How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 88 Finally Entered the Circle [10,000-word Update, Please Subscribe]

Star Media, established by the media group in China, almost controls most of the mainstream media in Hong Kong, Taiwan and East Asia, except for the mainland, with hundreds of millions of viewers every day.

However, compared to the mainland market, it doesn't seem as appealing.

So Lao Mo has been hoping to get involved since the 1990s, and his marriage to Deng Wendi may have been largely in preparation for this.

Wang Yao had read many unofficial histories in his previous life, and the main reason he was willing to get closer to Deng Wendi was to verify them.

He was eager to know what role media groups played in China's media landscape.

“As I mentioned before, Myspace still needs to leverage your connections. Based on our previous user positioning, I’d like to know who’s on the list of potential collaborators. This is very important,” Wang Yao said seriously.

"As per your requirements, I've shortlisted a few people. See if they're suitable." Deng Wendi paused, then began reciting names: "Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, Yang Ziqiong, Su Mang, Fan Bingbing, Li Yuchun, and Yang Lan."

Wang Yao listened attentively to the name she uttered, his gaze gradually clearing.

I've finally joined the circle.

Besides those he already knew and guessed, there were indeed a few unexpected figures on the list of potential collaborators.

But instead of revealing the secret, he began to seriously consider how these people could be used.

Gong Li and others who have been famous for a long time are not very useful; they can only serve as occasional traffic entry points to attract general traffic.

Su Mang, Yang Lan, and Li Yuchun could perhaps serve as pioneers, given that their character settings fit the bill.

Su Mang is a middleman in the fashion industry. Anyone who wants a top endorsement has to go through her. Moreover, the Bazaar Charity Gala in her hands is a very good tool. The key point is that she loves to show off.

Yang Lan, who is comparable to Deng Wendi, is a pioneer of female empowerment and one of the earliest women in China to pursue female empowerment. However, she has been too weak to achieve great success and could almost be groomed as a leading figure in female empowerment.

As for Li Yuchun, he is currently the modern-day "Kun Ge" (a popular internet personality), and any little thing he does can become a popular meme that spreads all over the country. Moreover, he can be regarded as the spiritual symbol that best represents the LGBT community in China.

This trump card was a bit too much for Wang Yao to handle.

"Besides that, what other assistance can Hong Kong get?" Wang Yao asked after pondering for a moment.

"Do you want money or people? Or do you want distribution channels?" Deng Wendi countered.

"Can we cooperate with Master He Yun, Mei Gu's last disciple?" Wang Yao asked.

"Of course." Deng Wendi nodded without hesitation, indicating that she had considerable control over this person.

“Okay, then Sister Di, please help me contact three people: Yang Lan, Gillian Chung, and Zhang Baizhi. I’ll send you the character design proposals. If they and the company are willing to cooperate, then I want the right to use their Weibo and Myspace accounts,” Wang Yao stated his conditions.

Wendi Deng thought Wang Yao would want influential artists like Fan Bingbing and Li Yuchun, but unexpectedly he specifically asked for two artists with "bad records" and Yang Lan, who had disappeared from the public eye and retired behind the scenes.

But Deng Wendi didn't say much. After reading the contents of the email, she had someone handle it.

"Nothing else for now. Once the contract is signed, Myspace's technical team will coordinate with my team." Wang Yao saw that she agreed readily.

Without offering any further explanation, he slipped away under the pretext of work.

"This kid doesn't look like a good person when he smiles," Li Fuzhen commented.

“A good person? We don’t need a good person, we need a capable person.” Deng Wendi smiled slightly.

"You think so highly of him? He's young, so his actions aren't necessarily reliable," Li Fuzhen said, frowning.

“Being young has its advantages; you really have a lot of energy,” Deng Wendi said with a smile.

"Really? Then I'll give it a try first?" Lee Boo-jung giggled.

