As the saying goes, if you plant flowers intentionally, they will not bloom, but if you plant willows unintentionally, they will create shade.
Situations like this do happen in life.
Sometimes when we put in the energy to do something, we may not be able to achieve the expected results.
Sometimes we have no special expectations, but we often get unexpected gains unintentionally.
This is the current situation of Ning Weimin.
Perhaps it is because in the negotiations and cooperation with the "Shanghai Translation Factory", he used real money to fully demonstrate his sincerity in taking care of his compatriots and using foreign capital to feed back the country.
Such a generous and pragmatic performance impressed the leaders of the Film Bureau and China Film Company, giving them a sense of trust in his character.
Perhaps it is also because he successively promoted two large-investment co-production projects, "Li Xianglan" and "Crazy Rich Asians", and also obtained a large number of rich European films from overseas, which indirectly promoted the domestic film industry. The development of China has also provided a lot of "nourishment".
The leaders of the Film Bureau and China Film Company also had great confidence in his ability to do things.
In short, the leaders of the Film Bureau and China Film Company couldn't help but want to strengthen cooperation with him.
So after he signed the contract with "Shanghai Translation Factory", he took the initiative to propose to him the idea of promoting domestic films to overseas markets through him.
Of course, the Film Bureau and China Film Company are mainly targeting the Southeast Asian film market, or mainly the Japanese film market.
After all, Ning Weimin’s wife Matsumoto Keiko has a transcendent status in the Japanese film industry.
Not only is she the most popular movie star in Japan, she also owns her own studio.
In the minds of the Film Bureau and China Film Company, Keiko Matsumoto should have certain methods in terms of film distribution.
And this is probably the main reason why they value Ning Weimin so much.
Where can I find such a suitable person who is moral, capable, and has certain conveniences in going to sea?
In fact, they did not get it wrong.
The good relationship between Matsumoto Keiko and Shochiku Pictures not only ensures that the films produced by Fog Studio can have a better high-quality schedule for release in Japan and will not be released in advance, but also Ning Wei Min himself is indeed making such business attempts unconsciously in private.
At least after Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko purchased the film rights in France, they had already reached a verbal intention on the phone with Shochiku's President Fakimoto.
In view of the current serious lack of high-quality film releases in Shochiku, President Omoto also has a certain intention to use some of the French films they have brought back to supplement the release schedule of Shochiku's lack of high-quality films.
In addition, Ning Weimin is also planning to subtitle Chen Peisi's film and screen it in independent theaters in Tokyo.
After all, Japanese movie ticket prices are high, and Chen Peisi’s movie production costs are low. Just selling them can cover a lot of shooting costs.
No more, if it really sells 10 million yen at the box office, wouldn't it mean that he used the Japanese film market to feed our own filmmakers and support our own film creation?
Ning Weimin loves to do this kind of thing.
What's more, the Film Bureau and China Film Company are also quite self-aware.
They all know the current state of domestic films - they focus on ideology and lack commercial elements.
At present, except for a few martial arts films and historical-themed films that have been co-operated with Hong Kong City, other types of domestic films are difficult to sell overseas.
For the specific situation, just look at the operating conditions of Yindu institutions with mainland background in Hong Kong City.
Recently, Keiko Matsumoto's "Li Xianglan" has been able to make money.
Although the Hong Kong market is not very fond of such historical-themed movies, the box office in Hong Kong only sold 14.5 million Hong Kong dollars, which was slightly worse than "The Man behind the Curtain" and "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace" a few years ago. .
But this is one of the very few movies that can make Yindu money this year.
So the Film Bureau and China Film Company do not have high expectations for whether this matter can achieve brilliant results in the short term, and they have no requirements for financial returns.
What they want is actually just one more leg to walk on.
As long as you can find a trustworthy middleman and try to establish a distribution channel in Japan first.
After all, the only Chinese-language film companies that can distribute Chinese-language films in Japan are Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers in Hong Kong.
From the perspective of the development of mainland films, if this invisible monopoly can be broken, having a cultural window of the mainland’s own in Japan, or a cultural propaganda base, will be enough for the time being.
Now it seems that Ning Weimin is just such a person, someone worthy of their trust and entrustment.
I just don’t know if Ning Weimin has this intention.
So they are all trying their best to win over Ning Weimin.
Even China Film Company, which has always monopolized distribution profits in China and never shared its profits with others, has offered extremely generous conditions this time.
They said that if Ning Weimin is willing to do it, he can choose five new movies produced by major studios nationwide this year, and he can get the overseas rights of these movies first without paying. Release Authorization.
