Chapter 380: Shallow Water Bastards

The next day, Xie Jingxing did not return to the Magic City, but went directly to the capital from Nanchang.

It wasn't for the purpose of having a secret meeting with Yu Nian, but he had to check the operating status of his pan-entertainment industry in advance to facilitate the adjustment of the details of the cooperation with Wanda.

There is a film and television industry park on the East Fourth Ring Road of Beijing. Pei Fei's Kujiji Studio moved here this year and rented an office space, a stand-alone four-story office villa.

The 100-square-meter front yard lawn is surrounded by a low wooden fence, furnished with several sets of parasol seats and a swing hanging in the corner, giving the overall atmosphere a leisurely rural pastoral feel.

"Is your manager here?" Xie Jingxing decided to come here on the spur of the moment after getting off the plane without notifying anyone.

The young female employee at the lobby front desk stood up and answered the question excitedly, "Boss Xie, you are here to see our Sister Fei?!"

"Let's talk to your manager about something." Chen Xi, who was dressed in formal attire, took over the conversation in a calm tone.

The female employee calmed down and responded in a businesslike manner: "Uh, did you make an appointment in advance? Our manager is busy."

"Let your manager take care of it first. I'll take a look around."

Xie Jingxing did not have any shares in the studio and it was his first time here, so Chen Xi called Song Anli on the spot. After communicating with the female employee to confirm, he deliberately asked with interest: "Do I need to wear a visitor badge?"

"The visitor badge is mainly used to prevent extreme fans from sneaking into the company. You are not an extreme fan, so you can just scan your face and you will have no problem entering our company!"

Due to the nature of the media company, the female employees are used to seeing celebrity figures, and they were not at all nervous and were smiling happily. Most of them were excited and gossipy.

Xie Jingxing waited for her to call a colleague to take over the front desk, and then accompanied her on a tour to introduce the company.

On the left side of the first floor lobby is a reception and exhibition area introducing the company's artists, and on the right side is a large multimedia room.

"The media room is temporarily used by the trainees, and the entire second floor is the artist training room, which is also used by the trainees."

Taking the elevator to the second floor, a female employee introduced the various training rooms one by one: "The company specially invites teachers from external training institutions and colleges such as the Central Academy of Drama and Beijing Dance Academy to teach. The cost is very high, and the trainees cherish it very much."

"But our boss attaches great importance to academic subjects and often tells us that these kids are of school age. If they cannot become celebrities in the future, they must have some culture when they return to society." She is eloquent and helps her boss build a glorious image.

Xie Jingxing couldn't help but smile. A well-fed person knows etiquette. Concubine Pei is becoming more and more like a boss - she is kind within limits.

Currently, Kujiji Studio has divided its business into three parts: artist brokerage, idol artist brokerage, and MCN internet celebrity incubation.

The MCN business office is located separately in downtown Beijing and is managed by Zhao Mengche, a famous travel blogger with 500 million fans online. The idol artist brokerage business only operates the 101-member girl group that debuted from "Creation Camp 11" and a dozen trainees who are currently taking training classes on the second floor.

These two businesses have nothing to do with Concubine Pei's own career path, so she is glorious, majestic and full of kindness.

As for core artist agents, there is nothing much to say about male stars like Zhu Yawen, but it is different for female stars.

The studio currently has the investment and production of the film "Left Ear", signed by the pure school beauty Chen Duling, and the mediocre second-tier literary and artistic actress Ma Sichun.

This person also starred in "Left Ear". Just as his previous agency contract expired, he switched to Kujiji Studio.

In addition, there are Song Jia, a second-tier actress who plays a major role in serious dramas, Song Qian, a girl group idol who just returned from South Korea, and Li Landi, a child star girl.

At first glance, Baihua Qifang has a clear talent pool, and its overall lineup is only stronger than Jiaxing, which has a valuation of 15 billion.

The only thing is that there are no female artists in the same ecological position as Concubine Pei in the entertainment industry. No matter whether they are old or young, famous or not, get away from me. I will come back after giving birth to the baby and tear your faces apart!

This is exactly the mentality of Concubine Pei. She would rather let a good script that suits her rot in her hands, spend money to invest in projects and let Chen Duling compete with Yang Mi for roles, so as to firmly block her own ecological niche.

With enough food and clothing, she knows what honor and disgrace are. With enough wealth and children, she can count on her fingers and realize that the only thing she still desires is the career of a big star.

"Fuck, you're taking the monthly exam...Sister Chenchen."

While Xie Jingxing was talking to the female employee, a few handsome boys around sixteen or seventeen years old came out of the training room laughing and joking, and immediately shut up when they saw them.

We walked in a vertical line along one side of the corridor until we got closer, hesitating whether or not we should say hello to him.

"Okay, after class, go back to the dormitory and rest. Don't play in the building."

