Chapter 50
After finally finishing all the filming with Director Li’s crew, Chen Haotian was suddenly approached by someone at the hotel. After asking, he found out it was a representative from Shengyue.
“You… you’re saying that I have to finish the script right here in the hotel? And you’re going to confiscate my communication tools during the period I haven’t finished?” Chen Haotian looked at the man in front of him in shock, feeling as if he was joking.
The representative still maintained a formal smile, placing the previously signed contract in front of Chen Haotian, “I’m sorry, Scriptwriter Chen, it’s clearly written in black and white on the contract that we have the right to urge for the script in a reasonable manner. Currently, there are only three days left until the submission date, and our company believes that it’s not excessive to exercise this right now.”
“Of course, if you can hand in the script now, it would be very welcome.”
Chen Haotian’s face darkened. Where could he get it now? Because he had been busy with the filming schedule of Director Li’s crew, Chen Haotian hadn’t had time to let the ghostwriting team send over the script. He didn’t even know if it was finished. Sometimes, to show his talent, Chen Haotian wouldn’t completely let the ghostwriting team take over. He would also make his own changes to the script sent by the ghostwriters. However, up to now, he hadn’t completed any of these tasks.
He had originally planned to start preparing after finishing Director Li’s work, but he didn’t expect Shengyue’s people to suddenly show up, catching him off guard.
Seeing that the person in front of him wasn’t very negotiable, Chen Haotian could only laugh it off, “Is it starting now? I just came out of the crew, can you give me some time as buffer?”
At this point, the representative was quite “understanding”, “Of course, Mr. Chen, please feel free, but please make sure to start in half an hour. We will have a team here to serve you at all times.”
The words sounded nice, to serve him, but in plain terms, it was just surveillance. Chen Haotian snorted coldly. Thirty minutes was enough for him to contact the ghostwriting team.
After returning to his room and carefully closing the door, making sure that those people weren’t just standing outside eavesdropping, Chen Haotian immediately called one of the members of the ghostwriting team. However, after waiting for almost two minutes, the other party didn’t pick up.
“Tsk!” Chen Haotian spat out a sound, angrily hung up the phone and called another person.
There were five people in his team, covering a variety of niches. He didn’t believe that all five people were busy now and didn’t have time to answer his call!
Soon, he called the second person. Surprisingly, the second person also didn’t answer his call.
Chen Haotian stubbornly called the third… but the result was the same.
Almost dropping his phone on the floor in anger, Chen Haotian was puzzled. Why was everyone against him today? Five people, not one of them answered the phone. Did they all go out and get hit by a car?!
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What he didn’t know was that at this moment, in an office of Shengyue, six people were sitting face to face in a one-to-five arrangement. The man sitting alone on one side of the rectangular conference table was dressed in a suit and tie, with a polite and sincere smile on his face. The five people sitting across from him were mostly dressed in cheap clothes, their haggard expressions showing the hardships of life.
Ghostwriting for screenplays is a profession that exists in a gray area. Nowadays, the market price per thousand words is too low, hardly worth much. Most ghostwriters can only sell their labor cheaply, unable to obtain their deserved intellectual property rights. Therefore, most people live in dire straits, barely making ends meet, especially in the capital city with the highest cost of living, where their meager earnings are even more insignificant.
Therefore, looking at the luxurious office and comfortable working environment around them, the five people couldn’t help but show envious eyes. Although they belong to Jingyu Company and specifically serve Chen Haotian’s team, Jingyu never treats them as formal employees, but only as the cheapest labor at the bottom.
Their working environment is just a small rented room, living in a crowded six-person dormitory. Moreover, they have to face the computer screen and tap the keyboard every day. Over time, their eyes and spine have suffered great damage.
The five of them received calls claiming to be from Sheng Yue Entertainment Media, inviting them to come to Sheng Yue to discuss some matters. At first, they were skeptical about this, but after the other party’s sincere invitation and even sending a video that could prove it, they were finally moved and came here together, sitting in this office.
“Hello, I am the HR of Shengyue Entertainment, specifically responsible for finding excellent screenwriters for the company. I have seen your works and think they are very excellent. I wonder if you are interested in joining us at Shengyue? We have the best employee benefits at Shengyue. Here are the employee benefits we have listed, you can take a look.”
Sitting on the other side, the man in the suit who also invited them over opened the file beside him and passed it to the five people across from him.
Without rushing to open it, the man who played the role of the leader among the five people rationally asked the question that all of them were wondering, “May I ask which of our works have you seen?”
“‘Under Heaven’, ‘Struggle for Succession’, etc., we have seen them all. They are indeed very good works.” The man smiled leisurely in response.
