Preface\My little young master is just two months old. I always have to get up in the middle of the night to help feed him. After feeding, I'm not sleepy at all, and with nothing else to do, I feel like writing about some nonsense I know in the animation field. Think of it as a series; I'll just write a bit whenever I have time. I guarantee that all the data below is absolutely true. Everyone just enjoy it; please don't take it personally.\Issue 1:\About two years ago, I went to Beijing for a meeting and happened to chat idly with a student who had been working in Beijing after graduation. He asked me with a mysterious look on his face: ‘Do you know what the three most profitable industries in China are?' I was too lazy to guess and asked him to just tell me. He then revealed the answer: 1. Arms; 2. Drugs; 3. Animation.\For the following years, I always treated this statement as nonsense, until one day two years later, another student, who went to a certain animation company for a job interview, waved his beautiful and mysterious little USB drive in front of me, and I suddenly realized that the sentence from two years ago wasn't entirely nonsensical.\In that little USB drive, a document from that animation company stated: \According to the provisional reward policy of XX provincial cultural department for broadcast of local animation production by domestic animation companies: \TV Station\Minutes Broadcast / Reward Amount\Total\CCTV Children\676/4000\2,704,000\Beijing Kaku\676/2000\1,352,000\XX Children's Channel\676/2000\1,352,000\XX Children's Channel\676/2000\1,352,000\XX Children's Channel\676/2000\1,352,000\XX Children's Channel\338/2000\676,000\XX Children's Channel\676/2000\1,352,000\XX Children's Channel\676/2000\1,352,000\XX TV\676/2000\1,352,000\XX Movie & TV Channel\676/2000\1,352,000\Total for 10 TV stations, total minutes: 6,422, total amount: 14,196,000\So, with a gentlemanly mind measuring a petty man's calculations, I did some math on this company's painstaking efforts. A production team in such a company must be at least 100 people. Assuming each person is paid 2,000 RMB per month, the total monthly payroll is 200,000 RMB.\Such a large-scale project would take at least a year to make. 200,000 times 12 months means an annual payroll of 2,400,000 RMB.\Each computer must cost at least 5,000 RMB. For 100 people, that's 500,000 RMB. Including other equipment, let's just round it to 800,000 RMB.\For rented space, each person needs at least 6 square meters. For a 600-square-meter space, plus utilities and other miscellaneous costs, it costs at least 600,000 RMB per year.\Adding in all the other miscellaneous expenses, I think the cost of this film must be at least 4 million. Ignoring profits minus costs, taxes, and other gray expenses for now, this movie could nearly earn a small 10 million.\What a windfall!! In my heart, I quietly cried out in anguish. I seemed to see red paper bills floating gently before my eyes, coming and going gently. Helplessly, I reached out my small, fair hand and saw Chairman Mao on the bills waving his sleeve at me, and in front of me were a few steel coins engraved with the national emblem in a broken bowl.\When I reflect on the pain, every time I recall that I am engaged in such a sunrise industry, a national industry, especially a high-profit industry, and every time I remember the amount on that Word document in the pink USB drive, I always decide to fume for a little while and then go to sleep. There's nothing I can do—who asked others to have 4 million for initial investment, while I don't.\Until one day, a bigger animated company than the one mentioned above, with greater influence and more TV channels airing their produced films, approached us, wanting us to be in charge of producing one of their animations. I was overjoyed, thinking I had been hit by a meteor made of red bills. Then I saw their senior smile, revealing a row of white teeth, and in the most pleasant voice in the world say to me: 'This film is 20 episodes, 300 minutes in total. Since our companies have always had a good relationship, we'll pay you a bit more for production, let's say 1,000 per minute.'\I picked up the calculator with excitement, pressed 300 times 1,000, and with trembling hands filled with anticipation pressed the equals key, and the result showed the total production cost: 300 thousand.\The senior continued: 'We'll give you 3 months to complete the production; by March 1, all episodes must be delivered to us.'\So I looked up at her cute face with tear-filled eyes and smiled, saying: 'F*** you!' (This part is purely imaginative)\Finally, I understood the true meaning of exorbitant profits. I imagined this: someone has a capital of 400 thousand. So, he takes 300 thousand to commission an animation production company to produce a 300-minute animation, and uses the remaining 100 thousand to bribe various TV station heads. Then, he takes these broadcast records to the provincial government. The province grants him a reward fund of 3 million. In less than half a year, his capital has increased tenfold.Alright, comrades, this is much faster than making money by trading stocks or buying houses. Animation, this sunrise industry, welcomes you. End of Episode One...
