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

Chapter 377: First Weibo Hot Spot

[The new drama "Mother's Way" was filmed in 2016 and signed a contract with the TV station in 2017, but it has not been broadcast yet. I specifically went to find the director of the station to understand the situation. The other party took it very seriously, but there was still no response. After asking for a long time, I found out that I had gone to the wrong door and was looking for the director of the satellite TV station. ]

[The new director of the satellite TV station set a new rule: if you don’t spend money to buy ratings, the show will definitely not be broadcast, and he even pointed out where to buy them. With the introduction of the director’s trusted film purchasing director, I met the “god” who can handle the ratings. ]

[The "great god" was very enthusiastic, saying that he had been waiting for me for several months, and that if I had asked him earlier, the show would have been aired earlier. He offered 90 per episode for our new show, which is 7200 million for 120 episodes. However, the purchase price of the show was only million per episode, which means that % of the money was paid as "protection fee"...]

The text sent by Guo Jingyu was very long, and it took Meng Bai a while to finish reading it.

It can be seen that he really turned the tables this time. He exposed the industry's unspoken rules of "buying ratings" by telling his own experience, and also described the people involved in great detail.

Although no names were mentioned directly, ordinary viewers outside the circle can immediately find out who it is by simply searching this information on the Internet.

This Weibo post was posted in the early hours of yesterday morning. In just a few hours, it had become a hot topic and its popularity is still growing.

There are already tens of thousands of comments from netizens on Weibo, some expressing their "support for Director Guo" and some asking the relevant departments to thoroughly investigate the shady dealings in the film and television industry.

The "tax storm" caused by the "contract incident" some time ago has not yet ended, and now there is another "ratings fraud", which has activated the emotions of a large number of netizens.

After checking the time, Meng Bai called Guo Jingyu.

"Mr. Meng, why did you think of calling me so early in the morning?" Guo Jingyu's voice, with obvious fatigue, came from the phone.

"Good morning, Director Guo." Meng Bai said with a smile, "I just saw the letter of challenge you posted on Weibo. It was so passionate that it made me want to shout out in joy!"

"Hahaha……"

Guo Jingyu smiled bitterly, then sighed and said indignantly: "If these people hadn't gone too far, no one would want to go this far."

As he spoke, he told Meng Bai what had happened in more detail.

Simply put, because of the broadcast of the new drama "Mother's Way", Guo Jingyu met the "great god" mentioned in the long Weibo post after several introductions. The "great god" offered 90 yuan per episode and asked him to buy ratings, otherwise he would not broadcast it.

Guo Jingyu was straightforward, so he naturally refused to give in. But after all, they were all in the same circle, so they would meet each other sooner or later, and he had no intention of breaking up with the other party.

After the two sides met, he first begged the "great god" not to buy the ratings and believe in the performance of the show, but was rejected. Then he made a second choice, hoping to cancel the cooperation and return the film, but was still rejected.

After repeated attempts to give in failed, Guo Jingyu finally couldn't bear it anymore and turned hostile. He smashed a bottle in front of everyone in the hotel lounge where the "great god" was staying, hoping that the hotel would call the police and then report the situation to them.

Unfortunately, the "great god" was well prepared and had him taken away. Moreover, the hotel was a long-term partner of the satellite TV station, so they concealed the incident and did not call the police.

However, perhaps because they were worried that the matter would become a big deal, the next day, a deputy director of the cooperating satellite TV station "Lizhi Channel" came out to mediate and promised him that the drama would definitely be broadcast normally.

As the boss of a film and television company, Guo Jingyu naturally didn't want to fall out with the TV station. Since the other party agreed to take a step back, he didn't say anything else.

Originally, the matter was over here, but unexpectedly, less than half a month before the scheduled broadcast time, the other party caused trouble again.

The drama "Mother's Way" was sold to Lizhi TV and Beijing North TV at the same time, and both channels aired it simultaneously. But what was unexpected was that the new director of Lizhi TV approached Beijing North TV and hoped that Beijing North TV would cancel the broadcast of the drama at the cost of sacrificing the interests of its own TV station.

