"I was almost knocked out by him using 50 million US dollars!"In a phone call with Chen Ziyan, Lu Yanhe said in shock, "Finally someone has come up with so much money to throw at me."
Chen Ziyan's reaction was "Uh--", and then she said: "If I said that many domestic film and television companies actually came to you with hundreds of millions of contracts to write and direct a play, but I rejected them all, would you be angry?"
Lu Yanhe: "What? I thought people in our country were more rational."
"When someone offers you this kind of salary, do you think they are irrational? No, it's because you don't know how much money they can make from you," Chen Ziyan said. "You are the most valuable person."
Chen Ziyan added: "You have actually seen it a long time ago. Rouge and Lost on Journey both brought you nine-digit incomes. The most profitable thing is never one person's salary."
Lu Yanhe: "But that's all... how should I put it, it's real money earned from box office and licensing. No matter how much I earn, I will just think that the project is very successful and I'm lucky, so I can earn so much. But Zhong Benshuo came to me with a 50 million US dollar agreement. As long as I am willing to give the broadcasting rights of the sequel of "Squid Game" to Maxine, I can make 50 million US dollars, and the purchase money for the broadcasting rights will be paid separately. I... maybe I am used to doing a little and getting a little. This unexpected windfall made me subconsciously feel uneasy."
"Because we are all influenced by one idea - there is no free lunch in the world." Chen Ziyan summed it up in one sentence, making clear what Lu Yanhe had not made clear just now, "Right? You are actually worried about this matter."
"Correct!"
Chen Ziyan: "Let me put it this way. I'm not surprised that Zhong Benshuo brought this 50 million US dollar agreement. You don't know what "Squidward Idol" means to Maxine. In fact, to be precise, from "Friends" to "The 17th Floor" to "Squidward Idol", these series have brought Maxine several times or even dozens of times the cost of purchasing them. And how popular "Squidward Idol" is in the world, not just the number of viewers, but the same reason, have you forgotten? A hit drama is a catalyst for a video platform, a catalyst for stock prices."
Lu Yanhe suddenly came to his senses.
He indeed overlooked this aspect again.
"Then you know what a hit drama series means to a platform like Maxine," Chen Ziyan said. "It is a drama that broke the historical record."
Hearing this, Lu Yanhe took a deep breath.
Chen Ziyan: "For other creators, if they encounter such a big hit, even if they don't do it themselves, investors, producers, platforms, agents, etc. will urge them to give up other works and devote themselves to this work wholeheartedly. But for you, it's different. Each of your works has been a hit to varying degrees. You are an actor, a screenwriter, and a director, and you are sought after by all walks of life. Even I can't tell which identity you should focus on now. For you now, any identity is indispensable. So next, will you give priority to the movie "Those Years" or the sequel to "Squid Game"? As the representative of Maxine and the contact person for the "Squid Game" project, Zhong Benshuo must first ensure that the project will continue to stay in Maxine, and secondly, ensure that the project will continue to move forward and will not be delayed by your other projects. This is the significance of the 50 million US dollars."
Lu Yanhe let out a long sigh.
"Will you write the script for the second season of Squidward Gamble this year?" Chen Ziyan asked.
Lu Yanhe thought about it, nodded, and said, "I will write it, but it may not be finalized."
After all, when he traveled through time, there was no second season of Squid Game, so he had to write it himself. He had never written an original script before, but he had added some original content when writing the script. These were two different things. Lu Yanhe didn't know if he could write it, but he wanted to try first.
Chen Ziyan: "Then... have you ever considered switching to another platform? For example, HP?"
Lu Yanhe shook his head and said, "I haven't thought about it. Success is not so easy to copy. Squid Game has already been a hit on Maxine, so why should I change it so easily? I don't want to have too much personal relationship with Zhong Benshuo. This is a personal matter between him and me. Maxine itself is a very good streaming media, and it has never treated me badly, right?"
"Well, it's good that you think so." Chen Ziyan said, "Zhong Benshuo... I have dealt with him several times, and the impression he gave me was not very positive. He is a typical, sophisticated egoist, but there is no need for us to make value judgments on others. A sophisticated egoist can also be a collaborator with common interests, but for such people, I think it's really just cooperation, and there is no need to develop any friendship beyond that. You are now naturally wary and defensive of him, which is very good."
Lu Yanhe laughed.
Chen Ziyan bluntly expressed her dislike for Zhong Benshuo, which made Lu Yanhe feel the same way.
Similarly, this also made Lu Yanhe want to laugh.
