Chapter 223 – Be The Leading Actor
There was an internal conflict between the judges!
Lu Chen has eyes to see and ears to hear. He wasn’t stupid. How could he not understand?
Director Yan Chengyi no doubt appreciated and supported him, but Manager Gong obviously has other plans.
Moreover, she was most likely the representative of an investor.
Otherwise, Yan Chengyi wouldn’t be so helpless. It should be known that the power of film and TV series directors was usually very high.
Although Lu Chen wasn’t sure that the role belonged to him before coming to Alchuang Film and Television Production Company, failing the audition and being rejected was also one of the expected outcomes…
But he still felt a little uncomfortable.
If the role was fixed, why bother to call me over? Was this interesting?
Of course, on the surface, Lu Chen remained calm and said with a faint smile, “Thank you, Director Yan, thank you, teachers.”
There was no need to lose his temper. The entertainment industry has never been a fairy tale world. It was very naive to expect everything to be fair and just. Only when one was strong enough to be looked up to could one have the ability to make rules.
Manager Gong said with a smile: “There is still a chance, please wait for our notice.”
In fact, she has a good impression of Lu Chen and understood that Lu Chen was fully competent for the role of Chen Yaoyang.
However, she knew better whose food she was eating and who she was working for.
So, she could only say sorry.
Yan Chengyi watched with great regret as Lu Chen turned around and walked out of the conference room. He couldn’t help clenching his fists.
He said unemotionally, “Next!”
When Lu Chen came out, the peach blossom-eyed man had just stood up.
Their eyes just happened to meet.
Lu Chen saw a trace of complacency and mockery in the other party’s eyes.
He has a clear idea that this was probably the one they had decided on.
After leaving Alchuang, Lu Chen returned to his studio.
He met Lu Xi. His sister asked with concern, “How was the audition? Did you pass?”
Li Feiyu, Chen Xin and the others also pricked up their ears.
If Lu Chen could act in a TV series, that would be really great. Developing comprehensively in film, television, and music, an all-rounder superstar!
Lu Chen shook his head and said, “I’ve been rejected. It’s already been decided from the start.”
“D*mn it!”
In a rare burst of expletive, his sister snapped, “How could they do that?”
She was really angry.
Although the current Lu Chen couldn’t be compared with first-rate stars, he has won the championship of “Singing China”, his album was a hit, and his Inspur blog fans has reached tens of millions. He couldn’t be regarded as an ordinary person.
In the end, he still couldn’t resist other people’s hidden rules. He felt like he was being played badly.
Lu Chen comforted her in turn: “It’s all right. There are still a lot of film opportunities in the future. The director was actually optimistic about me.”
Lu Xi rolled her eyes and asked back, “How do you know they’re not singing a duet?”
Lu Chen smiled bitterly.
He wasn’t 100% sure. However, Yan Chengyi should be quite sincere.
It was just that saying this now was really meaningless.
Lu Xi didn’t want to continue to hit his brother and said, “I do have some good news…”
Lu Chen was refreshed: “What news?”
Lu Xi said: “The new contract on Whale TV has basically been finalized!”
Lu Xi has been doing the negotiating for the new contract between Lu Chen and [Whale TV] for some time.
Now there was finally a result.
In fact, the disagreement between the two parties wasn’t very big, and the desire to continue cooperation was very strong. The main issues were the signing bonus and the length of the contract of the anchor. Lu Xi was striving to get the maximum benefit for Lu Chen.
The final result was to terminate the original contract and re-sign a new one-year contract, and Lu Chen would become the star spokesperson of [Whale TV]. The endorsement fee was 3.8 million yuan after tax!
In addition, the proportion of reward share has increased by 5%. Lu Chen also has to participate in website-related publicity activities, as well as live broadcast time and exclusive requirements.
Regarding this contract, both parties were very satisfied.
3.8 million yuan endorsement fee. If the personal income tax was added in, that was almost close to 5 million yuan.
In fact, the endorsement fee for external publicity1 was exactly 5 million yuan!
Compared to Lu Chen’s current value, this sum of money was definitely more than a lot, which was conductive to promoting his status.
However, [Whale TV] didn’t lose out either.
Lu Chen’s miraculous rise in [Whale TV] has not only brought a lot of popular resources to the platform, but also attracted more excellent anchors to join. The effect of the advertising was completely worth the price.
The most important thing was that Lu Chen’s future development was limitless. It was definitely better to sign early than late.
It was a win-win situation!
Of course, Lu Chen was very happy to hear that several millions had come in to their account.
Some time ago, he paid off his family’s debts and redeemed their villa. The money that he got from selling his shares in the online crowdfunding, along with much of the working capital of the studio, was taken out.
And the daily expenses of the studio weren’t small. With this endorsement fee, that wasn’t a problem anymore.
Lu Chen planned to buy a bigger house in Beijing before the end of the year.
He still has to work hard to make more money!
So, Lu Chen soon forgot the matter about the audition, and just dismissed it as a joke.
However, things were not as simple as he thought.
