●Zhao Yu (right) and Li Bo'er pose at Shanghai Disneyland
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"I've made an appointment, and I have to talk about clothing sponsorship." Zhao Yu always has a round. The night before the interview, she slept only four hours — at 2 a.m. — before she and her artist, Li Bo'er, flew back to Beijing from Hohhot. In the past six months, she has gained 20 pounds, her lower eyelids are swollen badly, and in the first two months, because she is too tired, her immunity has declined, and a rash has appeared on her arm.
Entertainment is a circle, and so is a broker. Before graduation, a college classmate who entered the industry first chatted very hilariously, and it was cool to be an agent and fly around with stars all day. With the yearning for non-"nine-to-five", Zhao Yu abandoned the old art profession and embarked on the road of artist agent.
Her personality is the right way – reliable, enthusiastic, outgoing, suitable for the mixed Vanity Fair; luck is not bad - she has friends to help, artists trust, and at the age of 26 she became a financial agent.
Zhao Yu often compares himself to sales: understanding the talents and characteristics of artists, just like understanding the advantages of commodities, like competing with commodities, artists must also be good at avoiding disadvantages. To a large extent, if the artist is compared to a commodity, the value of the commodity depends on the agent.
Bundled sales, sometimes giveaways also become commodities
Salesmen must first be familiar with the "commodity" attribute, that is, the temperament positioning of the artist. Zhao Yu is well aware of the characteristics of variety show host Li Bo'er. "Li Bo'er was born in the northeast, and the overall feeling of the northeast people is special, and she carries funny genes in her bones, and these things cannot be learned." Humor and variety shows are the basic positioning that Zhao Yu sets for artists.
After all, tailor-made perfect opportunities are few, and many times, Zhao Yu needs to judge and weigh, and have a long communication and game with an opportunity that may have a "hidden artist gene".
For example, a food show, the style is more serious, this has nothing to do with variety shows, but Zhao Yu knows that Li Bo'er has the ability to make the show a sunny and lively sense of variety. She suggested to the program team that building a male host of the same type who is funny will help the effect of the program.
Encounter the short board, depending on the temperament of the program to determine whether to advance or retreat. Zhao Yu said that Li Bo'er is not good at singing and dancing, but this road is not sealed. If a show containing song and dance has a heavy sense of variety, you don't need to seriously compete for professional standards, you can also show your face. Li Bo'er sang on Hunan Satellite TV's "Hundred Changes Big Coffee Show", and Zhao Yu thought that the platform was good at the time and immediately picked it up.
The domestic star-making industry has never flourished, and "net reds" have turned out to be a big number of fans of traditional artists. The entertainment jungle is fiercely competitive, and the opportunity to appear on camera and expose it must also be fought for.
A well-known agent in the circle once gave his own artists a chance to show their faces, but the person in charge of the program completely ignored it. As a result, the agent moved a small bench to the door of the house every day to squat, and finally forced the matter to be done. "That was before, and if I still use that method now, I think it will really annoy people and be thrown out by the security guards." Zhao Yu tends to be rational. Seeing an opportunity, she unleashed the power of the interpersonal network within her reach, step by step closer to the core role.
She likes to get straight to the point, directly talk to the program party about common interests, point out that the artist will bring many benefits to the other party's platform; if she encounters "hard bones", Zhao Yu will ask her mutual friends to wait for the opportunity to recommend. If that happens, give some benefits to the middleman.
Finalize the employer, and then the bargaining process. Zhao Yu said that the price is very transparent, unless the publicity resources are attractive, if the other party asks for a low price, she usually directly refuses. "It's like when a commodity is sold at a low price, there's no way to go up again." Cheap I'd rather not go. "The circle is very taboo to "sell at a low price", which is too damaging to the artist brand.
Entertainment industry pop stars "bundled sales", mixed with the wind and water of the artist, on the show occasionally support a little red good friends, which is described by Zhao Yu as a "giveaway" phenomenon. "In fact, the giveaway is sometimes really good, you sell it as a side, and finally find that the giveaway has become a commodity."
The relationship between the artist and the agent is also "bundled sales". Zhao Yu believes that the more the other party trusts the broker, the higher the sales success rate of the broker. Therefore, while the agent sells the artist, he must also sell himself, which is a kind of relationship.
