Chinese entertainment: Top stars have no holidays

6 month 11 number.

When Jiang Bai had finalized the arrangement requirements, Jin Ruochen had already begun arranging the music.

There is only one and a half months left until the premiere of "A Love So Beautiful".

At this time, "Princess Agents" was airing.

The show achieved a viewership rating of over 1 in its first week of broadcast and garnered over 50 billion views across the internet, becoming a breakout hit at the start of the summer season.

Although online streaming data is inflated, Hunan TV's viewership ratings are genuine.

Without a doubt, Zhao Liying has succeeded again, proving once more her status as the queen of hit dramas.

The battle between her and Yang Mi, both actresses born in 85, continues, and no winner has yet been decided.

At the same time, the pre-release promotion for the low-budget web series "A Love So Beautiful" has officially begun.

This kind of youth campus drama is not in the same category as "Princess Agents" and has its own audience.

On mainstream online platforms such as Weibo and Douban, some of the publicity companies hired by Dai Lu have already been releasing a large number of press releases to promote the drama.

The marketing press releases were launched in batches, with a gradual pace, and approached the topic from multiple dimensions, including atmosphere, youthful atmosphere, character contrast, summer sweet drama, and Jiang Bai's brand new character.

The homepage is filled with eye-catching promotional headlines.

[A Must-Watch Sweet Drama for Summer | "A Love So Beautiful" Premieres This Summer, Bringing a Sweet and Youthful Taste]

[Farewell to Lu Zhiang, Jiang Bai's New Character Transformation | The Cold and Aloof Academic Prodigy Jiang Chen, Full of Contrast]

[A high-颜值 (high-visual appeal) campus drama is on the horizon! Energetic girl VS aloof school heartthrob, unlocking a story of mutual unrequited love]

[A dark horse in the July summer movie season, sweet and heartwarming, bringing back everyone's youthful memories]

Press releases like these are everywhere, and they are precisely targeted at young people.

At the same time, trending search terms, entertainment KOLs, film and television bloggers, Douban groups, and campus accounts were simultaneously launched.

Dai Lu doesn't resort to forced or awkward hype; instead, she focuses on creating a sense of atmosphere, comparing characters, and resonating with youthful experiences.

Riding on the lingering popularity of "Rush to the Dead Summer," they gradually built goodwill among passersby.

At 8 p.m. that evening, the official Weibo account of "A Love So Beautiful" released the first trailer on the entire internet.

The 1 minute and 50 second trailer features clean and refreshing shots, classic school uniforms, tree-lined paths, teaching buildings, and the evening breeze on the playground, exuding a strong sense of campus life.

In the trailer, Jiang Bai's portrayal of Jiang Chen completely sheds Lu Zhiang's sunny and enthusiastic demeanor. He exudes a cool and aloof temperament, with distant eyes and a reserved demeanor, radiating an aura of a top student who is unapproachable.

The cool and handsome male lead and the lively and energetic female lead create a strong chemistry, with a mix of innocence, excitement, awkwardness, and sweetness, creating a truly immersive atmosphere.

The trailer went viral instantly upon release, garnering over a million views in just half an hour, and related discussions skyrocketed.

Jiang Bai's fans immediately flooded the comment section, controlling the comments and promoting the product with great enthusiasm:

"Finally! Looking forward to Jiang Chen!"

"Completely different temperaments. Lu Zhiang is a gentle, pure, and innocent type, while Jiang Chen is a cool and aloof campus heartthrob. Jiang Bai's versatility is just too amazing!"

"Help! He nailed that aloofness, I'm totally smitten with this 'ascetic' male lead!"

"The contrast is amazing! You can't tell it's the same person acting; their acting is superb!"

"July 21st is already set, I'll be watching on time!"

"Thanks to the production team for their hard work. The visual quality is so pleasing. This kind of sweet drama is perfect for summer."

Even casual drama fans who are used to shipping good-looking couples have left comments expressing their feelings:

"You just finished crying for Lu Zhiang, and now you're going to have to deal with the aloof Jiang Chen?"

"The same actor, two completely different personas, it's so relatable."

"The trailer was surprisingly good. There was no melodramatic plot; it was just a simple story of unrequited love in school. I loved it."

"When will our good-looking couple team up again?!"

"This new female lead looks really sweet. I hate to say it, but she seems like a good match for Jiang Bai!"

Many casual netizens, purely attracted by the visual appeal and atmosphere, spontaneously left comments:

"The male lead is incredibly handsome, and his school uniform look is amazing."

"The trailer doesn't look too awkward, the visuals are quite refreshing, I want to watch it."

"Mutual unrequited love is so sweet; this kind of quiet, enduring beauty is what touches people the most."

