Lin Chudong frowned. What was wrong with Li Zhilin?
Why was he suddenly cursing him out?
The Weibo post had been made ten minutes ago and already had tens of thousands of shares. Li Zhilin's influence was almost on par with Lin Qiqi's.
And Li Zhilin's fans were mostly female, who were much crazier than male fans.
Lin Chudong glanced at it. It seemed Li Zhilin also had a new web drama about to be released. Their projects were clashing, and they had grievances before. He was directly attacking him this time.
Was that why Yan Chaoxu gave them the lowest price?
Lin Chudong wasn't annoyed. "Alright, we'll consider it and get back to you later."
Yan Chaoxu nodded and saw Lin Chudong and the others out.
Once in the car, Liang Yin cursed.
"Is Li Zhilin an idiot? Why is he even cursing at us?"
Lin Chudong drove and asked, "What did he say? Read it to me."
Liang Yin said, "He said our show is just for making money. This kind of suspense drama is all smoke and mirrors in the beginning, starting strong but going downhill, and it will definitely end poorly. It might even have a second season, endlessly trying to make money, and it will get worse and worse."
"He's calling for a boycott of these commercial flops."
Lin Chudong sneered, "He's probably talking about his own shows."
Liang Yin said, "He's attacking us mainly because our schedules clashed. He released a trailer for his new film yesterday, a suspense drama about criminal investigation. But yesterday, the popularity of I Am the King of Songs, plus the reposts from several celebrities, overshadowed him. He must be unhappy."
Lin Chudong said, "Boss lady, you've improved. Your analysis makes a lot of sense."
"You don't need to flatter me. Let's figure out what to do instead."
Lin Chudong laughed. "What else can we do? We'll just find another company to talk to. I believe there will always be someone who appreciates it."
The two of them immediately moved on to Tianxun Video.
As they reached the entrance, they were recognized again, and Da Fei once again used his reputation to get them in.
"I don't have an appointment, but could I meet with your Operations Director?"
The receptionist quickly said, "I'll ask for you."
"Please wait a moment, Brother Fei. Someone will come to receive you shortly!"
The two sat in Tianxun Video's reception room and waited patiently.
Huang Wei was currently furious in her office.
"You're all useless! I asked you to negotiate, and you couldn't even close the deal?"
"Li Zhilin isn't tied to Youmei Video. They secured the deal through negotiation. If they could do it, why can't you? A bunch of failures!"
The team leaders from the operations department were berated by Huang Wei, not daring to utter a word.
Youmei Video had signed two hit dramas in a row. Although Li Zhilin's new drama, Surface, hadn't aired yet, with him as a draw, it was very likely to become a hit.
If Youmei Video overshadowed them again this month, Huang Wei wouldn't be able to explain it to the boss.
"Director Huang, Da Fei has been waiting downstairs for a long time. What do you think…"
Huang Wei frowned, "What's a singer doing here? Just have a team leader deal with him."
"Yes!"
Li Geng, the leader of the first group, went out.
Huang Wei suddenly had a name flash in her mind, "Da Fei… who was Da Fei again? What did he sing?"
"President Huang, he was the first place winner of I Am the King of Songs yesterday."
A figure suddenly appeared in Huang Wei's mind, "Find his videos and show them to me!"
Li Geng, the leader of the first group, sat in front of Lin Chudong and Li Zhilin, looked at the promotional video and story outline, and said.
"This drama can be exclusively divided, but the conditions may not be so favorable. Fifty percent of the membership revenue, and a per-episode split of 3 yuan. What do you think?"
Lin Chudong was naturally dissatisfied with this price. The current membership revenue-sharing model was already at one hundred percent. To encourage everyone to release their content, many platforms were even subsidizing creators.
That is to say, if a viewer paid thirty yuan for a membership to watch your show, the platform would give the production company fifty yuan to encourage content creation.
For Lin Chudong, even if it wasn't a subsidy, he should at least get a one hundred percent share, right?
Moreover, the unit price for the revenue share was still three yuan, which was too low and would greatly affect subsequent income.
"Group Leader Li, is there no room for negotiation on this price?"
Lin Chudong actually didn't have any better options. There were only a few major platforms, and after being scolded by Li Zhilin, he was a bit hesitant to take risks.
Li Geng said helplessly, "There's nothing we can do; that's just the market..."
Suddenly, Li Geng's phone rang, and he quickly answered it.
"General Manager Huang?"
"Have them send me a few episodes, I'll take a look."
"Alright."
Li Geng hung up the phone, a little surprised. Why would General Manager Huang be interested in Da Fei, when she was clearly upset?
"Our leader wants to see them. Send the first three episodes to this email address."
Li Geng gave Lin Chudong and his team an email address.
