Jean Zhou
Appearances
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
Compared with U.S., China is still at the very early stage of applying AI, but I know it's very helpful for the post-production. It will generate higher efficiency in some special effects for the movies and TV dramas. It's getting cheaper and getting more efficient.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
However, I think it's the impact on the writing, on the screenplay is very limited because scripts are tailored arts and the essence of the content is beating expectations. But AI is the summary of past material. So the results of many AI projects are like a kind of a Wikipedia introduction outlines. It has great discrepancies with fully developed script.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
So if a writer submits the work as is, the script with this quality might not be purchased. I think in China, people are not quite worried about this at this moment.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
For the next two to three years, we are planning on several runners. So the first runner will be developing, will be in the social issues and social topics and focusing on small figures and their comic and tragic experience. and small figures with inciting incidents to perform character art to generate themes in social mind and human nature.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
For example, mentally harmed people when they hurt other people whether they are guilty or not. What family and friends, if they have secrets, whether they could be forgiven. So we hope to dig into people's reflection and showcase ethics in human relationship. This is our first roundup. The second track is continuing focusing on the love sector, ancient love and modern love.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
China has a very extensive and profound culture. It will make the ancient love topic more extreme in the background in the history. For the modern love, it will showcase under the fast-growing economy the fairness and freedom of the love relationship. It fills audiences with trust and aspiration for love and good life.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
To note that the derivatives of ancient love stories are always the bestsellers, so they will have diary books, eyeshadows, live concerts, and those things make more money than the drama project itself right now. The third direction is about feel-good shows. It's about individuals dreaming big. It records stories on how the protagonist strives for success.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
For example, a farmer takes a small workshop to IPO, a nobody intern becomes somebody in the end. It's more about the entrepreneurship spirit and tenacity. And this will encourage audience to face obstacles positively. And it's always a necessity in the market. And we are mostly focusing on these three areas in the following years.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
My name is Jing Zhou and I stayed in a small town in China until 18 years old. And for college, I went to Shanghai. I did, I studied sociology. And when I was a junior, I transferred to Indiana University Bloomington in America and picking up accounting and finance as my second and third majors.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
And after my graduation, I became a financial analyst in an engine manufacturing company called Cummins. And I did the financial analyst work for three years and went to Chicago Booth for my MBA. And during my MBA, I did some venture capital internship, including in SQL Capital China, Innovation Works, and Capital Today.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
After my graduation of MBA, I went to a pre-IPO company called iReader Technology. It's a digital reading company, and I was in charge of strategic investment. Meanwhile, I was rotating among several business departments, overseeing APP, product design, operations, writer relationship, and copyright sales. In 2019, I started my own company called Wind Entertainment. It's my current company.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
First, we incubated writers, and later on, we did several best novel awards. In 2020, we entered the drama series area and wrote our first script, which was released last year on four TV stations in China and distributed to more than 30 countries. The name is The Stereo Love. Every year we have two to three projects under development right now.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
And we will start our first movie in a quarter and it's about gambling and crime. Above is the listing of my transitions. So when I look back, I figured I never planned all these because I just couldn't plan from a financial analyst in the engine manufacturing company to a producer. Tell us how you made through this transition. I got into sociology in Shanghai.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
And first, I just didn't know what I should deal with. So when I picked up accounting and finance as my second and third majors, I figured one day I need to know more about business, know more about entrepreneurs. I chose to intern in all these venture capitals in China.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
I wanted to know how the entrepreneurs, what they are thinking about every day and how they run a business because I have a goal to start my own business one day. So in my family, we have a travel company and also running a medical company. So that's how we have such a tradition. So I formed this kind of goal when I was very young.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
So in Chicago Booth, I set a framework for the business analysis and the accounting and the finance helped me understand the business knowledge. And through the venture capital, I learned how entrepreneurs, how they swim in competitive world and how they run their companies. So this is a foundation set up for my future plan.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
Later on, I found that sociology helped me open my world to the world and also know more about people. So the help of the sociology is the business world is finally a world between people and people. The understanding and the social mind and thoughts will finally help understand the rules in the business world and the essence of the business.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
