"Not bad, it's bigger than I thought, but the location is a bit remote."
"It's just a small business. I'll move when I have more money."
Wei Yang poured a cup of tea for Cai Yinong and Li Guoqing: "Try it, a good friend gave it to me, it cost eight or nine thousand ten taels."
“Good tea!”
The two of them tasted it. They didn't understand it either, but based on the price, they knew it must be good tea.
"You're still running a small business? Hello, Old Times brought in tens of millions at least. I guess our company doesn't have as much cash as you do right now, right?"
As a company boss, "My Dear Sir" is certainly awesome, but projects like "Hello, Old Time" with low cost and high returns are what I envy the most.
She had tasted success in the project "Twinkle Twinkle Star" before, and she knew how exciting this kind of project was.
"Be humble. If I brag too much, you'll say I'm being arrogant."
Wei Yang made a joke, teased Cai Yinong a few words, and then straightened his expression.
"Let's get down to business. I invited the two of you here today. One is to settle the bill for "This Is My First Life", and the other is to discuss the follow-up cooperation."
At this point, Wei Yang looked at Cai Yinong and said, "Sister Cai, we have talked so many times before, and you know what kind of person I am. We have also cooperated before, so I won't say much. As I said before, cooperation is beneficial to both sides."
Cai Yinong and Li Guoqing looked at each other, and the latter took the initiative to speak: "Mr. Wei... Mr. Wei, we came here today to discuss the specific regulations with you."
"The charter is very simple. Sister Cai has concerns about exchanging shares and it may not be convenient for me, so we will proceed according to the project, just like "This is My First Life". Both parties will invest together and share the profits."
Wei Yang patiently persuaded him and made crazy promises: "Among the film and television companies in Shanghai, Tangren has the most fame, and our Blue Whale has the strongest upward momentum. If the two of us join forces, we will have the loudest voice in this entertainment industry."
"Want to be the boss of Shanghai? Where do you put Chengtian, Ciwen, Kedun, Shangshi, and Tianyu? Not to mention Shanghai Film Group."
Cai Yinong was not blinded by the big promises. The above companies, apart from the giant Shanghai Film Group and Tianyu Entertainment, which is backed by the Hunan TV Station, are two special cases.
The other companies are also quite strong, and some are even stronger than Tangren and Blue Whale.
It’s just that it focuses more on film and television production, with limited development in artist management, and there are very few hits, so it’s not well-known.
Especially Orange Sky, which was a big company that competed head-on with Huayi back then. Although its development focus is much in Beijing and Hong Kong, its headquarters is still in Shanghai, so it can be considered a Shanghai company.
With so many powerful enemies standing in their way, it is not an easy task for the Tang people and the Blue Whale to catch up.
"Chengtian has been on the decline, and Wang Jinhua has run away. Who would still compare it with Huayi?"
Wei Yang's words were not arrogant. He knew what happened to Orange Sky and really didn't take this company seriously. Right now, Orange Sky was just struggling to survive and was barely holding on.
When the highly anticipated "The Crossing" failed, it was basically a complete failure.
In his memory, Wei Yang seemed to have seen a report more than ten years later in his previous life, that the total market value of Orange Sky was 250 to 300 million Hong Kong dollars at that time…
On the contrary, Ciwen, Shangshi and Kedun, who had not yet fully gained power, developed well later and even surpassed the Tang people by far.
However, each of these companies has its own capital, and it has not yet reached the stage of explosive growth. Although Wei Yang can also cooperate with them, the benefits are not as great as those of Tangren at present.
"Sister Cai, don't underestimate yourself. Although these companies are powerful, our two companies are not weak either. If we join forces and do some big things, even if we can't be the boss, others won't dare to look down on us."
Although Cai Yinong felt that Wei Yang was exaggerating a bit, she was also a little moved and finally gave in.
"Our company will focus on promoting two projects in the future, "Startling by Each Step" and "Xuan-Yuan Sword". We can offer one for cooperation. You can choose..."
Wei Yang said without hesitation: "Startling by Each Step."
