Chapter 600 People in the Workplace
"Jump Theater mainly produces dramas in these three genres: youth and growth, crime and suspense, and life and workplace."
After the broadcast of "The Intern", on Monday night, Chen Siqi and the director of "The Intern" went live with everyone and talked for half an hour about the behind-the-scenes stories of "The Intern", and then talked about their positioning of the Jumping Theater.
"Because all the plays in Jump Up Theater are adapted from novels published in Jump Up magazine, the themes mainly focus on these types," Chen Siqi said. "Through the three plays, 'The Adventures of a Girl,' 'Vortex,' and 'The Intern,' we have basically shown everyone the positioning and style of Jump Up Theater. Of course, in addition to these three main directions, we will also do some experimental works that may be rarely adapted into film or television."
During their live stream, many people flooded the chat with comments expressing their desire to continue watching the story of "The Intern".
Upon seeing this, director Jiao You of "The Intern" smiled and said, "The story of 'The Intern' has already been filmed. Its original work is a short story. Thank you all for liking it so much. As for the sequel that everyone has been asking about, I will ask the original author after the live broadcast if there are any plans to write a sequel."
The show "The Intern" achieved an average episode rating of 1.32%, breaking the record for Sunday night ratings in nearly three years.
The next day, the show also went viral online, generating a lot of discussion.
The workplace relationships between superiors and subordinates, as well as the conflicts, contradictions, and various stories that occur between them, have resonated with many working people, who have shared their own workplace stories online.
There's a rant thread with tens of thousands of comments, all from working people complaining about their experiences with their bosses.
Yan Liang forwarded the message to a small group of three, @Lu Yanhe: Yanhe, I think "The Intern" can continue to be made.
Lu Yanhe asked: Do you want to do it yourself?
Yan Liang: Yes, I really enjoyed acting in it, and the feedback was great. I talked to Jiao You, and he really wants to continue working on "The Intern." Especially those jokes online, Jiao You and I both felt that a lot of things in them could be made into a script.
Lu Yanhe: If you want to do it, I'll talk to them about it.
Yan Liang: Okay.
Lu Yanhe was not surprised by Yan Liang's desire to continue working on "The Intern".
"The Intern" is probably the most relaxed and enjoyable drama Yan Liang has ever filmed. It's also the drama that generated the most discussion after its release. Moreover, workplace life naturally offers room for further adaptation.
Just as Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi said when they first started the Jump Theater, the dramas broadcast on Jump Theater, although short, may have sequels or even spin-offs if they are well received and have room for further adaptation.
In the film and television industry, sequels are a very important component. However, because domestic films and television dramas are often already 40 or 50 episodes long due to their previous broadcast on television, sequels are generally not developed, except for a very few wildly popular dramas.
On the contrary, with the advent of the online streaming era, sequels have gradually emerged.
First, compared to the era of traditional television, where a large number of episodes were needed to boost ratings, the online streaming era requires a greater variety of content to attract new viewers. Second, for hit dramas, each sequel can boost the viewership of the original, achieving two goals at once. Third, it allows for better cost control.
Television stations rely on overall viewership ratings to attract advertisers, while video platforms operate on a project-based model. If a show doesn't perform well, advertisers will withdraw their funding. There might be a few pre-roll ads at the start, but after a few episodes, they'll all disappear.
Therefore, with the rise of sequels in the era of web dramas, Lu Yanhe and his team's projects have become increasingly serialized and sequels.
Chen Siqi said, "There are actually two directions for the development of a sequel to 'The Intern': one is to develop it separately and turn it into a long series, and the other is to continue to develop it according to the 'Jumping Theater' model and develop another short series of about two hours."
Lu Yanhe said, "If a long drama is adapted, it is not suitable to be broadcast on the Jump Theater. If a short drama is developed, and the second part is still well received, then the third, fourth part... this will actually take away the broadcast opportunities of other dramas on the Jump Theater, right?"
The Jumping Theater airs one show per week. If "The Intern" is broadcast more often, there will be one less opportunity for other shows to air.
If "The Intern" is going this way, what about other shows that are going to be adapted into sequels?
Will it eventually become possible for Jump Up Theater to simply abandon original content and rename itself the Sequel Channel?
"Let's not continue airing the sequel on the Jump Theater," Lu Yanhe suggested.
Chen Siqi nodded.
"That's what I think too."
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“We need to develop a sequel to ‘The Intern’ and make it a long-running series. We hope it will be a great start at the theater.” Lu Qingzhen said to Chen Ziyan with a smile. “Of course, you acted quickly too. You signed Yan Yuling, and she’s already become famous with this show.”
