The battle for traffic in Chinese entertainment

Chapter 506 The False Proposition of Hong Kong Drama Revival
"It's generating a lot of buzz online in mainland China, and there are indeed quite a few complaints about plagiarism. Some people also say it's not very good, but it's alright. There are even more people who say it's good, and many believe it's not plagiarized. Besides, this show won't be broadcast in mainland China after all."

Sun Man's explanation was very simple; she didn't even send Xu Xing any representative comments.

Xu Xing didn't mind and changed the topic she wanted to talk about.

“Okay. Erika told me that ‘Childhood Games’ has the best opening in Netflix’s Asia-Pacific history, and its initial performance in Europe and America is also the best. Right now, the entertainment industry in Hong Kong only knows that this show is very popular, but they haven’t dared to imagine that it has reached a level of popularity that surpasses my two shows. Actually, I’m thinking of leaving Hong Kong today, otherwise, after tonight, I estimate that there will be a bunch of people blocking the villa’s door tomorrow morning.”

"Then come back now. It's not like you can't buy a plane ticket."

Sun Man complained.

She had summoned Zhang Ruonan early in the morning, and now she was saying she wanted to leave today. She was truly impressed by Xu Xing's shamelessness.

Xu Xing smiled.

"What I mean is, you should spread the word that I've left Hong Kong, so they can all stop bothering me. I've already spoken to Erika, asking her to help spread the word too. And the funniest thing, you know what it is?"

"what?"

Sun Man played the straight man very well.

"After Erika left me, she went straight to the airport and flew back to Singapore. She said it was just a stopover to pick up some documents before flying to the United States. She should be on the plane by now. She also wants to avoid these people in the Hong Kong entertainment industry."

Xu Xing smiled.

Sun Man didn't laugh along, but thought for a moment.

"Erika isn't really keen on investing heavily in Hong Kong dramas?"

“Yes,” Xu Xing nodded. “She felt that the Hong Kong film and television industry was too outdated and backward, the production level was too poor, the young people had no star power, and the old Hong Kong stars were listless. After she frankly told me her opinion, she asked me if my joining the Hong Kong film and television industry in shouting ‘reviving Hong Kong dramas’ was because I really wanted to recreate the glory of the Hollywood of the East? Of course, I was just shouting slogans. Only then did she leave with peace of mind.”

The success of "Childhood Games" is not a magic bullet for Hong Kong dramas. In fact, the mainland film and television industry will likely reap the greatest benefits in the end.

Because there's really not much talent left in Hong Kong's entertainment industry.

Anyone with a bit of ability, and whose political stance isn't fatal, goes to the mainland to make a living.

The last group of more capable individuals banded together to produce a few Hong Kong films each year, earning hundreds of millions in box office revenue in mainland China, and that was about it.

Compared to Hong Kong films, which can still make money, Hong Kong dramas are truly pathetic and can only entertain a small circle of people.

In the streaming era, video platforms are quite fair to film and television companies. As long as there are any watchable Hong Kong dramas, iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video will not miss the opportunity to import them.

The problem is that there really isn't one.

At its peak, Hong Kong dramas, represented by TVB, were produced in small workshops with touching costumes, props, and sets, and this remains true even after so many years.

They completely lack the capacity for industrialization in film and television, and can only fall further and further behind.

The TV series "News Queen," which generated some discussion in mainland China in its previous life, is a typical example. That series was once touted as a revival of Hong Kong dramas, but in reality, it was just a last gasp that proved they were completely eliminated.

The script of "News Queen" has a good pacing, but the production quality is really hard to praise. The outdated storyboards, messy background music, unquality color grading and lighting, inexplicable slow motion, "plastic" sets, unfashionable faces... and the backward thinking and aesthetics of the "fallen aristocracy" immersed in the drama.

The problems with TVB dramas from decades ago have been deconstructed and explained, but they haven't been improved at all.

The smell of coffins is really strong.

Despite being the most stylish news anchor competition, the occasional small details gave it a rustic feel.

It's really hard to win over audiences of this era like that.

Another criticism is that in Korean dramas, when a chaebol enters the house, the butler bends down and follows behind, taking the opportunity to help him take off his shoes. At least in Korean dramas, the sets are lavish and magnificent, striving to give the audience a sense of high-class sophistication.

Last year, Netflix acquired the last successful IP of Hong Kong drama, "Line Walker 3," which just premiered in early November, and its viewership has been utterly crushed by mainland idol dramas.

Hong Kong dramas are now making idol dramas?
They can only produce medium-sized and old-style idol dramas.

If they had any pretty young actresses, Xu Xing wouldn't either bring in people from Thailand, South Korea, or mainland China every time he came to Hong Kong, or make his 32-year-old good wife, Wen Yongshan, unable to be faithful to the family.

The longer Xu Xing stays in Hong Kong, the more she feels that Yang Tianbao, who always keeps an eye on her schedule and sends her a [poor] emoji on time, is quite good.

