National Tide 1980

"What? Fog Studios actually dares to ask the legal department to demand liquidated damages? And it also wants to sue us and the media for defamation?"

Near noon on September 19, Ikuo Sufang, who had just flown back from Hawaii last night and had not fully recovered his energy, walked into the office.

However, he still smelled faintly of alcohol. As soon as he sat down in his seat, before he could ask his secretary to get him a cup of coffee, he received the bad news from the secretary first.

He couldn't help but be a little surprised, "Why do they suddenly have such courage? Is that woman Matsumoto Keiko crazy! Do you really not want to turn on the phone?"

Unexpectedly, the secretary did not answer the question.

"Hey, during the three days you went to Hawaii, didn't you read any Japanese newspapers? Didn't you hear any news from the industry?"

"No. Where can I find Japanese newspapers in Hawaii?"

Zhou Fangyuxiong became more and more confused, "I've only been away for three days, so nothing big happened by chance, right? Why do you ask? What's going on? Is there anything else I don't know about?"

"President, these are several newspapers from the past two days. Please read the headlines of the entertainment section..."

When the secretary laid out several newspapers in front of Ikuo Shu, he didn't need to think too hard, because the titles alone were eye-catching enough.

"Super cast lineup! Special performance by all members! List announced!"

"Super cast performs Ginza Desire! The crew of "Black Leather Notepad" restarts!"

"Seicho Matsumoto personally designated a special cast list! Fans of the original work are celebrating!"

"Winning support from the film industry! Fog Studio's first Japanese drama will challenge the pay limit!"

"The extremely strong ambition of Fog Studio! Is the unconventional special lineup a need for publicity or a respect for the original work?"...

You know, a major feature of Japanese dramas is that they pay more attention to the ranking of actors.

Therefore, when Japanese media reports and promotes TV dramas, they usually indicate (single) starring or (multiple) W-starring. The cast list that appears at the end of Japanese dramas may also indicate special appearances after some actors.

As for special performances, they refer to the special participation of famous actors.

It can also be said that actors with a higher level than the main protagonist are hired to perform as supporting roles, and the performance fees are usually higher than the general market.

As it is now in "Black Leather Notebook", there are about ten people in the special performance list, occupying almost most of the roles, which is simply unprecedented.

With Ikuo Suho's knowledge and experience in the entertainment industry, he could almost understand the latest trends of Fog Studios as long as he read these reports at a glance

And his immediate reaction was to couldn't help but exclaim again.

"How is this possible? How can Fog Studios use so many big-name stars? The 'Big Five' are going against us and supporting them!"

"Maybe. President, Matsumoto Keiko has a close relationship with Shochiku Pictures. Not only does she serve as the 'Shochiku No. 1 Actress', but she also cooperates closely in production and release. Have you forgotten that, with " They both made a lot of money from the movie "Li Xianglan". And Toho, maybe they will be dissatisfied because we took away Yasuko Sawaguchi."

"But even that doesn't make sense? What about Nikkatsu and Toei? We haven't offended them? Why do they have to go against us? The current film market is shrinking. From their standpoint, shouldn't they Are we treating other film studios as a thorn in their side? They should be at each other’s throats.”

"This... this may be because the boom of TV programs in recent years has led to the rapid rise of our artists. In recent years, film studios have also begun to establish entertainment agencies, following our example and contacting TV stations. Probably not I hope we can no longer monopolize TV programs. Anyway, from the perspective of Nikkatsu and Toei, whether they are film studios of the same type or entertainment agencies like us, they are enemies, and no one will suffer if they attack them. Yiwu Studios can also make the other party owe a favor, what's wrong with it? Besides, they are also the beneficiaries, at least it can make their big stars easily earn a lot of money, and it can also increase their exposure. , this is naturally not surprising. If the president reads the reports carefully, he will know that Kiri Productions is very generous. This time it only offered 1.5 million yen for one episode to Nikkatsu's Setsuko Ogawa. The salary is almost the same as the salary for our first-line actors in TV series. Presumably, the salary should be more attractive for those bigger stars. Otherwise, they would not mind playing the villain regardless of the small number of roles."

The secretary thought for a while and seriously put forward his inference.

However, the more he analyzed it as much as possible, the more Ikugo Shuu couldn't believe it.

