Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Wang Yang sat behind his desk in the chairman’s office at A-Pix’s headquarters. He handed a piece of A4 paper, on which he’d drawn the company’s new name and logo, to a Caucasian girl named Lisa Gero. She was a professional designer. She took a look at it and was puzzled. As a full-time artist at A-Pix’s publishing department, it was her duty to design cover art, posters, and other graphic material for the company’s movies. She also designed and maintained the company’s official website.
Lisa Gero sat across the desk from Wang Yang, looking at the piece of paper in her hand, her head tilted to one side. She spoke carefully, trying her best not to ruffle Wang Yang’s feathers. “Um, Mr. Wang, forgive my bluntness, but are those penguins? And is that a crown in the middle?”
Wang Yang was stunned. All the color had gone from his face. He had not expected his drawing to be as ambiguous as to confuse moths and butterflies with penguins. “No!” he corrected her smilingly and shook his head in self-deprecating humor. “Those are not penguins, and that’s not a crown. That, on the left, is the side view of a moth and that, on the right, is the side view of a butterfly. And that, down the middle, is a torchlight,” he explained with a smile.
“Oh! I’m so sorry.” Lisa Gero smiled apologetically. In an attempt to spare her boss’s feelings, she made a joke at her own expense. “Perhaps I need to get myself a pair of glasses.”
“It’s okay. I’m more of an abstract painter anyway,” Wang Yang said with a smile and a shrug. Lisa relaxed upon hearing Wang Yang’s friendly tone. Then, Wang Yang went on to describe his vision to Lisa. “Lisa, I’m going for the impression of a moth and a butterfly chasing after the light in a beautiful and spectacular sort of way. Do you get me?”
At first, Lisa nodded her head and said, “I get it.” But then, she wagged her head slowly and asked, “But what does it all mean? I mean, why a moth and a butterfly?” She hesitated for a moment but felt it best to tell Wang Yang her honest opinion. “Mr. Wang, as you know, moths are associated with death in many cases, just like the moth in The Silence of the Lambs. Aren’t you worried it might affect our company’s image?”
Wang Yang leaned back in his chair and smiled softly. He knew moths represented death in many cases, but not all cases. He said, “Lisa, the moth in The Silence of the Lambs didn’t represent death. It represented rebirth. Did you know that? The truth is, many people wish to come out of their shells. They want to show the world their true potential and to fulfill their destiny. But most people are not honest about their desires. They run and hide from their dreams, so they can never break out of their shells and be reborn into something truly magnificent.”
“The moth represents transformation, evolution; in the flames, it is redeemed.” Wang Yang took a deep breath and said with a smile, “Anyway, I like moths. I see myself in them. I think they’ll do nicely in our new logo, and that’s that.”
Lisa listened to Wang Yang with a confused look on her face. But he was the boss. Whatever he said went. She nodded and said, “All right. Got it.” Then, she noticed the company’s name on the piece of paper that Wang Yang had given her. She traced the name “Flames Films” under the torchlight with a pencil and asked, “Mr. Wang, how about we put our company’s name here?”
“Okay. Looks great,” Wang Yang agreed after looking at it.
Flames evoked a sense of heat, light, and passion. In the logo, it was depicted by a torchlight. It represented dreams and the pursuit of dreams. It also represented the cinema. Wang Yang hoped that, just like a torchlight, the movies produced by his company would captivate the audience and brighten up their lives. He hoped that his movies would kindle people’s dreams and inspire them to break out of their shells and show the world their true beauty.
Thus, their new name and trademark were registered, and the company was officially rebranded. Thereafter, A-Pix Entertainment would be known as Flames Films. The logo was designed by Wang Yang and rendered by Lisa Gero. It consisted of a light-yellow moth on the left and a colorful butterfly on the right. The critters formed a symmetrical image around a yellow-red, cartoon-style torchlight in the middle that shone above the company’s name. All the elements were tied together in colors that were pleasing to the eye, and the cartoonish rendering style made the whole thing look vibrant. The logo popped with the youthfulness and optimism of its creators.
The old nameplate that had said “A-Pix” had been removed from the main door of the company, leaving behind a pale, empty spot. That spot would be filled by a custom-made, acrylic plaque with the new name and the new logo once it had arrived from the manufacturer.
