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

Chapter 397 The Great Secret

Wangjing, international business center.

At the entrance of the office area, a large poster wall is made up of photos of more than a dozen artists. In the middle is Yang Mi, one of the top “85 Flowers”. Next to the poster wall is the name of the company - Jiaxing Media.

"Where has the situation developed now?"

In the president's office, Zeng Jia frowned and asked the head of the publicity department in front of him.

Because of publicity reasons, many people outside the circle mistakenly believe that Yang Mi is the big boss of Jiaxing Media, but in fact she does not hold many shares and can only be regarded as a "partner + senior employee."

Just as Meng Bai is hidden behind Li Qin, there are also three women standing behind Yang Mi, including former agent Zeng Jia, Zhao Ruoyao and Li Juan from PricewaterhouseCoopers. They are the helmsmen and actual controllers of Jiaxing.

Zeng Jia is the founder, chairman and general manager of Jiaxing, and the number one person in the company. The name "Jiaxing" comes from her.

Ever since Jiaxing was delisted from the New Third Board in the middle of the year, she has been busy with new financing and IPO matters, and many of the company's specific affairs are handled by her subordinates.

The film crew had already told them about the casting change in "Assassination of Novelist", but Zeng Jia didn't take it too seriously - not to mention that it was just a verbal mention by the director, even if it was a formal contract and then a casting change, it was common in the circle.

Yang Mi's popularity is indeed among the top actresses in the domestic entertainment industry, but it is only limited to the field of TV dramas. What's more, the role that is "going" this time is Arc Light, so they didn't take it seriously.

Unexpectedly, the fans below started to make a commotion, and the noise was quite loud. What was even more frustrating was that when these fans saw that Jiaxing did not make any move, they actually went to denounce Li Qin and Arclight Films.

After Zeng Jia received the feedback from below, he almost cursed.

These fans really don’t understand what “fans’ behavior, the owner pays the price” means. If you use your brain to think about it, the fact that they dare to ask for the role so directly and easily shows that they don’t care about Jiaxing’s strength at all!
"Right now, it's just the fans of both sides quarreling with each other. Neither Li Qin nor Hu Guang have said anything yet." The person in charge introduced the situation and then continued, "Mr. Zeng, this kind of fan quarrel happens every day. It shouldn't be anything to worry about."

"Of course there's nothing wrong with quarreling, but the problem is who you're quarreling with." Zeng Jia sighed, "What's more, the company is in a turbulent time right now. It's good enough to solve our own problems. How can we afford to provoke others?"

The person in charge of publicity and promotion fell silent upon hearing this and dared not speak anymore.

After waiting for a long time, she finally heard Zeng Jia speak again: "I remember Mimi seems to be in Jingbei recently. Please contact her and come to the company. Tell her that I have something to talk to her about."

The person in charge was stunned when he heard this, and subconsciously said: "Ah? Isn't Sister Yang Mi busy dealing with it recently..."

Halfway through her words, she saw her boss looking at her and cleverly changed the subject: "Okay, I'll contact him right away."

Seeing his subordinates leaving, Zeng Jia rubbed his brows, stood up and looked out the window at the busy street downstairs, and fell into deep thought.

Last year was definitely the most glorious year for Jiaxing. The huge success of Eternal Love not only allowed them to exceed their three-year bet with Shangshi Pictures ahead of schedule, but also brought in a perfect 500 million yuan in financing, with the company's valuation reaching 50 billion yuan.

A large number of artists under the company have become popular thanks to this drama. In particular, Reba has become the new "ace" of Jiaxing after Yang Mi.

However, Jiaxing's situation took a sharp turn for the worse this year. In the middle of the year, it cancelled its listing on the New Third Board in order to have a better IPO. Unexpectedly, the contract incident of the "Cell Phone 2" crew occurred just two days later, which marked the beginning of the capital retreat in the film and television industry.

Immediately afterwards, Li Juan, one of the "Three Giants of Jiaxing" who was mainly responsible for financing and capital operations, resigned from the position of secretary to the board after cashing out through dividends, and also took her husband, who was the financial director, with her.

Although the title of director is still symbolically retained, everyone knows that this is just to save face for each other. In fact, people no longer care about the subsequent development of Jiaxing.

Not long ago, with the announcement of the "Seven New Regulations", the risks in the film and television industry were thoroughly identified, and the capital behind each company began to shrink.

