Chapter 282 Accompanying
Wang Shu chuckled and asked: "Director Han, is it necessary to slander me?"
Han Sanping was silent when he heard this, and then said: "The point above If your name is chosen, you have to go.”
“There’s no harm in going, just to gain experience.”
This is experience. It’s the experience of attending a conference.
Thinking about it in Han Sanping, with Wang Shu's strength, if he continues to hang out for a few years, sooner or later he will be famous in some places.
There will be a meeting at that time.
At this point, Wang Shu knew that whether he wanted to or not, he had to go and accompany Zhang Yimou now.
The above has already spoken. Even though I know that I will not be selected in the end, I still have to find time to show up.
This is force majeure and cannot be refused.
Of course, being called to participate in the selection is an honor.
Any other director would have been excited about this.
But Wang Shu was different. He was really busy and didn't want to waste his precious time knowing that he couldn't be chosen.
"Okay." Wang Shu groaned, not much.
Han Sanping smiled and said: "Actually, this is a good thing. Then all the famous directors in the film and television industry will gather together, and you can also communicate with them."
What this means is that Wang Shu's communication with senior directors can help him improve his level to a certain extent.
When Wang Shu heard this, he asked quietly: "Director Han, do you think they will communicate with me?"
Wang Shu is not a major student or an academic. He is not a director who came from Beijing Film Studio, West Film Studio, Shanghai Film Studio and other public institutions. From beginning to end, he is not the same person as the directors in the Beijing circle.
At the press conference before the release of "Space Traveler", his words offended all the directors in the film and television industry.
Therefore, regardless of Wang Shu’s achievements, those academic directors who believe in their loftiness always have a contemptuous attitude towards him.
Although Wang Shu's performance was obviously not targeted, he was always waiting for Wang Shu to overturn and then jump out and step on him.
Han Sanping was silent again. Youdao was a tough guy, and Wang Shu was either an academic or couldn't get along with those people.
He laughed and said with a dry laugh: "Well, regardless of whether we communicate or not, you have to go to this selection. You have been named above."
"If you don't want to talk to them, just ignore them. They, but you must do the things mentioned above."
"I know this," Wang Shu responded.
The Olympic Games are a matter of national interest, and their opening ceremony is no exception.
At this time, you can't fight against each other, you can only do things according to the arrangements.
"It's good that you know." Han Sanping smiled and then said, "There will be a pre-selection symposium in a few days, and you will go with me then."
Those words , taking care of Wang Shu.
Although Wang Shu has become famous, his foundation is shallow. He may be looked down upon by some people when he comes to such occasions.
China Film Group is the leader in the film and television industry, with a transcendent status.
Wang Shu and Han Sanping go out together. Even if some people in the system look down upon Wang Shu, they will not show it.
Wang Shu understood the meaning of the other party's words and immediately responded: "Okay."
"That's it for now. I have other things to do, so I won't say more." Han Sanping said with a smile.
"Okay." Wang Shu responded and hung up the phone.
Picking up the tea on the desk and taking a sip, Wang Shu thought about it carefully.
The selection of the director of the Olympic opening ceremony is an extremely cumbersome matter. Before the selection, there will be various symposiums and other meetings, and then there will be layers of selection. After many There is absolutely no need to waste a lot of time in the process to announce the already decided candidates.
It would be easy if Wang Shu had nothing to do, but he not only has to prepare the movie to go to the Venice Film Festival, but he is also busy with the release of "Horror Cruise" and going to the Cannes Film Festival.
His schedule is very tight, but he still has to find time to play with Zhang Yimou.
This.
As Han Sanping said, his name has been mentioned above, so he can't go.
As for why the above should come up with a selection mechanism, he also knows it.
For such a big event as the Olympic Games, many people will have objections if the chief director is directly appointed to Zhang Yimou.
The only way is to find a group of companions to play with, and then naturally settle down with Zhang Yimou.
And Wang Shu is one of the companions.
"No matter what, being named as a companion is also a kind of affirmation."
Wang Shu comforted himself in various ways in his heart.
There are many directors in China, and it is impossible for everyone to be qualified to be a companion.
Among them, only some directors can be selected.
Any director who can be selected, except those with connections, is a capable director.
