Volume 5: The Age of Storms Chapter 0743 Digitalization
As soon as they sat down in the box, the school beauty walked in.
"Nansheng, phone call."
"Qianxi, please sit with the two classmates first. I'm going to go out and answer a phone call."
"Go ahead, go ahead."
Nan Yi followed the school beauty to the yard outside, and the tiger cub, covering the microphone, came over.
"Who's calling?"
"Mr. Wang Jue."
"Oh." Nan Yi took the phone and said into the receiver, "Rogue, what's the matter?"
"In the capital, right?"
"Nonsense, you can't make this call if you're not in Beijing. If you have something to say, just say it. Lending money is out of the question."
"Borrow some ass, buddy, I don't need any money right now, I just want to talk to you about something. Today is the day when the Seahorse Film and Television Studio is announced to be established, and I'm planning to go out and celebrate, so come and show your support."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier? I'm having dinner with others outside. You guys won't be able to leave for a while anyway. I'll come over later."
"Nan Batian, this is the first step in my career, why don't you give me some respect?"
"She is having dinner with others, my cousin and her two classmates."
"The cousin who studied at Kyoei?"
"Nonsense, this is my only cousin."
Wang Jue on the other side was amused when he heard this, "Nan Batian, you didn't hear clearly before, Haima Film and Television Creation Studio, do you know anything about film and television? Hurry up and bring your cousin over here, everyone here is a top figure, your cousin is going to take on an acting job in the future, right?
Let your cousin come over today to show her face. If anyone writes a little wrongly and the heroine in the script is changed to suit her characteristics, will she still worry about not having a role to play?"
Nan Yi naturally understood what Wang Qi said . As long as any screenwriter said, "My heroine is written based on Yi Qianxi," and there was no major conflict of interest, Yi Qianxi would basically have the position of the heroine in her hands.
In this case, if Nan Yi really regarded himself as Yi Qianxi's cousin, it seemed that there was no reason for him not to go.
"Okay, tell me the number and I'll call you back later."
"Beijing Film Studio Guesthouse Room 302."
After hanging up the phone, Nan Yi walked back to the box and said to the three women inside: "I need your opinions on something. I just received a call. A friend of mine, who is a writer, has set up a film and television creation studio with several other writers. They will hold a founding celebration party soon. If you are willing, we will not have this meal and will go over right now. If you are not willing..."
"Yes, of course."
Before Nan Yi finished speaking, Jiang Wenli couldn't help but blurt out what she wanted to say. As soon as the words came out, she realized that it seemed a bit rude and self-indulgent, so she smeared a line of red on her cheeks, which was divided into two halves by her nose.
"Qianxi, Xu Xiao, where are you two?"
"Go, why not? A writer is a screenwriter. It would be great to get to know a few of them." Yi Qianxi said.
Xu Yu said: "Brother Nan Yi, I want to go."
"Okay then, let's go."
Nan Yi walked out of the box and went to the kitchen to find Peng Xiuquan who was cooking. After a long explanation, he left Qin's restaurant while Peng Xiuquan was furious.
Peng Xiuquan couldn't help but be angry. He regarded Nan Yi as a star and was just about to show off the kung fu he had just mastered recently, but who knew that Nan Yi withdrew halfway and didn't want to play with him anymore. Was he just teasing him?
That was Nan Yi. If it were someone else, Peng Xiuquan would just try which was harder, the kitchen knife or the forehead.
Wang Jue had very limited imagination when it came to food, and he usually went to places with a chimney in the middle and a circle of soup, which was where they had shabu-shabu mutton.
It is like this in summer and it is still like this in winter.
A fly-in-the-wall mutton hotpot restaurant that collected advertising fees and had to write its advertising slogans against its conscience. Seven people put two tables together and put a copper hot pot on one table. When Nan Yi and his four companions arrived, there were already five or six empty plates on the table. The slight red and white mutton smell left on them told everyone that it was not them that were carrying the food.
