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

Chapter 227 Debt Disturbance
"Wu Jing?"

Meng Bai recalled: "Is it the Wolf Warrior that was released last year?"

"Oh, you know."

"I happened to have seen it when it was released. It's a pretty good action movie."

When I was on a date with Song Zhi before, we watched two movies in a row, one of which was "Wolf Warrior".

"I remember the first movie did pretty well at the box office. Shouldn't it be easy to find investment for the second one?"

"It will be easier to find a movie with the success of the first one, but it also depends on the specific investment amount. For example, the budget for the second movie is 1.2 million yuan. The project is relatively large, so it still requires multiple producers to share the risk."

Chen Zhixi introduced that so far, there are already eight or nine producers for this project that she knows of.

"With so many investors, is there enough cake to share?" Meng Bai was curious.

"Each company should just take a smaller share. Movies are different from TV series. They require audiences to pay real money to watch tickets, which requires high investment and high risk. So rather than betting on a hit, everyone would rather make a more stable profit."

Indeed, all the movies released in recent years are backed by a dozen producers and distributors in order to share the risk.

Meng Bai thought about it and felt that it was worth a go and take a look.

Even if it's not my turn to invest, it would be nice to gain some experience.

Web dramas are the foundation of ArcLight Pictures, but that doesn’t mean ArcLight only produces web dramas.

As one of the eight major arts, when it comes to making money, movies and TV series are on par with each other.

But when it comes to influence, the difference between the two is huge.

If Arclight Pictures wants to become a true industry leader, it must not give up the film market.

Although Ruyi Pictures is not well-known in the industry, it has cooperated with Wanda and Guangxian, so it has no shortage of resources and channels.

If Meng Bai wants to expand into the film industry, it is very necessary for him to establish a good relationship with Chen Zhixi.

After the plane landed and the two agreed on the time for the investment meeting, they said goodbye and parted ways.
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After the Spring Festival, all walks of life began to summarize last year's work.

The film and television industry is naturally no exception, and various lists such as "Top 2015 Movies of 2015" and "Top 10 Popular TV Series of " have begun to be released.

Most of these lists are evaluated by marketing accounts or self-media. They are not authoritative and everyone just reads them for fun.

In comparison, the evaluations released by some professional data statistics agencies do have some value.

As for online dramas, the one that has received the highest recognition is the “2015 Online Drama Influence List” released by Gudao Media.

All the online dramas that aired last year and were somewhat popular are included.

The final focus is naturally the championship.

Until mid-December last year, there was actually no controversy about this, it was definitely "Forensic Qin Ming".

However, with the sudden explosion of popularity of "Go Princess Go" at the end of the year, the suspense was raised again.

Although this drama was broadcast across the New Year, it is still a 2015 work based on the time it was aired.

In fact, if the show follows the potential it showed at the beginning, it would have been a sure thing to top the list.

Unfortunately, as Meng Bai and Liu Jun said before, this drama did not escape the censorship.

When the second half of the show was aired, it was asked to be taken off the shelves for rectification, just like its predecessors.

This interrupted the audience's habit of chasing dramas.

Moreover, after the first few explosive settings, the plot slowly turned into an ordinary ancient puppet drama, and the rhythm was a bit slow in the later period, so the popularity dropped all of a sudden. By the end of the broadcast period, the total number of views barely exceeded "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", but it was still slightly lower than "Forensic Qin Ming".

At this point, the popular online dramas in 2015 have been ranked.

The first one is naturally "Forensic Qin Ming", with high viewing volume and high reputation, the championship is undisputed.

The second place is naturally the dark horse of the year "Go Princess Go".

Although the popularity of this drama has gradually faded, the popularity of several leading actors is exceptionally high.

Especially the female lead Zhang Tianai, who went from being an unknown on the 18th line to becoming a popular actress.

Before the show was even finished airing, she had already been approached by two big-budget movies, "Legend of the Demon Cat" and "Passing by Your World", and both were very important roles.

This can be said to have greatly attracted the attention of second- and third-tier actors.

Many people have only heard that online dramas are very popular, but they always feel that they are a bit low, so they would rather play minor roles in those big-budget movies and TV series.

But now I suddenly realize that online dramas can also become popular, so why are we still competing in this field with so many people?

Just like after "The Disguiser" became popular last year, a large number of "youth spy war dramas" were launched this year.

It is foreseeable that a large number of second- and third-tier actors will come to the online drama market to get a piece of the pie.

Further down the list are "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", "The Best of Us", "Soul Ferry 2", "Wuxin: The Monster Killer", etc.

Among the first five dramas, two and a half are produced by Arclight Entertainment, and the first online drama team deserves the title.

At the same time, Leshi.com also continued to suppress the three giants of Qiyi TV, Tencent and Youku in the field of self-produced content with three "top 5" level works.

If it weren't for the restructuring and merger, Leshi.com would still be in the suspension stage and its stock price might have risen by a few points.

For ordinary audiences and investors, the impact of last year's stock market crash and doubts about "financial cost" has gradually subsided, and today's Leshi.com can be said to be booming and flourishing.

Whether in online or offline investment communities, everyone who has bought stocks has to say, "Leshi.com is thriving now."

But behind the scenes, unknown to everyone, a conflict is quietly erupting.

Meeting room at Leshi.com headquarters.

Meng Bai sat at one end of the conference table, looking ahead with a calm expression.

Opposite him was a middle-aged man in his forties. His name was Zhang Qi, and he was the deputy general manager of Leshi.com, mainly in charge of the entertainment department.

Next to him are several other executives and heads of the entertainment content department.

Liu Jun was also among them, but he was sitting there with a neutral expression, with a hint of sneer on his face.

"Mr. Meng, I've already said it before. It's not that we won't give Arc Light a final settlement. We're just very busy right now, so it will be a little later." Zhang Qi said, "And we're not targeting you. The same applies to other partner companies."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Zhang. We at Arclight are not as big as Leshi.com, so we are just waiting for this money to make a living."

Meng Bai said bluntly: "Also, it was clearly written in the previous cooperation agreement that the payment will be made in the next settlement period after the broadcast. Now it has been overdue for two months. I don't think it is us who are being aggressive."

Because of the good personal relationship with Liu Jun, ArcLight Film and Television has always received quick payments.

However, according to the agreement, the project of "Forensic Qin Ming" should receive payment before the end of December 15.

But now it was the end of February 16, and there was still no news about the final settlement and payment, so Meng Bai came directly to him.

Then, there was today's negotiation.

(End of this chapter)