Chapter 581 A New Marketing Approach: Fan Fiction

Luo Yuzhong just finished filming one drama, and now he already has a new project?

Is it a new drama co-starring Lu Yanhe?

Luo Yuzhong's words caused a great stir.

Those who can sit at the same table with Luo Yuzhong are more or less influential people in this industry.

That's why they all want a piece of the pie in such a project.

"Director Luo, are you and Lu Yanhe going to collaborate on a new project? What kind of project is it? You've done a really good job keeping it a secret; not a single word has leaked out."

Luo Yuzhong thought to himself, it's not that the news of this project hasn't spread, it's just that no one who knew Lu Yanhe was going to film a fantasy drama had expected that he would be the director of it.

Luo Yuzhong himself never imagined that one day he would become a director of fantasy dramas.

It wasn't that he was deliberately being pretentious—it's just that fantasy dramas have basically become a "special offering" for a specific genre in the market, all turning into idol dramas told from the perspective of a strong female lead. Under such circumstances, major film and television companies often choose ancient romance dramas rather than traditional fantasy dramas when they start productions.

Of course, while "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" is called a fantasy story, it is actually a martial arts story disguised as a fantasy story.

It's just that the world view is more expansive than that of traditional martial arts novels.

This is actually a major reason why Luo Yuzhong felt he could direct the film after reading the script.

If it were truly a fantasy drama, he wouldn't direct it even if Lu Yanhe begged him.

Once he reaches his position, protecting his reputation is of utmost importance.

He himself couldn't even get into those plays, so how could he make a good film? Luo Yuzhong has always firmly believed that everyone has their own limitations and shortcomings in creative work. The prerequisite for you to create a good work on a subject is that you yourself like and understand that subject.

After the news spread, people started to come and help.

The main purpose is to attract actors. The project directed by Luo Yuzhong and starring Lu Yanhe is the best starting point for newcomers. The size of the role doesn't matter, nor does the character's personality; the key is to have their debut role in such a production.

Both talent agencies and film and television companies are very optimistic about such newcomers.

When promoting this actor, it can be described as "being spotted by director Luo Yuzhong upon debut" or "debuting with a hugely successful work."

After all, in the entertainment industry, there are only so many actors who are truly recognized by the public, and most casting decisions are made by reviewing resumes and conducting interviews.

Having such a good acting resume is very helpful for them in getting roles.

This situation is similar to your internship experience at a large company and how your previous employer helped you find a job.

Lu Yanhe is a bit stubborn; no matter who approaches him, the final response is always "audience audition." But Luo Yuzhong is different.

Luo Yuzhong is a director who grew up in this environment; he has received favors from many people and has also supported many others. Lu Yanhe can extricate himself from this network of connections, but Luo Yuzhong cannot. His projects always involve some "favors and connections" that he can't refuse.

With him as director, Lu Yanhe certainly couldn't wield absolute power. Even disregarding the fact that Lu Yanhe was his teacher, given Luo Yuzhong's status in the television industry, he couldn't possibly be a puppet director. Therefore, Luo Yuzhong couldn't use this as an excuse to refuse.

-

The two films, "Chinese Paladin" and "Dragon Inn," spread quickly within the industry.

The media has exaggerated the merits of these two dramas.

The former is a major production directed by Luo Yuzhong, featuring the first collaboration between Lu Yanhe, Li Zhibai, and Yan Liang. The latter is the second work of the talented director Liu Bige, with Lu Yanhe as the screenwriter and Chen Bige and Shang Yongzhou as the leading actors.

These two major productions, once announced, are destined to become highly anticipated.

It's a blockbuster production featuring top-tier directors, screenwriters, and actors.

Most importantly, these two dramas not only boast an impressive cast, but also feature Lu Yanhe, who has maintained an undefeated record to date, as the screenwriter.

Only some of Lu Yanhe's career-oriented fans were unhappy, feeling that Lu Yanhe acted in "Chinese Paladin" but not in "Dragon Inn".

Liu Bige's second film as a director, starring Shang Yongzhou and Chen Bige, is a perfect candidate to compete in the four major international film festivals. If Lu Yanhe were to star in it, he might even be able to win a Best Actor award at an international film festival.

Lu Yanhe's fans still really hope to see him win another Best Actor award at a top film festival.

The news of these two dramas stirred up the entire entertainment industry.

Actors like Liu Zefan and Wang Jing, who had worked with Lu Yanhe before, all came to inquire if there were any supporting roles with significant screen time available for them.

These actors, who had already started playing leading roles, no longer aspired to compete for the lead role here and were more willing to play a supporting role.

Wang Jing is a typical example of an actress who has reaped huge benefits even from a supporting role.

"The Squid Game" brought her explosive talent to the attention of the entire entertainment industry, and she rose to fame.

Lu Yanhe could only reply one by one, saying that no roles had been decided yet, but a public audition would be held.

In fact, because "Chinese Paladin" had director Luo Yuzhong and the three of them as the main actors, it meant that the budget for other actors was very limited, and it was impossible to invite A-list actors to play other roles.

Lu Yanhe's idea was to hold a public audition and select all newcomers.

