From Tsui Hark’s film studio, Wong Kar-wai’s Zedong film, Stephen Chow’s Xinghui, to now Lou Ye’s Yiying Film and Television, non-professional non-professional film, Zhao Wei and Su Youpeng’s film industry, if one of the early founders of the company There are still a small number of directors. The industry has advanced to the present, and the "boss" directors have long been scattered all over the country, and there is an increasingly "younger" trend.
Wu Jing, Dumpling and Guo Fan, who created the top three prehistoric movies in the Mainland, established their first companies before the first feature film debut and planned their commercial layout in advance. And behind the current top 100 domestic movie box office rankings, there are 30 directors who own companies that are personally operated. Of course, this is still the data after "de-duplication". What
can see is that starting a company has become a major trend among directors. So, how did the "entrepreneurial tide" in the director group form? Why did they, who originally belonged to the creative field, become bosses one after another? In the personal business map, what are the commercial layouts of directors who become "businessmen"? The entrepreneurial wave in the director circle
is still in the era of "monopoly purchase and sales" of mainland movies, or in the era when graduation is also packaged for distribution. Most directors work in studios.
For example, in 1982, Chen Kaige, who graduated from the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy, was assigned to Beijing Children’s Film Studio, and was later seconded to the Guangxi Film Studio where Zhang Yimou and He Qun are located. Tian Zhuangzhuang also served as the first director of his father. The director of the Beijing Film Studio stayed for 24 years until 2002.
At this time, the marketization of the mainland film industry has flourished, the status of studios has declined, and directors need to "make a living on their own." One is to sign contracts with major film and television companies. For example, Feng Xiaogang signed a contract with Huayi, Chen Kaige also signed a 7-year "Director Cooperation Agreement" with Xinli Media, Wen Muye and other young directors were hired by Ning Hao, Zhang Yimou, Wang Jiawei, Ning Hao, Xu Zheng Then he signed a contract with Huanxi Media and held certain shares of the company as a "shareholder director".
Second, more and more directors are now embarking on the path of "self-employment", that is, starting their own companies and becoming their bosses. Of course, there is no conflict between signing a contract and setting up a company. Almost all the directors mentioned above have their own independent companies.
reviewed the creators who are currently active in the market and found 70 representative "boss" directors in sir shooting. From the fifth generation of Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang, to the sixth generation of Ning Hao, Guan Hu, Wang Xiaoshuai, to the younger generation of dumplings, Guo Fan, Bi Gan, etc., more and more creators began to enter the commercial industry chain , To play another role. The entrepreneurial wave is constantly surging in the director community.
Looking at the entrepreneurial ecology of directors, most of them are alone, setting up their own companies, and there are many examples of cooperative entrepreneurship.
is first between the director and the director. For example, Xihong Film and Television established by Yan Fei and Peng Damo, Bi'antian established by Liang Xuan and Zhang Chun, and Aier Square established by Lu Hengyu and Li Shujie. Of course, this also has a lot to do with the close connection in creation. Because these three groups of directors often appear as co-directors when creating and have worked with each other for many years, they also chose to bind when they started their business.
Compared with this, Zhao Wei and Su Youpeng jointly established a film industry, Chen Kexin and Huang Jianxin established our production, and Wang Jiawei and Liu Zhenwei established Zedong Films are a joint venture between directors.
▲ Zhao Wei X Su Youpeng announced the establishment of a film industry
. Secondly, it is also common for directors and producers to jointly start businesses. For example, the cocoa bean animation behind "Nezha: The Devil Child" is predecessor from the Dumpling Keli animation studio jointly established by director Dumpling and producer Liu Wenwen in 2009; Jiang Wen’s happily still has a horse Ke 50% of the shares; Dangmai Films behind Bi Gan's film was founded by Bi Gan and Shan Zuolong.
▲ Jiang Wen and Ma Ke
In addition, the cooperation with large companies to establish new companies is also the operation of many directors. For example, Zhen Hengye Film was established by the cooperation of director Huang Zhenzhen and Fujian Hengye Film Distribution Co., Ltd., Liu Jiang also cooperated with Perfect World to create its subsidiary Perfect Pengrui Studio, and Jackie Chan and Emperor Pictures A joint venture company established by President Yang Shoucheng.
has risen from an individual director to a company entity. Apart from the self-reliance forced by the industrial environment change, from the perspective of industrialization development, today’s directors are becoming more and more commercial.Thinking, many directors even set up companies when they first entered the industry, opening the way for future commercialization.
Why should directors be bosses? Director
starting a company is a subjective behavior in the final analysis, and the decision is entirely up to the director himself, but when this behavior evolves into an industry phenomenon, there are more objective needs besides subjectiveness.
First of all, as we all know, film is a collective art, and film creation is done by a team led by the director. Therefore, if the director wants to have a stable and tacit team, the best way is to start a company, provide social security, wages and other guarantees for employees, establish a stable labor relationship, and trap talents under the company.
MTJJ Muko, the director of another dark horse animation "Luo Xiaohei Zhan Ji" this year, started to set up his own Luo Xiaohei Zhan Ji studio as early as 2009, which is also the predecessor of Han Mu Chunhua we see now. At that time, the team members were in single digits, and almost all the work was done by the director. During the creation of this big movie, the studio continued to attract talents and gradually grew into a team of more than 50 people. With the success of the film, Hanmu Chunhua will surely attract more talents to join in the future.
Secondly, film creation is a high investment business. In the face of high costs, directors can raise personal funds, such as bank loans, or selling houses and cars, which are often heard in the market. In addition, there is a more common operation, which is to seek investment and financing cooperation from other companies. At this time, the director needs to own a company. This is also a prerequisite for ensuring cooperation between the two parties.
