Chapter 939 Lu Yanhe's Reputation

“By the way, Aurora Video has decided to ramp up its international promotion starting next year,” Chen Ziyan suddenly said. “I reckon they’ll contact you soon through personal connections, wanting to start a new collaboration with you.”

"The international version of Aurora Borealis?" Lu Yanhe asked, somewhat surprised. "Is it like making streaming media like Maxine and HP?"

"They're not doing it; they've already done it. However, the previous international version mainly had some users in Asia, which was barely enough to be considered successful. I think they've seen the overseas market for Chinese dramas and want to expand into that market."

"At this time, it's probably impossible to expand the market without burning through a lot of money, right?" Lu Yanhe said.

The streaming market is only so big, and it's currently basically monopolized by a few American companies.

Maxine and HP are the two giants, and behind these two giants are several other second-tier media outlets backed by powerful financial groups.

They're all from the US.

Countries like South Korea, Japan, France, and Germany also have their own streaming platforms, but they lose their competitiveness once they leave their domestic markets.

Because burning money doesn't work, or rather, it's ineffective. Aside from Japanese animation and Korean dramas, neither has achieved stable cultural influence. Without the support of domestic content, they have to buy content from abroad. Even with domestic content, the domestic market isn't large enough to support multiple uses of the same content.

Both Maxine and HP burned through billions of dollars annually in their early stages.

Chen Ziyan said, "Aurora Video doesn't intend to seize the market or compete with Maxine. It positions itself as a small but high-quality content platform. I talked to Lin Desheng once, and his thinking is very clear. On the one hand, when purchasing overseas content, they will only purchase content that can pass censorship and be broadcast in China. On the other hand, Aurora Video's domestic acquisitions and productions will be more inclined to meet the broadcast standards of overseas streaming media. To put it bluntly, they want to use Aurora Video's current investment to enter the overseas market through adaptation and production strategies, acquisition standards, etc. For example, for Aurora Video's self-produced dramas, the big-budget, high-quality dramas, they will tend to use actors with a certain degree of fame and influence overseas. They take the overseas market into consideration from the preparation stage."

Lu Yanhe understood.

“So, for someone like you, they need to cooperate even more,” Chen Ziyan said. “They hope to open a Lu Yanhe Theater on Aurora Video, similar to the Jump Theater. Any series you sponsor can enter this theater, from the producer and supervisor to the screenwriter and lead actor, etc. Of course, this requires your consent. To put it bluntly, it’s about using your name to endorse this theater. Of course, Lin Desheng is very generous. He knows what you care about. You can enjoy 50% of all the revenue from this theater, including advertising and commercial income.”

Lu Yanhe was extremely surprised.

"Did they get their inspiration from the film industry trading section of the Hexi Film Festival? Isn't it a bit of an overreach to directly create the Lu Yanhe Theater?"

Chen Ziyan smiled.

"It's no exaggeration. After all, collaborating with them on film and television projects means giving them exclusive global streaming rights. Judging from the offers Maxine and HP are making for your film and television projects, it's a huge pie. However, collaborating with Aurora doesn't mean that all your future projects will be given to them. The decision is still in your hands. You can bring some experimental projects to this theater for collaboration."

Lu Yanhe pondered for a moment.

"I need to think about it. Although I haven't figured it out very well yet, I feel that if this matter is planned properly, it might be able to allow Linghe to enter a new stage."

Lu Yanhe Theater?

Why can't we build the Linghe Theater?

Using his name to endorse this theater? Using his name?

Let's forget about it.

However, he can provide stable content for the theater as a producer or executive producer.

He fully accepts this, and he is willing to do it.

-

"Linghe Theater?" When Lin Desheng actually contacted Lu Yanhe, the two sat down, and Lu Yanhe told Lin Desheng about his idea.

"Aurora Borealis can say in its promotion and introduction that I am specifically in charge of this theater and that I decide on every production that enters this theater. However, I really don't want to have my name directly attached to a theater. It's too strange and too high-profile, although I understand why Aurora Borealis wants to do so."

Lin Desheng said, "Overseas, your name is the most crucial brand."

Lu Yanhe nodded: "If I don't do it well, it will ruin my reputation. If I do it well, people will still think I'm too high-profile. Before this, no one has ever done anything like directly opening a sponsored theater on a streaming media platform."

He added, "Moreover, all the works that are to be included in this theater are ones I've been involved in. In a way, it's an endorsement of the work by my influence, isn't it? There's no need to overemphasize the name Lu Yanhe."

In addition, Lu Yanhe also suggested that the copyright of these works should belong to Linghe himself.

All works will be produced by Linghe.

The Northern Lights Theater serves only as a broadcasting platform, acquiring exclusive global broadcasting rights for these works for a certain period.

Lin Desheng had anticipated this.

Many people in this industry know how much Lu Yanhe values ​​copyright. He hasn't sold the copyright of his scripts or projects controlled by Linghe to others for a long time.