Fortunately, Guo Jingyu has been working in the Beijing North film and television industry for many years and has a good relationship with Beijing North TV, so he rejected the other party's request. In addition, he re-found the deputy director who had previously come forward to mediate and asked the director to personally come forward to escort, and finally the show was broadcast.

Facts have proved that the performance of this drama is indeed good. Although it was criticized by many netizens after it was broadcast because the plot values are full of feudal ideas, and the rating is only 3 points, the ratings are quite good.

The data for both channels on the first day of broadcast was 0.7. It exceeded in less than half a month after broadcast and is still growing.

All I can say is that Director Guo really understands the preferences of that group of middle-aged and elderly audiences.

The work was broadcast normally and achieved good results, so Guo Jingyu would not have any more thoughts. However, when he checked other TV series that were broadcast at the same time, he found that the drama produced and produced by the "great god" was also broadcast at the same time as his own work.

In other words, even if he really spent a lot of money to buy the ratings, the results could not exceed other people's own projects. This matter was just to fool him from the beginning.

Guo Jingyu was so angry, and the recent drama "Mother's Way" received a lot of negative reviews online, which made him firmly believe that the other party had hired a group of internet trolls in an attempt to discredit him.

So in a fit of anger, he posted this long picture on Weibo last night, which completely turned the table.

"My ancestors were revolutionary predecessors, and I have red blood flowing in my veins. If these villains want to mess with me in this way, then I will tell them that they have found the wrong person!" Guo Jingyu was furious and spoke in a fierce tone.

Meng Bai was not affected by his emotions, but changed the question: "Director Guo, the 'great god' you are talking about is Liu Xiaofeng, right?"

"Well, why, you know him too?"

"Ha, as expected." Meng Bai snorted and laughed: "I dealt with him once before, and the impression was very deep."

Guo Jingyu suddenly realized: "Oh, right, your Huguang also appeared in a TV series at the beginning of the year. Oh, how much did he offer you at that time?"

"My price is cheaper, 50 per episode."

"Haha, that's quite a deal."

"We have a small number of episodes. If we had more, who would do it? They have been doing this for many years and they value sustainable development."

His tone was full of teasing, and Guo Jingyu couldn't help laughing out loud.

The "Liu Xiaofeng" the two were talking about was not some unknown person, but the boss of Straw Bear Entertainment.

Speaking of Straw Bear Entertainment, many people may feel familiar with it. In fact, as early as a few years ago, this company was on the hot search for a long time because of the billion-dollar acquisition by Baofeng Technology.

Liu Xiaofeng has always had a good relationship with Lizhi TV. Thanks to this relationship, Straw Bear Entertainment has developed well in recent years. First, it introduced several celebrity shareholders such as Wu Qilong, Liu Shishi and Zhao Liying, and then received financing from Alibaba. With a valuation of 20 to 30 billion, it can be regarded as a top-ranked film and television company in the industry.

Of course, these are all business in public. Behind the scenes, he is actually the key person responsible for communication and contact in this "ratings black industry chain".

When Arclight released Peace Hotel last year, it had a deal with Liu Xiaofeng. At that time, the other party confidently said that as long as money was paid, the show could be scheduled on any first- and second-tier satellite TV stations except CCTV and Mango TV, and the data was guaranteed.

Of course, Meng Bai later chose to refuse the cooperation and switched to CCTV, and there was no further news after that.

Unexpectedly, after such a long time, I heard this name again from Guo Jingyu.

But think about it, it makes sense, just like what Lao Guo said on Weibo, almost half of the hit dramas that have performed well in the past two years have bought ratings, so they must have dealt with each other.

"Well, Director Guo, what are you going to do next?"

"I don't have any idea. I just think this is too ridiculous. I can't help but expose them and see if I can attract the attention of the higher-ups."

At this point, Guo Jingyu sighed: "Alas, I think it's pretty bad. The ratings problem is talked about every year in the circle, and many people have exposed it. The higher-ups always say they will make corrections, but in the end there is no change."

Meng Bai has a different opinion: "It was hard to say before, but it may not be the case this time. The film and television industry is at the center of controversy this year, and the higher-ups have many opinions on how traffic has guided public opinion in recent years. Who knows, there may really be a thorough cleanup."

