Chapter 122 Investment Shares and Awards Ceremony

There were so many things to do in preparing for the crew that Liu Zhou had to invite his uncle and Zhong Lifang back again.

The production crew of "Snow Goddess Dragon" is almost on track. Zhong Lifang brought a production team over, so she doesn't have to keep an eye on it all the time.

Moreover, this TV series only has a small investment, so even if the people below can get it, they won’t get much.

After the two arrived, Liu Zhou also handed over the subsequent negotiations on the actors' pay and other matters related to the preparation of the crew to them.

The next day, Huo Wenxi came to the capital, and Liu Zhou needed to meet her.

Entering the new century, Hong Kong's film and television landscape has been reshuffled.

The old brands such as Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers have both declined, and have been replaced by new giants such as Emperor Entertainment Group, Yongsheng and Media Asia.

Emperor Entertainment Group, in particular, became the number one film company in Hong Kong after recruiting Jackie Chan.

The reason why Liu Zhou agreed to Emperor Entertainment Group's investment in "The Blade of Youth" was because the film really needed their help.

In addition to distribution in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, they also need to leverage their influence in Hong Kong to recruit some talents to join the crew.

Since "The Blade of the Dragon King" is going to be made into a martial arts blockbuster this time, in addition to the actors, the behind-the-scenes team must also be luxurious.

As for the martial arts team, Liu Zhou planned to invite Yuen Woo-ping's Yuen Clan, and the photographer planned to invite Hong Kong's Wong Yuet-tai.

Huang Yuetai can now be said to be the ancestor of the Hong Kong photography industry, and many well-known photographers are his disciples.

Moreover, he has strong personal abilities, especially in martial arts films. "New Dragon Inn" and "Huang Feihong" series are both from his hands.

If Emperor Entertainment Group were to come forward, it would be much easier to invite these people.

In addition, Liu Zhou also hopes to establish a good relationship with Emperor Entertainment Group. They are the local bosses in the Hong Kong film and television industry. If Liu Zhou were to head to Hong Kong in the future, they would also be able to provide help.

When we arrived at the meeting place, Huo Wenxi was already waiting there.

"Hello, Mr. Liu, I'm Huo Wenxi who talked to you on the phone earlier."

Seeing Liu Zhou coming in, Huo Wenxi greeted him with a smile.

"Hello, it's a pity that Ms. Huo is so beautiful and needs to be an agent."

"Haha, thank you for the compliment. Actually, I was also an artist when I was young, but I couldn't make a name for myself, so I switched to being a manager."

"Ms. Huo is really amazing. Her agent can do such a great job."

As the head of Emperor Entertainment Group's agency department, Mani Fok is a well-known figure, and a large number of well-known Hong Kong artists are under her management.

She and TVB's Lok Yi Ling are known as the two most powerful women in the Hong Kong film and television industry.

"Mr. Liu, you are too kind. You are a young talent. You have achieved outstanding achievements in both literature and directing at such a young age."

The two of them praised each other's business for a while and got a basic understanding of each other.

At this time, Huo Wenxi also went straight to the point and said:

"Mr. Liu, we have roughly understood that your new project requires a lot of investment, but we have great faith in Mr. Liu's ability, so no matter how much the budget of this film is, we at Emperor Entertainment Group can take up all the investment share that Mr. Liu can leave."

"Your Emperor Group is really wealthy, but I am still very grateful for your trust in me. I cannot tell you the specific investment amount now, but I need some help from the Emperor Group."

"Mr. Liu, please speak."

"I need you to help me invite the Yuan Clan and Huang Yuetai."

"No problem, we'll take care of it."

"This is also my first time shooting a martial arts film, and I'll need your support behind the scenes."

"Okay, Mr. Liu, do you have any more?"

"Not for now, if there is, we'll talk about it later."

After the matter was settled, the two chatted for a while and then left.

Liu Zhouye, Zhong Lifang and his uncle also threw themselves into the busy preparatory work.

As time gradually approaches the end of October, all work is progressing steadily.

First of all, the actors have already signed their contracts.

The male lead Liu Dehua received a salary of seven million yuan. This time there was no discount at all and he was paid the full market price.

Then there was the young superstar Xie Tingfeng, who was also paid three million yuan according to the market price.

These two people are the most expensive. There’s nothing we can do about it. Hong Kong stars are just so popular nowadays.

Zhao Wenzhuo got 2 million, Hu Jun got 500,000, Sun Honglei and Zhang Tong didn't have many roles, so each got 100,000, and finally Mr. Jin Shijie got 300,000.

The role of Zhang Yan was finally given to Fan Xiaopang. She also agreed to this guest role and said she could do it for free.

Liu Zhou also gladly accepted Fan Xiaopang's goodwill.

