Is zheng shuang's remuneration reasonable for "Qiannu Ghost"? ST Beiwen's latest reply: It is not possible to accurately calculate at the moment

Per reporter: Ke Yang Per editor: Liang Xiao

Today (August 3) afternoon, ST Beiwen (000802, SZ) responded to the inquiry letter sent by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange two months ago.

In response to the previous inquiry letter mentioned in the TV series "Qiannu Ghost" whether the cost of the film remuneration is reasonable, whether there is a "named capital increase, but it is actually a cost", ST Beiwen replied that the contractor did not submit a final settlement report, so it is temporarily impossible to accurately calculate.

The "Daily Economic News" previously reported that Lou Xiaoxi, former chairman of Beijing Century Partners Culture Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Century Partners), the producer of Qiannu Ghost (hereinafter referred to as Century Partners), provided reporters with a project budget table containing actors' remuneration. According to the table, the total budget of the entire project is 352 million yuan, of which the budget for the actors' labor service part is 212 million yuan. In addition, in the budget implementation table of the "Ghost of a Woman", there are even parts such as "signed contract amount", "contract paid amount" and "actual expenditure amount", and the difference between the actor's labor service part is not small.

After the aforementioned reply announcement was issued, the Daily Economic News reporter contacted the relevant person in charge of ST Beiwen, but the other party did not respond positively to the relevant questions raised by the reporter.

<h2>ST Beiwen: It is not possible to accurately calculate the remuneration of the "Ghost of a Woman" project</h2>

In a reply to the inquiry letter released this afternoon, ST Beiwen denied that the "Ghost of a Woman" project was "called a capital increase, but it is actually a cost".

Previously, Zheng Shuang's ex-boyfriend Zhang Heng broke the news on Weibo that after Zheng Shuang entered the group in April 2019, the 160 million yuan film remuneration agreed upon by the "Ghost of a Woman" actor and Zheng Shuang was split into 48 million yuan and 112 million yuan of capital increase through the yin and yang contract in two steps. Among them, 48 million yuan is Zheng Shuang's personal remuneration for signing an actor employment contract with Century Partners, while the remaining 112 million yuan is paid in the name of "capital increase".

Subsequently, on May 27, when the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued an annual report inquiry letter to ST Beiwen, it asked ST Beiwen to account for the total film remuneration of film and television dramas, the remuneration of the main cast members, the remuneration of single episodes, etc., and combined with the remuneration of similar films in the same industry, the proportion of film remuneration to the total cost of TV dramas, etc., to explain whether the cost of the film remuneration of "Ghost of Qiannu" is reasonable, and whether there is a situation of "named capital increase and actual cost".

From June 2018 to August 2018, the five departments of the state have made a heavy effort to rectify the phenomenon of abnormally high salaries of stars, and the three major video websites and six major film and television production companies have further stipulated that the total remuneration (including tax) of an actor's work shall not exceed 50 million yuan. According to Zhang Heng, Zheng Shuang's film remuneration for filming "Ghost of a Woman" in 2019 was "48 million yuan film remuneration + 112 million yuan capital increase", and the sky-high film remuneration of 160 million yuan far exceeded the limit of the salary limit.

As for whether the remuneration is reasonable, ST Beiwen did not respond positively, but said that the company signed an agreement with Tianjin Jiaxuan Film and Television Culture Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Tianjin Jiaxuan) in 2018, stipulating that Tianjin Jiaxuan was the undertaker of "Ghost of Qiannu" and was responsible for the production of the play, and most of the remuneration contracts of the play were signed by Tianjin Jiaxuan and the cast. Up to now, the drama has not yet been finally produced, and Tianjin Jiaxuan has not yet submitted a final settlement report to the company, so the company cannot accurately calculate the total film remuneration, the credit remuneration, the single episode remuneration, and the proportion of the film remuneration to the total cost.

