Chinese entertainment: Top stars have no holidays

Jiang Bai only found out about this in the morning.

Last night, he and Xu Xu went to Hengdian Police Station to report the crime.

To be honest, Jiang Bai didn't expect this move at all.

It's not that reporting to the police is unusual, but it's unusual to report someone to the police when you're being targeted by smear articles in the entertainment industry.

Previously, everyone just issued clarification statements and sent lawyer's letters to sue marketing accounts.

No one would call the police for such a "trivial matter".

There were some concerns in my mind about wasting police resources and about the situation escalating.

But Xu Xu's words awakened Jiang Bai.

"You don't have that ex-girlfriend mentioned in the exposé, so what are you afraid of?"

"We need to escalate this situation so we can gain public support and become the bullied, vulnerable party!"

Jiang Bai immediately realized, "That makes sense!"

This led to the official Weibo account posting the police report receipt late at night.

It must be said, the effect was excellent.

As soon as Jiang Bai woke up in the morning, he opened Weibo and took a look around. He found that the online public opinion had completely reversed.

The group of marketing accounts that were originally posting so-called revelations from Jiang Bai's ex-girlfriend's best friend have all collectively deleted their posts and disappeared.

Jiang Bai's fans, having gone through a night of fierce fighting, have become much more united.

New fans who weren't initially very committed to the fandom have developed a more "beautiful, strong, and tragic" image of Jiang Bai because of this sudden online backlash.

Originally, I was just a casual fan, but after fighting alongside longtime fans, I immediately became a semi-crystallized fan.

Currently on Weibo, public opinion overwhelmingly favors Jiang Bai!

Those anti-fans who were arrogant because of their smear articles and fake screenshots, along with their leading online trolls, have all temporarily gone into hiding.

The most interesting thing is...

The fact that Tian Xiwei used a secondary account to fight against Jiang Bai's haters late at night dominated Weibo's trending topics list early this morning.

Surprisingly, the public opinion surrounding this topic in the discussion forum was unexpectedly positive.

Jiang Bai thought that Xiao Tian's use of a secondary account to swear and even reposting it on his main account to argue back (although he deleted it later) would definitely offend fans and casual viewers.

After all, it really shatters the celebrity image when female celebrities swear.

But things didn't turn out the way Jiang Bai had imagined.

The comments section is completely filled with people shipping Jiang Bai and Tian Xiwei as a couple!

[Who understands, everyone! Tian Xiwei isn't just using a secondary account to fight back against haters, she's purely protecting her husband! Jiang Bai is being slandered, and she's more anxious than anyone else, even resorting to profanity to stand up for him. In the drama, Jiang Chen protects Chen Xiaoxi, but in reality, Tian Xiwei is protecting Jiang Bai. I'm totally shipping this crossover!]

[Help! Help! I was initially just shipping Jiang Chen and Chen Xiaoxi from the drama, but now I've completely fallen for the real-life couple! Xiaotian is bold and outspoken, risking her image to confront haters for Jiang Bai, while Jiang Bai calmly calls the police to refute the rumors. They're so sweet, it's almost sickening!]

[Who still says they're just business partners? Just friends? Would friends stay up all night using a secondary account to fight off hundreds of haters, even impulsively using their main account to speak out? This is clearly a case of being almost lovers, instinctively protecting each other! I'm totally shipping them!]

[In the drama, Jiang Chen silently protects Chen Xiaoxi, while in reality, Tian Xiwei openly protects Jiang Bai. The mutual support between them is incredibly touching! I even love Tian Xiwei's swearing; it's so real and unpretentious. She doesn't even care about her image when it comes to protecting the person she loves—it's so sweet!]

[I was initially worried that Xiaotian's swearing would attract negative attention, but after reading the comments, I'm totally shipping them! This protective gesture is so endearing. Jiang Bai is so lucky to have Xiaotian protecting him like this. Please, just announce it already, let the on-screen couple become a real-life couple!]

It can only be said that the public opinion environment on Weibo in 2017 was relatively good.

During this period, celebrities seemed more alive and engaged on Weibo.

Like Lin Gengxin's battles with haters and Su Xing's curses that haters will die young, Zhang Ruoyun frequently engages in playful banter with fans in the comments section.

Zhao Liying's "If you keep being pretentious, I'll shoot you dead," Ma Tianyu's "Next time, bring your funeral portrait with you," Yang Mi's "Let me be a little horny," and so on.

