Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 411 Terrifying Record-Breaking Premiere Ratings

"What do I need to do?"

With anticipation for what the zombies might be like, Gu Bei mustered his energy and asked.

“I don’t think HBO needs our help. After all, we are a production studio, not a distribution company. The publicity and distribution tasks are handled by HBO’s own publicity and distribution department.”

Karen explained to Gu Bei.

She knew that Gu Bei always handled all his film projects personally.
However, in the realm of television dramas, television networks are essentially a combination of distributors and theater chains, and they are often even more powerful than film distributors.

Television networks often only need to pay the production company 60% of the development cost of the series in exchange for the first broadcast rights and priority purchase rights. The right to renew the contract is also in their hands, which means that most of the risk is transferred to the production company.

But the advantage of this model is that...

Once a TV series becomes a hit, there is no limit to the revenue the production company can earn from operating the copyright.

Moreover, the increased actor costs brought about by the show's popularity mean that television networks and production studios must share the increased costs.

Given the dominant position of the television network, even if Gu Bei had any publicity ideas to suggest, HBO's publicity department would not heed his suggestions.

After a pause,

Karen continued, "A few days from now, HBO will be hosting a flash mob event for The Walking Dead in major cities around the world. You'll probably be able to see it in person when you're filming in New York."

But apart from that, you can look forward to the premiere on April 25th at 10 PM Eastern Time.

However, you can also post a tweet about The Walking Dead if you're willing.

HBO is, after all, a paid cable channel, and its premiere ratings mainly rely on its existing subscriber base. Therefore, Gu Bei's online promotion cannot bring any favorable factors to the premiere; it's better than nothing.

Upon hearing the premiere time, Gu Bei raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but say, "10 PM Eastern Time? It seems HBO isn't too optimistic about our Walking Dead!"

The time zones in North America are just too vast.

Therefore, their golden age is slightly different from that of China.

The best time to watch is 9 PM Eastern Time in the US, which corresponds to the prime time slot of 8 PM in China.

In North America, dramas are broadcast weekly, with one episode per week. Even though 10 PM on the Eastern Time Zone is still prime time, it's positioned a level lower than 9 PM.

This can also be seen from the timing of the Oscars ceremony.
The Oscars broadcast starts at 8:30 PM Eastern Time, which corresponds to 5:30 PM Pacific Time.

However, the Oscars often air a segment of star-studded interviews on the Hollywood Walk of Fame first, and by the time the awards ceremony officially begins, it's usually around 9 p.m. Eastern Time, which is considered the best time.

"Actually, HBO was quite optimistic about this project, but since this is the first time a zombie-themed series has appeared in prime time, they still believed that The Walking Dead wouldn't be very appealing to female viewers, so they put it in a later time slot."

Karen heard Gu Bei's question and quickly explained.

"I think The Walking Dead's results will give them a little shock!"

Gu Bei listened to Karen's explanation, remained noncommittal, and confidently responded.

As the most successful zombie TV series of all time, The Walking Dead can be said to have brought zombie culture into the mainstream and made it into the public eye.

Although the later seasons of the series started to be padded out, the overall quality of the show remained consistent.

But the first few seasons, especially the first season, were quite good.

a few days later.

The Walking Dead's flash mob day also happens to be a day off.
Gu Bei sat with Andrew, Antonio, and others in a café near Times Square, drinking coffee and waiting for The Walking Dead's flash mob event.

Why hasn't it appeared yet?

Antonio stared at the crowds coming and going in Times Square and said impatiently, "It's almost 4:25, why haven't we seen a single zombie?"

“I think they should already be in position. If you can spot them, others might also spot them, so they must be hiding somewhere.”

Andrew took a sip of coffee and expressed his opinion.

"possible!"

Antonio nodded.

He looked at Gu Bei: "Bruce, what do you think?"

"They're already here!"

Gu Bei said lightly.

"Where?"

Antonio asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Here!"

Gu Bei gestured to a shop not far away that was covered by a large poster.

