It is true that people regard food as their top priority and their stomach is in the middle.
But Ning Weimin doesn’t just care about his appetite, he also tries his best to plan the catering business.
He did not give up on the construction of spiritual civilization.
This time he came back from France. Although he did not bring back any national treasures, he bought the film libraries of two film studios and had thousands of European films in his hands. TV series, as well as documentary and cartoon rights.
It can just meet the needs of the domestic audience who are lacking in spiritual food.
Therefore, taking advantage of the release of Keiko Matsumoto's "Li Xianglan" in the mainland on June 14, Ning Weimin relied on his wife's reputation and took advantage of the opportunity to meet with the leaders of the Film Bureau and China Film Exhibition and Distribution Company again.
And he proposed in person the direction in which he wanted to cooperate with some relevant units in the domestic film industry.
According to Ning Weimin's idea, in addition to hoping that the Film Bureau and China Film Group can issue "franchise passes" to the foreign films in his hands, he also hopes that the leaders of the two units can provide him and their Subordinate units work together to make introductions and matchmaking.
Specifically, he wanted to select some of the European movies he bought that had better box office results and had proven commercial value, or those directed by famous directors and starring big stars. The films should be brought to China first and then translated into Chinese by the translation studio.
Then films whose contents are in line with national conditions and can pass censorship will be released in mainland theaters.
As for the distribution and screening model of these films, he is willing to completely follow the current domestic policies for domestic films.
I only make money from selling copies and distributing audio and video products, and give up the right to share the box office share.
As for those films that cannot pass censorship due to policy restrictions, they will not be wasted.
He wants to give free copies to major domestic film schools and drama schools as internal reference films and internal materials.
This is used to help students in the domestic film industry improve their professional standards, and it also provides a way for the domestic film industry to understand the development trends of European films.
To be honest, although these suggestions put forward by Ning Weimin fully considered the need for mutual benefit and were completely based on the perspective of benefiting the domestic film sector, he also respected the interests of China Film Exhibition and Distribution Company and voluntarily gave up the biggest Box office cake, but he really didn't have much hope that it could be done just like that.
After all, he still understands the many restrictions and operating characteristics of the domestic system.
Such a big thing would be difficult to accomplish without someone as important as Director Huo to act as a guarantor and endorse him.
So his suggestion was just to ask questions. The original intention was just to find out what the leaders said.
If the other party does not object and shows a willingness to cooperate, he will then make real efforts and find ways to implement it.
If the other party doesn't have this willingness, he won't force it for the time being. He will do whatever he can and to the extent he can.
He has a lot of patience and doesn't mind waiting until the domestic film industry is reformed and the time is right.
After all, the Japanese market can still support him.
Unexpectedly, he was just lucky. As soon as these suggestions were put forward, he received positive responses and affirmations from several leaders on the spot.
The feedback from several leaders was actually quite enthusiastic, and even a little impatient. They immediately asked him about his specific implementation plan, time schedule and planned investment, completely hoping to implement these things as soon as possible. He is eager to carry out relevant cooperation and has a pragmatic style.
This was completely unexpected to Ning Weimin. When did the domestic efficiency become so high?
This unreasonable situation simply confused him.
But he was a clever man after all, and it didn’t take long for him to figure out what was going on from the conversations between the two parties.
I dare to do it for no other reason than because the domestic film market has experienced a severe decline in recent years, which has almost made it difficult for many domestic film-based institutions to make a living.
Although it seems that it is all in decline, the situation in China is much worse than that in Japan.
In fact, starting in 1984, with the popularity of television sets, domestic movie audiences began to decrease.
Subsequently, the introduction of video recorders and the lack of excellent films further led to a large loss of movie audiences.
From 1986 to 1987 alone, the number of movie audiences nationwide dropped by 3.1 billion.
Almost suddenly, the domestic film market went from being profitable to being unable to make ends meet.
Theaters all over the country are in an unsustainable situation, which caught China Film Corporation, which is responsible for domestic film distribution, by surprise and was completely stunned.
How to raise money so that these cinemas can pay their salaries on time has become the most troublesome problem for the film bureau and China Film Exhibition and Distribution Company.
And as the saying goes, there are still eggs under the overturned nest.
The downturn in movie theaters has also indirectly affected the film production department.
The worst among them are the dubbing studios responsible for dubbing foreign films.
Although the mid-1980s was still the heyday of translation studios.
Both in terms of cast composition and factory system, they are almost perfect.
Take "Shangyi" as an example. The first generation of voice actors are in their prime and have first-class skills.
The second generation of voice actors have become the mainstay after ten years of training.
At this time, no matter whether they translate movies from any country, they can not only translate them, but appropriately recreate them based on the original cultural background, so that the aesthetics can be closer to the domestic audience.
But the golden age suddenly came to an end due to the deterioration of the market environment.
