Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 183 I Organize the Event, I Invest, I Star in It
January 1th, Beijing, Datang Film Studio.

The receptionist, carrying three iced Americanos, carefully approached the door of the meeting room and gently knocked twice.

"Dong dong!"

A few seconds later, the door opened inward, and a handsome but somewhat dazed young man appeared behind it.

"Just give me the coffee, thank you."

"Ok."

The young woman handed over the coffee, thinking to herself: He's the chairman's new assistant; I wonder if he'll become the next CEO...

Wei Feng, the vice president of Datang Pictures, was originally Chen Xiu's assistant, which is no secret in the entertainment industry.

Xiong Ben has also begun to develop in the direction of a producer, and went to Africa with the crew of "Wolf Warrior 2".

With the examples of these two predecessors before us, it's easy to imagine how many people covet this position for promotion.

Luo Shikan, Chen Xiuxin's new assistant, didn't think too much about it. After taking the coffee, he closed the door to the meeting room to ensure that the contents inside wouldn't be leaked.

Turning around, Luo Shikan walked to the second glass door and, just like the young lady, gently knocked twice.

He could hear the discussion behind the door suddenly disappear, and then he heard his boss's voice reappear.

"Xiao Luo, come in."

"Ok."

With a reply, Luo Shikan held the tray in one hand and pushed the door open with the other.

He looked inside and his gaze met that of Chen Xiu, who was sitting in the main seat. Then he went to the foot of the desk and placed the three iced Americanos on the desk one by one.

Looking at the coffee on the table, Chen Xiu grabbed two cups and placed them in front of Gong Yu on her right and Sun Zhonghuai on her left, before finally picking up her own cup.

"Xiao Luo, you wait outside."

"Ok."

After the glass door closed, Chen Xiu took a sip of coffee and said, "Let's continue. According to Baidu's 15 annual report, Kiwi suffered a loss of 23.8 billion last year. Mr. Gong, is this data correct?"

"no problem."

Gong Yu nodded with a heavy expression, then gave Chen Xiu a strange look.

Chen Xiu turned to Sun Zhonghuai: "Tencent Video hasn't released specific financial reports, but it must be operating at a loss."

"We'll lose a little less, but with actors' salaries rising so much this year, we'll probably lose even more."

Sun Zhonghuai said helplessly, and then the look in his eyes when he looked at Chen Xiu became strange.

Losses are commonplace for video websites in the industry, and Chen Xiu's use of this as an opening remark is likely quite meaningful.

Thinking of this, Sun Zhonghuai glanced at Gong Yu opposite him and exchanged a look, discovering that he had also thought of this.

The two bigwigs guessed that Chen Xiu had more to say, and fell silent to each other.

Having observed their interaction, Chen Xiu didn't bother with any suspense and simply stated, "Video websites have been losing money year after year. The reason for this is the increased cost of purchasing content, the inability of self-produced web dramas to be broadcast on satellite TV or sold externally, resulting in insufficient profit channels."

"The reason I invited you two here today is that I want to collaborate on a project with you. I also want to try this project together with you. If the experiment is successful, perhaps everyone's life will be a little better."

"Try?" *2
Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai both looked at Chen Xiu.

The difference is that the former seemed to have some understanding in his eyes, while the latter was still puzzled.

Chen Xiu nodded and said, "I wrote a script and want to take the route of self-produced high-quality dramas. In the future, in addition to updating and broadcasting on video websites, it will also be broadcast on TV stations and eventually sold overseas."

"Ordinary online dramas only have one source of revenue: advertising fees from online broadcasts. If we can open up two more revenue streams: television stations and overseas sales, then the goal of producing high-quality original dramas will be achieved."

"At that time, we can focus on creating good content instead of constantly increasing the cost of purchasing content, which is causing the website to lose more and more money."

Upon hearing this, Gong Yu, who knew a little more about the situation than Sun Zhonghuai, guessed what Chen Xiu really wanted to express behind all his foreshadowing.

"Mr. Chen, the script you mentioned must have a considerable investment, right?"

"Yes! If you want to go for a high-end product, there are definitely cost requirements."

"How much exactly?"

"2.4."

Upon hearing this number, both Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai were taken aback, and then each began to calculate in their own minds.

After a moment, Sun Zhonghuai asked, "President Chen, how many episodes are there in this script you mentioned?"

Chen Xiu returned to the capital half a month ago, and the cost of "Qin King's Battle Song" has been calculated.

"If we follow the standard of 35 minutes per episode, that would be 24 episodes, with an average cost of 1000 million per episode."

"1000 million? Is this some kind of special effects blockbuster?"

"No, this is a historical drama."

"Historical drama?"

This answer caused Sun Zhonghuai's expression to turn strange.

It's worth noting that last year, Tencent Pictures' production of "Candle in the Tomb" averaged only 500 million yuan per episode, and that was a fantasy blockbuster, with a significant portion of the budget going towards special effects. Now, the script Chen Xiu is talking about has doubled the production cost, and it's still a historical drama with virtually no special effects…

Gong Yu suddenly picked up the conversation: "President Chen, are you also planning to make a 'Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace'?"

"Ahem, the highest-paid actor in this drama is me, the male lead, at 50 per episode. The combined salaries of all the actors won't even account for 25% of the production cost. That's not expensive, is it?"

"That's really not expensive."

