You were asked to write a political intrigue drama, but you wrote "Da Ming 1566".

Chapter 18 A multi-million dollar offer! Are you ready for a storm?

Just then, the host of the "Creator Competition" solemnly spoke up and announced loudly.

"After a full day of intensive scriptwriting, all eight contestants have completed the first two acts of their scripts, and their respective storylines are now clearly emerging."

"Next, we will officially move on to the film and television companies' pricing process. Let's take a look at the market value of these scripts in the professional evaluations of various film and television companies."

"First, please welcome contestant number 1 to the stage."

After Contestant No. 1's script was projected onto the big screen, the representatives of the film and television companies in the audience hesitated briefly before second-tier film and television companies began to raise their bids, eventually driving the price up to 300,000.

Upon seeing this, contestant number 1 quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and a confident expression returned to his face.

While this price isn't top-tier, it's definitely not bad either.

If he can maintain his performance, he might be able to secure a very high offer from a top-tier film and television company on the final day of filming.

Next, contestants number 2 and 3 took to the stage.

The final offer received by contestant number 2 was slightly lower than that of contestant number 1.

Contestant number 3 is a writer who is over fifty years old and made his name in traditional literature in his early years. He became the first contestant to receive an offer from a top-tier film and television company. In fact, more than one top-tier company offered him a contract.

The historical suspense script he brought, "The Mysterious Records," ultimately received a bid of 50 yuan.

Representatives from major film and television companies gave the script extremely high praise.

"This is a very mature commercial work. You can tell from the first two acts that the foreshadowing is well done, the author's writing is solid, and there is a lot of room for the development of the subsequent plot."

"As long as the subsequent productions maintain a consistent level of quality, the final film will definitely be a high-quality work far exceeding the passing grade. These two scenes alone are enough to justify our offer of 50; if the subsequent plot is polished to an even more outstanding level, we estimate the final price for this script could even reach 300 million!"

Upon hearing the offer, contestant number 3, who was deeply involved in traditional literature, immediately beamed with joy and let out a long sigh of relief.

With an undisguised smug look, he glanced up at Chen Yu.

We're both writing period drama scripts, so don't get arrogant just because you're popular. I currently own 50 top-tier companies.

With an offer of tens of thousands, how much you actually get is not necessarily more than what I can offer.

A secret sense of anticipation began to stir within him.

If Chen Yu's script quote is lower than his own, then it's as if he's openly and fairly outdone Chen Yu.

At that time, a large portion of the terrifying popularity Chen Yu had will inevitably fall on him, which will be a qualitative leap in his personal commercial value!

After that, it wasn't until contestant number 6, Andrew, took the stage that more bids were made than for contestant number 3, and the atmosphere at the event became several times more enthusiastic than before.

At the scene, almost all the top film and television companies were vying to raise their bids, and the final price soared all the way up to nearly one million.

"We are very sincere and eagerly look forward to establishing a deep partnership with Professor Andrew."

"Professor Andrew has extensive experience in global market operations, which is precisely what our film and television industry in China currently lacks the most."

"Moreover, the script brought by Professor Andrew has an ingenious and meticulous structure, an imaginative concept, and a grand and magnificent world view, making it very suitable for IP development across the entire industry chain."

"If the final script can maintain this level of quality, it wouldn't be a problem for us to offer five million for it."

Upon hearing this, Andrew's face broke into a smug smile.

He also turned his head and glanced at Chen Yu, a flash of disdain crossing his eyes.

In his eyes, Chen Yu's current popularity is nothing more than a script specially arranged by the production team.

However, in this bidding process involving real money, capital never plays along with anyone's charade.

He secured a nearly million dollar offer on the first day, a top-tier achievement that would be extremely rare even in the first two seasons of the show.

He wanted to see what kind of offer Chen Yu would ultimately get.

Soon, contestant number 7's script received a quote, which was ultimately set at 40.

In an instant, all eyes of the audience were focused on contestant number 8, Chen Yu.

Everyone was eagerly anticipating what kind of astronomical price the major film and television companies would offer for Chen Yu's "Ming Dynasty".

But in the next second, the entire venue suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

"Um?"

"What's going on with these people?"

At that moment, both the audience at the scene and the netizens watching the live broadcast on their screens were stunned at first, and then they immediately erupted in uproar.

