Chinese entertainment: Top stars have no holidays

Chapter 113 Next Work Arrangements The MV Female Lead is an Invitation from Director Han

January 1, 2018, New Year's Day.

A brand new year has arrived.

In previous years, the atmosphere online during the New Year's Day holiday was mostly festive and peaceful.

Netizens shared their New Year's greetings and wishes on social media.

Many celebrities also sent their New Year's greetings right on time, creating a peaceful and serene atmosphere.

Jiang Bai also posted a set of photos on Weibo and Instagram, which can be considered a treat for fans and a way to wish them a Happy New Year.

However, this year is different from previous years in that netizens are not paying much attention to the activities of other celebrities.

After a whole night of buzz, the two artists' strained, estranged duet has spread across the entire internet.

Everyone's attention is still on this entertainment event.

During the New Year's Day holiday, netizens' enthusiasm for gossip only increased, and they discussed related topics with great interest.

Related memes, funny jokes, and in-depth analysis posts have emerged one after another, dominating the popular sections of all social media platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, Hupu, and Tieba.

Just as the entire internet was buzzing about this entertainment event, at 10:00 AM, another bombshell dropped in the Chinese entertainment industry.

More than ten marketing accounts simultaneously released a large amount of negative information about this person, exposing his past misdeeds in a comprehensive manner.

This was precisely Xu Xu's long-planned strategy: leveraging the peak of public opinion and the overlap of old and new negative sentiments to completely shut down this [situation/event].

All the escape routes for a hip-hop artist.

The initial exposure of the content mostly revolved around personal conduct and emotional matters, which were nothing more than common problems in the industry such as disordered private life and arrogant and domineering behavior.

Such gossip at most attracts ridicule from netizens and only damages the public's perception of the artist, but it is not enough to shake the foundation of the artist. In fact, many die-hard fans band together to defend the artist, saying that private matters should not be brought into the artist's career.

However, with the release of subsequent major materials, the online atmosphere of gossip completely reversed.

This new batch of damaging information has long since transcended the realm of private morality, crossed the red line, and stepped on the taboo bottom line recognized by the whole society. Its nature is completely different.

This incident instantly transcended the realm of entertainment gossip, escalating into a major social issue and igniting the anger of netizens across the internet.

The fans who had initially tried to defend the situation vanished instantly, leaving them with no room for further rebuttal.

When a wall falls, everyone pushes it down; when a tree falls, everyone scatters.

Under immense public pressure, major brands and partner platforms quickly distanced themselves from the company in an effort to protect themselves.

All of his works were removed from major music platforms, and his account was banned and cleared.

After this incident, this person will completely disappear from the Chinese entertainment industry.

His name, his works, and everything in his past will be completely wiped out from the internet, becoming a taboo subject and disappearing from public view, with no chance of a comeback.

In a high-end apartment in Shanghai, Jiang Bai leaned lazily against the leather sofa in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, casually scrolling through his phone. He had watched the dramatic collapse of the apartment complex without feeling a ripple in his heart.

He felt neither the pleasure of revenge nor a trace of pity.

Jiang Bai only used eight words to describe the current predicament of this hip-hop champion.

He brought it on himself; he deserved it.

The underground rap scene is a mixed bag, with both good and bad elements, and it has bred too many dark, dross, and negative things.

"If you bring this upon yourself, no one can save you."

Jiang Bai uttered a single sentence, then put away his phone, completely forgetting about the matter.

No matter how lively the gossip frenzy is, it's ultimately just idle chatter from outsiders.

Compared to a disgraced celebrity who is about to disappear completely, he now cares more about the work he is doing.

During the New Year's Day holiday, the outside world was abuzz with gossip and speculation.

Jiang Bai, on the other hand, calmed down and focused wholeheartedly on recording "Want to See You" in the recording studio.

The musical styles and singing difficulty of these ten love songs were all within Jiang Bai's comfort zone, and the recording progress was very smooth.

Days passed quietly by.

As netizens' enthusiasm for gossip gradually subsided, everyone eventually had to return to their normal lives and work.

A week has passed in the blink of an eye.

The date is April 6, 2018.

The couple has likely completed the division and liquidation of their marital property, and all the bundled business contracts have also been properly resolved.