Furthermore, the company can also help creators avoid taxes reasonably. As mentioned earlier, the film industry has high investment but also high returns. Imagine that if the director directly signs a labor contract with the outside world, the final income will also be deducted from the tax collected by the personal income tax standard. If the income is higher, the tax will be a lot of money. However, if a cooperative relationship is established in the name of a company, especially for companies in places where preferential policies are applied, a large part of the taxes and fees will be reduced.
This is why we often see many companies with titles such as Horgos and Dongyang Hengdian, such as Horgos Orange Image, Dongyang Hengdian Huangdi Film and Television and so on. However, due to the impact of the tax turmoil last year, Khorgos and other preferential places that were originally called "tax havens" have stepped up tax supervision. A group of film and television companies, including Feng Xiaogang Khorgos Mela Culture Media, have successively strengthened their tax supervision. Log out. Of course, many empty shells or companies that do not comply with the preferential tax policies have been wiped out by the tax earthquake. Those companies that meet the conditions can still enjoy the national policies.
In addition, if the director wants to go deep into the industrial market, invest in film and television projects, companies, or develop various businesses and expand his own commercial territory, he must have a company as a connection and support. In fact, compared with individuals, the blessing of entity companies also has a great effect on project cooperation. From the perspective of starting a company, the first link of the market's industry chain, directors are now on the road to marketization. Director
's commercial layout
Generally speaking, after the director establishes the company, he will first participate in his own projects. Wu Ershan’s Century of Longevity was the producer of "Looking for the Dragon Technique", and Han Han’s Tingdong Films participated in "Riding the Wind and Breaking the Waves" and "Flying Life" as the producer. Jiang Wen was very happy and even deeply involved. To the release of "Let the Bullets Fly" and "One Step Away".
Secondly, directors and companies investing in other films have gradually become the norm in the industry. Among them, the majority of them are co-investing in their own films. Of course, this is also limited to "slash directors" with dual identities as directors and actors.
For example, at the beginning of the year, "The Wandering Earth" exploded, Wu Jing "bringing capital into the group" was circulated as a good story. This year, Wu Jing participated in "Climber" and the guest star "Galaxy Tutorial" behind Dengfeng International; Since its establishment in 2012, Xu Zheng’s Zhen Le Dao has participated in projects such as "I am not a medicine god", "Overtime Cohabitation", and "Behind the Scenes Players"; Deng Chao's orange image appeared in "The Light of the City of Psychological Sin" And "Riding the Wind and Waves" and other movies behind the scenes list.
In addition, the Guo Fan Culture created by Guo Fan actually invested in "Hello!" directed by Rao Xiaozhi as early as the second year after its establishment. "Madman", aside from "The Wandering Earth", Guo Fan Culture also participated as a co-producer in "Assassination of Novelists" and "Sherlock on the Plain" two new releases to be releasedIn the film; Ning Hao's bad monkey, Guan Hu's seven impressions, and Lu Yang's free cool whale appeared in Huang Bo's debut work "A Good Show", and Chen Guofu led Gongfu Pictures to continue to escort film projects.
In addition, many directors are not just one company. Legal representatives, actual controllers, shareholders... Directors often have multiple identities and have established capital connections with many companies.
For example, Huang Bo once registered film and television studios in Shanghai and Wuxi. Later, he established Hanner Film and Television Company in Haining, Shanghai, Beijing and Horgos to form his own Hanner system. In addition, Huang Bo was still Spring Fusion , Huatian Yinghe, Lingji Film and Television and other companies.
In 2016, Huang Bo also jointly launched the "HB+U" new director assistance program through Hanner Pictures and Shengwan Culture, using the platform of personal director company to cultivate young directors. The same goes for Ning Hao's Bad Monkey Pictures.
In 2016, Bad Monkey announced the launch of the "72 Change Film Project" and signed contracts with more than ten young directors, including Wen Muye, Lu Yang, Niu Han, and Zeng Zeng. They are committed to cultivating young filmmakers. Since then, this family originally belonged to a single person. The "director company" of the company has begun to exert its efforts in the direction of all platforms, as if there is a trend of creating director labels.
In fact, with the support of Andy Lau's "Asian Rising Stars" program, Ning Hao directed the classic "Crazy Stone", and then won the 43rd Taiwan Film Golden Horse Award for Best Original Screenplay with this film. , And shortlisted for the best director award, began to be known to the public. When talking about the reasons for launching the new talent cultivation plan, Huang Bo also said that he was inspired by Ning Hao's experience of being discovered.
At present, the "Raging Water West" in the "HB+U" new director assistance plan has long been announced, and the "72 Transformation Movie Project" has launched two works, "I'm Not the God of Medicine" and "Xiuchun Dao: Shura Battlefield". Both have a good reputation, and "I'm not a medicine god" has even been promoted to the phenomenon level, setting off a movie-watching boom in the market. Directors represented by Ning Hao and Huang Bo use personal companies as a platform to provide young directors with opportunities to increase their strength. This relay will undoubtedly have a great role in promoting the development of the industry, and at the same time, it is also a wonderful thing on their commercialization road. layout.
looked back on the past at the 2016 launch conference held by Tingdong Films. Han Han once said: “In the past, I thought, to make this world a better place, maybe by essay, maybe by courage, maybe by argument, and later I found that this is not exactly the case. To make the world better, more depends on science and business.” At the
press conference, Han Han also frankly said that when he was preparing to shoot his debut work "The Future", he waited 7 years for only 5 million. Hardship of investment. Therefore, he simply became the boss himself, wanting to rely on science and business to make the world a better place.
In fact, film is a commercial product. When more and more creators have commercial thinking and become "businessmen" entering the industrial system, it is precisely from the side that the mainland film market is maturing, and a new generation of directors begins Using commercial minds to create films will undoubtedly accelerate the industrialization of mainland films.
