A great director who grew up happily

Chapter 481 Wang Yidi who works hard to make money

"You're too picky." Wang Yidi said.

Chen Jinnian focused all his energy on work and had no idea how outrageous the increase in announcement fees was this year.

"I'm currently in the spotlight, so isn't it normal for my commercial performance fees to be higher than yours? Besides, what can you do there? I still have two songs to sing. If I buy some more songs and release a digital album, my performance fees will be even higher than they are now."

After hearing Wang Yidi's explanation, Chen Jinnian lowered his head and thought about it, and it seemed to be the case.

His commercial value is indeed lower than Wang Yidi's, especially his vague identity has downplayed everything outside of his directing field. Some people think that Chen Jinnian is a good director, but there are indeed few who recognize that Chen Jinnian is a good actor.

On the contrary, Wang Yidi, whose acting skills are just passing, is often praised for his superb acting skills.

If he hadn't been with Wang Yidi every day, he would have suspected that those were Wang Yidi's water army.

Chen Jinnian checked the invitations, including those for variety shows, New Year's Eve parties, commercial endorsements and music festivals. The prices offered were very high, much more than what he could earn from making movies.

"Then what are your plans? If you're interested in taking the job, I can arrange a team for you."

"Take it. I've almost spent all the money I have. I want to save some more before the New Year."

Wang Yidi said with a headache that she bought a house in Beijing and Shenzhen respectively this year, and also bought a shop with Qiao Yingzi. She had already spent most of their film remuneration, and after paying the taxes, there might be nothing left.

"You don't have to worry about money. You will get dividends from the company at the end of the year." Chen Jinnian was not worried about money. The theaters still owed him a share of the box office revenue from two movies.

"Hey, that's not right. You still have such a big shop, and your business is booming. At least you can make a stable profit every month."

The shop that runs the pet center makes tens of thousands of profits every month, even if we only count the rent.

“…”Wang Yidi remained silent.

This caught Chen Jinnian's attention. He realized the seriousness of the problem. "No way! It's been open for half a year and we're still losing money?"

"I'm not losing money, but I'm definitely not making any money. After deducting costs from my monthly turnover, I'm roughly at break-even."

Wang Yidi and Qiao Yingzi have calculated it several times and there is definitely no problem with the accounts, but they just don’t make any money.

Chen Jinnian frowned slightly and asked, "When you calculated the cost, did you include the rent?"

"The shop is ours, so we need to pay rent."

Wang Yidi's rhetorical question almost made Chen Jinnian so angry that he had a cerebral hemorrhage.

"Why not? If the store breaks even after including the rent, I can barely accept it. It's nothing more than charity and job creation. But now that the rent is zero and we're still not making a profit, isn't that like you two are giving the store a blood transfusion in disguise?"

Chen Jinnian didn't expect Wang Yidi and Qiao Yingzi to get back their initial investment, but he still had to put money in every month, which was a bit unbearable for him.

This has never been done in business.

"But we really can't find the reason. The profit source of a pet shop is not complicated. One part comes from cleaning cats and dogs, which is the bulk of the turnover. The other part is the sales of pet food and cat litter. The expenses are simple and clear."

"What about people? What percentage of the pet shop's expenses are employees' salaries?"

"About seventy percent."

"How much?" Chen Jinnian asked in shock.

"Is there a problem?" Wang Yidi's tone suddenly weakened, like a child who had done something wrong.

"Of course there are problems. Pet shops are not supermarkets. There's a limit to their profitability. Just divide the business hours by the time a single pet is treated, and you can figure out the theoretical upper limit of their daily turnover. Commercial water and electricity already account for a significant portion of their costs, and now labor costs are skyrocketing."

Chen Jinnian didn't continue speaking, but instead made a suggestion, "Have Yingzi ask Uncle Qiao to find a solution. Although Uncle Qiao's character may not be well-known, he is still quite capable in business."

He felt that the store had hired too many people, resulting in labor costs that could not be controlled. However, he did not understand the actual situation and could not rashly propose adjustments.

"Or you can sell the store to someone who wants to run a pet store, and then just collect the rent."

Hearing Chen Jinnian's words, Wang Yidi suddenly became unhappy. He turned around and sat on his legs, questioning him condescendingly.

"What do you mean? Do you feel we can't do it?"

"I always believe that you can do it, but I'm too busy to take care of it." Chen Jinnian immediately raised his hands in compromise.

He didn't want to lose the big picture for the sake of small gains and have a quarrel with Wang Yidi because of the business conditions of a store.

"Hmph, you're smart. When I return to Beijing to record the show, I'll chat with Yingzi."

Wang Yidi is not the type of person who refuses to listen to advice. She originally wanted to open a few more branches, but now it seems that this is not possible. If she can't even solve the basic profit problem, it is better not to talk about the follow-up.

"Okay, now we can talk about business." Chen Jinnian put his hand on Wang Yidi's waist.

"What business? Oh, that's disgusting."

……

After the artist team was formed, Wang Yidi went to the announcement accompanied by Wang Yiming, while Chen Jinnian worked hard to learn Cantonese and film on the set, and also learned some routines from Teacher Yunhua.

Yunhua doesn’t know real kung fu, or rather, all the actors from the Seven Little Fortunes don’t know kung fu.

Because they all learned Peking Opera and were martial artists in stage performances, not athletes from martial arts schools, their main practice was routine performances, splits, and somersaults.

When the opera troupe could no longer survive, the Seven Little Fortunes entered the film industry as martial artists and began to learn martial arts in a targeted manner, such as Aikido, Taekwondo, and Choy Li Fot.

However, during this process, some people changed their names, such as Yuen Wah, Jackie Chan, and Sammo Hung, while others chose to continue using the stage names given by their masters, such as Yuen Wah and Yuen Biao.

After Chen Jinnian finished his performance, Yuen Wah said affirmatively: "Not bad, your leg skills have improved."

Yuen Wah is most proud of his leg skills. It is actually not easy for Chen Jinnian to learn it well in a short period of time.

“It’s all thanks to the teacher’s good teaching.”

"Hey, I'm not a teacher, I'm just an old man." Yuen Wah said with a smile, and then reminded, "But your movements are a little less stable. If it were twenty years ago, there would be a lot of masters who are better than you."

Yuen Wah then rubbed his goatee. Time flies, and those actors and stuntmen have all grown old. It is now too difficult to find someone better than Chen Jinnian in the entertainment industry.

Suddenly, Yuen Wah thought of a postponed project and said, "There's a really good movie called Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain. I wonder if you're interested."

"Furinkazan?"

Chen Jinnian stomped his sore left leg.

He had heard of this wave of movies a long time ago. It is a culmination of Hong Kong films. The director is Director Mai, who is known as the Little King of Sunglasses. The starring actors include all the top stars in the Hong Kong circle. It is a police and gangster film with an investment of 300 million yuan, which is simply inhumane.

But the problem also lies in the high investment, which is a hurdle at every step.

"According to the plan, hasn't the filming of Fenglinhuoshan been completed?" Chen Jinnian asked.