Chapter 13: Entering the Short Drama Market

Deng Jiaqiang had never fought such a wealthy battle before. For the first time, he experienced the feeling of having so much money that he didn't know where to spend it. He was so happy he felt like he was flying.

Rubbing his hands together, Deng Jiaqiang chuckled happily, "Then there's no need for planning. Spend as much as you want, however you like. We'll hire the most famous director, find the best locations, and use the most expensive special effects company!"

Meanwhile, Yi Diandian was still anxiously jumping around: [Host, the repayment period starts in eight days. What if the short drama investment loses money?]

Fang Zhuo scoffed: [Why keep money to go to waste? Or are you expecting it to sit in my system balance and lay two golden eggs for me?]

Yi Dian Dian: [...QAQ, host, be careful you don't poison yourself when you lick your lips!]

In modern times, the filming period for a short drama is at most a week. With such advanced technology here, eight days is enough for the drama to go from pre-production to online release.

Their immediate priority is to contact a director who can bring their own full filming crew.

Fang Zhuo called Jiang Yu over: "Based on the entertainment industry's certified rankings, give me a list of all the directors who are currently available."

Having just received her bonus, Jiang Yu was full of energy: "Okay, Mr. Fang, I will send the list to your email before 10 a.m. tomorrow."

Around noon, a low-budget art film from the last century was playing in the dimly lit family theater, and the cabinet under the cinema-grade screen was full of old movie discs.

There aren't many people who collect physical DVDs these days, and Zhang Kaigang happens to be one of them.

He has been famous for nearly thirty years and is undoubtedly a master director standing at the top of the pyramid.

"Honey, someone outside who claims to be a director of Giant Entertainment is looking for you. He just gave me a script."

Giant Entertainment? Zhang Kaigang had heard of that entertainment company before. It seemed to be a newly opened small company, but the boss was incredibly wealthy, and it had recently generated a lot of discussion on StarNet.

He immediately became interested, got up and turned off the movie that was playing, but frowned the moment he saw the title of the script.

The fifteen-year-old Great-Grandmother has arrived! All the juniors of the Immortal Sect, kneel down before me?

He comforted himself, thinking that maybe the name was just a bit vulgar, but the content might still have some merit, and continued reading.

The structure of this script is very different from traditional TV dramas. Each episode has only a short text of a thousand words, but the ending point of each episode is extremely satisfying.

The female protagonist in the script, Ling Che, is a genius female cultivator of the Hehuan Sect. Her cunning and younger junior brother is in love with her but cannot have her, the Yin Shi Demon Lord is madly coveting her, and even the Ruthless Dao Sword Master secretly creates opportunities to meet her. Her charm is off the charts.

After raising a child with the Sword Master, Ling Che encountered an accident in the secret realm and transmigrated into the body of a fifteen-year-old outer sect sweeper with the same name a thousand years later.

The script begins in an extremely frustrating way. After transmigrating, she is subjected to extreme humiliation by other outer disciples, bullied as a piece of trash by her own great-grandson, and slapped repeatedly by the evil villain while being pulled by the hair.

The male villain falsely accused her of stealing his spirit stone and clamped her fingers tightly with a splint.

The ten fingers are connected to the heart, and Lingche was in so much pain that he was drenched in sweat and his lips turned white.

Lingche's son has now become the number one person in the immortal sect, but he is lying unconscious inside the barrier due to serious injuries. She rushed over and used her own heart's blood to heal her son's wounds.

After leaving the barrier, she remained under the tree by the door, secretly sobbing. However, she was discovered by the drunken gatekeeper, and several servants, in a drunken frenzy, kicked her several times. Ling Che weakly coughed up blood and knelt down outside the door.

Zhang Kaigang rubbed his eyes, feeling a bit of a headache from looking at them.

The title promised that all the junior disciples of the immortal sects would kneel down, but the female lead only suffered abuse and beatings in the first ten episodes.

How can even a servant dare to ride roughshod over her and spout nonsense? When will she finally prove her identity and start getting her comeuppance?

He eagerly turned to the next page—on the cold jade bed within the barrier, Lingche's son's eyelids twitched slightly. After being unconscious for a full hundred years, he finally woke up and excitedly called over the servants, asking who had just fed him the heart's blood that was connected to his bloodline. The servants, however, stammered and could not describe it.

Zhang Kaigang was so eager to answer that he wanted to rush the response.

