"What? Fog Studios actually dares to ask the legal department to demand liquidated damages? And sue us and the media for defamation?"
It was close to noon on September 19, and I had just flown back from Hawaii last night. Ikuo Sufang, whose energy has not yet fully recovered, walked into the office.
However, he still smelled vaguely of alcohol. As soon as he sat down in his seat, before he could ask his secretary to get him a cup of coffee, he received the bad news from the secretary first.
He couldn't help but be a little surprised, "Why do they suddenly have such courage? Is that woman Matsumoto Keiko crazy! Do you really don't want to turn on the phone?"
Unexpectedly, the secretary didn't answer. rhetorical question.
"Ahem, during the three days you went to Hawaii, didn't you see any Japanese newspapers? Didn't you hear any news from the industry?"
"No. Where can there be Japanese newspapers in Hawaii?"< br>
Ikuo Zhou Fang became more and more confused, "I've only been away for three days, so nothing big happened by chance, right? Why do you ask? What's going on? Is there anything else I don't know about?"
"President, here are several newspapers from the past two days. Please read the headlines of the entertainment section..."
When the secretary laid out several newspapers in front of Ikuo Zhou Fang, in fact, There was no need for him to think too hard, because the title alone was eye-catching enough.
"Super cast lineup! Special performance by all members! List announced!"
"Super cast performs Ginza Desire! The crew of "Black Leather Notepad" restarts!"
"Matsumoto Kiyoshi Zhang personally designated the special cast list! Fans of the original work are celebrating! "
"Winning the support of the film industry! The first Japanese drama produced by Wu Productions is challenging the salary limit! The factory’s strong ambition! Is the unconventional special lineup a matter of publicity or a sign of respect for the original work? "...
You know, a major feature of Japanese dramas is that they pay more attention to the ranking of actors.
Therefore, when Japanese media reports and promotes TV series, they usually indicate the (single) starring role or (multiple) W starring roles. The cast list that appears at the end of the Japanese TV series may also indicate special appearances after some actors. .
As for special performances, they refer to famous actors’ special participation.
It can also be said that actors with a higher level than the main protagonist are hired to perform as supporting roles, and the performance fee is usually higher than the general market.
Like the current situation in "Black Leather Notepad", when the special performance list is pulled, there are about ten people, almost occupying most of the roles, which is simply unprecedented.
With Shu Fang Ikuo's knowledge and experience in the entertainment industry, as long as he read these reports at a glance, he almost understood the latest trends of Fog Studios
And his immediate reaction was to couldn't help but exclaim again.
"How is this possible? How could Fog Studios use so many big-name stars? The 'Big Five' are going against us and supporting them!"
"Maybe. President, Matsumoto Keiko has a close relationship with Shochiku Movies. Not only is she also the "Shochiku's No. 1 Actress", but she also cooperates closely in the production and release of "Li Xianglan". They both made a lot of money from the movie. And Toho, maybe they will be dissatisfied because we took away Yasuko Sawaguchi."
"But even that doesn't make sense? What about Nikkatsu and Toei? We haven't offended them? Why are they going against us? The film market is shrinking. From their standpoint, shouldn't they regard other film studios as a thorn in their side? Is that right? They should be fighting each other.”
"This... this may be because the boom of TV programs in recent years has led to the rapid rise of our artists. In recent years, film studios have also begun to establish entertainment agencies, following our example and contacting TV stations. Probably not I hope we can no longer monopolize TV programs. Anyway, from the perspective of Nikkatsu and Toei, whether they are film studios of the same type or entertainment agencies like us, they are enemies, and no one will suffer if they attack them. Yiwu Studios can also make the other party owe a favor, what's wrong with it? Besides, they are also the beneficiaries, at least it can make their big stars easily earn a lot of money, and it can also increase their exposure. , this is naturally not surprising. If the president reads the reports carefully, he will know that Kiri Productions is very generous. This time it only offered 1.5 million yen for one episode to Nikkatsu's Setsuko Ogawa. The salary is almost the same as the salary of our first-line actors in TV series. Presumably, the salary should be more attractive to those bigger stars. Otherwise, they would not mind playing the villain regardless of the small number of roles."
< br>The secretary thought for a while and seriously put forward his inference.
