Chapter 602 The Director Wants to Resign

"Were those two people actors from 'The Silent Staircase'?" Hu Siwei asked.

Lu Yanhe nodded, "Yes."

“Those two…are they here to see you?” Hu Siwei said. “I saw them standing at your door from far away, and I don’t know what they were saying.”

"I don't know if they're here to see me, let's ignore them for now." Lu Yanhe asked, "Brother Siwei, have you decided which platform to sell 'Roommates' to?"

Hu Siwei nodded and said, "I came here to talk to you about this matter and wanted to hear your opinion."

Lu Yanhe handed Hu Siwei a bottle of mineral water.

Hu Siwei said, "I want 'Roommates' to be broadcast simultaneously on three video platforms and two TV stations."

Hu Siwei's words completely baffled Lu Yanhe.

"How did you suddenly... change your mind?"

"I had a serious talk with Lao Bai, and then I contacted various platforms to discuss the plans for the drama 'Roommates' in depth," Hu Siwei said. "To be honest, in order to control production costs, we didn't use any big stars to act in this drama, which is still a bit risky in our current market environment."

“This is also an experiment.” Lu Yanhe waved his hand, feeling that Hu Siwei didn’t need to keep emphasizing the “risk” aspect. “What made you finally decide to have so many platforms broadcasting it together?”

"On the one hand, they weren't optimistic about the broadcast performance of 'Roommates,' so the purchase price remained low. Even with Lao Bai directing, under the current rules, everyone still prioritizes the actors," Hu Siwei explained his considerations simply. "If five companies broadcast it together, although the purchase price for each company would be much lower, the total would still be around three million per episode. Moreover, the main reason is that if we sell it exclusively to a certain platform, they won't be willing to allocate corresponding promotional resources because they don't have high hopes for it. I've watched the finished product of 'Roommates,' many times, and I believe our content is fine. The main problem we need to solve is how to get more viewers to see the show, know that it's airing, and then click to watch it."

Lu Yanhe listened to Hu Siwei's assessment and nodded from time to time.

“If you broadcast on a single platform, it’s easy for your content to sink if the platform doesn’t provide good promotional resources. However, if you broadcast on five platforms at the same time, the combined promotional resources from all the platforms are still greater than those from a single platform. Moreover, the target audience is also larger, and there is a greater chance of it becoming popular.”

"However, if five platforms start broadcasting at the same time, there will also be a problem, namely that the audience will be more scattered. The already small number of viewers will be spread across five platforms, and the data for each platform will be even worse."

“However, ‘Roommates’ originally didn’t have any star actors, and there weren’t many fans or viewers who would have supported it before it even aired,” Hu Siwei said. “Even if it were broadcast on a separate platform, it would still be starting from scratch.”

Lu Yanhe understood Hu Siwei's idea.

Generally speaking, many platforms are no longer accepting non-exclusive broadcasts.

However, "Roommates" is clearly an exception.

Based on the current situation, people are not optimistic about the market performance of "Roommates," but because Bai Jingnian is the director, and because they have seen the previews and the content of the series, they feel that this show still has the potential to replicate the popularity of sitcoms, especially since it is produced by Linghe.

For small projects like this, they would definitely be willing to try something new with Linghe.

Lu Yanhe said, "If the various platforms are unwilling to allocate sufficient advertising budgets, Linghe will handle the advertising itself."

"But wouldn't that mean we'd have to invest a new amount in advertising?"

“That’s normal,” Lu Yanhe said. “I haven’t seen the full episodes of ‘Roommates’ yet, but if we all agree that the show is of high quality and the platform is unwilling to take risks, I would rather they offer a lower purchase price and a higher share of the revenue so we can do the promotion ourselves.”

Hu Siwei didn't expect that Lu Yanhe had the same idea as him when he spoke.

“I support your suggestion that it shouldn’t be exclusively broadcast on a single platform. Without star power, ‘Roommates’ can’t attract a dedicated fanbase to drive viewership. It can only rely on superficial promotion to attract a large number of casual viewers. Therefore, multi-platform broadcasting is the right model for ‘Roommates’.” Lu Yanhe quickly expressed his opinion, adding, “However, I feel that since ‘Roommates’ is a pilot project, we shouldn’t be afraid of failure. If we can’t even do normal promotion, how can we know whether this experiment has succeeded or failed?”

