Chapter 86: Crossed the Line
Chapter 86 < Crossed the Line >
Director Park looked at Lee Taegyeom with a strange expression.
‘Did he really understand?’
A manager who voluntarily convinces an actor to lower their appearance fee? That’s an absurd thing to do. For someone like Yoo Yeon Seo, it doesn’t matter if their guarantee is high. They have the capital to back it up. And it’s the director’s job to negotiate it behind the scenes.
Sometimes, anti-viral companies would stir up controversy over Yoo Yeon Seo’s appearance fee, but they had a strong mentality that wouldn’t be affected by such attacks.
‘Who has the same influence as them… They should use everything they can.’
Director Park didn’t like Yoo Yeon Seo very much, but he still moved for the benefit of his affiliated actor. Lowering their appearance fee voluntarily was an impossible thing to do.
Except in certain situations, did he understand that specific situation well?
“Taegyeom, come out for a second.”
Director Park decided to test Lee Taegyeom.
“Why did you say you would ask?”
Lee Taegyeom followed Director Park to the hallway and scratched the back of his head.
“I’m not saying we should lower the average, I’m saying we should lower it depending on the situation.”
“Depending on the situation? What do you mean specifically?”
“Isn’t the work that the person mentioned earlier, where Jin Sooho lowered his level and went in, directed by Ahn Oojun?”
“That’s right.”
Ahn Oojun was a young master of the Korean film industry, who caught both commercial and artistic rabbits at once. He had achieved good results in various domestic and international awards. He was a director preferred by investors, as his ticket power was verified.
“But why didn’t Yoo Yeon Seo get cast? They’re in the same age group as Jin Sooho.”
“Of course, we got an offer too. We made a deal then, but Jin Sooho said he would cut his usual appearance fee in half. He said he respected the director. Yoo Yeon Seo, they insisted that they couldn’t go below the set amount.”
The casting of the movie scene was like a bargaining market.
Supporting actors and extras were cast by the production company through auditions, but the main actors didn’t audition.
Instead, the production company sent the materials to almost every actor’s agency, saying ‘We have this work, are you interested?’ Then they contacted the interested agencies and said ‘Someone asked for this much, are you not interested?’ ‘Someone asked for this much, how about you? Can you lower it?’ and negotiated the appearance fee.
So it wasn’t ‘Are you interested in this work? We’ll pay you this much.’ but ‘Do you like this work? How much can you lower it?’ They could do that because there were plenty of actors to replace them. They cast the actor who asked for the lowest appearance fee.
“That’s what I’m talking about. They’ve improved their acting, but they can’t always be ‘the hope of the rookies’. They should try to get into those people’s works too.”
“Hooh…”
The reason why Yoo Yeon Seo could stay in the lead position was because they had the capital to back it up. But they couldn’t attract investors with their nameless writers, directors, and rookies.
But some people with names didn’t mind Yoo Yeon Seo’s investment. They already had a good relationship with the big shots. And having these people’s works in their filmography would help their acting career.
‘He understood it right.’
Feeling relieved, Director Park smiled at the phone in Lee Taegyeom’s hand.
“Good. Call them now.”
“R-right now?”
“Yeah. Use the speakerphone. Just tell them I’m here.”
Lee Taegyeom hesitated for a moment and then made the call. The phone didn’t ring even three times before Yoo Yeon Seo answered.
(What is it?)
“Are you resting well? I just got out of a meeting, and Director Park is here too.”
(What do you want?)
Director Park thought, as expected, in response to the short answer. He swallowed his saliva.
Did Lee Taegyeom think the same thing as Director Park? There was a similar incident, but they refused, saying ‘Are you going to make me a cheap actor because of the director’s name value?’ It was a pointless hope, since they wouldn’t like their acting skills anyway.
But maybe the result would be different after their personality changed due to the accident.
“Don’t you want to lower your guarantee?”
(What the hell are you talking about?)
Director Park touched his forehead. Wasn’t that too much of a summary?
“No, no, I’m not saying you should lower your whole value, I’m saying can you negotiate for a decent work. The kind of work where you don’t have a place to invest.”
(Ah…)
Yoo Yeon Seo understood what Lee Taegyeom was saying and fell into thought.
No matter how good their eye for works was, there was a limit. The quality of a movie came from the director’s hand. And the well-known master directors already had the trust of the big investors, so they didn’t need to squeeze in Yoo Yeon Seo and get their investment.
And for these directors’ works, even the top stars would be greedy and lower their appearance fee to get in. There was no place for Yoo Yeon Seo, who wouldn’t lower their appearance fee.
(I get what you’re saying.)
Wouldn’t it be possible to invest more and get cast? But the investment wasn’t that simple. They had to get the consent of the investors who were already investing.
And if they asked for the help of JSENM, the most influential investment distribution company, Choi Yoojin was a businessman. He would think of the company’s profit first. Yoo Yeon Seo didn’t want to have the image of using the power of the investment distribution company to keep pushing their son in.
‘So they should boldly lower their appearance fee for works that other actors would lower theirs too.’
The truth is, Halo Media had been following the manual set by the original until now. The current Yoon Jung-woo had synchronized with Beta’s basic common sense, but he didn’t know how this industry worked, so he just left it alone.
(But how high was I?)
“You’re the highest guarantee after Jin Su-ho.”
(Wow, it’s the end of the world.)
Jin Su-ho was an actor who secured his top star status in a short period of time, and he was the best among the male actors in their 20s and 30s. Yoon Jung-woo had the charm of being an investor, but that charm was useless in the works where the investors were secured.
Director Park thought that it was good that Yoon Jung-woo had lost his memory, as he spoke like it was someone else’s business.