After Wang Yao escorted Kim Ji-won home, he returned to the villa and found the atmosphere much livelier than usual. Seeing Ni Ni's smiling face, he asked in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"Surprised, Mr. Yao? I'm here to celebrate the New Year with you!" Ni Ni said with a bright smile.

"Really? Then why didn't you come when we invited you?" Wang Yao looked her over suspiciously.

"If I had come with you back then, who would have watched the house for you? I went to help Auntie make dumplings." Ni Ni chuckled and went back to the kitchen.

Wang Yao changed his clothes and found it rather strange to see Nazha and Ni Ni helping their mother make dumplings, especially since Ni Ni seemed to be all talk and no action.

"Wow, I thought I wouldn't be able to eat dumplings on New Year's Eve in Korea. Auntie's dumplings are so good, with both meat and filling. They look so delicious."

"Auntie, how did you make this meat filling? It smells so good. Mr. Yao is so lucky. He can eat your dumplings all the time."

"Auntie, these dumplings you made are so beautiful, they look like little gold ingots, I almost don't want to eat them."

"Auntie, are you tired? Let me give you a hand massage."

Wang Yao frowned as he watched his mother, Luo Yan, being so flattered that her wrinkles were practically bulging with laughter. He said, "Are you a reincarnation of a bootlicker?"

Ni Ni paused, then rolled her eyes at Wang Yao.

Luo Yan glared at Wang Yao with displeasure. "What are you saying? Do you think my dumpling filling isn't fragrant enough? Or do you not want to eat it?"

“That’s right, that’s right, I’m telling the truth, there’s not a bit of flattery in it. I’m going to eat 20 of them by myself later.” Ni Ni wrinkled her nose and chimed in.

"If you can't eat anymore, I'll force it in for you," Wang Yao snorted.

Naza grinned foolishly.

It has to be said that Ni Ni's personality is indeed very pleasing to the elders, and she is also good at speaking. In less than a day, Luo Yan's attitude towards her was even better than that towards Nazha.

They ate dumplings together for the Lunar New Year's Eve dinner. Wang Yao called Cai Haoyu and asked him to connect with Myspace's domestic technical team the next day. The web version doesn't need much modification for now; once the waterfall architecture is successfully developed, the data can be directly migrated over.

The PC version is just a transitional measure; once the iPhone 4 is released in the second half of the year, the app version can follow suit.

Myspace's PC version is actually more similar to Renren.com, because the platform was initially positioned as a music information sharing social platform, but later, due to various copyright and operational issues, it made a series of mistakes.

However, the basic functions and architecture are quite solid, and it's easy to get started.

Cai Haoyu has been incredibly busy these past few days. He has to keep up with the progress of "Fruit Assassin", ensure the operation and maintenance of Kanpianer.com, and also handle tasks with Kakao. Now he's developing multiple platforms as well. It feels even busier than preparing for graduate school entrance exams. Fortunately, Wang Yao has provided a sufficient budget.

Today is the Little New Year, and I was planning to take a break, but Ren Quan called again.

"Huayi agreed. The budget is 3000 million yuan. In addition to the CPM exposure, they also require 3000 million yuan in box office revenue, but they gave us 50 free tickets." Ren Quan's tone was somewhat excited.

I guess they suffered a lot at Old Wang's hands, and now they finally have a chance to get revenge.

"An extra ten million, but the KPI almost doubled. Old Wang really doesn't want to lose out at all," Wang Yao calculated.

Based on the current development trend of movie streaming websites, it shouldn't be difficult to achieve this goal. Including box office revenue sharing, this annual budget should be able to earn 20-30%.

"Let's leave it at that for now. Consider it a perk for our members. Once the contract is signed, we can start preparing for the 'Hot Summer Days' event. How many tickets will the theaters provide for us during the Spring Festival?" Wang Yao asked.

With the Spring Festival approaching, it's peak movie-going season, and many cinemas will choose to sell tickets themselves instead of partnering with external channels, or they will lower their commission rates, especially the top four cinemas.

