Chapter 343: Unexpected Meeting
with Parents Like last year, Arc Light held its annual meeting before the New Year's Eve.
However, this year's annual meeting was much more lively than last year's, after all, Arc Light's scale has expanded a lot.
The special prize is still 100,000 yuan. For most ordinary employees, winning the prize is equivalent to more than a year's salary. What's more, other wishes of equivalent value can be customized.
With Yang Chaoyue's example in front, everyone is looking forward to it.
"What if I win the prize this year and want to switch to being an actor?"
Liu Jun asked jokingly at the annual meeting. They, the executives, do not participate in the lottery, they just watch the excitement.
Meng Bai, who was standing aside, said calmly: "Don't worry, they are not children anymore, and they don't know their conditions. Xiao Yang is born beautiful, and she depends on her face to make a living."
Liu Jun smiled. Indeed, the little girl named Yang Chaoyue's appearance is enough even in the entertainment industry. Especially as she gets older, her originally childish face slowly grows and becomes much more beautiful.
If she can really make a successful debut, then her experience is quite interesting.
After thinking about it casually, Liu Jun didn't care much about a little girl. He turned to Meng Bai and said, "CCTV has confirmed that the broadcast time of "Peace Hotel" will be after the Spring Festival, and it will be the opening drama of the eight channels after the urban drama "Big Talk Matchmaker".
Meng Bai nodded with satisfaction. Although strictly speaking, only the dramas of CCTV1 can be called CCTV's "opening dramas of the year". But for Arc Light, who has just started the TV drama business, it is already very impressive to be put on the eight channels.
"What about the website?"
"It will be launched simultaneously with CCTV, and the frequency is the same as TV, one episode a day, five episodes a week." Liu Jun said, "It's a pity that our episodes are a little less, only 40 episodes, and it will be broadcast in two months."
"40 episodes are not short." Meng Bai said indifferently, "Now the audience's pace of watching dramas is getting faster and faster. It is basically the limit to follow a drama for two months."
For a long time, because TV dramas are paid by episodes, producers always try their best to extend the number of episodes. If the main plot is not enough, add the branch plot, and if the branch plot is not enough, add the memories. If all these are used up, add some slow motion.
Especially for costume dramas, everyone wants to shoot 70 or 80 episodes.
There are many dramas here that were originally of good quality, but because there are too many episodes, the audience will start to complain that they are boring and long after following them for a while.
Arclight started out as a web drama, and even now it has retained many habits of web dramas when shooting TV series, the most typical of which is the small number of episodes.
This is actually a prediction by Meng Bai on the future direction of the film and television market. The pace of society is getting faster and faster, and the audience's time is more fragmented. They will inevitably choose smaller and faster-paced works.
For example, the web drama "Detective Chinatown" that Arclight is currently shooting is an attempt. The first season has only 10 episodes in total. It
is short and concise, and easy to adjust. If the word-of-mouth response is good, the second and third seasons will be opened to add content, which is a bit similar to the model of American or British dramas.
"I remember you said before that there is also a plan for a spy war drama this year. When do you plan to start preparations?" Liu Jun asked.
"Don't be in a hurry, let's see the situation of Peace Hotel first." Meng Bai said: "Huace has given us a list of their approved films for this year. We can ask the project department to study which ones are worth investing in."
"Okay."
The two were chatting in the audience, and the host of the annual meeting on the stage had already announced the start of the lottery.
As small prizes were drawn one by one, the employees who didn't win the prize slowly tensed up their nerves.
"... Now I announce that the winner of this year's special prize is - No. 0278!"
"Yeah -"
As the host announced the results, a certain area in the audience suddenly erupted in a noise.
Meng Bai looked back at the location of the cheers from a distance: "Which department is that?"
"Mr. Meng, it's the screenwriter department." The head of the administrative department sitting behind him hurriedly stood up and introduced.
"That's good, at least it's not your administrative department this year." Meng Bai joked.
The head of the administrative department smiled bitterly when he heard this. How to say it, the front desk is indeed under the jurisdiction of the administrative department.
The winner of the special prize is a young man in the screenwriter department. Judging from his employee number, he has joined Arclight for more than a year.