Cai Yinong was not surprised. After all, the two sides had contact several times before, and Wei Yang's thoughts were not difficult to guess.
As a costume palace drama, the investment in "Startling by Each Step" is not high, and the budget given by Tangren is no more than 30 million.
Boss Wei was very straightforward: "No problem, let's follow this price. I'll eat as much as you give up."
Cai Yinong and Li Guoqing looked at each other and gave the answer. Since Tangren was responsible for the production, Blue Whale would pay 15 million and take a 45% share.
Wei Yang had no objection to this price. He nodded after a little hesitation, but he also made a few requests.
First, the heroine must be Liu Shishi! This is actually nonsense. Tangren must promote its own number one sister. Wei Yang emphasized it again to make his wife feel more present.
Second, Blue Whale should add a few supporting roles, such as the newcomer Lin Gengxin. The specific role can be discussed, but the role must not be small.
As an important financial sponsor, this request was not excessive, and Cai Yinong agreed readily.
Third, the male lead Wei Yang recommended Qiao Zhenyu to play the role.
This request made Cai Yinong and the other man frown, and Old Cai asked in a low voice.
"Did you sign him?"
"No."
Wei Yang shook his head, but said: "But the contact is almost done. It's a bit troublesome for him to terminate the contract. If everything goes well, there shouldn't be any problem next year."
When filming "My Love from the Star", Wei Yang had a good impression of Qiao Zhenyu.
He has a quiet personality and doesn't cause any trouble. He has good professional skills and can handle both ancient and modern costumes. He is relatively Buddhist and is sometimes willing to be a supporting actor.
Lin Gengxin is too young and not very suitable for ancient costumes, so Wei Yang has been in contact with Qiao Zhenyu, hoping to recruit him to add to the Blue Whale artist portfolio.
The two of them had a good personal relationship during the filming of "My Love from the Star", and the latter became very popular, which to some extent could be said to be due to Wei Yang's debt.
So in the face of Wei Yang's poaching, Qiao Zhenyu finally chose to switch to Blue Whale after taking into account his future, personal relationships, resources, etc.
Although Boss Wei’s business operations cannot be said to be flawless, as an eyewitness, he would never be taken advantage of for free like Tang Ren.
"The heroine has been given to you, the hero..."
Cai Yinong hesitated for a moment and was about to speak, but before she could finish her words, Boss Wei stopped her: "Let me emphasize that Shi Shi is an artist of your company."
“…”
Cai Yinong had a lot to say but was blocked. The two companies invested roughly equally, one side produced the female lead and the other side produced the male lead, which was still fair.
It’s just that Liu Shishi is Wei Yang’s girlfriend, so people always feel that he is taking double advantage.
It is difficult to negotiate the market share, but Li Guoqing did not give up. Instead, he talked about status and influence.
"We are going to find Wu Qilong from the Little Tigers for the male lead. He is more famous and will be good for the TV series..."
"The Little Tigers are out of fashion."
Wei Yang waited quietly for him to finish, then said bluntly: "Director Li, don't think they are popular again just because of a Spring Festival Gala program. Su Youpeng is okay, and the other two are just so-so. They are just making some money from their past."
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Wei Yang didn't say anything more, but just emphasized: "This play is invested by both of our companies, and the priority should be to promote artists from both of our companies."
A big problem with Tangren is that many of its senior executives are from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Even if the project does not have a Taiwanese background, they habitually like to use Hong Kong and Taiwan artists.
It’s okay for Wu Qilong from the original “Startling by Each Step”, at least he is well-known and has previously worked with him on “Strange Women of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio”.
But the second male lead, Zheng Jiaying, had very limited popularity in mainland China at that time, so Tangren let Yuan Hong play the supporting role of Shisan and let him play the role of Lao Ba who had more screen time.
Perhaps there might have been some agreement on a mainland agency contract at that time, but nothing was heard afterwards.
Moreover, after he became famous, he immediately returned to the Hong Kong circle and did not give any face to his benefactor Tangren. Ultimately, he did not star in "Startling by Each Step" because they could not agree on the price.