As soon as the two titles came out, the five people were immediately stunned, because these were clearly Chen Haotian’s works! To be precise, in the eyes of others, they were works that had already been signed with Chen Haotian’s name, but these were actually from the hands of the five of them, but in the end, only Chen Haotian’s name was crowned.
Why would this man say that? Does he know…
“Don’t be too nervous,” the man noticed the tension in the five people in an instant, and quickly soothed, “You don’t need to worry, I have no ill intentions. These are just things that Shengyue wants to know, naturally there is nothing that can’t be found.”
“We just value your talent and want to focus on cultivating you to contribute to the better development of Shengyue. Of course, we can assure you that whether or not the script is filmed, we can put each of your names on it, as long as you provide us with some evidence, such as… how did Chen Haotian ask you to write scripts for him and plagiarize your achievements?”
Although ghostwriting is a completely voluntary transaction, for Chen Haotian, who has already become famous throughout China, this is a huge stain. As long as this matter is exposed, Chen Haotian will definitely suffer a fatal blow.
Hearing that they could have their names on their own works, the five of them couldn’t help but be moved by such a condition. Since they had chosen to embark on the path of writing, who wouldn’t want to see their own works on the big screen one day? However, reality had dealt them the heaviest blow.
But now, one person said he could help them realize this dream, and it wouldn’t cost them anything, just stating some facts…
Just as the five of them were still thinking, a sudden ring of a phone broke the silence. It was the leader’s phone.
Looking at the caller ID on the screen, the leader was momentarily stunned, murmuring, “It’s Chen Haotian…”
The man in the suit subtly curled his lips, as if he had expected this call all along. But when facing these five people, he still kept his composure, as if he knew nothing, even considerately saying, “It’s okay, you can answer it first. It might be an important call.”
Without guessing, the leader also knew that Chen Haotian must be calling about the new script. They had almost finished writing it, but thinking about the promise the man had just made to them, the leader hesitated to answer the call.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” The man in the suit kindly reminded them, but only he knew that this was putting psychological pressure on them.
With a swift swipe, the leader decisively hung up, “No need, it’s not an important call.”
However, not long after his words fell, the second-in-command’s phone also rang. Sure enough, it was still Chen Haotian.
Exchanging a glance with the leader, the second-in-command seemed to understand the meaning and made the same move with great tacit understanding, directly hanging up the noisy phone and apologizing to the man.
Then the remaining three brothers also understood as clear as a mirror. The three who were still undecided saw the previous actions of the leader and the second-in-command, and quickly turned their phones to silent before they rang, so that “irrelevant” calls wouldn’t come in and disturb them.
Once the office was quiet again, the leader spoke again, “May I ask if what you just said is true? If we are fortunate enough to enter your company, can we really get our own naming rights?”
As writers and screenwriters, they understand the hardship of creating each and every word, so they care particularly about the right to name. It was only because they were forced by life that they forced themselves to give up that somewhat ridiculous persistence.
But if there is a chance to get their rightful rights, they certainly want to fight for it.
“Of course,” the man in the suit squinted his eyes, “If you don’t believe it, you can open the file I just gave you and take a look. Respecting the author’s right to name is our basic respect for authors at Shengyue.”
After a good while, the five people exchanged glances again and made a final decision through the leader, “Okay, we can agree.”
Coincidentally, their contract with Chen Haotian’s team had expired yesterday, and they hadn’t had time to sign a new one yet.
On the other hand, Chen Haotian, who had called five people in succession and no one answered, had an extremely ugly face. The script was in the hands of those five people, and even if he called his team, it wouldn’t do any good.
But five people not answering the phone at the same time, plus the person waiting for him outside the door right now, these two things together made Chen Haotian vaguely sense something was wrong.
Unfortunately, before he had time to think about it, the knock on the door outside rang again, and that annoying voice appeared again, “I’m sorry, Scriptwriter Chen, thirty minutes have passed. Now you can temporarily give us your phone to focus on creating…”
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Author’s Note:
The names of the two scripts are just randomly made up by me, please don’t blame me if there are duplicates in reality.
I’m going to be busy again soon, so there might not be any more updates. Most likely there will only be one chapter a day, so you don’t have to wait too much on weekdays. But when I have time, I will still add more updates for you, dropping them at irregular times.
Although the awareness of genuine intellectual property rights in China is still relatively weak, in recent years, people’s awareness of cracking down on piracy has gradually strengthened, and people’s tolerance for plagiarism has also been declining. Therefore, once Chen Haotian’s plagiarism is nailed down, his reputation will definitely be ruined. And whether he will be ruined as a result, depends on Shengyue’s methods.
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