Global Film Emperor

Chapter 472 High-End Endorsement
“The person has been apprehended, so don’t worry. The internal disciplinary action against him has been taken. The next step is to transfer him to the judicial authorities and pursue legal channels. As for the specific sentencing, that’s not our concern. Lu’er, don’t take everything on yourself. This incident was caused by inadequate internal supervision within the association, and it has nothing to do with you. There will inevitably be loopholes in the early stages of institutional reform, but as long as they can be corrected quickly, it’s not too late.”

On the other end of the phone, Ge Yunzheng informed Lu Ze of the result, which put Lu Ze's mind at ease. However, his emotions were not so easily improved.

It was the eleventh day of the first lunar month in 2024. Lu Ze was thirty-five years old, officially launching his attack towards forty. This should have been a joyous New Year, but it was ruined by a stinky rat.

Less than six months after Lu Ze proposed the transformation project for extras, the first corrupt leader of the Hengdian Association appeared, reported by the extras on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

The initiation of a new project is bound to have oversights and loopholes. Before moving towards standardization, no one can fully predict what the project will become in the future. Lu Ze's proposal is the best example.

The loophole this time lies in the inadequate protection of extras' income. The most egregious case was a Hollywood-domestic co-production, a big-budget production, where the production team promised a daily wage of around 600 yuan, which was the asking price for actors who had graduated from extras training courses.

But how much did they actually receive?

One hundred and twenty a day.

The extras who didn't get their graduation certificates received the same amount of money, so where did the rest go? It was distributed among the association's junior leaders in charge of judging those leaving the group and the group leaders.

In just this one production, the junior manager and the casting director squeezed over a million yuan out of the extras, including ordinary extras who hadn't obtained proper certifications. Within six months, the junior manager bought a house in Yiwu.

Not content with just money, he also slept with women, coercing more than 20 female extras into having sex with him. Even when he was arrested this morning, he was still sleeping with one of the actresses.

During this time, the extras who had obtained their graduation certificates remained silent, tacitly allowing that scoundrel to exploit them, until his exploitation became increasingly excessive, forcing someone to give up the job and choose to report him. Even so, the report call was almost blocked within the Hengdian Association and nearly failed to be made.

Upon hearing this news, Lu Ze was truly unhappy. Although he was not required to take responsibility for this serious disciplinary violation, as the initiator of the project, he would inevitably be implicated to some extent.

These are secondary issues. With Mr. Chen's support, the criticism from the organization won't affect his resume. What he really cares about is whether this project can continue in the future and whether it still holds an important place in the hearts of the extras.

The most serious problem would be if this incident caused the extras training program to lose credibility. Once the extras stopped taking the training program seriously, all of Lu Ze's previous efforts would be in vain.

Millions are a small sum for Lu Ze, but for the extras, it represents the greatest value those rats can squeeze out. This project, which could potentially change the domestic film and television industry in the future, is now being devoured by a group of parasites and is on the verge of collapse. Are you annoyed? Of course you are, but the most important thing right now is to quickly repair this crucial ridge that will pave the way for the future of the film and television industry.

There is a solution, and it's quite simple: don't trust anyone, and don't put any single person in that position. Otherwise, even if Lu Ze helps push his old friend Zeng Long into that position, he will still be greedy.

This requires consideration of the reform of the entire Hengdian Association structure, and the General Association needs to discuss it carefully. Lu Ze does not plan to attend this meeting. He will just draft a report and send it over later. If he attends the meeting, it may not be officially decided until the second half of the year. Lu Ze does not have the time to waste.

The incense sticks in the incense burner had burned out, and the black tea in the cup had cooled down. He flipped through the homepage of his phone, but his mind was not on the phone at all.

After thinking for a while, he poured out the tea in his cup, cleaned the tea tray, got up and went to the living room. He picked up the wool coat hanging on the coat rack and gave instructions to Lu Nan, who was lying on the sofa watching TV.

"I'm not sure if I'll be back tonight. Tell Mom and Dad to eat first and not to wait for me. You should eat less of that stuff, or you'll get vomiting and diarrhea again."

The law firm reopened after the Lantern Festival, so Lu Nan had a nearly month-long vacation. At this moment, she was sitting cross-legged, with books on the coffee table, a variety show on TV, and her hands were busy, her fingers rapidly tapping the screen of her phone. She seemed to be able to handle all three tasks at once.

And this morning, there was a whole plate of frozen pears, but now she has eaten them all down to just two or three. These out-of-season fruits, which look like giant sheep's poop, have a soft texture that is completely different from their appearance. Their sweet and sour taste has made them Lu Nan's favorite since she was a child. In her words, it feels like something is missing if you don't eat frozen pears in winter.

Countless times she experienced stomach upset, vomiting whatever she ate, and running to the toilet countless times until her butt felt like it was on fire, but nothing could change her strange obsession with frozen pears.

No sooner had Lu Ze finished speaking than she picked up another one, grabbed a tissue and placed it in her palm, then took a big bite. This one seemed too sour, and she shook her head and twitched, hissing and swallowing as if she had eaten a spicy snack. Her eyes were narrowed, but her expression was very satisfied, as if she had been looking forward to such a sour and refreshing taste.

