Chapter 395: Discussion.
Five copies of the scripts ‘Love Through Different Times’ were placed on table in a conference rooms
A group of executives from Calf TV and Film sat there since morning and it was only at lunch time they finished reading it.
Due to the script being very important, Wen Fan didn’t let them take it to home since it would be really bad if it was leaked.
‘Love Through Different Times’ would be registered as a copyright but creativity in TV series was mostly, I copy from you, you copy from me, then a story was pieced together with multiple sources.
They could avoid any copyright problem by just changing the characters and setting.
If they wanted to sue, they would have to pay a great price for not even a result.
So the better the script was, the better it would be hidden as it wouldn’t even be sent to the actors before the shooting started.
Calf TV and Film was a well-established company so had a different production team.
There were two great among them, one was controlled by Qi Shoujian while the other was controlled by Wen Fan himself.
They would usually work together and compete with each other, which also stimulated motivation. It was considered as a good model for a TV series production company.
Now sitting in Wen Fan’s office was the production team under him.
The square faced man with glass sitting at the front was Cha Houxin, one of the top producers in TV series.
At his opposite was the director Wei Minggong, who was as famous as Zhou Pu, and was also very good in ancient theme dramas.
Then there was also the publicity manager Shi Siwen, financial manager Diao Bo, and artiste manager Zhu Tao. Those five people were Wen Fan’s main people in Calf TV.
If a boss didn’t have many reliable subordinates, then his days as a boss was numbered.
Wen Fan’s controle of Calf TV was only second to Qi Shoujian but wasn’t any inferior to the company’s boss thanks to this group of elite hhe recruited.
The five people in front of him were the best.
Diao Bo, the financial manager, and Zhu Tao, the artist manager, came from specialized courses but over the year, they had become accustomed to speculating and evaluating scripts as well as putting their own suggestions. They were diversely talented.
After eating their lunch boxes and coffee, Wen Fan said, “Since you guys all read it, let’s talk about it now.”
“This plot is good.” Wei Minggong was the first to speak, “It was a crossing words plot with the rival police officer and thief crossing worlds together and both fell in love with the famous Ming emperors Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Di respectively. Whether it was conflicts or goals, it was all there…”
“This is also a very rare comedy, which is a preference of an audience of all ages! Even I felt like laughing when I read Zhu Yuanzhang ate roasted duck by Xiao Wangzi, let alone the audience.”
“Can the rating be more than 3%?” Wen Fan asked.
“With Teacher Chu’s reputation and Bu Yiyi joining, 3 isn’t a problem.” Wei Minggong said, “If ‘Young Di Renjie’ isn’t as good as expected, I dare to say that we can fight for the rating crown next year.”
“I got it now!” Wen Fan exclaimed, “You’re saying that this TV series must be done with the best standard, right?”
“Of course.” Wei Minggong said, “Otherwise, wouldn’t it be a waste to spend 30 million on the script and 10 million on Bu Yiyi?”
“This project is really too big! The TV series is only 28 episodes but it cost almost 100 million!” The financial manager Dian Bo exclaimed, “We’re not Shanhai Streaming, we can’t do this kind of TV series willy-nilly!”
The market value of Calf TV was less than 3 billion USD, roughly 20 billion Yuan. They usually had 5 TV series and 2 movies in production.
They produced around 20 TV series and 6 movies per year and those alone cost as high as 2 billion Yuan.
Among them, they spent the most on movies as they each took 100 to 150 million.
After all, Calf TV had been dominating the TV series industry for years so if they wanted to develop into a new direction and in movies, they must spend that money.
However, in the past few years under the pressure of several big film companies, Calf TV didn’t have the opportunities to produce movies that had good reviews or did well in the box office.
It was also thanks to their TV series continuing to make money otherwise their film department would be cut because of their losses.
But they also couldn’t do that because movies were the most profitable and popular otherwise why would Weibao Films, Daqi Entertainment and Yanhuang Pictures have much higher market values and were worth billions?
In terms of earning prowess and stability, Calf TV wasn’t much worse than them.
Wen Fan understood that clearly.
So he didn’t care about Diao Bo’s warning, “Our Calf TV must not only make money but also gain influence in the industry. Once ‘Young Di Renjie’ succeeds, we will gain more attention if we follow with ‘Love Through Different Times’!”
“The most important point with this chance is can our cooperation with Teacher Chu go to the next step?” The great producer Cha Houxin said, “The Tale of Hachiko is another good theme, whether it would be a movie or TV Series, there’s room for negotiation!”
“Hehe, you can stop thinking about it.” Wen Fan shook his head, “Can you go through Bu Yiyi again next time? Can you get in contact with Teacher Lu? Teacher Chu’s contract this time was handled by Bu Yiyi and the money went to Bu Yiyi’s bank, it’s clear he doesn’t want to have more contact with us.”