When Wang Jue saw Nan Yi appear, he put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and said, "Here you are. Let me introduce you to Wei Ren, Mo Yan, Jing Yan, Su Rong, Liu Heng, and Shi Tiesheng. You know Mo Yan, so I won't say much. Wei Ren..."
Wang Qi introduced each person’s situation, mainly their representative works.
"Last year, in September, a few friends organized a salon called the Seahorse Film and Television Creation Center, which is located in our hospital. Later, as we talked, we all felt that just making fun of coughs was boring, so we thought about setting up a creation studio. Today, the Seahorse Film and Television Creation Studio was established.
The purpose of the studio is to improve the creative staff's..."
Wang Qi said, and suddenly waved his hand, "Stop, I won't talk any more. The purpose is very simple, that is, to make everyone's writings sell for a good price. Everyone here is no worse than Cao Xueqin in writing. We are not good at bargaining.
I asked you to come here, not only to celebrate together and pay for it, but also to invite you to join me. Don't rush to refuse. You don't have to come yourself, but you have to send someone. I'll pay you, 88 per month, isn't that a lucky number?"
"Eighty-eight, what are you thinking? Go ask at the odd job market, three dollars a day, and see if anyone will pay attention to you." Nan Yi said, and sat down by himself, and asked the three women to sit down by the way, "If you want to talk, then talk properly, don't talk about salary, just talk about profit sharing."
"It's fine to split it, how do you want to split it?"
Nan Yi waved his hand and said, "Don't talk about serious matters at the dinner table. Let's go to another place to drink tea while everyone is sober. Let's put aside the burden of favors and face. There is no need to haggle over small gains and get red in the face.
Putting aside all the nonsense that tries to flatter oneself, people write books just to fill their stomachs, get rich through writing, and gain both fame and fortune. No one has a rich family, and writing books is just for fun, right? "
Looking around at everyone and seeing that no one objected, Nan Yi continued, "So, when distributing benefits privately, we should fight for them. Once the distribution is done and everyone can accept it, then the seahorse is a whole. In front of outsiders, everyone should act together, unite and cooperate, praise each other, and put on a good face."
"Nan Batian, your words are not nice to hear. You have stripped off all the disguises on our faces, but what you said is true. Among the people I know, you are the best at making money. I am not pretending. I set up the Seahorse Creative Studio just to make more money. I need you to join and help us.
You said we should divide the profits, no problem, let's sit down and talk, just as you said, let's fight for a result that everyone can accept. I know you don't have the time to meddle in our affairs, so you can just give the palace..."
"Uh-huh……"
Nan Yi spoke up to stop Wang Lu from saying Gong Xue's name.
Wang Qi swallowed his saliva and said, "Forget it, I won't say it anymore. You know who I'm talking about anyway. I saw that she coordinated well when we were shooting the commercial, so I let her participate."
Even if Wang Qi didn't mention Gong Xue, Nan Yi would have mentioned it. Wangbei Media has been established for nearly four years, but apart from shooting a few commercials for itself, sweeping the local TV stations' junk advertising time, and spending money on product placement in movies and TV shows, it has not developed any business at all.
Even those few advertisements, when they were being billed, they were not accounts for advertising projects at all.
Although in 1979, Ding Yunming, the section chief of Shanghai Advertising Company, published an article entitled "Rehabilitating the Name of Advertising" in Wenhui Daily.
He believes that "advertising is not a capitalist business of gimmicks and bragging." This short article of just a thousand words sounded the clarion call for the media to restore advertising.
In the same year, the mouthpiece newspaper also published four articles, namely "Shanghai Resumes Commodity Advertising Business", "Talk on Foreign Advertising", "The Inspiration of an Advertisement", and "An Advertisement Saved a Factory", expressing the openness of the advertising industry in multiple dimensions.
