Huayu: Starting from an Unemployed Male Model

Shanghai, Wei Jun Studio.

No matter how busy the upcoming trip was, Wei Jun held a calligraphy brush and wrote "Strong enough to uproot mountains" on the front of the folding fan and "Travel to the capital" on the back. Beside him were Yang Chaoyue, who was grinding ink, and Yang Hua, who was reporting on the itinerary.

Wei Jun's calligraphy skills are average, but he has a foundation. He learned calligraphy and abacus in elementary school. He picked them up again, and although he struggled at first, he gradually became more proficient and his writing improved.

Wei Jun put down his brush, let out a long breath, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Writing 100 calligraphy pieces was no easy task. He felt somewhat fortunate that he was only given 100 folding fans; any more and he would have been in trouble.

"Xiao Jun, your heart is too restless, not calm enough," Yang Hua picked up a folding fan with one hand and looked at it. The fan was filled with the calligraphy that Wei Jun had written during a period of frustration. "It's barely enough. It's considered to be one of the better children's works at the Children's Palace. If it were in the Chinese entertainment industry, it could be marketed as a calligraphy master."

Wei Jun: "...Why would I market it? I don't want to be ridiculed."

Yang Chaoyue, standing next to her, covered her mouth, wanting to laugh but not daring to, for fear of having her wages docked.

"By the way, do you know 'Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms'?" Yang Hua put down his folding fan and got down to business.

Wei Jun nodded: "It's starring Yang Mi and Zhao Youting, what's wrong?"

"The production company invited you to write the ending theme song," Yang Hua said in a surprising way. "I guess they want to ride on your popularity. Do you want to write it?"

Wei Jun felt several exclamation marks appear above his head. Was he being asked to copy "Liang Liang"?

"Promise them," Wei Jun thought for a moment, "Giving me a representative work wouldn't be bad, but remember to charge a high price. My popularity isn't so easy to come by."

"I know," Yang Hua nodded, then sighed. "It's a pity. Director Zhang Yimou originally wanted to invite you to write the promotional song for his movie 'The Great Wall.' He liked 'Touring Beijing' very much, but he chose Wang Leehom first."

Wei Jun took the wet wipes Yang Chaoyue handed him and cleaned the ink off his hands: "It's okay, what's yours will come to you."

When he learned from Mao Yucheng that Zhang Yimou was planning to find a promotional song for the movie, he thought about whether he should submit a song called "A Bridge of Fate" in advance. However, he later thought it was not worth it and that it was a bit risky. By the time the public knew about it, Zhang Yimou would probably have already found someone to collaborate with.

It's better to play it safe.

"However, every cloud has a silver lining," Yang Hua chuckled a few times. "Zhang Yimou saw your performance in 'The Tour of Beijing,' and he somehow got your audition video for 'The Founding of an Army.' He's taken a liking to you and wants to invite you to try out for the role of a young general in his next film."

Zhang Yimou's next film? The Young General?

Could it be "Shadow"?

The young general in "Shadow" should be Yang Ping, the son of Yang Cang, whose previous life was played by Wu Lei.

Although his role wasn't large, a well-acted performance could be extremely outstanding. With a full three minutes of action scenes, what other movie could give you so many memorable moments? It was through this role that Wu Lei successfully transitioned from a "child star" to a "powerful actor."

"Do you want to audition?" Wei Jun picked up the water glass on the table and took a few sips.

"He said he wanted to see you, but you might have to go to the capital," Yang Hua replied.

"Okay, then you make the arrangements," Wei Jun suddenly remembered what Li Qin had told him, "I might also need to go to the capital to see Wu Jing."

"Wolf Warrior 2?" Yang Hua frowned.

Wei Jun nodded: "Yu Nan relayed a message to Li Lin, saying that Wu Jing wanted to see me and invited me to visit his film crew."

"Do you want me to audition for that rich second-generation character in the movie?" Yang Hua flipped through her notes. She had a good habit of recording movies or TV series that were being planned or started in the industry, to see which roles were suitable for Wei Jun.

Yang Hua had heard of "Wolf Warrior 2" and knew that the movie had already started filming. There was a rich second-generation character in the movie whose role was still undecided. She found out that Wu Jing was trying to woo Wu Yifan.

"I don't know." Wei Jun shook his head. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.

"I remember Wu Jing contacted Wu Yifan, but for some reason, I haven't received any news about Wu Yifan joining the crew." Yang Hua checked the information for "Wolf Warrior 2".

"Perhaps Wu Yifan's asking price is too high." Wei Jun recalled the uproar over casting after the huge success of "Wolf Warrior 2" in his previous life.

Yang Hua covered her mouth and laughed: "If you really have to audition, that will be very interesting."

Wei Jun thought about it more and more and it seemed very likely. His popularity, future potential, and perhaps Yu Nan's encouragement made him a worthy candidate for Wu Jing's investment. Wei Jun guessed that was probably the case. After all, Wu Jing couldn't possibly ask him for investment. "Wolf Warrior 2" didn't lack investment, with more than ten companies investing in it.

If that's the case, should I try to get the role of a rich second-generation?

