How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 124 of "Palace" locks in "Scarlet Heart"

The concept of web series/web movies emerged relatively early; the trend of combining film and television with the internet was first mentioned in a paper on Shanghai opera before the millennium.

Later, with the emergence of video platforms such as Tudou and Youku, creators had a centralized platform to showcase their work, which led to the first "A Bloodbath Caused by a Steamed Bun". Although it was later sued by director Chen, it accelerated the development of the online drama industry.

Last year's "Hip Hop Quartet" produced by Youku can be considered the first wave of internet platforms' foray into the film and television industry, which is why Chopsticks Brothers and others participated in the "11 Degrees of Youth" event this year.

The development of online movies came later; the industry officially began after iQiyi launched its first batch of commission-based online movies in 14.

Prior to this, videos with very small investments and relying on internet platforms were generally called micro-films in China.

Objectively speaking, the online drama industry needs to meet two conditions: platform support and commercialization. At present, the public beta test of Qiyiguo platform, which is most willing to support online dramas, is still a month away, and commercialization is even more far away.

Even more than a decade later, the online film category was affected and hindered by various factors. At that time, Xu Zheng wanted to use the platform to conduct online digital film screenings, but he was almost killed.

However, there is one advantage to working with Dongfang Xin: her production costs are almost zero. Her company receives subsidies per minute, so the revenue is fixed. But it is impossible to break through the profit ceiling; the only way to increase profits is to continuously reduce labor costs.

Therefore, her Dongfei Film Company employs a large group of film and television production-related staff. While not all of them are talented, there are certainly many promising individuals among them.

Wang Yao collaborated with her, providing scripts that resonated with the current audience, while Dongfang Xin was responsible for filming. They received the same subsidies, but also had the opportunity to sell their work on internet platforms or secure advertising sponsorships.

At worst, it's just to help the actors get some recognition.

This model was inspired by Netflix's online drama approach. In 2012, Netflix's first foray into online dramas involved sharing the risks with television stations while controlling the online streaming rights, thus ushering in the era of online dramas.

However, Netflix initially focused on high-quality productions costing hundreds of thousands of dollars per episode, primarily targeting paid subscribers. Wang Yao, by leveraging local TV stations and low-cost productions, can now attract the same target audience.

In theory, with Dongfang Xin's production advantages, as long as the subject matter matches the preferences of offline audiences and the costs are not too high, it is possible to sustain the online drama industry to break even in the early stages.

Once you've accumulated a batch of valuable IPs, you can sit back and make money as soon as online media platforms start competing for resources.

After listening to Wang Yao's introduction, Dongfang Xin became very interested in web series/web movies. She already had so many works to shoot every year, so why not try to make the most of everything?

“But there’s a problem. Our company currently only has an advantage in two genres: suspense and rural dramas. If we were to produce other genres, the costs would likely increase,” Dongfang Xin stated.

"It's okay, we mainly produced rural dramas in the early stages too." Wang Yao smiled.

"Rural dramas? They conflict with internet audiences, right?" Dongfang Xin was taken aback. She was very familiar with this genre, as the audience was mainly middle-aged and elderly people in third- and fourth-tier cities and rural groups.

"The idea is to first use the lower-tier markets as a testing ground. First-tier satellite TV channels have limited airtime and broadcast restrictions, while the advantage of online dramas is that they offer a large quantity and a wide variety of content."

The audience in lower-tier markets is mostly housewives or elderly people who don't have many entertainment options. If they have a series of TV dramas to watch from 2 pm to 5 or 6 pm before dinner every day, they will develop a habit of watching them.
Even if you're not watching the plot, just using it as background music can increase viewership. This way, increased local viewership can generate more revenue. Once a series has high viewership, you can then seek sponsorships, whether it's fertilizer, tractors, or recruitment ads. As long as the viewership is decent, there are plenty of clients waiting to give you money.

Moreover, once this type of audience reaches a certain scale, it could potentially influence teenagers, since parents usually control the remote controls at home, and these teenagers are sometimes forced to watch along. In two or three years, when these children grow up and start using the internet, they will become the first audience for these online drama IPs.
A more mature benchmark is the "Country Love" IP, derived from the Northeast Chinese dramas "Ma Dashuai" and "Liu Laogen," which has already released its third season. A large portion of its audience is young people, and its future influence is expected to be even greater.

