Chapter 111: Confirming the Release and Red and White Invitations

  Daiei will not die?

  Probably the person who least believes in this sentence is Zhou Xiao, because in his mind, Daiei would completely fail in '02 and end up merging with Kadokawa. But now the variable of this world is himself, and his relationship with Daiei only goes as far as renting a studio from them. As for his own movie, Daiei didn't invest a single penny, so Zhou Xiao and his AZX don't need to care whether they live or die.

  As for the conversation with Germany? Zhou Xiao can't say "Enjoy your life, I think you won't last two years" anymore, right?

  It was just a trial screening, of course the formal contract would not be discussed here. The real contract negotiation took place the next day when Jing brought Zhou Xiao to meet with various company representatives.

  。

  "The film is not bad, but you and your company are a new company, so according to the rules, we can't give you too much commission or screen count. In terms of scheduling, we also have to make way for the New Year's slot..." This is roughly what people from Toho and Toei said.

  "I personally like this film, but our Shochiku Films rarely releases such films, so... sorry about that. Please don't be discouraged, this film is quite good and I'm sure it will find a suitable distributor." That's a direct rejection, who cares about the polite words? If this film were Titanic, no matter how much their style doesn't match, they would still come crawling to us, saying it's because our side isn't powerful enough.

  "Please release it in our company's chain! There is absolutely no problem with the share! We can also invest in publicity! What about the schedule? The best!" This was said by... none other than the dying major film distributor who had lost all sense of discernment.

  As for the remaining Kadokawa films, they gave conditions that were most considerate and touching.

  Divided into the level of low-input new directors, although the screening time is not during the New Year's slot, it was placed in the spring season when Japanese students are on spring break. Most importantly, Kadokawa Film agreed to share some of the promotional expenses for the film!

  Although azx's finances have been continuously invested by Zhou Xiaoyuan, the investment in a film and the Girls Twelve Music Workshop has made the company's liquidity scarce. Although it is not yet to the point of drying up, considering that Zhou Xiao will soon be doing other work, this liquidity seems to be somewhat insufficient.

  So, it's good news for Zhou Xiao that there are publishers willing to bear some publicity expenses.

  "What do you think, Uncle Inoue?" Zhou Xiao asked the uncle beside him as they walked out of the last house. He was a dead otaku and naturally not good at these things, that is to say, the daily operation of the company. Uncle Inoue's existence was very important, if it weren't for him, Zhou Xiao would probably be annoyed to death by these things.

  "Considering our company's current situation, Kadokawa's conditions are the best. Although they don't have as many screens as the first three companies, their investment in showtime and promotional funds is very important to us. And if we schedule the screening during spring break, adding your single's release will likely increase the promotional effect." said Inoue-san.

  "What about Da Ying? We've also borrowed their studio, it's not quite right to just abandon them like that." Zhou Xiao said.

  Inoue shook his head: "How could that be? We're doing business, and Daiei is such a huge company. It's not like it has anything to do with one movie, the hundreds of millions in losses can't be made up for by just one film, we didn't skimp on paying rent when using their studios, you could say it's purely a business relationship, and not like we're doing them a favor, no need to take on such huge risks."

  Zhou Xiao nodded: "If that's the case, then I'll feel more at ease. Let's go with Kadokawa, and leave the rest to Uncle Inoue, is that okay?"

  "Go ahead and focus on other things, this is almost done. I'll send you the detailed terms later." After a while, Inoue had also gotten used to Zhou Xiao's personality and way of doing things. Although he didn't know what Zhou Xiao would do next, one thing was clear: this kid seemed to have a clear goal in mind and was making steady progress towards it.

  The method of determining the time by a girl's skirt is not feasible in Japan. One morning, when Zhou Xiao pushed open the balcony door, he suddenly found that outside had already begun to flutter with starry snowflakes, and it turned out that 2000 had already reached the end of December.

