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

Chapter 378
"How's the typhoon situation over there... You must ensure safety. If you can shoot indoor scenes during this period, do so. Or you can just take a few days off. It's okay as long as no one gets hurt... Okay, you're on the set, just take care of it yourself."

"Don't worry, Brother Meng, we will pay attention to it."

In the office, seeing Meng Bai hang up the phone, Liu Jun, who was sitting opposite, asked: "How is it, is everything okay?"

"It's okay. The local area issued an early warning, and Liu Zhi and his team also made preparations in advance. Except for one set being damaged, everything else is fine." Meng Bai said.

"That's good." Liu Jun also breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter what the props and scenes are, as long as nothing happens to people."

In mid-September, the super typhoon "Mangkhut" officially landed in the southeastern coastal areas, and many provinces and cities including Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan were all affected.

Zhanjiang, the filming location of "The Hidden Corner", was the first to be hit, as it was right within the landing range.

The show started filming at the end of last month, and now is the time to shoot against the clock. In addition, there are many young actors in the crew this time, and if there is a problem, it will be a big deal. Therefore, as soon as Meng Bai saw the news, he immediately called Liu Zhi and Xin Shuang from the crew.

Fortunately, they took precautions in advance and suspended the filming of outdoor scenes in the past few days, so they were not affected too much.

Typhoon Mangkhut has been wreaking havoc in the southeast, becoming a hot topic of discussion among the public. In the film and television industry, a similar "super typhoon" is also gradually brewing.

The identity of the Weibo post forwarded by Meng Bai was immediately confirmed after Guo Jingyu himself left a comment.

Everyone in the industry knows about this big boss who created "Arc Light Film and Television", the top film and television team in the domestic entertainment industry. However, netizens and audiences outside the circle have always heard more about him than they know.

If it was any other ordinary behind-the-scenes staff, not many people would care. The celebrities on stage are already busy, so who would pay attention to you, a person behind the scenes?

But this big shot's experience is too legendary, and he can produce three or four hit dramas every year, so it's really hard not to pay attention to him.

Being young, handsome, self-made and low-key, these qualities make him more easily accepted by the new generation of netizens.

In addition to this time's speaking out for justice, he was the first to stand up and support Guo Jingyu in "exposing the fraud in ratings" and even appeared on the social platform for the first time, which naturally further aroused the public's emotions.

On the day the Weibo post was published, under the hot search term "ratings fraud", Meng Bai's reposts even surpassed the popularity of Guo Jingyu's original post.

On the popular list, there was a new hot search #弧光影视孟白聲支持#.

One stone can cause a thousand ripples. Such high popularity naturally attracted many people in the circle to join the "battlefield".

The first to speak out was Wang Changtian, the boss of Guangguang Media. He said that as early as 2015, Guangguang Media resolutely withdrew from the TV drama market because it was dissatisfied with the problem of fake ratings.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Sicheng also posted on Weibo, saying that he had also received requests to "buy ratings" before the broadcast of "Great Expectations", and if he did not buy it, he would be attacked by opponents.

[I wanted to start a rebellion, but my wife persuaded me not to. But if this problem is not solved, I will never get involved in TV dramas again.]

Chen Sicheng's online reputation is not good due to his repeated cheating incidents. However, this time he stood on the side of most viewers, so there was not much criticism, and at most people complained that "if you don't dare to say it, you don't dare to say it, but you have to blame your wife."

After that, several emerging companies in the film and television industry, such as Huace, Noon Sunshine, New Classics, Lemon, etc., also posted on Weibo to express their support.

In the end, even Qiyi TV, Tencent Video, Youku, and Mango TV joined in the fun. The official accounts of several platforms all crowded under Meng Bai’s Weibo post, secretly saying that "the traditional TV drama market has too many shady dealings, so it’s better to go to video websites and broadcast online."

However, netizens are not fools, and they scolded: "You are all birds of a feather. Take care of the billions of views first before you talk about others!"