And the second help of sociology for me right now is designing, choosing story, tests the maturity and the insight of the producer, especially on her knowledge of the society and the human heart. So it's actually a lot of help. That's what I didn't figure out before, but I really appreciate it now.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
When I was very young, like six or seven years old, the TV programming always broadcast to 10 p.m. in the night, but I was forced to go to bed at 9 p.m., so... That probably is the early impulse for the decision to finally become a producer. So in 2018, after I watched a TV series called Ashes of Love, I feel like it's just the best thing in the world to do such a project.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
And once in a life, we need to try. So I looked for the producer of that drama crazily and I applied my writer resources and I kept showing my passion. So I convinced him to be the co-producer of the sequel. to the Ashes of Love. The sequel is called The Starry Love. And that was the one that was released last year on four TV stations and distributed to 30 countries.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
I was the co-producer in the content area of that sequel. So through this project, I built my network and I accumulated my reputation as the co-producer. In terms of convincing business partners, I think the first thing is you really need to have previous projects or previous relevant experience. And you need to have splendid scripts on your hand.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
And you need to have a detailed development plan, distribution plan, and of course, potential great directors and actors. So that's how we can accomplish this. is the classic chicken and egg dilemma.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
I think the first thing is definitely you need to first establish some connection with this industry. This is a must, but it doesn't mean that you need to work three or five years in the industry to prove that you have the experience. Like, for example, in my cases, I only work in the upstream chain of this entertainment industry. I work in a reader technology.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
That company is not an entertainment company or it's not a drama series movie company or producing company. But that company has a lot of connection with the copyrights. So that's how I entered the entertainment industry from the resources because I got connected with a lot of writers and the writers later on they become a very key resource in the producing in this area.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
I think I have a business analytical framework to analyze all problems. So in this industry, after taking a close look, you will figure out that the most, the core thing is accountant. So from the very beginning, I focus on the accountant side and I communicate with writers, which I didn't do that a lot 10 years ago.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
But I started and I learned to communicate with all the creators, the writers, directors, actors. I tried to understand how to make the accountant look best. So that's the first thing. And secondly, I know the business language. The entertainment industry, the TV drama or the movie, it's a very capital intensive industry.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
So on the producing side, on the business side, you need to manage the business by managing cash flow and managing all the numbers on your balance sheet or on your four forms. Because I come from the business background, I can...
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
translate all these elements into all tools that i need to use so i am aware of all the risks and all the opportunities absolutely yes after you established connection with the industry you may take the risk to do a whole project to show that you will have further experience but that step is definitely very hard that you can focus on the key of the projects.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
So the key in the producing projects is content. We all agree that content is the most important element in the trends. If you spend a lot of time in the content, for example, I spent a year writing the book, The Light of the Story. So I analyzed many elements in the story. I figured out some ways to
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
draft a great story and that's the resources and that's the skills that investors would value in the entire chain.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
And what's happening now in the industry? 10 years ago everybody was looking at this industry and people from all kinds of industries they wanted to come here to make quick money and speculators and have money they actually in the past 10 years they gradually left this industry at the beginning of any drama tv projects it's really hard to get money right now
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
And we have micro drama series impacting our industries. The situation, it's just hard. But the good thing is the technology and the content, the bar is getting higher and higher and the audience demands more and more and they are willing to pay more. So therefore, there are more and more great projects coming.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
Right now, if there are people still in the network industry, they are just people who really love this industry. They love great work and they have passion for great projects. The best writers and best projects, they make more money than ever before. I will just say for quality creators, they are getting better.
Chief Change Officer
#266 Jean Zhou: From Balance Sheets to Box Office
It's like one made for one episode. There are like 100 episodes. for a entire series. It will be circulated among many people and they can watch the first three or 10 episodes for free, but for the 11th one, they need to pay. And the people pay a lot on these kinds of series.