"Director Xu, the situation with the TV station is probably not very optimistic; the prices they're offering are very low."
I contacted most of the well-known TV stations in China, and the highest they offered was 200,000 yuan per episode…
That evening, producer Feng Xiaoxia approached Xu Lu and reported the situation.
"I see!"
Xu Lu nodded.
His tone was calm and composed, as if he had anticipated this, and he added:
"It's okay. If the TV station doesn't agree, we'll just skip the TV station and stream it directly on video websites."
During this period, please contact some well-known video websites to see which one is more suitable for our situation.
"Yes, Mr. Xu!"
Feng Xiaoxia nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then said:
"But what I'm worried about now is that video websites will offer even lower prices, since there aren't many viewers for martial arts films these days, and video websites will definitely take that into consideration."
"It's alright, let's make contact with them first. I'll take care of everything!"
Xu Lu smiled, then handed over two copies of the newly recorded songs, saying:
"Since the TV station offered such a low price, it looks like we'll have to handle the publicity and distribution ourselves."
These are the opening and closing theme songs for 'The Return of the Condor Heroes'. Xiaoying sings "Peerless Under Heaven," and I sing "Laughter of the Martial World."
Let's release it on Fireworks Music when the time is right!
"OK."
Feng Xiaoxia already knew about this, so he wasn't particularly surprised.
He simply didn't know how the two songs actually sounded.
After all, there are only three people who have heard these two songs so far, including the recording engineer.
"Mr. Xu, if there's nothing else, I'll head back now!"
Seeing that Mr. Xu across from him seemed to have nothing more to arrange, Feng Xiaoxia spoke up.
"Okay, you can go back first... Uh, wait a minute, there's something I forgot to mention."
Xu Lu nodded, but quickly called out to the other person again, saying:
"Here's the thing, have Xiaojun cut out a music video from the existing resources of 'The Condor Heroes' and release it in conjunction with the song 'Peerless Under Heaven'."
Xiaoying is the first music artist signed by Daxu Culture, so she should have all the resources she needs. Besides, this is also a way to promote 'The Condor Heroes'.
Feng Xiaoxia wrote it down and said:
"Mr. Xu, I'll have Xiaojun edit the music video first, and then I'll let you take a look at it before deciding on its release."
...
Despite the fierce competition among the various television stations in Daxia, the station directors might actually be good friends.
For example, Hu Jiutian and Zhou Wenli are the directors of two different television stations, but they have a very good relationship in private.
It was late at night, and the two were chatting via video call. Soon, they started talking about purchasing TV series.
"Old Hu, did that 'Condor Heroes' come to your TV station? It's the one directed by that young director named Xu Lu."
Zhou Wenli asked.
Hu Jiutian nodded on the other end of the video call and casually said:
"They came over yesterday, but to be honest, our station doesn't have the budget to purchase martial arts dramas recently, so we turned them down directly."
"Actually, we are quite interested in martial arts dramas or period dramas, but the price they asked for was too high!"
Zhou Wenli said this.
"How high do you want it? Hundreds of thousands per episode?"
"The young man they came to talk to asked for 500,000 yuan per episode, and that wasn't even for an exclusive broadcast."
"If they want exclusive broadcasting, they'll have to add another 200,000 yuan on top of that. I think these young people are really money-hungry."
"Who can argue with that? But that young director named Xu Lu was originally a filmmaker."
He probably thought TV dramas and movies were the same thing, and that it must have cost a lot of money to make!
"No matter how much money he spent on filming, he can't just ask for 700,000 per episode."
This young man had no precedent for success, so I offered him 180,000 per episode.
"That's really conscientious. There's already a small audience for martial arts films these days, especially since it's made by newcomers..."
...
Actually, it wasn't just these two station directors who were discussing this matter; after all, nothing stays secret forever.
In fact, news of Feng Xiaoxia's setbacks at various television stations had already begun to circulate within the film and television industry.
Everyone is discussing it:
"Young people are still so stubborn. You were making movies perfectly well, why did you have to insist on going into TV dramas?"
"Now things are really messed up. The TV series we produced won't sell, and we're going to lose a fortune."
"Hehe, this director named Xu Lu may have some talent, but he probably chose the wrong direction this time."
The television drama market is already shrinking, and he's making even more niche martial arts dramas; it's no wonder they're not selling well.
"Actually, if it's a TV series directed by a famous director, it's not a problem to sell it for a million or so per episode these days."
But this guy is a newcomer, and the TV station is only paying him 200,000 yuan per episode, probably because of the success of his movie.
"Yes, but the pace of TV series and movies is quite different. It's still uncertain how Xu Lu will be portrayed."
"I heard that the production team of 'The Return of the Condor Heroes' spent at least 20 million yuan in the early stages."
If they were to produce 40 episodes, they would need to sell each episode for 500,000 yuan just to break even.
I've heard that the highest price the TV station is offering is only 200,000 yuan per episode, and there's still a shortfall of over 10 million yuan.
...
The general pessimism among industry insiders seems to have cast a shadow over 'The Return of the Condor Heroes'.
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