Chapter 51 Award Ceremony
At 8:30 p.m., the Golden Tripod Awards ceremony was simultaneously broadcast live on two of the Star Federation's largest streaming platforms.
As a prestigious award in everyone's heart, this grand event was a gathering of stars, with the most renowned directors and top actors in the entertainment industry sitting in the first two rows.
The organizers specially reserved a seat for Fang Zhuo in the very center of the first row, next to his old friend, Shen Mingzhao, the vice president of Deshen Film and Entertainment.
After taking their seats, Fang Zhuo simply nodded to the other party in greeting.
Despite the fact that Deshen had just suffered a huge loss during prime time, Shen Mingzhao showed no sign of worry, exuding a leisurely air as if the company's fate was none of his concern.
After stretching his legs, Shen Mingzhao leaned closer and whispered as he watched the announcement of the Best Director winner on stage:
"Congratulations, Mr. Fang, on the box office success! I reckon you're going to sweep most of the Golden Tripod Awards this time."
Fang Zhuo didn't feign modesty; instead, he changed the subject:
"Giant Entertainment is about to expand its workforce, and we need to hire a vice president to adjust the organizational structure."
"Last time, Mr. Shen said he could help with half a headhunting. I wonder if he could recommend a few suitable candidates."
Shen Mingzhao really wanted to recommend himself, but the important thing is to have self-awareness.
He may have enough qualifications and experience, but his abilities probably don't meet Mr. Fang's standards. Otherwise, Mr. Fang wouldn't have just asked him to make a recommendation.
After considering this need for a moment, Shen Mingzhao thought of a suitable person and smiled:
“I do know a very capable young man, but his salary is a bit high. Last year, Deshen came to poach him, but they were scared away by the annual salary he quoted.”
"If Mr. Fang has a sufficient budget, I can help you get in touch with him."
Fang Zhuo was curious about the actual level of the other party's salary, since even the well-informed Vice President of De Shen explicitly pointed out that the annual salary was too high.
He cast a questioning look at Shen Mingzhao, who immediately understood and made an eight-shaped hand gesture.
Fang Zhuo thought for a moment: "Eighty million? That's acceptable."
Shen Mingzhao: "..." I really want to compete with you rich people.
"No, no, no, Mr. Fang, it's an eight million base salary, and Lexing also gives him an additional equity incentive ranging from several hundred thousand to several million per year."
Fang Zhuo sat up straight and simply hinted to Shen Mingzhao, "Juyu is not Deshen. Our company is not short of money. After the deal is done, we will give you a headhunting fee that is 20% higher than the industry standard."
Hearing this, Shen Mingzhao gently touched her forehead and suddenly understood why so many people online were so envious that they cried.
In the industry, headhunter commissions are generally around 15% of the candidate's first-year annual salary. If you raise it to 20%, then he can get at least three million in commissions.
Working diligently for Deshen for half a year is not as lucrative as being a part-time headhunter.
Shen Mingzhao had a sudden inspiration and offered a heartfelt suggestion: "President Fang, why don't you acquire Deshen? Our organizational structure is very mature, and the employees in each business segment have rich experience..."
Fang Zhuo shook his head: "Deshen has too many loss-making business lines, I'm too lazy to deal with them."
Shen Mingzhao was truly at a loss. He understood the implication—President Fang had enough funds to buy Deshen, but he disliked that Deshen had too many non-performing assets.
Shen Mingzhao rubbed his face hard and turned his gaze back to the podium.
The air conditioning in the venue is so cold; I want to put my hand inside Mr. Fang's wallet to warm it up.
On the Golden Tripod Awards stage, Ning Li, holding the Best Screenplay trophy, took a deep breath and looked at the big names sitting in the audience below, feeling a dizzying sense of unreality.
Four months ago, when he crawled out of the fence of the film crew of "Many Things in the Alley," he had no idea that his encounter on that short dirt road of a few hundred meters would change his life.
He never imagined that his script would one day be adapted into a film. Moreover, as the most expensive film project in the past decade, "Shadow" won almost all of the most prestigious film awards in the entire Federation, and will be etched into the milestone of film history.
