Chapter 91: Rising Storms Again (Sincere Bonus Chapter—Vote Please)

Although Fang Hong didn't take Huayi seriously, his subordinates didn't think the same way, so to stabilize morale, he held a major meeting inside the company.

Since "To Youth" had finished shooting, the production team had already returned.

The stars had all disbanded and gone their separate ways; now Yutu didn't sign stars, only behind-the-scenes production teams.

In the conference room, a long table stretched across the center, occupied by forty to fifty people.

Chen Zhixi, Yu Xian, and Meng Jun were all among the core personnel.

From the writing team: Bao Jinjin and Jiao Huajing.

Behind-the-scenes staff like Wang Ran and Liu Yin were also present.

"This blacklisting—you've all probably heard the news. Some of you may be panicking, but let me tell you."

Fang Hong stood with one hand on his hip, his posture imposing: "Huayi is a paper tiger. We have no reason to fear them. Whether they exist or not has zero impact on us and won't affect your careers."

"Yes, we dared to fight them because we prepared thoroughly," Chen Zhixi chimed in.

Although the two sometimes had disagreements, those were internal matters; with non-core staff, they had to maintain unified messaging.

If senior leadership fought among themselves now, it would be equivalent to announcing Yutu's premature death!

Everyone present knew their film had clashed fiercely with Huayi—and won.

That was why they hadn't wavered; even if they had, what could they do?

Go elsewhere—would anyone else treat them as people?

They were still small fry, just with a bit of experience, and that experience was given to them by the Principal.

"I'm not one to make big promises. I can only say that success is hard, but failure is easy—just give up."

"Everyone here basically followed me from the start. You know I never compromise and never give up. Only through setbacks do we grow," Fang Hong said.

"Principal, we've all seen how far you've come, and we all trust you. My classmates are still doing grunt work on other sets—you don't need to say so much. Just point the way and we'll get to work," Li Anran said.

He was the art director, class of 2008 at Beijing Film Academy, had only studied for two years, and later became art director for many big directors like Lao Mouzi, Ning Hao, and Liu Xun Zi Mo.

Fang Hong had begun formulating a behind-the-scenes elite strategy from the start.

So he brought in those talented behind-the-scenes people—still unknown at the time—early and trained them.

"Yes, we agreed to build a kingdom together. How can building a kingdom come without setbacks or battles? What's Huayi? I just can't stand their smug faces," Wang Ran said, visibly indignant.

"There's a line in 'The Sword Unsheathed': 'We fight the elite.' Isn't that the idea?" Liu Yin said.

"Hahaha!"

Laughter erupted in the meeting room!

With the three of them interrupting, the heavy atmosphere lightened, and morale reignited.

Right—what's Huayi?

Would they feed them and welcome them as honored guests if they left Yutu? Not likely!

They were all young, all full of fire, always wanting to accomplish great things and overturn the old order.

Since cohesion had been restored, Fang Hong said no more—too much talk invited gossip. He moved straight to concrete action.

"The New Year's coming. I don't have anything better to give you, so I've decided to give each of you a red envelope. Go home and have a good holiday."

"Wow, thank you, Principal!"

"."

Those present showed visible delight; the atmosphere grew lively.

Chen Zhixi glanced at Fang Hong—he was about to hand out red envelopes. Distributing them to this many people would cost tens of thousands.

After all, he was the General Manager—he couldn't be stingy; at least five digits per envelope!

But she said nothing. Talking nonsense was useless—money was real. Attracting a team through charisma was one thing.

In the end, it all came down to money.

The meeting ended quickly. As long as the internal team held firm, Fang Hong wasn't afraid of Huayi—he was ready to face them head-on.

From the start, he never planned to rely on external resources. He aimed to rise on his own, through his team.

Yutu Film Industry would stay busy for a while longer; after wrapping up, the whole team would take a holiday and return after the New Year.

This year's New Year came early—early February!

That day, Zhang Songwen came to visit—he'd been asked to pick up the script last time.

"I thought you weren't coming!" Fang Hong was surprised.

After their clash with Huayi, they assumed Zhang Songwen would fear for his job and avoid picking up the script.

After all, he also worked for Huayi—he'd reportedly served as an acting coach for Huayi's productions, teaching extras how to act.

He patted Zhang Songwen on the shoulder: "Come, follow me."

