Chapter 139: Distribution Deals

The Cannes Film Festival may appear glamorous on the surface, but in reality, it is a massive global trade fair. In fact, this is inevitable for any film festival, as it becomes a place where filmmakers from around the world seek profits. Behind the scenes, often unseen by the public, there is a prevalence of merchants’ cunning and greed. Everyone has to deal with distributors, but their words must never be trusted—every statement can be misleading, and everyone is involved in deception while pretending to be cheerful.

Of course, for Xiao Ran, he could avoid such unpleasant experiences for now, as Ge Wenqiu from the distribution department acted as a scapegoat for him, spending his days chatting nonsense with other filmmakers at cocktail parties. *Dark Flowers* and *Mong Kok Carmen* hadn’t been sold not because no one offered a price, but because Xiao Ran wasn’t willing to sell them cheaply. The deals at each Cannes festival usually reach their peak after the awards ceremony; the earlier a price is offered, the less confidence the seller has in their film. Showing such hesitation means they’re not even willing to sell it, let alone a distributor.

Interest in this team from the East peaked on the seventh day. Wei Dongling’s guidance excited the journalists, and that day, Francis Ford Coppola also expressed his admiration for the director of *Dark Flowers* through the journalists.

Coppola was frustrated—he had never met a director so indifferent to Cannes. As the jury chairman, aside from meeting Xiao Ran on the first day, he tried to find the director afterward after watching *Dark Flowers*. Unfortunately, when he had time, Xiao Ran was away, and when Xiao Ran was there, Coppola didn’t have time—thus, they missed each other.

He really admired *Dark Flowers*, or rather, he admired director Xiao Ran. Initially, he was annoyed that Xiao Ran seemed to be there just for tourism, but after the journalists revealed his true identity, he began to understand. Given Xiao Ran’s status, it seemed unnecessary for him to place so much importance on Cannes.

On the seventh day, Xiao Ran finally appeared officially. It wasn’t because of Lin Qingxia’s advice, but because he himself felt it would be embarrassing to stay hidden any longer. The luxurious RV slowly stopped in front of the red carpet at the main venue. Xiao Ran and Lin Qingxia got out, and the journalists who had been waiting immediately grabbed their cameras, ready with questions they had prepared.

The man possessed an astonishingly mature charm, and his sideburns made many women at the scene fall for this young and talented man. The woman, meanwhile, was exquisitely beautiful, her mature elegance making her and Xiao Ran appear perfectly matched together.

As Xiao Ran and Lin Qingxia stepped onto the red-carpeted steps, the journalists couldn’t hold back any longer and rushed forward with their cameras. Xiao Ran and Lin Qingxia exchanged a glance, both seeing a faint smile in each other’s eyes. In fact, Xiao Ran’s earlier disappearance was also a tactic to create publicity—with Chinese journalists present, the hype would surely succeed.

