Chapter 33: Selling Overseas Rights for a Sky-High Price

Slap in the face!

This was a total, absolute slap in the face.

Huang Lei looked up at the banner hanging at the entrance of the Central Academy of Drama (CAD). It read: *Warm Congratulations to Cheng Sheng, Student of the Department of Directing, for Winning the Golden Lion.*

No matter how he looked at it, the words on the banner felt incredibly piercing.

Huang Lei pinched his thigh hard. It hurt; it wasn't a dream.

Dammit, what on earth had he done?

If he had known Cheng Sheng was this legendary, why the hell did he post those comments online?

He had offended a Golden Lion-winning director from Venice!

No, he had to save himself.

With this thought in mind, Huang Lei hurriedly took out his phone and deleted all the comments he had posted.

Once they were deleted, Huang Lei finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as the other party hadn't seen them, he hadn't offended him.

Only after finishing this did Huang Lei have time to check the news online.

He found that all the entertainment news sites were filled with stories about *The Great Tang Dynasty—Origins*, and news about Cheng Sheng and his team winning awards in Venice.

The news was filled with many photos—high-definition shots of Cheng Sheng, Zheng Guolin, Fu Dalong, and Su Chang holding their trophies.

There were also photos of the Xishan coal bosses and the crew members attending the Venice Film Festival.

Suddenly, Huang Lei noticed a photo of Zhang Yang.

He knew Zhang Yang! In fact, they had eaten together several times.

After all, CAD and the Beijing Film Academy (BFA) were so close that the professors were well-acquainted.

Although Zhang Yang wasn't a professor in the directing department, Huang Lei envied him immensely. After all, Cheng Sheng was Zhang Yang's student.

Having taught such a formidable student, Zhang Yang's reputation would surely soar. In the future, if anyone in the entertainment industry called him "Teacher Zhang Yang," who wouldn't give him face?

*Sigh!*

Why hasn't a Cheng Sheng emerged from my school?

Huang Lei shook his head. CAD had truly flexed this time; BFA was likely about to get their faces stomped on.

He was very well aware of the long-standing rivalry between the two schools.

While there was no deep-seated hatred, whenever something major happened at one school, the other would inevitably chime in—either to mock or to belittle.

In short, they were always competing to see which school was superior.

When the students and faculty of BFA heard that the entire CAD school was supporting Cheng Sheng's film, many at BFA had been secretly mocking them.

They thought CAD was throwing its entire reputation on the line for an unreliable directing student.

If the movie flopped, CAD's reputation would be ruined.

But this time, BFA had completely misjudged the situation.

Not only did Cheng Sheng's film not flop, but it had already gained international fame before even being released.

"I need to get back quickly. The school must be going crazy," Huang Lei muttered, rushing toward the BFA direction.

...

Venice.

Although everyone in China who needed to know was already aware of the award, and Cheng Sheng had received many calls from back home, he did not return immediately.

After seeing off the crew and the coal bosses on their flights, he and Qiao Shan remained in Venice alone.

He still needed to sell the overseas distribution rights for the film.

After the film won the award, many powerful and sincere distributors contacted Cheng Sheng to negotiate the international release.

Regarding distribution, as the investors, the Xishan bosses were technically qualified to stay and negotiate, but they trusted Cheng Sheng so much that they left the negotiations entirely to him.

They instead headed back to China in glory to show off.

Although the investment money came from the Xishan coal bosses, the overseas copyrights actually rested in Cheng Sheng's hands.

Cheng Sheng had clearly stipulated this in the contract during the signing process.

The only return the Xishan bosses could receive was the share from the domestic market.

This wasn't to say Cheng Sheng was scheming against the Xishan bosses; he had explained the overseas distribution rights to them long ago. Those bosses simply didn't take it seriously, not believing a film could make much money abroad.

The Xishan bosses probably never imagined that a student in his twenties, directing his first big-budget film, could win an award in Venice.

That was why they had handed all the overseas copyright interests over to Cheng Sheng.

Overseas distribution rights are generally sold at a buyout price.

Cheng Sheng agreed to this; after all, if the film performed poorly after a buyout, there would be no risk to him.

However, if the film became a massive hit, they couldn't blame him for the lost profits.

Currently, seven distributors had contacted Cheng Sheng, all of whom were very powerful.

But after receiving advice from Scarlett, Cheng Sheng ultimately chose four.

Indeed, Scarlett had not left Venice; instead, she was helping Cheng Sheng negotiate the overseas distribution issues.

The first was a Japanese distributor—Nikkatsu.

Nikkatsu, also known as Nikkatsu Co., Ltd., is one of Japan's five major film companies.

Although its performance in the international market was not as strong as some other companies, its works were distributed in many countries and regions worldwide.

After the release of the *Tang* film, several Japanese distributors had contacted Cheng Sheng, but only Nikkatsu showed the most sincerity and offered the fairest price.

However, Cheng Sheng hadn't agreed at the time, wanting to wait until after the awards ceremony to negotiate.

Now that the film had won the grand prize, along with two Best Actor awards and a Best Newcomer award, the price had already multiplied several times over.

Japan is a very unique nation.

They worship the strong and plunder the weak.

In ancient times, Japan was a vassal state of China, and what they admired most was the Great Tang Dynasty.

During the Tang Dynasty, Japan's admiration and enthusiasm for learning from China reached an unprecedented height.

Now that Cheng Sheng had made such a classic film about the Great Tang Dynasty, it would be strange if Japanese distributors weren't desperate to secure the distribution rights in Japan.

Japanese distributors understood their national sentiment very well; if they screened Cheng Sheng's film, the box office would surely break historical records.

The price offered by the Nikkatsu distributor was three times higher than before.

After glancing at the price, Cheng Sheng was shocked; it was twice as high as the price he had in his mind!

It would be foolish not to take advantage of a good deal, especially when the advantage was being taken from the Japanese.

Cheng Sheng directly handed the Japanese distribution rights to Nikkatsu.

The price was $5 million.

After signing the contract, the Nikkatsu representatives kept bowing in gratitude to Cheng Sheng.

The second distribution company was from Europe, called EuropaCorp.

Not many people might know this distribution company, but if you mention one person, many will recognize the name.

French director Luc Besson—he co-founded it in 2000 with another individual, aiming to produce and distribute high-quality feature films.

The company had an initial capital of 5,236,000 Euros and was based in "Cité du Cinéma" in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in the northern suburbs of Paris.

EuropaCorp is known for action films and is the only film company in the European commercial film industry capable of rivaling Hollywood.

Luc Besson has great international fame and possesses immense influence in France.

This was also why Cheng Sheng chose this company.

Ultimately, Cheng Sheng handed the European distribution rights to EuropaCorp at a high price of $8.5 million.

(End of Chapter)