"I wasn't planning to watch it, but after watching the trailer I'm a little tempted, so I've added it to my summer binge-watching list."

Of course, it's impossible for everything online to be positive.

There are still many haters and casual fans who, with prejudice, are making sarcastic remarks and deliberately nitpicking, taking advantage of the recent controversy surrounding the drama's portrayal:

"Having just become popular by adding scenes, are they already seamlessly moving from one project to another to fleece their fans?"

"His looks are just average, stop exaggerating his looks."

"Youth dramas all follow the same formula. I guess it'll be another melodramatic youth drama with no substance. I can't stand it."

"A second male lead becomes an overnight sensation and receives a constant stream of resources; the capital is truly supporting him."

However, these scattered negative reviews were quickly overwhelmed by a flood of positive discussions and trailer recommendations.

Dai Lu's team was well-prepared, and their public opinion monitoring was timely and effective.

The company relied on high-quality trailer clips, character edits, and atmospheric scenes to continuously attract viewers and generate a large number of posts. In addition, the marketing company they partnered with deployed a large number of online trolls to stabilize public opinion.

Riding on the immense popularity of "Rush to the Dead Summer" after its initial broadcast, coupled with the outstanding quality of the first trailer, the series has secured a strong following.

Even before its premiere, "A Love So Beautiful" had already secured its place as a sweet romance drama in the summer lineup.

It can only be said that Dai Lu is indeed very professional and capable in the field of online marketing.

She was able to generate viral marketing and make "Addicted," a web series featuring entirely newcomers, a hit even before its release.

This will naturally allow Jiang Bai's new drama "A Love So Beautiful," which already has a large following, to quickly gain popularity.

However, Jiang Bai didn't have time to pay attention to the praise and expectations from fans and passersby for his new drama.

Because his agent, Xu Xu, came knocking again, this time with a new script.

"Jiang Bai, take a look at this script." As soon as Xu Xu entered Jiang Bai's house, he stuffed the script in his hand into Jiang Bai's arms.

"This is a drama that Siba is using to promote its own artists. They want to use this drama to get their small theater idols into the film and television industry."

"This drama had a large investment; it was publicly stated to have cost 1.6 million yuan, but the actual production cost was 6000 million yuan!"

"Siba is taking 100% of the risks and hopes to open up the film and television market with this drama."

"The key point is that this drama is a period idol drama, which is a type of role that you currently lack."

"If you can use this drama to break into the historical drama market, that would be great!"

Jiang Bai opened the script, completely bewildered.

Hey, isn't this the female-centric drama "Legend of Yunxi" that was supposedly made specifically for Ju Jingyi?

And wasn't the male lead supposed to be Han Sang?

"No way, Brother Xu, you want me to be the second lead in a theater idol show?" Jiang Bai said with some resistance.

He's not obsessed with the order of billing, nor does he have a "billing order fetish."

This is simply unreasonable.

If it's a big-budget period drama with top-tier or near-top-tier actresses like Zhao Liying or Yang Zi as the female lead, then he would absolutely accept playing a supporting role without hesitation.

However, Ju Jingyi is the lead actress in this drama.

In 2017, Ju Jingyi had just become the first member of SNH48 to win the general election twice in a row and was promoted to the SNH48 Hall of Fame, officially starting her solo career.

In the film and television industry, she only starred in one drama, "Novoland: The Castle in the Sky," and was the second female lead. This drama was not as popular as "Rush to the Dead Summer."

Just when he was about to become a top star with "A Love So Beautiful", he still had to play the second lead role for Ju Jingyi. Isn't that ridiculous?

Once "A Love So Beautiful" becomes a hit, will he still have trouble getting roles in period dramas?

"Who said you were going to be the second lead?" Xu Xu interrupted Jiang Bai. "They invited you to be the lead actor."

"Although you're not the main male lead, you're definitely the number one."

"Here's what happened."

Xu Xu pulled Jiang Bai to sit down on the living room sofa and slowly explained, "The lead actors for this drama were actually decided a long time ago. It was indeed created by Siba to promote Ju Jingyi."

"But Siba is also uneasy and lacks confidence."

"After all, this is a mid-budget drama with a production cost of 6000 million yuan, and we will need to invest more money in its subsequent promotion and distribution."

"Although the total cost did not reach the 160 million they claimed, it should have exceeded 100 million."

"So they're looking for a ratings guarantee."

"Originally, there was no hope. Popular A-list male stars were unwilling to take the role, and it didn't matter much who was cast for the unpopular ones."

"So they cast a minor actor under Zhao Junqi's company. He debuted in 2010, but after seven years of acting, he still didn't become famous and could barely be considered a third-rate actor."