When he saw his name appear in full in the end credits, he, who was usually quick-witted, didn't say a word. He just buried his face in his pillow and cried silently after returning to his dorm.
One drop, two drops.
The sound of tears hitting the pillow was just like the sound of leaking water from the toilet pipes in the old rented room of the studio.
Those difficult, crowded, and hopeless days are over; a pair of strong hands pulled him out of the bottomless mire.
"Thank you to the organizing committee. It is an honor to receive this award. Brother Qiao, Brother Cen and Director Zhang have already thanked Mr. Fang, but I still want to say something old-fashioned: without Mr. Fang, I would not be where I am today. Thank you for being a benefactor in my life."
His gaze swept over Liang Xinyuan, who was sitting in the second row of the audience—although the overall effect of "About Love" was worrying, Liang Xinyuan still received a nomination for Best Screenplay because of the script's solid foundation.
However, she looked impatient and was packing her bag to leave.
Ning Li abruptly changed the subject, placing the trophy on the stage, her tone filled with biting sarcasm:
“I’ve seen that many people online have already dug up my background, so I’d like to mention the studio that has been so supportive of me.”
“The true creator of ‘The Traveler’ is Sun Tao, the creator of ‘Many Things in the Alley’ is Xu Pingtang, and ‘Chen Ji’ was typed out by me word by word… All of Ms. Liang Xinyuan’s works that have won the Best Screenplay Award so far were written by more than a dozen junior screenwriters in the studio.”
"I would like to ask Ms. Liang to face her own abilities squarely, and when she is nominated next time, please bring your independently created works."
As soon as he said this, all eyes turned to Liang Xinyuan, who was about to leave.
Her face was ashen as she loudly explained something to the people around her. After a long while, under the pressure of the camera, she had no choice but to sit back down, staring at Ning Li on the stage with a face full of resentment.
Her face, though aged, still retained its beauty, but the disgust and malevolence emanating from her eyes caused a slight distortion in her features, making her appear somewhat terrifying on the live stream.
The talented newcomer who just won the Best Screenplay Award stood on the stage and blasted the original studio, and also revealed a shocking revelation. Such a wonderful and exciting head-on confrontation has not happened in the entertainment industry for a long time.
The entire awards hall erupted in discussion. To regain control of the situation, the organizers quickly announced the winner of the Best Film award as the final announcement.
Several actors and directors came on stage together, and they tacitly surrounded Fang Zhuo among them.
After Zhang Kaigang finished his acceptance speech, he spent most of the time with Fang Zhuo.
Fang Zhuo stepped forward and gently grasped the microphone: "First of all, thank you to the Golden Tripod Awards organizing committee for their kindness in allowing us to win seven out of eight nominations. As a production company that has been established for less than half a year, Giant Entertainment is very fortunate to receive this honor."
After a few polite words, he began the routine advertising segment:
"Giant Entertainment is about to begin its second round of recruitment, and this time we plan to hire eighty full-time employees."
"Upon joining the company, employees can move into a 90-square-meter staff dormitory at 399 Star and enjoy a 50% discount on offline shopping at 399 Star Mall."
"In addition, I have a report. Those of you watching the live stream can check it out on the Giant Entertainment account homepage. I believe the contents of this report will not disappoint you."
The official purpose of quickly awarding the prize was to control the situation, but after Fang Zhuo finished speaking, the discussion at the scene only intensified.
To confirm whether Fang Zhuo had directed traffic to the controversial link, the official director of the Golden Tripod Awards quickly pulled out his personal computer and clicked on Juyu's homepage.
This turned out to be a more than 60-page investigative report about Xinghan Media.
The report not only included evidence of Ruan Zihan's hiring of thugs to injure someone six months ago, but also evidence of his registering shell companies and illegally obtaining profits from Xinghan over the years. The report's creators also collected Ruan Zihan's hair for testing, which proved that the hallucinogenic content was seriously excessive.
The director didn't even bother to switch shots; the entire official live stream of the Golden Tripod Awards was paused on the awards stage, and even the cameramen in the audience were secretly turning on their personal computers to read the report.
This was destined to be a turbulent night.
Several trending search terms with a huge amount of information were crowded together at this moment. Under normal circumstances, each of these terms would be enough to top the search rankings.