Chen Ziyan: "I feel old."
"What the hell?" Lu Qingzhen looked at Chen Ziyan in disbelief, not understanding why she suddenly made such a remark.
"The younger generation is truly surpassing the older generation; they even managed to make the Jumping Theater a reality." Chen Ziyan shook her head, full of emotion. "I'm telling you this in private; you're not allowed to tell anyone."
“When did our conversation ever get leaked?” Lu Qingzhen rolled her eyes at Chen Ziyan.
“I didn’t really think that Jumping Theater could succeed at first,” Chen Ziyan said. “They just wanted to do it, wanted to try it, so they gave it a shot. Who would have thought that it would actually stabilize the ratings and become a new way to adapt long dramas? Do you know how much production budget Yuehu TV allocated to the sequel to ‘The Intern’? Sixty million yuan, used to produce a sixteen-episode drama.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Qingzhen said, "For a sequel to a series that has already achieved success, 60 million is not a lot."
“I know, I’m just lamenting that I’m getting old. I never even dared to imagine doing something like this before.” Chen Ziyan shook her head. “The first season of ‘The Intern’ only had three episodes, and the total production cost was just over three million. Qingzhen, I suddenly feel that Jumping Theater will change the entire film and television industry.”
Lu Qingzhen smiled.
“But don’t you think this is actually nothing new?” she said. “In a sense, it’s like those pilot episodes abroad. If the feedback from the pilot episode is good, then it gets the green light for formal approval. It’s just that because of the special nature of Jumping Theater, the plays in Jumping Theater are open to all audiences from the very beginning.”
“Yes, so I’m thinking that if there are more examples like ‘The Intern,’ where the show’s success led to the decision to produce a full-length series, many platforms will ask production companies to shoot a short series before officially producing a full-length series, and then release it to the market to see the feedback,” Chen Ziyan said. “Currently, less than 30% of the dramas actually make money for the platform; the rest are all losses. On the one hand, I’m genuinely proud that Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi can make such innovations; on the other hand, I’m worried that they’ve become too prominent and attracted too much attention, which has threatened the interests of too many people.”
Among the many production companies in China, apart from the large ones, many small and medium-sized companies may only start one project a year.
The entire company, from top to bottom, relies on this one project for its livelihood.
They are the backbone of the entertainment industry.
If their production environment faces such a drastic change, many unqualified producers will inevitably be eliminated. For the industry and for the audience, this is certainly a good thing. But what about Lu Yanhe?
Chen Ziyan couldn't help but feel worried.
Lu Qingzhen patted her hand reassuringly and said, "To get things done, don't be afraid of offending people. To be honest, haven't we offended enough people already?"
Chen Ziyan: "In the past, I offended individuals or a small group of people, but this time I may be challenging the entire industry. Even if something is correct, it will be difficult to continue if it affects the interests of most people."
Lu Qingzhen suddenly realized.
"Although it's only the first sign right now, I hope I'm just worrying unnecessarily," Chen Ziyan said.
Lu Qingzhen: "I think you have a point. It's not fair to call it worrying unnecessarily. However, if we look at this from two perspectives, the pilot episode is a good thing for both the platform and the production company, as it can reduce project risks. If Jump Theater can really produce three to four full-length dramas a year, showing everyone the replicability of this model, even if some production companies that are used to the old production model are unwilling, the drama buyers will definitely make them change their model."
“There might be some companies that unite to resist the platform’s demands,” Chen Ziyan said. “After all, if pilot episodes are widely promoted, the production companies have worked hard to assemble a team and shoot two or three episodes. If the show doesn’t do well and the platform doesn’t want it, then all their hard work will be wasted. The production companies bear this risk, since TV dramas are mostly long-form, and these short dramas on Jump Theater are less mainstream. Short dramas are also difficult to make money. Even though the three dramas currently airing on Jump Theater have decent ratings, they haven’t actually made any profit. The initial investment and promotion costs are too high, and the advertising revenue in the first month was very low.”
Lu Qingzhen said, "However, the viewership data of these dramas on Aurora's membership is quite impressive. More than two million and three million members watched the entire series of 'The Adventures of a Young Girl' and 'The Vortex' respectively, while 'The Intern' has already exceeded four million members in viewership shortly after its release."
Chen Ziyan: "If you don't want to say it, fine. But look at these viewership data. If we don't use the Jump Theater to do all the pre-production and promotion, it's basically impossible to make money. We can only hope that this theater will really become popular and drive a good long-tail effect in the viewership data of each show."
Indeed, of the three dramas currently airing, only "The Intern" truly meets the standards of a hit drama.
