This director lacks vision.

Chapter 274: Approval Issues and Special Effects Comparison

Mu Di's former employer was CCTV.

The slow-paced variety show format is very suitable for CCTV hosts.

Because the two main highlights of this type of variety show—being able to chat and providing valuable information—are both strengths of CCTV hosts.

The upcoming program "Hello Life" produced by Yangshi will be very good, and its quality will be even higher than "Back to Field".

However, TV hosts need written approval to appear on external programs, and the approval process is quite strict.

However, starting this year, CCTV's policies have also been changing.

At the beginning of the year, Sa Beining hosted Hunan TV's Lantern Festival Gala.

This was impossible before.

Yangshi previously explicitly prohibited its hosts from participating in programs on other television stations.

Now that the policy has been relaxed, and given that "Back to Field" is an online variety show, and the TV broadcasting platform can be Yangshi, Jiang Yifeng feels that the chances of getting Sa Beining are still very high.

Sa Beining became a sensation because of a legal program. He seems serious, but he is actually a variety show prodigy who talks a lot and does even more.

With him around, the second season of Back to Field is a sure thing.

Moreover, the show needs someone to control the flow, and since He Jiong is gone, Xiao Sa can do that job.

As for the other person, Jiang Yifeng is considering whether to ask Jia Bin or Jiang Yan.

Both of them are quite good cooks, at least far superior to Huang Lei.

The downside is that it lacks brand recognition.

Fortunately, the first season of Back to Field had already amassed a large number of loyal viewers, and Qiao Shan, Meng Ziyi, and Tian Qianwei all gained popularity.

Sa Beining is also a well-known host.

The addition of a relatively unknown newcomer in the second season was acceptable to the audience.

After thinking about it, Jiang Yifeng decided to invite Jia Bin and Jiang Yan over to form a formidable duo in the kitchen.

It might be more interesting to have the two of them compete in a cooking contest and try something creative.

Jiang Yifeng shared his idea with Mu Di, and after receiving the decision, she went to carry it out.

Although Fengxing Media had a solution, iQiyi spent a lot of money and made a big show of it.

On the morning of June 13th, iQiyi held a press conference to officially announce its slow-life variety show, "Leisurely Holiday".

The variety show features four main guests: He Jiong, a veteran in the entertainment industry; Huang Lei, a versatile chef; Han Geng, a top star who returned from overseas; and Guan Xiaotong, the nation's little sister.

The guest lineup is quite attractive.

Han Geng's die-hard fans, in particular, spread the news and celebrated their idol's reality show debut.

"Brother, fly high, I'll always be with you!"

"I hereby declare that from now on I will never watch 'Back to the Countryside' again, and I will only watch 'Leisurely Holidays'."

"Gather your family! Remember to check in under the Leisurely Holiday topic every day to help boost your brother's show's popularity!"

"Insider information: iQiyi made this show to promote our brother. His appearance fee is 3000 million, the highest in the Chinese entertainment industry! It's even higher than He Jiong and Huang Lei!"

As one of the first generation to return to China and the former leader of the Super Junior boy band, Han Geng still has quite a few die-hard fans.

They showed off on Weibo, forums, Tieba, and other platforms, which quickly angered loyal viewers of "Back to Field".

The two sides started arguing online.

Many people criticize Huang Lei for being ungrateful, saying he abandoned the show after becoming famous.

The phrases "He Jiong and Huang Lei withdraw from Back to Field", "iQiyi's new variety show Leisurely Holiday", and "Is Leisurely Holiday plagiarized?" have become popular topics on the internet.

That evening, Huang Lei even posted on Weibo, stating that everything was a business transaction and there was no ingratitude involved.

This is clearly a marketing tactic employed by iQiyi.

They spent so much money hiring Huang Lei and He Jiong, not only to make a show, but also to generate buzz.

Leisurely Holiday is a new program, and the best way to quickly gain everyone's attention is to ride the wave of popularity of Back to the Countryside.