I can only say that these websites have brought shame upon themselves.

The authorities certainly couldn't ignore such a huge amount of attention. The day after Meng Bai's Weibo post became popular, the Radio and Television Administration issued an official notice.

[In response to the public opinion and feedback on the ratings issue, the responsible comrades of the relevant departments stated that they have taken measures and will work with relevant parties to speed up the investigation. Once illegal and irregular issues are verified, they will be dealt with seriously. ]

The notice is very short, only about fifty words, and seems insignificant.

But as we all know, official statements are just like meetings. The fewer words, the bigger the matter. Moreover, this time it was no longer an industry organization such as the "TV Drama Association" or the "Film and Television Production Association" that issued the statement, but a direct statement from the radio and television.

Therefore, Meng Bai’s previous guess is very likely correct. The higher-ups may really want to take this opportunity to clean up the chaos in the film and television industry.

"Many people in the industry have contacted me in the past few days, asking if we have any plans to issue a joint industry statement to support the 'crackdown on ratings fraud' incident," said Liu Jun.

Meng Bai snorted and laughed: "We are charging in the front, and they are waiting in the back to drink soup. It's a good plan."

"Haha, this is human nature, it's normal." Liu Jun said with a smile: "In fact, this is also good news. The fact that so many people have come to us also shows that Arclight's current influence and status are at the top of the industry, and all the previous work has not been in vain."

After that, he regained his serious expression and said, "And I think that although it may be troublesome to take the initiative to stand up, it is actually an opportunity."

"Oh, what do you say?"

“No matter how powerful a company is, it can never match an entire industry. If we can serve as a representative of the industry, then our weight in the eyes of the official will be more than just a leading film and television company. If we can then take advantage of the situation to become a link between the upper and lower levels and have some official status, then we can be considered to have truly established ourselves in this circle.”

The domestic environment is different from that abroad. If you want to truly reach the top, capital alone is not enough, you must have official support.

Today, Arc Light Pictures has funding, strength, reputation, and connections. The only thing it lacks is connections with the upper echelons.

This relationship has two paths, either top-down or bottom-up.

The former requires innate ability, which Arclight Film and Television obviously cannot rely on. What we can do now is to rely on our own advantages to cultivate it.

The storm caused by the "ratings fraud" is actually an opportunity. If we can find opportunities in this matter, we may be able to get some official support.

Liu Jun didn't expect any obvious results from this one time, but as long as he got on the car, there would be many opportunities to expand the arc slowly in the future.

Meng Bai naturally understood what the other party meant. After thinking for a while, he said, "How about this. The relevant departments will organize a meeting in a few days. I guess it will be to discuss the problem of the chaos of 'film and television ratings'. I will bring it up when the time comes. If it's appropriate, I can try it."

"Okay, then this part is all up to you." Liu Jun said, "We are here at the company, don't worry."

After that, he said cheerfully: "Anyway, let's give it a try first. If it works, that's great. If it doesn't, we can look for another opportunity later. Arclight is still very young, and the last thing he lacks is time."

"Haha, yes, we still have a lot of time." Meng Bai said with a smile: "Time is the greatest asset, we still have a lot of possibilities."
-
The authorities acted quickly. Just two days after issuing the notice, they convened an investigation meeting for the film and television industry.

However, unlike what Meng Bai expected, the specifications of this meeting were much higher than any other meeting he had ever attended. The organizer was not the Radio and Television Bureau itself, but a group of departments including the Central Propaganda Department, Culture and Tourism Bureau, Radio and Television Bureau, and Taxation Bureau.

There were not many film and television industry practitioners invited to the event, including senior leaders of several provincial satellite TV stations such as Mango TV and Dragon TV, heads of the three major video platforms, and bosses of film and television companies including Huace, Noon Sunshine and Arc Light Films.

Meng Bai attended the conference as a representative of the online drama production field and a new generation of young film and television practitioners. He was also the youngest participant on the scene.

