National Tide 1980.

"What? Mist Studios actually dared to ask the legal department to demand liquidated damages? They also want to sue us and the media for defamation?"

Near noon on September 9, Ikuo Suo, who had just flown back to Tokyo from Hawaii the previous night and had not yet fully recovered his energy, walked into the office.

However, he was still faintly drunk and had just sat down at his seat. Before he could ask his secretary to make him a cup of coffee, he received the bad news from his secretary.

He couldn't help but be a little surprised. "How did they suddenly become so bold? Is that woman Matsumoto Keiko crazy? She really doesn't want to start the machine?"

Unexpectedly, the secretary asked instead of answering.

"Well, during the three days you were in Hawaii, didn't you read any Japanese newspapers? Didn't you hear any news from the industry?"

"No. Where are the Japanese newspapers in Hawaii?"

Suho Ikuo was getting more and more confused. "I was only away for three days. It's not like anything serious happened by chance, right? Why are you asking? What happened? Is there anything else I don't know?"

"Boss, here are some newspapers I received over the past two days. Please take a look at the entertainment headlines..."

When the secretary spread several newspapers in front of Suho Ikuo one by one, he didn't have to think too much, because the title alone was eye-catching enough.

"Super cast! Special performances by all cast members! List announced!"

"A super cast interprets Ginza Desire! The crew of "Black Leather Notebook" restarts!"

"Matsumoto Seicho personally selected the special cast list! Fans of the original novel will revel!"

"The film industry is supporting this! Kiri Studio's first Japanese drama is challenging the pay ceiling!"

"The Mist Studios' great ambition! Is the extraordinary special cast a publicity stunt or a respect for the original work?"...

You know, one of the characteristics of Japanese dramas is that they pay more attention to the ranking of actors.

Therefore, when Japanese media report and promote TV dramas, they usually indicate the (single) starring actor or (multiple) starring actors. The cast list that appears at the end of Japanese dramas may also have special appearances marked after some actors.

As for special performances, it refers to the special participation of famous actors.

It can also be said that actors of a higher level than the main role are asked to perform as supporting roles, and the performance fee is usually higher than the general market price.

As it is now with "The Black Leather Notebook", when you look at the special performance list, there are about ten people who almost occupy most of the roles. This is unprecedented.

  With Suho Ikuo's understanding and experience in the entertainment industry, he only needed to read through the reports to understand the latest developments of Mist Studios.

His immediate reaction was to unable to help but exclaim again.

"How is this possible? How could Mist Studio hire so many big-name stars? The 'Big Five' are going against us, so we have to support them!"

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

"But even that doesn't make sense, does it? What about Nikkatsu and Toei? We haven't offended them. Why do they want to go against us? The current film market is shrinking. From their point of view, shouldn't they regard other film studios as thorns in their eyes? They should fight each other."

"This... This may be because the prosperity of TV programs in recent years has led to the rapid rise of our artists. In recent years, film studios have also begun to set up entertainment agencies and follow our approach to contact TV stations. Perhaps they don't want us to monopolize TV programs anymore. Anyway, from the perspective of Nikkatsu and Toei, whether it is a film studio of the same type or an entertainment agency like us, they are all enemies, and no one will suffer if they attack them. Helping Mist Studio can also make the other party owe a favor, what's wrong with that? Besides, they are also beneficiaries in this matter. At least it allows its big stars to easily earn a lot of money and increase their exposure, so it's not surprising that they do this. If the president takes a closer look at the report, he will know that Mist Studio is very generous. This time, they offered Nikkatsu's Ogawa Setsuko a salary of 1.5 million yen per episode, which is almost the same as the salary of our first-line actors for starring in TV dramas. Presumably, the salary for those bigger stars should be more attractive. Otherwise, they would not ignore the small number of roles and not mind playing villains."

The secretary thought about it and put forward his own inference very seriously.

However, the more he tried to analyze it, the more Ikuo Suho couldn't believe it.