If Tianbao had stayed in the Hong Kong entertainment circle, Xu Xing would have promoted her long ago after these last few visits.

Those young models, Miss Hong Kong contestants, and TV Queens are really... only TVB fans would praise them for being so beautiful.

There were some watchable ones, but none of them could move Xu Xing.

Therefore, the revival of Hong Kong dramas is a false proposition.

However, the Hong Kong entertainment circle is still dreaming.

When executives from TVB and Yinghuang discussed their views on developing Hong Kong dramas with Xu Xing, they all said that if it were a Netflix project, they would definitely use top-tier actors and actresses for the male lead, and top actresses for the female lead. They would also invite renowned directors such as Wu Yusen, Du Qifeng, and Chen Kexin to direct, and Zhou Xingchi was also interested. Director Wong Jing was also available at any time.

Or, if you choose any Hong Kong directors who have moved to Beijing, they will definitely come back.

However, most of the Hong Kong directors who once went north have been rejected by the mainland because they could not be recognized by the market, and those who remain are struggling in the field of ancient costume dramas.

As for those big-name directors like Wu, Du, Chen, and Zhou, they all overestimate themselves. They either ask for exorbitant prices, starting with production costs of 70 or 80 million, or they want Netflix to invest in their films.

They even claimed that many streaming platforms were in talks with them about partnerships, implying that a few obscure local streaming platforms were able to raise prices arbitrarily.

Erika, with whom I had only a brief encounter, had many flaws.

Aside from Jackie Chan, Netflix has shown absolutely no interest in the current Hong Kong film industry. While Netflix has invested in numerous film directors across Asia, it has virtually never invested in Hong Kong directors.

The internal reviews of "Childhood Games" were not high before its release, partly because it was criticized that even if Xu Xing didn't have time to act, at least more mainland actors who had made a name for themselves in Asia through Xu Xing's works should have been cast.

Wong Jing is the only one who is sensible. He submitted a project budget that is quite realistic. The deal has been basically finalized, and the project will be officially approved and filming will begin soon.

The huge success of "Childhood Games" will only make the Hong Kong entertainment industry feel even better, thinking that they are still as good as ever.

Erika did indeed prepare to invest in multiple projects, but she told Xu Xing that she would not lower her standards. The production team's level had to convince her, and she would also request to use as many actors as possible who were famous in Asia.

She had made this request even before "Childhood Games".

The solution proposed by Hong Kong City Company is either to use some mainland actors who are starting to become popular in Southeast Asia, which has the advantage of simplifying the process and allowing them to directly negotiate with mainland actors.

Alternatively, they could collaborate with South Korean companies, creating a Hong Kong-South Korea co-production. The advantage of this is that they can learn from the production experience of South Korean dramas and may even spark more wonderful ideas.

However, neither mainland actors nor Korean companies had previously shown much interest in Hong Kong City's projects.

The South Korean entertainment industry has discovered that Hong Kong dramas are actually more difficult to secure projects on Netflix than Korean dramas.

The mainland entertainment industry tends to follow Zheng Rong's example, opening a "shell company" in Hong Kong to secure Netflix projects and then bringing them to the mainland for production.

Previous tax evasion scandals and the impact of last year's pandemic plunged the mainland film and television industry into a downturn. However, the increasing popularity of Chinese dramas overseas through Netflix has given mainland film and television companies another option. And then there's the powerful arrival of Disney+ and the imminent entry of Apple TV, which we won't discuss for now.

Erika told Xu Xing that Netflix does not have the concept of a revival of Hong Kong dramas, but only the rise of Chinese dramas.

Whether before or after "Childhood Games", she preferred to collaborate with mainland companies.

The current massive success of "Childhood Games" will simply lead her to use more of the show's key actors in future projects.

For example, the male lead Francis Ng and the female lead Janice Man.

Despite the numerous difficulties Netflix faces in collaborating with mainland Chinese film and television companies.

Previously, the cooperation between the two parties mainly involved Netflix purchasing the overseas rights to mainland Chinese dramas.

Erika has been exploring how to get teams in mainland China to take on Netflix's original series.

The biggest problem with Netflix's collaborations with mainland Chinese film and television companies is that they cannot access the massive number of subscribers in mainland China, making it impossible for them to offer high production costs. Compared to mainland Chinese platforms like iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video, Netflix is ​​not competitive.

Only Hsu Hsing has the ability to conquer almost all Asian countries. The whole of Asia is Hsu Hsing's home ground, which is why Netflix is ​​willing to pay any price to acquire Hsu Hsing's works.

The growing popularity of mainland Chinese celebrities in Southeast Asia is most beneficial to the international platforms of iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video, such as WeTV.

The original content investments of iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video were originally successful self-produced drama projects that could recoup their costs in the mainland market. Now they can also be uploaded to international platforms to increase overseas users.

However, due to Netflix's disruption, mainland film and television companies did not accelerate into becoming the original drama factories of iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video, as they had in the previous era, catalyzed by the pandemic.