However, the more he tried his best to analyze, the more Zhou Fang Yuxiong couldn't believe it.
“That’s not right. How can Fog Studios have so much money? If they pay according to this standard, wouldn’t the film’s remuneration cost hundreds of millions of yen more?”
“I don’t know about this, but some newspapers estimate that the remuneration they paid may indeed exceed 400 million yen. And according to rumors, Fog Studio has also stated that it wants to appropriately adjust the contracts of the original actors. The salaries of Miura Yu, Utsui Ken and Ishida Yoshiko should also be increased appropriately.”
When the secretary said this, his tone was a bit strange, but he also showed some admiration inadvertently.
But Zhou Fangyuxiong became even more confused because of this.
How could someone be so stupid and willing to increase the salary of an actor who has already signed a contract?
He had never heard of such a thing. He was not sure what the theory was, so he hesitated and said, "Is there any news about Wu Studio? Is there any big company that has come forward to help? Are they promoting and speaking for them?”
He now extremely doubted that Keiko Matsumoto might have hooked up with a wealthy businessman.
Otherwise, why do you care so little about production costs and dare to ignore the pressure from the combustion system?
“This doesn’t seem to be the case. However, the follow-up impact of this news is very bad. Now many people who originally waited and watched seem to be optimistic that the drama "Black Leather Notepad" will bring super high ratings. TBS TV station Not only are the Mainichi Shimbun and the Mainichi Shimbun advocating every day, but many other entertainment agencies have also begun to recruit people into Wu Studio. The blocking sanctions you have adopted, President, seem to have no real effect anymore... "
Hearing this, Zhou Fang Ikuo couldn't help but frowned. Things turned out like this, which was completely beyond his expectation. He didn't expect that Fog Studios would make such a move.
So willing to invest, he even risked losing hundreds of millions of yen to use money to break the trap he had set.
If this is the case, it seems to be very troublesome and difficult to handle. It seems that I underestimated the other party a little too much. That woman is not as weak as I thought...
The secretary completely understood his reaction, but could not wait patiently. After all, the situation was beyond their control in such a short period of time.
They must take measures as soon as possible now and can no longer wait for the situation to develop further, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous.
The secretary waited for a while and continued to ask for instructions, "President, we have to do something! If we don't talk about continuing to attack our opponents now, we will be in big trouble. Those media and artists will be held accountable. Their newspapers and offices are under great pressure now. How do you think they should deal with this matter?"
Ikuo Zhou came to his senses and scratched his hair, because he couldn't think of any effective countermeasures at the moment. , he was somewhat upset by the secretary’s questioning.
Instead, he asked in a cold voice, "Have these two guys Higuchi and Kasai done nothing during my absence? One of them is the vice president and the other is the propaganda director. They should handle it when I am away. How can we let things go?" Is it like this?"
The secretary quickly explained, "President Higuchi and Director Kasai are involved, but it is indeed difficult to do. After all, their duties are limited to our entertainment office itself. In the offices under their jurisdiction, their words were of little use. As for the newspapers, they also tried their best to get those reporters to issue targeted statements on behalf of the Burning Department, hoping to counterattack, but it seemed to have little effect, after all, they were now producing for Wu. The people who speak in the factory are all well-established people in the industry. As long as they speak, people will believe it. No one on our side believes it, so it is almost a waste of time. So we have been looking for you these days. "It's a pity that you canceled the hotel reservation. I really can't contact you here."
Zhou Fangyuxiong was silent for a moment, and he almost regretted it now.
I really shouldn’t have accepted Kitaro Watanabe’s invitation to go to Hawaii to see the opening of the Ala Moana Hotel he acquired, and agreed to help him handle the matter of hiring artists to build publicity.
Although it was indeed a great time to play, it was because of that guy that I was intoxicated in the fun and debauchery. I did not understand these changes in Japan in time, which was a big mistake.
Otherwise, how could he be so passive now?
"Sorry, President, we didn't handle these matters well for you."
The secretary knew the character of Shu Fang Ikuo best, and he did not dare to let the president bear any responsibility for his negligence. Let him be happy and quickly take the responsibility on himself.
