Generation Z Artists

Chapter 326 Press Conference: The God of Deception Arrives
On the day filming began, Galaxy Pictures sent invitations to only a handful of familiar media outlets, but more than 80 media outlets from East Asia attended, including 15 from Japan and South Korea alone.

It's just a TV series... never mind, anything involving Fang Xinghe is never simple.

The film studio cost 1.2 million yuan, the Xiangyang city wall cost 4000 million yuan, costumes and props cost 4000 million yuan, and the total salary of the cast and crew, excluding Fang Xinghe, was 5500 million yuan. The number of location shootings was unknown, and the post-production special effects were also uncertain...

Everyone is wondering how this show can possibly break even.
Many people secretly watch the spectacle unfold, but few dare to openly criticize it.

Today, a stubborn kid suddenly appeared.

At the press conference before filming began, a reporter bluntly questioned: "Director Fang, aren't you being a bit too ambitious? The entire Asian TV drama market can't support the profitability of 'The Condor Heroes'!"
Although it's your money, your every action influences the social atmosphere!

As soon as the voice fell, the audience was in an uproar.

The media were extremely excited, pointing their cameras and microphones at the podium, waiting for Fang Xinghe to make his statement.

Okay, okay, let's get started!

I knew that any public appearance of Fang Xinghe would inevitably bring big news!
In today's world, the only media outlets in China that dare to disrupt Fang Xinghe's events are the Nanfang faction, which claims to be "fair, outspoken, and pioneers of justice."

In the early days, their attitude was to target everything.

In the middle period, he alternated between praising and criticizing, striving to play the role of a person with a broad perspective who "discusses the matter objectively."

Nowadays, people oppose everything they encounter, and they don't even bother to act anymore.

The reason is quite simple—the more Fang Xinghe is criticized, the higher the newspaper sales become, and the more loyal the author's fans become.

It may sound illogical, but it is actually the most scientific reality.

Previously, the sales of newspapers and magazines in the Nanfang Group were stable between several hundred thousand and over one million copies, and the total sales of a single issue of the entire media group fluctuated around 1200 million copies.

What is China's total population? 12.5 billion.

Sales reach rate is only one percent.

The reason it has such a large following is mainly because its sales are concentrated in economically developed areas, and the target audience is mostly urban middle class, the wealthy, university teachers and students, and privileged citizens.

In short—the elite, or the class that considers itself elite.

They are the main voices in this country, followed by the silent majority.

Therefore, the Nanfang faction, though seemingly very influential, essentially only entangled those who love to complain. Even if you include the four great masters like Zhiyin Yilin, it is difficult to represent true public opinion.

This is precisely the fundamental reason why the country has maintained healthy development and has not been led astray by them.

Leaving aside the digression, let's look at Fang Xinghe's current influence—6.5 million global followers, 3.5 million domestic followers, and 3600 million core and above followers.

According to the theory that one fan is worth ten haters, how many haters does he have?

This data is difficult to estimate, but even if we extrapolate it at a 1:1 ratio, it would still be in the tens of millions, which is equivalent to tens or hundreds of times the sales volume of a single period.

Human nature is unpredictable; not everyone will feel proud of the country's achievements. Even thirty years later, the donut wouldn't be an isolated case, let alone now.

Some people believe that Fang Xinghe is bringing glory to the country, while others are illuminated by Fang Xinghe's influence, their inner darkness turning into a raging inferno of impotence.

Therefore, as the anti-defense system firmly opposes it, their sales have indeed increased day by day, and their reputation has become more authoritative than before.

See, going against Fang Xinghe is a more effective marketing tactic than praising him.

With such a huge number of haters, even a small taste can make them ravenous. Other media outlets dare not criticize them for fear of backlash, and the anti-corruption faction loves this kind of "sober-minded independence" that takes risks.

The harsher and more reasonable the criticism, the more loyal and numerous the supporters will be.

