Entertainment: This top celebrity is really letting loose!

A bet?

Upon hearing those two words, Hu Dabiao was taken aback at first, then quickly stepped forward and said, "Shouldn't we... greet General Manager Gao first?"

The latter immediately waved his hand, signaling him to shut up.

As a veteran workhorse in the entertainment industry, Hu Dabiao understands the meaning of the word "betting" better than anyone else.

For example, common capital mergers and acquisitions in the entertainment industry, box office revenue in the film industry, and viewership ratings in the television drama field can all be used for betting.

However, all these betting agreements have one prerequisite: the party initiating the agreement must have full confidence in its own profit revenue or the quality of its work.

Hu Dabiao believed he knew the drama "Temptation to Go Home" better than anyone else. How confident must he be to bet on this melodramatic show?

Vice President Zhao was very interested in Zhou Yang's proposal. As the platform provider, her understanding of betting was: you can make a lot of money, and we will never lose money.

In short, if this drama is a gamble, it will be entirely beneficial for Tencent Video.

She looked at Zhou Yang with a smile and said, "I wonder what kind of bet Teacher Zhou Yang plans to make with us this time?"

Seeing that he seemed powerless to stop it, Hu Dabiao immediately slipped out of the reception room, took out his mobile phone, and made a call.

"Is this Director Gao? This is Hu Dabiao."

"Yes, negotiations with several TV stations haven't gone smoothly, and two of the three major streaming platforms have already rejected us. We're currently in talks with Tencent Video, but..."

Gao Xiaoyu sensed the hidden meaning in his words and immediately said, "But what? Director Hu, just say what you want to say."

"Tencent Video was very interested in 'The Temptation to Go Home,' but they were still wary because Zhou Yang's previous web series had caused them to lose money. However, Zhou Yang took the initiative to propose a bet, which is why I..."

Hu Dabiao believes that Director Gao, as the producer and investor of this drama, will definitely strongly oppose it after hearing this news, and may even be angry.

A few seconds later, the other party simply said casually, "Then do as Zhou Yang says."

After saying that, he didn't even give him a chance to continue speaking and hung up the phone, leaving Hu Dabiao completely dumbfounded.

Do as Zhou Yang said?

What's wrong with this world?

Little did she know that Gao Xiaoyu, who was in the capital, was immediately met with a cold shoulder from her older sister after hanging up the phone.

It turned out she was in the other party's office, and the purpose of her visit was to request additional funds for the post-production promotion of "The Temptation to Go Home".

Qin Xue's face remained cold and aloof. She casually flipped through the documents in front of her and said, "I did a preliminary calculation before, and I conservatively estimate that your TV series will lose more than 50 million."

Upon hearing this, Gao Xiaoyu immediately retorted, "How could there be so much? Zhou Yang and the second female lead only received a share of the later profits..."

As the screenwriter who played the male lead, Zhou Yang's voluntary concession resulted in a significant reduction in his salary for the drama.

Qin Xue explained, "The actor's salary is indeed negligible, but our own team isn't working for free. Including the estimated post-production and promotion costs, it's already reached 80 million. But now you're asking for an additional 20 million, which would make it over 100 million."

Gao Xiaoyu seemed a little annoyed by her sister's tone and immediately pouted, saying, "If you're worried about the cost, I'll cover all the expenses for this drama myself."

"No need, it's just a few tens of millions, we at CTS can afford to lose that much."

Seeing that persuasion was useless, Qin Xue immediately signed the document.

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The camera then returns to the headquarters of Tencent Video.

Zhou Yang explained:

"What we're selling this time is the online premiere rights, allowing Tencent Video to have priority access to six episodes ahead of schedule. As for the performance-based agreement, we'll settle the accounts based on the number of views up to the finale. What does Vice President Zhao think?"

"Online premiere rights? Do you mean you're going to air it on satellite TV later?"

Vice President Zhao was slightly surprised. If the first broadcast rights of a TV series have been sold to video websites, which TV station would still be willing to pick up leftovers?

However, she quickly composed herself and asked, "How much does it cost?"

