Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 179 I Want to Drive It Away

(I'm sorry for the hiatus yesterday. Usually when I don't update, it's either because I'm stuck or because I'm drinking.

I was stuck in a writer's block yesterday. I had an outline, but I didn't know how to write it in detail. I wanted it to be domineering and reasonable at the same time. Later I finally figured it out, and today I'll present it to you at 9k)

博纳
Yu Dong is instructing his subordinates: "The Portugal Fantastic Film Festival is only a Class B film festival, while Berlin is a Class A film festival. Do you need me to teach you how to compare them?"

The subordinate was scolded and nodded quickly: "Okay, Mr. Yu, I know what to do. I will contact the newspaper immediately~"

Watching his men leave in embarrassment, Yu Dong sat back in his boss chair in annoyance.

I had just lit a cigarette when someone knocked on the door again.

"Come in."

After receiving a positive reply, the office door was pushed open, and the publicity director walked in with a laptop: "Mr. Yu, Zhang Chen has spoken up. He posted a blog..."

“It’s actually a blog? Young people just know how to have fun~”

Yu Dong took the computer and started reading, finishing it after a while.

"Why is Zhang Chen only staring at us?"

"I was just about to report to you. Hong Kong has been trying to steer the topic towards us. It seems like they want to sit back and watch the fight."

Yu Dong's eyes suddenly became fierce: "Damn it, these Hong Kong guys are really mean. They were the ones who took the initiative to find me and wanted to cooperate, and they were also the ones who wanted to use me as a shield..."

Originally both parties had agreed to work together on The Darkness 2, but they were doing this kind of trick behind the scenes.

No, we must not let them succeed.

It's easy to guess what they are planning.

It is nothing more than letting their side fight to the death with Zhang Chen, both sides will suffer losses, and then their "Hancheng Strategy" will reap the benefits.

It's a fantasy. He doesn't even consider the quality of his own movie.

Do domestic audiences think they are all fools?
"Then what should we do?"

Yu Dong hesitated for two seconds and said, "If they are unkind, don't blame us for being unjust. You should immediately issue a statement saying that we are just an art film and we don't have high expectations for the box office. Everything now is completely manipulated by someone with ulterior motives."

Yes, the fragile anti-Chen alliance fell apart after only a few days because of Ma Chucheng's cleverness.

Yu Dong had long known that these Hong Kong people would forget their principles when they saw profit, but he did not expect them to be so short-sighted. They had already started stabbing each other before the winner was decided.

"But we still have to do what we have to do after it's published, understand?"

"clear."

The publicity director was ordered to leave.

Yu Dong issued the statement just to divert Xingchen Entertainment's attention to Ma Chucheng, not to admit defeat.

To put it bluntly, everything is for the box office. The popularity of "Dark Rising 2" is too high. With it, the audience will not pay attention to any other movie.

If we don't get it going, no one's box office will be good.

But if they continue, they will inevitably be retaliated against. Both Yu Dong and Ma Chucheng hope that they are not the ones who are retaliated against.

But the hype still needs to be created. Only when there is conflict will there be things to talk about and people will be interested in the movie.

Otherwise, why would he criticize "Black 2"? It's because art films have natural limitations.

Yes, you have won the award, and a group of people will come to see it.

But there are also a group of people who will automatically avoid it when they hear that it is an award-winning art film.

Of course there are some good art films, but it’s useless because their reputation has been ruined by the art film directors in the past few years.

When thinking of art films, many people's inherent impression is that they are not good to watch, incomprehensible, pretentious, and whining.

……

In Hong Kong, Ma Chucheng was checking out the reviews for the movie.

It can be seen from the comments that Xingchen Entertainment is finished.

Not only did Zhang Chen post a blog himself, but the internet trolls also joined in, criticizing "Peacock" and supporting "Black 2".

"Fight, fight, the more intense the better~"

Ma Chucheng was gloating over Zhang Chen's misfortune. The movie he criticized was "The Peacock", which showed that his strategy was effective. He was reading on happily, and then he almost cursed "冚家砍".

Suddenly, a message popped up on the website he was browsing, containing a new statement from Bona.

After reading the statement, he knew that Bona had come to his senses.

The anti-Chen alliance between them broke down.

Then a large number of negative posts about "Hancheng Guide" appeared.

As the sun sets, curses like "冚家砍" can be heard from the room from time to time, scaring the Filipino maid away.

……

When Ma Chucheng was losing his temper at home, Zhang Chen was also angry.

The news from Hong Kong finally came back.

Zhang Chen was very angry when he saw his good brother being targeted, and the consequences were serious.

For movie promotion, there is nothing wrong with trying to capitalize on the popularity, find topics, and attract traffic. This is normal operation.

But it is too much to escalate to personal attack, and the person being attacked is Ning Hao.

On his desk, there were various newspapers, some from the mainland and some from Hong Kong, and the contents were all mocking Ning Hao for being a relative of someone else.