As a large number of Hong Kong and Taiwan films were transported to China via videotapes, the tastes of domestic audiences suddenly changed.
Foreign movies do not have martial arts action, and they lack gunfight scenes like fried beans.
The appeal to young audiences is rapidly decreasing.
The rise of the television industry, especially the broadcast of excellent domestic TV series this year, such as "A Dream of Red Mansions", "Journey to the West", and "Four Generations Under One Roof", has also kicked off the translation studio. feet, competing for the attention of middle-aged and elderly viewers.
The film authorities have reduced the introduction of imported films due to economic difficulties.
In addition, learning English is becoming more and more popular in China, and digital technology is developing faster and faster. It has become easy to use computer software to add subtitles to movies, which has led to more and more people advocating watching original movies with subtitles. voice.
This further led to a sudden drop in the workload and financial support of the translation studio.
It is so embarrassing to have eighteen kinds of martial arts in hand, but they are of no use!
And times are also accelerating, and the meticulous work model of the past has become outdated.
When translating a movie nowadays, it is difficult to give the dubbing team another month to fully understand the cultural background of the movie and figure out the psychology of the movie characters.
In short, many young people who originally entered the industry with admiration but have not been trained have become unwilling to quit due to these reasons.
Many good candidates are already trying their best to relocate their jobs.
Some people even say that "dubbed films are dead". If you want to survive, you must quickly think of another way out.
It may be difficult for outsiders to believe that "Shangyi", which was very brilliant a few years ago, now has almost nothing to do, and people are in a state of panic, which is not much better than that of state-owned enterprises that have been losing money for years.
Speaking of which, thanks to the fact that foreigners have come to China to shoot more big-budget films in the past two years, whether it is "Dunhuang" being filmed in Gansu, or "The Last Emperor" which has just been completed in the Forbidden City, or Ning Weimin brought together Japan and three major domestic film studios to jointly shoot "Li Xianglan".
The money they spent in China has greatly alleviated the economic difficulties of several major domestic film studios. Otherwise, the country would be completely in ruins and there would be a shortage of money everywhere.
So now Ning Weimin actually takes the initiative to propose cooperation, and the method of cooperation can create immediate profits and immediately solve the practical problems of the domestic film industry. You can imagine how happy the leaders of the Film Bureau and China Film Company are. ?
Can they not regard Ning Weimin as a timely gift? Ning Weimin is a firefighter in the domestic film industry!
So for this matter, the leaders of China Film Company took action on the spot and gave Ning Weimin ten quotas for imported films in the second half of the year. The only thing he hoped for was that he could get the funds as soon as possible and start work. .
The leaders of the film bureau were also unambiguous and promised to be as lenient as possible in the review and approval process.
After returning, I contacted "Shangyi" and asked Chen Xuyi, the then director of the factory, to send someone to Beijing as soon as possible to interview Ning Weimin about cooperation matters, and asked for cooperation as much as possible to finalize the matter as soon as possible. .
Look how beautiful this is!
Ning Weimin really didn’t expect it. It took no effort at all.
With the copyright of thousands of movies, he actually knocked on the door of the domestic film market so easily.
Now it was better. With official welcome and support, he became the only person in the country with the right to introduce movies. This movie tycoon's industry status was firmly established.
This not only made it easier for him to recover the cost of purchasing these film libraries, but also prompted him to have more expectations and ideas about the mainland's film industry and market.
And that's not all.
A bit different from movies, TV dramas bring Ning Weimin more diversified benefits that are easier to achieve in the short term.
In 1987, after the TV series "A Dream of Red Mansions" was well received in the mainland, it also caused quite a sensation when it was broadcast overseas.
The TV drama production center is very satisfied with the broadcast results in both Japan and Hong Kong.
Feng Qiyong, honorary president of the Dream of Red Mansions Society, said this is the greatest popularity in history.
The red scholar Zhou Ruchang said that the whole dragon from head to tail is the first skill.
The person in charge of the TV drama production center therefore let Ning Weimin know through Director Huo and expressed that he wanted to continue to cooperate with him.
I plan to trade the copyrights of "Journey to the West", "Nurhaci", or more TV series to him so that he can broadcast them overseas.
The "Grand View Garden" in Nancaiyuan in Beijing, which was converted from a former park, was used as the filming location for Dream of Red Mansions. It was opened to the public at the same time as the TV series was broadcast last year, and it reaped the greatest benefits.
Now it has become the most popular tourist destination in Beijing and has become a rake for making money in Xuanwu District.
Let this district, which is relatively backward in economic development among the eight major districts in the capital, have a cornucopia of wealth that can continuously be created.
The main actors of the TV series "A Dream of Red Mansions" also became an instant hit and have become the most watched local stars in the country. Major variety shows will invite them to the stage. They are the first time they are actors in a TV series. Overshadowing singers, movie stars and comedians in the limelight.