The reason is simple: after "Ming Dynasty" entered the first day of bidding, none of the top-tier film and television companies present showed any intention of making the first move.

It took quite a while before a representative from a top-tier film and television company leisurely raised their sign and quoted a price of 30.

When this price was announced, the audience couldn't hold back any longer, and the chat room of the official live stream was instantly flooded with question marks.

"???"

"What are you up to?"

"Such a top-notch script, and they only give 30?"

"That historical suspense novel, number 3, is obviously far inferior to 'Ming Dynasty' by anyone with eyes, yet you guys are willing to give it 50!"

"That foreigner Andrew, number 6, wrote a murder case with a Western fantasy background, and you guys just opened 100."

Ten thousand!"

"You only give 30 for 'Ming Dynasty'? Do you even have any taste? Are you deliberately trying to disgust people?"

""

At this moment, the representative who had just made the offer saw the screen full of comments and his face showed some displeasure. He spoke up in a cold tone to explain a few things.

"I've read the first three acts of the script for 'The Ming Dynasty,' and the overall quality is quite good. The dialogue is very well-written, and the subtext between the lines is also very rich."

"But in my personal opinion, this script has little commercial value. Only the first three acts are eye-catching. The entire first three acts only tell the story of the imperial court meeting in the Golden Palace and the decision to change rice paddies to mulberry fields."

"I admit that the debate in the Golden Palace was very well written, but you can't have every scene in the whole series being a debate in the Golden Palace, can you? The script ultimately has to tell the core story. Once the Golden Palace debate is over, the level of excitement in the plot will inevitably drop precipitously, and based on the current content, I see absolutely no potential for a dramatic explosion in the subsequent plot."

"Considering the solid foundation of the first three acts, I offered 30. In my opinion, it is only suitable as an art-house script, and it would barely be passable as a short film."

At this point, he shook his head and made his conclusion.

"As for adapting it into a TV series or a feature film, given the script structure, it's completely impossible."

"I suggest that if Chen Yu is interested in selling the script, he should agree to it now."

"Once you finish writing the rest of the script, and the hype dies down, you probably won't even be able to get this offer anymore."

On stage, contestants number 1, number 3, and number 6, Andrew, couldn't help but sneer.

They originally thought that Chen Yu would be able to secure at least 700,000 to 800,000 in offers on the first day.

To my utter surprise, it was only a mere 30.

Moreover, according to this representative, this is already the ceiling for the price of this script, and it will only get lower and lower in the future.

On the other hand, as long as their scripts don't fall apart later on, their value will only increase.

There's no comparison anymore.

Judging solely from the first day's bids, Chen Yu's performance was probably the worst in the entire competition.

Andrew chuckled softly.

"What's the point of creating hype through underhanded tactics? I've said it before, the eyes of capital will prove everything."

At this moment, Professor Shuping and the other judges on the judging panel couldn't help but clench their fists.

Even before this, they had noticed that the representatives of the top film and television companies looked strange and guessed that they were probably not optimistic about the future development of "Ming Dynasty".

But they never expected the situation to get this bad.

Even the only top-tier company willing to offer a price gave such a negative and pessimistic evaluation.

Now, the situation is really bad.

At this moment, countless eyes, each with a different expression, fell on Chen Yu, drawn by the contestants, judges, and audience. Everyone wanted to see what his expression would be.

To everyone's surprise, Chen Yu remained completely unfazed by the situation, as if he didn't care about it at all.

And that is indeed the case.

Chen Yu not only didn't take it to heart, but even found it somewhat ridiculous.

Will the quality of "Da Ming Dynasty" drop drastically after the court debate in the Golden Palace?

Is there no potential for further plot developments?

Chen Yu didn't even bother to explain himself; there was no point in talking to someone with such a limited perspective.

A truly masterpiece script, if it falls into the hands of someone who doesn't appreciate its value, will still be treated as trash and thrown into the wastepaper pile, which is not surprising at all.

Chen Yu shook his head slightly, his expression remaining calm and composed, not bothering to say another word.

Seeing this, the host spoke with barely concealed embarrassment.

"In that case, the bidding process for the first day of our Creator Competition will now conclude—"

Just then, a sign was suddenly raised high from the seats of representatives from second-tier film and television companies, and a powerful female voice resounded throughout the venue.

"Ten million."