“The top four cinemas only reserved 20% of the tickets for us during the Spring Festival season, but the top six cinemas can still give us 50%. As for the smaller ones, I think we should just sign up for a whole theater.” Ren Quan suggested.

The Sixth Cinema usually has an occupancy rate of 15-20%, and during peak season it may be around 30%, so giving up so many films doesn't seem very sincere.

"Contact several reputable small cinema chains to partner with them for exclusive distribution of the 'Huayi Annual Card' at designated cinemas, aiming for a 25% commission. Then, I'll have someone customize a batch of co-branded water bottles."
"The co-branded water bottles can be refilled once per screening at designated cinemas, which could potentially generate a stable customer base for the cinemas. Let's see how many cinemas are willing to cooperate more deeply, and then we'll redirect their traffic there," Wang Yao said after a moment's thought.

The Huayi Annual Pass was originally priced at 299, which is equivalent to a 7.5% discount. There are a total of 5 passes (each pass allows 10 swipes). It was originally intended as a benefit to boost Huayi's box office and drive traffic to the movie streaming website.

The cost of a customized card and a customized water bottle is around 30 yuan, but the refill bonus can increase members' loyalty to designated partner cinemas, and increasing occupancy rates will definitely make money for the cinemas.

As for the extra 25% commission, it's just a way to screen out honest people and see which cinemas are more sensible and will become in-depth partners of Kanpianer.com in the future. I can't guarantee anything else, but Wang Yao can guarantee an annual occupancy rate of over 20%.

"That's a great idea. A Coke at a normal movie theater costs 9.9 yuan. If I had that kind of perk when I was in school, I would have taken a two-hour bus ride to get it," Ren Quan laughed.

“This benefit is given priority to individual cinemas. Since the top ten cinemas don’t even want us, then we can only support the weaker cinemas. It’s not impossible to surround the cities from the countryside.” Wang Yao narrowed his eyes.

"When you have money in the future, you can set up your own cinema chain?" Ren Quan understood.

“Having your own cinema chain is definitely a good thing. Look at Yinghuang, they produce and sell their own cinemas. But running a cinema chain isn’t easy either. Let’s talk about it later.” Wang Yao smiled.

"Sister Juan asked you if you need her help with the publicity for 'All Love'," Ren Quan asked.

"No need for now, let's check the box office redemption rate tomorrow." Wang Yao decided to wait and see, and after hanging up with Ren Quan, he called Chi Xin.

"Mr. Yao, Happy Lunar New Year!" Chi Xin greeted him.

Now, her relationship with Wang Yao is becoming more and more harmonious.

"Happy Lunar New Year, Mr. Chi. I hope I didn't disturb your family reunion?" Wang Yao said with a smile.

"I'm still out socializing. I won't be back until after the New Year. Mr. Yao, please let me know if you need anything." Chi Xin said with a smile.

Wang Yao is now one of her major clients, and he's the type who's easy to work with and doesn't cause her much trouble.

“I’ve taken on a project from Huayi, and we might need Yang Ying,” Wang Yao said bluntly.

"Ah? Kimi's luck is on the horizon," Chi Xin said with a smile.

"So, is Yang Ying going to sign with Huayi Brothers?" Wang Yao asked.

"That's the plan. Yang Ying is currently in an ambiguous relationship with Huang Xiaoming, but Sister Kimi is keeping a close eye on things because she heard that Huang Xiaoming isn't single and she's worried about problems arising. After all, they're new here, and she doesn't want them to cause trouble on their first visit," Chi Xin answered truthfully.

Huang Xiaoming hasn't broken up with Li Feier yet. Last year, he hooked up with Yang Ying. He probably hesitated because of Yang Ying's background as a model, but he really wanted to have her, so he kept using Huayi's resources to seduce her. Unfortunately, he didn't expect that Yang Ying had a powerful backer.

Kimi is definitely the type of person who won't act until she sees something concrete; she's either waiting to find something to use against Huang Xiaoming, or she's waiting for the right price.

