Building the Team

What Shen Shanden wanted him to do was not as simple as getting Wu Jing to accept this—or rather, these—job offers and collect a paycheck.

It was far more difficult than that.

He had to make Wu Jing agree willingly, excitedly, and impatiently—and put even more effort into it than he would into his own work.

Ma Youde asked himself: was there really such a person in the world?

Wu Jing was no nobody either. Back then, he had been a household-name actor. In recent years, he had gone to the Hong Kong Circle. His fame had declined, but his standing had risen, and he had acted in multiple films.

Right now, the Hong Kong Circle and Taiwan's entertainment industry stood a notch above the Domestic entertainment industry.

When it came to actors and stars, major Hong Kong Circle celebrities could demand tens or even hundreds of millions for a single film. On the mainland, even Chen Daoming, the highest-paid actor, only earned a million.

That was a difference of dozens of times! Not even a fraction of what Hong Kong Circle stars made!

If Shen Shanden had not been his own boss, Ma Youde would truly have thought the man was dreaming—talking nonsense in his sleep.

But if it was Shen Shanden, then perhaps it really was possible.

Thinking back several years, he had merely been an angry young man drifting through online forums when, by chance, he came across Shen Shanden's team.

At first, he had thought it was a scam. Later, he tried working part-time, posting online to make a little extra money.

Using the occasional secret techniques Shen Shanden taught him, he had fought earth-shattering battles across the internet, taking on a hundred opponents by himself.

In just three or four years, he had gone from part-time to full-time, entered management, become a manager, and witnessed the company acquire an official office.

Now, they had over a million in fixed assets, six full-time employees, and hard-to-value intangible assets: countless accounts across major forums and an organized online troll army.

Ma Youde came back to his senses. Seeing that Shen Shanden was not deliberately making things difficult for him but genuinely had a plan, he quickly asked, "Boss, I'm not making excuses for myself. I'm afraid of delaying your important work."

Shen Shanden found that manner of speaking oddly familiar. Forget it, he would not dwell on it. "I'll give you a letter. Deliver it to him when the time comes."

When making a living out in the world, the most important thing was having people.

You needed people above you.

You needed people below you too.

And you could not do without people in front, behind, left, or right.

For a rookie director like Shen Shanden, it would be best to have an experienced producer or assistant director helping him. That would save him a great deal of trouble.

Once fan films rose to prominence in the future, singers, actors, and writers would all come running to become directors. Were they really supposed to learn every directing skill from scratch?

And it was not just the future. There was already an example in the present: Jay Chou's Secret had the involvement of top Hong Kong Circle producer Jiang Zhiqiang, along with help from Taiwan filmmakers.

With the Hong Kong and Taiwan film circles safeguarding a project like that, at the very least, there would be no problem with the finished film.

Compared with Hong Kong and Taiwan, which had a head start, mainland behind-the-scenes production was still relatively underdeveloped in 2007.

It was not yet possible to simply spend money, find someone knowledgeable to oversee things, and assemble a crew with a guaranteed level of quality.

Shen Shanden wanted to take control of the project and improve his bargaining power in the coming negotiations. Ideally, he needed to build the framework himself—a framework that looked highly professional at a glance.

There was no need to worry about the cast.

Shen Shanden was not using Hong Kong and Taiwan Stars. On the mainland, at standard market rates, there was no one he could not afford.

In 2007, mainland actors truly had very few film opportunities, especially in commercial cinema. Most of them were having a hard time.

The main issue was the behind-the-scenes teams, and there were three priorities.

One was the production management team, another was the content creation team, and since The Grand Director was a historical martial arts action film, the martial arts choreography team was also crucial.

Only once the frameworks for those three teams had been initially established would the The Grand Director project truly belong to Shen!

That was why Wu Jing was so important.

Wu Jing had said in later interviews that he had done every kind of job in the Hong Kong Circle.

That was also a characteristic of Hong Kong Island film crews: no one could be allowed to sit idle, especially people from the mainland.

The Grand Director also had action scenes and needed martial arts choreography. Shen Shanden had his own ideas in that area, but turning those ideas into reality required specific people to execute them.

