How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 283 Mr. Wang, I'm Your Night Shift Driver (10,000-word update, please subscribe)

Copyright is an asset.

It is the full-cycle commercialization of content value, and the underlying fuel that influences the entire related interest chain.

The core lies in the natural accumulation and growth of scene reuse, which can even drive the surrounding IP ecosystem.

In the financial field, copyright is an asset that can generate compound interest.

The value of copyright needs to meet two key factors.

First, there is the issue of market protection. Without robust regulatory protection, such as in the current environment of weak copyright awareness on the Asian internet, the value of copyrights will be infinitely compressed.

Secondly, market growth. Market expectations and bottlenecks can be calculated. Only by continuously breaking through market bottlenecks can the benefits be realized continuously.

The first point is indeed being advocated by Huaxia, but it falls far short of the standard. Optimistically, it will take at least three more years for piracy management to be effective.

The value of streaming media network copyrights in China broke through a bottleneck when Le Shi laid out his plans. In just five years, the average copyright price of 15,000 yuan per video rose to over 150,000 yuan per video. This tenfold increase in five years is truly astonishing.

This is also one of the main reasons why Lesex had such a high valuation when it went public.

However, this is almost equivalent to fulfilling all the expectations in the current online copyright field. If copyright is to continue to grow, at least the entire film and television industry or the platform's paying users need to usher in a new wave of growth.

Moreover, the premium on old copyrights will accelerate the development of new copyrights, dilute market value, and cause involution, because the pie is already not big enough, so theoretically there is no possibility of high growth in this field in the short term.

However, the involvement of international streaming service Hulu has given online streaming a new dimension to its potential value. Asia accounts for about 50% of the global population. Even excluding the already exhausted Chinese market, there is still at least twice the market share available elsewhere. If Hulu is willing to aggressively expand globally, that would be a fourfold increase. In other words, the Chinese online streaming market could grow at least fourfold in the future.

The value of online versions may well surpass that of other traditional copyright distribution channels; the possibilities are endless.

The slogan of "cultural export" has been around for so many years, but this is the first time that overseas capital has been used for procurement. Does this mean new possibilities are on the horizon?

Hulu's series of actions may not be of much value to netizens and viewers, but for the top echelons of the entertainment industry and the financial sector, it is like refreshing a new map, but one filled with the fog of war.

This new map might be empty, it might be full of traps, or it might be full of gold.

The superstructure determines the economic base. First, Fan Bingbing's salary went up, and now copyrights are booming. It's unclear whether the market bottleneck has been broken, but the entire film and entertainment industry chain has directly responded by raising prices.

Actors' salaries and copyright fees currently account for more than 50% of Huaxia Film and Television projects. If they all increase in price, it means that the entire project budget will have to be increased by at least 30%.

You can either choose to add to your position and increase your budget, or you can choose to engage in aggressive day trading to dilute your costs and cut back on budgets for other sectors.

For top-tier projects that often cost hundreds of millions, this means an increase in risk. Every 10% increase in cost means a 50% increase in risk. However, if the copyright value truly has the opportunity to go global, the returns will also increase.

Under the pressure of high risks, film and television project investment has gradually shifted from being 'professional-driven' to 'return-on-investment'. In the future, the first consideration for all projects will no longer be reputation, but rather recouping costs.

The Chinese film and television industry has begun to change at its fundamental level.

However, in this situation, small and medium-sized projects have an advantage, because statistically speaking, betting on various things is indeed easier to succeed than going all in. Especially this year, with the release of "Lost in Thailand" and "22," two low-budget, high-return films, many people have turned their attention to second-tier and lower-tier actors and director teams.

Moreover, many teams have realized the potential of streaming media. Tianwang's Xinghan Project has brought online variety shows/dramas into the public eye. New channels, more flexible monetization models, and lower investment thresholds make it much better than always being subservient to TV stations.

However, leading companies are truly in an awkward situation. Huayi originally planned to invest 20 billion yuan next year, with half going to movies and half to TV series. Now, with soaring prices, to ensure the original plan can proceed, at least another 6 million yuan will be needed to increase the budget. Moreover, net profit may decrease due to high investment risks.

This is really going to be the death of me.

Huayi originally planned to invest 8 million yuan next year to reduce its dependence on the Tianhuo Group, but now it may have to adjust its plan.

Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei convened a meeting with the core management team and jointly owned artists to prepare adjustments to next year's plans.

