Chapter 1923 Long-Term Considerations

"A small theater?"

Ye Jing looked at Zhao Fusheng with some surprise: "Do we need to do that?"

He really hadn't expected it.

After all, a small theater was either for plays or crosstalk. What did Zhao Fusheng plan to do?

Surely he wasn't going to build a small theater just because he'd listened to a crosstalk performance!

Even if you're rich and willful, there has to be a limit.

"We could try setting up a theater and put on stage plays."

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "I've been looking around these past few days. Do you know about Happy Twist here in the capital?"

Happy Twist?

Ye Jing frowned, then simply called his secretary to investigate the company.

Soon, the secretary placed the information on Happy Twist on his desk.

In 2003, director Tian Youliang, who had created the play 'Cui Hua, Serve Sauerkraut,' approached Yu Kai and Zhang Chen, wanting to adapt Yu Kai's published novel 'The Difficult Love of a Diamond Bachelor' into a TV series. The preparation process should have been full of ambition, but then SARS hit, shelving the TV drama plans. The three turned their attention to the theater market.

At that time, films included both serious and lighthearted works. In contrast, the theater market was uniformly serious. The three hit it off: 'If we're going to do it, let's do comedy.'

And so, they launched their first work, 'Twist for You Right Now.' It must be said that this play had hilarious plots, witty dialogue, and reviewed the year's current events, criticizing various social ills amidst the laughter. The final ending was also圆满 and warm, conveying positive energy.

This style continued in later Happy Twist works. At the time, audiences found such plays fresh and enjoyable.

After the first play's run, although box office was dismal, audience反响 was very good. Zhang Chen and Yu Kai decided to continue with theater as the company's main business. At that time, 'Twist for You Right Now' existed, but the name 'Happy Twist' had not yet been coined.

Before the fourth Twist play, 'Dou Di Zhu,' was released, everyone was still debating the brand name. Many thought the word 'Twist' was too unserious. Yu Kai overruled all objections and chose 'Twist' as the brand name. But when registering with the工商 bureau, they couldn't use a type of food as a brand name, so they added 'Happy' in front. Thus, Happy Twist was born.

To this day, this company, primarily focused on stage plays and theater, has developed smoothly, enjoying good recognition in the capital and a loyal audience base.

"So, not bad, right?"

Zhao Fusheng sat across from Ye Jing, smiling as he watched him read the materials.

"It's okay."

Ye Jing put down the materials and looked at Zhao Fusheng: "But do you really think this company has potential?"

Zhao Fusheng chuckled: "It's not that I think they have potential; it's that they really do."

Then he said, "As for Deyun Society, if it weren't for the fact that I don't like Guo Degang, I think we could have invested in them too."

"Huh?"

Ye Jing looked speechless, but then thought, that was just Zhao Fusheng's style.

Seeing his reaction, Zhao Fusheng knew he understood, and continued: "I think stage plays can test the quality of a script. And if a stage play gets a good response from the audience, at the very least, we have a group of viewers who can go to the cinema, right?"

Ye Jing was taken aback; he had to admit Zhao Fusheng's words made some sense.

Now that Future Films had reached this scale, they certainly needed to think about how to maintain the company's competitiveness in the long run.

And clearly, Zhao Fusheng's approach was promising.

Whether it was the film base or the small theater, Zhao Fusheng focused on hardware construction and script quality.

In other words, in his view, actors and directors were not as important as these two things.

There were arguments on both sides, but you had to admit that if a production relied solely on the director and actors, it was hard to improve its quality.

Conversely, even if the actors' performances were a bit lacking, as long as the script quality was up to par and the hardware facilities were complete, a production could still make money.

Of course, Zhao Fusheng wasn't being fanciful; it was the truth.

For example, in his previous life, Happy Twist's films were hugely popular in China. 'Xia Luo' and 'The Richest Man in Tomatoes' both raked in huge profits.

But then what?

The subsequent 'Richard's Aunt,' although it relied on previous积累 and had decent box office, was actually far behind earlier works in both口碑 and box office.

In terms of cast, it certainly lacked the golden duo of Shen Teng and Ma Li, but in fact, the problem still lay with the script.

This includes many future films and TV series adapted from big IPs. The vast majority flopped, and it had little to do with the actors.

For example, 'Shanghai Fortress.' The director blamed the traffic stars, and the traffic stars looked innocent, saying they had been very professional.

So what was the truth?

The truth was that the young traffic star's acting was poor, and the female lead had little box office appeal. But that wasn't the root cause of the film's failure.