Wang Yao originally didn't plan to participate, but now that he's taken on Huayi's job, he might as well make the most of the existing media resources. After all, Yang Ying can use the popularity of "Love Secret" to fight with Ah Sa and boost "All Love", and she can also contribute Myspace topics by using Huang Xiaoming's scandal.

Furthermore, Yang Ying is quite dedicated as a variety show personality; there aren't many female variety show personalities in China who are so open and uninhibited.

As for acting skills and his physique, those were both very crooked, but they're still on the right track now.

"Contact Kimi and schedule a time to talk," Wang Yao said. Chi Xin readily agreed, and less than twenty minutes later, an unknown number called.

"Good evening, Mr. Wang. I'm Kimi," Zhou Yougen said with a smile.

"Sister Kimi, I'm so sorry to bother you so late," Wang Yao said politely.

"What are you saying? I'm the one bothering you. I heard from President Chi that you took on a job at Huayi?" Zhou Yougen asked.

"Well, I've taken on a yearly project, and we're just starting preparations this week for the movie 'All Love,' which your Yang Ying is starring in. So I wanted to let you know in advance to see if there's any potential for collaboration," Wang Yao said.

"It's already very kind of you to even think of us. We will definitely cooperate fully," Zhou Yougen said generously.

“I’m also in charge of Director Wang’s publicity. I don’t mean to gossip, but I want to ask what the relationship is between Yang Ying, Chen Weiting, and Ah Sa. Can we hype it up?” Wang Yao said with a smile.

“Well, she and Chen Weiting just broke up.” Zhou Yougen said hesitantly.

"It's not that Chen Weiting cheated on you, is it?" Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Hey, it's normal for couples in the industry to be apart most of the time. It's hard to say whose fault it is," Zhou Yougen said with a forced smile.

Oh, I got it.

Both of them have evidence of infidelity, right?

"What about Yang Ying and Huang Xiaoming?" Wang Yao asked again.

"Well, the two of them are still getting to know each other, but Mr. Huang is very interested in our Angela," Zhou Yougen quickly explained, afraid of any misunderstanding.

Oh, I got it.

Everyone cheated.

If you put all of them together in a movie, their acting skills should be pretty good.

"What are your thoughts, Kimi? We can discuss Yang Ying's plans," Wang Yao inquired.

"Well, actually I still want her to pursue an acting career. After all, the path for modeling is too narrow. Mr. Huang said he's prepared to sign her and offer a generous termination fee, but I'm worried about her job security."

After all, Huayi is such a large company, it's not up to Mr. Huang to decide everything. I've been managing her for so long, and I still want to find a reliable partner to work with." Zhou Yougen spoke sincerely, but he was essentially expressing the same idea.

Awaiting price.

If Huayi offers a good price, I'll sell it.

If the price isn't good, I'll keep it myself and look for another one.

"To be honest, Yang Ying isn't from a professional acting background, and your development in Hong Kong will be very limited. While there seem to be more opportunities in mainland China, the competition is equally fierce. The path of an actor is not easy," Wang Yao said truthfully.

“Indeed, the circles are quite different after all. However, Angela’s acting skills are recognized by many people. She is very talented. In addition to ‘All About Love,’ another film, ‘All’s Well, Ends Well 2010,’ is also being released this month,” Zhou Yougen quickly explained.

The movie didn't lose money thanks to the word-of-mouth of Koo Tin-lo and Ng Chun-ju, but it didn't have much to do with Yang Ying. On the contrary, Lynn Hung, who was in the same company, made some noise.

Zhou Yougen promoted these models specifically to hook up with superstars, but the success rate wasn't very high. It might be because he promoted the girls under him too much, making them unable to be as submissive as later internet celebrities.

These superstars have one thing in common: they all want to be like Jackie Chan, not wanting women to be in the public eye or manage the finances, preferring them to be good wives and mothers.

Yang Ying is clearly not that type. Although she is somewhat love-struck, she is also very ambitious and courageous. However, she is not very bright and is quite short-sighted.

