How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 74 Waste Test?
"Huayi, annual budget, 2000 million RMB for film promotion and distribution, 30 billion exposures," Ren Quan succinctly stated.

The business positioning of [Kanpianer.com] is based on two explicit lines: online box office and film promotion and distribution, plus countless other miscellaneous implicit lines.

In order to streamline business lines, Wang Yao only set two types of film promotion and distribution cooperation methods.

Online promotion: Publishing relevant news and topics through new media channels such as Weibo to achieve exposure and conversion. The main settlement method is CPM, which is charged per thousand impressions, with different unit prices for different projects.

Annual frame: refers to a period calculated on a calendar year basis, which includes the completion of agreed-upon publicity and distribution data, in forms including but not limited to online publicity and distribution, offline premieres/roadshows/LED advertising, as well as content dissemination, film review guidance and other comprehensive services.

The former refers to short-term collaborations with the following small clients, offering low risk and stable returns.

The latter is a long-term strategic partnership specifically targeting top-tier domestic production companies. It carries high risk but also high returns, although there is also the possibility of losing money.

It's estimated that the connection between Qu Shou's trending topics and the film "Confucius" boosted the film's box office or generated significant buzz, which is why Huayi Brothers proactively extended a collaboration invitation.

They seemed completely unconcerned about the [Kanpianer.com] mocking "The Banquet" as a bad movie the day before yesterday, probably because they believed the fact that the website was controlled by external forces.

As for Feng Xiaopao's mockery yesterday, it may be judged as personal opinion and will not affect the cooperation at the company level.

Can children's arguments affect the relationship between adults?

"Why is Huayi's CPM so much lower than the market price? Brother Quan, are you taking kickbacks?" Wang Yao joked.

The normal industry standard CPM for general exposure is 10 yuan per 1000 exposures, but Ren Quan's quote is less than 7 yuan per 1000, which is almost one-third cheaper.

"What kind of person do you take me for? If there really was a kickback, I would have shared it with you. Huayi Brothers is releasing 10 movies from next month's Spring Festival season until the end of the year, giving us 50 free tickets. If we resold them, they could be worth 2000 million. They used that to exchange for..."

"And next year, there are 10 movies already in pre-production. I can give you 10 supporting role slots, and each role will be revealed in about 3 minutes. How about that? Pretty generous of you, buddy? That's practically the treatment of a featured extra," Ren Quan said smugly.

The films invested in by Huayi Brothers naturally have top-tier resources, and even a minor role is worth countless actors vying for.

But for Wang Yao, it really didn't hold any appeal.

If appearing on screen were enough to become an actor, Hengdian would have produced countless Wang Baoqiangs by now.

"Using these things to exchange for our 1000 million in real money, Brother Quan, your calculations are truly brilliant," Wang Yao sighed.

Huayi Brothers essentially gave away 50 movie tickets as a way to attract customers, and this money was probably originally intended for box office boosting, but now it has directly replaced the publicity and distribution expenses.

Good calculation.

However, if all the films are from Huayi Brothers, then we could create a Huayi Brothers co-branded exclusive membership card for [Kanpianer.com], priced at 299 yuan per year. This card would allow users to watch any Huayi Brothers film 10 times nationwide, regardless of the film, which could attract around 5 members, making it somewhat worthwhile.

"Not bad. I don't have many other strengths, but I'm quick at accounting." Ren Quan didn't catch Wang Yao's sarcasm.

"It's like giving them 200 million exposures on a movie budget of 3 million. That's not easy. I don't know if they'll lose money." Wang Yao did the math and realized it was actually quite difficult.

This year, Huayi Brothers' films are mainly only worth mentioning: "Tang Zhen," "If You Are the One 2," and "Detective Dee." They are either bad films or difficult to promote.

"Shall I go and talk to them again?" Ren Quan asked hesitantly.

"Let's talk to them and see if we can get something else, like more movie tickets. A lucky draw can quickly boost exposure," Wang Yao said with a light laugh.

"Okay, I'll go talk to her again. By the way, when are you coming back? Sister Hua wants to invite you to dinner so we can get to know each other," Ren Quan asked.