“Originally, you told us not to lower the amount you set, so we just followed that, but… I think we need to change it a bit now.”
(Do that.)
It wasn’t a bad suggestion for the current Yoon Jung-woo. In fact, he wouldn’t have thought about this problem if he hadn’t heard this.
(But, you know, right?)
“I know, I know. Without damaging your noble image.”
(Are you being sarcastic? Can you do it well?)
Yoon Jung-woo’s doubtful words made Lee Tae-gyeom sigh softly.
“Hey, do you think I’ll do it? Director Park will do most of it.”
(Director Park is trustworthy. Well, do that. I’m hanging up.)
You trust me? Director Park clenched his mouth and was moved.
“…That’s good, right?”
Lee Tae-gyeom looked at Director Park’s face after hanging up the phone. Why are you doing this after doing well? Director Park slapped Lee Tae-gyeom’s back.
“Ouch, it hurts!”
“That’s it. Let’s leak it a little to the other side.”
Director Park smiled brightly.
Until now, Yoon Jung-woo’s pride was too strong to sit at the negotiation table. But now, if he could lower his appearance fee whenever he wanted in a decent work… He would become a more attractive actor than other actors. Good work offers would come soon.
As Lee Tae-gyeom watched with bated breath, the directors continued to have meetings for Yoon Jung-woo.
“Shall we stop here for today?”
“Let’s do that.”
“I hope this is the last time.”
“There’s no way.”
If there was any change in the situation tomorrow, they would have a meeting again. And as the filming progressed, the directors would contact the production company and enter into endless negotiations for the actor.
“But we finished early today. Shall we have lunch and go in?”
Director Park stretched. He would go to another production company in the afternoon and have another meeting.
“But that person is weird.”
“Why?”
“Well, how can he say ‘crazy bastard’ out loud…”
Director Park snorted. Was he holding on to that word since his expression was strange earlier? He had never seen a manager who took his side. Was he the same guy who quit after leaving him on the street?
“I thought so too. I think they’ll apologize first.”
Director Park and that employee seemed close, so Lee Tae-gyeom decided not to say anything more. But seeing the chick manager who didn’t relax his expression, Director Park smiled slightly.
“Do you want me to tell you why he did that?”
“Yes.”
“We have the investor’s rights and we’re in the upper hand of the negotiation, but once the movie filming starts, the director is the most powerful.”
Lee Tae-gyeom knew that too. They would decide the power relationship at this meeting place, but the director’s authority was the strongest at the filming site.
“Of course, the only exception is Yoon Jung-woo, but still, the director has his own authority, right? Only the director can direct. No matter how much you’re an investor and an actor, you have to respect the line.”
“That’s right.”
Of course, that director would also look at the person who gave him money, but he didn’t interfere too much with the line. Lee Tae-gyeom nodded.
“That production company employee was in charge when ‘Emergency’ happened.”
“Oh…”
‘Emergency’ was the second movie that Yoon Jung-woo filmed. It was famous for having a lot of noise from the beginning to the end.
“Of course, Yoon Jung-woo was the first investor, and the distributor was JSENM. He had more power than the director. The director had his pride and tried to bend his will while looking at Yoon Jung-woo.”
“And he just stayed still?”
“Yoon Jung-woo had some sense, so he complied with the director’s request to some extent. He gritted his teeth and said he wouldn’t go into that director’s work next time.”
The filming atmosphere was so bad that it leaked out and became an article. Who was his manager then? Lee Tae-gyeom wondered if he should look for the ‘Yoon Jung-woo file’, but he realized that the file had been handed over to Yoon Jung-woo himself and gave up.
“But when they filmed almost half of it, Yoon Jung-woo suddenly called a meeting and asked to change the director.”
“Wow.”
“He even threatened to pull out the investment if he didn’t change it. Wow, this is something that can’t happen. No matter how much you’re an investor, there’s no extreme thing like threatening not to give the money in the middle.”
Cancel the thing that he was nice. Yoon Jung-woo, you wrote a new history of the movie industry. Lee Tae-gyeom opened his mouth stupidly.
“If you’re a normal office worker, you’d be scolded for living like this, but in the already narrow movie industry, if this happens, no matter how much money and power you have, Yoon Jung-woo would suffer a lot.”
We all expected it. He was capable of firing the lead actor, but not the director. He crossed the line."
“Wow…”
“From the production company’s perspective, if the director changed, they would have to reshoot everything, and all the footage they had filmed would be wasted. Even if he filled the hole with his own money as additional investment, they would still need time to negotiate with the other investors. Anyway, the whole project was on the verge of falling apart.”
“So what happened?”
“Of course, the production company was in a state of emergency, and our managers were running around like crazy.”
Manager Park’s face darkened. He remembered the hardship he had gone through.
“That guy got struck by lightning because of that incident, and he went around trying to persuade the director, and appease the other investors… We even had the CEO step in and convince him. Anyway, we managed to finish the shooting after persuading him, but when I think of the trouble we had that day, calling him a lunatic is an understatement.”
Lee Tae-gyeom nodded with a relaxed expression.
“But why did he suddenly do that?”
“We don’t know. He didn’t tell us either. The rumor was that the director said something about Lee Hee-seo. Something like that? Come to think of it… The director retired and disappeared after that, right?”
As soon as Lee Hee-seo’s name came up, Lee Tae-gyeom flinched. He and Lim Seung-hyun both noticed that Yoo Yeon Seo had been digging into Lee Hee-seo’s affairs lately.
He unconsciously moved his lips.
“Um, Manager. Do you know anyone who works at Twinkle Entertainment?”
“Twinkle?”
Manager Park looked at him with curiosity.
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