If Love Letter did not receive strong support from film critics and was seen as "deliberately trying to please the audience", then Faking Death was seen as a director who could have made a good film but became a clown who used funny behavior to please the can only say that these film critics are not stingy with their words when they praise you, but they are also harsh and sharp when they scold you.
The opening score of "I Can't Even Fake My Death" was in the program guide, which is in the upper-middle range.
However, Li Zhibai's performance received a lot of praise, and some media even exaggeratedly described it as "maybe this year's audience will vote for Li Zhibai as the best actor. After all, he is so sexually attractive in "Can't Fake My Death"."
Both Chinese-language films in the main competition unit have premiered and both performed quite well.
The key point is that both films have received a lot of media discussion, which has brought a lot of attention to the films——
The benefit for the film producers is that many overseas film companies have come to negotiate for distribution rights.
On the same day, the opening work of Jump Up Theater, "The Adventures of a Girl", won a audience rating on Yue Hai TV. Compared with the previous publicity that seemed to be as loud as the drums to the sky, and the audience rating miracle created by Lu Yanhe before, this number does not seem to be enough, and it seems to be a "flop". But for a brand new team of new directors and new actors, this audience rating can definitely get a good score.
Lu Yanhe was so busy that he almost flew off, but he still remembered to send a congratulatory message to the main creators.
He also forwarded a "celebration poster" from the Jump Up Theater:
New team, great results!
Amid those ignorant and deliberately negative voices, his attitude is actually telling everyone clearly that this result is good enough! -
However, Lu Yanhe really didn't have much time to take care of the things happening at the Tiaoqi Theater.
He is busy negotiating the overseas distribution of "Love Letter".
D19 seemed to want to replicate the success of "Road to Glory" in North America once again, and had serious discussions with Lu Yanhe several times about the possible gains that "Love Letter" might get during the awards season.
They seem very determined that "Love Letter" can win the Best Foreign Language Film award.
Lu Yanhe himself doesn't quite believe it. Because "Love Letter" is not the kind of film that North American awards season likes. "Road to Glory" is definitely a favorite of North American awards season in terms of both subject matter and style.
Schmidt Lawley of Green Valley Pictures, who once helped Lu Yanhe operate "Road to Glory", obviously holds the same view as Lu Yanhe.
After the premiere of "Can't Even Fake My Death", Schmidt Laurie came to talk to Lu Yanhe. He thought that "Love Letter" did not need to participate in the awards season, and participating in the awards season would affect the performance of the film in North America.
After all, once the awards season is over and a film fails to gain any results, it will create an impression in the industry and the market that “this movie is not very good.”
Schmidt-Lawley told Lu Yanhe: "It should follow the route of media and audience word of mouth."
After Lu Yanhe returned, he carefully thought about the current quotes and distribution ideas of various film companies, and held two meetings with Chen Ziyan, Xu Tianming and others to discuss the situation of "Love Letter". In the end, they decided to give the North American distribution rights to Green Valley Pictures for US$600 million.
Subsequently, several larger markets such as Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and France were successively acquired by publishers from various countries at seven-digit prices.
Especially in Japan, several distribution companies bid very aggressively. They all seemed to think that this movie would have a very good box office performance in the Japanese market. In the end, the distribution rights in Japan were won by Japan's Toyama Pictures for US$450 million.
After this division, streaming media operators such as Maxine and HP are not very interested in "Love Letter". The distribution rights obtained by various countries include streaming distribution rights. This means that if Maxine and HP want to make this movie available to users in a certain country, they have to buy the broadcasting rights from them.
In fact, if Lu Yanhe and his team were willing to directly give the exclusive overseas distribution rights to any streaming media, the price they offered might be higher than the sum of the figures of these separate sales. However, Lu Yanhe and his team believed that the current demand for Linghe to establish diversified channels was far higher than the value of the copyright income brought by a movie.
Xu Tianming, Wan Qingqing and Song Jiang now need to use a movie like "Love Letter" to establish connections with distributors from various countries, and use it to "pay tuition" and accumulate more resources for future film distribution.
The next week was basically spent conducting different negotiations with different people regarding the overseas distribution of "Love Letter".
