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

Chapter 386 Official Opening

Just as Meng Bai said before, as a behind-the-scenes worker and entertainment capitalist, public opinion is not completely useless to him, but it does not have much effect.

Therefore, if it is just to clarify the rumors, it would be enough for the official, Arclight Films and the girls' own teams to come forward to refute the rumors.

The reason why so much effort was put into arranging a press conference is to take advantage of this opportunity to expose the "black interest chain" hidden behind the scenes.

This was not just his idea, but also what the top leaders hoped for. After all, only by making things bigger would the authorities have a reason to make drastic changes.

For Meng Bai, this is also an opportunity to resolve all hidden dangers.

As long as the "scandal" is completely attributed to a "struggle for interests" and the public is made to believe that the "faker" behind the scenes deliberately slandered for his own benefit, then even if a similar incident happens again in the future, there will be no need for Arc Light to come forward, as the fans will throw all kinds of "rumor-busting" in the other party's face.

"Mr. Meng, you said that you were slandered and framed this time because you touched upon the underground black profit chain in the film and television industry. Can you give us more details?"

Among the media in the audience, a man with an orange on his microphone sign raised his hand to ask a question. Reporters from other media nearby took one look at him and recognized him as someone from Orange Entertainment.

The person who raised his hand to ask questions was naturally Kobayashi, who has been working with Arc Light for a long time. He was also the only media reporter who had communicated with the organizer in advance at today's press conference.

What Meng Bai wanted him to do was very simple, that is, to stand up at the right time and direct the rhythm of the entire press conference to the matter of "ratings fraud". This not only diverted the public's attention, but also made everyone not pay attention to the previous clarification content, thus creating a sense of fait accompli.

Meng Bai looked at Xiao Lin Lingkong and nodded slightly, then said loudly: "Of course, since I am standing here today to tell the story, I want to let the public know how these termites hiding in the shadows of our film and television industry are destroying the industry bit by bit."

As he said that, he stood up and walked to the side. The LED screen behind him showed the PPT that the Arc Light Administration Department had worked overtime on last night. The first picture at the beginning was a screenshot of Guo Jingyu and his own Weibo.

"Many people should have seen these two Weibo posts. Less than a month ago, Director Guo Jingyu exposed on Weibo that a TV station asked the film company to buy 'ratings' because of the broadcasting problem of his new drama. After that, many of our colleagues in the film and television industry have voiced their support for Director Guo, including myself."

"However, not long after this exposure and voice, a large number of smear articles were circulated online. These articles, under the guise of 'exposing' the personal privacy of our artists, were mixed with a lot of imaginary, fabricated and smearing remarks about Arclight Films and me."

Meng Bai looked at the many cameras in the audience and raised his voice, "Why is this happening? It's very simple. It's because I raised the issue at a relevant department meeting some time ago, hoping to investigate the issue of 'ratings fraud' and clean up the film and television industry."

"For a long time, 'ratings fraud' has been a well-known problem in the industry, but no one dares to mention it. Many film and television production companies are constrained by TV stations' broadcasting opportunities and payment, and have to succumb to these 'black chains'."

"In the past two years, many viewers have complained about why the cost of TV dramas has been rising, the number of episodes has been getting longer and longer, but the quality of the plots has been declining. Many people attribute this to the high salaries of the leading actors, who have taken up most of the production costs. Of course, this is naturally one aspect. But at the same time, in many unknown corners, there are other people who are secretly eating away at the crew's funds."

Meng Bai frowned and made a distressed expression: "Take our first drama Peace Hotel as an example. When we contacted several satellite TV stations at the beginning, almost every one of them directly stated that they wanted to spend money to buy ratings. Otherwise, the TV series would not be broadcast, and even if it was broadcast, the performance would be so bad that we could not receive the final payment."

"A TV series costs more than one million yuan, and buying ratings costs 600,000 to 700,000 yuan. Most of the profits are divided up, and the situation is getting worse. In order to ensure that they do not lose money, the film companies can only continue to cut production costs. This is one of the reasons for the decline in the quality of TV series."

As Meng Bai spoke, he naturally observed the comments from netizens on the screen of the live broadcast room opposite.

[That’s what I was saying. There are so many dramas that nobody has discussed, but why are their ratings so high? I thought I was out of touch with the times.]