This trick is very effective.

After all, many viewers don't care about internal grudges; they just want the show to be entertaining.

They knew about the leisurely holidays and would always glance at the show when it aired.

Besides news related to "Back to Field," the most talked-about entertainment news online these days is the launch of the "Zhu Xian" project.

To be fair, Zhu Xian was definitely one of the most popular IPs in early online novels, with a huge influence.

Especially after the online game of the same name developed by Perfect World became popular, even more people have seen or know about Jade Dynasty.

Many book and game fans are looking forward to the adaptation of Jade Dynasty into a film or television series.

Four days ago, H&R Century Pictures posted an official announcement on Weibo.

Starting today, H&R Century Pictures officially joins the Sohu family, becoming one of the independent companies under Sohu Video responsible for content production.

With the support of Sohu Video, we decided to invest 2 million yuan to film the TV series "Zhu Xian".

The casting process for the TV series has begun.

In order to select an actor who is more suitable for the role, we are launching a poll.

We encourage all netizens to participate and select your favorite Zhang Xiaofan, Lu Xueqi, and Biyao.

This Weibo post has now garnered tens of millions of likes, and millions of netizens have participated in the poll.

Among the actors who played Zhang Xiaofan, Hu Ge received the most votes, Liu Yifei played Lu Xueqi, and Yang Mi played Biyao.

It's obvious that Huanrui is using these celebrities for publicity, and Sohu Weibo is also helping to drive traffic.

Regardless, the Jade Dynasty project has generated a great deal of buzz since its official announcement.

At 9:6 AM on June 14th, Jiang Yifeng took a car to Yishui Lake Resort.

In the car, he picked up a copy of the Beijing Entertainment News and saw that Fengxing Media was on the front page.

[Jiang Yifeng's new project fails to pass review, Fengxing Media suffers another major blow!]

As the saying goes, "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down," and the same applies to businesses.

Fengxing Media is now the number one entertainment company in China, and any move it makes attracts a lot of attention and is easily targeted by various parties.

A few days ago, this newspaper reported that Sohu Video acquired Huanrui Century and spent 2 million yuan to produce "Zhu Xian", which attracted widespread attention online.

The acquisition of Sohu Video and the preparation for the filming of Jade Dynasty indicate that a rift has appeared in the cooperation between Sohu Video and Fengxing Media.

This is extremely detrimental to Fengxing Media.

It's worth noting that Fengxing Media's previous film and television productions never exceeded 2 million yuan in investment.

Even the Pacific Rim doesn't have 2 million, let alone the fact that the Pacific Rim is an external investment.

This demonstrates Sohu Video's favoritism and emphasis on Huanrui.

Yesterday morning, iQiyi held a press conference to officially announce the slow-life variety show "Leisurely Holiday" and announced the guests as He Jiong and Huang Lei.

The second season of "Back to Field" had just begun preparations when the regular cast members were poached.

This raises concerns about whether the second season can be recorded as scheduled, and what the program's effect will be after recording.
This raises doubts about Fengxing Media's capabilities; a company with real strength wouldn't be unable to retain talent.

If the previous two news items were just minor incidents...

The following news could shake the foundation of Fengxing Media.

According to insiders, Jiang Yifeng's meticulously prepared new film project, "Common Victims," ​​has been revised three times but still has not passed censorship.

This inevitably brings to mind Ning Hao's No Man's Land.

Ning Hao, who had achieved great success in comedy and commerce, has not had a film released for almost three years because of "No Man's Land".

A director's creative peak was wasted for several years.

Could Jiang Yifeng also fall into this vicious cycle?

As is widely known, Jiang Yifeng is the key figure behind Fengxing Media.

If Jiang Yifeng doesn't consistently produce film and television works, the foundation of this company will truly be shaken. Upon seeing this report, Jiang Yifeng smiled.