Even the Men in Black series and The Notebook, which he collaborated on with Soren, have film rights held by Linghe.

Lin Desheng was more concerned with another issue.

He asked, "How much content can Linghe provide in a year?"

Lin Desheng knew that Lu Yanhe's output was very high, but no matter how high Lu Yanhe's output was, he certainly couldn't support a theater by himself.

Lu Yanhe gave a surprising answer to Lin Desheng.

“We will produce at least 12 films a year, one per month,” he said. “I will be involved in the preparation and production of each film, and I will decide on the main creative team. Aurora will not need to pay high upfront purchase fees. I am willing to cooperate with Aurora on a base purchase price plus revenue sharing or performance-based bonuses. Of the 12 films produced each year, at least one will be written by me. Of course, if it is a movie, we will first ensure a theatrical release window. Aurora will only act as a streaming platform.”

Lin Desheng nodded.

The Northern Lights video needs Lu Yanhe and this theater to open up overseas markets.

The cooperation model proposed by Lu Yanhe can not only provide the theater with a stable supply of content, facilitating the long-term promotion of Northern Lights, but also significantly reduce the financial pressure on Northern Lights.

If 12 films were to be produced using the traditional pre-purchase model, it would pose a significant challenge to Northern Light Venture Capital's cash flow.

It's important to understand that in order to reach this cooperation with Lu Yanhe, in addition to these normal purchases and payments, 50% of the revenue that Northern Lights receives from this theater must be paid to Lu Yanhe personally. To some extent, Northern Lights' revenue from this theater will be far lower than the normal market situation.

Of course, its value to the overseas strategy of Aurora Video is many times greater.

In reality, Aurora Borealis never intended to make money from this theater; it simply wanted to acquire it by offering discounts to help Aurora Borealis expand into overseas markets.

-

For Lu Yanhe, the biggest advantage of opening a "Linghe Theater" on Aurora Video is that it allows him to launch projects on a large scale.

Currently, Linghe's film and television projects are basically following the traditional model.

Production-sales-broadcasting.

Because of this model, although Linghe's projects are not hard to sell, it still needs to maintain cash flow and control the development cycle and payment collection points of each project. Under various constraints, Linghe could have further expanded its production capacity, but it had to be more cautious.

The advantage of opening this theater now is that, optimistically, its projects can adopt the "pre-scheduled release" model similar to Hollywood's.

In short, there are at least 12 productions a year. Project A is scheduled to air on October 10th. Around this time, the amount of money needed at each stage and the amount of return on investment at each stage are clearly defined. Of course, there will definitely be many unpredictable and uncontrollable accidents, but it is still better than a production being filmed, bought by a platform a year ago, and still not knowing when it will finally air, with subsequent returns indefinitely delayed.

Planned.

For a film and television production company, the more solid these three words are, the more effectively the company's money can be spent, and the higher the utilization rate of funds can be.

Unfortunately, it's not that companies don't want to be strategic, but rather that the market environment makes it impossible for them to be strategic.

-

Lu Yanhe quickly compiled the first batch of film lists.

He created the film list based on Linghe's subsequent filming plans and some of his own project ideas.

Of the 12 productions, 4 are movies and 8 are TV series. Only one is a long series with more than 16 episodes, while the rest are high-quality short series with no more than 10 episodes.

Northern Lights doesn't need to worry about short dramas not making money or their risks being too high—although short dramas can indeed easily go unprofitable these days. Lu Yanhe has already said that for the film and television projects in this theater, Northern Lights only needs to pay the basic acquisition fee, and will mainly rely on subsequent dividends and profit sharing.

The four films are "Corpse 3", "Crimson", and "Teenage Maturity Diary", which Linghe is already preparing, and "The Fault in Our Stars", which Lu Yanhe is currently working on.

Of the eight series, only one is confirmed: a four-episode short series that Ling He is currently preparing, a TV adaptation of the film "The Sea, My Pfft." Lu Yanhe himself plans to write the legendary American TV series "Prison Break" for this theater. Chen Yin will be responsible for finding suitable projects for the remaining series.

"How about launching this theater next June?" Lu Yanhe discussed with Chen Yin. "Or is there not enough time, or is it too rushed? Should we postpone the launch?"

Chen Yin said, "Currently, the company has already sold the broadcasting rights to video platforms for projects that can be started in a short period of time without spending too much time on post-production. It is quite difficult to start from scratch."

Lu Yanhe nodded: "Then let's postpone it for another six months. There's no need to rush. Let's start from the year after next."

Chen Yin nodded.

"We collaborated with HP and Midoriya for 'The Corpse 2,' but won't we continue to collaborate with HP for 'The Corpse 3'?"

“This is indeed inappropriate, as it will significantly impact our future project evaluations within their organization,” Lu Yanhe said. “Objectively speaking, it’s a bit like doing the work for someone else. Let’s just take this project and not include it in the theater.”

