How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 48 I Avoid His Edge! ? [Please Read Further]

Famous Chinese directors each have their own little quirks.

Master Zhang enjoys discovering ordinary people and relishes the process of transforming a rough draft into a treasure, even though the ordinary people he chooses all bear the shadow of his former acquaintances.

Jiang Wen likes to take pictures of his wife, considering her his muse, although it might be because she looks like him.

Director Chen likes to prove things; all the films he makes prove that his father was a good director.

One of the representative directors of Hong Kong, Wang Jing, has a penchant for using models, especially beauty pageant models.

He truly succeeded in balancing his hobbies and career very well.

Therefore, Wang Jing would occasionally check with well-known modeling agencies across the country to see if they had any new models. As one of the earliest Hong Kong directors to enter the mainland, he collaborated with and discovered many models.

Wang Jing's collaboration with Meishe has always been harmonious.

Qu Shou was one of the promising talents he had been eyeing in recent years, and he had even tried to sign her to his company several times. So when he heard about Qu Shou's situation, he immediately started cursing her boyfriend as a scumbag.

Wang Jing is a very intelligent person, so her moral bottom line is flexible, but she is still considered to be relatively moral. However, because of this, she has offended many people in the industry.

But while minor problems kept arising, no major problems ever occurred, which shows that this person is indeed quite capable.

His title as the King of Bad Movies was simply due to bad timing; if he had been born a few decades later, he would have become the King of Short Dramas.

When the structure of Wang Jing's bad films is amplified, they can be considered a template for short dramas.

"So what do you mean? This matter can't be suppressed? Can't be resolved?" Wang Jing said with an unfriendly expression after hurling a string of curses.

If Wang Yao had come on behalf of Meishe, he probably would have cursed them all too, but this time, Wang Yao is representing Hu Mei, so the situation is different.

"Director Hu's idea is that we can coordinate the publicity and distribution. We'll proactively release the news by next Sunday at the latest and see how public opinion reacts. If it's positive, then we'll gradually integrate the product into the product's narrative."
"This matter will likely escalate for at least half a month. By then, the release date for 'Confucius' will be almost set, and 'Beauty on Duty' will follow, saving us a lot on marketing and distribution costs," Wang Yao replied.

"So that means it'll be around early February, coinciding with the Spring Festival season? We're not so foolish as to try and compete with Huayi Brothers and Jackie Chan for the film." Wang Jing's tone was somewhat displeased.

"I heard that Director Wang has a big production that was originally scheduled to be released during the Spring Festival?" Wang Yao asked.

Wang Jing has a sci-fi blockbuster called "Future Police," which boasts a production budget of 2000 million US dollars. It is a labor of love that took five years to prepare and three years to produce. It stars Andy Lau and Fan Bingbing and was originally intended to be released during the Spring Festival. However, due to a lack of publicity and distribution budget, it was unable to compete with the prime time slot and had to postpone its release.

Ultimately, because it was exceptionally bad, it only grossed 50 to 60 million yuan, losing even more money than "Confucius". Even if it were released during the Spring Festival, the box office performance of this movie would not be much of a surprise.

"Oh? You have connections?" Wang Jing's eyes lit up.

He's been worrying about this lately. "Future X-Cops" is a gimmick he carefully crafted to make money, and if it doesn't make it to the Spring Festival season, it will definitely lose a lot of box office revenue.

"I don't have that ability, not even Director Hu," Wang Yao shook his head. "I just feel that with 'Hot Summer Days' and 'Little Big Soldier' ​​dominating the Spring Festival season, it's really not a good time to release a film."
But if both of your films were released in early February, combined with Qu Shou's popularity, it might create a different kind of chemistry.

"Released at the same time? Crashing into its own release? Do you think I'm crazy?" Wang Jing frowned.

"To be honest, the reason Director Wang avoided prime time is probably because he didn't have a big budget for publicity," Wang Yao said bluntly.

"I spend my money on movies, not on hype, and the whole country knows that," Wang Jing said shamelessly.

In fact, he did want to avoid the peak month of February and choose the off-season month of March so that his failure wouldn't be too embarrassing.

"Therefore, we need to make the most of every bit of organic traffic for promotion. As far as I know, only two martial arts films, '14 Blades' and 'True Legend,' were released in early February. Your romantic comedy and urban sci-fi film are being released at the same time, which doesn't actually conflict with each other."

Add to that Qu Shou's popularity and your own double-tracking strategy, and you have two publicity topics. Moreover, regarding Qu Shou's situation, not only will Director Hu's production team speak out, but even Teacher He from Hunan TV will speak out to help.