Although "Vortex," starring Huai Qian, has generated a lot of discussion and attention online, it is still a niche drama in terms of viewership data and has not broken into the mainstream.
The revenue of a TV series mainly comes from the number of active viewers, viewing time, and new user acquisition, as well as advertising revenue.
With only two to three million viewers and only two to three episodes, the per-episode advertising rate is limited—especially considering that advertisers were initially hesitant to offer high prices due to skepticism about the theater model. The fact that Aurora Video's advertising revenue in this theater is now even less than Yuehu TV's speaks volumes.
"According to you, the Jumping Theater hasn't been particularly successful yet, so why are you worried about it being boycotted by the industry?" Lu Qingzhen asked, somewhat puzzled.
“I only said that it’s not profitable right now, but everyone can see the potential of this theater. And the key point isn’t the theater’s profitability itself, but that while this small theater isn’t profitable yet, ‘The Intern’ directly received 60 million yuan in investment to develop a long-running series,” Chen Ziyan said. “This means that the funds that Yuehu TV originally used to produce other projects were used for ‘The Intern.’ How much is Yuehu TV’s annual budget for content production? If there are more projects like ‘The Intern,’ Yuehu TV won’t need to cooperate with other production teams. Putting aside Yuehu TV’s purchase of foreign productions, how much money do their internal production teams get for projects? Do they also require them to do the same thing as the Jumping Theater, first verifying the market potential of the project?”
Lu Qingzhen suddenly realized what was going on.
"Just like back then, there were actually several production centers within Aurora Video that were dissatisfied with Yan He, because Aurora Video diverted a large amount of production funds to produce Yan He's 'Wulin Gaiden' and 'Squid Game'."
"Yes." Chen Ziyan nodded.
Assuming an average production cost of five million per play for Jump Theater, at most fifty plays can be made in a year, meaning the total investment will not exceed 250 million.
250 million is a lot, but for an S+ level drama series, it might only be enough for one episode.
This pie is large, but divided into so many projects, it becomes less eye-catching.
If one-fiftieth can bring in an investment of 60 million, how many more one-fiftieths are there?
Lu Qingzhen had only considered parts of the picture before, without thinking about the whole picture. Only now did she truly understand what Chen Ziyan was worried about.
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However, Chen Ziyan forgot one thing: how many people were watching Lu Yanhe's every move.
When Lu Yanhe makes a new move, everyone's first reaction is not how much of a threat this new move will pose to them, but rather to imitate it.
If you can't succeed easily, then imitate people who succeed frequently.
Following the recruitment of numerous actors within the industry by the program "Directors, Please Advise," Bingyuan Video suddenly announced two moves:
Icefield Video will produce a show similar to an actor competition, in collaboration with four major film and television companies. The show will feature auditions for actors based on specific projects, with the competition taking place on a variety show stage. Actors will have the real opportunity to secure film and television projects, while viewers will get a glimpse into the real behind-the-scenes casting process.
Meanwhile, Bingyuan Video will launch an "Original Short Drama Theater," bringing together four senior directors in the industry to mentor newcomers and co-direct twelve high-quality short drama projects.
...
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that both of Bingyuan Video's projects are copying Lu Yanhe's "The Birth of an Actor" and "Jump Up Theater".
Although they all made different innovations, they are essentially the same thing.
While many marketing accounts were discussing this, Bingyuan Video did not deny that both of their actions were inspired by it.
"Yan He's 'The Birth of an Actor' and 'Jump Up Theater' have had a very positive impact on our industry, achieving a win-win situation for both the projects and the industry. As a leading video platform, why shouldn't Bingyuan Video learn from them?"
Icefield Video openly admitted that people's attitudes toward these two projects have actually improved somewhat.
On the contrary, Lighthouse Video's "Director, Please Advise," which stubbornly refuses to admit that it imitated "The Birth of an Actor," is still criticized by many people.
Shortly thereafter, Aurora Video made another internal announcement.
Aurora Video will adjust the cooperation model of its production centers and production studios, and will further optimize the investment and revenue sharing model for projects.
In short, it means that Aurora Video will change its original "fixed-price purchase" model to a "base purchase price + revenue sharing based on playback performance" model.
This move directly triggered a boycott from a large number of production companies in the industry. However, Aurora Video's attitude was very firm. For non-priority projects, they were clearly unwilling to take on the risks for those production companies and engage in a one-off deal like in the traditional procurement model.
Lu Yanhe even received several phone calls inquiring about the specific details of his cooperation with Aurora Video.
However, the change to the Northern Lights will not have a significant impact on the Lu Yan River and Ling River projects.