Therefore, this struggle will not end because of Fang Xinghe's achievements, but will continue until the East Wind completely crushes the West Wind.

Surrounded by the "admiring and loving" gazes of his colleagues, the reporter felt as if he had reached the pinnacle of his life, and his heart was filled with elation.

He deftly dodged the staff member who tried to confiscate the microphone and said righteously, "Let me finish!"

On stage, Fang Xinghe gently raised his hand to signal that he could continue.

That reporter was clearly up to no good; he was well-prepared and immediately launched into a barrage of sharp remarks that hit the nail on the head.

"As we all know, the logic of TV drama broadcasting is the same throughout Asia—TV stations spend money to buy dramas, and the production company's income is the result of the bidding by the TV station. After that, the TV station's broadcasting arrangements and advertising revenue are no longer related to the production company."

As a result, the maximum price a TV series can sell for is not only a matter of expected viewership ratings, but also closely related to the total volume of the local advertising market.

As the largest audience for martial arts dramas, the Chinese mainland market has very limited advertising space available for drama broadcasts.

Those of you here today should still remember that at the bidding conference that just ended a few days ago, Panda Mobile won the prime-time advertising spot on CCTV for the whole year of 2004, with a winning bid of 1.568 million yuan.

Please remember: all year round!

The broadcast period of "The Return of the Condor Heroes" lasts for a maximum of one month. How much would a single advertiser invest in post-show advertising during that month?

2000 million?

That's about all there is to it!
The more troublesome problem is that the bidding for prime-time advertising slots on CCTV-1 and CCTV-2 has already ended, and the advertising slots have all been sold. They have absolutely no incentive to spend a high price to acquire the broadcasting rights for "The Return of the Condor Heroes".

Even if they acquire the space, there isn't enough room for ads, and businesses won't spend a fortune on inappropriate ad slots.

Local TV stations are motivated to acquire "The Return of the Condor Heroes," but their influence is limited, and their own advertising slots have never fetched high prices. So how much would they dare to ask for when purchasing the show?
Paying 150 million per episode is already a do-or-die situation for them.

It is precisely because the current domestic TV drama market has such a low ceiling that major production companies are so sensitive to costs. Many times it's not that they don't dream of making good dramas, but that the market simply doesn't support large investments.

You have to respect the objective environment when doing anything, right?

However, Director Fang, your film "The Return of the Condor Heroes" is really disrespectful to the market environment!
I know how you'll answer me—I don't care about money. Can't I afford to pay for it? Art is priceless. I want to set a benchmark for Chinese TV dramas… and so on and so forth.

But have you ever thought about this?

What a huge disaster it would be if audiences got used to the mega-productions you throw money at and started to scoff at ordinary works made in accordance with market rules.

For ordinary companies, it's too expensive to follow suit.

If we don't follow suit, the audience won't want to watch.

Local TV stations are impossible to buy.

If they don't buy tickets, the audience will abandon the show.

The entire industry is forced to develop in a direction that is all about grandiose projects, using big stars, spending huge sums of money, and making big productions, without even considering market issues, and exaggerating the potential yield of 3,000 catties per mu.

What if the market environment simply doesn't allow you to make that much money?
There's always a way to cheat and swindle!
There are plenty of investors outside the industry, and those outside the industry don't understand the intricacies of film and television production. They can simply find a way to pass on the costs.

Whoever gets scammed is unlucky; you guys just can't afford to lose out.

As a result, the entire market became rife with superficiality and shoddy productions. High-quality dramas meticulously crafted by small companies went unnoticed, while terrible dramas piled high with stars and special effects by big companies dominated the headlines...

Before long, in two or three years, the general public's willingness to watch TV dramas will decrease significantly. Local TV stations will lack good content, advertising revenue will decline again and again, making it difficult to survive. Production companies will go bankrupt in large numbers, and a large number of low-level workers will lose their jobs.

In the end, resources become highly concentrated, with a few large companies in the industry monopolizing production rights, and CCTV, Dragon TV, Hunan TV, and other satellite TV stations monopolizing broadcasting channels. The poor get poorer, and the rich get richer.