"That's not right. How can Kiri Studio have so much money? If they all pay according to this standard, wouldn't the film pay be several hundred million yen more?"

"I don't know about that, but a newspaper estimated that the salary they paid was indeed probably more than 400 million yen. And according to rumors, Kiri Studios also said that it wanted to adjust the contracts of the original actors appropriately and increase the salaries of Miura Tomo, Utsui Ken and Ishida Yoshiko appropriately."

When the secretary said this, his tone was somewhat puzzling, but he also inadvertently revealed some admiration.

But this made Ikuo Suho even more confused.

How could someone be so stupid as to be willing to increase the pay of actors who have already signed contracts?

He had never heard of such a thing before, and was unsure what was going on. He hesitated and asked, "Is there any news about Fog Studios? Have any big companies come out to promote them and speak for them?"

He now extremely suspected that Matsumoto Keiko might have hooked up with some wealthy business tycoon.

  Otherwise, why would they not care about the production costs and dare to ignore the pressure from the burning system?

"It seems that there is no such thing. However, the subsequent impact of this news is very bad. Now many people who were originally on the sidelines seem to be optimistic that the drama "Black Leather Notebook" will bring super high ratings. Not only do TBS TV and the "Daily News" promote it every day, but many other entertainment agencies have also begun to send people to the Mist Studio. The sanctions you have taken, President, seem to have no practical effect..."

Hearing this, Ikuo Suho couldn't help but frown. This was completely beyond his expectations. He didn't expect that Mist Studio would actually take this step.

She was willing to invest so much that she even risked losing hundreds of millions of yen and used money to break the trap he had set.

If that's the case, it seems like it's going to be very troublesome and hard to deal with. It seems like I underestimated her a little bit, 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 action as soon as possible 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, "President, we have to do something! Let's not talk about continuing to attack our opponents. We are in big trouble now. Those media and artists will be held accountable. Now their newspapers and agencies are under great pressure. How do you think we should deal with this matter?"

Suoh Ikuo came to his senses and scratched his hair with his hands. He was a little unhappy with the secretary's questioning because he couldn't think of an effective solution for a while.

Instead, he asked in a cold voice, "Didn't Higuchi and Kawanishi do anything during the days I was away? One of them is the vice president and the other is the publicity director. They should have handled it when I was away. How did they let things turn out like this?"

The secretary quickly explained, "President Higuchi and Minister Kawasaki did intervene, but it was really difficult to do so. After all, their duties were limited to our entertainment agency itself, and their words were not very effective for the agencies under its jurisdiction. As for the newspaper, they also represented the Burning Department and tried their best to get those reporters to issue targeted statements, hoping to fight back. But it didn't seem to work. After all, the people who are now speaking for the Mist Studio are all well-known people in the industry. As long as they speak, the public will believe them. We spent a lot of effort here, but no one believed us. It was almost a waste of time. So we have actually been looking for your whereabouts these days, but it's a pity that you canceled the hotel reservation. We really can't contact you here."

Zhou Fang Yuxiong fell silent for a moment. He was almost regretting it to death.

I really shouldn't have accepted the invitation from Kitaro Watanabe and went to Hawaii to watch the opening of the Ala Moana Hotel he acquired, and agreed to help him with the hiring of artists to promote the hotel.

Although he did have a lot of fun, it was also because of that guy that he indulged in a life of debauchery and failed to learn about the changes in Japan in time. He really lost the big picture for the small.

  Otherwise, how could we be so passive now?

"I'm sorry, President, we haven't handled these things for you."

The secretary knew Suho Ikuo's character best. He didn't dare let the president take any blame for negligence, so in order to make him happier, he quickly took the responsibility on himself.

After a pause, he added, "However, under the current situation, whether it is our Burning Agency that has to pay the price for the artist's breach of contract or the media that helps us face the legal pursuit of Fog Studio, the pressure is very great. I suggest that you must take some conciliatory measures. If you don't appease them and give them some practical support, I'm afraid they will be dissatisfied. If this matter is not handled well, it may cause a chain reaction. It will also have a significant negative impact on your prestige as the president."

