Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 185 You can’t really silence someone, right?
When Zhou Yutong heard Meng Bai mention the "treating", she half covered her face in embarrassment.

At first, I thought everyone was just an ordinary "worker", so I said that. But I didn't expect that he was my "boss", which made me feel a little embarrassed.

It seemed that he had been very busy during the filming period and had forgotten about this matter.

Unexpectedly, I was "caught" on the last day.

"I, I remember!" Zhou Yutong said hurriedly: "I wonder if Teacher Meng has a convenient time tonight, I... uh."

She was halfway through her words when she suddenly felt something was wrong.

The actress took the initiative to ask the producer out for dinner in the evening, which sounds like it could easily be misunderstood.

Could it be that Mr. Meng misunderstood what I meant? Do you want me to explain?
However, if the other person did not mean that originally, and you take the initiative to explain, will it seem like you are doubting the other person's character?

But if I don’t explain, what should I do if he really misunderstands and agrees?
Zhou Yutong had heard of similar things when he was a supporting actor in various small drama crews before.

It is said that some "powerful" girls can rise from production manager to assistant director within two weeks of joining the crew, creating a "family atmosphere in the crew".

But before, it was something that happened to other people, so she just treated it as a piece of gossip and listened to the story.

Now it suddenly happened to me, and this might turn from a "story" into an "accident"!
But then again, if it was one of those bald, greasy middle-aged men, she would have explained it right away.

But if it were Meng Bai, it wouldn't seem so unacceptable.

Well, I wonder if Mr. Meng has a girlfriend? I remember when I was chatting with Zhang Ruoyun before, he seemed to have mentioned that he was single.

If I think about it this way, if he really misunderstood, then I can just let it go...

No, no, Zhou Yutong quickly shook his head. How could he have such an idea?
Meng Bai didn't know that the girl in front of him had already written a short essay in her heart in just a few seconds. After listening to her talk about the evening, he shook his head and said, "Tonight is the wrap-up party for the crew, and everyone will go together. Let's do it tomorrow."

"Then tomorrow night?" Zhou Yutong blurted out.

Meng Bai was stunned for a moment: "Does it have to be at night?"

All the crew's expenses are calculated on a daily basis, and the hotel room booked for the leading actor will expire at noon tomorrow.

You've made an appointment in the evening. Do you want the crew to pay for one more day's room?

"No, no, it depends on your time..."

Zhou Yutong was so embarrassed that his toes were about to make cracks on the ground.

She had been thinking that it was already early summer in May, so should she change into a lighter outfit at night? Suddenly she heard Meng Bai's words and said them without thinking.

"Then let's do it tomorrow at noon." Meng Bai said with a smile: "That's great, I have something to ask you."

"Okay, okay, then I'll contact you tomorrow at noon." Zhou Yutong quickly agreed.

A date at night sounds a bit ambiguous, but at noon the atmosphere immediately becomes business-like.

This also shows that Meng Bai did not misunderstand her meaning at all.

Well, I feel so weird, I don’t know whether I should be happy or sad.

Gently shaking his head to get rid of the messy thoughts, Zhou Yutong asked curiously: "Um, Teacher Meng, what do you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, I've observed you during this filming period and I feel like your style is quite unique and your acting skills are pretty good, so I wanted to ask if you're interested in signing with Arclight?"

In recent years, most of the young actresses have adopted an idol style. It is fine to shoot dramas such as fairy tales, ancient idol dramas, and romance dramas, but if they shoot realistic dramas, there will be a strange sense of disharmony.

In comparison, Zhou Yutong has a special kind of down-to-earth air, which is why Meng Bai chose her.

Although she cannot be used in other works of the "Green Ivy Series", there are many other projects after Arclight, and many roles require actresses of this type of style.

Instead of looking for an outsider at that time, it is better to cultivate one of your own from the beginning.

More importantly, Zhou Yutong and several other actresses in Huguang are of different types.

