Chapter 22: The Rise of an Awesome Agent

  He Mu continued to look at the contract.

  8. During the performance of the contract, in order to enable Party B to meet the requirements of Party A on the basis of performance, Party A will arrange at least one free intensive training every year, and Party A is responsible for handling the actor's certificate for Party B.

  Party A guarantees to provide Party B with no less than 5 shooting opportunities every year, arrange for Party B to participate in one film and two TV series each year, and during the five-year contract period, play the role of male lead in at least four films and television dramas. This clause takes effect from 2006.

  10. When Party A arranges performance tasks for Party B, Party A acts as an agent for Party B to collect all income from the employer's performance remuneration and distributes it to Party B. At the same time, Party A has the right to collect 45% of the income as Party A's performance brokerage fee.

  Eleven, Party A is responsible for recovering performance income on behalf of Party B and protecting the personal reputation, portrait rights, artistic image, audio-visual products, advertising images and other rights and interests of Party B. Both parties shall jointly bear the litigation or other expenses related to the above matters in accordance with the proportion of their respective performance income distribution.

  Article 12: If the Party B intentionally damages or affects the reputation and interests of Party A through words, actions or behaviors, Party A has the right to sue Party B and demand compensation.

  Thirteenth, Party B must abide by all the rules and regulations of Party A. If Party B breaches the contract three times, Party A has the right to cancel Party B's performance qualifications and other qualifications stipulated in the contract.

  Fourteenth: If Party B requests to cancel the contract without the consent of Party A, Party A has the right to claim five times the signing fee from Party B.

  Five times the signing fee of 1 million is 5 million. He Mian stuck out his tongue, and this one million in hand was a bit hot to hold.

  The last three points are warnings to Party B. Although there is a relationship between He Zao and Xiao Fang, these three points are still indispensable. Business cooperation must have business norms.

  Next are the rights and obligations of Party B, which is He Mu's rights and obligations.

  Party B shall voluntarily comply with all management systems of Party A.

  When Party A arranges a performance for Party B, if Party B is unable to participate at short notice, they must notify Party A in a timely manner. If Party B agrees to participate but is late or absent, resulting in losses, Party B shall bear the responsibility.

  Third, when the Party B participates in the performance tasks arranged by Party A, it shall not engage in matters unrelated to the performance, and shall obey the arrangement of Party A. If Party B appears late, leaves early, is absent or abandons the arrangement of Party A and makes its own arrangements for activities, it shall be deemed as a breach of contract, disobedience to management, and Party A will investigate the responsibility of Party B and claim economic compensation.

  Party B guarantees that it will not entrust others in the name of an individual to collect performance income entrusted by Party A in any way. If such a situation occurs, Party A reserves the right to recover agency fees in various ways and Party B shall bear the liability for breach of contract.

  Five. In the third year of the contract, if Party B's reputation reaches a level recognized by Party A, Party B may request an increase in income sharing ratio from Party A, and Party A may or may not agree to the increase depending on the situation.

  Sixth, during the performance of the contract, if Party B wins a Best Actor award for his film work, the income distribution ratio of Party B may be increased according to the scale and influence of the competition. For domestic Golden Rooster, Golden Horse, and Golden Phoenix Awards, the increase shall be 5% each time; for international Class A film festivals, the increase shall be 10% each time; and for the three major European film festivals, the increase shall be 20% each time. However, Party B's highest income distribution ratio shall not exceed 90% of the total income.

  Supplementary Provisions:

  1. The right to interpret this Agreement of Responsibility lies with Party A. This Agreement is effective for 5 years, and upon expiration, it will automatically be terminated. If both parties agree that continued cooperation is necessary, they shall re-sign the agreement.

  2. In case any dispute arises during the execution of the contract, both parties shall negotiate to resolve the issue. If negotiation fails, either party may bring the dispute to the economic contract arbitration institution or court at the place where the dispute occurs for resolution.

  3. This Agreement of Responsibility comes into effect on the date when both parties sign (or seal) it.

  Contractor: ……

  Although he hadn't studied law, He Mu was at least a clever person. This contract could be considered very generous for him as a newcomer. The appeal of the four male leads alone would have been enough to make He Mu sign this contract without hesitation, not to mention that there were also one million cash, a car and a house.

  "I'm fine." He Mu handed the grass sample over to Datang.

  "I'm fine too." Xiao Fang pushed the paper over.

  "Alright, let's set the signing time for tomorrow afternoon then. He Mu, you can take this time to think carefully if there's anything else that needs to be added or changed, as long as it's reasonable, we can make adjustments. Or you can hire a lawyer to review the contract and see if there are any issues. However, once the contract is signed tomorrow, it will be set in stone and final. If you want to make changes after that, it would be a breach of contract." Da Tang did not ask for an immediate signing, but rather gave He Mu time to consider.

  He Mu nodded seriously and left Hu Lang company immediately.

  Xiao Fang and Da Tang exchanged a smile.

  "This kid isn't bad, are you confident in making him famous?" Xiao Fang stared at Da Tang and asked.

  The Great Tang does not have a package ticket, "becoming famous and successful is three parts luck, seven parts hard work, although one's own efforts are very important, but if you don't have that three parts of luck, it won't happen anyway, just hope he has good luck."

  The entertainment industry is full of unknowns, sometimes the protagonist is not popular, sometimes the supporting actor is popular and the protagonist is not, sometimes the director is popular but the actor is not, and sometimes it's not just about acting well to be recognized, audience affinity is also an important intangible thing.

  "What resources do you have to help He Mu arrange his first play, let's hear them out and see which ones are more suitable for him." Da Tang looked at Xiao Fang.