Therefore, he will inevitably stand on the moral high ground of public opinion. If Director Wang is willing to speak out for justice, he believes it will also gain the approval of many movie fans. Wang Yao began to raise his banner.

Wang Jing frowned in thought.

To be honest, he knows perfectly well what kind of success his work has achieved; he just wants to find a suitable opportunity and excuse to make amends for his failure in front of the media.

But this news about Qu Shou was indeed unexpected.

Moreover, with these two mainland bigwigs having placed bets, he doesn't need to be timid or hesitant.

Under normal circumstances, Qu Shou's status is lower than Chen Xiangshi's, so the impact on the film would be more detrimental than beneficial. He would prefer to pay a breach of contract fee, remove Qu Shou's scenes, and then hire gossip reporters to write some tabloid stories about himself and Qu Shou. He would then explain the situation a couple of times during the film's release to attract attention. However, if Wang Yao and his backers want to market the Qu Shou incident as a social news story, then he will have to reassess the value of the situation.

Wang Jing spoke out in support, condemning the heinous act of domestic violence, saying, "If the uncle doesn't care, the future uncle will!"

He even imagined a news headline and laughed at himself.

It's fun, it's good for both joining in the fun and promoting the movie.

Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something funny." Wang Jing coughed lightly. "Are you sure public opinion is positive?"

“At least, it’s correct.” Wang Yao took out the case closure receipt. “And if Director Wang doesn’t have much of a publicity budget, I can come up with a way to save money and easily boost box office revenue.”

"Tell me about it?" Wang Jing asked, somewhat curious.

“Ms. Chung, the sister of Ms. Cai, the lead actress in ‘Beauty on Duty,’ was a witness to the camera scandal. If you can persuade Ms. Cai to get Ms. Chung to come out and support her, or even use this opportunity to make a comeback, it might have a miraculous effect,” Wang Yao said in a deep voice.

“Ah Jiao…” Wang Jing’s small eyes gleamed.

Gillian Chung has already made a comeback more than a year after the camera scandal, but she hasn't had any good opportunities. Although Wang Jing is not a shareholder of Yinghuang, he is an old acquaintance. If he can find an opportunity to help Gillian, maybe Lao Yang can really help her with some publicity expenses.

It's a good bargaining chip.

"Qu Shouhui will establish a 'Women's Domestic Violence Relief Fund' to focus on protecting women's rights. If Director Wang can persuade the production company to donate 5% of the box office revenue to charity, I believe it will help the film's box office performance," Wang Yao said, throwing out his last bargaining chip.

"What I hate most is men who hit women. Don't worry, little brother, there won't be any problems with Qu Shou's scenes. As for when it will be released, we'll have to see how things go." Wang Jing laughed and patted Wang Yao on the shoulder.

It was practically a promise that they wouldn't pursue any potential losses caused by Qu Shouhui.

After all, this complete publicity and promotion process is enough to achieve the greatest effect with the least cost.

As for whether the movie should capitalize on the hype and be released early, he still needs to wait and see.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Director Wang. However, if you really want to avoid Brother Cheng Long's sharp edge, we can understand." Wang Yao used a feigned retreat to provoke Wang Jing.

It's no secret that Wang Jing and Cheng Long are at odds.

"Are you kidding me? Me, avoid his sharp edge?!" Wang Jing was furious upon hearing this.

Wang Yao didn't get too entangled with him. He then met with Su Youpeng, but didn't see him in person. He only communicated with his agent. Because Huang Shengyi had already spoken to him, the agent didn't say much, only mentioning that they should wait and see, since the movie wasn't in a hurry to be released.

This result was within Wang Yao's expectations; after all, everyone here is a seasoned businessman, not a child playing house.

After dealing with all the potential problems, Wang Yao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He squeezed every available resource out of him, almost to the bone, simply because he never believed in prayer with hands clasped together, but only in the power of clenched fists.

Just as Wang Yao was preparing to take a two-day rest...

He Ming, who had just returned to Shanghai from a business trip, was mysteriously pulled away by Wu Tian to meet an unexpected person, Yang Zi, as soon as he got off the plane.

After listening to Yang Zi's embellished retelling of what happened at the "Confucius" promotional event the day before yesterday, and how Wang Yao might have hitched a ride on Hu Mei's coattails, He Ming felt somewhat dazed.

I was only away on a business trip for a few days, but why do I feel like I'm falling behind the industry?

Tianhuo Media actually took on such an important project? And it's a core channel for them?

Is this still my company?

"Mr. He, it's truly admirable that you've mentored such a valuable new talent as Ma Ruo. Would you be interested in switching platforms and joining Huo Media?"

Yang Zi extended an olive branch with a forced smile on his face.

He Ming was somewhat surprised, and then fell silent.

(End of this chapter)