewarded twice as much as 2D animations.
Animation companies choose to produce more 3D animations and less 2D animations. In order to reduce production costs, domestic 3D animations have produced a large number of inferior products.
There have even been many cool operations, such as taking classic old animations as reference and directly transforming them into 3D animations according to the plot and storyboards of this animation.
In this way, the animators only need to look at the original animation and follow the cutting movements. With this advanced management system, we can achieve the myth of annual output of more than 12,000 minutes.
For example, "High Speed Rail Man" is known as the Chinese version of "Iron Train Man"
These shoddy and even plagiarized works all rely on subsidies to make profits.
Because as long as it can be broadcast on TV stations, it means that it can make money from the government.
In order to be broadcast on the TV station, it will be sold to the TV station at a very low price and rely on government subsidies to maintain capital to survive.
If many cartoons want to be broadcast on TV stations, they have to pay back money to the TV stations.
Submitting money to the TV station may seem like a loss, but the animation company may be rewarded by the central government or local finance. If the production cost is low, the animation company will not only not lose money but also make a profit.
In 2004, after the introduction of relevant incentive policies, the length of domestic animation that year reached 21,800 minutes.
In 2005, the length of domestic animation reached 42,700 minutes.
In 2006, the length of domestic animation reached 82,300 minutes.
In 2007, domestic animation output reached 186, with a duration of 100,000 minutes.
In 2011, China's annual cartoon duration reached its highest value, reaching 261,200 minutes, making China the world's largest animation producer.
Since 2014, cartoon production has dropped sharply due to local governments reducing subsidies.
A total of 138,579 minutes of domestic TV cartoons were produced across the country (equivalent to approximately 2,310 hours), a year-on-year decrease of 32.31%, the lowest output since 2009, and only about half of the highest output in 2011.
Don’t the administrative agencies know that someone is cheating on subsidies?
Of course they know, and they turn a blind eye to this kind of thing.
On the one hand, there is a lot of collusion and transportation of interests here.
On the other hand, just like investment psychology, it is impossible for all the companies in the industry to be fraudulent. There are always one or two who are serious about their work.
For example, the IP "Bear Bears" was born in 2012. In 2013, the first series of animated films for the Lunar New Year was released.
After that, there was one animated movie every year, until 2024, 11 major movies were produced, and the production level is quite good.
Even "Bear Bears" gave birth to the title "Wall of Masterpieces". Only a movie with a Lunar New Year box office exceeding "Bear Bears" can be considered a good movie.
What Qin Shaoyan wants is a classic IP like "Bear Infested" that is carefully produced, of high quality, and can last forever.
Qin Shaoyan looked at Mingyue, who was still eating biscuits, and asked seriously: "What do you think about this matter?"
Mingyue tilted her head and thought for a while, "Of course I want my money and salary back."
Then Mingyue said with a bitter face, "But I guess there is no hope. Yang Li is a scoundrel. No wonder others call her Yang Bapi."
Qin Shaoyan frowned, "This man's character is so bad, why did you stay in this company for so long?"
"She wasn't so obvious before." Mingyue sighed, "There wasn't much life back then, and we didn't work so hard overtime. Since the Chinese New Year, our work intensity has become more and more intense."
"Then why don't you resign?" Qin Shaoyan was a little confused.
"She is withholding my bonus and has to delay it for a quarter before paying it to me." Mingyue said a little aggrievedly, "That's what I earned so hard, I don't want to part with it."
"From now on, I will go to the company to ask for them every day, and I will also post on the campus website to expose their shamelessness!"
"Well, you are of no use." Qin Shaoyan was a little dumbfounded, "Obviously they are not afraid of this if they dare to do this."
"I know it's useless, but I still have to try." Mingyue waved her little fist, "I want to remind the juniors and juniors not to fall into the fire pit again."
"Forget it, let me handle this matter." Qin Shaoyan smiled, "What are your plans next? Do you want to consider my previous proposal?"
"Well, I haven't thought about it yet. I don't think I'm qualified to be a boss yet." Mingyue frowned and replied hesitantly, "I have already submitted my resume to other companies. I will practice more first."