"Our leader usually reviews films at double speed. You can wait, or you can leave if you have something else to do."
"We'll wait here for a bit."
"Okay, I'll have someone bring two coffees."
Lin Chudong and Liang Yin waited in the reception room, helpless.
"Why am I so unlucky? Of all times, I have to release at the same time as Li Zhilin."
Lin Chudong sneered, "Even if it wasn't the same time, he'd still try to step on me."
In terms of music, Li Zhilin didn't have much say, so he didn't take any action. But, of course, the matter of him cursing Lin Chudong on set wouldn't just be left at that.
Last time, at the Mid-Autumn Festival gala, Li Zhilin instructed Guan Lu to mess with him. If Lin Chudong hadn't reacted quickly, he would have been finished.
That son of a bitch holds a grudge. Even if their releases weren't at the same time, he'd definitely try to trip him up.
It's actually quite good that their schedules clashed. Lin Chudong was also holding back, determined to compete with him.
Liang Yin sighed, "If he curses at you, will you respond?"
Lin Chudong shook his head, "Not yet. I'll respond after the film is released."
Now, arguing is useless. Results are what matter.
Lin Chudong wasn't one to back down, but he couldn't possibly win a war of words against an idol with tens of millions of fans.
"Let's wait. Consider it a break."
Upstairs, Huang Wei sat in her office, watching the first three episodes of Beginning.
She had already recognized Lin Chudong; he was the one who stopped her father's nosebleed that day.
Logically, Huang Wei should go down and thank him, but if she met him, she'd owe him a favor.
So, she'd watch the show first, get a feel for it, and then it wouldn't be too late to meet him.
Huang Wei watched at double speed, and when the first episode ended, her brow furrowed.
This show… is a bit interesting.
As the operations director, she was extremely sensitive to the market.
Blockbusters that could dominate the market could be broadly divided into two types.
The first type was high-quality productions that followed trends.
These were those overused themes, but with excellent production teams and investors, they could still produce good dramas that catered to the market.
The second type was works that were unique and led the market.
These works had a unique style that was eye-catching, but this type of drama was generally low-budget.
Because it hadn't been market-tested, no one dared to invest too much. Who wouldn't be heartbroken if they threw tens of millions of yuan down the drain?
But Lin Chudong's drama was novel and well-produced.
With an average production cost of nearly one million yuan per episode, it certainly didn't feel cheap.
Although the shots were simple, and most of the scenes were on a bus, it was all very logical and didn't feel cheap at all.
Da Fei's got something.
Soon, the first three episodes were finished, and the show was starting to get really good.
At this point, Huang Wei was hooked. If she had to pay for a membership to watch, she would.
This drama is good!
Huang Wei stood up and quickly walked into the elevator, arriving at the downstairs reception room.
She pushed open the door, and the three people inside looked at each other.
"I'm Huang Wei, the director of operations. It's nice to see you two again."
Liang Yin and Lin Chudong were a bit surprised. "It's you? What a coincidence!"
Huang Wei shook hands with them. "Thank you for what happened last time. I felt like I recognized you when I got back, and I just remembered today that you were the lead singer of Da Fei band before. So you've entered the film industry?"
Lin Chudong smiled slightly. "Just doing some side work."
"I've watched the film. What are your conditions? We can talk."
Lin Chudong and Liang Yin exchanged glances.
"Then I'll be direct. I want the normal treatment for member revenue sharing. I'll get the same amount as everyone else."
"I want twenty for the unit price of the split."
The highest price in the industry for the revenue split was twenty-five, but Lin Chudong didn't want to ask for that much. Asking for twenty gave them room to negotiate.
A fifteen-yuan revenue split was about average, which was acceptable.
This revenue split was essentially a multiplication factor. While it seemed like only a few yuan difference, the income disparity would be huge when calculated out.
Huang Wei frowned and said:
"Tell me about the rest of the story."
The biggest fear with these suspense dramas was a bad ending. If the story flopped and the production company took the money and ran, everyone would blame Tianxun Video.
Lin Chudong told her the ending of the story, and Huang Wei nodded in satisfaction.
"That puts my mind at ease."
"We're old friends, and you're not exactly a newbie. You're a popular singer crossing over, you bring your own traffic, so of course I'll give you some preferential treatment."
"How about this? For membership revenue sharing, I'll give you the highest standard we've used before. Plus a twenty-yuan subsidy. For each fully paid membership, you get a fifty-yuan commission."
"As for the playback revenue sharing, we'll follow the rating standards."
"After the first three episodes are broadcast, we'll rate the show. The effective viewing time of paid members divided by the total duration of the series is the rating index."
"Youmei Video's Swordsman's Romance used this model before. They went straight to S-rank, enjoying the highest price of twenty-five per share. If you're confident, you can go with this model."