More and more film and television companies are betting on IP dramas again, preparing to sell them domestically to iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video, and internationally to Netflix. Since last year, Netflix has increased the price it pays for acquiring overseas copyrights.

Alternatively, they could take on Netflix's commissioned series, which Netflix could then stream on its own platform and sell to iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video to recoup their high production costs.

Netflix is ​​in talks with Youku about adding Youku's original series to Netflix in bulk, as well as Netflix's original series to Youku. Netflix had previously licensed some original content to iQiyi, but the partnership ended in 19.

How to make the most of Netflix's opportunities is being explored and discussed by mainland film and television companies, and the discussions are becoming increasingly heated.

Of course, iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video will not completely let mainland film and television companies play both sides between themselves and overseas streaming platforms such as Netflix and Disney+. There will be a long time for them to negotiate before the industry ecosystem can stabilize.

The release of "Childhood Games" at this time will give a strong boost to the ecological changes that are taking place in the industry.

As the subsequent effects continue to manifest, mainland film and television companies can no longer remain passive.

Companies that have the ability to reduce costs will proactively extend an olive branch to Netflix and try to produce Netflix original series.

Netflix is ​​also likely to increase the budget for individual Chinese dramas that cannot be streamed in mainland China.

Hong Kong dramas are bound to benefit from this trend.

No matter how resolute Erika's words may be, Netflix will still try a few "pure" Hong Kong drama projects.

Disney+, which has just entered the market, may also be able to use its "Childhood Games" to its advantage, which may have caused the Hong Kong people to run into a wall when they tried to steal the spotlight from the aloof Netflix.

Hong Kong dramas have been implanted with pacemakers, so Xu Xing can't say for sure that they won't survive.

Xu Xing finds it difficult to predict how things will change in the future.

How are Hong Kong dramas doing? How are mainland dramas doing? How are dramas from neighboring island provinces that also benefit from the trend? How are film and television companies doing? How are platforms doing?

Just like Erika, before she left, asked Hsu Hsing again after several years whether Netflix would ever enter mainland China.

Netflix has rekindled its fervent interest in entering the mainland Chinese market and is likely to launch another aggressive offensive.

After talking with Sun Man, Xu Xing spoke with General Manager Qu again.

"Netflix is ​​unlikely to get in; the domestic stance is very clear. Tencent also got advance information about the historic start of 'Childhood Games,' and several of their executives are having an emergency video conference. They've been spurred on, and perhaps they'll make a bigger move on WeTV this year."

Last year, WeTV's biggest move was acquiring the Malaysian streaming platform Iflix. However, at the time, Netflix had already acquired the overseas rights to "Signal," which was airing at the time, so WeTV's move seemed to have little impact.

"Xiaoxing, I know you really liked the gift Erika gave you. But in the end, we and Tencent are the real ones. Before, WeTV was smaller and still developing, so it wasn't a big deal for us to align ourselves more closely with Netflix. But from now on, we should stand with Tencent."

"What Erika gave you, Penguin can give you too. Penguin has deep connections in South Korea, you know that. Rongrong works at Penguin too, and I heard that because of Rongrong's outstanding abilities and hard work, Penguin is preparing to promote her to the position of Group Vice President—"

"what?"

Xu Xing interrupted President Qu's words with great surprise.

“When I had dinner with Sister Rong the day before yesterday, she didn’t mention this at all. She was still telling me that it’s good to maintain cooperation with Netflix.”

"Um...maybe not? She didn't say."

Qu Mingzhen was somewhat embarrassed.

She seems to have been a bit too talkative.

"Furthermore, Zhengrong is not a subsidiary of Tencent. While we cooperate with them, we also maintain our independence. Cooperating with WeTV does not affect our cooperation with Netflix."

"...What are you talking about? How exactly do we plan to cooperate?"

Xu Xing complains.

It seems someone from Tencent lobbied Mr. Qu beforehand.

"In the future, your dramas will be simultaneously streamed on Netflix and WeTV overseas. We now have the capability to make that decision."

Qu Mingzhen laughed.

"Will the second season of 'Joy of Life' also be on Netflix?"

Xu Xing asked deliberately.

Qu Mingzhen rolled her eyes at Xu Xing.

"It's Tencent's own copyrighted drama. By the way, Tencent wants to start making the second season of 'Joy of Life' as soon as possible. They've agreed to give up half of their share for both the second and third seasons."

“Okay, just let me know when filming starts,” Xu Xing said nonchalantly. “But for other shows, doesn’t it still air where the one that pays the most does? If there aren’t two exclusive shows that pay the same amount as two companies, does it air with two companies? Before, Tencent didn’t pay as much as Netflix.”

“The past is the past, and the future is the future,” Qu Mingzhen emphasized. “Besides, you can also provide some support for Rongrong’s work. She might not tell you.”

"..."

Xu Xing seemed to understand.

Is Penguin trying to completely tie Yu Murong to Penguin by promoting him to vice president of the group?

(End of this chapter)