"Currently, the company's available cash flow is less than 200 million yuan. The main expenditures are the 500 million yuan invested in Tianwang Private Equity some time ago and other project expenditures. However, due to the volatility in the industry, project investment next year may be affected, the company's funds will be very tight, and it may even reduce or cut some projects." Wang Zhonglei briefly described the company's financial situation.

"So we currently face two choices: either redeem our investment in Skynet and preserve the company's other projects, or temporarily suspend our investment in cinemas, which may lead to a passive situation of continuing to rely on the Skyfire Group."
"Everyone here is a core member of the company, and we have indeed reached a crucial juncture. I hope everyone can share their opinions for the sake of the company." Wang Zhongjun asked two questions with a calm expression.

Huayi's current market value of tens of billions of yuan is entirely supported by its title as the number one film and television company in China. If it starts to rely on the Tianhuo Group next year, it is very likely to be slowly boiled like a frog in water.

Although the cinema market is developing slowly, it is growing exponentially, and the Tianhuo Group's cinemas are developing very fast. If they don't enter the market this year, they may have to pay a higher cost to enter the market next year.

That would directly impact Huayi's leading position, and the industry's price increase trend would be almost unstoppable. The Wang brothers also want to see how many people present are firmly on the company's side.

The main thing is that Huayi's "Six Tigers" are the core of Huayi's current asset-light business.

Originally, Huayi Brothers had a strategy of having seven top stars and nine top stars, but Wang Baoqiang went solo in August, Zhou Xun went solo when his contract expired in September, and Li Bingbing even switched to Tianhuo in July.

Therefore, Wang Zhongjun is now very wary of the remaining six tigers, and even plans to promote the resources of Deng Chao, Feng Shaofeng, Li Chen and other new generation. After all, these six tigers are also becoming more powerful. As for the female stars, he plans to give up on them directly.

Not only did Li Bingbing and Zhou Xun leave, but the recent news that Huo Siyan was preparing to terminate her contract dealt Wang Zhonglei a heavy blow.

These male celebrities can at least be manipulated with sentiment and morality, but those female celebrities are all much more realistic and completely unreliable.
The Wang brothers are testing Liu Hu, while Liu Hu is also calculating the gains and losses.

"The film market will definitely grow faster in the future, and cinemas will still be very important as core assets. Although investing in Tianwang can indirectly give us some resources, to be honest, we probably won't have much say with this small share." Huang Xiaoming, the leader of the Six Tigers, naturally had to be the first to speak out.

"The Skyfire Group currently influences 40% of cinema scheduling. It would be difficult for us to build our own network in a short period of time. Moreover, cinema operations nationwide are now inseparable from Kanpianer.com. I think it's better to invest hundreds of millions in cinemas than to..."

Instead of investing in TV series or movies, we should increase investment in projects. With the support of online platforms, the exposure is much higher than before. Moreover, the internet is very important for artists' development. Investing in more projects and giving newcomers more opportunities will actually yield higher returns.

Besides, as long as the work is excellent, theaters also need to make money. Moreover, the Tianhuo Group is tied to Xingmei, so how could they target us? Su Youpeng expressed a different opinion.

Lu Yi, Liao Fan, Zhang Guoqiang, and Chen Sicheng all said they were fine with it; they would just follow the orders of their older brothers and support all the company's decisions.

“Youpeng and Xiaoming both have a point,” Wang Zhongjun said with a smile. “If we give up investing in cinemas, we can indeed have more cash flow. However, the risk of investing in projects is also greater than before. So I was thinking about whether we could change the way we work with our actors.”

As soon as the words were spoken, everyone subconsciously raised their eyebrows.

"As everyone knows, there's been a recent inflation in actor salaries. Those of you here are all top-tier actors; your salaries can only be higher than others, not lower. Take Xiaoming, for example. This year, his average film salary was 350 million, but recently there's been a report of him earning 800 million per film, and for TV dramas, it's even 50 per episode."
"And you're still on the rise this year. If we follow this ratio next year, your salary alone will probably account for about 15% of the project's revenue. So I was thinking, could we convert a portion of your salary into investment dividends, and then distribute them to you based on revenue sharing?" Wang Zhongjun said with a smile.

The increase in top-tier actor salaries is irreversible. For artists, this money is a secure cash in hand. However, if it is converted into investment dividends, it is equivalent to gambling. Moreover, it will be indirectly tied to the project, which means more risks and sunk costs for artists.

In the industry, the salary plus profit-sharing model is used by top artists like Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-fat, but the salaries they receive are also top-tier. Huang Xiaoming is still far from that level, let alone others.