[The luckiest person in the entertainment industry~]

[It is so easy to succeed as Zhang Chen’s fellow villager~]

[Whose work is Dark Rising 2? Zhang Chen or Ning Hao? ]

[Ning Hao was on a roadshow in Hong Kong. When asked about the backdoor situation, he was speechless~]

[Ning Hao has the least experience among the three photographers. How can he become the biggest winner? ]

Almost all articles in the entertainment section are filled with endless ridicule of Ning Hao.

Zhang Chen stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the cars and pedestrians below that were like little ants, and finally took out his phone and called Ning Hao.

"Why didn't you tell me about what happened when you came back?"

Ning Hao never mentioned this matter after returning from the roadshow in Hong Kong, and Zhang Chen thought everything was going well.

I didn't know about this until I read the newspaper today.

Ning Hao on the other end of the phone smiled helplessly: "Because what they said is more or less the truth~"

"Bullshit~"

Zhang Chen knew that Ning Hao was starting to doubt himself because of the criticism.

"I asked you to direct Black 2 because we are good friends, but more importantly, you are also an excellent director. You wouldn't think that I would just hand over a project worth tens of millions to an ordinary person."

"...I feel much better now that you said that."

"Okay, stop being so hypocritical. You have to remember that things are different now than they were before. In the past, directors were behind-the-scenes workers, and no one knew whether they were doing a good job or not. But that's not the case now. Directors, like actors, are in the spotlight. If you want to stay in this industry, you have to accept media supervision, and even slander and abuse..."

"I understand. If you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight."

"Hey, you're still using cultural words to talk to me. Well, since you still know how to be arrogant, it should be fine. Don't worry about this matter. I won't let them have it easy. You don't need to participate in the roadshow later. Find a place to travel with Sister Na and relax..."

"No, I'm not that fragile, but I do have a request..."

"what?"

"After Black 2, I want to start Stone right away..."

"Why, you want to prove yourself with "Stone"?"

Ning Hao on the other end didn't say anything, which was considered as his agreement.

"No problem. I have no objection if you want to be a model worker. Just ask for anything you need. I will support you unconditionally."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Chen couldn't help but smile.

Can this be considered a blessing in disguise? Ning Hao was irritated by the Hong Kong media's slander and was ready to use "Stone" to slap those media in the face.

At the door, Dong Jianqiang had just walked into the company. Normally, the front desk clerk would greet him, but this time he didn’t.

Dong Jianqiang looked over curiously and found that the two girls at the front desk were gathered together, whispering towards the inner room.

"Go and serve the tea."

"I'm not going. I'll definitely get scolded if I go. You should go instead~"

"Ah, am I not afraid of being scolded?"

The two receptionists were passing the buck to each other. Dong Jianqiang appeared behind them and approached them to ask, "What's wrong with Director Zhang?" "Director Zhang is having a tantrum in the office. Ah, Manager Dong..."

The girl at the front desk answered fluently, then suddenly realized something was wrong. She turned around and found that it was Dong Jianqiang.

It’s over, it’s over. They were arguing behind the top leader’s back and the second in command heard it…

The other one was so scared that he kept shrinking his head, and the two of them were like two quails.

"Manager Dong, we were wrong~"

Dong Jianqiang ignored them and continued to ask, "What happened in there?"

The two girls prayed in their hearts that Dong Jianqiang would let them go like a fart, but they dared not not answer Dong Jianqiang's question: "It seems that the newspapers are all saying that Director Ning Hao is a relative. I saw it when I was selling newspapers this morning, and then Director Zhang came in the morning and saw the newspaper, and that's it..."

"Oh, come on, give me some tea~"

Dong Jianqiang agreed and walked towards the office with tea.

The two receptionists behind him looked at the former's leaving figure with a frightened expression.

Dong Jianqiang arrived at the door and pushed it open without knocking.

"Who are you angry with? Why is the front desk so afraid to even bring you tea?"

Dong Jianqiang put the tea on the table, saw the newspaper on the table, picked up one, and saw a negative article about Ning Hao.

"Tsk tsk tsk, these unscrupulous tabloids speak so harshly?"

Zhang Chen glanced at him and said, "You came at the right time. Please ask the people from Golden Harvest for me who was messing with Ning Hao during his road show in Hong Kong?"

Ning Hao and his team were invited by Golden Harvest to promote the movie. They were deliberately targeted during the roadshow. Golden Harvest will definitely investigate.

Dong Jianqiang threw the newspaper back onto the table after hearing this, and then replied: "I've already asked for you, it's Ma Chucheng. This guy is really shady, he was hiding behind the scenes when he was causing trouble before, now that he found that he couldn't discredit the movie, he discredited the director of the movie..."

Hong Kong is such a small place, if you are willing to check, you will definitely be able to find it.

Self-media, water army, public accounts, these people are all in the same circle.

No matter what you want to find out, just ask and you will know who is doing whom. There is no such thing as secrets.

Ma Chucheng never thought he could hide it, but he didn't expect it to be discovered so soon.

"By the way, have you seen the report? They have started to bite each other..."

Zhang Chen didn't comment, thought for a moment, and took out his cell phone.

"What are you going to do?"

"I want to drive it away..."

Before, he was thinking of using some methods to compete reasonably.

Now he just wanted to end "Hancheng Raiders" in the most direct and quickest way.

