Shortly after the filming of "The Apocalypse of the Future" was finalized in Ireland, Zhang Ran boarded the plane back home. He had been in the United States for nearly two months and it was time to return home. There were still a lot of things waiting for him to deal with in the country!

Just when Zhang Ran returned to China, the annual New Year's Day battle had already begun.

The highlights of this year's New Year holiday are Chen Kaige's "Mei Lanfang", Feng Xiaogang's "If You Are the One", and Ning Hao's "Crazy Racing". In addition, "Dragon and Phoenix" starring Andy Lau and "Ip Man" starring Zhen Zidan also have certain competitiveness.

The first one to go on PK is "Mei Lanfang". For many viewers, although Chen Kaige has not made a good movie in recent years, just because of the "Farewell My Concubine" a few years ago, coupled with the joining of powerful stars such as Zhang Ziyi, Li Ming, and Sun Honglei, everyone is still full of expectations for "Mei Lanfang".

"Mei Lanfang" was officially released on December 4, with a national box office of 5,318 on the first weekend. Judging from the box office standards of art films, this result is definitely a beautiful victory. However, the audience's evaluation of the movie is average, at least for viewers who come with the attitude of "Farewell My Concubine", this is a fairly standard work; of course, if you are watching "Wuji", then Chen Kai's beautiful turnaround can wash away the shame brought to him by "Wuji".

As soon as Zhang Ran returned to China, he immediately received a call from Ning Hao. The premiere of "Crazy Racing" was about to be released. He hoped that Zhang Ran could attend the premiere of the movie. However, Zhang Ran refused and almost stopped, and went straight to Lin'an.

After arriving in Lin'an, Zhang Ranxian met with the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and the Governor of Zhijiang Province respectively; then he held talks with Lin'an City on the issue of Oriental Hollywood.

Although Zhang Ran is not in China in the past two months, the project of Oriental Hollywood has been advancing. In the past two months, Gao Jun, the vice president of the Century Peak, has contacted many cities, and the main leaders of Zhijiang Province and Lin'an City have contacted twice on the implementation of the project. Gao Jun was the president of Xinying Federation and has rich experience in contacting and communicating with government departments. With his management, the preliminary work of the project has made significant progress.

Zhang Ran came here this time mainly to clarify his investment intentions and conduct in-depth consultations and negotiations.

Zhijiang Province attaches great importance to the film and television cultural industry. In July this year, Zhijiang Province just issued the "Outline for Promoting the Great Development and Prosperity of Zhijiang Culture", proposing to expand and strengthen state-owned film and television institutions, improve the creative and production level of private film and television institutions, cultivate excellent film and television creative teams, support the construction of film and television bases, and strive to make Zhijiang Province film and television at the forefront of the country.

Therefore, Zhijiang is very enthusiastic about Zhang Ran's arrival and expressed to Zhang Ran that he hopes that Century Peak will continue to pay attention to Zhijiang, invest in Zhijiang, and deploy more major projects and key industries to Zhijiang. The provincial party committee and government will further create a better environment, provide better services, and support Century Peak to become bigger and stronger in Zhijiang and achieve win-win development.

Zhang Ran was not polite. When meeting with the leaders of Lin'an City, he said directly: "Our first choice for our film and television base is in the Yangtze River Delta region. It is very important that the Yangtze River Delta region has many film and television bases, each with its own characteristics, and they can form a cluster effect. When we shoot science fiction films, we can shoot in the Magic City; when we shoot the Republic of China dramas, we can go to Chedun Film and Television Base; when we shoot costume dramas, we can go to Hengdian and Xiangshan; when we shoot water towns, we can go to Tongli. Our film and television base is not like Hengdian.

The film and television city is a film and television production base, and any film and television works can be produced here. Our film and television base is located in the Yangtze River Delta region, so the works shot in the surrounding film and television cities can be taken here to do the post-production, without taking them back to Peking, which saves a lot of trouble! So our first choice is several big cities in the Yangtze River Delta, and Lin'an is a city we are particularly optimistic about! I also hope that Oriental Hollywood can settle in Lin'an, but now I have two questions!"

Everyone's eyes were focused on Zhang Ran's face and waiting for him to speak down.

Zhang Ran raised a finger and said, "The first is the land problem. Our project covers an area of ​​not a few thousand acres. According to our current plan, it is about 60,000 acres. The theme park alone is 10,000 acres. In addition, there are shooting bases, film academy, film post-production bases, etc. There are also shooting bases, film academy, film post-production bases, etc. to settle the land problem. Now the country is strict in land approval. The Ministry of Land and Resources and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Catalogue of Restricted Land Use Projects" in 2006. In the first half of this year, Hengdian Group acquired 6,000 acres of land and wanted to rebuild the Old Summer Palace, but it was quickly stopped by the Ministry of Land and Resources, and the relevant personnel were punished! The land we want to occupy is ten times theirs. Whether it can pass the approval and how long it will take to pass the approval is a big problem. If the land problem cannot be solved, then everything else is empty talk!"

The Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Minister explained: "Hengdian Yuanming New Park was called off, mainly because half of the 6,000 acres of land do not comply with the overall land use plan of Hengdian Town, including more than 1,000 acres of farmland. Now the country is very strict about the occupation of arable land. Hengdian is indeed a violation of the rules in this matter! If there is no large amount of arable land occupied, then there is no big problem!"

The secretary of the municipal party committee also immediately said: "Although the project of Oriental Hollywood occupies a lot of land, as long as it does not use land illegally and does not occupy a large amount of arable land, there is no problem. The country has now clearly proposed to vigorously develop cultural soft power, and Lin'an, the province and Lin'an are also vigorously developing cultural industries. If Oriental Hollywood intends to settle in Lin'an, then our city and province will do their best to promote this project, and there will definitely be no problems in land use!"