When you become number one in any industry, there will be plenty of negative articles criticizing you.

Moreover, Fengxing Media is an entertainment company.

The entertainment industry is always under the spotlight, so many things get magnified.

For example, the funds that Huanrui invested in the production of Jade Dynasty were the funds that Sohu Video used to acquire Huanrui, so it is normal for them to spend them on Huanrui's business.

However, the combination of three events—Souhu's acquisition of Huanrui, the poaching of talent from "Back to Field," and the failure of the "common victim" censorship—along with exaggerated media reports, made Fengxing Media seem like it was on the verge of collapse.

The car drove into the resort, and Jiang Yifeng put down his newspaper.

Upon entering the private teahouse in the villa area, Zhang Chaoyang stood up and introduced, "President Jiang, this is Zhao Zhicheng. You are about the same age, so you can have more exchanges in the future."

"Hello Mr. Jiang, I am Zhao Zhicheng, the person in charge of Huanrui Media. Please give me your guidance."

"Hello, Mr. Zhao."

Jiang Yifeng sized up Zhao Zhicheng. He was very confident, full of fighting spirit, and didn't seem very well-behaved.

Jiang Yifeng was mentally prepared for this situation.

Huanrui Century was originally a husband-and-wife business, owned by Chen Yuan and Zhong Junyan.

In his previous life, Zhao Zhicheng reaped the benefits, acquiring the status of the actual controller through a series of operations such as equity changes.

Now he's moving even faster, taking advantage of Sohu Video's acquisition of Huanrui to become the head of Huanrui.

Although there is a Sohu video above, Huanrui still develops relatively independently.

Zhao Zhicheng not only retained some of Huanrui's shares, but also became the person in charge of the company, so he was naturally very pleased with himself.

Everyone sat together chatting. Jiang Yifeng didn't say much; he just drank tea and ate snacks.

Zhao Zhicheng, however, was very talkative and kept talking about the Jade Dynasty project.

He wanted to prove Huanrui's capabilities to Zhang Chaoyang, and he also had a bit of a show-off mentality.

"President Jiang, Zhuxian is a good project. We are brother companies and should support each other and share resources."

Liu Yifei's role in "Zhu Xian" will also boost her popularity, you...

Upon hearing Zhao Zhicheng still discussing Liu Yifei's role as Lu Xueqi, Jiang Yifeng immediately raised his hand to interrupt the conversation.

"Forget about this. You should focus on filming Jade Dynasty first. Don't make such a fuss and end up being a laughing stock."

Despite disregarding Jiang Yifeng's advice, Zhang Chaoyang's judgment remained as poor as ever.

Choosing Huanrui to produce "The Legend of Chusen" means this TV series will be ridiculed after it airs.

Zhao Zhicheng was about to speak when he saw two beautiful women walking over.

Although the two women were dressed casually, they both exuded the aura of powerful women, a quality cultivated from long-term high positions.

It was Wen Lingfeng and Li Fuzhen.

Seeing the two beautiful women chatting and laughing with Jiang Yifeng, Zhao Zhicheng felt both envious and jealous.

But then Jiang Yifeng said to the two women, "You can go get a spa treatment first. I have something to do. We'll have dinner together later."

Zhao Zhicheng thought Jiang Yifeng wanted to talk to him about the novel "Zhu Xian".

After Wen Lingfeng and Li Fuzhen left, he began to organize his thoughts, only to see a small old man with a crew cut and wearing cloth shoes walk in.

Jiang Yifeng said, "Mr. Zhang, you two talk first. I have something to discuss with Mr. Han."

Zhao Zhicheng's expression was complicated as he watched Jiang Yifeng and Han Sanping walk into the private room together.

He also wanted to get in touch with Huaying Film Studio, but he didn't have the connections.

Zhang Chaoyang said, "It's pointless to say anything if Jiang Yifeng doesn't agree. You're not on the same level as him. Keep trying."