Looking at it now, this sensational situation clearly wasn’t much different from what Xiao Ran had expected. One of the reporters, possibly from Taiwan, kept his eyes on Lin Qingxia and Xiao Ran the whole time. Reaching for the microphone, he asked, “Director Xiao, where have you and Lin Qingxia been these days?” It really had a bit of a paparazzi vibe! Xiao Ran smiled faintly. There was indeed a purpose behind dragging Lin Qingxia along on this “disappearance” adventure. At least he could create momentum for their relationship in the future, giving people a preconceived idea so that others would gradually accept their brother-sister relationship. To protect this relationship, Xiao Ran had put in a great deal of effort to get society to accept it. If he were in the West, he wouldn’t need to go to such lengths. With a very approachable smile, he said, “This is our first time in Cannes, so we’re just exploring this tourist destination!” “Mr. Xiao, I’m a reporter from Le Monde in France. Why do you want to acquire Leo Company? What can it bring you?” Xiao Ran was slightly taken aback. He had heard of Le Monde before, but it didn’t seem to focus much on entertainment news. With that in mind, his reply was flawless: “I think the general manager of Phantom Company has already told you my purpose!” “Mr. Xiao, since the release of your film ‘Dark Flower’ these days, the audience’s reaction has been extremely positive. Critics and juries alike have praised the film. Do you think you can win an award?” It seemed to be an American reporter, according to Xiao Ran’s judgment. “At the Hong Kong Film Awards, I said that just making it to the finals is a victory!” As he said this, Xiao Ran suddenly smiled playfully, which added a lot of fun to his mature image and demeanor. “But my motto is to keep pushing forward after achieving success!” Just like those Hong Kong reporters back then, these reporters were also amused by Xiao Ran’s humor, and their goodwill toward him soared instantly. Suddenly, a very handsome young reporter stared at Lin Qingxia and asked Xiao Ran, “May I ask who this beautiful lady is?” This time, Xiao Ran didn’t answer for Lin Qingxia but simply looked at her with a smile. Lin Qingxia couldn’t help but laugh lightly and say, “I’m here with him. You don’t need to know me!” Of course, that was just polite talk. Soon, the other reporters were amazed by Lin Qingxia’s grace, elegance, and mature beauty. After asking a Chinese reporter, they quickly learned that she was considered the most beautiful Chinese woman, which greatly piqued their interest. Unfortunately, Xiao Ran didn’t give them much time; he stopped taking questions. After the reporters took a few photos, Xiao Ran nodded at Lin Qingxia and headed into the main venue. The venue was truly star-studded, with so many celebrities that it was astonishing. Xiao Ran was no longer the inexperienced guy he used to be when he first returned. Not to mention just some celebrities—even if God appeared before him, he probably wouldn’t be particularly surprised. After greeting a few less well-known celebrities and scanning the crowd, he finally spotted Brother Fa and the others.

He walked over. It was an Asian distributor who was talking with Fa Ge. It seemed Fa Ge and the others didn’t understand English, which was really a disadvantage. Feng Feier and Su Renyao saw Xiao Ran and Lin Qingxia approaching and quickly greeted them respectfully, “Brother Ran, Sister Lin, you’ve come!”
“It’s okay. If you think this place is boring, you can go back first. I can take care of things here!” Xiao Ran smiled at them casually. Whether one could become famous internationally was truly a fascinating thing. Just like Greta Garbo who became famous in Hollywood back then; countless film producers in Sweden looked for actresses who were more beautiful and talented than her, but none of them managed to become famous.
Su Renyao was overjoyed. He had long been impatient with such a place. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to become famous; the key issue was that he didn’t understand English, making it extremely difficult for him to integrate into this industry. Feng Feier, on the other hand, already understood English, so it was naturally much easier for her.
“Where is Ge Wenqiu?” Xiao Ran asked Fa Ge with a frown. There were many truly powerful major distributors at this event. If Ge Wenqiu hadn’t shown up, it would be a dereliction of duty. “Could he not have shown up?”
“I saw him over there just now!” Fa Ge said with a worried expression, looking at Xiao Ran. “Can I go back first? Staying here is really unpleasant!”
“Don’t we have a translator?” Xiao Ran was momentarily stunned. With a translator present, what was there to worry about in terms of language barriers? “You can’t leave. If you want to become famous, you first need the whole world to know about you!”
Ignoring Fa Ge’s sighs, he went straight to look for Ge Wenqiu. After searching for a while without finding him, he was instead found by Coppola and a few other judges. They pulled Xiao Ran and Lin Qingxia to sit down. Seeing that this was the director of “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now,” Xiao Ran felt proud.
“Mr. Xiao, I’ve watched the film you brought, and we all really like it!” Coppola was already older and didn’t speak very fluently. After thinking for a while, he continued, “The techniques you used in your film are very innovative…”
Xiao Ran certainly knew this; otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared to send it. If one wanted to gain a reputation in the international film industry or be understood worldwide, the best way was undoubtedly to use the internationally recognized language of cinema. Of course, this wasn’t a specific language but rather the conceptual approach to filmmaking.
Take “Dark Flowers” for example. Setting aside language issues, this film has very few dialogues and uses very innovative techniques—definitely quite novel directorial methods at present, smooth and flexible.
Most importantly, over 95% of films rely on dialogue and other elements to drive the plot, but “Dark Flowers” expresses everything through visuals. It was precisely because of the film’s visual appeal that Coppola and the others could understand it without any obstacles.
The flexible and smooth directorial style, like flowing clouds and water, was why Coppola and the others became interested in Xiao Ran and why they admired this film. They could hardly imagine anyone being able to tell such a complete and thrilling story in 90 minutes. After all, Western directors’ individual films usually exceed two hours, and Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” is even three to four hours long.

