Huayu: Starting from managing the Mahua FunAge Theater Troupe

Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

2004 1 Month 7 Day.

On the final day of the first round of performances of "Want to Eat Fried Dough Twists? I'll Twist Them for You Now"

It snowed heavily.

Normally, we can sell 30 to 40 tickets per game, but today we only sold 7 tickets. We're losing a lot of money.

The theater manager also suggested that the Mahua Troupe cancel the performance and waive the venue rental fee for the day.

The founders and actors stood together in the snow, waiting for the seven audience members.

As the audience arrived one after another, Yu Kai led everyone in bowing and apologizing, offering full refunds, and even compensating the audience for their round-trip taxi fares.

After getting his ticket refunded, Tian Youliang stood at the theater entrance without moving, silently watching the last audience member's back disappear from sight.

Yu Kai patted him on the shoulder without saying anything.

The crowd left the theater in silence.

……

《想吃麻花现给你拧》的第二轮演出期，是2004年1月13日-1月20日。

During the wait for the second round of performances, the troupe's morale plummeted.

Yu Kai, Tian Youliang, and Zhang Chen could only try to find a solution.

June 8th, morning.

Hepingli.

Inside the Mahua Theater Troupe's office.

The three founders each lit a cigarette.

After taking a few sips, Yu Kai began the meeting: "The content is definitely not the problem; the problem lies with me. It's my fault for signing a contract for over forty performances with the Yifu Theater at once without considering the theater's unfavorable location, which has led to our current predicament..."

遇恺和中戏逸夫剧场签了12月22日-1月7日、1月13日-1月20日、1月24日-2月20日，总计五十多天的合同。

Zhang Chen flicked his cigarette ash and interrupted, "Old Yu, you don't need to blame yourself for this. We're all newcomers to this industry, and it's normal for newcomers to make mistakes and pay their dues. The important thing now is to find a way to solve the problem."

Zhang Chen looked at Tian Youliang: "Old Tian, ​​what are your thoughts?"

Tian Youliang took the cigarette butt out of his mouth and exhaled a puff of smoke: "The simplest solution is to change the venue. The transportation here at the Yifu Theater is indeed not very convenient, and it is too troublesome for the audience to come. Maybe if we change the venue, the situation will be better."

The problem is that in the past month, which coincides with the winter vacation and the Spring Festival, other theaters simply don't have any slots available for us.

In addition, if we unilaterally terminate the contract in advance, we will have to pay the Yifu Theater a penalty fee, which is about 60% of the rental fee for each performance.

In other words, the performance will continue at the Shaw Theatre until the next venue is finalized.

If we perform at Yifu, we have to lose money for the performance. We can't not perform either. On the one hand, we have to keep the actors engaged. On the other hand, even if there are few audience members, at least they will help spread our reputation. Of course, the main reason is that if we don't perform, we have to pay the lead actor a penalty for breach of contract.

In short, with the performances cancelled, all the initial investment went down the drain. The theater's breach of contract fees, and the lead actor's breach of contract fees, are enough to bankrupt the company, which currently has less than 20,000 yuan left in its accounts.

As Tian Youliang spoke, he felt quite disheartened. He no longer wanted to do stage plays, and recently a friend had asked him to work on a TV series.

Zhang Chen silently smoked his cigarette. Although he believed that the company's current business strategy was correct, the fact that the company's first project had turned out like this, coupled with the fact that Yu Kai and Tian Youliang had no ideas on how to solve the problem, made him waver, even though he had originally planned to invest another sum of money.

Investing, in essence, is about investing in people. The two partners were at a loss. Zhang Chen, who hadn't been involved in the company's business since investing last year, couldn't find a way to break the deadlock.

The office fell silent for a long time.

The three of them silently smoked, lost in thought.

Yu Kai and Zhang Chen could still think of ways to save the company, but Tian Youliang had given up. He felt that there was no future in doing stage plays in China.

Bang bang bang.

A knock on the door broke the silence in the office.

Yu Kai stood up and went to open the door.

After the door opened, Yu Kai saw Shen Feiyang.

Seeing that Shen Teng hadn't come with Shen Feiyang, Yu Kai casually asked, "Shen Teng didn't come with you?"

Shen Feiyang smiled and said, "He's busy being the head coach."

