In the past, the Eastern Bloc recruited talent from the United States, mainly for Chinese Americans, especially first-generation immigrants from Asia to study in the United States. Because most of these new immigrants have not yet fully integrated into American society.

In fact, the cultural differences between the East and the West are still very obvious, which is also an important reason why Chinese people often encounter glass ceilings in the American workplace. And the main reason why they choose to stay in the United States is that there are better opportunities for development there. But when the Chinese-speaking cultural community can provide the same opportunities, most of them are willing to come back and develop, because this is the place where they can feel more familiar and comfortable to live in!

The situation at Asia DreamWorks is quite different, with a low presence of Chinese in the American film industry. Although Los Angeles, like San Francisco, is one of the cities with the largest number of Chinese in the United States, the intersection between Chinese Americans and Hollywood is far less close than that of Silicon Valley! Therefore, almost all of the teams that Asian DreamWorks poached from the United States are white.

Just as Chinese people rarely get into American culture in the first place after they go to the United States, Americans are unlikely to be really attracted to the city after coming to Hong Kong, and then take root here from then on! Not to mention that although Hong Kong's economic level is already in the forefront of Asia, there is still a big gap between it and the United States, the world's number one boss.

The most important reason why John Lasseter left Disney was that Disney could not meet his future development plans! and he was willing to come to Hong Kong because he needed to produce a perfect computer animation film to prove that he was right.

Only Li Xuan can provide Lasseter with sufficient funds now, but when he proves his worth, he is bound to return to Hollywood soon, because it is the center of world cinema!

So if Kung Fu Panda is a success, John Lasseter will only make one more animated film for DreamWorks Asia. Because two successive successful works are enough for him to convince Disney or other Hollywood studios to invest in him!

Asian DreamWorks must do so before this group of Americans returns to Hollywood. The production process of the previous "Kung Fu Panda", which lasted three and a half years, has made the grass stage team of Asia DreamWorks initially understand how to use computers to produce animated films.

And regardless of the next box office of "Kung Fu Panda", Asia DreamWorks will continue to invest. In fact, the company's next new project has been completed, and Fang Weimin will participate in the new project as an assistant director.

There's still a big difference between making a game and making a movie. In particular, there are very professional positions in the director, and I can't do it without being in this industry for a few years. Fang Weimin can be regarded as the backbone of the young generation of Huhai Art Studio, so he was selected by Asia Dream Factory.

In 1979, Huhai Art Studio began to produce an animated feature film "Nazha in the Sea" after the chaos was rectified, and Fang Weimin was one of the art designers of this cartoon. After that, he independently directed and shot two animated short films with short stories of about 10 minutes.

In 1982, Huhai Art Studio began to shoot the first animated feature film "Strange Tales from the Book of Heaven" in the 80s, and Fang Weimin had already been promoted to the assistant director of the film at this time! You must know that the two directors of "Strange Tales from the Annals" Wang Shuchen and Mr. Qian Yunda are both old-timers who had already started art production work before the founding of the People's Republic of China!

If Fang Weimin stays in Huhai Art Studio, he will stay up for five or six years and wait until the older generation of directors retires. Of course, this is also inseparable from the seduction of Asian DreamWorks, which can not only provide many times higher wages, but also help him immigrate to Hong Kong.

This temptation was really hard for the Chinese in the 80s to resist! Over the years, domestic talents have only been favored by the Eastern Bloc to launch a solicitation offensive. After all, people go to higher places, and water flows to lower places. And the treatment that the Eastern bloc can offer. Far higher than the domestic average!

"Ah Biao, you have just joined the company now, and you will receive a period of training first! This time must not be wasted, your current English level is not bad, so improving your computer ability is the top priority! After the internship period is over, you will have a regular assessment!

If your grades are good enough. Brother, I can think of a way to transfer you directly from China to Hong Kong! The core of our DreamWorks is in Hong Kong, and the branch on the deep sea side will only undertake some minor tasks in the next few years!