Suho Ikuo finally began to think seriously about the situation. After a moment's silence, he said, "As for the liquidated damages, since we have a contract, we should just pay it. It's better than going to court. So, you notify Higuchi immediately and ask him to write down all the agencies that helped us ban Fog Studios. I will take the list to negotiate with Dentsu and the TV stations to see if we can give them some opportunities to shoot commercials and appear on variety shows as compensation. As for the media, don't worry about them, they are our slaves. Tell them directly and let them solve the problem themselves. Anyway, if they don't stand on our side, the artists under the Burning Series will no longer accept interviews from them, reprinting photos will be prohibited, and any form of cooperation will be severed. Let them choose for themselves!"

When it comes to the aftermath of this matter, Ikuo Suho has a clear distinction between inside and outside. After all, the entertainment agency is a subsidiary of the Burning Department, and it is also the source of his strength, so he can't be too harsh on it.

But for the media, they are simply using their own artists as “hostages” to blackmail them.

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

If they are unhappy, all the weeklies under these big publishing houses will suffer huge losses.

So that’s not all. He then snorted and added a few more sentences.

"As for those newspapers and magazines that dare to oppose our Burning Department and speak well of Fog Studio, I will also teach them a lesson and warn them as soon as possible. Oh, yes, just bring me these newspapers and write them down. I will call their editor-in-chief to see if these guys are going to terminate their cooperation with us and whether they dare to advocate for Fog Studio in the future. I think they probably don't know that Fog Studio has offended us. If they knew, they would know which side to stand on. Damn Fog Studio, now that bitch Matsumoto has completely made me angry. Even if she agrees to stop publishing Crazy Rich Asians, I will not let her go easily."

However, despite Suoh Ikuo's high-spirited words, the secretary's feedback instantly shattered his beautiful dream.

"President, isn't this a good idea? It's also a little unrealistic. Because these reports are from major newspapers like Mainichi Shimbun and Sankei Shimbun. Moreover, they are also connected with TV stations. TBS and Fuji TV have special news reports. You can't give them such an ultimatum..."

Zhou Fang Yuxiong was stunned for a moment, then became angry, and his voice became even colder.

"What? The TV station is involved too? And TBS? Damn it, the TV station is full of traitors. Are they planning to protect him? Especially that Sasaki guy. He clearly promised me when he invited me to dinner a few days ago..."

Suoh Ikuo grabbed the phone and continued to curse, "This bastard! Did I invite her to a high-end club in Ginza to have fun? Did I also treat them to play golf, play mahjong in the high-end club, and gamble in the casino? Did they all feed the dogs? I want to ask him what's going on? Let me see how he explains it to me!"

But unfortunately, it would have been worse if the call had not been made. The other party's feedback almost pissed off Ikuo Suho to death.

Because Director Sasaki said that since TBS and Kiri Productions have already signed a contract for the TV series "Black Leather Notebook", they must fulfill the contract no matter what.

Especially now that this drama has caused a sensational social impact, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the ratings will be very high at the beginning and it is very likely to achieve success.

Therefore, this is no longer something he can suppress by force by using his position. If he does so, he will not be able to explain to the production committee and will easily be put in a passive position.

He had no choice but to cooperate and allow Deputy Director Kaga to promote this drama. He hoped that Suho Ikuo could understand.

So, during the call, Ikuo Suho couldn't continue speaking halfway through.

After the call ended, he just sat there stupidly, in silence and daze, with a rather gloomy and ugly face.

The secretary didn't dare to ask and could only wait in silence.

After five minutes, Zhou Fang Yuxiong, who felt like he had something stuck in his throat and was sitting on pins and needles, finally reacted. He snatched the phone off the table.

"Damn it! It's just a small studio run by a weak woman, how come it suddenly became such a tough nut to crack! No, I have to investigate that woman thoroughly!" (End of this chapter)