"I heard about it. I'm just an actor—I just want to act. If they're truly unreasonable, I can only accept it," Zhang Songwen replied.

Acting was his job—he didn't get involved in the power struggles among big shots.

"Heh, you don't get to choose which side to stand on," Fang Hong smiled.

Zhang Songwen fell silent—he understood Fang Hong's meaning.

But he had no choice: whoever gave him roles, he'd act. He'd deal with the future later.

And he knew deep down—even if he picked a side, Huayi still wouldn't give him roles. All these years, they'd never offered him a single chance.

They had more than enough actors of their own!

The door to the writing room opened; the two women's playful antics froze, and they sat down primly as if nothing had happened.

Women were always so carefree—even at a moment like this, they still had the energy to fool around.

Fang Hong acted as if he hadn't noticed and gestured for Zhang Songwen to enter: "Jiao Shimei, how's the script for 'Beijing Meets Seattle' coming along?"

He sat down on a chair and gestured for Zhang Songwen to find a seat.

The writing office had only two people, and the space was spacious with plenty of chairs.

If there's a film to shoot, directors, producers, and actors often come over to pick up scripts and discuss them.

"That script? Still being written, but my mentor is very interested—he says your script matches ideas in his head."

Jiao Huajing has a round face, somewhat cute.

Fang Hong asked curiously: "Who's your mentor?"

Earlier, he had casually tossed a plot summary to Jiao Huajing to expand and refine, preparing for next year's next film shoot.

Don't let the team sit idle—after the New Year, get back to work; struggle is the essence of life.

This film isn't for Yu Xian to act in, nor for himself to direct—it's to train other directors.

"Xue Xiaolu, Professor Xue," Jiao Huajing said.

"Then you could invite Professor Xue to join too—of course, if she's interested in directing, even better," Fang Hong said.

In his past life, Xue Xiaolu was the original director and screenwriter of Beijing Meets Seattle; she previously directed Ocean Paradise, the film starring Li Lianjie and Wen Zhang, released mid-year this year.

That Academy-type won't pay attention to Huayi.

If Xue Xiaolu directs, then follow the past trajectory and give it to her—authentic is best!

"Alright, I'll talk to him," Jiao Huajing nodded.

"How far have you gotten? This is the chosen male lead for the film—can I let him take a look?" Fang Hong pointed at Zhang Songwen.

"Sure, just the dialogue needs polishing—the story is complete. I'll print it out." Jiao Huajing operated her computer, and the printer quickly spat out several sheets.

After binding them, she handed them to Zhang Songwen and said: "Take them home to read first. When I update the second version, I'll email it to you—leave your email with me."

"Okay!" Zhang Songwen nodded.

The two chatted for a while with the two female scriptwriters, then left the script room.

Zhang Songwen flipped through the script and asked: "Has the female lead been decided yet?"

He knew the director—probably Xue Xiaolu.

Now Fang Hong tries his best to let others direct—he simply can't handle everything alone.

A company can't rely on one or two directors; it must pursue diversified development.

If you rely solely on one director, Huayi's future will be your fate.

"Not decided yet. We've sent invitations to Tang Wei, Hao Lei, Zhang Jing Chu, and a few other actresses—no one's accepted yet; you know our situation," Fang Hong explained.

These actresses all have a certain artistic vibe—whomever accepts becomes the female lead; no pickiness!

Zhang Songwen nodded, understanding, but said nothing—he thought the script was decent, but feared it might not get made.

To be chosen as male lead and then face this—how disheartening!

"Don't lose heart. The film will definitely be made—no one can stop it."

Fang Hong patted his shoulder, encouraged him, and gestured for him to go.

Actually, Gao Ye could play it too, but this woman is too young—only in her twenties, looks very youthful.

She lacks the mature womanly aura of the future sister-in-law.

And Zhang Songwen is already thirty-four—there's still a big gap.

After Zhang Songwen left, Fang Hong chatted with Chen Zhixi, planning next year's development.

Actually, there wasn't much to plan—just expand production scale and keep working hard.

Previously we could only shoot one film; next year we must be able to shoot two, three, four films simultaneously—keep strengthening our strength, building internal power.

That means hiring many more people.

"Set up the special effects team," Fang Hong brought up the topic again.

