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

Chapter 479: Counterattack Storm
Although they are not in the same circle and have never interacted with each other, Meng Bai and Hua Yi are not completely without any connection.

When Taiyang Chuanhe was first established, it relied on a group of people brought by Yang Ming from Huayi as its initial team. However, it was only later that it was supported by Arclight and ByteDance that it gradually got rid of the shadow of Huayi.

Although the company was no longer involved, the personal connections were still there. Chen Zhixi took this opportunity to make an appointment with Huayi and planned to sit down and talk.

Meng Bai did not attend the negotiation process. After all, with his current status, he had to talk directly to Wang Zhongjun.

Moreover, he didn't think that he could come to any conclusion, after all, Heng Teng's name was not mentioned directly in the essay. He was already at a disadvantage if he went to the other party with this point.

According to his idea, we don't have much friendship anyway, so no matter whether you do it intentionally or unintentionally, he will just fight back to the fullest.

If you hit the right person, it's a normal response. If it's an accidental injury, it can also let the other party understand that next time before writing a short essay, think carefully about what to say and what not to say.

However, there was nothing wrong with Chen Zhixi's attitude of "first courtesy, then force", so Meng Bai let her go.

But judging from her expression after she finished talking, she didn't seem very happy.

"I'm so angry! It's not the first day for everyone to do this. Don't you think everyone knows that they are trying to divert public attention?"

Chen Zhixi slammed the table and said angrily, "That Liu guy has the nerve to say that he was 'writing from his heart and not targeting anyone'. Haha, it's so funny, if he wasn't targeting anyone, why would he specifically add 'a movie that's also being released'? If this isn't referring to 'Famous', could it be the re-release of 'Harry Potter'?"

"The surname Liu?" Meng Bai asked.

"Liu Ge, he's the one who posted on WeChat Moments. He's the general manager of Huayi Distribution. He's in charge of the deposit issue for The Eight Hundred this time." Chen Zhixi held back his anger and explained to him.

"Didn't any of the big and small kings of Huayi go?"

"Humph, what else did you say? When we first made the appointment, we said that Wang Zhonglei would go. But in the end, it was Liu Ge who went, and Xiao Wang didn't come at all."

"Tsk tsk, Sister Xi, let me say this, it's obvious that they don't take you seriously." Meng Bai added fuel to the fire.

Chen Zhixi had a gloomy face and said nothing.

Meng Bai continued with a smile: "I heard that there have been a lot of rumors in the industry these days, saying that Hengten is backed by platform capital such as Evergrande and Tencent, so its position is not on the side of the producers. This time Huayi was at the forefront of the "anti-box office theft", but we ended up being traitors and standing with the theaters, holding them back..."

"fart!"

Chen Zhixi didn't care about his image at this moment, and yelled angrily: "We are doing normal publicity, but Huayi was the one who acted as the leader and ended up messing it up, and now he wants to drag us down with him, what a piece of shit."

"That's right. So I say, there is no need to pay attention to 'be polite before using force'. Since they started the fight first, we just have to fight back." Meng Bai cooperated.

Chen Zhixi snorted: "If they do it on the first day, don't blame us for doing it on the fifteenth. It's just writing a short essay and hiring Internet trolls, it seems that everyone can do it. I'll contact them..."

"No need to contact, I have professionals here."

Meng Bai interrupted her and took out his phone to send a message. A moment later, someone knocked on the office door, and then a young man walked in.

"boss."

The man greeted him, then looked at Chen Zhixi who was sitting across the table, and said with a smile: "Hello, Mr. Chen, my name is Li Mu, and I am the head of the brand department of Arclight Films. Mr. Meng has already explained to me what happened in the past two days. If you need anything, you can tell me directly."

Chen Zhixi looked at him: "Brand department?"

"Deal with false online public opinion and shape the corporate brand image."

"..."

Chen Zhixi looked at Meng Bai speechlessly and said, “Just call him the leader of the internet troll army. What’s the point of this “brand department”?”

But then again, although she had never heard of Li Mu before, she still believed in his abilities.

As a leading company in the film and television industry, ArcLight Pictures is often subjected to all kinds of smears, slander and rumors.