Seeing that they were so sure, Zhang Ran raised his second finger and said, "The second is a policy issue. Recently, I was preparing a science fiction blockbuster. At first, I was considering shooting in Canada. Many Hollywood blockbusters like to shoot in Canada. There are high tax refunds there, and now a film and television industry center has been formed. As a result, Jonathan Lauran, the head of the Irish Film Association in Los Angeles, came to me and invited us to film in Ireland. He told me that the government will give us a 20% tax refund, and the government will also give subsidies. I said, we have decided to go to Canada, and the tax refunds there are even higher. Jonathan told me, "Aren't you going to make war movies! Our Irish government will bring you troops to assist you in filming! So, we promised this movie to shoot in Ireland!

In fact, it is not just Ireland and Canada. Many countries and regions will provide subsidies for films locally, including France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, etc. The United States also have different tax refund policies. For example, if a movie invests 10 million US dollars, a 20% tax refund can be refunded 2 million yuan, which is undoubtedly a considerable discount for the producer. The purpose of so many countries and regions to introduce preferential policies is very simple, which is to drive the local economic development. Where a movie is filmed, it can greatly boost the local GDP, bringing the possibility of developing the location economy to the shooting location.

We built Oriental Hollywood instead of shouting slogans, but we really hope to attract Hollywood crews to shoot and produce at our base. But what do we rely on to attract Hollywood crews to settle in? People go to other countries and regions to offer discounts and subsidies. If we don’t have similar policies, we will not be competitive! My second question is, if our project is settled in Lin'an, can the government introduce similar tax refund policies to subsidize Hollywood blockbusters filmed in Lin'an?

These are my two questions. Where our film and television base will eventually settle depends largely on these two points!”

Many local governments in China have discounts and subsidies for movies, but no place has introduced tax refund policies. This is a new thing. To be the first to try the new, it is a test of the courage of the government departments!

The secretary of the municipal party committee and the mayor looked at each other and nodded slightly, "In 1995, the Lin'an Municipal Party Committee and Government proposed to develop the cultural industry. In order to solve the financing difficulties caused by light assets of cultural enterprises, Lin'an established a government-bank financing cooperation mechanism to provide loans to Lin'an cultural and creative enterprises. In terms of developing the cultural industry, our municipal party committee and government dares to be the first! If Hollywood crews can be attracted to Lin'an to film, it will be of great benefit to building the city's image and enhancing popularity. Tax refunds can definitely be done, but we have no experience in this area, so we need to study how to do it!"

Since the other party has courage, the rest is simple.

Zhang Ran smiled and said, "If these two points are not a problem, then we can discuss the issue of settling in Lin'an!"

Early the next morning, Zhang Ran came to Fuyang with provincial and municipal leaders for a field investigation. Zhang Ran's film and television base covers an area of ​​60,000 mu, equivalent to 40 square kilometers. It is impossible for such a large piece of land to be drawn out in Lin'an City, and the demolition cost is too high. Therefore, Fuyang under Lin'an is the ideal goal of Zhang Ran and theirs.

Mayor Fuyang reported to Zhang Ran and others in combination with the materials on the display board, and introduced Fuyang's economic and social development, location and resource advantages in detail. Then he took Zhang Ran and others to Dongziguan Village, Changkou Town, by the Fuchun River.

The Minister of the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee told Zhang Ran that this place had appeared in the writings of the writer Yu Dafu. Yu Dafu wrote: "This is a quiet, leisurely, peaceful and self-sufficient small riverside town..."

As soon as he arrived in Dongziguan Village, Zhang Ran was stunned. Rows of houses with exquisite shapes, white walls and black tiles suddenly appeared between the lush rice fields and the mountains surging clouds, with a completely different tranquility from the city, just like a natural painting of ink-wash mountain residences.

Zhang Ran couldn't help but exclaim: "It's so beautiful! This is the ink-wash China written by Wu Guanzhong. This is the Jiangnan dream that makes us dream of! It's so beautiful!"

After wandering around the village, Zhang Ran and the others continued to move forward and soon arrived in front of the Fuchun River. The water in the Fuchun River was very clear, and you could see crucian carp, carp and even grouper swimming leisurely in the water.

Zhang Ran looked up at the picturesque scenery around him and sighed: "When I was a child, I learned an article that said that from Fuyang to Tonglu for about 100 miles, the strange mountains and rivers are unique in the world. Since then, Fuyang and Tonglu have been infinitely beautiful in my heart. I must come and see it when I am alive, rent a quaint boat, raft on the Fuchun River, quietly enjoy the beautiful scenery on the shore, and pretend to be a cultural person!"

Everyone present laughed: "Mr. Zhang is modest. How can you dress as a cultural person? You are a cultural person!"

"Yes, educated people like to say that they are not educated, while uneducated people like to say that they are educated!"

"If Eastern Hollywood settled in Fuyang, Mr. Zhang could set up his home here when he was down, buy a boat, and rafted on the river when he was fine!"

Zhang Ran never stopped walking throughout the morning. He visited several villages and attractions and inspected local land, transportation, communications, project establishment, environmental protection and other matters.

Just as they were about to return to the city government for lunch, Zhang Ran's cell phone rang.

I picked it up and saw that it turned out to be Zhang Ziyi's.

"Director, you have finally returned to China!" Zhang Ziyi's beautiful voice rang on the phone, "When will you go back to Peking? I want to treat you to a meal!"
Chapter completed!