Chen Yin nodded.

"I will go back to the company as soon as possible to select some suitable scripts and make shooting arrangements," he said. "With so many projects suddenly starting, our own contracted team is definitely not enough, and we will need to hire people from outside."

“Okay, once the scripts are selected, send them to me first. I will be involved in this theater project from the very beginning, starting with the script,” Lu Yanhe said. “After all, my name will be included as the producer, supervisor, and publicity coordinator.”

"Okay." Chen Yin nodded.

-

Linghe is making a big move, and this news can't be kept from anyone.

In particular, the press conference for Linghe will be held at the end of August and the beginning of September each year.

Linghe holds this press conference every year to announce updates on some projects.

This year, Linghe is also preparing to announce its collaboration with the Northern Lights at this press conference.

To date, Linghe has over 100 projects in the formal preparation and production stage, which is comparable to those of top-tier companies.

Fortunately, Linghe has been cultivating its own screenwriters and directors over the years. Now, suddenly, it's time to do 12 projects. Without this accumulation, it would be really difficult to gather so many people from outside.

After all, they have to launch 12 projects within a year.

This press conference took place exactly five days before the concert.

Lu Yanhe attended.

When the "Linghe Theater" and its 12 productions per year were announced, the audience gasped and gasped in surprise.

This amount... is exaggerated to an astonishing degree.

Lu Yanhe said, "This is a very challenging attempt. Of course, although it is currently said that there will be 12 dramas a year, it is very likely that we will cancel them. 12 is just a goal, not a KPI that must be achieved. I will participate in the production of these dramas to different degrees as a producer, supervisor or screenwriter. If the quality is not up to standard or the filming is not up to standard, it will not be broadcast just for the sake of broadcasting."

Someone immediately asked, "But, it seems inevitable that the quality cannot be guaranteed if so many productions are suddenly made in such a short period of time?"

“Really?” Lu Yanhe shook his head. “Back when Friends was in its first season, from writing the script to filming and airing, it only took a few months. What I want to make is clear: I hope this is a long-term theater brand, not an experiment that ends in just one or two years. Just like Jump Theater, each theater has its own positioning. At least the 12 shows in the first year are not the kind of shows that are very difficult to film or require a long post-production process, such as sitcoms or auteur films like The Sea, Pah! We will not lower our production standards. We will only select projects that can be completed within a normal working cycle as the first batch of projects. Projects like Rouge or Chinese Paladin, which are obviously impossible to make in one or two years, will not appear on the list.”

"Would you participate in one or two of these 12 films/TV series?"

“If a suitable opportunity arises, of course I will,” Lu Yanhe said. “However, the ‘Linghe Theater’ has a very clear positioning: Chinese-language films and television dramas that can evoke emotional resonance and shared viewing experiences worldwide. The emphasis is on storytelling and character development over artistic merit. Rather than whether I participate, I think it’s more important to focus on whether this theater can discover and cultivate a group of creative talents with internationally shared aesthetic sensibilities. I hope to achieve a breakthrough in this area.”

"So, is this theater going to create shows like the popular American, Korean, and British dramas on the market?"

"Why—can't it be a TV series that's as popular as those American, Korean, and British dramas on the market, while also possessing its own unique characteristics and style?" Lu Yanhe smiled slightly. "Like the TV series 'Rouge,' although it wasn't produced by Linghe, it received high praise from many international media outlets for its excellent production and consistent style that reflects Chinese historical and cultural aesthetics. Is it like those popular American and British dramas on the market?"

"The TV series 'Rouge' wasn't very popular overseas, was it?"

"Whether something becomes a hit or not depends on everything: distribution channels, publicity scale, subject matter positioning, timing, location, and people." Lu Yanhe said, "I think you understand what I'm talking about. I also hope that when I or others want to do something challenging, something that may fail but is beneficial to the entire industry, we can encourage and praise them. This will give us more confidence and courage."

"After all, 12 movies in one year sounds like an exaggeration. Sorry, I didn't mean to question it."

“I understand, so I just said I hope to receive your encouragement and praise,” Lu Yanhe said with a smile. “Twelve dramas in a year does sound a bit exaggerated, but Linghe now has the production capabilities to achieve this. We are a company that devotes all its resources and energy to production. We have eight production teams and more than 20 screenwriters. At the same time, we have been training technical personnel in various departments for many years. In the film and television projects I participate in, Linghe's technical personnel have been learning and refining their skills in various departments. We also maintain good production relationships with many directors, producers, and screenwriters outside the company. We have a solid industry reputation and ample funding. So, under these circumstances, producing twelve dramas in a year is very difficult, but not a pipe dream. The goal is big, but we have the foundation to achieve it. Most importantly, I have the final say on these twelve dramas. If they are substandard, fail to meet standards, or become mainstream flops, I would rather shelve them and lose money than let them tarnish my reputation.”

(End of this chapter)