In the smoke-filled viewing room, "End of the Play" finally played on the screen.

However, the moviegoers from various local film companies were all smoking heavily, their brows were furrowed, and a strange silence suddenly fell in the room.

At present, the domestic film distribution method has not changed. After all, the trial method of box office sharing has just been implemented.

Even the local film companies have not yet been reorganized into theater chains, and they continue to use the pyramid structure of provincial company - city company - county company.

In other words, the power of life and death in domestic film distribution is entirely in the hands of the provincial company, that is, in the hands of the dozens of movie viewers of the provincial company here.

Unlike later moviegoers, their priority must be commercial elements. To be honest, even if they can't understand, they will still judge the lineup and cast to make box office predictions.

Besides, what veteran movie watcher doesn't have a huge amount of movie viewing? He almost vomits after watching almost all types of movies, and he also knows what the selling points are.

However, these viewers today feel that... they can't understand it?

You must know that these movie viewers are all from the planned economy era, and they are almost all middle-aged and elderly men. This is actually understandable. Since I am on a business trip for a long time to watch movies in the capital, it is not convenient for a young and lonely person, right?

And "Liao Zhai: Flower Fairy" is a very standard fairy movie.

When it comes to the plot of this film, in fact, in Li Yuan's eyes, it is just an old cliche - a bloody story about a scholar and three flower fairies.

The special effects are also very primitive, just like "A Chinese Ghost Story", with wires flying around. There are not even 50 special effects.

The main theme of this film is selling face and youth. The scholar is Huang Lei, a boy from Nortel. The three little fairies are also art school students Jiang Qingqing, Jiang Wenli and Liu Dan.

In fact, if you watch a youth idol movie like this decades later, you will either have to find a popular young star, or spend a lot of money to buy a hot search. Of course, you can also pretend to be a 16-year-old girl at 60. Laughter

cry

Otherwise, just wait for the rush!

Therefore, Li Yuan does not have high expectations for the box office performance of this film.

What kind of brand new team? What else can we expect? It’s nothing more than seizing a niche in a Liaozhai movie and laying the foundation for future special effects blockbusters.

However, this youth fairy tale posed a big problem for those watching the film.

It’s not that there were no youth romance films in China in the past. Films such as “Ashima” and “Romance in Lushan Mountain” were also phenomenal works.

But at least it’s about praising pure and beautiful love, right?

But what kind of nonsense is this bloody drama in front of us? You love me, I love her, and there is a secret crush next to you? Sometimes there is a deep love between sisters, and sometimes there is a palace fight? The big villain is still a blond man with blue eyes.

Monk?

Are they really making a comedy movie?

There are also this kind of monster movies. There was no classification of fairy tale movies at this time. They were all classified as monster movies. There were shots flying around everywhere. From time to time, the shoulders and white thighs were exposed?

As old men, are we all serious? Ahem. At least in this kind of public place, we must be all serious people!

But more importantly, during the planned economy, these moviegoers were quite conservative. What if they bought too many copies and lost them?

Therefore, in this brand new movie type, no one dares to take risks and no one dares to guarantee it!

It’s better to wait for others to make the decision first!

…

I realized that the scene seemed a bit cold. Director Sun Shupei and Sun on the side looked at Li Yuan in confusion, while the four newbies behind him were trembling and shrank their heads like four little quails.

Director Meng smiled and said: "Tell me about it! How many copies do you need?"

"Give us two!" Someone finally responded.

At present, one copy is still played in several cinemas. Maybe some older people still have the impression that there were film runners riding bicycles on the streets in those days. Sometimes if there was a delay in running the film, the next cinema would have to wait for a few minutes.

Audiences in this era are extremely tolerant. They watch movies with an intermission?

But just two? That means it’s very unfavorable.

You know, these are provincial film companies. Except for big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, two copies cannot even be arranged in provincial capital cities? Let alone the lower prefecture-level cities.

"Then let's just have three!"

"We are relatively poor there, so taking one is a bit of support. Haha."

"..."

Realizing that these local film companies seemed to be giving no face, Director Meng frowned slightly: "Hasn't the distribution system been reformed now? The cost of copying is borne by the distributor?"

In fact, at the very beginning, Metaverse bought out the qualifications for co-productions with a lump sum of money. All domestic income goes to the co-operating film studios.

But this time there was a sudden change, so the original agreement needed to be re-signed - nominally, the cooperative film studio distributed domestically and received 25% of the box office revenue.

Why is it in name only? Because except for those dozen state-owned film studios, there is currently no release of film production and distribution rights in China.

But in fact, all publicity and distribution costs, including copy production costs, are all borne by Metaverse.

In other words, the cooperating film studios basically don’t have to do anything, and they can get a share of the box office minus publicity and distribution expenses, and 25% of the remaining profit!