[More than half of the revenue from a drama is taken away. Who would have the heart to make a good drama? ]

[What are the relevant departments doing? Usually, they ban anime novels very quickly, but this kind of thing, which is really necessary, has been delayed for so many years without any action. ]

[That’s not true. In fact, relevant inspections are conducted every two years, but each time they are not very serious.]

[Call on the relevant departments to strictly investigate the fraud of ratings, online trolls, and box office inflation, and let those traffic stars reveal their real data to see whether they are really popular or not! ]

【…】

Just as Meng Bai expected, netizens' anger over the poor quality of domestic dramas in recent years has basically been directed out.

In his heart, he was satisfied with achieving his goal, but outwardly, he still looked "passionate".

"Many audience friends said that they thought the drama was bad, but the performance was very good, and they wondered if it was their own fault. What I want to say is that everyone should not doubt their own aesthetic standards. A bad drama is a bad drama, and it will not change because of the performance, because it is very likely controlled by the people behind the scenes."

"We at Arclight have only been established for five years. We are still 'youngsters' in the film and television industry, and even newer in the field of TV dramas. We don't have any connections or relationships. Perhaps it is for this reason that we have been targeted by those in the shadows."

"But I want to say..." Meng Bai raised his arm and made a fist, "We Arc Light are not afraid of these attacks, nor are we afraid of sewage. If no one stands up to lift the lid, then we will do it!"

"Here, on behalf of Arclight Films, I formally call on all colleagues and predecessors in the film and television production industry to jointly resist the bad behavior of 'ratings fraud'. I call on the relevant departments to rectify the ratings statistics system and use a more fair and rigorous data platform!"

"I hope that one day, film and television companies can shoot movies with peace of mind, platforms can broadcast smoothly, and audiences can see more wonderful works. I also believe that with the improvement of the country's comprehensive strength and the establishment of cultural confidence, domestic film and television works will one day become the best way for us to export our culture."

"thank you all!"
-
The real-time viewing volume of Arc Light's "rumor-refuting press conference" was very high, but afterwards, the views and popularity of various clips online increased by an order of magnitude.

Various big Vs, bloggers and self-media marketing accounts cut out clips of Meng Bai's speech and played them separately, and almost every one of them earned "10+".

On the other hand, because Arc Light directly found Li Mu, the police investigation was also progressing smoothly. The day before the National Day holiday, Chaoyang Public Security issued a police report on the incident on its official account.

[In response to the recent online hot topic of "Archlight Films was maliciously rumored", the party involved, Beijing Arclight Films Media Co., Ltd., reported the case to the Chaoyang Branch of the local police station on September 2018, 9... The relevant suspect has been brought to justice and his identity has been confirmed after interrogation and evidence collection.]

[Li, male, 25 years old, unemployed. He was hired by someone else a month ago to write an irresponsible article about Arclight Films for 2000 yuan... Because Li was not the principal offender and had a good attitude of admitting guilt, the party concerned forgave him and detained him for three days and fined him yuan. The rest of the suspects are still under investigation.] The police report is obviously much more credible than Arclight alone. Seeing that the rumormonger was indeed caught, a group of netizens finally believed that there was indeed a force behind the scenes that was smearing Meng Bai and Arclight Films.

In conjunction with the police report, Taiyang Chuanhe also arranged for the management teams of the girls involved to release a more detailed statement of the situation.

However, what concerns these fans is that it seems that each company’s statement is slightly different.

For example, Yang Chaoyue and Bai Lu, the simplest response from them was a very official rumor-refuting announcement, which looked like it was issued by a company.

In comparison, the announcements from the other three people seemed less blunt.

For example, Li Qin released a statement from her own studio. Although it indicated that the previous online revelations were rumors, it did not directly deny the relationship with Meng Bai. It just said that the two had cooperated for many years and that they would have closer cooperation with Arclight in the future.

Li Yitong is similar to her, but in the description she specifically introduced that she and Meng Bai are "friends who have known each other for a long time" and that she is "very grateful to Meng Bai for bringing her onto the path of an artist."

However, the most straightforward one was Song Zhi. What she sent was not even a template provided by the company or the team, but a short essay she wrote herself.

The most important thing is that she directly admitted in her "short essay" that she had a romantic relationship with Meng Bai when she was in college. They did not know each other because of "The Pretender", but they broke up later.

