"I'm sorry, Mr. Xu, the buyout price of five million is the maximum sincerity we can offer."
For collaborators like you who have no prior successful precedents, we've already taken a huge risk..."
The man across from me in the office is a manager at a video website.
When Xu Lu and Feng Xiaoxia approached him about collaborating on having "The Return of the Condor Heroes" streamed on his website, this guy only quoted a price of five million.
And what's more, they said it was a buyout of the copyright, meaning that after paying five million, the broadcasting rights for the entire 48-episode series of The Return of the Condor Heroes were given away.
You should know that the price offered by the TV station can reach 200,000 yuan per episode. If we calculate based on 48 episodes, that would be nearly 10 million yuan!
Xu Lu didn't say anything after hearing this.
Feng Xiaoxia immediately said with a displeased expression:
"Manager Qi, your quote is far from sincere. Our Condor Heroes production team spent more than five million on filming. You know, this is a big-budget production, not something those small workshops can compare to..."
"Hey... Mr. Feng, you might not be right. Small workshops have their advantages. Their expenses and costs are much lower!"
You call yourselves big-budget productions, but I bet a large portion of the budget goes to personnel. How much of that is actually spent on filming?
Qi Lie interrupted directly:
"Moreover, you're filming a martial arts drama, and everyone knows that martial arts is in decline now, with very few viewers, unless it's by those veteran martial arts masters..."
Moreover, even adaptations of works by renowned martial arts masters aren't guaranteed to be well-received by audiences, unless the adaptation earns seven or more martial arts tokens—only then is it worthwhile!
Upon hearing this, Feng Xiaoxia laughed and said:
"Manager Qi, you probably haven't been paying much attention to the martial arts world lately, have you? To tell you the truth, the works of those martial arts masters are completely incomparable to our Condor Heroes."
Don't rush to refute me. Let me just give you one statistic: our novel *The Return of the Condor Heroes* achieved a record of nine Jianghu tokens. Which existing martial arts master has that level of achievement?
"Nine Jianghu tokens? Mr. Feng, are you serious?" Qi Lie looked incredulous.
Although he is not considered a member of the martial arts circle, he has seen many martial arts dramas and therefore has some understanding of this area.
In Qi Lie's impression, TV series adapted from martial arts novels that have a rating of six or more Jianghu tokens generally have a good reputation after airing.
As for those seven or eight yuan Jianghu tokens, as long as the adaptations aren't drastically altered, the audience will generally accept them.
But this guy surnamed Feng in front of me is talking about nine Jianghu tokens, which is a bit ridiculous.
It should be noted that none of the current martial arts masters have achieved such an honor. Those who have won nine Jianghu tokens are all grandmasters of martial arts who have either retired from writing or passed away.
Feng Xiaoxia had clearly anticipated Qi Lie's reaction.
At this moment, he nodded and said:
"If Manager Qi doesn't believe it, just log on to the Wuxia Novel Association's official website and you'll know whether it's true or not."
Upon hearing this, Qi Lie didn't stand on ceremony and immediately turned on the computer next to him.
He quickly took a deep breath.
Because he saw the content on the official website of the Wuxia Novel Association, this novel called 'The Condor Heroes' did indeed receive the terrifying rating of nine Jianghu tokens.
"I'm sorry, I underestimated the quality of your production. Five million was indeed too low!"
Qi Lie finally let out a breath and slowly opened his mouth, but he quickly changed the subject, saying:
"But as you all know, the martial arts market isn't doing well these days. Even adaptations of works by grandmasters might not appeal to young audiences, so..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xu Lu, who hadn't said much until now, suddenly said:
"Besides direct pricing, does your website have other revenue-sharing models, such as pay-per-click?"
"Um, Mr. Xu, our website only operates on the first model. As for the pay-per-click revenue sharing model you mentioned, we do not have that model."
However, now that we know the quality of this 'Divine Condor' you have, our price will definitely be more than five million. I'll name a price..."
Qi Lie had just finished speaking when Xu Lu unexpectedly stood up.
Feng Xiaoxia, who was standing to the side, also stood up and said with a smile:
"Excuse me, Manager Qi, you probably don't know, but our Condor Heroes production team invested over 20 million in filming costs. Even if your website offers a higher price, it shouldn't exceed that amount, right?"
Hearing this, Qi Lie also felt a little embarrassed and said:
"Ahem, that's true. A budget of 20 million is only available for popular dramas, especially niche genres like martial arts!"
...
After leaving the company where the video website was located, Xu Lu and Feng Xiaoxia got into the car together.
"Mr. Xu, this is the third video website we've approached, and none of them can offer a price!"
These people really have no taste. If our Condor Heroes gets nine Jianghu Tokens, the audience will absolutely love it…
Feng Xiaoxia said somewhat dejectedly.
Actually, compared to the producer's frustration, Xu Lu was much more in good spirits, and suddenly said:
"Xiaoxia, let's broaden our horizons. Since these video websites can't afford the price, how about we buy one and broadcast it ourselves?"
"Buy a website?"
Hearing this, Feng Xiaoxia was truly shocked.
Xu Lu nodded and said:
"That's right! Let's buy a video website that's about to go bankrupt and is ready to be sold. We'll broadcast our own Condor Heroes!"
"Isn't this... a bit too much of an investment, Mr. Xu?"
Feng Xiaoxia said hesitantly.
He's just a producer; he has absolutely no understanding of buying video websites.
But Feng Xiaoxia really admired Mr. Xu's boldness.
Because other video websites couldn't offer a price, and Shen Diao didn't want to sell to those equally stingy TV stations, he actually planned to buy a video website and run it himself.
Such a grand gesture is probably unmatched by many.
While Feng Xiaoxia was still hesitating, Xu Lu had already made the decision, saying:
"The investment won't be huge; it's just the cost of buying the website and the cost of subsequent maintenance."
Buying a video website that's about to go bankrupt should only cost tens of millions, which isn't a lot, and the company can easily afford it.
Our video website is different from other websites; we don't need to spend money to grab users.
Through my conversations with the heads of these video websites today, I discovered that none of them have the concept of paid memberships...
Looking at the eloquent Mr. Xu in front of him, Feng Xiaoxia couldn't help but feel uneasy:
"Judging from Mr. Xu's confident demeanor, it doesn't seem like a spur-of-the-moment decision at all!"
Had he been considering this for a while, and only brought it up now?
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