Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 235 Chen Xiu, who kills both men and women
"The Nameless"?

Looking at the name on the script page, Chen Xiu revealed a smile that only he knew.

Before opening it, he glanced at the somewhat reserved man opposite him.

Rao Xiaozhi is the friend Guo Fan mentioned.

Then, Lu Yang, the director of "Qin Wang Po Zhen Qu", and Guo Fan were both directors who went to Paramount to study in the same class. When you put the three of them together, they are all good friends.

These three future great directors were sitting together, with Rao Xiaozhi in the center and Guo Lu and the other two on either side. All three of them were looking in their direction, intentionally or unintentionally.

If we also include Chen Sicheng, Wu Jing, and Xiao Yang, the promising young directors have basically all gathered together.

Gathering her thoughts and lowering her gaze, Chen Xiu silently began to peruse the script in her hands.

Chen Xiu knew that "The Unknown" was a film that, despite lacking big-name stars and promotion, still managed to rake in 7.9 million yuan based on its sheer strength.

In his previous life, he went to the cinema twice and highly praised the actress Ren Suxi's acting skills.

I quickly skimmed through the script pages, but when I was halfway through, the next page suddenly turned into a blank page…

Staring at the pristine white paper, Chen Xiu smiled wryly, instantly realizing that Rao Xiaozhi was protecting his script.

This sudden laughter made Rao Xiaozhi, who was sitting opposite him, even more nervous.

Guo Fan and Lu Yang were closer to Chen Xiu, and seeing his strange smile, they also craned their necks to check the script.

When the blank, wordless script pages came into view, their hearts jumped almost simultaneously.

After exchanging a glance, Guo Fan and Lu Yang reacted in unison.

"Mr. Chen, Xiao Zhi must have put the rest of the scripts in another folder."

"Yes, yes, yes, Xiao Zhi wrote this script himself. He probably wrote it down as he came up with ideas, and hasn't put the complete script together yet."

Hearing his two friends helping to explain, Rao Xiaozhi managed a smile.

"Mr. Chen, I'm sorry, I..."

"It's just a means of self-protection, I can understand."

Chen Xiu smiled at the three of them, indicating that he wouldn't be dissatisfied over such a trivial matter.

However, seeing their relieved expressions, Chen Xiu raised an eyebrow and smiled mischievously before closing the script and slamming it on the table.

"Clap!"

The sound drew the attention of all three of them.

Seeing their tense, wide-eyed expressions, Chen Xiu pretended to tap the table with her thumb and said, "This script... is excellent!"

"Whew~~" *3
"Hehe! Aren't you guys a little too nervous?"

The three looked at each other, each with a somewhat sullen expression.

It's not surprising that they were nervous in front of Chen Xiu; it's mainly because they haven't reached a certain level of fame yet and lack confidence.

Lu Yang currently only has one representative work, "Brotherhood of Blades," which grossed less than 100 million yuan, and "Brotherhood of Blades 2" has not yet been released. Rao Xiaozhi has only directed one film, "Hello, Crazy!", which was just released a few days ago and grossed more than 10 million yuan in its first week, so there's no need to expect anything more. As for Guo Fan, everyone knows about his situation.

Although they may become great directors in the future, for now they are just three little karaomis.

In contrast, Chen Xiu, at a young age, has a net worth of over 10 billion yuan in the internet industry. She founded her own film and television company, which completed its Series A financing last year with a valuation of 3 billion yuan. In just two and a half years since her debut, she has become a top-tier celebrity.

Tsk tsk, how the hell can you even compare these?

Ignoring the three people's reactions, Chen Xiu said, "The first half of the script is well written. The two bumbling thieves and the paralyzed female lead are all outstanding. How much will it cost to film it?"

"3500 million, no, 3000 million is enough!"

Rao Xiaozhi said a number, then quickly changed his mind.

His new film flopped at the box office, making it already very difficult to attract investment. Now that a bigwig has expressed interest in investing, he naturally has to do his best to reach an agreement.

Chen Xiu casually tapped the script: "Do you have a project proposal? The main cast, the location selection, the storyboard... the more detailed the better. I want to buy this script."

“Buy it?!”

Rao Xiaozhi stared blankly at Chen Xiu, his face revealing a huge sense of disappointment at the vast difference between reality and imagination.

Chen Xiu nodded slightly, her voice melodious and indifferent.

"Yes! I want to buy this script. If your project proposal is approved, you will still be the director of this film, but the film's copyrights and box office revenue will be none of your business."

"This...Mr. Chen, I...I just want to attract investment."

"You've been in the industry for many years, so you should know that according to the Copyright Law, when a film is made, the copyright belongs to the production company, and the screenwriter only has the right to be credited, right?"

"I want to start my own studio to produce..."

"Then, I'll invest, and you'll produce? 3000 million isn't a lot of money, but once I invest, I have to bear all the risks of the film, so I naturally need to get enough protection."

Chen Xiu stated frankly that he knew investing in "The Nameless" could make money, but that did not prevent him from maximizing his profits.

If the copyright of "The Wandering Earth" hadn't been acquired by China Film Group early on, he would have asked for something else when he invested.

Guo Fan and Lu Yang shut their mouths, deciding to keep quiet. From a business perspective, they didn't see anything wrong with what Chen Xiu said.