Chen Xiu is considered a second-tier celebrity, but due to his unique personality, his popularity is comparable to that of first-tier stars. His salary of 50 yuan per episode is indeed a reasonable price.

The idea that actors' salaries only account for 25% of the production cost is something we wouldn't even dare to dream of.

This made Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai even more curious.

The two exchanged a glance, and Gong Yu, who knew the situation better, continued to ask, "President Chen, since your salary is already the highest, why is the production cost per episode still 1000 million?"

"Supporting actor salaries, costs for character actors, location costs, prop costs, horse costs..."

"How could there be anything about horses?"

Gong Yu asked in surprise, "Normally, renting horses for a historical drama isn't a big deal, but it's only a few horses, maybe a dozen or so at most, enough for one scene."

He simply couldn't understand why horses could be counted as a cost.

Seeing Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai's naive and unsophisticated expressions, Chen Xiu calmly raised her right hand and extended her index finger.

"Based on the scene design, I need to rent at least 500 horses, as they will be used in many scenes, so it won't be just a one-time rental. And it's not a staged photo shoot, but a real war scene shoot!"

500 horses?!

"Real footage?!"

Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai stared wide-eyed at Chen Xiu in utter astonishment.

At first, they secretly wondered if Chen Xiu was deliberately inflating the cost to achieve some purpose.

However, when they heard that he planned to use 500 horses to film war scenes, Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai's thoughts changed instantly.

Meeting the gazes of the two men, Chen Xiu frankly admitted, "Yes, we may need to use a helicopter to film the scene of the two sides charging into battle from above."

Sun Zhonghuai swallowed hard, and said with a hint of uncertainty, "President Chen, you don't mean you're planning to get another 500 suits of armor, do you?"

"Depending on the style, it should be more than 500 pairs, which is also a large expense."

Chen Xiu nodded in confirmation; 500 suits of armor and horses were enough to barely recreate a battle scene.

If it weren't for the fact that there are too many riders, making it difficult to find them and increasing the risk of accidents, he would even like to double the number.

After realizing that Chen Xiu was serious, Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai began to evaluate the project with a different attitude.

Picking up her coffee to moisten her throat, Gong Yu looked at Chen Xiu with a serious expression and said, "President Chen, I would like to ask, which dynasty is the historical drama you mentioned specifically telling, and what aspects does it focus on?"

After all that talk, we've finally gotten to the point.

"I plan to film the story of Li Shimin, which is set in the second year of the Wude era. The story begins with Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang sweeping south to Jinyang."

Chen Xiu suddenly stopped, opened a drawer under the table, took out two scripts, and handed them to Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai respectively.

"This is the script for the first episode. The content can be summarized as Li Yuanji abandoning Jinyang, Pei Ji being chased all the way back to Guanzhong, Li Yuan issuing an imperial edict to abandon the area east of the Yellow River, and Li Shimin, who was stationed in Shaanxi East Circuit, volunteering to fight."

"The content I want to film is basically all war dramas like this, starting with the great defeat of Song Jingang at the beginning, then the bloody battle against Wang Shichong in Luoyang, and finally ending with the great defeat of Dou Jiande at Hulao Pass. There are three stories, each with 8 episodes. There will be some love scenes between Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun, but the length of those scenes will not exceed one-tenth."

Listening to Chen Xiu's explanation, Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai quickly flipped through the script.

After reviewing the script, each of them showed varying degrees of surprise.

Historically, whether in movies or TV series, war scenes have always been filmed in a large-scale, staged manner, with each individual scene filmed in detail.

However, Chen Xiu clearly wrote in the script that he also wanted to film the big scenes in detail.

Similar to the opening of the Battle of the Bastards in Game of Thrones, the scene of hundreds of horses charging was depicted in more than one scene in the script pages.

This is only the content of the first episode. The rental cost of those 500 horses for the remaining 23 episodes is indeed considerable.

Realizing that "The Song of Qin King Breaking the Enemy's Formation" was a truly big-budget production, rather than one of those low-quality dramas filled with filler and poorly edited footage, Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai both showed a hint of surprise.

Both of them had already realized that if the drama could be filmed according to Chen Xiu's requirements, it would definitely be able to be broadcast on satellite TV, and might even become a hit drama to drive traffic to the app.

They were so sure not because they were both dumbfounded by Chen Xiu's script.

After all, they are professionals who have been exposed to film and television content over the years. Through the scripts, they saw differentiated competition in the extensive war scenes.

No one has been able to film war dramas well before. If "The Song of Qin King Breaking the Battle Formation" can be filmed, plus the popularity of the big IP of Li Shimin... then it definitely has potential!
Moreover, a cost of 2.4 million is not a lot. If it flops, Datang Pictures will share the burden, so the loss won't be too great. But if it becomes a hit...

Almost simultaneously, Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai looked up at each other, their eyes both revealing a barely perceptible wariness.

They all thought about things further ahead, such as kicking each other out and cooperating with Datang Pictures themselves.

"Dong dong!"

The sudden, crisp sound made Gong Yu and Sun Zhonghuai turn their heads at the same time.

Chen Xiu clenched his fist and tapped the hardwood table with his knuckles. He glanced at the two men and said, "I put together this script, I invested in it, and I'm acting in it! Would you two be interested in collaborating once, just as an experiment?"

(End of this chapter)