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

Chapter 432 Who would watch a girl group audition for those over 30 years old?

"The Lanshan West Road Police Station is located between the southern part of Landao and the Lanshan District, with the business center on one side and the tourist center on the other. This may not be the most prosperous area of Landao, but it is definitely the area with the largest flow of people and the most complicated jurisdiction. It brings together many shopping malls, bars, homestays, hotels, universities, and coastal scenic spots. There are a large number of police incidents every day..."

In the conference room, Meng Bai introduced the specific situation and theme of the program "Protecting Blue Mountain West" to Zhou Cheng and others.

The initial inspiration for this project came from the idea that I had when chatting with Li when I was filming "Hunting Crime" in Blue Island.

Criminal investigation works, whether film and television dramas or legal documentaries, have always been based on various major and bizarre cases in order to attract the audience's attention.

However, in reality, for most ordinary viewers, the most likely cases to be encountered are not these major criminal investigations. Instead, small cases such as drunk fights, neighbors disturbing the public, petty theft, and children who can't find their homes are the most likely to be encountered.

Similarly, the police station is the place where ordinary people come into contact with the public security system the most.

So Meng Bai thought at that time whether he could make a drama with the police station as the background, mainly telling stories of various small cases and disputes. It just so happened that the fragments of inspiration in his mind also contained similar themes.

However, this kind of drama cannot rely on just a creative inspiration. It must be based on a large amount of real-life materials, which is time-consuming, so he has never been in a hurry to start.

It just so happened that Evergrande said that it wanted some variety reality shows with novel formats, so Meng Bai thought of this plan again.

If you think about it carefully, if this topic is to be made into a reality show, it is really a good idea to kill two birds with one stone. In order to produce the show, the program team will inevitably record a large number of real cases, and these cases can just serve as the basic material for the script creation.

"...We have already contacted Landao's publicity, culture and tourism, public security and other departments, and they are very interested in this project." Meng Bai said.

As a tourist city, Landao has been plagued by public opinion on culture and tourism in recent years. From the "sky-high price" of 38 yuan per shrimp, to the seaside food stalls overcharging customers, to the hotel breach of contract and temporary price increase for canceling reservations during holidays, the city's image has been falling again and again.

There are even many netizens who left half-sarcastic and half-joking comments online saying that Blue Island is worthy of being the main filming location of "Green Ivy City" and the plot can be directly based on the local scene.

When Meng Bai returned to Landao to participate in some government activities before, the city leaders even jokingly complained to him.

It just so happens that the nature of this program, "Protecting Blue Mountain West", is to observe grassroots governance. Therefore, as soon as Huguang mentioned it to Blue Island, they immediately agreed, hoping that through this program, more foreign tourists can understand a more real and multifaceted image of the city.

After all, for most ordinary people, what they are afraid of is not that there are bad people in this society, but that no one cares about them after they exist.

"Since it's an Arclight project, I think there's no problem. We can just start preparations directly." Zhou Cheng said decisively.

Because they want to enter the film and television industry, Evergrande has been learning about the relevant information of the film and television industry. The more they learn, the clearer they understand ArcLight's position in the industry, and the more they feel that this acquisition is really worth it.

Therefore, Zhou Cheng now has a blind trust in Arclight. Since Mr. Meng thinks this project is good, there must be no problem, and the platform can just follow it with its eyes closed.

"Mr. Meng, do you have a favorite production team?" Zhou Cheng patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, as long as they have time, the platform will definitely poach them for you."

"It doesn't have to be such a big deal." Meng Bai chuckled and said, "Personally, I prefer Director Yan Min. In fact, I have already contacted him a few days ago, and he is also very interested in this project."

"Director Yan Min?"

Zhou Cheng felt that the name sounded familiar, and recalled the information he had read recently: "Oh, is it the director of "Go Fighting"? I watched a few episodes of that show two years ago, and it was indeed quite interesting."

"Yes, that's him." Meng Bai nodded. "Director Yan Min's style has always been known for 'allowing guests to express themselves freely' and 'humanistic care', which just fits the tone of the program 'Protecting Blue Mountain West'."