Li Yitong is sweet, Song Zhi is fresh, and Zhu Xudan is youthful. They all have their own styles and do not occupy each other's tracks, so there is no problem of colliding with each other. When Zhou Yutong heard Meng Bai's words, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Arclight Pictures is currently a leading company in the online drama market. For a small actor like me to be signed is simply a pie in the sky.

"Yes, yes. No problem for me." She agreed immediately without even thinking about it.

"Well, it's okay. You can think about it for a few days. There's no rush."

"No, don't think about it. I can sign the contract anytime."

Just kidding, think about it for a few more days. What if you calm down and decide not to sign?
Meng Bai didn't expect that this girl was so proactive. In his opinion, signing a contract, which was equivalent to a job, was a big deal and he had to think about it more.

But since the girl is willing, he won't rush to persuade her.

"Okay, since you have no objection, I'll have someone contact you when I return to Jingbei. The agency that we're cooperating with will be officially operating in a few days, and we'll merge you with it then." Meng Bai said.

Yang Ming sent him a message two days ago, inviting him to attend the opening reception of Taiyang Chuanhe. By the way, he transferred all the business contracts of several artists on his side to them, leaving only the film and television contract with Huguang.

Meng Bai has always believed that professional matters should be left to professionals.

As a film and television company, Arclight Films should just focus on making good film and television projects. As for artist management, let others do it and you can just invest and share the profits. There is no need to do it yourself.

Many of the early domestic film and television companies were influenced by the industry model in Hong Kong and all took the "big studio" approach.

They not only make films and TV shows, but also sign artists. Some even have their own behind-the-scenes teams including directors, screenwriters, photographers, lighting, and action stunts.

This model has many advantages in the early stages of a market's development. Not only can you double your profits by promoting your own projects and your own people, but the costs are also lower.

However, the disadvantage is that the scale is huge and bloated. Once the market is sluggish, the original "mutual achievement" of the projects and artists will turn into "mutual loss".

The market is not good, the dramas cannot be sold, the work is reduced, and the crew has no food to eat.

In order to support the crew, they have to start filming, but after filming they cannot sell the films, which only increases losses until the company is finally dragged down.

Shaw Brothers, which was once at its peak, eventually died due to this "too big to fail" model.

The mainland entertainment industry developed late, and the market is large, so this model still works until now.

Companies that have emerged in recent years, such as Huanrui, Jiaxing and Xinli, have also been using the "project + artist" cooperation model as a selling point to attract capital injection.

However, several established film and television companies have slowly begun to show signs of drawbacks in this model.

The most typical ones are Rong Xinda, where Li Qin is, and Tangren.

Even Hou Hongliang had mentioned before that he felt that Noon Sunshine's artist management business had somewhat affected the normal project production.

Meng Bai actually has this feeling to some extent now.

Take his cheap junior sister Zhu Xudan for example. After her contract with Leshi.com expired at the beginning of the year, she signed with ArcLight.

But after signing the contract, there was no suitable role for her.

It is impossible for Arc Light to change the project plan that has been set for herself. If she wants to find an external role, she won’t bring her agent with her.

The result was that for the past six months, apart from playing a role in a unit of "Forensic Qin Ming", she spent the rest of her time at home picking her feet.

If Meng Bai didn't know that this girl was also a poor student, he would have wanted her to use this free time to take the postgraduate entrance examination.

But everything will be fine after she transfers to Taiyang Chuanhe. With a dedicated management team, she won't have to sit around doing nothing every day and think about asking Huayan to play with her.

It's not anything else, but mainly because he is worried that his assistant has been hanging out with her for too long and might leak some information.

After all, his junior sister was the only one who knew Li Qin, Li Yitong, and Song Zhi at the same time. Although they were not familiar with each other, it was inevitable that something would go wrong after a long time.

I can't really kill her when the time comes.

(End of this chapter)