Chapter 438 The Legend of Zhen Huan: The Importance of Screenwriters
It became a huge hit. In just a few days, "The Legend of Zhen Huan" became a hit on the entire Internet.
Many people have noticed that almost all the young women around them are discussing this drama. Whether they are teenage students, white-collar workers in their twenties and thirties, or housewives in their forties and fifties, the topic of their discussions these days is all related to "Empresses in the Palace."
Zhen Huan, Concubine Hua, Queen, etc...
At the same time, this group of people are crazy about recommending this TV series. Not only that, many videos complaining about it have appeared on social media. This video is a video of a man complaining about "The Legend of Zhen Huan".
The cause of the incident is quite simple. Two days ago, a video suddenly appeared online. It was a video of a man complaining about something at a party with his friends. In the video, a man was complaining at the table.
"Oh, you don't know. My girlfriend has been dragging me to watch Empresses in the Palace every day these days. She also asks me what I think. I have to watch it for two hours every night before I can go to sleep. You don't know how brain-burning that thing is. It's really brain-burning. If you don't pay attention for a moment, if you don't watch the first five minutes, you won't understand the last five minutes. There are more than 30 women in the movie, and more than 20 of them died in the end..."
In the video, the man, under the influence of alcohol, complained a lot. He made complaints while gesticulating and making his friends laugh.
After this video appeared online, it inexplicably went viral. After it became popular, some women started to act like demons. Their targets were their own men. Consequently, many videos appeared online, showing women using all sorts of methods to force their men to watch "Empresses in the Palace." They really used every trick in the book.
Seeing the men's aggrieved expressions, this action even became a trend online. This, in turn, once again fueled the popularity of "Empresses in the Palace." Some men were forced to watch it, while some women who initially had little interest in the show also became curious and, as a result, became addicted.
Popularity, "The Legend of Zhen Huan" has become popular, but the quality is beyond doubt. This drama has been praised by women on the Internet.
"The ceiling of palace fighting dramas. After the appearance of "The Legend of Zhen Huan", all previous palace fighting dramas are garbage..."
"Before 'The Legend of Zhen Huan', it wasn't called a palace drama..."
"This is the best drama of the year, bar none. The quality of 'Empresses in the Palace' is incredible..."
"The King of Tang Entertainment has returned, and 'The Legend of Zhen Huan' has swept the competition..."
The drama's explosive popularity has also led to jaw-dropping pay-per-view figures. The rapid surge in pay-per-view figures across the network demonstrates the immense spending power of female viewers.
Female viewers don't lack money at all, and don't care about this little money. Sometimes men watching TV shows may use one account with several people to save money.
But once women become addicted, they don't care about the money at all. That's why the pay-per-view data is increasing rapidly.
The show is priced at one dollar per episode, and the website has to pay the VIP discount for the episode, including package sales.
Qingyao Media and Datang Entertainment look at the total number of paid on-demand views. This is easy to calculate: if you purchase one episode, that's one on-demand view. If you buy a bundle, that's ninety views. VIP discounts and bundles are simply promotions offered by the platforms to retain their users. It's like a supermarket's regular discounts: no matter how much you sell for, the manufacturer who purchased the product won't give you a discount.
The producers only get 70 cents for each on-demand broadcast, but even so, the major platforms are making money without any risk or cost. After all, they don't have any risk or cost. Even with the VIP discount and the overall package discount for this drama, the platforms still make a lot of money.
Of course, the producers still take the lion's share. There's no way around it; after all, they invested in the show and assumed all the risk. Furthermore, streaming platforms aren't as dominant as theaters. There are so many streaming platforms, and setting up one isn't difficult. If you dare exploit the producers like theaters do, the producers will rally to boycott that particular streaming platform. With different capitals, they're eager for the other to suffer.
The data skyrocketed. In just one week, the show's paid on-demand views exceeded 4.5 billion, and the box office reached 4.5 billion. Seeing such a box office, the entire industry was completely stunned. At the same time, people online began to discuss the secrets of the show's success.
“The Reasons for the Success of “Empresses in the Palace”: On the Importance of Screenwriters.”
While everyone was discussing this, Wei Song, one of the country's top producers, published an article. Wei Song is a veteran producer who contributed to the success of many classic TV series. However, he has since faded out of the industry, having already turned 78 this year and enjoying his retirement.
But this time, the old man published an article.
"The biggest contributor to the success of 'The Legend of Zhen Huan' isn't the director or the actors, but the screenwriter. The soul of a work is the script, the story. But in recent years, those in our industry have increasingly ignored this issue. Driven by capital, the only thing that matters is traffic. Actors seek out those with high traffic, and directors seek out those with high traffic. They spend huge sums of money to find actors and hire famous directors, but are reluctant to pay screenwriters high prices to ensure they write good scripts..."
