Zhong Lifang, founder of Junshe Media: Putting films into investment portfolios can reduce risks

After leaving Ma Benteng, Zhong Lifang founded Junshe Media in March 2014 to focus on portfolio investment in the film industry. It does not make pure film and television drama content, but seeks the lowest risk and most optimized content combination from diversified content layout. At the end of 2015, Microfilm Capital completed its investment in Junshe Media and became one of the shareholders. It was interested in its original content production capabilities with an international perspective.

Original title Zhong Lifang: The film industry has reached a watershed and needs to invest in a film portfolio

. On July 29, at the shooting scene of "The Dream Game: The Unawakened City", the reporter met Zhong Lifang, founder and chairman of Junshe Media. She was coordinating the work of all parties in a warehouse with a temperature of as high as 40 degrees. Zhong Lifang said with a smile in an interview with reporters: "I have stayed here since the beginning of the filming, coordinating various issues every day, thinking about how to control costs and make the content well, from investment to production and distribution, I do it."

In the interview, Zhong Lifang said that currently, online students born in the 1990s account for more than 60% of the movie-watching audience. As of June 30, 2016, the box office of cinemas in mainland China was 24.582 billion yuan, a growth rate of only 21.4%, a record low in five years, and the film market has become increasingly deserted. Faced with clearer segments of the population, new segment themes are needed to cater to the tastes of the post-90s generation of online generations. "Dream Breaking Games: Unawakened City" is co-produced by Junshe Media and Tong Yuemingxin. It is based on the popular VR games born in the 1990s. The film has been filmed more than half and is expected to be released in May 2017.

Hundreds of thousands of kimono sets, a city is built up in an open space, and the pursuit of picture and content texture.

When it comes to the shooting scene of this kind of light science fiction film, the first thing everyone thinks of is a group of actors playing in front of the green screen and the air." However, the surreal scenes of "Dream Games" are mainly set up for shooting, and do not use digital post-production to complete the surreal scenes. The main consideration is that digital special effects that do not reach Hollywood level will become a criticism of the quality of the film. Although restoring surreal scenes in art drawings poses a huge challenge to the art group, the best way to shoot high-quality pictures within a controllable budget. After entering the room, the props and furnishings are also surprisingly detailed: the books on the bookshelf are all books that game designers will read, the photos on the shelves, the alarm clock lying on the table... these all seem to indicate some content and make people imagine it.

In another "black market" scene where the virtual world is connected to the bottom of the real world, we can see magical shops in various languages, including weird power pill shops, shops that replenish blood values, and various shops in the game world. It is restored here. According to the film company, the main structure of the black market is wood, and the mortise and tenon structures on the exterior of the building are customized by workers according to real materials. 30% to 40% of the content of "Dream Breaking Game: The Unawakened City" will be filmed here. There are more than a thousand neon lights and light signs in the black market, and there will be real flower boats performing in the river built. However, such scenes will be demolished after the filming is completed.

In an interview with Zhong Lifang, the main producer of "The Dream Game" and president of Junshe Media, Xiao Guan learned that in order to pursue the content texture of the entire film, a lot of effort was put into art and styling during the production process. "The clothes of every actor, especially the leading actor, are valuable, and most of them are handmade, which is definitely unique. The most expensive kimono set even costs hundreds of thousands of yuan, and was modified by an antique-level clothing." These clothes and shapes will also be used to develop derivatives of the movie for sale.

Following the generation of Internet users born in the 1990s to support the new forces

, from the theme of "Dream Games" to the main creators, Zhong Lifang believes that the entire audience is biased towards being younger, especially those born in the 1990s and 1995. The proportion is very large. After conducting market research, we decided to create a theme that is both familiar and sticky to online generation users, which is VR. At the same time, content that is popular among the new generation of users, such as Mary Sue, and Second Yuan, will be integrated into the movie. It is precisely because of this that this movie has fresh blood, novel themes and youthful emotions that suits the tastes of online generation users born in the 1990s.

In Junshe Media's business layout, we can see that there is a dedicated incubator platform. Junshe will continue to explore, cultivate and incubate excellent creative teams, provide all-round support in terms of funds, resources and management, and jointly create our own brand and create a new cultural and financial ecological model.

Zhong Lifang believes that the film industry has reached a watershed. In addition to mature creative power, fresh blood is needed. She defines her company as a platform, and based on this platform, countless combinations can be extended. In terms of industry incubation, Junshe Media invested in eight companies last year, divided into related industry chains such as screenwriters, directors, animation, and brokerage. Zhong Lifang introduced: "I will choose teams with potential but have not been discovered by others to invest and provide them with resource allocation and assistance, but they can also cooperate with other companies, not limited to internal digestion."

She is sensitive to numbers, rationally analyzes the market, and makes films into investment portfolios to reduce risks

. During an interview with reporters, Zhong Lifang lamented that her previous financial and marketing experience had helped her a lot! "The early development positioning of a project is very important. Whether it is in charge of it or investing in other people's projects, you need a prudent attitude. These majors can help me conduct more research and research on the early positioning and direction of the product." Zhong Lifang participated in the investment, production and distribution of "Dream Breaking Games". She said: "Very sensitive to numbers! Any number that comes to your mind will be followed by a string of numbers. Whether the number is reasonable or not, and how to make it reasonable requires effective communication on the spot. This is also very helpful for avoiding investment risks."

Zhong Lifang's philosophy has always been that the company should diversify and not become a pure film company or TV drama company."The film itself should be made into an investment portfolio so that the risks can be reduced." Junshe Media's business portfolio is roughly divided into three parts. In addition to the investment incubation mentioned above, it also includes film and television content and performances. Zhong Lifang believes that film and television content is a project with a relatively long cycle and high risk, and performances can provide stable cash flow for the company in a long-term and stable manner, especially performances with global authorization, global tour, and on-site business models. It is very helpful to support cash flow in this process.

Junshe holds a 90% stake in China Broadway. China Broadway mainly invests in the production of Chinese original musicals created by the American Broadway team and introduces them to the most popular immersive theaters in New York and London. The ultra-dimensional drama it creates is a pioneer in theatrical performance. The audience has no seats. After an opening, multiple scenes in the theater will start simultaneously. If you want to understand the whole picture of things, you need to find it yourself and break the boundaries between traditional actors and audiences. Income comes from authorization on the one hand, and box office shares on the other. In addition to winning four Tonys (Oscars in the theater industry), Junshe invested in "Dancing in Flowers in Flowers", it earns US$1.5 million a week and continues to continue. His first work in 2015,"The Disappeared Groom", was considered by Lin Ning, president of Micrography Times, to be worth as much as 10 million yuan in IP. It is reported that the ultra-dimensional drama of "Dream Breaking Games: Unawakened City" is already in preparation.

"Dream Breaking Games" is an original IP, but many international masters have been invited to design it in terms of styling and other aspects. Zhong Lifang believes that "we can use global resources to achieve our films." Nowadays, the film and television industry is calling for originality. In response to this point, President Zhong also supports originality. From another perspective, some good online texts and games are suitable for modification into film and television works, and those with film and television genes can still be modified; in addition, in the face of some unsuitable ones, forced modifications are not recommended.

Editor: Nancy