Chapter 287: The Stars of 2007 All Tore Themselves Apart

It was clear that this so-called Harper's Bazaar Star Charity Night was not very professional.

Well, it's not that it's unprofessional—more accurately, it can't hold the stage.

In plain terms, it's just a fashion magazine that originally relied on connections and face-saving to invite familiar stars—all one big family, everyone trading favors, just having fun among themselves.

This time, it's tied to Huayi and Yi'an, two giants, and has drawn in other stars, creating a big spectacle—but now it's gotten slightly out of control.

At this stage, the editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine still holds little influence over stars.

Even if there is influence, Harper's Bazaar is merely a magazine; many stars interact with it on equal—or even superior—terms.

Everything's fine when everyone's happy, but if things go south, they won't give you a second thought.

As for big shots like Seeing Yan Li, just showing up is already a favor.

Editor Su Mang merely greets them; the real hosts for Seeing Yan Li and the others are the magazine's behind-the-scenes bosses.

And even he has people who don't take him seriously.

Aside from a few corporate figures propping up the event, media and film figures like Seeing Yan Li hold far more relevant resources—they just haven't touched or deeply cultivated this area.

It's unclear what Wang Zhongjun thinks, but for Seeing Yan Li, the reason he came this time is twofold.

First, charity—public exposure for such public welfare events is never excessive; second, to promote the duo Bing before the filming of Painted Skin.

Stir up buzz around the duo Bing, then smoothly transition into the upcoming launch of Painted Skin.

As for exactly how to stir it up, the duo Bing don't need to act much—just appearing together in normal state is enough for media and teams to run wild.

Besides the duo Bing, Seeing Yan Li also intends to elevate Deng Chao this time.

"Liu Zong, isn't there a celebrity group photo segment?"

Liu, the boss of Harper's Bazaar, didn't understand, but he knew Seeing Yan Li had something to say, so he asked directly.

"What suggestion does President Yan have?"

"Suggestions are too strong—just a thought, Liu Zong, consider it."

Seeing Yan Li smiled: "I think your group photo segment isn't formal enough—it's a bit chaotic. You should pick a few more substantial figures to go up together and promote charity."

"For example, the Four Dan and Two Bing—Xiao Ming, Deng Chao, Da Wei—all top mainland heartthrobs—gathered together would be a highlight for our charity night."

Wang Zhongjun glanced at Seeing Yan Li; as Huayi's leader, he caught the implication immediately.

These people already have connections; appearing together is a unified showcase.

Then each team will hype it, lock in the event, steer the narrative, and turn them into the hottest names on the mainland.

This benefits the artists, but benefits some even more—like Deng Chao, who's being fully elevated.

Not only is he trying to ride on Huang Xiao Ming's coattails—he's trying to ride the entire Four Dan and Two Bing?!

Wang Zhongjun said calmly: "These people are too few. Why not add Lin Xinru and You Peng? Six women, four men—perfect."

Elevating Deng Chao is fine, but Huayi must take the lion's share.

Seeing Yan Li looked at him: "You think only Huayi has talent? Our company has Zhang Zhilin, Wang Ou, Qiao Zhenyu—all qualified—and Chen Kun, Lu Yi, Sun Li too. Bundle them all up and send them on stage, Wang Zong. Rarity equals value; too many loses worth."

Wang Zhongjun was dissatisfied, and spoke plainly: "Isn't Deng Chao a bit low in fame?"

Seeing Yan Li didn't back down: "That's why Huayi takes the big share—three slots for Zhou, Li, Huang; we get two at Yi'an."

"We have more people, so you benefit more from riding our fame."

"The buzz is lively—don't you benefit the most?"

"Tong Dawei's relationship with you is good, isn't he essentially your Yi'an person?"

"Then again, Huayi was Tong Dawei's original agency."

They clashed fiercely—Wang Zhongjun wanted to push more Huayi artists on stage; Seeing Yan Li refused.

Fat Fatty stepped in to mediate: "Wang Zong, Yan Zong, the Four Dan and Two Bing and the Four Big Bros are all familiar to the public—adding people last-minute won't work well."

"Everyone's friends, everyone benefits. Don't count who gets more or less—we'll have plenty more collaborations."

Wang Zhongjun hesitated, then set a condition: "The male lead must be Xiao Ming."

Who leads the Four Dan and Two Bing? Hard to decide—and Huayi has two, so picking either is awkward; better to ignore it.

But Huang Xiao Ming, as the most popular male star, must claim center stage.

Seeing Yan Li agreed—this time he was helping Deng Chao rise, Huayi had conceded, so he wouldn't press further.

Though his goal is for Deng Chao to claim the title of mainland's top young male actor, at this stage Deng Chao started late—he must first secure his place among the Four Big Bros.

Seeing Yan Li and Wang Zhongjun reached an agreement; Liu, the boss, immediately contacted Su Mang to adjust the segment.

