Money, money, money!

After returning home, after eating the leftovers left by my mother, he put all the homework aside. Ye Wei was like a running roller, constantly rummaging through boxes and cabinets in his room.

He first took out his bank passbook and saw that it contained $3,136. It was a miracle. There was so much left.

In addition to his usual pocket money, most of his savings come from the Lunar New Year, which makes people love New Year’s New Year’s money! In Los Angeles, mother’s mother’s home in San Francisco, she can receive a large sum every year. If she has been storing money in a planned manner for so many years...

"Damn it, don't be as verbose as a woman."

Ye Wei scolded himself and scanned the room. Although it is best to use other people's money to make movies, the situation is urgent, so it is enough to plunder yourself as much as you can.

He walked to the row of bookcases and looked at the neatly arranged comic books inside. There were many out of print collections. If they were sold, and those treasured toys would be sold for 30,000 to 40,000 yuan...

Sell ​​them all? The more you think about this, the more you feel sore, and your heart feels sore, "Oh no, is your heart attack..."

Despite experiencing that dream, these things were like the first time. He, a prodigal son who had no worries about food and clothing since childhood, only spent money on his own, was finally forced by life.

When I think of these treasures leaving me, maybe I will never see you again. God, I hate this feeling!

"Please, please, be more mature, you can't do anything big, it's difficult? It's difficult to go to the battlefield like grandpa! There are many challenges in the future."

Ye Wei's mood gradually calmed down, and then he became firm. In order to create a better future, he sold all of them!

Back then, 22-year-old Kevin Smith sold all his collection of comic books, collected tens of thousands of yuan, and filmed the "Crazy Clerk" that later made him famous at his own expense.

"The first thing to do in a movie!" Ye Wei took paper and pen from the desk and started recording and valuing, including everything that can be sold in the room...

After working hard for a long time, the valuation result he came up with was exactly what he had expected: about 40,000 US dollars. With that deposit, if you are lucky, you can get 50,000 yuan.

But there is still 450,000 left, what should I do?

Ye Wei sat down beside the bed and began to ponder. The choices now were nothing more than those.

Apply for funding from those youth film funds? The Los Angeles Film Commission has such a project. Forget it, dealing with these organizations requires a lot of time, preparing a lot of documents, and after a long approval, maybe a year or two before the results will be obtained.

Spend two years to get a "Sorry, you don't meet the criteria... To be honest, we don't like you, and we don't want to give you a penny, bye"? Go to hell!

In fact, the most suitable thing for the current situation is crowdfunding.

It is much more difficult to invest 450,000 US dollars by one person, but a total investment of 450,000 US dollars by one hundred and a thousand people is greatly reduced.

In his dream, he studied two of the most typical examples of crowdfunding in his production course at the University of Southern California.

One is the 2001 "Working Hand in Life", which had a production fee of 5.5 million yuan, and was jointly invested by more than 9,000 Germans, with an average of more than $600 per person.

Because Germany has related tax incentives for investing in movies, it is better to invest in movies than paying an extra 600 yuan in taxes, so when those Germans see opportunities for investing in movies, they will surge up, as if they want to attack Poland.

The second is the Coen brothers' debut work "Blood Maze" in 1984, which was jointly invested by more than 60 small businessmen for a production fee of 1.5 million yuan.

This example has become a classic of production financing because the money was not raised in places like Los Angeles or New York, but in Minneapolis.

It was the hometown of the Coen brothers, a cold little place that made crowdfunding popular.

You are on the streets of Los Angeles and shout "I am a film producer". Maybe an old man not far away will say "I am Spielberg" and another old lady will say "I am Elizabeth Taylor"; in Minneapolis, people will look at you with curiosity and respect, wow, filmmaker! What? I have the opportunity to invest in movies!? OK!

They are not even high-income professionals, but small businessmen with some spare money. They are like those who run a hair salon or a bowling alley. It is difficult to find them in big cities.

So after "Blood Maze", independent producers no longer only focus on those moguls, and a new trend of financing was emerging in search of "country people with movie dreams".

But both of these crowdfunding requires a lot of time. For example, the Coen brothers used it for a year and a half, which cannot solve the current urgent problem. Besides, they don’t even have a script, so what can they use to gain the trust of potential investors?

