Chapter 44: Headhunting
Tong Shenwu’s office.
“Have a seat,” Tong Shenwu gestured for Zeng Lei and another person to sit down, then started a video.
A mournful background score played as a woman in simple clothes looked around a magnificent palace. Her gaze passed through layers of screens and curtains, as if seeing a man being crowned and worshipped by his ministers beyond the vermilion gates.
…
With the “Empress Zhang Su” and Huari Entertainment logos appearing, several beautifully produced trailers played.
“What do you think?” Tong Shenwu asked.
“From the trailers alone, ‘Empress Zhang Su’ lives up to its reputation as a high-quality work from Huari Entertainment, which invested 300 million yuan and five years of preparation,” Zeng Lei replied.
The other person nodded in agreement.
However, they were puzzled. Surely Tong Shenwu didn’t call them in just to watch the trailers?
“Is Yi Shang going to produce a large-scale production like ‘Empress Zhang Su’?” Zeng Lei asked speculatively. “Am I being transferred to the film and television planning department?”
As he asked, Zeng Lei secretly rejoiced at Tong Shenwu’s apparent favoritism.
The other person felt the same, a mixture of confusion and envy towards Zeng Lei.
Tong Shenwu shook her head. “The purpose of watching this trailer is to poach Wu Yongzheng, Gao Zhimei, and Ma Yuanzhi to Yi Shang.”
“But… that’s… CEO Tong, that’s too difficult,” Zeng Lei almost blurted out “impossible.”
Although the post-change Yi Shang was vastly different, the gap between them and Huari Entertainment, one of the three giants in the entertainment industry, where Wu Yongzheng, Gao Zhimei, and Ma Yuanzhi worked, was still enormous. It was impossible to poach them.
Perhaps there was a slightly higher chance with Ma Yuanzhi? Rumors suggested he had been demoted from male lead to male third lead.
The other, previously silent person nodded, sharing Zeng Lei’s opinion that this was an impossible task.
“Watch it again,” Tong Shenwu replayed the trailers for “Empress Zhang Su.” “Look closely; there’s a chance to poach them.”
…
Guan Chun, who had been invisible since entering the office, focused on the video. Suddenly, she lowered her head, opened her phone, went to the official “Empress Zhang Su” account, and carefully browsed it. Zeng Lei, seeing this, looked it up on his phone as well, though he didn’t understand the reason.
Their actions caught Tong Shenwu’s attention; she nodded in satisfaction.
“CEO Tong, I understand,”
Guan Chun spoke first.
“First, the trailers and character stills seem to be stylistically unified, but after removing the filter and enlarging the details, the makeup and styling of the male and female leads and supporting characters are disjointed, especially the male lead’s.
Then, the plot synopsis describes ‘Empress Zhang Su’ as a female-led political drama, but the focus of this trailer is not on politics, but on romance.
Furthermore, the plot of ‘Empress Zhang Su’ revolves around family, the throne, and the dynasty. The entire series has 78 episodes, and the trailers show a lot of harem intrigue. After the premiere, possibly 30 episodes might be filled with water, focusing on palace fights.
So, although the male and female leads have a large fan base, this is a 300-million-yuan production, and with serious problems in the script, costumes, and makeup, whether ‘Empress Zhang Su’ can make a profit is questionable.”
After finishing her analysis, Guan Chun breathed a sigh of relief.
She’d been previously overlooked. Now that she could showcase her expertise, she had to impress CEO Tong.
“Good analysis,” Tong Shenwu acknowledged Guan Chun’s assessment. “When the broadcast results don’t meet expectations, and they can’t recover the cost, who will Huari Entertainment blame?”
“The male and female leads? They have high traffic and a large fan base. Huari wouldn’t blame them,” Guan Chun replied.
The answer was clear: the director and screenwriter.
“So, when the show performs poorly, the director and screenwriter will take the fall, and we can take advantage of the opportunity to poach them,” Zeng Lei finally chimed in.
“We don’t need to wait until after the show airs,” Guan Chun disagreed. “Director Wu Yongzheng and screenwriter Gao Zhimei have created many excellent works and won numerous awards. They haven’t had a single flop. The trailers for ‘Empress Zhang Su,’ excluding the male and female leads, are not problematic in terms of plot and costume/makeup.”
“That means the male and female leads arbitrarily changed the script and used their own makeup teams,” Zeng Lei understood after Guan Chun’s explanation.