Finally, after adding up all the numbers, "Love Letter" sold distribution rights to 32 countries and regions during the Netherlands-Spain Film Festival, totaling US$2940 million.
The overseas distribution alone made "Love Letter" a huge profit.
The American magazine "Variety" reported that "Love Letter" was "highly sought after" in the trading market of the Jose-La-Señora Film Festival, but at the same time pointed out that Linghe actually rejected higher offers from several streaming media companies and still insisted on releasing it in traditional theaters. "It is reported that one streaming media platform even offered a sky-high price of 5500 million US dollars."
Lu Yanhe was also speechless when he saw the news.
There is no need to ask, this so-called "reportedly" must be the news released by Maxine herself. Since it is impossible to buy it anyway, she just quoted an exaggerated number to show her sincerity.
It is not uncommon for streaming media to charge a high price of $5500 for a movie, but this number is usually only paid for new works by world-class directors, or works that have several A-list stars and are widely watched.
There is no way that Love Letter could get this number.
-
The overseas distribution rights of "Can't Even Fake My Death" (except mainland China) were acquired by the American film company Paramater for US$1500 million.
It’s also a high price.
Moreover, according to the information Lu Yanhe has learned, the terms of the distribution agreement signed between "Can't Even Fake My Death" and Parameter will not necessarily bring lower revenue to "Can't Even Fake My Death" than "Love Letter".
What Lu Yanhe did not expect was that Longyan Pictures actually won the distribution rights for three films in mainland China, including Ruby's "Paradise".
Lu Yanhe said to Chen Ziyan: "Unfortunately, we have no distribution experience in China and no channels."
Chen Ziyan: "Domestic distribution is a difficult area. If you don't have a certain background and channels, don't do it easily. Otherwise, for many dramas, even if you get the distribution rights, passing the review is one hurdle, and whether the theaters will schedule you for screening is another hurdle. Only after passing these two hurdles can you enter the normal market competition - a competition where there is a lot of danger."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
-
Lu Yanhe stayed in Hexi for two weeks.
The rest of the crew went back.
The day before the award ceremony, Lu Yanhe suddenly received a notice inviting him to attend the award ceremony - there was a prize.
Lu Yanhe breathed a sigh of relief.
Although it was expected that Chen Bige would have no hope of winning the Best Actress award this time, Lu Yanhe was still a little disappointed after confirming that they did not recall Chen Bige - people always hope that a miracle can happen.
However, "Can't Even Fake My Death" did not receive any "recall" notice, which means it basically has no hope of winning any award.
Of course, Longyan Films is already very satisfied with this trip to Jose.
With $1500 million in overseas distribution fees, the production costs have been mostly recovered, and the rest is pure profit.
Because there was too much work to deal with on "Jump Up", Chen Siqi did not stay in Hexi with Lu Yanhe all the time and went back several days ago.
On the day of the award ceremony, Lu Yanhe attended the closing ceremony alone.
He was also invited to present the award for Best Actress.
Lu Yanhe was a little curious about what award "Love Letter" could win.
He didn't win any awards for acting, and the technical department didn't win many awards, only one for Best Photography.
As a result, not long after the award ceremony started, it was announced that "Love Letter" won the Best Photography Award.
Lu Yanhe: "..."
The director of photography for this film is Liu Bige, and the photographers are Wu Zhou and Bao Wenliang.
But all three were not there.
Lu Yanhe had no choice but to go on stage.
"It's surprising. If I had known that our photography could win an award, I would have asked Liu Bige to stay. He is the cinematographer of our film - well, he is also the director of "Can't Fake Death" and "Late Spring." Lu Yanhe took the trophy, "Similarly, as the director of "Love Letter", I would like to thank the two cinematographers of "Love Letter", Wu Zhou and Bao Wenliang. I am very happy to accept this award on your behalf on the stage. Without your support, a new director like me would definitely not be able to shoot "Love Letter". I miss the days of working with you. Thank you all for your recognition of "Love Letter". Thank you."
Lu Yanhe accepted the award and walked off the stage.
He took a photo immediately and sent it to the group chat of the "Love Letter" crew, and @ed Liu Bige, Wu Zhou and Bao Wenliang.
Immediately a group of people came out to congratulate them.
