This director lacks vision.

Chapter 113 The Five Judges
At 6:3 p.m. on March 24, Jiang Yifeng shouted "Cut!", ending today's filming.

The entire crew instantly relaxed, chatting and laughing, creating a wonderful atmosphere.

Three days after its premiere, Dark Glory has garnered over 3000 million views for its first two episodes, generating significant buzz.

Most of the actors in the production crew were newcomers.

The popularity of Dark Glory is a great joy for them.

Everyone is in a good mood.

An assistant on set handed over a bouquet of flowers, reminding him, "Director Jiang, Jiang Peiyao has finished filming today."

Jiang Yifeng nodded and gave the flowers to Jiang Peiyao.

"It was a pleasure working with you. Your performance was much better than I expected."

Jiang Peiyao grew up in a military compound and has a very tomboyish personality.

Although she was a complete novice in acting, she was very hardworking and performed quite well on set.

She accepted the bouquet and joked, "Thank you, Director Jiang! I thought there would be a wrap-up bonus."

Jiang Yifeng laughed heartily, pointed to Jiang Peiyao's mother, and said, "There will definitely be a wrap-up bonus; I've already given it to Auntie."

Hearing this, Jiang Peiyao's face fell. Once the money was in her mother's hands, it would be very difficult to get it back.

Jiang Peiyao's mother also came over and said thank you, "Thank you for your understanding and help, Director Jiang. I'm sorry to have troubled you."

Jiang Peiyao's academic performance is decent, and her family hasn't decided that she should go to film school and become an actress.

So after Jiang Yifeng starred in Dark Glory, her mother asked her not to create hype, not wanting to put too much pressure on her daughter.

Jiang Yifeng has basically achieved that as well.

After the broadcast of Dark Glory, Jiang Peiyao, who played the younger version of Gao Yuanyuan, received some attention and praise.

But there was no hype or controversy.

This hype is just temporary and will soon pass.

Jiang Peiyao herself didn't pay much attention to this situation.

She's still young and doesn't really understand the concept of becoming famous.

People don't understand that the opportunity to become famous is often only once, and if you miss it, it's difficult to try again.

After chatting with Jiang Yifeng for a couple more minutes, Jiang Peiyao went to find Gao Yuanyuan.

In the film crew, she had the best relationship with Gao Yuanyuan, and they were often together.

Filming wraps up tonight, and Gao Yuanyuan is going to treat her to dinner.

Jiang Yifeng returned to the break room, ready to grab his things and leave work, only to find Mu Di already waiting inside.

"Is there something you need? You even came all the way here in person."

Mu Di stood up and said, "I attended the meeting of the Sohu Video Business Unit this afternoon on your behalf."

There are two things that are relevant to us.

The first is that Sohu Video Network is going to establish an American drama channel and has already purchased several American dramas such as "Lost", spending a total of 1200 million US dollars.

The chairman approved a procurement budget of 5000 million US dollars, which must be spent entirely this year, in order to launch the slogan "Watch American dramas on Sohu."

The failure of Sohu Video in the previous life was because it bet everything on American TV series.

A few years later, an official policy was introduced, and all American dramas were removed from the platform. Sohu Video suffered a severe setback and was forced to withdraw from the competition among top-tier video websites.

Now in 2010, Sohu Video is still playing the American TV series card, just like in its predecessor.

Jiang Yifeng did not interfere with Zhang Chaoyang's decision.

On the one hand, Zhang Chaoyang himself is a person with a strong sense of elitism, and he enjoys watching American TV series;

On the other hand, although buying American TV series is a loss in the long run, in the short term, Sohu Video can attract a lot of viewers who like to watch TV series and expand the platform's influence by buying some American TV series.

This is somewhat beneficial for Jiang Yifeng's web series.

Of course, this has also brought competitive pressure.

People have American TV series to watch. If Jiang Yifeng's web series is not well made, then the audience will all go to watch American TV series.

That's why Mu Di said this matter is related to Fengxing Media.

Jiang Yifeng said, "Since Charles has made his decision, we should just cooperate and not discuss it too much."

Don't be fooled by Jiang Yifeng's frequent lectures and jokes about his boss; those are all in private or in his daily life.

In the workplace, Jiang Yifeng never went against Zhang Chaoyang.

After all, Zhang Chaoyang had been very good to him, and he was his boss, so he should respect him out of both courtesy and reason.

Mu Di nodded and continued, "The second thing is a suggestion."

Deng Ye suggested that we create 101 and invite Twins to be judges.

She said that Weibo is preparing to collaborate with Yinhuang and invite all of Yinhuang's stars to join Weibo.

The music king made a request: he wanted Twins to appear on our show as a duo to help Ah Jiao make a comeback.

After her failed comeback last year, Gillian Chung tried again this year, first releasing an album and then starring in a movie, but neither made a splash.

The market simply doesn't buy it.

Inviting Twins to be judges on Produce 101 isn't actually a bad idea.

These two are controversial figures. This year, Charlene Choi (Ah Sa) was exposed for secretly marrying Ronald Cheng, and then they were exposed for divorcing, which caused quite a stir.

Moreover, they are a group, so they can be considered a girl group by a narrow margin.

However, if the Emperor of Sound doesn't talk to Jiang Yifeng directly but instead relays the message through the Weibo business department, that won't work.

Moreover, Jiang Yifeng had already decided on the judges in his mind.

He asked, "How's it going with those judges I mentioned before?"

Mu Di replied, "Phoenix Legends agreed immediately, and their asking price wasn't high. Elva Hsiao is also fine with it, and Li Wen is negotiating the price. There's a high probability we can secure her. It's just that Teacher Liu Huan is still hesitant. He doesn't understand why a girl group program would want him as a judge."