Chen Ziyan suddenly said, "In the second season of Squid Game, the cast has been almost completely reshuffled except for Jiang Jun and Liu Zefan. There will be a lot of trouble in the future."
Lu Yanhe smiled.
"Have you watched the third season of Friends?" Chen Ziyan asked.
Lu Yanhe shook his head.
When "Friends" was being broadcast, he was filming "Love Letter". He was so busy every day that he had no time to watch the third season of "Friends".
Chen Ziyan said: "The ratings plummeted, and later on, no one was discussing it online."
Lu Yanhe was stunned.
"The third season has not yet been released on domestic video platforms. I guess there was a problem with the investment in the online broadcast, so it was frustrated." Chen Ziyan smiled in relief. "You may not imagine how much the ratings of the third season will drop. The seventh episode has dropped to only ."
Lu Yanhe showed an expression of disbelief.
"No way?"
After all, it had a foundation for a big success, so why did it collapse like this?
Chen Ziyan: "I haven't watched every episode. Their reputation has collapsed to such a state, and they insist on only broadcasting one episode a week, and they don't even upload it to video platforms at the same time. I want to see how bad it is, but I have no way to watch it."
Lu Yanhe looked at Chen Ziyan in surprise and was stunned for a long time.
-
Lu Yanhe really didn't expect that "Friends" would be turned out like this by Beijing and Taiwan.
"Squid Game" is indeed very popular in China, but compared with the original "Friends", it is still a little behind.
"Squidward: Reign" is only popular among young people, unlike "Friends", which has become a social phenomenon. Every media is using the characters and plot of "Friends" to discuss values and issues.
It can be said that the phenomenal level of "Friends" in China is incredible. With such a basic drama, Lu Yanhe couldn't understand why the third season was so bad that the ratings fell below the bottom line of Beijing and Taiwan.
He searched the Internet for relevant reviews to see what people were saying about the show. Once he read it, he realized how much people were resentful of the third season.
All the criticism was directed at the third season's director Gao Bohua.
There are basically no clips on the Internet that are longer than one minute.
Clips longer than one minute would probably infringe copyright, so we didn’t include them.
Lu Yanhe clicked on several parts that were criticized the most. One was that the new character played by Zhang Lan competed with Li Lili for a man, which became one of the main plots of the third season. Another was that the third season also introduced the character of Chen Wanqiu's ex-boyfriend, who suddenly turned around and pursued Chen Wanqiu again. The theme of the third season suddenly became a love drama. Because of this, he was criticized like crazy.
Not only that, many people are saying that every time they watch an episode of the third season, they like these characters less. Because they used to have a filter for the characters who accompanied us in the first season, they could still endure and stick with it even if a nasty fly appeared in the second season. Now the third season is completely uglier than the characters they like.
Just like the white moonlight in my heart, they have gained weight and become greasy middle-aged uncles and noisy middle-aged aunts.
When seeing this description, Lu Yanhe inexplicably understood everyone's feelings.
-
"Is the filming of "Wulin Wai Zhuan" finished? How's the post-production going?"
That day, Hu Siwei asked Bai Jingnian to come out, and the two friends of many years sat together to have a drink and chat.
Bai Jingnian nodded and said, "The post-production of this drama is easy and has basically been completed. It is expected to be broadcast this summer."
Hu Siwei asked: "I heard it will be broadcasted in three seasons?"
"Yes." Bai Jingnian nodded, "But in fact, we have already filmed half of the content, and we will start filming the other half this year."
Hu Siwei: "That's great. Are you going to broadcast one season each year for these three seasons?"
"Yes." Bai Jingnian nodded, "This is also good, no pressure."
"Everything is going smoothly for you since you left Beijing and Taiwan," Hu Siwei said with a smile.
"To be honest, I have to thank you, Lao Hu. If you hadn't supported me in doing the project of "Friends" and asked Lu Yanhe to revise the script, I might have really only been able to retire in Beijing and Taiwan without doing anything." Bai Jingnian said, "Speaking of which, are you still going to continue working in Beijing and Taiwan?"
Hu Siwei was stunned, "Huh?"
"The third season of "Friends" must have dealt you a big blow, right?" Bai Jingnian said.
Hu Siwei lowered his head and smiled, seeming a little embarrassed.
"It's more than a small blow." He sighed, "They held an internal meeting to review the situation, and I, as the producer, was the first to bear the brunt of it."
Bai Jingnian frowned, "Xu Bin pushed you out to take the blame?"
"That's not the case. When we had the meeting, I asked the meeting minutes to record my objections to the third season's adaptation ideas," Hu Siwei said. "But even if I did that, it would be useless. No one listened to me at the time."