"It seems...it can only..." Ye Wei's eyes turned and naturally targeted a group: relatives and friends.

In fact, relatives and friends are the most easily attracted investors in crowdfunding. They are also the main source of film funding for film students in the film school. There is an old saying that goes, "If you have relatives and friends, you will have money."

It’s just that his relatives have just witnessed the crushing defeat of "The Marriage is Coming", and with his age and reputation... they won’t invest money.

Then, friends!

"You guys, it's up to you." Ye Weike 99.9% affirmed that the script of "The Little Sunshine Beauty" is worth much more than 500,000, and the 0.1% risk is worth taking!

At that moment, he picked up his cell phone and walked towards the window and called Lev.

"Hi Wei, are you going out to play? All night! I know that there is a new coffee shop open in UCLA, and there are many beautiful college students working part-time there, hehe..."

"Not today. Remember during the day, do I tell you that I am going to do something big?" Ye Wei stood by the window, looking at the starry night sky, "There is new progress."

"Wow, what's the big deal?"

"I want to make a movie. Now I have a good script. It takes 500,000 yuan to buy it, but I can only take out 50,000 yuan. I need investment. Do you want to join the company?"

"Slow, slow, slow! You mean..." Lev on the other side gasped and pressed his voice: "You mean, the kind of movies in movies?"

"Yes! Feature film, real movie!" Ye Wei laughed, "Brother, are you scared?"

"Scared?!" Lev screamed, "I admire you so much! Brother Wei, you are a genius! You are so right. How can you show our extraordinary talent when shooting short films of a few minutes?? Feature films, only feature films are what we need to do! We will become big stars, baby!"

Ye Wei smiled and said, "Brother, this is a very serious matter, but you are right. If you succeed, we will definitely be a cool boy in the United States and the world's attention!"

"Oh my king! We'll be in the White House, Bush's war criminal will receive us, what should I say to him? Hello, George-W...BULLSHIT!"

Lev fell into an unstoppable fantasy, "Also, we will attend the Oscars, Meryl Streep will definitely participate, she is nominated every year! I want to get her signature and a group photo. She performed so well in "Sophie's Choice"..."

"At that time, you can call her mom, but now, listen, this is a game played with money, I want to be sure whether you add it or not! YES or NO."

"I have been waiting for an opportunity for almost 16 years in my life..." Lev's tone became deeper, "An opportunity that can make me a heartthrob! Now there is such an opportunity in front of me, what do you think!?YES!!!"

"Very good!" Ye Wei punched the window ridge and asked, "Then how much money can you invest? Remember, the rule of the game is not to touch the money at home, you can only use your own private money!"

"Let me see...uh, um, ten thousand...oh my god, I really want to invest 450,000, but my entire savings are only ten thousand." Lev said helplessly.

"It's 10,000 yuan. It's not just us in this game. I'll call Bud and the others first and tell you later."

Ye Wei finished the call and immediately called Bud and said almost the same thing to him. While chewing something, Bud responded vaguely and excitedly: "I join, I join! Brother Wei, you must leave me a copy, I can vote... 15,000!"

"Wow!" Ye Weizhen was a little surprised. How many hamburgers, burritos, pizza...Bad hasn't eaten them yet!

"Or why I ask my dad to get some more..."

"Don't, don't extend your hand to your parents, this is the rule of the game!" Ye Wei said firmly that a group of teenagers jointly investing in movies is completely different from adults who are serious about investing in movies. The latter means endless troubles. What adults need to do is: they sign guardian names on various contracts.

"Oh, Brother Wei, you have the final say."

After Bud, Ye Wei called Chen Nuo again. Chen Nuo was not particularly excited, but hesitated: "I joined, but my mother is very strict with my money... Is 8,000 okay?"

Then there was Colwin, his voice softly, like a cold-blooded animal: "Well, I will invest 20,000 yuan. More than 10,000 yuan of it will be the money for buying a car at the age of 16 next year. You can invest it for you, but if you have a car next year, you have to get in the car."

"No problem, unless there is a hot girl in the car." Ye Wei said with a smile, thinking for a while, "Then we can add up to about 100,000 yuan."