Hu Siwei nodded and fell into deep thought.

Lu Yanhe asked, "Brother Siwei, the first season of 'Roommates' has finished filming. Whether or not we'll make a sequel depends on how well the first season airs. Besides this show, do you have any new ideas?"

Hu Siwei said, "In the second half of the year, I will lead the team from 'Roommates' to make three shows that will be performed in the Jump Theater. As for 'Chinese Paladin,' our team's level is relatively limited at the moment, and we can't keep up. It is basically Director Luo's team that is in charge. We have just arranged for two people to go to the set to learn about the management experience of the production team."

Lu Yanhe nodded.

"I signed several recent graduates majoring in photography this year, and I'm also planning to discuss with Director Luo about having them work as photography assistants on 'Chinese Paladin' to gain practical experience," Hu Siwei said. "Other jobs on a film crew are relatively easy to find, but cinematographers are the most sought-after. It's purely a technical job; you can tell at a glance whether someone is good or bad. Moreover, the importance of cinematography to a film or television project is self-evident. A good cinematographer is like a second director on set, and many directors themselves are cinematographers by training. Therefore, there's too much competition among companies for good cinematographers, and they're basically all snapped up by major companies. I'm thinking that if our company trains its own, it will be easier for us to develop projects or participate in projects in the future."

Lu Yanhe nodded.

Linghe's biggest weakness right now is its lack of foundation, so it lacks the manpower to match the company's positioning in all aspects.

However, if you always hire outside help for every project, firstly, the people themselves are unstable; secondly, you may not be able to find suitable ones; and thirdly, hiring from outside always results in higher prices.

In this regard, Lu Yanhe has great faith in Hu Siwei, a veteran who has led teams in Beijing and Taiwan for many years.

-

After leaving Lu Yanhe's room, Hu Siwei checked into the hotel directly.

It was too late, so he decided to sleep there and visit the set of "The Silent Staircase" the next day before leaving.

The production team for "The Silent Staircase" used three people signed by Linghe, one of whom was an old subordinate he poached from Beijing and Taiwan, who served as the production assistant for "The Silent Staircase".

As a result, before Hu Siwei even entered the room, he received a call from his former subordinate.

"Brother, you've come to Jinkou?"

"Wow, you're so well-informed!" Hu Siwei laughed. "I was thinking of contacting you again tomorrow."

"You didn't even tell me you were coming to Jinkou so I could have picked you up."

"What's the point of picking me up? I can just take a taxi from the train station and get to the hotel in twenty minutes."

"Are you at the hotel now, Henglong?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Our film crew is staying at this hotel. Did you miss dinner? I know a pretty good barbecue place next to the hotel, shall we go get some skewers?"

"What time is it?" Hu Siwei glanced at the time; it was 11 p.m., which was still alright.

For people in this line of work, staying up late is an essential skill.

"Alright."

-

Hu Siwei's former subordinate was named Xin Pingqing.

Previously, I wasn't a formal employee at Beijing-Taiwan; I worked there as a labor dispatch worker.

His abilities are second to none, no doubt about it.

Therefore, after Hu Siwei decided to come to Linghe, he contacted him immediately.

Xin Pingqing had previously worked primarily on Hu Siwei's projects, serving as Hu Siwei's "project manager" for several projects, and was highly experienced.

Xin Pingqing also served as a production assistant during the filming of "Roommates".

When Xin Pingqing first came to Hu Siwei, Hu promised him that he would promote him and give him the opportunity to take on major responsibilities, such as production and project management.

Xin Pingqing previously worked in Beijing and Taiwan. Due to his status as a dispatched worker, unless he encountered a benefactor or a stroke of luck, he would never have been able to independently manage a film and television project even after retiring.

So, Xin Pingqing followed Hu Siwei.

Hu Siwei values ​​Xin Pingqing quite a bit.

Because Xin Pingqing is indeed a reliable and conscientious worker.

