wavenovel Chapter 66 is even more ambitious.
Chapter 66 is even more ambitious.
The budget sheet was spread out on the table, and the last number was particularly glaring.
What kind of behavior is this?
Fang Qing's final draft, a 24-episode period drama, required significant investment in set design, costumes, props, and sets. The main cast's salaries were already at industry-low levels, and 10% of the production budget still needed to be set aside as a buffer for marketing and distribution.
Thirty-one million.
The total amount on the books is 42.3 million. After deducting this amount, there is a little over 11 million left.
This amount of money is needed to support the company's daily operations, the working capital for artists' appearances, the expenses for Xu Jiaying's next round of promotion, and also to reserve start-up funds for "Three Lives Three Worlds".
It's not not enough, it's just enough.
This kind of "just enough" is the most agonizing, neither good nor bad, leaving no room for compromise.
Zeng Hao stared at the number for half a minute, then picked up a pen and drew the character "压" (press) next to it.
We can cut costs even further. One of the suppliers at the set design company contacted Xu Wen last month, saying they wanted a long-term partnership with Sunshine Entertainment and were willing to offer a discount in exchange for credit. I didn't think much of it then, but now it's a good opportunity to talk to them.
He tossed his phone onto the corner of the table. The dull thud of a cardboard box being dragged came from outside the window, probably the convenience store downstairs restocking. The sound was intermittent, carrying a restless, smoky quality.
When Xu Wen arrived in the morning, he was holding a sheet of printing paper in his hand and knocked on the door three times before entering.
This action was quite unusual. Xu Wen was usually very easygoing, and he would only be so polite when faced with a difficult situation.
"The purchasing department at iQiyi gave me a heads-up yesterday." He put the paper on the table, not pushing it over, just leaving it there, the corners still warm from the printer. "Their internal assessment says that the market acceptance of historical time-travel dramas is declining in 2016, and their purchasing in the second half of the year will be more inclined towards modern urban dramas and suspense dramas. The threshold for historical dramas to pass their review is much higher than last year."
Zeng Hao glanced at the paper; it was a handwritten record by Xu Wen, with messy handwriting and a question mark next to it, indicating it wasn't an official document.
"Anything else?" He tapped the table with his fingertips.
"And this too." Xu Wen pulled another piece of paper from his notebook. "This morning, an industry account published an article without naming names, but anyone with eyes can tell it was about us—'A small to medium-sized entertainment company is betting against the trend on ancient costume time travel, which is generally not viewed favorably in the industry, and may be a move to attract attention.'"
The article's title was quite eye-catching. The author was a seasoned industry observer with few followers, but he had some influence within the industry, and his words always sparked discussion.
How many times was it forwarded?
"The price is just over three thousand, mainly circulating within the industry, not outside of it," Xu Wen added. "But the fact that it's widely circulated among industry insiders shows that this skepticism isn't fabricated; many people think this way."
Zeng Hao pushed the paper aside, placing it on top of the budget sheet: "Have Fang Qing send over the final draft of the script; I need to see it today."
Xu Wen opened his mouth, but swallowed back the question, "So how should we handle this?" He only replied with a "Okay" and turned to leave.
Zeng Hao knows better than anyone whether time-travel period dramas are still relevant in 2016.
Don't even mention 2016, this type of product will still have a market ten years from now.
That industry observation article said "market acceptance is declining," which is true—but what's declining are those poorly made, copycat, and terrible films.
"What Kind of Style" is completely different from those other things.
There's no need to explain this to anyone; once the show airs, people will naturally understand.
……
On the third day after "Ugly Monster" was released, Zeng Hao put together the data from the YiNet backend and the real-time ranking of the hot song charts.
The correlation between the two sets of numbers is obvious: the number of views follows a curve that is slow at the beginning and fast at the end, with a slight jump every six hours, and the jump points coincide with the increase in the number of comments.
It wasn't achieved by buying and manipulating the charts; it was genuinely driven up by real listeners and conversations.
In 2016, the YiNet platform had an advantage that some other platforms couldn't match—the comments section.
These weren't the kind of spam comments that just scrolled through and left; real people were writing their own stories below, saying what they were doing while listening to the song. Some people liked it, some replied, and slowly a collective emotion built up, pushing the song up the charts.
This logic of communication has been thoroughly studied by countless companies, but in 2016, most people were still stuck on the old ways of buying rankings, buying push notifications, and signing contracts for homepage resource slots on platforms.
Before "Ugly Monster" was released, Zeng Hao told Xu Wen that he would not buy promotion or chart rankings, but just upload the song and wait.
Xu Wen's expression at the time was as if he were looking at an idiot, probably thinking, "Is the boss under too much pressure lately and has gone crazy?"
Looking at it now, it's only number 11 on the hot song chart!
When Xu Wen came in, he was holding two cell phones, one his own and the other a company backup phone. This time he didn't knock, but peeked through a crack to make sure Zeng Hao was there before quickly walking in.
"There's something happening on the penguin side."
Zeng Hao didn't look up, his finger still swiping the phone screen: "Speak."
"Yesterday afternoon, the business director of Tencent Music, through a personal friend of Xue Zhijian's agent, invited Xue Zhijian to dinner." Xu Wen flipped the screen of his backup phone over, revealing a photo of the restaurant taken from a surveillance camera. The image quality wasn't very clear, but Xue Zhijian's profile was visible. "Xue Zhijian's agent told me this morning that Tencent's offer was quite lucrative—an exclusive rights buyout for two and a half times the price of our contract, plus a free fixed seat on a variety show."
Two and a half times.
This is even bigger than the time when Dingsheng poached Dilraba.
It seems that Tencent has truly recognized the potential of "Ugly Monster" and has also identified Xue Zhijian's potential for future breakthroughs.
Their judgment wasn't bad, they just arrived too late.
"What did Xue Zhijian say himself?" Zeng Hao closed the hot song chart page and looked up at Xu Wen.
"His agent said," Xu Wen suppressed a laugh, his tone slightly amused, "that Xue Zhijian's exact words were, 'I have to ask President Zeng first; I can't make that decision myself.'"
Zeng Hao moved his chair back a bit, leaning back against the backrest: "Who's handling things with Tencent?"
"The business director is Chen Li. He used to work at Warner and did several major copyright negotiations. He's a seasoned veteran."
"Let them talk."
Xu Wen was taken aback: "Just those four words?"
"Repeat the original words."
Xu Wen put his phone in his pocket, his face showing eagerness: "Then I'll go right now—"
"Wait a minute," Zeng Hao interrupted him. "Find out Appendix Three of the contract, Xue Zhijian's copy, the page about exclusive priority rights, make a copy and put it on my desk."
Tencent was very efficient; they sent someone over the next morning.
Chen Li, in his early forties, wore a crisp dark gray suit, which he made sure to button up before entering. This detail showed that he wasn't taking this negotiation lightly and was quite serious about it.
After sitting down, Chen Li got straight to the point without beating around the bush.
"Mr. Zeng, Tencent highly approves of Xue Zhijian's musical direction and hopes to establish a deep cooperation. We can discuss the buyout terms further, and we can also increase the variety show resources."