"Maybe after the New Year," Wang Yao said, declining the offer.

If one wants to follow the traditional film and television path, Wang Jinhua is an insurmountable obstacle. However, for Wang Yao, her greatest value lies in her absolute control over the artists under her wing. The most uncontrollable aspect of packaging and hype is not the traffic, but the cooperation of the artists.

This woman's greatest strength was her assertiveness; the nickname "Domineering Flower" wasn't given lightly. In the end, it was precisely because she was too assertive that she met her downfall—too much strength leads to breaking.

By the way, have Ren Quan contact Tang Daosheng, the vice president of Tencent, through his connections. This man will later be the main person in charge of Tencent Weibo project and social value-added services.

From its initial beta testing last year to now, Sina Weibo has carved out a niche for itself in the social media arena in just six months. Yao Chen is one of the key figures launched by Sina in collaboration with Huayi.

In addition, the popularity of Ma Ruo and Qu Shou this month has put the old Sina Weibo on the fast track, with the platform's activity and traffic increasing at least several times. Tencent has always been a dominant player in the social media field, so naturally it will not allow anyone to touch its pie.

The microblogging model, which is comparable to Twitter, has long been in Tencent's plans. The old Sina Weibo was just Tencent's vanguard in expanding the market. Originally, Tencent was supposed to launch Penguin Weibo in April to reap the rewards.

But now, with Wang Yao's involvement, they might be forced to withdraw from the game sooner. If they can reach a strategic cooperation with Tencent Weibo at this time, they can sell Ma Ruo and Qu Shou for a good price.

It's worth noting that the resources and budget of the Tencent Weibo project at the time were comparable to those of a world-class project. The cost of signing celebrities in the arts and sports alone was over 100 million yuan. Among them, Han Han and Xu Jinglei received tens of thousands of yuan in writing fees for each Weibo post.

Unfortunately, due to underestimating its competitors and operational problems, it ultimately committed slow suicide in its competition with the old Sina Weibo, and regrettably failed and withdrew from the market.

It was precisely because of the failure of Weibo that WeChat was born.

Wang Yao didn't believe he could bring it back to life, but he had to make this quick money.

Huayi has a close relationship with Tencent Portal, so you should be able to get in touch with Ren Quan.

After ending his call with Ren Quan, Wang Yao was fairly certain that the influence of Qu Shou's topic had already made him famous in the domestic film and television industry.

No longer a lowly nobody sitting at the door during meetings.

Although it can't be described as a sudden and unexpected emergence of a giant like Kunlun.

However, it would be an understatement to say that the lotus buds are just beginning to emerge.

"Mr. Yao, your aunt asked me to bring you some fruit." A knock sounded on the door, and Nazha, wearing a cartoon nightgown, came in carrying a fruit platter.

The underfloor heating in this house is of good quality, maintaining a stable temperature of around 26°C, so you can sleep in relatively cool clothing.

"Oh, thank you. Why are you breaking out in pimples? Is it because you're not used to the new environment?" Wang Yao reached out and took the item, his gaze naturally shifting upwards to Nazha's rosy cheeks.

"It seems a little bit, but it could also be because I've been eating too much spicy food lately. The food here in Korea is spicy, salty, and not very tasty. I've been fooled by Korean dramas." Naza said with a mournful face.

"Let me take you and your aunt to experience the skin care here tomorrow," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Ah? Okay! Thank you, Mr. Yao. I'll go back to sleep now. Goodnight, Mr. Yao." Naza chuckled and slipped away, leaving behind a lingering fragrance.

Wang Yao looked at the fruit in the fruit plate, then gave up on the apple and picked up the grapefruit.

Mmm, it smells very sweet.

Actually, as a tourist city, Seoul doesn't have much to offer if you're not a fan of celebrities. The tourist attractions are on par with fourth-tier cities, the food is like that of Lin'an, and the service is like that of France and Italy.

However, Korean dramas are indeed well-packaged. Even eating seaweed soup can be portrayed with the expressiveness of a master chef. Coupled with excellent camera filters, it is very deceptive.

