Chinese entertainment, from radio love songs to superstars

Chapter 156, Being Seen

"We held a meeting to discuss it, and finally listened to your suggestion and invested in the two TV series "Jade Guanyin" and "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", but not the two movies "The Mouse Loves the Cat" and "My Father and I".

"Among them, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils is a play by Da Huzi. In fact, he has no worries about investment, so when it comes to casting, he never listens to investors. In other words, forcing actors to appear in front of him doesn't work."

"But what's interesting is that I didn't go to him, but he came to me instead. He said that he had set his sights on you since the beginning of the project and planned to ask you to play Duan Yu. Also, he knew Liu Yifei through the launch conference of "The Story of a Noble Family" and wanted her to audition. Isn't she yours now? You decide."

This is what Fang Wanhua wanted to talk to Shen Lang about.

"Jade Guanyin" didn't become a big hit, but it made a small profit.

"Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" was a huge hit and was able to make a lot of money.

Since there is this investment position, Shen Lang naturally would not let it go and invested 300 million and 600 million.

As for acting, he hadn't considered it.

If it were Duan Yu now, he could give it a try.

Although the bearded Jin Yong drama has always been criticized, it is undeniable that "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" is a classic.

Starring in more dramas with high ratings or good reputation will be a good thing for Shen Lang to settle down in the entertainment industry.

"They have just started casting, and the shooting is scheduled to start in September. You can take this role seamlessly after you finish filming 'Young King'. There has been a Jin Yong craze in the past two years, and the bearded man is a very popular topic. Taking part in this role can further consolidate your position in the entertainment industry." Fang Wanhua also thought that Shen Lang should take this role. It would be beneficial to him no matter how you look at it.

"I understand. The filming here should be finished next week. I'll go for the audition then." Shen Lang nodded. However, the bearded man might not hire him because he doesn't want to take any salary now, only dividends.

After dinner, Fang Wanhua left. She was very busy as she had to negotiate with the TV station about the sale of The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber.

Shen Lang returned to the hotel and knocked on Liu Yifei's door.

"It's Xiao Shen, come in and sit down." It was Liu Xiaoli who opened the door. Her attitude towards Shen Lang was much better now. After several months of contact, she found that his personality and character were still very good. In addition, her daughter admired him very much and joined his company. Even if she didn't try to please him, she at least had to respect him.

"Auntie, have you had dinner?" Shen Lang asked casually.

"I just finished eating. Have you eaten? I made a winter melon and pork ribs soup to relieve the heat. Would you like to have some?" Liu Xiaoli's care for her daughter can be said to be meticulous.

"Brother Lang, you came to see me!" Liu Yifei came out of the bedroom with wet hair. When she saw Shen Lang, a look of joy immediately appeared on her face.

"Yeah." Shen Lang smiled at her, then said to Liu Xiaoli: "Auntie, I won't drink the soup. I came here because I have something to tell you. I'll leave after I'm done."

"Then sit down." Liu Xiaoli went to pour him some water.

"Brother Lang, what's the matter?" Liu Yifei asked him while fixing her hair.

"The company has invested in a play, Zhang Jizhong's "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils". You have a chance to audition. When "The Story of a Noble Family" is finished next week, you can come with me." Shen Lang replied.

"That big production that's said to have invested tens of millions?" Liu Xiaoli, who came over with a cup of water, exclaimed.

"Yes, the total investment is 3400 million." Shen Lang nodded.

Hearing this, Liu Xiaoli's eyes lit up, she handed him the water and asked, "What role can Xixi audition for?"

Shen Lang took the water cup from her and said "thank you". He then did not choose to talk about the result of the original time and space, but said: "It is not clear yet, but judging from Xixi's age, it is likely to be one of the four female characters: Wang Yuyan, Ah Zhu, Zhong Ling, and Mu Wanqing."

In the original time and space, Liu Yifei could be said to have had the same script when she starred in "The Story of a Noble Family" and "The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils".

At that time, the producer of "The Story of a Noble Family" was You Jianming. After attending the Magic City TV Festival, he returned to the Yanjing Asian Games Village and accidentally saw a real estate advertisement while drinking tea. He was immediately attracted by the girl in the advertisement and immediately decided to let Liu Yifei play the second female role, Bai Xiuzhu.