Don't think that the salary offered by the Shenhai Branch has increased several times compared with the previous time when you were in the Shanghai Beauty Film Studio. If you can be transferred to Hong Kong next year, I guarantee that your salary will start at 6,000 Hong Kong dollars!" Fang Weimin patiently admonished Luo Lubiao.

Fang Weimin will next participate in the production of DreamWorks' next animated film as an assistant director. This also means that Fang Weimin has become a key training object of Asia Dream Factory. The director of the new project is still Lasseter, but this is likely to be his last animated film directed at DreamWorks Asia.

And the team that DreamWorks has cultivated itself will soon need to start taking charge of itself. Fang Weimin has the intention to make a career, and naturally he will not let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so he has already intended to start forming his own team in advance!

You know, there's competition everywhere in the company, and he's not the only seed player at DreamWorks. In the next project, along with Fang Weimin, there is another Chinese director. Fang Weimin's competitor was born in other TV animation production companies of ATV Group, and his strength is not inferior to him at all!

"Brother Fang, I have memorized all the things you mentioned! In the next half year, even if I have a head cantilever and a cone thorn, I will definitely make up for the computer!" Luo Lubiao nodded and said.

DreamWorks set up a branch in the Deep Sea Special Zone this time and recruited more than 50 people in one go. This time, there are more than a dozen new employees who came to visit and study in Hong Kong headquarters with Luo Lubiao. The reason why Fang Weimin fell in love with Luo Lubiao at a glance is that in addition to the relationship between the two alumni, Luo Lubiao's fluent English communication is also a very important factor!

When Luo Lubiao was studying at the Academy of Fine Arts of Shanghai University, he once had a story with a girl from Shanghai Overseas Chinese University. The girl wants to study abroad, and Luo Lubiao wants to be able to fly with her beloved. I was also ready to compete for a place to study abroad at public expense.

It's a pity that this love withered for some other reason before college ended! But Luo Lubiao's English ability has improved by leaps and bounds, and he has not learned dumb English yet.

The two of them who were wandering in sweet love at the beginning used English to talk to you and me, which also greatly exercised Luo Lubiao's English ability. A few years ago, Luo Lubiao naturally never imagined that good English would become an important boost in his career.

Just after the movie screening. The core production team of "Kung Fu Panda" had a free exchange with these new employees from China for more than an hour! Because most of the film's main creative team are blue-eyed and blonde Americans, the scene naturally uses English to communicate.

Among them, only Fang Weimin and two other new colleagues can barely communicate directly with these foreigners in English. At Asia DreamWorks, fluency in English is essential for a quick integration into the team. After all, if you want to learn as much as possible from foreigners, you must take the initiative to accommodate each other!

"Lao Luo, it seems that you are also well hidden, and you still have a backer at the Hong Kong headquarters!" Luo Lubiao just separated from Fang Weimin, and several other colleagues from China together. He stepped forward and quipped.

"Brother Fang also came out of Huhai Mei Film Studio, and he is my senior! He asked me to learn about the current situation of some old friends in the factory, and he has nothing to do with the backer!" Luo Lubiao is not a hairy guy without a city government, so naturally he will not confide in the previous conversation between the two.

"This "Kung Fu Panda" cost 30 million US dollars, and it has exceeded 100 million yuan in RMB, is it true or fake? How can an animated film cost so much money!" The others obviously didn't really care about Luo Lubiao and Fang Weimin's concern, that is, they just said it casually. All the attention of everyone is now focused on the cartoon that has just been watched.

"Do you think it's necessary for the company to cheat in front of us? Even if it is dismounted, there is no need to use this method at all! It was arranged to visit the render farm used to make the cartoon!

I have seen reports before that our supercomputer 'Yinhe 1', which has just been successfully developed in China not long ago. The computing power is 100 million operations per second. The rendering farm is modified with the 'Pearl of the Orient' supercomputer developed by Hong Kong, with a computing power of up to 5 billion times per second!

The cost of this rendering farm alone is as high as 5 million US dollars, which already accounts for one-sixth of the total cost! So 30 million US dollars does not seem to be so expensive! Didn't General Manager He just say that the production budget for the next cartoon is 25 million US dollars! I guess the main reason for the drop in costs must be that many existing equipment does not need to be purchased repeatedly!" Another person immediately analyzed.