"My idea is not to use your weaknesses to attack someone else's strengths. Yang Ying has her own advantages. As long as she gets enough exposure, she can also secure suitable resources on her own."

"Look at Ma Ruo and Qu Shou, whom I've trained. They're getting offers from various companies every day now, and I also have some supporting roles in the annual contract I've reached with Huayi Brothers." Wang Yao demonstrated his capabilities.

"What does Mr. Wang mean?" Zhou Yougen's mind raced.

“The fire is expanding. I admire Sister Kimi’s methods of training models. Why don’t you join us?” Wang Yao extended an olive branch.

"Mr. Wang is going to take me in as well?" Zhou Yougen was taken aback.

Her original plan was to collaborate with Wang Yao to package Yang Ying and Guo Biting, two promising talents, and sell them for a good price.

But I never expected Wang Yao to have such a big appetite.

Although she can't compare to the big names in the film and television industry, she is considered the number one in Hong Kong in the modeling field, although her scale certainly can't compare to Meishe.

But it shouldn't be swallowed up by the heavenly fire.

"No rush, after all, we haven't cooperated before. I just have this idea. Let me explain my thoughts first?" Wang Yao smiled.

Zhou Yougen's methods for cultivating a superstar's wife are a waste in the modeling industry. Wang Yao plans to arrange a more lucrative and promising career for her.

"I'd like to hear the details," Zhou Yougen said, snapping out of his reverie.

"Anyway, your relationship with Yinghuang is definitely beyond repair, so why not borrow Chen Weiting and Ah Sa? Director Wang's two films are releasing tomorrow, and I've also arranged a topic for discussion: if Sister Kimi is willing to collaborate..."
I've created a persona for Yang Ying: a small-time model who's been cheated on by a scumbag boyfriend, giving up on love to focus on her career. Then, based on this persona, I'll help her generate a batch of articles and get her on Hunan TV's "I Am a Big Beauty."
"That show beat 'If You Are the One' to become the weekend ratings champion last week. Yang Ying's advantage lies in her appearance. We need to amplify that to showcase her strengths, build a fan base, and increase her value. Then we can see if there are any suitable resources available," Wang Yao said calmly.

Zhou Yougen was greatly intrigued upon hearing this.

She's been making headlines lately with the show "I Am a Big Beauty." Thanks to the support of Qu Shou and Teacher He, it's caused quite a stir in the fashion industry. Since it's a women's beauty product sales show, the audience is mostly women. If she breaks out on this show, even if she doesn't get film and television opportunities, she'll definitely get plenty of advertising and magazine offers, which is right in her comfort zone.

Moreover, Wang Yao's thinking was correct. Yang Ying's strength was not acting. Although she was decent, she was at most a supporting actress, let alone a leading lady. Arranging for her to act was just to leverage her status as an actress and raise her value.

"Furthermore, I've invested in a branch company in Korea and am preparing a variety show. I can have Yang Ying guest star in a few episodes and then become a contracted model for my clothing brand," Wang Yao continued, throwing out the bait.

"Mr. Wang, you've started your own clothing brand? Women's wear?" Zhou Yougen ignored the promise from Goryeo Variety Show.

“Yes, we’ll build an e-commerce brand.” Wang Yao smiled.

"What does Mr. Wang want?" Zhou Yougen pondered for a moment.

"Let's cooperate first. I want 50% of the profits. If Sister Kimi thinks the cooperation goes smoothly, we can discuss the merger and acquisition in more detail later?" Wang Yao said with a light laugh.

“Alright, Mr. Wang, please allow me a day to discuss this,” Zhou Yougen said solemnly.

Besides Zhou Yougen, her company has many promising talents, such as Liang Luoshi, a divorced woman from a wealthy family, and stylist Han Huohuo. Moreover, she has a good relationship with Gu Tianle.

On February 2.7th, Wang Yao woke up to a barrage of text messages and QQ messages.