The production director of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils was Wang Pengju. It was extremely difficult for them to choose the role of Wang Yuyan, so they sent many assistants to look for her everywhere. One assistant was wandering around the streets of Yanjing and was very tired, so he went to sit in the bar street of Sanlitun. At this time, he found a real estate advertisement there, and it was Liu Yifei on it. Later, he found out that she was filming in The Story of a Noble Family. Several responsible persons went to see it in person and gave her a chance to audition.

This real estate advertisement was for an apartment complex owned by Chen Feifei, and was shot by Liu Yifei.

However, the appearance of Shen Lang made the development of this matter go in a different direction.

But the result is not much changed.

"Which role do you think would be better for Xixi to play?" Liu Xiaoli didn't know much about these things, so she could only ask Shen Lang for his opinion.

"Just looking at the drama "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", the characters who can stand out or leave memorable impressions for the audience are Wang Yuyan and Azhu. Then Qianqian will just need to audition for these two roles." Shen Lang said matter-of-factly.

In a ensemble drama or a novel, a small amount of words can make a character endearing to readers.

But it’s different in TV dramas. The amount of screen time is very important. Without enough time to show off, even if it’s Qiao Feng, it’s useless. So there are only a few characters who can shine or leave memorable moments for the audience.

In the version with the bearded man, Zhong Ling and Mu Wanqing were marginalized and turned into tools. In fact, Wang Yuyan and Azhu were also treated as such. However, they had more rival scenes with Duan Yu and Qiao Feng, and at least they had the upper hand in terms of camera time.

"Thank you, Xiao Shen." Liu Xiaoli gradually felt that the choice she and her daughter made was correct. On the road to becoming a star, Shen Lang gave her daughter much more help than Chen Feifei.

"Auntie, there's nothing to thank me for. Whether or not she can get a role and which role she can get ultimately depends on Xixi herself." Shen Lang's gaze shifted from Liu Xiaoli to Liu Yifei.

"Brother Lang, Mom, I will try my best!" Liu Yifei's cute little face was full of energy and confidence.

"By the way, Xiao Shen, can you act in this play?" Liu Xiaoli suddenly asked.

"I also have an audition opportunity." Shen Lang replied.

"Brother Lang, which role are you auditioning for?" Liu Yifei asked curiously.

"Duan Yu," Shen Lang replied.

"Oh." Upon hearing this, Liu Yifei blinked and immediately made a decision in her heart that she must get the role of Wang Yuyan.

"There will definitely be no problem with you." Liu Xiaoli really hopes that Shen Lang will be chosen so that he can take better care of her daughter.

"Auntie, Xixi, I have something else to do, so I'll go back first." Shen Lang got up and left.

"Xiao Shen, please walk slowly."

"See you tomorrow, Brother Lang."

The mother and daughter walked him to the door.

After closing the door and returning to the room, Liu Yifei said with a smile: "Mom, I was right, Brother Lang is a very good person."

Liu Xiaoli glanced at her daughter and said, "It's good, and you can be an idol, but don't cross the line."

Liu Yifei blurted out: "Cross what line?"

Liu Xiaoli narrowed her eyes and asked, "What do you think?"

Liu Yifei played dumb and said, "I'm going to blow dry my hair. It's so uncomfortable when it's wet."

Liu Xiaoli frowned slightly and said, "You girl!"

However, Liu Yifei had already run into the room.

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The total investment of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" is 2000 million.

It is considered a first-tier big production in this era.

Shen Lang and Fang Wanhua were not worried about losing money at all.

In the competition for the first round of broadcasting rights, CCTV and Yanjing TV offered the highest bids, and both wanted exclusive broadcasting rights.

It was eventually sold to CCTV for 51 per episode, for a total of 2040 million.

Yanjing TV and seven other TV stations, including China Television in Formosa Province and Phoenix TV in Hong Kong, won the second-round broadcasting rights for 270 million yuan.

This is a revenue of 4200 million, and after deducting costs, a small profit of 2200 million.

If you take into account the subsequent three or four rounds of broadcasting rights and audio-visual publishing rights, it will be no problem to make 3500 million.

Shen Lang should be credited for such good returns.

It’s not about how well he acted, nor how well the show was filmed.

It was he who, in just half a year, sang the World Cup theme song, swept the Golden Melody Awards, appeared on the cover of Time magazine, and went from being "famous in half the sky" to being "famous all over the world."

This is very important for a TV series, the actors' fame and fan base can attract more viewers, thereby increasing the ratings.

And ratings are everything for a TV station because they are linked to revenue.

The main ways for TV stations to make profits are through TV advertising revenue, program sales revenue, technical service revenue, equipment rental income, interest income, fiscal revenue, corporate sponsorship, etc.