In addition to accompanying artists to run notices, in order to ensure the relationship between offline and fans and partners, Zhao Yu also has to participate in the circle dinner bureau one after another, and catch several venues a night, which requires good popularity and good alcohol. Standing next to the artist at all times, she understands that she is also the face of the artist, so she will pay attention to the meticulousness of dressing. In the second interview, she wore a black T-shirt with fashionable black and white stripes on the cuffs, which she bought when she was shopping with Li Bo'er.
"Your state determines your destiny." Zhao Yu said. Although he has been in the background for a long time, there are still some assistants and agents in the circle who are high-minded, and many of them have simply debuted as artists later. Giveaways, successfully transformed into commodities.
It feels like I'm in love with an artist
Zhao Yu carried a small book with him: most of the book was painted with comic character Li Bo'er, Li Bo'er was unhappy, Li Bo'er was spoiled again... The conversation was accompanied by Zhao Yu, who was wearing a baseball cap.
This job is often a 24-hour intimate contact between the artist and the agent. Zhao Yute understands why there are often artists and agents in the circle who become lovers or even couples. "Really, artists and agents, except for going to bed, feel like lovers." There will also be quarrels, and each time some misunderstandings before are lifted, the relationship between the two people is better. Hahaha. ”
"The state of the agent is: I can say that our family artist is so annoying today, but you can't say it, I will fight with you if you want to say it, why do you say our family artist? What's wrong with her? I can annoy her, but you can't! Zhao Yu smiled, between the agent and the artist, as if the little couple made a fuss, turned around and reconciled, and could not tolerate outsiders talking nonsense.
Most artists are not close to their agents at first, and they are a bit defensive. But Zhao Yu soon won Li Bo'er's trust. Zhao Yu accompanied the artist through many psychological troughs, listened and comforted. Because most of the time out of the daily life, coupled with too busy, the artist's friends are generally very few. Zhao Yu knew this all too well—she had repeatedly revealed her heartache for Li Bo'er's lonely situation. The escalation of the relationship between the two was during a period of bad mood for Li Bo'er. Zhao Yu went to her house and ate and lived together for almost a week. "She treats you as an object of conversation, a friend, showing a vulnerable side. Then you give her some advice. You will find that she is actually very emotional. People get along well, not because she gives you something, but because you know something deep inside her. ”
● Li Bo'er and Da Zhang Wei in the show
Li Bo'er looked very grinning, no heart and no lungs, but her mind was delicate. Zhao Yu likes Doraemon, and Li Bo'er will deliberately collect those things. For example, when she went to Japan, Li Bo'er spent a lot of time looking for Doraemon dolls and peripheral goods and buying a lot of them. "You know what else she brought me?" Doraemon's panties! ”
Entertainers also cover their own people. Zhao Yu once witnessed an assistant on a certain set kindly confirming the artist's appearance time to the crew leader, and the other party shouted domineeringly: "What do you mean?" Are you questioning me? The artist heard about this and rushed to the set and asked the crew leader: "How can you treat my assistant with this attitude?" What are we wrong about! ”
"Yes, the person who bullied me is bullying me." When Zhao Yu said this, he squinted triumphantly and smiled.
Zhao Yu sighed that stars live very hard and are not as free as ordinary people. Li Bo'er had to stand at least seven or eight hours a day to record the program, and Zhao Yu's job was to stare at the monitor minute by minute to observe her live state, and go up to remind her when she rested: "Your eyes are a little fluttery today, what are you thinking?" ”
From the bottom to the stable investment
Before working as Li Bo'er's agent, Zhao Yu worked like a scout in a brokerage company, sweeping the streets, asking strangers for phone calls, signing new people, including cute-looking children. Now it is still a little famous for the twins, who have been on the Spring Festival Gala stage.
