Chapter 82

In March after the Lunar New Year, the crew of "Code Name: Dodder Flower" began filming.

As promised, Xu Ying put Lin Zhongxu into the group and had him work as an assistant to Liu Mingchun.

Liu Mingchun was not very happy. He had always hated nepotism, and all the people he selected for his production team were people he admired and who were capable.

"You've misunderstood. He's not here to be an actor; he's here to be an assistant director."

So he wanted me to give him some pointers.

Liu Mingchun's expression softened slightly, but he was still not happy: "I am very strict when it comes to directing. If you hand him over to me, you can't come looking for trouble with me later if you suffer any grievances."

Prevention is better than cure.

He won't treat him differently just because he has connections.

"Of course not, Director, don't worry."

Lin Zhongxu successfully stayed on in the production team.

Although he stayed, he could sense that the crew wasn't very welcoming of him.

Liu Mingchun has his own exclusive directing team. This group of people have collaborated countless times and are very familiar with each other. They can understand each other with just a glance. When Lin Zhongxu is with them, he always has a subtle feeling that he is being ostracized.

However, he didn't take these things to heart.

He joined the crew with a mission: to learn from Director Liu. He believed that if he learned well, he could work with Sister Xiaoying in the future. This thought filled him with enthusiasm.

"Is he stupid?" a crew member muttered to himself.

Isn't Lin Zhongxu a person with connections? Why is he acting like a hardworking ox when the props team asks him to do work?

"They probably genuinely want to come and learn something."

"Who cares, let's get to work!"

Liu Mingchun saw everything.

Anyone who spends enough time with someone will eventually reveal their true nature. He had figured out whether Lin Zhongxu was there to gain experience or to genuinely learn.

This kid is quiet, but he is down-to-earth and hardworking. No matter how you ask him to do something, he won't get angry. In addition, he is indeed talented in directing and can grasp things very quickly. Now Liu Mingchun is genuinely willing to teach him.

"Lin Zhongxu, come here. What are you doing? Come over here and watch the monitor!"

He shouted and brought Lin Zhongxu back.

Upon hearing this, Lin Zhongxu put down the props he was holding, nodded apologetically to the staff, and quickly ran to the director's side.

"The screenwriter sent you here to learn directing. What can you learn by moving props all day? From now on, just sit obediently next to the monitor..."

"knew."

*

After the post-production of "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" was completed, Zhou Xingyun and Xu Ying made an appointment to go see the show together. Also going with them were the heads of the film and television purchasing departments of four companies: Cool Cat, Kaishan, Brown Bear, and Xilaiduo.

Everyone saw how popular "Empress Wu Zetian" was during the summer before last. Although they had all made negative comments about each other behind the scenes, there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.

This time, Zhou Xingyun and Xu Ying teamed up again to film "Legend of the Qing Dynasty". The families immediately forgot their past grievances and contacted each other to express their desire to watch the film.

Xu Ying and Zhou Xingyun accepted all comers.

They even maliciously arranged for everyone to watch the show together, hoping to create a competitive atmosphere and then artificially inflate the prices afterward, since they never thought they had too much money.

Among the group, the Cool Cat manager gave the Mountain Opening manager a forced smile and said, "You've arrived?"

The two of them had spoken on the phone just a few days ago, and both of them righteously expressed their disapproval of "Legend of the Qing Dynasty". It's really strange that they met at a screening of "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" so soon!

"Hehe, you're here too."

The manager greeted him with a smile, but inwardly cursed the other party for being treacherous.

The relationship between the managers of Xilaiduo and Brown Bear was much more amicable. Wang Zhixie looked at Jiang Manni and said, "President Jiang, please show some leniency and give other companies a chance as well."

"You're too kind. Don't call me Mr. Jiang, just call me Xiao Jiang."

Jiang Manni is young and is considered a junior in front of others.

"No, no," Wang Zhixie quickly waved his hand. He was just a junior manager, while this was the daughter of the chairman of Xilaiduo. How could he possibly be impolite to her?

"Please come in, everyone."

Xu Ying and Zhou Xingyun led the four of them to the screening room.

As everyone took their seats, Xu Ying raised her hand, and the staff behind her immediately turned on the screen, and the opening theme song of "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" began to play in the room.

The manager, who was still talking, gradually fell silent and focused his attention on the big screen.

As the opening theme of "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" ended on the screen, the majestic palace walls with red bricks and green tiles appeared on the screen, followed by a group of palace maids dressed in pink walking in a row.

The camera slowly focuses on one person, who is the female lead, Ma Lu.

"It's so beautiful," Jiang Manni said, leaning back in her chair and staring intently at the large screen.

Because she had worked with Xu Ying and others, she had been paying attention to Xu Ying's works, and she even took the time to read the original novel of "Legend of the Qing Dynasty".

It's really good.

If possible, she hoped to secure the exclusive broadcasting rights for "Legend of the Qing Dynasty," but she glanced at the three people beside her and realized that this trip was unlikely to go smoothly.

......

Only five episodes of "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" have been released to the public.

Each episode is fifty minutes long, and the total runtime is almost four hours. Everyone stood up to stretch their limbs and then began to think about how to quote a price.

Although I've only watched five episodes, experienced viewers can already tell the quality of this show from those five episodes alone.