Thinking of this, Wang Shu scratched his head. He suddenly couldn't figure out whether he was chosen because of his connections or his strength
As we all know, he had a good personal relationship with Han Sanping, and Han Sanping was already the chairman of China Film.
With this personal relationship, he may be eligible to play with me.
And based on his achievements, he may have the same success.
“It’s just that what I said before offended a lot of people, and many of them didn’t want me to be one of my companions.” “So, maybe it’s not because of my strength, but more because of my relationship with Director Han. Personal friend? ”
Wang Shu called Zhou Xiaofa and explained the matter of sending audition invitations to Huang Xiaoming, Chen Kun, Deng Chao and others, and then left Yishu Company.
Next, he will meet with the heads of several other companies under his umbrella to start collecting cash flow.
In April 2007, the bankruptcy of New Century Financial Corporation, the second largest subprime mortgage company in the United States, exposed the risks of subprime mortgage bonds.
Since August 2007, the Federal Reserve has responded by injecting liquidity into the financial system to increase market confidence, and the US stock market has been able to maintain its high level.
However, in August 2008, the stock prices of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giants in U.S. mortgage loans, plummeted, and financial institutions holding the bonds of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suffered widespread losses.
The U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve were forced to take over Freddie Mac and Freddie Mac to show the government's determination to deal with the crisis.
However, the U.S. government’s inappropriate real estate and financial policies have already foreshadowed the crisis.
Coupled with the abuse of financial derivatives, the financial transaction chain has been lengthened and speculation has been encouraged.
Also, U.S. monetary policy is adding fuel to the fire.
Many financial institutions in the United States were unable to survive this crisis.
The severity of the subprime mortgage problem also far exceeds people's expectations.
The Wall Street storm caused by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis later evolved into a global financial crisis. The process was so fast and the impact was so huge that we did not expect it.
This is the most serious financial crisis since World War II that has dragged the global economy into a comprehensive and sustained recession.
This time the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis will evolve into a global financial crisis because of the domestic debt crisis in the United States, which began to withdraw a large amount of funds from all over the world. In addition, all countries in the world purchased real estate bonds. , so the financial crisis in the United States turned into a world financial crisis in a short period of time.
It is now March 2007, not even April yet, and the real risk exposure was in July.
And even in July, many people still hold an optimistic attitude.
Even in August next year, many people are still quite optimistic.
In other words, it is still too late to short the United States at this point in time.
However, those who dare to bet against the United States will not end well.
There is a man named Barry in the United States. He was the first fund manager to short the U.S. property market.
Being short on the property market is easy to say, but it is very difficult to actually implement it. First of all, the property market is the lifeblood of the people no matter which country it is in. To be short on the property market is essentially to go against the residents of a country. Historically, short selling People in the property market generally end badly. There are many examples of this at home and abroad.
House prices in the United States have been rising for more than seventy years since the Great Depression. House prices have been rising forever. This has become deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the United States. Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Frank Blanc have stated on various occasions that U.S. housing prices are very stable. From a God's perspective, Barry dared to risk his fortune and life to short the U.S. property market in 2006. This prediction is indeed powerful.
In 2006, Barry looked through a bunch of stimulus loan information. He found that many subprime mortgage customers were "three-nos", that is, they had no job, no income, and no assets. However, this kind of customer could buy a house with zero down payment. These loans that are defaulting every minute are simply child's play.
But even this kind of bad loan, through the layers of MBS and CDO packages, can actually get a AAA rating from the rating agency.
Barry wants to short these subprime mortgage assets with falsely high ratings, but the second difficulty in shorting the U.S. property market is that there are no suitable short-selling tools. There are many ways to short the stock market, including stock index options, stock index futures, and securities lending.
What are the ways to short the property market?
There is no other way but to sell the house.
After searching for information and asking around, Barry found CDS, a derivative traded over the counter.
He was the first person to use CDS, an artifact, to short the U.S. property market.
CDS is essentially an insurance that covers the risk of bonds. For example, there is now a CDS that covers the risk of Afghanistan’s national debt. The buyer of Afghanistan’s CDS has to pay regular premiums to the seller. If something goes wrong with Afghanistan’s national debt during the insurance period, , then the CDS seller has to cover the buyer's losses, and if there is no problem with the Afghan national debt, then the seller's premium will be in vain. CDS is an OTC derivative and cannot be bought on the secondary market. If you want to invest, you can only Find an investment bank to customize.
