All-rounder Artist

However, just because Xian Yu didn’t say it didn’t mean others wouldn’t think of it.

At this moment.

Many at Starlight’s film division felt their faces flush hotly.

However…

The one who felt the most embarrassed was Du An.

Du An was the director of “Thunderstorm” and a well-known top-tier director in Qi Province.

Last year, after the merger of Qin and Qi, Starlight spent a lot to lure Du An over, building an entire film around him as the central director.

Their goal, naturally, was to make a killing and make a loud statement in the film and TV industry on Starlight’s behalf.

However, the performance of “Thunderstorm” turned out to be average.

In contrast, “Flirting Scholar”, which the company didn’t value much, ended up carrying the banner for Starlight’s film and TV department!

At that time, Du An felt rather embarrassed.

To save face, Du An decided that his next film must showcase his value and let Starlight witness the strength he possessed as a top director from Qi Province.

But…

Before Du An’s next film came out, Xian Yu’s new movie, “Sound Engineer”, was already a success!

Du An suddenly felt even more embarrassed!

Equally embarrassed was Zhang Yu, the famous scriptwriter Starlight had poached from Qi Province. Zhang Yu wrote the script for “Thunderstorm”.

But before Zhang Yu had time to write his second script, his work got overshadowed by the success of “Sound Engineer”!

It was a script that even Zhang Yu praised!

When the two men reunited, Zhang Yu sighed slightly: “Heroes come from young, you might want to consider collaborating with Xian Yu.”

“I can’t.”

Du An smiled bitterly: “The scriptwriter-centric model is in conflict with my philosophy.”

The scriptwriter-centric and director-centric models are two different ways a film crew operates, each with its own advantages.

An ambitious director, of course, would not willingly submit to the command of a scriptwriter, let alone a renowned director like Du An?

Even for Zhang Yu, his script was in service to Du An, the director. Du An’s ideas determined the way the script would be presented.

Unless Xian Yu was willing to leave the presentation of the script to Du An’s discretion, Du An would never collaborate with Xian Yu.

Why did everyone talk about Xian Yu when “Sound Engineer” became a hit?

It’s because everyone knows “Sound Engineer” is the product of the classic scriptwriter-centric model. The director listed, Yi Chenggong, was merely a tool for Xian Yu to realize his vision.

“Right.”

Zhang Yu’s words were probing to some extent, which somehow assuaged her concerns. She wouldn’t lose her job just yet.

“Let’s do our best on our next film.”

“Hmm.”

Du An responded solemnly.

He came to Starlight thinking he would be the bigshot of the film division, but after joining the company, he ended up losing to a rookie. And it was through internal competition at that.

Meanwhile…

With the popularity around “Sound Engineer”, Ol’ Zhou, representing the film division, attended a high-level meeting hastily convened by the company.

The subject of the meeting was Xian Yu.

Chairman and CEO Li Songhua gently tapped his fingers on the desk, suddenly saying: “Let’s increase Xian Yu’s contract.”

Everyone nodded.

As an officially recognized Maestro Junior, there has to be a huge differentiation from ordinary hit songwriters. For the company to court Xian Yu, they were willing to pay a greater price.

This was the consensus of all executives.

Li Songhua further added: “Increase Xian Yu’s resource allocation in the film division. If he shoots a new film, increase the standards a bit.”

“Sure.”

This was within Ol’ Zhou’s authority.

If it was only “Flirting Scholar” making it big, the executives might have opposed this decision, but now it’s different.

After all, when the company decided to fund “Sound Engineer”, the initial intention was just to win an award. They didn’t expect the film to have outstanding box office performance.

But now, the box office hit the mark.

Moreover, the company’s appreciation for Xian Yu has reached new heights!

…

When Lin Yuan found out his contract was being elevated again, he was quite pleased.

In fact, his agent Jin Mu had already reminded Lin Yuan to discuss a rise in contract level with the company, but before Lin Yuan took the initiative to speak up, the company very consciously made the relevant decision.

Of course, Lin Yuan was delighted.

The new contract met no resistance whatsoever. Since it was the boss’s order, Ol’ Zhou easily wrapped up the process and gave Lin Yuan a detailed introduction to the new contract:

“If you collaborate with a third-tier singer in the future, you can have 90% of the download earnings.”

Lin Yuan’s eyes lit up!

Ol’ Zhou continued:

“If you collaborate with a second-tier singer, you can have 70%. The remaining portion, the company will negotiate with the singer.”

“If you collaborate with a first-tier or King of Singing, you can take 50% share. The remaining part will also be discussed by the company.”

Lin didn’t pay much attention to the last two profit-sharing scenarios.

If it weren’t absolutely necessary, only a fool would collaborate with second- or first-tier singers, or even the King of Singing.

Details weren’t addresed further.

In any case, this contract is much stronger than Lin Yuan’s previous contract!

It was double!

Daddy’s share is 100%!

Lin Yuan isn’t Daddy yet, but to be able to have 90% share, he was close to the Daddy’s share!

Of course.

Daddy can take part in the profits outside of the downloads. That’s a treatment Lin Yuan cannot have for now. However, considering Daddy’s experience and his total past works far exceed his own, Lin Yuan was willing to accept this.

Without any doubts, he signed the new music contract.

With this matter resolved, Ol’ Zhou looked at Lin Yuan and asked: “Do you have any other requests?”

“Yes.”

Lin Yuan had already prepared his answer: “In the future, I want to participate in 50% of the investment decisions for my scripts.”

“50%? Like this time?”

Ol’ Zhou hesitated, then said: “I’ll think about it when I go back. This isn’t a big problem, but aren’t you worried about films losing money? Don’t think that just because you’ve had two successful films in a row, that you will always be successful. The market is unpredictable.”

“I see.”

Lin Yuan spoke.

The success of films that had been successful in his previous life doesn’t guarantee 100% success in this life, but he felt that the probability of success is at least higher than that of ordinary films.

“This isn’t a big problem…”

Ol’ Zhou hesitated for a moment before saying: “But I’d suggest you invest around 30%. The company has larger operations, so if the film succeeds, even though we earn a bit more, if it fails, your losses will be less.”

Ol’ Zhou didn’t have any ill intentions.

He just felt that even the most impressive directors and scriptwriters have their off days. “Thunderstorm” was a clear example.

Lin Yuan nodded.

He didn’t plan to invest as much every time. After all, as a scriptwriter, he can also participate in the profit sharing. He can’t miss out on making money.

If there’s risk, bringing the company in can lighten the load.

He couldn’t avoid the company in the matter of film production anyway. Without the company’s support, gathering a reliable crew wasn’t easy.

“By the way.”

After their discussion, Ol’ Zhou asked: “Do you have any ideas for your next film?”

“Not yet.”

“Alright, we will wait for your news.”

Ol’ Zhou got up and said, “From now on, at least one third of the resources from the film division will be on standby for you at any time. The company really trusts your scripts now, but in the future we may add a pre-condition, that is, to try and choose actors from within the company as much as possible.”

“Understood, as long as the company actors meet the requirements.”

“You can rest assured.”

Ol’ Zhou smiled: “If the company needs to find people from within, as long as the script is good, even if you want an A-lister, I can negotiate the pay.”

The main creators of the film department are still Du An and Zhang Yu.

Starlight wouldn’t deny the two’s abilities just because “Thunderstorm” received average feedback.

However, starting from “Sound Engineer”, Xian Yu will also become the second most important figure in Starlight’s film department, next to these two.

———-

ps: I’m feeling a little dizzy, so I’m calling it a day, I will make up for it with an 8000-word update tomorrow.