"We're offering ten million for the script of 'The Ming Dynasty' right now."

"No matter how the script develops, our offer will only go up, not down."

The moment those words were spoken, the entire room fell into a deathly silence.

Both the audience and the judges were completely stunned.

The contestants on stage, who were still beaming with pride, and the representative from the top company who had just made his pronouncement, froze instantly, as if petrified.

Even Chen Yu was stunned for a moment, then looked in the direction of the sign, his eyes instantly lighting up.

The woman holding the sign was a woman of exceptional poise, who looked to be under thirty, and whose every smile and gesture exuded charm.

The nameplate in front of her seat reveals that she is Qin Lan, the founder and president of Xiangyu Pictures, a second-tier film and television company.

Chen Yu still had some impression of Xiangyu Pictures from the original owner's memories. It was a second-tier film and television company that had been gaining momentum in the past two years. It had been working hard to break into the first tier, but it had always fallen short of the mark.

At this moment, Qin Lan's groundbreaking offer caused the entire audience to erupt in excitement.

The initial offer was ten million, with a promise that the offer would only increase and never decrease, no matter how the script was written.

This is absolutely the highest first-day bid in the history of the Creators Contest in its three seasons!

Even renowned screenwriters rarely manage to sell a script for this price with only the first three acts published!

All the representatives from top film companies present looked at Qin Lan with disbelief on their faces.

"Has Qin Lan gone mad?"

"Ten million for this script?"

"What's the point of a well-written first three acts? At most, you can only film 30 or 40 minutes of content, and it's all dialogue and debate with no actual plot development whatsoever. Its commercial viability is ridiculously low!"

"Spending ten million on this? They must be out of their mind!"

But then they thought about it again and all showed expressions of schadenfreude.

"That's fine. It would be best if Xiangyu Pictures lost everything this time, otherwise, given its momentum over the past two years, we might not be able to keep up."

At this moment, the host asked Qin Lan for her reason for making this offer. She had a calm and confident smile on her face and looked directly at Chen Yu.

"Because I can clearly feel that Chen Yu has a lot of confidence."

"I majored in psychology in college. Just by looking at Chen Yu's micro-expressions, I knew that he never thought that 'Ming Dynasty' would fail."

"So I took the gamble. I bet this script is destined to be a masterpiece, and I hope that our company, Xiangyu Pictures, can take advantage of Mr. Chen's influence to break into the top tier."

Even Chen Yu was somewhat surprised by the reason she gave.

Based on micro-expressions?

interesting.

Chen Yu couldn't help but smile slightly.

"President Qin, believe me, you will definitely not be disappointed."

"Under the same conditions, or even if the conditions are slightly inferior, I would choose Encounter Pictures first."

"However, I still suggest that President Qin prepare a larger budget. The value of 'The Ming Dynasty' will far exceed your imagination."

Upon hearing Chen Yu's words, Qin Lan was slightly taken aback at first, then her red lips curved into an even more radiant and charming smile as she spoke, half seriously and half jokingly.

"real?"

"Then we at Xiangyu Pictures will certainly show our utmost sincerity and look forward to Mr. Chen's arrival."

Only then did the host finally come to his senses and announce the official end of the first day's bidding session. Chen Yu then turned and walked towards his competition room.

Behind Chen Yu, both contestant number 3 and Andrew number 6 stared intently at his back with eyes full of jealousy.

"What makes him think he can offer ten million?"

"That female boss is completely insane! Betting on such a terrible script? Why didn't she choose our script?"

"Just wait and see, this is an absolute trap. That Qin guy will regret it to the core!"

Meanwhile, the online debate over the pricing of the TV series "Ming Dynasty" has raged, with netizens holding differing opinions and arguing fiercely.

It's also quite obvious that there are a lot of capital-backed online trolls stirring up trouble. It's unclear whether this is the work of the film and television companies behind the other contestants, or the representative who just quoted 30 yuan, trying to save face.

Chen Yu closed the door to the competition room, let out a soft breath, and a different kind of light surged in his eyes.

"I was thinking of taking a break tonight, but it looks like I won't be able to rest now."

"Whoever is stirring up trouble behind the scenes, are you prepared for the real storm?"

The next second, Chen Yu started a live stream and typed a line of text on the screen.

[The Third Act of the Ming Dynasty: Plot Explanation, Background Introduction, and Character Analysis]