Chapter 599 Workplace Story
“Huaiqian quickly accepted ‘Night Visit to Master Cheng’.” Chen Siqi put a piece of lobster meat on Lu Yanhe’s plate. “We originally thought he would hesitate because this play is quite literary, with a lot of dialogue and not much plot conflict. It’s more of an experimental play in the Jump Theatre, so the cost was kept lower. His salary was basically not much higher than that of ‘Vortex’. We thought he would refuse.”
Lu Yanhe knew the story of "Night Visit to Master Cheng," a short story written by traditional literature writer Ma Chao for "Jump Up." It tells the story of a young writer who, in order to gather material for his next novel, contacted a once-famous Peking Opera actress. However, he happened to run into the actress's former apprentice who was also visiting him. The two had a heated argument over the adaptation of a play, which brought up old grudges, and the story ended badly.
The role that Huaiqian was cast to play in this drama is that of the famous opera singer's apprentice.
In this type of play, the entire content revolves around the interaction between the two characters. The actors' performances are extremely important and showcase their skill.
Its subject matter makes it unlikely to become popular or receive enthusiastic audience reception, given its overly literary style.
However, Chen Siqi and her team's design for the jumping theater also reserved a portion for this type of play.
They all believe that although the threshold is a bit high, the content of the stories is actually very good, and at least two or three of them can be made every year.
“Maybe one of them will become a hit and the audience will like it,” Chen Siqi said. “No one can say for sure. When we made ‘China in Classics,’ who would have thought that such a cultural program could have a large number of loyal viewers?”
Lu Yanhe nodded.
“That’s good,” he said.
Chen Siqi: "Now we'll see how 'The Intern' performs next week. If the ratings can remain stable above 0.6%, Yuehu TV and Aurora Video will have enough leverage to ask for a price increase during the investment negotiations the week after next. This way, we can increase the production budget for each of our subsequent dramas, instead of having to stretch every penny like we do now."
"Is Yan Liang the lead actor in 'The Intern'?" Lu Yanhe asked.
“Yes.” Chen Siqi nodded. “The actress who plays Yan Liang’s boss is named Yan Yuling. She was recommended by Liu Zi. She was a colleague of Liu Zi’s before. She acted in plays, but later returned to her family to raise her child. I’ve already seen the play ‘The Intern’ in advance. Her acting is very good, but she doesn’t have an agency yet. I’ve already recommended her to Sister Ziyan. I also had Jump Up Theater sign an extra contract with her for three plays, a package deal, with a total salary of 100,000 yuan.”
To save money for Jumping Theater, Chen Siqi and her team came up with many ideas. For actresses like Yan Yuling, who had no fame but good acting skills, Chen Siqi would sign several roles at once, offering a package deal to save money on actor salaries.
Chen Siqi didn't feel she was mistreating him. The selling point of the drama "The Intern" is Yan Liang, so it's easy to imagine that once the drama airs, Yan Yuling, as the female lead, will receive a lot of attention. The potential benefits this brings her far exceed the tens of thousands of yuan in salary.
In the market, business is business.
Lu Yanhe understood what Chen Siqi meant.
Chen Siqi is telling him now to give him a heads-up.
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Lu Yanhe went to Yuehu and met with the leaders of Yuehu TV Station to confirm cooperation on several important projects.
One is "The Birth of an Actor" Season 2, another is the TV series "Chinese Paladin", and the third is Jump Up Theater.
Judging from the two dramas that have already aired, "The Adventures of a Young Girl" and "The Vortex," this drama slot did not immediately explode in ratings like "Friends" or "My Own Swordsman," but it still exceeded the performance of Yuehu TV in the same time slot.
The key point is that Yuehu TV has significantly reduced its investment costs for the Jumping Theater compared to the same time slots in the past.
The copyrights for the plays performed at the Jumping Theater belong to Linghe. However, because Yuehu TV only has a 24-hour exclusive window for these plays before they are released on Aurora Video, Yuehu TV's actual purchase price is significantly lower than that of Aurora Video.
Every time a new show is released at Jump Up Theater, it drives viewers to click on and watch the previous shows.
This is something that traditional television stations cannot achieve.
It's impossible for it to say that these shows are played in rotation 24 hours a day.
Yuehutai is very satisfied.
A 24-hour window of opportunity to capture the first wave of viewership is enough to help the theater boost the television station's ratings.
Xu Senjin, the director of Yuehu TV, warmly received Lu Yanhe, personally treating him to dinner and signing a special agreement with him. This agreement primarily appointed Lu Yanhe as a creative partner for Yuehu TV, tasking him with providing program ideas. There were no substantive work requirements; the agreement was for a three-year term with an annual salary of one million yuan.
Lu Yanhe originally didn't want to sign.
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Lu Yanhe understood why Xu Senjin wanted to sign such an agreement with him. To put it bluntly, he wanted to bind Lu Yanhe to Yuehu Terrace in the long term and establish a friendly cooperative relationship.
One million a year is a huge sum for ordinary people, but for Lu Yanhe, a creator who has made amazing achievements in movies, TV series and variety shows, it is far too little.
If Lu Yanhe is willing, there are plenty of platforms out there willing to add a zero to the end to cooperate with him.
But Lu Yanhe didn't like accepting blank checks.
Money is easy to repay, but favors are hard to repay.
In this matter, the seemingly unconditional and almost free million yuan had a profound impact on his normal business negotiations for many projects in the future.