The situation was that Wu Yongzheng and Gao Zhimei had not made a mistake, but due to Huari’s negligence in handling the male and female leads’ actions, they had created a drama with disjointed plots, costumes, and makeup, leading to dissatisfaction among the director and screenwriter.
“Guan Chun, the task of poaching Wu Yongzheng, Gao Zhimei, and Ma Yuanzhi from Huari to Yi Shang is yours.”
The director of Yi Shang’s film and television planning department had resigned, leaving behind few capable individuals. Tong Shenwu had selected Guan Chun, a team leader, and was satisfied with her assessment, assigning her the poaching task.
Tong Shenwu continued, “When you poach them, you’ll become the director of the planning department.”
The unexpected opportunity overwhelmed Guan Chun. She excitedly promised, “I will do my utmost to bring them to Yi Shang as soon as possible.”
While Zeng Lei envied Guan Chun, Tong Shenwu assigned him his tasks.
“Director Tang Tiantian of the variety show ‘Friends Who Invite Guests’ has left Watermelon TV. Contact her immediately and sign her to the company.
Buy the copyrights to these novels, agree to Li Mengyun’s request to personally adapt them, and sign a screenwriter contract.
Then recruit people. Fill the vacant positions in planning, production, and artist management as soon as possible. Make sure you don’t hire incompetent people.”
After assigning their tasks, Tong Shenwu dismissed them.
While Tong Shenwu was discussing the headhunting plan with Zeng Lei and Guan Chun, the remaining people who had left the conference room couldn’t hide their smiles, arousing the curiosity of other employees.
Of course, those who had left to resign before the meeting also noticed, exchanging glances before talking to familiar colleagues and inquiring about the situation.
Since the official documents concerning the matters announced by Tong Shenwu in the meeting had not yet been distributed, those who had attended the meeting tactfully avoided answering questions, revealing nothing.
The people in the conference room: The company gives us high salaries and benefits, so I’m completely loyal to the company, my heart dedicated to the Chairman and CEO Tong!
Most of the company’s attention was on them, so only a few people noticed Tong Shenwu taking Zeng Lei and Guan Chun away after the meeting.
Nearing noon, Zeng Lei returned to his department and, before lunch, obtained the “Announcement on the Increase in Employee Salaries and Welfare Benefits for Yi Shang Entertainment,” signed by Tong Shenwu, and released it.
“Raise!”
As more and more employees saw the announcement, the atmosphere in the office building where Yi Shang Entertainment was located became increasingly joyful.
Employees opened the attached spreadsheet showing the salary increase standards for various positions, new benefits, silently calculating how much money they would receive each month, and then calculating the year-end bonus, gradually losing control of their expressions. Smiles of joy grew wider on their faces.
They secretly observed their colleagues, discovering that everyone was secretly looking at each other. Apparently, everyone’s salary had increased significantly.
They tacitly avoided discussing salaries, focusing instead on the new benefit projects: when the employee cafeteria and rest area would be renovated and completed, what brand of office equipment would be replaced, and how many extra days off they would have this month.
Xiao Ping was a cashier intern at Yi Shang Entertainment, who had joined in July and was in his third month of internship, about to be converted to a full-time position. He was anxious about being laid off by the new owner. Instead, good news came on the new CEO’s first day.
The employee salary increase announcement also included a raise in salary and benefits for interns. His original monthly salary of 3,500 yuan was barely enough for rent, food, and transportation, but it had increased to 4,000 yuan, plus a 500-yuan housing allowance and a 600-yuan meal allowance, effective this month.
Next month, after his conversion to a full-time position, his salary would be even higher, allowing him to save a considerable amount each month after expenses.
The employee group chat was flooded with “I love Chairman Gu,” even though they hadn’t met Gu Wanrong. They only knew that she was the new owner and had greatly increased their benefits.
Not only was the usual 007 work schedule (007 is an internet slang term indicating extremely long working hours) changed to a ten-to-five schedule with weekends off, but overtime pay was also increased, medical reimbursement even covered common colds and gastritis, and once the cafeteria was established, employees could have all three meals at the company… and so on.
It was rumored that all companies under Chairman Gu’s name had such good employee benefits.
Gu Wanrong received a message from Tong Shenwu, stating that the employees were very happy after the salary increase, praising her. Gu Wanrong felt happy; hadn’t this been her wish in her previous life?
The excitement of the employees at Yi Shang Entertainment was unknown to those who had left. After quickly processing their resignations, Zeng Lei immediately removed them from the employee and work groups.
They had been so pretentious and repulsive when resigning.