"Miss Dongfang, please don't think of the internet audience as some kind of highbrow group that only watches things from a sophisticated background. Right now, everyone here comes from a rural cultural background," Wang Yao explained with a smile.

"The ratings for 'Country Love' are indeed quite good. Does President Wang mean to replicate their model? Local characteristics + rural life + dialect drama?" Dongfang Xin narrowed her eyes.

“That’s right, dialect films and television shows still have a certain basic audience. We can produce bilingual versions, a TV version in dialect and a web series version in Mandarin. It would be best to use local actors for casting.” Wang Yao thought that at this stage, the dialect film and television industry still has some advantages.

In fact, using this low-cost, high-volume, and guaranteed-satisfaction logic to penetrate the lower-tier market, the main way to make money is still through soft advertising. This group of audiences corresponds to the main consumer group of the KS platform in the early stages of short videos.

Once mobile internet becomes widespread, this audience will become extremely valuable, and now is the perfect time to subtly attract them. After all, while the film and television production itself may generate some revenue, the core value lies in the underlying commercial value and user assets.

All of these are closely related to the work or the character IP.

"What about the profits from the Wang Bus?" Dongfang Xin asked the question she was most concerned about.

"In the early stages online, we'll collaborate with video platforms on copyrights or CPM advertising revenue. But initially, the returns won't be substantial, as it's an emerging field. However, if we persist for a year or two, we'll see results," Wang Yao nodded.

“Okay, every little bit helps. I happen to have connections at several local TV stations, so we can start by collaborating on a few pilot programs.” Dongfang Xin smiled.

"Prioritize cooperation with the six major provinces of Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu," Wang Yao instructed.

"I understand." Dongfang Xin understood why the pilot programs were all located in the north, because the dialects were relatively uniform.

"As for online movies, we can wait and see for now, because the market is not mature, and the return on investment is not as good as that of web series," Wang Yao explained.

Online movies still need to rely on cooperation with video website platforms for procurement. We'll have a chance to talk to them after Qiyiguo's public beta launch.

“Okay, I’ll cooperate with President Wang.” Dongfang Xin nodded.

"Are all the actresses for Miss Dongfang trained in-house or through collaborations?" Wang Yao asked.

"Most of them are collaborations. My company only employs a few artists, and most of them are 'troublemakers' who have offended people in the industry." Dongfang Xin smiled subtly. "These artists all believe that hard work pays off, so they are not only good actors, but also good value for money."

"They're all a group of idealistic young people," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"President Wang is even younger, why does he look so old-fashioned? Everyone chooses their own path. Whether you succeed or not is fate," Dongfang Xin said with a smile.

“That makes sense. Our company is currently lacking talented actors. If Miss Dongfang has any candidates she thinks are a pity, she can recommend them.” Wang Yao nodded.

"You know what, there really are two." Dongfang Xin pointed out the names Zhao Liying and Zhu Yilong.
"Xiao Zhao just offended Huayi. Speaking of which, she has some connections with your photography department. This girl is very talented and hardworking."
However, he has problems with interpersonal communication. He's a bit slow and not very good at speaking. I originally wanted to sign, but I felt it would cause me trouble. Mr. Wang can meet with him.

Another one, Zhu Yilong, is my younger brother. He's also a male artist the company is heavily promoting; this year, they've arranged for him to star in eight dramas.

8 parts. You don't even consider Zhu Yilong a human being.

“Okay, I can make an introduction. I’ll send someone to talk to them.” Wang Yao nodded.

Throughout the entire process, Dongfang Xin never mentioned Bo Ru's investment in Tianhuo.

After seeing her off, Wang Yao browsed the company's newly launched news account.

Wang Yao instructed Kevin Rudd to set up a special "Information Channel" team to select major news and events from various fields each day, mainly categorized into five major categories: people's livelihood, business, technology, entertainment, and international affairs.

These kinds of marketing accounts that 'help people summarize' are the easiest to attract followers, giving people a satisfying feeling of reviewing official documents.

A business news item caught Wang Yao's attention.

On March 3.14th, Meituan.com attracted angel investors, marking the start of Wang Xing's new entrepreneurial venture.

Actually, Meituan had already launched its public beta on March 3.4th, but unexpectedly, it secured its first investment in just ten days. After instructing the person in charge of the business division to pay close attention to the company's progress, Wang Yao drove to meet with Wu Zhuli.