After all, many business contracts signed between married couples include a clause requiring that the couple not be involved in scandals or have marital problems during the contract period, otherwise it would be considered a breach of contract.

Therefore, many celebrity couples in the industry continue to present themselves as a loving couple even after they have divorced in private, and only announce their divorce after the commercial contracts have been fulfilled.

Making money to cover the losses is nothing to be ashamed of!

As this long post was published, countless netizens flooded the comment section to comfort Jia Nailiang, creating another small frenzy of gossip.

However, Jiang Bai didn't have the energy to pay attention to these gossips at the moment.

In the afternoon, in the recording studio lounge of Universal Studios in Shanghai.

Jiang Bai leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest. He had just finished a morning of intense recording, and his voice carried a slight hint of fatigue.

Xu Xu carried two glasses of warm water into the lounge, placed one of them on the coffee table in front of Jiang Bai, and sat down opposite him to begin reporting on the overall work plan for the next period of time.

"The album is progressing very well. At the current recording efficiency, the dry recording of all the songs on the album 'Want to See You' will be completed by January 15th at the latest."

Xu Xu opened his work memo and said clearly, "The subsequent post-production processes, such as audio editing, mixing, mastering, and audio source review, will all be handled by Qian Lei's production team and Universal Music. You don't need to be involved personally."

Jiang Bai nodded slightly; this progress was almost exactly what he had predicted.

Seeing that Jiang Bai had no objections, Xu Xu changed the subject and brought up an important matter that Jiang Bai needed to decide personally: "After the album recording is finished, we need to start preparing for the MV shooting. You need to make the decision on this."

"Universal is taking your debut original album extremely seriously, allocating the maximum amount of resources to it."

"Out of the ten tracks, we will produce four music videos for you. The production cost of each music video will be no less than two million, and the total investment for the four music videos will be nearly ten million."

Ten million was specifically used to shoot music videos for four songs.

In today's severely shrunken Chinese music scene, this budget is definitely top-tier.

It's important to know that most second- or third-tier singers today don't even have an album production cost of ten million.

Universal's investment in him is truly substantial.

Jiang Bai already knew about these things, and Qu had even been chosen.

These are the album's title track, "Want to See You," as well as "Exchange the Rest of Our Lives," "I Really Want to Love This World," and "If I Could."

Xu Xu was asking about the casting of the female lead in these four music videos.

The four music videos will be filmed separately during Jiang Bai's filming of "The Thunder".

Upon hearing this, Jiang Bai bluntly stated, "Li Yitong will definitely be the female lead in 'Someday or One Day' and 'Exchange of Lives'."

"These two songs were originally intended to be released as the first episode of 'Twinkle Twinkle Star' to warm up the album."

Xu Xu immediately noted it down in the memo without any objection: "No problem, I'll contact Yi Tong's agent directly to coordinate the schedule later."

"As for 'I Really Want to Love This World'."

Jiang Bai pondered for two seconds and casually said, "The core focus of this music video is on the atmosphere and emotional rendering of the shots, telling the inner world of people with depression. The female lead appears in very few shots."

"There aren't many lines or acting scenes. Just find any new actress whose image fits the role for a cameo. You can handle the selection and arrangement yourself; you don't need to ask me specifically."

The core of this song leans towards healing and redemption. The focus of the music video is on the composition of the shots and the atmosphere of the lighting. Finding any newcomer in the industry to make a cameo appearance would be the most cost-effective option.

Finally, there's "If I Could".

At this point, Jiang Bai's expression became more serious: "I had considered making a music video for this song before. Instead of shooting a regular short ballad music video, I would extend the shooting time and make it into a micro-movie to tell a complete love story."

"Short films have very high requirements for the actress's acting skills, appearance, and sense of atmosphere; they cannot be done casually."

"First, give me a detailed shortlist of candidates from among the new actors in the industry, along with their information, photos, and past works. I'll review it and then make the final selection."

Xu Xu nodded knowingly: "Understood, I'll arrange it later."

While music video shooting may seem like a lucrative job, it actually has a very low priority within the entertainment industry.

She's probably only slightly more sophisticated than a model who's not even close to being in the entertainment industry.

So unless they are very close friends in the industry who are willing to make a cameo appearance for free or at a low price.

Otherwise, any artist with even a little bit of fame in the industry would basically not accept an invitation to be the female lead in a music video.