That's reality. Zhao Zhicheng had no way to refute it, but he was determined to make a good film of Jade Dynasty and prove everyone wrong.

In the private room, Jiang Yifeng sat at the tea station, poured Han Sanping a cup of tea, and then said, "Mr. Han, can you give me a definite answer? Will the joint victim case pass the trial?"

Han Sanping gave a wry smile and said, "The timing is wrong."

As soon as those four words were uttered, Jiang Yifeng understood.

After all, cultural workers still have to follow the official line.

In recent years, China has cooperated a lot with the United States, and the War of Founding of the Nation has rarely been mentioned. However, as relations deteriorated, related topics became available for filming.

Han Sanping took a sip of tea and continued, "To be honest, you are very bold. Fanghua and the common victims are both very daring."

If the authorities hadn't thought it was bad to reject two of your films, the script for "Youth" would have had a hard time getting approved.

I even suspect that you deliberately submitted both scripts for review at the same time, sacrificing one to save the other.

Jiang Yifeng shook his head and said, "I didn't have that idea. To be honest, I thought that much of 'Youth' would be cut, and that the common victims could pass, but I didn't expect it to be the other way around."

Han Sanping explained, "This is also what the higher-ups mean."

Moreover, the script for Youth is indeed well-written, containing inspirational passion, pure faith, reasonable plot twists, and strong satire.

Essentially, your film is a "red" film, so there's nothing wrong with it being approved for censorship.

To be honest, I cried when I first saw the script.

"Did you really write this script in just three days?"

“That’s right, just three days,” Jiang Yifeng said. “Perhaps because I had a deep understanding, inspiration flowed like a spring, and the script was written in one go.”

Han Sanping said, "If you don't mind, I'd like to be the producer of this movie and personally participate in all aspects of the work."

"Then I must thank Mr. Han for his help."

"It's my honor, and I hope to work with you to make this film the best it can be."

After discussing the approval process, Jiang Yifeng learned the situation, and the project on joint victims was temporarily shelved.

Next, I'll focus on filming Youth.

Unexpectedly, Han Sanping suddenly asked, "Huaying Film Studio is planning to co-produce a monster movie with the UK called 'Prehistoric Monsters,' with an initial investment of 2 million yuan. Are you interested?"

Han Sanping was very farsighted; monster movies have always had a strong market in China and even the world.

On the one hand, monster movies satisfy the audience's curiosity and meet their expectations of going to the cinema to see special effects;

On the other hand, monster movies, which feature monsters as the main characters, can appropriately break through the limitations of race and culture, making them a suitable subject for exporting Chinese films.

However, the movie "Prehistoric Giants" is a mess, and the results make one wonder if it's a case of money laundering.

Jiang Yifeng shook his head and said, "I don't have time, but I strongly suggest that you entrust the special effects work for this movie to my company."

Hiring a foreign special effects team will only get you ripped off.

Painted Skin 2 used a French special effects team. The movie is about to be released; you can check out the effects.

Han Sanping sighed and said, "I've already seen the finished product of Painted Skin 2, and the special effects are indeed quite average."

However, since the prehistoric monsters are a co-production, the British side will probably hire a European special effects company.

I will try my best to get some of the special effects done by your company.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yifeng said, "That's good. We'll have foreign companies do some of the special effects and we'll do the rest."

Let's do a direct comparison; it'll be a good opportunity to test our company's special effects capabilities.

The special effects for the movie "Prehistoric Giants" were handled by Framestore Studios.

This company is very famous; it won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for the movie "Gravity".

However, Framestore didn't take the movie "Prehistoric Giants" seriously at all, and probably just did a perfunctory job.

When compared to Jiang Yifeng's monster effects company, the difference will be particularly obvious.

This is a fantastic publicity opportunity for the monster effects company.

At the same time, it also made domestic industry professionals and audiences realize that it is useless to find foreign companies to do special effects; we still have to rely on ourselves.

(End of this chapter)