Flames Films kicked off its first week of operations with a top management meeting. It was attended by the manager of every department within the company as well as the higher-ups, which sounded like a daunting affair. But in fact, the meeting only consisted of fewer than 10 people.
As the owner of the company, Wang Yang was naturally present. He sat at the head of the meeting table. He was wearing a grey shirt that laid underneath a black suit. He was not wearing a tie. Sitting beside Wang Yang was Mark Strong. He was also decked out in a black suit that matched nicely with his silver tie and black-rimmed glasses. He looked like a million bucks because he was no longer Wang Yang’s agent but the Chief Executive Officer of Flames Films.
Due to his outstanding performance in the acquisition of A-Pix Entertainment and the fact that Chris Lynch, the former CEO of the company, had resigned, he had been an obvious candidate for the position. One day, Wang Yang had asked him, “If you were to become the company’s CEO, what would you do to grow the company?” and liked his answer.
“We should gradually expand our company’s presence in the market while sticking to what we do best—low-budget films. By that, I mean any movies that cost less than $10,000,000, as we can’t always count on finding ultra-cheap steals like Paranormal Activity. Second, there’s little room in the market for companies that only specialize in film production. Hence, we should build an advertising channel of our own so as to regain control of our company’s image; we can’t always rely on the media to paint us in a good light. As for our revenue, we should look beyond the box office to other means of monetizing our movies. Merchandise, DVDs, live performances… wherever there’s potential for a huge payoff.”
Mark Strong spoke with great enthusiasm and candor, and he made a lot of sense. He spoke at great length about his vision for the company. His opinion was backed by facts and figures. He talked about acquiring and investing in low-budget movies and creating new revenue streams. He painted a picture of the company’s future, and Wang Yang liked that picture and the way in which he painted it.
The strategy that Mark Strong described reminded Wang Yang forcefully of Lionsgate’s strategy. But what set the two apart was the latter’s ability to separate the wheat from the chaff and sniff out hidden gems like Paranormal Activity.
“Of course,” Mark Strong said, shrugging his shoulders, “all these things require money. Unless you’re willing to fork out the cash, we may need another moonshot like Paranormal Activity.”
“We may not have Paranormal Activity anymore, but we have High School Musical,” Wang Yang replied. “I make the movies, you run the company,” Wang Yang said as he reached out for a handshake. Mark Strong grabbed his hand and shook it firmly. “You got it, boss.”
Thus, Mark Strong was appointed as the CEO of Flames Films. His probation period was three months, and his monthly salary was $20,000, which made him the highest-paid employee at the company. After the probation period, he would be awarded a full-time contract that entitled him to more benefits.
In the boardroom, Mark Strong presented the business development plan, and the key action steps for the company. He and Wang Yang came up with it. The development plan was built around High School Musical, with the action steps paving the way for its release.
Simon Willis, the VP of Publishing, was all ears. He listened intently as Mark Strong assigned his task to him. “We must target our promotional efforts at schools. During our promotional campaign, I want our posters placed in the halls of every high school, middle school, even elementary school in North America where all the kids can see them. We shall reach out to the administrators of schools and get them to support our promotional events. We shall set up a system that will allow us to screen our movie at schools during its debut. We shall do whatever it takes to reach them, for they are our most important audience.”
Wang Yang’s rendition of High School Musical was not a television film. It would not be broadcasted on television. It was meant, instead, for the big screen. But how could they debut their movie with a bang and get the first batch of customers into the cinemas? The key was advertising. Even Paranormal Activity’s spectacular success had been born out of an effective marketing strategy, namely the viral marketing tactic. If High School Musical were to become equally successful, it would need to rely on marketing as well.
After careful deliberations, Wang Yang and Mark Strong had decided preliminarily on what they called a “school saturation viral marketing campaign”. They would cover every conceivable inch of wall space across schools with colorful and attention-grabbing posters in order to arouse students’ interests and prime them for the movie’s debut, which would take place in video rooms in hundreds of schools across America. Once they had won over the students with the first wave of advertisement, they would proceed with the second wave, which was a wide release in all major cinemas.