Two years later, a friend introduced Zhao Yu to Li Bo'er as an assistant. "I didn't really want to come over, because I didn't think about whether to follow her or not." Then I met 'Bogo' himself, and I thought that her personality was particularly interesting, and she did not have the very dragging feeling of many artists, and was particularly kind. ”
Assistant, is the first step to becoming a broker. The assistant is responsible for taking care of many chores from work to life of the artist, but does not touch the core finances and has no decision on the itinerary. Many young girls are obsessed with idols to rush to work as assistants, and the results may not be satisfactory. Zhao Yu met the little assistant of a popular female host, the other party was originally a fan of the host, followed her with enthusiasm, and after recording several episodes of the show, he complained to Zhao Yu disappointedly: "I think it is better to be a fan, too close to XX's life, and found that she herself is not as good as I thought." ”
There are also young boys and girls who naively think that they are with the stars every day, especially have face, use the entertainment industry gossip as talking points, and show up with the people around them. Zhao Yu heard that there are a large number of young people in Hengdian looking for jobs as artist assistants, usually driving around to find agents and selling themselves, "You see, I can pick you up, I can also cook." You want me. ”
Zhao Yu had a face that came over, "If you really come into contact with this industry, you will find that being an assistant is very hard." ”
The assistant's mobile phone is never turned off, on standby 24 hours a day, and his brain is running fast, "Think about it ahead of your artist." And often the stars are initially wary of the new assistant, and then encounter the grumpy, the new assistant can not help but endure a lot of grievances."
A friend of Zhao Yu's friends opened a caravan company in Hangzhou, both the boss and the driver, driving for a male artist. One day, the driver accidentally found that the male artist directly beat his assistant in the car. "The driver was helpless, and there was no way to mix this kind of thing, so he joked with his friends and said that I had to go up and see if my car had been damaged, and then you would think about how hard they were fighting in it, 'Ding Zero Dang'." Zhao Yu said breathlessly, if she was that assistant, she would definitely fight back.
It is said that many assistants in this industry will endure, because the family economy is poor, in case of losing the assistant job, even survival will become a problem.
Zhao Yu quickly gained the trust of Li Bo'er, and just after working as an assistant for half a year, he assumed financial responsibilities and negotiated with the artist's appearance fee. "This is the most direct trust." Zhao Yu said. At first, after she talked about a cooperation, Li Bo'er would also ask about the price and look at the contract. Gradually, "She said directly to yourself, this is mutual trust, after all, it is easy to have problems with money." Nowadays, all the details of the negotiation pricing, Li Bo'er rarely asks, rest assured that Zhao Yu will handle it independently. From taking over finance, Zhao Yu completed the transformation from assistant to agent.
Li Bo'er hardly lost his temper with her, only once was he was anxious. At that time, when the person in charge of a program looked for Zhao Yu, she found that there was a conflict between time and artist schedule, so she refused on the spot. "At the beginning of doing it, it is not particularly understandable, Bogo knew that after the car was anxious, a little said that I came, said this kind of thing you should not communicate first? If the time is forked, we can completely take over this program, because it just so happens that the publicity point of this issue theme is very good, missed, maybe the next theme is not suitable for us. If it is appropriate, why not fight for this matter? ”
At that time, Zhao Yu felt very uncomfortable in his heart, and at night, he calmed down and thought about it, there was indeed a problem with his own approach, first, lack of experience, and then lack of thoughtfulness. "Waywardness is not enough, once you give up, there will be more troublesome things in the future." She understands the artist's mood. The two of them are comrades-in-arms, and if they do not grow and progress, they will have a negative impact on the artist's career.
Now, in turn, Zhao Yu has also begun to supervise the growth of artists. After attending an event, Li Bo'er wanted to visit the mall, and Zhao Yu was afraid that she would be congested by the onlookers, which prevented the artist's relaxation plan.
Zhao Yu also understands the shortcomings of artists, and she hopes that artists will have more connotations and enrich themselves, such as traditional culture.
"It's also good to learn to cook, and it's a little healthier." Eating and drinking outside every day, easy to grow meat. Zhao Yu lowered his head and self-deprecatingly pinched a piece of meat on his small belly.
Obviously, Zhao Yu did not think that changing artists often was a good thing. In this line, it is wise to choose a stock with only potential and stick to the investment. If the artist is really popular in the future, Zhao Yu feels that everything today is worth it.
Reporter 丨 Zhong Yuting Intern reporter 丨 Shen Jiequn
Editor 丨Sun Lingyu [email protected]