"Hello, Mr. Meng, my name is He Yihe, and I am currently a B-level screenwriter in the screenwriting department."
On the stage, a young man wearing glasses and slightly plump excitedly introduced himself to Meng Bai.
"He Yihe?" Meng Bai recalled, "I remember that you were responsible for several episodes of this season's "Detective Academy", right?"
"Yes." Seeing that the big boss actually remembered him, He Yihe immediately said excitedly: "I was responsible for the two episodes of "Hotel Horror" and "The Clouds That Can't Be Reached Again"."
Meng Bai looked at him in surprise. These two episodes were highly praised in the entire "Celebrity Detective Season 3", and he didn't expect that they were written by the same person.
"The quality is good." Meng Bai said with a smile: "Do you have any wishes? Or do you plan to take the bonus directly?"
He Yihe hesitated for a moment, then mustered up the courage to say: "Mr. Meng, I actually have an idea for a story and want you to listen to it. I wonder if it is suitable."
"Is it also about the show?"
"Well, the types are somewhat similar, both are script-killing themes, but I think they are more suitable for making movies." After He Yihe finished speaking, he hurriedly said: "But this is just an idea I have at the moment, and the script only has a framework and has not been completed yet."
"It's okay, don't worry." Meng Bai patted him on the shoulder and said: "Well, you can summarize and perfect your ideas first, and then tell me when you come back after the New Year."
"Yeah, okay, Mr. Meng, thank you."
——
"Hu——"
At Beijing North Airport, Meng Bai parked the car and got out, took a deep breath of cold air, and then exhaled a breath of white air. As
the Spring Festival approaches, Beijing North has snowed several times in succession. The green belts on the roadside are white, and there is finally a little more New Year flavor.
After a quick walk into the terminal, Meng Bai found a seat at the airport pick-up area. He took out his phone to reply to messages, and looked up at the flight information on the electronic board from time to time.
After the annual meeting of Arc Light, there were no new projects to prepare. So except for the department responsible for the publicity of "Peace Hotel", the rest of the people relaxed their work.
Meng Bai, the boss, naturally had less things to do. Just then, he received a call from Meng's father and mother, so he rushed to the airport.
When he went home for the Spring Festival last year, he invited Meng's father and mother to come to Beijing to celebrate the festival this year.
The old couple thought that they had only heard from their son that his company was very big in the past few years, but they had never seen it with their own eyes. Seeing that there were only two or three days left before the New Year, the couple decided to come this year.
Meng Bai came on time, so he didn't wait for a while before he heard the notification that the flight had landed. After waiting for another ten minutes, he finally saw Meng's father and mother coming out.
"I thought you were going to come with a lot of bags." Meng Bai took a small suitcase from Meng's mother and joked casually.
"Hey, do you think we are stupid?" Mother Meng said, "A plane ticket costs thousands of dollars. What is worth air transporting?"
Father Meng, who was standing by, snorted and laughed when he heard this: "Forget it, your mother originally packed four large boxes, but they were overweight, so they had no choice but to ask someone to take two of them back."
Mother Meng rolled her eyes and said: "You are the only one who talks too much, right? If I don't talk, I will forget what you are like."
Father Meng strode forward, pretending not to hear.
After putting the suitcases in the trunk, Meng Bai drove slowly out of the airport.
"More than 20 years ago, when you were not yet here, my company had to travel for business, and I had to go to Beijing and the north several times a year. Yes, at that time, I had to get a certificate to enter Beijing, which was very troublesome..."
Along the way, Father Meng looked at the scenery of the capital outside the window and talked about the history of his youth.
"Then I will accompany you to walk the road of youth again in the next two days." Meng Bai said.
Mother Meng, who was sitting in the back row, waved her hand: "No, you should do your own thing, your dad and I can go around by ourselves."
"Are you sure? Beijing North is much bigger than Landao."
"No matter how big it is, it's still in the country. We are not in our seventies or eighties. How can we get lost?" Mother Meng didn't take the small capital seriously at all, "By the way, where are we going?"
"Did you two have lunch before boarding the plane? Then let's go home and put down your things. It's a good opportunity for me to show you my house. I'll take you out for dinner in the evening."