...He wished he could jump into the script, grab the protagonist's ear, and yell, "If you don't go out and see what's going on, your mother is going to be beaten to death by your servant!"

Lingche's son strode down the jade platform, his fingers resting on the doorframe, about to push open the door and see his mother, whom he hadn't seen for a thousand years—

The document abruptly ended there; the other party had only sent the script for the first ten episodes.

"Why is it over already? What happened to the rest of the story?"

Zhang Kaigang's wife also crowded around the personal terminal and anxiously pinched his arm:

"Go out and see the boss of Giant Entertainment right now. You absolutely have to get the rest of the script from me, or I'll be so angry I won't be able to sleep tonight. They're too cunning. How could they get stuck here?"

Instead of going to a dinner party outside, the two met simply in the reception room of Zhang Kaigang's home.

To his surprise, the owner of Giant Entertainment was quite young, and in terms of height and appearance alone, he was no less than today's popular stars.

"Hello Mr. Zhang, I really admire your previous directorial work, so I'll get straight to the point. Our short drama series has two-minute episodes, with a total of ninety episodes. I'd like to ask what your total package quote for you and your team is approximately?"

Zhang Kaigang hesitated for a moment.

He has a dedicated art and photography team, and the current commercial quote for shooting a film is forty-eight million.

Filming takes at least three months, but a short drama with such a simple plot could probably be filmed in less than a week. In terms of length, a budget of around six million would be appropriate.

But the key point is that he has been deeply involved in the film industry and has not made TV series for many years, let alone such a low-brow, shallow short drama.

He couldn't possibly risk his hard-earned reputation for quick money, so he had already decided to refuse the other party.

He shook his head: "Sorry, I think the pacing of this script is great, but..."

Fang Zhuo interrupted his refusal at the right moment: "How about 80 million in total?"

How much? Eighty million?

Zhang Kaigang almost thought he had misheard. Such a simple script that could be filmed in a week, and the other party was offering him 80 million? This wasn't quick money; it was money falling from the sky.

He even began to suspect that the other party was there to launder money in the entertainment industry.

However, Zhang Kaigang believed that if the other party could offer him such a high price, the other aspects of the production team must also be top-notch.

This short drama format is quite novel in the entertainment industry. Although the script is a bit corny, it is incredibly addictive. I think that occasionally taking a break from my old age shouldn't ruin my reputation.

He took back his apology and changed the subject with a smile: "The pacing of this script is excellent, and I'm really looking forward to working with your company. When will we start filming?"

Fang Zhuo was not surprised by Zhang Kaigang's reaction. Before coming, he had already investigated the average salary of these famous directors in the Star Federation.

Perhaps because of the unique and fluid director hierarchy here, even established directors only earn a maximum of 1.8 million per episode for a TV series, and the total cost for a long series with a shooting period of up to half a year is only 60 to 70 million. He was confident that his asking price would definitely satisfy the other party.

Even artists need to eat.

Money is the most irresistible thing in the world. If you are refused, it must be because you didn't give enough.

Fang Zhuo took out the contract he had prepared beforehand: "The filming will officially start tomorrow morning. I will send you the address then."

Upon receiving notification that the contract had been agreed upon, Fang Zhuo immediately rushed to the most expensive of the three film and television planets recommended by Jiang Yu, and flew there to inspect the filming location.

The more than ten film and television bases located on Star 45 have produced hundreds of fantasy-themed works. The planet's surface is shrouded in a thick white mist, with pavilions and towers built within it, as if naturally floating in the clouds.

He maneuvered the spaceship around the entire planet 45, and could see the panoramic view of the whole planet through the spaceship's porthole.

Beyond the pavilions and towers are a waterfall shrouded in mist and verdant mountains, almost exactly like the immortal sects described in novels.

The scenery is indeed fitting, which explains why 45 stars is the common choice for all S+ fantasy dramas.

The real estate agents were already waiting at the shuttle bus stop, enthusiastically introducing the advantages of the area:

"Star 45 has the most advanced filming base in the entire Star Federation, with a total of fifteen large ancient-style buildings."

“We renovate the building’s exterior and details every quarter to ensure that each show can be filmed with a different effect.”

"Your timing is perfect. We've just finished upgrading all the groups for this quarter, and all fifteen bases are currently empty. Let me show you the largest one first."

Fang Zhuo had already surveyed the area from the air on his way here and directly refused the procedure: "It's alright, no need. How much is the weekly rent here?"

