Chapter 99
Having more people in a company is naturally a good thing.
Moreover, Ji Xue also told them at this time that it was not only the actors who signed contracts with Su Ning, but also directors and screenwriters who had worked with him before, He Fan and Yan Lu, who chose to sign contracts, and the good-tempered director Ma who filmed "Hometown God" also officially became a member of the company recently.
Ji Mowei had heard of these things, otherwise he would not have been so determined to choose Su Ning at this time.
Not only the scriptwriters and directors, but even some of the crew members, such as the lighting technicians and script supervisors, were originally invited by the directors. After Su Ning went to the set, he felt that they were talented and efficient, so he invited them to his company.
This is one of the reasons why Su Ning insists on going to the scene himself. For some things, only by seeing them yourself can you make a more accurate judgment.
He has the ability to get what he likes. The company is indeed short of people, and the remuneration offered is also very generous. Job-hopping in the industry is also very normal, so light and shadow entertainment has become even more influential.
Jixue came to the company today and noticed that there were many more people coming and going. She also knew that they were looking for new members to make a new debut, so she said before leaving, "I'll keep an eye on it."
"Well, no rush." Li Chu doesn't like sweets very much. Lin Zhi is eating the dried fruit he handed over. "We still want to rest for a while."
In February, just after the Chinese New Year, Glory ended in the public eye, and the members finally went towards their respective goals, but this is still not the end for the Haicheng entertainment circle.
In March, the post-production of the sitcom "Happy Events in the Imperial Hospital" which was filmed at the same time as "The Hands That Cover the Sky" has been completed. The series was originally scheduled to have 20 episodes, but was later increased to 24 episodes. This is a custom series for Nanjiang TV Station and is being prepared for broadcast.
Due to its size, it is not broadcast in the prime time, but is chosen to be broadcast in the evening time slot of 10 o'clock, with two episodes broadcast each Thursday and Friday, and it will be completed in six weeks.
Su Ning and Shen Mingzheng did a lot of publicity because their relationship with Yuedong had eased and they offered a high buyout price. In fact, "Happy Events in the Imperial Hospital" had already paid for itself before it was even aired. After all, the investment in sitcoms is inherently very low.
Compared to light and shadow entertainment, Shen's Pictures has a more low-key business, and the work is more behind the scenes. It has hardly signed any actor idols, as those are all with Sharp, which is, after all, a more professional agency with a better foundation.
But Shen's Films is behind all three Glory albums, and this music production team continues to expand outward, having sold many songs externally. Even though the group has disbanded, their business is very stable.
There is also Shen Mingzheng's database, which was also set up at Shen's Pictures. Shen's Pictures has a lot of investments, and Yan Kai Studio is just the largest one.
In the drama "Happy Events in the Imperial Hospital", Shen Mingzheng has obviously polished many key details. He is not the kind of person who just doesn't care about the money in this matter. It can be said that at least half of the credit for the good effect of the drama should be attributed to him. Many of the staff involved in the post-production were from Shen's Pictures.
That's why Yan Kai was so devoted to him and finally agreed to let Yan Lu sign with Su Ning's company.
When this TV series was broadcast, Su Ning naturally watched it with Shen Mingzheng. Although it was not broadcast during the prime time, the ratings were still able to rise in the evening, and the highest curve was even higher than that of the modern drama in the prime time that day.
This is a story written, directed and acted by Yan Kai. Everyone in the "Imperial Hospital" has a different setting. Although it is a unit drama, it also has a complete storyline.
The original Imperial Hospital had six people. Liu, the confidant of the Queen, was a seasoned doctor who drank tea, read newspapers, and left work at a fixed time. He was also a bit of a senior official.
The imperial physician Zeng, who has a background, has average medical skills, but is very good at building relationships, so she thrives in the palace.
Song Taiyi, who was born in an ordinary family, was a mainstay. He had excellent medical skills and was always the one to take action when something really happened. However, he was too straightforward and easily offended people. The concubines did not like him very much, but when something happened, they really needed him.
One of the two young imperial physicians who had recently arrived was a playboy from an imperial physician family, and the other was a female physician who disguised herself as a man to revive the declining family.
There is another one, who is the chief of the Imperial Hospital.
The first episode tells the story of the highly respected Imperial Physician Ouyang retiring and returning to his hometown. Five people all want to compete for the top position, and each of them has some advantages and backgrounds, so the palace begins to stir, causing one ridiculous thing after another.
But in the first episode, none of the five people competed for the top position.
There was a commotion in the harem and the emperor was in a very difficult situation. Several powerful concubines and even the empress all had their own plans. Just at this time, the general returned victoriously. The emperor asked him what reward he wanted, and the general only made one request.
He said that the military doctor who was accompanying him had saved his life and had broken his leg when he fell off a cliff while collecting life-saving herbs. It was not good for him to wander around outside, so he asked the emperor to grant him a favor as a military doctor.
The emperor readily agreed.
Thus, this strict military doctor, who came from a very rural background and limped along, unexpectedly crossed the golden threshold of the imperial palace and became the airborne chief of the Imperial Medical Academy.
In this Imperial Medical Academy, even those with the most humble backgrounds, such as Imperial Physician Song, were born into a legitimate official family, but their official positions were ordinary. However, this new Chief Imperial Physician came from the poorest and most difficult place, and had been through swords, spears, and halberds. He was out of place in this place, but he had his own way of doing things.
Thus, this story with many conflicts and contradictions began. Su Ning was a little sleepy today. Two consecutive meetings during the day were a bit tiring. He leaned on Shen Mingzheng, but after watching for a while, he became much more sober.