He still admires Fan Xiaopang very much and would like to work with her if he has the chance in the future.

In addition to the actors, Yuen Woo-ping and Wong Yue-tai were also invited by Emperor Entertainment Group.

They all had a team, and the Yuan family went to Hollywood. Because "The Matrix" was a global hit, their pay was also higher, offering five million.

Huang Yuetai's photography team offered a salary of three million.

Then comes the all-important costume design of this movie. Liu Zhou did not find it in Hong Kong, so they cannot catch up with the mainland in this regard.

Liu Zhou found Li Jianqun, a well-known fashion designer in the industry. She is a great beauty and also played the role of Concubine Rong in "Kangxi Dynasty".

She was the one who designed the costumes for "Kangxi Dynasty". She is particularly good at studying ancient costumes, especially those from the Han and Tang dynasties, but the costumes of the Ming Dynasty are also no problem for her.

In another dimension, Teacher Li Jianqun is also the confidante of Boss Xu Fei.

Teacher Li Jianqun's quote was not expensive, but the clothes that needed to be customized cost a lot. Liu Zhou was too lazy to think about it and just gave her the package for two million.

Therefore, the total cost of inviting people was as high as 23 million.

Add to that the salaries of some extras and other crew members, this amount will cost 25 million.

Finally, including the expenses for film, food and biscuits, the total investment would be about 60 million!

When Liu Zhou informed China Film Group and Emperor Entertainment Group of the total investment, neither side had any objection.

After discussions among the three parties, China Film invested six million yuan, accounting for 10% of the shares, and was responsible for the distribution work in the mainland.

Emperor Entertainment Group invested 18 million, accounting for 30% of the shares, and was also responsible for the distribution in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.

Liu Zhou set his director and screenwriter fees at 6 million yuan, and invested another 30 million yuan, accounting for 60% of the share.

Liu Zhou is not like Zhang Yimou, who puts all his attention on movies and then gets fooled by Zhang Weiping, thinking that a big director would only get such a small salary.

Liu Zhou is not only a well-known director now, but also quite popular, so his salary of six million is not too high.

China Film Group and Emperor Entertainment Group both agreed to this, and the three parties formally signed an investment agreement.

"The Blade of Embroidery" is scheduled to start filming on November 18th, and the actors need to undergo martial arts training for half a month.

Liu Zhou had already told Yuan Heping about his action requirements, and with his rich experience, Yuan Heping designed the action that met Liu Zhou's requirements in just two days. Liu Zhou was very satisfied with it, and the high price was justified.

As the project was officially launched, news about "Xiu Chun Dao" began to be released one after another.

The news of Liu Zhou’s new film had already caused a stir, but when the exact news came out this time, it still caused a heated discussion in the industry and the media.

With an investment of 60 million yuan and the participation of many celebrities from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, this is another blockbuster after Zhang Yimou!

Thinking of Liu Zhou’s past achievements, everyone can’t help but look forward to this movie.

Although there was a lot of discussion about "The Swordsman", Liu Zhou temporarily took a break from the busy affairs of the crew.

Because the award ceremony of the 22nd Golden Rooster Awards and the 25th Popular Hundred Flowers Awards will be held in Kunshan soon.

As "The Piano Tuner" is the biggest favorite for this year's Golden Rooster Awards, Liu Zhou must of course bring the main creators along to participate.

On October 28th, Liu Zhou brought Qin Hao and his party to Kunshan, and the award ceremony will be held tomorrow.

Kunshan was very lively at this time. After all, it was a rare opportunity to see so many stars. Many fans from other places also came to Kunshan.

Liu Zhou had been busy and tired recently, so he stayed in the room to rest and was too lazy to communicate with his colleagues in the industry.

On the second day, although Liu Zhou's crew was not the last to perform, they entered the venue relatively late.

When walking on the red carpet, Liu Zhou originally wanted to walk faster, but when he saw the fans' cheers, he couldn't help but slow down his pace, waved to the fans, and also gave the media time to take pictures.

When we entered the venue, it was already very lively.

This was also a gathering within the industry, and before the award ceremony began, everyone was gathered in groups of three or four chatting.

When Liu Zhou came in, he immediately became the focus of everyone's attention.

Some people who knew Liu Zhou or were famous enough greeted Liu Zhou, and Liu Zhou smiled all the way to his seat.

Not long after, the award ceremony officially began.

The first award was the Popular Hundred Flowers Award.

After Nayoung sang a song, the host made an opening speech to liven up the atmosphere, and then began to present the first award, Best Supporting Actress.

Because of the Hundred Flowers Awards selection mechanism, there are many shortlisted people, as many as seven.

This is still considered a small number. There are eight or nine people nominated for the other awards, and there are even eighteen films nominated for the Best Feature Film.