Xu Ying and Zhou Xingyun went to the restroom together, leaving the others some private space to think things over. When they returned, they took the four of them to a small meeting room next door.

"So, after watching the first five episodes, do you still have the intention to buy more?"

“What are you saying? We definitely want to buy it, but the core of this drama seems to be completely different from ‘Empress Wu Zetian’,” the CoolCat manager was the first to raise a question.

The manager of Kaishan shared the same question as him.

Both men were middle-aged men with potbellies, and they had no prior knowledge of "Legend of the Qing Dynasty," a novel primarily for female readers.

They only learned about the drama online before coming here to discuss copyright matters, but they only knew that it was a drama about a group of women, and that the scenes all took place in the small area of ​​the imperial harem.

Are... are the audience really interested in this?

"They are indeed different. 'Wu Zetian' is the coming-of-age story of an empress, while this drama is the coming-of-age story of a favored concubine..."

“A favored concubine can also seize the throne. If you let her kill the emperor later on, wouldn’t that be even more interesting?”

Xu Ying blinked. This supervisor was even more imaginative than she was. Killing Emperor Kangxi and seizing the throne in the Qing Dynasty? That was just wishful thinking.

"Haha, then it'll become 'Empress Wu Zetian'! If you're going to make a film, make something different. It's so boring to always follow the same formula," Zhou Xingyun said, trying to smooth things over.

The manager of CoolCat said, "In that case, the price we at CoolCat can offer is not high. We can only offer 500,000 per episode."

"I'll offer 600,000 per episode," the manager of Kaishan retorted, not to be outdone.

Wang Zhixie of Brown Bear also made an offer: "I'll offer 650,000 per episode."

Jiang Manni, who had been silent the whole time, breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

When will these old fogies understand that buying a show is a gamble on whether the audience will like it, not whether they like it themselves? It's ridiculous that the manager of Coolcat said this show has no future.

She had initially worried about these three competing with her, but now it seemed they were just three self-important bald old men who posed no threat whatsoever.

"I'll offer one million."

As soon as Jiang Manni announced her price, the other three all looked over.

This young lady doesn't play by the rules! Prices have to be negotiated slowly. You're making things difficult for us in the same industry by offering such a high price all at once!

The manager of CoolCat gritted his teeth and raised the price: "One million one hundred thousand."

After a moment's hesitation, Kai Shan finally said, "One million two hundred thousand, that's the most we can offer!"

It's worth noting that "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" has a total of 76 episodes. He offered 1.2 million per episode, which adds up to more than 90 million. If it went any higher, it would have exceeded 100 million.

How could they possibly spend 100 million yuan on this drama?!

"One million two hundred and fifty thousand." Wang Zhixie of Brown Bear Entertainment actually thought highly of the drama. He didn't say anything when his colleague belittled him earlier, just to make it easier to negotiate the price.

Who knew that one of the four would turn out to be a traitor? This Jiang Manni was a hothead who immediately raised the price to over a hundred, leaving the others with no way to bid.

1.25 million was the maximum amount he could decide; any larger would require a high-level meeting at the company to make the decision.

"I'll offer 1.3 million."

Jiang Manni wasn't stupid. Seeing that the other three had no room to bid, she didn't blindly keep reporting to her superiors.

“How about this, Mr. Jiang, if you offer us 1.5 million per episode, I’ll sell you the rights to this show immediately,” Xu Ying suddenly said.

The others stared wide-eyed, never having seen a bidder raise the price after the bidding process was complete.

"I'm sure your company isn't short of a few hundred thousand, but it's much more worthwhile for us to use the title of breaking 100 million for publicity. Xilaiduo Entertainment spent over 100 million to buy the exclusive rights to 'Legend of the Qing Dynasty,' wouldn't that sound great!"

That hits the nail on the head.

With a little extra money, they could promote the company and reverse the stagnant image that Xilaiduo had always given the public. It was a win-win situation, and Jiang Manni was honestly tempted. It was time to let the public see Xilaiduo's financial strength and capabilities.

"Okay," Jiang Manni slammed her hand on the table, "It's settled then, 1.5 million it is!"

"Young Master Jiang is indeed a straightforward person!"

Zhou Xingyun clapped wildly, Xu Ying reached out and shook hands tightly with Jiang Manni, while the other three old men in the conference room looked at each other, wondering why things had suddenly turned out this way.

The three of them walked out of the meeting room, and after walking a distance, they looked at each other tacitly and started cursing Jiang Manni together.

"This little brat doesn't understand any of the industry rules at all!"

"Sigh, she asked for a million right off the bat. How are we supposed to quote a price? What if it gets out that we gave 'Legend of the Qing Dynasty' a million but gave other dramas only a few hundred thousand? Wouldn't that offend people?"

Wang Zhixie shook his head and didn't say anything.

If possible, he would still like to try to get the role, but he knew what kind of person his company's boss was.

The other party values ​​reputation highly. He is willing to pay a high price for a TV series with famous directors and actors. He is also barely willing to pay for one of them. But if there is neither, then sorry, no matter how good the quality is, he will not think it is worth it.

What can anyone do about this?!

"I'm leaving now," he said, not in the mood to chat with the two of them. He quickly returned to the company to report back, otherwise he would inevitably receive another scolding.