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

Chapter 64: Comparison with American TV Series
As April arrived, Penguin Video's "Darker" aired the finale of the first season.

Thanks to its exciting plot and the rare "dark knight" setting in domestic criminal investigation dramas, this relatively simple web drama has received 4.5 million total views and a rating of 8.1, becoming the "web drama masterpiece" second only to "Soul Ferry".

In the early years, criminal investigation and mystery dramas were actually an important type of domestic dramas. "Serious Case Team 6" and "Crime Scene" are the childhood memories of many viewers. Unfortunately, due to policy reasons, this type of script was collectively blacklisted after a certain period of time, which led to the decline of domestic criminal investigation and mystery dramas.

However, this audience group did not disappear. Instead, relying on the gradually developed and improved Internet resources, they began to turn to American and British dramas.

"CSI", "Bones", "Lies", "Criminal Minds", "Person of Interest (POI)"... A large number of high-quality foreign dramas have come into view, which not only meets the audience's viewing needs, but also makes many people gradually begin to look forward to domestic criminal investigation dramas.

It is a crime drama with a truly exciting plot and realistic characters, rather than a "slogan drama" that is full of positive energy except for the romance.

Therefore, the appearance of "The Darker Side" is just right. Although the quality and quality are a little worse than those foreign dramas, the more down-to-earth social environment and cultural atmosphere will undoubtedly impress the domestic audience.

It’s a pity that there is only the first season, and the audience who had just been hooked felt that it ended before they could get enough of it.

While the heat has not yet dissipated, Leshi.com announced that it will join hands with the original creative team of "Soul Ferry" to create a series of criminal investigation and crime-themed web dramas.

At the same time, the slogan "Cost of each episode is two million, fully comparable to American dramas" was announced, and the "Leshi Super Web Drama" plan was officially announced.

No one knows how the audience reacted to this promotion, but the stock price of Leshi.com jumped immediately. The next day, it opened two points higher and continued to rise.

I have to admit that Boss Jia is very capable in creating gimmicks and hyping up the atmosphere.

However, what followed was a lot of doubts from the audience.

"More than 40 million to make a web drama? Is Leshi.com crazy?"

"Is this true? Are you deliberately asking for a high price so that you can take advantage of the opportunity to launder money?"

"You want to benchmark against American TV series? I think you're serious if you can benchmark against Detective Conan."

"What's so interesting about domestic crime dramas? They're all about police officers showing off their might and shouting slogans to make criminals obey the law and turn over a new leaf."

"That's not the case. Web series are subject to much less censorship than TV series, and the plots are much more interesting. For example, the recent "Darker," I think it's pretty good."

"Yeah, and isn't it the original production team of Soul Ferry? I wonder if the screenwriter has changed. If not, I'm still looking forward to it."

"It seems that I didn't pay attention to the credits at the end of the film. The screenwriter of 'Pendulum' is their producer and the boss of the crew. How could he be replaced?"

"But can something like a 'film and television universe' really be created through online dramas? Those that tried to imitate Marvel in the past two years have basically failed miserably."

"I don't have high expectations for domestic criminal investigations. It's a joke for online dramas to have a 'film and TV universe'. American dramas can't even come up with that. By the way, that 'Pendulum' is also trash. It's just a collection of online jokes and borderline stories."

"Stupid, go back and continue looking at your beautiful daddy!"

"Steady bro! Extreme foul mouth, pure enjoyment!"

"..."

There are both praise and criticism from the online audience, but the overall attitude is almost "looking forward to it, but a little worried". No one knows whether this "serial crime drama" will give everyone a big surprise or a big disappointment in the end.

However, neither Leshi.com nor Meng Bai took the online disturbance seriously. On the contrary, as the producers, they just hope that everyone can make as much noise as possible, because it is all free attention. The biggest worry for all entertainment practitioners is whether the audience will praise or scold them, because it is better than no one paying attention to them.

Leshi.com also struck while the iron was hot and sent several entertainment media to the Blue Island crew set for interviews. Meng Bai pushed most of the interviews to Wu Bai, leaving only an "acquaintance".

"I remember your last name is Lin, right?" Meng Bai looked at the young man sitting opposite him and said, "When we were filming Soul Ferry last year, you were also the one who came to interview us, from Lemon Entertainment."

"Uh, Teacher Meng, we are from Orange Entertainment." Xiao Lin reminded in a low voice.

After working for a year, Xiaolin is no longer the newcomer who just joined the company last year and didn’t even know what to do on site.

As a die-hard fan of "Soul Ferry" and an invisible fan of "screenwriter Meng Bai", when he heard that the company had taken on the interview task of Leshi.com's new drama "Psychological Crime", he immediately volunteered to come over.

When Xiao Lin first met Meng Bai, he was stunned. He still remembered that he was received by this "handsome staff member" on the set. He didn't expect that he was the "screenwriter" he had always wanted to meet.

"Are you still going to film the female lead this time?" Meng Bai said with a smile, "But our female lead this time is a newcomer, I'm afraid she won't be very popular."

"Ah, no need. This time I am mainly interviewing our crew." Kobayashi said awkwardly, scratching his head. He obviously recalled the scene in the "Pendulum" crew at that time.

But at this point, he decisively extended the topic: "Teacher Meng, I see that most of our leading actors this time are newcomers. Is this a deliberate choice by you and the director?"

Seeing that the topic was on the right track, Meng Bai also took on a bit of seriousness. After thinking for a while, he said: "It was not an intentional choice, it was just a coincidence. Online dramas are a new thing, and many famous film and television actors will not choose online dramas at present because of their status and fame. In this situation, when the crew chooses actors, they will naturally focus on newcomers."

"So what do you think about the future of online dramas? Will they continue to develop to the same level as TV dramas, or will they always just be a 'supplement' to TV dramas?"

Meng Bai said: "Who can predict the future, but I am confident in the development of online dramas. Because in essence, there is no difference between online dramas and TV dramas except for the different broadcast platforms.

Moreover, with the growth of the younger generation of viewers and the popularization of mobile Internet, the audience of online dramas will inevitably grow significantly in the future, until it exceeds the TV audience. With more viewers, there will naturally be more works. After the great waves, high-quality and high-standard online dramas will inevitably emerge. "

At this point, Meng Bai smiled and half-jokingly said, "Maybe one day in the future, even movie actors might come to participate in web dramas."

Xiao Lin was stunned. This argument was too bold. Although with the rise of commercial films in recent years, movie actors are not as high up as they were in the early years, they are still at the top of the actor industry's contempt chain.

Once those well-known actors have stepped into the film industry, they rarely even act in TV dramas, let alone the more "down-to-earth" web dramas.

However, he did not refute Meng Bai, but just wrote down this passage. Although he is an entertainment reporter, he is also a reporter. He is only responsible for recording and reporting, and comments are the readers' business.

After a series of questions, Meng Bai also honestly expressed his thoughts. However, they were all related to the crew and the show, and he often glossed over the questions that involved him. In the end, he also rejected the other party's request to take a photo.

Although it's a bit of a pity, Xiaolin also understands that there are indeed many behind-the-scenes personnel or company bosses who don't like to show up in public.

At least she agreed to my request for a private photo.

The crew had a lot of things to do during the preparation period, and the agreed interview time ended quickly. After seeing Xiao Lin off, Meng Bai looked at Hua Yan who had been waiting for a long time and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Director Liu Zhi just gave me a message saying that the young actor originally scheduled for the role of 'Liao Yafan' had some problems and might not be able to perform."

　Thanks to the big guys "Although the World is Big" and "Supervision and Restraint" for the reward!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)