The point that Li Mu wanted to convey was that the film and television industry needed industrial centralization, and the industrial centralization of the film and television industry needed to rely on a strong local economy. Only economically developed areas could attract people related to film and television to settle down and develop, and only economically developed areas could film and television companies gather together. Similarly, economically developed areas could also cultivate the entire film and television industry chain.
And if he wanted to choose the most suitable place to build a Hollywood from Hua Xia, then Beijing and Shanghai were undoubtedly the best choices. However, Li Mu lacked understanding of Shanghai. Apart from the acquisition of Weilan's real estate, he did not really develop any industry in Shanghai. He lacked a local foundation, so it was impossible for him to let Wanying Real Estate go to Shanghai to develop a film and television base. Therefore, for him, the most suitable choice was Beijing.
However, an area of tens to hundreds of square kilometers was indeed a huge burden for Beijing. This not only meant the investment of land resources, but also the high cost of land use and the cost of large-scale relocation. Therefore, the leaders expressed their concerns, hoping that Li Mu could give a solution.
Li Mu replied, "Regarding the area of land, I understand very well that Beijing's land resources are precious, so I dare not expect the entire film and television base to be in Beijing. According to our current plan, we hope to build the film and television base at the junction of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. The main body of the base will be attached to Beijing, and it will spread to Tianjin and Hebei. Moreover, we do not need the entire base to be completely integrated. It can be designed as an archipelago, choosing the land with the lowest relocation cost to develop in an archipelago style. Just like the Maldives, although it is composed of countless islands, because they are not far from each other, it can still form a concentrated tourism industry."
"At that time, our film and television base will also be divided into several sections. The total area of each section may be about one square kilometer, and the largest will not exceed three square kilometers. Moreover, even if these sections are separated by a few kilometers, it is not a big deal. It can be reached in a few minutes by car. This distance advantage is much greater than Beijing to Hengdian, and it will not affect our goal of industrial centralization. At the same time, it will reduce the cost to the greatest extent, reducing the demand for land resources for our project."
The leaders in the city heaved a sigh of relief. If they didn't need a piece of land of dozens of square kilometers or a few pieces of land of ten square kilometers, the feasibility of the project would be much higher. If they really built the three sites together, it could further reduce the pressure on Beijing's land resources.
However, the leaders also had their concerns. One of the leaders said to Li Mu, "In theory, there is no problem with the joint construction of the three places, but this kind of project is not a national project, so Yanjing does not have the right to directly intervene with the other two governments. This kind of project is built in the territory of the other two places, but the main body is attached to Yanjing. I'm afraid the two governments will find it difficult to accept this kind of cooperation."
Li Mu said, "We've also considered this before. Wherever the main body is attached to, it will naturally have a certain brand value to that place. For a project like a film and television base, there can only be one main body attached to a region. Therefore, if we attach the main body to Beijing, we will have to tilt some resources to the other two places.
"Our current initial idea is that although the main body is attached to Beijing, the entire film and television base will adopt a structure of 'one main body and three subsidiaries'. In other words, there will be one main body registered in Beijing, and the three subsidiaries will be registered in Beijing, Jinshi, and Langfang respectively. Then, we will clearly divide the assets.
"In theory, all the assets invested in the construction of a place will belong to the locally registered subsidiary, which will pay taxes to the local government and provide a certain number of jobs to the local government. If the local government is interested in cooperating with us on the capital level, they can also invest in the local subsidiary. We can give up to 49% of the shares to the local government and local enterprises at most. After all, the overall investment is huge, and the cycle is long. We welcome external capital to cooperate with us in the development.
"Other than that, although our main body is attached to Beijing and our own marketing is also using Beijing Wanying Film and Television Base as our brand, the other two governments can also use the base's name to promote their cities. For example, Jinshi can advertise the Wanying Film and Television Base in their city district, and Langfang can also advertise the Wanying Film and Television Base in Langfang."
Registering three subsidiaries was a solution that Li Mu came up with to avoid the dissatisfaction of the local governments. Land was a very precious resource to the local governments, and it was also an important support for the local governments to attract investment. Since he wanted to use the local land, he had to repay the local government. Otherwise, if he just relied on his reputation, influence to interfere with the other party's judgment, and Beijing City to pressure the other two places, even if the other two places agreed to give him the land, they would definitely be unwilling.
Therefore, registering the subsidiaries separately would be able to account to the other two governments in terms of tax, employment, and political achievements. The branch in Jinshi would hire 50% of the employees from Jinshi, pay taxes to Jinshi, and report the profits to the parent company. It was the same for the branch in Langfang.
In addition, allowing the two governments to advertise the film and television base in their local names was also an additional subsidy for their fame.