Zhang Yimou's "Hero" has ushered in the era of blockbuster films in the film industry, and your "The Return of the Condor Heroes" is about to usher in the era of epic dramas in the television industry.

The film doesn't have major problems for now, as it has the support of overseas markets.

Television dramas are a completely domestic industry. Even if you, Fang Xinghe, could sell "The Return of the Condor Heroes" for a certain price?!

So when you were recklessly pursuing this vanity project, did you ever consider what would happen to the companies, behind-the-scenes staff, actors, and low-level workers in the industry who depend on it for their livelihood if your willfulness completely destroyed the already unhealthy television drama market?
Furthermore, in this process, who can those whose interests have been infringed upon, those whose money has been swindled, and the actors and behind-the-scenes personnel whose time has been wasted seek redress from?

I hope you can give me a direct answer to my question!

During his impassioned speech, the room fell silent.

Finally, someone suddenly started clapping.

"Fine!" Zhang Jizhong said with a gloomy face, turning his head sharply to glare at him.

Others might just sigh, but he was genuinely panicked.

The original total investment of 1.5 million yuan was already the limit he could afford, but now, after deducting the 1.2 million yuan investment in the Qingdao Film and Television Industrial Park, the filming cost of "The Condor Heroes" itself has reached over 2 million yuan.

It's really hard to say exactly how much the budget will go out of control right now, but if we're going to do high-standard special effects, 3 million yuan is definitely not enough.

Fang Xinghe was quite reasonable in this regard, and informed him: "If you want to participate, then the 20% share will always belong to you; if you feel the risk is too great, I will cover the subsequent additional investments, and we will just reduce your share according to the total investment."

As the executive producer, Big Beard saved Fang Xinghe a lot of trouble in the early stages of location scouting and various miscellaneous tasks, so he was willing to share the profits.

But the problem is...

To anyone else, this "Return of the Condor Heroes" is not a good investment.

Anyway, the bearded man no longer dared to hope to make money; he was only thinking about breaking even.

Although the reporter's statement was somewhat alarmist, some of the data was accurate. The director of CCTV's acquisition department had already spoken to him: "It's difficult for us to offer a price of more than 120 million per episode. You should be prepared."

It means to quickly find a new broadcaster, or if that doesn't work, broadcast on multiple channels simultaneously.

As a producer who came from CCTV, Zhang Jizhong naturally understood.

Working within the system is all about following the rules. The standards are set in stone, and if you want to make an exception, you have to submit reports layer by layer and wait for the higher-ups to hold a meeting to discuss it.

Local TV stations have fewer restrictions; the station director makes the final decision, and there is more freedom in bidding, but they may not be able to afford to pay too high a price.

The bidding ceiling for the first round of domestic broadcasting rights seems to have been set long ago—a huge 80 million yuan mark.

As for the price for rounds 234, that depends on the data after the broadcast, such as ratings, sponsorship, advertiser satisfaction, and so on.

Can Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore fill such a huge cost gap?
Doubtful.

Even with significant effort invested in local dubbing, the audience for martial arts dramas remains far smaller than that in China.

They can probably only rely on Fang Xinghe's and the star actress's fame to sell the show.

Even if they can break even, Zhang Jizhong invested money by selling everything he owned, and more than ten million of that money has usage costs. If the process drags on for too long, the interest might eat up all the profits.

Therefore, as Fang Xinghe's business grew bigger and bigger, and became more and more willful, he became extremely panicked.

But he was quite capable of handling things. At the crucial moment, he took the initiative to pick up the microphone and whispered to Xinghe, "Ignore him, I'll handle it."

Fang Xinghe raised his hand and pressed down on his arm.

Then, he pulled over the seated microphone and, under everyone's gaze, spoke with ease.

The difficulty is getting more and more cunning, the timing of the attacks is becoming more and more precise, and the angles of provocation are becoming more and more sharp. However, none of this can compare to the online trolling experience of Generation Z.