Yu Kai wasn't in the mood to care about Shen Teng being the head coach; he cut to the chase and asked, "Is there a problem with the commercial performance?"

"No, I didn't come for that. Mr. Yu, I heard the performance didn't go very well?"

"Come in and talk."

Shen Feiyang followed him into the office and closed the door behind him.

Zhang Chen and Tian Youliang both looked at Shen Feiyang.

"General Manager Zhang, Director Tian..."

Shen Feiyang greeted the two of them.

Zhang Chen and Tian Youliang, who were sitting on the sofa in the office's reception area, nodded slightly to him.

Yu Kai pointed to the seat next to him: "Feiyang, you sit here."

"OK."

Shen Feiyang sat down, took off his bag, and then took off his coat; it was too hot in the room.

Yu Kai asked Shen Feiyang, "What are your thoughts on the current situation of the theater troupe?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen and Tian Youliang looked at Shen Feiyang with different expressions.

Shen Feiyang got straight to the point: "I'd like to offer 20 yuan to acquire all the company's shares."

Tian Youliang's heart skipped a beat.

Zhang Chen frowned slightly.

Yu Kai asked curiously, "Where did you get the money?"

"This is what I earned from commercial performances during this period."

Shen Feiyang then explained, "It's because I made some money from commercial performances and found that this industry is quite good, so I wanted to set up a company with a 'Commercial Performance License' to facilitate the development of subsequent business. Fortunately, Free Elements has this qualification, so I thought about acquiring it."

Yu Kai is an honest man: "You should know that the company's current performance project, 'Want to Eat Fried Dough Twists? We'll Twist Them for You Now,' is losing money every day and is not making ends meet."

Shen Feiyang nodded slightly: "I know. Were the venue rental and the main actors' fees settled in advance?"

Whether it's the theater or the stars, they are the powerful parties in the collaboration. To avoid being ripped off by small theater troupes, they need to receive payment in advance.

Yu Kai nodded: "These two parts have been paid in advance, but the salaries of the company's contracted artists, Director Tian's salary, and my salary have not yet been settled. There are also miscellaneous expenses such as transportation costs. In total, it's probably a few tens of thousands of yuan. There are still more than ten thousand yuan left in the company's account."

"If 20 can buy all the shares, I'll take it."

Zhang Chen was about to speak.

Tian Youliang spoke first: "Since President Shen is so sincere, I have no objection."

Tian Youliang believes that since someone has taken the initiative to take over, he can withdraw gracefully without hurting anyone's feelings.

The problem is that the three of them started the company together, and if one of them leaves, the other two partners are immediately put in a passive position.

Seeing that the creative core was about to leave, Zhang Chen, who knew nothing about Shen Feiyang, also lost interest: "That's fine then."

The situation changed abruptly, so quickly that Yu Kai didn't even have time to react.

Yu Kai paused, remained silent for a few seconds, and then said in a muffled voice, "Since that's the case, then let's leave it at that..."

"Old Yu, don't be discouraged. That's how business is; there are gains and losses," Zhang Chen said, trying to comfort Yu Kai.

In Zhang Chen's view, the acquisition price of 20 was already a premium.

At this point, Zhang Chen had not yet seen the project achieve initial success, Shen Teng demonstrate his value, and with Tian Youliang gone, the company was a failed investment. Being able to recoup more than 60,000 yuan was already quite good.

But Yu Kai is the company's chief steward, working diligently to operate and manage the company. The current situation is all thanks to his personal efforts, and he has a very deep connection with the company.

But now, Yu Kai could only nod sadly.

Tian Youliang's expression didn't change much; he seemed to agree with Zhang Chen's idea.

Shen Feiyang, who had taken in the changes in the expressions of the three people, knew very well that the company he had taken over was not a liability.

If we can move "Want to Eat Fried Dough Twists? I'll Twist Them for You Now" to Haidian Theater, just like in my previous life, we can earn back the 200,000 yuan in less than two months.

Shen Feiyang opened his bag and took out several stacks of banknotes and several contracts: "This is part of the deposit. Let's sign the 'Equity Transfer Agreement' first. I will pay the remaining balance after the change of ownership procedures are completed."

The three founders signed their names and pressed their fingerprints on the "Equity Transfer Agreement".