Chapter Twelve: The Agreement

  There are thousands of companies in the entertainment industry in Korea, and apart from dozens of large and medium-sized entertainment companies that have made huge profits, the rest can only barely make a living by reading books with princes or making soy sauce. This is still possible under the situation of severely exploiting artists. Therefore, a newly established entertainment company may be founded today and closed down hastily after two or three months. The competition is far more intense than in other industries in Korea.

  The lives of artists aren't necessarily any better. Even top-tier celebrities with a halo of stardom work full schedules every day, and after four or five years of work, they still can't guarantee that they'll be able to buy an ordinary apartment. Most mid-tier artists don't even make the average income of Koreans. Therefore, Jang Sung-won had the idea of making big money by filming commercials, but he couldn't help but take it seriously. If Park Hyung-ryeol's contract was as strict as most management companies', then he would have no choice but to refuse.

  Park Byung-ryul's Logosfilm advertising agency was located on the fifth floor of a building called Seohong Building in Tongjak District, with only seven or eight regular employees and some temporary workers. There were no excellent models under him. At first glance, it was clear that it was a small company. Otherwise, how could Park Byung-ryul, as the boss of the company, have had the leisure to go out on the streets to find model talent? However, in Hancheng, there were many companies worse than Park's, and Jang Sung-won didn't mind this, as long as Park's contract could satisfy him.

  Sitting on the sofa in Park Byung-ryul's office, taking a sip of water, Jang Sung-won said: "Director Park, I want to know your company's capabilities and sincerity."

  Park Byung-ryul: "Although our company has been established for less than a year and is far inferior to those large companies, this does not mean that we do not have the ability to make you famous. You know that I and the members of our company were originally employees of KBS National TV or other major advertising companies, and in the entertainment industry, especially in the advertising and television industries, we have a deep network of connections. If it weren't for the lack of a 'thousand-mile horse', our company would have already achieved great success. And you are the 'thousand-mile horse' I discovered. We can not only make you an advertising star but also promote you to become a TV star and even a movie star. Believe me! As long as you work hard according to our company's plan, I guarantee that in the future, you will definitely become a national superstar." When recruiting talent, it is necessary to be a bit exaggerated, and Park Byung-ryul was no exception.

  Zhang Chengyuan smiled and didn't take Park Hyeon-ryeol's words entirely seriously. Earlier, when Park Hyeon-ryeol was speaking, he had already observed Park Hyeon-ryeol's subtle movements from head to toe and knew that his words were mixed with falsehoods. However, at least it could be determined that Park Hyeon-ryeol wasn't a swindler. So he said: "I also hope so, but I care more about how much money can be made."

  "Wait until you become a big star, are you still worried about not making a lot of money?"

  Zhang Chengyuan said, "Becoming a big star is indeed not bad, but it's too far away from me. I care more about the benefits in front of me. I don't want to be busy for a year and then can't even afford to eat barbecue, nor do I want to have dinner with friends and be restricted. So I want to see your sincerity in this regard."

  In the entertainment industry, the contracts signed between artists and management companies are mostly "slave contracts". Not only is the work extremely hard and busy, but a large portion of the money earned must also be handed over to the management company. The artist can only get one-fifth or even one-tenth of it. There are also various abnormal contracts that infringe on the rights of artists, such as not being allowed to fall in love, having to report to the company before going anywhere, and having to explain to the company if family members have borrowed money from loan sharks... In the long run, once the artist is controlled by the company, they become a slave who can be bullied at will. Some female artists are even forced to accompany men for drinks or sex, and some have been driven to suicide.

  Although most companies are not so black-hearted, the dark secrets of the entertainment industry do exist after all, and Zhang Chengyuan had to be more cautious, although he was very capable, but still couldn't ignore the contractual terms with legal effect.

  Facing Zhang Chengyuan's seemingly reasonable but actually violating the unspoken rules of the entertainment circle, Park Byung-ryeol was a bit unhappy in his heart, but he didn't show it. After all, people like Zhang Chengyuan are hard to come by, and if he scared him away, he might not be able to find another one in his lifetime. And although Park Byung-ryeol's ambition wasn't too big, he was also unwilling to always be the boss of a small company, knowing that Zhang Chengyuan was his biggest opportunity at present and even for life, so giving him higher treatment than ordinary newcomers wasn't impossible to consider.

  After careful consideration, Park Byung-ryul finally nodded and said, "I believe you will see our company's greatest sincerity." He took out a contract from the drawer of his office desk, made several changes to it, and then handed it over to Zhang Chengyuan, saying, "This is the draft contract I just drew up. Take a look and see if there are any places that need to be renegotiated? Once we've negotiated and agreed on everything, I'll have someone re-print it."

  Jang Sung-won took over and didn't read from the beginning, but first looked at Park Hyeong-ryeol's revised article and nodded. It turned out that Park Hyeong-ryeol had changed the original benefit distribution ratio from 7:3 to "7:3 in the first year, 6:4 in the second year, and 5:5 from the third year onwards". The original allocation ratio was already much better than the contract for new employees of a large company like this. Now it's equivalent to the treatment of a star actor. Park Hyeong-ryeol was so generous because there was an important reason: the cost of cultivating a qualified model is far lower than that of cultivating a successful singer or actor. However, from this, we can see that Park Hyeong-ryeol is not a ruthless businessman, but an entrepreneur with some vision and courage. If it were another company's boss, they might have used flowery language to deceive Jang Sung-won.

  Further down, several clauses unfavorable to the artist's privacy were deleted by Park Hyung-seok or changed into clauses that are beneficial to the artist on the principle of obtaining the artist's consent. For example, "Unless the artist agrees, the management company has no right to privately arrange the artist's study schedule at school." "Unless the artist agrees, the company cannot disclose the artist's personal and family privacy." "Do not interfere with the artist's contact with opposite-sex friends during non-notification periods."

  Finally, the contract period was changed from ten years to five years. After all, models are not singers, and singers may need to practice for several years before they can perform on stage, while ordinary models only need a few months of training at most. Moreover, with Zhang Chengyuan's conditions, if he encounters a suitable shooting environment, he can start working directly even without training. Park Hyeon-ryeol was worried that the contract period would be too long and deter Zhang Chengyuan, so he proactively revised this clause.

  After reading through them, Zhang Chengyuan reviewed them again from the beginning and saw that there was no problem with the contract. He said: "I basically agree with these terms, but I am young and inexperienced, and need to take the contract back to discuss it with my family, which may delay things for a while."

  Park Byung-ryul said, "It should be so. I think you're still a minor, right? Without the consent of your guardian, even if you sign now, it won't have any legal effect. Sung-won, I look forward to you becoming our company's exclusive artist soon."

  "My affairs are usually decided by myself, and my father will agree. However, Father is currently abroad and may need to return home for a while, so the contract signing may be delayed for half a month. If you're not afraid of me breaching the contract, I can arrange training or even work for you now, everything will follow this contract, how about it?" Zhang Chengyuan, who was eager to make money, couldn't wait any longer.

  Park Byung-ryul said, "With such a favorable contract, I don't think your guardian will refuse, so I agree to your request. Let's cooperate happily." The contact over the past two days had made Park Byung-ryul realize that Jang Sung-won was different from his age, with a calm and majestic demeanor, no longer treating him as a minor, and readily agreed to Jang Sung-won's request in order to improve their relationship.