"Your core logic is that 'The Return of the Condor Heroes' will spoil the audience's tastes, causing them to lose interest in non-big-budget productions, thus worsening the market environment and causing small and medium-sized companies that cannot afford big-budget productions to lose their ability to survive. Am I right in summarizing this?"

The reporter vaguely realized that there was something wrong with the question.

But he couldn't figure it out for a moment—his previous long speech was a script compiled by the newspaper's internal brainstorming, and now he couldn't memorize it anymore; his quick wit was gone.

Why don't you play by the rules?
This reaction wasn't in the contingency plan!
A sudden panic gripped him, but he couldn't refuse to respond, so he forced a nod: "Uh...yes, that's basically it."

"That's easy."

Brother Fang spread his hands, giving a slight smile that seemed both mocking and satisfied.

Then, what he said was earth-shattering.

"My original intention in making dramas is to provide the audience with a good meal."

My goal is to cultivate a discerning audience, establish standards for good dramas for them, enhance their aesthetic appreciation, and enrich their spiritual world.

As for those companies that can't produce good dramas... who cares if they live or die?

what? !

Is this still possible?
The reporter was dumbfounded, and many people in the audience were also dumbfounded.

No matter how well people knew Fang Xinghe was bold, no one could have imagined he would be this bold.

Does this mean I'm leaving the industry altogether? Did I offend everyone with just one sentence?

In the silence, only your brother Fang's clear voice resonated.

"My friend, I don't understand your stance. You keep speaking on behalf of the entertainment industry and meddling in these unnecessary matters."

But in my opinion, nothing is more important than the audience.

Whether you're filming a small, beautiful family drama or a grand, beautiful historical or martial arts drama, striving to satisfy the audience is the basic quality and professional ethics of any professional.

If you can't do it, you should be eliminated from the industry.

The industry won't let you go; it'll just let you coast along. I'll take over!
I can tell you definitively that "The Return of the Condor Heroes" will definitely not be my last drama.

In the future, I will try to film TV series of various genres, and do my best to enrich the lives of ordinary Chinese people and meet their spiritual needs.

Journalist friends, this is the biggest difference between us—

You feel sorry for those TV drama workers who can't make a living and lose their jobs, and you feel sorry for them, but I think the audience who are forced to eat shit by stupid directors and idiotic screenwriters are even more pitiful!
Who will care about them?
You don't know; your question itself is full of the arrogance of an elite petit bourgeois!

Therefore, an absurd conclusion was derived from a flawed perspective.

The truth is, high-budget, high-quality dramas will never lead to the decline or demise of the industry. On the contrary, only such dedicated efforts, regardless of cost, can bring disappointed viewers back to their television sets.

Therefore, my attitude is very simple:
If you feel fear, then it proves I'm doing the right thing, and I will continue to film like this.

If you are all against it, then it proves I'm right, and I will continue to make films this way.

If you lose your jobs, then it proves I did the right thing, and I will continue to make films like this.

If this is a battle, you are not allowed to stop when I shout "start".

Only when all industry professionals keep the audience in mind, only when our high-quality dramas emerge one after another, receive widespread acclaim and are sold overseas, only when Chinese dramas become the dominant force in the East Asian cultural sphere, can you breathe a sigh of relief.

As for those unqualified practitioners who fell during the journey...

It's just a little bit of dregs.

You can lament for them, but I won't care, and neither will the times.

Did you understand my answer?

The reporter understood, so he stared wide-eyed and opened his mouth wide, standing there swaying, almost fainting.

There was a full ten seconds of silence as everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

Suddenly, someone started clapping.

Within seconds, thunderous applause and cheers erupted.

A voice that sounded like a broken gong left a deep impression on viewers in front of the television.

This is how he howled—

"Fang Shen is awesome!"

*************
Everyday, I fall down. Then I bravely get back up.

(End of this chapter)