Just like Ali’s previous move on Straw Bear, Great Wall Films’ withdrawal from Gu Changwei and Jiang Wenli’s company Premiere Era, and Happy Twist being sold off by Guoying Culture behind the scenes because of the poor performance of the National Day movie “Li Cha’s Aunt”…

Even Shangshi Pictures, which had just completed a bet with Jiaxing, has recently been selling its shares to external parties.

In this cold winter of film and television, every film and television company has only one chance. Once they make a mistake, the capital behind them will abandon them without hesitation.

Wang Changtian, the boss of Guangguang Media, recently predicted in a speech that in the next two to three years, at least 2,000 film and television companies will go bankrupt. And even if they can survive, except for the top companies, others can only survive.

It's not actually cold when it snows, but it's really cold when the snow melts. For small and medium-sized film and television companies, no one can be sure that they can definitely survive this winter.

The same goes for Jiaxing. It seems to be flourishing now, but in fact only bosses like Zeng Jia know that the company’s current situation is not good.

Li Juan's departure caused Jiaxing to lose its biggest pillar in the capital market. The cancellation of the NEEQ listing, which was originally planned for IPO, has become the most wrong move under the current situation.

Although the company still has two big cards, Yang Mi and Dilireba, one has too many bad dramas that have affected her reputation, and the other has been affected by the previous "Golden Eagle Flooding" and her popularity has dropped significantly, so neither is safe.

At this time, any disturbance may affect Jiaxing's future survival. But these fans are confused and stubbornly rush to the arc light.

What worries her the most is whether Arclight will think that Jiaxing is deliberately inciting these fans to start a war in retaliation for "the role being stolen".

The person in charge of publicity and promotion previously said that the other party did not speak out, which might be because they did not care, but there is also a possibility that they are waiting for Jiaxing to express its position.

Zeng Jia sighed in her heart, saying that Jiaxing was good at capital operation, but Arclight Films was the capital itself. Facing such an industry tycoon, who could guarantee what he was thinking?

For a small or medium-sized company like theirs, they can only believe it. No matter whether others care or not, it is always better to explain things clearly first.

This was why she wanted to find Yang Mi. After all, if she wanted to explain, she had to talk to him first.

Just as Zeng Jia expected, Yang Mi had indeed been staying in Beijing North recently to handle personal matters, and she was also aware of the recent controversy among fans, but she did not expect the company to take it so seriously.

It was already afternoon when she arrived at Jiaxing. She greeted Zeng Jia casually when she saw him, but her face looked a little gloomy.

Zeng Jia just thought that she was worried about recent personal matters, so he didn't ask any more questions and just went straight to the point to introduce the situation.

"Is this matter so serious?" Yang Mi asked with a frown.

Zeng Jia sighed and said with a wry smile: "This is not a question of whether it is serious or not, but we are not qualified to judge whether it is serious or not now."

"..."

Yang Mi pursed her thin lips. Indeed, the worst feeling was that she couldn't judge whether the result was good or bad. She felt a little annoyed, and her tone was a little aggressive: "So, what do you need me to do?"

"Actually, there's no need for you to do anything..."

Zeng Jia was a little confused by being inexplicably confronted. When he saw Yang Mi looking at him with a sullen face, he vaguely understood something.

"No, there seems to be some misunderstanding in our communication." Zeng Jia slowed down his tone, "I came to you to tell you that you know Tong Liya, and she is familiar with Mr. Meng. Can you ask her to act as a matchmaker and arrange a meeting with him?"

"Yaya? Matchmaking?" Yang Mi was stunned for a moment, "That's it?"

"if not?"

Zeng Jia laughed: "You don't think I'm looking for you because I want you to go... Ha, my teacher Yang, even if there is really a need, there are so many new people in the company, and you don't need to go."

Yang Mi was a little embarrassed. When she answered the phone before, she really thought Zeng Jia wanted her to go to Meng Bai for "in-depth communication" and plead for mercy, so she looked angry when she came.

Of course, this kind of anger has nothing to do with integrity or morality. It is simply the feeling of being insulted by someone close to you.

She and Zeng Jia have been friends for more than ten years, from newcomers to famous people, and then to starting their own business. Although their relationship has become somewhat distant due to interests in recent years, they still have an old friendship.

