Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 51 Who cares about this?

Wu Yuchen didn't actually care that much about the finished music video, because the footage used was all from martial arts movies; he was just an editor. Twenty years from now, any enthusiast could do this on their phone, though they probably wouldn't have the same level of coordination or the smoothness he achieved.

When he was pulled into the house, Wu Yuchen was thinking of just agreeing and doing a favor.

Before he could even speak, Tu Honggang announced the figure of 2, which genuinely shocked him. Moreover, they thoughtfully included it in the lyrics and music fee, taking care of all his worries. Are people this considerate these days?
Looking at Tu Honggang in front of him, Wu Yuchen couldn't help but recall the rumors about his several disastrous business failures.

Tu Honggang was a man who cared about his reputation, valued loyalty and chivalry, and was generous with his money. He never chased after debts, and his management style was also like that of a chivalrous person. Naturally, he failed in business time and time again. Later, after realizing that he was not cut out for this, he honestly returned to his family.

But you have to admit, it's really great to be friends with Lao Tu, who is so generous and righteous!

"Teacher Tu..."

"No, call me brother!" Tu Honggang waved his hand dismissively.

After being interrupted, Wu Yuchen changed his tune:

"Brother, there's something I need to remind you of. You should be able to tell that this footage is all cut from movies. It should be fine for us to show it as a documentary, but if you use it for commercial purposes, it could cause copyright disputes."

Although the 2 yuan was tempting, he didn't agree immediately, feeling it was better to make things clear beforehand.

Upon hearing this, Tu Honggang couldn't help but laugh heartily, patting Wu Yuchen on the shoulder and saying:

"Brother, you're too green. It's just a Hong Kong or Taiwanese movie, right? You think you can sue us? Let me tell you, we in mainland China don't buy into this!"
Look at Ying, she covered so many Hong Kong and Taiwan pop songs in her early years, released countless compilation cassettes, and wasn't she signed by Taiwan's Linfair Records two years ago? Has anyone sued her?

Tu Honggang didn't say it was himself, but he also started out by covering various male singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan. He covered songs by Qi Qin, Wang Jie, Fei Yuqing, and many others. All the tapes he released were covers. At his peak, he participated in recording 40 to 50 compilation albums a year.

Everyone does it this way, who has ever paid a single penny in copyright fees? If you bring up copyright with him, will he even care?

Wu Yuchen knew this was the case; these days, no company would bother pursuing copyright issues in mainland China. Even if they won, they wouldn't lose much money—maybe just a few hundred dollars. All that effort for nothing, and they'd only end up getting angrier and angrier—it wasn't worth it.

It can be said that mainland China is currently in an era of unbridled growth, providing a breeding ground for all kinds of piracy.

Therefore, entertainment companies in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and even Europe and America simply chose to abandon copyright pursuit and instead cultivate potential customers. In fact, this strategy was correct to some extent. Twenty years later, many faded Hong Kong and Taiwanese stars were able to capitalize on nostalgia and romanticized images to make money in mainland China—wasn't that precisely because of this strategy?
Seeing that Tu Honggang himself didn't seem to care, Wu Yuchen didn't say anything more. He had already given the necessary warning; if asked about it later, he would simply say that it was for a documentary, and whether Tu Honggang used it or not depended on the production team's approval.
Basically, everyone's just passing the buck; it's an open secret.

When Wu Yuchen returned from the side hall, he heard the people inside chatting happily.

Now that we have the theme song and the documentary is almost finished, it's about to be completed. Isn't that something to be happy about?

"We owe a lot to Xiao Wu for making this film so quickly; otherwise, we probably wouldn't have been able to celebrate the New Year properly."

"Speak of the devil, and he shall return. Xiao Wu, just based on the quality of your editing today, I'll definitely be among the first viewers when you make your next movie!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen's heart skipped a beat, and he replied directly, "Teacher Luo, actually I've already filmed a short film." Everyone in the room looked surprised and couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Wu, didn't you say you were only a freshman?"

“Here’s what happened…” Wu Yuchen recounted the entire process of filming “Car 44” again.

Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly understood, but their gazes towards Wu Yuchen held a hint of admiration. Although he put it simply, they knew how many difficulties a freshman would encounter leading a group of college students to make a short film.

Wu Yuchen not only did it, but he succeeded, which at least proves that he possesses the talent for leadership, organization, and creative collaboration. For a director, this ability is sometimes more important than cultural and artistic attainments. Moreover, over the past month or so, they have all witnessed Wu Yuchen's talent and brilliance.

These two factors combined make everyone extremely optimistic about Wu Yuchen's future directing career.

"Xiao Wu, we're really interested in your short film. Bring it over next time so we can all enjoy it!"

"I wouldn't presume to praise you. I happen to have brought a videotape with me; how about I show it to you all now?"

"Oh, what a coincidence! Hurry up and show it to us!" the group exclaimed with a smile.

This was certainly no coincidence. Wu Yuchen had been here for over a month and had basically figured out the identities of the older comrades, since they hadn't deliberately hidden anything.

Therefore, he has been carrying videotapes with him these past few days, hoping to find an opportunity to broadcast "Car 44" before the documentary is finished, and see what the public's reaction is.

Wu Yuchen glanced at Grandpa He without making a sound; he was the main target, after all, Grandpa He was the former boss of Big Scissors.

Wu Yuchen put the videotape away, and everyone looked at the screen with interest, wanting to see what the short film made by this freshman director and a group of students would be like.

Eleven minutes later, the entire hall was completely silent.

These older folks, in their fifties and sixties, couldn't possibly be as indignant as the younger generation, but they were still deeply moved by the short film, especially by that smile at the end, which was completely unexpected!

"Did you really take this?" Jia Leilei turned his head and asked directly, and everyone else's eyes also focused on Wu Yuchen.

It's not that the filming was bad, it was actually too good. How could a freshman have filmed this?
To be honest, if I hadn't witnessed Xiao Wu's talent in this video, I would never have believed it if someone else said it was filmed by a freshman and a group of students!

Seeing Wu Yuchen nod in confirmation, everyone couldn't help but admire the young man's talent once again, saying that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he had the potential of Kai Ge!

"Xiao Wu, your short film is really intriguing, tell me about it..."

What followed was, of course, another round of discussion about the film's content, which Wu Yuchen handled with ease.

(End of this chapter)