Wei Song pointed out some common problems in current Chinese-language works. In recent years, under the control of capital, if a drama is successful, the credit goes to the actors and directors.
Capital is willing to pay exorbitant salaries to actors and famous directors, but few are willing to pay high salaries to good screenwriters.
"The success of 'The Legend of Zhen Huan' is inseparable from Su Yang's script and his story. In fact, it's not just 'The Legend of Zhen Huan'. Looking at the success of Qingyao Media's works in recent years, they are all inseparable from the screenwriters. And as far as I know, the income of screenwriters at Qingyao Media is very high. The income of screenwriters at Qingyao Media is often several times that of other companies..."
Finally, some of Wei Song’s views sparked heated discussions among netizens and also made people in the circle ponder.
"Teacher Wei is absolutely right. The story is the soul of a play."
"Teacher Wei has a keen eye. It's common knowledge in the industry that screenwriters at Qingyao Media earn high salaries. But they're qualified to receive such high salaries. This can be seen from TV series like "iPartment" and "Wulin Waijiao". Brother Yang shaped the soul, and even if he lets go later, the quality is still very high. This is the importance of screenwriters..."
"You've said too much. In Europe and the United States, screenwriters earn very high salaries, sometimes even higher than actors. But in China, all the credit for screenwriters is taken away by actors and directors..."
"Indeed, the story is the soul of a work. The success of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is multifaceted. The actors' acting skills are all top-notch, and the director is amazing, but without a good script, a good story is useless..."
"Awesome! Brother Yang is definitely the best screenwriter in the country right now..."
Wei Song's post sparked heated discussion online. It wasn't just online, but also within the industry. Even many companies were starting to reflect.
Qingyao Media is making a killing, having once again profited handsomely from its co-production with Datang Entertainment for "Empresses in the Palace." Despite a 600 million yuan investment, the box office has already reached 4.5 billion yuan. The box office dividend alone will net them 3.15 billion yuan. After deducting the 600 million yuan cost, there's still 2.55 billion yuan left.
If Datang Entertainment and Qingyao Media split the profits equally, each company would earn around 1.3 billion. Who wouldn't be jealous of a TV series that makes so much money?
The pay-to-play era is too tempting. Even if it's only one dollar per episode, the money you can make is terrifying. After all, the Chinese market is so huge, with so many consumers.
Good works make money, and the better the quality of the work, the more money it makes. This situation is now clear, and as for how everyone will choose in the future, it depends on everyone.
In terms of the importance of screenwriters, Su Yang is now the top screenwriter in China. The success of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" proves this point, which has once again attracted investors.
Shit, there's a new path. If I can't work with Qingyao Media, getting Su Yang's script will be fine. Even if I have to pay a little more, as long as I can make money, it doesn't matter.
"Whatever you do, they all buy scripts. They are all very wealthy."
At Qingyao Media's headquarters, Tang Qing hung up the phone and looked at Su Yang and couldn't help but say, "In fact, there were many such calls before Wei Song's article was published."
Many film and television companies, directors, and artists—those with connections used connections, and those without connections directly used capital—had a single goal: to get Su Yang's scripts. This situation had occurred before, but that was in the music industry. Many singers had wanted to ask Su Yang for a song, but in the end, few were able to get what they wanted.
"Sure, but it's just a co-production, not selling the script individually. We can provide the script, the actors, and the funding, and they can take the initiative..."
Su Yang said with a smile, which made Tang Qing laugh.
Su Yang's intention was clear: using the script as a link for a direct co-production. It was the same model as the collaboration on "Empresses in the Palace." Qingyao Media was short on staff, but other companies had talent. For a co-production, Su Yang would provide the script, and both parties would jointly finance it.
In this way, Qingyao Media became a hands-off boss, but it could make money from Su Yang's high-quality scripts.
"The Legend of Zhen Huan" got off to a great start and set an example for everyone. Now that "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is making so much money, it's tempting domestic film and television companies. Datang Entertainment, on the other hand, is eagerly awaiting Su Yang's script. "The Legend of Zhen Huan" has made Datang Entertainment the center of attention and has also shown everyone its strength. A lean camel is bigger than a horse, and when it comes to filming period dramas, Datang Entertainment is undeniably capable. Qingyao Media is also very happy to collaborate with Datang Entertainment. After all, they're all family, and they can both make money together, a win-win situation. Why not?
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