When the movie sells box office overseas, he can then hand over part of the box office profit to China Film Company.
No need to ask, of course Ning Weimin was overjoyed by such a compliment.
He simply couldn’t ask for it.
Because no matter from any angle, this is a great thing like pie in the sky.
First of all, officially speaking, he immediately became the official agent backed by the Film Bureau and China Film Company.
With this semi-official status, not to mention that even the embassy of his country will look at him with admiration, it will be much easier for him to deal with companies and institutions in the film and television industry in Japan in the future.
After all, with the overseas distribution rights of domestic films, the scope of cooperation and transactions between him and the Japanese has become wider and the methods have become richer.
To put it bluntly, in the future, as long as the Japanese want to cooperate with China in the film field, they will have to come to him?
What's this?
This is market monopoly.
In the future, there will be more room for development for him in terms of domestic and overseas film distribution.
Secondly, from a personal point of view, for him to take on this job concurrently is equivalent to the film bureau and China Film Company giving him free money.
Since these films are taken away and shown for free, isn’t it a business without money?
What's more, besides him, who else can grasp the real box office data and profit division?
How much and how to divide it, isn’t it all up to him?
Besides, no one said that he couldn’t eat both ends.
While promoting domestic films overseas, it is also very fun to buy out some foreign films, accumulate film libraries, and engage in reverse input.
Finally, if he comes to do this, it will definitely be of great help to Matsumoto Keiko's personal career.
A wife is more valuable than her husband. As long as he stands firm, there will always be a relationship of interest binding with the film bureau and China Film Company.
Then it means that the domestic market will be completely open to Matsumoto Keiko, and there will no longer be any real obstacles. In principle, the film and television works she has participated in and the music albums she has recorded will be given the green light.
Even if the time comes in the future, it will be much more convenient for Matsumoto Keiko to really decide to give up her Japanese nationality and naturalize in China.
In short, this matter has hundreds of benefits and no harm. Even if we take a long-term view, the benefits will be even greater.
Once he reaches the information age, as long as he steadily accumulates his film library, he will easily become Asia's largest streaming media tycoon.
How could Ning Weimin live in a low-end apartment with such temptation?
In fact, even the Film Bureau and China Film Company did not realize at this time how huge the benefits contained in the policy opening they wanted to open to him.
So Ning Weimin’s response was quite positive.
After he fully understood the intentions of the Film Bureau and China Film Company, he thought for a while and came up with a more realistic implementation plan. He plans to register a copyright agency when he returns to Japan, and then start trying to run this business.
We will test the waters on a small scale this year and then set next year’s goals based on market feedback.
Of course all operating expenses will be borne by him. Not only does he not need to pay a dime from the state, he will also unconditionally donate 40% of his shares to China Film Company.
Faced with Ning Weimin's sensible and proactive attitude, the Film Bureau and China Film Company were also very satisfied, and the intention to cooperate between the two parties was basically reached.
But there are still differences.
Because it’s really hard for domestic production units, and I’m worried that they will run away because of the brokenness of the current system, and I wonder if I can change the current bad situation.
Ning Weimin was also bold enough to make a suggestion.
It means that part of the overseas box office can be sent directly to the production units to encourage them to actively create, so that more excellent movies can be made.
However, the leaders of the Film Bureau and China Film Company were very embarrassed about this issue. After thinking for a long time, they still did not agree.
If nothing else, everyone knows that the domestic film industry has already had major problems with its distribution system.
But when it comes to ideological issues and the issue of re-dividing the cake, no one dares to touch this hot potato.
Otherwise, if you are not careful, you will offend many people and put yourself in danger.
Although Ning Weimin wants to use the joint venture's overseas box office to feed back the domestic market, it does not involve the domestic distribution system and is a detour.
But both the film bureau and the China Film Company know that this method of letting the production unit directly take a share of the box office has endless consequences.
In the current institutional environment, once someone opens his mouth, people's minds will definitely change, causing countless troubles.
God knows whether those production units will be encouraged by this and have to re-divide the domestic box office with China Film Company?
God knows, will someone take advantage of this and attack the existing domestic distribution methods?
These situations are too uncontrollable.
The leader does not want to see such a chaotic situation.
So there is no other possibility. They can only give the kind-hearted Ning Weimin a soft nail.
But then again, Ning Weimin’s original intention was good after all.
In essence, his suggestion was that he would not hesitate to suffer a loss, he was willing to take less money, and he also wanted to use the money in practical ways to support the development of the domestic film industry as much as possible.
