Chapter 319: All Four Families Must Be Controlled, Not One Less

"So, is there a possibility that I am the producer of this album?"

Facing Jiang Wen's unmasked smile, Zhou Yi put down his teacup, shrugged, raised his eyes to meet his gaze, and teased with a smile.

Unlike films where the director is in charge, although MVs carry the nickname "music films," ultimately, the expression of the MV theme still depends on the album producer's intent.

If film is the director's art, then an MV is actually the singer-producer's art; the director is nominally just a tool-person responsible for helping with the visuals.

This is also why many singers take on the role of MV director themselves, because they want to express the feeling contained within the song.

"If you talk like that, it loses its meaning."

Unconcerned, Jiang Wen raised his hand to pour tea for him again, shook the watch on his wrist, and pointed his right thumb at himself: "You know my personality, little brother. If we're going to do it, we must strive for perfection.

"Otherwise, outsiders will laugh at me, asking how Jiang Wen has changed so much in a few months. Unless you say you won't let me direct, only let me act, then I have nothing to say."

"Hiss, Brother Jiang, if you hadn't mentioned it, I'd almost forgotten. Who was the director the company found for me?"

Zhou Yi, not buying it, rubbed his chin with one hand, raised his head slightly, and pretended to ponder: "If I recall correctly, I think his name was Ning Hao?"

"..."

Jiang Wen chuckled silently, lowered his head, and took a sip of tea: "I say, Boss Zhou, this is your life's work. Can you really bear to see it ruined because of some flaws in the details?

"You don't want to wait until later to regret it, feeling that these four MVs, which should have been perfect, became imperfect just because of some details that could have been improved, do you?"

Seeing Zhou Yi starting to show signs of being slippery, Jiang Wen immediately began his earnest persuasion—

In one sentence: Dear Zhou Yi, you don't want your MV to be "immortalized" because of someone else's obviously shoddy acting, do you?

"You are an international superstar now; an international superstar must look the part. Otherwise, how will others see you when this gets out, right?"

Regarding the act of flattering others, Jiang Wen was always adept at it; in a single breath, he managed not to say a single repeated thing: "Do you know how my foreign friends talk about you when they chat with me?

"They all say you're awesome, truly fucking awesome. A Chinese person singing an English song becoming so popular in the Western world—you are this."

Jiang Wen raised his thumb.

To get Zhou Yi to accept his coaching in front of the camera, he really put in a lot of effort, throwing compliments at Zhou Yi's head as if they were free.

In his own words—damn it, I've rewritten the scripts for four MVs over twenty times, following the same approach as when I rewrite movie scripts; I have to rub Zhou Yi hard during filming to let him experience what striving for perfection means!

Since achieving fame and success, Jiang Wen had never endured such torment!

"Praise me more, I love hearing it."

Zhou Yi, smiling, said noncommittally: "Has the specific shooting date been set?"

"Starting August 15th. Your red-haired confidante returns from the US on the 13th, perfect."

As the director with actual authority, Jiang Wen set the date without any sense of awkwardness: "However, won't this delay your concert tour?"

"Brother Jiang, you might not be very familiar with the domestic concert market. My concerts will span at least a year; there will be no delay."

Zhou Yi waved his hand unconcernedly: "One and a half months per city; covering eight cities in over a year would be good enough. The time in between will also allow me to do other work. By the time the album is released, I can promote the new album while holding concerts."

Holding concerts on the mainland now, aside from venue application and security issues, the money in fans' pockets is also a serious problem to consider; in fact, this problem is the top priority.

Although, as things stand now, he doesn't need to cooperate with phone operators to sell cards and give away tickets, after all, a large portion of his base consists of young fans who find it very difficult to continuously pull out hundreds, thousands, or even several thousand yuan to support concert tickets.

The show in the Imperial Capital has the added gimmick factor, plus the city is indeed developed, with many wealthy children. Subsequently, at most the shows in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou might see situations like the Imperial Capital show.

Unlike Brother Wuying.

The reason Jacky Cheung had the guts to hold a world tour this year, and one that started with 45 shows, was that his fans from back then had grown up; at the very least, they had earned money in their pockets.

"Oh, by the way, there's one more thing. Little brother, are you very familiar with Fan Bingbin? The director of a film I'm involved with wants to ask if she has availability."

After confirming the two main matters of the start date and character finalization, Jiang Wen finally started chatting: "The movie is called 'Green Tea'. Originally, the director planned to use Xiao Yanzi. But recently, Fan Bingbin, thanks to your 'Baby', is said to have become so popular abroad that she's been showing her face, so they decided to ask about her availability."

Saying this, Jiang Wen handed Zhou Yi a business card: "If that Fan Bingbin is interested, she can come for an audition. The male lead of this drama is me. It counts as the first urban film I've acted in after being banned from directing; it's an art film."

"An art film?"

Thirty minutes later, Imperial Capital, Fan Bingbin's home.

The woman who was removing her makeup received Zhou Yi's call; her originally leisurely tone immediately became somewhat formal: "Whoa, I can try."

Fan Bingbin, who had not shown any trend of turning dark under Zhou Yi's sudden emergence, still retained a sacred longing for art films, always feeling that her career would lack something if she didn't make an art film.