It is a documentary observation reality show, where even the events are sudden, and the whole process is free to play. The camera focuses on the cases of grassroots police stations and ordinary citizens, and is also full of humanistic care, which can be said to be a perfect fit.

In addition, this year, Dragon TV changed its leadership, and Go Fighting was asked to restructure due to declining ratings. Yan Min took his team and left Dragon TV to start his own business, which was no longer restricted by the platform. In addition, he was also very interested in this project, so it was relatively easy to negotiate.

"Okay, we will contact for cooperation in the name of the platform." Zhou Cheng agreed without hesitation.

After the first plan was decided, Chen Zhixi continued to operate the screen and switched to the next project. These program ideas were the inspiration they had after discussing them during this period and contacting several leading variety show teams in the domestic entertainment industry.

However, because there is no support from "Arc Production", Zhou Cheng's attitude became much more cautious. He said that he would wait for the platform project department to discuss it before deciding whether to do it.

After introducing each project one by one, only the last plan remained on the screen.

"Strictly speaking, this project has not yet been fully planned. It's just something that Mr. Meng and I talked about a few days ago." Chen Zhixi said.

When Zhou Cheng heard that Meng Bai was involved, he immediately became interested again: "It doesn't matter, Mr. Chen, we can talk freely in this internal discussion. Whether it succeeds or not is just an idea."

"it is good."

Chen Zhixi responded, and then switched the content on the screen: "Mr. Meng and I were talking a few days ago. As a new platform, Heng Video's primary task is to attract traffic. It just so happens that there is a type of program that is perfect for this requirement."

"What type?" Zhou Cheng asked curiously.

"Draft."

"A talent show..." Zhou Cheng thought for a moment, "Is it those singing and dancing idols or something like that?"

"Well, similar, but the specific details are different." Chen Zhixi said.

Meng Bai at the side continued the topic: "The traditional Japanese and Korean idol talent shows are now basically dominated by Tencent Video and Qiyi TV. Both the "Creation Camp" series and the "Youth With You" series have basically divided up more than 80% of the audience market." "At this time, if you continue to follow the trend and do the same type of talent shows, not to mention the audience, it will be difficult to find contestants. So Youku, which was a step late, started with other types and went into niche tracks such as rap and street dance."

"Mr. Chen and I came up with this plan based on Youku's new track selection and some inspiration from netizens' comments." Meng Bai said: "There was a very popular topic some time ago called the dilemma of middle-aged actresses. Many netizens left messages saying that they wanted to watch dramas with middle-aged actors as the protagonists. Someone even cut a similar trailer, which was once a hot search."

"At that time, Mr. Chen and I thought, since there is demand in the film and television drama market, can we also make a program with middle-aged female artists as the core in the talent show track? Then, we came up with this plan..."

Meng Bai gestured to the screen, and Chen Zhixi cooperated by switching the screen. A blue poster was displayed with the scheduled name of the show in the middle - Sisters Riding the Wind and Waves.

"Our idea is to gather a group of female artists over the age of 30, they can be actors, singers or from other professions, and perform and eliminate them in the same way as idol auditions. The winning group of 'sisters' can debut as a group and get more stage and resource opportunities," said Meng Bai.

"A talent show for a girl group where all members are over 30 years old?" Zhou Cheng frowned.

It does sound like a very interesting topic, but I don’t know how effective it will actually be.

But what Meng Bai and Chen Zhixi said also makes sense. Conventional boy and girl groups already have mature IPs. If they continue to follow the same format, it will be difficult to attract the audience's attention.

Seeing Zhou Cheng hesitate, Meng Bai spoke again: "How about this, Mr. Zhou, let's not rush to prepare for this plan. We can do a preliminary audience survey to see how many viewers are interested in this type of content, and then decide whether to do it based on the actual statistical data."