“Who cares? Don’t we have an advantage compared to the others? If we can do it, then great, but if we can’t, what do we lose?” Shi Siwen said.
“Well said!” Wen Fan agreed with a smile.
Toward such a great writer who had a weird temper and disliked contacts with the outside world, Calf TV couldn’t wait forever.
There were so many talented writers and no matter how great ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’ was, could his output and quality be better than seven or eight writers?
Probably not!
Besides, who didn’t know that Mr. Chu’s favorite production was a big one? At the time when they announced ‘Love Letter’, Shanhai Streaming was very generous with it so he gave ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’ to them.
It was said that the condition he set was everything must be the best.
So it was rumored that Shanhai Streaming almost spent 1 billion Yuan for ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’.
Although they grabbed most of the rewards internationally, such a high production had never happened in the Chinese film industry.
That was why Wen Fan didn’t care much about continuing work with Chu Liuxiang.
At least now, they couldn’t compete with a giant like Shanhai Streaming so they probably needed at least many years before they could work with Teacher Chu.
At that time, what the situation would be and whether Chu Liuxiang would be able to write other popular and sensational works, it was a question mark.
Of course, as far as ‘Love Through Different Times’ was concerned, Wen Fan was very satisfied.
The TV series industry was the foundation of Calf TV.
It was very good to obtain the work of Chu Liuxiang even if the price was high, it could stabilize Calf TV’s domination.
“But we have to pay attention to one thing.” Zhu Tao, the silent artist manager spoke up with a frown, “Old Lai is getting more and more unruly, he is relying on Bu Yiyi and Chu Liuxiang and gave me a list of actors. He wants to have a say in the main roles to supporting roles, except the police woman roles he dares not touch.”
“Humph, that guy is known for being domineering and greedy.” Cha Houxin said, “I’ve made a few shows with artists under him and am already fed up with him.”
“Then what do we do this time? We can’t give everything to him, right?” Wei Minggong said in irritation, “We still need to push our own people! Not to mention the others, Zhu Di and Zhu Yunwen, aren’t our actors good enough? It was hard to get a TV series that could push up people!”
Wen Fan didn’t like Lai Haijin to begin with.
He was just a mere agent. Even if he was a top ten agent, what was he up against him?
Now Wen Fan heard that he was being out of line by trying to get involved deeply before anything had started yet. It was like Wen Fan paying for him to cultivate his own people and only him was benefitting.
This obviously couldn’t happen!
While thinking of that, Wen Fan said, “Reject him! We don’t want anyone except Bu Yiyi! I dare him to call off Bu Yiyi from this role!”
Everyone laughed.
How could Lai Haijin give up this opportunity for Bu Yiyi to appear in Teacher Chu’s script?
There was also the 10 million in remuneration, they were earning quite a bit!
“But don’t be rude about it, just say we already made arrangements and look forward to working with them next time.” Cha Houxin warned Zhu Tao.
He was the person that was with Wen Fan since the beginning and was quite capable so he naturally had more authority.
“Okay!”
Zhu Tao also understood.
After all, Lai Haijin wasn’t only Bu Yiyi as he also had many good actors under him and they usually worked together.
It would be bad if they suddenly burned bridges.
Wen Fan didn’t comment on it as he continued, “As for ‘Love Through Different Times’, we must be quick and aim to release it after the Spring Festival, which was just after ‘Young Di Renjie’. On the other hand…”
He turned toward Shi Siwen and said, “You must keep up with the announcement and slowly build the hype around it.”
“For the hype, we can borrow some from Shanhai Streaming.” Shi Siwen grinned, “They are launching large scale promotion of ‘Young Di Renjie’, we have Bu Yiyi and Teacher Chu here, can’t we just ride the wave and save some effort?”
Shanhai Streaming became even stronger after they won against Shining Technology.
‘Miracle in Cell No.7’ kept pushing forward with the box office and reviews were ascending. They were also focusing on promoting the upcoming ‘Young Di Renjie’.
Basically everyone knew there was a blockbuster TV series that would be released in January before the Spring Festival and countless TV series fans were anticipating it.
It was said that Shanhai Streaming annual subscribers had increased substantially.
The nearby people were laughing.
But Wen Fan frowned without anyone noticing.
He really wanted to live a day where his strength wasn’t insufficient and that he wasn’t envying other people’s prestige.
But what could be done?
Shanhai Streaming was just too powerful!
Wen Fan could only look forward to his personal progress and gain a foothold in the film industry, and finally become a true Film industry tycoon.
Only like that, his efforts over the years would be worth it.
