Huayu 16: I Became the Dream-Fulfilling Master for Young Actresses

Chapter 113 Huang Chengzi Xiaotian, Tencent Pictures Annual Press Conference

#Go Go Squid! Finale#

#Go Go Squid! Finale Advanced Viewing#

#OneLeafKnowsBoatStudio#

@YiYunMedia:

At the end of September, iQiyi held a celebration party for the finale of the youth inspirational romance drama and e-sports drama "Go Go Squid!" for iQiyi VIP members.

iQiyi's Chief Content Officer and President of Professional Content Business Group (PCG), Senior Vice President and other key creative personnel attended the event. Director Chen Xingzhou, lead actor Chen Xingzhou, lead actor Bai Mengyan and other main actors were all present to interact with iQiyi VIP members and fans and watch the finale in advance together.

Since its premiere, "Go Go Squid!" has consistently topped the iQiyi Hot List, Baidu Hot List, MY, and Guduo Hot List.

It topped the data charts of major media outlets such as Yunhe and Yien, successfully launching a comprehensive ranking domination mode.

In terms of social media buzz, the total number of views on Weibo related to "Go Go Squid!" has exceeded 490 billion.

Among them, the single topic #GoGoSquid# has garnered a staggering 400 billion views, making it an undisputed national hit and social currency.

Regarding the actors, Chen Xingzhou, who plays Han Shangyan, has gained 1105 million followers on Weibo since the announcement of "Go Go Squid!", and now has 2236 million followers.

Bai Mengyan, who plays Tong Nian, gained 590 million followers, bringing her total to 960 million.

Meng Ziyi, who plays Ai Qing, now has 600 million followers, and Zhou Ye, who plays Sun Yaya, now has 350 million followers.

The four actors' fan bases grew at an alarming rate, which brought [Yi Ye Zhi Zhou Studio] into the public eye.

Why has this studio, founded by Chen Xingzhou, achieved such success?

"Mr. Chen, the revenue from the first day of advanced on-demand viewing is in! 6610 million!"

Hearing Manager Sun's excited voice on the other end of the phone, Chen Xingzhou gripped the phone slightly tighter.

"6610? Okay, Manager Sun, I understand."

"Okay, okay, by the way, Mr. Chen's studio subtly hinted at your next drama when it premiered."

"What exactly is the subject matter? We'd like to know in advance," Manager Sun said, his tone slightly ingratiating.

Chen Xingzhou smiled slightly and said in a calm tone, "Manager Sun, the next drama is indeed in preparation."

Manager Sun's voice immediately rose a few decibels: "Really? What genre? Still a youth drama?"

"A period drama depicting the lives of five teenagers, set in the style of 'Reply 1988,' telling the coming-of-age story of five teenagers from 2007 to 2008."

"Like the style of 'Reply 1988'?!" Manager Sun was a little surprised.

Chen Xingzhou naturally knew why he was surprised.

"Reply 1988" is a South Korean drama.

In June 2016, iQiyi acquired the exclusive broadcasting rights for the show in mainland China and launched it with almost no promotion.

By the time the series concluded, it had garnered over 2.77 million views on iQiyi.

Most importantly, this show has a high rating of 9.8 on Douban.

This kind of rating is something other dramas can only dream of.

Chen Xingzhou nodded, "Yes, I have a lot of confidence in this drama."

"Mr. Chen, could we reserve a spot for this project in advance?"

Chen Xingzhou paused for a few seconds before saying, "Manager Sun, the reason I'm telling you this is because iQiyi was the first company that came to mind. However, I'm still polishing the script. I'll discuss the specifics with President Dai in the middle of next month."

"Okay, okay, then I won't bother you any longer."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Xingzhou looked at his phone and smiled.

This attitude is so much better than before.

He really didn't plan to have exclusive rights to this broadcast. He's not with iQiyi. If he gives them all the hit shows, what will he become?

Moreover, the annual press conference for Tencent Pictures is just a few days away, and he believes Tencent will ask him about his next project.

His current budget for "So Cute Us" is 8.5 million.

The script for this drama was written by Cat Tree himself in the previous life, so there were no copyright issues. This time, the script was also completed by him and Cat Tree together.

So he slightly modified the script, giving the female lead, Tian Xiwei, more screen time, instead of the usual ensemble drama where screen time is evenly distributed.

Although this might weaken the feel of an ensemble drama, it would increase the number of episodes, so it wouldn't be just 12 episodes. In that sense, it's about the same.

The purpose of this drama was to promote Tian Xiwei; making money was secondary.

The character Huang Chengzi has a complete character arc. After watching the show, what the audience remembers is not just the sweetness of the romance, but a complete person.

This is more helpful for actors to build a good reputation.

In the future, when audiences mention Tian Xiwei, they will say "her portrayal of Huang Chengzi was excellent" instead of "her on-screen couple with so-and-so was so sweet".

Furthermore, he plans to use cinematic lighting and composition in his filming.

Most domestic youth dramas from 17 to 18 still used a television drama-style shooting method, namely: flat lighting, positive-negative-positive shots, etc.

The background music is everywhere.

He believes that as long as he shoots well, he can completely outperform all competitors in terms of quality.

Gathering his thoughts, Chen Xingzhou looked at the calendar; next, he would prepare for Tencent's annual film press conference.

At the end of the month, Kyoto Phoenix Center.

The Möbius ring-shaped building is completely illuminated in the night, with four large golden characters scrolling on the giant LED screen: "Unity and Ambition."

