Wang Zhonglei: Domestic filmmakers should not think about becoming financial experts

Wang Zhonglei called on domestic filmmakers not to always think about becoming financial experts,"because I think its finance should use its own methods to raise the money to understand this film, and it is not that every film project has to become a listed company."

Since "digging" Wanda, Huayi Brothers have not spoken out. On March 24, at the sub-forum of the Boao Forum for Asia "China Films under the Rush of Capital: Investing in People or Projects", Wang Zhonglei, executive president of Huayi Brothers, called the other party a smart company when evaluating the development model of Wanda Pictures.

Wanda and Huayi Brothers have recently attracted attention due to a personnel change of an executive. In February 2016, Ye Ning, former vice president of Wanda Culture Group, left his original job and joined Huayi Brothers Pictures as CEO, fully responsible for the management and operation of Huayi Film and Cinema related businesses. Before joining Huayi, Ye Ning had long been in charge of three companies: Wanda Cinema, Film and Television, and Publishing. In 2015, Ye Ning led the Wuzhou Film Distribution Company, which was established less than two years ago, with box office sales of 6.7 billion yuan and revenue of 1.65 billion yuan, ranking first among private film distribution companies.

Ye Ning's joining is seen by the outside world as Huayi Brothers 'management has begun to enter the era of "professional managers", and it has also brought the comparison between Wanda and Huayi Brothers' film businesses to the table.

Wang Zhonglei believes that the genes of the two companies are not the same. Huayi Brothers has gradually grown from a company focusing on the film industry to a large-scale cultural company, while Wanda has started from an asset-heavy real estate company to a cultural "light company" transformation.

"Wanda hopes to transform its company into a lighter company through cultural craze. Wanda has a strong foundation, including the strong terminal resources they have accumulated while doing commercial real estate." Wang Zhonglei said.

In 2005, Wanda Theater was officially established as an important business after Wang Jianlin, Chairman of Wanda Group, announced his entry into the film industry. Driven by Wanda Commercial Plaza, Wanda Cinema Line successfully won the leading position in the domestic cinema industry. In fact, if Wanda only stays in the film industry projection terminal market, the competition between Wanda and Huayi Brothers may not be as direct as it is now. In 2011, Wanda established a film company. In 2014, Wanda Film and Television teamed up with other capital to establish Wuzhou Film Distribution Company. These two major moves rewritten the competitive landscape of private film companies in China.

"Wanda has been very smart in the past two years. In addition to its original terminal resource base, it is also making a lot of preparations for movie content and movie channels." Wang Zhonglei gave the above comments on Wanda Pictures and Wuzhou Publishing. In his view, smart film companies should know that "the most important part of making movies and doing culture still needs to have a strong scale to launch good movies" and return to the movie content itself.

According to Huayi Brothers '2015 Performance Report, it participated in, produced and distributed 16 released films on the film and television entertainment website on the home page, achieving a total box office of approximately 4.3 billion yuan. Huayi Brothers, which has been promoting "de-filming" in recent years, seems to be preparing to re-launch its film business and gain more market share in the hot film industry. In addition to introducing Ye Ning, who has rich experience in film production and distribution, Huayi Brothers also entered overseas markets by jointly investing in films with STX Company of the United States and investing in Korean production companies.

Filmmakers should not always think about becoming financial experts

. At this forum, Wang Zhonglei also called on domestic filmmakers not to always think about becoming financial experts.

What makes Wang Zhonglei anxious is that in the domestic film industry, professional people do not do professional things. In the United States, when a film project meeting is held, almost all the writers talk about is how to write the script; while in China, almost all of them use PPT to show you how the project will turn into a game and a stage drama in the future, and then estimate It has nothing to do with the movie itself, such as selling a billion votes. "When every filmmaker wants to become a financial expert, China films are in danger."

Wang Zhonglei said frankly that an independent film production company in the United States can shoot 15 mature films of different themes in one year, while Huayi Brothers just announced a plan last week to shoot 22 films in two years. Although there are many independent film companies in China claim to shoot 25 films a year, the ones that can actually be released in films are far less than the planned number.

The reason is that Wang Zhonglei explained that in Hollywood, movies are movies. The more you shoot, the higher the success rate, and it is possible to attract better screenwriters and talents to join the team. In fact, it is a simple process from quantitative change to qualitative change. This is their distribution law. Because the financing method for filming in the United States is different from that in China, many operators are not investors. In China, most of them require studios to film out of their own pockets. The market environment has caused many domestic films to focus only on box office rather than quality and cultural connotation.

Among the films released every year in the United States, more than 50 receive box office support, of which about 20 have both box office and cultural connotations. There are also about 30 domestic films receiving box office support every year in China. In the end, they are praised by everyone. Very few. Wang Zhonglei is worried that if high-quality films do not increase, no matter how big China's film market is, even if it increases to 200 billion yuan, it will only be a big film market country rather than a powerful film country.

When talking about IP, Wang Zhonglei said,"We see that every project, no matter how big or small, more than half of the PPTs are talking about how this project will turn into a game, a stage drama, and a novel in the future, and then it can be estimated to sell for one billion yuan at the box office. This is what I am most anxious about. That is, when every film producer becomes a financial expert, I think China films are also a very dangerous time, because I think its finance should use its own methods to finance the money to understand this film, rather than saying that every film project has to become a listed company."

However, Wang Zhonglei admitted that there will be more and more operating models for turning movies into financial products.

Wang Zhonglei said that because movies will have many uncertain factors when facing the market, we want to find a fulcrum for movies, which can help our film investment become safe. At the same time, we can also have a fixed capital guarantee around entertainment and culture.

The impact of Internet + companies on the film market is positive.

Talking about the impact of Internet + companies on the film market, Wang Zhonglei said that this will be a positive development. He said,"Because BAT is all giants, they are all very important buyers, but I can also feel that BAT has actually undergone great changes in recent years. Their understanding of movies has become more and more content-based. They are also looking for good content to shoot movies. This change will be a positive one."

Robert, founder of STX Entertainment, made two suggestions on how to "get rid of" the bubble in China's film industry.

Robert said,"I want to divide it into two points. The first point is to have a brand. Your film needs to have stars, and you need famous directors. This is a very good reason to prevent these bad reactions in the market." In addition, we must expand the scale of the industry. Large-scale companies are not only professional, they understand the entire market."

Yien. com compiled and released it based on reports from Tencent Finance, China Youth Daily, and CCTV. com

Editor: vian