Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 66 Boss Lu Goes to the Meeting Alone
May 2002, 5, Group Centre, Hennessy Road, Wan Chai.

There was a small-scale press conference here today, where a little-known mainland film company, Envision Entertainment, and its partners held an on-site signing ceremony.

The two parties will invest 1200 million to collaborate on the inspirational music film "Heartstrings".

This is a blatant case of a cuckoo occupying the magpie's nest.

It is not uncommon in the entertainment industry to use one's industry status to seize and usurp the projects and ideas of budding practitioners.

Later, in 2010, "Lost on Journey" became a hit, and Wuhan Huaqi Company owned all the copyrights.

Later, the screenwriter sent the script of "Lost in Journey 2" to Xu Zheng. Two months later, when filing it with the Film Bureau, he unexpectedly discovered that another company in Peking had already registered "Lost in Hong Kong", and Xu Zheng was listed in the screenwriter column.

The law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest, and many other things that are not worthy of being mentioned in public.

Speaking of which, a low-budget co-production of just over 10 million yuan doesn't need such a big fuss.

However, on the one hand, the Hong Kong film market has been sluggish in recent years, and on the other hand, this is the first appearance of Little King and others after the turmoil in the crew of "The Drummer".

In addition, he is currently involved in a huge controversy regarding an incident, so such a high-profile press conference is necessary both publicly and privately.

Hong Kong and mainland media who received the news rushed to the scene, including some die-hard fans of Nicholas Tse and others.

After the routine process, Liu Zeyu, representing Envision Entertainment, and Zhang Jianting, representing Envision Entertainment, signed the contract, shook hands, and exchanged greetings.

The reporters on the scene were a little drowsy. It seemed that they would not be able to get any explosive news today.

The beautiful host gave her final thank you speech: "Let us congratulate the two companies on their marriage today and for jointly contributing a masterpiece to the Chinese film industry!"

The applause was scattered, but it could not drown out the loud shout coming from the door of the conference room.

"I don't agree with this marriage!"

The scene suddenly fell silent, and all the flashes and cameras were focused on the calm young man.

Boss Lu, spouting clichés, walked lazily to the podium. Zhang Jianting, the first to recover, spoke sharply:

"Lukuan! Today is our press conference. Please leave immediately, or we will call the police."

"Wide road?"

“He is Lu Kuan?”

"Hey handsome boy!"

"Don't call him handsome, we are his fans!"

Boss Lu calmly took the microphone from the stunned hostess: "These three Hong Kong actors and I still have acting contracts. According to the contract, they must continue to film for me."

"So I'm not making trouble, but expressing my reasonable and legal demands."

Chen Guanxi smiled sinisterly and said, "Your crew? The studio has been evacuated, what crew are you still talking about? It's ridiculous."

Zhang Jianting, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses today, looked like a sly gentleman. "The 'Whiplash' crew has been on hold for over a week. These three have already sent a letter requesting the termination of their contracts. Director Lu, please stop being unreasonable."

Lu Kuan smiled, put down the phone, walked up to him, and said in a voice that only a few people nearby could hear: "You can make a phone call and ask where Zhang Tianshuo is."

Yes, why didn’t Zhang Tianshuo speak out when public opinion was one-sided before?
He is now Lu Kuan’s number one enemy both online and in real life, and he even owes Lu Kuan a sentence: “Zhang Tianshuo is an ugly bastard!”

No one expected that Mr. Zhang, who had gone through so many ups and downs over the years, would fall.

Although Zhang Tianshuo didn't know how he got into trouble, he was detained anyway.

When he was shivering and trembling in the interrogation room with a silver bracelet on his head, Liu Zeyu had just got off the plane at Kai Tak Airport and was partying at the "Victoria Banquet" with Chen Guanxi and others.

Liu Zeyu was shocked. With a grim face, he took out his cell phone and left the scene, then turned and walked into Zhang Jianting's office.

It didn’t matter to Lu Kuan that Zhang Tianshuo was behind this group of people sitting in silence.