Top-tier players can gamble, but first-tier players are still afraid of being poor.

However, Huang Xiaoming is a smart man, so he naturally couldn't show his 'disapproval' of the company's project. Instead, he changed his perspective: "Actually, it can be like this. Although big projects are riskier now, everyone is paying more attention to the box office appeal of artists in order to recoup their investment."

In fact, the company could bring in more investors to mitigate the risks. After all, artist salaries are a stable source of cash flow, and top artists will definitely become more valuable in the near future, so they should monetize their earnings quickly.
For example, I could give up some internal projects to take on high-paying projects from other investors, and then make cameo appearances in core projects to provide some buzz.

Huang Xiaoming politely declined Wang Zhongjun's proposal to share the risk with him, and then put forward another proposal that was indeed more beneficial to the company.

Huayi and Huang Xiaoming split the revenue 20/80. This year alone, Huayi took 3 million yuan from Huang Xiaoming's salary. Next year, his salary will at least triple. If he takes on more TV series, he can earn at least 10 million yuan next year. With commercial revenue sharing, his net income of tens of millions of yuan is indeed quite considerable.

A strange light flashed in Wang Zhongjun's eyes, but he maintained his smile: "Xiaoming's calculations are quite shrewd. Good, good. In the future, internal projects can no longer be allocated with priority as before. In order to control risks, we still need to select the best candidates."

"Xiaoming's suggestion is good. Variety shows are quite popular lately, with short production cycles and high pay. I'm thinking of giving it a try," Su Youpeng said with a smile.

“By the way, speaking of variety shows, Baoqiang mentioned that he’s preparing a military-themed variety show for Tianhuo next year and asked if I wanted to go,” Zhang Guoqiang said with a smile.

"Didn't Lu Yi participate in a variety show on Tianhuo before?" Wang Zhongjun asked with a smile.

"Yeah, it's mainly about filming my wife. It's quite interesting, and it'll be broadcast soon." Lu Yi smiled awkwardly.

He was unclear about other details, but he could sense that the Wang brothers didn't seem to get along with Tianhuo.

"This kind of reality show is a relatively new thing in China, but it's unclear whether it's a good thing or a bad thing for the actors. The company won't interfere too much. As long as everyone weighs the pros and cons with their agents, the company will support them," Wang Zhongjun said with a smile.

After the meeting, the Wang brothers held a private meeting behind closed doors.

“Xiao Ming’s attitude and stance are still quite firm, and he won’t leave easily, but he’s already becoming somewhat out of control.” Wang Zhongjun’s expression was gloomy.

"Su Youpeng has always wanted to transition into directing, and today's event is a hint to us that he still has great value, especially with Skynet's Starry Sky Project, which may indeed have some impact on overseas copyright distribution."

"Alec Su is very popular in Southeast Asia. We could consider letting him try his hand at directing and see if he surprises us," Wang Zhonglei said seriously.

“Alibaba hasn’t given any news about investment, but recently Mr. Li from Baidu contacted me, hoping that Huayi can reach a strategic cooperation with iQiyi. They will provide traffic support, and we will set up a new department modeled after Tianwang,” Wang Zhongjun said with a frown.

"A new department? Variety shows or the kind that incubates models and internet celebrities?" Wang Zhonglei squinted.

As the biggest dark horse in the entertainment industry this year, Tianwang has been the subject of much research by everyone in the industry on how it rose to prominence, and finally its development path has been summarized.

Starting with model resources and internet social media hype, taking on online photography business cash flow and various e-commerce promotion services, they then directly turned to the variety show field. The "Fairy Clothes" sales model also leveraged the support of the e-commerce industry, and after becoming famous overnight, "Sister Flower" laid a solid foundation.

This system has been summarized as the new 'SkyNet Model', which involves three core business segments: traffic incubation, e-commerce seeding, and streaming variety shows.

Many small and medium-sized film and television companies in the industry have begun to follow suit and become downstream service companies of SkyNet, especially with the increase in the number of variety show practitioners, which has directly led to certain execution positions in TV dramas becoming highly sought after.

“It’s the business model that Tianwang has tied to Sohu/Leshi. It’s not difficult. Moreover, Baidu has also invested in a Meilishu platform to compete with Mulan Street. They could actually replicate Tianwang’s successful path.” Wang Zhongjun frowned.

