Chapter 237 Blame it on Mr. Meng's ability

After taking a day off on the grounds of "being unwell", Ni Ni returned to normal filming with the care of everyone in the crew.

It seems that she is still working hard with everyone in the yellow sand every day.

Only her assistant knows that her sister is often missing after going back at night recently.

The next day, she appeared on the set again with a radiant face.

As for where she went, as a little assistant, I dare not say, nor do I dare to ask.

Being in the northwest, away from the familiar environment and crowd, it is indeed easier for people to let go of their daily constraints.

These days, Meng Bai and Ni Ni have also unlocked many new places and experienced the desert style.

Both of them tacitly did not mention words like "feelings" and "responsibilities".

This is just a short "cooperation", and the deadline is the crew's completion.

Of course, interaction is interaction, and work cannot be abandoned.

Seeing that the filming is about to end, Meng Bai's main task during this period is to check all the payments during the filming with the crew's finances.

"Mr. Meng, please sign this list."

"Why are the number of extras here different from the number in the daily report?"

"The note from the site said that the shooting was overtime, so there was a temporary change in personnel."

"Do you have an invoice for the scene overtime?"

"Here, for you."

"Let me take a look... OK, no problem, the production team and the scene team will each bear half of the cost."

"..."

There are many other cases where the settlement figures and the on-site figures don't match.

Meng Bai also knew that there must be some water in these payment data.

However, this kind of thing is inevitable. Everyone goes through wind and rain every day, and always needs some money. What's

more, if you really want to strictly review them one by one, the labor cost and time will be higher, and it is easy to arouse everyone's emotions.

So as long as it is not too excessive, he will turn a blind eye.

According to the original plan, the shooting period of "The Forbidden City" is about two months, and it will be completed at the end of March.

But in fact, due to various reasons such as transitions and weather, it took nearly 80 days to shoot, and it was not officially completed until mid-April.

A wrap-up banquet was held in the local area, and then the crew disbanded.

Back in Beijing, Meng Bai and Li Muge and other directors began to work on post-production.

At this rate, the show will be broadcast in September.

I asked Dai Ying about the situation of "Old Nine Gates". The show's schedule is earlier than theirs and it will be broadcast in July.

By the time "The Forbidden City" is launched, it will be almost finished.

Moreover, this time the other party played a "trick", adjusting the project from "fantasy and suspense" to "history and suspense", and at the same time deleted a lot of the plots in the original work that were too much.

In this way, the review of this show is much easier. Instead of going for a pure web drama, it chose "simultaneous broadcast on Taiwan and the Internet".

This was something that Arclight and Tencent did not expect. Penguin Pictures hurried to ask if they could meet the requirements for the satellite through post-production adjustments.

For example, in the previous plot of the Kwantung Army Fortress, could some shots with too heavy a horror atmosphere be deleted?

Or in the final ending, could the members of the expedition team who were almost wiped out be "resurrected" again with the reason of "illusion".

Meng Bai's answer was also very direct, no play.

"When we first started the project, we were aiming for a web series. If we want to meet the standards for satellite TV, we either have to cut the plot to bits or wait for reports from 'parents'."

Selling a series to a TV station is not a one-time deal. If the ratings are too bad or for some other reason, it may be cut at any time.

Not only will we not get the final payment, but sometimes we may even have to pay the TV station a "compensation".

Penguin Pictures thought about it and felt that it was indeed not safe, so they finally decided to go the webcast route.

After resolving the "internal conflict", they can focus on post-production.

As for Meng Bai, in addition to the production of "The Ancient City of Jingjue", there is also the development of Arclight Film and Television.

After almost two months of joining the company, Liu Jun has been fully integrated into the Arclight system.

I don't know if the new environment has activated his ambitions. This middle-aged uncle has changed his comfortable style when he was in Leshi.com and has become full of fighting spirit again.

In his opinion, the biggest problem of Arclight Film and Television at present is nothing else, but that the big boss Meng Bai is too capable.

If there is no project, he can immediately come up with a new script, and it will be a hit when it is filmed.

With outstanding results, he will go to those video platforms for cooperation, and channel resources will follow.

In other words, Arclight Film and Television can have its current scale, basically Meng Bai is dragging it forward.

As a startup company, it is naturally a good thing for the founder to have strong capabilities, but it cannot be entirely dependent on him.

Otherwise, what else does the company do.

So what Liu Jun has to do is to make Arclight Film and Television a real helper for Meng Bai, not just a grass-roots team.

The first thing to solve is the problem that the current channel resources are too concentrated and single.

For a long time, Arclight's project channels have basically been a few video websites, and the form is basic film and television cooperation.

In addition, there is no copyright development, commercial cooperation, overseas promotion, etc., which leads to the fact that many IPs have not yet tapped their due value.

However, as a start-up, it is quite difficult to slowly accumulate these resources on its own. The best way is to cooperate with those established companies.

"Cooperation?"

In the office, Meng Bai tapped the table and asked, "How to cooperate?"

"In fact, our Arclight has always been a hot project in the film and television capital market. I have contacted some companies during this period, and each company has different requirements."

Liu Jun introduced that from the perspective of comprehensive strength, there are several more suitable cooperation targets.

"The first one is Perfect Film and Television. They proposed a gambling contract. At a price of 500 million, they acquired 25% of the shares of Arclight Film and Television, and the requirement is that in the next five years, there will be requirements for profitability and profit growth."

500 million to acquire 25% of the shares is equivalent to a valuation of Arclight Film and Television of about 2 billion.

Considering the premium of the gambling, this number is still quite reasonable.

But...

"Forget about the bet." Meng Bai said: "Arc Light is not short of money, there is no need to find a rope to tie yourself up. In addition, I don't plan to raise funds."

Arc Light Film and Television is not short of money, nor does it have plans to go public, so it has no plans to sell shares for the time being.

"In this case, there is no need to look at the middle ones."

Liu Jun made a few strokes on the notebook in front of him and looked at the remaining names on it.

"Huace Film and Television, they can accept strategic cooperation."

Huace Film and Television is a real big boss in the industry. As a listed company, it is known as the "No. 1 Chinese Film and Television Stock".

Liu Jun introduced: "They have been wanting to develop online dramas in the past two years. They have also teamed up with Qiyi TV to do many projects before, but basically there is no splash."

Online dramas are the hottest new track in the film and television market in the past two years. Many old companies want to seize them, but almost none of them have really done it.

At present, the top teams in the industry are basically newly grown.

So these old companies have gradually reached a consensus, that is, not to take action themselves, but to choose "marriage".

As the "Top 1" in the current online drama market, Arc Light is naturally the best target.

For Arclight, Huace Film & TV is also an excellent "business partner".

With many years of experience in the industry, it has abundant resources in various channels and can perfectly solve Arclight's current shortcomings.

"Okay, let's talk to Huace and see what they say."

Meng Bai made the decision.

"But there is no need to rush. You can wait until the contract with Leshi.com ends. With the trump card of the 'Green Ivy Series' in hand, it may be easier to negotiate."

Speaking of which, Leshi.com should be moving soon, right?

(End of this chapter)