Huayu: Starting from managing the Mahua FunAge Theater Troupe

How many times have I faced cold stares and ridicule?

I have never given up on my ideals.

A fleeting moment of confusion, a feeling of loss.

The love has faded without me even realizing it; the love in my heart, who understands me...?

Shen Feiyang and Shen Teng walked out of Building No. 18.

Looking up at the gray sky, Shen Teng was moved by the scene and sang a section of the lyrics of "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies" in broken Cantonese.

Shen Feiyang roughly knew what his cousin was saying. He said in a very blunt and objective way, "There's no use for you staying in the troupe now. You won't get to show your face. But if we make a lot of money from this commercial performance and you gain fame, the troupe might just promote you to be the lead."

"Sigh..." Shen Teng sighed deeply, "You don't understand the things that art upholds."

"You only need to understand it yourself. I don't care about art, but you have to listen to me when it comes to making money."

Shen Feiyang glanced at his cousin: "You don't want my sister-in-law to miss out on the gifts she wants for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day, do you?"

"Damn it, who invented the idea that you have to give a girl gifts during a relationship? If two people love each other, shouldn't they have a child first?"

"I'm too lazy to argue with you. I need to get back to my business."

……

Shen Feiyang took Shen Teng to a service agency near the Industrial and Commercial Bureau.

It seems that there are agencies next to the local industrial and commercial bureaus.

Shen Feiyang found a reputable agency and said he wanted to register a cultural studio as soon as possible. The agency registered his information, charged him a basic fee of 500 yuan, and an additional 500 yuan for express service, and told him to come back in three days to pick up the certificate.

I left the agency.

Shen Teng complained, "This thousand yuan is so easy to earn."

"The market and time wait for no one."

Shen Teng looked at his cousin and asked, "What are we going to do next?"

"Going to that print shop to get our documents printed will make us look more professional."

……

An hour later, I left the print shop.

Shen Teng flipped through the promotional brochure in his hand.

The sign above states that "Happy Twist Troupe" is a professional, customized performance organization specializing in sketch comedy. All actors are graduates of top art schools such as Beijing Film Academy, Central Academy of Drama, and PLA Academy of Arts. Since its establishment, the troupe has won numerous awards…

Following that is a whole bunch of fictitious awards.

Further down, there are detailed project descriptions, pricing information, and contact details.

Shen Teng protested, "Can you remove the 'Military Arts' award? You've fabricated a bunch of awards; how will I face people when they ask about it later?"

"You don't know anything. When you become a big shot, this will be a piece of your legendary life puzzle. Of course, if you don't become famous, then you don't need to care at all."

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey..."

Shen Teng felt unlucky: "If I don't become famous in the future, it's all because of your curse."

Shen Feiyang took out his phone and checked it: "It's one o'clock in the afternoon. Let's hurry up and get things done."

……

Shen Feiyang went to the newsstand and bought a copy of "BJ Yellow Pages". "BJ Yellow Pages" can be understood as the future Qichacha and Tianyantong.

Afterwards, Shen Feiyang and Shen Teng returned to their residence.

Shen Feiyang rents an apartment in the Fuyiyuan residential complex in the Dingfuzhuang area.

The rented apartment is small, a one-bedroom unit.

The monthly rent is 600 yuan, with a deposit of one month's rent and three months' rent paid in advance. Heating fees are the responsibility of the tenant.

For a five-year-old building with heating, 600 yuan is a very low price. If it weren't for the year-end drop in demand for rental housing among Beijing drifters, the landlord would be in a hurry to rent it out and have the tenants cover the heating costs. Plus, the landlord is a customer of Shen Feiyang, saving on agency fees. No one else could rent a house at this price.

On the market, these types of properties start at 900 per month.

Beijing is big, but living here is not easy.

I sat down on the sofa.

Shen Feiyang tore the Beijing Yellow Pages in half and handed one half to Shen Teng: "Prioritize calling companies that look like foreign companies or internet companies and ask them if they need skits or customized comedy skits for their annual meetings."

