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△ Like Pornhub, DMM is also a site for learning English

Of course, the last thing that touched us most is that this is a resource-based industry. In addition to the benefits, it will bring you more available resources. However, in the Japanese industry, no Chinese or a Chinese company can truly participate in the deepest industry. This is the biggest barrier.

Although we have decided to enter the industry, there is still an important issue to be solved-who is the trader?

If there is no one who has been in this industry for a long time and has contacted every aspect, then even if we decide to enter this industry, we cannot do it for a long time.

It’s like saying you went to the streets of Japan and shouted: I want to buy a drug store. You try to see if anyone cares about you.

Even if you find the contact information of various Japanese economic offices from the Internet, send an email and ask: I want to make a film, can I cooperate? The best ending is that the other party ignores you, and the worst ending is that the other party says okay, okay, send money, and then it is absolutely that you did not discuss it.

So to find this trader, we hope he can meet the following conditions:

1. Have production experience in this industry.

2. With the resources of a brokerage firm, it is possible to find as many suitable actresses as possible during the production process.

3. The most important thing is to be able to get the channels.

We don’t care about other parts because cooperation is complementary after all.

For example, we are good at product series planning, financial budgeting, and big data analysis. In actual operation, both parties can complement each other and move forward together.

At this time, the emergence of Sato Sang makes us think that this is a matter of course.

Sato Sato is a very interesting person. If you see him on the street, you will not think he is a very senior person in the industry. It may look like an ordinary Japanese office worker.

But this is Sato Sang. He has 15 years of working experience in DMM, from production to distribution channels. And also come up with entrepreneurship, this is a very suitable opportunity.

02

Project started successfully

As the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning. In any case, things need to be done before things start.

In the case of AV production, you may wonder if you have set up a company today, and you can embark on the filming path tomorrow, and live a life that many people have not imagined. And the life is just like the flip card. Today, I will take a picture with Teacher Yuya at 3, and I will take a picture with Qi Luohua tomorrow. I can also guide you on the scene. You should be like this … Okay.

But this is not possible.

Even a production company has a lot of business directions. Shooting a complete film independently is just one of the ways. In addition, there are other ways to choose.

So in front of us, based on the results of previous research and Sato’s experience, we have to find a way to start the company’s project.

No matter what this path is, we expect a path to sustainable profitability.

Although we have very ambitious goals for the future, we live first.

Well, at this time, Sato Sauna has his own big killer. Based on his previous resources at DMM, if we do content, DMM can underwrite part of it.

This startup is not a cold boot.

With this foundation, we can choose to enter the market with our own label.

Next comes the question of content selection.

Sato Sato wants to be a newcomer, but not a complete amateur. The kind of newcomer who just debuted or filmed one or two. According to the habits of the Japanese, the kind of newcomers who feel a bit like a royal sister, a wife, and a big breast are the ones that sell well in Sato’s experience.

But according to my habit, the content should be data, and analyze what content is welcome based on the data.

Unfortunately, for AV production, we do n’t have the data on hand, and the data is all in DMM.

I can only trust experience at this time.

According to Sato’s fifteen years of industry experience, the main population of Japanese consumer AV products is currently over 40 years of age. Without sufficient financial resources to build a foundation, the field of beautiful girls can be regarded as asking for help. Facing the preferences of the main crowd: Royal sister type, wife type, larger breasts.

△ This probably means

In terms of overall operation, we are still cautious, and set 8 films for testing.

If the sales volume does not meet our expectations, then take other routes that can be profitable immediately, first profit and then develop.

03

Preparation before shooting

At the time of the initial filming, the funds of subsequent investors had not yet entered. We used the seed round funds invested by ourselves to support the company registration and filming.

Because the starting capital was limited, I wanted to go with some beautiful and costly production methods like X-Arts. Naturally, it did not work, so we returned to the traditional Japanese production mode.

△ The style of X-Arts is very beautiful

Fortunately, Japan has a sufficiently mature pipeline operation, from the selection of a brokerage company, to the selection of venues, to the arrangement of shooting work, post-cutting and even engraving.

You only need to determine the budget and shooting content with the directors and producers you work with, and then you can safely leave it to the professional team to do things.

In a movie, the biggest head of the budget comes from the actress and the shooting team, followed by the production team, and finally the actor is almost negligible (laughs).

