Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 237 The Big Stick and the Carrot

Not long after Cao Ying was seen out of the office, Zhang Yan arrived.

This appearance surprised Gai Lili again. She had mainly worked in Shanghai before, so she had no idea what Zhang Yan looked like or how old he was.

All I could picture was a successful, mature man in his thirties, but I never imagined Zhang Yan was actually a young and handsome guy.

She couldn't help but glance at Chen Hong, feeling a pang of jealousy. How come Chen Hong always gets to witness such good things?
Chen Hong introduced the two parties, and Zhang Yan laughed and said, "The director of the Economic Development Zone Education Bureau just called me, saying he wanted to set up a table to apologize in person. I don't know whether you hit someone or someone hit you."

"That's why the word 'official' has two mouths."

As Chen Hong spoke, she asked curiously, "Why are you asking about the Golden Eagle Awards?"

"It's nothing."

Zhang Yan said, "Isn't Tianjin going to focus on developing the film and television industry? I think it would be a win-win situation if the Golden Eagle Awards could be held in Tianjin permanently."

Upon hearing this, Gali couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "This...is this even possible?"

Although the Golden Eagle Awards lack official endorsement, it has been held for eleven years and still enjoys some fame in China. Zhang Yan could easily persuade them to keep the Golden Eagle Awards in Tianjin...

Zhang Yan smiled slightly: "I was just saying. Whether it can be done or not depends on the specific circumstances."

As he spoke, he glanced at his watch and said, "It's about time. Let's walk and talk."

Because Chen Hong's Ford Temp 6 had just been scratched, all three of them got into Zhang Yan's Crown.

After getting in the car, Zhang Yan listened to Chen Hong and Gai Lili talk about some old stories before taking the initiative to ask about the Golden Eagle Awards.

In fact, Gai Lili didn't know much. She only knew the general process of the Golden Eagle Awards and what awards the Golden Eagle Awards had.

However, Gai Lili had some of her own opinions: "The Golden Eagle Awards are all decided by letters from the audience. Because there aren't enough letters, the process is more complicated, which is why it has always been difficult to gain recognition."

But since it was agreed from the beginning that it was a public award, if its public appeal were removed, it would no longer be the Golden Eagle Award.

That makes sense, but Zhang Yan doesn't care about the fact that this Golden Eagle is not the same as the other Golden Eagle, because what he really needs is the historical heritage of the Golden Eagle Award.

Then there are the Golden Eagle Awards. These days, the judging process isn't as fancy. Last year, there were a total of nine awards: Outstanding Long Film, Medium-Length Film, Short Film, Outstanding Children's Drama, and Outstanding Comedy Film.

Then there's the Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress.

I heard that a Best Co-production Award will be added this year, which basically means "The Legend of Qianlong" is already locked in.

That is, five best and five excellent—however, excellent long and medium-length novels often produce double or even triple entries.

"I don't know who else is nominated for the other awards, but for Best Supporting Actress, two of them are from Tianjin: Ru Ping and Jin Meng."

These two are the second and third female leads in "The Stormy Beauty".

"The Stormy Beauty" was one of the two dramas that were overshadowed by "Tianjin Wei" back then, and it was also a script collectively created by the TV scriptwriting department.

After the huge success of "Tianjin Wei", these two dramas were also filmed and achieved decent ratings locally, but compared to "Tianjin Wei", they were worlds apart.

The fact that two actresses were nominated for Best Supporting Actress shows that the Golden Eagle Awards committee is also savvy and knows how to navigate social situations.

…………

Finished lunch at noon.

Zhang Yan sent Chen Hong and Gai Lili to the film crew, and then drove to the TV station to discuss the Golden Eagle Awards with Ma Yuan again.

When he arrived at the TV station, Zhang Fang immediately drafted him to demonstrate to the three invited mentors how to select team members in a way that would be more passionate and entertaining.

Zhang Yan sat down in the mentor's special swivel chair, twisted his body to test it out, and said to the staff next to him, "This seat is too big, it's not comfortable to lean against. Later, you can add a cushion or something based on the three judges' sizes..."