Barry selected a few MBS with the worst underlying assets in advance, and then went to Goldman Sachs to inquire.
MBS and CDS are two different things. MBS is a mortgage bond, just like the Afghan national debt above. CDS is an insurance that guarantees that MBS will not go wrong.
Barry was worried that Goldman Sachs would open the asset package and carefully analyze the risks of MBS, so he did not dare to take out the few bad MBS he selected during the inquiry. He asked Goldman Sachs to first determine the range of MBS that could be shorted.
But Barry is obviously overthinking. Goldman Sachs doesn’t care what the underlying assets of these MBS are. They only look at the ratings. Different ratings correspond to different CDS premiums.
In Goldman Sachs' view, MBS would never default, and Barry, who came to customize CDS, was a fool who came to give money.
Of course, Goldman Sachs regarded Barry as a fool, and Barry regarded Goldman Sachs as a fool.
In 2006, Barry's Sion Capital customized a bunch of CDS at Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Bear Stearns, and Morgan Stanley. The big investment banks on Wall Street all regarded Barry as a money-giving boy.
For things like CDS, as long as the MBS he underwrites does not explode, he has to keep paying premiums, because Barry started shorting the real estate market in 2006, and the subprime mortgage crisis broke out in 2008, so Barry’s plug En Capital suffered losses for two consecutive years in 2006 and 2007.
Sain Capital has a scale of US$600 million, and the annual premium it needs to pay is about US$80 million. This means that as long as the U.S. property market does not collapse, Sain Capital will lose money in about five years.
Investors must not be able to bear the losses every year. What’s more, at this time, the U.S. real estate market shows no signs of collapse. Investors have asked to withdraw their capital. Even Barry’s nobleman, Joel, made a special plane to dissuade Barry. He stopped shorting the U.S. housing market, and Joel even threatened to withdraw his investment, but Barry still believed in his judgment.
In Barry's view, he was participating in an asymmetric gamble. If he lost, he would only lose 80 million US dollars in premiums every year, but if he bet correctly, the profit would be At dozens or hundreds of times the premium, this gamble is a good deal.
Therefore, Barry forcibly froze the fund and rejected all divestment applications. He must finish this gamble and fight against all customers and the capital market on his own. Most people cannot bear this pressure. After the freeze , Barry locked himself in the office.
In the second half of 2007, the subprime mortgage crisis that spread across the world finally showed signs. As the Federal Reserve continued to raise interest rates, stimulating customers to be unable to repay their mortgages, default rates soared, and banks were forced to dispose of mortgaged properties in large quantities. As a result, housing prices rose sharply. As the market fell, more mortgage customers chose to default. The U.S. real estate industry formed a closed loop of loan defaults and property price drops. Just as Barry expected, the U.S. property market collapsed quickly. But to Barry's expectation, the U.S. housing market had already collapsed. It collapsed, but he didn’t make a penny from the CDS in his hand.
CDS is an over-the-counter derivative. OTC means that CDS is not traded in the open market, and its pricing is entirely determined by investment banks.
Although the underlying assets have exploded one by one, the credit rating of MBS bonds has remained unchanged, and the priority has always been 3A. The investment bank has refused to settle claims on the grounds that the rating remains unchanged. Not only does Barry not make any money, but he also has to continue to pay premiums.
American rating companies have always been unreliable. In order to steal business from investment banks, rating agencies generally listen to investment banks. If investment banks do not allow MBS to be downgraded, rating agencies will never dare to downgrade it. Normally, It is said that Barry's ending was that he was dragged to death by investment banks and rating agencies, but the entire Wall Street did not expect that the subprime mortgage crisis would turn into such a huge disaster.
The crisis in 2008 was completely out of control. Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and AIG Insurance Group broke out one after another, and investment banks collapsed one after another. If the rating agency still insists on not downgrading MBS, then the rating report will be It's like waste paper.
In June 2008, the credit ratings of subprime mortgage products were significantly downgraded, and the price of CDS skyrocketed.
After more than two years of leadership, Barry finally wrote down the historic rate of return of 489% on the company’s whiteboard.
(End of this chapter)