It seems that the advertising industry has recovered, but in fact the advertising rights have not been opened up to private enterprises. The advertising companies established in the past few years are all advertising companies of a certain province or a certain city. You can tell at a glance that they cannot be private enterprises.
There are private enterprises too, but they still go the route of affiliation. Otherwise, like Wangbei Media, they establish joint ventures as foreign capital and then enter the mainland to establish joint ventures. The clients of such enterprises are also joint ventures.
Since the spring of the advertising industry has not arrived, Wangbei Media is naturally unable to move forward. It can only continue to provide some services to its sister units and barely earn enough money to eat. There is no way it can conduct business externally. The barriers of local protectionism are as solid as a rock, and there is no way it can break through.
It's okay to put an advertisement on TV or in newspapers, but if you want to put up a poster in a busy area, Wangbei Media definitely can't do it. You still have to go through advertising companies with high reputation in the province or city.
There are few development opportunities in advertising, and even fewer in the film and television industry.
From 1958, when Chinese TV dramas were officially born, to 1986, China's radio and television industry was a completely closed industry, completely monopolized by the state-owned, highly administrative advertising and television departments. Not only was foreign and private capital not allowed to intervene, even other state-owned departments were not allowed to get involved, especially the market access of broadcasting organizations was more stringent.
In 1986, the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television issued the "Interim Provisions on the Implementation of the Television Drama Production License System", requiring that from June 1, 1986, production units must hold production licenses when providing television dramas for sale, exchange, or donation to the imperial and local television stations. Otherwise, the imperial and local television stations would not be allowed to receive or broadcast them.
This regulation basically excludes private companies from the production market, leaving no loopholes for them to exploit.
The country has such regulations because current TV dramas have almost no entertainment and economic attributes and only serve the country's ideological security.
Before, Nan Yi’s involvement in Dream of Red Mansions could be said to be purely sponsorship and then changing an acknowledgment unit. However, the cunning Nan Yi asked Wenchang Clothing to sponsor the individual actors as well, providing beautiful costumes and rich meals with both meat and vegetables. Through these, he won the favor of the actors and cleverly implanted clothing advertisements into the shooting footage.
Including the later investment of Wangbei Media in "Journey to the West", it actually spent money to buy the overseas copyright of "Journey to the West". It neither participated in the creation nor the distribution. For Chaoting TV, Wangbei Media was just a customer who purchased the copyright.
Earlier, the same thing happened with Wenchang Clothing’s product placement in movies. It also had no say in the creation and distribution of the movies, and it couldn’t even be considered a unit that could communicate on the same platform. At most, it was a bad group that was willing to take advantage of opportunities and seek profits by “corrupting” people related to the film studio.
"Crazy Mother" was produced by Nan Yi. It seems that Wangbei Media was involved in it from the script to the shooting, but this film actually belongs to Beijing Film Studio. Wangbei Media contributed money and manpower, but the profits ultimately gained by the film itself have nothing to do with Wangbei Media.
In other words, excluding the advertising effect, Wangbei Media is not only losing money, but also not making any profit from promotion.
Strictly speaking, the word "media" in Wangbei Media is pure nonsense. It is actually a shell company that relies on its connections to engage in speculation. It can also be classified under the supply and marketing department of Wenchang Garment and Yaqing Company. Its core is to promote products.
Or Wangbei Media can also be classified as a financial company. After all, it also participated in the investment of a movie, but the return on the investment depends on the box office, but it seems to have little to do with the box office.
What happened was that Bagui Film Studio approved a project to make a movie, but it was short of funds, so Chen Huaige made the connection and the film studio borrowed a sum of money from Wangbei Media to make the film. If the movie made money, the film studio would repay the principal and interest. If it lost money, they would just wait and repay when they had money.
Not to mention participating in the production and distribution, Nan Yi still doesn't even know the name of this film. Of course, it's not that the other party didn't tell him, but Nan Yi was willing to let Gong Xue lend him money for the purpose of building connections. He doesn't care what the reason for borrowing the money is, he only cares about who is the person borrowing the money.
