Asia-Pacific Future Film and Television Dong Wenjie: IP verification does not mean that you can be lazy and speculative

Dong Wenjie believes that creative talents should still keep a distance from capital, and those who really should face capital are film and television companies. They are the ones who are responsible for box office, sales and other results and bear the pressure of gambling performance.

2015 was a year when China's film market exploded. The quality of films has improved significantly and the box office has continued to set new records. Known for its super IP and earning 1.682 billion yuan at the box office,"Seeking the Dragon" and the controversial "variety movie""Run! Brothers "are two of the works that have to be mentioned. Among the producers of these two films, Asia Pacific Future Film and Television (Beijing) Co., Ltd. is eye-catching. Senior media person Dong Wenjie is the founder and chairman of this company.

Before founding the Asia-Pacific Future, Dong Wenjie also produced and distributed the films "Ip Man" and "Thousands of Arrow Hearts". "Ip Man" broke through in 2008 when it was initially not optimistic and achieved more than 100 million yuan in box office, which was both applauded and sold well; in 2012, Dong Wenjie "willfully" brought the artistic film "Thousands of Arrow to the Heart" to commercial theaters. Although the film's box office and other copyright revenue were just enough to recover costs, the exploration of commercial distribution helped the film gain maximum exposure and ultimately won multiple film festival awards. Faced with the company's "hit" movies that have repeatedly hit new highs, Dong Wenjie believes that in today's explosive growth of China's film market, the box office created by "hit" movies is actually insignificant. Once you wake up, the record will be refreshed by another higher number.

This is the best era and the most barbaric era.

This is the best era for China films. A large amount of hot money is pouring into the film industry; this is also the most barbaric era for China films-capital pursues profits, blindly swarms and may quickly disperse. In Dong Wenjie's view, film is the art of "must respect the law of creation". Capital attempts to make this art of "must respect the law of creation" quantitative, qualitative, patterned, predictable and calculable like investment in real estate, coal mine or fast-moving consumer goods and manufacturing industry."This is basically an impossible task for the film industry."

Dong Wenjie believes that creative talents should still keep a distance from capital, and those who really should face capital are film and television companies. They are the ones who are responsible for box office, sales and other results and bear the pressure of gambling performance. "If the director is always thinking about profits, can he focus on creating a good movie?"

China Securities Regulatory Commission suspends: Supports de-bubbles and opposes one-size-fits-all

In response to the latest news that the China Securities Regulatory Commission has recently suspended fixed growth, mergers and acquisitions, and reorganizations in the four major industries of Internet finance, games, film and television, and VR, Dong Wenjie is mixed with joy and sorrow. She said that on the bright side, the chaos in the capital market has indeed caused many negative impacts on the film and television industry. The valuation is inflated and mixed. The CSRC's move will help burst the bubble and promote the healthy development of the capital market. I believe that those who survive after the bubble burst should be truly powerful and valuable players. But on the other hand, this move is using the government's hands to intervene in the market, abandoning food because of choking, and dumping out the children and the bath water together, making all market participants more deeply feel the risk of "policy changes" and abandoning the concept of long-term value investment. Dong Wenjie believes that this kind of "stopping" that completely excludes several major industries from the capital market has no "law" to follow, and it is not a long-term solution to leave people in both traditional and new industries with no way out, just like in those days without scientific decision-making is the same as a "fuse". She said that in the face of opposition from all sides and the reality that may delay or even ruin the time window for China's economic transformation and upgrading, relevant departments should soon have guidance that is more practical, rational, and more in line with market reality and practice. Now all kinds of news are flying all over the sky, and it is difficult to tell whether it is true or false. We still need to wait for the details. However, she firmly believes that the government's general policy of supporting and encouraging the development of the cultural industry will not change, and the general trend of promoting mergers and acquisitions and integration of the film and television cultural industry to increase the scale of efficiency through the power of capital will not change."Who would be willing to put children and bathing water?" Pour it out together?"

IP: Being verified does not mean that you can be lazy and speculate in

today's China film and television market. The word most spoken by practitioners is "IP." When everyone was discussing IP, Dong Wenjie explained the views of overseas colleagues on IP with her nearly ten years of overseas work experience.

Dong Wenjie said: "The English literal translation of IP is intellectual property rights. Talking the word IP to foreigners will make it difficult for them to understand its special meaning in today's China. An industry magnate in the United States once talked to me that the so-called IP is a popular art form that has been verified, such as a novel read by 1 million people, a song that is widely sung, etc., which all illustrate how much they are liked. It is equivalent to verifying that the story structure, character relationships or subject types are accepted by the current era and audience. It may have more possibilities to adapt film and television works than other products that have not been verified."