After this solution was presented, the worries in the hearts of the leaders of Yanjing City were greatly alleviated. They began to feel that this project was indeed feasible in theory. Since it was feasible in theory, the next step was to consider the feasibility from theory to practice.
Li Mu then showed the aerial photos and aerial survey maps that Wanying Real Estate had hired an aerial survey company to take in advance in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. The maps marked the land use situation of the areas where the three cities were connected. Li Mu pointed at the many strange-shaped areas marked on the aerial maps and introduced, "The areas marked on the maps are mostly cultivated land and areas that are yet to be developed. They are also the sites that we will focus on in the future. The film and television base project cannot avoid expropriating the cultivated land of the farmers, so we will pay compensation according to the national standards and provide jobs to the farmers whose land is expropriated.
In the future, the construction of the base will require a large amount of labor, and the operation of the base will also require a large amount of labor. We can provide many low-tech jobs to the local farmers whose land is expropriated, such as security, sanitation, gardening, service, and so on. This way, we can avoid conflicts over land expropriation as much as possible and properly solve the living problems of the farmers whose land is expropriated.
In addition to providing jobs, when the film and television base is completed, a large number of film crews, extras, staff, and tourists will swarm in, which will definitely generate a large amount of consumption. At that time, we can support the local villagers to engage in retail and service industries. There are many ways to support them, such as reducing the management fees, reducing the percentage of commission, lowering the store rent, and so on. This will effectively increase the income of the local farmers whose land is expropriated. "
Several leaders nodded their heads in approval. Li Mu's consideration was indeed relatively comprehensive. Not only did he consider the feelings of the local government, but he also planned a more comprehensive land expropriation and appropriate settlement plan for the local farmers whose land is expropriated. In this way, it wouldn't be a big problem to convince the other two cities to participate in this project.
However, considering that this project would eventually reach tens of billions of yuan, the city leaders were very cautious about the capital chain. No one was willing to have such a large unfinished project under their own governance, so they were very concerned about the source of funds for Li Mu's film and television base project. Although the city was willing to give a certain amount of subsidies and discounts to such a high-quality project, it would only be icing on the cake.
Li Mu was already prepared for this problem. He confidently explained to the leaders, "Currently, Wanying Real Estate has a good corporate reputation. We are confident that we can solve part of the capital problem through bank loans. In addition, such a large project, we hope to cooperate with a listed company. Therefore, a large state-owned tourism company like the China Youth Travel Service will be our priority partner. I believe they will be very interested in this project. We have reserved 49% of the shares for external partners, and I believe we can attract a certain amount of capital to cooperate with them."
As he spoke, Li Mu added, "That's right, I previously promised the central bank that after Makino Technology is listed, I will invest 2.5 billion US dollars in the country through the central bank, which is equivalent to more than 20 billion yuan. Of this 20 billion yuan, a portion will be reserved for the film and television base project. The specific amount will range from 5 billion to 10 billion yuan, so Makino Technology will also become one of the shareholders of the film and television base in the future. All in all, we have a very strong guarantee for our capital problem, and we will not have a problem with the capital chain breaking."
The 5 billion to 10 billion yuan investment budget of Makino Technology made the leaders feel completely relieved. Their expressions also began to be filled with excitement. They immediately changed the topic of the discussion from what Wanying Real Estate was going to do to what support Wanying Real Estate needed from the city government.
Li Mu said with a smile, "We hope that the city government will give us support. First, it will be recognition of the project itself and approval of the project. Then, it will be support and help in the process of land acquisition. Lastly, it will be the bank. We hope that the city government can endorse us to a certain extent, so that we can fight for more favorable loan terms from the bank. If the city government can give us this support, I believe that Wanying Real Estate will definitely repay Beijing with a high-quality cultural investment project that will last for decades. More importantly, it will make Beijing a veritable stronghold of Chinese movies, become the birthplace of Chinese movies, and become the true Hollywood of the East."
If such a large-scale film and television base were to be built, it would undoubtedly give full play to the advantages of Beijing in the field of film and television production. It would allow Beijing to surpass the rest of the world in the field of modern culture and be at the forefront of the country. This was very attractive to the name card of Beijing.
Beijing's economy was currently ranked second in the country, and it was inferior to Shanghai. In the cultural field, only historical culture could form an overwhelming advantage over Shanghai, but there was no obvious gap in the modern cultural field. So much so that Shanghai was even vaguely younger and more active than Beijing in this aspect. The Gubeishui Town Project enhanced Beijing's historical culture, but it still lacked an absolute advantage in the modern cultural field.
Now, the opportunity had come. If this large-scale film and television base was built, it would form an entire industry chain of creativity, production, and processing for the film and television industry. Beijing would also become the undisputed number one in the modern cultural field.
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