In fact, Wei Yang called Li Jiahang over this time, not only to show off and gossip, but also for a serious matter -
The Temptation of Going Home
The last two parts of "Joy of Life" were filmed simultaneously. Although the second part was completed during the summer vacation, post-production began afterwards.
However, since the crew was filming the third season in a row, most of their energy was tied up, which resulted in insufficient manpower and personnel to take charge of post-production. As a result, the progress of the second season was not satisfactory.
At present, Blue Whale is also discussing with the Hunan Provincial TV Station to see if the release date of the second season of "Joy of Life" should be postponed.
Next year's Spring Festival is on February 9th. If the second season of "Joy of Life" is released in January as the opening drama of the new year, there is no need to worry about being affected by the Spring Festival.
But now it seems that the schedule is a bit tight, and the second season of "Joy of Life" may not be completed in early January.
Even if it can be done, the time is too tight, which might affect the quality of editing and special effects production. Moreover, the publicity and promotion will all collide with each other, which will also cause fluctuations.
Therefore, if the second season of "Joy of Life" wants to be launched, the fastest and most suitable time is after the Spring Festival.
But in this case, the advantage of the winter vacation time slot is not so obvious, as the broadcast period coincides with the start of work and school.
Even if the predecessor of "Joy of Life" was very popular and these disadvantages could be ignored to the greatest extent, but when it comes to such a rare super-ace project, who wouldn't want to make it perfect and maximize the benefits?
Therefore, people from both sides proposed to move the second season of "Joy of Life" to the summer vacation, and then put the third season in 2014 as the opening drama of the year.
But in this case, the time interval from the first season is too long, which may affect the momentum accumulated by the previous work.
In addition, although the "Joy of Life" series is no longer what it used to be, it has already reached a tacit understanding with the higher-ups and does not need to worry too much about review, but it is better to be safe than sorry, as things are unpredictable and who knows if there will be any accidents.
The past two years have been a time of great change, with major changes in all aspects. If anything goes wrong, it will be a lot of trouble.
So things are stuck here!
Disagreements arose both within the Hunan Provincial Television Station and within Blue Whale.
Some people advocate cutting the Gordian knot. The second and third seasons of "Joy of Life" will be broadcast after the Spring Festival and during the summer vacation respectively, and it can be completed within about half a year. The sooner it is broadcast, the more at ease it will be.
Some people insist on maximizing profits. A ten-digit project may involve a deal worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars. If they are always afraid of everything, who will bear the losses?
The first season of "Joy of Life" was launched in a hurry due to special reasons, which resulted in the inability to maximize profits. These people don't want to suffer losses again.
Wei Yang has always believed that what you get is real, and he would rather make less money than bear unnecessary risks.
But this matter was not something he could decide. Even if he suppressed the voices within the Blue Whale, he could not control the Hunan TV station. The decision would depend on those station directors.
But no matter what, there is no chance that "Joy of Life" will be released before the Spring Festival, which means that the January 2013 new year slot is vacated.
Wei Yang meant that in January next year, Blue Whale will strongly promote "The Temptation to Go Home".
Since Wei Yang took over the management of Blue Whale, Blue Whale's performance in the winter vacation season has actually been more dazzling than in the summer vacation season.
"My Love from the Star" is okay, it can only be considered as being released at the end of the year, while "East Palace" and the first season of "Joy of Life" were both released during the winter vacation or even the Spring Festival.
In other words, since the winter or winter vacation at the end of 2009, Blue Whale has released popular works.
"My Love from the Star" in late 2009 and early 2010.
"The East Palace" in early 2011.
"Joy of Life" in early 2012.
It can be said that during the winters and winter vacations of these three years, Wei Yang was responsible for the televisions of many families.
In the first year, they had fried chicken and beer on a snowy day. In the second year, the whole family watched Li Chengyin and Xiaofeng wiping tears in front of the TV. In the third year, they watched Fan Xian drinking and writing.
As for the summer, although there are works such as "Come on, Mr. Love" and "Diamond Lover", they are obviously not as popular and impressive as those in winter and winter vacation.
