Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 293 I Don’t Want to Play with You Anymore

On August 8, Wang Changtian organized a dinner party and invited two directors of the film purchasing departments of Beijing Satellite TV and Tomato Satellite TV.

"This is Director Huang from Beijing Satellite TV, and the other is Director Liao from Tomato Satellite TV..." Wang Changtian introduced them. Both of them looked to be in their fifties. Director Huang was a man, and Director Liao was a woman.

By the way, many directors of film purchasing departments are women, because women are the main viewers of TV dramas.

"Thank you two directors for making a special trip for us..."

Dong Jianqiang was standing at the door to greet them, with Chen Xi behind him.

The two were welcomed into the box. After some refusals, the two film purchasing directors took the main seats. They were accompanied by handsome men and beautiful women, all of whom were specially hired as public relations personnel.

Director Huang is surrounded by a female public relations officer, while Director Liao is surrounded by a male public relations officer.

This is standard in the industry, but some companies let their artists play this role, such as Huayi, Rong Xinda...

So being a star is hard. Sometimes you not only have to accompany the producer, but also...

It's not that you have to sleep with him, but you will definitely be molested.

This situation does not exist in Xingchen Entertainment because it does not sign artists. Even if it signs artists, Zhang Chen will not allow it to do so. There is a ready-made public relations company, so why let the artists suffer this?

He admired Yang Xiaomi very much in this regard. Yang Xiaomi must have attended many such dinners when she was at Rong Xinda, so after she became a boss herself, her first rule was not to allow her artists to accompany her for dinner.

At the beginning of the banquet, the male and female PR staff were joking around and the atmosphere was very good.

After three rounds of drinks, Director Huang suddenly asked, "Why didn't I see Director Zhang? I came here this time because I wanted to see Director Zhang's demeanor."

"Yeah, I also thought I could meet Director Zhang today?" Director Liao next to him also agreed.

Chen Xi immediately replied with a smile: "Director Zhang will definitely come today. We had originally agreed to come together, but he was delayed by something unexpected. He specifically told us to start first and he will come over as soon as he finishes his work..."

Dong Jianqiang also pretended to check his watch and said, "It seems like it's about time..."

Wang Changtian tried to smooth things over: "It's okay, let's drink slowly while waiting..."

Everyone continued to clink glasses.

After more than ten minutes, Zhang Chen finally appeared.

"Sorry, sorry, I was temporarily delayed..."

Zhang Chen apologized first when he entered the room, after all, he had made the other person wait.

"No, no, Director Zhang is in a position where he must be entangled in worldly affairs. We understand..."

"Thank you~"

Everyone exchanged pleasantries, then drank and made friends.

"Tomorrow, I invite you all to come over to my place and take a look at the film. After all, this is our first time making a TV series, so there are bound to be unexpected things. We need two professionals like you to help us fill in the gaps..."

Both the host and the guests had a great time that evening. The male and female public relations escorted the two directors away. As for whether anything would happen in the evening, it all depended on the mood of the two directors.

Anyway, Dong Jianqiang paid for the full package.

Not only tonight, they will accompany them throughout the next few days, with only one purpose, to make the two directors happy.

For an average film and television company, the public relations and reception expenses for making a TV series may reach 5% of the total sales, and for small companies it may be even higher, as these expenses are all used to build relationships.

In TV series marketing, this part of the cost is called the 'grey' cost of the TV series.

All industries are actually the same. If I want to sell my products to you, I must bribe the head of your purchasing department. This is a very common phenomenon.

Even if Zhang Chen is a great director, being a great director only means that you have proven yourself in the film industry, but it means nothing in the TV drama industry.

The strange thing is that although we enjoyed the one-stop service, there was no response from the two film purchasing directors.

"What do they mean? Have we been negligent in any other area?" Dong Jianqiang frowned.

"I don't know either. How about asking Mr. Wang for help?"

Dong Jianqiang felt that it was not a good idea to drag the matter on like this, so he asked Wang Changtian to sound out the issue.

Not long after, Wang Changtian called him back.

"They are not optimistic about the prospects of this drama. Their final meaning is that this drama can be sold, but the price may not be too high, and there are additional requirements, that we have to pay for the ratings ourselves..."

“Buying ratings?”

"Ah."

Wang Changtian explained, "Nowadays, TV series are ranked by audience ratings, and advertisers place ads based on the rankings. Therefore, for many TV series, TV stations will require producers to spend money to buy audience ratings themselves, otherwise they will not pay the final payment."

"Damn it, these vampires, they treated us well and took the benefits but didn't do anything. This is too shameless, they are transferring all the risks to the producers."

Dong Jianqiang was indignant, but there was nothing he could do.

It is a buyer's market now, and the TV station is the dominant party. Wang Changtian was a little embarrassed. He didn't expect these two old guys to be so disrespectful.