However, Xu Senjin dispelled his concerns with a few words.
“Yan He, we all know that this agreement is nothing more than icing on the cake for you. However, from ‘Friends’ to ‘Jump Up Theater’ and the upcoming final episode of ‘The Birth of an Actor’, in less than a year, you have injected fresh blood into Yuehu TV and brought about a huge increase in our declining ratings and advertising revenue.” He said sincerely, “So, this is not about our future cooperation, but about the achievements you have brought to Yuehu TV in the past six months, which we all agree should be acknowledged.”
Lu Yanhe thought for a moment and said, "Director Xu, since this three million is to pay for my creative ideas, how about this: in the name of me and Yuehu Station, we can use this three million to establish a screenwriter award project to support young directors and screenwriters who may not have found work yet. How about 100,000 yuan per person, which can support a total of 30 people?"
Xu Senjin was taken aback.
Lu Yanhe said earnestly, "Director Xu, I am very grateful for your kindness, but please understand me. I will not sign this agreement. I am someone who values hard work and will fight for every benefit I deserve. However, if I accept this salary, I will not be able to sleep at night. Therefore, I will use it to support young directors and screenwriters who are still struggling financially in the industry. Perhaps some of the future masters will be able to stay in the industry and get their chance because of this support."
Xu Senjin smiled knowingly.
"Alright, since you put it that way, I won't try to persuade you anymore. Anyway, this is our station's way of showing our appreciation to you. You can use it however you want."
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In the third week of May, after the first two shows had established the reputation of the Jump Theater, The Intern finally welcomed its first series starring a currently popular actor.
With three TV series to his name – Friends, Gold Rush, and The Summit – Yan Liang is undoubtedly at the top of the TV drama industry.
Given his immense popularity and ability to carry a drama series, everyone has extremely high expectations for the ratings of "The Intern".
At this time, the final episode of "The Birth of an Actor" aired.
This actor competition variety show, which aired for three months and sparked huge discussions and a viewing frenzy across the country, achieved a respectable 1.26% rating for its final episode.
The success of variety shows is largely reflected on online video streaming platforms. Achieving a 1.26% viewership rating is already the highest among all local TV variety shows in the past two years.
In this episode, Peng Zhixing dedicated half a minute to introducing Jump Up Theater and also focused on introducing "The Intern," which will be broadcast on Sunday.
As a result, this episode became the most criticized episode by viewers since the premiere of "The Birth of an Actor".
The main reason is that there are just too many ads in this issue.
There are at least three trailers for other movies and TV series alone.
A 30-second trailer for "The Intern", a one-minute trailer for "Love Letter", and a trailer for another upcoming drama series on Yuehu TV.
However, despite the complaints, the effect was still quite obvious.
The three dramas trended on social media that very night.
These are all organic trending topics, not purchased.
Moreover, especially for "Love Letter," this was the first time the trailer for the film was released in China, and movie fans who had been eagerly anticipating it were finally able to catch a glimpse of it.
However, this version of the trailer still does not include any scenes featuring Zhang Ruozhi.
Just like the "cold treatment" they gave her at the Jose Film Festival, Wan Qingqing and her team had already contacted the domestic media to downplay reports about Zhang Ruozhi. The media already had a good relationship with Linghe Company and Lu Yanhe, and upon learning that Zhang Ruozhi was about to take the college entrance exam, they were very cooperative after understanding their intentions. In this version of the trailer, there isn't a single scene featuring Zhang Ruozhi.
It was already late May, and the college entrance examination was just around the corner. At this time, neither Lu Yanhe nor Chen Ziyan wanted anything to go wrong and affect Zhang Ruozhi's college entrance examination.
The production team had previously announced that the male and female leads of the film were Lu Yanhe and Chen Bige, but very few people knew that "Love Letter" also had a hidden female lead.
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The show "The Intern" premiered on Sunday.
Yan Liang also fully demonstrated his current appeal as an actor in this play.
Within one minute of the broadcast starting, the real-time viewership rating surged to 1.1%. After five minutes, it dipped slightly to 0.8%, then stabilized and began to rise again.
"The Intern" tells a workplace story.
The style leans towards lighthearted and comedic.
Even the parts where Yan Liang initially clashes with his female boss and frequently has conflicts and friction are filmed in a very comedic way.
For the first half hour, Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi were laughing almost the entire time, without stopping.
"The Intern is the most watchable show in Jump Theater right now," Chen Siqi commented. "It's hilarious."
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "Yan Liang is suitable for this role. I was a little worried because I thought he used to act in a more serious and melancholic way. But I didn't expect that his style would be so suitable for this young intern who is a bit of a repressed flirt."
“In the past, if the subject matter was a young male intern, he would definitely be young and handsome, and have the attraction of youthful hormones to his female boss. But this drama is not going in that direction.” Chen Siqi said, “The funniest thing is that he has to endure everything in front of his boss and smile. His hysterical frantic state in private is so realistic. It will definitely resonate with working people.”
Lu Yanhe searched online for real-time updates.
You were right.
"Um?"
“Many people say they felt empathy while watching ‘The Intern’,” Lu Yanhe said. “The discussion surrounding ‘The Intern’ on my homepage is very high. It seems like many media professionals I follow are watching it.”
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I recommend the older book, "I Became the Leading Lady of a Scandal Overnight".
(End of this chapter)
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