With Huayi and Yi'an finalized, their people were no problem; Tong Dawei would help too. Whether Zhang Ziyi and Xiao Yanzi would show up depended on Su Mang's outreach.

But it wasn't a big issue—if they refused, just replace them.

If such a grand scene were staged, whoever didn't show up would be the one embarrassed—the Four Dan and Two Bing can't be swapped, but the Four Dan? No rule says they can't be replaced.

Su Mang went to make calls; Seeing Yan Li and Wang Zhongjun, reversing their earlier tension, chatted cheerfully again.

Over the past year, Huayi's strategy has shifted: in film, they've focused almost entirely on Assembly, plus two low-budget projects.

But while their film strategy has tightened, in artist management and TV dramas they've moved boldly.

They're aggressively signing talent and heavily investing in TV drama production; according to Seeing Yan Li's knowledge, using the studio-plus-outside-investment model, they already have over ten projects either in production or scheduled for next year.

On paper, Huayi has become a TV drama powerhouse rivaling Yi'an and Hai Run.

Huayi's reason for investing in TV dramas is simple: expand influence, absorb talent, and make profits.

Making profits from films is far too risky!

Huayi currently has only Feng Xiaogang as a stable money-maker; relying solely on Feng Xiaogang for films means Huayi can't go public, and such heavy dependence on one person hurts stock value.

That's why Huayi is aggressively entering the TV drama market.

How much actual profit they'll make is uncertain, but at least the momentum is strong, they can earn money, and the company's overall profit model is relatively balanced.

Seeing Yan Li and Wang Zhongjun discussed Huayi's TV drama distribution cooperation—Huayi would never hand over all distribution to Yi'an, lest they become dependent.

But for individual high-profit projects, letting Yi'an handle distribution could earn more money, and Huayi doesn't object.

But with this method, Huayi clearly gains the advantage; Yi'an, holding the initiative in distribution, naturally seizes the chance to extract some benefits.

If investment is possible, best; if not, arrange a few roles, or at least fight for Huo Siyan.

Last time, forcing "The Deer and the Cauldron" to cast Huo Siyan gave Seeing Yan Li a different feeling.

Sleeping with Huayi, paying with Huayi's resources, Huo Siyan shoots their dramas yet thanks herself the most—it carries an NTR thrill.

Moreover, this method is safer: allocating company resources to a few women, even fools can see Seeing Yan Li is involved with them.

Seeing Yan Li isn't afraid, but he can avoid unnecessary trouble and gain some peace.

Besides cooperation, they also discussed how some projects operate.

Huayi has money, but absolutely cannot sustain such a setup, nor dare to—otherwise, if the capital chain breaks, the Wang brothers will be left fuming.

So Huayi's TV project operations are roughly what Seeing Yan Li previously estimated.

Huayi provides channels, artists, branding, and a small portion of investment; most project managers still must seek external funding, even resorting to presales.

In short, first approach TV stations, secure a portion of advance payment, then use that money to shoot the drama.

This practice isn't rare in the industry, but TV stations aren't fools—trying this inevitably leads to price suppression, and not every project can get TV stations to pay upfront.

Huayi can scale this widely, entirely because of its brand prestige.

After all, it's a big company; no matter what, there's no fear of the crew failing to deliver the drama or fleeing.

But this approach, while solving funding issues, sacrifices the crew's future profits to some extent.

Meanwhile, using the company's brand as collateral carries significant risk.

If several projects fail or suffer consecutive flops, it severely damages the company's reputation, causing partners and TV stations to change their attitudes.

In short, this is exhausting the company's potential for expansion.

Artist management operates this way; TV drama business operates this way—so long as the financial reports look good and listing is achievable, the hidden dangers and costs can be dealt with later.

As always, if problems arise, all shareholders and stockholders of the company pay the price together.

Seeing Yan Li sometimes reflects: no wonder Huayi grows so fast—these two brothers sometimes truly lack humanity.

Companies like Seeing Yan Li's Yi'an or Hai Run, traditional film studios, are cautious, mindful of their principles, and reluctant to squander the reputation and brand built film by film.

In business, low and high ethical bars each have advantages, but for speed of listing, lower bars make operations easier.

Yu Pangzi, beside him, was wide-eyed, but Bonar's projects revolve around films, with no energy to touch TV dramas.

Film and TV drama business logic differ; he could only borrow a few ideas, unable to replicate them.

As they chatted, the charity night finally began.

Su Mang took the stage to speak, followed by host Ke Lan and Wu Dawei.

Speaking of Wu Dawei, rumors had surfaced that he had politely kissed Xiao Yanzi; just now, Seeing Yan Li noticed no interaction between them.

The host took the stage, invited a few guests to interact, specifically mentioned sponsors, then began the auction.

Called an auction, but there were actually few auction items.