Should High School Musical turn out to be a hit, they would capitalize on it by introducing various peripheral products, such as DVDs, original soundtrack albums, books, clothing, and toys. But they would take it one step at a time. Once High School Musical was proven to be a success, some of the peripheral products such as clothing and toys could be produced in collaboration with other companies. Some could be produced by companies that had purchased the copyrights to do so. And some, like music albums, could be produced in-house, provided Flames Films was able to acquire a record company at a good price.
But it all depended on whether High School Musical took off or not. Records labels, toys, and DVDs would be the least of Flames Films’ worries if High School Musical flopped.
“I understand.” Upon hearing Mark Strong’s game plan, Simon Willis, the middle-aged Caucasian manager, nodded and declared, “I’ll draw up a proposal after this meeting.”
“Okay. I look forward to reading it.” After that, Mark Strong gave Wang Yang a look that said, “That’s all from me.”
Wang Yang looked around the table at his subordinates sitting on either side and they looked back. He produced a copy of his script that he had printed out, but he did not trust them enough to show it to them. After all, he could barely remember their names. He waved the script in his hand and declared, “As you all probably know, a movie will soon be in the works. For now, we’re calling it High School Musical. It’s a musical set in a high school, and it’ll be directed by me.”
The staff nodded passively. It was not news to them. They had gotten wind of it a long time ago. But someone seemed a little uncomfortable. Sandy Parks, the VP of Production Acquisition, looked at Wang Yang nervously. He was a Caucasian man in his thirties. He looked as if he was going to speak but found a frog in his throat and decided to clear it. Wang Yang saw him and paused to ask politely, “Sandy, is there anything you’d like to say?”
He looked back at Wang Yang with a frown of trepidation and said, “Mr. Wang, I’m just thinking, the market for this type of musical is really quite small. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Please, call me Yang. All of you. I’m only 18. I’m Mr. Young, not Mr. Wang,” Wang Yang digressed, rolling his eyes. He did not like that everybody had been calling him Mr. Wang. It made him feel self-conscious. Every time he looked in the mirror, he saw an older man.
Suddenly, the room was filled with the staff’s laughter. Shrugging his shoulders and putting his hands up, Mark Strong smiled and said, “Okay, Mr. Young.”
Wang Yang laughed as well. Then, he looked at Sandy Parks and answered his question. “Sandy, I’ve been asking myself the same question. But in the end, I’ve decided to go ahead with it. Why? Because great movies defy industry trends. There are movies that are dictated by the market and movies that dictate it.”
Strong in his conviction, he said bravely, “I believe High School Musical has the potential to dictate the market. It all depends on us.”
“If you say so,” Sandy Parks relented and nodded. He decided not to press his views upon him, although he wanted to. Nothing he said could ever change his boss’ juvenile mind. Wang Yang had made a name for himself with Paranormal Activity at just 18 years old and was worth tens of millions of dollars. Success had struck him quickly, so it was easy for him to believe he could do no wrong. Sandy took a deep breath and crossed his fingers in silence. He could only hope that his precocious young boss knew what he was doing.
Wang Yang dropped the matter. He did not feel the need to explain himself. The truth was, he did not need anyone to validate his ideas, including High School Musical. He did not need Sandy Parks to approve of his idea. All he needed was for everybody to their job well. And as long as Sandy Parks built a fine crew for him, that was all that mattered.
“We’re going to invest around $5,000,000 in High School Musical. Of course, this is just my rough estimation. What matters is that the movie turns out well,” Wang Yang told his staff. He took out a notebook that listed all the items required for the movie shoot. He gave it to his secretary, Fiona Hudson, and she went over to Sandy Parks and gave it to him. Written in the notebook was a description of the set, props, background actors, and other things required for the movie. He told Sandy, “Sandy, we’ll be using 35mm film for this movie. The movie should come to around 200 minutes according to the script. Please give me an estimate.”
Sandy Parks took the notebook, nodded, and replied, “Sure.”
$5,000,000 was just a ballpark figure used to denote the scale of the investment. $5,000,000 was not considered a lot of money for a movie, as it could not even allow them to hire famous actors. Nevertheless, the figure was not set in stone. As the project went on, it might turn out that they needed $6,000,000 instead due to unforeseen expenditure. It might also turn out that they needed only $4,000,000 due to cost-saving.