He initially thought that the discussion was just about the issue of "ratings fraud", but the actual content of the meeting was much more than that.

Fan economy, data inflation, traffic army, sky-high pay, tax evasion, ratings fraud, marketing accounts and self-media guiding public opinion...

It's like all the problems in the film, television and entertainment industry in recent years have been laid out at once.

The meeting lasted for two days in total. The content involved was not made public, and the only claim to the outside world was that it was an organization for industry self-discipline and self-correction.

Meng Bai did not waste the opportunity and took the opportunity to propose a joint statement of the industry to support the official investigation. Of course, it is definitely not our President Meng's style to work hard in the front and then watch others enjoy the soup. So when he made suggestions, he brought in all the companies that had contacted Arc Light before.

Aren't you willing to encourage it? Okay, then let's all come together and no one should be idle.

The official departments were naturally happy to see this spontaneous industry action. Seeing that Arc Light had so much "support", they simply let Meng Bai be responsible for integrating this matter, and then cooperate with the above investigation progress.

When the bosses from the platforms and film and television companies who were present at the meeting heard the news, they all looked at Meng Bai with complicated expressions, their faces filled with both emotion and relief.

In a sense, before the whole thing is completely over, this is equivalent to a "golden sword". Arclight can use the official excuse to expand its power and influence.

But at the same time, this is also a "double-edged sword". After all, this matter will affect the interests of many people, and whoever takes over the responsibility will be the target of public criticism.

For these old forces whose positions have been consolidated, this matter is a big hassle with little benefit and is quite useless.

But for a "newcomer" like ArcLight Pictures, this is an opportunity where risks and benefits coexist.

If it can be successfully executed in the end, then from then on, Arc Light can be regarded as a big boss in the film and television industry comparable to them.

……

Although the official has not announced the relevant news to the public, various rumors are still circulating in the circle.

The core of this is naturally Meng Bai, who participated in the joint meeting.

"It is said that the leading companies attending the meeting this time are Arc Light Films and they want to organize the industry to issue a statement to boycott the chaos in the film and television industry."

"What! The relevant departments are going to form an industry alliance, let Arclight Films take the lead, and launch an operation to thoroughly investigate the film and television industry?"

"Hey, I just heard some news. It is said that the higher-ups have long been dissatisfied with those old-fashioned film and television capitals, so this time they want to replace a group of new forces, and Arclight Films seems to be the first to start."

"Have you heard that Mr. Meng of Arc Light is backed by a big boss in the cultural department? This operation is a test for him. If he succeeds, he will be the new leader in the future."

"You know everything, right? There's someone behind that Arclight Films. Their young boss was specially placed outside to provide financial support. Now you know why they've grown so fast!"

"..."

Rumors always become more and more outrageous. The key is that as long as the number of people spreading the rumor is large enough, even if some people feel that it is unreliable, they will just follow others and believe it.

When Meng Bai heard the people under him in the company reporting these rumors in the circle, he couldn't help but be stunned.

Wow, he himself didn’t know that his background was so strong!

He doubted whether these people had no brains at all. Such an outrageous rumor was just nonsense if anyone tried to understand it.

If someone really has such a great background, why would he bother to set up a film and television company? He could just go into a monopoly industry like qualification licensing.

All we can say is that practitioners in the film, television and entertainment industry are of varying quality, and everyone holds the attitude of preferring to believe it than not to believe it.

However, this saves Meng Bai a lot of trouble. He doesn't have to contact these companies one by one. He can just sit in the office and wait for them to come.

After hearing that they were expected to join the industry joint statement, the company leaders who approached them became more convinced of the rumors. They all patted their chests and said that it was no problem, and they would follow Mr. Meng's lead.

Of course, there are tens of thousands of film and television companies in the country, and it is impossible for them all to unite. So in fact, Meng Bai only needs to communicate with the top and first-tier companies, and mainly with those in northern Beijing.

