Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 186: People light candles, ghosts blow out the lights

"Brother Xiao Ming, congratulations."

In the spacious banquet hall, Meng Bai held up a glass of wine and congratulated, "Happy wedding."

I don’t know if it was a deliberate choice of date, but the day before Taiyang Chuanhe officially opened, Huang Xiaoming announced the news of his marriage registration online.

This guy is now a married man.

"Haha, thank you very much."

It can be seen that Huang Xiaoming was in a good mood. He raised his glass to Meng Bai with a smile on his face, and called out to the back: "Baby, come here."

Meng Bai looked in the direction he was calling, and saw a tall, pretty woman walking over. She was wearing a blue dress that reached her chest, and the hem of her skirt was slit on one side, revealing her long white legs from time to time as she walked.

"Baby, let me introduce you." Huang Xiaoming said, "This is Mr. Meng Bai from Arclight Films, my fellow countryman from Blue Island."

"Ah, hello, Mr. Meng." The woman looked at Meng Bai with a smile and said enthusiastically, "I am Xiao Ming's lover, Angelbaby."

The person who came was naturally Yang Tianbao.

Meng Bai smiled and nodded.

Not to mention, although this woman has a lot of dark history and her character and acting skills have always been criticized, her appearance is indeed not bad.

Well - it's just an objective evaluation. He doesn't have any "fuck you" habits.

And at present, the relationship between the two is also very good. Otherwise, Huang Xiaoming would not be willing to let his own image be affected just to be with her.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Huang and Yang left. They were half the hosts of today's party, so they had to take care of every aspect.

Because the second largest shareholder is Huang Xiaoming, and a considerable part of the company's team came from Huayi Film and Television, the establishment of Taiyang Chuanhe has received a lot of attention in the circle.

Those attending the cocktail party today include film and television companies like Huayi, some artists and actors who came to show their support, and several video platforms.

Of course, most of the people on this platform actually come from ArcLight Pictures.

"Boss Meng, we meet again."

A woman's voice came from the side.

Meng Bai looked in the direction of the voice: "Ah, it's Mr. Fang, thank you for coming."

He knew the woman who came. Her name was Fang Fang. She was the head of the content production department of Tencent Video, similar to Liu Jun of Leshi.com and Dai Ying of Qiyi TV.

The two had met once before at a review meeting in early March.

The last time they met, she had invited Meng Bai to discuss cooperation with Arclight Films. However, because she was working on several projects such as "Forensic Qin Ming", she only said that she would wait for a chance in the future.

"I heard that Arc Light's new drama has been completed?" Fang Fang asked enthusiastically.

"Yes, we just finished filming last week."

"Have you decided when it will be broadcast?"

"Probably July or August. The details will depend on the progress in the later stages." Meng Bai gave a general introduction.

Fang Fang thought for a moment after hearing this and said, "Hey, doesn't that just happen to coincide with Qiyi TV's "Grave Robbers' Chronicles"? "

"Yeah, we just happened to meet at the same time." Meng Bai smiled bitterly and said, "Alas, this big IP is here, we just hope we don't get too suppressed."

"Haha, Mr. Meng is too polite." Fang Fang consoled him, "Arc Light Pictures' reputation and fans in the online drama field are no less than those of the big IPs. We are still very confident in Mr. Meng's work."

"Then I'll take your good words." Meng Bai thanked.

No matter whether it is a polite remark or not, at least it sounds pleasant.

"In fact, we at Tencent also have a lot of big IPs, especially those with suspense themes, but we lack a good production team like Arclight Pictures."

Meng Bai was not surprised at all when he heard this. Tencent has been very wealthy over the years and has accumulated a lot of copyrights.

In addition, Tencent established China Literature Group this year, acquired Qidian, the leader of online male literature, and invested in Jinjiang, a female literature platform. In terms of IP reserves alone, Tencent is second to none.

However, Meng Bai was quite interested in the big IP of "suspense theme" that Fang Fang mentioned: "I wonder which IP Tencent wants to develop?"

"Mr. Meng, you must have heard of the name of this work." Fang Fang smiled and continued, "Qiyi TV previously bought the copyright of the online drama "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", and we bought another one, "Ghost Blowing Out the Light."

