Huayu: Starting from joining the mainstream entertainment industry in 96

Chapter 131, Question 130: Do you really think the feudal lords have no military power?
time flies.

June 4, afternoon.

At the Shengying Media dispatch center, Wang Sheng and Li Xiaoran received their "examination certificates" from the Beijing Film Academy's academic affairs staff.

This means that as long as the two of them achieve the required academic scores in the upcoming national unified college entrance examination, they will become freshmen of the Beijing Film Academy in 1997.

"I really got it..."

Li Xiaoran repeatedly stroked the thin piece of paper, her fingertips trembling slightly, her eyes reddening.

From a dancer in the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe to a leading lady in commercials, and now with one foot already in the gates of China's top film and television academy, this nearly one-year experience feels like a dream.

She turned her head to look at Wang Sheng, who was calm and composed beside her, her heart filled with gratitude and reliance.

If it weren't for this man, her life trajectory would never have so quickly veered onto this glittering yet challenging path.

Wang Sheng smiled and said calmly, "As expected. In the next few months, we need to focus and not let our academic studies slip."

Li Xiaoran nodded vigorously, her eyes shining with unprecedented determination: "Don't worry, I will definitely study with all my might!"

Yuanyuan was already enough to make her afraid to be lazy, and now a chubby girl with stunning looks has appeared. Li Xiaoran doesn't dare to slack off anymore; she's really afraid that Wang Sheng will abandon her.

……

the other side.

The "New Year's Film Screenwriting Team," led by Wang Sheng, is also working intensively.

The group brought together several talented young and middle-aged screenwriters from Beijing Film Studio and even within the alliance, all of whom were skilled writers and quick-witted.

Instead of providing a finished script, Wang Sheng offered a core idea and story outline titled "30 Days".

This film tells the story of a couple on the verge of divorce who both suffer amnesia due to an accident. In the remaining 30 days of their memories, they get to know each other again and rediscover their love.

It's a family-friendly movie.

……

Just when Wang Sheng's career and studies seemed to be going smoothly, an undercurrent was surging in the market.

The price war for VCD players is raging.

Advertisements for brands such as Aido, Shinco, and Malata bombarded television stations at all levels, with slogans like "True gold fears no fire" and "Superb error correction, every episode is a hit" deeply resonating with the public.

However, in stark contrast to the booming market for genuine VCD hardware, the market for genuine audio-visual software is experiencing a harsh winter.

Managers of the "Movie World" audio-visual chain stores under the Film Studio Alliance recently reported to the alliance headquarters with worried expressions: sales in stores across the country have plummeted, and previously popular TV movie VCDs such as "Family Harmony Brings Prosperity" and "Crazy Lottery," as well as some old movie discs reproduced by the alliance, have suddenly stopped selling.

The reason is simple—pirated discs arrived.

These pirated discs are crudely made, but extremely cheap. While genuine discs sell for 20 yuan or more, pirated ones only cost 5 or 8 yuan!
Moreover, it offers a wide variety of content, including not only currently popular TV dramas and movies, but also a large number of the latest films from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and overseas, with an astonishing update speed.

The value of the copyrights acquired by Beijing Film Studio plummeted, and its only function seemed to be to stand on the moral high ground and criticize these pirates.

They can be seen everywhere, from street vendors and audio-visual stores to computer malls and even mobile stalls.

The rampant piracy has severely squeezed the survival space of legitimate distributors and directly threatened the second important cash flow that the film studio alliance relied on for VCD distribution.

At an internal alliance meeting.

Representatives from various film studios were outraged. They had opened dozens, even hundreds, of booths in their respective provinces, or resold their products to subsequent distributors, making a considerable amount of money. Now that their profits had been severely damaged, it would be strange if they weren't angry.

"This is blatant robbery! We work so hard to make the film, and they just burn it onto discs and sell it!" The representative from Pearl River Film Studio slammed his fist on the table in anger.

Their Zhujiang Film Studio was also the most helpless. Piracy in eastern Guangdong couldn't be described as rampant; it was more like a den of snakes and rats.

"Report this to higher authorities! We must report this to the cultural market management department, the industry and commerce bureau, the copyright bureau, and even the public security department! We request that they crack down on this severely!" the representative from Changchun Film Studio proposed.

"Yes! This infringes on intellectual property rights and disrupts the socialist market economy order!" Other representatives echoed.

Consequently, a series of strongly worded reports, spearheaded by the film studio alliance, were swiftly submitted to relevant departments such as the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television, the Ministry of Culture, the National Copyright Administration, and the Ministry of Public Security. These reports detailed the devastating impact of pirated VCDs on the nascent national film and television industry and requested the launch of a special campaign to address the issue.

Several joint enforcement actions raided some stalls openly selling pirated discs and confiscated some discs, but the effect on the deeper production sources and wholesale networks was minimal.

Piracy is like weeds; you just clear one side and it sprouts up again on another.

"If we expect them to go through layers of approvals and coordinations, it'll be too late!" Han Sanping said, giving an emotional pep talk at a small meeting at the Beijing Film Studio.

Wang Sheng remained silent for a moment, recalling the various "local methods" used to deal with piracy in different places during the 1990s that he had heard about in his previous life, and slowly said: "Factory director, representatives, mountains may crumble and rivers may flow away. Sometimes, it's better to take matters into your own hands than to rely on others."

"Do it yourself?"

One representative asked in bewilderment, "How can we take action? That's illegal and against the law..."

"Illegal?"

Wang Sheng: "Piracy is the biggest crime! What we're doing is protecting our own legitimate rights and helping to maintain market order! Don't forget, every film studio has a security department!"

A single sentence can awaken someone from a dream!
The representatives present were taken aback at first, then their eyes lit up.

Yes!

As an important state-owned unit, the film studio's security department was not just for show; it was a quasi-military force with a certain level of equipment and personnel!
Normally responsible for factory safety, but in critical moments...

What's wrong with protecting the factory's economic interests and cracking down on blatant theft?
"Damn it! You're right!"

Another representative slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Our factory's security department has dozens of people. Have we been practicing grappling and fighting all this time for nothing? Catching a few petty thieves who make and sell pirated goods is a piece of cake!"

"Yes! Let's join forces and share intelligence! Wherever a piracy den is discovered, the security department of the nearest film studio will be dispatched! Under the guise of 'assisting law enforcement and protecting state-owned assets,' we'll take it down first!"

"That's right! Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures! By the time those officials finish their procedures, our market will have already collapsed!"

The crowd was agitated again, but this time the direction was completely different.

A counterattack plan, originating from within the system and imbued with a rough-and-tumble,江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) spirit, quickly took shape.

……

An underground crackdown on the pirated VCD industry chain, spontaneously organized by a film studio alliance, has quietly begun.

Security officers from various film studios, either in plainclothes or through local connections, began to conduct both overt and covert investigations to uncover the production sites, warehouses, and major wholesalers of pirated DVDs.

In a short time, some astonishing scenes appeared in many cities across the country, especially in distribution centers for audio-visual products: sometimes late at night, several vans would suddenly block the gate of a secluded warehouse, and a group of agile "security guards" would quickly take control of the scene, confiscating the mountains of pirated CDs and equipment; sometimes in wholesale markets, several "customers" would suddenly reveal their identities, "educate" the pirates who were trading on the spot, and confiscate the stolen goods; and even in some underground processing points, brief "physical conflicts" would occur, but in the end, they all ended in the defeat of the pirates.

Although these actions were simple and brutal, they were extremely efficient and effectively dealt a blow to the local piracy forces in a short period of time, giving the "Movie World" audio-visual chain a chance to breathe.

(End of this chapter)