The next afternoon, while Lu Chen was practicing the piano in the studio, Lu Xi came over with a laptop.
She angrily pointed out the web page opened on the screen to Lu Chen.
The screen showed an entertainment news of a certain website. The content was that the second season of the recently popular TV series “Urban Love” was about to begin filming, and the current popular young fresh meat artist Jiang Dongjun will play an important new supporting role.
Originally, this kind of advertorial publicity was very common, and it could be found everywhere in major entertainment media and websites, but this news also specifically mentioned Lu Chen, saying that Lu Chen also participated in the audition, but in the end, the director still settled on Jiang Dongjun.
HIs elder sister was simply filled with righteous indignation: “They regarded you as a stepping stone, stepping on you to hype!”
The same entertainment gossip news was not only on this website, it could also be found on many places, including blogs and post bars, forums and other places. It was obviously a premeditated hype.
Really d*mn!
Even clay figurines have three points of anger2. Lu Chen wasn’t an emotionless animal. How could he not be angry and offended when people stepped on him like this?
Lu Xi asked, “Should we make a statement to fight back?”
She was really pissed off.
Lu Chen suppressed the anger in his heart, shook his head calmly and said, “No need.”
What could he say? He did participate in the audition, and he did get rejected. Could he say that the other party played the hidden rules?
If it was like this, it would be like fighting in a war of words without practical information. On the contrary, this would make people feel like they were sore loser.3
Moreover, it could also give the other party more opportunities to create hype!
Lu Xi should know the truth, but she was just confused because of her anger.
Even if they wanted to fight back, it needed to be done in a smarter and more powerful way!
Lu Chen thought for a moment and said, “Don’t worry about them for the time being. I’ve switch over to a new TV series!”
“A new TV series?”
Lu Xi was stupefied and asked, “There are other film crew looking for you?”
“Of course not…”
Lu Chen said with a smile, “Sister, what do you think of investing in making weekend TV series ourselves?”
Lu Xi’s eyes immediately opened wide: “Invest in making TV series ourselves?”
She felt that her brain was a little messy, or was Lu Chen’s mind confused?
Make their own TV series? It wasn’t that simple!
Lu Chen explained: “Of course, I will find a strong company to cooperate with. I will write the screenplay4, I will be the leading actor, and add in a portion of the studio’s investment.”
Lu Xi was surprised: “You can still write screenplays?”
Lu Chen smiled.
In his dream, he experienced three periods of life, namely, singer Xu Bo, actor Mo Ran, and freelance writer Fang Mingyi. The latter once wrote screenplays.
Moreover, there were many classic film and television series and literary works in the dream world. Through Xu Bo, Mo Ran and Fang Mingyi, they were extremely vivid and clear in his memory, and they could be copied out!
At present, in his situation, the highest-rated movies were still out of reach for the time being, but there was no problem with the hit TV series, and there was also room for operation.
Especially in the form of filming and broadcasting at the same time on weekends, the cost could be controlled very well.
Originally, Lu Chen planned to build up his acting career, and then consider making his own TV series and even movies, but now faced with such a situation, he just decided to play it big.
Since he couldn’t try a supporting role, then he would be the leading actor!
Lu Xi was more and more unable to understand her brother. She couldn’t help but have a strange look on her face.
Lu Chen could not explain too much, so he had to say, “Don’t worry. I won’t mess around.”
Ring ring~.
Just as he finished speaking, his cell phone on the piano shelf rang.
As soon as Lu Chen picked up his cell phone and saw who was calling, he made a gesture to his sister that he has to take the call.
Lu Xi glared at him and left the room.
The one who called Lu Chen was another elder sister, Sister Fei.
On the phone, Chen Fei’er asked bluntly, “Did you go to the audition over at Alchuang?”
Lu Chen did not expect that even she knew about this matter. He said with a wry smile, “Yes.”
Chen Fei’er smiled and said, “Do you now know the complexity of the industry? That Jiang Dongjun was decided by default. The reputation of Alchuang’s investors is not very good. If you really want to act in movies and TV shows, I can recommend some reliable friends for you.”
Lu Chen couldn’t help but feel warm in his heart.
Chen Fei’er was obviously very concerned about his situation. Not only did she know the matter immediately, but also went to inquire about the inside story.
He said sincerely, “Thank you, Sister Fei. I may really need your help. I have a screenplay in my hand that I want to shoot and I want to find a partner.”
Chen Fei’er curiously asked, “What screenplay?”
Lu Chen said, “It’s a screenplay that I wrote myself, but I haven’t finished it yet.”
Chen Fei’er said with a smile, “Then finish writing it and show it to me first. If the story is okay, I’ll recommend you.”
She obviously didn’t believe that Lu Chen could write a good screenplay, but her intention to help remained the same.
Lu Chen was overjoyed: “That’s great. Let me treat you to a meal tonight!”
Chen Fei’er was reserved: “There are too many people who want to invite me to have a meal. You have to show sincerity, but not tonight.”
Lu Chen wasn’t discouraged: “Then tomorrow night…”
He was very sincere.