>On December 7, new screenwriter Liu Xiaofeng revealed on Weibo that Wang Sicong’s "banana plan" owed him 800,000 yuan in script bonus.
>Liu Xiaofeng said that due to his family’s financial pressure, he once recorded a kneeling video for Banana Film CEO Wei Xiangdong, imploring him to convey his anxiety to Wang Sicong.
>Four days after the incident was exposed, Liu Xiaofeng toldEntertainment StudioNow that the other party doesn’t care about public opinion, he is also using legal means to defend himself.
>Liu Xiaofeng’s experience once again exposed the industry dilemma facing new Chinese screenwriters.
>He told his screenwriter friend that he hoped to be the last screenwriter in China to be defaulted on royalties, and his friend replied: Dream on, in your next life.
Screenshot from Liu Xiaofeng Weibo
Uncashed 800,000
>Liu Xiaofeng used to work in the hotel industry. In late 2017, his script "Tower Cry" entered the stage of frequent meetings with partners. In order not to affect his job, he chose to quit his job as a full-time screenwriter.
>Non-academic, without any school, Liu Xiaofeng, who is fighting alone, is eager to find a company and become a contracted screenwriter.
>In the second half of 2018, he saw the first "Banana New Screenwriter Dream Realization Project" organized by Wang Sicong. After submission and interview, his script "Genius Screenwriter" finally won the third prize and became one of the six winners. According to the promise, the prize should be 800,000 yuan.
>Picture from Liu Xiaofeng Weibo
>Afterwards, Liu Xiaofeng and Banana Film signed a relevant contract agreement, and cooperated with the script copyright transfer according to the agreement. According to Liu Xiaofeng, from July to December 2019, Banana Film did not fulfill the contractual commitment to pay the bonus within the specified time after the copyright transfer. At that time, Banana Film CEO Wei Xiangdong explained that Wang Sicong was only a temporary financial problem, and would still pay the bonus to incubate the script and shoot the film when the funds were turned around.
>Until September 2020, Liu Xiaofeng was under great financial pressure due to family reasons, and asked Wei for a bonus again. The other party replied that Wang Sicong did not give him the money, and he could not manage it even if he was a part-time worker.
>According to Liu Xiaofeng’s understanding, several other award-winning screenwriters are well-connected in the circle and have basically chosen to terminate their contracts with Banana Pictures. However, he believes that the copyright of his script "Genius Screenwriter" has been owned by Banana Pictures for more than a year and a half, and he hopes to get his own bonus.
>Picture from Liu Xiaofeng Weibo
Two big pits in front of new screenwriters
>In his three years in the industry, Liu Xiaofeng has yet to make a single production. He has written about 10 original scripts, including "Genius Screenwriters", and sold a total of three original scripts, which has become his main source of income.
>As a new screenwriter, in addition to writing originals, he has also been exposed to some opportunities to write for other projects through his own connections and resources.Before entering the industry, friends told him to be prepared for unpaid royalties and difficult authorship – two common industry dilemmas faced by screenwriters.
The project is yellow, and the balance is gone.
>In the past two years, Liu Xiaofeng has participated in a number of online movies.
>There was a project that was about to start filming, but when the policy for online movies became stricter, the market tightened, and the project went bankrupt.
>This year, he wrote another online movie script, and the investment was also found. As a result, the producer told him to start making main theme movies, and the project was temporarily suspended.
When Liu Xiaofeng’s work "Genius Screenwriter" was selected for the Banana Project, the source of the picture was Liu Xiaofeng Weibo
>Compared to other jobs such as directors and actors, the screenwriter’s work all takes place before the start of the production. After the script is written, the project is not filmed. Of course, the screenwriter has the greatest loss.
>Liu Xiaofeng said that the current rules are basically divided into three payments to screenwriters. The first payment is a deposit, the second payment is paid after the first draft is published, and the third payment is paid after the boot is turned on. If the boot cannot be turned on, it means that 30% to 50% of the balance will not be received.
>The bigger problem is that China is a human society. If it is a job introduced by real-world friends, it is often paid after the work is done. Once the project is yellow, it may be equivalent to doing it in vain.
>"As a rookie screenwriter, the price is very low, especially at Wangda University. A better one will give you 8 to 100,000, and a closer one will be 3 to 50,000."
