Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 616 Two Contracts
To truly understand this major gossip and news story from the end of May 2018, we need to go back in time to 2003.

That year, Wang Hao was still studying at the Beijing Film Academy, and the most famous people in the domestic film market were Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Feng Xiaogang.

In 2003, Feng Xiaogang directed a New Year's comedy film, "Cellphone," adapted from Liu Zhenyun's novel of the same name.

This film, starring Ge You, Fan Bingbing, Xu Fan, Zhang Guoli, and others, not only garnered significant box office success but also helped Ge You and Fan Bingbing win the Best Actor and Best Actress awards at the 27th Hundred Flowers Awards.

In short, this show was a huge hit!

However, the film's huge success also brought trouble to another person.

In the movie, Ge You plays Yan Shouyi, the host of the famous TV talk show "One Says One," who has an extramarital affair with Wu Yue, a female editor at a publishing house, played by Fan Bingbing...

Although they are fictional movie characters, they evoke a strange sense of familiarity, making viewers unconsciously think of a talk show host from CCTV in real life.

It is said that when Feng Xiaogang was preparing for the film "Cellphone", he specifically sought out Cui Yongyuan to learn how to produce talk shows and how hosts should act.

As a result, after the movie was released, it became a hit all over the country, and everyone felt that the image of Yan Shouyi was perfectly captured by Cui Yongyuan.

At this time, Cui Yongyuan had just stepped down as the host of the program "Tell It Like It Is" and was preparing to launch his own program "Xiao Cui Talks". He was at the height of his popularity.

This further amplified the power of public opinion, and at the same time, Yan Shouyi's promiscuous relationships also had a significant negative impact on Cui Yongyuan.

Even though Liu Zhenyun and Feng Xiaogang later firmly denied any connection between the plot of the film and Cui Yongyuan, the audience did not think so. The collapse of an image is ultimately easier than the creation of one.

This infuriated Cui Yongyuan, and the feud was now officially established.

Then, let's get back to the present. Not long ago, some media reported that Feng Xiaogang was going to reunite the original cast and crew to film "Cellphone 2" again.

Unfortunately, Feng Xiaogang directed the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 2014, the film "I Am Not Madame Bovary" in 2016, and the film "Youth" in 2017. For several consecutive years, Feng Xiaogang did not have a single commercially successful film.

His company, Dongyang Meila Media, had 70% of its shares acquired by Huayi Brothers for 1.05 billion yuan. There were performance-based earn-out agreements during the acquisition process.

Even if the business bet is not achieved, Feng Xiaogang would only need to return a portion of the funds to Huayi Brothers. However, as a well-known commercial film director in China, failing to meet the performance target is still a bad thing.

Therefore, after the box office failure of two art films, Feng Xiaogang urgently needed to make a commercial film to recoup his losses.

In reality, he doesn't have many choices.

"Party A, Party B 2", "Cell Phone 2", "If You Are the One 3"...

Feng Xiaogang's first thought was to follow the example of "If You Are the One 2" and make a sequel.

This is convenient and quick, and by leveraging the reputation of the previous work, it can quickly gain a foothold in the market.

Considering that "Personal Tailor" and "If You Are the One 2" had already been filmed, "Cellphone 2" naturally became the only choice.

However, when this news reached the ears of Xiao Cui, who was known for his strong sense of justice, things took a turn for the worse.

What? Still filming?

The painful memories from over a decade ago resurfaced, and Xiao Cui's disgust for Feng Dapao and Liu Zhenyun reached its peak.

Fifteen years ago, he had nowhere to vent his frustrations; he couldn't very well rant on CCTV. Now, he has long since left CCTV and has millions of followers on Weibo.

So on May 11th, Cui Yongyuan sounded the charge against the enemy, posting several screenshots of his WeChat conversations with Liu Zhenyun, along with a poster for "Cellphone 2," and commenting on the images:
"Everyone knows Feng Xiaogang is scum, but Liu Zhenyun turned into scum a little too quickly."

Faced with the mockery from Cui Yongyuan, both Feng Xiaogang and Liu Zhenyun chose to bury their heads in the sand, remaining silent and refusing to respond online.

This prompted Cui Yongyuan to turn his attention to Fan Binbin. On the morning of May 24, he posted a screenshot on Weibo showing Fan Binbin receiving the 2010 Mercedes-AMG "National Spirit Creator" award – an award created by Mercedes-Benz itself, and Fan Binbin was among the recipients that day.