The cost we set is about 200,000 to 250,000 yuan, so all the work is carried out around this budget.

The next step is to determine the actress.

As for the interviews with actresses, there have been various opinions circulating on Chinese networks before. There is also a picture with acceptance and price.

But in reality, I did not encounter such interview process and list. Basically, after the budget comes out, you know how much you pay for the actors. When the general script direction came out, you knew what the actors needed to do at the scene.

So around these two direct notifications to the agency, the agency will arrange qualified actresses to interview.

Is anyone asked about a male actor interview? Of course not. In the cost of the entire film, the cost of the male best is the lowest. Generally, the director will call 4-5 commonly used male bests, just come on the scene …

For a small production company like ours that has just started, there is no way to lease a larger office. So during the interview, we rented a separate conference room to conduct the interview. The interviewers included the director, the producer, and me as a bystander.

Because we have prepared the script before the interview, when we submit it to the economic company, we find the actress who meets the requirements of our shooting content. Of course, we did n’t have any special content in the first film, so the actress came over to look at the situation under different makeup, and to take a comprehensive look at the scene.

After interviewing for a whole day, after watching more than 30 candidates, I chose a lightly mature woman and a young woman as the protagonists of the first two films.

It should be noted that this work also reflects the huge cultural differences between China and Japan.

When the difference in aesthetics comes before me, lacking data, I cannot support my choices, so I have to trust the Japanese preferences told by professionals.

To go back today to see the decision at the time, it’s hard to say whether it was right or wrong.

Fengtian Wing Mei suddenly became angry, let the team find that, in some aspects of aesthetics, there is no difference between China and Japan.

△ Fukada Emi

The next step is the choice of venue. Unfortunately, my favorite pool scene, because it does not match the script, was not chosen by everyone. Alas … again, I missed one of Japan’s most well-known Internet celebrities.

△ Inside a pool

Well, basically, after the preparations are complete, we are waiting for the scheduled date of the venue to officially shoot. During these days, the director needed to make a rough split screenplay, the producer began to contact the channel for pre-sale, and I was busy financing for the next step.

04

First scene shooting

Soon, I ushered in my first live AV shooting.

At 8 am, we arrived at the meeting station on time. In addition to completing the shooting task that day, I will also be responsible for bringing investors to the inspection. Even harder is the director, staff and actors, who have been working in the studio for a day of preparation since 7am.

Yes, generally in accordance with the practice of the production company, all resources should be used within one day, and two films should be produced as much as possible to save costs.

So we also arranged different shooting content in the morning and afternoon, from 7 to 24, my day will be spent in this villa-sized studio.

Shooting venues for making human content in Japan need some attention. The first is to require privacy, at least from the outside it is not easy to find out what is inside. Secondly, the sound insulation should be good so that no one outside can hear the sound. Finally, the venue must be large enough that it can be divided into different scenes.

Of course, in addition to adult content, these venues will also be used for many normal photography work or Japanese TV drama shooting.

As a serious worker, before I started, I learned what the preparations for the shooting were.

First, make-up. Just like normal film and television shooting, adult content also has a dedicated persuasive team to serve content production.

But unlike normal film and television shooting, the makeup of actresses is not limited to hairstyles and faces, but also to make up for the characteristics of the body. Some of the adjustments may be oil or other things I do n’t know. To make the body brighter, important parts of the body will be more prominent when shooting.

The prop master prepares artificial unknown liquids (you know) that need a lot of use at the scene. Generally speaking, it is made with banana powder (looks like), and it looks like there is milk powder or milk. In short, I remember to ask the prop master at the scene, and then I forgot what was inside (Khan).

When the preparation work is completed, the director will call everyone together for the final meeting before shooting. In addition to explaining the theme of the day’s shooting and the division of work of the main staff, the director also emphasized that he should not move around at will, and try not to make sounds when walking. Do not use the bathroom when the shooting of a paragraph is not completed.

This is mainly because the shooting was recorded in the same period. The sound of walking and flushing will be completely included. It is very troublesome to eliminate these noises in the later stage, so it does n’t look close. Human rules.

The studio setting that many people imagine is a pink and extravagant feeling. The aroma of hormones is emitted in the air, letting you sigh the beauty of life unconsciously.

But the actual set is an office environment that makes you feel bored.