The reason why they wanted to seek investment from Alibaba was not simply because they were short of money, but also because they wanted to take advantage of the booming e-commerce industry. However, Alibaba seems to have lost interest in the entertainment industry, and even cancelled its previous decision to invest in Sohu.

Although Baidu's e-commerce business is nothing special, from the perspective of its model and platform, it seems to be the best partner to replicate Tianwang's success. It has all four major channel elements: e-commerce, product seeding, social media, and streaming media. As long as Huayi can do a good job in content, with the influx of traffic and funds from Baidu, it can definitely catch up with Tianwang in terms of 'concept development' in a short period of time.

Tianwang and Bona have clearly formed a deep alliance. With the addition of Xingmei, if they produce two more blockbuster movies and make two grassroots stars like Zhao Liying famous, they will directly catch up with Huayi's more than ten years of accumulation.

Most importantly, Skynet also has Zhang Yimou and Wang Jinhua.

In a sense, Tianwang is replicating Huayi's early success, but in a high-end version. If Huayi doesn't copy Tianwang's new model, it probably won't be able to hold onto its position as the leading film and television company for long.

“Let’s do it! Baidu is one of the giants, and it has abundant advertising resources, which can make up for our weakness in attracting investment. Moreover, Baidu’s camp still has Old Wave. Su Youpeng’s vision is indeed good. The future development of artists will be closely related to social media traffic.” Wang Zhonglei’s eyes lit up immediately.

This is like having a pillow handed to someone who's sleepy; partnering with Baidu is like taking a shortcut to overtake the competition.

"How did you handle Huo Siyan?" Wang Zhongjun suddenly changed the subject.

"Huh?" Wang Zhonglei's smile froze, then his face darkened and he said, "She insists on leaving, and I'm not going to keep her. Anyway, Huayi doesn't need her anymore."

"Can the beginning and end be handled cleanly? Will there be any major trouble?" Wang Zhongjun asked in a deep voice.

"Don't worry about me, brother," Wang Zhonglei said with a confident smile.

“Then you’ll be in charge of negotiating with Qiandu. If you succeed, you can run this new company on your own.” Wang Zhongjun nodded.

Wang Zhonglei's eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

Hulu's series of actions have plunged the Chinese entertainment industry into a chaotic and turbulent upheaval.

Chaos ensued: Major companies spent heavily on various trending topics to promote their movies or artists in an effort to suppress the rising popularity of streaming media.

Undercurrents are brewing: behind the scenes, just like Huayi, they are holding various emergency meetings to adjust their development direction for next year and to deal with the unknown risks of both rising actor salaries and copyright fees.

However, the impact of the industrial chain is top-down. Soon, production workers in China suddenly became sought-after, especially photographers and editors. These jobs, which were originally at the bottom of the industry and were people who were willing to accept outsourcing jobs to earn a living, suddenly became scarce.

The current structure of China's film and television industry is still somewhat distorted. The number of people in the three main positions of director, screenwriter and actor exceeds 100,000, while the core production execution positions of producer, cinematographer and post-production (editing/styling/special effects/sound effects) add up to about 25,000. The remaining miscellaneous and non-technical positions number about 40,000.

This is equivalent to a "big-headed baby" model where less than 70,000 execution positions support 100,000 management positions.

But in fact, the industry has a talent shortage of more than 1 million people, which truly proves the saying that talent is the most important thing in the 21st century.

The SkyNet model has a huge demand for execution positions, with nearly 10,000 outsourced teams in Korea serving talent incubation and online auction business.

After recently taking over the content output business of Hulu and MS, it is preparing a full-time and outsourced team of tens of thousands of people in China, which is equivalent to Tianwang, and has absorbed at least two-thirds of the talent in editing, copywriting, post-production audio and other fields.

The recent surge in online variety shows and dramas has significantly lowered the investment threshold for the industry. Many projects that previously required at least millions can now be attempted to collaborate with streaming media for as little as 400,000 to 500,000 yuan, leading to a sudden surge in demand for executive talent.

The surge in demand means a run on banks and price increases.

What used to be the lowest-level execution positions in a film crew have suddenly become highly sought-after, with salaries doubling. Yet, it's still difficult to find outsourcing teams, and some projects that are already underway have encountered the chaos of teams raising prices and halting operations at the last minute.

Undoubtedly, the cost of post-production will continue to increase.

However, Skynet had already made preparations for personnel reserves and resolutely implemented the 520 work mode, with a base salary plus five insurances, giving execution-level practitioners in the entire industry a sense of 'stability' for the first time.