The female employee dismissed the trainee with a few words, then turned back and made a helpless expression: "These kids are young, and we can't control them if we don't take them seriously."

"No girls?"

Xie Jingxing wrinkled his nose as he looked at the trainee's back, whose training clothes were soaked through. It seemed as if he could smell the sweat in the air.

The female employee nodded: "Yes, the girls are in class on the fourth floor, and they are trained completely separately. After all, we are not a school. If something like premature love happens, we can't explain it to their parents."

"That's right, you are not a small workshop, and your company's operations must follow standards and regulations." Xie Jingxing was very satisfied.

High-quality training resources, three meals a day in the apartment, dormitory and canteen, 2000 yuan living expenses per month, and five social insurances and one housing fund and health insurance.

Moreover, the contract for new artists is only for seven years with an 8:2 split, which is considered a charity for domestic idol artist companies.

The corresponding operating standards must naturally set industry benchmarks. The so-called training is not about the surface, but about the details.

"This side is the fashion department, that side is the business department, and there is also the publicity and marketing department."

We visited the second and third floors, the entire floor was office area, and the female employee continued to give a detailed introduction.

Xie Jingxing estimated that there were nearly a hundred workstations, at least half of which were empty. Artists like Chen Duling rarely came to the company for eight hundred years, so the employees naturally had to follow them around and go on business trips every two or three days.

He joked with the employees and announced with a wave of his hand that Mr. Xie would pay for the snacks in the tea room today, which received cheers and applause.

Xie Jing Xing turned around and went up to the fourth floor. The layout of this floor was simple, half of it was the offices of several executives and the other half was the training room for female trainees.

"Actually, this is a bit of a waste of space. The female trainee training room was originally a conference room area. Our leaders plan to rent a smaller office building next door and move the idol management department there."

The female employee gradually became familiar with each other and complained: "Our training room on the second floor is prepared for debut artists. It is inconvenient to mix with trainees. Before, Xiao Erduo came to the company for acting classes and was often disturbed."

"Who is Little Ear?" Xie Jingxing was puzzled.

The female employee explained earnestly: "Dudu, Chen Duling, she made her debut starring role in the movie "Left Ear", and her fans gave her this nickname."

"..."

Xie Jingxing was speechless. He still had to be a fan. Fortunately, she was not starring in the live-action version of Big Ear Tutu.

"Duling Chen is very hardworking. She comes to the company to take acting classes whenever she is in Beijing. Victoria Song also comes occasionally, as she has just returned to China and is quite busy."

The female employee suddenly remembered something: "Oh, by the way, Rocket Girls are coming to the company for dance class today. They're inside. I'll take you there."

Xie Jing Xing hesitated for a moment. He was upset and annoyed with the girl group "Rocket Girls 101".

It should be said that the timing was wrong, as the soil for the popular girl group talent show in China had not yet been brewed. Panda TV provided the platform, Pony.com provided the money, Tencent provided the resources, and Mango TV provided the production. The four top companies in their respective industries worked together to pull out a big one.

The core interactive gameplay of the idol development talent show, which combines live broadcast and audience voting, as well as the popularity of his and Prince Wang's personal topics, made the Rocket Girls 101 girl group reach its peak as soon as it debuted.

Each of the eleven girl group members was voted for by fans who spent hundreds or even tens of millions of real money to buy Mengniu Chunzhen yogurt.

It is the first domestic girl group talent show variety show and the first idol girl group in China. These two titles are a testament to its high popularity.

However, their peak period only lasted the night of their debut. From the next day onwards, it was a downhill slope every day.

The beautiful ones are packaged and stuffed into TV series and movies invested by Kujiji Studio, or produced by Xiaoma Pentium or Tencent, to play small supporting roles to make themselves familiar to the public.

Those who can dance stay at home picking their toes, hoping that their agents can send them some business activities and cultural evenings every now and then, and take on some small jobs to make ends meet.

She is neither pretty nor can she sing or dance. If she doesn't want to be sent to Zhao Mengche and become an internet celebrity, she can only wait for opportunities to work in a group, release an album, appear on a variety show, and so on.

In this way, Pony.com achieved its goal of mass-producing assembly line idols, and Panda TV's attempt at PUGC content production was a great success.

This girl group is half-dead and can only be kept alive. Maybe with some good opportunity, it can be revived with a push.

But these girls are a real hassle. From themselves to their fans, every link is troublesome and annoying.

"Wow, Mr. Xie!"

"Brother, are you here to see us?"

"Brother-in-law, you've become handsome again!"

Without giving Xie Jingxing a chance to refuse, as soon as the female employee opened the door, the dancing girls instantly went crazy, screaming at the top of the speakers, and talking non-stop.

Completely ignoring the dance teacher sitting in the corner with an innocent look on her face, they are not trainees who have not debuted, but a 3.5-tier idol girl group with a well-known reputation in the entertainment industry!
"Quiet, quiet, don't make any noise!"