The script for the first half of "The Temptation" has been approved, and we're just waiting for the start-up funding to come in. However, we met today because someone invited us.

"Mr. Wang, it's an honor to meet you, I've long admired your name." A fat man with an effeminate aura stepped forward with a fawning expression to shake hands.

Wang Yao subtly avoided the question and looked at Wu Zhuli, asking, "And who is this?"

"President Wang, please don't take offense. He's a bit of a social butterfly, especially when it comes to handsome men, he's like a dog seeing a bone. This is Yu Zheng."
"We've collaborated for many years with a top-tier screenwriter who has produced numerous hit TV series, including 'The Legend of Chu Xiang' and 'I Love Hedong Lion.'" Wu Zhuli's face paled in surprise, and she quickly grabbed Yu Zheng back, fearing he might offend Wang Yao.

"Oh, Mr. Yu, I've heard so much about you." Wang Yao nodded in greeting, naturally recognizing Yu Zheng, that sissy, at a glance.

Although this guy is still somewhat behind the scenes, with the explosive popularity of "Beauty's Rival in Palace" airing tomorrow, he's gotten carried away and is trying to make his presence known everywhere like a conspicuous bag.

However, it must be objectively acknowledged that this guy has a very good grasp of the trends among young female viewers, making him a young version of Qiong Yao. Moreover, he is very good at promoting female leads, making him a rare commercial producer in the industry.

"President Wang is even more handsome than the rumors say," Yu Zheng said, sounding like a lovesick fool.

"You flatter me, Mr. Yu. Did you contact me because of the publicity business for 'Meiji'?" Wang Yao asked directly.

“That’s right, Mr. Wang is indeed a prophet. My TV series will be released tomorrow. Although I don’t think there are any major problems, I still hope to do more publicity and promotion. After all, it’s my first work that I wrote and directed independently.” Yu Zheng said with a fawning smile.

"In terms of cast, Lin Xinru and Yang Mi have enough reach. Although the other cast members are not very famous, as long as the script is good, the ratings should not be a problem," Wang Yao commented after taking the project proposal.

"Thank you for your recognition, Mr. Wang. Let me toast you." Yu Zheng stood up to pour Wang Yao a drink.

"I don't drink alcohol, I'll drink tea instead," Wang Yao waved his hand.

Yu Zheng didn't feel embarrassed at all and continued to chatter on about his projects and resume.

"Mr. Yu, have you sold the online rights to this drama?" Wang Yao asked.

"Online version?" Yu Zheng was taken aback.

Wang Yao gave a brief explanation.

"No, there really isn't. Mr. Wang is involved in the copyright business? Aren't video platforms usually the ones that pay attention to that?" Yu Zheng asked, puzzled.

Online versions are indeed a novelty in China right now. Most industry insiders still perceive the internet as 'piracy,' and some even have a negative view of it.

"I work in publicity and distribution, and I need to use a lot of film and television materials. To avoid copyright issues, I usually buy some of them," Wang Yao said casually.

"Wow, Mr. Wang is truly the most conscientious media professional I've ever met. In all my years in this industry, I've hardly ever seen anyone who even talks about human rights, let alone copyright," Yu Zheng exclaimed.

He started out by stitching together and drastically modifying existing works, so naturally he didn't have a strong sense of copyright. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been trending on social media for plagiarism so many times later on.

He and Guo Xiaosi are both experts in this field, but Guo Xiaosi is better at blending.

“I have high hopes for your show. Last month, I bought the exclusive edition of ‘The Myth’ for 5 yuan per episode. I’ll give you 3 yuan per episode,” Wang Yao said.

Upon hearing Wang Yao compare this drama to a blockbuster like "The Myth," Yu Zheng's smile blossomed even more like a chrysanthemum. "Thank you for your favor, Mr. Wang. If my drama can rival 'The Myth,' I'll be laughing in my sleep. The price isn't a problem; I'll discuss it with the company later."

The drama "The Beauty" was said to have a record-breaking investment of 5000 million yuan at the time, setting a new record for the budget of a TV series.

But in reality, the total should be less than 3000 million. Nobody knows how much of the extra money was supposedly spent on costumes, Hollywood production teams, and film-level storyboards.