"Okay, you make arrangements when we get to your territory.
" "Wow, you are so arrogant, just saying this and you're giving me the capital?"
"Tsk, so many weird words."
Mother Meng patted Meng Bai's head lightly, and then seemed to remember something: "Hey, has Ziyi returned to Northeast China? If not, call her to come along in the evening."
"How would I know? Don't you have her phone number? Just ask her directly." Meng Bai said, "But she may be filming on the set, not necessarily in Jingbei."
When they were in Blue Island before, Meng's mother and Meng Ziyi had a very harmonious relationship, so she naturally had her contact information.
"Hey, Ziyi... Happy New Year, are you in Jingbei now... Well, your uncle and I came here to celebrate the New Year this year, so I wanted to ask if you were there..."
The two women, one big and one small, chatted for nearly 20 minutes before finally ending the call.
Putting down the phone, Meng's mother said cheerfully, "It's quite a coincidence. Ziyi said she just finished filming and happened to be in Jingbei now. I asked her to have dinner together tonight."
Meng Bai naturally agreed and responded casually.
After getting off the airport highway, it wasn't long before they arrived at his villa area.
Looking at the greenery that was out of place with the outside, as well as the exquisite surrounding scenery and courtyards, the old couple finally felt their son's current wealth.
"We're here, let's get out."
Meng Bai parked the car at the gate of the courtyard. He had to go out later, and he was too lazy to go into the garage.
"Huh?"
Coming down from the driver's seat, Meng Bai saw a blue BMW parked not far away at a glance, and couldn't help but exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" Father Meng, who had just got out of the car, saw him standing there in a daze and asked casually.
Meng Bai came back to his senses and shook his head to indicate that it was nothing, while secretly calculating in his heart.
He naturally knew this car, it belonged to Li Qin. Since the car was here, she must be here too.
Because she knew the password to the gate, the girl would come over from time to time when she had time before, calling it a "surprise" for him.
Now, she was finally blocked.
Thinking of how flustered and surprised the girl would be when she saw Father Meng and Mother Meng coming in, Meng Bai couldn't help but want to laugh.
Ready to watch the fun, Meng Bai dragged his suitcase to open the gate of the villa, and then walked in with the old couple.
After walking through the corridor, Meng's father and mother were delighted by the courtyard in front of them.
"This courtyard is nice." Mother Meng looked at the courtyard with great interest. Whether it was the swing, the flowerbed or the small pavilion, they all suited her taste.
"Isn't it nice?" Meng Bai raised his voice a little. "I said that our house had been changed a long time ago. I will buy you a villa in the middle of the mountain in Blue Mountain. The yard there is much larger than this one."
He had mentioned it several times before, wanting to change the house for the old couple, but they had never agreed.
This time was the same. After hearing what Meng Bai said, Meng's mother rolled her eyes at him: "You have no place to spend your money, right? And a villa halfway up the mountain? If you want a yard, your grandma's village has plenty of it. There are dozens of acres of land for you to build one."
"How can that be the case?"
Meng Bai replied, but he was too lazy to argue anymore and directly greeted the two of them: "Okay, Mom, it's cold in the yard, come in."
Meng's father and mother followed him into the house. Before the old couple could take a look at the room, they heard brisk footsteps coming
from the second floor. The next second, a beautiful girl in a white dress and long hair came down the stairs and jumped out all of a sudden.
"Meng...ah!"
Li Qin, who wanted to give Meng Bai a "surprise", suddenly saw two strange middle-aged men and women looking at her with shocked expressions, and a bright smile instantly froze on her face.
"Click! "
Meng Bai, who had already prepared, took out his mobile phone and took two photos, leaving them as a black history for "threatening" in the future.
Two minutes later.
In the living room on the first floor, Li Qin's face was ruddy and she lowered her head slightly, sitting obediently on the sofa.
On the other side, Meng's father and mother looked at the girl in front of them with a smile.
"Let me introduce you, this is my parents."
"Mom and Dad, no, uh, hello uncle and aunt." Li Qin greeted nervously: "My name is Li Qin, I'm Meng Bai's... friend."
(End of this chapter)
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