Song Zhi was naturally scheming and deliberately posted this microblog. However, she didn't dare to make her own decision, so she asked Meng Bai before posting it.

After reading it, Meng Bai didn't think there was anything wrong with it. After all, many of their classmates and teachers at school knew about their relationship. If they insisted on denying it, it would easily lead to doubts.

It would be better to say it openly so that it appears more upright.

As expected, Song Zhi’s fans don’t care much about their idol’s love history. After all, actors are not idols, and there is no such thing as a love ban.

Many fans even left comments on Weibo, saying that the breakup was "really stupid." Some even urged her to "get our brother-in-law back!"

It must be said that Song Zhi's "little essay" was quite effective. Although Li Qin and Li Yitong hated this "green tea bitch", they had already lost the initiative and could not change it, so they could only endure it for the time being.

Of course, these controversies are all topics among their respective fans. For more ordinary netizens, the most concerned issue at present is still the big melon of "black industry in the film and television industry."

Generally speaking, the relevant departments, as officials, tend to be cautious and avoid making mistakes, so they handle many things with extreme caution and the speed cannot be fast.

However, this time the official efficiency was beyond everyone's expectations. The radio and television authorities, which had been prepared for a long time, launched an investigation into the film and television industry at lightning speed.

On October 10, the third day of the National Day holiday, Arc Light Pictures, together with 3 leading film and television production companies including Huace, Noon Sunshine, New Classics, Lemon Pictures, Huanrui Century, Light Media, and Perfect World, jointly issued a statement to jointly boycott the "black chain of ratings fraud."

On October 10, the first day after the National Day holiday, relevant departments issued an announcement to the public, responding to recent hotly debated demands and officially launching a review operation to crack down on illegal activities in the film and television industry.

The efficiency of the official response this time was beyond everyone's expectations. From the ArcLight Film and Television press conference to the start of formal action, it took only half a month, and it also included a National Day holiday.

At this point, even ordinary netizens outside the circle could see that this time the higher-ups had definitely been prepared and were planning to take real action.

As a connector between the government and the industry, Meng Bai has been very busy recently, and he didn't even have the energy to pay attention to "Detective Chinatown 2" which was released during the National Day holiday.

But then again, with the foundation of the first film and the reputation of the "Green Ivy Detective Universe", plus the currently hit web drama "Detective Chinatown 3", it seems that he doesn't have much to worry about the performance of the movie.

Moreover, compared with previous years, the competition in this year's National Day is not fierce. The only films that can have an impact on "Detective Chinatown 2" are "The Great Wall" co-starring Chow Yun-fat and Aaron Kwok, Zhang Guoshi's new film "Shadow", and the comedy "Li Cha's Aunt" by Happy Twist.

Before the release, "Li Cha's Aunt" was the most anticipated because it was named "Starring Shen Teng". However, after the movie was actually released, the audience found that Shen Teng's two supporting roles were not counted, and at most he was just a "guest appearance".

The deceived audience was very angry, and the quality of the film itself was not high, so after making a wave of box office revenue in the first few days, it quickly declined.

Zhang Yimou's "Shadow" still inherits the style of "Lao Mouzi". The color and art of the film are very high, but the plot is hard to describe. Although it is much better than his previous "The Great Wall", it can only be considered average in general.

The producer of the film is the former LeTV Pictures, which has been renamed "LeEco Entertainment". Sunac had hoped that this film could alleviate the decline a little, but the final result was just a drop in the bucket.

At this point, Sunac’s boss Sun had completely given up on saving Leshi and stopped investing resources, leaving it to fend for itself.

In comparison, the previously unpopular Hong Kong film "Wushuang" was a small surprise. Compared with Hong Kong films that have been increasingly trapped in their own little world in recent years, this film is still the same old routine of police and gangster crime, but it is a rare story from the perspective of the villain, which is also a big innovation.

The box office results were good, with a box office of 6 million in seven days during the holiday, ranking second in the National Day holiday.

As for the most popular movie, there is no doubt that "Detective Chinatown 2" won the National Day box office championship with a crushing momentum of 20 billion yuan.

To be honest, this result was also beyond the expectations of Meng Bai and Chen Sicheng. After all, the total box office of the first film was just over 10 billion.

Before the release, they predicted that it would be great if the total box office of the second part could exceed 20 billion.

Unexpectedly, this result was achieved in just one vacation.

(End of this chapter)