"Big brother, we can't afford it—be careful!" Chen Zhixi warned.

Expanding the production team isn't just about adding people—there are also cameras, professional equipment to buy, and that's no small sum.

They're still renting equipment because they can't afford to buy any.

And the payment for Lost in Love 33 Days hasn't come in yet—even the financial loans carry interest.

We still have to give red envelopes to every team member—these are real silver and gold!

"Just set up the framework first—not necessarily a huge scale," Fang Hong said.

He knew they couldn't afford it—even if the company kept winning until it died, it still couldn't sustain a massive special effects team, because the market wouldn't allow it—but they could start small.

Having it and not having it are two different things—he'd always planned to drain resources from overseas to rapidly grow himself.

"Alright, since you said so, I have no better idea," Chen Zhixi agreed.

Since he wanted to do it, just do it—in the big picture, this man never listened to her; he always made his own decisions.

She only executes!

After chatting with Chen Zhixi, Fang Hong went to the game studio to check the game development progress.

The game studio had changed greatly—it now had posters of various game characters on the walls, and model figures on worktables.

Some programmers operated two or three computers each; especially the sound engineers and colorists had debugging equipment alongside their computers.

It looked far more professional, with the atmosphere of actual game production.

Li Min had a separate office—he was the producer, so he deserved some special treatment.

He was looking at concept art: "The current difficulties are in coding, visual design, and sound design. You said earlier to give each character a story design, but we don't have enough staff."

"The film production side has been idle these past two days—you can ask them for help," Fang Hong said.

Visuals mean art, sound means voice acting, story means screenwriting.

Film production has all of them—no need to hire outsiders.

He asked: "How did you run short on programmers?"

Of the game development team's twenty people, most were programmers.

"The coding workload is huge—we need debugging, patching bugs, and all that requires manpower," Li Min explained.

"Then hire people—I won't worry about the money," Fang Hong said.

"We have this plan already; the maps have been designed on the computer. But simulating character movements is tricky—we're not experienced yet, so we need to work on it slowly," Li Min said.

Just copy the maps—it's simple!

Character movements must avoid stiffness; they need to be fluid, and the motion for activating skills must be adjusted gradually.

For example, some heroes attack quickly, others attack slowly; some characters leap when using skills, others roll.

Each is different—there are many detailed elements.

Anyway, the film production team has nothing to do these two days—have them assist with game development.

There's a lot of overlap between the two fields.

Of course, Fang Hong will try his best to recreate it from memory—he only sketched the appearance, not the details.

Who remembers such fine details!

On January 27, Little New Year, all staff of Yutu Film Industry took a holiday and would return to work after the New Year.

"Lost in Love 33 Days" was nearly out of theaters; its box office couldn't rise further, reaching a total of 347 million yuan, meeting the second-tier standard agreed upon with China Film Group.

Six hundred million yuan was unrealistic given the current market size and film quality.

It certainly couldn't compare to "Let the Bullets Fly"—that movie was truly amazing.

But it earned over one hundred million more than "If You Are the One 2"; this film's final box office was 220 million yuan, about 200 million less than in the original timeline.

Earning so much less, far below expectations, it was understandable that they were angry and wanted to blacklist Yutu Film Industry.

Everyone in the industry basically knew about this—it was no longer a secret, and even online bloggers had leaked that Huayi was blacklisting Yutu.

The Wangyi just enjoyed the drama—Yutu wasn't a single star but a group, so netizens couldn't identify with it.

To them, it was all capital!

After this wave of controversy slightly subsided, Liu Tianxian's scandals flared up again, even more intense than before.

The Principal looked like a dangerous man; that film starred Liu Tianxian, and she was showing signs of resurgence—who else would they target if not her?

First came "Those Years," then "Lost in Love 33 Days"—not only did they build her strong reputation, but also greatly increased her commercial value, showing signs of reversing her decline.

With her current box office power, she was trending toward ascending to the "Emperor" throne.

She alone could overshadow all female leads in the entertainment circle.

This was worse than two years ago; back then, she was merely a TV drama star, but now she was showing signs of establishing herself in the film industry.

How could the many female stars and their behind-the-scenes agencies tolerate this?

Several companies took the lead, with female stars providing support; together they pooled money and effort, and under mutual agreement, Liu Tianxian's scandals surged again.

(End of Chapter)