These examples show that Weibo users at this time were actually quite tolerant of celebrities making outrageous remarks.

Although Oda went a bit too far this time, fortunately, the profanity was posted on his secondary account, and the one he reposted on his main account was just a bit harsh in tone.

Therefore, the comments made by the alternate account were mostly spread within the fan circle, which ironically became a major point of contention between Jiang Bai and Tian Xiwei!

The fans of this couple are going crazy, and they're currently holding an internal vote to choose a name for the couple.

Some of the more popular ones include [Sweet White Soda], [Bai You Tian Wei], and [Jiang Xin Xiang Wei].

The first reason is that the two have a strong sense of youthful energy as a couple.

The latter two are puns: one is "to turn one's heart towards Wei" and the other is "a different kind of sweetness".

The vote is still ongoing and no decision has been made.

Pure viewers and casual fans, who don't consider the CP (couple pairing) fans, felt that Tian Xiwei's character was very different from Chen Xiaoxi in the drama, which showed that she had good acting skills and a charming contrast.

Jiang Bai reasonably suspected that this shift in public opinion was definitely orchestrated by Hua Ce!

"Of course, the company put a lot of effort into public relations!" Xu Xu, carrying a plate of breakfast, plopped down next to Jiang Bai.

"You have no idea, Xiaotian's manager didn't sleep a wink last night."

Xu Xu said gloatingly, "Xiao Tian's comments online using his alternate account were really outrageous. He kept saying things like 'kill yourself,' 'shameless,' and 'children born without an anus.'"

"Li Wei was furious. She spent the whole night arranging for Huace's PR team to use a large number of online troll accounts to help whitewash the situation."

"That's why you can see such a positive public opinion trend when you wake up in the morning."

"You could say Xiaotian is lucky; your pairing with her is definitely something to ship."

"Besides, a secondary account is still a secondary account. As long as she denies it, people can't say that the account 'Sweet Little Tian' definitely belongs to Tian Xiwei."

"The post that her verified official Weibo account reposted didn't actually contain any profanity."

"So Li Wei's side was able to steer the controversy around the fact that the main character was getting involved in promoting the CP (couple pairing), making fans focus on the CP rather than the profanity itself."

"However, Oda's remarks still have a significant impact on his public image."

"Many ordinary Weibo users would definitely disapprove of her behavior."

"Right now, we can only try to salvage the situation within the fan community; there's nothing we can do about the damage to our public image."

He sighed, his expression shifting from schadenfreude to concern, and said, "And with this going on, your pairing is probably going to be deeply intertwined, and it might be difficult to untie it later!"

"Difficult to untie?" Jiang Bai raised an eyebrow. "What kind of problem is that? I'll just create another popular CP later, and they can compete against each other."

"I think I have good chemistry with Xiao Ju, or maybe my chemistry with Li Yitong in 'Bright Stars' will be a hit."

Jiang Bai stated that he is versatile and can be paired with anyone to create a CP (couple pairing) dynamic, so there's no need to worry about a CP becoming too deeply intertwined.

If you have enough potential partners (CPs), then it's as if you have no potential partners at all.

"I hope so," Xu Xu shrugged.

This means that Tian Xiwei is now an artist under the parent company.

Moreover, "A Love So Beautiful" is still airing.

Xiao Tian used profanity online because he was fighting for Jiang Bai.

Xu Xu then agreed to Li Wei's proposal for a deep partnership between the two, in order to help Xiao Tian.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore."

"It takes at least three to five days for online public opinion to subside."

Xu Xu quickly finished the rest of his breakfast and immediately started working.

"I came to see you yesterday, but there was something else I wanted to discuss."

He placed a large pile of documents that he had brought yesterday on the table.

"First of all, because of the huge success of 'A Love So Beautiful,' we are finally getting some high-end endorsement deals."

Xu Xu opened a document and read it aloud in a serious tone: "The first one is Zhengxin Chicken Cutlet. They value your influence among students."

"So they're willing to offer 8 million over two years, which is practically a top-tier offer."

"Then there's Han Shu. They were attracted by your influence among women, and the price was also 800 million for two years."

"Finally, Armani invited you to be their brand ambassador, which is basically putting you on the shortlist for potential brand ambassadors."

"I don't have the money, but Armani will help you get some fashion resources, and they might even put you on the cover of Harper's Bazaar Men in September right away."

"As for other minor endorsements, I've already screened them out for you; the prices and brand positioning don't quite match yours."

