NOVPUBIn the end, the root of both issues lay in the fact that the young people were full of energy with nowhere to channel it.
The situation was slightly better in othermpanies since employees still had their own lives. However, at the distillery, which operated under semi-closed management, workers lived in the mountains with few leisure activities outside of work. Cooped up for too long, it was inevitable that they would cause trouble.
Similarly, in the Lure People Community, of the two hundred or so Lure People, about half were from the battlefield and the rest were the strongest and most vigorous of the tribe. No incidents had occurred yet, because of their high loyalty to each other and the fact that they had not fully integrated into Huaxia's environment, necessitating sticking together.
But what about the future? Over time, it was not guaranteed that trouble wouldn't brew.
It would be best to organize somempetitive activities within thempany, not only allowing them to vent excess energy and hone their physical fitness, but also to strengthen the unity of the employees.
Additionally, whennditions permitted, the formation of an internal arbitration departmentuld bensidered, where minor non-legal infractionsuld be resolved internally.
Concurrent with the journal tasks, there were the negotiation talks for a partnership between Taoyuan Film and Television and Disney. Cai Liming was responsible for the discussions and within a week, a preliminary agreement had been reached.
"That fast?" Suming was slightly startled when he received the draft agreement. In negotiations involving large sums like this, it wasn't surprising for each side to tug-of-war for a month or two; he hadn't expected a result in just one week,nfirming that he hadn't misjudged Cai Liming's abilities.
"With the high salary I'm drawing, if I didn't put in the effort and lost my job, I would be the ultimate fool," Cai Liming chuckled. "I also got lucky, they were quite eager, more so than us, to seal the deal as soon as possible. They were hasty, so I pretended to be less so, thus I gained some advantage in the negotiations and sped things upnsiderably."
The more modest Cai Liming appeared, the more Suming appreciated his reliability. Disney, no matter how anxious, wouldn't explicitly reveal that to the filmmpany. On thentrary, anyone with a bit of sense would know to disguise their weaknesses in bargains, to prevent the other side from seeing through them.
Cai Liming's ability to discern the opponents' weaknesses was his skill.
The terms Cai Liming managed to secure were even better than Suming had anticipated.
For the-produced movies, Taoyuan Film and Television would not only have an assistant director but also build a team of no more than twenty people to participate in Disney's filming process. However, the assistant director's role was nominal, unable to actually intervene in the movie, and this observation group was not to disrupt the film's workflow.
Disney was quite generous; they agreed tover all the living expenses for the observation group, treating them arding to the standards for crew members.
Box office revenue sharing was a major sticking point in the negotiations, where most of thentention lay. Cai Liming eventually presented a creative model that won the other party's approval.
Each side would take care of its own bowl, eating their respective meals.
Each side taking care of its own bowl meant that Disney would handle distribution in North America, while Taoyuan Film and Television would be responsible for distribution in the Huaxia region.
Eating their respective meals indicated that whoever distributed in their region would not share the box office revenue with the other. In other words, the box office revenue in the Huaxia region would be shared between Suming and the Huaxia theatre chains, and Disney would not partake;nversely, Suming wouldn't see a dime from the rest of the world's revenue.
Suming's brow furrowed slightly, and hentemplated for a moment. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
The North American box office was a sizable cake; even a quarter share would roughly equal the revenue share from the Huaxia box office, and ituld potentially be even higher. His willingness tollaborate with Disney was largely driven by the desire to cut a slice of this cake with their help.
There was no help for it; the blade from Huashi had not been sharp enough, so he had to resort to Disney's sharper knife.
If he were to give up box office revenues from other regions... the effectiveness of this knife would be halved at least.
But Suming was also well aware that for this shooting, Taoyuan Film and Television was merely providing the animals; the majority of the work wasmpleted by Disney. Theirllaboration with him was an embellishment.
Moreover, to Disney, the Huaxia box office was also a substantial cake, with profits exceeding all other Asianuntriesmbined. That they were willing to cede this part was extremely rare.
"Could we further negotiate for box office revenues from other Asian regions?" Suming asked Cai Liming.
Pushing up his gold-rimmed glasses, Cai Liming said, "Weuld, but we'd have to trade something of value in return. The only bargaining chip we have is our domestic box office. I suggest not making this trade. In most of the film-flourishing Asianuntries, Americans have greater influence, and their distribution is favored by cinemas. If we handle the distribution, the money we rup might not be worth thest."
Afternsidering it, Suming said, "Then make sure to add a clause that ourmpany's future films get priority access to Disney's distribution channels in North America."
This was one of Suming's 'pseudo-bottom lines.' If ituld be achieved, that would be great—even though he would not earn from this film in North America, it would open a door for the future.
"I don't think that will be a problem, but they will definitely propose some restrictions," said Cai Liming. "For example, it won't be a perpetual priority; it might be for the next two or three films and the priority won't be unditional. Priority would definitely onlyme after Disney Film Company's own films and those of a few major partners they have."
"That's fine, go ahead and make it happen, as soon as possible," Suming directed.
It took just one short afternoon for the snd meeting to reach the final agreement, withnditional priority for the next three films.
Before signing thentract, Disney's director Howard arrived with the script, requesting a final assessment of the zoo animals.
"Mr. Su, I need tonfirm that your animals are capable of meeting the filming requirements; this is being responsible for both parties."
"How will younfirm?" asked Suming. "You can't possibly expect me to bring out all the animals and perform every scene from the movie for you, right?"
"Oh, there's no need for that," Howard said. "I brought the script; you only need to provide the two main characters mentioned in it and a few key supporting characters. Based on the script, execute one scene and that would be enough."
Suming first had a brief look at the script.
The storyline was simple yet inspiring.
In Animal City, where all animalsexist peacefully, the rabbit Judy has dreamed of bming a police officer since her childhood. Despite everyone around her believing it impossible for a rabbit to join the force, she bmes the first rabbit officer at the Animal City Police Department through her own efforts. Determined to prove her worth, she resolves to solve a mysterious case. In her pursuit of the truth, Judy forces Nick, a fox surviving in Animal City by swindling and trickery, to help her, only to uver anspiracy wanting to overthrow Animal City. They must work together to try to expose the truth behind this grand scheme. It's the story of Judy fulfilling her childhood dream and bming an animal police officer through her determination and struggle.
Tyical of the American Dream, following the formula of the American hero.
"What you need to provide is a rabbit, a fox, a Broad-eared Fox, and a shrew."