"Well, we should investigate the market situation first." Zhou Cheng relaxed his brows and nodded, "Okay, let's wait and see the specific data. If the audience group is really large, then we will do it."
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Zhou Cheng acted quickly. As soon as the discussion was over, he sent a project invitation to Director Yan Min.

After several detailed discussions, the other party officially took over the new project of "Protecting Blue Mountain West". Then, as the chief director of the program, he formed a program team of more than 24 people and went to Blue Island to record the program in a -hour full-time shooting mode.

The city leaders and relevant departments of Landao were very supportive of this project. Without affecting normal work, they integrated the city's police resources to cooperate with the program team. The Lanshan West Road Police Station, which was the main shooting location, also opened up police realities to the program team except for confidential information under the command of Director Li.

According to the plan, the first season of the show will have a total of ten episodes. However, because it is based on real cases, no one knows how much material is needed to accumulate enough content for one season.

In addition, Meng Bai also specifically asked that more materials be collected. Therefore, the program team installed more than 40 fixed surveillance cameras in the entire police station, and combined them with PTZ, drones and law enforcement recorders to strive to present each case as completely as possible.

As for Arclight, with the completion of The Silent Truth, the "Zijin Chen Trilogy" in cooperation with Qiyi TV also came to an end. After the crew team made adjustments, they turned to prepare for the new "Retrospective Series".

The influence and status of "arc light drama" are well known in the circle, not to mention that three of them were released at once this time.

Even before ArcLight officially announced the project requirements, the company's mailbox was flooded with audition resumes.

These are just the small actors and newcomers who don't have big companies to rely on. For actors with connections, the competition is equally fierce. Several crews are still in the preparation stage, but the staff have been calling one after another, all of them looking for connections to ask for favors.

At the same time, audiences and fan groups outside the circle are also very interested in the news, and each fan hopes that their brothers and sisters can get a "high-quality pie".

Major gossip marketing accounts would make up news like “Arc Light’s new drama will star XXX” every day to attract fans’ attention and gain traffic.

I thought the arc would take some time to consider, but I didn't expect that within just a few days, a drama would announce its main cast first.

[The urban suspense web drama "Twinkle Twinkle Star", starring: Meng Ziyi, Qu Chuxiao. ]

As soon as the list was released, there was an uproar among all major fan groups.

There is nothing wrong with Qu Chuxiao as the male lead. His contract with his original company Xitian Culture expired this year, and his new company signed a contract with Shuidi Agency, where Guo Fan works, and he is also considered an artist under Arc Light.

After all, he is the male lead of a movie with a box office of 5 billion, so it is normal to give him the male lead.

But the choice of Meng Ziyi as the heroine caused many people to grumble.

After some time of "popular science" by fans of "The Untamed" and the two male protagonists, many people now know that this girl is a relative of Meng Bai, the boss of Huguang, and is known as the "Princess Huguang" in the industry.

I thought that she might be in hiding for a while because she was at the center of the controversy over the label of "resource-rich person". I didn't expect that Arclight would be so strong, not caring about the online discussions at all, and directly supporting her.

When the haters saw the news, they were naturally furious and wanted to gather their forces to attack again. However, most of their manpower was currently occupied by the disputes among the three fan clubs, and they simply did not have the extra energy to start a new battle.

In desperation, the haters could only grit their teeth and keep this in mind, waiting to see if they would have the chance to retaliate in the future.

Contrary to the mood of the black fans, Meng Ziyi's fans are very excited at this moment.

As a fan, who doesn't want their own artist to have good resources and development? Now that they have found such a powerful backer like Arclight, it's like winning the jackpot.

However, the surprises for fans are not over yet, as Meng Ziyi’s official Weibo announced along with Twinkle Twinkle Star another ancient idol drama called "Eastern Palace", in which she also plays the female lead.

The release of two new dramas at once was a great relief. The anger that had been forced into a corner by the fans of the two popular shows was finally vented out.

In this regard, Meng Ziyi's fans unanimously decided that "Sister Meng's" uncle is our uncle.

From now on, you will follow my uncle's lead.

(End of this chapter)