Chapter 5: Deliver the Goods, Then Collect the Cash!
If so many of the female students hadn't been opposed to Ye Yu being the resident gatekeeper, and in fact strongly supported it, he might have already been removed from the post.
As for why they supported him, it was because some of them had already tasted the benefits, and the rumors about Ye Yu had long been circulating among the senior girls.
You have to understand that the people living here were still just a bunch of newcomers with no real foothold yet, still a long way from being actors, let alone stars. Having a powerhouse like Ye Yu around meant one more option, one more path.
Besides, Ye Yu was usually proper enough. Even when he came back late, at most he would kiss a little, feel them up a bit, and take some small advantage. Once you were in this line of work, you were already used to that. Having some leeway and a back door to walk through was still better than having nothing at all and being told to follow the rules.
By the time the room checks were done, it was already eleven at night, and Ye Yu had no mood left to watch a movie. He took a quick shower and went straight to sleep.
After all, as the resident gatekeeper, getting up early in the morning was one of his most important duties.
Tang Yan, naturally, stayed awake all night. She really couldn't sleep. At first she had thought about going over to Ye Yu's place at night, but when she picked up that "contract" and read it carefully, she discovered that it actually let her receive the "goods" before paying the "cash."
In simple terms, you could wait up to twenty-four hours after getting the role before paying. Only after more than twenty-four hours had passed would it count as a breach, and the breach clause didn't spell out any real punishment. It merely noted that the right to interpret everything belonged to the contracting party, and that the consequences would be borne at your own risk.
It was fair to say the whole thing was childish, almost completely lacking any real binding force. If you really got the role in hand, what was to stop you from refusing to honor it?
Tang Yan felt there was definitely room to walk away from it.
So she wasn't in a hurry to give Ye Yu her "reward". She planned to wait and see whether she could really land the role of Zi Xuan in Chinese Paladin 3.
Ever since Chinese Paladin swept across the country, Tangren had shot beyond the usual circle and become a top-three force in the small-screen industry, the undisputed heavyweight in the xianxia and fantasy romance fields.
At this point, Tangren's dramas had something of the same aura Hai Yan's dramas used to have back then: make one, and it would blow up; whoever made it would shoot to fame. So now, every time Tangren started a new production, countless people would scramble to get involved.
Especially the hugely famous Super IP of the Swords and Fairy series, which was almost the number one IP right now, even stronger than the Jin Yong adaptations.
A show like that was never truly short of people, so now plenty of others were lining up, waiting for Tangren to call. Tangren's purpose was very clear too: take the opportunity to sign a few promising newcomers. In other words, only those willing to sign the contract would smoothly get the roles.
Unfortunately, anyone with real potential and ability was not stupid. Even though these roles were tempting, signing a contract with Tangren that offered not the slightest protection was something most of them simply could not accept. So, without exception, they made the same choice as Tang Yan and gave it up.
Yang Mi was another case, and she was also one of the main candidates for the female lead. But behind Yang Mi stood Rongxinda, which was itself an old heavyweight with serious strength in the television industry. Of course she wasn't going to sign lightly, especially since she was almost already locked in as Xue Baochai in the new Dream of the Red Chamber.
"How can this be? Not a single suitable one?"
"No. The ones willing to sign are all pretty ordinary. Those who could actually help the roles and the series itself are mostly too proud to accept our contract at all."
Sister K left one thing unsaid: their contract was simply too harsh. Anyone with half a brain would never accept it, so the situation was perfectly normal and not surprising at all.
"Karen, I know you want to make the company bigger, but we're still at the starting stage. This Chinese Paladin 3 project is very important for Tangren's future development, and there must not be any problems. If something can't be done, then don't force it. If there's any choice at all, nobody will sign your version. The mainland market is too big, there are too many options, and the Hong Kong and Taiwan style doesn't work here."
A lot of people knew that Cai Yinong, the beautiful boss of Tangren, was actually just the girlfriend of director Li Guoli, who was the real major shareholder and the company's true boss. Cai Yinong was only his lover, but she was a very capable one, so most of the time it was still Cai Yinong calling the shots.
But women often have too narrow a sense of scale in many matters. They can be too good at scheming and end up overlooking a lot of the really important things, even failing to understand their company's true foundation.
If a drama became a hit, of course it could launch a lot of newcomers and draw in traffic. But if it flopped, not only would they fail to push anyone out of it, they would also suffer heavy losses, and might even smash their own brand. Business is not done that way.
"Then, Director Li, who do you think we should choose?"
Li Guoli thought seriously for a moment and said, "For the female lead, Tang Xuejian or Yang Mi would be the most suitable. For the second female lead, use Liu Shishi. As for the third... Tang Yan is a pretty good choice. She has the right feel."
Aside from Liu Shishi, the other two weren't their own people at Tangren, and it didn't seem likely that they would sign with them either. It wasn't that they couldn't offer a better contract; if they had been willing, they would have signed the top girl from the Beijing Film Academy, Liu Yifei, back then. Why would they have waited...
"By the way, how about Guli Nazha? She's the most beautiful actress I've ever seen. She's no worse than Liu Yifei. If we're really going to use a better contract to sign someone, why not sign her?"
Li Guoli naturally had an impression of Guli Nazha. In terms of looks and figure alone, she crushed every other competitor. She really was beautiful, not a bit worse than Liu Yifei. Unfortunately... she was only a freshman, and she had come from Xinjiang. That made it too difficult. It really wasn't easy to secure someone like that, and he didn't have that kind of confidence.
"Nazha is indeed good, and she can be signed. But not this time. Let's wait until her sophomore or junior year. Beidian has already forbidden freshmen from taking outside roles, and that was something Principal Tang personally instructed."