"Uh... hiss... yeah, I got it. Are you coming back tomorrow, bro?"

"Besides, hand me the car keys and go pick up Dad early. Don't let him stay out too late. Check his wallet; if he's out of money, slip him a couple of bills. I'll reimburse you when we get back."

He took the keys, put on his coat, and didn't take the lame cat away. There were people at home to take care of it, and he didn't want to bother the lazy, greedy old cat anymore.

After driving for more than half an hour, we arrived at the bar. The heating inside wasn't as good as it had been before the Lunar New Year. I glanced at the thermometer and it was less than 18 degrees Celsius. I had to let the air out of the radiators for a full two minutes before the temperature gradually rose.

These days, the tavern has lost all its profit-making potential for Lu Ze; it's purely a hobby, or perhaps like an office space. Investing tens of thousands of yuan each year for a comfortable working environment is worthwhile for Lu Ze. He opens his computer, creates a new document, and translates the proposal he envisions into text, but most of the time, he quickly deletes the written characters.

He had only written a few hundred words in over an hour, a very slow pace, and was at a loss for what to do. He put on some music to calm himself down and gradually felt sleepy. But then a ringtone came on, instantly sweeping away his drowsiness. It was Wang Zixuan calling.

"Brother Lu, the copyright, authorship and trademark registration for the book have been submitted. I will go to the publishing house to discuss the contract after the Lantern Festival. Translations of other language versions are also underway, and the manuscript can be delivered in about two months."

Lu Ze had no intention of profiting from the book, but the publisher was very interested in it. After the eighth day of the first lunar month, they had a brief meeting with Wang Zixuan and even offered a high percentage of revenue sharing of 14%. For a novice writer who had crossed over into writing, this was a great deal of sincerity.

Lu Ze was initially surprised that he was given a share of the profits that even a bestselling author couldn't get. However, according to the publisher, it seemed that they didn't intend to make money from Lu Ze's book. They just wanted to be friends with Lu Ze. After all, Lu Ze's fourth and seventh brothers worked in the Bureau of Culture, and everyone in the cultural industry had to give them some face.

The title was also decided: "Performance, My Life." The name wasn't particularly striking, but upon closer inspection, it was quite fitting. Lu Ze made the decision and didn't consider the other editors' more elaborate titles.

"Okay, thank you for making the trip."

"By the way, Brother Lu, because Exile has been doing so well globally, I've received quite a few endorsement offers from brands. Would you consider it?"

Lu Ze did not favor endorsement deals, even though the endorsement fees for many products were higher than his acting fees.

Since his debut, Lu Ze has only endorsed two products: mobile phones and iced tea. He has turned down all other products, sometimes because he is concerned about their quality, such as shampoo and food.

Sometimes it's about brand image. Foreign brands need to be considered more carefully, to see if the brand has made any major mistakes and how it treats domestic consumers. In the end, if they get annoyed, they just reject everything, such as cars and home appliances.

Of course, there are also some bizarre reasons for rejection. For example, a well-known luxury brand wanted Lu Ze to endorse their new Oxford shoes, but Lu Ze declined, saying that his feet were too wide and the Oxford shoes would pinch his toes.

This also made major brands realize how difficult it is for Lu Ze to get endorsements. He doesn't consider money when it comes to endorsements; he just chooses based on his own preferences. This has caused Lu Ze's endorsement fees to skyrocket. The thing about capital is that the more difficult a collaboration is to negotiate, the more they value it. Taking advantage of the huge success of "Exile," some manufacturers finally couldn't resist and started extending olive branches to Lu Ze, with each offer being more outrageous than the last.

Lu Ze took it rather lightly and wasn't very interested. It had nothing to do with money; it was just that there were too many restrictions. For example, since he had previously endorsed iced tea, he couldn't drink any other water in public.

Back then, he was still under Qian Shijia's management, and he was involved in far more events than he is now. He drank iced tea everywhere he went, to the point that he almost developed diabetes. This experience left him with some reservations about endorsements. Even though his mother still had a lot of iced tea bottles with his image on them, she didn't let him renew his contract with Kang Shuai Fu.

"You say it."

"The first one is the Asian endorsement for Red Wing work boots, and the endorsement fee is eight million dollars a year..."

"This one is acceptable."

He used to own a pair of Hongyi shoes, but they rubbed his feet. It would be better to have him endorse a wheelchair than wear those shoes to an event. These shoes need to be broken in; it takes three to five years to get used to them. He doesn't have the time to struggle with a pair of shoes.

"The second is Pduoduo's endorsement, with an endorsement fee of 80 million yuan per year."

"We won't consider that either, it's too easy to cause disputes. It's not a product, and we don't need to talk about endorsing apps anymore."

"Okay, I reckon you'll be very interested in the third endorsement, Brother Lu."

"What is it?"

“Piaget Watches, Global Brand Ambassador”

"..."

Twenty-nine is owed.

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(End of this chapter)