Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 446 Baofeng Player's Self-Produced Drama
"Mr. Wu, the May Day holiday..."

When he heard that Wu Zhuo had arranged for them to be released during the May Day holiday, Dante Lam frowned, somewhat unwilling.

Currently, the May Day holiday period is not a particularly good time to buy.

The best film seasons in China are still the Lunar New Year season and the summer vacation season.

Students have longer holidays during these two periods, so the peak season for movies will be even longer.

The National Day and May Day holiday periods, which have only gradually gained popularity in recent years, are relatively weaker, with the golden period of the entire holiday lasting at most one week.

Wu Zhuo noticed his dissatisfaction with the scheduling and patiently explained:
"My film, 'Speed ​​Chase,' has already been booked for next summer's release. If we put you guys on the list, the allocation of promotional resources may be reduced."

Of course, if you insist on a summer release, we can arrange that too.

But I still suggest you release this movie during the May Day holiday.

In that case, the company can also keep up with the publicity efforts; the company's publicity budget will definitely not be less than 30 million.

Wu Zhuo is quite willing to give preferential treatment to the directors under his command.

The earth will never revolve around one person.

If Wu Zhuo doesn't manage his relationships with the directors under him well, he could easily end up switching jobs.

Scheduling is where conflicts can easily arise.

The Hong Kong entertainment industry in the 1980s and 90s already proved this point.

In the 1980s, Golden Harvest boasted a galaxy of stars, including Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Michael Hui.

Later, the reason why Michael Hui and Sammo Hung fell out with Golden Harvest was due to unfair scheduling.

At that time, Jackie Chan was Golden Harvest's cash cow.

Therefore, Golden Harvest always prioritizes scheduling for Jackie Chan.

Michael Hui's schedule is always scheduled in very unfavorable locations.

In fact, on many occasions, to make way for Jackie Chan, his films were even canceled despite having the potential to generate box office revenue.

The same reason.

Legendary Entertainment has now expanded its operations significantly.

It also has many big-name directors under its wing.

If scheduling is unfair, it's easy for directors to become dissatisfied with their company and be poached by other companies.

Therefore, after his film occupied the main release slots, Wu Zhuo was willing to offer some compensation to avoid upsetting these directors.

For example, preferential treatment in terms of publicity resources.

To be honest, 30 million in promotional resources is not a small amount.

Once it hits, the effect will be absolutely remarkable.

Indeed, when Dante Lam heard that Wu Zhuo was willing to provide 30 million in promotional resources for "Unbeatable," he immediately smiled.

"Thank you, Mr. Wu. Please rest assured that our film will definitely not disappoint you."

"I believe Director Lin will give me a surprise."

Wu Zhuo nodded with a smile.

After a pause, Wu Zhuo continued:

"The company will soon implement a brand-new incentive system. Starting next year, directors with successful experience will be able to receive a share of the box office revenue for their films. This share will be about 2% higher than that of other companies in the industry."

I hope that in the next film, Director Lin will receive a share of the profits.

As the saying goes, if you want a horse to run, you have to feed it grass.

Wu Zhuo never believed that one could bind someone tightly with personal charisma.

He has always believed that self-interest is the best tool to bind people.

There are many legendary talents at present.

Without good benefits, no matter how large a company is, it won't be able to retain its employees.

Therefore, Wu Zhuo recently began to implement internal rules to increase the director's share of box office revenue.

If you have the ability to make a good movie, the company is willing to make concessions on profit sharing so that the director can earn more.

Only when directors make money will they work harder to generate profits for the company.

After discussing scheduling with Dante Lam, Wu Zhuo then looked at Eddie Peng.

"How is Brother Yu Yan doing at the company? Is there anything he's having trouble adjusting to?"

Just as important as directors, actors are also a significant asset to an entertainment company.

There is no doubt that Wu Zhuo is the legendary number one.

However, his filming frequency is clearly insufficient to support such a large company.

Therefore, without a doubt, someone else must hold the line.

In terms of comedy, Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang are undoubtedly top-notch.

In terms of cool guys, Wu Zhuo needs someone to take over as a substitute.

Eddie Peng was the person Wu Zhuoxuan selected.

And he did a good job in this regard.

Self-disciplined, and very clear about what they want.

Unlike some people who get arrogant as soon as they become famous and start acting recklessly.

Moreover, Eddie Peng is also quite good at acting and is very worthy of being nurtured.

His only problem is his Mandarin.

Most actors or singers from Taiwan have a Taiwanese accent to some extent.