In the end, the award was won by Yuan Li for her outstanding performance in "Absolute Emotion", which was the directorial debut of Cao Baoping.

Later, the Best Supporting Actor award went to Yingda from the "Big Shot" crew, and the Best Actress award went to Zhou Gongzi.

The movie she starred in is called "Red Beauty in the Smoke and Rain", which is a co-production directed by the well-known Taiwanese actor Liu Dekai, and the male lead is played by the prince of love songs Jeff Chang.

Starting from winning the Best Actress Award at the Hundred Flowers Awards, Miss Zhou will begin her journey of winning many awards, big and small, at home.

When the Best Actor award was presented, Qin Hao pursed his lips, crossed his hands on his legs, and looked at the podium with anticipation.

He was nominated for Best Actor, but the Best Actor award went to Ge You from "The Big Shot", and the final grand prize of Best Feature Film was also awarded to "The Big Shot".

Liu Zhou feels that if there was no Best Director award at the Hundred Flowers Awards, the award would definitely be given to Feng Kuzi.

This way of eating is so ugly!
However, although Liu Zhou complained in his heart, he still applauded and congratulated with a smile on his face.

After a singing and dancing performance, the Golden Rooster Awards ceremony is about to begin.

The Golden Rooster Awards have a more comprehensive set of awards, with its own judging committee, so there won't be a bunch of films nominated for every award.

Liu Zhou could also feel that the people in the audience seemed to sit up straighter and were obviously taking the matter more seriously.

The more important awards are usually presented in Echigo. After several small awards were presented in succession, there was finally an award related to "The Tuner".

The best editing award was announced at this time, but "The Tuner" unfortunately lost out and was won by "Together with You" by Chen Shishi.

After the Best Sound and Best Debut awards were presented, only the most important major awards remained.

The first award was for Best Screenplay, and Liu Zhou was also nominated. I thought I would be relatively calm, but suddenly I felt inexplicably nervous.

As the award presenters were announced, the Best Screenwriter award was won by Liu Zhou and the screenwriter of "Beautiful Big Feet".

"Beautiful Big Feet" is the one starring Ni Ping. It is often broadcast on movie channels.

When Liu Zhou heard that he had won the award, a happy smile appeared on his face. He shook hands with the people around him and went up to the stage.

This award was not my goal, so I gave a brief speech and then left.

The next award is for Best Supporting Actress, and this time Zhang Tong and Yuan Quan will compete on the same stage.

Liu Zhou did not recommend Zhang Tong for the role of Female Lead, but for the role of Supporting Actress, which is a relatively easier award to win.

Yuan Quan was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for "Beautiful Big Feet"

Unexpectedly, the two of them won the Best Supporting Actress award together, which should be considered a good story.

The Best Supporting Actor award also went to two people, Wang Zhiwen from "Together with You" and Sun Haiying from "Beautiful Big Feet".

However, the Best Actress award was even more excessive, being given a triple yolk egg, shared by Ni Ping, Tao Hong and Naren Hua.

When it came to the Best Actor award, Qin Hao seemed even more nervous and excited than when he was at the Hundred Flowers Awards.

This time, Qin Hao got what he wanted and successfully won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Actor.

Moreover, the organizing committee did not divide the cake this time, and the title of Best Actor went to Qin Hao alone.

Qin Hao let out a long sigh, then stood up and hugged Liu Zhou tightly before slowly walking towards the podium.

Liu Zhou was also very happy for Qin Hao.

While other classmates were becoming famous, he was content to remain ordinary and performed dramas quietly.

This can be regarded as a reward for his previous accumulation.

Liu Zhou felt that after the award ceremony, the 96 Acting Class of the Central Academy of Drama would become famous again.

There were two Best Actresses, two Best Actor winners, two Best Supporting Actress winners, and the very popular Zeng Li. It was truly a star class.

When I thought about it, I realized that Zeng Li didn't seem to have any awards yet. I'll see if there's a chance to help her make up for it someday.

Next up was the Best Director award, which was also the award Liu Zhou was most looking forward to.

Unfortunately, despite Liu Zhou's expectant eyes, the award was still given to poet Chen.

Although he knew the camera was pointing at him, Liu Zhou still smiled wryly, and then gave applause to poet Chen as he went on stage to receive the award.

The ultimate award of Best Feature Film was also not won by "The Piano Tuner", which was awarded to "Big Feet" and "Amazon Prime".

The 22nd Golden Rooster Awards has come to an end, and the biggest winner is "Beautiful Feet", which won four out of six nominations.

"The Tuner" also received six nominations and won three awards, making it one of the winners.

Although Liu Zhou felt regretful, "The Tuner" won.

(End of this chapter)