"If the number of clicks exceeds 5 billion, the final settlement price will be 500 million. For every 1 billion less, the settlement fee will be reduced by 100 million. If the final number of clicks is less than 500 million, we will not charge a penny..."

Upon hearing the data and price quoted by Zhou Yang, Hu Dabiao was immediately alarmed. If this drama really flopped, then Huashi Media might lose everything this time.

If the total number of clicks exceeds 50 billion, it will be a super web series king, something Tencent Video hasn't achieved in many years. Vice President Zhao, after hearing the proposal, was very satisfied and smiled:

"This plan is very good. If there are no problems, I'll have someone draft the contract."

Zhou Yang nodded and said, "Okay, but I hope Tencent Video won't be too stingy with the later promotions."

"You can rest assured about that. What parent wouldn't love their own child?"

With both parties signing the contract, the first broadcast rights for "The Temptation to Go Home" were successfully sold in this manner.

Compared to Zhou Yang and Jin Ran's confidence, Hu Dabiao was sullen and even looked rather unpleasant.

"Director Hu, let's book the plane tickets and get ready to depart."

"Haven't they all been sold? Where else would you go?"

Zhou Yang explained, "It's just that the first-run priority broadcast rights have been sold; the satellite TV channels still have vacancies, right?"

"TV station?"

Hu Dabiao immediately asked, without any curiosity, "Almost all the major TV stations have rejected us, so where are we going to sell to?"

Seeing that he wasn't enthusiastic, Zhou Yang immediately patted him on the shoulder and explained, "Isn't there Hunan TV that we haven't been to yet? That's the famous Hunan TV."

Just like in its previous life, Hunan TV in this world was not particularly outstanding among provincial satellite TV stations in its early days. However, its leaders later took a bold step, actively learning and introducing variety shows and popular entertainment strategies from South Korea, eventually becoming a force to be reckoned with among other provincial satellite TV stations.

Hu Dabiao looked at him suspiciously and said, "Do you think Hunan TV would even look at our leftovers?"

How could a leading provincial satellite TV station possibly be interested in a melodramatic drama whose first broadcast rights have already been sold?

Zhou Yang didn't mind, saying, "How will we know if we don't try?"

In its previous life, Hunan TV was once a hit-making machine in the domestic entertainment industry, including this drama "The Temptation to Go Home". At its peak, the urban ratings reached 5.2% and the viewership share was as high as 26.7%. It was the super drama king of 2011, and the record was even held until 2014-2017, when it was broken by another ratings miracle, "In the Name of the People".

Zhou Yang didn't know if the person in charge of the mango in this world would still have the ability to see through things, so he decided to take another gamble.

Two days later, the group arrived at their final stop: Hunan TV.

As soon as they entered, Zhou Yang saw an old acquaintance and said, "Teacher He, it's been a long time."

He Rihuo, one of the two main hosts of Hunan TV, was also one of the representatives at the meeting. The two sides had previously met in the second episode of "Back to Field".

"Long time no see, Mr. Zhou Yang is really making waves in the pop music scene lately."

He Rihuo still maintains his style of praising everyone he meets.

"We have sold the first broadcast rights of our show to Tencent Video, and the two parties have also signed a performance-based agreement, which stipulates that their platform can broadcast six episodes in advance."

As soon as Zhou Yang said this, many of the representatives from Hunan TV shook their heads. Although the influence and revenue of major TV stations have been surpassed by the three major platforms, we are still Hunan TV, the leader of domestic entertainment TV stations. There is no need for us to pick up other people's leftovers.

The person in charge of the meeting and negotiations at Hunan TV was a middle-aged man surnamed Qian.

He didn't show much expression, but like the other TV station executives, he said calmly, "We need to do a test screening first."

Zhou Yang nodded and said, "No problem."

The group had no choice but to wait in the other person's living room again, but this time it seemed to take a long time, from afternoon until dark, and the other person still did not appear.

As night fell, a representative from the other party rushed over, looking apologetic, and said, "I'm sorry, but because the series is so long, you'll probably have to wait until tomorrow."