As a result, now for the sake of profit, I am asked to sell myself out to solve the problem, which is equivalent to a betrayal. She has been mentally exhausted by similar things recently, so she is a little sensitive.

But you can't blame her for thinking too much. After all, based on what Zeng Jia said before, everyone would think that she wanted to be seduced.

This is also what makes her angry - I was seduced when I wasn't famous, and I'm still seduced after I became famous, so all my fame was in vain!
Unexpectedly, it turned out that I had misunderstood.

Fortunately, she is also a woman who has experienced many ups and downs for many years. She said calmly: "Okay, then let me ask Yaya. Speaking of which, I have heard of Mr. Meng for a long time, but I have never met him in person. I really want to meet him."

The misunderstanding in his heart was resolved, and Yang Mi became interested in Meng Bai again.

Several years ago, she had heard Tong Liya say that she had a junior brother who opened a film and television company. However, at that time, Arclight Films was still in its development stage, and its scale was not even as large as that of Jiaxing Media today.

I didn't expect that in just a few years, he would soar to become a big boss in the industry. Even if I am considered a first-line star, I still have to look at other people's faces. Even if the role is taken away, I can only blame myself for my bad luck.

Yang Mi, who grew up in the entertainment industry, is already accustomed to such things and has no psychological fluctuations at all. After all, this circle is so realistic.

However, she was quite interested in Meng Bai.

In terms of the most basic human desires, men and women are actually the same, they all fantasize about sleeping with a member of the opposite sex with a high status. What's more, the other person is also good-looking, so they are not at a disadvantage at all.

It's a rare opportunity for us to meet each other this time, it would be a shame not to give it a try.

Thinking of this, she called Tong Liya, explained the whole story, and finally said that she wanted her to see if she could get the person out.

"I don't think Meng Bai would care about this." Tong Liya said over the phone, "But since you're worried, I'll ask for you. But let me make it clear first, I can't guarantee whether he will come out or not."

"It's okay, I believe you can do it." Yang Mi said in her unique coquettish tone.

"What's the use of you believing...Okay, I'll try my best."

After hanging up the phone, Yang Mi looked at Zeng Jia across from him again: "If he agrees to meet, I'll go."

"you?"

Zeng Jia glanced at her and took a while to react: "You and your family..."

"The agreement was signed a few days ago, but there are still some assets to be dealt with, so we plan to announce it later." Yang Mi said with an unchanged expression.

"Ah, that's it..."

Zeng Jia couldn't help but sigh when he heard this.

Yang Mi is busy with her divorce from Liu Kaiwei recently. There are many reasons for this, the main one is Liu Kaiwei's cheating scandal, and the other is the emotional estrangement caused by the long separation.

In the past few years, in order to make a "three-year bet" with Shangshi Pictures, Yang Mi had to accept a lot of roles to earn gold coins. Thirteen dramas in three years is equivalent to living on the set all year round. Even when she was pregnant, she still participated in variety shows.

I have to say that among the “85 Flowers”, it’s okay to talk about her character and acting skills, but when it comes to careerism or ambition, no one can surpass her.

The result was not bad. The bet was successfully completed and he turned into capital, but the price was the collapse of his family.

Zeng Jia, as the ultimate beneficiary, didn't have any thoughts. It was just that thinking back to when she announced her marriage at the height of her popularity, and now it was such a mess, it still made people feel emotional.

"That's good, congratulations on regaining your freedom." Zeng Jia said with a teasing smile: "Okay, then I'll leave this matter to you. Uh, and...be careful."

"Don't worry, I'm not a little girl."

"By the way, we can ask ArcLight if it is interested in financing Jiaxing when we talk." Zeng Jia said: "It seems that ArcLight is one of the few companies in the industry that still has the energy to expand externally."

Yang Mi asked doubtfully: "They have their own production company, agency, and distribution channels. Is it necessary for them to invest in us?"

"This……"

Zeng Jia spread his hands and said, "So I asked you to ask, what if? In the current situation, unless we have another big hit like "Three Lives Three Worlds", we can only hope that the blind cat will run into a dead mouse."

"Okay, I'll ask, but don't get your hopes up."

Yang Mi was not very enthusiastic about Zeng Jia's plan. She held less than 10% of the shares, so it didn't matter to her whether the company raised funds or not.

(End of this chapter)