"I hope so." Guo Jingyu sighed: "It is better to suffer a short pain than a long one. Otherwise, if the film and television industry continues to develop like this in the past few years, there will be no hope for it."

"Director Guo, please don't be so negative. The world will get better and better."

Meng Bai said with a smile, and then reminded: "But brother, you have to be careful recently. Cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. Those people will definitely fight back."

"Haha, don't worry, Brother Meng. I'm a stubborn person. If anyone tries to play dirty with me, I'll flip the table over."

After hanging up the phone, Meng Bai held the phone and thought for a while, then reopened Weibo.

I clicked on Guo Jingyu's long article again. At this time, the topic of this news has been viewed tens of millions of times, and the number of likes has exceeded one million, ranking at the top of the hot search list.

Meng Bai directly forwarded it with his own account, and also added a paragraph of text. [Although he has just entered the field of TV dramas, he has already felt the "many difficulties" in the industry. For many years, the industry has been calling for action, but the trend of fraud has become more and more serious. If this continues, it will become an unbearable burden for the industry. Although Hu Guang has little influence, he still supports Director Guo in exposing these evil spirits! ]

[The golden monkey raised his thousand-pound stick, and the sky cleared of dust. Today we cheer for Sun Wukong, only because the evil fog has returned again.]

After writing, he directly confirmed sending.

When he contacted Peace Hotel before, he was already unhappy with this group of people, but out of consideration for his own interests, he finally chose to ignore it.

Now, Brother Guo Jingyu flashed to start a team fight and used his ultimate skill close to the opponent, which was truly a generous and brave move.

Just joining in the support and helping out can be considered as a contribution to the industry.

What's more, Meng Bai believes that this time it is very likely to be a favorable situation.

The authorities have been tolerating the chaos in the film and television industry for a long time. They were more tolerant because of the rapid development of the industry.

However, as capital recedes and a cold winter approaches, the development of the film and television industry has reached a bottleneck and no longer has the momentum of previous years.

At the same time, a large number of viewers and netizens have long criticized the chaos in the entertainment industry.

Taking this opportunity to restore order and conduct a thorough investigation of the entertainment industry will go hand in hand with the will of heaven and the wishes of the people. It is the right time.

Anyway, if Meng Bai was the leader, he would definitely not miss this opportunity.
-
After posting on Weibo, Meng Bai continued with his work.

Next month, during the National Day holiday, "Detective Chinatown 2" will be released. Before that, there is also a "Detective Chinatown" web drama to be aired as a warm-up.

Compared to idol dramas and fantasy dramas that often have forty, fifty, sixty or seventy episodes, suspense-themed works are generally smaller in size.

After all, there aren't so many emotional entanglements of "you love me, I love him, he loves her", and the plot isn't watered down.

Despite this, compared to ArcLight’s past works, this “Detective Chinatown” web drama still appears to be particularly short and concise.

There are only ten episodes in the whole season, and three cases are told.

The story background of this web drama continues the setting of the first part of the movie version of "Detective Chinatown".

Although no evidence was found that involved "Sinuo" in the case, Qin Feng was able to resolve some of his worries after the trip to Bangkok. His stuttering problem also improved significantly. He planned to go back to repeat his studies and reapply for a law school.

At the same time, because the "gold theft case" was solved, Tang Ren's reputation greatly increased and he was called "the first detective in Chinatown". With this title and the care of Chief Superintendent Kun Tai, Tang Ren's life became more and more comfortable. By the way, he also accepted an apprentice named Lin Mo.

Similar to Qin Feng, Lin Mo was born with a special sense of smell. He was born into a wealthy family, but witnessed his mother being murdered when he was young. He memorized the murderer's scent and wandered around the crime scenes for many years, hoping to find the murderer one day.

Lin Mo is the protagonist of the web drama version of "Detective Chinatown". In addition to the plot itself, his appearance also brings many new settings, such as the Global Detective Alliance, the CRIMASTER community, and new detective characters such as Q, Kiko, and Noda Hao.

Although the main purpose of this web series is to pave the way for the upcoming movie version, it does not mean that the plot will be dealt with casually.

On the contrary, as the most special existence in the "Green Ivy Detective Universe", the "Detective Chinatown Series" has returned to the online drama system this time, and a lot of thought has been put into the arc.