The concept of 'movie-level TV series' seems to have been created by them; I wonder if it was Yu Zheng's idea.

Even so, a budget of 70 per episode is high enough. However, the show is indeed quite good. Wang Yao was very impressed with it, as it was his first impression of the 'historical idol drama' genre.

"Actually, the reason why Tuoli took the liberty of inviting you this time is mainly because I heard that you need to invest in film and television. So I volunteered myself. Although I can't compare to the older generation of screenwriters in China, I think that now it's a market for young people, and the older generation's ideas may not be effective." Yu Zheng began to promote himself.

Wang Yao listened for a moment and roughly understood the situation.

Yu Zheng started his career as a screenwriter in the Hong Kong entertainment circle. Later, due to his skill in networking and resource gathering, he became independent and accumulated experience as a producer while creating works. Last year, a shareholder of Huayi Brothers went solo and approached Yu Zheng to invest in "The Beauty". However, the other party was very strict about the budget, and the originally agreed budget was repeatedly reduced.

The collaboration between the two parties was not very pleasant. Coincidentally, Wu Zhuli recently asked a friend in the industry to help revise "Return of Temptation". Yu Zheng had time to take a look and found out that the cooperation model was actually a "sole proprietorship + full management" model.

They basically give the producer complete authority and trust, and don't interfere with the internal management of the production team. This is practically like a coal mine owner investor in the film industry.

So he kept pestering Wu Zhuli to let him meet Wang Yao and see if there was a chance to work together.

“Our company’s investment is mainly based on commercial considerations, and the works will involve a lot of soft product placement. Is this acceptable to Mr. Yu?” Wang Yao asked.

"As long as it doesn't affect the character design or the plot, what does product placement matter? If the brand is willing to pay, I wouldn't even write a script specifically for their product," Yu Zheng grinned.

“That’s fine, Mr. Yu, if you have any suitable scripts, please hand them over.” Wang Yao nodded; he also preferred working with these kinds of down-to-earth people.

"I've been working on a script recently. Do you know about the Qing Dynasty drama 'Scarlet Heart' that Tang Ren is going to film? I've read the original novel and I think the plot of the nine princes vying for the throne is very interesting." Yu Zheng began to get to the point.

Wang Yao immediately recognized it as "Palace," the drama that propelled Yang Mi to stardom. The show was advertised as being tailor-made for Yang Mi, but in reality, it was Yu Zheng trying to capitalize on Tang Ren's popularity and generate buzz, especially since Yang Mi and Tang Ren had just broken up at the time.

The falling out between Yang Mi and Liu Shishi, two "best friends," is a purely commercial decision, as they are competing on the same topic. They hardly need to buy trending searches.

In order to disgust Tang Ren, they even rushed the production with shoddy workmanship and released it ahead of "Scarlet Heart".

However, because he benefited from standing up for Yang Mi, Yu Zheng later established himself as someone who stood up for small artists who were being suppressed by big companies. Unfortunately, neither netizens nor the parties involved bought into his act.

After all, this is also a publicity stunt that profits from tragedy, which the parties involved are very disgusted with. It's something that could have been resolved behind closed doors, but this gossipy woman insists on bringing it to the forefront for ridicule from the entire internet. This not only fails to uphold justice but also makes it easy for the parties involved to accumulate negative information, greatly increasing the probability of being banned.

He's the kind of person who loves to watch the drama unfold.

Therefore, he has always been disliked in the industry. Actors who became famous after acting in his dramas dared not get too close to him, for fear of being implicated. He also felt wronged and thought that the other party was heartless, so he often started feuding and being sarcastic.

As for those who were close to him, they've all basically all fallen from grace.

But Wang Yao felt that someone like him, if used properly, could be a sharp weapon.

　Thank you so much to Yu Sheng Nan An, Mo Ji 90, Zi Se Xing Hen, Shi Jian Piao Liu, Xia Zi An, Yan Hu Han Chan, Mo Hua Yue Bai Zui Qing Kong, Ping Chang Pin Can, Zi Min Mu Ke, Bai Jing vic, Shu De Shi Jie v Wo De Wei Yi, Mo Luo Fu Sa Si, *Shuai Mao*, Tian Shen Ting Qing, Mao Yue 88888888, Shu You 20221210134557781, and Shu You 20221229140905749 for their monthly ticket support! Many thanks!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)