However, this applies to the average tourist. But if you are wealthy, you can truly experience the joys of being a chaebol when you travel to Korea.

Wang Yao can barely be considered a person who has escaped poverty; he is far from being a wealthy person.

But right now he has the chance to piggyback on the coattails of truly wealthy people.

He found the contact information for Deng Wendi that Chi Xin had given him, sent her a text message saying that he was free tomorrow and they could meet up.

I thought the other person would be taking a beauty nap at this time, but the phone rang right away.

"Hello Mr. Wang, this is Deng Wendi." A mature, bubbly voice with a standard ABC accent came from the phone.

"Good evening, Miss Deng. I didn't expect to disturb your rest," Wang Yao said in greeting.

"No, no, I'm used to staying up late anyway, and I haven't adjusted to the time difference since I just arrived in Korea. When is Mr. Wang free tomorrow?" Deng Wendi went straight to the point, revealing herself to be an efficient person.

"Tomorrow is fine, whenever is convenient for you," Wang Yao said with a light laugh.

"Let's arrange lunch then. I'll send you the information later." Deng Wendi pondered for a moment.

“Okay, by the way, Miss Deng, you should be quite familiar with Korean beauty industry, right? Do you have any suitable beauty salon recommendations? I want to take my mother and sister to get some treatments, but I've heard there are a lot of scams here, and it's easy to fall into a trap,” Wang Yao said.

“I didn’t expect Mr. Wang to be such a thoughtful guy. Beauty services are the most worthwhile experience for women in Korea. In that case, let’s just make an appointment with the institution I’ve invested in.” Deng Wendi seemed a little surprised.

“Okay, then I’ll trouble you, Miss Deng.” Wang Yao readily agreed without any hesitation.

Korea's beauty industry is world-renowned. Although it may not have the best technology, it is definitely the most famous. Appearance anxiety and bullying in Korea start almost from birth, so beauty institutions are as important to Koreans as public toilets.

Both men and women are inseparable from the beauty industry, which has led to a lot of chaos and shady practices. But it must be said that even though it's this bad, it's still more ethical than the beauty industry in China.

When Wang Yao was working in an MCN in his previous life, many of his streamers were tricked by beauty consultants and beauty institutions, and ended up with a lot of online loans for plastic surgery and treatments at a young age. What's worse, this industry is the most disgusting thing.

Beauty salons sometimes deliberately perform procedures that leave customers dissatisfied, then make them come back for repeated treatments and repairs, accompanied by a series of hidden costs, leaving them paying money and suffering.

However, it's similar in Korea, but relatively better because there's cosmetic surgery insurance. It's just that outsiders are often overcharged and ripped off; it's all a one-time business anyway. The next morning, Wang Yao, along with his mother and daughter Nazha, arrived at Deng Wendi's cosmetic surgery clinic.

From the outside, this institution is no less than a small hospital in size, and the interior decoration is mainly in white with a high-tech feel, giving people an invisible sense of high-class experience and pressure as soon as they walk in.

"Mr. Wang, is that right?" A beautiful woman with artificial features greeted him with a warm smile, speaking fluent but slightly awkward Mandarin.

“That’s right, I made an appointment with Miss Deng.” Wang Yao replied in Korean, not wanting to embarrass her by speaking broken Chinese.

"Miss Deng is already waiting for you. Please come with me. Our beauty consultant will take these guests to experience the treatments," the artificial beauty said softly.

Wang Yao nodded, told his mother and the others not to be fooled into having surgery, and then followed the artificial beauty into the private elevator, which took him straight to the top floor.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, an expensive-smelling fragrance wafted out.

A tall, handsome, and charismatic woman stood up from the sofa and walked over. "Mr. Wang, you are much younger than I imagined."

"Hello, Ms. Deng." Wang Yao shook hands with her lightly, then glanced at another woman sitting on the sofa.

If you don't get up when guests arrive, it's either because you look down on the guests, or you look down on the host, or it could simply be a matter of rudeness.

The other person also happened to look up at him, and when their eyes met, they raised their eyebrows slightly at almost the same time.

Oh, isn't this Princess Lee Boo-jeong of the Three Stars?