The lights from the dome poured down from above, illuminating the Penguin Pictures logo in the center of the stage.

At the press conference, Tencent Pictures released new information and progress updates on 43 film and television projects, including "Project 20,000 Miles", "Snow Child", "Visitors on the New Iceberg", "Tibetan Code", "Mystery of Antiques", "The Prince of Tennis", and "Shanghai Fortress".

It covers movies, TV series, web series, and pan-entertainment projects based on full copyright linkage.

Chen Xingzhou entered through the side door and arrived at the front core area.

He glanced at the front row; those sitting there were the people who truly held the power of life and death over the project at the press conference, and the so-called stars were the ones they had promoted.

Sitting in the center is Ren Yuxin, COO of Tencent and Chairman of Tencent Pictures. Next to him is Chen Wu, Vice President of Tencent and CEO of Tencent Pictures.

The two sat in the front row in the center, behind them were Zou Zhengyu, general manager of Tencent Interactive Entertainment's comics business department, Liang Xiaodong, co-CEO of Yuewen Group, and others. The whole row was filled with core senior executives of the Tencent system.

On the right, Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iQiyi, was also present today.

Chen Xingzhou wasn't worried that his collaboration with Tencent would have any impact on iQiyi.

He didn't believe iQiyi would have any complaints about him. He thought they would just be anxious, but since he had already said that they could collaborate on "So Cute Us", they wouldn't say anything more.

Not far away were Yu Dong, chairman of Bona Film Group; Wang Zhonglei, vice chairman of Wayi Brothers; Su Mang, founder of Bazaar Charity Night; and tennis star Li Na and her husband Jiang Shan.

The writer, "The Unlucky Kid," has also arrived.

The film and television rights to his entire "Shanghai Fortress" series have just been acquired by Tencent. The film stars Lu Han and Shu Qi.

In the actors' section, seated in the front row were Ge You, Zhang Guoli, Wu Gang, Huang Lei, Xia Yu, Chen He, Wang Xi, and Song Yang.

Huo Siyan and a host of other familiar faces.

The directors' section was occupied by Huang Jianxin, You Xiaogang, Er Dongshen, Lu Chuan, Niu Chengze, Gao Xixi, and renowned Hollywood screenwriter David S. Goyer.

When they saw Chen Xingzhou arrive, they all smiled and nodded in greeting, and many of them were very polite.

Chen Xingzhou shook hands with Cao Huayi and Mao Ni, who were standing next to him, and exchanged smiles.

Time flew by, and the press conference soon moved on to the "Joy of Life" segment, where the stage lights suddenly dimmed.

A spotlight shone on the center of the stage.

Chen Yinjie, Vice General Manager of Tencent Pictures, General Manager of Black Body Studio, and Chief Producer of "Joy of Life", walked onto the stage, and the three characters "Joy of Life" lit up on the screen behind him.

"Joy of Life, a super platinum-level online novel under Yuewen Group, has been highly praised since its serialization in 2007. Its popularity has remained undiminished for ten years, making it a masterpiece of Chinese online literature."

"Today, I am honored to officially announce the main creative team of the TV series 'Joy of Life'."

There was a moment of silence in the audience, and then the media in the front row all raised their cameras.

Many people who were just talking in hushed tones immediately stopped and looked up at the stage.

Chen Yinjie slightly turned his body and stretched out his hand towards the left side of the stage: "Co-producer and director of 'Joy of Life'..."

Screenwriting consultant—Chen Xingzhou.

The spotlight moved away from Chen Yinjie in that instant, swept across most of the stage, and finally settled on the side entrance.

As Chen Xingzhou walked out, all eyes in the room, following the beam of light, focused on him.

Before he even reached the center of the stage, people in the audience began to whisper among themselves.

Their gazes held scrutiny, astonishment, and also conviction.

Co-producer, director, script consultant, and, more importantly, lead actor—this isn't unheard of in the television industry, but it's certainly rare for a project of this scale.

When he walked to the center of the stage, applause began to erupt from the audience, starting with Ren Yuxin in the core area.

So Chen Wu, who was sitting next to him, also started clapping. Then came the executives from Tencent, the representatives from Yuewen Group, Yu Dong from Bona Film Group, and Wang Zhonglei from Wayi Brothers in the back row.

Applause spread like a tide from front to back.

Chen Xingzhou stood in front of the microphone and waited for the spotlight to stabilize slightly before speaking.

He thanked Chen Yinjie and Tencent Pictures for their trust and mentioned the experience he gained from "A Love So Beautiful" and "Go Go Squid!".

Finally, Chen Xingzhou said, "In the time to come, I will do my best to make this work well, not only to live up to this IP and the trust of Tencent Pictures, but also to prove that Chinese dramas have the ability to tell a long story completely and beautifully."

He bowed slightly: "Thank you, everyone."

The applause rang out again, even louder than before.

Conversations arose from the audience.

"Chen Xingzhou is directing? Tencent is serious?"

"I think there's no problem. Director Chen has done two period dramas, and his acting was excellent in both. Although he was an actor back then, given his current achievements, he must have some experience with period dramas."

'

On the stage.

After Chen Xingzhou finished speaking, Chen Yinjie nodded and then said to the audience, "On behalf of Tencent Pictures, I would like to officially announce that the first season of 'Joy of Life' will be directed by Chen Xingzhou."

"7

More cast members will be announced later.

The longest applause of the entire press conference erupted from the audience.

People in the front row of the media area were already leaving with their cameras; this news was enough to steal the headlines of all the press releases today.