In fact, the cast of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" was almost entirely made up of newcomers back then.

After all, this drama is not lacking in topics or exposure, so it no longer needs other actors to reassure investors or to attract business deals and investment.

Luo Yuzhong agreed with his idea.

Because of this subject matter, there are advantages to having newcomers. An unfamiliar face makes it easier for the audience to immerse themselves in the world of this "young man."

As for *Dragon Inn*, Lu Yanhe had virtually no involvement in casting. Firstly, he had recommended both the male and female leads. Although Liu Bige was very satisfied with the cast, Lu Yanhe didn't want Liu Bige to feel he was interfering too much, as this was ultimately a director-driven film. Secondly, Liu Bige had an excellent eye for actors; just looking at his casting choices in *Late Spring* showed how sharp his eye was—Lu Yanhe himself might not even be able to pick better.

Of course, the hardest actor to cast in this movie was Maggie Cheung, who played Jin Xiangyu.

Chen Bige is playing the role originally portrayed by Brigitte Lin. Chen Bige possesses that essence, so her acting skills are assured, and her appearance is similar, making the role practically a sure thing. Only Jin Xiangyu is a female character etched into the history of Chinese cinema, a truly classic. Lu Yanhe, looking across the domestic entertainment industry, couldn't find a single actress who, at least in his imagination, could handle the role—he had preconceived notions. Therefore, it would be better to entrust it to Liu Bige.

-

In April, Yan Liang's starring role in "The Summit" was suddenly released.

This TV series about fraud was filmed by Yan Liang around the same time as "The Gold Rush".

Director Chen Mofan previously directed the box office hit film "My Home That I Haven't Been Back For a Long Time".

Because of this cast and crew, the show generated a lot of buzz when it premiered, and the first episode received positive reviews and positive ratings from various media outlets.

However, after airing for three days, the show encountered an awkward situation: it received critical acclaim but failed to attract viewers.

The number of viewers remained low, and the popularity ranking was only in the top five, or even below the top two.

Yan Liang put in a lot of effort to promote the show, appearing on TV programs and doing live streams, among other things. But for some reason, the show just couldn't attract viewers. So much so that by the time the tenth episode aired on the video platform, there were no more pre-roll ads.

This is a very embarrassing situation.

Pre-roll ads have essentially become a key indicator of whether a show is popular and whether it has viewers.

Data can be fabricated, but investors won't give you money for nothing.

Lu Yanhe actually watches Li Zhibai and Yan Liang's dramas all the time.

He watched this show too.

This drama is indeed very well made, completely exposing the operating mode of a fraud ring.

However, perhaps for this very reason, the drama adopts a multi-narrative rhythm, with Yan Liang's storyline only accounting for about one-third of the total length of the series.

The first two episodes feature a large cast of characters and numerous plot threads, making them somewhat mind-bending to watch.

No wonder it received critical acclaim but failed to sell well.

There's no way around it; that's just how the TV drama market is. If you make a drama too complicated, you'll inevitably turn away a portion of the audience.

Just like why "My Home, Where I Haven't Been Returned" was a box office hit? Because viewers who saw it all said it was good. Why did this movie win so many positive reviews? Because the movie is told entirely from the female lead's perspective, keeping the audience completely engaged with her emotions from beginning to end.

However, this drama is actually of very high quality. This is evident from the analyses and recommendations of various film history bloggers; those with a wider range of film viewing experience are much more receptive to this drama.

Is there any way to improve the show's ratings?

It's not that this show isn't good enough, nor that it lacks big stars to attract viewers; rather, viewers often lose interest after watching the first or second episode, lacking engagement.

The level of discussion surrounding this drama also reflects this issue.

-

"Fan fiction?" Lu Yanhe looked at Chen Siqi in shock.

Chen Siqi said, "Well, actually, several characters in this drama have generated a lot of discussion. Most of the people who are really watching this drama have some characters they like. If you want to attract more viewers to watch this drama, I would suggest starting from this aspect: first, build a small circle of people who really like this drama and these characters, and then use this small circle to spread the discussion about this drama."

"Wouldn't this be a bit slow? This show will be finishing airing next week, and there aren't many episodes."

"It will be a little slow, but I think this is the most suitable way to promote this drama right now," Chen Siqi said. "The subject matter and style of this drama are not suitable for conventional marketing, because it's not that most viewers haven't seen it, but rather that people aren't interested in the subject matter and plot. In this case, you have to actively dig out the attractive points of this drama and present them to everyone, so that people watch the drama with that expectation because of these points. Their tolerance will be higher. At least if they can get through the first four episodes, gradually understand the world view of the drama, and get into the plot, they might be able to stay with the drama."

Chen Siqi's judgment was quite inspiring to Lu Yanhe.

Some dramas lack star power, so they need to increase their popularity and let people know that there is such an interesting drama.

But this is not the case with "The Summit".

It's purely because the subject matter and style are not what the current market is like, and some viewers can't accept it or watch it. The first episode had tens of millions of viewers, but by the eighth episode, it was only about two million. The data speaks for itself.

Chen Siqi is actually right.

No amount of word-of-mouth marketing can attract people back.

