Ning Hao: With hot money coming, the situation of young directors is even worse, and people who buy IP are more anxious

At the core, I think the only valuable thing is output and expression. The expressor must understand what he is expressing, and you can express it not only through this channel. I hope to always express my values.

Halfway through the Shanghai Film Festival, film industry leaders and media reporters shuttled through various forums and "XX Nights". Everyone was talking about how to use the Internet to transform the film industry, how to buy better IP and how to realize IP."Capital","hot money" and "bubble" have become keywords. In a forum titled How the box office is "super beautiful", Director Ang Lee said,"We can live for so long, what's the rush?" It poured cold water on China filmmakers who are undergoing the "Great Leap Forward".

In the Shanghai Film Festival Golden Jue Award venture capital segment, the Bad Monkey Film Rising Star Project behind director Ning Hao gave a prize of 150,000 to the award-winning young director Niu Han.

The reporter found Director Ning Hao for a chat. He was wearing a blue T-shirt and changed his legendary "difficult to chat" state in the media circle. He was in a strong mood for conversation. We talked about from the Westernization Movement to marine civilization, from the Big Bang to Liu Cixin's science fiction work "Rural Teacher" that was being filmed, which he called the "Crazy Alien" project.

During more than an hour of conversation, we also talked about hot money, capital and IP. Ning Hao was very clear about this. He said that his Bad Monkey Studio would never buy IP, and compared to the market when he came out to make movies, Young directors may now be in a worse situation in the seemingly lively China film market. We also talked about how China people have always been prepared to "surpass Britain and catch up with the United States" in the past 100 years of history. Is there really only one way left for China films now to learn from Hollywood?

Ning Hao said

that he could eat Western food, but there was no need to cook Western food.

Everyone knows that my famous work "Crazy Stone" benefited from Mr. Andy Lau's initial 3 million fund, so I have always had a desire to help young directors. motivation. At the end of June, our Bad Monkey Studio will launch a young director plan. We have been preparing this plan for a whole year and it is also the beginning of Bad Monkey's transformation from a director studio to a platform.

I am getting more and more clear about the significance of the establishment of bad monkeys. I often think about a question, what is the purpose of making a movie? Making movies is actually just a means, not the end. For example, when I stop making movies, I can paint, write, and do business, but I found that everything I do in the end needs to be rich in values. As a product with values, it is a valuable product in my opinion. This is the difference between entertainment products and cultural products.

For me, the most valuable thing for bad monkeys is called creation, because I think the most meaningful moments in life are often creation. Creation and destruction are two things that are very valuable and a way to promote the development of the world.

Under the great changes in China, I think it is very meaningful and valuable to talk more about creativity. I have always believed that over the past 100 years, the great men of China have begun a strong process of self-improvement and joining the world's advanced ranks and getting rid of backward forms since the Westernization Movement.

Over the past 100 years, all of our great people have done this thing. It is all this thing that turned this big ship around and then moved towards modernization. It initially changed from artifacts to gradually penetrated into the structure of productivity, and then to modern times. The awakening of ideological trends and democratic consciousness has become today. The biggest problem we face today is called productivity transformation. We have got rid of the modern urban civilization where agriculture controls productivity and then enters industrialization. This is the power of creation.

The second is local nature. I have always insisted on doing local things rather than simply learning from Hollywood. Any genre in Hollywood movies is closely related to its native land, not us. Due to different national personalities and different land attributes, the story actually has different forms, and the genre will not be the same as other land. The genre is the same, so indigenity is particularly important.

Someone asked me if this was because I was afraid of American cultural export? I don't have such cultural anxiety. Just like I buy imported things, watching Hollywood blockbusters can fill my entertainment time. I don't think there is a problem, but I can eat Western food. There is no need to cook Western food. Doing local genre originality requires courage, you need to try, you need to die, and you need to do "creation" with the determination to lose.

Third, I think contemporary nature is also particularly important. I am not superstitious about classics. I used to learn to paint, and I was constantly oppressed by "classics" and "past". As part of a classic, it has become a specimen. It is a dead thing. I respect the value of a "specimen" but I cannot use it to guide and reflect our current life, so I oppose copying traditional classics.