[Winter Vacation Family Card] Redemption rate as high as 80% within 12 hours.

According to a simple calculation model created by Cai Haoyu, the opening day box office of "Mei Mi" is very likely to exceed 500 million yuan, and the opening day box office of "Wei Jing" is highly expected to exceed 800 million yuan, even with less than 20% of the screenings.

Based on the recent week's national box office of 4000 million yuan per day, Wang Jing's two films, with 20% of the screenings, accounted for nearly 32% of the total, indicating that their occupancy rate far exceeded that of other films released during the same period.

If the national box office surpasses 4000 million today, it will mean that Kanpianer.com's online ticketing model has brought real growth to the film market, which would be significant.

"Confucius" was hyped up for nearly a month before its opening day box office barely broke 10 million yuan, even with freebies and promotions. Although Wang Jing had two films released at the same time, she counted them as one film.

At 1 p.m., Wang Jing shamelessly had someone photoshop a box office prediction image from a movie website, exaggerating it to 20 million yuan.

'Two thousand on the first day, long live the movie fans!'

It has to be said that this guy has absolutely no shame, treating predictions like actual box office figures, but the effect was indeed good, and it quickly sparked discussion again.

Meanwhile, the first wave of attacks targeting Wang Jing also appeared on major platforms and in newspapers.

'Bad is bad, and Wang Jing's attempts to fool moviegoers can't change that fact.'

Director Chen: What kind of seniority does Wang Jing have? I had serious discussions with his father.

Wang Jiawei: Wang Jing is a businessman; he doesn't understand film. It's a tragedy for cinematic art that audiences are influenced by him.

Ming Pao: Savior of Cinema or Media Rogue? What can Wang Jing make without women and scatological humor?

"You call 'Undetected' a science fiction movie? Then isn't 'Avatar' an alien movie?"

The mainland sent veteran director Chan, while Hong Kong sent Wong Kar-wai, a representative of highbrow art. Instantly, film enthusiasts who had been suppressed for two days were like dogs let off their leash, flocking to various forums and social media platforms to fiercely attack each other.

As the main battleground, the website Kanpianer.com added three batches of servers in one day. Fortunately, Wang Yao had the foresight, otherwise it would have crashed.

However, the more people criticize it, the faster the number of online reservations increases.

Wang Yao allowed public opinion to ferment for an afternoon. As we all know, the war of public opinion is a round-robin affair, with the east wind blowing and the west wind blowing after it has finished.

At 6 PM, Wang Yao released a second wave of topics.

Andy Lau: Saying "Unknown's Cinema" is a sci-fi film isn't quite accurate. I watched it as a family film, suitable for watching with kids like "CJ7."

Fan Bingbing: If adults are watching this movie for the sake of watching it, I wouldn't recommend "Unknown's Cadet." They could watch "The Secret Life of a Woman" or "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" instead.

Charlene Choi (Ah Sa): I really liked "Undetected"! My little nephew laughed so hard his eyes hurt, and then he cried so much his eyes were swollen. But I dozed off the whole time. I came to see "The Secret Life of a Beauty," there are lots of pretty girls there!

Xie Na: Why are you asking me if it's good or not? If my fans want to see it, they can sign up in the fan group, and I'll invite everyone to watch it.

After seeing the interviews and statements from the main actors, everyone was stunned.

What do you mean?
Are they badmouthing themselves?

How bad is it that even the creators are unwilling to say anything good about it?

Should we sacrifice the reputation of "Undetected" to boost "The Secret in the Moonlight," sacrificing a pawn to save the king?

For a time, both those who supported Wang Jing and those who opposed her were confused.

This was the first time I'd seen this reverse propaganda tactic, which actually aroused everyone's suspicion.

　I might combine three updates into two in the near future to try and increase my average update frequency and see if I can get a recommendation spot.

　　But I'll still keep updating 10,000 times a day~
　　Thank you again for your support, dear readers!
　　

(End of this chapter)