Now the second season of "Joy of Life" has come to a standstill, but it does not mean that Blue Whale has given up on the winter vacation position.
"The Temptation to Go Home" is one of the alternatives!
Compared to the bloody original version, the Blue Whale version of "Temptation to Go Home" is more intense. To put it bluntly, it captures the excitement of revenge Korean dramas.
The scumbag men and women should be more coquettish, the male protagonist and other villains should be worse, the female protagonist should be more miserable in the early stage, and the revenge methods in the later stage should be ruthless and heartbreaking, digging deep into the routine of suppressing first and then praising.
Of course, due to the limitations of domestic television platforms, dark revenge methods such as murder and framing cannot be used, but sowing discord, business wars, reporting, etc. are allowed.
Revenge themes like "The Temptation to Go Home" are naturally more popular among young audiences, otherwise it would not have become so popular again and even became a hot topic on the Internet.
It’s just that the original screenwriter and producer is the master of shocking dramas, Jian Zhongxin. This guy’s style of work is to mix in some shocking and bloody plots, and is deeply loved by middle-aged and elderly women.
Blue Whale’s approach is different from his, and it cannot ignore the perception of young audiences, which is the company’s largest audience group.
As mentioned before, Wei Yang is prepared for the ratings of "Temptation to Go Home" to be lower than the original version, but the online broadcast and word of mouth must perform well.
The male lead of this drama, Hong Shixian, is played by Li Jiahang. In addition, the plot has been modified so that the female lead does not have a new boyfriend, but only has a bootlicker or friends to help her.
After her revenge in the finale, she chose to leave the city and start a new life, which is very unique.
To be honest, Wei Yang finds this role very attractive and he may gain many fans in the future.
He once wanted Tang Yan to play the role, but this little girl was unlucky. She took on a silly and sweet drama and had to film "Joy of Life" at the same time, so her schedule could not be changed.
So Wei Yang still let the original actress Choo Ja-hyun play this role.
It just so happened that Wei Yang wanted Liu Shishi to play in "Mu Mansion Fengyun", and "Legend of Dance and Music" would probably have nothing to do with her, so this drama could be considered as compensation to her.
Although this drama was originally starred by Qiu Xiuyan in her previous life...
Wei Yang gave the role of the second female lead [You are so sexy] Ellie to Liu Yan.
Coincidentally, when casting was underway, Wei Yang happened to have a scene opposite Liu Yan. He was not satisfied with the actor information sent by the crew, and then he saw Liu Yan struggling to button her clothes.
The dress that the costume designer made for her was a little small and would easily break apart.
Wei Yang suddenly felt that this role was quite suitable for Liu Yan, who had played many similar green tea sexy girls.
If Liu Yan had played Ellie, she wouldn't have needed to say any words in the famous pajamas scene. She could have just changed into a low-cut outfit and the role would have come to life.
Although Liu Yan has gained popularity due to "Joy of Life", her main job is still a host and she is not picky about film contracts, rankings, and roles.
Not to mention, Blue Whale's dramas are still valuable. Although the second female lead has some flaws, she can still attract many artists.
At least Liu Yan didn't show any disdain. Instead, she accepted it happily and felt that she was lucky to have "picked up" this role.
Qiu Xiuyan is not very famous at the moment, but it is easier for an outsider to chant sutras. As long as she is a popular Korean actress, no one will come out to find fault with her.
After "Joy of Life", "Love Apartment" and "Soul Ferry", Li Jiahang has been very popular with the audience and has a strong reputation, and can barely stand on his own.
With the addition of Liu Yan and several famous supporting actors, "The Temptation to Go Home" had a good lineup and was successfully acquired by the Hunan Provincial TV Station for the exclusive broadcasting rights at a relatively satisfactory price, while the online copyright was acquired by the renamed iQiyi.
Because this website is more keen on producing its own dramas, many of them are acquired through copyright distribution, and exclusive copyrights are rarely purchased. To put it bluntly, it is a bit stingy.