From the perspective of "verification", the IP craze in the United States has a long history. A considerable number of movies in the United States are adapted from publications, but Americans will not be "IP first" like us. The popular movies "The Wilderness Hunter","The Mars Rescue","Fifty Shades of Grey", and "Carol" in the past two years are all adaptations of novels. But when American filmmakers make film and television adaptations, they don't think that the movie will sell sold well just because it is the so-called "IP." Some domestic companies may think that "having IP is enough", they can speculate and be lazy, ignoring the hardships and difficulty of art re-processing, the difficulty of film and television adaptation, and the importance of respecting the laws of film and television creation. In the end, the so-called IP works hastily made by the Internet have become out-and-out bad films.

The influence of word of mouth is becoming increasingly important. Good movies can rely on their strength to counterattack

the promotion of movies. Dong Wenjie also has his own ideas. She said: "I think word of mouth will have a strong impact on the audience, especially the front-line voices from the audience such as friends and Weibo. The decibels will become stronger and stronger, and they will more and more influence and even change the box office and destiny of a film. With the development of self-media and circles of friends, you will see more and more good movies counterattack based on word of mouth. The recent "Zootopia" is a typical case. The marketing of this film is poor, and the posters and materials are not eye-catching. The schedule is not good either-March is traditionally a very deserted schedule, and it relies entirely on word of mouth to achieve today's box office results. The more successful cases like "Zootopia", the better. Only when such works are successful will there be fewer works that are shoddy and opportunistic to make a profit in the market and leave. "

Speaking of self-media, Dong Wenjie said that the influence of self-media where audiences can find a sense of identity will become greater and greater. However, those Weixin Official Accounts that deviate too far from the mainstream audience's perception and have strong personal colors and personal tendencies will gradually become lonely and their influence will gradually diminish."

Dealing with big data: I believe that if you are not superstitious

, you must need good content if you want a good reputation. In addition to the "ingenuity" of "ten years to sharpen a sword", you also need more data support. Dong Wenjie's attitude towards the "big data" that has been rampant in recent years is quite rational.

Dong Wenjie said: "My consistent attitude towards big data is to believe and not be superstitious. Big data will tell us some facts and lead to certain conclusions, such as musical films are currently not popular in the China market, war films have few audiences, etc. However, we must not be superstitious about big data. The bankruptcy of the famous American Relativity Company, which uses the so-called "big data customized movies", is actually very illustrative. Because creative industries are the most unpredictable. If big data is so powerful, it would be statisticians, physicists and computer scientists to make movies, and movies wouldn't be called movies. Recently I saw a saying that makes sense: everything that can be calculated is the responsibility of machines; everything that cannot be quantified is created by people. Movies are a creative industry, and people's value lies in creativity. This is my view of big data."

Domestic and international efforts focus on commercial art and one shoulder

. During the recent 6th Beijing International Film Festival, James Schamus, the godfather of American independent film producer who signed a global exclusive first viewing rights and strategic cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Future, was invited to attend the Chinese and foreign co-production forum. His argument that "China is becoming Hollywood" at the forum was shocking and aroused enthusiastic reports from Chinese and foreign media.

The future internationalization of the Asia-Pacific still adheres to the style of its founders, low-key, introverted and unobtrusive. Although James Shams, an internationally renowned world film master, was signed at the beginning of the game, the first English drama film "No Home for a Child" invested in and produced has been completed and entered the post-production stage, and the second English action film "The Messenger of Purgatory" was also launched in Thailand a week ago. However, when the reporter asked about the future plans and arrangements for the Asia-Pacific, Dong Wenjie still said,"I'm sorry, but I can't say it yet."

In the future, Asia-Pacific does not like many industry companies to hold press conferences and announce long lists. Since its establishment, Asia-Pacific has not held a press conference in the future, and Dong Wenjie has rarely participated in various lively and glamorous activities of his peers. When she has time, she likes to study and analyze various phenomena in the industry alone and think about the company's development strategy. Talking about the reasons why she never released a film list, she said,"The film and television industry is an industry full of variables. From the early development of a project to the final meeting with the audience, it has to go through endless variables. I can share these information with the media and the public at any time. I feel sorry for it, and I feel particularly guilty and self-reproach when a change occurs. So, I hope that all our projects have been done and completed before we share them with you."

Although Asia-Pacific Future has achieved good results as a newly founded company, Dong Wenjie has not slackened on the future. Regarding future development, her thoughts are clear and rational: "Our products will be divided into two markets: international and domestic. Products for the domestic market will definitely be more commercial, because commercial films are still the mainstream in China market. In an impetuous social environment, it is really difficult for the audience to enter the theater to watch art-oriented or very heavy films. In terms of the international market, on the premise of controllable risks, we will do our best to pursue the harmonious unity of artistry, ideology and commerce, and walk with masters to produce excellent works."

Editor: yvonne