Among them, TV advertising revenue is the largest source of income for TV stations, accounting for more than 70%.

When broadcasting TV programs, TV stations will play advertisements between programs. Advertisers pay advertising fees in order to promote their products or services. The amount of this fee is affected by factors such as the time period, number of times the advertisements are broadcast, coverage, program type, and duration of the advertisements.

CCTV ads are sold through bidding. This year's prime-time bidding ended on November 2001, 11. Representatives from more than 8 companies and their advertising agencies bid for 100 billion yuan, up 26.26% from last year's 21.56 billion yuan. As long as "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" is a big hit, next year's prime-time bidding will be even more exciting.

Similarly, whether "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" is a big hit or not will also affect the selling price of "The Story of a Noble Family".

Not to mention winning the ratings championship, getting into the top three will be enough, and then the first round of broadcasting rights will be more than 2500 million.

It can be simply understood that the result of the huge success of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" is that it is good for you, me, and everyone.

CCTV, which has won the first broadcast rights, has scheduled the broadcast time for the summer vacation.

At that time, it will compete on the same stage with "The Invincible County Magistrate" of Tianjin TV and "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" of Shanghai TV.

The former is a costume detective drama starring Su Youpeng, Wang Yan, Song Dandan and others. Su Youpeng is at the peak of his acting career. "My Fair Princess" 12 and "Deep Love in the Rain" were both huge hits.

The latter is a costume martial arts drama based on Gu Long's novel of the same name, starring Wu Qilong, Zhu Yin, Yu Bo and others. Wu Qilong and Su Youpeng were both from the Little Tigers. After the disbandment, they acted in movies and TV series in Hong Kong and Taiwan. This is his first mainland TV series.

Netizens on Tianya Forum launched a heated discussion (dui) on this issue.

"The new generation of talents VS the middle generation of idols!"

“Those who debuted in 88 are no longer middle-aged, but old-aged.”

"The above person won't say it, don't say it. You can have loud voices in the music industry, but when you come to the film and television industry, you have to coil up like a dragon and lie down like a tiger. You've only filmed two movies and you're already thinking about flying to the sky?"

"Lies don't hurt, the truth is the sharpest knife, and drama doesn't depend on quantity, but on quality."

"Yo yo yo, it's still Yu You, if you have the ability, come out and take a few steps!"

"As the saying goes, fortunes change over time. The one who laughs first is not the one laughing. The one who laughs last is the one laughing the last."

……

In this age without smartphones and Weibo data, measuring the quality of a drama is very simple, that is, the TV station's ratings.

Whether a play is good or not, whether the actors are popular or not, the ratings and word of mouth are enough to represent everything.

As the scorching summer heat interweaves with the light and shadow of the screen, a summer TV drama ratings battle involving the entire nation kicks off in full swing.

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On June 6, the last day of filming for "The Story of a Noble Family", which had been filmed for three months, was underway.

Reporters from Information Times went to the crew to visit them.

Director Liu Guoquan broke his right foot while directing a film, so he had to use a crutch or a wheelchair when he had to change filming locations.

Director Liu was all smiles during the interview, and he sounded very confident when talking about this big-budget TV series with an investment of 2000 million yuan.

As for the performances of young actors Shen Lang, Gao Yuanyuan and Liu Yifei, Director Liu was delighted and said: "They are really good."

"At the beginning, Gao Yuanyuan's understanding of Leng Qingqiu was a little different from mine. After countless confrontations, the result was that I can only say that she is too suitable for this role."

"I was against Liu Yifei joining the crew at first because she was too young, had never studied acting, and had no acting experience. However, this child is really smart and learns quickly. By the time we filmed her main scene, she was already very good at it."

"As for Shen Lang, he once said in an interview that his performance was not satisfactory in some aspects. I think he was too modest. This drama has a total of 1680 scenes, and he had nearly a thousand of them. No other drama has ever had such a heavy role for the protagonist. He performed very well."

Generally speaking, directors seem to be a bit harsh and often say that actors could have done better in their performances.

However, director Liu Guoquan is an exception and gave extremely high praise to the young actors.

This report attracted public attention.

"Another 2000 million in costs. Is it so expensive to make a TV series now?"

"It's a big production, so that's normal. I saw a report saying that the actors' costumes were specially customized in Hong Kong, and they cost several million dollars."

"Also, when the crew started filming, they rented a large field of sunflowers in Huairou, just to shoot a scene when the sunflowers are in bloom now."