Blue Whale's dramas have always been very popular in the market.
LeEco always spends huge amounts of money, and now there is another tycoon, who looks calm and not as wealthy as Boss Jia, but in fact his bids are frighteningly high.
Although Youku does not have a big financial backer, it is the industry's number one video website after all. It has also been listed on the stock market, so it has a strong foundation and has frequent interactions with Blue Whale.
Tudou and Sohu have shown signs of decline, but they are occasionally willing to spend some money to make up for the losses, especially Sohu, which tasted success with "Eastern Palace" before and is not very willing to take risks on other dramas, but still has trust in Blue Whale.
This also means that works related to Blue Whale or Wei Yang are difficult to get if you don't have enough money.
As a result, iQiyi suffered repeated setbacks, until this time when "The Temptation to Go Home" was not well received by the outside world, it gritted its teeth and bought it for 35 million yuan.
By the end of 2012, the competition for online broadcast rights had reached a fever pitch.
At the beginning of the year, the first season of "Joy of Life" refreshed everyone's cognition with a single episode price of 1.875 million and a total of 75 million.
Immediately afterwards, Si Yatou's "Palace 2" was sold to Penguin for 68.5 million.
Read the original text at Liu#9@书/吧!
Damn, when this price came out, Wei Yang was so angry that he kept cursing that "Joy of Life" was sold at a low price.
If he had known this earlier, he would have fired the person in charge if the price of Joy of Life was less than 80 million...
But to be honest, the reason why the dead girl can be sold at such a high price is that "Palace" made Da Mimi famous.
A phenomenal work + a top star, the sequel to "Palace" was originally a hot commodity, and it was produced by Si Yatou, a popular producer second only to Wei Yang, and it was not much different from "Joy of Life" at the time.
On the other hand, Wei Yang helped a lot. The sales of "Joy of Life" were so high that it broke the market ceiling. Other popular works will definitely increase in price accordingly.
What's more, there are also competition reasons. LeTV has "Joy of Life", and other websites also want to have a blockbuster drama that can compete with it, which gives that dead girl another reason to raise prices.
This behavior of "aiding the enemy" was not Wei Yang's original intention, but it was difficult to avoid.
Fortunately, the first season of "Joy of Life" performed well, and LeTV did not lose money by getting 75 million yuan.
However, the poor reputation and mediocre performance of "Palace 2" made Penguin very angry, and also caused the influence and value of "Dead Girl" on major websites to drop sharply.
He wanted to ask for such a high price for his new drama and "Palace 3" again, but no one paid any attention.
In comparison, the online broadcasting rights for the second and third seasons of "Joy of Life" are still in the hands of Blue Whale, and it is bound to set a new record.
It's not just "Joy of Life" that has increased in price. For example, "The Chef of Flower" and "Diamond Lover" produced by Blue Whale in the middle of the year are both considered to be the top prices in the industry.
The stable performance of these two dramas further consolidated and strengthened the brand of Blue Whale, creating a virtuous circle.
Therefore, even the not-so-popular "Temptation to Go Home" allowed iQiyi to "pick up a bargain", with the price of a single episode exceeding one million, and the total price exceeding 35 million. Many popular dramas outside may not be able to sell at this price.
The reason why iQiyi was able to take advantage of this opportunity is that several other companies were not optimistic about "Temptation to Go Home", but the more important thing is that there are better projects out there.
Everyone’s funds were tied up, and only iQiyi felt that it could not compete with other websites, so it settled for the second best and took over the least favored "Temptation to Go Home".
Not to mention "Joy of Life 2", LeTV, Penguin, and Youku are all eyeing it covetously.
With 80 million, you probably don’t qualify to join the game. If it’s less than 100 million, there’s no need to embarrass yourself.
Another drama that is more popular than "Temptation to Go Home" is "The Imperial Coroner" starring Zhao Xiao.
Zhao Xiaoming plays the leading role in this drama. The male lead Han Dong previously played Lao Jiu in "Startling by Each Step" and Shi Jin in "Water Margin", and is quite popular.