"Beijing and Taiwan are just like that."
Bai Jingnian originally wanted to curse a few words, but after looking at Hu Siwei, he fell silent again and gave up.
He said, "You really should consider leaving Beijing and Taiwan. You are so capable, but it's a pity to keep wasting time in Beijing and Taiwan."
Hu Siwei smiled.
"Lao Bai, I'm not you. I'm not a director, and I don't do any creative work. It's easy to say that I'll leave Beijing and Taiwan, but what will I do there?" Hu Siwei smiled bitterly. "I was just a producer on Friends. To put it bluntly, I was a senior financial officer, managing all sorts of things."
Bai Jingnian said seriously: "Yanhe's film and television production company is in need of someone like you."
Hu Siwei looked at Bai Jingnian in surprise.
"what?"
Bai Jingnian: "I'm not just telling you this casually. He complained to me before that when filming the movie Love Letter, his entire team asked friends for help."
Hu Siwei immediately shook his head, "Don't tease me, how could Lu Yanhe's company be short of people? If he wanted to recruit people, the entire entertainment industry would send resumes to his company."
"I'm telling you this seriously," Bai Jingnian said. "As for the future of Lu Yanhe's production company, I don't need to tell you that his company is short of people now. This is a fact. He may not have thought about whether he would continue to be a director in the future, so he didn't recruit real production staff. But anyway, think about it, Lu Yanhe will participate in so many projects, acting in them, writing them himself, and even being a pure producer in the future. He needs someone who knows film and television production very well to help him, and there is no such person around him now. You have always had a good relationship with him. When you two were filming "Friends", you were obviously quite familiar with each other. Why don't you give it a try?"
Hu Siwei fell silent and did not refute.
Bai Jingnian said: "If you are too embarrassed to speak up, I will do it for you."
Hu Siwei immediately shook his head.
"Need not."
Bai Jingnian's words left strong ripples in Hu Siwei's heart, and it took a long time for him to calm down.
-
The third season of "Friends" hit the bottom of the pot. The director was furious, people from other factions laughed at them, and they themselves were also gloomy.
In recent days, one of the most frequently asked questions to Hu Siwei is: Will Friends continue to be filmed? Will there be a fourth season?
Faced with such a question, Hu Siwei didn't know how to answer.
Because he doesn't know either.
In fact, with the third season being broadcast like this, several leading actors have clearly stated that they do not want to participate in the filming of the fourth season before fundamental changes are made. Even if they want to shoot in Beijing and Taiwan, they will face the situation of the absence of the leading actors. It has really become a mess, and there is no way to end it.
Xu Bin called him to the office again.
"Can Friend of Six" be saved?" Xu Bin asked him.
Hu Siwei said: "Unless we can invite Lu Yanhe back, or Bai Jingnian back, given the situation in the third season, even if the fourth season returns to the level of the first season, it may not be able to bring back those viewers."
It is always harder to turn the tide than to pursue a victory. Hu Siwei looked at Xu Bin, the boss with two dark circles under his eyes, and sighed in his heart, thinking, he didn't know how many times he had said before that the director poached from Hollywood couldn't mess around in the third season, but Xu Bin didn't believe him, and believed in the director named Gao Bohua as if he was possessed by a demon and found a life-saving straw.
Now that the third season has been cancelled, Gao Bohua’s film can no longer be seen.
Xu Bin was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "Since we can't save him, forget it."
Hu Siwei looked at him in surprise, not understanding what he meant.
Xu Bin said to Hu Siwei: "Then let's put the project of Friends on hold for now."
Hu Siwei didn't expect that Xu Bin would make the decision to suspend "Friends" so quickly.
It turns out that in Xu Bin’s eyes, could this decision be made so quickly?
Hu Siwei felt silent for a moment, and a little... confused.
In the past, people like those who came from TV stations liked to call themselves “TV people”.
Later, such statements gradually cooled down, were eliminated, and no longer appeared.
Hu Siwei was once proud of his identity as a "television person". When he first joined the company, he really had a period of glory. At that time, he made programs, bought TV series, went on location, and went around the country to find materials that could be broadcast on TV... Hu Siwei felt from the bottom of his heart that this was a place he could fight for his whole life.
Then, the Internet age arrived.
When the first season of "Friends" achieved such dazzling success, Hu Siwei was thinking about nothing else but that they had finally... finally found a way for the TV station to continue.
It should be broadcasted exclusively.
As long as the best content is available, TV or mobile phone are just carriers for viewing.