Xie Jing Xing lowered his hands and looked around with wide eyes: "How is your dance rehearsal going?"

"You, Kong Xueer, you are the worst dancer and always make mistakes on stage. Who are you looking at? I'm talking about you." He looked ferocious.

The tall girl in a sports vest put her hands on her hips, pouted unconvincedly, and turned her head away, revealing a large tattoo on her waist.

The reason why Xie Jingxing picked her to scold was because he only remembered the name of this girl with tattoos all over her back. He successfully calmed her down and said, "You're still not convinced, right?"

"Mr. Xie, her name is Yu Yan." The female employee interrupted in a low voice, trying hard to hold back her laughter.

Another girl with a high ponytail raised her hand cautiously: "I'm Kong Xueer."

"Well, um, what's your name?" Xie Jingxing's face turned red, and he asked for the names of other people.

The short girl's eyes were bright: "Boss Xie, I'm Xiao Qi, Lai Meiyun, you said before that I was the sweet girl in the group."

"Oh yes, I remember you. You have a very high EQ." Xie Jingxing asked the names one by one.

When producing variety shows before, Prince Wang had the spirit of Long Aotian. He would half-jokingly curse the contestants on the show, saying they had brain palsy and were ugly, so the contestants were afraid of him.

Xie Jingxing, on the contrary, treated all these girls equally. Now that they met again, they chatted in a gentle tone, and the awkwardness disappeared without a trace.

"Kong Xueer, Lai Meiyun, Xu Jiaqi, Zeng Ke Ni... Yu Yan."

Xie Jing Xing recognized a circle of people, and finally read the name of the tattooed girl who he had just scolded: "Don't stick your neck out, look at me, can you remember my face?"

The tattooed girl remained silent and stared at her toes.

"Look at me!" Xie Jingxing suddenly raised his voice.

The tattooed girl was so scared that her shoulders trembled and her eyes turned red as she raised her head. The other girls restrained their expressions, not understanding why they were so angry again.

"Can you remember my face?" Xie Jingxing asked again.

The tattooed girl said softly with a heavy nasal voice: "Yes."

"Can you remember it?"

Xie Jing Xing cast his gaze towards the other girls, and after receiving a positive response, he slowly said, “This society is a mountain, and everyone is in the process of climbing it.”

"When you look down, you see faces that are looking up, but you can't remember what they look like; but when you look up, you see butts, and you will remember their shapes clearly."

He raised his hand and pointed to the door: "After I leave this door, I may still forget your names. If you want me to remember you, try your best to climb."

"Of course, this face of mine isn't a butt hanging over your heads. I'll be waiting for you at the top of the mountain."

Xie Jingxing ruffled the tattooed girl’s hair. The little girl first burst into laughter, then burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.

The other girls had different thoughts, with emotions ranging from sympathy to disdain to disgust.

Tattooed girl Yu Yan participated in the talent show as an individual. When she debuted, she signed an agency contract with the main producer Xiaoma Pentium, which was then sold to Kujiji Studio.

Kong Xueer is the same as her, otherwise why would Mr. Xie only remember the two of them and coax them after scolding them.

A few days ago, we went to audition for a TV series invested and produced by Xiaoma Pentium. Why couldn’t I cry? Not only did I cry, but I also threw myself into the man’s arms. How despicable!
Kong Xueer rubbed the dry and sore corners of her eyes, thinking that she would have to study her acting course well tomorrow.

Xie Jingxing turned a blind eye to the girls' thoughts and left the training room expressionlessly, going to Concubine Pei's office to rest.

Kong Xueer and Yu Yan, who participated in the talent show and debuted as individuals, signed their agency contracts with Kujiji Studio, Xu Jiaqi and Zeng Keni are artists of Siba Media, and Lai Meiyun is an artist of a small workshop agency.

They formed a girl group and debuted, and signed a two-year girl group agency contract with Kujiji Studio.

In this case, the distribution of resources among members during the operation of the girl group is definitely unfair, and Kong Xueer and Yu Yan will inevitably have conflicts as they take more than they deserve.

At the corporate level, the asset of 'Rocket Girls 101' is jointly owned by four producers including Pony.com and Panda TV, with different proportions.

Kujiji acts as a third party to operate this cultural and entertainment asset. The cooperation is carried out in the form of equity, and a separate shell company is established.

The four companies of Xiaoma Pentium hold a total of 30% of the shares, and Kujiji Studio holds 70% of the shares. This is the origin of the current idol artist brokerage business framework.

The process was also full of quarrels.

In a word, if Xie Jingxing is fighting for a project worth tens of billions, then he should allow others to fight for a project worth tens of millions.

There are still all kinds of intrigues and balancing of interests, and because the general entertainment industry attracts high public attention, the quarrels are even more intense, and there are definitely more turtles in the shallow end than in the shallow end.

(End of this chapter)