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

Chapter 237: Blame it on Mr. Meng’s ability

After taking a day off due to "physical discomfort", Ni Ni returned to normal filming with the care of everyone in the crew.

It seems to be the same as before, still working hard with everyone in the yellow sand every day.

Only her assistant knew that her sister was often missing after she went home at night recently.

The next day, she appeared on the set radiantly again.

As for where she went, as a small assistant, I didn't dare to say, and I didn't dare to ask.

Being in the Northwest, away from familiar surroundings and people, does make it easier for people to let go of their daily constraints.

These days, Meng Bai and Nini have also unlocked many new locations and truly experienced the desert style.

The two of them tacitly avoided mentioning words like "feelings" and "responsibility".

This is just a short-term "collaboration" and the deadline is when the crew finishes filming.

Of course, while interaction is interaction, work cannot be abandoned.

As the filming is about to end, Meng Bai’s most important task during this period is to check all the payments during the filming with the crew’s finance department.

"Mr. Meng, please sign this order."

"Why are the number of extras here inconsistent with the number in the daily report?"

"The note from the scene said that the filming was overtime, so there were temporary changes in the personnel."

“Do you have an invoice for the scene timeout?”

"Here, for you."

"Let me take a look... OK, no problem. The production team and the location team will each bear half of the cost."

"..."

There are many such cases where the settlement figures and on-site figures do not match.

Meng Bai also knew that there must be some water in the data of these funds.

But this kind of thing is inevitable. We go out in the wind and rain every day and always need some money.

What's more, if we really have to conduct strict reviews one by one, the labor cost and time will be higher, and it will easily arouse everyone's emotions.

So as long as it's not too excessive, he will turn a blind eye.

According to the original plan, the shooting period of "The Lost Tomb" is about two months and will be completed by the end of March.

But in fact, due to various reasons such as location change and weather, the filming took nearly 80 days and was not officially completed until mid-April.

A wrap party was held locally, and then the crew disbanded.

After returning to Beijing North, Meng Bai, Li Muge and other directors began to work on post-production.

Judging from this progress, the show will probably not start broadcasting until September.

I asked Dai Ying about the situation of "The Lost Tomb". This drama will be released earlier than theirs and will be aired in July.

By the time "The Lost Tomb" is released, it will almost be finished.

Moreover, this time the other party played a "trick", adjusting the project from "fantasy, suspense" to "history, suspense", and at the same time deleted a large number of plots that were out of line in the original work.

This way, the drama will be much easier to censor. Instead of being a pure online drama, it chose to be broadcasted on both TV and the internet.

This was something that ArcLight and Tencent had not expected, so Penguin Pictures quickly came to ask if it was possible to meet the requirements for satellite broadcasting through post-production adjustments.

For example, in the previous plot about the Kwantung Army Fortress, could some shots with too strong a horror atmosphere be deleted?

Or the final ending, can the members of the expedition team who were almost wiped out be "resurrected" on the grounds of "illusion".

Meng Bai’s answer was also very direct: there’s no hope.

"When we first started the project, we were aiming for a web series. If we want to meet the standards for being broadcast on a TV station, we either have to cut the plot to bits or wait to be reported by those 'parents' or something like that."

Selling a drama to a TV station is not a one-time deal. If the ratings are too bad or for any other reason, it may be cancelled at any time.

Not only will you not be able to get the final payment, but sometimes you may even have to pay "compensation" to the TV station.

Penguin Pictures thought about it and felt that it was indeed not safe, so they finally decided to go the online broadcast route.

After resolving the "internal conflicts", we can focus on post-production. As for Meng Bai, in addition to the production of "The Lost Tomb", there is also the development of Arclight Films.

After almost two months on the job, Liu Jun has completely integrated into the ArcLight system.

I don’t know if it was the new environment that activated his ambition, but this middle-aged man changed his comfortable style when he was at Leshi.com and became full of fighting spirit again.

In his opinion, the biggest problem of Arc Light Pictures right now is not anything else but that the big boss Meng Bai is too capable.

If there are no projects, they can immediately come up with a new script, and it will be a hit once it is filmed.

Once you have achieved outstanding results, you can then look for cooperation with video platforms, and channel resources will follow.

In other words, Arclight Pictures has reached its current scale basically because Meng Bai was the one pulling it forward.

As a startup company, it is naturally a good thing for the founder to be capable, but you cannot rely entirely on him.

Otherwise, what is the point of having a company?

So what Liu Jun needs to do is to make Arclight Films a real helper to Meng Bai, rather than just a makeshift team.

The first thing to be solved is the problem of overly concentrated and single channel resources.

For a long time, ArcLight’s project channels have basically been several video websites, and the form is basic film and television cooperation.

In addition, there is a lack of copyright development, commercial cooperation, overseas promotion, etc., which leads to the fact that many IPs have not yet fully tapped their due value.

However, as a startup, it is quite difficult to accumulate these resources slowly on your own. The best way is to cooperate with those established companies.

"cooperate?"

In the office, Meng Bai tapped the table and asked, "How do we cooperate?"

"In fact, Arclight has always been a hot project in the film and television capital market. I have contacted some companies recently, and each one has different requirements."

Liu Jun introduced that from the perspective of comprehensive strength, there are several more suitable cooperation targets.

"The first one is Perfect Pictures. They proposed a bet contract. They would buy 5% of Arclight Pictures' shares for 25 million yuan, and the requirement is that there will be requirements for profitability and profit growth in the next five years."

5 million to acquire 25% of the shares is equivalent to a valuation of ArcLight Pictures of around 20 billion.

Considering the premium on the bet, this number is quite reasonable.

but……

"Forget about the bet." Meng Bai said, "Arc Light is not short of money, there is no need to find a rope to tie itself up. Besides, I don't plan to raise funds."

Arclight Pictures is neither short of money nor has plans to go public, so it has no plans to sell shares for the time being.

"In this case, there's no need to look at the ones in the middle."

Liu Jun scribbled a few times on the notebook in front of him and looked at the remaining names on it.

"Huace Film and Television, they can accept strategic cooperation."

Huace Film & TV is a real big player in the industry. As a listed company, it is known as "China's No. 1 film and television stock."

Liu Jun said: "They have been trying to develop online dramas for the past two years. They have worked with Qiyi TV on many projects before, but they didn't make much of a splash."

Online dramas are the hottest new track in the film and television market in the past two years. Many old companies want to seize the opportunity, but almost none of them have actually succeeded.

Currently, most of the top teams in the industry are newly established.

Therefore, these old companies have gradually reached a consensus, that is, not to take action on their own, but to choose "marriage".

As the "Top 1" in the current online drama market, Arclight is naturally the best candidate.

For ArcLight, Huace Film & TV is also an excellent "business partner".

With many years of roots in the industry, we have abundant resources in various channels and can perfectly solve Arc Light's current shortcomings.

"Okay, then let's talk to Huace and see what they say."

Meng Bai made the final decision.

"But there's no need to rush. You can wait until the contract with Leshi.com ends. With the 'Green Ivy Series' as the trump card in hand, it might be easier to negotiate."

Speaking of which, Leshi.com should be taking action soon, right?
(End of this chapter)