Large posters are usually used to cover up the store to prevent customers outside from seeing the decorations, otherwise it would ruin the shopping atmosphere.

But since they arrived here, there has been no activity on the poster.

Instead, as the flash mob time approached, people started walking around inside, and quite a few people were already approaching the poster, preparing to make their moves.

"Won't……"

Just as Antonio was about to deny it.

Next second,
puff-

The poster was torn with a large hole in the middle.
A zombie head with a face painted with rotting flesh makeup popped out from the center of the poster.

The passerby who was walking right in front of the poster was startled and took several steps back in fright, still looking terrified.

"Fuck!"

Antonio was also taken aback.

The main reason was that he was very focused on the poster because of Gu Bei's words, and then the zombie's head suddenly popped up. It was just like being engrossed in watching a horror movie when suddenly there was a jump scare.

Gu Bei saw Antonio's terrified expression and couldn't help but chuckle.

He took out his phone and started taking pictures, which he could then send to Liu Yifei later.

Meanwhile, the zombie flash mob was still going on.

As the first 'zombie' broke out of the cage,

One zombie after another began to rush out of the poster.

Their faces were painted with rotting flesh makeup, and they walked slowly and unsteadily toward the passersby, with dark yellow liquid slowly flowing from their mouths, as if they were driven by a primal craving for humanity.

"Ahhh!"

"F*ck! Are these zombies?" "I knew it, I knew it! The North American government lied to us; they're researching a bio-virus!"

In just a few seconds, the street was in chaos. Zombie culture is a niche culture, but there are quite a few people who know about zombies. The area around the zombie actor was cleared away as quickly as a vacuum.

Gu Bei held up his phone, taking pictures with great enjoyment.

Actually,
The makeup on these zombies is already a very simplified version.

Basically, the skin tone was made closer to rotten flesh, and some wounds were added. It's the kind of scene that would pass muster even for a PG-13 rating.

Even the movement speed of these zombies is extremely slow, as if it were in slow motion.

After all, this flash mob event was just for publicity, not to scare people.

If it really frightens someone, then it would be a loss.

However, since they appeared suddenly, no one had time to identify them, and the quickest reaction was to get away.

Gradually,
People started to realize,
These zombies look a bit fake!

then,

On the billboards in Times Square,
The trailers for The Walking Dead were all showing.
At the same time, the zombie actors stopped acting and started shouting loudly: "The Walking Dead premieres on HBO on April 25th at 10 PM Eastern Time!"

At this point, everyone realized it was fake.

Some people, their faces showing anger, left the scene.
Meanwhile, some people found it amusing and went up to take photos with the zombie actors.

Fortunately, this is New York.

And it's Times Square!

Even in a zombie-invaded flash mob event, there's no need to worry about someone suddenly pulling out a gun and blowing the zombie actor's head off.

Gu Bei put away his phone with satisfaction and patted Antonio on the shoulder: "Let's go, you can go back and change your pants!"

"Bruce, that's slander!"

Antonio said to Gu Bei through gritted teeth.

"Hahaha!"

Andrew watched from the sidelines, thoroughly amused.

He always has a very low threshold for laughter, and he was happiest just now when he saw the terrified expressions on the faces of passersby. I don't know how much good karma he lost laughing.

Starting from Times Square in New York
This flash mob event featuring the zombie invasion
Events began to be held in major cities around the world.
This includes the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Big Ben in London, the city of Shangri-La, Paris, Rome, and other places.
Within 24 hours, the show traveled to more than 30 major cities around the world, covering almost all 24 time zones, which quickly generated a huge sensation and discussion.

Even Weibo noticed this flash mob event.

"The zombie drama series produced by Rose Pictures is about to premiere. Their flash mob event in Xiangdu was really fun; several children were scared to tears. I wonder if there's any hope of it being broadcast on domestic TV stations?"

"Living in a dream? This TV series is broadcast on HBO. I don't need to say how violent and explicit their shows are. Just because it's a zombie series, it's impossible for it to be shown in China. Otherwise, it would definitely be reported by parents."

