From 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Tang Wei sat by the window of a hotel in Hong Kong. Wearing a stand-up collar suit and his signature curly hair, he chatted with waves of reporters about the new company without showing any signs of fatigue. everything.
It was a long-lost public appearance. As the former global vice chairman of Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank on Wall Street, Tang Wei was once the "Asian with the highest position on Wall Street". This glorious experience came to an end when Bear Stearns was acquired by JPMorgan in 2008.
In the past few years, Tang Wei has still appeared in several major Sino-US cross-border entertainment industry transactions, such as: In 2012, when Wanda Group acquired AMC Entertainment from Apollo Global Management for US$2.6 billion, he brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller ; Since then, he has provided a lot of help for Huayi Brothers to invest in STX Entertainment.
Today, 55-year-old Tang Wei is no longer satisfied with his status as a "gainer". He turned and walked into Hollywood in the image of a film and television entrepreneur.
A global distribution network
Before this public appearance, Tang Wei and his film and television company "Tang Media Partners" (hereinafter referred to as TMP) had been dormant for three years.
Compared to its forerunners - Warner Bros., MGM, Paramount and other American studios, this may be a slightly unfamiliar name to you. But in the past three years, TMP has quietly completed a series of deployments.
In April 2015, Huayi Brothers and STX reached a cooperation in the film list, and planned to jointly invest, shoot and distribute no less than 18 films by the end of 2017. In this cooperation, TMP is also an important participant, it invested 50 million US dollars, holding 25% of the shares. This is also the first major investment of TMP, which was established not long ago.
A year later, TMP bought a majority stake in IM Global from Reliance Group, owned by Indian businessman Anil Ambani. The latter is the No. 1 independent film production and distribution company independent of the six major film companies in the United States, and its distribution capabilities in more than 50 countries are its core competitiveness. Previously, IM GLobal has released many Chinese films to the international market, such as "Embroidered Spring Knife", "The Mermaid", "Old Pao'er", "Looking for the Dragon" and so on. It is also one of the earliest investors in the 2016 hit movie "Blood Battle Hacksaw Ridge", accounting for more than 50% of the shares.
"In the film and television industry pipeline, distribution is the link closest to the destination. For latecomers, building a distribution network by itself is time-consuming and risky." Tang Wei told 36氪 that this is the strategy determined at the beginning of TMP’s establishment : Different from most film and television companies' idea of "distribution from content production", TMP does the opposite, starting with distribution, which is closer to the "destination" in the film industry process.
Due to the absolute proportion of North America and China in the global film market, Tang Wei's roadmap is: the acquisition of IM is only the first step, and there must be a distribution team specializing in the above two places.
In November 2016, TMP COO Kangjie found their Chinese partner, Shanghai-based Xinlin Pictures. Kang Jie was Tang Wei's former department during Bear Stearns, and joined Xiaonanguo as CEO after 2008. The founder of Xinlin Pictures, Jin Zhongbo, once served as vice president of SMG and CEO of TVB China, and has rich content operation capabilities. Jin Zhongbo told 36氪 that TMP’s business in China will be mainly implemented through Xinlin, and a team of more than 30 people has been recruited, covering areas such as distribution and content development and production.
At the same time, Tang Wei is also looking for suitable targets in North America. One thing that needs to be explained is that the announcement cost and the number of screens of a film in North America will directly affect its price in the international market. "Even in the international sales contracts of many films, the North American theater distribution will be made. Special regulations." In short, North American theatrical distribution plays a decisive role in the global box office of English-language films.
At the end of 2016, after "seeing all North American distribution companies", Open Road Films (hereinafter referred to as OR), a Hollywood film distribution and production company, became the best choice in Tang Wei's eyes.
The young company, founded in 2011, made a name for itself by distributing the film Spotlight, which won Oscars for best picture and best original screenplay in 2016. Negotiations continued until the summer of 2017, and TMP finally acquired OR for $28.8 million.
So far, IM (more than 50 countries in the world) + OR (North America) + Xinlin (China) have been superimposed together, enabling TMP to have the ability to distribute to the global market.
"This is something the 'Big Six' has not done and probably won't do, but we have done it, and we have done it." Tang Wei said that the priority distribution network will attract more film and television to TMP Content partners, "For any content team, the distribution resources that TMP can give are unique."
China and the United States "dual-core strategy"
The reason why he decided to switch to the film and television industry is due to Tang Wei's many years of observation of the Chinese and American film industry markets.
Chinese films have become the market with the most growth potential in the world - this has long been a consensus, and more importantly, in the process of industrialization of American films, the efficiency of publicity and distribution is low, which is not the case in China, but "the production quality of domestic films is low, and Not good at expressing Chinese culture in world languages.”