Therefore, the lead actors in most singers' music videos are new actors or amateur models promoted by major agencies.

Jiang Bai never dared to hope that he could invite popular actresses like Dilraba or Gulnazar to film his music video.

Instead of wasting time contacting them, it's better to directly select newcomers who are more adaptable and cost-effective.

Moreover, Jiang Bai also has a vision of the future.

He could easily pick a few promising young actresses who will become hugely popular in the industry to star in his music videos.

After these little sparks, the quality of his music videos will skyrocket!

Just like Nezha's appearance in the music video for "Red Dust Inn" and Ren Min's appearance in Lu Han's music video for "Medal", these later became anecdotes.

After finalizing all the details of the music video shoot, Xu Xu changed the subject and talked about two other important work arrangements.

"There are two more things I want to share with you. First, Weibo Night."

"This year, Weibo has come up with a new trick, adding two new titles, Weibo King and Weibo Queen, and opening a public voting channel."

"The current shortlist for Weibo King includes several top new generation celebrities such as you, Lu Han, TFBOYS, and Zhang Yixing."

He's a Weibo king, and Jiang Bai knows him very well.

The annual Weibo Night is essentially an arena for fans of top celebrities, and also Weibo's premier event for reaping traffic and generating buzz.

"How are the voting results now?" Jiang Bai asked casually.

Mentioning this, Xu Xu sneered, his tone tinged with disdain: "Currently, Deng Chao is in first place on the list, leading all of you by a landslide in votes."

"Weibo officials deliberately manipulated the votes."

"The release of the two supreme titles, King and Queen, is to incite your top-tier fans to compete fiercely, causing them to frantically vote and boost the platform's traffic."

"This is the first time this Weibo King and Queen award has been set up. I guess Weibo won't actually let fans vote to decide who wins the award. In the end, it will still be decided internally."

"It now seems highly likely that Deng Chao and Yang Mi have been pre-selected."

This kind of pre-arranged practice is an open secret at major entertainment events.

Awards are never solely determined by fan votes; popularity, experience, connections, business partnerships, and platform competition are all indispensable.

Jiang Bai didn't care at all, and smiled faintly: "It doesn't matter. It's not like it's a movie star or TV star award. If it's predetermined, then it's predetermined."

"It's fine as long as you don't care." Xu Xu nodded and continued, "But Weibo also gave us a hint that they've already reserved a spot for you in the next tier of the Annual Male God Award. You're guaranteed to get it."

"So you have to attend this year's Weibo Night."

The grand ceremony is scheduled for January 18th.

Platforms, especially influential ones like Weibo that are closely related to the entertainment industry, invite you to their annual gala.

And they'll even give you an award.

Unless there are special circumstances, it's best not to refuse, otherwise it will affect your relationship with the platform.

If Weibo keeps throwing around negative trending topics at you, that'll be really annoying.

Then, Xu Xu brought up the second thing: "The second thing is the start of filming for 'The Thunder'."

"The original start date for filming was January 18th, which clashed with the Weibo Night event."

"I specifically negotiated and communicated with the production company some time ago, and we finally decided to postpone the start of filming by one day, with the official opening ceremony to be held on the 19th."

"After you attend the Weibo Night event on the evening of the 18th, fly directly to Guangzhou overnight to join the crew and participate in the opening ceremony on the 19th."

When the topic of "The Thunder" came up, Xu Xu's expression became more serious, and there was a hint of concern in his eyes that he could not hide.

"To be honest, this drama has been full of twists and turns since its preparation, with all sorts of unexpected events happening one after another. I'm starting to feel a little panicked."

The preparation for this drama was indeed fraught with twists and turns.

As mentioned before, the original male lead for this drama was Yan Kuan.

As a result of the script being reviewed, the production team postponed the start of filming, which caused Yan Kuan's schedule to clash. The production team then approached Jiang Bai to re-sign the male lead contract.

In December, Yan Kuan's studio sued the production company of the drama, demanding that they pay 26.5 million yuan in service fees.

This matter is still in litigation.

If the lawsuit fails, the production company will have to increase its costs by more than 20 million yuan, and no one knows whether the filming of this drama can still proceed smoothly.

Xu Xu was actually quite worried that so many things had already happened before the drama had even officially started filming.