Chapter 395: Discussion.
Five copies of the scripts ‘Love Through Different Times’ were placed on table in a conference rooms
A group of executives from Calf TV and Film sat there since morning and it was only at lunch time they finished reading it.
Due to the script being very important, Wen Fan didn’t let them take it to home since it would be really bad if it was leaked.
‘Love Through Different Times’ would be registered as a copyright but creativity in TV series was mostly, I copy from you, you copy from me, then a story was pieced together with multiple sources.
They could avoid any copyright problem by just changing the characters and setting.
If they wanted to sue, they would have to pay a great price for not even a result.
So the better the script was, the better it would be hidden as it wouldn’t even be sent to the actors before the shooting started.
Calf TV and Film was a well-established company so had a different production team.
There were two great among them, one was controlled by Qi Shoujian while the other was controlled by Wen Fan himself.
They would usually work together and compete with each other, which also stimulated motivation. It was considered as a good model for a TV series production company.
Now sitting in Wen Fan’s office was the production team under him.
The square faced man with glass sitting at the front was Cha Houxin, one of the top producers in TV series.
At his opposite was the director Wei Minggong, who was as famous as Zhou Pu, and was also very good in ancient theme dramas.
Then there was also the publicity manager Shi Siwen, financial manager Diao Bo, and artiste manager Zhu Tao. Those five people were Wen Fan’s main people in Calf TV.
If a boss didn’t have many reliable subordinates, then his days as a boss was numbered.
Wen Fan’s controle of Calf TV was only second to Qi Shoujian but wasn’t any inferior to the company’s boss thanks to this group of elite hhe recruited.
The five people in front of him were the best.
Diao Bo, the financial manager, and Zhu Tao, the artist manager, came from specialized courses but over the year, they had become accustomed to speculating and evaluating scripts as well as putting their own suggestions. They were diversely talented.
After eating their lunch boxes and coffee, Wen Fan said, “Since you guys all read it, let’s talk about it now.”
“This plot is good.” Wei Minggong was the first to speak, “It was a crossing words plot with the rival police officer and thief crossing worlds together and both fell in love with the famous Ming emperors Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Di respectively. Whether it was conflicts or goals, it was all there…”
“This is also a very rare comedy, which is a preference of an audience of all ages! Even I felt like laughing when I read Zhu Yuanzhang ate roasted duck by Xiao Wangzi, let alone the audience.”
“Can the rating be more than 3%?” Wen Fan asked.
“With Teacher Chu’s reputation and Bu Yiyi joining, 3 isn’t a problem.” Wei Minggong said, “If ‘Young Di Renjie’ isn’t as good as expected, I dare to say that we can fight for the rating crown next year.”
“I got it now!” Wen Fan exclaimed, “You’re saying that this TV series must be done with the best standard, right?”
“Of course.” Wei Minggong said, “Otherwise, wouldn’t it be a waste to spend 30 million on the script and 10 million on Bu Yiyi?”
“This project is really too big! The TV series is only 28 episodes but it cost almost 100 million!” The financial manager Dian Bo exclaimed, “We’re not Shanhai Streaming, we can’t do this kind of TV series willy-nilly!”
The market value of Calf TV was less than 3 billion USD, roughly 20 billion Yuan. They usually had 5 TV series and 2 movies in production.
They produced around 20 TV series and 6 movies per year and those alone cost as high as 2 billion Yuan.
Among them, they spent the most on movies as they each took 100 to 150 million.
After all, Calf TV had been dominating the TV series industry for years so if they wanted to develop into a new direction and in movies, they must spend that money.
However, in the past few years under the pressure of several big film companies, Calf TV didn’t have the opportunities to produce movies that had good reviews or did well in the box office.
It was also thanks to their TV series continuing to make money otherwise their film department would be cut because of their losses.
But they also couldn’t do that because movies were the most profitable and popular otherwise why would Weibao Films, Daqi Entertainment and Yanhuang Pictures have much higher market values and were worth billions?
In terms of earning prowess and stability, Calf TV wasn’t much worse than them.
Wen Fan understood that clearly.
So he didn’t care about Diao Bo’s warning, “Our Calf TV must not only make money but also gain influence in the industry. Once ‘Young Di Renjie’ succeeds, we will gain more attention if we follow with ‘Love Through Different Times’!”
“The most important point with this chance is can our cooperation with Teacher Chu go to the next step?” The great producer Cha Houxin said, “The Tale of Hachiko is another good theme, whether it would be a movie or TV Series, there’s room for negotiation!”
“Hehe, you can stop thinking about it.” Wen Fan shook his head, “Can you go through Bu Yiyi again next time? Can you get in contact with Teacher Lu? Teacher Chu’s contract this time was handled by Bu Yiyi and the money went to Bu Yiyi’s bank, it’s clear he doesn’t want to have more contact with us.”