Hu Siwei was confident that the series "Friends" could last at least five or six seasons.
Because this is different from the content of ordinary dramas, this is a sitcom with almost no main line. As long as you are familiar with this group of leading actors, it’s okay if you don’t watch them together continuously.
As long as a group of viewers who like this series are cultivated, the ratings will continue to be the best.
Who knows how long it will continue to shine, just like the last glimmer of light of a dying person.
Xu Bin said to Hu Siwei: "You have worked hard recently, take a rest."
Hu Siwei nodded, glanced at Xu Bin, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Xu Bin saw it, but he didn't ask, just waved his hand and said, "Go and have a rest."
Hu Siwei sighed silently in his heart and left.
-
"A reboot of Friends?"
Lu Yanhe looked at the man who came to see him in shock.
Xu Senjin, director of Yuehu TV.
Xu Senjin is 42 years old this year. He has been working in the radio and television system in Yuehu and became station director last year.
Chen Ziyan sat next to Lu Yanhe, smiled at Xu Senjin, and said, "Tai Xu, the copyright of "Friends" is in the hands of Jingtai, not us."
Xu Senjin said: "Ms. Chen, as long as Yan He is willing to return to "Friends", we will take care of the rest."
Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan looked at each other.
This director, who also came from a first-tier TV station, felt very different from the several TV station directors Lu Yanhe and his team had met before.
Some people have a kind of courage that makes people know they are capable of getting things done at first glance, and Xu Senjin is such a person.
Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan looked at each other.
Xu Senjin said: "Yan He, if you have any concerns, you can tell me directly. I am very sincere and want to make the series of "Friends". Our Yuehu TV has been working hard to develop over the years. It can be said that it is a TV station among the first-tier TV stations that is still focused on content and innovative content. Jingtai did not see the true value of the series of "Friends". Things like the internal strife of Jingtai that unreasonably affected you, I can promise you that as long as I am in Yuehu TV, it will never happen."
Lu Yanhe was silent for a moment, then said, "Director Xu, do you hope that the "Friends" series will continue and be broadcast on Yuehu TV?"
"Yes." Xu Senjin said, "You have absolute autonomy. You have the final say on how to shoot this movie."
-
Xu Senjin's proposal made Lu Yanhe fall into deep thought.
To be honest, the "Friends" series has a very different meaning to Lu Yanhe.
He had made a bold statement to quit "Friends" and he kept his word, but he still felt more or less regretful in his heart.
If that incident hadn't happened, "Friends" would have been filmed normally until the third season.
In any case, the ratings won’t be as bad as they are now, right?
"Friends" was his first time to participate in a project as a non-actor. And not just as an editor. As Bai Jingnian told reporters at the time, Lu Yanhe participated in the casting, participated in the discussion of the shooting plan, and participated in many aspects of the show. Lu Yanhe made a huge contribution to how "Friends" was going to be filmed and what it was in the end.
Lu Yanhe himself knows best the investment involved.
-
Afterwards, as if to show Lu Yanhe their sincerity, Yuehu TV broadcast the two TV series "Phoenix Station" and "River of Silence" in succession. Not only that, it also bought the TV broadcasting rights of "Three Mountains", "Late Spring", "Lost on Journey", "Rouge Button" and "Road to Glory", and made a column "Lu Yanhe Film Week", which was broadcast from Monday to Friday.
Lu Yanhe was impressed by Yuehutai's operation.
These dramas are bought by TV stations for broadcast, and the copyright fees are calculated based on the number of times they are played.
You have to pay once you play it.
Except for the first season of "Friends", "The Golden Age" and "The Seventeenth Floor", which they could not buy the rights to, they broadcast all the ones they could buy.
This operation has also been noticed by many people.
"Does Yue Hutai like Lu Yanhe so much?"
"Are they... going to cooperate with Lu Yanhe?"
For a first-tier TV station to broadcast the works of the same person so intensively is indeed a signal in the eyes of many people.
Of course, no one would think of this incident as related to "Friends".
After repeated exaggerations over the past few years, everyone has automatically separated Lu Yanhe from the "Friends" series.
As for Yuehu Terrace...it has nothing to do with "Friends".
A common speculation is that Lu Yanhe is going to cooperate with Yuehutai on a new project.
Many people went to ask Yue Hutai, and also came to ask Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan.
Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan both replied, no.
-
"Is Lu Yanhe really going to cooperate with Yuehutai?"
At the internal meeting of Beijing and Taiwan, Director Shen Tailin looked at Jiang Lan and asked.