He felt this ominous sign was very bad and regretted listening to Jiang Bai and signing the contract for the drama.

Seeing Xu Xu's worried expression, Jiang Bai couldn't help but chuckle.

He knows all too well the inside story of the TV series "The Thunder".

The previous life of this drama was a hit crime drama of the year, achieving both critical and commercial success and winning numerous film and television awards that year.

All the hardships and troubles of this drama were concentrated in the preparation stage before filming began.

Once filming officially begins, all troubles will disappear, the filming process will go smoothly, and there won't be any unexpected problems.

"Don't worry about it," Jiang Bai reassured him.

The thought of entering the world of serious film and television dramas and playing a heroic and righteous anti-drug police officer filled Jiang Bai with a sense of anticipation.

I wonder if, after "The Thunder" is officially broadcast, I will be affectionately called "Jiang Sir" by the entire internet audience, just like Huang Jingyu in my previous life.

The tough and righteous police officer persona is still quite appealing.

Seeing Jiang Bai's relaxed and calm demeanor, Xu Xu could only suppress his unease and shake his head helplessly.

Since the person involved doesn't care, there's no point in him being anxious any longer.

After a brief two-second silence, Xu Xu seemed to suddenly remember something, pulled a well-sealed film script from his briefcase, placed it on the coffee table, and his face was instantly filled with deep regret.

"Speaking of film and television projects, I received a top-tier offer yesterday, but unfortunately we missed it completely."

Jiang Bai raised an eyebrow: "What book?"

"Han Han's new movie," Xu Xu sighed, then slowly explained, "is a racing-themed film."

"But the male lead was directly cast as Shen Teng, and the plot is more comedic."

"Han Han and Shen Teng are a powerful combination. One is the most successful new generation director in recent years, and the other is the most bankable film actor in recent years."

"As soon as this project was approved, everyone in the industry was optimistic about it. It was also targeting the Spring Festival season, so it looked like it had the potential to be a big hit."

"Han Han personally invited you to play the second male lead, Lin Zhendong, in the film, saying that the character's personality is very suitable for you."

"The character is a top-notch professional racer from a wealthy family with exceptional talent. He is good-looking, has a likable personality, plenty of screen time, and many highlight scenes."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Bai immediately realized what was happening.

"Pegasus"!

One of Huang Jingyu's representative roles in his previous life, and also the racing comedy film that left the deepest impression on countless viewers.

It did very well at the box office, and several sequels were made based on that success.

He almost snatched the classic role from Inspector Wong again.

At this moment, Xu Xu was still feeling regretful.

"Unfortunately, the film is tentatively scheduled to start shooting in July, which coincides with your filming of 'Go Go Squid!' and you will also be joining the cast of 'Better Days' later."

"I simply don't have the spare time to act in this movie."

"I was really excited after reading the script. This is definitely the best commercial film resource of the year, bar none. It would be a shame to miss it."

Seeing Xu Xu's pained expression, Jiang Bai couldn't help but chuckle.

There's no need to feel so sorry.

"There are countless high-quality resources in the entertainment industry. It's impossible for me to monopolize all the good projects and roles in the world, right?"

"Always leave some opportunities for others."

While it's regrettable that he missed out on the role of the second male lead in "Pegasus," he has three high-quality projects in different genres in hand: "The Thunder," "Better Days," and "Go Go Squid!" His workload this year is already quite full.

Greed is not enough to swallow an elephant.

With these three works, Jiang Bai has managed to stabilize the idol drama market, expand into the serious drama market, and also make a splash in the film market, which is already quite perfect.

That's true, but it's still a pity.

Xu Xu shook his head, ultimately accepting reality. "Alright, I'll give Han Han a formal reply tomorrow, politely declining this invitation."

"I hope I'll have the opportunity to work with director Han Han again next time."

After the success of "The Continent" and "Duckweed", Han Han is now quite influential in the field of directing.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Bai frowned. Collaborate with Han Han?

If we disregard the "Pegasus" series, Han Han will only have one more book, "The Four Seas," for the next decade or so.

This movie's box office and critical reception were both mediocre.

However, the female lead is quite beautiful; she is Liu Haocun, the latest "Mou Girl".

So what is Liu Hao doing now?

Has she become a "Zhang Yimou Girl"?

Jiang Bai's thoughts began to wander.