"Teacher Zhang, we're rehearsing right now, please don't whisper to each other!"

Before she could finish speaking, Zhang Fang shouted into the microphone, which immediately drew laughter from the surrounding crowd.

"Okay, okay, yes, yes, yes~" Zhang Yan responded meekly, put on his headphones, turned his back to the stage, and gave an OK sign.

Zhang Fang immediately signaled to the broadcasting station to play a song at random.

Zhang Yan was initially nonchalant, but gradually he started shaking his head and tapping his hands on the handrail. Suddenly, he seemed to notice what was happening next to him, so he punched the button without hesitation.

Then he forcefully swung his fists at the audience.

When the chair turned around, he first looked shocked, then raised his hands above his head and began to clap loudly.

A moment later, he suddenly took off his headphones, leaned out and shouted at the empty chair next to him, "Why are you competing with me again? I'm choosing her, she has to be my teammate!"

Then, he simply stood up and clapped loudly.

"Click~"

Zhang Fang shouted "Cut!" on stage, then asked the three mentors who had been watching the whole thing, "This is roughly the effect. Is there anything else you three don't understand?"

The three mentors looked at each other in bewilderment.

Because the first season was a nationwide hit, this time all the guests are big names in the industry—while the middle-aged and elderly artists nowadays generally still put on airs.

If it were ordinary staff members demonstrating, they would probably shake their heads in disapproval. But the person personally demonstrating now is Zhang Yan, the chief planner and executive producer of the program and the boss of Yuanmeng Company.

Although Mr. Zhang is young, his status in the industry is by no means low.

Since he personally demonstrated it, the mentors ultimately had no choice but to follow suit.

This is also why Zhang Fang conscripted her brother—given Zhang Yan's prestige in the program, only she dared to make this request.

After serving as a tool for his younger sister, Zhang Yan finally found Ma Yuan's office.

"You mean, we should keep the Golden Eagle Award permanently in Tianjin?"

"Yes."

Zhang Yan said, "Shanghai has the Magnolia Award, right? Once the film and television base is built, we won't be any worse than Shanghai in terms of film and television resources. Why don't we create our own TV festival?"

Moreover, if we can win the Golden Eagle Award, we will become the second oldest television award in China, second only to the Feitian Award…”

Upon hearing this, Ma Yuan couldn't help but mutter, "How come it's second again? When will we ever be first?"

Of course, he was just saying it casually, after all, being second in the country is still a very good achievement - Tianjin's current slogan is to maintain fourth place and strive for third.

Then he asked, "What can the Golden Eagle Awards organizing committee do? Although they don't have an official background, they've persisted for eleven years, so there must be a lot of vested interests behind it."

"Then let's use a carrot in one hand and a stick in the other."

Zhang Yan laughed and said, "We can spread the word that the optoelectronics industry plans to crack down on the shady awards in China and require that all national film and television awards must have sufficient official endorsement in the future."

"Haha, you little rascal..."

Ma Yuan pointed at Zhang Yan and laughed heartily. Right now, all sorts of shady awards are flourishing, and the film and television industry is no exception, especially in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, where all kinds of messy shady awards are boasting bigger and bigger than the last.

The Golden Eagle Awards certainly can't be considered a fake award, but it is just like any other fake award, lacking sufficient official endorsement.

This tactic of killing two birds with one stone would be a fatal blow to the Golden Eagle Awards, leaving them with no choice but to compromise.

After discussing some more details, the two split up into two groups.

Zhang Yan was responsible for gathering relevant information and writing a proposal to clean up illegitimate awards—of course, it would be anonymous; he wanted to keep the Golden Eagle Award, not make an enemy of it.

Ma Yuanyuan was responsible for seeking support from city leaders.

This matter can't be handled by the TV station alone; the city government has to step in to coordinate. In that case, the municipal government will take the lead, the TV station will be in charge, and Yuanmeng will assist. That way, we'll have both face and substance.

(End of this chapter)