"Sister Hua, I'm sorry to say that Longteng is not suitable for you. Longteng Media already has two top agents, Huang Bin and Sister Hong. To be honest, I'm quite comfortable using them. For me, Longteng's agency business is about quality, not quantity. I don't plan to make much profit from artists. Signing them is just to enhance Longteng's image and to have suitable people to take the lead when producing projects."
“Sister Hua, you have a large and powerful family, and you are capable enough to thrive anywhere. So Longteng is not a good place for you. Even if you come, you can’t play the same game as Huayi. Longteng’s artists can only belong to Longteng, not to any one person. We are running a Tencent business, not a stage. Zhong Lifang has the final say on everything at Longteng. Do you understand what I mean?” Shen Fang said with a smile to Wang Jinghua.
Wang Jinghua sighed. To be honest, this was the hardest decision she could make, and it was also the reason for her conflict with the Huayi brothers. In her view, the artists she signed were her people. She meticulously cultivated them, put in the effort to promote them, and used Huayi's resources for free—that was her means of survival. She couldn't simply relinquish power and let Longteng take over her artists just because she lost Longteng. If she did, she would be nothing but an empty shell, and all her years of hard work would be wasted.
She might as well stay with the Chinese Brothers; at least there she would be in charge, she would have the final say, and she wouldn't have to compete with others for a living.
Wang Jinghua's actions are tantamount to sucking the blood of Chinese Americans to support herself; it's the kind of thing where she's completely taking advantage of the Wang brothers.
This kind of person is useless to Shen Fang. Not only is she disobedient, but she also leeches off him and develops her own small power base. Besides, Huang Bin and Chang Jihong's management philosophies are more suitable for Longteng. Shen Fang has no interest in talking to this woman anymore. She wants to be the owner of her own media company, which he can't accept unless she goes solo. But Wang Jinghua doesn't have the ability to go solo right now unless someone invests in her and supports her, and even then, they can't take away her power. Even then, there won't be much profit. In the future, most celebrities with a little ability will set up their own personal studios, at most forming a cooperative relationship.
Wang Jinghua's practice of trying to control people will fade with time. However, it's useless for Shen Fang to tell her this now; she won't listen anyway. She's currently enjoying her moment in the limelight, and her reputation as a big sister in the entertainment industry is well-known.
In 2005, Wang Jinghua came to the office of Wang Zhongjun, the Chinese-American boss, with a contract in hand and said arrogantly, "Boss, our five-year contract is expiring. I'm leaving and want to go it alone."
Wang Zhongjun glanced at her with disdain and said coldly, "If you leave, what will happen to your artists? Will they all leave with you? They have signed contracts with the company, and they will have to pay a penalty if they leave."
Wang Jinghua had anticipated Wang Zhongjun's response, so she said, "My artists who want to leave with me can leave with me, and those who don't want to leave can stay with the company. It's up to them to decide. I've already communicated with them."
Wang Zhongjun added, "I can't control what's signed under your name, but what about what's signed under the company's name? Aren't there contractual restrictions?"
Wang Jinghua chuckled twice and said, "He can't just leave without an appointment."
Wang Zhongjun didn't say anything more. He sat there lost in thought for a long time. He vaguely realized that there would be a major personnel change in the company, but there was nothing he could do about it. All he could do was try to salvage the situation.
To be honest, he regretted not being harsher on Wang Jinghua back then. He should have signed all the artists' contracts under the company's name, so that even if Wang Jinghua wanted to leave, as long as there were artists, the company wouldn't experience any major disruptions. Unfortunately, Wang Jinghua had been quite scheming and had already found another company, and the artists were all on her side. Basically, Wang Zhongjun only found out about Wang Jinghua's plan to leave Huayi after she had finalized her deals with the artists.
Sure enough, within two days, Wang Jinghua led her artists to join Orange Sky Entertainment, and Huayi Brothers suffered a precipitous drop in the number of artists, including top stars in the mainland film and television industry such as Carina Lau, Hu Jun, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Chen Daoming, Rosamund Kwan, Xia Yu, Sandra Ng, Michelle Yeoh, and dozens of other big stars.
Subsequently, Huayi Brothers was paralyzed. In those years, Huayi Brothers suffered losses year after year, struggling endlessly in a quagmire of losses, at one point unable to extricate itself. There was no other way; all the capable people had left, which severely damaged the once-thriving Huayi Brothers. If it weren't for Shuangbing and Zhou Gongzi still being there, Huayi would basically be just an empty shell.
To get through those difficult years, Wang Zhongjun had to sell his house and car and even borrow money to make ends meet.
Once this incident was reported by the media, Wang Jinghua was immediately dubbed "the most powerful agent in mainland China." One person's departure led to a multitude of celebrities following, effectively draining the resources of the Chinese community; her reputation and abilities were unmatched. However, this was only in the media's eyes. In the eyes of media company bosses, she was simply an ungrateful wretch.
Sister Hua ran away twice
In 2000, Wang Jinghua's career took off when her small company caught the eye of Chinese-American bigwigs.
The Chinese-American brothers are Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei, who are well-known capital tycoons in the industry.
In order to expand their company, they were willing to give 50% of their shares to Wang Jinghua, allowing her to bring many artists to join Chinese Brothers.
There's no such thing as a free lunch; someone as shrewd as Sister Hua must understand this.
But at that time, Sister Hua was still young and wanted to use the power of capital to develop herself.
After much deliberation, Sister Hua decided to join the company and signed a five-year contract with the Chinese businessman.
Even after joining the Chinese community, Sister Hua remained diligent and meticulous in her work. With the support of the Chinese community, the number of artists under her management increased several times over.
With her wisdom and ability, Sister Hua has made Yuan Quan, Xia Yu, and the two Bingbings famous in just a few years.
Later, Sister Fa also successfully signed contracts with Hong Kong film stars such as Tony Leung Ka-fai, Rosamund Kwan, Carina Lau, Michelle Yeoh, Anita Yuen, and Sandra Ng.
By then, the number of artists under her name had increased, and they had become increasingly famous.
However, fewer and fewer artists were signing with Chinese companies, which made the Wang brothers feel a sense of crisis, and thus, conflicts between them began to increase.
The Wang brothers believed that Sister Hua's nanny-style management was unsuitable for a large corporation like Huayi, while Sister Hua thought it was fine and there was no problem with it. In reality, it was all about winning people over and controlling them. The Wang brothers operated on a corporate model, treating artists as mere tools, simply needing to obey. Wang Jinghua, on the other hand, played the role of family, kinship, and a social dynamic; anyone who showed a bit of affection would naturally gravitate towards her.
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