“Also, we’ll need to hire choreographers and songwriters. This is a musical, after all. But let’s put aside all matters related to building the film crew for now.” Wang Yang tapped on his script and said excitedly, “First, we need to hold casting auditions.”
Mark Strong chimed in smilingly, “We must get High School Musical’s promotional campaign underway soon.” He looked at the VP of Publishing, Simon Willis, and said, “Simon, yesterday I asked you to get in touch with a media company and arrange for an exclusive interview. What’s the status?”
“I’ve contacted the people in charge of the entertainment section of The Los Angeles Times.” Simon glanced at Wang Yang for a second and said delightfully, “When they heard that Yang the wonder boy is setting up a new company and is making a second movie, all they could say was ‘wow’. They can hardly wait to interview us. I’m planning to schedule the interview in the afternoon, here at our office. Is that okay?”
“No problem.” Wang Yang nodded, smiled, and said, “I’ll be here.”
After the meeting, Wang Yang went back to his private office, turned on his computer, opened up the split-screen script for High School Musical, and picked up where he’d left off. For the past week, he had been busy working first on the acquisition and then on the business development plan with Mark Strong. He could not find time to write his split-screen script. Even then, he was barely halfway through it.
It was then that he began to appreciate why Steven Spielberg had refused to attend any of Dreamwork’s financial meetings, saying, “I like to keep my meetings short. Two minutes or less is probably the sweet spot.” It was because Spielberg enjoyed directing but hated business. Wang Yang breathed out through his nose audibly as he sank into his chair. It had only been fewer than two weeks, yet his mind was weary and his body was drained. The beginning of anything was always exciting, but what followed afterward was drudgery. It had become his routine to sit in the boardroom in his suit and participate in meetings all day. There were times when he felt more exhausted than he did when he’d been distributing flyers in the streets.
Thankfully, he was almost through with all the things at the company that required his oversight. Mark Strong would take it from there. Now, he could finally spend time on the things that he truly enjoyed.
“Go, go, go!” Wang Yang let out a war cry and felt a lot better. He went back to the task at hand, with his eyes on the computer screen and his fingertips tapping away on his keyboard.
In the High School Musical script, Troy, the male protagonist, came to the place where the audition for the musical was held. He was hiding behind a housekeeping cart with Gabriella, the female protagonist. They did not want other people to know they were trying out for the musical. After the audition, on the stage, there was only Ms. Darbus and Kaci Nielsen, the pianist who played accompaniment for the singers. When Gabriella saw that Ms. Darbus was about to leave, she sprang out bravely from behind the cart and went up to Ms. Darbus. She told her she wanted to try out for the musical. Meanwhile, Troy was still hiding.
In the original version that was aired on television, Ms. Darbus would say to Gabriella, “The auditions are over. Besides, you don’t have a partner,” at which point Troy would spring out from behind the cart and declared himself her partner.
Wang Yang felt a lack in that sequence. There was very little screen time devoted to Troy, particularly when he was hiding behind a wall. His internal conflict was never portrayed, and it felt somewhat hackneyed when he jumped out from his hiding place. So Wang Yang added a sequence that gave a close-up of Troy’s expressions as he stood behind the wall listening to Ms. Darbus’ words—from fear of being discovered, to empathy for Gabriella, to determination in achieving his dream—before he finally plucked up his courage and showed himself.
Wang Yang spent the morning writing his split-screen script, and when noon came, he went down to the second floor to a restaurant where he had lunch. Once fed, he returned to his office and continued working on his script.
Later in the afternoon, a reporter from The Los Angeles Times named Kim Silvers arrived at Flames Films headquarters. She had come to interview Wang Yang about his new movie and his new company. As the owner of the company, it was Wang Yang’s obligation to welcome her and give her a tour of the company. Pictures were taken. Kim was expecting a great, catchy nameplate at the front door of the company, but she was not able to take pictures of it because it was still on its way from the manufacturer. She made do with several pictures of the bustling office.
Kim mainly wanted to get the scoop on High School Musical. Wang Yang’s new company was of less importance. At the reception area, she broke the ice with a few cursory questions such as “How does it feel to be an owner of a company?” before moving on to more detailed questions about his plans for his second movie, High School Musical.