Below is the second episode~\Episode Two:\This episode focuses on government affairs
A few years ago, some leader drew a circle around the word "animation," and as a result, cities across China have "mythically risen cities," with a large plaque hanging at every city gate—"XX Province (City) Animation Base." As a result, students and teachers at universities offering animation-related majors were all excited, believing the animation industry was about to write a new "spring story," at least "taking a new step forward to make the land grand." So, around 2006, a few graduates from our school enthusiastically went to the Hangzhou Animation Base to look for jobs. After returning, they angrily complained to me: in the entire base, hardly any electricity meters downstairs were running, meaning hardly any companies had employees. It was all ridiculous. Looking at the policies back then, as long as they made an animation: the central TV station would get a reward of 2,000 yuan per minute, cities above prefecture would get 1,000 yuan per minute, and the 3D would double the bonus on top of the 2D platform. Broadcast overseas would earn 3,000 yuan per minute. This didn't even include rent waivers and utilities. It's said that when a certain online game company moved into the Hangzhou Animation Industry Base, the Hangzhou municipal government gave 300,000 yuan with a wave of the hand. Note, they did give 300,000 yuan for free. Now, about three years later, I checked online and found that the online game company's product hasn't gone public yet. All of the above is funded by local governments, real money. I used to wonder why the government was so willing to spend money. Until one day, our secretary angrily called the entire animation department over and pointed at a news in the newspaper, sternly scolding us: "Didn't you see this news?" "Hurry up and contact me." "We sneakily glanced at the message: The XX Provincial Party Committee has officially established the Animation Industry Support Committee and allocated XXXX million yuan to support the development of the local animation industry." The secretary continued: "Hurry up and fight for this money!" "Our province and our school's animation program is so strong, it's only natural to get approved!" So our beautiful professor personally stepped in, but reportedly went several times. She only said she needed to think it over, never planning to allocate a single cent.In the end, this matter just disappeared like a flash of light and sound but a fart without a smell.\ Later, someone who had close connections with government departments approached me. At first, we drank, dined, talked about everything, life, and ideals. Then he said to me: I have a junior colleague in a government department who specifically manages the provincial special funds for animation. How about it? Shall we team up and get those funds?\ Then, fearing that I, a virtuous person long immersed in the sacred halls of the university, would be too principled to indulge in worldly matters, he tried to persuade me: Actually, there's no reason not to take this money. If we don't take it, others will, and that would be such a waste, right? If this money comes into our hands, at least we can make some animations and contribute to our country's animation industry. If it falls into someone else's hands, it's just wasted.\ I was naive at the time and resolutely refused such 'dirty' things. Later, an animation company called me, saying they were making an animated series and wanted to build something like China's Disney. Then they asked me to manage the entire company's operations. When I arrived, well, there were really just three to five people and seven or eight old computers.\ I didn't mind; after all, big companies have to start small. I diligently established rules and regulations, production standards for each stage, standardized the pre-production, set up the production workflow, divided the staff responsibilities, and so on, planning to produce a few outstanding animations.\ Then the person in charge told me: We should start small and grow slowly. The first month, we will produce 4 episodes. The second month, once everyone is more skilled, we will produce 8 episodes. The third month, even more skilled, 16 episodes, and then double each month.\ I was stunned. I said, with just a few of us, we can't produce so much, and even if we could, the quality would inevitably suffer. That person said it's okay, I'll hire a few more people for you. Quality doesn't matter, as long as there are many episodes, we can gain provincial support. Then, we'll have more money, and the scale can grow.\ So I stayed there for half a year, earning 800 yuan a month (they said the initial funds were low, but later when we had money, the pay would be higher), working with about 7 or 8 people, all full of enthusiasm and not caring about pay. After all, animation is our TMD dream. But those 7 or 8 people really only had ideals; they barely knew anything, so I had to train them in software first.The quality of the first four episodes in the first month was predictable. The eight episodes in the second month were barely completed, and the sixteen episodes in the third month were almost just the characters standing still. Yet, the boss wasn't angry. He enthusiastically told me that we were about to secure provincial funding for anime.
I said, ‘No way, even with the quality of this show?' The boss said, ‘Everything is settled. The person in charge of the funding is my XX.'
That's when I suddenly realized that anime funding in every province and city relies on connections. I said, ‘I'm a legitimate teacher in the animation department of a provincial-level accredited university. Every year, the province talks about how many tens of thousands are allocated for anime funding, and we haven't seen a single penny. I wondered what happened to all that money—it turns out it was divided among people with connections.'
The second season ended…
The third season continues~
Season Three:
The protagonist of this season is still the government. The difference is that I'm speaking a few words from their perspective.
