Chapter 143: See You Again
It was similar to the celebration banquet for Soul Ferry, except that the playback data displayed this time increased from 500 million to 1.2 billion.
"Ah, 1.2 billion playbacks." Liu Jun put his arm around Meng Bai's shoulders and said, "Brother, I think your record can be directly booked as the best of the year."
Meng Bai smiled, shook his head and said, "It's difficult. The number of viewers in the online drama market is growing at a fast pace. We thought the 500 million data was a lot last year, but it was surpassed not long after. It's the same now. Maybe in a few months, there will be a new hit drama."
He didn't forget that this year's online drama market also has the "super king bomb" of Penguin Video's "Grave Robbers' Chronicles".
As one of the strongest IPs in the domestic entertainment industry, not to mention the production quality, the name alone is worth "1 billion playbacks".
"Haha, it doesn't matter. The bigger the market, the more we earn." Liu Jun said with a broad mind.
After chatting for a while, he asked again: "The 'censorship reform meeting' will be held in a few days. Are you ready to speak?"
Since it is a "seminar", naturally everyone from the official to the video platform to the practitioners will express their ideas.
Especially for producers like Arclight Films, which is currently the first echelon of the domestic online drama market, their ideas and speeches will still be taken seriously.
"Of course, we are ready a long time ago." Meng Bai looked at Liu Jun and asked, "What are the ideas of Leshi.com now?"
"What other ideas can we have." Liu Jun spread his hands and said, "We just hope to reduce censorship control as much as possible. Anyway, we must follow the instructions of the superiors in the end."
Meng Bai frowned. This strength is a bit too light.
But it is understandable. After all, Leshi.com is a listed company and is greatly affected by policies. It always has to make trade-offs and balances, and it is difficult to make any extraordinary moves.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Liu Jun asked, "Why, brother, what's your attitude?"
Meng Bai smiled, took a sip of the water in the glass, and said calmly, "My attitude is very simple. In addition to ensuring public order and good customs and legal requirements, the themes and content restrictions in the online drama market will be fully lifted. The relevant departments will only do post-supervision and will not set up pre-examination."
"You..." Liu Jun took a breath of cold air, "It would be strange if this condition can be passed."
Meng Bai smiled, "I know."
"I know you're still doing this."
"Negotiation, it's all about asking for a sky-high price and paying it back. If you don't raise the price a little bit in the early stage, how can you create room for compromise?" Meng Bai said, "If you want to open a window, you have to talk about tearing off the roof first, so that you can finally open the window."
"Okay, it still has to be you." Liu Jun gave a thumbs up, "It seems that our attitude has to be more intense. However, with only two of us, I'm afraid the intensity is not enough."
"Don't worry." Meng Bai smiled and said, "I have already contacted Qiyi TV and Sohu Video, and they will cooperate and strengthen their attitude."
"Wait." Liu Jun frowned and said, "When did you cooperate with them?"
Damn, Arclight Films is the top general of Leshi.com now, how come they contacted other platforms first?
Meng Bai explained, "Didn't I say before that I was going to invest in a youth-themed web drama? That project was in cooperation with Qiyi TV."
Liu Jun thought about it and it seemed to be true. At that time, he considered that the risk-return ratio was not high, so he did not invest. Unexpectedly, they found Qiyi TV again.
"And..." Meng Bai said, "Don't forget, their "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" this year is also a 'high-risk theme'."
"What about Souhu?"
"They cooperated with Tangren on a web drama this year, which is a supernatural fantasy theme similar to "Soul Ferry". If the censorship of web drama themes is tightened, they will also be very uncomfortable."
Just like the previous struggle with the TV station, facing the common "external enemy", the web drama industry has temporarily united.
After comparing their respective calibers with Liu Jun again, Meng Bai took a round of the venue with a wine glass, and finally wandered to Li Qin.
Glancing at her state, Meng Bai smiled and said, "Teacher Li didn't drink much this year."
Li Qin paused for breath and immediately thought of the celebration party after the first season of "Soul Ferry" last year.
At that time, she drank a few more glasses, and then this guy helped her back to the room, and then...
A year later, the same scene, but the mood was very different.
"What's wrong?" Meng Bai sat next to her: "You don't look very happy tonight."
"Is it obvious?" Li Qin asked.
Meng Bai raised his eyebrows: "I pay more attention to it."
Li Qin pursed her lips, and a smile appeared on her cold face.
"By the way, next month we will start preparing for two more projects at Arc Light, one is a forensic crime drama, and the other is a campus youth drama. Are you interested in trying it?"
"Campus drama?" Li Qin asked puzzledly: "Isn't Arc Light mainly a suspense drama? Why is there suddenly another campus drama?"
She had heard about the forensic project before and bought the book specifically.