This is exactly the opportunity that Tang Wei saw, "How to take advantage of each other, so we proposed to do a 'dual-core' strategy." Tang Wei explained the so-called dual-core strategy in a vernacular: "It is how to put China Spreading content to the world, and bringing Hollywood content to China.” In line with this, TMP defines itself: “We are not a pure Chinese company, nor a pure American company.” To this end, TMP in Los Angeles and Shanghai Established dual headquarters.
This is also something Tang Wei is very good at in his years of financial career - based on his understanding of the East and West, he can always easily become a "bridge builder" between China and the United States. Dominic Ng, chairman of East West Bank, the largest Chinese bank in the United States, once commented: "He is the one who can help you put all your resources together."
In order to fully build content production capabilities, Tang Wei also hired Lionsgate executive Rob Friedman. 2017 was a bumper year for the veteran film and television company: it was nominated for a total of 26 Oscars, including La La Land and Hacksaw Ridge. After TMP acquired IM Global and OR, Tang Wei merged the two companies into the same brand: Gloabl Road, which will include all businesses in other regions except China, and Rob's new identity is GR's CEO.
On April 9, when TMP was established nearly 3 years ago, the first media meeting was held. Tang Wei and his many partners also announced three company business developments -
TMP, Tencent Pictures and China Everbright established a joint investment group to jointly purchase the distribution rights of Hollywood and other films in the Chinese market, and it is expected to purchase 10 to 20 films per year;
In October last year, TMP and Penguin Films jointly acquired the latest work "Till Dao", the latest work of the mainland online novel author "Dream into the Spirit", and the two parties will jointly invest in and produce its series of TV series. Tencent Video has made it clear that it will purchase the online copyright of the play;
For Bollywood, which has been continuously introduced to China recently, TMP has also taken action. It announced a joint venture with Reliance Entertainment, a leading local media and entertainment group, to co-produce and introduce outstanding local film productions to both markets.
It is not difficult to see that these actions are closely related to TMP's efforts in content production, which is also the only way for this young company to catch up with established film companies.
Although most of the film and television production is completed in the form of cooperation with external parties, in an interview with 36Kr, Tang Wei repeatedly emphasized that the ultimate vision of TMP is: "Most films and TV series are produced and distributed by us, and a small part is sold and sold by us. , and a small part where we help others distribute.”
Allies of TMP
As mentioned above, in the past three years, Tang Wei has fully demonstrated the business operation ability he has cultivated in his nearly 30-year financial career, whether in the gathering of talents or the scheduling and integration of resources from all parties.
In 1982, an 18-year-old Shanghai youth, Tang Wei, came to the United States with only $20. He used part-time jobs to earn money to study chemical engineering at California State Polytechnic University. All jobs were rejected." After many years in the securities industry, until 1992, Bear Stearns hired him to take over the business of the branch in Hong Kong. Here, Tang Wei became the global vice chairman of Bear Stearns and the CEO of the Asian company.
This 16-year investment banking experience has accumulated a lot of business resources for Tang Wei, and also attracted a strong lineup of capital for TMP.
As early as 2015, Shen Nanpeng invested in TMP in his own name and is now a member of its board of directors. Tang Wei revealed that before the establishment of TMP, he and Shen Nanpeng had several "very profound discussions", "even several directions of TMP were discussed together."
Tencent also invested in TMP in 2015. This Chinese Internet giant with "culture + technology" as its future strategy is regarded by Tang Wei as an "excellent strategic partner", but he stressed that the cooperation between TMP and Tencent "is by no means an Exclusive".
In addition, TMP's shareholders also include Everbright Holdings, China Culture Holdings, Huayi Brothers and Gopher Assets.
As the second largest shareholder of TMP (the largest shareholder is the founding team), Ai Yu, managing director of Everbright Holdings, said in an interview with 36氪 that its new economy team has completed the cultivation of talents in the entertainment industry – film and television production and Distribution - online content - artist agency - comic IP operation - content output platform - social entertainment platform layout, "grab the head in each segment". And TMP is "the most important platform layout in the field of film and television".
In Ai Yu's view, once TMP is fully formed, it will be a "very scarce asset". He is full of confidence, "TMP and the Big Six, the future is an alternative relationship."
From TMP, it is not difficult to see such a trend: Chinese capital is becoming an important force in Hollywood. In the film "Billy Lynn's Halftime Battle" directed by Ang Lee, an agent said: "As long as it can be made into a movie, I can go to China for financing." This line once made the audience laugh. Behind it is the obvious reality of Chinese capital entering Hollywood.
In this regard, Tang Wei instead gave a more individual reason: "The Chinese market is relatively early, and from the perspective of TMP itself, the Chinese team is still in the early stage of construction, and it is very necessary for local strategic investors to develop the market together with us."