Meng Bai suddenly realized that he naturally knew "Ghost Blows Out the Light", which is one of the two peaks of "tomb-raiding novels".

Strictly speaking, it can even be considered the "elder" of "Grave Robbers' Chronicles". However, because the market for online literature was too small and the copyright market was too chaotic in the early years, the film and television adaptations of this book have always been in a scattered state.

It was not until last year when online dramas became popular that Tencent suddenly discovered that there was no mention of online dramas in the original film and television adaptation contract, so it happily bought the online drama adaptation rights for the entire series.

Just at this time, Qiyi TV announced the web drama adaptation of "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", and Tencent Video decided to wait and see the market situation before developing this big IP.

Filming a drama naturally requires a production team. Although Tencent also established its own Penguin Pictures this year, its main business is promotion and production. It has no foundation in production and can only seek external cooperation.

When it comes to online dramas, especially suspense-themed online dramas, the first thing that comes to mind is naturally ArcLight Pictures.

"I wonder if Mr. Meng is interested in this project?" Fang Fang asked with a smile.

Meng Bai pondered. As for interest, of course he did have it, after all, it was such a big IP.

But the problem is that ArcLight has very little liquidity now. Qiming Venture Partners' money is always on "war readiness", so they can't afford to lose big things for small ones.

After thinking about it, he felt that he should find out the specific situation first.

"Tencent, when do you plan to launch the project?"

"There is no specific plan yet. We want to wait and see the market response to The Lost Tomb. In addition..." Fang Fang smiled, "There is another aspect, which is censorship. We need to see what the higher-ups think of this type of work."

It was mentioned in the previous review meeting that all online dramas launched after April will be subject to the new filing system as the review standard.

Although many new web dramas have been broadcast in the past two months, they are all small projects, and their subject matter and popularity are very average.

Currently, the industry is basically waiting for Arc Light's "Forensic Qin Ming" and Qiyi TV's "Grave Robbers' Chronicles".

These two dramas, one has sensitive content and the other has sensitive subject matter, and both are the most suitable for exploration.

Regardless of whether they have anything to do or not, others can take this opportunity to see where the standard line is.

Meng Bai thought about it. According to Fang Fang, they would have to wait until the end of the broadcast of "Grave Robbers' Chronicles". Adding the subsequent discussion, project establishment and preparation time, it would probably take at least November or December.

Based on the previous average pace, by that time, part of the revenue from "Forensic Qin Ming" should be received, and some of the share from "The Disguiser" should also be received.

As long as the performance of these two dramas is good, the money will be enough for Arc Light to start new projects.

However, to be on the safe side, Meng Bai did not agree directly. He only said that they could discuss the details after Tencent confirmed it.

After exchanging a few words of greeting and watching Fang Fang leave, Meng Bai did not go to look for Liu Jun, but walked towards the other side of the banquet hall.

It’s interesting to say that although there are many and diverse guests and guests present today, they can be divided into three parts overall.

One is on the left side of the hall, which is mainly composed of several video platforms and new film and television companies. The other is on the right side, which is mainly composed of old film and television companies such as Huayi and Jingquan.

Then there are the various celebrities, artists, and third parties such as investment companies, brands, etc.

These three groups of people are intertwined yet clearly defined, creating a weird yet natural atmosphere.

Meng Bai came here today, not only as a shareholder, but also with a "mission".

"Hey, senior brother." Meng Bai called out to Yang Ming.

"what happened?"

"I want to find Chen Chichi. Could you introduce me to him, please?"

"Sure, no problem." Yang Ming agreed without hesitation, and then asked curiously, "What do you want to do with him?"

"Oh, there's a role in a movie project. I want to ask if he's interested?"

"Movie?" Yang Ming asked doubtfully, "Online movie?"

"No, it's a normal theater movie." Meng Bai said: "It's a collaboration with Wanda Pictures."

"Ha!" Yang Ming exclaimed.

It’s been just over a month since we last saw each other. Has Arclight Pictures already developed to the point where it’s starting to make movies?

In the film and television industry, movies and web dramas are two completely different things.

Meng Bai explained that it was not Huguang's own project, but a collaboration with others. There happened to be a role suitable for Chen Chichi, so he thought of asking him.

After all, he is now half one of us.

(End of this chapter)