That would be utterly rude.

"This is my friend, and also a partner in the organization." Deng Wendi casually pointed to the mature young woman on the sofa, seemingly without intending to introduce her in detail, as it was probably unrelated to the conversation that was about to begin.

"Hey, you should go now." Deng Wendi walked over and patted Li Fuzhen on the head.

"No, I suddenly feel unwell. I'll stay here for a while. Just pretend I'm invisible." Lee Boo-jung waved her hand in refusal, moved to the corner of the sofa and started playing on her phone, seemingly intending to stay there permanently.

"I have something important to discuss." Deng Wendi frowned, somewhat helplessly.

"Is there anything I can't hear?" Lee Boo-jung blinked.

"You can listen, but you might have to pay," Deng Wendi said with a light laugh.

"OK." Lee Boo-jung made a gesture.

Deng Wendi seemed genuinely at a loss with her, and turned to Wang Yao helplessly, saying, "Don't mind her, would you like something to drink?"

"Water will do." Wang Yao smiled shyly and sat on the other side of the sofa, directly facing Li Fuzhen.

Because she was wearing a skirt, Lee Boo-jung adjusted her posture, not worried about showing too much despite wearing black stockings.

"Don't worry about her. Chi Xin said Mr. Wang is a college student. At first, I thought she was joking." Deng Wendi handed him a bottle of water.

It comes in a glass bottle and looks quite expensive.

"I'll be graduating from university soon." The label read Chateldon, a brand Wang Yao had never seen before, and he wondered if it was custom-made.

“I’m about the same age as your mother. I really envy her for having such an outstanding son.” Deng Wendi’s tone softened a bit.

“Miss Deng looks about the same age as my cousin; you can’t tell her age at all,” Wang Yao said with a light laugh.

"I spend millions on my face every year. If it doesn't work, I'll sue them for fraud," Deng Wendi joked.

Li Fuzhen rolled her eyes upon hearing this. She couldn't understand the Chinese Deng Wendi was speaking, but there was a subtle change in her gaze as she looked at Wang Yao.

"Making money is for enjoyment, whether material or spiritual; otherwise, it just becomes a financial vessel," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“Looking at your face, it feels strange for me to call you Mr. Wang. If you don’t mind, how about I call you Xiao Yao?” Deng Wendi asked.

"Just call him A-Yao, that's what President Chi calls him too," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Then you can call me Sister Di to sound more approachable. I mainly wanted to get to know a young and talented person like you and get closer to you. This year, I plan to shift my career focus to China." Deng Wendi got straight to the point.

"Then I'll have to accept this offer." Wang Yao smiled. "What kind of career are you referring to, Sister Di?"

Wang Yao doesn't really know much about Deng Wendi's resume, since there are very few reports about her. The only thing that left a deep impression on him was that she and Huayi led Li Bingbing and others to try to enter Hollywood but ultimately failed.

Wang Yao did quite like the TV series "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," which was about yuri (lesbian romance) and the plight of Chinese women. He originally wanted to emulate the Western model and start a feminist movement in China, but unfortunately, the version was ahead of its time and he missed the opportune moment.

“I previously worked on a social platform called Myspace, which is known as Juyou in China,” Deng Wendi said.

Surprisingly, it's not the entertainment industry, but the social media industry. But that's normal, since having a media mogul as a backer means having endless resources in any media industry.

However, Wang Yao had never heard of this platform before; it was quite obscure.

"What kind of platform is this?" Wang Yao asked humbly.

"Blog + information sharing + social networking – this platform performed quite well overseas, boasting over 1 million users at its peak, even surpassing Facebook. However, it has suffered severe user loss in the last two years, and its valuation is now less than $5000 million."
Previously, I was in charge of domestic business. Perhaps due to the nature of the platform, coupled with the survival difficulties accumulated by Tencent, Baidu, and Sina, I didn't have much of a presence," Deng Wendi briefly explained.

At its peak, this platform had over 1 million users, and that was before 2010. Its valuation was at least tens of billions of dollars. After all, Facebook now has 4 million users and a valuation of 500 billion US dollars.