It's a pity that the description in the book is a bit too real. She couldn't read it halfway through, and now it is still gathering dust in the corner of the bed.
"It's okay for a team to work on a theme, but for a film and television company, the risk is too great, and they always have to explore new areas." Meng Bai said: "I just happened to see a good project, so I plan to invest and give it a try. How about it, are you interested in giving it a try? But then again, it doesn't seem to suit your style."
Li Qin squinted and looked over: "What do you mean? Am I not suitable for campus dramas?"
"Ha, how could that be? No matter which high school Teacher Li goes to now, they will not check your student ID." Meng Bai smiled and said, "I just said that the role of the heroine may not be suitable for you."
The heroine of "The Best of Us" is called "Geng Geng", a lively, cheerful, cute girl who is not very good at studying.
Not to mention the appearance conditions, even the character setting is very different from Li Qin.
In comparison, she is actually more suitable for the beautiful, cold and noble daughter of a wealthy family in Korean idol dramas.
Roughly similar to the "Liu Rachel" in "The Heirs" who is not so willful.
Listening to his explanation, Li Qin smiled lightly, but then fell silent again.
Meng Bai was sure that this girl really seemed to have something wrong. Just when he was about to ask, Li Qin spoke first: "Come out for a walk with me."
"Now?" Meng Bai looked around, the celebration banquet was not over yet.
"Is it inconvenient?" Li Qin stared at him.
"It's not inconvenient." Meng Bai stood up and made an inviting gesture: "Please come in, Teacher Li."
Going out through the side door of the hotel, there is a small branch road outside. The road is full of cars on both sides, and the originally wide two-lane road has been reduced to a single lane.
Walking a few steps along the path, Li Qin rubbed her hands. It's not even the end of the first month of the year yet, and it's cold in Beijing and the temperature at night is even below zero.
Seeing her looking at him, Meng Bai tightened his down jacket and said, "Don't look at me, I only have this one coat. Or if you don't mind, you can wear it with me."
"No, you can wear it yourself."
The street lights on the path are not very bright, and the light is dim every few steps. But there is also an advantage, that is, there is no need to worry about someone recognizing or secretly photographing.
"What happened to you tonight?" Meng Bai spoke first.
"Actually, it's nothing. I just suddenly realized that the "Soul Ferry" project has ended. It seems that there will be no chance to meet everyone again in the future. I feel a little bit of parting." Li Qin said.
"Oh, I thought it was something else." Meng Bai waved his hand nonchalantly: "This project is over, there are new projects. Don't worry, the door of our Arclight Film and Television is always open to you, Teacher Li."
Li Qin's mouth moved, but she didn't laugh. After a moment of silence, she continued: "The studio did some statistics some time ago and said that the cost-effectiveness of online dramas in terms of popularity growth, status, and pay is too low. So..."
She paused, sniffed, and then continued: "So from the perspective of future development, I may still focus on TV dramas in the future."
In fact, as early as after the broadcast of "Soul Ferry", the company and the agent talked to her about this issue.
She took this drama under the pretext of "breaking through the role positioning". The final effect did help her expand her acting range a little, but in terms of overall development, it didn't help much.
Of course, she knew that she agreed mainly because of the profit share.
But when Meng Bai came to her with the script for the second part, she could have refused.
It was just that she wanted to finish this role and the story from beginning to end, and it was also because of Meng Bai that she withstood the pressure from the company and filmed the second season.
But now, with the end of the entire series, she naturally had no reason to stay with the web drama.
"TV series..." Meng Bai suddenly realized that it was no wonder that this girl asked him during the day whether Arclight Films had any plans to make a TV series.
After a pause, he smiled and said, "That's good too. I've said it before that you're still suitable for ancient puppet dramas or CCTV's dramas."
Seeing that the girl didn't say anything, Meng Bai comforted her, "It's okay, it's not a life-and-death separation. We've worked together for so long, and it's always a good thing to have a more suitable path. Anyway, we're all in the same circle, maybe one day, Arclight Films will start filming TV series or movies, and there will be opportunities for cooperation then."
Li Qin closed her eyes hard to cover up the misty wetness, and smiled and said, "Okay, then I hope that Teacher Meng can still give me a bite of food by then."
"Well, it's hard to say." Meng Bai said, "If there are too many actresses who want to cooperate with you, and you can't pass the audition, I can't do anything about it."
Li Qin laughed when she heard this, she had heard this before.
"Then, I wish we'll see each other again." Li Qin looked at him and said.
"Yes, I will." Meng Bai smiled and nodded.
The two turned around and walked back.
"Meng Bai!" Li Qin suddenly shouted.
Meng Bai turned around, and a burst of fragrance hit his nose, and then he felt the woman hugging him.
He hesitated for a moment, but finally raised his hand to embrace her.
Only lovesickness is like spring, and the south and north of the river will take you home.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
