Chapter 292: Greedy and Insatiable

On January 25th, "Lost in Thailand" box office reached 1.27 billion, and successfully surpassed "Avatar"'s 40 million domestic film viewership.

The box office had already peaked, and in a few more days it would be taken off the screens.

The celebration banquet was held on this very day.

Choosing this date was also a convenient way to hold an annual meeting — they hadn't held one in years, so this year they'd do it.

Hold both together, save the trouble.

At a banquet hall of some five-star high-end hotel, there were many people here. Besides Jade Rabbit's main leadership and department heads, a huge crowd of stars, screenwriters, directors, and behind-the-scenes people had come.

Xu Guangtou, Wang Baoqiang, and Huang Bo — these three were definitely coming, after all they were the leads and also partners.

In addition, there were Jade Rabbit's stars: Zhang Songwen, Zhu Yilong, Li Xian, Zhao Xiaodao, Guo Jinfei, Zhou Yiwei, Xie Miao, Cai Wenjing — these stars originally signed with Jade Rabbit.

Now new stars had also been signed: Nazha, Song Jia, Bai Yu, Mao Xiaotong, and others.

Sign a few more female stars to balance things out, otherwise having all men would be too lopsided.

Chen Xiao didn't come — he had to create performance for the company.

Nazha was originally going to be signed by someone else, but was poached by Jade Rabbit's Huang Bing, who felt this girl had a future.

In the previous life, Nazha wasn't signed until the end of 2012; when filming "Xuan-Yuan Sword" she hadn't been signed yet.

Jade Rabbit compared to others — no need to even consider it, right!

All the signees were young people, after all going forward Jade Rabbit's television field was also a key development project, and the web-drama field also needed development.

So more young stars needed to be cultivated!

Besides the stars, many directors also came: Chen Sicheng, Guo Fan, Lu Yang, Wen Muye, Wang Ran, Xue Xiaolu, and others.

The screenwriting team consisted of Bao Jinjin, Zhang Disha, Jiao Huajing, Shao Yihui, and besides these, more than ten others including Deng Ke, Jiang Zhuoyuan, Zhang Ji, forming the screenwriting team.

Now that production volume had expanded, more screenwriters were definitely needed, otherwise there wouldn't be enough time.

Among them, Zhang Ji was the screenwriter of "American Dreams in China," and later "The Island" and "Leap" were also his screenplays.

Later he also became Vice Chairman of the Film Association.

Besides these screenwriters, people like Wen Muye and Xue Xiaolu also served as screenwriters part-time, and Cao Baoping also worked as a screenwriting Consultant at Jade Rabbit.

Including several professors from Beijing Film Academy's cinematography, literature, and Director Department who also served as Consultants at Jade Rabbit.

Basically, if there were problems they'd go to them; if no problems, they'd just pay some money to keep them on retainer.

Besides these people, behind-the-scenes professionals like Li Anran and Liu Yin were also present, as well as the Producer system led by Chen Zhixi and Han Jianü.

So Jade Rabbit's expenses were very large — it looked like it was making money, but actually it wasn't making much, just supporting all these behind-the-scenes people was already tough.

Which film and television company supports people the way Jade Rabbit does?

The venue was very large and luxurious, with twenty or thirty round tables set up, with drinks placed on top.

Ten people per table, just two or three hundred people. Since all these people were Jade Rabbit's main personnel, to prevent random photos being taken, security needed to be someone trustworthy — none other than Lu Dabo.

He was not only in charge of security, but also in charge of accommodation.

After eating and drinking everyone was happy, so staying one night at the hotel was perfectly normal.

At this moment the venue was full of chatter, with people gathering in small groups of two or three to chat, bursts of laughter from time to time.

Of course there were also those who didn't fit in — Nazha, dressed beautifully, stood in the crowd, neither here nor there, not knowing who to talk to.

A small transparent — right now she wasn't good at socializing yet.

The banquet hall's main door was pushed open, everyone looked over, and a group walked in from outside, led by Fang Hong.

Surrounding him were Chen Zhixi, Liu Tianxian, Xu Guangtou, Huang Bo, and others, including agents and the like.

"Director Xu's request I'll consider, but this matter we need to discuss, and after discussion is settled we'll give you an answer." Fang Hong and Xu Guangtou chatted as they walked.

The others listened on the side.

What the two of them were discussing was that Xu Guangtou wanted to raise his director fee.

Very normal — "Lost in Thailand"'s box office had suddenly jumped so high, so he wanted to raise his price.

And Jade Rabbit took 80% of the share of "Lost in Thailand," of which 20% was Xu Guangtou's and Huang Bo's — of course that was the share they divided privately among themselves.

Xu Guangtou was greedy — not only did he want to raise the price for this film, he also wanted to raise the price for the next one in the "Lost" series.

Fang Hong couldn't be bothered with him — at worst he'd shoot it himself, let Huang Bo and Wang Baoqiang pair up to film it; in the previous life didn't they change the cast?

Just like the Abortion Trilogy — let him film it to death!

Anyway, this film was originally infringing; Jade Rabbit filming it also wouldn't constitute infringement, because as one of the producers, they also held part of the copyright.

"Yes, this can be discussed slowly, no need to rush." Chen Zhixi chimed in to help.

Xu Guangtou silently nodded, not knowing the Principal's vicious thoughts.

Although the Principal often plagiarized, his business reputation had always been good — he had never withheld payment from anyone, giving whatever was agreed.

But that was all under negotiated circumstances — if you come demanding, that's breaking the rules.

This was when it was making money; if the box office was bad and losing money, wouldn't it still be Jade Rabbit taking the loss?