"That's not right. How can Fog Studios have so much money? If they pay according to this standard, wouldn't it cost hundreds of millions more yen for the film?"

"I don't know about this, but some newspapers estimate that the remuneration they paid may indeed exceed 400 million yen. Moreover, according to rumors, Fog Studio has also stated that it wants to appropriately adjust the contracts of the original actors and replace Miura Yu , Takeru Utsui and Ryoko Ishida’s salaries have also been moderately increased.”

When the secretary said this, his tone was a bit strange, but he also showed some admiration inadvertently.

But Zhou Fangyuxiong became even more confused because of this.

How could someone be so stupid and willing to increase the salary of an actor who has already signed a contract?

He had never heard of such a thing. He was not sure what the theory was. He hesitated and said, "Is there any news about Fog Studios? Is there any big company that will stand up to promote them and speak for them?" ?”

He was now extremely suspicious that Matsumoto Keiko might have hooked up with some wealthy businessman.

Otherwise, why do you care so little about production costs and dare to ignore the pressure from the combustion system?

"This doesn't seem to be the case. However, the subsequent impact of this news is very bad. Now many people who originally waited and watched seem to be optimistic that the drama "Black Leather Notepad" will bring super high ratings. TBS TV station and "Daily News" Not only do you advocate every day, many other entertainment agencies have also begun to recruit people into Wu Studio. The banning and sanctions you have adopted, President, seem to have no real effect..."

Hearing this, Shu Fang Ikuo couldn't help but frowned. Things turned out like this, which was completely beyond his expectation. He didn't expect that Fog Studios would make such a move.

He was so willing to invest so much that he even risked losing hundreds of millions of yen to use money to break the trap he had set up.

If this is the case, it seems to be very troublesome and difficult to handle.

It seems that I underestimated the other party a little too much. That woman is not as weak as I thought...

The secretary completely understood his reaction, but could not wait patiently. After all, the situation was beyond their control in such a short period of time.

They must take measures as soon as possible now and cannot wait for the situation to develop further, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous.

The secretary waited for a while and continued to ask for instructions, "President, we have to do something! If we don't talk about continuing to attack our opponents now, we are in a lot of trouble. Those media and artists will be held accountable, and now their newspapers and affairs It’s all very stressful. How do you think we should handle this?”

Ikuo Zhou Fang came to his senses and scratched his hair with his hands. Since he couldn't think of an effective countermeasure at the moment, he was somewhat upset by the secretary's questioning.

Instead, he asked in a cold voice, "Didn't Higuchi and Hexi do anything during the past few days when I was away? One of them is the vice president and the other is the propaganda director. They should handle it when I am away. How can we let things go?" Has it become like this?”

The secretary quickly explained, "President Higuchi and Director Kasai are involved, but it is indeed difficult to do. After all, their duties are limited to our entertainment agency itself, and they have little say in the offices under its jurisdiction. It worked. As for the newspapers, they also tried their best to get those reporters to issue targeted statements on behalf of the Burning Department, hoping to counterattack, but it didn't seem to have much effect. After all, the people who spoke for Fog Productions were all well-established in the industry. People will believe you as soon as they speak. No one on our side believes it, so we have been looking for your whereabouts these past few days, but it is a pity that you have not booked the hotel. It’s been canceled. I really can’t contact you here.”

Zhou Fangyuxiong fell silent for a moment, and now he almost regretted it to death.

I really shouldn't have accepted Kitaro Watanabe's invitation to go to Hawaii to see the opening of the Ala Moana Hotel he acquired, and agreed to help him handle the matter of hiring artists to build publicity.

Although it was indeed a great time to play, it was because of that guy that I was intoxicated in the fun and debauchery. I didn't learn about these changes in Japan in time, which was a big mistake.

Otherwise, how could he be so passive now?

"Sorry, President, we didn't handle these matters well for you."

The secretary knew the character of Shu Fang Ikuo best. He did not dare to let the president bear the responsibility for any negligence. In order to make him happy, he quickly took the responsibility on himself.

After a pause, he added, "However, under the current situation, whether our firm in the Burning Department has to pay the price of the artist's breach of contract, or the media who help us face the legal accountability of Fog Studios, there is great pressure. Very big. I suggest that you have to take some gentle measures. If you don't comfort them and give them some practical support, I'm afraid they will be dissatisfied if this matter is not handled well, which may cause a chain reaction to the society. It will have quite a negative impact on your reputation.”