"I like the actors and the subject matter, so it all depends on whether it's well filmed."

"The scripts that Brother Lang took on were all pretty good. "A Love Across Time and Space" scored 8.5 points, and "The Sky of Eighteen Years Old" scored 8.0 points."

"I just want to see how Brother Lang and Sister Yuanyuan are going to 'love' this time."

……

I am still looking forward to "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber", and now I have to look forward to "The Story of a Noble Family".

It's a good thing to have attention, but I'm afraid no one will care.

After the filming was finished, Shen Lang took a vacation. He was extremely exhausted in the first half of the year and needed a good rest.

Shachang Reservoir, also known as Jinding Lake.

The lake is wide and clean, and the water ripples gently with the wind, calm and natural.

Because the surrounding mountains are not high, the slopes are gentle and the vegetation is dense, there are many wild birds. The reservoir is bred with fish fry, and there are many species of black fish, catfish, etc. It is an ideal place for fishing enthusiasts.

It is also one of the sparsely populated outdoor barbecue resorts around Yanjing. You can drive here, set up a tent, light the grill, and grill the fish right after you catch it, which is a unique flavor.

Shen Lang’s three major hobbies in his previous life were music, fishing, and basketball.

Since I traveled through time, I have been busy making money and music is the only thing left in my life.

Now I can slow down a little and pick up my other two hobbies.

"Alang, what's your opinion on choosing this position?"

"In spring, you fish on the beach; in summer, you fish in the pond; in autumn, you fish in the shade; in winter, you fish in the sun; in summer, when the temperature is high, it's better to fish in cool, deep water. This is a place where the water level in the reservoir is deeper, and no one is here today."

"You're really good at fishing, right?"

Also here today are Zhang Guorong and Yang Junyi.

Of course, Gao Yuanyuan is also indispensable.

Shen Lang smiled and said, "Of course I will. Today I will show you my skills and sell you a big product!"

He is a person who likes fishing in moderation. He usually looks up guides online, buys fishing gear on Taobao, and when he has no classes, he finds a place to cast his rod. At most, he is a "fishing enthusiast" but not a "fishing master", let alone "Emperor He Tian".

A fisherman has a fishing rod, a fishing box and a fishing umbrella. He sits down and spends the whole day there. No matter it is windy or rainy, or there are snakes, insects or rats, nothing can stop him from fishing.

In the eyes of anglers, there is nothing else except the float. They can get up at 4 a.m. and be reluctant to leave at 11 p.m.

According to the fishermen, they feel uncomfortable if they don’t fish for a day, and they can’t walk when they see water.

"Hey, Shen Lang, look, did I catch a fish?" Gao Yuanyuan's excited voice came from the side.

"Yes, don't worry." Shen Lang stood up and went to help her, saying, "The timing of lifting the rod is a very difficult part of fishing skills, and it is also a key to the success or failure of fishing. The best time to lift the rod is the moment when the fish is about to swim away after taking food. If you do it too early or too late, you will miss it."

"What should I do now?" Gao Yuanyuan asked.

"Lean forward slightly, and at the same time, push the rod forward. When I ask you to lift the rod, use the force of your wrist to lift it up quickly." Shen Lang taught.

"Is this correct?" Gao Yuanyuan asked after doing as she was told.

"Yes." Judging from her posture from where Shen Lang was standing, she was wearing a white T-shirt, tight jeans, and white sneakers. She held the fishing rod tightly in both hands, and her hair was gently blown by the wind. She was truly stunning.

"Hey, don't look at me, look at the fish!" Gao Yuanyuan said in a low voice when she saw him staring at her.

"Okay, lift the rod." When Shen Lang turned to look at the fish float, it was the best time.

"Wow!" Under his guidance, Gao Yuanyuan successfully brought the fish ashore and was very happy.

The fish was not big, only three fingers wide, and looked to weigh about three or four taels.

"When you use tweezers to remove the hook, be careful not to prick your hand because there is a barb and it will be very painful to take it out." Shen Lang reminded her while teaching her.

"Then when I catch a fish later, you should help me fix it." Gao Yuanyuan was a little scared because her hand was disfigured.

"Okay." Shen Lang put bait on her hook again, cast the rod and put it away, then went back to his place.

"Yuanyuan is the only one here who has never fished before, and she showed us her skills," Zhang Guorong said with a smile.

"It's just a gift package for beginners." Shen Lang said stubbornly.

(End of this chapter)