In this regard, Hong Kong directors are the best—concise and tight plots are the key to entertainment. Yet this is also the biggest flaw of Hong Kong movies, as people try to enrich the comedy and other elements by stuffing in unrelated stuff, resulting in poor-quality films. As a film fan influenced by Hong Kong movies, it’s not strange for Xiao Ran to learn this strength. But beyond mastering this unparalleled advantage, he also nipped the flaws that came with it at the crucial stage of the script—this is precisely why he chose screenwriting as the key to reform. After talking with Coppola and the others for a while, seeing that Lin Qingxia was alone and didn’t understand, they ended the conversation quickly. Soon they found Ge Wenqiu. As soon as he saw Xiao Ran, he happily exclaimed, “Brother Ran, you’re here! I was discussing the distribution of ‘Dark Flowers’ and ‘Carmen in Mong Kok’ with them.” Xiao Ran glanced at the foreigners with both blond and black hair in front of him, signaled Lin Qingxia, and they sat down together. One of the middle-aged men, seemingly the leader, leaned back on the sofa with a big belly and said with a smile, “You’re the boss of Phantom Company? Great, let’s talk!” Xiao Ran nodded at them with a smile and listened carefully to Ge Wenqiu’s report: “This is Jack, the general manager of MGM’s French branch. The price he offered us is three million dollars for ‘Dark Flowers’ and one million for ‘Carmen in Mong Kok’—both in US dollars!” MGM? Xiao Ran immediately remembered MGM’s history—the most infamous troubled company in Hollywood. It had been acquired or sold multiple times in the 1980s and 1990s, with all sorts of people involved, including Las Vegas casino kings, Italian mafia, and the Crédit Lyonnais of France. The year before last, CNN’s owner bought MGM for $1.4 billion, but it was quickly broken up and sold, with only the rights to over 3,000 valuable films retained. Now it’s been bought by the mafia—seems their methods aren’t very good. Xiao Ran smiled faintly. Three million dollars—other companies would surely give it away eagerly, but he didn’t need that money. It’s no exaggeration to say that even a single hair of his was worth three million. “Sorry, I’ve suddenly lost interest in this deal!” Xiao Ran said nothing more. He just gave Ge Wenqiu a glance, pulled Lin Qingxia along, and left, leaving the stunned MGM guys cursing behind. “Brother Ran, why not talk to them? The price can still be negotiated!” Ge Wenqiu couldn’t understand Xiao Ran’s decision and asked, “Besides, if we sell just the North American rights, we can still make a profit after covering the costs.” “Ah Qiu, do you think the company lacks these three million? Or should we just let MGM release it on art houses?” Xiao Ran countered, remaining calm. “You might not know, but MGM is now controlled by the mafia. I don’t want to deal with gangsters!”

Of course, if that were really the case, it wouldn’t be right. First, Xiao Ran definitely didn’t want to deal with MGM, and second, the price was indeed too low—there was no way it could reach mainstream theaters. None of this was what he wanted. Instead of that, he would rather keep the North American distribution rights and, in the future, acquire a Hollywood film company to release his own films.
“Mafia!” Ge Wenqiu was shocked and couldn’t help but look back at those guys, sweating profusely. He felt quite lucky—after so much selection, he ended up dealing with the mafia.
“So what do you plan to do?” Lin Qingxia, seeing that Xiao Ran dismissed three million dollars as too low, couldn’t help but interject, “I think this price is already very good!”
“Of course, I have a plan!” Xiao Ran gave Lin Qingxia a gentle look. Since he could make it here, he surely had a plan…