The two met and went to a barbecue restaurant together.

While eating skewers, Xin Pingqing suddenly said, "Brother, Director An wants to join our Linghe, did you know about this?"

“An Jian?” Hu Siwei nodded upon hearing this. “He mentioned it when he talked to us about this drama before.”

Xin Pingqing: "Is there any chance that he'll join our Linghe?"

"Let's see how well this drama is made. If it's well-made, we in Linghe are currently short of directors, so we might sign him. He's a very experienced and senior director," Hu Siwei said.

Xin Pingqing looked hesitant.

"What's wrong? You two don't get along?" Hu Siwei was wondering about it.

Why would Xin Pingqing care about An Jian's affairs?

Xin Pingqing said, "It's not that I don't get along with him, it's just that I received an anonymous letter this morning."

"anonymous letter?"

“Didn’t he direct two TV series before? He was also credited as the screenwriter for those two TV series,” Xin Pingqing said. “The letter said that those two scripts were actually written by other people, and he plagiarized them to make them his own.”

Xin Pingqing took out the letter and placed it in front of Hu Siwei.

Hu Siwei frowned, picked up the letter, and read it from beginning to end.

"There's no evidence, and it doesn't say whose work was plagiarized—"

Xin Pingqing nodded, "Yes, my first reaction was that someone was deliberately trying to smear him. How can you say someone plagiarized a manuscript like that? There must be some reasonable and convincing evidence, right? I didn't want to pay attention to it at first, but when I heard that he might want to join Linghe, I felt that I should talk to you about it."

Hu Siwei: "Have you discussed this situation with An Jian?"

"Talk to An Jian with an anonymous whistleblower letter that has no specific accusation or evidence? Am I being too friendly with him?" Xin Pingqing shook her head. "He might even think I'm threatening him. He's a stubborn person, and after these past few months, he's not easy to deal with."

Hu Siwei: "If someone hypes this up, it won't just affect whether he joins Linghe or not; it will also affect the drama 'The Silent Staircase'."

Scandals can always have a devastating impact on everything and everyone involved; the past can taint the present, and a part can taint the whole.

He added, "If something like this happens again, tell me immediately."

Xin Pingqing nodded, "I originally wanted to investigate it myself first before reporting back to you."

Hu Siwei: "Regardless of whether this is true or not, the fact that the anonymous letter was sent to your room means that someone is trying to cause trouble. We need to take precautions against this as soon as possible, especially to prepare a contingency plan in case someone exposes it online. You know, in this day and age, people like to post anything online."

"Okay, brother, I understand."

Hu Siwei frowned slightly as he looked at the anonymous whistleblower letter in his hand.

-

"Knock knock!" Suddenly someone knocked on the door.

Lu Yanhe was brushing his teeth, getting ready for bed.

He was puzzled when he heard the knocking.

It's so late, who would come looking for him without giving prior notice?

Lu Yanhe walked behind the door and glanced through the peephole.

It was director An Kin.

Lu Yanhe opened the door in surprise.

"Director An, is there something you need so late?"

An Jian's expression was also not very good.

He asked, "Yan He, I'm sorry to bother you so late, but I have something urgent that I must tell you."

Lu Yanhe looked at An Jian with suspicion, "What is it?"

An Jian took a deep breath. "I can't direct 'The Silent Staircase' anymore."

-

Filming for "The Silent Staircase" will officially begin tomorrow.

At this point, An Jian suddenly announced that he could no longer be a director.

"Why? Director An, our series is supposed to start filming tomorrow, and now you're suddenly saying you can't direct anymore? That's a bit—"

Although Lu Yanhe was shocked, he remained calm and looked at An Jian, waiting for An Jian to explain.

Anjian took an envelope out of his pocket.

"This is what I found in my room when I got back tonight."

Lu Yanhe was somewhat surprised as he took the item.

"What's this?"

"You'll see when you see it. I don't know how to explain it," An Jian sighed.

Lu Yanhe had no choice but to take the letter out of the envelope.

It is an A4 sheet of printing paper.

The text above is all printed.

It's a very standard official document format, using Fangzheng Fangsong_GB2312 font, size 3, with 30-point line spacing.