>After publicizing that the banana plan owed him 800,000 bonuses, a friend told Liu Xiaofeng that his outstanding payments over the years added up to almost 1.50 million.
Liu Xiaofeng’s work "Genius Screenwriter" was selected for the banana plan to win 800,000 bonus, picture source Liu Xiaofeng Weibo
>Liu Xiaofeng asked why the other party did not pursue the case, and his friend told him that because it was difficult to defend rights, it would take several years to file a lawsuit. It was possible that the producer had run away, or that the project had gone bad. If the project had gone bad, he would still be chasing the producer for money.
>"If you are serious with him, will you still get along in the future, and will you still mix in this circle? So although the other party did something wrong to me, I can’t say anything about him, and I have to be friendly with him on the surface."
The work is done, the signature is gone
>The big screenwriters assigned the work to the new screenwriters, and the new screenwriters were responsible for the main writing, but in the end, the big screenwriters were named. This was a common phenomenon in the screenwriting circle. Liu Xiaofeng, who had been in the industry for three years, did not want to accept such unspoken rules, but some good opportunities for big projects may have been lost like this.
>"Once, the filmmaker sent me something written by a big screenwriter for me to change. In the end, when it came to authorship rights, I could only ask me to be a literary editor, but I didn’t accept it. My screenwriter friend said that you have to have some backbone and can’t start this, otherwise it will be detrimental to your career development in the future.
>Now the filmmakers are very good at chatting, first tell you how good this project is, and then let me give my opinion. After chatting with me, I took all my ideas, started to talk about the price, and the price was also negotiated. Finally, I will say that because the first draft is a big screenwriter, you can’t be a screenwriter when you sign your name.
>I know that they are original, and I have no problem with them, but I have also revised them. I have also created them, and I am also a screenwriter. If I were just planning and editing, I would not be able to change them so meticulously.
>The other party said there is no way, or I will give you some money. I said it is not about money, what kind of work should be signed. "
Picture from Wang Hailin Weibo
>There are a large number of new writers in the industry who are facing these two dilemmas. They may be alone, but is there a better way to solve their dilemma?
>In addition to going it alone, signing a screenwriting company and working with a big screenwriter are two other mainstream options. In Liu Xiaofeng’s opinion, both have advantages and disadvantages, but he prefers to sign with a big screenwriter.
>"For example, I’m working alone now, and a company comes to me to talk about buying a script, and the cost they want to pay is the price I want to sell it. If I sign with the company, they have to give my company a commission, so some companies prefer to talk to a solo screenwriter.
>I prefer to follow the big screenwriter because there is a role of mentoring. Although the big screenwriter may take the job and our subordinates will do it, if we are lucky, we may be able to sign a co-writer, and now it is all celebrity effect. After our new screenwriter comes out, if there is a big screenwriter in front of us, they will immediately take a high look and be willing to chat with you. Maybe after working with the big screenwriter for a few years, you can slowly have an independent signature. "
The above screenshots are all from screenwriter Li Yaling’s Weibo, the current situation of the screenwriting circle
Why didn’t the "banana project" happen?
>It is precisely because the survival situation faced by new screenwriters is so difficult that every film festival venture capital and every new project endorsed by celebrities is like a dawn, a hope.
>Banana Pictures was born in August 2017. On September 27 of that year, the "Banana New Director’s Digging Project" was announced. It was the first time that Wang Sicong entered the public eye as the behind-the-scenes operator of the film company.
>A total of 812 directors signed up for the "Banana New Director Digging Project" and received 840 films. On April 26, 2018, the program held an awards ceremony, and 16 directors were announced on the spot.
Picture Source Banana New Director Digging Project Weibo
>During the Shanghai Film Festival in 2018, the Banana Project held another press conference to announce the launch of the "New Screenwriter’s Dream Realization Project", with a total prize of 6.30 million RMB.
>Wang Sicong had a long-term plan at the time, and planned to use the method of "discovering new directors one year and discovering new screenwriters one year" to cultivate a group of top directors and screenwriters in six years.
>At the awards ceremony of the new director project, Wang Sicong once said proudly, "Others want to turn 200 million into 1 billion, but I already have 1 billion, so I can directly take out 200 million and see if I can do something for my favorite movie."