Liang Yin looked at Lin Chudong. This model sounded pretty good, whether it was good or not depended entirely on the quality of the show.
Lin Chudong nodded. "This condition is no problem. I want to talk about something else."
"What is it?"
"I want the best recommendation spot on your player."
Huang Wei smiled. "You're a bit greedy, but your request is reasonable. After all, Lin Qiqi is guest-starring, which counts as a big name, and Da Fei's popularity has been quite high recently. I'll arrange for it to be recommended on the homepage for at least three days. How does that sound?"
"Great, let's sign the contract then."
"Alright, I'll take a look at the rest of the show while we sign."
Huang Wei took out her phone and continued watching. She was very curious to see the quality of the later episodes.
If it was consistent with the previous episodes, then this show definitely had a future.
After about an hour of signing the contract, Huang Wei became more and more engrossed.
The quality of the later episodes was obviously much higher than the earlier ones.
Especially with each loop, the characters' emotional differences were portrayed very realistically.
Each episode also ended with a hook, leaving you wanting more.
Huang Wei even started watching at normal speed later, transforming from a reviewer into a viewer.
After the contract was signed.
Huang Wei said, "I won't see you out, I'll watch a bit more and then hand it over to the review team. When do you want to release it?"
Lin Chudong said, "Saturday, when the finals of I Am the King of Songs are broadcast."
Huang Wei nodded, "Oh yes, that program too. I wish you the best in winning."
"Thank you."
...
Back at the company, both of them were somewhat exhausted, as if they'd just fought a tough battle.
Everyone came up to ask about the situation, and they were all concerned.
Only Jing Feifei wasn't there.
"Where's Xiao Jing?"
Wang Zhi said, "Xiao Jing went to take a phone call; it seems her dad called."
Lin Chudong immediately widened his eyes, "Is everything alright?"
Wang Zhi shook his head, "I don't know."
After a while, Jing Feifei returned, and everyone anxiously asked her what had happened.
Jing Feifei looked troubled, but she still shook her head and said, "It's nothing, my dad saw the show when it aired and said a few words to me."
Everyone's expressions were complicated, as if they were about to lose her.
"Can you still perform in the finals?"
Jing Feifei nodded. "No problem."
"Yeah." Lin Chudong didn't say much; he couldn't get involved in her family matters.
These past few days, the Liang Yin band was very relaxed. Besides the usual rehearsals, they went to do some square dancing.
Two days before the finals, Xinghuo Entertainment released an announcement.
Tian Yingxiong officially formed a group with Yan Hua, called 'Flying Bird Legend', and announced their relationship.
In an instant, Tian Yingxiong shot to the top of the trending searches.
Looking at the news, Lin Chudong clicked his tongue twice, "Boss Lady, you should teach him a few moves sometime. I'm afraid he'll get beaten to death."
Liang Yin rolled her eyes, "Don't mention this again, I don't know anything!"
"..."
Finally, the day of the finals arrived.
The Liang Music team mobilized as a group, arriving in Changsha.
At the same time, Weibo reposted Tianxun Video's trailer, announcing that Beginning would broadcast three episodes back-to-back at nine o'clock tonight.
Due to the attention surrounding the finals, many people had pre-collected and pre-ordered the drama.
Of course, pre-collecting and pre-ordering didn't necessarily mean the drama was popular.
What mattered was effective viewing time; the audience had to actually watch it. That data couldn't be faked.
Li Zhilin's drama, Surface, was also airing tonight, and because it was a longer series, it would broadcast six episodes consecutively, at the same time as Beginning.
Both dramas, judging from their trailers, were suspenseful. One was a criminal investigation type, the other sci-fi. It seemed like they were going to compete.
Fans were immediately interested when they saw that Da Fei was directing the drama.
"Da Fei is an all-around artist. He hasn't acted in a drama before and is already directing?"
"Think about it, hasn't Da Fei acted before? You forgot about 6 You Ma Ah?"
"Damn, does that even count? Hahaha!"
"Li Zhilin blasted Da Fei before, it's going to be interesting tonight with their shows airing at the same time!"
"This is going to be a showdown. I'll definitely support Da Fei's show, as long as it doesn't require a membership."
"What are you thinking? What doesn't require a membership these days? But the first few episodes should be free. Let's see if Lin Qiqi has a lot of screen time."
"Support Da Fei! Win tonight! Crush the viewership of Surface with Beginning!"
That last sentence was sent by Deng Siqing.
When they got to Mango TV, Da Fei was having his hair done.
Suddenly, Hong Wentao walked in with a complicated expression and said, "Da Fei, there's something I need to tell you, and I'm a little sorry."
-----------------------
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