Ikuo Suho finally began to think about the situation seriously. After a moment of silence, he said, "As for liquidated damages, since there is a contract, just pay what you have to pay. It's better than going to court. In this way, you should notify Higuchi immediately and ask him to pay those for us." I will take note of all the agencies that have contributed to the ban this time. I will take the list to negotiate with Dentsu and the TV station to see if I can give them some opportunities to film GG and put it on a variety show as compensation. As for the media, don’t worry. They, they are our slaves. Tell them directly and let them solve the problem on their own. Anyway, if they do not stand on our side, the artists of the Burning Department will no longer accept interviews from them, and the reprinting of photos will be prohibited, and any form of communication will be cut off. Cooperate. Let them choose!”

When it comes to the aftermath, Ikuo Shuu clearly knows the difference between the inside and the outside. After all, the Entertainment Agency is a subsidiary company of the Combustion Department, and it is also the source of his strength, so he should not be too harsh.

But for the media, they are completely blackmailed by using their own artists as "hostages".

In particular, fashion magazines and TV magazines published by large publishing houses have a high demand for artists from large companies, which is a major source of income for them.

If they were unhappy, all the weekly magazines owned by these big publishing houses would suffer huge losses.

So that's not all. Then he felt cold air coming from his nose and added a few more words.

"As for those newspapers and magazines that dare to go against our combustion department and dare to say good things about Fog Studio, I also want to make them look good and warn them as soon as possible. Ah, yes, just bring me these newspapers, all of them Write it down for me. I'm going to call their editor-in-chief to see if these guys are going to stop cooperating with us. Will they dare to advocate for Fog Studios again in the future? I think they probably don't know about Fog Production. The studio offended us. If they knew, they would know which side they were on. Damn Fog Studios. Now that bitch Matsumoto has completely turned me on. She just agreed to suspend "Crazy Rich Asians". I can't let her go easily."

However, despite what Ikuo Sufang said with high spirits, the secretary's feedback instantly broke his dream.

"President, isn't this bad? And it's a bit unrealistic. Because these reports are from major newspapers such as the Mainichi Shimbun and the Sankei Shimbun. What's more, they are also related to TV stations, TBS TV and Fuji The TV stations have special news reports, so you can’t give them such an ultimatum..."

Zhou Fangyuxiong was stunned for a moment, then became angry and his voice became colder.

"What? The TV station is also involved? And TBS? Damn it, the TV station is a bunch of guys with treacherous backbones. Are you trying to protect him? Especially that guy Sasaki, he clearly agreed when he invited me to dinner a few days ago. Exceed my..."

Ikuo Suho picked up the phone and was still cursing, "This bastard! Could it be that I invited her to go to a high-end CLUB in Ginza to have fun, and also entertained them to play golf, play mahjong in a high-end club, and go to a casino to gamble. Are they all feeding the dogs? I I want to ask him what’s going on? Let’s see how he explains it to me!”

But it's a pity that it would be better not to make this call at all. The other party's feedback almost made Ikkio Zhou angry to death.

Because Director Sasaki said that since TBS and Fog Studios have signed a contract for the TV series "Black Leather Notepad", the contract must be fulfilled no matter what.

Especially now that this drama has caused a sensation in society, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the ratings will be very high from the beginning, and it is very likely to achieve results.

So this is no longer something he can use his position to suppress. If he does this, he will not be able to explain to the production committee and will easily fall into passivity.

He has no choice but to cooperate now and let Deputy Director Kaga mention this drama to promote it. I hope Shufang Ikuo can understand.

Therefore, during the phone call, Zhou Fangyuxiong was only halfway through speaking when he couldn't continue.

After the call ended, he even sat stupidly in his seat, silent and dazed, his face was rather gloomy and ugly.

The secretary didn't dare to ask, so he waited silently.

Finally, after five minutes, Zhou Fangyuxiong, who was feeling stuck in his throat and on pins and needles, finally reacted, and that was to remove the landline phone on the table.

"Damn it! It's obviously just a small studio run by a weak woman, how could it suddenly become such a tough nut to crack! No, I want to check that woman's background!"