Tengger shared a similar thought.

Jiang Yifeng took the preparations for the Produce 101 program very seriously.

Five judges were invited in total.

Li Wen and Elva Hsiao are pop divas in the Chinese music scene, and they can easily handle dynamic dance music.

Phoenix Legend is the most promising duo in mainland China and has a significant influence in lower-tier markets.

Liu Huan is a leading figure in mainland pop music. Inviting him can not only improve the singing level of the girl group, but also enhance the show's prestige.

As for Teacher Tengger, that was Jiang Yifeng's "trump card".

This artist can deliver a god-like performance, like a lone wolf howling at the moon, in the song "Heaven," or sing the anime hit "Love Circulation," conveying the feeling of fatherly love in a cycle, highlighting an extreme contrast in charm.

Even the theme song of Produce 101, "Love You 101 Degrees", was sung by Tengger in its original form, with his own unique flavor.

To create an engaging show, hype and character personas alone are not enough; you must have compelling performance content.

In Jiang Yifeng's view, as long as these 5 judges are invited, the girl group contestants can be divided into 5 groups and perform with the 5 judges.

It can definitely create many memorable moments on stage, with a lot to see.

As for the Crown Group, they serve as traveling mentors and performing guests, assisting the judges in teaching the students.

With this lineup of judges and mentors, plus Zhang Chaoyang's "god-level performance," and the "youthful beauties" being reunited on stage for a nostalgic reunion, Jiang Yifeng couldn't imagine why Produce 101 wouldn't be a hit.

Moreover, reality TV shows were not yet popular in China at that time, and the appearance fees for celebrity guests were not high.

Hiring them is also very cost-effective.

Jiang Yifeng said, "I'll contact Liu Huan and Teng Geer. As long as they don't explicitly refuse, there shouldn't be any major problems."

As for Deng Ye's suggestion, just send an email to reject it, saying that the judges for our program have already been decided.

Mu Di hesitated for a moment, then asked, "In that case, the cooperation between Yin Huang and Sohu Weibo might run into problems."

"What if all the stars from Yinhuang Entertainment sign with Xinlang? Wouldn't you face criticism, Mr. Jiang?"

Jiang Yifeng smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. The signing of the Yinhuang Stars with Weibo is Zhang Tao and Wu Yanjun's responsibility. What does it have to do with me?"

I can't let their workload fall on my shoulders.

Even if Yin Huang went to Sina Weibo, that's Zhang Tao and his team's mistake, it has nothing to do with me.

Besides, Hong Kong celebrities are all things of the past and don't have much influence anymore.

How can someone who can't even speak Mandarin properly possibly navigate Weibo?

Instead of wasting resources signing them, it would be better to cultivate more grassroots internet celebrities.

Seeing that Jiang Yifeng didn't seem to care, Mu Di felt relieved and said with a smile, "You're the only one who looks down on the Hong Kong entertainment circle. They still have influence, and many people are trying to curry favor with them."

In 2010, the Hong Kong entertainment circle still had a great influence.

Especially in the film industry, Hong Kong films or films directed by Hong Kong directors can still rake in a lot of box office revenue every year.

For example, this year's Lunar New Year film season, if it weren't for films like Lost in Journey and Avatar, it would have been dominated by Hong Kong movies.

Besides box office success, the Hong Kong entertainment circle also has influence in awards. Many of the awards won by Zhou Xun and Zhang Ziyi were brought about by the Hong Kong entertainment circle.

From the perspective of a reborn individual, Jiang Yifeng can see the decline of the Hong Kong entertainment industry.

However, those in the thick of it often can't see things clearly. For example, Huang Xiaoming is still asking Chen Lan to be his godmother and accepting a girlfriend like Angelababy, while Yang Mi is also preparing to sign with a Hong Kong company.

Liu Yifei offended Huayi Brothers and Tangren Media in mainland China, so she doesn't have many good opportunities and is also preparing to go to the Hong Kong entertainment circle.

This is the limitation of our times.

After talking with Mu Di, Jiang Yifeng was about to leave work when he remembered that Naza was still receiving training with Ganati.

Gao Yuanyuan is having dinner with Jiang Peiyao tonight.

Jing Tian and Qin Lan are both filming on set.

For a while, he had nothing to do, and when he got home, he just watched videos and played games.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yifeng simply took out his phone and called Tengger to ask if he had time to have a meal together.

Tengger was very hospitable and invited Jiang Yifeng to his home.

Jiang Yifeng had his assistant prepare a gift and then paid a visit.

"For ethnic music to develop, it must have an audience. If young people no longer listen to a certain form of music, then there is no way to talk about its development."

"Your participation in Produce 101 will allow more young people to understand ethnic music and the art of your generation, which is a great achievement."

"Young people have very simple ideas; they support whoever's music sounds good."

It's just that the occasions you usually perform are quite far from them, which creates a certain distance between you.

Participating in this program will help break down barriers and allow everyone to witness the charm of ethnic music and singers.

"Don't worry about that! You can speak your mind directly. Our show is all about being real."

At Tengger's home, Jiang Yifeng persuaded him to dispel his doubts and agree to participate in "Produce 101".

Of course, the fact that Jiang Yifeng brought a case of Maotai and drank two bottles straight was also a reason why he was able to persuade him to give up.

Once Tengger was dealt with, things became much easier with Liu Huan.

"Tengger participated, and he wasn't afraid, so what are you afraid of?"

After hearing this, Liu Huan had no way to refute it and could only silently accept the money from the production team...

Jiang Yifeng secured deals with Tengger and Liu Huan, Mu Di negotiated prices with Li Wen, and Xiao Yaxuan and Phoenix Legend signed contracts.

With that, all five judges for Produce 101 were secured.

(End of this chapter)