Eddie Peng is the same; he needs to improve in this area.

Therefore, after he joined the company, Wu Zhuo strongly urged him to undergo training in this area.

"It's great! Everyone says I speak like a mainland Chinese person now!"

Eddie Peng spoke with a smile.

As soon as he opened his mouth, Wu Zhuo listened carefully and found that his Mandarin accent had indeed become more standard.

"Keep it up. The company has already made plans for your future. I hope that if I stop acting in the future, you can take over the company."

Yes, Wu Zhuo's words carried a hint of PUA.

But if you're a boss, how can you be a boss if you don't even know how to use PUA (Pick-Up Artist) techniques?

A true boss should learn to paint a realistic picture of a future.

After encouraging Eddie Peng, Wu Zhuo chatted with Nick Cheung for a while.

The other party didn't actually sign with Legends, but they've been quite close to us.

If a suitable drama series comes along, Legend will definitely give him priority consideration.

Moreover, Legendary plans to set up a branch in Hong Kong, and will definitely use these Hong Kong stars in the future.

The reason for setting up a branch office in Hong Kong was certainly not for the small market there.

It's mainly for convenience.

The film censorship mechanism in Hong Kong is relatively more lenient.

Legendary projects will definitely have their approval processes stalled.

At this point, things can come in handy from Hong Kong.

We can focus on the Southeast Asian market after filming.

In fact, in the years that followed, Hong Kong films were declining in popularity in mainland China.

However, it still has a certain market share in Southeast Asia.

In later years, many Hong Kong films that did poorly at the box office in mainland China were able to achieve good box office results in Southeast Asia.

Speaking of which.

The situation of Hong Kong films in mainland China in later generations is actually quite strange.

In theaters, Hong Kong films rarely achieve high box office returns.

However, Hong Kong films often have very high popularity on video websites.

Netizens were both criticizing and watching online.

Every year, the revenue from selling the copyrights of Hong Kong films to major video websites is substantial.

Basically, nobody really wants to pay for tickets.

But after they're available on video websites, people will watch them all again.

……

The banquet lasted until after 11 p.m.

However, Wu Zhuo and Liu Shishi left early.

As soon as he got home, Wu Zhuo opened Weibo and immediately saw a lot of trending topics about him and Liu Shishi.

#Wu Zhuo and Liu Shishi are destined for each other across three lifetimes#
#Wu Zhuozhen is getting married#
#Liu Shishi becomes Mrs. Wu, soon to be the boss's wife of a multi-billion dollar conglomerate#
"I told you long ago that Wu Zhuo and Liu Shishi were having an affair, but nobody believed me. Look, it's confirmed!" "I'm so envious of Liu Shishi. She's risen to the top in one step, marrying directly into a wealthy family."

"Waaah... Wu Zhuo, please don't marry Liu Shishi! What's so great about her?"

"Actually, Wu Zhuo and Liu Shishi are quite a good match, a handsome man and a beautiful woman."

"Wishing Wu Zhuo and Liu Shishi a happy ending, may they truly be united in marriage."

There are all sorts of comments online.

Some offered their blessings, while others felt the two were completely mismatched.

Overall, however, it did not have a significant impact on Wu Zhuo.

In recent years, he has successfully transformed from an idol into a powerful actor.

Some loyal fans may unfollow him after he announces his relationship.

But not too much.

"I thought that if we announced our marriage, many of your fans would make a fuss!"

Liu Shishi also came over and was somewhat surprised to see that the online comments had not gotten out of control.

As for the online comments criticizing her for not being good enough for Wu Zhuo, she simply ignored them.

She had foreseen this day from the day she got together with Wu Zhuo.

When she was with Wu Zhuo, his career was already more successful than hers.

Although her popularity has soared in the past two years, making her one of the best among the post-85 actresses, she is still far behind Wu Zhuo.

In the entertainment industry, if the fame and influence of both parties are not commensurate, it can lead to problems.

It's normal for the weaker party to be criticized.

She was prepared to be scolded.

Of course, Liu Shishi herself has quite a few fans.

If it were another celebrity, her fans would probably cause a scene.

But if this person is Wu Zhuo, then basically no one will make a fuss.

After all, Wu Zhuo is already very famous.

He's rich, good-looking, and talented.

As one of the most eligible bachelors in the entertainment industry, if Liu Shishi's fans still make a fuss if he marries her, then those fans are truly unreasonable.

Moreover, compared to male celebrities.

Female celebrities have many male fans.

Male fans are generally more rational in this regard.

