Jiang Ling’s capital in the entertainment industry lay in her solid and superb acting skills, supported by her system.
However, she understood that even the best personal acting skills were difficult to compete against trends and capital.
Otherwise, so many dedicated veteran actors in the industry would have become billionaires long ago and wouldn't be so poor that they couldn't even afford a house.
To avoid being bullied, there were two methods.
One was to sign with a major company, leverage the company's resources, build a team, and fight fire with fire, capital with capital.
The other was to become capital herself, using immense financial power to make everyone afraid to offend her.
Jiang Ling's decision to establish her personal studio previously, without signing with a company, was precisely to pursue the second path: to become capital herself and be the one playing the game.
But after in-depth understanding, she realized she was wrong, very wrong.
Wherever there are people, there is a martial world.
The entertainment industry was so fiercely competitive that as long as someone wanted to climb up, no matter how strong your capital was, people would scheme against you.
It was like being the Empress in a palace drama. Your status was that of the main consort, and you could use the Empress's authority to suppress concubines. But there would still be concubines vying for favor and advancement, one after another.
She wasn't afraid of direct confrontation. She feared the subtle, petty schemes from behind the scenes – those that wouldn’t kill you, but would certainly sicken you.
Even if you had enough strength to deal with all of it.
The schemes would come one after another, in waves, never-ending. Just thinking about it was exhausting.
Instead of wasting time and energy on such unworthy people, it was better to find a reliable major company and sign an equal contract.
This way, she would only need to focus on acting, and the company would handle everything else.
Of course, after signing with a company, all profits would be shared.
However, for her, the income from acting and endorsements was mere pocket money; the system rewards were the main source of income.
Spending a little money to buy peace was a worthwhile exchange.
Many people liked to haggle over small matters, only to lose the bigger picture.
Jiang Ling saw this very clearly.
Upon hearing this, Wang Zhongding immediately smiled, "It’s good that you’re interested. Since Miss Jiang wishes to sign, I’ll be straightforward. The company intends to offer Miss Jiang a Bronze contract. What do you think?"
In the entertainment industry of this parallel dimension, there were primarily four types of contracts.
These four contract types were Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Civilian.
Gold contracts were the highest, corresponding to A-list stars and a very small number of strong B-list stars.
Silver contracts were the next tier, for B-list stars.
Bronze contracts were lower, being contracts for C-list stars.
Civilian contracts, as the name suggested, were for newcomers just entering the industry, those without family background, connections, or traffic – purely civilian contracts.
Jiang Ling had been transmigrated for over half a year, and she naturally knew what a Bronze contract entailed. Her face immediately fell.
No matter how unpopular or down on her luck her grandmother was, she currently possessed popularity not inferior to a strong B-list star.
How dare they offer her a Bronze contract? Were they trying to humiliate her?
Jiang Ling suppressed her anger and gritted her teeth, asking, "What is a Bronze contract?"
On the other end of the line, Wang Zhongding took a sip of his iced Americano and said impatiently, "A Bronze contract is an economic contract for C-list stars, ranking just below Gold and Silver. Our company’s A-list stars all started from Civilian contracts and jumped to Gold contracts step by step. However, seeing that Miss Jiang had previously worked at Sparkle Media for a period and recently portrayed two rather outstanding roles, we plan to arrange for you to start with a Bronze contract, so you don't have to go through the slow grind like a newcomer."