After chatting at the golf club, Fang Xing basically understood what Penguin meant.

Penguin Group's entertainment business group is interested in Ark Culture's content output, so it intends to invest and hold shares.

In other words, it’s not that Penguin Pictures took a fancy to “Spirited Away.”

"Spirited Away" can be regarded as the beginning of the cooperation.

Penguin Group's entertainment business group includes Penguin Video, Penguin Pictures, Penguin Music and other cultural industry companies.

So far, the content exported by Ark Culture mainly includes songs and TV series.

Especially in the field of music, Ark Culture's performance has been comparable to that of giants in the record industry.

The two TV series he released were also hits.

Therefore, in terms of cultural content, Ark Culture has great potential.

Senior executives of Penguin Video and Penguin Music hope that the group can hold shares in Ark Culture.

Only in this way can Penguin Video and Penguin Music steadily obtain the content output by Ark Culture.

In fact.

Since "The Beginning" became popular, companies that want to cooperate with Ark Culture in film and television have already leveled the threshold for Ark Culture.

Moreover, some film and television companies have already made large S+ investments. As long as Fang Xing nods, big projects can be launched immediately.

If Ark Culture continues to develop, Penguin Video may not be able to obtain exclusive broadcast rights in the future.

Not only TV dramas, the competition in music is also fierce.

Now, the competition between the three major domestic music platforms is mainly focused on the competition for music copyright.

Music is more sticky than TV series.

Generally speaking, when viewers watch TV series, they usually only watch it once.

If you particularly like a drama, you may watch it twice or three times, but for most TV dramas, viewers will only watch it once.

Music is different. If you like a song, you can keep playing it on repeat.

Ten or twenty years from now, when I think of these old songs, I will still listen to them.

Whichever music platform has these songs, listeners will go to that platform to listen to them.

If a music platform wants to gain more users, it must have a large enough music library.

Therefore, competition for song copyrights on music platforms is more intense than on video platforms.

After several major domestic music platforms have gone through several mergers and acquisitions, 99% of their songs are shared across multiple platforms.

The real competition between music platforms is the remaining 1% of song copyrights.

For the three major music platforms, exclusive copyright is not necessarily required, but it must be available, otherwise users will be lost very quickly.

The total sales of Fang Xing's new album that has just been released have reached 120 million, which is a solid album sales ceiling.

The current situation is that any music platform that fails to obtain the music copyright of Ark Culture will be pushed to the ground and rubbed by its opponents.

Therefore, in terms of business layout, many companies in Penguin Group's entertainment business group hope that the group can invest in Ark Culture.

…

This is why Zhang Changfeng of Penguin Pictures and Xu Guangyi, general manager of Penguin Investment Department, appeared together.

According to the intentions of the senior executives of Penguin Group's entertainment business group, they hope to use the release of "Spirited Away" as a bargaining chip to gain the opportunity to invest in Ark Culture.

Of course, if Fang Xing wants to distribute "Spirited Away", regardless of the conditions, there will be a film distribution company willing to distribute it, but it is difficult to agree on the distribution fee and the distribution share.

Penguin Group wanted to tie the two things together, so the conditions for the release of "Spirited Away" were very generous. They even set a very low distribution ratio, only 10% of the box office.

In terms of capital injection, Xu Guangyi revealed Penguin Group’s investment intention, hoping to inject 100 million yuan, accounting for 20% of the shares.

Moreover, Xu Guangyi also stated that the group will not interfere in the specific operations of Ark Culture.

This investment intention and sincerity are there.

If it were any other company that could get investment from Penguin Group, it would be a dream come true.

Because after Penguin Group's capital injection, the company received not only a sum of funds, but also a huge network of relationships and countless group resources.

After the first meeting and chatting, Fang Xing went back to discuss it with the company management.

Two days passed.

Fang Xing made a formal appointment with Xu Guangyi and Zhang Changfeng to discuss cooperation.

The last time we met at the golf club was an informal meeting, the purpose of which was to test the willingness of both parties to cooperate.

For a formal appointment, you get straight to the point and talk about the specific details of the cooperation.

Fang Xing held out two fingers and expressed his attitude directly: "I hope to publish "Spirited Away" first, and I will pay the publicity and distribution expenses. As for the distribution agency fee, there are two options."