Jiang Lan is currently the only deputy director of Beijing and Taiwan who can form a cooperative relationship with Lu Yanhe.
Jiang Lan shook her head. "I asked them, and they said no, but I don't know if it's true. However, even if they really cooperated with Yuehutai, it wouldn't be surprising."
Shen Tailin: "In the series of "Friends", Lu Yanhe still refuses to come back?"
"I also asked privately." Jiang Lan glanced at Xu Bin, "I also expressed to him that as long as he is willing to return, he will be invited to be the creative consultant of "Friends" this time, with full decision-making power and autonomy. However, he also said it very directly. At the beginning, he said in front of everyone that he would not return to Beijing and Taiwan to participate in "Friends". This is not his personal wish to come back, but he can't say it and regret it. In fact-"
Jiang Lan paused, looked at Xu Bin and other deputy directors, and then said, "The fact that he can speak so frankly makes me feel that he is actually telling the truth. When I talked to him about the second part of "Seventeen Floors", it was basically smooth and we didn't encounter any difficulties. The filming of this drama will start this year."
Jiang Lan said this for no other reason than to implicitly remind Shen Tailin that no matter how much you want to bring Lu Yanhe back to the "Friends" series, don't bother me, because Lu Yanhe still has to continue acting in "The Seventeenth Floor".
The third season of "Friends" was a complete flop, but her "The Seventeenth Floor" is still in full swing in preparation for the second season.
Shen Tailin asked: "Besides "Seventeenth Floor", what other projects does Lu Yanhe have?"
Jiang Lan: "I have read some of the scripts he has, and those that still have copyrights and can be developed into TV series, but for now, none of them seem suitable to me."
Shen Tailin nodded. "What if we ask him to write a sitcom script? Will he come?"
Jiang Lan was silent for a moment. "I need to talk to him to find out. However, Director, Lu Yanhe's current situation is different from the past. Everything else is fine. Basically, he now has the copyrights of all his projects in his own hands. He only sells the broadcast rights, or shares the copyrights of the series with the producers, but he keeps the copyrights of the stories and other derivative developments in his own hands. This is completely different from when he was making Friends."
Shen Tailin nodded.
"If he can write another drama like Friends, all these conditions will be easy to negotiate." Shen Tailin looked at Jiang Lan, "The key is whether he is willing to write it and whether he can write it."
From beginning to end, Xu Bin didn't say a word.
On the one hand, he didn't want to speak, and on the other hand, he also felt that Shen Tailin didn't seem to care about his attitude and opinions.
This is a TV station, an environment that has been passed down from generation to generation for decades. Maybe in some companies, on video platforms like Northern Lights Video, the deputy will still be taught a lesson like a grandson in front of the principal, but in a TV station, this situation is almost impossible. Because no one relies on anyone else for food, everyone eats public food, and usually the power is clearly divided and the hierarchy is strict. But if you don't intend to tear your face apart, you must be "good to me" at ordinary times.
Today, Shen Tailin ignored Xu Bin as if he didn't exist, which was a bit too obvious.
After the meeting, Xu Bin returned to his office with a gloomy face.
He sat in his seat for a while and called Hu Siwei.
"Come here for a moment."
Hu Siwei came to his office.
Xu Bin said, "Lu Yanhe just doesn't want to continue working on Friends. Didn't you have a good relationship with him when you were filming Friends? Go talk to him and see if you can work together on other projects. He has several scripts, and Jiang Lan has read them all, but Jiang Lan doesn't like them and doesn't want to develop them. You can bring them to us and we'll do it."
Hu Siwei was stunned and looked at Xu Bin in disbelief, "Huh?"
Xu Bin said: "What? Is there any problem?"
Hu Siwei saw a bit of angry and paranoid look in Xu Bin's eyes.
So, Hu Siwei suppressed what he wanted to say and didn't say it out loud.
"I'll go contact Lu Yanhe." Hu Siwei said to Xu Bin.
He walked out of Xu Bin's office, stood in the corridor, looked at the light coming through the window at the end of the corridor, and sighed deeply.
The words that Bai Jingnian had said before emerged in his mind again.
-
Before going to bed last night, I suddenly saw Lin Hai Ting Tao's new novel "Reversal", a very famous author who writes sports-themed novels. I have never read his other works before, and this is his first one. It has been serialized to 140,000 words. I thought I could read a theme I have never read before, maybe it would make me sleepy and have a good sleep. As a result, I read the 140,000 words in one breath and caught up with the latest. I like it very much. If you are interested, you can go and read it. (End of this chapter)