"But wasn't Gu Bei's trip to Hangzhou already registered? If a movie can be made, maybe The Walking Dead can also be imported to China?"

"I'm not really looking forward to it being released in China. I'd rather wait for the Renren Subtitles Group to translate it. The zombie makeup in the trailer is incredibly realistic, even more so than the ones in the flash mob event!"

"It's a pity that the first season only has six episodes. I wonder what the ratings will be for the premiere? This well-made zombie drama is one of a kind. Only a zombie enthusiast like Gu Bei would make it. I hope it will be renewed!"

"Achieving over a million viewers would be considered a success. True Blood only garnered a little over a million viewers for its premiere, and it has already been renewed for a third season."

The day arrived at the premiere of The Walking Dead.
Gu Bei watched the premiere episode, and the final product was quite good, even better than the original version he remembered.
After all, this version has Gu Bei overseeing it, HBO, which has deep expertise in television dramas, controlling the content, and Frank Darabont, an Oscar-caliber director like The Shawshank Redemption.

Steady!

Gu Bei felt relieved after reading it.

The next day, we continued shooting at the studio.

The on-location shooting was completed in the past month or so, and the remaining months will be spent in the studio.

In fact, the truly crucial scenes were all filmed in a studio for reasons of secrecy.

then,

Gu Bei then received a call from Karen.
Today is the second day since The Walking Dead premiered, and this is clearly a result of The Walking Dead's success.
He answered the phone and said with a smile, "Karen, it seems you've come to give me good news!"

"Bruce, you guessed perfectly!"

Karen's tone betrayed her surprise.

She excitedly told Gu Bei, "The premiere of The Walking Dead last night had a viewership of 388 million, even surpassing the 370 million viewers for the second season of True Blood last year!"

This is the best season premiere ratings since the sixth season of HBO's The Sopranos!

It's also the best premiere episode in HBO's history!

Gu Bei was slightly startled upon hearing this.

The Sopranos are HBO's flagship series, with one episode even attracting over 1300 million viewers, a phenomenal number for a pay-TV channel.

Moreover, The Sopranos was the beginning of the adaptation of American TV series into movies, proving that the artistry of TV dramas can be no less than that of movies.

Unexpectedly, The Walking Dead achieved viewership numbers second only to The Sopranos in just its first episode, demonstrating its potential as a leader in zombie dramas.

He snapped out of his daze and said with a smile, "I guess they regret airing it at 10 p.m. on the Eastern Time Zone, otherwise the numbers might have been even higher."

"Yes, when they called to inform me, even though the on-demand data and DVR (disk recorder) data hadn't appeared yet, they already regretted the current broadcast time just by looking at the late-night replay data!"

Karen said excitedly, her voice trembling with joy at The Walking Dead's success. "The HBO president is already talking to me about renewals, and I'm sure they won't make the same mistake in the second season."

"Take your time. The six episodes will be aired soon, and the ratings for the last episode will be even higher."

Gu Bei said calmly, "Now that the initiative is back in their hands, they can get more production funding from HBO."

The Walking Dead alone was enough to prop up Rose Pictures' television division.

After hanging up Karen's call,
Gu Bei continued filming Spider-Man.
The premiere of The Walking Dead was in late April, just over ten days before the Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony. He had to catch up on the schedule to make time to attend the opening ceremony in Cannes.

It's May now.
Every year in mid-May, the town of Cannes begins to come alive.
Film industry professionals from all over the world are flocking to this small town for Cannes, currently the world's most popular film festival.

Gu Bei also put aside his Spider-Man filming work and flew to France ahead of schedule.

As he stepped out of Nice-Côte d'Azur Airport, he was greeted by a wave of humid heat. While the weather in New York in May was still a bit cool, Nice, a seaside city, was already in full summer mode.

"What about people?"

Gu Bei looked around but couldn't find the person he had imagined.

(End of this chapter)