"Shadow" set an unprecedented record at the Golden Tripod Awards, winning seven out of eight nominations, taking home all the nominations except for the Best Art Direction Award.
Three or four screenwriters came forward to accuse Liang Xinyuan of refusing to be credited, and also exposed the appalling living and working conditions of her studio online.
Liang Xinyuan was heavily criticized by netizens. She first closed all the comment sections on her homepage, and then several official accounts of film awards came forward to announce that they would re-examine the originality of the Best Screenplay award.
With the release of the short-selling report, Starlight Media has completely fallen into a state of utter despair.
First, the script supervisor of "About Love" secretly posted a video of Ruan having a drug withdrawal episode on set using a secondary account. Then, a passerby who watched the group broadcast offline revealed a video of Ruan Zihan taking out loans like crazy.
In the video, Ruan Zihan was sitting in the first row of the audience at the Federal Center Stadium, but his eyes were not on the anchor in the stands. Instead, he was constantly clicking on one microloan app after another on his personal computer screen.
He recklessly removed his mask and sunglasses, his eyes bloodshot, and took out several high-interest loans worth hundreds of thousands of yuan.
The video was playing on a large screen in the office building. Fang Zhuo and Deng Jiaqiang sat together in front of the screen, glancing at each other with speechless expressions.
Fang Zhuo sighed softly, "I didn't know his financial situation had deteriorated to such a dire degree..."
He turned to his staff and said, "However, the video content is good. Let's buy 500,000 streams for this one."
At 11 p.m. on Saturday, riding the wave of the Golden Tripod Awards, Xingwang's traffic had reached its peak, with over 100,000 comments accumulating under the official account's post announcing the report.
[This is insane! The amount of gossip I've absorbed tonight is more than I've done in the entire year! Juyu, you don't deserve to be honored at the Imperial Ancestral Temple!]
[I'm about to watch "Shadow" for the third time. Brother Fang, promise me you'll hold on, okay? The entertainment industry needs a Supreme Court Justice!]
[Actually, there's no need for a third viewing. I feel like Brother Fang doesn't care about the money at all. Even if "Shadow" loses money, Juyu Entertainment won't go bankrupt, but Xinghan Entertainment might not be so lucky.^^]
[I haven't seen a couple's career collapse more thoroughly than Ruan Zihan's in the last decade. They should be packed up and thrown into the dump together. I really don't want to see this perfect couple again.]
[werwerwer, whose jail-type boyfriend has arrived?]
He slumped onto the sofa, his personal terminal constantly buzzing with notifications.
Ruan Zihan only glanced at the interface. One part of it was about his artists strongly demanding to terminate their contracts, and the other part was about various brands and production crews demanding that he pay compensation for breach of contract.
His home screen even turned red, meaning the police had located him.
If he does not appear at the nearest police station within a week to be questioned about hiring someone to commit assault, he will face a federal warrant for his arrest.
Tian Linzhong was still standing by the door, muttering to himself:
"Mr. Ruan, you promised me back then, you said you would help me pay the 100 million yuan penalty for breach of contract, how can you go back on your word..."
The room reeked of hallucinogens. Ruan Zihan suddenly overturned the wooden coffee table and frantically threw all the small items on it into every corner of the room.
He strode forward like a madman and grabbed Tian Linzhong by the collar: "One hundred million? Where am I supposed to get one hundred million for you?"
“Sell the house! Even if you lose stocks, you still have the house. You can probably list it for around 60 million here. If everyone chips in, you can make it,” Chi Yingying said casually as she passed by with her suitcase.
She skillfully held a menthol cigarette between two fingers, wore a straw hat, and dressed as if she were going on vacation.
After taunting Ruan Zihan, she blew a puff of smoke into Tian Linzhong's face: "Don't dream. Do you think Fang Zhuo will let you off the hook after you pay a hundred million? You're so stupid."
"Do you really think Fang Zhuo is short of money? He only signed that contract to trap you at Giant Entertainment."
Seeing that Chi Yingying was about to push the door open and leave, Ruan Zihan's gaze darkened: "Where are you going?"
