Chapter 162: New Variety Shows and Zhang Li's Request to Battle

In early December, after traveling for more than a week, Wei Jin and Jing Tian finally returned to the country.

The young girl hurried back to school; she had missed too many classes this year and still had to prepare for her final exams.

Wei Jin had intended to rest for two days, but unexpectedly, Liu Tianwang called to invite him to the premiere of The Warlords.

Only then did Wei Jin remember that the New Year Slot in the country was once again filled with the smoke of battle.

The Invisible Guest had already been showing for over ten days, with a box office reaching 186 million, but its potential was basically exhausted; it was expected to just barely cross 200 million, a loss due to the scheduling.

Besides that, Wei Jin Company had no other films releasing this year, so he could sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, feeling no pressure at all.

However, before that, he still had to plan a new program with the company's variety department; the long-awaited east wind had finally arrived.

At the beginning of this year, the SARFT had already issued a series of directives to restrict talent show programs, but the results were not very good.

Consequently, in late September, a notice regarding talent show programs was officially issued.

The notice clearly stated that starting from October, all talent shows involving public participation were not allowed to be broadcast during prime time, and no off-site voting forms such as mobile voting, telephone voting, or online voting could be used.

Content not highly relevant to the program, such as host remarks, judge commentary, contestant testimonials, expressions from friends and family, and inserted footage, had to be significantly reduced; furthermore, there were many other restrictive conditions—in short, talent shows could no longer be played.

Regarding this, many television stations that relied on talent shows to maintain ratings were complaining endlessly, but this was a good opportunity for Wei Jin; The Voice had been held back for so long and could finally be launched. —— In the company conference room, it was only the second time Wei Jin had met the company's variety team.

The entire team had been poached from Huanle Media, with some people from Fiber, and others who were graduates of professional institutions but were not doing well at other television stations.

Overall, this team had professionalism, though not exceptionally strong, but they excelled in execution; however, in the corner, Wei Jin spotted a figure in the variety world who would become famous many years later.

Noticing Wei Jin's gaze, the head of the variety department, Xu Hui, hurriedly introduced, "President Wei, this is Che Zhe, who joined the company at the end of last year. He graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Little Che, why aren't you saying hello?"

Wei Jin naturally knew this person, Che Zhe; in his past life, he had watched quite a few variety shows that he had planned and directed.

The most famous ones should be The Rap of China, Hot-Blood Dance Crew, Rap of China New Generation, I Am a Singer-Songwriter, and Fourtry.

As for the other programs, Wei Jin didn't pay much attention to them and had only watched a few episodes occasionally.

As for the program I Am a Singer-Songwriter, Wei Jin had followed it from start to finish, and Che Zhe appeared in it quite often, which was why Wei Jin could recognize him.

Upon hearing this, Che Zhe immediately stood up to greet him; to him, Wei Jin's status was too high.

Wei Jin nodded without saying much; no matter how famous he was in his past life, he was still just a small fry for now.

"You have already seen the proposal for The Voice. Is there any problem with operating it?"

Since the notice was issued, Wei Jin had the variety team thoroughly study the proposal; one had to know that a brand-new variety show was not so easy to operate.

"No problem, President Wei. The program format is actually not complicated; it wins by being innovative, and your proposal is so detailed that if we couldn't do it, we would truly be unworthy of this compensation, haha."

Xu Hui's words made everyone in the conference room laugh; clearly, they all agreed with this statement.

The compensation at Wei Jin Company was truly top-tier in the industry; besides the base salary, all departments leading a project could participate in the profit sharing of the project.

For example, the TV production department, when leading a TV series, would receive 10% of the net profit as their project share; based on the current market price of the company's self-produced dramas, a single drama would yield a share of at least several million.

The variety department was the same; the currently produced I Love Remembering Lyrics had already earned several million just in department shares, and even if the entire department split it equally, it would be over a hundred thousand per person, which was rare in the industry.

Therefore, for this The Voice, the entire variety department was holding their breath; one had to know that according to the analysis in the proposal, the production cost alone was as high as 60 million, and if they didn't earn one or two times that, they would be unworthy of the average return rate of the previous two variety shows.

If this job was done well, the variety department staff would earn at least several hundred thousand each; a house in Beijing would be a sure thing.

"Alright then, let's do the preparatory work first. As for the television stations, those with channels can also make some contacts." —— The premiere of The Warlords was held on a grand scale, with the location at the Beijing Olympic Sports Center.

On the evening of the 6th, Wei Jin arrived at the scene; what met his eyes was a 180-meter-long red carpet and various actresses striking poses on it.

The temperature in Beijing in December was already very low, but the actresses on the red carpet were all dressed lightly, almost all wearing low-cut, backless outfits, with a posture of fighting for sexiness to the end.

It is reported that this premiere was prepared by the producers over 1,000 hours, and the number of stars who came to participate reached over a hundred; it could be called a gathering of stars, the most in history.

On the red carpet, Wei Jin also saw the "nine-headed body" beauty Wu Peici and the Hong Kong sex symbol Weng Hong, who had just become a mother; both were also in low-cut evening gowns, and the latter didn't even fear that her baby would catch a cold after nursing.