Fang Hong turned to Huang Bo, looked at his flashy outfit: "Looking pretty sharp today!"

"Still the Principal has sharp eyes — spotted my handsomeness at a glance." Huang Bo laughed.

The people around laughed "hehe."

The group just happened to walk into the banquet hall; Liu Tianxian saw familiar faces like Bao Jinjin and happily went off to chat with them.

And some actresses like Cai Wenjing and Zhao Xiaodao all knew Liu Tianxian.

A group of women together started chattering away.

"General Manager Fang."

"Principal!" "Director Fang!"

"."

Fang Hong nodded in acknowledgment to those greeting him — most of the people here were his core backbone members.

Including those directors and the like, actors don't even count.

Nazha looked at the man being surrounded, a worshipful gleam in her eyes, making her heart thump wildly.

A man like this had a fatal attraction for a woman like her — powerful and influential, radiating charm.

"Hey, where's our protagonist Wang Baoqiang?" Fang Hong looked around and noticed someone was missing.

"Over there." Chen Zhixi pointed from the side.

The people in front parted, revealing a line of sight, and there sat Wang Baoqiang chatting with Chen Sicheng.

The two had known each other long ago — they were good friends!

Feeling the gazes, Wang Baoqiang noticed too, and had no choice but to stand up and step forward to greet: "Principal."

He didn't spare Xu Guangtou a single glance the whole time.

Xu Guangtou's face was expressionless too, his gaze looking elsewhere, not looking at Wang Baoqiang.

"Today's your big day as the lead, why are you keeping such a low profile!" Fang Hong joked.

For the "Lost in Thailand" celebration banquet, Wang Baoqiang was also one of the leads.

"No, no, I just don't fit this kind of occasion — coming to eat and drink is enough." The current Wang Baoqiang had deep crow's feet when he smiled.

But he still had that "Shagen" air about him.

"No way, the lead has to shine. Later you'll go up and give a speech, and sing a song while you're at it — that one, 'Rich or Poor, Come Home for the New Year.'" Fang Hong said.

Everyone around burst out laughing.

Wang Baoqiang grinned too. The Principal was different from what he'd imagined — he'd thought he'd be the distant, unapproachable type, someone you had to look up to.

Mainly, he'd been filming this movie so long and never once seen the Principal in person.

Only Xu Guangtou's laugh carried a hint of awkwardness; Huang Bo noticed but said nothing — it had nothing to do with him.

"Is everyone here? If we're all here, let's get started." Fang Hong said directly.

That first line was just a casual question — whether everyone was here or not, it was starting. Who would have the nerve to make them wait for latecomers?

The on-site staff each found a seat. Up front was a stage, and behind the stage was a big screen. Cai Wenjing went up to host.

"Thank you all for coming, today—"

Fang Hong sat back down in the center seat of the front row. Liu Tianxian, after finishing her chat with Bao Jinjin and the others, also came over to sit.

"Bao Jinjin said her boyfriend is a scumbag, they're still having a falling out, hahaha." Liu Tianxian cupped her hand beside Fang Hong's ear, laughing uncontrollably.

Fang Hong looked at her, not knowing where the punchline was.

"What?" Liu Tianxian blinked her confused eyes.

"Nothing." Fang Hong said.

Probably she'd been chatting happily over there and the good mood was contagious.

Fang Hong leaned over and asked Chen Zhixi beside him in a low voice: "What's going on between Xu Guangtou and Wang Baoqiang?"

He'd just noticed something off between the two — they didn't even seem to be speaking. Probably many others had noticed too, just nobody said anything.

"Baoqiang and Xu Guangtou fell out over money." Chen Zhixi said quietly.

Huh? Liu Tianxian tilted her body over, listening to their gossip.

"What's the story?" Fang Hong asked.

"It's all about the movie 'Lost in Thailand.' When Baoqiang first took the role, he did it at a friendship price. The movie blew up, so naturally there's friction." Chen Zhixi said.

Probably felt it was unfair — and the other guy loves money.

It's hard to say who's right. Wang Baoqiang figured he was doing a favor, out of friendship — since you've made money, shouldn't you give back?

Probably when they talked back then, it was framed as a favor: you're in a tough spot, so I'll take less, help you make this movie well.

When you're struggling together, everything sounds nice.

But Xu Guangtou figured what was agreed on was what was agreed on — there's no such thing as a favor or not.

From a businessman's angle, what was agreed is what was agreed — that's not wrong. But you can't drag feelings into it; once feelings enter the picture, things get muddled.

When Fang Hong first started his business, even though he got things for free, he never played the feelings card — what was agreed was what was agreed, no more, no less.

The second time around, give more, make up for it — that's fine!

"Today Baoqiang originally didn't want to come. It was only because Chen Sicheng invited him that he came." Chen Zhixi said.

She went to invite him and couldn't budge him, but Chen Sicheng managed.

Fang Hong nodded. This had nothing to do with Yutu. When the film was being shot, Wang Baoqiang had negotiated with Xu Guangtou, not with Yutu.

Yutu was only the investor — how to cast, how to shoot was Xu Guangtou's call.

Anyway, they just didn't want to offend either side. You two having a falling out is your business — and it actually benefits Fang Hong: divide and conquer.

Fang Hong saw Liu Tianxian leaning close, listening intently: "Did you understand all that?"

"Of course I did. What's there not to understand?" Liu Tianxian said, puzzled.

"So smart — you can even understand this." Fang Hong teased.

Liu Tianxian got annoyed and punched his thigh under the table.

That was the reverse — calling her stupid!

(End of chapter)