The letter was short, but full of threats:

If you continue to direct "The Silent Staircase," the fact that you tricked your friend out of the script and plagiarized other people's work will be exposed online.

Lu Yanhe was taken aback.

"A deceptive script?"

An Jian sighed, "There used to be a screenwriter I worked with. I actually co-wrote those two dramas with him, but because of some things that happened at the time, in order for the two dramas to be broadcast smoothly, his name was not in the final screenwriter credits. He himself agreed to this. At the time, he said some things and raised some issues of his stance. If his name appeared in the main creative personnel list, neither of the two dramas could be broadcast."

Lu Yanhe looked at An Jian with some doubt and asked, "If he agreed to it himself, how did this situation come about?"

An Jian looked somewhat somber. "Shortly after our second drama aired, he passed away. His son later found out about this from somewhere and insisted that I stole his father's script, which led to his father's death from depression. In fact, his father had signed a statement voluntarily waiving his right to be credited, but his son insisted that the statement was not signed voluntarily by his father. He believed that we had deceived his father and sued us. However, because there was a voluntary waiver agreement that had been notarized, he lost the case."

Lu Yanhe frowned: "If that's the case, then this matter is not true at all. Why would you resign as director after receiving such an anonymous threatening letter?"

"Take another look at that letter."

"Huh?" Lu Yanhe was taken aback and looked down again.

Stealing a friend's script, plagiarizing someone else's work...

At first glance, this may seem to be talking about the same thing, but upon closer inspection...

To cheat and plagiarize.

Friends, others.

The script, the creative result.

If it's the same thing, why use different words to say it twice?

Lu Yanhe looked at An Jian with suspicion.

"Plagiarism?" he asked. "Your script is plagiarized?"

“When we co-wrote the script, this situation did occur in the part he was responsible for.” An Jian lowered his head and sighed. “When we discovered this, the show had already aired, so we couldn’t make any more changes or adjustments. But because of the issue of credits, this matter fell on my shoulders.”

Lu Yanhe was quite surprised to hear this, and at the same time found the matter strange and convoluted.

However, he understood what An Jian meant.

Although we don't know for sure if it's true or not yet.

"Wasn't this matter exposed at the time?" Lu Yanhe asked.

Plagiarism is something that can't usually be hidden.

If An Jian really had a plagiarism scandal, Chen Siqi and the others probably wouldn't have chosen him to direct "The Silent Staircase".

An Jian said, "After we discovered that plagiarism had indeed occurred, we contacted the plagiarized author, explained the situation to him, and reached a compensation agreement."

"If that's the case, who delivered this anonymous letter to your room?" Lu Yanhe asked.

An Jian said, "I don't know, but quite a few people knew about it at the time. Many people in our company knew about it. Maybe someone held a grudge against me and didn't want to see me make a comeback, so they slipped this anonymous letter into my room."

Lu Yanhe nodded. "That's possible."

“This drama has garnered a lot of attention, and I really cherish the opportunity to direct it. I never imagined I would be able to work with you one day,” An Jian said. “But if I continue to direct, and if the person behind this doesn’t let me go, many things will be brought up again. So much time has passed, and many things are still unclear. It’s a complete mess, and it will ultimately have a very bad impact on the project. So, after careful consideration, I have decided to resign as director. I’m very sorry for causing you so much trouble because of this.”

Lu Yanhe remained silent for a long time without saying a word.

He knew that at this point, it was safest for An Jian to step down as director. Although, in the story An Jian had just told, An Jian didn't actually have any real problems, in the film and television industry, instability was the real issue.

Lu Yanhe said, "Director An, if you resign now, there will be no director on set when filming starts tomorrow."

An Jian: "I know, but if I continue to direct, and this person really brings up these things and hypes them up online, the negative impact on the show will be even greater."

Just then, Lu Yanhe's phone rang; it was a message from Hu Siwei.

-

It was almost time to go to sleep when this suddenly happened.

The production team had to hold an emergency meeting.

Chen Siqi, who is now personally in charge of the Jump Up Theater, also participated online.