Ignoring the actresses competing for beauty, Wei Jin took his female companion Zhang Li and walked directly onto the red carpet.

Zhang Li was still dressed as a career woman; this was the path Wei Jin had designed for her, and the company would continue to select scripts for her around this persona. This time on the red carpet, Zhang Li had taken the initiative to apply to the artist department; she had had enough of being seen as a nobody and intended to learn from her good friend Jiang Shuying, taking a shortcut to let the boss promote her and pull some strings.

After simply accepting interviews from reporters, Wei Jin entered the venue, and soon Liu Tianwang and Chen Kexin came to greet him; after all, Wei Jin's status was right there.

This Chen Kexin had good ability but was greedy by nature, and his wife was not easy to deal with either; Wei Jin did not intend to have a deep friendship.

After some pleasantries, Wei Jin took Zhang Li to their seats and waited for the premiere to begin.

However, there were many people staring at Wei Jin, and Xu Cairen was one of them.

"Junior brother, long time no see."

"Senior sister, hello, I wish you a great box office."

"Junior brother seems to have always been very cold to senior sister. Is there something I did wrong?"

Xu Cairen had always been interested in Wei Jin; it seemed that literary young women all had this little hobby of collecting excellent men.

"Senior sister is overthinking it. We are alumni, and I have always respected you."

Wei Jin had no interest in talking to this shrewd woman, but he couldn't stand Xu Cairen constantly clinging to him, which made him annoyed; fortunately, Han Dong helped him out of the situation.

"Wei Jin, how is the post-production of The Martian going? What is the estimated completion time?"

Seeing the big boss come over to chat, Xu Cairen had no choice but to leave resentfully, though she had some grievances toward Wei Jin.

"The effects are good, and the progress is also good, faster than expected; probably around May or June next year."

"Then when do you plan to release it? If it's a global release, you still have to pick a suitable slot."

After all, it was an investment of 400 million, and Han Sanping also hoped to boost the box office as much as possible.

"Well, if we can make it in time, the Summer Slot would be good; otherwise, it can only be the New Year Slot."

Hearing this, Han Sanping nodded, agreeing with Wei Jin's statement; one had to know that as the world's largest box office market, the North American Summer Slot was the best choice, otherwise one would have to settle for the next best thing.

Han Sanping complained to Wei Jin about the performance of Twilight; he had been teased quite a bit for it.

Wei Jin also found it funny, and just as he was about to say something, the staff had already come to invite Han Sanping to the stage; as the main investor, China Film Group, he couldn't avoid going up to give a speech. —— "President Wei, you don't think highly of this film?"

Leaving the premiere scene, Zhang Li noticed Wei Jin frowning and asked:

"I don't think highly of it. Li Lianjie's role was not fully utilized at all; I'm afraid the Mainland audience won't understand what Chen Kexin wants to express."

Wei Jin did not shy away; spending such a large amount of money to invite the Kung Fu Emperor to star, only to have no fight scenes—wasn't that a waste of resources?

Plus, the content was a bit depressing, the script was weak, and the war scenes were not outstanding; overall, it was a mediocre work.

"Have you thought it through?"

No longer caring about irrelevant films, Wei Jin turned to ask about Zhang Li's plans; in his past life, he had never heard any scandals about this young woman, so he assumed she had a temperament indifferent to fame and fortune, so why was she being so proactive now? Moreover, as an artist of the company, she would certainly not lack cultivation, and he didn't know what they were all so anxious about; in fact, Wei Jin had misjudged the situation, as in his past life, Zhang Li was surrounded by failing contestants, so she naturally had more than enough to compare with those below her, living freely and easily within her comfort zone.

But once a person develops the thought of comparison, their mindset naturally cannot remain stable; her good friend Jiang Shuying had already taken off, starring as the second female lead in *Let's Get Married*.

One must know that this was Wei Jin's script, and she was even acting alongside Gao Yuanyuan; it was estimated that once the TV series aired, Jiang Shuying would also usher in a wave of minor popularity, and by then, among the artists of the same period in the company, she would be the only one left as a nobody, so how could she not be anxious?

"I've thought it through, President Wei; I only ask that you give me a chance, I won't have any other ideas."

Zhang Li's words could be considered very humble, but she also knew that in the entertainment industry, the women who wanted to get into Wei Jin's bed would have to queue for several years.

Looking at the woman before him who carried a touch of regal air, Wei Jin nodded and said nothing more; it was merely an exchange of resources, and he was absolutely honest and fair to all.

That night, Zhang Li's pair of slender, beautiful legs left Wei Jin unable to stop. ——On the 12th, *The Warlords* was officially released, with box office receipts breaking ten million in 6 hours and reaching as high as 21 million on the first day, which could be considered a decent start.

According to this trend, industry insiders predicted that it would be another film to break 200 million.

However, Wei Jin knew that this was merely a flash in the pan.

The first update today, I earnestly request all readers to reward me with subscriptions, follow-up readings, and collections; you must flip to the last page for the follow-up reading, thank you everyone! (End of this chapter)