How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 44 The Little Boy is Reckless [Please Read On]

"Sina Weibo and Baidu have consistently ranked high in terms of popularity. I heard that the topics derived from Ma Ruo's Weibo post have reached nearly 2000 million views, which is almost two-thirds of Sina Weibo's daily active users."
The discussion was especially heated on Hupu and Douban. "Xiao Yao, congratulations! You've created another phenomenal topic." Chen Lingjuan said with a smile.

"Congratulations to you too! I was just throwing out an idea. Ma Ruo's traffic level is only in the millions. It mainly relies on the star power of Quan Ge, Zhou Xun, and Yao Chen," Wang Yao said modestly.

“Without your brick, it would be difficult to have the jade that follows. And the gimmick of treating fans to a private movie screening is brilliant. Actors treating fans to private screenings directly boosts the publicity effect, so you don’t need to be modest.” Chen Lingjuan smiled.

Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly. He had no experience in the film industry, and all his knowledge came from online articles and public accounts. He thought that such hype, such as hosting parties and renting out theaters, was common in the industry.

Surprisingly, it wasn't widespread by 2010.

"Next, we just need to wait for the first batch of viewers to spread the word naturally. We can focus on guiding the discussion on platforms like Douban and Hupu, which have a relatively large concentration of film fans. Film is an art that can be over-interpreted, so having more perspectives will help the buzz last longer," Wang Yao suggested.

"Let's wait for the first day's box office results, otherwise it'll be hard to calculate the marketing budget." Chen Lingjuan nodded in agreement.

The 2010 box office forecast was based entirely on data provided by the cinemas.

Online ticketing services emerged after the rise of the group-buying industry. Gewara, the earliest online ticketing platform, attempted to emulate the Rotten Tomatoes model, but due to insufficient capital, it was eventually left far behind by the upstart Maoyan.

"If only there were a platform like Taobao, where you could book tickets online and get movie information, that would be great. Not only would you be able to see pre-sale ticket information in advance, but you could also predict box office numbers more quickly," Wang Yao said casually.

"Buying tickets online? That sounds convenient. You can buy almost anything online these days. The things my daughter buys for me online are all pretty good quality," Hu Mei said casually.

What was said in jest was taken seriously by Ren Quan. He had a keen business sense and had overheard a big shot at a dinner party mentioning that Huayi had plans to go public and a promising future.

He then used most of his net worth to buy 200 million yuan worth of original shares. Last year, Huayi successfully went public, and the value increased fifteenfold, giving him initial capital all at once.

This is one of the reasons why he started preparing to step back from the limelight this year and switch to his career.

He was one of the few people in the entertainment industry who realized early on that capital is the key to success and made timely transitions.

After hearing Wang Yao's idea, he was immediately tempted to find out more about it privately.

After chatting for a while, the waiter brought in a man and a woman. As soon as the man entered, he bowed and apologized for being late.

"Everyone's here, let's serve the food." Hu Mei instructed the waiter first, then greeted the other person.

"Xiao Li, don't be so polite. Today is a private dinner, and we're all acquaintances. Let me introduce these two: Wang Yao from Tianhuo Media and his sister Nazha, who are the main force behind the publicity and distribution of 'Confucius'."

Hu Mei emphasized the introduction, and the man called Xiao Li smiled broadly and took the initiative to shake hands with Wang Yao. "Recently, there have been rumors in the industry about a genius. I'm finally meeting him in person. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wang. I am Li Chao, CEO of Shanghuang Film and Television Company. We have a collaboration this year."

Shanghuang is a joint venture between Hong Kong Yinghuang and Shanghai Film Studio. This year, it collaborated with Meishe on the film "Jade and Pearl". Pan Shuang even got a supporting role and almost married the male lead, Lin Feng.

"Mr. Li, you're too kind. Just call me Xiao Yao." Wang Yao stood up to exchange pleasantries, but his gaze flickered to the woman in the black dress with a voluptuous figure behind Li Chao.

Hey, isn't this Xiaoyue, the top-performing wife in the adultery industry?

"Hello, Mr. Wang, I'm actress Zhang Meng." Zhang Meng greeted him with a gentle smile.

"Hello, Miss Zhang. The movie 'The Myth' is very popular lately," Wang Yao said with a nod and a smile.

Zhang Meng debuted very early and comes from a typical intellectual family, enjoying both material and spiritual abundance, so she tends to be quite self-centered.

