Entertainment News: I'm Not a Scumbag After Rebirth!

The phone call came on a sweltering afternoon.

My phone vibrated and displayed "Yuan Tao".

"President Yuan, in this sweltering heat, do you have any instructions?"

Li Jun answered the call, his tone relaxed.

"Teacher Li, please don't embarrass me."

Yuan Tao chuckled on the other end, but quickly changed to a serious tone:

"Regarding the copyright issue of that song you mentioned last time, 'Take Me Away,' the company has reached a preliminary agreement. Shall we discuss it?"

"Let's chat."

Li Jun was a little curious. It was all done in the usual way: what to talk about, how much money to spend, and what to do.

"The song is good, and Jane Zhang's timing in singing it was perfect. We can all see how popular it is."

"Mr. Yuan, just name the numbers."

Li Jun didn't know why Yuan Tao said that today.

However, Yuan Tao did not agree and continued speaking:

"Huayi recently underwent a major reform, binding equity to artists and aiming to promote two newcomers, both 'Bingbing's, who are asking me to buy a song from you. This puts me in a bit of a difficult position, so I wanted to ask you for your advice."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone, followed by the sound of turning over paper.

"Three hundred thousand. To buy out all copyrights except for the right of attribution, including film and television rights, commercial licenses, etc."

Li Jun shook his head, clearly disagreeing:

"Mr. Yuan, you must know where my song is on the 'Midnight Emo Playlist' right now, and how fast it's climbing the charts, right?"

"Three hundred thousand? Is Huayi offering this price to buy my song, or do they think I, Li Jun, am incompetent?"

"Teacher Li, you can't say that..."

Yuan Tao tried to explain.

"Five hundred thousand."

Li Jun gave a number, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.

"That's the price. If you lower it by even a penny, I'll keep the song for my own production crew later, or I can give it to another company to make ringtones. I might earn more than that."

He moved closer to Jia Peng, who was on the phone, muttering complaints about water getting into the equipment.

Yuan Tao was somewhat surprised. He thought Li Jun wouldn't accept this agreement, especially since the copyright had already been granted.

"Old Li."

He changed his title from a friend's perspective, saying that he really needed the copyright to expand his own position at Huayi.

"Are you really willing to give me this song? You and I both know that the benefits it brings are definitely more than this."

Li Jun turned around and smiled as well:

"We're friends, how could I not help you?"

"That's great!" Yuan Tao laughed too.

"However, Mr. Yuan, we need to add a small clause to the contract."

"you say."

Yuan Tao readily agreed.

"I hope Huayi Brothers will grant the film and television adaptation rights of this song to a designated production company."

Li Jun spoke slowly and deliberately.

Yuan Tao became alert:

"Who? Don't tell me it's your own film crew?"

"Wow, Tao-ge, you're so clever! Tao-ge is so generous!"

Li Jun praised Yuan Tao incessantly.

"I think the melody of this song matches the mood of that film perfectly. As you know, my focus is on movies right now. As for music, I'd like to monetize it as soon as possible to recoup some of my investment."

"Your Huayi Brothers is a large and powerful company, so your authorization makes it seem more legitimate and is also good for the film's promotion. It's just a simple authorization agreement, and the authorization fee is just a token amount; the main thing is to make it seem legitimate."

Yuan Tao pondered for a moment on the other end of the phone.

This request is a bit unusual, but upon closer examination, it doesn't seem to do any harm to Huayi.

The copyright to the song has already been bought out, and Huayi has the right to decide who gets the rights to use it. Li Jun has essentially designated a licensee, but the licensing entity is still Huayi.

Li Jun mainly relied on Huayi's name; he couldn't very well hand the song over to Tang Yan himself and say:

"This is a song sung by my first wife. Feel free to use it, don't worry."

This is terrible.

It's just a matter of transferring money from one hand to the other.

Yuan Tao readily agreed:

"Okay, this can be written into the supplementary clauses. Send me the specific name of your friend's project and the scope of authorization required, and I'll have my legal team draft it into the contract."

"Alright, Mr. Yuan is so efficient. Send me the contract once it's ready, and I'll sign it immediately!"

Li Jun was in a great mood.

After hanging up the phone, Li Jun saw Jia Peng's disdainful expression:

"Scumbag!"

Li Jun squinted:

"This song needs to appear legitimately in our movie, and it needs to be officially authorized by Huayi Brothers. That would make a huge difference."

Two days later, a thick contract was delivered to Li Jun by express courier.

The supplementary terms regarding the authorization of the "Love is Not Blind" project also include a clause stating that Huayi Brothers authorized the film to use "Take Me Away" as an interlude.

The licensing fee is 10,000 RMB, and the licensing period is the same as the film copyright period.

Li Jun signed the document and sent it back to Beijing.

Soon, the 500,000 yuan arrived in the account.

He glanced at the bank notification and breathed a sigh of relief. Filming was expensive, and this income would sustain him for a while.

The licensing agreement has been finalized; all that's left is to incorporate the song during the film's post-production.

He sent Yuan Tao a text message:

"Payment received. It's been a pleasure working with you! Please take care of the authorization process, Mr. Yuan."

Yuan Tao replied quickly:

"You're welcome, it's my pleasure. I wish you success with your film, Professor Li."

The matter seems to have been resolved satisfactorily.

Li Jun devoted more of his energy back to filming, occasionally checking in on Zhang Liangying's training camp in Changsha for the national competition.

Tang Yan's acting is going more and more smoothly, and Jia Peng is gradually becoming more like a director's assistant, although he is still often scolded by Li Jun.

Until about a week later.

A classmate who studied at the film academy and usually kept an eye on industry trends for Li Jun suddenly sent him a link with the following message:

"Brother Jun, something's not right. Take a look at this."

Clicking the link leads to an internal film industry news website, which reports a rather insignificant piece of news:

"Huayi Brothers' new film 'Love in the Windy City' has started filming. It focuses on urban romance and is suspected of riding the wave of the 'copywriting style' trend."

The report mentioned the film's cast and general plot.

Then, in an inconspicuous paragraph, there was a sentence:

"It is understood that the film will use the recently popular single 'Take Me Away' as its theme song, and the copyright of the song has been acquired by Huayi Brothers."

Li Jun's head buzzed.

Huayi Brothers' new film uses "Take Me Away" as its theme song?

He immediately pulled out the electronic version of the contract, found the supplementary clauses, and read them word by word.

The terms and conditions clearly state that the film "Love is Not Blind" is authorized to use it.

He forced himself to calm down and called the senior student:

"Senior brother, where did you get this news? Are you sure?"

"Information circulating on industry websites is usually leaked by the production company itself to generate buzz for later promotion, and it's generally true."

The senior's tone was full of affirmation

Li Jun didn't answer and hung up the phone. His fingers trembled slightly as he dialed Yuan Tao's number again.

This time, the phone rang for a long time before it was answered.