Most people came merely to show support—they wouldn't spend money; too many items would lead to unsold lots, so auction items and confirmed bidders had preliminary discussions.

This ensured the auction wouldn't go cold, avoided vicious bidding wars, and allowed willing buyers to acquire items and gain visibility at fair prices.

"Gentlemen, I've made arrangements—today's top bidder is mine, don't compete."

Yu Pangzi greeted Wang Zhongjun and Seeing Yan Li.

Huayi and Yi'an were there to show support, bringing a large group of artists; their own artists would also bid, so during the auction, they merely made token bids. Yu Pangzi brought no one, wanted visibility, so he had to spend money.

Wang Zhongjun nodded; Seeing Yan Li smiled: "I'll help you raise the price, contribute more to charity."

"Just a little raise, little raise—I'll give you a signal."

Auctions still require some price-raising; otherwise, it's too fake, the money spent feels hollow. Ordinary artists dare not compete with him; other entrepreneurs risk disputes or bidding too high.

Seeing Yan Li's cooperation provides both publicity and control.

As they spoke, the first auction item ended—a branded wristwatch worth 300,000, bid by Zhang Lan, owner of Qiao Jiangnan.

Seeing Yan Li had some memory of him; they'd exchanged a few words earlier, so he curiously asked Yu Pangzi.

"Feels like this guy is very flamboyant."

Catering is a physical industry; few like Zhang Lan, who is so conspicuous and closely linked to media and entertainment.

"Rumors say Qiao Jiangnan wants to go public; they specialize in premium cuisine, opened lounges, entered the high-end business leisure sector—just to build their name and advertise."

Yu Pangzi didn't know him well, but Wang Zhongjun did—he'd visited Zhang Lan's lounge and explained the situation.

Seeing Yan Li understood; Yu Pangzi added: "Spend some money, get advertising, gain attention—two birds with one stone."

"Mm."

Seeing Yan Li realized he needed to adjust his thinking: many low-key industrialists exist, but so do many who crave fame and visibility.

Like Wang Shi, mentioned earlier, he's so active he hardly seems like a businessman; other real estate tycoons also enjoy interviews and even surf blogs.

With no lack of profit, they seek fame—and it benefits their businesses.

There were such people before, but limited by media, they could only appear in newspapers and TV, gaining little recognition.

Now, with the internet and entertainment industry growing, more and more 【celebrities】 will emerge.

Even Seeing Yan Li himself has played a significant role in this wave.

He combined fame and business so well, reaped great profits, naturally inspiring other entrepreneurs and bosses to imitate him.

Zhang Lan is flamboyant, but others aren't—two entrepreneurs only revealed their surnames, not even their names, didn't appear on stage, instead asked favored stars to accept the items for them.

Auction items costing 100,000 or more, often hundreds of thousands, are indeed a heavy burden for most stars present.

Many earn only a few hundred thousand a year, even less; spending a fraction of their annual income just for visibility is pure foolishness.

So most auction items are still bought by entrepreneurs; few stars spend money.

Huang Xiaoming and Li Xiang jointly bid 300,000 for a wristwatch; host Yang Lan bid 400,000 for a necklace.

Beyond that, silence persisted; many turned their gaze toward the table of the Four Dan and Twin Bing.

In terms of celebrity income, the few of them are in the top tier of the mainland; last year several ranked in the top ten of the Forbes income list, so if money is to be put up, it can only come from them.

The few of them knew it in their hearts, and had even prepared themselves; they were just waiting for the other party.

Young Master Zhou was the most composed — she didn't need to put up money today, but would go on stage to perform, and when the time came someone would auction it off; it counted as a charity performance.

Xiao Yanzi narrowed her eyes, considering whether to make a move.

These past two years, because of various storms and considering a career shift to study directing at Beijing Film Academy and other reasons, she had been keeping a low profile; this time she was relatively harmonious with the others — should she wade into these troubled waters?

Fan Xiaopang and Li Bingbing exchanged a glance — the two of them were definitely going to bid; best to cross swords a little, bring some gunpowder, otherwise if the media only dug up the details it would be hard to write up.

Zhang Ziyi's gaze swept imperiously; before coming she had already arranged things with Su Mang, today was half her home turf — after the bidding, who but her?

In the brewing stage of the Four Dan and Two Bing, they had not yet made their move; Tong Dawei and Deng Chao at some unknown point had joined hands, and for 350,000 yuan had auctioned off a designer travel bag.

The reason the two of them had shed this blood was because Huang Xiaoming had put up money.

Huang Xiaoming put up money while they didn't — how could they be mentioned in the same breath?

Anyway, Huang Xiaoming had also joined forces with someone else to bid; the two of them would join forces too — just a little over a hundred thousand each, an amount they could afford.

The three top leading men had all dug into their pockets, and also sounded the clarion call for the Four Dan and Two Bing.