Chapter 409: New Script, ByteDance, Tit-for-Tat

Shanhe Building, inside the Chairman's office.

Wei Jin looked at the script Lu Yang had chosen, the expression on his face somewhat strange.

"This is what you meticulously selected? Why this one?"

This guy had promised to rest for two days, but ended up lying around for over ten, and the script he chose was completely beyond Wei Jin's expectations.

"Senior Brother, you know, I've always had a martial arts dream."

"But this doesn't really have anything to do with martial arts, does it? Even if it's called 'Kung Fu Jungle'."

To tell the truth, Wei Jin really hadn't expected Lu Yang to choose this script.

It was one of a pile of scripts he had written down all at once when he first arrived in this world, fearing he wouldn't be able to remember things in his head, without caring about box office or word-of-mouth; these had been gathering dust in the script library all these years.

How to put it, in Wei Jin's impression, Wang Baoqiang was very impressive, the fight scenes were great, Bai Bin was very charming, and as for the box office, he had absolutely no idea.

"Senior Brother, traditional costume martial arts films really aren't doing well now. This one of yours, which talks about the modern martial arts world, is actually quite interesting. If this villain Feng Yuxiu were in ancient times, he would definitely be a martial arts fanatic at the level of a Grandmaster. That line, 'To determine the superior, and also to decide life and death,' is just so flavorful."

When talking about this topic, Lu Yang was eloquent; he was clearly really fond of it.

"Fine, fine, fine. If you like it, then shoot it. But this script still has some problems; it needs to be revised again."

Nowadays, after seven or eight years of advanced study, Wei Jin wouldn't dare say he was truly a gold-medal screenwriter, but he still had an eye for it. This initial original script still had some flaws.

"Hehe, Senior Brother, I'll have to trouble you with this then."

Watching this kid's brazen attitude, Wei Jin didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Fine, I'll spend some time later to fix it up. You have time to think about the casting issues."

"Mm, Senior Brother, do you have any suggestions?"

"For this Feng Yuxiu, I think Wang Baoqiang is good. As for the Junior Sister, Bai Bin. You can ponder the rest yourself."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yang pondered in his mind. Bai Bin was Wei Jin's Assistant and also an artist at the company; her image was quite suitable. As for Wang Baoqiang, he hadn't collaborated with him yet.

"Does this Wang Baoqiang have a martial arts background?"

"Hey, and you have the nerve to call yourself a martial arts fan? You don't even know the action actors in the circle. Baoqiang studied at Shaolin for 6 years. I wouldn't dare say if he has real Kung Fu, but action films are definitely no problem for him."

Lu Yang scratched his head, "Alright then, I'll ponder the rest. So, the script is left to you, Senior Brother?"

"Mm, that's it. Get lost now."

Waving his hand to dismiss Lu Yang, Wei Jin picked up the script on the table and began to flip through it.

Soon, Wei Jin began to make revisions, this time focusing his efforts on the plot structure.

He needed to ensure the logic was clear and the storytelling strong, while also maintaining the characteristics of the original characters to avoid the figures failing to stand on their own, resulting in a top-heavy situation with unreasonable motivations.

Because it was a revision, the progress was quite fast. After a morning passed, Wei Jin looked at the freshly baked script in his hand and nodded with satisfaction.

Putting down the script, Wei Jin fell into deep thought.

This year's project for Golden Harvest hadn't been decided yet, and because of the subject matter limitations of this script, it had to be filmed in Hong Kong, so it could be handed over to Shi Nansheng to take charge.

Thinking of this, Wei Jin picked up the phone and dialed. As Wei Jin expected, although the production company had changed, that film "Special Identity" still ran into trouble.

The crew had issued an announcement a few days ago.

"Since the film started shooting, Mr. Zhao Wenzhuo's creative philosophy has been incompatible with the crew's. After days of discussion and friendly negotiation between both parties, both sides have decided to terminate their cooperation."

But at that time, the news didn't attract much attention in Mainland China; after all, the Stabbing Sect incident was in full swing, and even Zhao Wenzhuo himself didn't express anything.

It wasn't until these past two days that the Hong Kong media seemed to have investigated and reached a final conclusion, reporting on it on a large scale.

"Mainland actor Zhao Wenzhuo acts like a diva on set, bringing 7 assistants with him and demanding to stay in the presidential suite."

"Zhao Wenzhuo has no professional ethics; he has been in the crew for over ten days, but the number of days he actually worked can be counted on one's fingers, leading to slow shooting progress and causing major losses."

Facing this situation, Zhao Wenzhuo couldn't sit still and held a press conference in Beijing with his lawyer.

He and his lawyer refuted the "crimes" stated to the media one by one.