Tianwang currently has 3000 employees in its cultural and creative department and post-production department, and it is still recruiting, as it has just met the needs of the company's three business segments: online photography, marketing accounts, and web dramas.

The online variety show/web series and film/TV series businesses still need to cooperate with production companies like Yu Zheng and Wu Zhuli. However, in order to get Tianwang's resources, they have all been forced to become subsidiaries of Tianwang.

The entertainment industry is in turmoil, and all companies and investors are suffering, but Tianwang Group remains calm and composed, observing from the sidelines.

Because neither salary inflation nor talent shortages have much to do with Tianwang. No matter how high the salaries rise, the company's cut is also high, so the overall production budget can still be controlled. Wang Jinhua is even more happy to see this happen. She has the most A-list artists under her management in the country. The faster the salary inflation, the higher the profit. Moreover, she has no shortage of resources. During this period, top-tier resources are the scarcest. Everyone will choose top-tier artists with relatively strong appeal to avoid risks.

As a result, Tianhuo Entertainment's stock price immediately hit the daily limit on the second day of trading. Despite having a debt ratio of over 260% after acquiring AMC, it still managed to hit the daily limit, which is even more unusual than a speculative stock. Its market value is approaching 40 billion.

Meanwhile, due to Tianhuo's leading rise, other members of the gradually forming "Skynet concept stocks," such as Leshi, Souhu, and Xingmei, also continued to rise.

On its second day, "The Return of the Condor Heroes" achieved a new record high rating of 2.5%, becoming the only show on Hunan TV in recent years to surpass "Dae Jang Geum". If the ratings continue to rise, it will be on par with "My Fair Princess".

Meanwhile, the online variety show "Dance for a Thousand Years," which premiered that same evening in conjunction with Henan TV, only achieved a 0.8% viewership rating on the satellite TV channel, but its viewership on the Sohu platform exceeded 500 million within 12 hours, showing even stronger momentum than "Sister Hua."

The highlight of the first episode of "Dance for a Thousand Years" was the large number of beautiful women with dance/opera temperaments. The first episode took 40 minutes just to introduce the guests and troupes and explain the competition format, and the last 5 minutes were song previews.

In the discussion section of Ms. Hot Search, someone specifically listed the resumes, styles, and appearances of the beauties in each group of the first episode. The dazzling visual feast also took a jab at Bilibili's joke event, sparking a heated discussion.

Jin Chen, Li Yitong, Li Man, Mu Yishan, and others already have a fan base, forming the core of the topic's traffic.

Li Yunxiao and Chen Lijun, two rising stars of Yue Opera, have sparked niche discussions due to their unique classical charm and on-screen chemistry.

But the unexpected revelations came from mentors Wang Yabin and Tan Yuanyuan.

The former is due to the contrast between the existing audience base of "Country Love" and the top international dancers, which has amazed netizens.

The latter gained popularity simply because of her status as an international principal ballerina and her appearance.

The first song performed at the end, "Lichun" (Beginning of Spring), was uploaded simultaneously to MS. The arrangement used traditional Chinese instruments such as the guzheng, flute, and erhu. The melody was cheerful and full of positive and sunny vitality, and the lyrics were full of ancient flavor. It accumulated more than 100,000 plays that night.

The number of social media discussions surrounding "Dance for a Thousand Years" exceeded ten million that night.

The topic "The entertainment industry has finally welcomed a newcomer" dominated the discussion, with comments section criticizing almost all female celebrities in China, especially those with a dance background, who were all affected.

Completely different from the warm and joyful atmosphere of "Sister Flower," "Dance for a Thousand Years" is filled with hostility and comparisons, and the theme of "unworthy of one's position" in the entertainment industry is starting to simmer with tension.

But the results were exceptionally good, with data and viewership increasing at a remarkable rate.

While it achieved what most people wanted to suppress the hype surrounding Hulu and the Skynet Star Han project, it has clearly steered the entire public opinion atmosphere in a more uncertain direction.

On the evening of October 10.10th, Wang Yao arrived in Beijing and attended the celebration banquet held by Zhang Chaoyang for "Dance of a Thousand Years". Almost all the main creators, guests and artists under his management attended, and Zhao Benshan also brought his apprentice Song Xiaobao to join in the fun.

"Mr. Wang, what a triumphant return to your hometown! You were so far away across the ocean, you almost brought the film and television industry to its knees," Zhang Chaoyang said with schadenfreude as soon as they met.