However, Arc Light has always maintained a good reputation online and among audiences. This is certainly based on the high quality of the work itself, but the "defense and counterattack" behind it is also absolutely indispensable.

From this we can see that Li Mu and his "brand department" obviously have some means.

Chen Zhixi took a deep breath. It would be good if she had the means. She needed such a "professional" right now.

……

Huayi’s plan to “divert attention” was relatively successful. After Liu Ge’s essay went viral on WeChat Moments, discussions about Huayi’s “unfair terms” and private breach of contract immediately decreased.

The topic of online debate has gradually shifted to the problem of "box office stealing" that the film industry has always found difficult to solve.

Many people feel that no matter what Huayi’s reputation is, at least there is nothing wrong with it in this matter.

As for the small cinema owners who paid the deposit, they are still speaking out. However, they belong to different regions and cinema chains, and have no connection with each other. They even complain to each other because of the different discounts. As a result, they are scattered and cannot withstand the impact of large-scale water army soft articles.

With Huayi's strong voice outside and a lack of internal unity and cooperation, many theater managers have gradually become disappointed and feel that they can only swallow their losses this time.

However, just when they were about to give up, they suddenly felt that the online situation had changed again.

First, new articles began to appear on various information platforms, combing through the Huayi incident from beginning to end in the form of industry revelations or entertainment gossip - of course, the stance was definitely not on Huayi's side.

Soon after, many “industry insiders” appeared on the short video platform, using professional analysis to bring Huayi’s “unfair terms” back into the public eye.

But this is just the first layer. Immediately afterwards, some "negative comments" about the movie "Eight Hundred" gradually appeared on the Internet, including but not limited to questioning the movie's plot, setting and stance.

As the only two new movies released recently, "Eight Hundred" itself has been very popular and controversial. Now with the addition of a group of people fanning the flames, the public opinion field of the movie has become even more chaotic.

Not all popularity is positive for a movie. If the voices of doubt are too loud, it will also have a counterproductive effect.

Today's "Eight Hundred" has a bit of this meaning. But this is not the end, right after the movie, the third level of attack comes again.

Seeing that the incident was gaining popularity again, many small cinema owners regained their confidence and began to continue questioning Huayi’s “deposit clause”.

As the voices of doubt grew, people gradually began to question whether Huayi's purpose of requiring theaters to pay a unified deposit was really to "limit box office theft" as they said, or to use this method to absorb funds to make up for the company's financial gap.

Compared with the previous "customers bullying the store", the topic of funds and property of listed companies is very sensitive. Especially for a company like Huayi that has a "bad record", it is very easy to be suspected.

Many netizens and investors began to check Huayi’s financial report, and then found that there seemed to be some problems here.

Several consecutive years of losses have caused Huayi's company assets to decline year by year. At the same time, the company's two major shareholders, the Wang brothers, have pledged more than 90% of their shares, and the pledges have been continuous.

Although it is not an outrageous operation for a company's shareholders to pledge shares in exchange for funds, such a large-scale pledge for a long time still makes people wonder whether there are any problems with the company's operations and capital.

After checking the company's first quarter and semi-annual financial reports this year, we found that Huayi, as a non-physical film and television company, had even worse performance and revenue than asset-heavy cinema companies. This shows that even without the sudden outbreak of influenza, the company's operations were not very good.

Coupled with the "fanning the flames" of various marketing accounts and soft articles, Huayi's stock price has become a little unstable.

If Huayi could ignore the previous online comments, then it could not help but take the issue of stock price seriously.

There is no way. The stock market, or the financial industry, is the only industry where "my thinking power" is really useful.

Huayi's current business situation seems to be declining. If it continues to develop like this, it is very likely that there will be real problems.

"Snapped!"

In the office, Wang Zhonglei slammed the table and shouted to Liu Ge who was standing opposite him: "What did you talk about with Heng Teng? How did it turn out like this?"

That was your own decision, and you stood them up. Liu Ge lowered his head and said to himself.

However, as a "qualified" subordinate, his primary responsibility is to help his boss take the blame. So he did not refute, but said in a deep voice: "Sorry, Mr. Wang, it's my fault. I underestimated the strength of Heng Teng's counterattack."