"I refused to work because the script provided by the crew was completely different from the one when I signed the contract. My scenes were drastically cut. I protested several times, but there was still no result. It was clearly a dual-male lead script, yet I became a supporting actor..."

"As for terminating the contract with the crew, I had no idea at all. The crew unilaterally notified me that the contract was terminated, and the reason was actually that the budget was seriously overspent..."

"For a film with a 200 million investment, the charge of serious budget overspending could never be placed on me, right? I can't bear that burden."

"As for whether there was an overspend, I estimate there probably was, but where did the money go? Only the crew knows; the investors might not even be clear."

Regarding Zhao Wenzhuo's words, netizens had something to say.

"Don't even say it, with that attitude of Ju Li's Yang Zi, maybe it's another 200 million brag."

"Is there a possibility that Ju Li has no money, and then found Zhao Wenzhuo to be the scapegoat?"

"Yang Zi is an idiot. Every crew has problems; he should reflect on his own issues."

Looking at the netizens' divine guesses, Wei Jin was also completely bewildered.

In his past life, the "Zhen-Zhao Dispute" turned into a Rashomon-style mystery with no conclusion. This time, with Ju Li involved, it was an even bigger mess; he could only watch it for fun.

There were quite a few films released in early March, but almost all of them were low-budget films.

Among the crowd of films, "A Simple Life" was a runaway success. After the first four days of the weekend, it raked in 41 million at the box office, already exceeding the total box office of all of Xu Anhua's films in Mainland China.

By comparison, the other films were simply too miserable to look at.

The promotion for the upcoming "Ex Machina" had also reached its final stage.

Guo Fan hadn't missed a single one of the popular variety shows in the country that were worth mentioning.

There was no help for it; although the cost of "Ex Machina" was only 10 million, the director was unknown, and the cast was unremarkable, the resources of the two major production companies, Shanhe Media and Enlight Media, were too good, which made many small production companies envious to the point of red eyes.

Regarding the box office of this film, Wei Jin didn't have high expectations; it was originally just a practice piece for Guo Fan.

Outside, the matter of "Special Identity" was still fermenting.

In response to Zhao Wenzhuo's various rebuttals, the crew also gave their explanation.

"Mr. Donnie Yen, as the action director and producer of the crew, believes that the moderate modifications to the action scenes are reasonable. As an actor, Mr. Zhao Wenzhuo surely understands the principle that everything serves the film, right? By using this as a reason to strike, has he discarded basic professional ethics?"

This statement was indeed impeccable, but by not discussing the contract, it seemed a bit like avoiding the important and dwelling on the trivial.

The casting for "Shendu Longwang" had begun.

As the new work of a director who has recently reached the 1-billion-box-office mark, and as a project with an investment of over 100 million, there were quite a lot of people coming to audition.

Wei Jin took some time to go to the scene to take a look, and surprisingly ran into Wang Jinhua, who was leading a slightly shy-looking youth behind her.

"President Wei, let me introduce you. This is my son. I brought him over to let Director Xu take a look and see if there are any suitable roles."

Wang Jinhua introduced him with a smile, then looked at her son. Seeing the latter staring at Wei Jin in a daze, she tugged at his sleeve, "President Wei, this child is a fan of yours; he's being a bit impolite."

Dong Zijian reacted instantly, his face turning beet red, "President Wei, hello. You can call me Little Dong or Zijian."

"Mm, hello. Still in school, right?"

Facing Wei Jin's inquiry, Dong Zijian was as well-behaved as a little lamb.

"Yes, I'm in my third year of high school this year."

"Mm, alright. Perform well later."

To be honest, Wei Jin didn't know what kind of role Wang Jinhua had brought him to audition for. He was just a high school student with no acting skills to speak of; as long as Xu Laoguai wasn't brain-damaged, he would absolutely not make things difficult for himself.

However, there were quite a lot of bit parts with screen time and lines in *Shendu Longwang*, so building up a resume for a newcomer like Dong Zijian wasn't bad.

After chatting for a while, Wei Jin spoke a few more words with some actors he was familiar with, then turned and left with his Assistant.

Returning to the office, Wei Jin smiled as he watched Huang Mengying looking as if she had something to say but was holding back.

"What's wrong? Envious?"

"Boss, it's not exactly envy; it's just that I'm struck by how important having a good background is."

Wei Jin nodded to show he understood. He had just heard Wang Jinhua say that her son had already secured a film contract for a movie called *Young Style*.

By comparison, Huang Mengying, who came from the professional training of the Beijing Film Academy, still had to take a circuitous route, so naturally, she had some feelings about it now.

To be fair, although Wang Jinhua, this former gold-medal Agent, had declined, relying on the big stars under her and the connections she had cultivated over the years, the resources she had in the circle were truly not something an ordinary person could compare to.