"The main reason is that fans have become more rational in the last two years, unlike in the previous two years."

Fifteen years after the turn of the century, domestic fans were relatively rational.

Some fans might unfollow their idols when they get married, but it will never be the kind of dramatic, life-or-death situation that occurred in the 90s.

Of course, this refers to the domestic situation.

In fact, this is also true abroad, especially in Japan and South Korea.

When Wu Zhuo announced his marriage, it immediately caused a huge uproar.

"How could this be, Abel oppa, how could you get married..."

"I don't believe it. This woman named Liu Shishi is not worthy of Abel at all. It must be fake news from the media."

“Abel, if you dare to marry her, I will unfollow you and never buy your albums again.”

"I saw some heartbreaking news today: Abel is getting married. Although my rational mind tells me that this is something I have to go through, and Abel can't stay single forever."

But when I heard the news, for some reason, I was still very sad.

Abel, the man I love most, is leaving me.

To become another woman's husband...

There is a great deal of online discussion in Japan and South Korea about Wu Zhuo's upcoming marriage.

There were even quite a few negative comments.

Someone posted photos of self-harm.

Some people even said they wanted to commit suicide.

This attracted great attention from Wu Zhuo's team.

To avoid any major problems, he quickly recorded a video in the country and posted it on the internet.

"I am very grateful to my fans for their support all the way. Without you, I would not be where I am today."

I have always considered you all as my family.

You are my younger brother and sister.

Although I am about to get married, our relationship will never change.

I hope to receive your blessings at this important moment in my life.

Compared to others, your blessings will be my greatest happiness.

At the same time, I would like to ask all my fans to take good care of yourselves and not to harm yourselves because of me.

I really don't want to see you get hurt.

......"

Wu Zhuo's video recording lasted for a full ten minutes.

The goal is singular: to guide fans onto the right path.

Fortunately, perhaps it was the effect of his video, or perhaps it was because times have changed.

Although there are still various negative comments online, very few people actually take action.

Well, the reason I say it's rare is because some truly dire situations have occurred.

In Japan, there was a girl who actually self-harmed, but her parents discovered it in time...

The news of Wu Zhuo's upcoming marriage remained a trending topic on Weibo for a full fifteen days.

This news has become one of the most discussed news stories on the internet.

The news of their relationship announcement was so sensational that it even overshadowed the news of Wu Zhuo's acquisition of Baofeng.com.

On November 1, Wu Zhuo's acquisition process with Baofeng Technology was finally completed.

After taking control of Baofeng.com, Wu Zhuo immediately reshuffled the company.

A new emperor brings a new court, and Wu Zhuo clearly didn't trust his original team.

After joining Baofeng, he immediately conducted a certain degree of purge of the management team.

Aside from the finance staff, which he hired from his own people, he poached other senior executives directly.

With the help of headhunters, he turned his attention directly to the communications sector and poached Han Zhijie, who had just joined Tencent as the head of the marketing team for the online media business group.

This person was the one carefully selected by Wu Zhuo.

He graduated from the Institute of Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University in the United States.

Prior to 2006, he worked for Fortune 500 companies such as Pepsi, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever.

From 2006 to May 2012, he also served as Vice President of Marketing for Yahoo! Asia Pacific.

In May 2012, Han Zhijie returned to China and joined Tencent, where he began leading the marketing team of Tencent's online media business group.

In terms of ability, there is no need to elaborate.

And it's a relevant major.

Wu Zhuo put a lot of effort into poaching him, offering him five percent of Baofeng Video's shares.

After Han Zhijie took office, Wu Zhuo immediately asked him to reform Baofeng.

First, there's the strategy for the future.

In terms of resource integration, Baofeng has not given up for the time being.

However, the focus is shifting towards a self-operated model in the future.

The so-called self-operation means that Baofeng Player has stopped acting as an intermediary platform and is going to create its own content.

That is, self-produced dramas.

During this period, although domestic platforms had begun to adopt a self-produced approach, they were only in the initial stages.

In fact, the other platforms were extremely cautious, fearing they might make a mistake.

Meanwhile, Baofeng Video, under Wu Zhuo's instruction, went straight to the point, not only starting to produce its own dramas but also investing a large sum of 5000 million yuan.

The first series on Baofeng Player's end is "Ghost Blows Out the Light," which Wu Zhuo had already acquired the rights to.

However, since several companies held the copyright in the previous life, the filming order was different.

This time, Storm Filming proceeded directly in sequence, with the first film being "The Wrath of Xiangxi".

(End of this chapter)