Chapter 480: Casting Operation

More than a month later, Gu Wei found out that the script that Xie Xiaojing had come to solicit investment for last time and that the company had invested in was called "Beijing Meets Seattle".

This is after the script passed the review of the General Administration. When Xue Xiaolu was interviewed, he said that his film was invested by Xingchen Film and Television Company.

It was then widely reported by the media. After Liu Yifei saw the news, she specifically asked Gu Wei about it.

Although he knew about it, the investment of less than 30 million did not make Gu Wei concerned.

But just because Gu Wei doesn’t care doesn’t mean that other people in the company don’t care.

Before the script was approved, Wang Jinghua found Song Ge, who was responsible for signing, and explained her purpose.

"Old Song, I think the leading male and female characters of this movie should be played by artists under our company!"

They found a place and ate and chatted.

After hearing Wang Jinghua's proposal, Song Ge asked the reason. Now he was used to the life of lavish spending. He had been in the company for several years and had invested in many movies. The accumulated funds he had handled were too large.

For this movie, which had an investment of more than 20 million yuan and also involved favors from Director Gu, Song Ge, apart from signing and paying the money, at most arranged a few people to join the crew and controlled the flow of funds, but he did not interfere in other matters.

"Look, since it's a company investment, it's normal to require the protagonist to be one of their own. This is basically what everyone in the industry does."

But Song Ge did not agree with this reason. After all, according to previous experience, for a movie shot by a university teacher, it would be good enough if it did not lose money. The company did not expect the other party to make a lot of money. It was more of a personal relationship.

“Although Director Gu does not interfere with the filming, it is still the company that invests the money in the final analysis. Once the filming starts, the other party will definitely use our name to hype it up. Instead of intervening at that time, it is better to intervene in the casting in advance.” Wang Jinghua continued.

At the end of the conversation, Wang Jinghua made a bet with Song Ge, "If the other party does not use the company's name for publicity, then the film will be decided by the other party. If the other party says this in an interview, the casting will be done according to what I say."

Song Ge was also cautious about this. When Xue Xiao came over to sign and get the money, he asked about the role.

He asked the other party to submit the script for review first, and then discussed the matter after it passed the review.

Sure enough, the final result was the same as Wang Jinghua had guessed. As soon as Xue Xiaolu's script was approved, it was hyped up and made the front page of the news that day.

This time, Song Ge agreed to Wang Jinghua's request and contacted Xue Xiaolu directly, saying that the male and female protagonists of the film would be left to the company and he would not interfere too much with other roles.

Xue Xiaolu also understood the rules of the circle and agreed immediately.

...

In the cafe next to Xingchen Film and Television Company.

Wang Jinghua brought Tong Liya to meet Xue Xiaolu and the actor Hai Qing who accompanied her.

"Director Xue." When the two sides met, Wang Jinghua spoke first.

"Director Xue, hello, I'm actress Tong Liya." Tong Liya stood up and greeted him.

"Hello!" Xue Xiaolu responded.

"Hello, Sister Hua, I'm the actress Hai Qing."

The four of them sat at a table and soon the coffee was served.

After chatting and laughing with each other for a while, they got down to business.

"Director Xue, I think Mr. Song should have told you that this is Liya. She is currently filming with the crew of The Wandering Earth, but she doesn't have many scenes left there."

Wang Jinghua had experienced this kind of situation countless times before, and she explained the situation clearly in a few words.

Hai Qing was listening on the side and was actually a little envious. As expected, the person in front of him was the heroine of this movie.

When Xue Xiaolu heard this, he didn't care. After all, this is the entertainment industry and it is a normal phenomenon.

Tong Liya, who was standing next to her, took the initiative to chat with Xue Xiaolu at Wang Jinghua's suggestion, and they all talked about their thoughts on the characters.

It has to be said that even when filming "The Wandering Earth", Tong Liya took the time to carefully read the script of "Beijing Meets Seattle" and had her own ideas about the character of the heroine.

After chatting for about ten minutes, Xue Xiaolu finally felt relieved about Tong Liya playing the leading female role. She had originally planned to invite Tang Wei to play the leading female role, but ideas were just ideas, and since the other party had paid, she naturally had to get some benefits.

Afterwards, the two sides talked about the candidates for the male lead, and Wang Jinghua recommended several candidates including the company's artists Ren Quan, Li Naiwen, and Geng Le.

Xue Xiaolu didn't know these two people well and had never worked with them before, so he could only say that he would confirm who would play the male lead through auditions.

That afternoon, a photo of Xue Xiaolu, Wang Jinghua, Tong Liya and Hai Qing in a cafe appeared in the media.

The photos taken by media reporters are very clear.

"Wang Jinghua and Xue Xiaolu met at a coffee shop and it seems that they have confirmed the female lead for "Beijing Meets Seattle."

"Tong Liya may play the leading role in another film, and her role in The Wandering Earth is expected to be finished soon."

.........

On the other side, the General Administration meeting was still going on.

Before the meeting, Song Ge and Gu Wei discussed this, and Song Ge agreed with it, but Gu Wei felt that even if he said it in front of everyone, it was estimated that others would just listen, and everyone's mind would still be on making money. But Song Ge felt that it was better to say it than not to say it, at least it could show the attitude of his own company.