Ning Weimin, who has advanced consciousness, fully understands the value of IP, and knows the correct way to play, naturally wants to strike while the iron is hot to take advantage of this trend.
In fact, when he returned to China this time, he planned to discuss how to develop related products with the art colleges and industrial art manufacturers that he worked closely with.
In his eyes, with the current backward business vision and application methods in China, the craze caused by TV dramas is a complete waste. He can obviously earn a hundred yuan, but why They only saw one piece.
Ning Weimin was really not talking nonsense. He took Matsumoto Keiko to take some time to visit the Grand View Garden.
I found that there were so many people there that there was literally nowhere to stay. Even tourists from other places came here because of its reputation, treating it as a tourist check-in place comparable to the Forbidden City.
But the tourist souvenirs in the entire scenic area are lackluster, and there is nothing to praise.
In addition to bread, soda, popsicles, film, and kangle fruit, the most popular items sold in the scenic area stores are some stills, postcards of characters in the Red Mansion, bookmarks, desk calendars, wall calendars, playing cards, and comic strips.
And on such a hot day, the souvenir shop didn’t even have a paper umbrella to protect the sun, or a round fan suitable for ancient costumes or taking photos. What they sold were the recently popular sandalwood folding fans and traditional paper fans. Folding fan, just say how stubborn you are.
The kind of pendant with commemorative words that can be hung around the neck is an imitation jade pendant, and it sells very well.
But it is also a common commodity of resin and plastic, and there is no original idea.
The remaining products that have been neglected are basically just to fill the counter and make the products appear richer.
For example, some glass snuff bottles, small cloisonné objects, porcelain vases, and the four treasures of the study.
It really has no special features. It basically duplicates most of the scenic spots in Beijing and has almost no connection with the "Dream of Red Mansions" IP.
But Ning Weimin is different. He has a vicious vision and is willing to play tricks.
After two days of meeting and discussion, the decision was made.
He asked the Sculpture Department of the Academy of Arts and Crafts to come up with a design draft, and then the silk workshop of the Brocade Box Factory and the silk workshop of the Meishi Street Sewing Society jointly produced twelve golden hairpins and twelve pairs of hairpins according to the drawings. Twelve silk figures with hairpins, each with five thousand sets.
In almost the same way, he also asked the Ceramic Department of the Academy of Arts and Crafts to be responsible for the drawings, and the Jingcheng Handicraft Factory produced two thousand sets of blue and white porcelain tableware and pastel porcelain tableware with twelve golden hairpins.
He also placed orders with the badge factory and the palace lantern factory.
The badge factory is required to design and produce Baoyu's psychic jade, Baochai's golden lock, Shi Xiangyun's golden unicorn, and Daiyu's white hairpin, according to the TV series, 20,000 pieces each.
And 40,000 small mirrors with the four characters "Feng Yue Bao Jian" engraved on the back.
Require the Palace Lantern Factory to produce 6,000 glazed lanterns from "A Dream of Red Mansions", the kind that can be lit with small light bulbs and AA batteries,
In addition, Ning Weimin also asked the Jingcheng Embroidery Factory to produce two thousand sets of round fans, incense fans and paper umbrellas with figures of the Twelve Golden Hairpins and Red Mansions.
Twenty thousand wallets.
Require Meishi Street Sewing Club to make another 2,000 pieces of velvet flowers, pom-poms, and velvet birds.
The street factory in Donghua Market has already begun to produce small flower accessories.
But to a certain extent, we also hired the original master craftsmen and began to restore the traditional silk flower project.
It can be said that Ning Weimin's plan has basically covered various distinctive products in "Dream of Red Mansions".
He even communicated with the polar bear who can make concentrated juice and ordered 10,000 bottles of rose water, which is about the size of two taels of white wine packaging.
But in the end, it was the order he placed at the gold wire inlay factory that was the largest, the most exaggerated, and the most surprising.
Even the leadership team of the gold wire inlay factory was surprised by this.
Because he actually asked the factory to create a set of " A set of gold sculptures with the theme of "Illusion of Taixu".
This is a shocking move. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, no one has done anything like this with such expensive materials.
What’s more, the price of gold jewelry in China this year was only 80 yuan per gram.
This means that if the job is done well, the manufacturer should have a profit margin of hundreds of thousands.
As manufacturers, how can they not be shocked or excited?
To be honest, this job is sweet and sweet, but the factory does not dare to agree without authorization. It must report to the superior.
However, the co-branded gold lighters by Pierre Cardin and Goldlion were commissioned from this factory, and the two parties have already had large transactions.
And with the support of Ning Weimin from the Light Industry Bureau and the Cultural Relics Bureau, the matter was finally approved.
And this means that Ning Weimin is about to have a set of treasures that are so golden and shiny that they can blind the eyes of ordinary people.
This is enough to make him comparable to the gambling king family in Macau who likes to play this game to shock gamblers. (End of this chapter)