So at this point, the leader of the film bureau finally gave him a hint,
saying that although his suggestion could not be adopted, from another perspective, they did not prohibit those who made films. The film production unit can solicit sponsorship by itself, and it will not prevent some units that want to support domestic cultural undertakings from taking the initiative to donate to the production unit.
In this way, Ning Weimin immediately understood.
At this moment, even he couldn't help but secretly cursed himself as "stupid".
To put it bluntly, things can still be done this way, it's just a different name for paying money.
What the leader means is that as long as he does not use the name of box office sharing, he is willing to hand over his profits to whomever and do what. Those are his personal freedoms.
Isn’t this almost the same as when he proactively expressed his willingness to take out his dividends from Tan Gong Restaurant and share them with his old friends from several investors?
If we are flexible and adopt a curved approach to save the country, there will be no policy obstacles.
Otherwise, in the face of this era that is destined to undergo a major transformation process, how can we be truly transparent?
The most critical point is not to be too straightforward in doing things, but to know how to assess the situation.
While maintaining the original intention, we must also start from the perspective of meeting the social environment and actual needs.
Sometimes you have to take a detour.
Otherwise, if you only have enthusiasm and accept death, you will not be able to accomplish anything.
As for the specific selection of the first batch of films to be brought overseas, except for "Old Well" and "King of Children" from Xiying Film Studio, which were recommended by the film bureau leaders, Ning Weimin was reluctant to refuse and nodded in agreement. back.
Regarding the selection of the other three films, Ning Weimin chose to give priority to his hometown studio, Jingying Film Studio, and chose "The Drum Book Artist" and "The Golden Dart and Huang Tianba" that have already been completed.
Of course the last one is left to "Father and Son" filmed by Chen Peisi a few years ago.
For Ning Weimin's small "selfishness", people from the Film Bureau and China Film and Television took a tacit attitude and did not openly oppose it.
It’s just that people from China Film Company pointed out that "The Drum Book Artist" contains many plots of the Anti-Japanese War, and they are worried that if it is released in Japan, it will encounter resentment and rejection by the Japanese, and not many people will come to watch it. .
However, Ning Weimin has his own opinion on this point.
From what he saw, at least for now, the right-wing forces in Japan are not as arrogant as they will be in the future, daring to tell lies and deny the heinous crimes committed by the Japanese army.
After all, there are still many people alive who have experienced the war.
The trauma of the war has penetrated deep into the bone marrow. Those who are lucky enough to survive are all afraid.
Even many old Japanese who participated in the war of aggression against China knew that they were guilty of serious crimes and have become staunch anti-war elements.
Ning Weimin personally saw an old Japanese man scolding a group of ignorant Japanese young people on the streets of Tokyo.
It’s because these young people are strutting around in old-style military uniforms on the streets of Tokyo under the banner of the Rising Sun Flag, attracting attention.
When the old man saw it, he used his tongue to curse unceremoniously on the spot.
Although he was as thin as a turkey, his fierce and fierce features shocked all the young people.
"Asshole! Don't do this kind of thing, this is not the glory of Japan, it is the shame of Japan! You young people should stop worshiping these things, war will only cause disaster! If you do this again, sooner or later we will You will be abandoned by the whole of Asia! Hey, you bastards, get out of here, otherwise I will call the police!”
These young people really ran away like shit when they met such an old man! .
It can be seen from this that if the police came at that time, they would also interfere with these young people showing off their "martial arts of the imperial army".
This incident is enough to prove that Japanese society at this time was still full of guilt for the war.
Otherwise, the box office of "Li Xianglan" would not have been so strong.
With these people here, Japan's right-wing elements have not yet had a full stage to perform, so they can only crouch with their tails between their legs.
At this time, they do not have the courage to openly replace the former to cleanse those war criminals.
At most, keep an attitude of silence as much as possible.
They expect their own nation to gradually forget this history, and they also expect others to forget this history.
They believe that even the lessons learned by millions of lives can be forgotten in just one generation.
So for domestic films, this is the best opportunity to release anti-Japanese films in Japan, and there will be more audiences.
I can scold you Japanese and still earn your yen from you. How can you miss this opportunity?
In addition, Ning Weimin did not want the Japanese to get their wish. He really regarded these things as sesame seeds and rotten millet and gradually forgot about them.
He must do his best to remind the Japanese and let the young people in Japan know more about the crimes committed by their fathers and grandfathers.
Although it is always uncomfortable to be in debt to others, Japanese people generally hope that historical debts will be forgotten as soon as possible.
But for us victims, forgetting history means betrayal.
So in the end, seeing that Ning Weimin spoke so clearly and seemed to be certain, China Film Company let him go. (End of chapter)