“Could you please give us a brief overview of the movie?” Kim Silvers was sitting on a sofa with a black camera propped on her shoulders. She was holding a ballpoint pen in one hand and a notepad on the other. She looked at Wang Yang, earnestly awaiting his response.
Wang Yang was sitting on the other end of the sofa. He answered, “All I can say, for now, is that it’s a story about ambition and dreams, and how young people can attain happiness by staying true to their passions.” Wang Yang refrained from going into details about the plot. To keep the audience curious about the movie and hungry for more was a crucial part of any successful movie’s advertising campaign.
Kim Silvers was aware of it as well. She accepted Wang Yang’s laconic response and scribbled it down on her notepad briskly with her pen. Then, she asked, “What made you decide to do a musical about high school? What was your inspiration for making such a movie?”
“Is it any surprise that I want to make a movie about high school? I am a teenager, after all,” Wang Yang replied with a laugh and added, “The reason was simple. I’ve always wanted to make a movie like this, and the timing seemed right, so I just followed my gut.”
“As you know, movie fans have associated you with horror movies and were expecting your next movie to be of the same genre. Are you worried that High School Musical might not be well-received by your fans?” Kim Silvers looked at Wang Yang earnestly and added, “Could you share with us your expectations for the movie?”
“I’m not worried at all. Paranormal Activity isn’t all I have to offer. For me, High School Musical is a completely new territory. It’ll be my first time shooting a movie on film, so fans will get to see another side of me.” He paused, then said confidently, “I definitely have high hopes for this movie, and I’m sure everyone will enjoy it as well. I have a good feeling about it.” Wang Yang knew he had to put up a confident front. He should not expect other people to get excited about his movie if he himself was not.
Afterward, Wang Yang answered many questions from Kim Silvers, including some about his personal life. “You’re one of the youngest multi-millionaires in America. Why do you still live in a small apartment?””Are you seeing anyone right now?””I heard you were very popular in high school. Is that true? Is High School Musical a reflection of your life in high school?”
Wang Yang grew tired of answering sensationalistic questions. He worried there would be more coverage on his personal life than on High School Musical in The Los Angeles Times tomorrow when their interview was published.
At night, Wang Yang went home to his apartment, took a hot shower, and sat in front of his computer. He was going to take a rest but decided to log on to his MSN account. He clicked on his friend list to see who was online and saw that Rachel was among them. He smiled, opened up a chatbox, and wrote a message to her. “Hi, Rachel.” Rachel had gone back to Toronto after she had seen through the post-release promotional events for Paranormal Activity. But the two of them still kept in touch online every few days. Sometimes, they would chat over the phone.
“Hi, Yang.” Rachel’s reply appeared on the screen almost instantaneously.
Wang Yang wrote, “Pack your bags. You’re coming to Los Angeles in two days’ time because auditions for High School Musical are now open!” Wang Yang had talked to Rachel about the movie previously when he had just completed his script. He had told her briefly about the story and that he would love to have her in his movie as Sharpay Evans, the female antagonist.
“Call me,” Rachel wrote.
Tapping on his keyboard with great dexterity, Wang Yang wrote, “Why don’t you call me?”
Less than a second later, she replied, “Oh, is a phone call too expensive for the youngest multi-millionaire in America?”
Wang Yang chuckled at her comment and wrote to her, “Okay.” Then he took out his cell phone, dialed her number, got connected, and said smilingly, “Hi, cheapskate.”
“Hello, Scrooge McDuck.” Wang Yang could hear her laughter clearly through the phone. She said, “Yang, you’ve found an investor?” She was not aware that Wang Yang had acquired A-Pix Entertainment and thought he was going to make the movie as a joint venture.
“No,” Wang Yang replied mysteriously. “As I’ve told you, I’m putting my own money into it. In fact, I’ve just bought a film production company.”
Rachel burst out in astonishment, “Oh, my God! Are you serious?”
Wang Yang laughed, pleased that he had managed to shock his friend. He had been keeping his acquisition a secret from his friends just so he could surprise them when the time came. Smiling, he said, “Yes. From now on, please call me ‘Mr. Boss’.”
“Okay, ‘Mr. Boss’. Tell me your story. I want to know how it all happened,” Rachel said with a smile.