There's a chance!
Since Ji Juntao didn't reject it on the spot, it proved that she was persuaded. Shang Yechu took out her phone and pulled up the information she had prepared beforehand.
When dealing with General Manager Ji, you can't rely on words alone; you have to offer something tangible.
"Take a look at these." Shang Yechu cleared her throat.
The Writers Guild system wasn't created by Shang Yechu; it existed as early as the last century. The most famous writers' guild in the world is the Writers Guild of America.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is dedicated to advocating for the rights of screenwriters and setting industry standards. Its efforts encompass everything from protecting screenwriters' right to attribution and guaranteeing minimum remuneration to providing them with benefits and a stronger voice.
In Hollywood and the global film and television industry, the Writers Guild of America wields considerable influence. The agreements between the guild and the Studio Council are binding on the entire industry. If the industry or any producer acts against the screenwriting profession, the Writers Guild will represent the rights of screenwriters in an extremely courageous, tenacious, and even ruthless struggle until those rights are reclaimed.
Richard Walter once said, "Before the Writers Guild, producers could arbitrarily list their spouses, siblings... even their dogs' names as screenwriters. But for half a century, the list of screenwriters on screen has been entirely determined by the Writers Guild."
In the long-standing conflict between the Writers Guild of America and entertainment industry capital, there have been four most famous struggles. Through industry-wide strikes and protests, the Writers Guild has secured important rights for the screenwriting profession, including pensions, healthcare, television broadcast revenue sharing, video revenue sharing, creative copyright protection, and digital distribution revenue sharing.
Four protracted battles, four hard-won but significant victories.
Now that we have successful examples, it's perfectly acceptable to refer to them and replicate them. With a screenwriters' guild, we can improve script quality and increase the number of scripts from the source, greatly alleviating the predicament of female artists in the industry having no good scripts to work on.
Shang Yechu envisioned a bright future: after establishing a screenwriters' guild, screenwriters would be meticulously categorized according to their strengths in different genres. Commercial screenwriters would have their own opportunities, and art-house screenwriters would have theirs. Whether it was mainstream, fast-paced, or niche and high-quality, there would be a corresponding audience. After all, with such a large population in China, niche genres that might starve screenwriters in other regions would be able to support them here without much difficulty.
With an increase in subject matter, the problem of homogenized and formulaic characters can be easily solved...
"A fantasy."
The four cold words interrupted Shang Yechu's reverie, and Ji Juntao finally spoke.
Shang Yechu frowned: "What?"
Ji Juntao shook his head and snapped his fingers: "Ye Chu, how many screenwriters worked for Guanjun Century in the same batch as Jian Xiaojun?"
"Thirty or forty, I guess," Shang Yechu recalled for a moment. "Why are you asking that?"
Ji Juntao smirked: "Jian Xiaojun is a greenhorn, it's not surprising that she can't see it. Then let me ask you, do you really think that among these thirty or forty screenwriters, not a single one could tell that Guanjun Century was hiring ghostwriters to steal manuscripts?"
"..." Shang Yechu's heart skipped a beat, "Old Ji."
"Why didn't they resist? And why didn't they leave with Jian Xiaojun after she left?"
Shang Yechu already understood what Ji Juntao meant, but bit her lip and didn't say it.
"Suppose—I mean suppose. Suppose we form this writers' union, suppose one day all the capitalists suddenly go crazy and want to strip all the writers of their screenwriting credits."
"Our writers' union organized a major strike. The writers in the union declared that they would no longer write a single word or produce any scripts until the capitalists returned the authorship rights."
Do you think that by then, capitalists will have no scripts to film?
Shang Yechu's face slowly paled. Ji Juntao looked at her delicate face and sighed softly.
"No, because in our industry, there will never be a shortage of thirty or forty screenwriters like that. There will always be someone willing to give up their credit to write the script. To bow down for a pittance."
Ji Juntao neatly arranged the papers on the table and said leisurely, "If this is the case for something as important as the right to be credited, which is a matter of life and death for screenwriters, what else do you expect our air screenwriters' union to accomplish at other times? Don't be naive, you idealist."
The idealist sat blankly at his desk, watching the pragmatist.
Ji Juntao sighed: "Ye Chu, I admire you. Ten years younger, I also had your ambition, impulsively thinking of changing the world. But now, I can only say one thing—"
"If you don't do it, there are plenty of others who will."
Shang Yechu's gaze slowly darkened. From Ji Juntao's perspective, they looked like two pieces of black glass, scratched by sandpaper.
Ji Juntao paused, though Shang Yechu always secretly called her a crocodile, but President Ji wasn't truly a cold-blooded animal. Seeing Shang Yechu's dejected appearance, he felt a pang of sympathy.
"Alright, alright." Ji Juntao rolled up the papers into a ball and tossed them into the trash can. "Let's stop talking about these fanciful things and be more practical. Actually, besides the two pieces of good news you just mentioned, I have another piece of good news, but it's still far from being confirmed, so I wasn't planning to tell you."
Shang Yechu's gaze followed the crumpled paper, and she asked, "What good news?"
“This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our country and Russia,” Ji Juntao said. “I’ve heard that CTS is preparing a Sino-Russian co-production film with Russia. I’ve heard some rumors that CTS is interested in you…”
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