“Who cares? Don’t we have an advantage compared to the others? If we can do it, then great, but if we can’t, what do we lose?” Shi Siwen said.
“Well said!” Wen Fan agreed with a smile.
Toward such a great writer who had a weird temper and disliked contacts with the outside world, Calf TV couldn’t wait forever.
There were so many talented writers and no matter how great ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’ was, could his output and quality be better than seven or eight writers?
Probably not!
Besides, who didn’t know that Mr. Chu’s favorite production was a big one? At the time when they announced ‘Love Letter’, Shanhai Streaming was very generous with it so he gave ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’ to them.
It was said that the condition he set was everything must be the best.
So it was rumored that Shanhai Streaming almost spent 1 billion Yuan for ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’.
Although they grabbed most of the rewards internationally, such a high production had never happened in the Chinese film industry.
That was why Wen Fan didn’t care much about continuing work with Chu Liuxiang.
At least now, they couldn’t compete with a giant like Shanhai Streaming so they probably needed at least many years before they could work with Teacher Chu.
At that time, what the situation would be and whether Chu Liuxiang would be able to write other popular and sensational works, it was a question mark.
Of course, as far as ‘Love Through Different Times’ was concerned, Wen Fan was very satisfied.
The TV series industry was the foundation of Calf TV.
It was very good to obtain the work of Chu Liuxiang even if the price was high, it could stabilize Calf TV’s domination.
“But we have to pay attention to one thing.” Zhu Tao, the silent artist manager spoke up with a frown, “Old Lai is getting more and more unruly, he is relying on Bu Yiyi and Chu Liuxiang and gave me a list of actors. He wants to have a say in the main roles to supporting roles, except the police woman roles he dares not touch.”
“Humph, that guy is known for being domineering and greedy.” Cha Houxin said, “I’ve made a few shows with artists under him and am already fed up with him.”
“Then what do we do this time? We can’t give everything to him, right?” Wei Minggong said in irritation, “We still need to push our own people! Not to mention the others, Zhu Di and Zhu Yunwen, aren’t our actors good enough? It was hard to get a TV series that could push up people!”
Wen Fan didn’t like Lai Haijin to begin with.
He was just a mere agent. Even if he was a top ten agent, what was he up against him?
Now Wen Fan heard that he was being out of line by trying to get involved deeply before anything had started yet. It was like Wen Fan paying for him to cultivate his own people and only him was benefitting.
This obviously couldn’t happen!
While thinking of that, Wen Fan said, “Reject him! We don’t want anyone except Bu Yiyi! I dare him to call off Bu Yiyi from this role!”
Everyone laughed.
How could Lai Haijin give up this opportunity for Bu Yiyi to appear in Teacher Chu’s script?
There was also the 10 million in remuneration, they were earning quite a bit!
“But don’t be rude about it, just say we already made arrangements and look forward to working with them next time.” Cha Houxin warned Zhu Tao.
He was the person that was with Wen Fan since the beginning and was quite capable so he naturally had more authority.
“Okay!”
Zhu Tao also understood.
After all, Lai Haijin wasn’t only Bu Yiyi as he also had many good actors under him and they usually worked together.
It would be bad if they suddenly burned bridges.
Wen Fan didn’t comment on it as he continued, “As for ‘Love Through Different Times’, we must be quick and aim to release it after the Spring Festival, which was just after ‘Young Di Renjie’. On the other hand…”
He turned toward Shi Siwen and said, “You must keep up with the announcement and slowly build the hype around it.”
“For the hype, we can borrow some from Shanhai Streaming.” Shi Siwen grinned, “They are launching large scale promotion of ‘Young Di Renjie’, we have Bu Yiyi and Teacher Chu here, can’t we just ride the wave and save some effort?”
Shanhai Streaming became even stronger after they won against Shining Technology.
‘Miracle in Cell No.7’ kept pushing forward with the box office and reviews were ascending. They were also focusing on promoting the upcoming ‘Young Di Renjie’.
Basically everyone knew there was a blockbuster TV series that would be released in January before the Spring Festival and countless TV series fans were anticipating it.
It was said that Shanhai Streaming annual subscribers had increased substantially.
The nearby people were laughing.
But Wen Fan frowned without anyone noticing.
He really wanted to live a day where his strength wasn’t insufficient and that he wasn’t envying other people’s prestige.
But what could be done?
Shanhai Streaming was just too powerful!
Wen Fan could only look forward to his personal progress and gain a foothold in the film industry, and finally become a true Film industry tycoon.
Only like that, his efforts over the years would be worth it.
