Becoming a Movie Star, System Only Finished Loading After Ten Years

Speaking of keeping promises, after returning to Xiangjiang to continue filming, Qi Hao was accompanied by two foreigners.

Are foreigners noble?

Noble my ass, if you have money, there are foreign chicks everywhere wanting to have fun.

As long as the money is in place, you could tie a rope around their necks and they'd have no objections being paraded around.

A special effects company, even if transferred or sold, could definitely fetch millions, right?

Qi Hao spared no expense, hiring these two linguistic talents at a high cost.

The task of these two foreigners was to chat with Qi Hao, correcting his accent and grammar issues.

Currently, most of "Uncle" is being shot in Xiangjiang.

Most of it is on location.

It will be finished in a few days.

The entire film took nearly two months to shoot, although compared to Xiangjiang filmmakers, it's not much. But among inland directors, it's relatively fast.

These days, aside from attending the premiere of "Wind Sound" and spending two days at the Golden Rooster Awards, Qi Hao hasn't had any breaks.

Shooting in the Beijing suburbs, he hasn't returned home even once.

Many times, filming during the day, shooting at night, sometimes even late at night as well.

Everyone else could take turns resting, but Qi Hao, in order to speed up progress, slept only four to five hours a day.

The actual wrap-up was on the 25th.

To finish on this date, Qi Hao exhausted himself and fell into a deep sleep on the plane back.

It's not that the date had any special significance; it's mainly because Qi Hao needed to return for a self-study exam.

The self-study exam registration for the second half of the year is from September 1st to September 5th, and the formal exam is from October 26th to 27th. Registration can be done by someone else, but he must take the exam himself.

The task of acquiring a degree was completed earlier.

Even if he doesn't continue with the exams, it won't affect him much.

However, Qi Hao couldn't guarantee that this damn system wouldn't continue issuing similar tasks. Maybe asking him to obtain a master's degree or teach at one of the three major academies or something.

After undergoing the baptism of tasks these past two years, Qi Hao was already well-versed in the system's tricks.

With only a middle school education, they expect him to teach students?

Even if the students at the three major academies have no opinions, considering his status as a Best Actor and a renowned director, he has no face to stand at the podium in front of them as a middle schooler.

There's really no loss, and it's not difficult.

Qi Hao has a phenomenal memory, having memorized the given textbooks right after registration.

Over two consecutive days, Qi Hao took another four exams.

The scores came out quickly.

Including the four subjects from the first half of the year, he has already completed eight subjects this year. As long as he takes another four in the first half of next year, he can obtain a vocational degree certificate from the Beijing Film Academy.

Don't underestimate a vocational degree; with it, Qi Hao can consider pursuing further studies or civil service exams.

His previous middle school diploma didn't offer such advantages.

Meanwhile, the results from the Tokyo International Film Festival held on the 25th came in.

Wang Qianyuan won the... Best Actor award!

"Steel Piano" was recently released in Neon; even though the box office wasn't spectacular, the reviews were exceptionally positive.

That said, winning Best Actor is a bit of an exaggeration.

It's something Qi Hao, the director, never anticipated.

The Tokyo International Film Festival has a decent reputation; it's the only Class A competitive international film festival in Japan recognized by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations.

Additionally, there was an Akira Kurosawa Award given.

This reward was personal and was accepted on behalf of Qi Hao by Zhang Meng.

In the 21st edition, the winners were Chen Kaige and Nikita Mikhalkov.

In the 18th edition, Hou Xiaoxian also won this award.

It's generally awarded to directors whose artistic achievements and skills have reached a certain level.

Bestowing it upon Qi Hao seemed quite absurd.

Was Neon trying to win him over, just like they courted Lu Sang?

One wonders how much Lu Sang took.

Of course, it might just be a straightforward award presentation.

In 2008, they awarded Jiang Wen the Asian Wind - Asian Film Award - Special Mention Award.

Jiang Wen's "The Invaders" also won the Best Foreign Language Film at Japan's Mainichi Film Awards back in the day.

It's really hard to comment.

After the trophy arrived, Qi Hao didn't even take it home, directly tossing it in the company display case.

He wasn't fixated on trophies.

Those newcomer awards were all for completing tasks.

The trophy he cherished most in this lifetime would probably be the Golden Rooster Best Actor award, as it was a long-held obsession filled with the joy of fulfillment.

However, after obtaining it, the initial excitement quickly faded.

It became... dull and meaningless.

Real, tangible cash is more appealing to him.

The Akira Kurosawa Award doesn't compare to the joy he gets from "Steel Piano" approaching 80 million yen at the Neon box office.

Eighty million yen is about six million yuan.

His share would be around two million yuan.

But even a skinny mosquito is still meat, and although Taiwan didn't screen it, Xiangjiang's box office can bring in another two to three million yuan.

The cost was recovered inland, so these are pure profits.

Making five million yuan from one film means Feiyang Media is finally seeing some returns.

"Wait and See" doesn't count as "Wait and See" just broke even.

Li Dawei, that guy, often uses company funds to attend various film festivals. Any profit quickly disappears into his expenditures.

It's really hard to criticize him for it.

After all, he did win a lot of awards, bringing significant glory to Feiyang Media as the investor.