Zhang Changfeng was a little curious and asked: "What two options?"

"Since the publicity and distribution expenses were advanced by me, Penguin Pictures, as the distributor, does not need to take risks when releasing "Spirited Away". At most, it will just not make any money..."

Fang Xing first mentioned the advantages of Penguin Pictures in this cooperation, and then continued: "In the first plan, the distribution agent will be divided into 5%, but you can sign a guaranteed distribution agency fee of 20 million.

"If Penguin Pictures ultimately fails to earn 20 million from this film's distribution, I will personally pay 20 million for the distribution agency fee."

When Zhang Changfeng heard this plan, he felt Fang Xing's courage.

In the current film industry, the distributor's share of the account is usually between 5% and 15%.

However, in fact, few issuers have a share ratio as low as 5%.

This can only happen if the producer is very powerful, and the movie to be released is a sequel to a big IP, which can make money even with your eyes closed.

In this case, the issuer will lower the issuance share ratio and strive for cooperation.

For example, the series of movies that dominate the Lunar New Year movies every year easily make billions at the box office. Only such movies have the strength to reduce the distributor's share of the revenue to 5%.

The reason Fang Xing dared to mention such a low distribution split ratio was because he gave Penguin Pictures a guaranteed distribution fee of 20 million.

Regardless of whether "Spirited Away" makes a profit or a loss in the end, Penguin Pictures will make at least 20 million on this project.

Zhang Changfeng naturally understood the meaning of Fang Xing's words and continued to ask: "What about the second plan?"

Fang Xing replied: "The issuance share ratio is 10%, and there is no guarantee."

Zhang Changfeng smiled and nodded: "It seems that Mr. Fang is very confident in "Spirited Away"."

In fact, the two account-sharing plans are actually a huge gamble.

Bet on whether the total box office of "Spirited Away" can exceed 450 million.

If according to the distribution ratio of 10%, the total box office of "Spirited Away" reaches 450 million. After deducting the business tax and offsetting the publicity and distribution expenses, the final amount Penguin Pictures can get is about 20 million.

In other words, two issuance agents split the accounts.

The watershed is the box office of 450 million.

If the box office is less than 450 million, then Penguin Pictures can make more money by signing a 5% account sharing ratio + a 20 million guarantee.

If the box office is higher than 450 million, it is better to sign a 10% account sharing ratio.

In fact.

The senior executives of Penguin Group Entertainment Group did not originally intend to make money on the "Spirited Away" project.

It is completely a cooperation project to inject capital into Ark Culture.

After listening to the two plans, Zhang Changfeng praised: "Mr. Fang is really courageous. If "Spirited Away" does not do well at the box office, it will lose more than 100 million. Mr. Fang will lose all the money he made from the album.

Got in."

"It doesn't matter. If you lose all your money, you can make more." Fang Xing said this, but his expression was full of confidence.

Zhang Changfeng thought about it and asked: "So which plan does Mr. Fang want to sign?"

In fact, the current view of film companies on the animated film market is that it is generally difficult for an animated film like "Spirited Away" to leverage a box office of 450 million.

Many movies with an investment of 100 to 200 million dare not say they can reach this box office.

The production cost of "Spirited Away" was only 30 million.

Therefore, if Zhang Changfeng looks at it from a professional perspective, Penguin Pictures signing a 5% account + 20 million guarantee is a sure-fire plan to make money without losing money.

However, this will increase the losses of Ark Culture.

If Penguin Group had just invested in Ark Culture, Ark Culture would have lost more than 100 million. This is not good news no matter how you look at it.

Zhang Changfeng glanced at Xu Guangyi and motioned for him to speak.

Xu Guangyi asked in a calm tone: "How has Mr. Fang considered the Penguin Group's shareholding in Ark Culture?"

"The intention can be confirmed. However, my idea is to wait until the release of "Spirited Away" is over before discussing the specific shareholding plan." Fang Xing has already considered it and is ready to accept the capital injection from Penguin Group, but the specific shareholding plan

As for the proportion, we plan to discuss it after the release of "Spirited Away".

Xu Guangyi nodded and started thinking.

In fact, from his perspective, he also wants to wait until "Spirited Away" is released before injecting capital into Ark Culture.
To be continued...