Think about it carefully, you ca n’t move around, you ca n’t chat, you have to be careful when you callOutside, it is strictly forbidden to take pictures of friends in the scene, plus you have to put up with the toilet, so you have to drink less water and eat less. In such a situation, you may be excited to watch within the first hour of the start, but the shooting time is from morning to early morning, and even the most exciting will become sleepy.

Although the staff wants to eliminate various interference factors at the scene, there will always be unexpected situations in the process. When our afternoon shooting came to a critical moment, the male actor appeared in a state.

Of course, this situation is more common in the field. Experienced directors will temporarily leave all staff members and let the actress find a way to help the male actress recover as soon as possible. But if there is no way to recover and there are no alternatives, only drugs are needed.

Actually, at that time, I really wanted to say something: let me come.

But to be honest, I have seen the filming at the scene and I really have no confidence that I can do the job well. Although the male actor may only earn hundreds or thousands of RMB in labor costs for a scene, it is really difficult. .

We are lucky. Although the time was delayed due to the temporary situation, the shooting was completed successfully, but it was only one hour later than the scheduled time.

The shooting continues until 1am. After sending off the male and female actresses, you need to clean up the scene, especially to organize the photos of the actress’s Polaroids and the underwear worn by the actresses, which are all ready for sale. Used when making a limited edition.

At three o’clock in the morning, I finally rolled back home. I didn’t even bother to take a bath, and fell down to sleep. Fortunately, after this shooting, I persuaded subsequent investors to invest.

05

Unexpected difficulties

Frankly, the first two films are a little bit unexpected, both in sales and speed. At this time, the money of subsequent investors also smoothly entered the company (about one million yuan).

So Sato has a follow-up shooting plan.

But what made me a little unexpected is that the sales of our subsequent releases are relativelyIt is very bleak, and it looks like it’s in the foreseeable future.

The entire team is a little bit blinded by this unexpected situation. The morale that has just risen has inevitably suffered a severe setback.

Different from domestic entrepreneurship, if you encounter similar things in China, you can find investors to help find solutions together.

But in Japan, we can only overcome it ourselves.

Open source and throttling are not applicable. There are very few people in the team, and we do not get paid ourselves. It seems that we can only think more about the content direction.

At this time, I again proposed the idea of ​​making some high-quality content, but I still couldn’t insist.

The reason is that no one can guarantee success. The advantage of a small-cost movie is a small amount of trial and error, but high-quality content costs a lot of money. In the event of a trial and error failure, it may cause a total loss.

We also wanted to expand the content types, such as doing some adult comics. But after discussion, I still feel that it is not the way out.

At this time, Sato proposed the idea of ​​making some sex toys. And I was curious to ask if I could participate in the investment of other companies.

Of course, these two decisions today cannot be said to save the company, but they have brought a stable cash flow to this entrepreneurial project, and on the book, it has created the possibility of breakeven and even profitability.

Investing in someone else ’s film is something that few people in the industry have done before. We do n’t know if it ’s feasible, but with Sato ’s good offices, it actually happened, and from the financial data, it actually produced close to 30% of the profits.

The toy line hosted by Sato also quickly entered Don Quixote (the largest chain store in Japan), which also contributed to the company’s flow and an additional 30% of its profits.

06

Our journey is the sea of ​​stars

After having a good flow and profit, this small entrepreneurial project has begun to develop in a good place.

And after experiencing new investigations and reflections, we are also ready to try new models to try, in this traditional marketCan we open up a new situation.

Of course, access to this industry is itself a resource and a barrier. So we also got a new round of investment that can support us to do new business.

At the end of the year, we adjusted our business direction again. I removed the joint investment part and kept the original sex products for sale, and the launch of the new model, I think it will be after the Spring Festival in 2020.

I need to remind you that the adult content industry that looks bright and beautiful is not a full cake. You only need to cut it gently with a knife to get the fattest part with the cream on it.

From a business perspective, our new model will still face a lot of challenges and may even fail in the end.

But this wonderful journey still brings me great happiness.

To do something that many people dare not think about, and it is fun enough, I am very satisfied.

Author: Lu Xinxin, a serial entrepreneur in China. Founder of Feedsky and former vice president of Tencent. After Tencent went public, it turned to Japan. Currently invested in animation production company, AV production company in Tokyo. He has now become a columnist for the HFC.

This article comes from WeChat public account: Youth Financial Development Association (ID: xrich666) , author: Lv Xinxin