Why do the Wang Brothers, who love money so much, invest in some unprofitable films?

Is it for indulging Feng Xiaogang?

Definitely not!

Although there's no clear regulation, film companies actually have a quota for artistic films.

Especially when you encounter trouble and have to drink tea.

If you have artistic films under your company, your troubles might be overlooked lightly.

You, comrade, have always performed well, so we'll just forget this incident.

But if you have none, then sorry.

You won't be able to save face in front of the leaders.

More terrifying is when they say nothing, leaving you to realize it on your own, and if you can't, you'll continue to be targeted.

Of course, half a million is really nothing to Qi Hao.

He only holds 30% of Feiyang Media, so only 150,000 belongs to him.

What he's really focused on is Mrs. Hua's stock that's listed at the end of the month.

From its founding in '94 to its listing now, it has taken a full fifteen years, and the largest private enterprise in the film industry is finally going public.

Qi Hao is also paying attention to this stock.

To be precise, the high-levels at Qi Hao Studio are all focused on this stock.

Qi Hao had previously made a promise.

He would sell Mrs. Hua's stock upon listing — though there are various rules and restrictions, Qi Hao plans to sell directly to major shareholders, and pricing would be a special transaction.

All the money from the sale is for developing the business!

Currently, Qi Hao Studio and Feiyang Media are squeezed into the same office space, which is very cramped, to the point where even hallway corners have desks.

Whether renting or buying, everyone is eager to change office environments.

Selling Mrs. Hua's stock might not be enough to buy a building.

A while ago, a subsidiary under Sohu purchased a property with a construction area of 56,200 square meters, planned to be completed in 2012, with a total transaction price of 146 million dollars.

And Citic Securities spent 1.4 billion buying part of Ruizheng's office building with a total construction area of 53,176 square meters, Lianfa Technology spent 744.9 million buying Ronco Consulting's Building D, etc.

These folks certainly aren't short of money.

Qi Hao currently can't come up with that much money.

However, Qi Hao can mortgage stocks to buy a building, given the current office price of 30,000 per square meter inside the Fourth Ring. Buying about 10,000 square meters of office space will cost only 300 million.

Mortgaging stocks from any company will get enough loans.

If renting, they only need to wait until Mrs. Hua's stocks are sold to rent a larger space.

Aside from the new office space, everyone is eager to create a film production team.

The current production team is really chaotic.

Many stars might do okay in one film but are terrible in the next, as if possessed by something.

Just check the production team to compare differences.

That's why some film projects use "original cast" as a gimmick to guarantee the quality of films and TV dramas.

If a professional team can be built, it would greatly improve the quality of films and TV dramas, as well as filming efficiency.

Of course, maintaining a complete team costs a lot.

Others only pay salaries when filming, but you have to pay all year round.

Old Tian's plan is:

First, some positions will have fixed personnel, and others can be assembled temporarily.

Second, bonuses will be given when there's work; when there's none, just a minimum guarantee.

Third, fixed personnel can take paid jobs from other crews outside if there's no arrangement from the company within a confirmed cycle.

The company can even help introduce outside gigs.

There are other detailed rules.

All of this requires money; without the funds from Mrs. Hua's listing, Qi Hao can't support this load.

On the listing day, everyone gathered earlier at the company to wait for the listing.

"With the average of the day's highest price and closing price, we're buying back our shares. Shouldn't we do something?"

Senior Legal Affairs Yao Weihong always wants to do something illegal, like manipulating stock prices.

Actually, high-level illegal activities always involve knowing the law and breaking it.

Unlike peeking at Hua next door taking a bath, there's no ignorance without fear.

"It should be easily discovered, right?"

Shi Feng is more conservative, but his undertone is clear; if there's a way it won't be discovered, then let's go all out.

"Ugh!" Finance Fan Qingxi feels like he's holding a lot of urine in his bladder, sighing: "Even if the price goes up by just one yuan, that's several million!"

"The issue price is 28.58 yuan per share, who knows how much it will rise to."

Zhang Nan, the King of Competition, hopes Mrs. Hua will rise as high as possible so there's enough money to go all out.

"Doubling the price shouldn't be a problem, Boss…" Zhanqi Laiden lowered his voice, saying: "How about we do something behind your back?"

Saying "behind your back" right in front, he's certainly thick-skinned.

"What can you do with that little money?"

Qi Hao dismisses it entirely.

"When I say doing something, I don't mean throwing money to boost Mrs. Hua's stock price. I plan to spend some money on marketing to trick more people into buying; more buyers mean the price naturally goes up."

Zhanqi Laiden has all sorts of tricks for forced growth.

Short-term boosting of Mrs. Hua's stock price will seriously damage the company's reputation and development.

This could even force intervention from the Securities Regulatory Commission.

But then what? The commission is surely going to Mrs. Hua, and fines or suspension is none of our concern.

"Forget it all, I've already made arrangements. Stop adding to the chaos. I've promised the Wang Brothers not to boost stock prices."

Qi Hao isn't anxious at all.

"What are the arrangements exactly?"

Old Tian wants to throttle this bird Qi Hao for not discussing such big matters with him.

"Penguin…"

Qi Hao said just one word and stopped.

Everyone instantly understood and no longer brought up intervening with the stock price.

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