This celebrity became even more popular after being exposed of having multiple girlfriends
Chapter 188: I Want the Original Soundtrack Album Revenue

Chapter 188: Chapter 188: I Want the Original Soundtrack Album Revenue

Hmm, although Wu Mu started off a bit presumptuous and became respectful later, making money comes first.

Once they confirmed that Wu Mu was indeed planning to invest in their project, Yang Rongfa’s attitude heated up right away.

At this moment, their company was in dire need of someone to take over the project.

Their current situation could be described as extremely unpleasant.

They had lost all their previous investment on a film, owed a considerable amount of money, which they excused by planning another profitable series. With that, they barely persuaded their creditor to give them some time.

Unexpectedly, their new project encountered such a bizarre situation.

Li Hu got arrested, their promised investment inevitably collapsed, and no other investors were willing to step in.

If things continued like this, their project would totally fall through, and all the initial preparations and investments would be in vain.

That would undoubtedly add insult to injury to their already dire situation.

Now, finally, someone willing to take over and invest appeared, so they must seize the opportunity.

Yang Rongfa immediately forgot the previous unpleasantness and enthusiastically introduced to Wu Mu:

"We currently need an investment of about fifty million. Li Hu and Phantom Entertainment have both withdrawn their investments. According to the previous amount, the funding gap was about seventy million, but we’ve cut some project expenses, so we can reduce the gap to fifty million."

Fifty million?

After thinking it over, Wu Mu asked, "How much is Zhou Yu’s remuneration approximately?"

Zhou Yu’s remuneration?

Why would he ask that?

After being taken aback, Yang Rongfa felt something ominous, but still hesitated before responding, "His package deal is twenty-two million."

A package deal of twenty-two million?

The price was somewhat conscientious.

Wu Mu was surprised in his heart.

In the industry, remuneration was calculated in two primary ways: a package fee considered the entire project script and gave an overall price.

Another method was based on the number of episodes, paying for each episode an actor appeared in.

For an actor like Zhou Yu, who topped the film and television industry, although Wu Mu didn’t know the specific amount, he was sure it wouldn’t be less than one million eight hundred thousand per episode.

For typical series of forty to fifty episodes, just the acting fee could be nearly one hundred million.

Although it wasn’t exactly a reduction in pay to work on Yang Rongfa’s project, it definitely was a more conscientious price.

Zhou Yu’s offer was indeed fair; their main goal wasn’t for profit but to consolidate their image as top-quality film and TV stars through director Wang Ren’s series.

As long as the project had good reviews and brought fame, earning a bit less money didn’t matter at all.

Unfortunately, they encountered Wu Mu.

Wu Mu directly said, "Replace Zhou Yu with me; I’ll act."

Ah, I knew it.

Yang Rongfa sighed inwardly, having roughly guessed Wu Mu’s demand when he asked about Zhou Yu’s remuneration.

But...

Yang Rongfa shook his head, "He can’t be replaced."

Wu Mu looked at him, puzzled, "Why?"

After thinking for a moment, Yang Rongfa spoke,

"Our project has two main purposes for bringing in Zhou Yu. One is to use him to draw in a large audience and attract fans. With a popular top-grossing figure like him, we can also negotiate better prices with film production platforms."

"The second is that Zhou Yu’s company has resources from the Penguin group. They promised that if Zhou Yu stars in this project, Penguin can give us a guaranteed price to buy the film."

Yang Rongfa knew that the outside world wasn’t very optimistic about their project, although he had confidence in it, or else he wouldn’t be producing it.

But he also knew they needed insurance for their project.

The backing from Penguin, behind Zhou Yu, was their insurance. With that guaranteed price, even if they made a loss, it wouldn’t be too severe.

Wu Mu hadn’t expected there to be such intricacies involved. However, thinking about it, these kinds of dealings were quite common in the industry. With Zhou Yu’s company having an investment from Penguin, Penguin would definitely prefer to buy Zhou Yu’s films—it was like moving money from their left pocket to their right pocket.

Seeing that Yang Rongfa clearly didn’t want to replace Zhou Yu, Wu Mu clicked his tongue and shook his head, "Then it seems like there’s no opportunity for cooperation. If he can’t be replaced, I won’t invest."

Yang Rongfa was undoubtedly upset. They were in desperate need of this lifesaving money. But in his view, replacing Zhou Yu with Wu Mu was a bit like trying to quench a thirst with poison.

Not only would they lose their insurance, but it might also affect the quality of their series.

Their drama series required a certain level of acting skill.

And Wu Mu’s acting skill... it was well-known within the industry that his acting was just famously expressionless.

And in terms of popularity, they also needed Zhou Yu’s popularity to negotiate prices with other film platforms.

Zhou Yu, a top film and television icon with a good reputation among both fans and the general public, could significantly pull the prices higher.

As for Wu Mu... not to mention his confusing fan base that seemed to be in a state of quantum superposition, even his reputation among the general public definitely wouldn’t pass muster.

Now, if you asked around in the industry who the star with the most fans is, opinions would vary, but if you ask who has the most ’anti-fans’... a certain top-tier actor would definitely rank first.

Yang Rongfa tried to persuade Wu Mu. He didn’t talk about popularity or resources but focused on the drama itself:

"Mr. Wu Mu, it’s not that we don’t want to hire you, but this role really isn’t suitable for you. It requires a more outgoing and lively personality, and you would find it quite challenging."

But as soon as he finished speaking, Wu Mu hadn’t yet responded.

Wang Ren, who had been silent and speaking little, suddenly said, "We could alter the script a bit, tweak Wang Chuan’s personality to lean more toward Wu Mu."

Yang Rongfa frowned and looked at Wang Ren, wanting to ask who this person really supported.

And changing the script? Directly altering a character’s personality, wouldn’t that transform a good story into something unrecognizable and lead to a loss?

Wang Ren, however, had his own ideas. He earnestly said, "I think the character Wang Chuan lacks persuasive power. The image he portrays is insufficient to convince everyone that the female lead, Lin Mo, would fall for someone like him."

"His role lacks essence in many respects and exists purely due to the plot’s demand; although his character has a lot of screen time, the performance doesn’t have many highlights."

Wu Mu looked at Wang Ren, surprised. He was aware that the character’s personality was a bit unfitting, although he originally planned to rely on a system lottery to hack through the performance. But now, Wang Ren was even willing to modify the script.

Recollecting the script he had read before, he gradually grasped Wang Ren’s point.

Overall, the character Wang Chuan seemed a bit too utilitarian. The plot required the female lead to like him, so she liked him, but overall, the character somewhat lacked convincing power.

Changing the script would be a good thing.

Seeing that Yang Rongfa was still skeptical and seemed determined to persuade him, Wu Mu directly said, "Mr. Yang, my participation in this role is a prerequisite. If it can’t be met, I won’t be investing."

"Additionally," Wu Mu laid down his second demand, "I will handle the composition, and the profits from the original soundtrack album must all go to me."

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