After a pause, he added, "However, under the current situation, no matter whether our Burning firm has to pay the price of the artist's breach of contract, or those who help our media face Fog Studio Legal accountability is very stressful. I suggest you take some gentle measures. If you don't comfort them and give them some practical support, I'm afraid they will be dissatisfied if this matter is not handled well, which may cause a chain of events. reaction. It will also have a considerable negative impact on your prestige as the president."
Ikuo Zhou finally began to think about the situation seriously, and after a moment of silence he said, "As for liquidated damages, you should pay them if you have a contract. Compensate, it's better than going to court. In this case, you immediately notify Higuchi and ask him to write down all the agencies that contributed to our ban on Fog Studios. I will take the list to Dentsu and the TV station later. Negotiate and see if we can give them some opportunities to shoot commercials and appear on variety shows as compensation. As for the media, don't worry about them. They are our slaves and let them solve their own problems anyway. , artists under the Burning Department will no longer accept interviews from them, reprinting of photos is prohibited, and any form of cooperation will be cut off.”
When it comes to the aftermath, Ikuo Shuu is very clear about the internal and external affairs. After all, the Entertainment Agency is a subsidiary company of the Combustion Department, and it is also the source of his strength, so he should not be too harsh.
But for the media, they are completely blackmailing them by using their own artists as "hostages".
Especially those fashion magazines and TV magazines published by large publishing houses have a high demand for artists from large offices, which is a major source of income for them.
If they are unhappy, all the weekly magazines owned by these big publishing houses will suffer huge losses.
So that's not all. Then he felt cold air coming from his nose and added a few more words.
"As for those newspapers and magazines that dare to go against our combustion department and dare to say good things about Fog Studio, I also want to make them look good and warn them as soon as possible. Ah, yes, just bring me these newspapers, all of them Write it down for me. I'm going to call their editor-in-chief to see if these guys are going to stop cooperating with us. Will they dare to advocate for Fog Studios again in the future? I think they probably don't know about Fog Production. The studio offended us. If they knew, they would know which side they were on. Damn Fog Studios. Now that bitch Matsumoto has completely turned me on. She just agreed to suspend "Crazy Rich Asians". I can’t let her go easily.”
However, despite Ikuo Shu’s high-spirited words, the secretary’s feedback instantly shattered his dream.
“President, isn’t this bad? And it’s also a bit unrealistic. Because these reports are from major newspapers such as the Mainichi Shimbun and the Sankei Shimbun. What’s more, they also have relationships with TV stations Related, TBS TV station and Fuji TV station have special news reports, you can't give them such an ultimatum..."
Zhou Fang Ikuo was stunned, then got angry, and his voice became colder.
"What? The TV station is also involved? And TBS? Damn it, the TV station is a bunch of guys with treason behind their heads. Are they trying to protect him? Especially that guy Sasaki, who invited me a few days ago I clearly promised me when I was eating..."
Ikuo Suho picked up the phone and was still cursing, "This bastard! Could it be that I invited her to have fun in a high-end CLUB in Ginza, and also entertained them to play golf, play mahjong in a high-end club, and go to a casino to gamble. Are they all feeding the dogs? I I want to ask him what's going on? Let's see how he explains it to me!"
But it's a pity that it would be better not to make this call. The other party's feedback almost made Zhou Fang Ikuo angry to death.
Because Director Sasaki said that since TBS and Fog Studios have signed a contract for the TV series "Black Leather Notepad", the contract must be fulfilled no matter what.
Especially now that this drama has caused a sensation in society. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the ratings will be very high from the beginning, and it is very likely to achieve results.
So this is no longer something he can use his position to suppress. If he does this, he will not be able to explain to the production committee and will easily fall into passivity.
He has no choice but to cooperate now and let Deputy Director Kaga mention this drama to promote it. I hope Shufang Ikuo can understand.
So, during the phone call, Zhou Fang Ikuo was only halfway through speaking when he couldn’t continue.
The call ended, and he even sat stupidly in his seat, silent and dazed, with a rather gloomy look on his face, which was extremely ugly.
The secretary didn't dare to ask, so she waited silently.
Finally, after five minutes, Zhou Fangyuxiong, who felt like he was stuck in his throat and sitting on pins and needles, reacted, and that was to knock down the landline phone on the table.
"Damn it! It's obviously just a small studio run by a weak woman, how could it suddenly become such a tough nut to crack! No, I have to find out the details of that woman!" (End of Chapter)