>Banana New Screenwriter Dream Project
>From the public information, after the first new director’s excavation plan, there was no news of any director’s salary claims. We can assume that the banana film industry was still not short of money at that time, and the banana film industry did not subjectively default on bonuses.
>But in 2019, due to the freezing of Wang Sicong’s own property and the absence of banana film industry, the first screenwriter’s land excavation plan ended up with the bonus that could not be honored.
>A well-intentioned plan couldn’t be carried out in the second year; a new film company started "underpaying" after three years of establishment, what was the problem?
First, there is a lack of professional talent.
>The reason why the "Banana Project" initially gained attention was one of Wang Sicong’s celebrity effect, and the other was that his arrogance was not bad for money.
>However, after the film and television industry experienced a meteoric rise around 2015 and a continuous influx of hot money, what it needs is not only funds, but also professionals with the ability to incubate projects.
>On September 27, 2017, at the launch of the "Banana Project" meeting with the public for the first time, Wang Sicong said that there are too many garbage movies in China, and Chinese directors have great problems. At that time, he expressed the hope that the film industry will be more professional. For example, some directors have multiple jobs on the set, and some directors have been shooting a scene for many years. They think that is obviously very unprofessional.
>Although he understood the truth, Wang Sicong himself was not a professional film talent, and his company did not recruit true core and first-line professionals.
>Banana Pictures has always promoted youth and innovation, and in a press release, Banana Pictures described its team as "a young team with an average age of only 26 years, an active personality, a pragmatic style and a strong professional style."
>Therefore, this is a company that unearths new directors and new writers, and then allows a group of newcomers with an average age of only 26 to develop projects.
>Banana Pictures’ publicly announced corporate positioning is to "consolidate the infrastructure of film and television talents and produce content products that young people like". The company’s image is "positive energy, youthful, anti-routine, personality, and interesting", but all this can easily be reduced to slogans. What a film production company really needs is a team that can develop projects, set up plates, and shoot on the ground.
>The film industry needs innovation, but experience is just as important. How can a group of inexperienced newcomers put a project to the ground? And the company also lacks Dinghai Shenzhen. Wei Xiangdong, the CEO of Banana Film, is a former host. He has participated in movies such as "Unexpected Love Time", "Mr. High Heels" and "Keep Silent".
Second, success or failure is all about money.
>The venture capital units of major film festivals are a valuable platform for many new directors and screenwriters, where they can meet the right investors and producers to help them bring their projects to fruition.
>The Directors Association’s "Green Onion Plan" relied on the resources of the Directors Association, and there would be many experienced directors and producers to help new directors implement the project.
>Compared with the longer-established film festival venture capital unit or the resource-rich "Green Onion Project", the "Banana Project" cannot prove its own subsequent incubation and development capabilities, so the high project bonus has become its greatest advantage.
>Liu Xiaofeng remembered that there were 3,170 screenwriters participating at that time. On the last day of the deadline, because many people submitted their contributions, the website of the "Banana Project" once crashed.
source network
>Some of these new screenwriters regard Wang Sicong as a new hope, and perhaps some of them are motivated by money.
>In recent years, there have been a lot of plans to find new directors and screenwriters, and the industry is also discussing, do you really need so many plans? Is there really so much talent to find?
>From the perspective of the contestants, we believe that the "Banana Project" should fulfill its commitments; but from the perspective of the "Banana Project"’s own operation, in the absence of sufficient project development capabilities in the banana film industry, it is debatable whether it is necessary to spend high prices to find new people for six consecutive years, and whether the excavated projects are suitable for the company itself to develop.
>Many things can’t be done well with money. Back then, Panda Live occupied the market with high-priced signing popularity live streaming hosts, but was defeated because of insufficient follow-up operation capabilities. It also earned money by throwing money at the "banana plan". What needs to be consolidated is the follow-up development capabilities.
>The failure of the "Banana Project" was similar to the failure of Panda Live. As an investor, although Wang Sicong understood the importance of professionalism, he obviously needed to find the right path to it.
Picture Source Banana New Director Digging Project Weibo, Wang Sicong, Wei Xiangdong
