Chapter 863 - 258: [Immortal Official, Save Me]
Chapter 258 [Immortal Official, Help] (6600)
In the parking lot of the high-speed rail station, Zhao Shanhe took Chen Yan to a dirty-looking second-hand Buick sedan.
He opened the car door and smiled at Chen Yan: "Bro, let’s make do for now. Our business has great prospects. Next time you come, I’ll pick you up in a Maybach!"
Chen Yan laughed heartily, patted his brother, and directly opened the front passenger door to sit inside.
Zhao Shanhe told Chen Yan that after the company was established, his parents were very supportive of his career and gave him some startup capital. With this money, plus Chen Yan’s investment, Zhao Shanhe was able to start the company, hire a few people for operations, and connect with several online platforms for promotion.
His parents also provided some resources, mainly filming resources in Hengdian.
Zhao Shanhe’s parents are locals, born and raised here. They have been group leaders dealing with different production crews in Hengdian for more than twenty years, and they are familiar with many local filming resources.
Under their operation, they could rent filming equipment at the lowest prices, rent costumes and props at the lowest rates, and lease scenic spots and locations for shooting at the most affordable prices.
It can be said that the business concept Zhao Shanhe initially envisioned, the [Real Immersive Script Kill Film Shooting Tour Group], quickly entered a fast development track after opening.
The novel model, combined with the unique experience and good reputation, even created a word-of-mouth referral atmosphere among the user group.
Adding Zhao Family’s unique local resources, even if someone wanted to jump in to make a quick buck, they couldn’t compete with Zhao Shanhe in the short term.
Rent filming equipment, rent locations, rent costumes and props, hire filming personnel — all these costs are higher than Zhao Shanhe’s! So how can they compete with the Zhao Family?
In the long run, there might be some local resources entering the field, but in the short term, before the market responds, this track is almost monopolized by Zhao Shanhe.
"At the latest, we’ll be profitable by the end of the year." Zhao Shanhe said proudly to Chen Yan while driving: "If it weren’t for the promotion and advertising fees spent on introducing this new tourism model on platforms, we would’ve already been profitable. But by the end of the year, I’ll make a big move!"
Chen Yan sat in the car listening, with a genuine smile on his face, truly happy for his only close friend from university to find a launching point for his career.
Excited, Zhao Shanhe took out his phone and tossed it to Chen Yan, asking him to open the album and check out the videos inside.
Upon opening it, Chen Yan saw quite a few videos, which were finished products from some of the tours they previously had.
There were groups of women in their forties and fifties, dressed as imperial concubines, recreating classic scenes from "Huan Huan’s Tale."
Chen Yan opened a video and saw a middle-aged woman, heavily made up, dressed as a concubine, kneeling on the ground and loudly delivering her lines:
"I accuse Consort Xi of corrupting the harem, an unforgivable crime!"
Chen Yan almost burst into laughter.
"People really want to play this game!"
"Of course, our company’s filming tour business’s hottest tour group is ’Huan Huan’s Tale.’ The regular group’s fee has already increased to start at eight thousand. And for those who want to experience being the protagonist, the customized elite groups, like Si Lang, Huan Huan, the Empress, and Consort Hua, start from twenty thousand just to book."
Chen Yan thought about it: "What if everyone wants to play the lead roles and no one wants to play supporting roles? How can you form a group then?"
Zhao Shanhe laughed: "Bro! Did you forget what my family does? My parents are among the most experienced group leaders here! They can muster up to a thousand extras at any time!
Finding someone to play a supporting role, to act in a few scenes, is easy! An extra costs only a hundred bucks a day! Those with a few lines, which we call special cast members in our field, are only two to five hundred a day.
Everyone wants to play Huan Huan? No problem! Pay up! Pay a twenty thousand group fee and an extra five thousand bucks, and I’ll get ten extras half a day to play the Empress, Consort Hua, and Si Lang! Accompany her to act out her desired scenes!"
As Zhao Shanhe spoke, he grinned: "Just last week, we had a client determined to play Huan Huan and another insistent on playing Consort Hua. I specially matched them with a client willing to play the Empress.
That earned me sixty thousand in custom group fees!
For other roles, I brought in a few extras to fill the spots.
After three days of filming, deducting all costs, I cried tears of joy making a net profit of thirty-eight thousand!"
Zhao Shanhe was indeed prospering. According to his introduction, his tourism company, similar to a "Good Dream One Day Tour" model, has expanded several times.
At its peak, six groups were simultaneously filming in the film city in one day.
Though it’s merely paying to accompany tourists in filming some self-entertainment videos, now Zhao Shanhe often talks about "a few teams," "which director," "which photographer," "props team."
It seems just like he’s running a film industry giant capital.
"Last month, the company’s revenue exceeded two million."
Zhao Shanhe said boldly, smiling: "I am already considering buying equipment with our own money—since the business’s revenue growth curve is stable and promising, long-term equipment rentals are not cost-effective. It’s better to purchase a batch, which can be converted into the company’s fixed assets and operating costs..."