He aspired to be a serious and talented actor, and dedicated himself to serious dramas. Last year, he finally decided to take on the role in "The Myth," which just aired this month. His character and appearance made him stand out, almost overshadowing the lead actor, Bai Bing, in popularity.

It has been widely believed that Zhang Meng met Li Chao because of this drama, and later married him and became an investor. Because she didn't get to play many of the villainous female supporting roles in the dramas she invested in, she had to take on those roles herself as the boss's wife.

This resulted in many classic and visually appealing scenes, making him a very dedicated representative of the investors.

I don't know if the two of them have hooked up yet, but judging from the fact that Li Chao brought her here, there are probably already signs of it.

"Haha, then Mr. Wang, you'll have to give us some suggestions on how to make it even more popular," Li Chao said with a smile.

"Alright, please take a seat. Mengmeng, sit here." Hu Mei greeted them, seemingly quite familiar with Zhang Meng.

After everyone took their seats according to their order, the dishes were served. The dishes were decent, and they were all Northern-style, which suited Wang Yao and Nazha's tastes.

Li Chao and Ren Quan were drinking, and Li Chao originally wanted to invite Wang Yao along to get to know him better, but Hu Mei directly refused.

Zhang Meng would occasionally steal curious glances at Wang Yao, unsure of his relationship with Hu Mei.

After several rounds of drinks and several dishes, everyone had eaten their fill. The hot dishes were removed and replaced with tea and cold dishes, and the main event gradually began.

Today's banquet was specially organized by Hu Mei to show goodwill to Wang Yao, on the one hand to express her approval of the promotion of "Confucius", and on the other hand to demonstrate her own strength.

The group is divided into four factions: Hu Mei represents her own faction, Chen Lingjuan and Huang Shengyi represent the two Zhang Xinxian Pictures and Juli Capital, Ren Quan may represent Huayi or himself, and Li Chao represents Xiangjiang Yinghuang and Shanghai Film Group.

As for Wang Yao, he felt that he seemed to be the main course of tonight's banquet.

"I'm preparing a TV series set against the backdrop of the Great Qing Dynasty at the end of the year as an anniversary gift. Xiao Li, are you guys interested? It will be broadcast on CCTV-1 during prime time," Hu Mei said.

Judging from the subject matter and the broadcasting platform, it's not something that just any company can handle.

“Of course, we have always hoped to participate in a representative work with a mainstream theme, and I will report this matter to my superiors.” Li Chao’s expression turned serious.

The key to these kinds of projects is participation; whether you make money or not is not important, but if you don't participate, it's not easy to make money.

"Okay, then count as one of you. What about Xiao Ren?" Hu Mei asked again.

"I'll go back and ask. They should want to participate, after all, it's such an important juncture," Ren Quan said with a smile.

“Alright, it’s tentatively your turn. Lingjuan, your company has a big project next year, right? You guys shouldn’t get involved.” Hu Mei nodded. “Yes, Director Zhang has been preparing for this project for two years, but Xiao Huang and the others should be interested.” Chen Lingjuan said.

Huang Shengyi tensed up, straightened up, and smiled and nodded.

Hu Mei glanced at her, then casually glanced at Wang Yao. "We'll see when the time comes."

Huang Shengyi's smile froze, and her expression turned somewhat resentful.

"This is just a plan for now; we'll see if there are any gaps later." Hu Mei added, "Xiao Li, what are your needs?"

“We have a lot of projects this year, including Guangda projects like ‘Let the Bullets Fly,’ ‘Tangshan,’ ‘If You Are the One 2,’ ‘CJ7 2,’ and ‘Detective Dee.’ So I’d like to see how we should arrange things going forward,” Li Chao began, getting to the point.

China's film industry currently produces more than 500 films annually, but only 200 to 300 are actually released in theaters. Large-scale productions, such as "Confucius," occupy about 50% of the filming market, so each one needs to be planned and arranged in advance.

In a true sense, producing 50 high-quality productions a year is already a lot, but Lee Chao asked for the equivalent of one-tenth of the share, which can be described as an outrageous demand.

However, 2010 seems to be the early stage of the film industry being selected by capital and hot money flowing in and expanding. This year, the total box office exceeded 100 billion for the first time. Of course, the main reason is the emergence of an anomaly like "Avatar", which accounted for 13 billion of the box office.

This year has indeed been a fierce battle among domestic films, with "Tangshan" driving the trend of adapting true stories.

The king of memes, "Let the Bullets Fly," has supported countless self-media outlets and even given rise to scholars of "Let the Bullets Fly" who are more authoritative than scholars of "Dream of the Red Chamber."