Lu Yanhe smiled and said in the group: Send out red envelopes! Come back and treat us to a meal!
Liu Bige: Damn! I should have stayed!
Lu Yanhe: Hahahaha. Wu Zhou: ??? We won a prize?!
Someone said: Yes, Mr. Wu Zhou, you will be the winner of the Best Photography Award in the main competition unit of the Jose Film Festival in the future!
Wu Zhou: Damn it!!
……
Lu Yanhe was chatting with everyone excitedly when suddenly, someone next to him patted his arm gently.
Lu Yanhe turned to look at him with some confusion.
Next to her was a strange woman.
She gestured to the stage and said with a smile, "'Love Letter', Best Screenplay Award."
Lu Yanhe suddenly reacted and showed a surprised and even somewhat stunned reaction.
After he came on stage, everyone was so surprised that they paused for a while.
"I'm sorry, please forgive me. I thought that since our film Love Letter won the Best Cinematography Award, we would have no chance to win a second award, so I was a little confused just now and didn't react."
Lu Yanhe looked at the audience, told the truth, and then revealed an embarrassed and shy smile. However, this smile just happened to bring him back to the state when he played Huai Jingshu in "Love Letter", that youthful and a little immature state.
The people in the audience applauded him.
"The last time I came to the Jose Film Festival, 'Rouge' won the Audience Choice Award and the Best Actress Award. I didn't expect that this time, 'Love Letter' won two more awards. I am very grateful to Jose. It seems that this place has become my blessed land." Lu Yanhe said with a smile.
"In the past few days, I have received blessings and concerns from friends all over the world. To be honest, this is my first time as a director, and I was completely clueless. I had no idea how to start. But fortunately, after working as an actor and screenwriter for several years, I have met many mentors and friends who helped me without hesitation when I was at a loss. When I was writing the script for the movie "Love Letter", I was very clear about what kind of picture it would present. As for the transformation process from text to image, people who make movies all know what goes into it."
Lu Yanhe held the trophy in his hand and said, "Love Letter is not a movie about the complexity and depth of human nature. I hope that what everyone gains from this movie is not thinking, but the remembrance of a certain past or a certain person in life. We keep moving forward, but sometimes we should not forget to look back. Only when we know what we want to see when we look back can we know where we are going in the future. Thank you again."
He bowed deeply.
The applause rang out for the third time.
Lu Yanhe looked at the trophy in his hand in disbelief and shook his head, as if he was expressing his feelings. He really didn't expect to win a second award.
Afterwards, the Best Director Award went to Rubian Murray for Paradise.
The Best Actor and Best Actress awards both went to European films.
The last two awards, the Audience Choice Award and the Best Picture Award, were won by "Paradise" and "The Long Rainy Season" by Vietnamese director Song Muqing.
After hearing the final result, Lu Yanhe quietly put aside the thought of "Is it possible to win another big prize?"
Two awards is already very good, I should be content.
Lu Yanhe took a group photo with the award winners, followed by an official interview with reporters.
The media was very satisfied with the award winning of "Love Letter".
"Paradise" and "Love Letter" are the two most popular films in the media circle, while "The Long Rainy Season", which won the highest award this year, received a mediocre response in the media circle.
I don’t know why the audience voted for the highest award for "The Long Rainy Season" this year.
The media were very interested in Lu Yanhe's next film, and several media outlets were asking about it. Although Lu Yanhe said that he had no plans to continue directing for the time being, no one seemed to believe it. It felt like "You made a film like "Love Letter" for the first time as a director, how could you not have plans to direct another one?"
Before leaving Hexi, Wu Yang came to the hotel to see Lu Yanhe off.
Wu Yang said: "Come to Hexi more often in the future."
Lu Yanhe smiled and nodded, then added: "However, I may not be that productive, and I don't have a movie every year."
Wu Yang: "As long as you are willing to come, we can definitely find a suitable way."
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "In fact, China has many good Chinese-language films every year, but they may not have the channels to send the films to the Jose-La-Jacques Film Festival. Director, I hope you can pay more attention to new Chinese directors every year, just like Liu Bige did in the past. There are many directors like him in China."