Wu Jing had a martial arts foundation and had won national championships. Since he had made his way in the Hong Kong Circle, he must have occasionally worked part-time as a martial arts choreographer. Even if he could not do it himself, he could find more professional people through his connections.

Having an industry insider whose background he understood would at least keep him from getting conned.

It could be said that Wu Jing alone could help Shen Shanden support two teams.

And judging by Wu Jing's later development, he did not have many resources in the industry and lacked deep ties with Beijing Film Studio or the Beijing Circle. If Shen Shanden brought him in, he would become Shen Shanden's man.

Otherwise, why would he have left for the Hong Kong Circle at the height of his career, only to get beaten black and blue?

If the person acting opposite him had been Jackie Chan or Jet Li, would they have hit him that hard? And if it had been Wu Jing after Wolf Warrior 2, would things still have been the same?

So in the end, he simply had no background and could only fight desperately.

What Shen Shanden needed were capable people who lacked opportunities, and Wu Jing fit perfectly.

He gave Ma Youde a few more instructions about the details.

"Boss, I've remembered everything."

Watching Ma Youde scribble away with his pen, carefully taking notes,

Shen Shanden was fairly satisfied.

After Ma Youde assigned work to his subordinates and informed his family, he hurried to the airport without stopping and headed for Shenzhen.

Wu Jing was developing his career over on Hong Kong Island and was currently recuperating in Shenzhen.

Since he was already here,

Shen Shanden inspected the company's operations.

As the company had gotten on track, he had not asked about the specific day-to-day work for a long time. He only kept a grip on personnel and finances.

It was Zhou Qifeng's first time here. Looking at row upon row of computers, he gasped in amazement again and again.

Shen Shanden merely smiled without saying a word. They were all secondhand computers picked up in Zhongguancun.

The reason Shunwei Public Relations Company had developed so quickly was also its fierce style.

Shen Shanden had been reborn in June 2003, then released a string of smash-hit songs that summer.

Rather than becoming a superstar as he had imagined, he had been dealt a crushing blow right away.

Even today, he still bore labels such as "internet singer" and "non-mainstream singer," while his Fans were looked down upon as well.

Shen Shanden applied that experience to Shunwei's development.

Shunwei positioned itself as a marketing company rooted in the entertainment industry and knowledgeable about the internet.

He brought gossip over from Hong Kong Island, connecting domestic and overseas information flows, while also letting domestic netizens learn just how uninhibited and genuine some stars were abroad.

Drawing on what he had experienced back then, he gave certain Hong Kong Island stars a little "greeting."

If the companies behind those stars were willing to buy Shunwei's services, Shunwei would uphold professional ethics as well.

Some companies had also tried to sue them, but it was not much of a problem.

The online accounts could be traced all the way back to eighty-year-old old ladies.

As the internet rapidly developed, every industry began to value online marketing.

Shunwei's business gradually moved away from charging "celebrity protection fees" and toward online film marketing.

Shen Shanden had also put a certain degree of separation in place. It was not to evade legal responsibility, but because he did not want to expose himself to industry people just yet.

The company's legal representative was someone he had found back in his hometown, while his father held the controlling stake.

Although they shared the same surname, anyone unaware of the inside story would not be able to guess it anytime soon.

That was also why Shen Shanden had not removed some of the labels attached to himself. With his knowledge of all sorts of future marketing methods, it would not be difficult to do so, but it would expose him as Shunwei's true controller.

Shunwei would enter the market when the stakes were higher.

By then, Shen Shanden would not care about the company's little bit of revenue, nor would he care if people discovered that he was the head of the online troll army.

Because from the very beginning, the company had been founded to serve his career.

After handling matters here, Shen Shanden took Zhou Qifeng back to Beijing Film Academy to first establish the content team.

Beijing Film Studio.

They waited and waited.

A whole group of people waited until the flowers had wilted.

By late morning, Shen Shanden still had not shown up.

Forget getting a slice of the pie—they had not even seen the man.

Chen Hui could not sit still any longer. "Why hasn't he come yet? The project was only approved yesterday. Shouldn't he come here to finalize it, then go to the finance department to collect the startup funds?"