Films like "Hot Romance," "Love in a Puff," and "Go Lala Go!"—all pseudo-pure love stories—spurred a generation of "simp economy."

"Lost in..." boosted the commercial road movie genre and created a series of box office miracles.

I must say, this year has truly been a golden age for Chinese cinema.

Although in name each regional film and television group is minding its own business, in reality, the whole country needs to act as a unified whole, and someone needs to mediate.

Hu Mei doesn't have that much power, but she can still speak.

The Chinese film and television industry is still within the planning stage, but after this year, it will be within the scope of freedom.

As Wang Yao listened to the conversation at the dinner table, a lot of crucial information that he couldn't understand before came to his mind.

No wonder they say you can't record videos at the dinner table.

"Director Hu, the box office on the first day is 1200 million." Just as everyone was exchanging cryptic remarks and negotiating terms, Ren Quan received a report from his subordinate and said with a face full of joy.

"Congratulations Director Hu on your great success." Chen Lingjuan smiled, seemingly relieved.

"Congratulations to Lingjuan on bringing another film to the box office of over ten million on its opening day," Hu Mei said with a smile.

In fact, the box office predictions from early morning to afternoon yesterday were not high. Chen Lingjuan was even prepared to use the same marketing methods she used for "The Promise" to boost the box office so that the opening day box office would be too bad and there would be nothing to write about in the news.

But unexpectedly, Wang Yao appeared out of nowhere and managed to turn the tide in just one afternoon, even bringing some pleasant surprises.

"This should be Sister Juan's fourth film to gross over ten million on its opening day. Congratulations!" Li Chao said with a face full of admiration.

"Hero didn't reach 10 million, only The Golden Age and The Promise broke 10 million on their opening day. But Xiao Yao also deserves credit. The combination of media hype and celebrity-sponsored screenings was indeed significant," Chen Lingjuan praised.

Wang Yao indirectly saved her at least one or two million yuan in publicity and marketing expenses.

"I just offered an idea; the film itself is excellent," Wang Yao said with a wave of his hand and a smile.

I was internally complaining that "The Promise" had claimed to have grossed 2000 million yuan on its opening day, and I wondered what kind of situation it had driven Chen Lingjuan to.

"In any case, we've made a good start. We'll need your continued support. Come on, those who want to drink, drink; those who don't, tea will do." Hu Mei was in high spirits and offered a toast.

This is her first attempt at a film in 17 years, and it's a more commercially oriented transition, so she's under a lot of pressure.

"Mr. Wang, congratulations on your first victory!" After congratulating Hu Mei and Chen Lingjuan, Zhang Meng took the initiative to walk around and toast Wang Yao with a glass of red wine.

"I respect the creative team behind 'Confucius,' but I dare not take credit." Wang Yao toasted with tea instead of wine, gently clinking his cups together, his gaze politely avoiding the brief moment when Zhang Meng bowed.

I've recently met many promising or already established female celebrities, but I have to admit that when I first met Zhang Meng, I could feel a distinct charm about her.

She is not fat; she is a typical example of someone whose natural talent for delicate beauty has yielded great results. This kind of talent is not uncommon in the modeling industry. However, she gives people a feeling of softness all over her body. It would be inappropriate to describe her as having a natural allure; she should be described as having a natural allure.

Humans have a genetic dependence on round and soft things, and Wang Yao was no exception. Not only did he not turn off his auto-aiming, but he was even a little too honest, which aroused Zhang Meng.

Whether it was the effect of the red wine or some other factor, Zhang Meng was surprised to find that she did not reject Wang Yao's gaze, but was just a little embarrassed.

I've seen plenty of lecherous glances, but this is the first time I've encountered someone so openly and blatantly lecherous!
Before Wang Yao could finish tasting his wine, he was interrupted by Huang Shengyi, who was also holding a wine glass.

Zhang Meng glanced at Wang Yao with a hint of embarrassment and annoyance, then performed a dribbling move and left.

The little boy was so reckless!
　My recent performance has improved slightly, and I am very grateful for the support and encouragement from my readers.

　　I received a lot of support and encouragement, but also endured a lot of attacks and insults.

　　Since this is a beginner's first book, it has many shortcomings.

　　I'll try to write longer chapters during the free period, so I can save up more manuscripts for a burst of updates when it's officially released.

　　Thank you again for your support, dear readers.

　　New book release data is quite crucial, so I'm begging for all kinds of monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and donations to support it!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)