The root cause was that the entire film lacked sincerity toward the audience.

Special effects that looked like they cost five cents, a plot as brainless as it gets, and it's a wonder the original author had the nerve to promote it on Weibo.

Under such circumstances, it would be strange if the film didn't flop.

A person needs face like a tree needs bark; in the film and television industry, one must have at least basic principles. If one lacks reverence for the market, the audience, and art, then it's better not to be in this business at all.

……

……

After finishing the serious matters, Zhao Fusheng chatted with Ye Jing for a while about recent industry gossip, then left the company.

When he got home, Wu Sijie called to say that the film city plan had been approved, and construction could officially begin once the funds were in place.

Zhao Fusheng naturally had no objection to this; he called Ye Jing again and told him to start injecting capital.

If funds were insufficient, he was to remember to contact Dong Chenxi, who would provide the investment from Future Capital.

Of course, if Future Capital put up the money, it would naturally be the major shareholder.

Although they were all his own enterprises, business was business—Zhao Fusheng understood this principle.

Ye Jing naturally had no problem with it. Although Future Film was developing well, investing in a film city was no small sum, and the company certainly couldn't come up with that much money.

Looking across all the subsidiaries of the Future Group, only Future Capital had the strength to come up with so much cash.

"Give Dong Chenxi a heads-up."

Ye Jing said to Zhao Fusheng at the end of the call.

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, then understood his meaning, and nodded: "Alright."

Hanging up, Zhao Fusheng called Dong Chenxi.

"Something up?"

Dong Chenxi was also a bit surprised to receive Zhao Fusheng's call.

She had been busy lately focusing on the Hong Kong stock market and hadn't had time to pay attention to what was happening domestically; she didn't know about the things Zhao Fusheng had been stirring up.

"It's like this: Ye Jing and I discussed a project..."

Zhao Fusheng then explained his plan, and finally said to Dong Chenxi: "You put in the money and be the major shareholder; Future Film provides the manpower and effort; Wu Sijie is in charge of execution. Got it?"

"Okay."

Dong Chenxi had no questions and directly agreed.

She naturally had no problem with this kind of thing; after all, Zhao Fusheng was considering the big picture and couldn't focus solely on the development of one company.

One of the reasons Future Capital existed was to ensure that companies in the Future system wouldn't lack cash to invest when good projects came along.

Dong Chenxi was well aware of this.

Moreover, having followed Zhao Fusheng for so many years, from Ninghai to the present, she knew his character well. If he didn't think there was profit to be made, he wouldn't put up such a large sum—several hundred million or even more—to build a film base.

Besides, with Wu Sijie in charge of the project, Dong Chenxi felt it was probably Zhao Fusheng's way of testing him. Success or failure didn't really matter; Zhao Fusheng could afford to lose the money.

"By the way, any news from Hong Kong lately?" Zhao Fusheng suddenly asked Dong Chenxi.

Dong Chenxi smiled: "If you hadn't asked, I was going to tell you. Basically, there hasn't been much fluctuation. There was a sharp drop before, then the government intervened to stabilize the market, and Hong Kong has settled down."

"What about the local tycoons in Hong Kong?" Zhao Fusheng said casually.

"Them?"

Dong Chenxi sneered: "They're all happily playing the turtle, hiding their heads."

This wasn't nonsense; it was the plain truth.

"What a peculiar bunch."

Zhao Fusheng was speechless and couldn't be bothered to say more.

Hong Kong was truly a strange place. The wealthy there seemed like mythical beasts that only hoard wealth; once money fell into their hands, it stopped growing. They never considered investing in emerging industries, as if as long as they didn't lose money now, everything was fine.

In this respect alone, it was rare anywhere in the world.

"Tan Kaixuan and I discussed it; we'll pull the funds out in a few days."

Dong Chenxi said to Zhao Fusheng: "We're keeping the Tencent shares, right?"

"Mm."

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "If possible, we can continue to acquire more. This company's stock is definitely a sure win."

Although Dong Chenxi was surprised at where Zhao Fusheng got his confidence, she ultimately nodded to show she remembered.

By now, she was completely convinced of Zhao Fusheng's talent in finance.

After hanging up, Zhao Fusheng's expression turned serious.

Time was drawing near; it would soon be May. He wondered if that event in his memory would happen.

To be honest, in the past, Zhao Fusheng had always been right in his predictions, but this time, he really hoped he was wrong.

Because that could truly change many people's fates.