With her hand holding a cigarette resting on the doorframe, Chi Yingying smiled nonchalantly:
"Go report to Giant Entertainment. You're the one who contacted the truck driver and the one who hired someone to throw acid. I only released a few songs under your coercion."
"At worst, I'll kneel down before Fang Zhuo and shed a few tears of regret for misjudging people. Do you think he'll believe me or you then?"
The room was deathly silent.
Ruan Zihan silently took a few steps back, pulled a submachine gun from under the sofa, and loaded it with a heavy expression.
The metal clanged together with a crisp sound. Chi Yingying didn't dare to say another word. Before the gun was raised, she quickly dragged her suitcase and turned to leave.
She ran quite a distance before yelling at the elevator entrance, "Ruan Zihan, you're crazy! You're a complete lunatic!"
Tian Linzhong clasped his hands in a gesture of respect, his eyes glistening with tears: "President Ruan, please have pity on me! I only have a little over 30 million left, and the rest is all invested in Yuan Yuan's studio. If this really gets delayed for ten years, my life is over..."
The bullet struck Tian Lin's feet, and Ruan Zihan felt like a demon crawling out of hell:
"I have no money. I'll say it again, I have no money for you, get out of here."
In just two short days, Star Media's stock price plummeted by 90%, and the once-glorious entertainment company was on the verge of bankruptcy overnight.
The film "About Love" was also banned because of his scandal, and the film's biggest investor, New Harvest Entertainment, is preparing to sue him.
It's all because of that person...
If Fang Zhuo hadn't suddenly intervened, Xinghan Media would have become an S-level entertainment company after a few years of development, and Ruan Zihan was confident that he would have won his second Best Actor award.
At least he wouldn't increase his hallucinogen dosage under pressure, causing his body and condition to deteriorate to this extent.
Why... why is it that no matter where he goes, there are always people competing with him? It was like this in his past life, and it's like this life too.
With his knees slammed to the ground, Ruan Zihan looked up and closed his eyes.
He took out the last dozen or so hallucinogens from the cold storage room, packed them into a portable cooler, and quickly listed the house for sale on the StarNet at an extremely low price. After receiving the money, he opened the message list and contacted the middleman in the black market.
He still has a chance, one last chance.
Carrying a case containing a submachine gun, Ruan Zihan silently left the house.
The door lock clicked shut, and the door closed tightly.
"Oh, Mr. Feng, you don't need to lock the door. Our offices are all open, so it doesn't matter if the employees hear anything."
Deng Jiaqiang got up from the stool and shook hands with the man who walked in first.
Fang Zhuo glanced up from the other person's resume. The person was the vice general manager recommended to him by Shen Mingzhao, and had an extremely impressive resume.
Feng Tengwen is 36 years old this year. He graduated with a master's degree from the top-ranked university in the country and worked for two leading entertainment companies. At a young age, he became the general manager of Lexing and doubled Lexing's profits during his tenure. His professional attitude is also highly praised in the industry.
The resume is fine, and the profile is also quite impressive.
Wearing a sharp suit, he locks the office door behind him as soon as he enters, making him a very typical high-level employee.
Fang Zhuo took the initiative to make a gesture of invitation, and got straight to the point:
"Mr. Feng, due to limited conditions at Star 399, there is a 380-square-meter room on the top floor of the dormitory that combines four suites. Would you mind sharing the dormitory with your staff?"
Feng Tengwen was slightly taken aback.
First, they haven't finalized their salary and benefits yet, and he doesn't know why the boss of Giant Entertainment brought up the dormitory issue first.
Secondly, he didn't understand why anyone would describe a nearly 400-square-meter ocean-view penthouse as having limited conditions, when the housing benefits were clearly much better than the apartments provided by Lexing.
After a moment's thought, he answered truthfully, "I don't mind."
Fang Zhuo nodded: "I heard that Lexing directly gave you some shares. Giant Entertainment's revenue is a bit high, so I'm afraid we can't give you a share of the profits in this way, but we can raise your base salary a little."
"An annual salary of 25 million, plus a quarterly bonus based on profits, is this salary acceptable to you?"
Despite having cultivated a calm and composed demeanor in the workplace, Feng Tengwen couldn't help but let out a soft "Ah" in surprise.