Xiao Cui commented on this, saying, "One dares to issue it, and the other dares to receive it."

If Fan Binbin had followed the example of Feng Xiaogang and Liu Zhenyun, things might have passed. After all, Cui Yongyuan is an educated man who cares about his reputation and wouldn't do something like clinging to a woman.

However, shortly after he posted on Weibo, that same evening, Fan Binbin also posted a short Weibo post with pictures and text: On the set of the movie "Cellphone 2"! Wu Yue is very happy!
This content seems to be a response to Cui Yongyuan's mockery during the day.

Clearly, after becoming a big star, Fan's temper has started to flare up, and he can't stand Cui's sarcasm.

Of course, it's also possible that she's used to creating hype and sees this as an opportunity. Being infamous is still being famous, so she doesn't mind going against Cui Yongyuan to promote herself and "Cell Phone 2".

However, Fan Bingbing had a history of having abortions and performing with people in the entertainment industry, which clearly shows that she underestimated Cui Yongyuan's fighting power.

The next day, May 25, Cui Yongyuan posted a screenshot of a film and television contract on his Weibo account. The contract was for 5 million RMB, with the caption: "One dares to ask for it, and the other dares to give it."

Thus, a major bomb was planted.

On the 26th and 27th, Cui Yongyuan publicly criticized Feng Xiaogang and Liu Zhenyun respectively. Then, on the 28th, he continued to criticize Fan Bingbing, this time posting the complete film and television contract along with a comment:
You don't need to act, you're just really bad.

The public was very curious, as this was the first time they had seen such a detailed contract from a big-name celebrity.

Food expenses are 1500, voice-over fees are separate, and first-class airfare must be arranged for travel between Beijing and the filming location...

This isn't over yet. Do you think Cui will change the person posting on Weibo again?
No, the next day, Cui Yongyuan called out Fan Bingbing again. After all, besides Fan Bingbing's fans working hard to criticize him, his studio also issued a statement saying that Cui Yongyuan was defaming him!
Xiao Cui, with his ever-growing fighting spirit, naturally wouldn't let her off the hook, and immediately pointed out the biggest problem in the contract.

It turns out that the ten million contract was just the surface; there was another fifty million contract behind it.

This completely detonated the bombshell that had been planted earlier, and the shockwave from the explosion encompassed most of the entertainment industry, affecting many people.

Originally, people in the entertainment industry just watched this conflict as a source of amusement.

But they never expected that the matter would affect them.

In fact, the contract screenshot that Cui Yongyuan posted did not belong to Fan Bingbing. After all, contracts are such confidential documents, and they are not easy to obtain. Cui Yongyuan does not have that kind of ability. He later told the media that the contract belonged to someone else.

But the bomb has already been detonated, and the storm has been stirred up; it can't be quelled with just a few words.

"Chairman Wang, you wanted to see me?"

In the chairman's office on the top floor of the Xinghe Building, Zhuang Xueping, the general manager of Xingdou Culture Company, which specializes in artist management, pushed open the door and walked in. Wang Hao, who was signing documents, heard the noise, looked up at her, and nodded slightly, indicating that she should sit down for a while.

Have you been watching the entertainment news online lately?

After finally signing the documents and handing them to his secretary, Wang Hao asked Zhuang Xueping about them.

Zhuang Xueping paused for a moment before realizing what she meant and asked uncertainly, "Boss, the news you're talking about... is it the contract incident involving Cui and Fan?"

"Ah."

"Of course we've been paying attention to this matter. Is this what you wanted to ask, boss?"

What about our own contracts?

Wang Hao tapped his fingertips on the table, his tone not harsh, but it put immense pressure on Zhuang Xueping.

"And what about our contracted artists and behind-the-scenes staff? Are there similar issues, especially regarding taxes?"

"There should be some..." Zhuang Xueping hesitated for a moment, then said somewhat uncertainly.

However, after seeing Wang Hao's expression turn ugly, she immediately added a sentence.

"Of course, as long as the contract is signed through our company's platform, or for our own projects and important artists with whom we have a deep partnership, there will definitely be no tax issues."

Upon hearing this, Wang Hao's expression softened slightly.

He certainly understood what the other person meant.

As a subsidiary of Xinghe Group specializing in artist management, Xingdou Culture currently has at least several hundred thousand contracted artists.