Subsequently, the annual audit accountant replied below, through obtaining and checking the project documents, investment agreements, actor employment agreements, budget schedules, budget implementation tables, project details and vouchers of "Qiannu Ghost"; interviewing the relevant person in charge of the company's business department, the person in charge of the production unit of "Qiannu Ghost", and understanding the investment and distribution of Qiannu Ghost, etc., and did not find that there was a situation of "named capital increase and actual cost" in the remuneration cost of "Qiannu Ghost".

However, why can the annual audit accountant get the actor's employment agreement, budget schedule and budget performance table for verification, but ST Beiwen cannot calculate the total film remuneration and cast member remuneration because the contractor has not submitted the settlement report? In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the company did not give a positive response to the reporter's question.

<h2>Former executives of ST Beiwen have revealed the inside story of "sky-high film remuneration"</h2>

Previously, Lou Xiaoxi, the former head of the "Ghost of a Woman" project, provided a production budget table to the "Daily Economic News" reporter, showing that the script of the play was 50 episodes and 60 episodes were completed; the role of Nie Xiaoqian was played by "Zheng Shuang of the same level", with a price of 150 million yuan, a tax rate of 9%, and a subtotal of 163 million yuan.

On February 28, 2018, Century Partners signed two actor contracts with Zheng Shuang's two companies, Jiujiang Sheep Herd Effect Film and Television Culture Studio and Jiujiang Kuku Bear Film and Television Culture Studio, with a total remuneration of 75 million yuan, totaling 150 million. At the end of March 2018, Lou Xiaoxi and Song Ge, chairman of ST Beiwen, broke up unhappily and left ST Beiwen.

Less than half a year after Lou Xiaoxi left office, a salary restriction order was introduced. In Lou Xiaoxi's view, after the introduction of the new regulations, the "Ghost of a Woman" project has changed a way to bypass the regulations, and after Zheng Shuang entered the group shooting in April 2019, Zheng Shuang still got this "sky-high film remuneration".

According to the budget implementation table of the "Ghost of a Woman" project presented by Lou Xiaoxi (July 15), the total budget of the entire project is 352 million yuan, of which the budget of the actor's labor service part is 212 million yuan. The budget sheet, which bears the signatures of the then-production director, executive producer and financial review, was dated July 16, 2019.

Image source: Lou Xiaoxi provided to the "Daily Economic News" reporter

"The budget of 212 million yuan is for actors (labor services), male number one is 12 million yuan, and the remaining 20 million yuan or so includes all actors (except Zheng Shuang)." Lou Xiaoxi said.

"This is the work account list reported by the crew to Beijing Culture (i.e. ST Beiwen), so Beijing Culture will not be unaware of Zheng Shuang's remuneration." Since Century Partners became the producer of "Qiannu Ghost", Lou Xiaoxi began to participate in this project, and all the project budgets, including actors' remuneration, were reported to Lou Xiaoxi by Zhou Zhengyuan, the actual controller of Tianjin Jiaxuan, Lou Xiaoxi was reported to Beijing Culture, and the process of implementation after the approval of Beijing Culture was carried out.

In addition, in the budget implementation table of the "Ghost of a Woman", there are even parts such as "signed contract amount", "contract paid amount" and "actual expenditure amount", and the difference between the actor's labor service part is not small. On July 15, 2019, the signed contract amount of actors' labor services was 20.76 million yuan, the contract paid amount was 15.28 million yuan, and the actual expenditure amount reached 141 million yuan, exceeding the signed contract amount of 120 million yuan.

The signed film remuneration contract is only more than 20 million yuan, where is the expenditure of 141 million yuan? How can the huge difference between the contract amount and the actual amount of expenditure be explained? "This budget is recognized by Beijing culture, otherwise it would not have been possible to report it." Lou Xiaoxi said. It believes that this can show from the side that ST Beiwen carried out the illegal operation of "named capital increase, which is actually the cost of actors" in order to pay Zheng Shuang's sky-high film remuneration.

For the above-mentioned revelations, the person in charge of ST Beiwen previously told reporters that Lou Xiaoxi's revelations lacked factual basis, and the company did not respond.

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