Chapter 23: I Want the "Three Greats"!

  The house finally doesn't have to be sold, Zhou Shaoming and Kristen, who are used to living here, enjoy life in this luxury villa very much and are reluctant to sell the house for dollars to make a movie. After meeting Robert, good luck seems to have returned to Zhou Shaoming's side. With Tobin-Bell's utmost effort, Zhou Shaoming quickly brought in an investment of $12 million.

  These investments came from over a dozen advertising clients, using product placement to reasonably and inconspicuously feature real products in the film, such as Coca-Cola, which invested $500,000 with Zhou Shaoming at one go.

  Actually, embedded advertising was not a rare thing in the United States as early as 1999. As early as 1929, the world's first embedded advertisement appeared in the American cartoon "Popeye the Sailor". This film, sponsored by a canning spinach factory, features Popeye enthusiastically promoting the benefits of eating spinach. Similarly, in the United States, three years later, Eagle Cigarettes paid $250,000 to secure the rights to embed cigarette advertisements in the movie "Scarface". Since then, embedded advertising has become increasingly common in American films.

  Unlike the United States, where product placement originated in film, it entered China through a 1990 indoor drama called "The Story of the Editorial Department". The "Bailong Mineral Water Bottle" became well-known to everyone due to its frequent appearance in the play and the plot setting where characters promoted its benefits, creating the "Bailong Phenomenon" of products selling well on the market. This immediate effect made product placement as a marketing method gradually valued by the Chinese people, and it "spread" to various film and television dramas, literary and artistic programs.

  It has been proven that clever product placement can bring a win-win situation for both business and art. The movie "Transformers" generated over $400 million in advertising revenue, with 68 brands integrated into the film, such as the scene where Bumblebee transforms into a Chevrolet Camaro in a tunnel, becoming an indispensable part of the story development. Moreover, when the cultural connotation of the brand is consistent with the content of the program, it can be seamlessly integrated into the advertisement. The appearance of "Just Do It" (Nike's advertising slogan) in "Kung Fu Panda" not only didn't feel unnatural but also added a touch to the theme of the movie.

  But if the ads are too many, too eye-catching and annoying, they will also attract a lot of scolding, especially from picky and high-sighted Americans. But Zhou Shaoming can't afford to care about this anymore, in order to attract investment, more than a month has passed, it's already late March, if he doesn't work hard, he will be permanently impotent!

  But that ripe peach, Christina with a stunning appearance and explosive figure, even if she liked him again, obviously wouldn't be with a eunuch.

  In order to knock down that thorny rose, that bright and delicate flower, Zhou Shaoming has been working hard for over a month, day and night, negotiating with various advertisers. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait too long, and finally managed to scrape together the money for the opening shot.

  But this money is hot in his hands.

  Because many advertisers are looking at Tobin-Bell's face, the conditions are very harsh, and the requirement to appear their own products several times is a minor matter. The most important thing is that they all wrote in the contract clause that if the film cannot be released and put on the big screen across the United States within this year, they will ask Zhou Shaoming for twice the advertising fee!

  The most benevolent sponsor also demands 1.5 times the advertising fee as compensation!

  That is to say if Zhou Shaoming's Chainsaw Massacre cannot be released smoothly within this year, he will have to pay the advertisers twice of their investment of 1.2 million US dollars, which is 2.4 million US dollars!

  Zhou Shaoming knew how terrible these terms were, but even if it was just a temporary solution, Zhou Shaoming had to drink first and then talk. The arrow is on the string and cannot be not shot!

  So Zhou Shaoming cursed those American imperialist capitalists who swallowed people without spitting out bones in his belly, pinched his nose, pretended to be completely indifferent, and signed the contract with a confident look that his movie would definitely sell well at the box office.

  If Zhou Shaoming really messed up, he will probably spend the rest of his life in an American prison reflecting deeply.

  In this more than a month, Robert also lived in Zhou Shaoming's villa every day, from time to time sneaking out and then coming back drunk or dazed, several times anxious Zhou Shaoming wanted to call the police.

  But he always comes back, although Zhou Shaoming knows what he's been up to, but he really can't do anything about it, and can only hope that heaven will have mercy on him, and that the guy won't die from drugs before finishing filming Saw.

  Today, Chow Sau-ming is looking for an actor to play the role of Adam through the actors' union. This is also the last role that needs to be filled, as other roles do not require much acting skills and can be completed by anyone on the streets of Hollywood with just a wave of their arm, with 100,000 people able to complete the task satisfactorily.

  But Adam, Zhou Shaoming didn't want to casually find a fourth-rate or third-rate actor, he wanted to find an Oscar-level actor who hadn't yet made a name for himself, just like Robert, so that he could be on par with Tobin Bell and Robert's level of acting skills.

  At 10 am, Zhou Shaoming arrived at the coffee shop agreed with the actors' union. Normally, formal movie casting would take place in a public area, rather than being arranged on someone's hotel bed as some people might think.

  Of course, it's the same for male lead actors!

  "Hey, Smith Zhou, over here!" A staff member of the Actors' Guild waved a placard in his hand, signaling Zhou Shaoming to come over.

  His name is George Strick, and he has had a few dealings with Zhou Shaoming before, so they are acquaintances.

  "Hello George, you look great today!" Zhou Shaoming sat down on the sofa, smiled and greeted George, then sipped his coffee.

  "Oh, your complexion is not bad either. I think I'm about to see a new star rising in the director's circle!" George was very smooth and knew what kind of words people who had just become directors liked to hear. A few sentences made Zhou Shaoming delighted, and the two quickly became enthusiastic.

  "Oh, dear Smithson week, there are already quite a few actors waiting for auditions, they all hope to get that performance contract, of course, as well as the $25,000 salary." George adjusted his clothes and said with a smile.

  Adam's salary was finally set at $25,000. Christina was still not satisfied, thinking that for a film that only needed to be shot for half a month and didn't require high acting skills, a payment of $10,000 would have been enough. However, Chow Yun-fat insisted on giving a little more, wanting to make up the "three giants" to shoot Saw.

  "This is Bantu-Gil, he's a very diligent young man who has played roles in many films, and his temperament and appearance are also very much in line with your requirements!" George said enthusiastically, pointing to the big and tall young man sitting in front of him, chain-smoking and looking at him with his head tilted, patting the documents on the table and smiling at Zhou Shaoming.

  Can this guy direct a movie? George had actually raised a big question mark in his mind, and after exchanging with Zhou Shaoming for a while, he found that Zhou Shaoming didn't understand movies at all. Many professional terms were met with a blank stare, and even many classic works recognized by the director's circle hadn't been seen before, which shocked him greatly.

  $1.5 million is not a small amount, but for an individual it's not a huge sum either. George even thought that this was just some rich second-generation kid trying to make a movie, but after getting to know him better he realized that the rich second-generation kid was indeed a rich second-generation kid, but that was in the past tense - now Zhou Shaoming is just a poor guy!

  Whatever, let him go take the shot! Anyway, it's none of my business, whether that kid makes a fortune or loses his last pair of pants, I'll just stand by and watch the joke.