To be honest, he was a little confused. He knew Heng Teng would definitely fight back, but he didn't expect the force to be so strong, and he also found the weakest point on his side to attack accurately.

Hearing Liu Ge admit his mistake, Wang Zhonglei looked better. After thinking for a while, he slowed down his tone and said, "Okay, it doesn't make sense to say whose fault it is now. Let's think about how to deal with it next."

"Or, how about we talk to Heng Teng again?" Liu Ge asked in a low voice.

"Are you saying that we should ask for peace?" Wang Zhonglei stared at him and asked.

Liu Ge hurriedly explained: "It's not about seeking peace, it's about clearing up the misunderstandings between each other."

This sounded much more pleasing to the ear, and Wang Zhonglei continued, "Please...what happens after the misunderstanding is resolved? Don't forget, our main problem now is the doubts about the company's operating conditions."

I am not in charge of the company, so what does it have to do with me? Liu Ge secretly complained, but continued: "I think that people are not questioning the overall situation of the company. After all, the annual financial report is public, and the specific situation is clear. As long as there are new growth points, it will give everyone confidence."

Wang Zhonglei felt vaguely that this sentence seemed to be directed at him as the general manager, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Shaking his head, he threw away this inexplicable emotion and thought, "Are you talking about "Eight Hundred"?"

"Yes, the performance of The Eight Hundred is very good now. It is guaranteed to reach 20, and it is not impossible to reach 30. With this result, it is enough to maintain everyone's confidence."

Wang Zhonglei thought about it and felt that what Liu Ge said made sense.

"Okay, then you contact Heng Teng again and see if everyone can sit down and talk to clear up the misunderstanding."

"Uh, Mr. Wang, I think it would be more appropriate for you to go there in person."

"I have to go in person..." Wang Zhonglei was about to retort, but then he thought of his current situation and said helplessly: "Okay, then you can make an appointment with Mr. Chen for me."
-
"...Mr. Chen, there seems to be some misunderstanding regarding the dispute between us last time. I hope you can honor us and give us a chance to explain."

Seeing the "peace request" message coming from Huayi, Chen Zhixi gave a straightforward reply - no see!
You guys started with the Yin and Yang, and we tried to solve the problem but you put on that attitude. Now that you see that you are at a disadvantage, you call it a "misunderstanding".

I misunderstood you!
Chen Zhixi was obviously narrow-minded as he should be at this age. He turned a deaf ear to Huayi's request for peace and told Li Mu to step up his efforts.

Huayi couldn't help it now. After all, it was once the industry leader. Now that the tree has fallen, the prestige remains. It is not your turn as a rising star to take advantage of it.

If you can't find any flaws in your company, then start with the movie. It's just a war of public opinion. If you don't want to negotiate, then just go for it. Who's afraid of who?

So almost overnight, the internet was filled with bad reviews about "Fame," nitpicking from every angle to argue that the movie was not good.

However, what Huayi did not expect was that before Heng Teng could react, the audience of "Famous" stood up first.

Everyone has spent real money to buy tickets to watch the movie in the cinema, so everyone knows the quality of the movie.

It would be nonsense to say that this movie is perfect without any flaws, but it is also impossible that there are no redeeming features from beginning to end as these "bad reviews" say.

Especially those viewers who had recommended "Famous" online before, their voices were even louder.

Your negative reviews are not denying the movie, but denying my aesthetic taste! If you use this nitpicking method to watch "Eight Hundred", there will be more loopholes.

With Huayi’s short essay from the past two days, everyone naturally understood that these negative reviews must have been created by people hired by competitors.

Heng Teng did not fight back immediately, but instead switched to the offensive and began to emphasize that "Famous" was a low-budget production, without any big stars to support it and without any say, so it would be discredited.

Most people always have innate sympathy for the "weaker" party. When faced with the little-known "Famous", they think that "Eight Hundred" is bullying them.

So for a while, many netizens spontaneously began to attack "Eight Hundred", saying that they would use the same method to point out their mistakes.

Seeing that if this continued, both sides would be affected, the authorities finally couldn't sit still anymore.

Only one day later, the Film Bureau personally stepped in and called Huayi and Hengteng together to discuss the incident.

(End of this chapter)