How did it go from tens of billions to fifty million, and still have a first-mover advantage?
It's understandable that Deng Wendi couldn't succeed in China, probably due to cultural differences and political stance. But why is she doing so well abroad?

What kind of talent does Murdoch have under his command?
“If Sister Di wants to use Tianhuo’s resources to drive traffic to the platform, I’m not very confident, but I should be able to do my part. Qu Shou and Ma Ruo still have some loyal fans,” Wang Yao said seriously.

With a little thought, it becomes clear that Deng Wendi probably also realized that there were major problems with the website, so she wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to make some money.

Although she is the wife of the president of a media group, she probably has neither power nor money, and relying solely on men for survival is not in her nature.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have had any connection with the British Prime Minister later on.

Once a woman becomes tainted by the allure of power, she can be even more ruthless than a man.

Wang Yao quite liked this kind of business where middlemen made a profit, especially since it was international business, which allowed them to earn foreign exchange.

"You're really smart." Deng Wendi's eyes held a hint of appreciation, and a smile played on her lips.
"Chi Xin said that Ma Ruo and Qu Shou were both promoted by her, and I didn't quite believe it at first, but now I do. You're very perceptive. However, I still have a question I want to ask you."

"Please speak?" Wang Yao asked seriously.

“Whether it was Ma Ruo or Qu Shou, they were at a significant disadvantage at the time. If they weren’t careful, they would have gotten into big trouble. The best solution would have been to handle it quietly. But why did you take the initiative? Was it a gamble? Or were you confident?” Deng Wendi asked solemnly.

Wang Yao frowned upon hearing this, then scratched his head and sighed, "Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

“Of course it’s the truth.” Deng Wendi was taken aback.

"The truth is, I didn't think that much at the time. I just felt that they were victims, so why couldn't they defend themselves? They had already been hurt, so why should they have to suffer a second or even a third time?"

I minored in law when I was in school, and what I didn't understand the most at the time was the victim-blaming theory. So, when you asked me why I chose to take the initiative, there wasn't really any other consideration.

"I simply explained the whole story to everyone, clarifying that the media's role is to convey the truth, or at least the objective truth, rather than obscuring it and causing misunderstandings between the parties involved and bystanders, leading to even greater confusion." Wang Yao's handsome face carried an unspoken determination, and his entire being exuded an air of righteousness.

Deng Wendi was stunned for a moment, then felt a mix of emotions—excitement, shame, and doubt—but finally let out a sigh.

"So, it's just childishness."

Wang Yao feigned surprise.

“No, success is called spirit, failure is childish. Ayao is a spirited boy, which is rare,” Deng Wendi said with a light laugh.

"It's alright," Wang Yao smiled shyly.

"Then you should know my story, right? What kind of person do you think I am?" Deng Wendi asked with a playful expression.

“Actually, I only know a little bit from snippets of news reports, and it’s all secondhand information that’s already distorted. But I think you’re a very goal-oriented person who’s willing to put things into practice and work hard.” Wang Yao pondered for a moment.

"Very goal-oriented?" Deng Wendi raised an eyebrow slightly, seemingly very interested in the word. "Then let me rephrase my question: what do you think of my behavior of using men and becoming a mistress to climb the social ladder?"

This is a death trap question, an absolute death trap question.

Waste test?
interesting.
　Thank you Ruigen for the 5000 reward! (This is my first time meeting a Platinum-level player like Ruigen—I'm so touched!)

　　感谢总大将、浩浩、秋意随风起佳人入梦来、九十九点、符号为甲、明明之空、飞翔的湘北、信息秒回、家乡吹来的烟火、正在输入中请稍后、龙蟠凤逸之士、鬼心人心、吃多了会肥、xiasala、骑着小祺的小摩托、po安潘、风静云悠、Amo丶云兰石、袅袅婷婷袅袅、晴天、地地、微笑开膛手、邓鲲养殖户、书友20230710000201660、书友160405102004289、书友20231201164641579、书友20220206105856553、书友20230118215634524、书友20211129114901506的月票支持~万分感谢！

　　
　
(End of this chapter)