Not to mention anything else, many of those big stars were guests for the art exams at the Central Academy of Drama and the Beijing Film Academy every year; as long as Dong Zijian wanted to, entering either of the two major institutions was almost effortless.

With Wang Jinhua paving the way, even if Dong Zijian were a pig, he would likely be able to take flight; one can only say that being born into the right family is truly important.

"Alright, don't dwell on it. When you graduate, you will have everything."

Wei Jin reached out and pulled the girl onto his lap; he didn't plan on changing his Assistant in the short term.

"Mm, I'll listen to everything the Boss says."

Huang Mengying naturally wouldn't worry about being treated unfairly; the examples of several predecessors were right there. Thinking about it, it would only be about a year or so; she could afford to wait.

Just as she was about to provide high-quality service to her Boss, the phone rang abruptly.

Looking at the caller ID, Wei Jin's pupils constricted. It was actually Xiang Wenlong. Could it be? "Hello, Wenlong?"

"President Wei, the matter with Zhang Yiming has been settled."

Hanging up the phone, a rare trace of joy appeared on Wei Jin's face.

As a transmigrator, Wei Jin naturally wouldn't miss out on the super cash cow that was ByteDance. As early as the year before last, he had arranged for his investment company to make contact with Zhang Yiming.

It was just that at that time, Zhang Yiming was still at 99fang and had no thoughts of starting a business again.

It wasn't until the end of last year that Zhang Yiming resigned from 99fang and established his own startup Studio.

Before the New Year, the investment company made contact with him again, and after nearly two months of negotiations, they finally secured 35% of the shares and obtained the right of first refusal for subsequent investments.

Come to think of it, the investment company had already laid out quite a few industries over these years, such as JD, Meituan, Zhihu, and so on.

Among them, JD's current valuation had already exceeded 6 billion USD, and even after the dilution from multiple rounds of financing over these years, Qingtian Capital still held over 22% of the shares.

But compared to those that had little connection to the cultural and entertainment industry, ByteDance undoubtedly made Wei Jin even more excited.

After all, the nature of ByteDance's new media matrix would provide a powerful moat for Shanhe Media in the future; Wei Jin had finally completed the last piece of the puzzle for his cultural and entertainment empire.

At this thought, Wei Jin was in high spirits and reached out to pull his Assistant over. Right there in the office, he got busy. With the timely follow-up from Mainland China media, the matter of *Special Identity* was becoming a bigger and bigger mess.

If it had previously just been a dispute between Zhao Wenzhuo and the production crew, then as the former posted a statement pointing directly at the mastermind behind the scenes, the battle began to escalate.

"I want to say that the one truly acting like a big shot isn't me, it's Zhen Zidan. He kept modifying the script without seeking my opinion and kicked me out of the production crew."

"Zhen Zidan caused the crew to stop work for ten days, resulting in losses of over ten million, but he shifted the responsibility onto me, causing my reputation to be damaged."

Zhen Zidan responded to this matter head-on for the first time.

"I was the one who invited him at the beginning, but I didn't expect his character to be so poor. I regret it very much now, but an actor like him who doesn't cooperate with the crew and has no professional ethics will definitely not have any directors looking for him to film in the future."

But what no one expected was that the slap in the face came so quickly. Only a few hours later, Liang Bojian, the director of the *Dawangdang* crew, stood up for Zhao Wenzhuo on Weibo.

"The professional spirit Wenzhuo showed in *Dawangdang* and his cooperative attitude toward the crew were there for all to see."

Once the Weibo post was out, the Mainland China media were collectively excited. This was the first director in the circle to speak out, and he was even a Hong Kong director. Did this mean there were really many unknown sordid details behind this incident?

For a time, the media were like cats that had smelled blood, frantically digging and reporting.

Zhao Wenzhuo was indeed very tough; he didn't turn away any media interviews and threw out one piece of evidence after another.

This included the call sheets after joining the crew, the times work started and ended, the original draft of the script, the photographer's shooting schedule, and so on, and he stated without flinching:

"I didn't go on strike; he was the one who violated the contract and wantonly deleted my scenes. Other actors in the crew who were bullied didn't dare to speak up for fear of being blacklisted, but I'm not afraid. At worst, I'll just stop working in this industry."

Zhen Zidan then forwarded a netizen's comment, "There is a reason why a petty person can never achieve great things," and then added a sentence.

"Very disappointed, heartbroken but unshaken. Continuing to film today, and I will film even better. I've been in the industry for so many years, what kind of storms haven't I seen?"

Watching Zhen and Zhao go head-to-head, the media were as happy as if it were the New Year. Every actor, artist, and crew that had worked with the two were all being blocked for interviews.

At this point, the incident began to expand rapidly, from the two parties involved to the production crew, and then expanded to the entire film and television circle of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China. (End of chapter)