This is the first time that Xingchen Entertainment has made a TV series. Are they sure they can take over?
The key point is that he promised that he could help others sell the drama, but it turned out to be like this. How can Guangguang and Xingchen Entertainment work together in the future?

Chen Xi was also very angry. Isn't this equivalent to the cinema chain asking the producer to spend his own money to buy box office revenue?

"Okay, I'll notify Zhang Chen first and see what he means. We'll talk about this later~"

After beating Wang Changtian, Dong Jianqiang immediately called Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen also frowned: "If we sell the show to him, we still have to use the money from the sale to buy ratings. Don't they bear any risks at all?"

"Isn't it? These vampires. I even suspect that those ratings companies might be run by those two directors themselves..."

"No doubt about it, it must be."

There is never a shortage of smart people or ways to make money in this circle. It just depends on whether you dare.

"Forget it. If that's the case, we won't sell it. If we really want to do what they ask, we'll be working for them after all our hard work."

"What about the play?"

"Without Zhang the butcher, do we have to eat hairy pigs? Didn't you say that many satellite TV stations have contacted us? We can invite them together to watch the film, just like a movie viewing party. If no one buys it, we can just sell it to a video platform..."

There are so many twists and turns in selling TV series that Zhang Chen is annoyed. He decides not to follow the rules. At worst, he will just stop doing this business. Anyway, he may not make less money from making movies than from TV series.

……

On August 8, Xingchen Entertainment held a screening of "Wulin Waijia" at the Sheraton Hotel in Beijing.

CCTV, Beijing TV, Mango TV, Tomato TV, Lychee TV, Dolphin TV, Blueberry TV...

Almost all the heads of film purchasing departments of influential satellite TV stations in the country were present.

That’s right, the people from Beijing TV and Tomato TV that we contacted before also came, but their faces looked gloomier.

Zhang Chen's move seemed to be a slap in the face, but Director Huang and Director Liao were a little panicked.

The station knew that they came to discuss selling the drama with Xingchen Entertainment, but in the end it turned into a film viewing meeting for all satellite TV stations. Apart from anything else, they would definitely have to explain this alone when they return.

The two of them looked at Xingchen Entertainment with a bit of resentment in their eyes, but they didn't dare to let them ruin this film viewing. Zhang Chen is a famous person in the country and he is also known for his big mouth. If they really make him angry and cause trouble, they will definitely be in trouble.

Sitcoms have always been around in the past two years, but they have always been lukewarm. Compared with serious dramas, they are definitely a level lower.

But the reason why everyone was willing to come this time was mostly because of Zhang Chen's reputation as a famous domestic director.

Everyone also wants to see whether the TV series created by big directors are as good as the movies.

Looking at the room full of film purchasing directors, Shang Jing's heels cramped a little. He had contacted some TV stations before, but with his power, he could only invite people from local stations. He couldn't really get in touch with people at the level of satellite TV stations, not to mention that some satellite TV stations sent not only film purchasing directors, but also deputy directors.

In the previous life, "Wulin Waijia" was first broadcast on CCTV Channel 1.95. The ratings were only 4.26% on the first day, and reached 5% on the second day. Since then, it has remained stable at around %, becoming the most watched drama at the beginning of the year that aired during the same period.

Things got out of control afterwards.

Compared to Shang Jing's nervousness, Dong Jianqiang seemed full of confidence.

He has watched the finished film many times and studied it with people from Guangguang Studios. He concluded that the quality of "Wulin Waijia" is much better than that of ordinary sitcoms.

But what really gave him confidence were the satellite TV stations that came.

His imagined way of selling dramas was to use nice words to invite the directors of the film purchasing departments of several satellite TV stations over, have them hosted by Xingchen Entertainment, have them have a meal with him, have them chat, and then arrange for handsome men and beautiful women to appear and give them plenty of benefits.

This is also the general process for film and television companies to sell dramas.

But reality gave him a hard slap in the face.

The director of the film purchasing department is specifically responsible for purchasing TV dramas. If a film and television company wants to sell a drama to a satellite TV station, this department cannot be avoided.

It's just that these people are too greedy.

Then I had no choice but to pull them all together.

When there are so few people, it is inevitable that some people will want to use some tricks in private. Now that there are so many people, let’s see who dares to do it?
"Hey, Manager Dong, is there some misunderstanding between us? We were talking so well, how come it suddenly turned out like this..."

Director Huang and Director Liao both smiled when they met Dong Jianqiang this time.

There are some things that can be done, but they must never be said, let alone said in public.

Directors Huang and Liao are just afraid that Xingchen Entertainment will be in trouble.

"No, no, this screening was entirely Director Zhang's idea. He is used to making movies and thinks this is more efficient. If it's appropriate, you two can make an offer later. We are more than happy to have cooperation..."

Dong Jianqiang also didn't want to offend too much. In the positioning of Xingchen Entertainment, Zhang Chen was responsible for film production, he was responsible for daily management, and he had to maintain good relations with the TV station.

(End of this chapter)