But the fact that he dared to walk in so brazenly and interrupt the signing, and asked him to contact and confirm with such confidence, is quite intriguing.

He investigated Guo Lukuan's background and didn't believe he had the same power as himself. Zhang Jianting, a seasoned veteran, saw the situation was dire and quickly cleaned up the scene. "Today's press conference is over. Please leave, reporters!" he said. "Thank you!"

The reporters came at you with their cameras and guns, no matter what your reason was, they just had to get the explosive news first.

There is also Lu Kuan, who was little-known but is now very famous. This is his first time appearing in front of reporters. All previous interview invitations were rejected by Zhuang Xu, the contact person of Wenjie Company.

"Lu Sheng, do you have any inside information you can share with us?"

"Lu Sheng, is it true that some people on the set are behaving inappropriately?"

Hong Kong reporters are really powerful. They don't give any face to others even on their own territory.

Chef Xie and the photographer both looked at him nervously. They were already embroiled in controversy and were afraid of being blamed again.

Although this matter was handled by Liu Zeyu and Zhang Tianshuo, three people can make a tiger, and as long as the news gets out, the media and the public will naturally interpret it in various ways.

Lu Kuan took a cigarette and put it in his mouth, but when he saw the no-smoking sign in the building, he put it away in annoyance and sat down on the chair next to Nicholas Tse.

"Tingfeng, I know you don't want to see me, but I'll trouble you to be patient for a while!"

Nicholas Tse has been pampered since he was a child and had never been subjected to such humiliation. For a moment, the veins in his temples were throbbing.

If there weren't reporters present, he would have wanted to slap this rogue director in the face.

Lu Kuan looked at Zhang Jianting with a rather eager expression, "Director Zhang, do you want me to come in and have a chat, or do you want me to speak here in front of the media? It's your choice."

Zhang Jianting had been in the underworld for many years, so he was no problem handling such a small situation. He extended his hand gracefully, "Lu Sheng, please."

"dududu~"

Liu Zeyu made calls over and over again in Zhang Jianting's office. These two minutes seemed to be the longest wait in his life so far.

It finally worked.

"Where's my dad?"

"Zeyu, he's in a meeting."

The secretary walked away, covered the microphone with his hand and whispered, "By the way, this matter ends here."

Finally, he added: "These are the leader's original words."

Liu Zeyu was furious and smashed the latest model 7650 to pieces. Inside the phone were the commemorative photos of him and the young model having fun yesterday.

Young Master Liu still had his own way of playing tricks on people, and he picked up the landline on the table and made a call.

"Hello? How's the status of Lu Kuan's personal bank statements and Whiplash's filing with the radio and television stations?"

On the other side is Zhou Lei, the vice president of Envision Entertainment, a top student who graduated from Huaqing University in 97 and a professional manager that Liu Zeyu hired from Huayi at a high price.

"His personal cash flow in his account was only 400 million, far less than the 1000 million yuan the film cost to be advertised."

"In addition, there are three advertising agency contracts: Motorola for 100 million, Starbucks for 60, and Yamaha musical instruments plus an additional 40 in endorsement fees."

Film shooting records do not require reporting of advertising contract information. This information was obviously obtained from relevant employees of Qingying Studio through unfair commercial competition.

Liu Zeyu slammed the table excitedly, almost knocking over Zhang Jianting's favorite vase.

"You should hurry up and communicate with them. Induce them to contact Whiplash to terminate their contract and reconsider our new drama. If necessary, please contact Secretary Liu."

The only popular people in Lu Kuan's movies are Nicholas Tse, Edison Chen and others, and the contract for the crew's product placement was signed based on this.

Once Nicholas Tse and others withdraw, Liu Zeyu doesn’t believe that there will be any company that will rush to pay Lu Kuan advertising fees!

The lack of these 200 million in advertising fees will be a blow to the filming of his movie, which is another bargaining chip for his side.

(End of this chapter)