Don't think this number is exaggerated, because Xingdou Culture imitates the Hollywood CAA model. Rather than calling it a talent agency, it's more accurate to call it an internet platform.

The largest number of them are extras or contract actors in the entertainment industry, as well as some newcomers to behind-the-scenes work.

Anyone who has logged onto Xinghe Group's Good Production Network, registered with their ID card and mobile phone number, and paid the registration fee on time every month is considered a regular member of Xingdou Culture and can enjoy the basic services of the agency.

But to be precise, these people can't really be considered contracted artists of Xingdou Culture; they've only purchased the corresponding services.

Only the truly top-tier and second-tier actors, renowned directors, cinematographers, art directors, lighting designers, makeup artists, and screenwriters are considered the clients of Xingdou Culture.

However, compared to other talent agencies, Xingdou Culture doesn't restrict or exploit its officially signed artists as much, and the assistance it provides is only so-so.

The relationship between brokerage firms and their signed employees is primarily one of mutual benefit and cooperation.

Correspondingly, Xingdou Culture has little control over its contracted employees, so naturally some of them will take on extra work outside the company.

This is not a private job; they need to report it to Xingdou Culture. Xingdou Culture will take a 3% management fee. If there are any conflicts between the contracted personnel and the contact party later, as long as this management fee is paid, Xingdou Culture will also help them.

However, this model still has loopholes.

It is obvious that some contracted workers who take on jobs outside the company may have two contracts and underpay taxes.

"Okay, I get it.

As you know from the recent news, the matter has caused quite a stir, and the higher-ups have been paying close attention to it for some time now. This matter will not be easily forgotten.

So I don't care what happened before. For the next period of time, the focus of Xingdou Culture's work will be to thoroughly and carefully review the tax issues of all contracted personnel from top to bottom.

"If there are any problems, just fix them, and we'll let bygones be bygones!"

As chairman, Wang Hao's words were naturally the highest directive within Xinghe Group.

Zhuang Xueping immediately relayed the news to her top agents, starting with Wu Jing, Wang Zhi, Song Zuer, Wang Jingchun, and others.

This even includes Wang Baoqiang. Although everyone knows he wouldn't do such a thing, since his wife's incident, he has registered his management contract with Xingdou Culture. Within the company, the procedures naturally still need to be followed.

While Xingdou Culture adheres to the principle of keeping a low profile in its internal operations, there are no secrets in this industry.

Moreover, Xingdou Culture was sorting things out from top to bottom. By the time they finished sorting out the first batch of signed personnel and found a few loopholes, and then moved on to the second batch, there were already some rumors circulating in the entertainment industry.

People were just watching Cui Yongyuan and Fan Bingbing's farce, but after Cui Yongyuan dropped his bombshell, everyone felt that he had gone too far and things seemed to have gotten out of hand.

Upon hearing the rumors circulating within Xingdou Culture, some vigilant insiders began to reflect on their own actions.

However, some people felt that Xinghe Group was making a mountain out of a molehill, and that Wang Hao was too timid.

After all, the influence of people in the entertainment industry is not low, and many of the current chaotic practices in the industry have become unspoken rules, so they are not so easy to rectify.

Just as the incident involving Cui Yongyuan and Fan Bingbing was making headlines, Xinghe Group's "Wolf Warrior 3" had already released several trailers.

However, compared to the issues involving Cui Yongyuan and Fan Bingbing, people are clearly more interested in gossip from the entertainment industry.

However, when promoting "Wolf Warrior 3," it was touted as the final installment in the series, and Liu Peiqiang would no longer appear as "Leng Feng." Therefore, many fans of the Galaxy Cinematic Universe were still very much looking forward to it.

Just as things were getting tense because Cui Yongyuan had "torn apart" half of the entertainment industry, June arrived.

The 2018 summer movie season has finally begun in this "lively" atmosphere.

Compared to last year, this year's film season is seen by filmmakers and audiences as extremely competitive.

After all, the past few years have been a period of rapid development for China's film and television industry.

Moreover, thanks to the success of "The Three-Body Problem 1," which grossed over 70 billion yuan last year, the ceiling for domestic films has been raised, naturally leading to a greater enthusiasm for investment in the industry.

Even the recent failure of "Shanghai Fortress" couldn't scare them away.

(End of this chapter)