Chapter 611 The Wind Vane (Two Chapters Combined) September was a good month for Shang Yechu.
Under Shang Yechu's leadership, Qingping Entertainment has begun negotiations with Little Monster Pictures regarding cooperation. The collaboration will proceed smoothly once Lin Guihua's "Alien Master" wraps up filming.
The collaboration between Qingping Entertainment and Little Monster Pictures is also a case of leveraging each other's strengths to compensate for each other's weaknesses.
Qingping Entertainment's experience in funding, scripts, marketing, operations, and artists far surpasses that of Little Monster Pictures. After all, Little Monster Pictures' main business is online movies and horror films, both of which rely almost entirely on word-of-mouth and have little to do with large-scale marketing.
But Little Monster Pictures also has its strengths. To be precise, in some aspects, its strengths are even greater than those of the three major studios and Qingping Entertainment combined!
After conducting a detailed investigation of Little Monster Pictures, Ji Juntao said to Shang Yechu in a dreamy and dazed tone, "Ye, we're rich."
Little Monster Pictures is one of the few film and television companies in the industry that has already implemented a standardized production process!
This is something that almost no one, from the three leading companies and Qingping Entertainment down to other small, insignificant companies, has been able to achieve.
Lin Guihua's prolific output—producing more films each year than Shang Yechu has ever worked on a single film set—naturally spurred Little Monster Pictures to undergo an industrial transformation.
By this year, Little Monster Pictures has established long-term and stable partnerships with two major visual effects teams in the industry, essentially shedding its early cheap-looking style. This is a stark contrast to Qingdian Entertainment's previous desperate pleas for funding for the visual effects of "Happiness Street, Please Come In!".
Furthermore, Little Monster Pictures has a strict process before filming, including storyboarding, pre-production rehearsals, and special effects planning. This is even more professional than most theatrical releases.
But what astonished Ji Juntao the most was Little Monster Pictures' near-perfect cost control.
No matter how terrible the reviews, Lin Guihua's films always make money. Moreover, the project cycles are extremely short, and the return on investment is incredibly fast. Since her debut in 2014, Little Monster Pictures has produced countless terrible films, none of which have achieved a score of six on Greenban (a Chinese film review website); however, in contrast, over the past five years, Little Monster Pictures' films have maintained a profit margin of over 85%!
It's worth noting that even among theatrical releases, only 10% break even...
Ji Juntao was so jealous his eyes turned red. Although Qingping Entertainment had a good eye for talent, it was inevitable that some of the men and women it cultivated and the films and television series it invested in would become money-losing projects.
Industry insiders often say that Qingping Entertainment is making a fortune quietly, but in reality, those who truly make a fortune quietly never let anyone know!
Filled with jealousy and hope, Ji Juntao asked Shang Yechu, "Could you ask Lin Guihua if she's taking on apprentices? Send our company's incompetent directors and screenwriters to her for some experience. I'd even pay her to help."
Qingping Entertainment invested in several low-budget productions for its directors and screenwriters this year, three of which have been released so far, with only one breaking even. The loss rate is a staggering 66.667%. While the amount of money involved isn't large, it's incredibly frustrating. The directors and screenwriters who lost money actually blamed the company for not providing them with sufficient marketing in their reports.
Isn't that obvious? Doesn't marketing cost money? If you can lose this much money without marketing, wouldn't you lose even more if you spent money on marketing?
Why are these people unwilling to look for the reasons in terms of quality?
Ji Juntao often complained privately that the company's artists, idols, screenwriters, and directors were money-losers, good-for-nothings, and useless. However, Shang Yechu knew that the people below him also often called Ji Juntao an old dog, a tyrant, a dictator, and a lecherous nouveau riche. Despite the harsh insults from below, the surface harmony remained intact. It was unclear whether this was Qingping Entertainment's corporate culture or the corporate culture of all companies.
The struggle between capitalists and workers is endless. Shang Yechu is a shareholder and an artist; she is Ji Juntao's friend and the elder sister of others. Caught in the middle, she can only turn a blind eye and pretend not to know about the grand spectacle of both sides secretly throwing feces at each other.
"Forget it," Shang Yechu said while flipping through the script. "What if you don't learn how to make money from others and end up making a bunch of films that are just trying to defend their green petals? You'll have nowhere to cry then."
Ji Juntao disagreed: "Of course it's not about learning the content, it's about learning the rhythm. If we learn the content, wouldn't that be plagiarism? Why would we need to create a bunch of Yu Bei's apprentices and followers for the company?"
"Hmm?" Shang Yechu raised her eyes and glanced at Ji Juntao, who was eating instant noodles in the video. "Pace?"
"Online movies are paid based on the viewers' effective viewing rate in the first six minutes." Ji Juntao slurped up a mouthful of instant noodles. "Lin Guihua makes money with every single one of her movies, which means that the vast majority of her movies can grab the audience's attention in the first six minutes!"
Shang Yechu put down the script and sat up straight: "Tell me in detail."
Ji Juntao swallowed the instant noodles, took a sip of soup, and leaned on his fork, thinking for a while.
"Haven't you noticed?" Ji Juntao said, "The pace of our time is getting faster and faster."
Concepts like short videos and fragmented reading have become widespread. Social media is becoming increasingly prevalent, and the pace of social life is accelerating. Shang Yechu is certainly aware of this, and she also knows that the pace of society will only accelerate in the future.
Shang Yechu remained silent, but a jolt went through her. She already knew what Ji Juntao wanted to say.
Ji Juntao pondered for a moment, then said with certainty, "In this era, audiences don't have much time to linger for us. But Lin Guihua can make countless audiences linger for six minutes after six minutes."
This is an exceptional skill. Even if it is looked down upon by mainstream directors.
“I have a feeling,” Ji Juntao said slowly, “that the pace of our future works will be faster and faster. The marketing success of ‘Half a Sky’ in the short video market has already proven that this is a blue ocean. If our future works can all have ‘Lin Guihua’s six minutes,’ we can attract a huge number of people.”
Shang Yechu's heart skipped a beat. She knew, of course, that Ji Juntao was right, but…
"If you lure the audience in with an eye-catching opening or clip, but then deliver a bunch of subpar content, aren't you just ruining your reputation?" Shang Yechu immediately questioned. "Once or twice is fine, but if it happens too often, nobody will buy it."
Ji Juntao was taken aback, then chuckled and said, "Do you need to remind me of that? Of course, I'm talking about ensuring quality. We need to film the most eye-catching flower in a flowerbed for the audience to see, not build a section of asphalt on a dirt road and then trick the audience into driving in."
Shang Yechu breathed a sigh of relief. The marketing method Ji Juntao mentioned was actually the most popular marketing tactic a few years later. But as it was used, it went astray and became a means of opportunism.
If Qingping Entertainment wants to take this self-destructive path, Shang Yechu will absolutely not allow it. Fortunately, Ji Juntao isn't that short-sighted.
At this point, Shang Yechu suddenly remembered something: "Old Ji, do you know anything about short dramas?"
"That?" Ji Juntao recalled for a moment, "There used to be those short videos made by netizens online. You mean those?"
"No." Shang Yechu swiped her phone a few times and sent a link to Ji Juntao. "It's this one."
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