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"Okay, let's solve the matter of your bonus being deducted first." Qin Shaoyan sighed.
Before he finished speaking, the office door was suddenly pushed open a crack, and Zhang Pingyi glanced furtively, "Oh, Mr. Qin, you have guests here, I'll talk about it later."
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"..." Qin Shaoyan looked at the re-closed door without saying anything, and continued to turn to look at Mingyue, "Give me a brief introduction to that company."
Mingyue thought for a while and began to briefly introduce the company's situation.
This company called Suoyin Animation has more than fifty employees and only two bosses, one is Huang Zong and the other is Yang Li.
The company initially outsourced animation and started producing its own cartoons last year. Now the company has three projects in production.
"Oh, you can actually make three at the same time?" Qin Shaoyan was a little surprised, "This small company has very strong production capabilities."
"Actually, they are all copied from Japanese and European animations, and many of the tasks are done by senior interns. This can save costs," Mingyue explained.
"Oh, what kind of work are you responsible for?" Qin Shaoyan continued to ask.
"I am responsible for the original painting and storyboarding." Mingyue replied.
"What about your say in the project?" Qin Shaoyan asked.
"Well, I'm actually managing the entire project." Mingyue was a little distressed, "But I'm afraid I won't be able to continue that project. It was the first time I managed it by myself."
Just as Qin Shaoyan was about to say something, there was a knock on the office door, and then Xiao Chen poked his head in, "Boss, Fan Xiaoqian and Teacher Hong Fei from the game company are here. Do you want to see them?"
"..." Qin Shaoyan was speechless and asked, "Who else wants to see me?"
"Well, Mr. Kou from Qvod.com is also here, as well as the film and television company..." Secretary Xiao Chen smiled awkwardly.
Qin Shaoyan waved his hand, "Forget it, let them all go to the conference room for a meeting."
"Are you all going?" Secretary Xiao Chen was stunned. "Yes, Zhang Minyi, Fan Xiaoqian and Hong Fei, as well as Kou Hongfei and Xia Lian, also call our legal affairs." Qin Shaoyan stood up, "I have important matters to discuss with them."
……
Soon, senior executives from Qin Shaoyan's group gathered in the conference room. They curiously sat on the chairs and watched Qin Shaoyan walk in with a gloomy face.
Everyone's hearts tightened. Mr. Qin's face seemed not to be very good, and they didn't know what happened.
Everyone made eye contact and found that there was no bad news recently?
Qin Shaoyan walked to the main seat seriously, but did not sit down. He looked around the audience and said expressionlessly: "Everyone, I have a difficult problem to solve now."
Everyone immediately sat upright and listened carefully to Mr. Qin's speech.
"There is an animation company now that specializes in outsourced fraud. This company has defaulted on the salary and bonus of a friend of mine." Seeing the strange expressions on everyone's face, Mr. Qin immediately emphasized, "This is a very good friend of mine. You should all be serious.”
"This company owes my friend nearly 18,000 yuan in bonuses."
Everyone below looked at each other, wondering if their ears had heard it wrong.
Is 18,000 yuan worthy of Mr. Qin’s attention?
We thought it was 180 million.
"Why don't the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty say a word?" Qin Shaoyan knocked on the table dissatisfied, "Which of you has a way, you will be rewarded for telling all kinds of things."
"This..." Hong Fei suggested, "How about I ask a few artists to talk to the boss of the company?"
"Forget it, it's easy for people to misunderstand that we are from the underworld." Qin Shaoyan waved his hand.
Fan Xiaoqian suggested: "What about relying on public opinion? We post everywhere on the campus network and other forums."
"It's useless, and the results are too slow." Qin Shaoyan rejected the plan.
Dong Songting, who is in charge of the company's legal affairs and is also the director of Junde Xinheng, said cautiously, "Let's use legal means. Leave this matter to our law firm and we will definitely win."
"Then we have to wait until the end of the Year of the Monkey." Qin Shaoyan was very dissatisfied, "I want quick results."
As the saying goes, a gentleman's revenge is never too late after ten years, while a villain's revenge takes place from morning to night.
Qin Shaoyan wanted to take revenge tomorrow.
