"When creating works, we don't chase fast, we don't pursue quantity, we want to create a fine product, just like the epic horse show "Troy" we are doing now, we spent three years and invested nearly 300 million yuan to create an extreme work." Shadow Knight Culture CEO Xu Yan said to Yi Ou.
In December 2013, after staying for 8 years of Emperor Entertainment Group, Xu Yan began to think about the show activities he had always wanted to do but did not have time to do, when Emperor Entertainment, Xu Yan was very optimistic about the performance market, optimistic about the "show", he believes that under the consumption upgrade, "show" will be a very mainstream entertainment project in the future.
"It's not easy to get creative, rehearsal, horse-picking, casting, bringing together the top artists from 12 countries, and it's a hundred times harder to make this show than making a movie." Talking about the Ma show "Troy", which will be performed at the Bird's Nest in July this year, Xu Yan felt a lot of emotions, and even choked up at the scene of the "Troy" ticket opening ceremony.
From the CEO of Emperor Entertainment Group China, the CEO of New Asia Entertainment Group, and now the CEO of Shadow Knight Culture, Xu Yan's current state is even busier, and in the exchange with Yiou, there will be employees who take contracts from time to time to let him sign. Because in addition to being the CEO of Shadow Knight Culture, he is also the chief producer of Troy.
Troy cannot be copied
Ma Xiu performance is very popular in Europe, almost everywhere there are Ma Xiu performances, but in China, Ma Xiu is actually a relatively fresh word, and only a few people have really seen Ma Xiu, and Xu Yan chose to invest nearly 300 million yuan, spending 3 years to create a Ma Show, its boldness is indeed admirable, but admiration is inevitably a little worried, how high is the acceptance of this Ma Show by the domestic audience? And how many viewers are willing to pay for it?
For such a question, Xu Yan replied very crisply, "Of course, I am confident, we have planned that "Troy" will be performed in two cities every year, the first year is Beijing and Sanya, and the second year may be Guangzhou and Shanghai. ”
Xu Yan analysis: In recent years, China is no longer golf fever, more horse riding fever. At present, there are more than 150 horse riding clubs in Beijing, and the horse-related industries are also rising year by year, and more and more Chinese have begun to like horses and become people who love horses.
Secondly, "Troy" cannot be copied, it is original. Xu Yan confessed that he did not think of doing a horse show at the beginning, but wu Jie, an investor in shadow knights, proposed that Wu Jie have his own horse farms and horses at home and abroad, and the horses participating in "Troy" are bought out and are the fixed assets of shadow knights.
In the main creative team, in addition to Xu Yan himself, there are director Liu Xiao, famous stage designer Liang Wenbo, as well as Xie Yongwei, the high-altitude conductor from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games, Jia Lei, the chief designer of the model, the famous costume designer simonona morresi from Italy, and the famous Hollywood composer Tyler bates... The actors invited in "Troy" are all foreigners.
Equestrian male god, Olympic knight Huatian & Jackie Evancho, a famous American classical crossover young singer, jointly served as the image ambassador of the horse show "Troy".
"Most importantly, the show was original, not introduced. Although the story is foreign, the whole show is original. ”
"Troy" is based on "Homer's Epic", which is a love story of heroes and beautiful women at home and abroad for thousands of years, and it is the first time in the world that this story has been made into a horse show.
Shows, film and television, and drama are the three major layouts that we value
Xu Yan introduced that the main project currently done by Shadow Knight Culture Company is Ma Xiu's "Troy", and in the company's entire layout, it actually focuses on three aspects: show, film and television, drama, spanning music, dance, film and television, drama, fashion, new media, large-scale real scenes, sports industry, tourism and performing arts and other fields, and is committed to promoting cross-border cooperation between artists and art groups from all over the world.
Moreover, Xu Yan stressed that in the entire industry chain, Shadow Knight basically covers creativity, production, operation, publicity and other links.
China's wealthy group is huge, and the accumulation of wealth is increasing year by year. According to statistics, China's middle-income population is the largest in the world in absolute terms, reaching 109 million people, and as of now, the number of multi-millionaires in China exceeds 1 million. In the context of the entire consumption upgrade, Xu Yan mentioned that he is optimistic about the development of the three industries of entertainment, sports and tourism. Among them, the growth rate of China's entertainment industry has remained above 40% for six consecutive years, and even more than 50% in 2015, and the entertainment industry and its parent cultural industry have become a new sunrise industry in China.
For the company's future development, Xu Yan said, "We are ambitious, Shadow Knight must be the leader of the performing arts market, to be the most powerful company." He also mentioned that after the completion of the "Troy" project, it will concentrate on making some film and television works, and there are already corresponding plans.
In fact, this time is to move foreign stories to China, Xu Yan said that in the future they may do another show, some of China's characteristic culture, characteristic national customs, but also through a series of creative packaging, put into the foreign market.
The key to the success of a performance is creativity
Regarding Xu Yan himself, in 2005, he went from Hong Kong to the mainland, integrating the cultural and entertainment resources of the mainland, Hong Kong and overseas, and making great contributions to promoting the development of the cultural industry in the mainland.
During his time at The Emperor, he served as a full music consultant and judge for the 2006 CCTV "Dream China", and then successfully held a series of "Dream China" national concert tours; he served as a judge for CCTV's "Avenue of Stars" and Hunan Satellite TV's "Happy Girl".
In 2008, together with Jackie Chan China and China Film, he hosted bTV's annual "Descendants of the Dragon" large-scale talent show. In addition, in recent years, he has planned and independently operated a number of large-scale concerts, including "The Same Song" into Dazhou, Jackie Chan's "Confidence in China" Bird's Nest Concert, Mizuki Nianhua solo singing, Yang Kun solo singing, etc. It can be said that Xu Yan's achievements in the show business circle are quite high, and he has also gained a lot of contacts and resources.
In Xu Yan's view, the domestic performance market is very large, and there are more opportunities. Especially now that people's affluence is increasing, the demand for entertainment other than materials is becoming more and more intense.
And how to do a good show, Xu Yan said that in fact, the main thing is creativity, the quality of the work, this is the most fundamental. Even if a work invites more big names, but the creativity is not good, the quality is not good, and the audience will not pay in the end.
The second is to look at the time, just like the schedule of the movie, the time of launch is also very important.
Finally, the location. When choosing a city or a certain region, you need to consider the fit of local audiences with their own products.
The author of this article is Meng Xiaohui, a columnist of Yiou; the content of this article is the personal opinion of the author and does not mean that Yiou endorses or supports the views.