In short, at present, there is no soil for private enterprises to survive in movies, TV series, and advertisements. If we want to create this soil, it does not depend on internal factors, but on the overall world situation.
From Nan Yi's personal perspective, if a series of events such as the disintegration of the Soviet revisionists, the end of the Cold War, and the Gulf War had not occurred, and if everyone had not realized that the world has changed and that the past is outdated, there would not have been a situation where everything had to give way to economic development. Naturally, the day when the door to the film and television industry would not have been opened would not have come.
Although he did not know much about the development of the film and television industry in his previous life, Nan Yi still knew that from the late 1990s to the first decade of the 21st century, the domestic film and television industry was dominated by people from the north, or more precisely, by the Beijing circle .
From the very beginning, Nan Yi had no intention of getting deeply involved in the mainland's film and television industry. What he currently values is the advertising and marketing function of film and television dramas, as well as the driving effect on commercial real estate that will emerge in the future.
After these two waves of opportunities have passed, it is time to consider the layout of digital networks and the extension of concepts such as the metaverse and WEB3.0 - digital entertainment.
Nan Yi has always had a vague idea that in the future, which is more distant than his two lifetimes combined, the production model of film and television dramas will undergo tremendous changes. The audience will no longer passively accept a film or television drama, but will participate in it from the beginning of the project.
With the further development of big data, a person will be digitally rasterized, and a series of data such as movement trajectory, educational experience, aesthetics, hobbies, etc. will be collected. As long as the data is large enough, it can not only analyze what type of books, TV series and movies a person likes, but also the preferences for the content of articles and the plot of TV series and movies can be analyzed.
We can even speculate that at some point in the future, someone will suddenly like a certain type of content.
Regardless of whether potential audiences will have the right to refuse the collection of their data on film and television preferences in the future, the production of film and television dramas will definitely become more and more precise. The data will be collected and screened out as a reference factor for the creation of a film and television drama. These potential audiences will find that movies and TV series are becoming more and more exciting, and are simply tailor-made to their own preferences.
In fact, there is no doubt that your e-wallet has been targeted early on. Don't delay, pay for the service quickly. Once your money arrives, the accountant can settle the accounts and distribute profits to shareholders.
Regardless of whether this speculation is right or wrong, Nan Yi stubbornly believes that no matter what industry, the fortress of the meat-eating circle will become stronger and stronger, and it will become more and more difficult, or even impossible, to squeeze in, while the soup-drinking community will become larger and larger, and the social structure will appear to be "nail-piercing-mushroom-shaped."
The tip of the nail is far above, and the mushroom umbrella is the so-called common prosperity class. The nail body under the mushroom has the possibility of climbing upwards infinitely, while the nail cap part lies directly flat.
The Nan family’s main businesses are just those few, but Nan family’s capital is omnipresent, and Nan Yi wants to leave a foundation for his descendants to shift and maneuver in case of sudden changes in the situation.
Nan Yi believes that his digital entertainment speculation is correct, at least the general direction is correct. Maybe Nan’s company will not be able to or do not want to have a piece of this cake in the future, but it will still have to get involved in it.
In the process of moving towards digital entertainment, two words are always indispensable - technology.
Science and technology require accumulation. There is no overtaking on curves and no sudden changes. If digital entertainment is broken down, it can almost encompass most of the future development results of science and technology. Nan's can do without digital entertainment, but it cannot avoid intervening in the realization of these results.
Fighting spirit can break the sky, but technology is the father of fighting spirit.
While eating mutton hotpot and negotiating the price of the script, Nan Yi was thinking that he should invest some money in the field of film and television special effects. He would call Rachel one day and ask if the graphics card companies had taken the initiative to contact the richest man Wei Ye.