"Mr. Zhang, please don't talk nonsense. I don't know anything. It's been a long time since we last met, Teacher Zhao." Wang Yao smiled and greeted Zhao Benshan.

"It's not easy for me to see you. You're always in Paris or America. Don't get rich and then forget about your poor brother," Zhao Benshan joked.

"Teacher Zhao is picking on me. I didn't not answer your calls, did I?" Wang Yao chuckled.

"Xiao Bao, come and get to know President Wang. You'll be working for him from now on," Zhao Benshan called out to Song Xiaobao.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wang. Please take good care of me." Song Xiaobao smiled, flashing his signature big white teeth.

"Brother Bao, you're too kind. I used to watch your 'Benshan Happy Camp' all the time, and I have high hopes for you in this 'King of Joy' competition." Wang Yao smiled.

"I will definitely do my best and live up to President Wang's expectations," Song Xiaobao said with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"Xiaobao will be on the Spring Festival Gala with me this year." Zhao Benshan brought him along for the newly announced variety show "Xi Wang" to get him some exposure. Song Xiaobao is his apprentice whom he plans to promote this year, hoping to replicate Xiao Shenyang's success.

"That might be perfect, we can even ride on Brother Bao's popularity from the Spring Festival Gala," Wang Yao said with a smile.

As Wang Yao walked, he greeted people along the way. Many of them were unfamiliar to him from the Souhu faction. When he arrived at the table of Tianhuo faction artists, he discovered that Huo Siyan was the one leading the group today.

After Wang Yao doubled the number of guest slots for "Payou" and sold the resources to everyone, Huo Siyan was ready to completely break away from Huayi and join Tianhuo.

I don't know how she convinced Qin Lan to let go of her grudges, but she is now definitely considered an A-level contracted artist under her management.

"Why did you bring them here?" Wang Yao asked curiously after nodding to Jin Chen and the others as a greeting.

Originally, it was supposed to be Li Man or Miao Miao who led the team to participate, but they both went to Shanghai to compete for the spots in "Sister Flower 2/3". I thought Qin Lan would arrange for Yang Mi to come, but it turned out to be Huo Siyan.

"Sister Lan is tied up in Shanghai. With 'Sister Flower 2/3' and 'Running Man' suddenly in preparation at the same time, she's too busy to handle everything. Luckily, I'm in Beijing and quite familiar with President Zhang, so I can manage this situation and won't let the girls suffer." Huo Siyan's face was slightly flushed, indicating that she had probably drunk quite a bit.

Looking at Jin Chen and the others behind her, who seemed both excited and bewildered, as if they hadn't had a drop of alcohol and hadn't been bothered at all, they probably understood why Qin Lan had accepted her.

"Okay, they're yours. Come to me anytime if you have any problems. Don't forget our company's date is 520." Wang Yao smiled approvingly.

Huo Siyan instantly understood, her eyes darting as she watched Wang Yao leave.

"President Wang seems to have become even more handsome." Jin Chen swooned over him.

"Shh, keep your voice down, it's embarrassing." Li Yitong quickly covered her mouth and glanced at the quiet and well-behaved Li Yunxiao and Chen Lijun beside her.

The two of them now have nearly a million fans combined, and are considered core veteran employees at Tianhuo. They were also key members of the creative team during the production of "Dance of a Thousand Years". They have always maintained a mature and seasoned image in front of Li Yunxiao and others, so let's hope they don't break that image.

"Is this really the boss? He's so small!" Li Yunxiao leaned closer and asked in a low voice, surprised.

"What do you mean by 'young'? It means he's young and promising. Haven't you seen how Teacher Benshan and President Zhang are both fawning over him?" Li Yitong said with a smile.

Before Wang Yao was present, even though the team leader was the big star Huo Siyan, she still felt a little insecure in this kind of situation. She was even more nervous when she saw others holding wine glasses, afraid that someone would try to persuade her to drink and cause trouble. So she remained quiet and dared not make a sound, and did not even dare to go to the toilet.

But as soon as Wang Yao arrived, I immediately felt my back straighten up, my voice became louder, and I felt an indescribable sense of ease.

"Slip of the tongue. I was just surprised that the boss is so young and handsome, he's almost like the male protagonist in the novels I read." Li Yunxiao's face turned slightly red.

She and Chen Lijun both grew up in a girls' drama school. This major was even more demanding than the dance department, so they didn't have much time to interact with society. Moreover, since the Yue Opera troupe was all girls, they didn't have much contact with boys either. So their greatest pleasure was reading novels, which made them homebodies and completely indifferent to men in the real world.

