Wen | AI Finance and Economics Agency Qi Ning
Edited | Nanxiang
On the day of Lichun in 2021, the chill in the entertainment industry became stronger, and the famous musician Zhao Yingjun and the film industry "legend" Zhang Zhao successively made headlines in major media headlines, and the two completely bid farewell to the things they loved in their lives on this day. Before their deaths, the works of the two were honored countless times, but they had never been so "high-profile".
Zhang Zhao's sudden departure is undoubtedly a huge loss to the film industry, Lu Chuan, Zhang Yimou and other insiders have sent grief and mourning, and a list of funeral committees has gathered many past events. From sticking to LeTV Pictures to "running away" Fosun, from founding Light Pictures to developing film IP brands, Zhang Zhao's every stroke is a heavy ink, and Orange Pictures, which has just completed financing, has unexpectedly become his last attempt.
"I was awakened in my sleep and overheard that Zhang Zhao had left us, shocked, sad, heartbroken", Jia Yueting on the other side of the ocean did not expect that he and his old friend Zhang Zhao would eventually "say goodbye" in this way.
At 13:08 on February 3, 2021, the filmmaker Mr. Zhang Zhao died in Beijing at the age of 58 due to ineffective medical treatment. That night, Zhang Yimou, Han Sanping, Ren Zhonglun, Wang Changtian and other old friends formed a funeral committee. The former employees of LeTV Pictures and Light Pictures, which he founded, have heard the news and want to send this old leader and guide for a ride.
In the eyes of his friends, he is full of ambitions and pride in the film industry. In the eyes of his subordinates, he is both a helmsman and a mentor, leading many people to push open the door of the film industry.
Unfortunately, four months ago, Zhang Zhao just started again and founded a new company, Orange Pictures, which should have been a new starting point for his film career, a new type of company that specializes in the incubation of film IP brands. Zhang Zhao once described the original intention of founding Orange Pictures, the epidemic has brought great changes to the Chinese film industry, he wants to give the industry a "sample", "I have been talking about brand movies, how many years have I said, before everyone did not think about the value of this matter." ”
Today, with the idea of brand films, or obsession, the 58-year-old "son of movies" has left us forever. Leaving behind the unfinished business and unfulfilled ideals, will anyone else do it?
The life of the Son of Cinema
Bumping into the epidemic, the film and television industry experienced the longest winter in history, after missing almost two Spring Festival stalls, 2,000 cinemas "disappeared" in 1 year, more than 45 billion box office revenue disappeared, and the remaining 500 million moviegoers fell by 70% compared with the previous year.
But also at the most ferocious time of the epidemic, Zhang Zhao has been thinking about another thing - it is time to make a brand movie, and Zhang Zhao wants to use this opportunity to reconstruct the film industry ecology.
Zhang Zhao always refers to himself as an "industrial man" rather than a "filmmaker", a title worthy of the things he did in the film industry. From sending Fudan to Shanghai at the age of 16 to studying in the United States, to returning to China as a professional manager when Hollywood was in full swing, Zhang Zhao's every turn has also been pieced together into pieces of the Chinese film industry.
In 1996, Zhang Zhao returned to China to join the Shanghai Film Group, in 2003 he joined Guangguang Media as the artistic director, in 2006 Zhang Zhao officially founded Guangguang Pictures, and thus created the local network distribution model; in 2011, at the invitation of Jia Yueting, he left Guangguang to establish LeTV Pictures. In 2019, after LeTV Pictures officially changed its name to Lechuang Entertainment, he sent the company he founded to a new journey and joined Fosun Film and Television Group to start a new career. Until May 2020, Zhang Zhao resigned as Fosun and once again embarked on the road of entrepreneurship.
However, before starting a business, Zhang Zhao's life ended abruptly at 13:08 on February 3 due to cholangitis, from the discovery of the disease to the departure of the world, only less than 1 month, the rapid development of the disease shocked many people, until he left, many former friends are still lamenting "unbelievable". The family members revealed in grief that even on the morning of his death, Zhang Zhao was talking about work. Wang Changtian, president of Light Media, commented in the eulogy: Zhang Zhao was born for the movie, died for the movie, and exhausted his life for the movie.
The workaholic label was put on the moment it joined Light Media. Zhang Zhao graduated from New York University with a degree in film production, personally experienced the prosperity of Hollywood, and became more aware that the cornerstone of the film industry is distribution. Having seen Fudan alumnus Wang Changtian, all this has been scheduled in the dark, and the market-oriented road of "investing in movies and doing distribution" has slowly opened.