When the topic was almost discussed, the people at the table began to divide into smaller circles and randomly have conversations in twos and threes. The three women were not stupid and would start talking to anyone they could find. Among them, Mo Yan was caught the most frequently, because he had proven himself before.
"Nan Batian, are you leaving again?" Wang Lu asked after clinking glasses with Nan Yi.
"Yes, it happened in the past two days."
"The huge country of China cannot accommodate your plans. Do you like to mess around so much?"
"It's not tossing and turning, it should be called struggling. Back then, Columbus was fooled by Marco Polo and wanted to come to our place where gold is everywhere to pan for gold, but who knew that he went the wrong way, and also the right way, he actually went to India.
There he really saw gold everywhere, and gold bricks and coins placed next to the stone statues in the temple. Columbus thought to himself, Marco Polo was right, there really is gold everywhere in India.
I have liked Columbus since I was a child, so naturally I want to follow in his footsteps. Now I am panning for gold in India. There is so much gold in the Ganges that one grab a handful and two grabs add up to a ton.
I'll tell you in secret, I've already seized 50,000 tons of gold there. I'm now the richest man in the world. Shen Wansan and Hu Xueyan have to step aside."
Wang Ju sneered and said, "Nan Batian, it's a pity that you don't write novels. You just keep talking nonsense. When did Columbus go to India?"
Nan Yi took a bite of mutton hotpot and laughed, "Your focus is really strange. Shouldn't you be concerned about 50,000 tons of gold?"
"What's there to worry about? It's fake at first glance. If you said five tons, I would be skeptical. Fifty thousand tons, you can't even empty the vaults of several major countries to come up with this number." Wang Ju spat and asked, "Seriously, what are you doing in India?"
“Stock trading.”
“Do you make money?”
"It's OK. A stock was hyped up from 200 rupees to thousands of rupees, which is six times the price. I didn't have enough self-control, so I bought 100,000 rupees at 260 rupees and sold it when it rose to 500 rupees. Then I saw that it had risen to 540 rupees right after I sold it. I thought that the price would not last long and would fall. I was right to sell it now. If I continued to hold it, I would cry.
Two days later, the stock price actually rose to 700 rupees. I thought it must have reached the top, but it kept rising. When it reached 910 rupees, I couldn’t help but buy more. Now I have made more than 300 rupees per share.”
"What is the exchange rate between Indian currency and ours?" Wang Li asked.
"It's less than four for one, ours is worth more."
"That's not much. How much did you buy the second time?"
"600 shares, I bought them for 912 rupees."
"3.68 million, fifty thousand is not enough to cover your expenses in India, right?"
"I don't spend any money, and stock trading is just a side job. I found another job this year and am on a business trip in India. My food, drink, and toilet expenses are covered by the company."
"I was wondering, why did you go to India? You have a big business, why are you still working for others ?"
"Nonsense, my son will soon be of school age, and the expenses will increase. In business, there are gains and losses. What if I lose money, what will happen to my son? So, find a job, get paid twice a month, and you can have a stable income, and you can have peace of mind."
"Double servings?"
"Nonsense. It's different in foreign countries. Some people get paid once a week, some once every two weeks, or once every half a month. Monthly pay is less."
Wang Qi took a puff of his cigarette, thought for a moment and said, "You are now, how do you say that, by the way, the boss of a foreign company?"
"According to your logic, I should be in the second shift. Besides the boss, there is another person in charge of me. That person is the head shift." Nan Yi waved his hand. "Let's not talk about this. Work matters are annoying. I have to work for someone else. The salary is not bad, but there are many troubles.
You are still the best. You are a freelancer. You can write when you want to, and you can lie down when you don’t want to. You can do whatever you want. I won’t serve you. ”
"Bullshit, how can it be so comfortable? I just received a deposit to write a script for someone, and I almost vomited while writing. There's nothing I can do. I have to continue writing after I vomit. Who told me to take the money? If I can't hand in the manuscript, it will be so embarrassing."
