Huayu: The young actress is heavily dependent on me

As the credits rolled, the lights came on.

Several young female employees sitting in the back row shoved each other's arms and exchanged their thoughts in hushed tones.

"That scene where he handed me an umbrella in the rain was so touching! Those subtle details were so sweet!"

"The episodic structure is so novel, and the narration at the end of each episode is like a little hook. I watched three episodes in a row without having to fast-forward."

"How old is Director Chen? Did he write this script himself? Isn't he an acting student?"

"True genius. Let's call it a day. Go back and revise our campus-based proposal; this version is unacceptable."

"Everyone, please be quiet!"

Wang Yi raised his hand and pressed down, and the conference room fell silent.

Marketing Director Zhao opened the evaluation form in front of him, then looked up from the densely packed scoring details and back at Chen Li.

"Teacher Chen, we've seen the film, and its creativity and execution definitely exceeded our expectations. It should be classified as A-level content."

"But your show doesn't have a big IP or well-known actors. Given the scale of the production, according to our internal evaluation system, the rating can only be a C. There's nothing I can do about it."

He glanced at another evaluation form in his hand and then said:

"This year, the highest-rated C-level youth campus light comedy we received reached over 80 million views in its first week, but most of them were crushed by the big dramas airing at the same time, with less than 20 million views."

"Our internal resources for C-level dramas are also limited. There are only a few homepage recommendation slots, and at the same time, the second season of 'Darker' is also going to be released, so the competition for traffic is very fierce."

"The core competitiveness of your show can't just rely on its episodic structure and end credits, can it?"

Chen Li didn't rush to reply. Instead, she opened the well-worn project proposal in front of her, pulled out a form, and pushed it onto the table.

"Mr. Zhao is right. We don't have any well-known actors, and the production scale is indeed small."

Chen Li's voice was neither too loud nor too soft, and her speaking speed was not fast, yet it suppressed the noise of the entire table.

"But to be honest, you should have internal data on the completion rate of C-level youth campus dramas this year."

"Most of the viewers who tuned in during the premiere of a series churned by the middle, not because there were no popular stars or anything, but because all the shows looked pretty much the same."

"The formulaic couple of a top student and a poor student, even their reasons for breaking up are like copying the same homework. Viewers think it's a new show after watching one episode, realize it's an old friend after watching three episodes, and close the webpage after watching five more."

He pushed another form over.

Those are behind-the-scenes photos collected during the filming of "So Cute Us" in Huairou, along with personal information of several main actors.

"Not a single scene in 'So Cute Us' was filmed in a studio from beginning to end. This sense of immersion is rare in dramas of this scale, and this sense of trust is the fundamental reason why viewers watched the entire series until the very last episode."

He sat up straight, his gaze calmly meeting Director Zhao's scrutinizing eyes:

"I can't guarantee how high the viewership will be in the first week, I'm very clear about that. But I can guarantee that the completion rate of this show will definitely not be bad."

The meeting room fell silent for a moment.

Wang Yi glanced at the expressions of his colleagues in the marketing department and had already formed his own judgment.

If you can turn Director Zhao from aggressive questioning to thoughtful reflection, you've already won 50% of the battle.

Bai Mengyan sat beside her, her fingers secretly twisting the hem of her clothes, her eyes wide open, completely dumbfounded.

When the marketing director, Zhao, frowned just now, she was so startled that she almost broke the pen in her hand, silently chanting, "Go boss, go boss!"

Seeing Chen Li handle the situation with ease, she couldn't help but smile, but then quickly pursed her lips, only secretly watching Chen Li's figure out of the corner of her eye.

It turns out that the boss is not only good at making sweet and memorable dramas, but also a great negotiator.

It's just like... like Zhuge Liang's debate with the Confucian scholars in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

No matter how many troops you have, he will simply wave his feather fan and lay out his reasoning before you, sentence by sentence, and you will be unable to refute him, because every word he says is true.

The boss is practically Zhuge Liang himself!

She quietly clenched her fist, her little face full of undisguised admiration, like a little white deer secretly shaking its head for its owner, both obedient and earnest.

......

The negotiations have entered a heated phase.

Director Li of the Copyright Department nodded to Chen Li.

"According to the procedure, for high-quality online dramas like this, we usually make a one-time purchase, and the price is about 300,000 yuan."

"Three hundred thousand." Chen Li gently placed the letter of intent on the table and tapped it with his finger.

"So Cute Us" has 16 episodes in total. At 30 per episode, that's 480 million.

Chen Li only spent a little over 200 million yuan to film this drama, which means he can make a small profit of a few million yuan.

But that's definitely not his goal.

My first pot of gold after being reborn is only a few million; I'll be looked down upon by others...