  "There are two or three that have already started filming, but they're all low-budget and don't have any big names or attention, I'm not interested. I just think 'The Young Yang Family Generals' is pretty good, Huayi Brothers has a lot of money, and Tang Ren's dramas always have good ratings, so I hope He Mu can play an important role in it."

  "Haven't all the important roles inside already been carved up?" Da Tang also knew some things about this play of Hu Lun Investment.

  "It's not a problem if they can spit it out again after dividing the melon," Xiao Fang said, "As long as the actor employment contract hasn't been signed, there's no issue. As one of the investors, I can let my own artist play a certain role with just a wave of my hand."

  "It's best if it's four, five, six or seven." The Great Tang smiled slightly and added a sentence.

  ……

  On the way home, He Mu was always unable to bear the excitement in his heart. No matter whether he could succeed in the future or not, he had finally gotten an opportunity, a chance to show himself off. With Hu Lang and Xiao Fang as his backing force supporting him, with such a great agent like Da Tang helping him, what reason did he have to not seize this opportunity and rise up?

  "Right, I still don't know what the Great Tang is all about, this won't do, I must first understand it." He Mian said to himself, such things must be asked of people in the circle, and the only person in the circle that He Mian knew was Tao Qudu.

  "Lao Tao, I have a question for you, are you familiar with Datang?" He Mu asked after dialing through to Tao Qu's phone.

  "Isn't the Tang Dynasty just before the Song Dynasty and after the Sui Dynasty? Why are you testing my history, young man?" Tao Qiu asked with a smile.

  "Not that Great Tang, is there a broker named Datang in our circle?" He Mu asked with a hint of sweat.

  "That Da Tang, of course, is one of the earliest and most famous agents in China. It seems that some media have evaluated the top ten agents in the country, and he is one of them." Tao Qudu, after all, is in a film academy environment, and his understanding of some people and things in the circle is indeed far beyond He Mu.

  "Can you elaborate?" He Mu asked further.

  Although curious about how He Mu suddenly remembered to ask this person, Tao Qudu still told some stories about the Tang Dynasty.

  Datang is indeed one of the earliest agents in mainland China. He was also a columnist and music producer, creating a large number of musical works that were performed by many stars including Sun Yue, Zhang Wei Jian, Lin Xin Ru and others. As early as the late 1990s, Datang co-founded with a Taiwanese friend the first professional agency in mainland China, handling the domestic affairs of many Hong Kong and Taiwan stars including Jin Chaoqun (the actor who played Bao Qingtian), Tian Ni, Pan Yingzi, Wang Xinping and others.

  Later, the company also signed Xu Zheng, Gao Feng, child star Jinming, Heiyazi combination, Li Xiaoshuang, Qingchun Meishao combination and others. However, Datang has always been low-key, only in the capital entertainment circle with a big reputation and extensive connections, but not well understood by outsiders until the storm of singer Gao Feng's death in September 2002 pushed him into the public eye, and the name Datang was known to people outside the circle.

  Gao Feng is a well-known musician in China, "We all have a home called China", his song "Big China" is estimated to be sung by every Chinese person, and he is also an excellent composer. He composed "Stupid Kid" for Liu Dehua, "Big Brother" for Ke Shouliang, and "A Lifetime of Dreams" for Zhang Weijian, all of which are familiar tunes to everyone's ears.

  It was then that this talented musician suddenly died without warning after releasing his last album in September 2002. The media immediately sprang into action, reporting various versions of the cause of death and pointing fingers at Gao Feng's agent, Da Tang, suspecting him of hiding the truth about Gao Feng's death and profiting from it. Some media even speculated that Gao Feng had died of AIDS-related respiratory failure. Anyway, during that time, Da Tang was very popular, appearing on newspapers, TV, and online, and even attracting more attention than the deceased protagonist Gao Feng himself.

  Later in 2003, Da Tang wrote a book "Front and Back of the Stage" which told the story of the "Gao Feng incident" and included his own experiences, insights and views on some figures in the industry. The book sold over 200,000 copies that year and was serialized by several well-known newspapers including Beijing Evening News, China Times and World Journal. This book filled a gap in the domestic cultural brokerage industry and was adopted as a textbook for brokerage courses at many film and television schools.

  However, after this book, Da Tang fell into a low profile, living a simple life, quietly operating his own brokerage firm, occasionally writing texts, and releasing his second book "Da Tang New Language" in 04. In the past two years, there has been little news about him.

  He Mu couldn't help but sigh, it turned out that Xiao Fang was such a big shot, and he had actually dug him up to the company and even made him his own agent. While feeling lucky for himself, He Mu couldn't help but think, why could Huo Lang, a small-scale company, pull in Da Tang's alliance, and how could Huo Lang cooperate with big companies like Hua Yue and Tang Ren? What kind of background did Xiao Fang have?

  "Hey, Muzi, what did you hear him say? Did you see him today?" Tao Qudu asked casually.

  "I've met him," He Mu nodded, "and now he's my agent."

  ……

  Here is the translation:

  "Note: The top 10 mainland agents' statement should have appeared a few years later, but for plot needs, it was moved to '05. Special explanation ~ Also, still the old rule, last night's chapter will be posted late at night, moved to early morning, in order to rush the rankings next week, please forgive me! Although there are many great gods on the rankings now, and our collections are not high, we must persistently climb up step by step! This week we climbed to 32nd place, what about next week? Old Buddha is looking forward to it very much! Next week there will be no recommendation, Old Buddha can only rely on each reader friend's recommendation and clicks to let "The Rise of the Big Shot" climb up, especially the first day is crucial. If we can appear on the homepage, Muddy White Buddha will be grateful!"

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