Of the several projects Jing Yu was currently working on, the ones progressing fastest were 'The Garden of Words', 'Voices of a Distant Star', and 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'.
Although 'Voices of a Distant Star' required quite a bit of visual effects, Jing Yu had multiple VFX studios working with him simultaneously, so production was moving quickly — it had already entered its mid-to-late stage.
As for 'The Garden of Words', that was even more straightforward. It was a short film with virtually no special effects. Filming was completed, and post-production was already about 70–80% done.
'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' wasn't a big-budget film either — just a small cast and a slightly longer runtime, which meant filming wasn't quite finished yet. Still, it was already 70–80% complete overall.
As for the 'Fate/stay night: Artoria Route' drama series, filming had wrapped long ago, but post-production, particularly visual effects, would likely take until June or July to finish. If everything went well, a summer broadcast might be possible. Meanwhile, 'Castle in the Sky' and 'Your Name', the two projects Jing Yu was most personally invested in, were being handled with extra care and would probably only be ready for release near winter.
But decisions needed to be made now about when these projects would be released.
Jing Yu fell into thought.
"Let's try to air 'Fate/stay night' in July," he said. "If we delay too long, the momentum from 'Fate/Zero' will fade."
It was his only currently-in-production drama series. And from Jing Yu's perspective, he didn't want all his works released too close together. That would just lead to internal competition. Even if movies and dramas belonged to different media formats, they all ended up on streaming platforms in the end. Releasing too many works at once would exhaust the audience.
"As for 'Voices of a Distant Star' and 'The Garden of Words', the timing doesn't matter too much," he continued. "But didn't you mention that Yunteng TV was interested in short-format works like these?"
Jing Yu looked at Cheng Lie.
"Not just Yunteng TV," Cheng Lie replied. "All six of the major networks have approached me. If you want to sell these shows to a TV station, it doesn't have to be just Yunteng TV. We can consider the others too."
"Huh, so even the Big Six aren't so stubborn anymore?" Jing Yu chuckled.
"People and companies both change. After being beaten down by us for years, they've figured out that it's better to work with us than to fight against us," Cheng Lie smiled.
"Still, we've always had a solid relationship with Yunteng TV. And right now, Yunteng TV's reach is on par with the Big Three. Even partnering with the top three wouldn't bring much more advantage."
"Your call," Jing Yu said thoughtfully. "'The Garden of Words' and 'Voices of a Distant Star' are short works. I never expected them to be big earners — they were passion projects to begin with. Originally, I planned to release them exclusively on Qingyun Video, but if Yunteng TV is interested, dual-platform distribution is fine. You decide the airing schedule."
If the staff at Qingyun Video had overheard this conversation, they probably would've exploded in anger. Their relationship with Jing Yu was lukewarm at best. Although he owned 18% of the company, it never ran as deep as his bond with Yunteng TV.
Yunteng TV was where Jing Yu got his start. Even after parting ways, they'd never had any conflict. In fact, Yunteng TV continued to support him — whenever Jing Yu was selling a drama, Yunteng TV was the most enthusiastic buyer and always offered the highest price.
So now that Yunteng TV had expressed interest in the two short-format productions, Jing Yu was definitely giving them more consideration.
"Got it," Cheng Lie responded with a grin.
"Now, about the three films," Jing Yu said, lowering his head in thought.
"From now until the second half of the year, there are three good release windows: summer vacation, Qixi Festival, and New Year's. 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' could be released during either the summer or Qixi season. 'Castle in the Sky' and 'Your Name' would be better suited for the New Year period. And since Great Zhou's Valentine's Day (Qixi Festival) also falls within that one-month New Year window, the two movies can each take a separate slot."
Cheng Lie started thinking as well. That timeline did sound reasonable. After discussing it a bit more, the two wrapped up their meeting.
Jing Yu headed back to filming that afternoon, while Cheng Lie immediately sprang into action.
The first step was to notify the operations department to start drafting press releases. Then, he created a launch plan and began reaching out to key contacts in the Modo film industry to start building PR momentum.
With Bluestar Media & Film Company's current status, they couldn't afford to rush blindly into a film release anymore.
In the past, they'd gotten away with it because Jing Yu's quality work overshadowed their crude marketing.
But times had changed. Now, they had to manage relationships across industries, do proper promotional campaigns, and evaluate the competitive landscape — even preparing additional advertising budgets to match.
Of course, the most urgent matter was accelerating post-production for 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'.
It was already April. Even though Jing Yu had mentioned either a summer or Qixi release, Cheng Lie was clearly leaning toward Qixi. It fell in August, which gave more time for post-production, and thematically, it matched the movie well. After all, it was a romance film.
A few days later, the calendar flipped to May.
The sun blazed fiercely, and the summer season had already passed its first month.
With Jing Yu absent from the summer lineup, all seven major networks — including Yunteng TV — were fiercely battling it out.
While Yunteng TV still lacked the deep foundation of the Big Three, it had far outpaced the bottom three. Its in-house productions now regularly surpass 5% in ratings. Though that was nowhere near the 14% peak of 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', it was still an impressive achievement.
And just as the various stations were locked in heated competition…
Bluestar Media & Film Company, after bottling up for over a week, finally posted new release news on its official site.
The announcement sent shockwaves through the Big Six TV networks.
"This guy's back already? He took one quarter off, and now the devil returns?"
"Can't he be normal? Look at other top writers — they spend three years making one show and live off it for a decade. You? You bang out a script in three months. Are you sick in the head?"
'Neon Genesis Evangelion' alone pulled in six or seven hundred million this year. Not enough for you? 'Fate/Zero' made hundreds of millions last year, too. You greedy old bastard."
But as soon as they saw the announcement details, executives and managers at the Big Six breathed a collective sigh of relief.
[Official Announcement: 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' Movie Release Date!]
Release date: August 5th.
"Oh, it's a movie? That's none of our business."
"So the old devil's interested in ruining the film industry now? Great! Leave us, TV folks, alone."
Writers and staff across the Big Six were grinning ear to ear.
But less than half a day later, Bluestar released a second announcement:
[Broadcast Date Confirmed: 'Fate/stay night: Artoria Route']
At that moment, the entire TV drama industry collectively panicked.
"Already?!"
'Fate/Zero' just ended less than a year ago — and you've already finished post-production?!"
Actually, much of the post-production — including modeling and assets — was reused from 'Fate/Zero', so the VFX process was significantly faster.
Besides, with the show airing in July and running through September, there were still 2–3 months left to polish the effects on later episodes. It was a tight schedule, but manageable.
Still, the announcement hit like a bomb. TV production teams across the Big Six immediately felt the pressure skyrocket.
"What the hell, is this guy a workaholic or what?!"
As for Jing Yu's fans?
After reading those two announcements, it was like celebrating New Year's Day!