This guy graduated from a civil engineering major and was lucky enough to become an actor. In the early days, he was a minor actor in Beijing, and later he managed to make it.
His nickname is "The No. 1 Brother in Hengdian". It is said that he only rested for 4 days out of 365 days a year, and spent the rest of the time filming in Hengdian. He has almost no scandals and is quite popular.
Wei Yang had a pretty good impression of him. Although this guy was close to the dead girl, he also had a lot of connections with Tangren and had filmed both the Beijing and Shanghai circles.
There are many actors like this in the circle, or it can be said that most of them are like this "people who can get along with everyone".
Wei Yang and Dead Girl are considered the two biggest names on the small screen right now, and they have many projects on hand. Unless they are their own direct people, other actors are basically used in conjunction with each other.
If Wei Yang saw an actor who had acted in a movie with Dead Girl or was slightly close to her, he wouldn't do it.
As for the new generation of actors, two-thirds of the famous ones cannot be cooperated with. The same goes for Dead Girl. Actors who have cooperated with Blue Whale or Wei Yang are "banned", so they can only go to Beijing Film Academy and Central Academy of Drama to recruit students.
Even the Shanghai Theatre Academy is not a good choice. Many newcomers from the Shanghai Theatre Academy like to play supporting roles in the Blue Whale series of dramas, and there are only a handful of people who have not worked with them.
So even though everyone is unhappy, these actors will not be involved, and the fight will only be limited to the two parties themselves and their direct people.
Even the direct lineage members on both sides didn't want to make things so awkward. For example, Wei Yang liked Chen Yao very much, and that little girl had been coveting Rouba, Qiao Zhenyu, and Xiao Zhao for a long time.
If both sides relaxed the restrictions, I'm afraid that Si Yatou would have invited Xiao Zhao, Qiao Zhenyu and others to film a movie long ago.
Han Dong, a non-direct descendant, is not on Wei Yang's list. He even starred in Tangren's "Startling by Each Step" and "The Desert Ballad". So far, Tangren's faction is better than that of the dead girl.
In "The Imperial Coroner", Wei Yang gave him a chance, but he mainly supported Xiao Zhao.
This drama is also a typical sweet drama. The heroine is soft and cute, but she is not purely naive and has strong professional abilities.
The setting of this drama is actually somewhat similar to "Chef Fang in Flower Garden", except that it lacks the gourmet cooking elements and has more suspense, reasoning and some forensic settings.
With the success of the two dramas "Come on, Mr. Love" and "Chef Fang in Flower House", this drama naturally became a hot commodity.
Unconsciously, although Xiao Zhao is not as popular as Liu Shishi and Da Mimi, with her distinctive sweet girl style, in the eyes of many people, she has the capital to carry the show.
The TV rights are okay, but the online broadcast rights are much more eye-catching than "The Temptation to Go Home".
Since it is clearly targeting young audiences, and Zhao's two previous dramas had great performance and discussion, major websites have generously donated money.
The minimum guarantee is 40 million, and if the second season of "Joy of Life" does not come out, it is expected to reach 50 million.
If the drama "The Imperial Coroner" continues to be popular, Xiao Zhao's position will be completely secure.
It has been said many times before that the essence of a celebrity is a commodity.
The so-called status, fame and popularity are only one aspect, the most important thing is the profit value it brings.
As the lead actress, Zhao's drama can sell for a lot of money, which proves her ability. Even if her popularity and fame are inferior and her personal commercial value is mediocre, in the eyes of many people she is comparable to Shi Mi, or even better.
Many people attach great importance to "The Imperial Coroner", including those within Blue Whale. If all goes well, it may even be promoted to the top.
But no one knows that as the boss of Blue Whale, Wei Yang is always more optimistic about "Temptation to Go Home".
He even intervened and allowed "The Imperial Coroner" to be broadcast at the end of the year, and secured a spot for "The Temptation to Go Home" as the opening drama of the Hunan Satellite TV...
(End of this chapter)