Hot money flies around, which is a test for young directors.

In 2012, I collaborated with Director Cheng Er in the film "Frontier". This was my first time as a producer and I gained something. In addition, I had previously received funding from Mr. Andy Lau. These two things made me think: Why can't I continue to use this power to help other young directors and generate new blood, although it doesn't mean that he must need me. Birds of a feather flock together, and people are divided into groups. Writers with similar tastes can get together. We can express our values on a larger scale and scope. I think this is the most valuable thing for me. So the platformization of bad monkeys is also very exciting for me.

The platform just means that it attracts people with similar opinions and partners who can agree with our values, but this is still a platform, and the platform also encourages everyone to express it, everyone to express it. Then let's spread our similar voices out, because in fact I know that I am not the only director with similar values.

Bad Monkey's vision is to be the first brand in subculture. We don't want to be a big brand in mainstream culture. I think subculture is a way to maintain advanced nature. You are in a state of subculture, and you are actually a state of vitality. I especially like Legendary Pictures. I think they will have a lot of personality, accurately position themselves in its subcultural group, and achieve its aesthetics to the extreme in this subcultural group.

Many times, I make myself less mainstream. I never cared about the broadest market, nor was I tempted by them. If I was tempted, I would have gone into business early.

We are very prosperous now and have a lot of hot money, which is helpful to the industry. If there is no market and no one watches movies, there will be not so many movies. Without money, we will not attract more talents to enter the industry, and quality will not be improved; But on the other hand, when there is too much hot money, it will also have an impact on the spirit of craftsmanship, because it is too difficult for you to test the determination of this person. With so much money flying around, I will let you do it tomorrow, and then I will shoot blockbusters the day after tomorrow, and I will try my best to increase the price for you. I think things will go on the market before they are ready, and martial arts will go to the arena before they are ready. Some martial arts really have to be practiced in small pieces, and some martial arts can only be practiced under certain circumstances. So at this time, I think we should have a long-term development and perspective on this matter.

In this era and age, I think it is a bit complicated and there is a temptation. This kind of temptation and chaos from the outside world may be the biggest problem for all these young directors, who are easily confused and influenced by temptation in their direction. Because difficulties are better than confusion. Although it doesn't matter if there is resistance, I know where I am going, but it's better than the confusion of standing at the intersection of rice in my life.

People who buy IP are more anxious

in this "chaotic era". I am not chaotic at all. I know very well where I am going. My thoughts are very clear, what my work looks like and what our company looks like. I have a very clear understanding of the relationship between our company and my personal creations. I only do what I can do. One of them told me,"You're doing it late enough." I said it wasn't too late. I just thought it through before doing it. Because for me, slow is fast.

The cultivation of anything has a long-term consideration. Just like when we said that for new directors, we didn't say that when new directors come, you will make money. I said that if you want to make a movie, the first priority is that you can make a movie. I am now telling the new directors I work with,"Brothers, don't pay too much for the first film, and control your costs." You can compensate a little. It doesn't matter, I have this mentality.

It takes time, energy and cycles for any tree to grow. If you don't have the mentality that it can not make money, I don't think you should do this. Because there is a development stage in the cultivation, learning and gradual maturity of anything.

Regarding future new directors, my attitude is not to be anxious. I don't ask you to make money. Making money is the business of the operators, not the creator. Just like when I gave the award today, I saw the award-winning new directors. I feel that this director is very own. This thing is the most valuable thing. It doesn't matter whether it is sold for money or not. That's the most valuable thing, just show your own things.

When it comes to creation, I am as anxious as ever, and I have always been anxious, because creation is a non-stop process, a process of adventure, constantly testing water and danger.

But what you create has nothing to do with this matter, not a penny. Give you a billion yuan and you can write a good script? You can't even buy it back. Many people and companies are rich, but they don't necessarily write good things. These are two things, so I think they may be more anxious. For example, Liu Cixin, I respect him very much. I have been preparing for the filming of "Rural Teacher" for a long time. Recently, I finally figured out how to shoot it. I would be more willing to cooperate with Liu Cixin than buying his IP, or I don't think buying his works is called buying IP. Bad monkeys will never buy IP.

Editor: yvonne