This is such an unjust species! So when Wei Yang was working with the project, he directly mentioned that the actors from mainland China were the main ones, and actors from Hong Kong and Taiwan could be used, but there was no need to give them such big roles unless there was enough benefit.
"It's very clear. No matter how popular these artists are, we can't get a dime from them. So even if they have a slight disadvantage, as long as they are our own, we can ignore it."
Neither Wu Qilong nor Zheng Jiaying are irreplaceable. In fact, judging from their current popularity, Qiao Zhenyu, who became very popular after "My Love from the Star", may be even better than the two.
Under Wei Yang's insistence, although Cai and Li did not agree directly, they also expressed their willingness to go back and consider it carefully.
That being said, it's basically the same, it's just to save face.
Wei Yang did not continue to be aggressive, but instead threw a bomb at the Tang people, which made Old Cai dizzy.
"Web drama?"
Wei Yang introduced: "I have two projects on hand. One is called "Mao Pian", which is a remake of a low-budget web drama. The other is called "Soul Ferry", which is relatively supernatural. I plan to let Hu Ge play the role. The price is negotiable."
The online drama is currently in the trial stage, so there is no need for Wei Yang to take the lead unless the platform agrees and pays a sky-high price.
But Wei Yang couldn't just sit there and watch. Right now, major companies didn't pay much attention to online dramas. It was the time for Blue Whale to take the lead in opening up the market, making friends with major platforms, and accumulating audience fame.
If Wei Yang didn't show up, Li Jiahang would be able to bid for blue whales, but the key was that he wouldn't be able to sell them at a high price.
The revenue from online broadcasting is already low, and without a celebrity to back it up, it’s hard to negotiate product placement and selling prices.
Hu Ge is one of the most popular male stars at the moment. If he can play the leading role, it will be very beneficial to Blue Whale’s web drama project.
Of course, Hu Ge is now focused on the film market. Although it is not going well, it is not easy to get him to shoot a web drama. It is definitely necessary to give Tangren benefits in order to impress him.
Wei Yang was somewhat confident about this. Tangren had produced several advertising dramas before. As long as the benefits and returns were sufficient, they didn't have that many concerns.
There is actually no so-called discrimination chain in online dramas these days, because they are still in their infancy, and in the eyes of some people they are not much different from advertising dramas.
Wei Yang praised the two scripts, offered an attractive price, and even brought in a buyer to persuade Tangren to invest.
However, Lao Cai was still hesitant about this project. Although he was interested, he did not give in completely: "I need to ask Lao Hu what he thinks..."
…
A few hours later, Wei Yang personally brought the senior management of Blue Whale to arrange a banquet to entertain Cai Yinong and others, and also to celebrate the beginning of the in-depth cooperation between the two companies.
Today alone, the two sides have roughly agreed on three projects.
"Startling by Each Step" is co-produced by both parties! One of the two web drama projects, Tangren is cautious and only invests on a small scale, plus supports the behind-the-scenes production, and is considering sending a star to join.
Finally, the two parties are also preparing to collaborate on a modern idol drama, but it is expected to start filming next year.
Deep cooperation with Tangren has brought many benefits to Blue Whale.
Not only did he gain a strong ally, he was also able to participate in Tangren's high-quality projects and leverage Tangren's popular artists.
The most important thing is that with the cooperation with Tangren, Blue Whale’s slow development speed due to insufficient team manpower has resumed.
The excess funds can be invested in Tangren projects to avoid idleness, and people can also be borrowed from Tangren to shoot their own projects, buying time for the training of their own team.
By the time Blue Whale has trained a sufficient team to support the company's project layout, its internal artists will also begin to become popular and famous, without having to rely on the popularity of other artists.
Boss Wei may still cooperate with Tangren, but many conditions are no longer the same.
The goal is to become the boss of the entertainment industry. Wei Yang did not lie to Cai Yinong, but he never thought of joining forces with Tangren to dominate. Instead, he planned to dominate alone...
(End of this chapter)