Chapter 94 The tacit understanding between the creators and the audience
Liu Jun introduced to him that Enlight Pictures saw the "Green Ivy Series" plan of Leshi.com and thought that the copyright holder of "Psychological Crime" was here at LeTV, so they contacted them.
Unexpectedly, after actual communication, they found out that Leshi.com was just a partner, and the one who really had the final say was another new company called "Arc Light Films". So they had to ask LeTV Pictures to help them contact Meng Bai to talk about the film adaptation cooperation.
Meng Bai naturally knew Enlight Pictures, a "veteran" film studio that has existed since the Hong Kong film era. And compared to the old and declining studios such as Shaw Brothers, Enlight, which has always maintained close cooperation with the mainland, has maintained a good operation since the new millennium.
The head of the company, Jiang Zhiqiang, cooperated with Zhang Guoshi at the beginning and brought several films such as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero" out of the country, and was called "creating the era of blockbuster movies of discourse".
"Adapt a movie?" Meng Bai asked, "Do you want to remake the script?"
"No, from what they said, it seems that they want to keep the IP and story setting of "Psychological Crime" and write a new script." Liu Jun said, "The contact information of their person in charge is on the document. Let's chat about it when it's convenient for you."
Meng Bai glanced at the content of the document, put it away, and then joked, "Why, brother, aren't you afraid of increasing the performance of the film department?"
"Tsk, can my vision be the same as theirs?" Liu Jun smiled complacently, "I want to see if they are embarrassed to agree to cooperate if we can really negotiate with Anle Pictures."
If you agree to cooperate, it is equivalent to accepting Liu Jun's favor. If you dare to be sarcastic in the future, you can just say "Your movie still depends on our web drama to produce IP", and slap your face with a big mouth;
if you don't agree to cooperate, it's a joke. It's not easy for your company to launch a big IP. Do you still want to do it as the person in charge?
No matter which choice you make, it's not easy. It's like being bullied from both sides.
When Liu Jun thought of the scene where the old guys in the film department had to "thank" him with their noses pinched, he felt more energetic to go for a massage tonight.
But in the end, he still had to thank Meng Bai for helping him hold the stage, otherwise there would be no such harvest.
Thinking of this, Liu Jun's tone became more enthusiastic, and he smiled and said to Meng Bai: "Psychological Crime will be finished in half a month. At that time, I will urge the financial department to try to make the final settlement of the profit sharing before the New Year."
Because Arc Light Film and Television also participated in the investment of "Psychological Crime", Meng Bai's income this time included two parts, namely the profit sharing of normal partners and the return on investment of investors.
Relatively speaking, the former is simpler to calculate. According to the previously agreed sharing rules, the final playback data, new members and effective viewing data are used as the standard, and the money can be directly divided.
The investment share is much more complicated, because it involves the final settlement of various costs and expenses and the summary of overall income. If you want to calculate it all, you have to wait until the annual report of Leshi.com comes out next year before it can be finalized.
Otherwise, why is it said that most people cannot afford to invest in film and television? It takes a long time, is risky, and is highly unstable. No matter how you look at it, it is not a good target project.
It often happens in the industry that a project is finally broadcast and the cost is recovered, but when you turn around, you find that the initial investor has already gone bankrupt.
This is why many film and television producers will introduce a bunch of other investors when they set up a project even though they know it is a good project. It's not that they don't want to make money themselves, but one person can't take on such a big thing.
Arclight Film and Television can get a return so quickly thanks to the short cycle and fast turnover of online drama projects. Otherwise, like a normal film and television project, you can't see any return for a year or two.
Meng Bai knew that this was Liu Jun's way of thanking him. It would be best if he could get the money earlier. After all, he needed the money now.
"Okay, thank you, Brother Liu." Meng Bai said, "I trust our Leshi when it comes to profits. I came here today mainly to discuss the ending of "Psychological Crime."
Liu Jun's eyes lit up and he asked repeatedly, "Why, have you decided which version to choose? I remember you said last time that you planned to open a voting page at the end to let the audience choose the ending themselves."
Meng Bai said: "Ha, I did have this plan when I was struggling before, but after thinking about it, I still felt that it was not appropriate."
"Oh, how do you say it?" Liu Jun asked curiously. In fact, he thought Meng Bai's idea was quite good at the time. Although he had never seen anyone do this before, online scripts are new products, and it is normal to come up with some new tricks.
Meng Bai said seriously: "Because no matter how new online dramas are, they are still movies, not games." When
the audience watches a movie or a drama, they want to see a complete story, the relationship between the characters, and the choices of the protagonist when facing various plots.
Although everyone knows that these choices are actually designed by the screenwriter, director and other behind-the-scenes personnel, at the moment of watching the work, the audience will forget these factors and regard this story as a real world.
This is actually equivalent to a silent tacit understanding between the main creative staff and the audience-we use all possible means to create dreams for you, and you are willing to believe in the dreams we create at this moment.
Good main creative staff will always try their best to avoid goof shots, just to ensure that the audience will not be out of the play.
Specifically speaking of the drama "Psychological Crime", at the finale, when the male protagonist was confronting the murderer and everyone was looking forward to how he would choose, a vote suddenly popped up...
This is not as simple as a play, but it is equivalent to erasing all the previous emotions, experiences, and difficulties of the protagonist, making the audience clearly realize that he is just a "paper man" and a "puppet", which is a fatal blow to the emotions of the audience who have been following the drama.
Don't think that you originally wanted to make a big deal, but in the end you made a big mess.
So after considering it again and again, Meng Bai gave up this idea. As he said, web dramas are film and television dramas after all, not galgames, and do not require the audience's "subjective initiative."
After explaining it to Liu Jun, the other party also agreed with Meng Bai's point of view. Then he asked, "In that case, have you decided which version of the ending to use?"
Meng Bai smiled, "I was a little hesitant when I came here today, but when I heard that it might be adapted into a movie, I have made a decision now."
"Which version to use?" "
The bright version, where Professor Qiao covers the hero's escape and uses warmth to move him to get out of his inner demons." Meng Bai said, "In this way, the character settings for the rest of the story can also be decided at the same time. They want a new script for the movie, so we can just take out the original story and expand and adapt it."
"Have you already written the script for the next season?"
Meng Bai said, "How can it be that fast? I just have a general idea."
"Do you have a name?"
"The tentative name is, 'City Lights'."
(End of this chapter)
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