Chapter 51 Connections
In fact, deep down, Liu Zhou wanted to invest, after all, it was a good movie.

But Liu Zhou was not the kind of rich man who had a passion for movies at that time. They invested money without expecting any return.

Just like Xu Feng, the boss of Tomson Pictures, she spared no effort in supporting poet Chen in order to make "Farewell My Concubine" possible.

Although he was not optimistic about his new film "Feng Yue", he still invested more than 20 million in him.

Although Liu Zhou also has such sentiments, he does not have such strength.

What's more, his first movie hasn't even been released yet, so how could Liu Zhou take such a big risk to pay for someone else's movie dream?

Now is the time for Liu Zhou to save money for his future film production, and he doesn't want any mistakes to happen.

After Liu Ye and Huo Jianqi left, Liu Zhou also called Jia Zhangke.

He had nothing to do at the time, so he came to Liu Zhou after receiving the call.

"It's rare that you actually call me."

As soon as Jia Zhangke entered the yard and saw Liu Zhou, he spoke casually, then sat down opposite Liu Zhou with his horse and sword in his arms.

Ever since the two of them got to know each other, he became more casual in front of Liu Zhou.

"Of course I have good news for you."

"What good thing made you think of me?"

"There is a good movie that is in need of investment. They came to me, but I thought it would be difficult to make a profit, so I didn't agree to invest."

"Wait a minute, you, a rich and famous writer, didn't invest, so you asked me to invest?"

"Of course not. Don't I know how many dates you have in your pocket?"

"Then why did you call me over here?"

"After you came back from Berlin, didn't a film producer keep saying that he wanted to invest in your film? You can introduce this film to them. Although it's a mainland film, I think people will like it too."

That’s right, the way Liu Zhou wanted to introduce Huo Jianqi was to get some capital through Jia Zhangke.

The popularity of "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" in Japan is not only due to its unique distribution method, but it is also crucial that the film caters to the tastes of Japanese audiences.

"You're not kidding?"

"Of course I'm not kidding."

"Even if your judgment is correct and the movie you mentioned will be popular in one book, what benefit can we get from getting involved?"

Liu Zhou took a sip of tea and said:
"Brother, you haven't always wanted to make an underground movie, have you?"

"Who wants to make underground movies? Who doesn't want their movies to be seen by audiences all over the country? But there's nothing they can do. They can't pass the censorship."

After returning from Berlin with the award, Jia Zhangke also tried to use his school connections to see if he could get a bid to have his film released in China, but he was unsuccessful and simply gave up.

“If you don’t want to, then you can be a help for this movie.

Although we may not gain much in the short term by investing our personal connections to help them make connections, we can gain their favors.

This movie was led by Xiaoxiang Studio. Although these big studios are struggling now, their connections are very powerful.

Maybe it will be easier for your films to pass censorship in the future."

The mainland is a society that values ​​personal relationships, which also leads to the fact that the mainland's film censorship standards are sometimes very flexible.

In addition to those red lines that cannot be touched, some films that are on the edge of being banned or not banned may be banned when they are submitted for review, but not banned when they are submitted for review.

Isn’t the reason why the best Chinese-language film of the 21st century, "Dying to Survive", used Han Shanping’s name to make it easier to pass censorship?
After listening to Liu Zhou's words, Jia Zhangke couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Liu Zhou didn't bother him. After all, this matter still required him to contribute more, and those investors mainly valued him.

"No problem, but I need to read the script first," said Jia Zhangke.

"Of course, I'll let the director of this movie contact you, and you guys can talk then. I won't get involved." This was all Liu Zhou could do. It was good enough that he could establish a good relationship with Huo Jianqi and Kang Jianming. Whether it could be successful in the future was their business.

"Okay, I find that you are becoming more and more specialized, you consider so many things for a movie."

Liu Zhou smiled and said:

"Filmmaking is not about fighting and killing, it's also about social relationships. If you make as many friends as possible, won't the obstacles to filmmaking become smaller?"

"You have a point. You are only concerned with helping others to raise investment. When are you going to make your first movie?"

"Wait a little longer, I don't feel ready yet."

"What else does this require? When you feel you are fully prepared, you will have more concerns at that time."

"Don't worry, I know what's going on."

The two drank tea for a while, and then Jia Zhangke left.

After returning to school, Liu Zhou gave Jia Zhangke's contact information to Liu Ye and asked him to pass it on to Huo Jianqi.

I thought that since it involved overseas capital investment, there would be some delay between the two parties, but I didn't expect that they would sign the contract in less than half a month.

For this reason, Huo Jianqi brought the director of Xiaoxiang Factory, Kang Jianming, to Liu Zhou's courtyard to express his gratitude.

Liu Zhou also met his senior brother, who became a big shot in the circle, and they exchanged contact information with each other.

Afterwards, the crew came to the Central Academy of Drama under the leadership of Huo Jianqi to select actors. The male lead was Liu Ye, who had already been decided, and the female lead was Chen Hao from the 97th Acting Class. Dang Hao also played a supporting role, playing the role of the male lead's father when he was young.

The other crew members had been prepared long ago. After the investment and actors were in place, they headed straight to the southwest of Hunan Province in early October.

After two more classmates left, Liu Zhou felt that the school seemed even more deserted.

That day, Qin Hao found Liu Zhou and said they wanted to go out to eat.

As soon as he sat down, Qin Hao complained to himself in frustration, asking why no one came to him to make a movie.

But Liu Zhou felt that he deserved it.

Qin Hao is also a very literary guy. He never considers invitations to TV dramas, but he will think about invitations to movies.

In his first year after graduating from the Central Academy of Drama, he turned down eight plays, and then three more in his second year.

After that, few people approached him, to the point that he even lost confidence in his dream of making movies.

However, Qin Hao's literary and artistic temperament is very much in line with the taste of the sixth-generation directors.

Since 2004, he has collaborated with Wang Xiaoshuai and Lou Ye.

Later, perhaps because he married a Wanwan wife and had to support a family, he lowered his status and started acting in TV dramas, which also made him become very popular.

Seeing Qin Hao's depressed look, Liu Zhou did not say anything to comfort him.

Since it's useless to comfort him, should we ask him to curb his artistic heart?

He will continue to do the same thing he does now after dinner, so it is better to listen to him quietly.

Finally, Qin Hao suddenly said to Liu Zhou:
"Old Liu, you are so talented, why don't you put on a play so that I can satisfy my acting craving."

"Drama?"

"Yes, the skit you put on last time was really good, so the drama should be no problem either."

"This is no small matter. I have to think about it."

To produce a play is not just about writing the script, there are many things to do and the investment is not small.

However, after Qin Hao said this, Liu Zhou suddenly felt that the drama seemed to have a future.

(End of this chapter)