"Director Li, this unit price is indeed not low for a C-level drama, but I'm here today not just to discuss a fixed purchase price."

Chen Li leaned forward slightly.

"I'd like to talk to you about another model."

Wang Yi was picking up his teacup when he heard this, so he put the cup back on the table and looked up at Chen Li.

Marketing Director Zhao stopped twirling his pen.

"Director Wang, Director Zhao, Director Li—I would like to make a suggestion to your company." Chen Li looked around the long table.

"The current online drama market's acquisition model is essentially still the same old approach as copyrighted dramas: the platform watches the shows, estimates the price, and buys them out. The allocation of budget and resources depends entirely on the subjective judgment of the purchasing department."

"This model has an inherent flaw—it's unfair to niche topics and new teams."

He paused, pulled a form from the proposal, and pushed it in front of Wang Yi:

"Why not introduce a rating system—dividing revenue-sharing dramas into different levels based on project quality and market potential, and allocating resources accordingly?"

After pausing briefly to allow this statement to settle, Chen Li continued elaborating.

"For example, an A-level revenue-sharing drama means that the platform recognizes the project's overall quality and market expectations to be at a high level, with high potential value per episode and strong market expectations. In order to win over such high-quality dramas, we can offer a unit price of 2.0 yuan, core recommendation positions, and priority in operation to maximize its potential."

"A Category B rating represents a medium level, with good potential in terms of actor popularity, production cost, or subject matter novelty. It is given a unit price of 1.5 yuan and corresponding resource support."

"C-level represents smaller production scale or lower market expectations, with a unit price of 0.7 yuan. The platform provides basic exposure opportunities but does not invest too many resources. Different levels of dramas use different billing rules and different resource allocations. The platform does not need to judge what is a good drama for the audience; the audience will vote with the number of views."

The meeting room was silent for a full three seconds.

The pen in the hand of Marketing Director Zhao fell to the table with a "click," without him even noticing.

Wang Yi, on the other hand, seemed to be nailed to his chair, leaning slightly forward, dumbfounded.

Is this really a student who hasn't entered the workforce yet?

All of these grading systems were completed by one person alone.

Data-related matters should be handled by their respective departments, and the process requires repeated deliberation and the collective effort of everyone involved to finalize them.

And Chen Li alone is equivalent to their entire department?

"Tiering – a combination of revenue sharing and tiered accounting." Director Zhao spoke first, his voice carrying a barely suppressed excitement.

He opened the internal evaluation form that had just been printed that morning, which was filled with a list of play titles.

He knows all too well the current situation of his platform.

In 2014, when iQiyi was pushing the revenue-sharing model for "online movies," Tencent Video's purchasing department was still using the old methods.

Meanwhile, iQiyi has already tasted the benefits of the revenue-sharing model.

A web series that cost 28 yuan to produce garnered 2.2 million views and generated a return of 1500 million yuan, a figure that caused quite a stir in the industry.

Tencent has been figuring out how to follow up for a while, but it has been stuck in the "trial" stage and does not yet have a systematic plan.

He glanced at the grading chart that Chen Li had pushed over.

The details, from unit price and recommendation slot allocation to operational priority, are all clearly listed above.

They even provided a rough outline of the revenue-sharing details, such as "A-level subsidies increase by 40% and B-level subsidies increase by 20%".

Later, in 2015, iQiyi launched its first online drama rating and revenue-sharing model, which adopted a four-level rating system of A, B, C, and D as its core framework.

After Chen Li laid out the entire tiered system, from pricing to operational logic, in one go, he began to summarize:

"Once the revenue-sharing drama rating system is implemented, platforms can use data to filter good content, producers can see clear return expectations, and users can get more suitable works—a win-win situation for all three parties."

He paused, his gaze calmly sweeping across Director Zhao's face.

"Of course, this is just my suggestion as a creator. Whether it is adopted depends on your company's assessment of the market."

The high-ranking officials present exchanged glances and whispered among themselves.

Wang Yi and Director Zhao whispered a few words to each other, then Director Zhao adjusted his glasses, his tone becoming more serious than before:

"Teacher Chen, to be frank, iQiyi is putting in a lot of effort, and we are also discussing internally how to come up with our own strategy in the online drama market."

"The tiered revenue-sharing model you just mentioned is indeed very valuable. We will seriously consider your suggestion. But in any case—"

He pulled the computer chair forward half an inch, placed his hands on the table, and his tone changed from solemn to sincere.

"Even if this proposal is not adopted, your 'So Cute Us' will still receive a much higher unit price than other projects of the same scale. This is something I can promise in person."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Wang!"

The two shook hands happily and smiled at each other.