Extraordinary Genius

Chapter 1219 – Sending Artistes overseas

Feng Yu smiled happily when he saw the shocked face of Wang Zhongjun. These are what the Huayi Brothers do in the future.

Using Wang Zhongjun’s methods to advise him. This is… wonderful!

Wang Zhongjun thought about what Feng Yu said and felt there’s nothing wrong with it. It might be more troublesome for the management, but like Feng Yu said, the company can keep the artists.

“Manager Wang, do our company’s artists go overseas to develop their career?”

“Manager Feng, please address me by my name. I don’t dare to be called Manager by you. Our company’s artists are expanding overseas now, but they are only focusing on Southeast Asia.” Wang Zhongjun felt uncomfortable when Feng Yu calls him Manager Wang. Who dares to let Feng Yu call him Manager in China?

“Then I will address you as Zhongjun. You mentioned Southeast Asia… are you referring to sending singers over for performances or actors to promote their movies there?”

“Yes.”

“This is not enough. You should think of a way to let them become a superstar overseas. The best solution is to let the artists work on some projects that are popular with overseas audiences.”

Wang Zhongjun smiled wearily. “Manager Feng, it’s too difficult. Our Chinese culture might be easily accepted in Asia, but it is very different from the West. We might think a movie is good, but to the westerners, they are not interested.”

Feng Yu smiled. “Then you should use a simple storyline. We don’t need to make those deep, thought-provoking movies and just focus on commercial movies. The storyline of a movie is important, but the visual effects are equally important. Look at the blockbuster movies in the West. All of them have great visual effects, and why can’t we learn from them? The plot should be simpler and must showcase individual heroism. This is in line with the Westerners’ values, and it is not unacceptable here.”

In Feng Yu’s previous life, many popcorn movies have simple plots but are a hit. This is because of the exciting visual effects. Many people go to the movies is for leisure, and how many are there to appreciate arts?

Artistic movies are all not doing well. No matter how well you acted in the movie or win various awards, it is useless if no one wants to watch it.

The movie industry can be prosperous is not because of these award-winning movies. Movies need to attract cinemagoers to be a box office hit.

Some time back, Hong Kong is the world’s second-biggest producer of movies, with more than 100 movie companies there.

But due to cost-cutting measures, the quality of Hong Kong movies dropped. Hong Kong’s movie industry went on a decline until <Infernal Affairs> came out. This movie revived the Hong Kong movie industry and managed to enter the western markets again.

“If the plot is too simple, will the story be too direct?” Wang Zhongjun asked worryingly.

“Look at our traditional martial arts films. The plots are very simple. A kills B. B’s son, C, start training hard, and seek revenge with A. In between, A’s daughter, D, falls in love with C. Most people will understand such movies, and what people want to see is the action scenes. You fight me, I fight you, etc. How many people love watching such films at that time? The Americans are simple and can easily understand it.”

“We can reuse the same plot. But we should make it in modern times and not a period costume movie. Fighting plus romance, or maybe add some comedy elements in it. These are the makings of a commercial film. It’s easy.”

“But even after we filmed this movie, no Western companies will buy it.” These two years, Huayi Brothers had tried to export their films. But they failed in the US market, and no one in Europe is interested. Why did they send their films to Venice and Cannes film festivals? They just want to sell their movies.

“You cannot sell your films is because you did not find the right person. Wind and Rain Electronics is working with a few major movie companies in the US. I can help to introduce your films to them. But you all must follow what I said. Simple plot, good visual effects, and the comedy part must be using physical or facial expression. Language and words will not work.”

“Also, there is a big talent agency in the US, which claimed to be the No. 1 in the world. It is called Creative Artists Agency. Try to work with them to market our artists to the US and international markets. In exchange, we can bring their clients to our Chinese market.”

China’s economy is developing rapidly now, and the movie industry is starting to rise. These few years, more movies are making money. Also, Wind and Rain Electronics controlled the discs’ copyrights and helped to curb piracy. This resulted in lesser pirated discs in the market. Some low budget movies can get back their capital from selling VCDs and DVDs.

The west has always been trying to enter the Chinese market. China has a high population, and even if 1% of the population watches their movie, they will get high profits.

“It is easy to bring in overseas artists, but it is hard to send our artists overseas.”

“That’s why I said the artists must have some outstanding works. Regardless of songs or movies, it must be adapted to suit the Westerners for the artiste to gain popularity there. Some Hong Kong singers got famous overseas like this and can even hold concerts there, despite the fact that those Caucasians do not understand what they are singing.”

“One more thing. You should know a lot of celebrities started off from commercials, right? We can use let Chinese celebrities endorse some products and let the Westerners get familiar with them before they act in movies, etc.”

In the West, many movie stars had started out from commercials. Some actors become famous because of the commercials they acted in.

“Manager Feng, I understand. I will write out a detailed plan and export our artistes to the West.” Wang Zhongjun declared.

“That’s right. You must have confidence first. If you don’t even believe this will work, how can it succeed? Go ahead and do it! I got your back!”

Translator’s notes:

Infernal Affairs