But to her utter surprise, she actually met a real person who matched her anime aesthetic. How amazing!

Wang Yao returned to the main table and introduced himself to Jin Xing, He Saifei, and Tan Yuanyuan. Yang Liping and Huang Doudou did not attend; these two are artists and could disregard Zhang Chaoyang's wishes.

"Thank you again, Mr. Wang and Mr. Zhang, for your tremendous support of the dance and opera industry." He Saifei raised her glass in a toast. She comes from a traditional opera background and has been promoting and driving Yue Opera for many years.

"Sister He, you're too kind. It's Mr. Zhang and I who want to thank everyone for their support and hard work. Without everyone's efforts, there wouldn't be such a wonderful program. We hope this program can bring new opportunities to more industry enthusiasts." Wang Yao said this in a grand and proper manner, using tea instead of wine.

"Mr. Wang is too modest. Without you big spenders, how could the industry develop? I hope this program will continue to be successful. We've only completed half of the 24 solar terms this time. Can we start preparing the remaining 12?" Jin Xing was a seasoned veteran.

"Of course, with such high ratings for the premiere, we will definitely continue with the second season. However, I would like to remind everyone that our first season was an experiment, so the preparation time was a bit rushed. Also, since it was the first time we used this kind of format and subject matter, the audience was just watching for fun."

But the second season needs to truly showcase its abilities. At least in terms of content and performance, dance and opera need to genuinely demonstrate their charm. It's no problem for a generous tycoon like Mr. Zhang to support a few troupes, but if they want to drive the entire industry, they need to rely on real talent to capture the market. After all, the audience is the source of our livelihood.

"Now that President Zhang has provided such a great platform, everyone can showcase their talents and compete freely." Wang Yao smiled slightly and directly changed the subject.

The first season could achieve success through gimmicky marketing, but the audience has a basic understanding of the second season, and the threshold will become higher and higher. Although Wang Yao is willing to promote these high-quality cultural products, the premise is that he cannot mess them up and lose money.

Jin Xing raised an eyebrow slightly. Wang Yao, at such a young age, spoke with remarkable finesse, attributing all the credit to Zhang Chaoyang while absolving himself of any responsibility and refusing to accept Zhang's flattery. He was truly a prodigy.

"Don't worry, Mr. Wang. As long as there is a stage, the children of opera will give it their all. Opera has a history of thousands of years in China and is deeply rooted in the blood and genes of the Chinese people. It's just that in recent years it has been covered up and distorted by Western popular culture. But as long as there is an opportunity, it will definitely be reborn." He Saifei said with some emotion.

“I believe that,” Wang Yao smiled.

Genetic memory is indeed a mysterious thing. People do experience a 'reincarnation' effect when they reach a certain age. For example, men over 35 years old may inexplicably fall in love with fishing, gardening, and collecting beads—hobbies that they used to scoff at when they were young.

Traditional opera, something that gave me a headache when I was a child, can become inexplicably interesting as I get older.

However, the main reason why traditional opera has not developed is that it has been kept in an ivory tower and elevated too high. If it were to be marketized like crosstalk and return to the old development model of the nine traditional arts, it would probably be able to revitalize itself very quickly.

Tan Yuanyuan stared intently at Wang Yao. Every smile and gesture of this young man inexplicably attracted her attention. Even in front of so many elders, he behaved like an equal, and even managed to suppress a business tycoon like Zhang Chaoyang, displaying a mature charm beyond his years.

However, she didn't take the initiative to talk to Jin Xing and He Saifei. It was only during the occasional casual glances exchanged between the group that she found a little interesting, and her fingertips unconsciously rubbed the rim of her champagne glass.

"I only knew that Sister Jin Xing's dancing was at an international level before, but I didn't expect her to be so eloquent." Wang Yao couldn't help but interrupt when he saw Jin Xing and Zhao Benshan arguing back and forth at the dinner table.

Zhao Benshan seemed a bit sullen; Jin Xing's words were indeed quite sharp.

"His mouth was sharp when he was a man, but it's even more formidable when he's a woman," Zhao Benshan chuckled.

"Sister Jin, would you be interested in starting a talk show? I watched a few similar variety shows in the US, and one of them, David Letterman's 'The Tonight Show,' was quite interesting. I think it would be perfect for you," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“It seems we’re destined to meet. That show is my favorite. Talk shows are my favorite pastime abroad. I think they’re more interesting than crosstalk, though of course they’re not as good as Brother Zhao’s Errenzhuan.” Jin Xing raised an eyebrow.