Even in the entertainment industry, where funds are most abundant, this base salary is definitely higher than that of all senior employees who have reached his position.
Countless thoughts raced through my mind in an instant.
He finally understood why Shen Mingzhao had such a big grin on his face when he contacted him; it was because he was excited about receiving a huge headhunting commission.
The moment Feng Tengwen received the contract in his computer, he belatedly realized just how enormous Giant Entertainment's capital reserves were.
He couldn't help but silently mourn for his former employer.
The special effects blockbuster "The Wrath of the Sea," released by Lexing during this prime time slot, didn't even recoup its costs. The board members were so anxious they held five blame-shifting meetings, finally reaching a unanimous conclusion—
It's all because Giant Entertainment entered the game too late. If Lexing had known earlier that Giant Entertainment was suddenly preparing to join the fray in the later part of this prime time slot, they would never have made a film that uses special effects as its selling point.
After submitting his resignation on the OA system, Feng Tengwen hesitated for a moment before signing his name on the contract.
Goodbye to Lexing's stingy budget and endless reflection meetings;
He arrived, bringing with him ample funding and a generous, wise, and young, promising boss.
"Mr. Fang, I'd like to ask what my main job responsibilities are, or what your expectations are for my work plan?"
Fang Zhuo sent the other party a document that had been prepared in advance: "Seventy new employees were hired yesterday, and we need to sort out the company's organizational structure."
“You still have ten spots left. Take a look at which areas Giant Entertainment is lacking and ask HR to recruit people to fill those gaps.”
"Also, while the prime time slot is still going strong, I hope you can plan some activities to boost the buzz. Whether it's profitable or not doesn't matter, as long as there's traffic."
Now all that's missing is one more blind box to complete a 10-pull. Achieving this achievement doesn't have specific profit requirements; the key is to increase related discussion volume and the number of fans of the artists under their management.
Upon hearing Fang Zhuo's request, Feng Tengwen visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
The instructions were clear and accompanied by relevant information documents; such a leader is hard to find.
"Mr. Fang, what is the approximate budget for this event?"
Fang Zhuo answered casually: "Under one billion. You can decide the specifics. Give me the proposal within three days."
"Okay." Feng Tengwen was so overwhelmed by the amount that his head was spinning.
One billion... the budget for a prime-time movie, was used here as just a simple promotional event.
He secretly vowed to himself that he would make this event worthwhile and strive to prevent Juyu from continuing to lose money.
Thinking of this, Feng Tengwen sat up from his chair with a serious expression, briefly shook hands with General Manager Fang, and turned to leave the office with the documents.
The moment the office door reopened, Deng Jiaqiang slumped backward.
Fang Zhuo leaned against the desk, raised an eyebrow, and said, "If I remember correctly, you only exchanged pleasantries the whole time. Were you that tired?"
Deng Jiaqiang made a fanning gesture:
"The concentration of elites in this room is so high that it's almost suffocating. I need to catch my breath."
"Didn't you notice that only you and President Feng are wearing full suits in the whole company? I feel like I've been transported to Wall Street in a second. Even though I'm not on Earth, I inexplicably feel a sense of home. I feel like you two can make my stocks fluctuate wildly just by chatting and laughing."
Fang Zhuo chuckled and said that he had successfully extracted 500 million yuan from Xinghan in the past few days, which was just enough to cover the funds for this event.
He glanced at his outfit and pulled up his collar, saying, "This is a casual suit, it's alright."
Deng Jiaqiang shook his head: "Not good. He has the air of a boss. I feel like he's about to whip me and make me hand in the proposal tonight."
Fang Zhuo joked, "I'm not that kind."
Feng Tengwen submitted his proposal much faster than Fang Zhuo had thought of it; it was more like a variety show than an event.
The list of participants not only included all the artists from Juyu Entertainment, but also sent out invitations to the entire Xingyu Entertainment in just two days, collecting a list of more than one hundred artists who were interested in participating for him to choose from.
The artists on the list are at least second- or third-tier in the entertainment industry, covering singers, actors, idols, and rappers. Among them are many top-tier celebrities and rising stars who are currently in high demand.
Fang Zhuo only glanced through it briefly and saw a familiar name among them—Chi Yingying.
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