Chapter 650: Chapter 476: The New System (Part 3)
At that moment, Li Ci started clapping vigorously.
"Brother Yong has finally shown some guts in reforming the company. If it continued like before, I wouldn’t want to renew my contract with the company at all," Li Ci said. "This new model is somewhat interesting."
Chen Weian glanced at him and said helplessly: "Brother Ci, quiet down."
Li Ci shut his mouth.
Zhou Yun glanced at Li Ci, smiled, and finally took off her sunglasses.
"What Li Ci said is very true; the company has finally shown the courage to reform," Zhou Yun said. "Let’s not beat around the bush, at our level, the old agency model is pretty much an unnecessary extravagance to us. How can it help us to advance better? That should be the goal and core of the agent studio system. I’m already very famous; I can’t get any more famous than this. So, what do I want now? Can the company cooperate with me to obtain what I want? That is a question that I am very concerned about, and I think Li Ci is too. Therefore, having such a new system is a good thing; I support it."
With Zhou Yun and Li Ci, currently the top male and female artists at Chengqian Entertainment, expressing their opinions, other artists had no reason not to support it.
The artists who could attend this meeting today are beneficiaries of the agent studio system.
Resources go directly to the agent, and of course, the agent will prioritize allocation to their most promising and most famous artists.
Xu Siyao tapped on the table and asked, "So, can artists choose any studio they want to go to?"
He Yong glanced at her and said, "Of course, you also need to get the approval of the respective agent."
Xu Siyao pouted her lips.
Yuh Jiangxing rolled his eyes annoyingly.
The way Xu Siyao phrased it earlier made it almost explicit that she wanted to switch to another agent.
"..."
Slap in the face.
After the meeting, everyone dispersed.
He Yong called Zhou Yun.
"Xiao Yun, could we talk in my office?"
Zhou Yun looked at him and said, "If you just want to console me about not winning the award, there’s no need."
He Yong smiled a little and said, "Do you need comforting? You just recently won the Best Actress award at the Qingmu Award. Compared to that trophy, whether or not you win a Best Supporting Actress award is not important."
He Yong didn’t avoid other people when saying this, and many who were walking behind heard what he said.
Everyone naturally had their own thoughts.
Among them, someone thought: He Yong, this lickspittle, after Zhou Yun became famous, he sucked up to Zhou Yun so hard!
Zhou Yun followed He Yong to his office.
He Yong said, "The chairman of the Huayu Award committee contacted me, hoping to have dinner with you; he wants to apologize to you in person."
"Director Huang?" Zhou Yun asked.
"Not him, he’s just the chair of this jury," He Yong said. "I’m talking about the management committee. Senior Jing Dongtian."
Zhou Yun frowned.
"Why should Senior Jing Dongtian apologize to me?" Zhou Yun said, "Besides, an apology is meaningless now, I don’t think he has any reason to apologize to me. He should apologize to Director Kang Xin and Song Chi."
He Yong seemed to have anticipated Zhou Yun would say this and smiled helplessly.
"Xiao Yun, Senior Jing Dongtian is sincere," He Yong said. "I know you were dissatisfied with last night’s results, but you can blame this jury, however, Senior Jing Dongtian is an old predecessor in our field, has been upright his whole life, and has dedicated many years earnestly for the Huayu Award. I still hope that you won’t disrespect him over this matter. He is truly an upright person; otherwise, he wouldn’t have insisted on inviting you to dinner, an apology from an old predecessor to a younger one isn’t easy."
"Don’t worry about Song Chi and Kang Xin, with Senior Jing’s wisdom, he definitely won’t neglect them."
Hearing He Yong’s words this far, Zhou Yun was persuaded.
She nodded and agreed.
That evening, Zhou Yun talked to Song Chi and found out that Senior Jing Dongtian had reached out to him as well.
Song Chi sighed and said, "Senior Jing doesn’t want us to develop too negative an opinion about the Huayu Award because of last night’s results, especially now when emotions run high and everyone is dissatisfied with the decision, hurting the credibility of the Huayu Award. If we openly express dissatisfaction and anger during an interview, the situation would worsen. As chairman of the Huayu Award committee, he must placate us."
"Ah, actually, we wouldn’t talk about these things."
"Of course, but on the other hand, the Huayu Award has left such a bad impression on us, will we be willing to support it when it needs us in the future? Senior Jing must be worrying about this, so he took the initiative to apologize." Song Chi said, "I can understand Senior Jing’s intentions."
"It’s annoying. The real culprits didn’t say a word, instead letting an old predecessor clean up the mess," Zhou Yun complained, "Actually, not winning an award is not that important, but what annoys me is that ’Heart Inquiry’ won no awards. Were there too many classics this year? Is this year a once-in-a-century great year for TV dramas? A battle among immortals? No, that’s why I’m dissatisfied, why not a single award for ’Heart Inquiry’?"
"The most ridiculous part was that the Best Director was given to ’Spring Cold’ and not to Director Kang Xin," Zhou Yun added.
Song Chi patted the back of Zhou Yun’s hand.
"Great minds think alike."
"Director Kang Xin managed to elevate the drama to such a level, I didn’t even realize it while acting," Zhou Yun said, "It’s amazing, I only realized after watching the whole series that my part of the story was just a subplot, just a small town in the world of ’Heart Inquiry’. He filmed people’s integrity, beliefs, and ideals so restrainedly and movingly, it was incredible."
Song Chi said, "It doesn’t matter, really, Director Kang Xin might feel regret, but he doesn’t lack an award trophy for Best Director, and this drama is destined to become one of his signature works."
"Oh, I heard your company started a pilot agent studio?" Song Chi asked.
Zhou Yun looked at him in surprise and said, "News travels fast? It even reached your ears."
Song Chi smiled and said, "In this industry, there are no walls that can block news."
"He Yong started it; I think it’s a good idea," Zhou Yun said. "Following the previous operating models, neither Li Ci nor I would have stayed."
Song Chi asked, "Do you plan to renew with Chengqian?"
"I haven’t thought about that yet, because there’s still almost two years left, oh, no, only a year and a half now," Zhou Yun said. "If I don’t renew, then there should be a better option for me, from what I can see. I’ve even considered moving to your company after my contract expires, but in the long run, that’s not good either. Your company isn’t primarily focused on artist management, there’s no need to start a new department just for me. So, for now, rather than considering leaving Chengqian, I should think about how to reach the model I most want."
Song Chi nodded.
"I wouldn’t advise you to come to my company either; my company’s business model is too simplistic and is just starting out, not suitable for you. You still need a company’s support," Song Chi said. "Finding a suitable project and filming one drama a year is already a great help for my company."