Lu Yang's relationship with Rao Xiaozhi wasn't that close; he even felt that Rao Xiaozhi was somewhat ungrateful.

Rao Xiaozhi frowned in frustration, wanting to fight for something, but when he opened his mouth, he had nothing to say.

Just as the situation reached a stalemate, Chen Xiu gently pushed the script forward and said, "Or, we can cooperate in another way." "President Chen, please enlighten me."

“If you sign your personal studio directly with my company, you can still become a film director, and the copyright will be shared by the company and your personal studio.”

"..."

Rao Xiaozhi frowned even more; he felt that both methods were quite uncomfortable.

Seeing the conflict on Rao Xiaozhi's face, Chen Xiu, who genuinely wanted to recruit him, earnestly tried to persuade him.

“Director Rao, I want to sign a management contract with you, and it’s not just because of this movie.”

"Ok?"

“In the future, Datang Pictures will have more projects, and you will not stagnate. Our relationship should be one of mutual benefit and success. I believe that the conditions I have proposed are not unreasonable.”

"This……"

Rao Xiaozhi's expression softened somewhat, but he still hesitated.

Seeing this, Chen Xiu thought for a moment and then said in a tactic of retreating to advance, "Director Rao, you can take your time to consider this while you are working on the project proposal."

"Uh, okay, thank you, Mr. Chen."

Chen Xiu stood up and shook hands with him, completely indifferent to whether he would stay or leave.

"Excuse me, I have something to take care of. Please excuse me for a moment."

Upon hearing this, the three quickly waved their hands, saying that it was too kind of them.

After Chen Xiu left, Guo Fan advised Rao Xiaozhi, "I think you could consider joining President Chen's company."

"why?"

“He’s a good guy. If I hadn’t signed a contract with China Film Group, I would have wanted to work for him too.”

"Ok??"

Rao Xiaozhi looked at his friend in surprise, feeling that his reaction was truly unexpected.

Lu Yang glanced at Guo Fan and suddenly said something surprising: "President Chen said last month that he wanted to invest in my Free Whale Cool, and I have already agreed!"

"Huh?"*2
"Don't act so strangely. If you had the chance to work with President Chen for a while, you would understand why I agreed."

Lu Yang shrugged, made an excuse that he had to film a movie, and left first.

Watching his departing figure, Guo Fan thoughtfully pursed his lips, then reached out and patted Rao Xiaozhi on the shoulder.

"Even if you don't sign with Mr. Chen's company, you can at least consider selling this script to him. Anyway, he will still let you direct it. The film copyright belongs to the production company, and other investors will also make this request."

"Hiss~~, wait, why do I feel like you and Lu Yang both have a kind of admiration for Chen Xiu?"

"Well, you'll understand if you have the chance to spend more time with him."

Rao Xiaozhi leaned back strategically, giving Guo Fan a strange look as he looked him up and down, thinking: Did you and Lu Yang eat something disgusting? Why are you both helping Chen Xiu persuade me?
……

What Chen Xiu just said to Rao Xiaozhi wasn't an excuse; he really had something to do.

Arriving at the entrance of the photography studio, he saw Chen Duling and her assistant with suitcases beside them and slowly walked towards them.

This morning, Meng Ziyi was called back by the crew of "Day and Night".

With her leaving, Chen Duling couldn't stay on set any longer, so out of friendship, Chen Xiu felt it was only right to see her off.

"Got to go?"

"Well, if you're busy, you don't really need to come all the way to deliver it."

"Even if you're busy, a little while won't make a difference. Speaking of which, I haven't asked you yet why you came to visit the set."

"..."

Chen Duling glanced at Chen Xiu with a hint of resentment and speechlessness, thinking: You've been either with Ziyi or filming these past few days, how could you have time to pay attention to me? Now you know you care, but I still don't want to... I'd better say something! Otherwise, he might really not care.

After dismissing her assistant with a smirk, Chen Duling came to Chen Xiu's side and said, "I've been going to auditions for dramas lately, but I just can't get any good roles. I do get roles as the second or third female lead, but my mom tells me to be selective and not settle for less."

"Makes sense."

"But I can't get any leading roles!"

"Your popularity is decent, but you're not exactly a top star. You have quite a few haters, your agency doesn't have much influence in the industry, and your acting skills are very superficial. Strictly speaking, your current status is somewhere in between, so it's quite normal that you can't get good resources."

Chen Xiu's precise analysis left Chen Duling completely stunned.

Although the words were unpleasant to hear, they were so true that no one could refute them.

Chen Duling pursed her lips and stammered, "Then... what should I do?"

"Popularity follows the work, and there's nothing we can do for now. You probably don't want to change agencies either, so the only thing you can work on is your acting skills. At the end of the month, I'm planning to organize an acting training course for the company's employees. If you're interested, you can come along," Chen Xiu suggested.

Last time, Zhou Ye's acting really shocked him; it was so bad... Setting up an acting training class and giving him some last-minute cramming was also to ensure the smooth filming of "Better Days".

Since we've already set up a training course, inviting Chen Duling along is just a convenient thing to do.

Upon hearing Chen Xiu's invitation, Chen Duling pretended to think for a moment (about three seconds), then quickly nodded: "I will definitely come!"

"OK, that's settled then. Have a safe trip, bye!"

(End of this chapter)