Super Zoo

Chapter 524 Collaboration on Filming

The proposal from elder brother Wu indeed stirred something in Suming's heart.

Making movies was just a spur-of-the-moment idea he had, and after all, it stemmed from Jiao Shou, who would incessantly buzz in his ear every time they spoke on the phone. Recently, as he was particularly short on cash, Suming entertained the thought.

Of course, the film industry itself is indeed highly profitable. Currently, for the mainland box-office revenue sharing method, after deducting about 5% in various taxes and fees, the remaining sum is typically split with 40-50% going to the distribution and production side and 50-60% to the theaters, which is roughly a 55-45 split.

Beyond the mainland box office, if a movie gets a good reception, companies in Xiangjiang, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and even in the West might buy local distribution rights, and this money goes straight to the distribution and production side. Before Xiangjiang movies were introduced to the mainland, their total box office in Xiangjiang usually ranged from millions to tens of millions, and overseas distribution would often earn more than domestic earnings.

Back in the day, Xiangjiang's top-grossing films only made several tens of millions a year. As the mainland market opened and expanded, that was considered a flop; any decent movie could easily bring in one to two hundred million, and it wasn't rare to see figures between three to five hundred million.

There were numerous instances of making a big return on a small investment. "Love is Not Blind" racked in 300 million box office on less than 15 million in production costs, and "Lost in Thailand", with an investment of 30 million, swept up 1.3 billion at the box office, more than ten times the profit.

Suming's idea was based on this: after all, he had too little money on hand, nowhere near enough to acquire a zoo, and couldn't find other ways to quickly increase its value. Might as well take a gamble with some cash and try. Even if it was a failure, it wouldn't be a crippling loss. If it succeeded, even if it didn't reach a profit ten or dozens of times over, at least it would pave a new moneymaking path.

However, just like elder brother Wu had thought, Suming was practically an outsider when it came to filmmaking, knowing next to nothing.

Among the five key roles in a movie—the producer, the film producer, the director, the executive producer, and the screenwriter—Suming could at best fulfill one and a half of these jobs. He wasn't knowledgeable about the rest, nor did he have anyone in his circle who was.

The producer is the investor, which would undoubtedly be Suming or Taoyuan Entertainment.

The film producer acts as the on-site agent for the investor, somewhat like a construction supervisor or an independent director on the board, responsible for guarding the interest of the investor. The supposed collaboration elder brother Wu talked about was having him fill this role.

What the other party truly intended was probably to help him set up the crew, as a way to repay the small 'favour' from last time at the Xiangjiang Jockey Club.

After only a moment's consideration, he agreed to elder brother Wu's request.

"Suming, just what exactly are you planning to do? Let's talk details," elder brother Wu asked from the other end of the phone.

"I... Elder brother Wu, do you have a webcam? Can we do a video call? It's hard to explain over the phone," Suming said.

"Oh... Hold on a moment..." elder brother Wu was taken aback, then there came the sound of footsteps, followed by two people speaking in Cantonese.

It seemed he was talking to his wife. Elder brother Wu asked her to stop posting on social media because he had work to do. His wife quipped that all he did was lounge at home and asked mockingly if he had any real work to do. She said she would post her comeback first and if elder brother Wu couldn't wait, he should use the computer next door. Elder brother Wu muttered something about not being very good with this high-tech stuff and that she needed to stay and teach him...

Suming felt a headache listening to this; first Zhao Yun, now elder brother Wu—all these tough guys turned into docile sheep after marriage. Discover more content at My Virtual Library Empire

It took over a dozen minutes before elder brother Wu's voice came through the phone again, and they added each other on QQ.

Elder brother Wu's QQ was a long ten-digit number, with only a four-star rating level. His profile picture was one of the earliest default avatars, a blond youth with a pointy face, which practically no one uses anymore.

His status message read "Welcome to visit Xiangjiang," making him sound like a low-level clerk at the Xiangjiang Tourism Bureau.

In a short while, his wrinkled face, which resembled knife carvings, appeared on screen; unexpectedly, even at home, the guy was dressed in a crisp suit.