"Wow." Jiang Bai whistled. "Sounds pretty good."

Currently, the industry's top male celebrities can command a price of 1800 million to 2200 million for two years.

That is, Lu and Wu.

Top-tier female celebrities like Yang Mi and Zhao Liying command endorsement fees of 1500-2000 million yuan for two years.

Yang Yang, a top-tier goalkeeper, is priced between 1200 million and 1500 million.

Next up are the popular and talented actresses and actors born in 85.

The endorsement fees for celebrities like Zhou Xun, Sun Li, Hu Ge, Huang Xiaoming, and Chen Kun are the same as those for Yang Yang.

The brand offered a price of 800 million for two years, which is basically the same as the price offered by Dilraba, Li Yifeng, Chen Weiting, and the three TF brothers.

This is already the second highest price.

As for the rumors circulating online about earning 2000 million a year and 3000 million in two years, those are just press releases issued by the celebrities themselves to inflate their value.

The brand owners of listed companies have their endorsement fees listed in their annual financial reports, which can be easily found.

However, these past few years have indeed seen a surge in celebrity endorsement fees.

Prices have generally increased by 1 to 4 times compared to before 2014.

Jiang Bai was able to secure a two-year, 8 million yuan contract with just one campus web series, demonstrating the popularity of celebrity endorsements this year.

"Nothing much to say, of course we should make money if we can." Jiang Bai grinned.

All you need to do is shoot a few videos for GG and attend 2-3 brand promotion events a year to earn 800 million. That's outrageous!

No wonder people say that popular actors don't rely on their paychecks for a living.

"Yes, if the ratings of 'A Love So Beautiful' can remain stable or even continue to grow, more endorsement deals will definitely come knocking."

Xu Xu continued, "I estimate that this film should bring you more than five endorsement contracts."

Jiang Bai did the math in his head. If all five endorsements were priced like this, wouldn't he have earned 40 million in just two years?

It's so easy to make money in the entertainment industry!

"By the way, your profit-sharing contract will be renegotiated with the company later, and the profit-sharing will be changed to 50/50," Xu Xu added.

The contract Jiang Bai signed with the company previously included supplementary clauses, and Jiang Bai is now fully qualified to trigger those clauses.

He became an overnight sensation without the company investing many resources, and he even participated in the company's self-produced drama investment.

Dai Lu could no longer delay and had to renegotiate the profit-sharing ratio with Jiang Bai before the endorsement contract was signed.

Otherwise, a rift will definitely develop between the two sides in the future.

Dai Lu's Cute Studio has big ambitions; it's not as simple as just signing an artist and exploiting them for money.

Or rather, she doesn't care about the money from artists' commercial deals and film salaries; what she values ​​more is revitalizing this star-making + hit drama model.

Especially after Jiang Bai demonstrated his ability to write scripts and compose music, Dai Lu valued him even more.

"Okay, I understand." Jiang Bai had no objection to this; everyone wanted to get a bigger share of the money.

However, he doesn't really care about this, because as long as he has a few million in start-up capital, he can make a fortune in the stock market.

You're saying that raising tens or hundreds of billions is unrealistic, and there's no way there could be such a large number of retail investors.

Jiang Bai believed that earning hundreds of millions through the stock market over a few years should be no problem.

Reborn individuals are least troubled by money, which is why he plunged headlong into the entertainment industry to pursue his dream.

Jiang Bai casually asked, "Is there anything else?"

"certainly!"

Xu Xu glared at him and then pushed the remaining pile of documents directly to Jiang Bai.

"These are all new notebooks that were recently handed in."

"They were the ones I kept after the initial screening."

"You're really hot now, not just the fake fire that Lu Zhiang had before."

"Many good projects have come knocking on your door. Your schedule for the entire year next year will probably be fully booked now."

"A good project?" Jiang Bai was skeptical; the script selection ability of the Cute Studio was really just average.

He picked up a document at random and opened it.

One Thousand and One Nights

Dilraba Dilmurat is tentatively invited to play the female lead.

Wow, is this the great project Xu Xu was talking about?

The plot is childish, the logic is completely broken, and it's seriously padded. The ending even has the male lead suffering a car accident and losing his memory, and then the scene jumps to a few years later when the male lead returns from Europe and the two are living happily ever after, forcing a happy ending.

Jiang Bai looked at Xu Xu with a complex, indescribable expression.

"this one?"