Regarding the future film and television market, Tang Wei believes that it can only be described with the words "high-speed change". But he was certain that the TMP who entered the game at the moment had a blue ocean ahead.
The example he repeatedly cited is: In North America, box office revenue accounts for only one-third of the total revenue of the film and television industry, while in China, the figure is 90%. This means that the non-theatrical revenue (derivatives, etc.) of Chinese films will increase significantly in the future. "For TMP, which is positioned to have development, production and global multi-platform distribution capabilities, this will also be one of our entry points. ".
The following is part of Tang Wei's interview with 36氪, which is slightly excerpted:
36氪: Compared with the Big Six in the U.S. and China’s film production and distribution companies, what breakthrough strategy does TMP, which entered the market later in, have?
Tang Wei: American films are in great need of the Chinese market. The former has relatively limited market growth space, while China has huge potential. But for Chinese films, although our cost of publicity and distribution is relatively low, our content production capabilities are not good enough, and we don’t know how to express Chinese culture in Hollywood language and world language.
For us, it's a process of taking advantage of each other. This is why we put forward the "dual-core strategy": that is, to build a production and distribution platform and a local team in China and the United States at the same time, while in other parts of the world, pre-sale is adopted to recover funds and reduce risks. Markets in China and the United States account for 80% of the global box office, while international pre-sales and tax rebates together can cover 80% of the cost. In other words, we only need to pay 20% of the cost to obtain 80% of the market opportunity.
Or the "dual-core strategy" can be simply understood as: we are rooted in Hollywood, but also in China; we are familiar with Hollywood's game rules, and understand China's market dynamics, and we will learn from Hollywood's storytelling methods and production techniques to improve the quality of Chinese content .
Of course, this also relies on TMP's unique advantages: we have distribution networks in China, North America and the world, which is a necessary condition to achieve "dual core". The Big Six in the U.S. have not done this, and probably will not do it, and domestic film and television production companies have relatively few overseas expansions.
36氪: Many film and television companies start with content production first, and then cut to distribution. TMP does the opposite?
Tang Wei: At the beginning of the establishment of TMP, we realized that building an operation platform in the United States requires branding and long-term accumulation, and it is more feasible to use mergers and acquisitions. We also realize that we must have a distribution network in the United States and the ability to license globally in order to provide creators with a "one-stop" service.
Obviously, the distribution is closer to the "destination", and the certainty is stronger. If you start with content production, what if others don't distribute it? Moreover, once the full distribution platform is mastered, it will naturally attract a large number of content production teams.
Under the guidance of such a strategic logic, we approached almost all local American distributors and international licensing companies "from top to bottom", and finally chose the independent film and television companies that ranked first in the international sales and North American distribution sectors respectively. IM Global and Open Road were the acquisition targets, and the transaction was completed within a short period of time. After the acquisition, we integrated the two companies according to the plan, established Global Road, and hired Rob, a former Lionsgate executive with rich resources and experience, to manage and promote.
36氪: With a global distribution network, what is your attitude towards content production, another leg of film and television companies?
Tang Wei : The relationship between distribution and content is like the relationship between a bow and an arrow. You must have a good bow in order to shoot the arrow out and hit the target. Therefore, to control the fate of your content, you must have your own distribution network. But content is the soul of a film and television company, and it is also our most important strategic direction now.
After building the distribution network, we are actively building high-level film lists in China and the United States. For example, recent projects include 007 series producer Barbara Broccolli's new film "Rhythm Section" starring Blake Lively. And we just announced yesterday that we have cooperated with well-known Hollywood producer Lorenzo di Burnaventura to develop a Chinese Kung Fu co-production. The film "The Last Masters". Of course, this is only a small part.
36氪: When you were 52 years old, was it difficult to switch from an investment banker to the film and television entertainment industry?
Tang Wei: In fact, in the 1980s and 1990s, when I was an investment banker, I was exposed to many fields related to entertainment and games. After leaving Bear Stearns, he also served as a consultant in some cross-border entertainment industry transactions. This field is not new to me. After I left Wall Street, I was wondering what I was going to do. I wanted to try something new, so I had to choose the brightest star on the market.
36氪: What is your final positioning for TMP?
Tang Wei: The ultimate vision of TMP is: a one-stop complete ecological company with content development, production and global multi-platform distribution.
At present, we already have three cooperation plans - the simplest is to only do distribution; the higher one is to buy out the content of other companies; the highest level is to do it ourselves, taking over all aspects of IP development, incubation, production and distribution. link. Of course, at this stage, we will still cooperate with a large number of external teams. In the future, we hope that most of the films will be self-made, a small part will be sold through sales, and a small part will be distributed for others.