In his previous life, Wu Yifan didn't get the role, but Zhang Han took it by surprise, allowing him to successfully shed his "rich second-generation" image by playing this role. Following Murong Yunhai in "Meteor Shower" and Feng Teng in "Boss & Me," he added another representative work and also gained a lot of goodwill from the general public.

Wei Jun wanted to say, Wu Yifan, you're confused. He even suspected that the role of Zhuo Yifan was tailor-made for him. Even the name is only one surname away. If Wu Yifan plays the role, he will have another representative work.

Wei Jun hesitated for a moment before deciding that if there was a chance to audition, he would try to get it and add another representative work to his portfolio, making it easier to transition to action films in the future.

He had planned his career development long ago: accumulate funds and fame in the early stage, organize his own film and television productions in the middle stage, and then lie at home and do nothing in the later stage, since the Chinese entertainment industry would be completely ruined in ten years anyway.

Traffic is created by capital, and so are hit dramas. Whether a drama becomes a hit or not is determined by capital.

Moreover, the film market is in a state of decline, with few people going to the movies anymore and everyone seeking other forms of entertainment.

"If I actually pass the audition..."

Wei Jun sighed, thinking that if he really succeeded in the audition, he would apologize to Zhang Han. He slept with Zhang Han's girlfriend and then stole his role. Tsk tsk, what a jerk.

"In that case, the entertainment industry is likely to see another talent war, and we need to prepare in advance." Wei Jun stood up; his buttocks were a little sore from sitting for so long.

Yang Hua took out a blue folder from his briefcase, opened it, and found a series of resumes inside. He handed it to Wei Jun: "According to your requirements, we plan to recruit 8 people for the filming team, 5 people for operations/publicity, 3 people for finance, 2 people for human resources, 1 person for legal affairs, 1 person for reception... These are the resumes the studio received."

The filming team consists of eight people, including a director, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor, who are mainly responsible for short videos. As for long videos, Wei Jun plans to establish a film and television company, and the first employee will be Shen Ao.

The operations team is mainly responsible for promoting Wei Jun's videos and music online, as well as monitoring online public opinion. Wei Jun plans to spin off this team into a separate marketing company to deal with the future "black tide".

The finance department is mainly responsible for the financial management and taxation of Wei Jun's studio. Previously, Yang Hua had entrusted the studio's taxation to a third party. However, as the business increased, he gradually felt that entrusting it to a third party was not safe, so he decided to hire his own finance department to handle it.

The legal department is responsible for contracts and other matters related to Wei Jun's studio.

In addition, he also plans to set up an investment company. Always letting others manage his investments has some hidden risks, and setting up a company would be beneficial for growing bigger and stronger.

Wei Jun flipped through the list, contemplating the future. He realized that his studio was becoming more and more like an entertainment company. He decided that after this year, the studio would be officially renamed XX Entertainment Company next year. As for what name to change it to, he would decide next year.

"Now that you have a filming team, what kind of content do you plan to shoot?" Yang Hua believes that hiring too many people at once will increase expenses for the studio. They must be prepared and arrange work for them to generate revenue, otherwise it will be a waste of money.

Wei Jun understood Yang Hua's concerns. She was just an agent in the entertainment industry. Once she left the industry, she was unaware of many things and knew nothing about the future of entertainment.

"Once you've recruited someone, I'll talk to them. When can you expect to recruit them?" Wei Jun was more concerned about this question, as he was anxious to find someone to help him.

"Now that the National Day holiday is over, we can start recruiting. It will probably take about a month to recruit some people." During the National Day holiday, everyone went out to play and no one was in the mood for interviews. Recruiting people is not a matter of just showing up and I hiring you. I also need to consider your abilities and character.

We don't want people with poor abilities, and we definitely don't want people with strong abilities but poor character.

Hiring is a big deal for a celebrity studio. If they hire someone with strong abilities but poor character, it can have a huge negative impact and harm Wei Jun.

They also need to identify the fan affiliation of the interviewees. Wei Jun's studio cannot have any employees with any fan affiliation, even if the employee is a fan of Wei Jun.

When fans come in, I can't concentrate on my work; I'm too busy chasing after my idol.

Haters and rival fans might come in and cause trouble, leak Wei Jun's private information, or even join forces with other companies to target Wei Jun. We must be on guard against this.

"The others can wait, but we need to speed up the operations." Wei Jun had a premonition that war would break out soon.

"Okay," Yang Hua nodded, then asked Wei Jun with a slight hesitation, "My cousin wants you to write a song for 'Fighter of the Destiny'."

Wei Jun hesitated for a moment, then agreed. After all, it was all "writing," and he couldn't possibly write for other companies' TV dramas but not for Yang Xiaopei's.

Yang Xiaopei had indeed helped him, and "Fighter of the Destiny" was his first TV series.

Yang Hua got permission and went to get busy. Wei Jun glanced at Yang Chaoyue sitting on the side, dozing off with her chin propped up on her hand, and chuckled to himself. This girl must have been staying up all night watching dramas, and she was even drooling in her sleep.

Wei Jun pulled a tissue from the table and reached out to wipe her arm clean.