"It costs another 400,000."

"Increase the scope of crowdfunding, I, the 'chief bridesmaid', have a large bridesmaid group."

Ye Wei had already made plans, his eyes flashed with light. Brothers, friends, and teammates, "It's time for them to pay tribute to VIY for so long..."

The next day, November 11, Veterans' Day, a legal holiday, you didn't have to go to school, but some students returned to school to review or play.

At the same time, an undercurrent quietly surged on campus...

Early in the morning, Lev, Bad, and Chen Nuo made a lot of calls and sent a lot of text messages to inform the guys to come over, and then whispered to the boys on campus...

Most of them nodded, full of excitement. If anyone hesitated, they would be immediately despised by their companions, just like Li Ming, a ninth-grade, who just said, "It seems like he's having a big time this time. Should we...

"What do you know!? Are you a VIY?!" Several people around him immediately started to curse, "Are you stupid guys thinking about staying like this for the rest of your life? Or be a cool kid!", "Movies, make movies! Isn't it more meaningful than buying some junk soap stocks? Why, do you like soap? Or do you like soap?"

"Stop talking, I was wrong, take me to see VIY and I'll join!"

When Li Ming, led by several people, came to the corridor outside the first floor of the Academic Center, and he was stunned. It seemed as if a party was running. Rock music came from the room, and familiar and unfamiliar faces lined up in a queue, waiting to enter.

Today, there will be people in the Dream Chasing League Club almost 24 hours a day.

After a while, it was Li Ming's turn. He walked into the room with a little stuttering, and saw several people sitting or standing on the sofa. The smiling person sitting in the middle was VIY.

The TV was playing a collection of movies, accompanied by bright and dynamic singing. His glance happened to be a clip from "The Good Boy is Crazy".

"Welcome, welcome." Ye Wei smiled enthusiastically and pointed to the seat next to him, "Please sit down, Bad, please send Li Ming what food to you."

Bud then took a pack of Oreo and solemnly handed it to Li Ming, which made him a little flattered, "Thank you, BOSS."

"So, how much do you know about our plans?" Ye Wei asked with a smile.

Li Ming sat down and scratched his head: "It's not a lot, I know that BOSS you want to make a feature film to wash away the shame of the past few days and now raise money."

Ye Wei shook his finger, "It can be said that, in strict terms, it is not, because the current crowdfunding is to buy scripts, and it has nothing to do with filming for the time being."

"Oh..." Li Ming didn't understand it, and nodded confusedly: "I believe in you, BOSS, I want to join, I want to invest a thousand dollars."

"Just one thousand!" Lev, who was like a door god, stared at the other side, and shouted: "Li Ming, your Nike shoes cost 300, right? Where is this Versace top! You are so coquettish! Why don't you apply nail polish on it? One finger is a color!? Do you know the meaning of making a movie?! You are really MEAN, MEAN!!"

"Two thousand...! I'll vote for two thousand." Li Ming was a little ashamed and a little scared.

"Remember a thousand for him." Ye Wei nodded to Chen Nuo, who was doing paperwork on the other side, and smiled and said, "I never force others. If you want to vote for a thousand, just one thousand, but you can help me tell this news to your trusted good friends, but remember, we have three rules."

Lev cleared his throat and took the speech and declared: "First, you can't ask your parents for money, you can only use your own private money. Second, be mentally prepared to lose money and don't cry like a little bitch in the future. Third, we are pursuing dreams. When you invest money, hold up your head and tell others generously that I am a movie investor now!"

"Li Ming, go." Ye Wei waved his hand.

Li Ming was so excited that his shame became even heavier. He was almost about to cry and said anxiously: "BOSS, I was wrong before, please let me invest 2,000 yuan! If you lose a penny, I have no shame to walk out of this room and give me this opportunity!"

"OK, I accept this friendship, add a thousand to him, and give him a small gift. Ming, it's time for you to grow up."

Li Ming walked out of the warehousing with his head held high, as if he had just received a sacred baptism, with Oreo's residue at the corner of his mouth, and a "Playboy" magazine hidden in his shirt.

He no longer calls him Li Ming, his name is Li - the movie investor who pursues his dreams, Cool Kid - Ming!
Chapter completed!