In addition to guest appearances by movie characters such as Qin Feng and Tang Ren, many easter eggs from other works were also added.

For example, "Guan Hongfeng" who briefly appeared in the CRIMASTER community comments, as a non-police officer, theoretically he could join these strange "overseas organizations" at will.

In the second "Smiley Face" case, because the victim's body was severely damaged and the Bangkok police's technical level was not enough, Lin Mo could only ask Qin Feng to remotely contact Qin Ming, the most outstanding forensic doctor in "Green Vine City", and obtained key clues with the other party's help.

It can be said that low-cost projects also have their advantages. Anyway, the investment is low and the main purpose is not for profit, so the screenwriter team of Arc Light can arrange many linkages.

The first phase of the "Green Ivy Series" is only one "Hunting Crime Picture Book" away. If we want to continue to maintain this "criminal investigation universe", the works starting from the second phase will inevitably have more character linkages.

This is a good opportunity to observe the audience's reaction to the collaboration, which will also facilitate the creation of the plot for the second phase of the work.

The actor who plays the male lead Lin Mo is called Zhu Yilong. When he was filming the web drama "Detective Chinatown", he was still a less famous third-tier actor.

Unexpectedly, not long ago, a gay-themed web drama "Guardian" starring him became a huge hit, and he became a new traffic star almost overnight.

By the way, the other male lead of this drama is Bai Yu.

Meng Bai suppressed his laughter and said he was happy to see it, because Arc Light has confirmed that he will star in the third part of the "Zijin Chen Trilogy", "The Long Night".

The fact that the leading actor suddenly becomes popular after a project starts is as lucky as getting into a junior college and then being promoted to a bachelor's degree.

However, it can also be seen from this that gay dramas have become a new trend after fairy tales and ancient costume dramas.

According to statistics from ArcLight, in the more than one month since the hit drama “Guardian” became popular, seven or eight similar dramas with two male protagonists have applied for project approval.

By the way, Meng Bai also thought of the drama "The Untamed" that Meng Ziyi was filming. Estimating the time, it should be almost finished soon.

The girl stayed in the mountains for several months, and sent WeChat messages every day saying that she was bitten by various small insects and it was too hard. After the filming was completed, she had to ask her uncle to treat her to a big meal.

Just as he was thinking about how to get rid of this girl, Meng Bai suddenly heard a knock on the office door. After a shout, Hua Yan walked in.

"Boss, the Operations Department asked me to ask you something. The Weibo post you sent this morning was reposted by many other companies and people in the industry. Should we at Arclight also repost it?"

"Wait!" Meng Bai looked at her in confusion: "What do you mean others have forwarded it?"

"Boss, don't you know?"

Hua Yan took out her phone, tapped a few times and handed it to Meng Bai: "Didn't you post this Weibo this morning? Then a lot of people commented and forwarded it."

Meng Bai took the phone and took a look. It was indeed the message he forwarded that morning.

Not only did the number of likes increase by hundreds of thousands, but even his number of followers increased by two to three thousand.

Looking at the comments again, most of them were left by ordinary netizens at the beginning, mainly discussing whether this account was Meng Bai.

[The name "Meng Bai" does not necessarily mean that it is the real Meng Bai. Anyway, you can choose any Weibo name. 】

[But looking at the tone, it feels like it's real, but why is there no certification? ]

[Are you stupid? This is obviously Meng Bai's own trumpet. ]

[The case has been solved, friends, this is the Mr. Meng Bai! Looking at his fan list, the official account of Arclight Films and his is mutually followed. It is impossible for the company not to know its own boss. ]

[Fuck, it seems to be true! ]

[This is the first time I saw Teacher Meng Bai alive. Catch him! ]

【…】

Netizens still had doubts at first, until they discovered the mutual connection between ArcLight Films and TV, and then they made a preliminary confirmation.

It was not until Guo Jingyu himself left a message to express his gratitude under this Weibo post that it was confirmed that the account belonged to Meng Bai, the boss of Arc Light.

Soon after, more and more people in the circle began to appear in the comment section, directly making this forwarded Weibo post a hot topic.

(End of this chapter)