Later, Zhang Zhao took the lead in seeing the possibility of Internet movies, and at the invitation of Jia Yueting, he jumped into LeTV Pictures and tried IP and serial film development for the first time. Now, referring to Jia Yueting and the years related to LeTV, Zhang Zhao did not complain, more is nostalgia, he said that LeTV is the most supportive innovation in many companies he has experienced, he originally wanted to develop the cause, it is related to innovation, start a new business, Zhang Zhao to do is a new consumer brand in the film industry.
Unfinished business
LeTV night watchman, professional manager, producer, in the past many years, the outside world has given Zhang Zhao a lot of labels.
As one of the remaining troops, he was inevitably put on the cusp of the storm, but he still fulfilled his last duty.
In June 2019, after the renaming of Lechuang Entertainment (formerly LeTV Pictures), smoothly survived the crisis, Zhang Zhaocai finally decided to leave and join Fosun Group. Fosun's film and television business, which was mainly focusing on the international market at that time, was very compatible with Zhang Zhao's overseas study background. But only 10 months later, new news came from the industry, Zhang Zhao left Fosun - that was the most ferocious time of the epidemic, in the outside world's speculation and doubts, Zhang Zhao founded Orange Pictures, with the intention of targeting the film IP branding business.
At such a low point in the industry this year, at the age of 58, which is not suitable for entrepreneurship, Zhang Zhao's restart, which seems "out of date", has unexpectedly received a warm response from the market.
From July to October 2020, in just three months, the new company Orange Pictures received investment from Asaishi Venture Capital, Hualu Baina, and Lichenguang. Some people believe that the entry of these capitals is against Zhang Zhao's industry status, but he himself is quite humble, "Not only me, the industry capital has seen the opportunity of the inflection point, the film industry has fallen to the bottom, it is time to bottom out." "
Prior to this, Zhang Zhao was known as the most film-savvy company executive in the industry, considered one of the most respected figures in the Chinese film industry, and The Hollywood Reporter once published a full-page article calling him "the Renaissance standard-bearer of the upgrading of China's film industry." Zhang Zhao's career is full of innovative measures of epoch-making significance to the industry.
During his tenure as president of Light Pictures, Zhang Zhao pioneered the "ground network distribution" model, produced and distributed more than 20 commercial films, maintained a growth rate of 100% for four consecutive years, and created a "light speed" that attracted the attention of the Chinese film industry.
According to incomplete statistics from AI Finance and Economics, Zhang Zhao participated in the production of as many as 50 works before his death, with a total box office of 9.966 billion, including many blockbuster works such as "Return", "The Great Wall", "Shadow" and "Little Times".
The "Little Times" and "Bear Haunting" big movie series that rolled up the IP wave still have box office myths in the industry today. The original intention of founding Orange Pictures is to deepen the practice of these cases, and Zhang Zhao intends to try to create a brand film, that is, "while doing a good job in film content, starting from consumer demands, develop brandable film products". Zhang Zhao believes that the content industry should think more at a more diversified level, technology, channels, commercialization, marketing, consumer experience, etc. "Under the force majeure factor of the epidemic, if you only stay in the dimension of content, it will be easy to have problems."
From the perspective of the market situation in 2020, the recovery speed of the consumer goods market is indeed stronger than that of movies, Zhang Zhao believes that the cinema actively gave up the social function and lost the value attribute of the movie IP brand, which is precisely the lack of industry that Zhang Zhao hopes to make up in the future.
In the days when he had just left Fosun Pictures, Zhang Zhao often shut himself in his room alone, writing and planning the future of the film industry he envisioned. A plan is exactly two months, which is also the trough period of Chinese films. In the summer of 2020, due to the delay in opening the cinema, many people were discouraged and left. Worried that more young people would leave, Zhang Zhao rushed to find a friend to give an online speech, and later he said that he just wanted to tell everyone not to leave, and the film industry still had a chance.
When the financing was about to be completed, Zhang Zhao pulled his wife Huang Ziyan countless times to discuss how to do the brand movie. Although Huang Ziyan occasionally feels crazy, she feels proud in her heart, because Zhang Zhao wants to do something for the film industry. Later, recognized by her friends, she saw Zhang Zhao write happiness on her face, and she was also happy.
Perhaps compared with the lack of recognition by peers many years ago, today's Zhang Zhao is finally considered to be doing the right thing, and the constructive significance of the epidemic to the film and television industry may not be less destructive than that, but this time he is too late to verify.
After decades of working in the film industry, Zhang Zhao finally dedicated his life completely to film. Before his death, he expressed a desire to engrave the words "Children of Cinema" on his tombstone.
The spring of 2021 has not really arrived, and the "son of movies" has left forever.
This article is originally produced by AI Finance and Economics, an account of Caijing Tianxia Weekly, without permission, please do not reprint it on any channel or platform. Violators will be prosecuted.