In the city I live in, for almost every year a few years back, there was a comic convention. Flags were flying, gongs and drums were clanging. There were speeches by leaders and media coverage, resembling a grand gathering; every family bringing their senior and children, it was truly lively.
I've also been to comic conventions in other cities to some extent, and they are pretty much the same as my city. Large venues divided into separate smaller spaces, each exhibitor managing their own area. Big speakers are playing, and many cosplay dancers perform elegantly, creating great excitement.
Whenever there's such a large-scale comic convention, government departments always show up in support. The government thinks that this is anime, that this is the so-called anime industry, and that it brings huge economic benefits.
So, as someone involved, I'll explain some of the unknown truths behind these conventions.
First, there's profitability, which is actually an impossible thing to achieve. You might say: nonsense, so many people attend, how much can they collect from tickets? So many exhibitors, how much can be collected from booth fees? That's true, tickets are sold, but tickets are mainly sold to ordinary people who have no connections. Taking my city as an example, every year for the comic convention, organizers send us a large number of tickets to distribute to students, which greatly increases attendance. And exhibitors and anime clubs get even more tickets. Many anime fans can get free tickets through various channels, so ticket revenue is almost negligible.\As for booth fees, many people might not know, such comic convention booth fees are provided for free, especially for well-known anime companies and major universities and government agencies. The organizers are eager for influential local units to participate, as this can increase their visibility. Therefore, revenue from booth fees can be ignored.\I am talking about general comic conventions, excluding large, influential ones like ChinaJoy.\Generally speaking, comic convention organizers are usually novices who are tricked into entering the anime industry for the first time. Honestly, I sympathize with them, because I also organized comic conventions back in the day. Between running back and forth to ask people to attend and the transportation and communication expenses incurred, in the end, you gain neither fame nor profit.\So now the number of comic conventions is starting to decrease; everyone knows there's no money to be made. Except for government departments.\Actually, the government is also misled by some businessmen. Let's talk about comic conventions first. Businessmen know what government departments prefer: the bigger the scale, the better; the more people, the better; the bigger the venue, the better; the more lively the media coverage, the better. These are all visible things.\As for animation, sorry, where have you ever seen tens of thousands of people gather together drumming and trumpeting just to watch animation?\So government departments really like holding comic conventions: free venues, free media promotion, and convenient transportation. But because it doesn't make money, many businessmen started to stay away from comic conventions.\Then the government got anxious. Each year, several hundred thousand in special funds for anime are allocated by higher authorities, specifically earmarked for anime. Without comic conventions, how would these funds be spent?\Here, let me insert some background before continuing. Many up there criticize the government, but in fact, there are many upright people in government departments. At least many people I have interacted with are upright and don't even drink when toasting. Many of them also want to promote anime. For example, our Premier Wen, but even Premier Wen's understanding of anime is limited to Ultraman. As for other government officials, you can imagine their understanding. For someone who has never made animation or has only watched domestic animation as a child, it's hard to judge whether Blue Cat or Crayon Shin-chan is better.\So businessmen take action again: make animation, then show it to the relevant government departments. Anyway, the government officials cannot tell the quality of the animation.So, while the government was hesitating, the businessmen broadcast the film through various channels on TV, and then showed the broadcast certificates to the government departments. And so, the relevant officials relaxed: this film is broadcast nationwide, it must be a good film.
Thus, the special funds for animation were rightly obtained by the businessmen, and the government departments could also list achievements like broadcasting local original animations for XXXXX minutes on XX TV, so everyone was happy.
Some people might ask: if the government departments don't understand animation well, why not find people who do to manage it?
Alright, out of all the public servant recruitment, have you ever heard of one for animation professionals?
Then someone might say: even if not, why not find experts to help review it?
This is a good question, but the businessmen have a way. How would your government department know who the animation experts are? Hayao Miyazaki? Surely the old master wouldn't come to China to review your film, right? So the businessmen found experts for the officials. Local ones not competent? Easy, I'll get some from Beijing, and add titles like “famous animation director,” “professor,” “dean,” etc., to come and communicate with the officials.
Here, a bit of disdain for these experts is in order: they travel so far, and the businessmen take care of all arrangements for meals, lodging, transportation, entertainment, and even give gifts. As an expert, you have to say something good, right? Little by little, the officials think: this film is broadcast on so many TV stations, and such top-tier experts from Beijing say it's good, it must be a good film.
So…
Therefore, everyone, don't just spend your time criticizing government departments. If you have that spare energy, criticize these unethical animation businessmen and their lackeys instead.
End of the third part…
The fourth part will be available tomorrow~