Annual meetings are very popular in foreign companies and internet companies, but they are more troublesome for state-owned enterprises, and private companies generally don't like to spend money on them.

In addition, foreign companies and internet companies have relatively ample budgets and are more reliable in making payments than ordinary private companies; at least they are unlikely to default on their debts.

Shen Teng looked at the half-finished Yellow Pages in his hand and scratched his brow: "I don't speak English."

"Chinese people speak Chinese. These are most likely their company's switchboard numbers. Try to get the number of the administration department or the person in charge of the annual meeting."

Shen Teng said irritably, "It's the 21st century, and there are still capitalists like you. You should be hung on a street lamp."

"Stop talking nonsense and get to work."

……

Three hours later.

Shen Teng fully utilized his advantages of being talkative, chatty, and not annoying, making a phone call every ten minutes on average, and made 18 calls, obtaining the phone numbers of the annual meeting organizers of 18 companies.

Shen Feiyang made an average of one phone call every three minutes, making more than sixty calls and obtaining the phone numbers of the heads of thirty company annual meetings. Although the success rate was only 50%, the number of calls far exceeded that of Shen Teng.

Shen Teng put down his phone, looked at the overdue phone bill notification from the carrier, and blurted out, "You have to reimburse me for the phone bill!"

Shen Feiyang checked the time; it was almost 6 PM. "Reimbursement, reimbursement. Let's go have dinner. Remember to call your parents and tell them you'll be staying at my place tonight. I'll take you to visit clients tomorrow."

"Evil capitalists."

……

The next two days.

December 20th, December 21st.

Although it was the weekend, some company annual meeting organizers still sent their subordinates to meet with Shen Feiyang.

Corporate annual meetings have always been a hotbed of corruption.

Inviting performance groups to perform is also a form of procurement.

When it comes to external procurement, it's hard for any company to avoid taking kickbacks; that's just human nature.

Performance services, especially "customized sketch comedy", are precisely a highly non-standardized service.

There is no standardized pricing; the script is custom-made, the actors are professional, and the effects cannot be quantified.

This characteristic of "not being able to say how much it's worth" naturally creates opportunities for kickback operations.

Shen Feiyang is even willing to offer a 10%-20% rebate.

In just two days, a cooperation agreement was finalized for six customized comedy sketches, each priced at 10,000 yuan.

……

December 22nd, around 12 PM.

Another cooperation agreement has been finalized.

After seeing the customer off.

Sitting in a coffee shop.

Shen Teng held his old student ID from his time at the PLA Academy of Arts in his hand. The thought of having to take out his student ID and flash it to clients when discussing cooperation in the next couple of days made him feel strange.

What puzzled Shen Teng even more was: "Aren't you worried that the content and actors won't keep up with your crazy number of performances?"

Meeting Shen Teng's questioning gaze, Shen Feiyang calmly said, "Actors are plentiful, especially students from the Performance Department of Beijing Film Academy and the Performance Department of Central Academy of Drama. As for the content, just design three general templates and fit the client's desired content into them. A short skit of about ten minutes is fine. As long as the jokes are funny and can make people laugh, the business will be successful. It's not as difficult as you think."

This is actually still about making money from information asymmetry. Because information doesn't spread easily these days, ordinary people can laugh at old jokes. Shen Feiyang adds a few hilarious jokes that haven't appeared yet to the established sketch framework. As long as the actors' acting is passable, the job is done.

After listening.

Shen Teng remained silent for a long time before letting out a long sigh and saying, "I'm really not suited for business."

"Let's go, let's go. The 'Want some fried dough twists? I'll twist them for you right away' show is about to start." Shen Feiyang stood up, picked up the down jacket draped over the back of the chair, and said as he put it on.

"Oh right, Wang Qi is still waiting for me." Shen Teng then got up and put on his coat.