Zhang Pingyi, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, "Let's use some unconventional means."
Qin Shaoyan was startled, "What unconventional means?"
"I think we can combine everyone's suggestions." Zhang Pingyi explained, "To find some trouble for this company, such as a contract dispute? Instead of going to court directly, we can use this dispute to stir up public opinion and find a few people. Reporters blocked the door. ”
"Huh?" Qin Shaoyan looked at Zhang Pingyi in surprise.
He didn't expect Zhang Tianshi to come up with such an idea.
Zhang Tianshi, Zhang Tianshi, you are a bad student.
"Zhang Tianshi is a good idea." Qin Shaoyan nodded, "But I have made some optimizations. This requires the cooperation of Mr. Kou and Director Xia."
Kou Hongfei and Xia Lian immediately straightened their backs, "We will cooperate fully."
"In addition, invite some directors from Sohu and Yiku.com." Qin Shaoyan thought for a while, "Invite Edward as well, he is the most familiar with this job."
Everyone was stunned. Why did they call Edward over? It seemed that something was not going right.
Qin Shaoyan showed a meaningful smile.
……
the next day.
A convoy of several luxury cars slowly stopped at the door of a company with three rooms, and a blond and blue-eyed foreigner got out of the first car.
Surrounded by his entourage, the foreigner looked up at the company sign in front of him and observed.
Then several people in suits and leather shoes also came out from other cars, looking very impressive.
Several people and foreigners gathered together and pointed at the company in front of them, discussing something in low voices.
At this time, Yang Li was standing in the office. She had already noticed this group of people. Out of curiosity, she went to the window to watch the excitement.
But soon she discovered that these people seemed to be pointing fingers at her company.
Could it be that they are here for their own company?
Before Yang Li could think about it for long, she found that the group of people walked directly towards the company.
When Yang Li saw this scene, she suddenly panicked. She immediately picked up her mobile phone and called her boyfriend Huang Zong, "Come back quickly, there are a group of people from the company, including foreigners."
After hanging up the phone, Yang Li hurriedly greeted her, "Hello, who are you?"
The foreigner in charge glanced at her and said nothing. The attendant next to her immediately introduced, "This is Mr. Edward Damon, the vice president and director of operations of the American YouTube website."
"This is Mr. Kou Hongfei, the CEO of Kuaibo.com, Mr. Gong Yu, the senior vice president of Sohu, and the director of Yiku.com..."
Yang Li was already confused at this time, staring blankly at the people in front of her, her mind unable to turn around for a long time.
Edward opened his mouth and spoke a string of English, and the attendant then translated, "We are here to find a powerful animation company to cooperate with."
Kou Hongfei continued: "We are looking for a company that can provide high-quality animation products for our website and sign a long-term contract."
Yang Li's eyes lit up at this time, "Welcome, welcome, please come in and sit down with some bosses."
"Our company is a very powerful animation company. The animation products we produce have been broadcast on many TV stations, and we also cooperate with CCTV."
As Yang Li spoke, she greeted everyone into the company.
It's a pity that her office is a bit small and can't accommodate so many people, so she can only introduce the company's information to everyone in the office lobby.
Edward and others listened to Yang Li's introduction while looking at the company's environment.
Yang Li had never seen such a scene before, and she was sweating on her forehead. At this time, her boyfriend Huang Zong hurried back and took over the reception work.
Huang Zong didn't show any stage fright when talking to Edward and others, and confidently boasted about the company.
After hearing this, Edward shook his head and said, "Your company is too small, with only more than fifty employees. It is simply not capable of completing such a large project."
Huang Zong was not anxious at all and immediately said: "This is just one of our companies. We have three or four companies of similar size!"
"No, no, it's still not enough." Edward shook his finger, "We need a lot of works, and we need at least eight such big companies."
"No problem." Huang Zong said confidently, "We can recruit new people at any time."
Edward nodded with satisfaction, "OK, if that's the case, then we can still consider it."
……
In a car outside the animation company, Qin Shaoyan raised his wrist to look at the time, smiled and said to Ming Yue next to him, "It's your turn now."
(End of chapter)