Because his collaboration with Aurora Borealis wasn't a traditional binary model of producer and purchaser. From the very beginning, Aurora Borealis was both an investor and producer for Lu Yanhe's projects. Lu Yanhe only participated in the production of the series through screenwriting and scriptwriting, retaining the copyright of the IP itself. Strictly speaking, Lu Yanhe's Linghe Company wasn't even a production company; Aurora Borealis itself was the production company.
Conversely, Linghe's current collaboration with Aurora Video on "Roommates" is a typical example of a dual production-acquisition model.
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Hu Siwei frowned; he had been in this state for the past few days.
Bai Jingnian knocked on the door and entered his office.
"What's wrong with you? Your secretary said you've been looking gloomy these past few days."
Hu Siwei: "What else could it be? Of course, it's about the 'Roommates' project. Now that Aurora Studios has done this, we don't even know if we should cooperate with them on 'Roommates' anymore."
"What's the starting price for the Northern Lights?" Bai Jingnian asked.
Hu Siwei: "300,000 per episode."
Bai Jingnian showed a slightly surprised expression. At this moment, he understood why Hu Siwei was so worried.
The production cost of "Roommates" was strictly controlled at the time, with a cost of about one million per episode, in order to reduce risk.
With the current reforms by Northern Lights, "Roommates" still faces significant risks.
Bai Jingnian asked, "What are the revenue-sharing terms that Northern Lights offered you?"
"The revenue sharing terms are decent, they're very generous, and they have a very complex calculation system," Hu Siwei said. "However, to break even, 'Roommates' would need at least 1.5 million active viewers on Aurora Video."
Bai Jingnian thought for a moment and said, "This requirement doesn't seem too high, does it?"
“It’s not high, but since none of our stars are in this show, there are still risks,” Hu Siwei said. “I’m hesitating whether to cooperate with Aurora Video and broadcast ‘Roommates’ according to their new model, or to contact Lighthouse Video and Icefield Video to see if we should sell ‘Roommates’ to them.”
Bai Jingnian: "Do you still want to play it safe?"
"This is my first project in Linghe, and it's also the project I'm in charge of. If it really loses money, I'll really be ashamed."
Hu Siwei not only wanted to express his gratitude to Linghe for recognizing his talent, but also wanted to prove to the industry that he could still create good projects, or even better ones, after leaving Beijing and Taiwan.
The pressure is mounting here.
Bai Jingnian understood Hu Siwei's thoughts.
However, Bai Jingnian couldn't help Hu Siwei with anything in this matter.
Bai Jingnian asked, "Have you discussed this with Chen Ziyan and Lu Yanhe?"
Hu Siwei shook his head.
"Not yet. It's because they have a long-term cooperative relationship with Aurora Studios. If I really don't want to sell 'Roommates' to Aurora Studios in the end, I'll have to communicate with them again."
Bai Jingnian: "I think you should go and listen to their opinions now."
"Now?"
“Hmm.” Bai Jingnian nodded. “Regarding the risks, don’t make decisions on your own and then bear the consequences alone. When we were filming this movie, Aurora Video didn’t operate this way. Now that the approach has changed, the project’s prospects are more risky, and they need to know that. In case—in case 'Roommates' doesn’t do well in the end, that would be understandable.”
Hu Siwei remained silent.
Seeing his expression, Bai Jingnian knew what he was thinking.
Bai Jingnian knew Hu Siwei's temperament and thoughts very well. He was a cautious and prudent old friend.
He is cautious and has a strong sense of responsibility. However, this is also reflected in his stubbornness and strong sense of pride.
This is both Hu Siwei's strength and his weakness.
Because "Roommates" was a project he started from scratch, he wanted to deliver a satisfactory result. Before that, he didn't want to have to ask Chen Ziyan and Lu Yanhe for any problems—Hu Siwei would think that if he did, the result wouldn't be perfect.
Bai Jingnian: "Don't take things too seriously. As an old friend, let me be serious. If you keep taking things this seriously, you won't even be able to handle a small project like 'Roommates' with ease. How will you keep up with the other two? Don't be a lone wolf. The style you developed in Beijing and Taiwan—handling everything yourself and only showing results to your superiors—may not be suitable for Linghe. Chen Ziyan and Lu Yanhe may not like it either."
Bai Jingnian's words were like a wake-up call.
Hu Siwei woke up.
When did he develop this habit?
When did it start that when you encounter problems and troubles, it's useless to go to your leader, no one will help you solve them, and you can only weigh the pros and cons, make a choice, and then come up with a result to submit to your leader's desk?
(End of this chapter)
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