Wu Yang said: "Lu, if you find such a director, or if you have a film you want to recommend to me, you are welcome to contact me at any time. You have my contact information."
Lu Yanhe: "Okay."
-
Back home.
After returning to China with two major awards, Lu Yanhe met his fans at the airport, and then went home to rest immediately as he was about to participate in the recording of the last episode of "The Birth of the Actors".
He had already missed one episode of recording.
"Wang Dashan, Zhen Hongyu, Zhang Pingqing, Xu Liang, and Qu Yan are the five who have entered today's finals recording." On the way over, Chen Ziyan, who had returned home early, told him about the latest developments of the show, "Cheng Hai was eliminated in the top 10 to top 8, but he will return today as a guest performer."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
Among these five names, except Wang Dashan who surprised Lu Yanhe, the others are the ones with the best acting skills in this show. Except Zhen Hongyu, they are also actors who became familiar to the public through this show.
Chen Ziyan: "Our program has attracted a lot of attention. Among the finalists, Wang Dashan and Zhen Hongyu have roles to play as the main characters. Zhang Pingqing, Xu Liang and Qu Yan have all received scripts inviting them to play the main characters."
"That's good." Lu Yanhe said with a smile, "In this way, if we have a second season of this show, it should attract more good actors to participate?"
"Yeah." Chen Ziyan nodded. "We have almost recruited all the actors for the second season, but a few of our original favorites were indeed snatched away by the show 'Directors Please Advise'. However, they all said that they are willing to participate in 'Directors Please Advise' before coming to our show. 'Directors Please Advise' is scheduled to be broadcast in the summer, and our 'Actors' Season 2 will not be broadcast until the beginning of next spring."
Lu Yanhe: "If that's the case, then forget it. If they appear on two shows of the same type in such a short period of time, the audience will get tired of it. Besides, if they perform well on "Directors Please Give Me Advice", they will definitely get acting offers."
Chen Ziyan nodded.
"Yuehu TV is also asking if they want to put the trailer of Love Letter on the last episode of The Birth of an Actor?"
"Did they bring it up?"
"Yes." Chen Ziyan nodded.
"Of course that's good." Lu Yanhe said, "'Love Letter' is scheduled to be released during the Chinese Valentine's Day this year, in August. The first trailer was released in May, so it's almost ready."
"Yeah." Chen Ziyan nodded. "Right now, the entire market has a very enthusiastic response to Love Letter. Although you've always said that the box office of this movie won't be very large, there are indeed some romantic movies in the domestic film market that have sold for around 1 billion yuan."
Lu Yanhe knows that not all love movies cannot sell at the box office. He is very clear about this, such as "Us and Them", "Beijing Meets Seattle", and "More Than Blue". But this is too much about chance. It doesn't mean that a well-made love movie will definitely achieve such a box office volume. This is different from certain specific themes that have been proven to have a huge market. Love movies are too accidental.
Therefore, he has been emphasizing that the box office volume of "Love Letter" is not large, just to break everyone's unrealistic fantasy from the beginning, so as to avoid disappointment in the end. If a miracle really happens in retrospect, OK, then everyone is happy. If no miracle happens, it is just a normal box office performance, and the goal has been achieved.
Lu Yanhe said: "Love Letter has already made a profit through overseas sales, so there is no pressure to release it in China. But if we set such a high goal for Love Letter now and over-promote its marketing, it may make people not want to watch it. After all, this movie is not the kind of movie that everyone should go to the cinema to watch."
The two of them chatted as they arrived at the recording location.
Although it is a program of Yuehu TV, the program is recorded in Yuming.
They got out of the car and walked into the studio. Not long after they entered, there were suddenly several loud bangs of cannon fire.
The people from the program crew of "The Birth of the Actors", including director Luo Yuzhong and his team, as well as actors like Wang Dashan who will participate in today's recording, were all there. They applauded, and the applause and cheers rang out one after another.
A banner was unfurled, reading:
Warmly welcome Lu Yanhe, winner of the Best Screenplay Award at the Jose Film Festival, back in glory!
"Congratulations!" Zhou Tong, the program director, presented Lu Yanhe with a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the entire program team.
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Recommended old book "I Became the Scandal Heroine Overnight" (End of this chapter)