"Who sent the anonymous letter to Siwei and Director An's room? Can we find out?" Chen Siqi's first reaction was, "Can we figure out what this person's purpose was?"

Xin Pingqing said, "I have already communicated with the hotel and checked the surveillance footage. We can only see one figure, but he covered himself up completely with a mask and hat, so we can't tell who it is."

"Can't Director An recognize him? Since this person knows so much about Director An's past, he must be an old acquaintance of Director An," Chen Siqi said.

An Jian shook his head. "I didn't recognize him. I don't know who he is."

Lu Yanhe glanced at An Jian, then looked away and said to Chen Siqi, "Let's talk about tomorrow's filming first. Tomorrow is the first day of filming. If the director suddenly resigns, even if these things don't get out, the crew will definitely have all sorts of speculations, which will affect the atmosphere on set."

Chen Siqi said, "We really don't know what impact this will have. We can't gamble with a project until it's resolved. Since Director An has also proposed to withdraw from the project, I think what we need to consider now is who to find to save the day."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to Lu Yanhe.

Lu Yanhe: "..."

"Let me state first that I cannot be a director," he said. "My familiarity with this drama in the early stages was entirely from the perspective of an actor. If you ask me to become a director halfway through, the resulting drama will lose its God-like perspective, which will seriously affect the quality of the entire drama."

Hu Siwei asked, "Among the directors who have collaborated with Jump Up Theater, is there anyone who can immediately step in to save the day?"

Chen Siqi: "I just sent them a message and we are currently making an emergency confirmation. I will provide a list for everyone later. But even if we can find a director to fill in right away, he can't just go to the set and direct without knowing anything. At least give him a day to familiarize himself with the situation, right? He might not even be familiar with the script."

Lu Yanhe asked, "Or should we notify everyone now to suspend the operation?"

“Pausing the startup is also an option,” Chen Siqi nodded.

Xin Pingqing said, "But if filming is suspended, Mr. Lu, you will have to fly to Malaysia immediately to join the crew of 'Tropical Rainy Season,' followed by 'Chinese Paladin.' The earliest filming for this drama will resume is October."

Lu Yanhe's schedule is also a difficult issue to coordinate.

“The airing time and pre-roll ads for ‘The Silent Staircase’ are almost finalized. If we miss the airing time, the advertisers will have to pay a penalty,” Xin Pingqing added.

Chen Siqi: "There's another way."

"What method?" Lu Yanhe asked.

"Please continue directing, but without credit," Chen Siqi said. "Use a pseudonym."

The others looked at each other in bewilderment.

-

Seeing that many people are worried, let me clarify that although "Choose the Day to Become Famous" is indeed in its later stages, it still has a considerable amount of time before it ends.

I was just really tired of writing it. In fact, writing a story on a completely different subject gave me new motivation for writing "Choose a Day to Become Famous". You can probably tell from these two chapters.

The main storyline of this book was originally Yan He's background, but there were too many negative comments, so I had to move the career storyline to the beginning. Once it's almost finished, I will post a preview to let everyone know that the background story will be written later. If you don't want to read it, you don't have to.

Also, many people have been asking about "Childhood," and I didn't want to reply because I didn't want to give away any spoilers, but I'll say it anyway: when "Childhood" comes out, it will be around the time this story is about to end, as it's connected to the family background story.

I may not write very well, but I really don't intend to just give you a perfunctory answer.

You have to fill the hole you dug.

Also, I don't think "One Night" had a bad ending. With long novels, unless you give a complete conclusion to everything, there will always be regrets about "many things not being explained." To be honest, the main plot of "One Night" was very clearly structured from beginning to end. As for the lack of side stories, that's true; I'll try to update it with a few side stories in my lifetime.

Finally, as usual, I recommend my old book, *I Became the Scandalous Woman Overnight*. Don't ask me why I keep recommending it; it's because if I don't put it at the end of the article, the number of new subscribers for this novel is only in the double digits. If I do, it can reach triple or even quadruple digits. I painstakingly wrote this long novel of over three million words, and of course, I hope more people can see it. I'm satisfied with this book.

There are some who aren't satisfied, though. Have you seen me make any recommendations? (bows)

(End of this chapter)