Obviously, the new box office sharing system is very beneficial to state-owned film studios.

Although you can get all the domestic revenue originally, how much can you earn from selling copies? And you also need to consider the cost of copying. If the box office fails, you may even lose money.

It would be better to maintain the harvest despite droughts and floods like now.

However, the state-owned film studios are very beneficial, but the local film companies suffer?

Although they reluctantly agreed to the box office sharing system, the film companies in each province still have some grievances.

"Director Meng, we are not as big as others, so don't we need a minimum deposit to get copies?"

The minimum deposit is that the copying costs are borne by the publisher, but the film company also needs to give a minimum deposit of several thousand yuan. This minimum deposit is included in the box office share.

This is also a certain kind of restriction on the film company to prevent them from talking too much. Otherwise, there is no money anyway. Why don’t you give us 100 copies first? Then wouldn’t the distributor be crying and fainting in the toilet?

Another person on the side said: "If it sells well, we can also add copies!"

"Leader, just to give you face, let me add one here!"

"..."

Amidst the laughter, we finally ordered 34 copies, while nearly half of the provincial companies did not order even one. This is a bit of a show of force, right?

Director Meng was also very helpless. He could not force those provincial film companies.

Li Yuan still didn't care. The investment for this movie was not large anyway. Including the recent additional publicity and distribution expenses, the total investment did not exceed 3.5 million.

However, things on the scene still need to be done well.

So under the arrangement of Zhang Xi and Du Rusong, they accompanied the moviegoers to "have a light meal."

As for Li Yuan and Sun Shupei? They definitely have no such interest. The main reason is the inequality in status. If they are the boss, it is more or less the same. Do the movie viewers still need to accompany them in person?

Besides, the two of them just needed to discuss the new project "Jailbreak."

That's right! The director of "Prison Break" is Sun Shupei. He has always been good at promoting newcomers. In other words, he does have some unique skills in character creation.

Judging from the original history, Director Sun Shupei has always been a very good tool director. Give him a good script, and he can produce dramas like "Huan Zhu Ge Ge" and "Bao Qing Tian". Give him a good actor, and he can also produce

Classic characters like Xiao Yanzi and Bao Qingtian are left behind.

Of course, if the script and the actors are inferior, he also does not have the ability to turn decay into magic. Therefore, he has always been a TV drama director who is above second-rate but not first-rate. His creative talent is slightly inferior.

Having said that, "Prison Break" itself has a wonderful script and distinctive characters. It is easy for Director Sun to perform well.

Li Yuan was about to set off with Sun Shupei, but Jiang Qingqing quietly moved closer and closer. But before she could say anything, Jiang Wenli squeezed in beside Li Yuan: "Brother Yuan, are you going to abandon us?"

Liu Dan also leaned on the other side of Li Yuan: "Take us with you! We also want to learn more from Director Sun."

Seeing Jiang Wenli and Liu Dan, they were shaking Li Yuan's arms left and right, and Jiang Qingqing's nose behind her was almost crooked with anger. Is this a college girl? How can she be so embarrassed in front of a smelly man? It's so shameless.

.

…

If you are being held hostage by two beautiful ladies, of course you will obey!

Leading the four cute people to the reserved hotel room, Li Yuan first took a shot of vaccination: "The main characters in the project we will talk about later are not suitable for you. If you are not impatient, I will definitely do it in the future.

There are opportunities for cooperation. If you don't mind it, there are still many supporting roles to choose from."

Huang Lei immediately asked: "Director Li, we can all star in it. What is the content of this project?"

The current Huang Lei is not the popular Xu Zhimo. Including those three girls, they are not picky about their roles.

"It's called "Prison Break. You should know the genre, right?" Li Yuan turned to Sun Shupei and explained, "What the male protagonist needs is a handsome man. There are a lot of action scenes in it, and such actors are hard to find nowadays."

"How about Wu Qilong?" Sun Shupei immediately proposed a candidate as a Wanwan actor.

"As a star, he meets the requirements, but he is too thin. He can be used as an alternative. In fact, our company contacted Guo Tianwang. His image is more suitable, and his acting skills are also online. But he was rejected by his agent. They were only willing to film

I feel like movies and TV series are not suitable for the king’s status.”

"Young Master Yuan, do you have anyone to recommend?"

"I made an appointment and I'll be here in a while. Then you can take care of me."

After hearing this, Huang Lei and Jiang Wenli were a little disappointed. But they also understood that they were indeed not suitable for the roles in "Prison Break".

However, Jiang Wenli's heart moved: "Brother Yuan, have you arranged a role for Qingqing?"

"Uh... the heroine." Li Yuan answered vaguely, and then quickly explained, "There are very few female characters in this. The same goes for the heroine. Ahem."
To be continued...