"You want her to host? That would offend every guest who shows up," Zhao Benshan laughed.

"What do you mean by offending me? We're too familiar with each other. If it's an interview, I'll be very serious, okay?" Jin Xing rolled his eyes.

"If you're interested, we can do one later. If Mr. Zhang doesn't dare to broadcast it, we can put it on Le's or Bilibili." Wang Yao smiled.

“I’m interested. I’m interested in anything produced by Skynet,” Zhang Chaoyang said with a smile.

"Not on TV?" Jin Xing asked with a smile.

"It depends on the scale," Wang Yao smiled, then turned to Zhao Benshan and said, "How's the assessment of the integrated theater model that Teacher Zhao mentioned before?"

“It’s really good, but I found your Magic Comic Exhibition even more interesting. I recently went to Fantawild and Songcheng and realized that you don’t necessarily have to build a theater. You could also do a theme park like Disney.” Zhao Benshan laughed.

“The investment scale is different. A theater might cost a hundred million at most, but to invest in a theme park, you need at least 5 million to start,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"What's the deal with your Xinghan Paradise?" Zhang Chaoyang suddenly remembered.

"Oh, I've taken over Mr. Tan's Feiteng Film and Television City. I'll use part of it to develop a traditional Chinese cultural tourism project, similar to Songcheng, but mainly focusing on special themed IP events. If possible in the future, I plan to find a few scenic spots and build similar themed parks, combining film and television city with cultural tourism projects," Wang Yao explained.

"Another asset-heavy business," Zhang Chaoyang frowned.

"It's a small experiment to follow up with Shanghai Investment Group." Wang Yao smiled.

"Take me on a tour sometime," Zhao Benshan said, intrigued.

"You've invested a bit too much in this project, haven't you? Can you keep up with the cash flow?" Zhang Chaoyang stroked his chin.

As a strategic partner, Zhang Chaoyang pays the most attention to Tianwang. Currently, judging from the balance sheet, the AMC project alone, plus the recently announced Xinghan Project, may have occupied more than 100 billion yuan. The investment amount of Tianwang alone is comparable to the scale of Huayi + Bona + New Pictures.

Moreover, given the heavy manpower burden on Skynet, Zhang Chaoyang's think tank speculated that Skynet's cash flow must be very unhealthy due to this aggressive expansion strategy with high debt, and it might even be a high-debt model.

He had only seen this model in the real estate and internet industries.

"It's alright so far, there's not much pressure," Wang Yao smiled.

“As someone who’s been through this, I still have to remind you that Skynet is already doing quite well. What you need to consider next is how to gradually digest the results. Don’t over-expand the fund and put yourself on the verge of high risk. Shi Yuzhu is a prime example,” Zhang Chaoyang said.

Those in the business world view Wang Yao much like they viewed Shi Yuzhu back then—they always felt he was going to stumble and fall.

"Don't worry, I'm very steady." Wang Yao smiled slightly.

After the celebration banquet, they took group photos and videos to record the event, which would be used as material for the later production of the variety show. After the event, Wang Yao and Zhang Chaoyang saw everyone off at the door.

"Mr. Wang, see you in Shanghai sometime." Tan Yuanyuan gently patted Wang Yao's shoulder, then smiled and got into an Audi A8 with a Beijing license plate.
"That license plate is nice," Wang Yao said, squinting.

"Would you like to say hello to Mr. Wang from Potato?" Zhang Chaoyang chuckled.

"No, maybe another time." Wang Yao narrowed his eyes, a subtle smile playing on his lips.

"How about we go somewhere else?" Zhang Chaoyang suggested.

"Forget it, I'm too tired from jet lag." Wang Yao shook his head.

"I'll follow Teacher Zhao's example and buy a private jet so I can enjoy myself," Zhang Chaoyang said with a smile.

“There’s a chance.” Wang Yao smiled.

Wang Yao originally wanted to hitch a ride back in the minibus arranged by Huo Siyan and the others' company, but he noticed a red Porsche Cayenne parked next to him. It was the company's reception vehicle, but everyone assumed it was Wang Yao's private car.

Yang Mi was leaning against the car door chatting with Huo Siyan when she saw Wang Yao approaching. Yang Mi smiled and said in a sweet voice like a little fox.

"Mr. Wang, I'll be your night shift driver."

(End of this chapter)