"Siba had given up hope, but who would have thought you'd suddenly become so popular."

"Popularity reached the top tier in a short period of time, but it was rather superficial and seemed like a castle in the air."

"But it's precisely because you haven't truly reached the level of a top-tier or second-tier star that you have a chance to get this role."

"In order to convince us, Siba is willing to give you the lead role and publicly state that they will not mention the main female lead, but only that you are the lead actress."

"Of course, this is also to leverage your popularity, hoping to make this drama a hit and promote their Ju Jingyi into the film and television industry."

"So Siba is willing to offer a fee of 1500 million!"

Even Jiang Bai was astonished by this number.

Although his salary for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" was equivalent to 1500 million yuan in investment, this included the cost of writing the script.

Moreover, this money is just a fictitious number.

Because the production company didn't actually invest 1500 million yuan in the production team; it wasn't an actual expenditure.

The only difference is that Jiang Bai's salary was removed from the accounting records; the removed figure was simply filled in as 15 million, representing that Jiang Bai acted for free.

In reality, he had to bear the risk of the film being made for nothing, sharing both the success and failure of the production company.

This is a completely friendly price, a reverse friendly price.

If you lose money, you won't get much; if you make money, everyone's happy. By taking the risk, you can naturally reap high profits.

However, if Jiang Bai really quotes a fee of 1500 million, no production team would be willing to accept it, and they would criticize him behind his back for being greedy for money.

His current market price for film and television work is at most 800-1000 million.

But Siba is willing to pay him 1500 million to act in a movie.

"Is making idols in small theaters really that profitable?" Jiang Bai, who had never really understood this field in his two lifetimes, asked with a puzzled expression.

"Actually, no." Xu Xu shrugged. "If it were really that profitable, Siba wouldn't have thought about entering the film and television industry."

"Their willingness to pay such high salaries is essentially a gamble."

"On the one hand, we're betting that you'll become even more popular, making the 1500 million even more worthwhile; it won't be a loss."

"On the other hand, we're also betting that having you in the cast will increase the chances of success."

"Therefore, they have decided to cancel the actors they had already cast and fully accommodate your schedule."

"As long as we take on this role, the production team will focus on filming your scenes first, and try to get you to finish filming by early September so as not to affect the filming of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'."

"Moreover, your treatment on set is completely on par with that of top-tier celebrities."

"Their sincerity is truly evident."

Xu Xu was inclined to let Jiang Bai take the role.

It wasn't that he thought highly of the show, but rather that he couldn't bear to see Jiang Bai go through a nearly three-month hiatus.

As an actor who has just become a sensation with a role and is in the rising phase of popularity, who wouldn't want to fill their schedule to the brim, seamlessly join new projects, and strive for a meteoric rise in status?

Taking more than three months off is a complete waste!

Even if Jiang Bai's popularity might rise even higher after "A Love So Beautiful" airs.

But what if this show flops?

Normal artist management should never involve wasting time not filming and just waiting for this drama to air.

This was Xu Xu's mistake.

He never expected Jiang Bai to become a sensation with "Lu Zhiang," and he certainly didn't expect the production team to pull off such a stunt, giving the second male lead more screen time than the first male lead and attracting even more fans.

This meant he wasn't prepared to seamlessly transition into a new project after Jiang Bai became popular; he originally thought Jiang Bai would only become popular after "A Love So Beautiful".

This is why we have this gap period that was originally neither a big deal nor a pity to leave empty, but is now a great pity.

"Actually, after your drama 'Rush to the Dead Summer' became a hit, I started actively looking for resources for you."

"Especially period dramas, since you already have two urban campus dramas waiting to be broadcast, filming this type of drama will limit your acting roles and make it difficult to change your image."

"Previously, there was a large-scale ancient costume fantasy drama in the industry called 'Ashes of Love,' and I originally wanted to try to get the second male lead role for you."

"But we acted too late. The roles for the show were already cast, and filming was scheduled to start in a few days. We just couldn't make it in time."

"Now that we have this opportunity to star in a period drama, we should seize it."

In Xu Xu's opinion, taking on the role in "Legend of Yunxi" was the most suitable choice if he wanted to make the most of this break in his career.

If this drama performs well after it airs, it can open up a new path for Jiang Bai in period dramas, and period dramas are the ones that can truly make someone a top star.

Even if the show doesn't perform well, Jiang Bai won't lose out. He received a 1500 million yuan salary, so at least he's monetized his popularity and won't lose it all for nothing.

Opposite him, Jiang Bai did not give a reply immediately, but quietly flipped through the not-so-thick script.