One force can defeat ten skills!
"Hello, Mr. Wang, I'm Zhang Chen. I want the "Hancheng Raiders" to be completely offline. Is there any way?"

The person Zhang Chen called was Wang Changtian.

Guangguang is the main distributor of "Black 2" this time, who else can we turn to if not him?

Wang Changtian was meeting with his subordinates to discuss the publicity effect of "Black 2" and was connected directly during the meeting.

“Director Zhang, it’s a bit difficult to completely remove the film from the shelves. The theaters will most likely not agree to it, but we can squeeze out the screening schedule of “Hancheng Raiders”. The effect is the same, but the price we have to pay is a bit high, and we need to rebate…”

"How big is it?"

"Generally, if you add a hall, you will be given a point..."

"Damn, it's so high?"

Lao Wang on the other end of the phone nodded: "That's right, it's actually not worth it, they don't have many films scheduled."

"No, I want to drive it away."

It hurts, but you still have to have the attitude.

"One point at a time, give them one point. Anyway, I want "Hancheng Raiders" to die in a very ugly way, as ugly as possible..."

Zhang Chen didn't care if he hurt one thousand enemies and lost eight hundred of his own.

What's more, the screening schedule of "Hancheng Guide" was not very good to begin with, so it won't hurt itself much.

Wang Changtian on the other end of the phone replied: "Okay, I understand. Should I talk to the cinema directly, or should you first contact the cinema chain?"

Wang Changtian's words had two meanings. First, Black 2 already had investments from three major cinema chains, so if Zhang Chen just said hello to them, maybe he wouldn't have to pay the price of one theater or one theater.

The other is the cinema mentioned at the end, which actually highlights its role.

Under the cinema chain are cinemas, and their optical ground network distribution model is aimed at cinemas.

To put it bluntly, they can bypass theater chains and directly contact cinemas.

Although cinema chains have directly-operated cinemas, most of them are franchised.

Although franchised cinemas will schedule films according to the theater chains’ orders, they will also have their own unique operations.

Sometimes, if the benefits are big enough, they will even disobey the orders of the theater.

This is also the reason why Guangguang and Wanda had a very unpleasant argument later.

You contacted my subordinate units without going through me, isn't this poaching? What can I do?

"I'll call the cinema first and tell them that you shouldn't just sit there and keep working hard..."

Zhang Chen prepared to walk on two legs.

Guangguang does have an advantage in the cinema sector. Even if the theater chains disagree with the suppression, they can convince the cinemas to pretend to obey them.

Their ground network staff have a very good relationship with the cinema managers. For example, the cinema chain has reduced the screening rate of "Hancheng Guide" to 5%.

But this 5% also has its own requirements. It depends on the time period and whether it is placed in the main hall or small hall.

At this time, the light is very strong, and maybe 5% will be thrown directly into the middle of the night or the morning, and then the movie will be ruined.

"Ok."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Chen called Gao Jun from New Film Association directly: "Uncle Gao, I want to trouble you with something..."

The three major cinema chains have all invested in his films to varying degrees, but among them, he has the best relationship with the New Film Association, which has something to do with Gao Jun's personal style of doing things.

"Okay, I understand. I'll tell my subordinates to greet other theaters on your behalf..."

Gao Jun did not ask Zhang Chen why he deliberately targeted "Hancheng Strategy". He just roughly understood Zhang Chen's thoughts and decided to help.

They were even willing to help him communicate with other theaters.

Are other theaters willing to help?
Of course.

The screening schedule for "Black 2" is already high and the attendance rate is not low, but for the sake of balance, other films have to be scheduled.

If they replace "Hancheng Strategy" with "Black 2" now, they might earn more money and get a favor for free, so why not do it?
"Hancheng Raiders" was not very famous and it was a Hong Kong movie.

The Hong Kong film industry and the mainland have never been the same circle.

By suppressing it, you can gain Zhang Chen’s friendship. I believe everyone knows how to choose?
Think about it from another angle, why did Zhang Weiping dare to force theaters to increase their profit sharing ratio again and again? Wasn't it just by threatening not to supply films?

This is the confidence of the billionaire director.

Zhang Chen is also a billionaire director. Even if you don't support him, at least you can't offend him.

……

After hanging up the phone, Wang Changtian looked at the middle level of the room.

"Everyone, Zhang Chen wants to catch up with "Hancheng Raiders" and reduce their film schedule to the greatest extent. This is an opportunity for the industry to see the power of our underground network distribution model..."

After Wang Changtian finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Zhao beside him.

Zhang Zhao is the head of the film branch and the initiator of the ground network model.

Zhang Zhao understood and said, "Okay, I'll arrange the work..."

Almost all the middle-level managers appointed by Zhang Zhao are women, which is also a major feature of Guangguang - there are many female employees.

why?
Do you think it's Wang Changtian's harem?

Think more.

It’s simply because the salary for Guangguang is low, which is considered low in the industry.

Not to mention compared with big companies like Huayi, it is low even compared with some mid-level companies.

But don't think that women are easy to deal with. These women are very capable of causing trouble.

(End of this chapter)