Of course, for her, what was even more satisfying was that this role was competing against Xiao Yanzi.

Back then, the suddenly emerged Xiao Yanzi almost suffocated her and Lin Xinru. Now, after experiencing a series of storms, she, the "maid" of that year, was actually turning the tables to sit at the same table as Xiao Yanzi; how could this not make Fan Bingbin feel proud inside?

Upon hearing this news, Xiao Yanzi was so angry she almost threw her phone.

"On what grounds?! Does she have the acting skills to carry an art film? She just got lucky with Zhou Yi and showed her face internationally!"

Xiao Yanzi, whose popularity had plummeted due to the storms at the end of last year, was extremely resentful, gnashing her teeth in anger: "Truly fucking lucky to step on dog shit."

"It's not just the film 'Green Tea'; there are also 'Hero', 'The Lost Goddess', and Wong Kar-wai's '2046'. Her agent is also fighting for her on these three."

"..."

One sentence from the sister-in-law directly silenced Xiao Yanzi.

The reason was nothing else; it was simply because these four films were all movies she was competing for.

Rebellious, rebellious! Jin Suo, you maid, how dare you bite the hand that feeds you!

"Is our chance of winning high?"

After a moment of silence, Xiao Yanzi painfully spat out these few words from between her lips: "My contract with Qiong Yao has nearly half a year left. If they really don't want me to leave, they should try their best, right? Qiong Yao's influence should still be there, right?"

"Honestly, the hope is not great."

The sister-in-law, who had always been handling various matters for Xiao Yanzi, sighed: "Your popularity has plummeted due to the scandal, but Fan Bingbin's popularity has soared thanks to Zhou Yi. Whether it's fame, image, or acting skills, she is more positive.

"Most importantly, Qiong Yao's influence on the mainland and in Hong Kong dropped significantly after she dared not tear up with Zhou Yi back then. I feel that after your contract expires at the end of the year, you absolutely cannot renew with Qiong Yao."

"..."

Facing the sister-in-law's earnest persuasion, Xiao Yanzi, who had actually been hesitating in her heart, finally confirmed her determination to completely leave Qiong Yao's company: "Sister-in-law, help me try to see if I can invite a song from Zhou Yi?"

As an actor, singer, and film star, Zhao Wei had always released albums, from Ke Ren Records under Qiong Yao at the beginning to Avex Records now; it's just that sales were always lukewarm.

Considering Zhou Yi's ability to turn stone into gold, it was hard for her not to be envious.

Fan Bingbin, after attaching herself to Zhou Yi like a maid, was almost equivalent to swapping a bird gun for a cannon; her fame skyrocketed, and who in the industry didn't envy the 'Baby' MV?

"I'll do my best, but from the looks of it, aside from brands paying him to write jingles, Zhou Yi generally only writes songs for people he's close with. Why don't you try to get to know him better in the future?"

Zhou Yi has been in the industry for so long that his patterns for writing songs are basically visible.

Most importantly, Zhou Yi's value has skyrocketed; he might really look down on the small money from just writing songs.

……………………

"If he looks down on it, then learn from Coca-Cola: directly offer Zhou Yi a contract to endorse QQ, and then ask him to write a jingle for QQ."

Shenzhen, a certain Penguin headquarters.

Little Ma, equally envious of the massive traffic Zhou Yi possessed, waved his hand domineeringly: "There are still some competitors in the market, and QQ's reputation hasn't fully spread yet. Zhou Yi's heat is exactly what we need."

Sohu didn't sign a contract for instant messaging software; this vacancy is perfectly suited for him to fill.

Isn't it just money? After his financing, the one thing he lacks least is money; every day he thinks of various ways to promote QQ's user base.

Not utilizing Zhou Yi's current cliff-like international superstar heat would simply be an insult to an internet company's nose.

And sharing the same nose as Little Ma is Ding Lei, who regained full control after NetEase drove out the former CEO—

In the desperate situation where the stock price was on the verge of delisting, after going all-in by launching the game "A Chinese Odyssey Online 2," Ding Lei directly set his sights on Elva Hsiao, who was equally popular domestically and had not yet signed any portal website or game endorsement contracts.

"First: Elva Hsiao has high popularity; on the mainland, she can be said to be the young female singer second only to Sun Yanzi;

"Second: She has a close relationship with Zhou Yi. We can emulate Sina's operation of signing Sun Yanzi and sign Elva Hsiao as well, which would also allow us to eat into Zhou Yi's traffic benefits.

"Finally, she isn't as expensive as Zhou Yi."

At an internal NetEase meeting, Ding Lei emphasized his opinion once more.

With NetEase's current meager assets, let alone hiring Zhou Yi for an endorsement, it's likely that if Zhou Yi worked for two more years, he could acquire NetEase outright; spending a few million or ten million RMB to sign Elva Hsiao, who has equally high popularity, can be said to be the top choice for cost-performance.

"Tencent, with its deep pockets, directly opened a five-year endorsement fee of 45 million, and they want you to write a jingle for the company's product QQ, just like you did for Coca-Cola."

Warner.

Qian Jiang, having received the message from Tencent, passed it on to Zhou Yi, who was currently on the phone with Elva Hsiao; the latter's expression immediately became somewhat strange—

Damn!

The groups behind the four major portals are all here now?

(End of this chapter)