No matter how good your reputation is, if I've already read the previous episodes and don't like them, I won't bother watching them again.

We need to make sure many people see this—

Oh, there's more to the plot than meets the eye? This character is actually like this?

By offering its most appealing elements and using a different approach to engage the audience, this show seems to have some interesting parts later on, making it worth picking up and watching again.

Fan fiction is merely a means, a point, a raw material for promotion and marketing. If someone does create a highly influential fan fiction based on the drama "The Summit," for example, if thousands of drama fans like it, the production team will then promote and market this fan fiction, using it to create trending topics and attract more people to the drama.

Lu Yanhe was actually aware of the influence of fan fiction.

The explosive influence of "The Grave Robbers' Chronicles" owes much to fan fiction's contribution to online promotion and marketing, especially on platforms like Weibo.

Lu Yanhe hesitated because he didn't know if doing this would be effective.

Chen Siqi said, "I'll contact the production team and broadcasting platform of 'The Summit' to see if they are willing to cooperate with 'Jump Up'. If they are not optimistic about our plan, then forget it. If they are willing to cooperate, we can give it a try. This kind of marketing is not expensive and is relatively easy to control."

really.

Lu Yanhe understood what Chen Siqi meant.

Initially, all you need to do is find a few writers skilled in creating fan fiction based on the drama. See if they can generate buzz and discussion within the current drama fandom. If they do, continue investing and expand promotion. If not, you can cut your losses in time, with an initial investment not exceeding 100,000 yuan.

Lu Yanhe nodded.

He thought it was feasible.

After discussing it with Chen Siqi, Lu Yanhe told Yan Liang about it.

Even between brothers, accounts should be kept clear.

Lu Yanhe also didn't want to see such a good drama end up being critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful.

If Chen Siqi's marketing approach is successful, it could serve as a valuable reference for many high-quality dramas that follow.

However, just because Yan Liang stars in this drama doesn't mean Chen Siqi and the cast of "Jump Up" should work for free.

Yan Liang was very surprised after hearing what Lu Yanhe said.

He had no idea that Lu Yanhe was actually working behind the scenes to find solutions for the poor ratings of "The Summit".

Moreover, Lu Yanhe's analysis was actually quite enlightening for Yan Liang.

During this period, he posted on Weibo, did live broadcasts, and did various promotions, but it did not help the ratings of "The Summit" much. He and the production team were very distressed and discovered why the ratings of the show were low in the later stages, but they just couldn't break the deadlock.

This situation, where the film receives critical acclaim but not commercial success, is truly the most difficult to manage.

However, Chen Siqi's marketing approach gave Yan Liang a vague feeling that it might improve the ratings of "The Summit".

Yan Liang said, "Don't let Siqi take the initiative to contact them. I'll talk to them. I'll have Zhou Ping'an talk to them and have them actively seek out Siqi to do marketing for 'Jump Up'."

Whoever takes the initiative will naturally have to adopt a more humble attitude.

This is what Yan Liang is considering.

Lu Yanhe said, "Your drama is already halfway through, you need to speed things up, otherwise it will be over before it's finished."

"I will."

Yan Liang's efficiency was indeed very high.

After hearing Yan Liang's account, Zhou Ping'an also felt that Chen Siqi's method was feasible and worth trying.

The main reason is the low initial investment cost; you don't need to spend much money.

Ten thousand yuan isn't even enough to buy a trending topic.

But you can buy into one possibility—the promotional and marketing capabilities of the "Jump Up" publicity team led by Chen Siqi, which have been tested in many projects.

Even the proud and arrogant Zhou Ping'an took their proposed solutions seriously.

Zhou Ping'an, acting as the lead actor's agent, offered to help revive the show, citing its poor ratings.

“If this show had a bad reputation, that would be one thing, but the key is that it has such a good reputation now, yet it can’t attract viewers. I just can’t accept that,” Zhou Ping’an said. “I suggest we go to the team behind ‘Jump Up’. They’re always good at publicity and marketing, and maybe they can help this show find a breakthrough.”

Upon hearing this, the production team and the platform hesitated for a moment. The platform said, "Their asking price is very high. We had contacted them before to cooperate, but their price was outrageously high, so we did not reach an agreement."

Zhou Ping'an: "Yan Liang is Yan He's friend. I'll ask Yan Liang to try and talk to him to see if we can reach an agreement."

He pretended to go out for ten minutes and then came back.

“They agreed to charge in stages,” Zhou Ping’an said. “For the first stage, they only charge 200,000 yuan, and the subsequent charges will be based on the promotional effect. Isn’t that a very reasonable price? Apart from Yan Liang and Li Zhibai, no other artist can get such a favorable price from the ‘Jump Up’ team.”

Zhou Ping'an spoke with an expression that said, "You're lucky to have Yan Liang as the lead actor in this drama."

In fact, this was indeed the reaction from the production team and the platform.

-

I took an ibuprofen at noon, and I felt much better in the evening; I hardly felt any discomfort.

There will be one more chapter updated, but it might be a little late. If you're not a night owl, you can read it tomorrow morning.

(End of this chapter)