Things went more smoothly than expected, and Meng Bai was able to free up his energy to focus on the web drama "Detective Chinatown" and his second movie to be released during the National Day holiday.

As early as the beginning of the multi-department joint meeting, the online drama of "Detective Chinatown" had already started. As soon as the mini-season of ten episodes was announced, it was welcomed by many fans and viewers.

Nowadays, everyone's pace of life is fast. A drama can easily be 30 or 50 episodes long, which is really hard to keep up with.

Coupled with the various slow-paced shots, flashbacks and rambling emotional scenes, everyone is forced to watch the show at twice the speed. Some viewers even think that even at twice the speed is too slow, so they just watch the "Watch XX in one go" series of those film and television bloggers.

Therefore, when the number of episodes of the "Detective Chinatown" web drama was announced, many viewers thought they had seen it wrong.

There are ten episodes in total, two episodes are broadcast a week, and it will be finished in a month. It really saves people a lot of trouble.

Of course, the size of the show is only part of the equation; the key is quality. People can tolerate 50 episodes of a good show, but they can’t stand even five minutes of a bad show.

However, when the audience saw Meng Bai clearly written in the "Screenwriter" column on the promotional poster, they put their worries to rest.

If "Arc Light Production" still needs some consideration, then "Screenwriter Meng Bai" really just needs to put your mind at ease and watch it.

After the first episode was aired, #web drama "Detective Chinatown"# directly became a hot topic, with the amount of discussion and popularity far exceeding all film and television works of the same period.

However, what is different from the past is that, perhaps affected by the recent turmoil in the film and television industry, the broadcasting platform Qiyi TV has turned off the front-end playback volume display and replaced it with a new data called "heat value".

Qiyi TV announced that in order to dispel the "traffic-only" view, it will cancel the data on playback volume from now on.

It has to be said that as a leading video platform, the response speed is fast. As soon as the meeting was over, corrective measures were immediately taken.

In comparison, Tencent Video and Youku responded a step slower, but it is said that they are also discussing whether to make changes internally.

For Arc Light, the data of the "Detective Chinatown" web drama itself is of course important, but they are more concerned about the audience's feedback on the interaction between the characters and the warm-up effect on the movie.

The statistical data shows that the responses to both points are good.

The crossover of characters is naturally very exciting for viewers who have watched the previous works of the "Green Ivy Series". Audiences who have not watched it are not disgusted because the plot insertion is not awkward. Some even took the initiative to ask who the crossover characters involved are and which works they are from.

At the same time, after the new settings of the "Global Detective Alliance" came out, the audience also looked forward to the upcoming "Detective Chinatown 2".

Chen Sicheng struck while the iron was hot and began pre-movie promotion. The number of "audience wants to watch" on Maoyan and Tao Piaopiao has reached one million.

Judging from the popularity in the early stages, the box office of this film will definitely far exceed that of the first one.

Speaking of the box office, ArcLight’s first major motion picture “Psychological Crime: City Lights” was finally released recently.

Due to the start of school and the typhoon in the south, the final total box office failed to break 8.67 million and was fixed at million.

Although it’s a bit of a pity, it’s quite unexpected to have such a result, so there’s no regrets.

Now that the movie is off the screen, Arc Light can focus on the upcoming release of "Detective Chinatown 2".

Hot topics in the entertainment industry always change very quickly. In just a few days, the discussion about "ratings fraud" has subsided, and was replaced by all kinds of fresh gossip.

For example, the first domestic idol girl group "Rocket Girls 101", which debuted just one month ago, was revealed to have three members withdrawn from the group: Meng Meiqi, Wu Xuanyi and Zi Ning.

Among these three, Meng Meiqi and Wu Xuanyi were the first and second members of the group. Now that they have left at the same time, let’s not talk about the external impact, but within the team, Yang Chaoyue, who ranked third, did nothing and inexplicably became the new C position!
(End of this chapter)