"Let them wait. Who are you, Wang Xueqin, the great writer Wang? Wait for three years, and then you can throw a book called "The Story of a Rogue" in their faces that is better than "The Story of the Stone". Let them know what the first of the four great masterpieces of modern times is."
"Fuck, don't step on me. Cao Xueqin just said that, and you took it seriously."
Wang Li said not to take it seriously, but the expression on his face told Nan Yi that it was completely okay to take it seriously.
"Don't be so modest. I'll give you a couplet. The first line: Punch Cao Xueqin, kick Luo Guanzhong. The second line: Chop Wu Chengen with a palm, steal peaches from Shi Naian. The horizontal scroll: All rubbish."
Upon hearing this, Wang Qi took a deep breath and cursed with a smile: "Nan Batian, you are so cruel! If this couplet of yours gets out, will I still be able to survive?"
"Haha, this couplet is a bit too much, but you can maintain your rogue nature, whether you are facing reporters or book fans. People have a rebellious mentality. They have seen many people pretending, so when they see someone like you who is not pretending, they will think you are straightforward, unpretentious, and real."
"What the hell, I'm a gangster. I won't pretend. I'll just show my cards."
Wang Lu doesn't have to pretend, but Nan Yi has to pretend to the end. He has to pretend for his whole life to maintain a good image. He is too dirty inside, so he'd better hide it and not let it show.
…
Near the buffer zone between Guinea and Sierra Leone, on a farm that mainly raises goats, Colonel Price and members of Team G sat on the lawn, grilling meat, drinking beer, and talking and laughing.
"Colonel, besides the food escort, I heard that there are other people coming?" Lincoln asked Price after taking a sip of beer.
"Yes. Don't ask who they are. This is highly confidential. You don't have to participate in the retaliation operation. Your mission is to protect the safety of a team of people and their equipment."
"Damn it, he's doing the bodyguard's job again." Lincoln said dissatisfiedly.
Price took out two cigars from his pocket and handed one to Lincoln. "Don't complain, Lincoln. Your mission is very important. One of them is a man wearing glasses. Nothing can happen to him. Absolutely. Do you understand?"
"Got." Lincoln responded, picking up the cigar and taking a look, "The one at the head is different, he's smoking a Havana."
Plath shrugged, "I just used the money you used to find women to satisfy my own preferences."
"Ahaha, what's the meaning of life without women."
Lincoln said, looking up at the sky.
In the air, a small two-seater propeller plane was about to land on the farm's crude runway.
"Fly straight here, Price, this is who my team is supposed to protect?"
"If it hadn't been shot down, it should have been." Price said lightly.
The farm here is a safe spot for troublemakers. If a plane comes over and hovers at low altitude without saying need to say anything, just shoot it down. If you can't shoot it down, there's no need to waste time, just run away.
As the plane landed, the farm welcomed two other groups of guests. One group was Team G of the Food Guard, an old acquaintance of Troublemaker, and the other group looked a bit mysterious, with the disguises on their faces never removed.
"The one who stirs up trouble, Colonel."
"Okapi Team, Lincoln."
"Granite Squad, Gorky."
"Self-destruction interest group, glasses."
"G Team, North Korean defectors."
"Arctic Fox, DA."
"Now that everyone is here, let me introduce our target to everyone." Plas said, pointing to a photo on the wall, "Matta, the RUF person who is responsible for trading with us, is also our target. We need to torture him to find out who is hiding behind the scenes. North Korean defector, is the Malay girl's sister here?"
"I'm here." The North Korean defector responded and pointed at a busty girl next to him. "Codename: Sister-in-law."
Price looked at the sister-in-law and said, "OK, sister-in-law, the boss has given instructions. It is up to you to decide the extent of our revenge."
The eldest sister-in-law said coldly, "Leave no one alive, and eliminate all future troubles."