  。

  From the end of November, Zhou Xiao witnessed a shocking event by Kimura Takuya, and his relationship with Ogura Yuko also made a breakthrough. The movie shooting was completed and a contract was signed with Kadokawa Film for its release. The recording of the variety show has also been completed and is waiting to be broadcast in the next few days. In addition, Sakai Izumi returned to Japan after traveling abroad for nearly half a year. During her trip to China, Sakai Izumi visited two weeks, then took a plane directly from China to France. In November, she traveled to several countries in Europe and then flew back to China, where she stayed for another two weeks before finally returning to Japan, but not to Tokyo, but to her hometown. The last big news is that Zhou Xiao was invited to this year's "Red and White Song Festival" because of the song "Small Love".

  The Red and White Song Battle is basically Japan's Spring Festival Gala, but unlike China's Spring Festival Gala, the Red and White Song Battle is simply a singing competition. The men and women are divided into two teams competing against each other. By the year 2000, the score was... Zhou Xiao doesn't even know, because which side wins is not important at all, what matters is listening to the songs, right?

  There have been many Chinese people who have appeared on Kouhaku Utagassen, such as Teresa Teng, Chen Meiling, Fei Fei Ou Yang and Wong Ching-yu in the 70s and 80s. In recent years, Xu Ruoxuan also appeared as a member of "Black Biscuits". As for Zhou Xiao, after 2000, the only Chinese artists she knew who had appeared on Kouhaku Utagassen were the Twelve Girls Band, Li Chun and Qian Lin from Morning Musume, and Chen Qiulei from SDN48.

  A song that sold two million copies and became a social phenomenon, the Red and White Song Festival naturally wouldn't let it go. In early December, his agent originally said NHK wanted to do an exclusive interview with Zhou Xiao about Chinese people. After arriving at the NHK TV station, after a small trick was played on him, he was suddenly told that the Red and White Song Festival program team hoped to invite him to perform.

  What else can be done? In front of the camera, Zhou Xiao had to pretend to be extremely excited and happy, saying that the Red and White Song Festival was his long-held dream, and being able to stand on this stage was a dream come true... It has to be said that Zhou Xiao's acting skills have improved greatly after "A Liter of Tears", he even squeezed out quite a few tears from the corners of his eyes.

  Zhou Xiao didn't want to go to Kouhaku? In fact, he wasn't particularly eager to go. The date of Kouhaku is December 31st, and Japan doesn't have a Lunar New Year, so the Gregorian calendar's New Year is already his new year. Calculating carefully, Zhou Xiao has been in this space for over half a year now. During this time, he had been working diligently with all his heart and soul. Although he enjoyed these jobs, at least during the New Year, Zhou Xiao wanted to give himself a break. However, it seems that his plan to take a holiday during the New Year has been shattered.

  "Are you still going to have me appear on TBS's New Year's special?" Zhou Xiao asked over the phone after leaving NHK.

  This New Year's Eve concert is hosted by another TV station, TBS. The live broadcast times of the two stations are very close, so many singers who participated in NHK's concert had to rush to TBS to make it on time for their performance. This concert is also a cross-year performance, meaning they have to perform all the way until January 1st of next year.

  "That invitation has indeed arrived, are you interested?" Uncle Inoue asked.

  "No, no, one Kouhaku is already enough, don't want to do another New Year's Eve show." Zhou Xiao quickly refused. In fact, he didn't even want to go to Kouhaku, but Zhou Xiao couldn't possibly refuse because that was Kouhaku, the stage all Japanese singers wanted to be on. Except for people like Sakai Izumi who were truly indifferent to fame and fortune, or those whose popularity had already surpassed the heavens, such as Nakajima Miyuki. Otherwise, someone like Hamasaki Ayumi might dare to release a single incognito, but Kouhaku was something she absolutely couldn't refuse.

  Ps: Look at lh's post with a gentle gaze, those who speak ill of me are all recorded in my little notebook!