His answer surprised the agent. The girl probably thought the deal was off, and after a couple of seconds she replied:

"The daily rental fees vary between different film and television bases. The largest venue costs 190,000 yuan per day, while the smallest base costs 80,000 yuan per day. If you rent for a week or more, you can shoot outdoor scenes such as mountain and lake views for free."

"How about renting the entire 45-star hotel for a week?"

The real estate agent gaped, completely taken aback that a wealthy businessman would rent the entire 45-star complex. After her initial shock, she quickly pulled out the calculator on her personal computer.

"The total is 16.8 million, but I can apply to give you a 5% discount, so you can pay 15.96 million in total."

"If you have any problems during filming, please feel free to contact our staff. We have a security, medical and production crew on duty 24 hours a day."

Fang Zhuo nodded and immediately paid the deposit after signing the contract.

The agent was overjoyed to have landed such a big deal so early in the afternoon. The commission from this deal would be enough for her to live comfortably for a whole month. She covered her mouth and jumped up and down slightly.

Is this how carefree life is for the rich?

That's over ten million, and he spent it without even blinking.

Before seeing the other person off on the spaceship, she asked curiously, "Boss, what kind of drama are you filming? Why do you need such a large filming location? Is it a theatrical film?"

"No, it's a short drama."

She silently pondered the word "short drama" in her mind, and no matter how she listened, she didn't think this format would have higher requirements than movies.

Never mind, once they start filming, she'll definitely go over and watch how the short drama is actually shot.

After covering the two major expenses of filming team and location, the total cost was less than 100 million yuan, leaving plenty of money for platform promotion and post-production special effects.

Upon receiving the three final versions of the costume from the art team, Fang Zhuo didn't immediately choose the most expensive one. Instead, he sent a message to them:

[Are there any props or costumes of even better quality?]

The costume designer, thinking he was nitpicking the design, first sent a panicked emoji, then quickly added:

[Mr. Fang, yes, we can. We can also purchase hand-embroidered costumes, and the sword and fan used by the main character can be replaced with products made by intangible cultural heritage masters. It's just that the price will be a little expensive; just one set of clothes would cost more than 200,000 yuan... Nowadays, movies don't use such good fabrics and craftsmanship.]

Fang Zhuo's reply was brief: [Buy it, no budget limit]

The costume designer quickly sent a cheesy heart emoji: [Thank you, Mr. Fang! You're the most generous client I've ever met!]

At 9:30 a.m. the next day, Giant Entertainment's official account officially announced the cast and crew of the short drama. As expected, the announcement caused a huge uproar and sparked widespread controversy and questioning.

[A short drama? Like an animated series, with each episode lasting ten minutes or so? I've never seen anything like this before... It sounds like it could be made for a budget of ten million.]

[Isn't Giant Entertainment supposed to be financially strong? Why would they create such a terrible, unrealistic project for their star actress?]

[I'm telling you, stop bragging. You're just trying to impress everyone with a little money. I'll sell you all health supplements when I'm old.]

[They probably wouldn't even bother spending a million. That supposedly expensive group livestream room last time was most likely borrowed. This is definitely another one of those cheaply made, low-budget dramas with shoddy special effects.]

[So another makeshift troupe has arrived. Everyone, disperse quickly.]

[Is this another boast? A company that's less than two weeks old is already getting hyped up. It's incredibly unprofessional. All their money is going into marketing.]

I remained neutral when Qiao Chaochao and Goddess Yingying from their company argued before, but now that the boomerang has hit your beloved Sister Tong, you finally feel the pain, right?

[…Wait, did nobody see Zhang Kaigang in the director's list? He hasn't directed a regular TV series in years. How did Giant Entertainment manage to get this legendary figure to come down to earth?]

[It's definitely just a coincidence of names. If it were really Zhang Kaigang, they'd be exaggerating to the heavens. This company is a master of marketing and hype; they can only fool casual passersby like you.]

[Hehe, you guys always call him Brother Fang this and that, why isn't anyone sucking up to him now? Brother Fang's wallet probably isn't much fatter than yours. Try saying he'll do charity work in the entertainment industry again!]

Unsurprisingly, this post went viral again, trending on social media. This time, they didn't even spend money on advertising, yet it remained at the top of the trending list for several hours.

By 9 PM, when the topic's ranking finally started to decline, Giant Entertainment's official account posted its second update.

There was no accompanying text, only a still image of Tong Qinglu from the actual drama.

A note from the author:

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