"You said our company spends so much money. How many movie tickets do I have to sell to recoup the cost?" said another person worried.

In fact, it is not only these newcomers who are worried about the newcomers, the head of the distribution department of Asia Pictures, who has not slept well since flying from Hong Kong to Los Angeles! "Kung Fu Panda" has already begun to work on the distribution and release, and the production cost of this film is so high, Asia Pictures has never imagined. The Asian market alone will pay for itself, and only the North American market will determine the success or failure of the film!

Asian Pictures actually has its own distribution channels in the American film market. But a big production like "Kung Fu Panda" can only have a chance to recoup its cost if it is released on a large scale! In the United States, there are only a few giants that have such distribution capabilities.

Asia Pictures was initially prepared to work with Disney, after all, for animated films, the profitability of merchandise is sometimes even more important than the box office. And Disney's ability to operate in this area is significantly stronger than that of other Hollywood giants.

However, Disney's conditions were extremely harsh, and they were only willing to buy out all the North American rights of the film at a one-time price of $15 million, and they were not willing to share the account at all. This was simply unacceptable to Asia Pictures, so the company eventually chose to work with Universal Pictures. After all, the two sides have already had a good example in the release of "Sleepless Nights in Hong Kong" before!

In two days, Universal's distribution department directly proposed a $15 million budget for the advertising plan of "Kung Fu Panda". The cost of publicity is half of the cost of production, which is also a practice in Hollywood for many years of film distribution. But this part of the cost is calculated on the producer's side, that is, Asia Pictures' total investment in the "Kung Fu Panda" movie, which will actually reach $45 million.

According to Hollywood's account-sharing ratio, the actual box office revenue received by the producer is only about half of the total box office! That is to say, if "Kung Fu Panda" wants to directly return to its original cost through the box office, then its total box office must reach at least 90 million US dollars. In the United States, there were less than 10 movies that grossed more than $90 million last year.

Therefore, the entire team responsible for the distribution of "Kung Fu Panda" in Asia Pictures is naturally under tremendous pressure! In contrast, Li Xuan, the big boss, is very relaxed! Even if "Kung Fu Panda" really loses money, it is not a heartbreaking thing for him!

In fact, he had already prepared to accept failure, after all, a new thing has to go through all kinds of setbacks from birth to maturity! Therefore, Asia DreamWorks is not actually a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asia Pictures, on the contrary, its major shareholder is Asia Holdings.

Because the financial data of Asia Pictures must be included in the statements of the listed company Asia Entertainment Holdings. And a project like "Kung Fu Panda", which invests up to $30 million, is likely to swallow up most of the profits of listed companies in an instant if it fails.

Once this happens, it will be an absolute disaster for Asia Entertainment Holdings. As a result, Asia Pictures only has a 20% stake in DreamWorks and is mainly responsible for the later distribution. And the company's main funds come from Li Xuan himself, and only his net worth can afford to play such a game!

"Mr. Spielberg, do you think this video developed by the Oriental Graphics Studio can reach the point of being fake?" Li Xuan asked with a smile at the Jewish guy in front of him.

"Kung Fu Panda" is not Li Xuan's ultimate killer, Lasseter can only be regarded as a nobody compared to the character in front of him! Li Xuan just accompanied the most famous director in Hollywood and watched "Kung Fu Panda" throughout the whole process.

Spielberg expressed his amazement and admiration for the fact that a Hong Kong company could produce such a sophisticated animated film entirely on computers! But after all, he was used to seeing big scenes, and that was not enough to completely calm him.

What really shocked Spielberg was the 30-second easter egg that was inserted at the end of the film! A Tyrannosaurus rex with a bloody mouth broke into the screen very abruptly. The murderer's bloodthirsty eyes, sharp teeth, and tense muscles as he ran made him feel like he was really in the Jurassic era!

But all of this is computer-synthesized! The computer technology that the world's richest man has shown him today has completely surpassed the level that Spielberg had previously appreciated in ILM! He had to start taking this script seriously and was sitting on his lap! )