"Happy Events in the Imperial Hospital" is a successful comedy. Yan Kai has included many gags and jokes in it, but so many comedic effects have not obliterated the logic of his story itself, and even reflected the cruelty of the court in some details.
Yan Kai didn't write it so deeply at the beginning. He got some inspiration from the crew of "The White Hands Covering the Sky" next door. In addition, many actors from the crew of "The White Hands Covering the Sky" have made guest appearances in this drama, even Ye Qiuxin has been there. It can be said to be a dream connection. Who can make the bosses of both sides be family?
When this drama was released, compared to the main characters in "White Hands Covering the Sky", they were truly unknown. The only film and television works produced by Yan Kai Studio before were some short dramas on the Internet. Because there was not much budget, they were visibly rough. But this serious TV series was very different.
Yan Kai does have something in him. He learns very quickly even under pressure, and his works are now very good.
Comedy actually has a wider audience than palace fighting dramas. A drama like Imperial Hospital, which is updated four episodes a week, became popular on short video platforms in the first week because of its dense plot. Yuedong also had good sense and arranged a recommendation for this week.
Even Yan Kai didn't have high hopes for this drama at first. For him, the fact that the average number of episodes of this drama exceeded 10 million and it could be considered a well-received drama was already a great success.
But the average number of views per episode reached 10 million in the second week, and it has been rising ever since. Yan Kai didn't quite believe it at first, and even though he received a lot of calls congratulating him and asking for cooperation, he still felt like he was dreaming.
My own play actually became popular?
He even couldn't help but call Shen Mingzheng in the middle, asking indirectly whether Shen's Film Company had helped to inflate the number of views, otherwise how could it have increased so quickly.
"Why would I inject water into you for no reason? It's all true," Shen Mingzheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he calmed down. "This is just the beginning. By the way, if someone offers you some cooperation for no reason during this period, remember, don't agree to it casually."
Yan Kai: “I know this.”
Shen Mingzheng had discussed with him before that they should be cautious in cooperation. If this movie is really successful, he can use it to send Yan Kai to a bigger stage, even the biggest TV gala every year. So for the sake of better development in the future, it is better to give up the small profit now.
Yan Kai is a sober person, but he became famous all of a sudden, and he also received compliments and envy from people in the circle.
Not only him, several actors in the studio were a little bit proud when it first broke out, although it wasn't to the extent of causing trouble, but it was normal to be a little complacent.
But Yan Kai's swell of confidence did not last long, as Yan Lu's "No Disease" was about to be released, and he started to worry again.
The male lead of this drama is from Yan Kai's studio. He appeared in a few episodes of "The Imperial Hospital's Happy Events", but he was not the main character. Moreover, the Imperial Hospital did not take the route of attracting traffic and fans, so he just made himself a familiar face and did not add much to this movie.
The pressure on this movie is really great, and the investment is not comparable to that of low-cost sitcoms.
He Fan did not get that much investment in the beginning. The budget for this movie was only about 30 million. The actors were paid relatively little and basically no money was given. The main cost was production expenses. Many scenes in the hospital were real scenes, and the cost of building them was very high.
This amount of money is usually enough for a small or medium-budget movie, but later on, they found that 30 million was far from enough. There were some mentally ill people's fantasy scenes in the script that seemed real but not real, so He Fan wanted to do special effects.
The special effects in the movie are very detailed, and they are charged by the second, so it is very expensive to make them. Su Ning looked at her idea and asked Yan Lu for her opinion. If he thought it was necessary, he would increase the price.
He Fan has tried to save as much as possible, but the cost still reached about 55 million. Adding the publicity expenses, the cost of this movie is actually more than 70 million.
According to the box office sharing, the film would need at least 200 million to make back its investment, which was not easy for He Fan as her previous revenues had always been in the tens of millions.
Not only the director was under great pressure, but also the young screenwriter Yan Lu and the actors.
The movie premiered in March and received very good reviews on the day, but the premieres of any movie are always exaggerated, and the audience did not believe the "reputation" at this moment. Afterwards, He Fan took several actors on a roadshow.
Fortunately, "Jiushe" was popular before and gained the most attention. In addition, I went to the theaters in Su'ning personally. The movie is expected to be released during the Qingming Festival in April. This time is not a good time, and it is also relatively cold throughout the year. Fortunately, it was during this time, and when it was first released, it was able to grab about 15% of the screenings on the first day.
The movies released at the same time are foreign blockbusters that have been released for a week, accounting for 30% of the screenings. There are also two new movies, a police and gangster film and an art film. There are also some other miscellaneous films. The competition is not fierce.
Moreover, Su Ning had already provided great help and fully utilized internal resources in the publicity. He achieved great results with every penny spent and invited Li Chu and Lin Zhi from the company to sing the theme song. The song was produced by Shen's Film and was called "Secret".
The drama itself is suspenseful, and the trailers are edited to be mysterious. We dare not reveal the plot, otherwise the audience experience will be bad. The original novel is not well-known, so it was difficult to promote it in the early stage. It basically relied on the actors and this episode to gain popularity.
Before the movie was released, the song "Secret" was even more famous than the movie. After all, the fans of Li Chu and Lin Zhi are well-known.
Snowpack is probably the least stressful of the bunch.
She watched the premiere of the movie and felt that her performance in the movie was fine and had improved compared to before, so she felt at ease. Even if the box office of this movie was not as good as expected, she would never regret it.
However, when Jixue was on the roadshow, many people were seen singing covers of this interlude online and in person.
As she listened, she discovered some songs that were sung well and paid attention to them.