Later, Song Ge gave an example of his own company, "For example, Xingchen Films Company must invest at least half of its investment in each co-production, and the leading actors must be domestic actors, and some of the scenes are shot entirely in China."

If the previous remarks were suggestions made by Song Ge, then taking Xingchen Film and Television Company as an example seemed a bit boastful.

After hearing this, the production companies in the audience secretly complained in their hearts, do you think we are all Star Film and Television? Who the hell doesn't want to invest more? They just don't want to play with us.

Especially the heads of small and medium-sized film and television companies, just ignore the example of Song Geju. Co-production is not so easy, especially when it accounts for such a large share. Good movies are always in the hands of the market.

"Mr. Song is right. Due to the injection of domestic funds, some imported films are now being marketed as 'co-productions' without any restrictions. This has not only caused a large amount of film investment funds to flow away, but also squeezed the market space, posing a threat to domestic films."

"Co-production films do not account for the proportion of separate films. Their entry into the mainland market is actually equivalent to increasing the share of imported films, which will naturally squeeze the box office of domestic films."

The experts fully exercised their right to provide advice and repeatedly pointed out at the meeting that the current situation is actually very bad.

Seeing that everyone agreed with Song Ge's words, some people became anxious.

At this moment, a company in the mainland has invested 3000 million US dollars in "Iron Man 3" and is preparing to get a place in the co-production. After all, co-productions can get 43% of the box office share, but if they are introduced, they can only get 25%.

But as Song Ge said, it would be difficult for "Iron Man 3" to get a co-production spot. After all, the production cost of "Iron Man 3" is 2 million US dollars, and China's investment of 3000 million US dollars accounts for about 15%, which is indeed a bit low.

Not only the companies with cooperative projects, but other people naturally also have different opinions.

Producer Zhang Jiazhen cited the domestic "Flying Tiger" project as an example.

"When I showed the script to the Americans, they said they didn't want so many Chinese people in it, that American audiences wouldn't like it, and that the box office couldn't be guaranteed."

The leaders on the stage were somewhat silent. Everyone was aware of the current awkward situation of Sino-US co-productions.

If we say that it mainly uses American elements, it is equivalent to helping Hollywood seize the Chinese market;
However, since the film mainly consists of Chinese elements, it is very likely that no one will be interested in it in the global market after it is released.

In this way, since interests were involved, there was no result in the discussion.

In the end, the General Administration had no choice but to set a few regulations, requiring Hollywood not to arbitrarily tamper with or slander mainland cultural elements, and ended the meeting hastily.

After Song Ge went back and talked to Gu Wei about it, they both shook their heads and agreed to wait until later to deal with this matter and not to comment. After all, Xingchen Film and Television was already making a lot of money and there was no need to block the financial path of other companies.

You know, it's not a pleasant feeling to be criticized by everyone.

……

The news was widely reported on the Internet, and companies in the circle that were familiar with Xingchen Film and Television Company naturally asked about the investment matters of "Beijing Meets Seattle".

"Gu Wei, is the investment large? If needed, China Film can contribute some money."

Han Sanping asked very directly, and Gu Wei did not hide anything and answered directly.

"Director Han, this movie was recommended by a teacher at school. I just found out the name of the movie. It's a low-budget movie with a budget of less than 30 million."

Seeing this, Han Sanping lost interest. The cost was embarrassing and not worth it for China Film Group to invest.

As the two were chatting on the phone, Han Sanping brought up "Iron Man 3".

"Mr. Han, can Iron Man 3 get a spot as a co-production?" Gu Wei was a little curious. The actual situation of this movie was far from the publicity, and it would be strange for a mainland company to get the right to speak by cooperating with Marvel, a subsidiary of Disney.

"It's highly unlikely, as the mainland share is too small. But the film will eventually be introduced." Han Sanping said it directly after listening to Gu Wei's words. After all, the annual quota is placed somewhere, and introducing mainland capital to participate can at least make up for some losses.

"Then we can try another approach. China Film can buy out the films and distribute them in batches."

Gu Wei gave a suggestion.

"Buy it out directly?"

“Yes, Marvel cooperated with mainland companies to reduce risks and spy on the domestic market on the one hand, and to get a co-production quota on the other. However, looking at it now, the quota is most likely gone, and the money for a buyout at this time should not be particularly high.

I think you can give it a try, the box office should be good after the movie is released."

Han Sanping was thinking seriously about Gu Wei's suggestion.

"However, I estimate that this movie will not be too controversial. After all, there are too few domestic elements, and the gap between it and the promotion is quite big."

"Are you really optimistic about the box office of this movie?" Han Sanping continued to ask.

"It should be pretty good. After all, there are two films at the bottom. The box office will probably be good no matter how hard we try. Instead of letting Hollywood make money, it's better for us to make it ourselves."

"That's something we can indeed consider." Han Sanping thought about it carefully.

Gu Wei didn't care whether China Film accepted his suggestion or not, because it wasn't him who made the money anyway.

.........

(End of this chapter)