Bai Lu got scammed, but I became a superstar through e-commerce.

Bai Lu called at 10 p.m.

Qingxiao had just returned from the company and hadn't even taken off his coat when his phone rang.

"Qingxiao".

"Um?"

"The drama 'Chaoge'... probably won't be broadcast."

Qingxiao draped his coat over the back of the chair and sat down. He didn't speak, waiting for her to continue.

"The producer called us to a meeting today and said that there were problems with the investors, and the follow-up funding could not keep up, so the project has been suspended."

Bai Lu's voice was very soft, as if she were repeating a message that she hadn't fully processed yet.

"We filmed for so long, I threw up so many times while suspended by wires, and I memorized my lines until 3 a.m. I really put my heart into playing the role of Deng Chanyu... and now we're stopping just like that."

Her voice began to tremble.

"I just feel... am I really not suited for this industry? I got scammed out of money before, then people said I wasn't formally trained, and after finally getting a role, the production was canceled. Qingxiao, am I really not good enough to act?"

Bai Mengyan.

Bai Lu stopped.

"The reason why 'Chaoge' can't be broadcast is the production team's problem, not yours. You're not unworthy of acting. When you played Lin Xiao, the comments section was full of 'Lin Xiao, don't die,' those viewers don't lie. When you played Deng Chanyu, Yu Zheng told me personally that you were the most hardworking among that batch of newcomers, Yu Zheng doesn't lie. Whether a drama can be broadcast or not has nothing to do with the actors. Investors withdrawing their funding, the funding chain breaking, the censorship getting stuck—any problem in any link can cause the project to be shelved. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. But that doesn't mean your efforts were useless, nor does it mean you won't have opportunities in the future."

"But I waited so long..." Bai Lu's voice was muffled. "From the Sijiqing hanging board to the micro-movie, from the micro-movie to signing the contract, from signing the contract to my first role, every step was so difficult. I thought that filming 'Chaoge' would bring me closer to being an actor, but it was filmed and then it couldn't be broadcast. Sometimes I really wonder if all my efforts will ultimately be in vain."

"When you were hanging the planks at Sijiqing, did you ever imagine that one day you would be able to film a movie with Yu Zheng?"

Bai Lu was silent for a few seconds: "No."

"When you were making your short film, did you ever imagine that one day 200,000 people would follow you because of a single online movie?"

Bai Lu was silent for a few seconds: "Two hundred thousand? What two hundred thousand?"

"The official Weibo account for our online movie has surpassed 200,000 followers. The platform gave it an A-level recommendation spot, and the effective viewership is still rising. The comments section is full of people cursing Lin Xiao for pushing someone into the water, and then coming back to apologize. Your Weibo followers are also increasing, and under every comment, someone calls you 'Lin Xiao.' Not a single scene you've acted in has been wasted."

Bai Lu remained silent for a long time on the other end of the phone. Then she spoke, her voice still soft, but with less of a nasal tone: "Two hundred thousand followers? How come I didn't know?"

"Because you're always on set, you don't even have time to check Weibo. Look at your phone—all the data is in the background." The sound of Bai Lu flipping through his phone came from the other end of the phone, followed by several seconds of silence.

"Two hundred thousand...that's a lot."

Her voice sounded like she couldn't help but laugh, but the last syllable trembled slightly, as if she had swallowed back something she had been holding back for a long time.

"So stop asking yourself if you're qualified. If you're not, Yu Zheng won't sign you. If 'Chaoge' can't be broadcast, that's its problem. You have another one, and the one after that, and the one after that. If this one can't be broadcast, we'll take on the next one."

Bai Lu took a deep breath.

"Okay. Then I'll continue memorizing my lines tomorrow—anyway, Deng Chanyu's scenes haven't finished filming yet, so even if it can't be broadcast, I'll still finish acting. You're right, all the hard work paid off. I survived the Sijiqing cliffhanger, what's this?"

Qingxiao hung up the phone and placed it on the table.

He didn't stand up immediately, but sat in the chair for a long time.

On the computer screen, SUNSA's autumn new product schedule was still open, next to which was a weekly report sent by Afei, showing steady growth in operational data.

He glanced at it but didn't open it.

The e-commerce sector is brimming with talent. Afei and his content team have already run several stores very smoothly, and the key members of the operations department are also quite capable. He no longer needs to worry about e-commerce.

However, Tianmen Film and Television is still huddled in that small corner on the third floor of the office.

After the online movie was finished, the team shrank back to just a few people.

He was the screenwriter, he invested in the project, and he even played the male lead...

After daybreak, he called Afei into his office and gave him a few instructions: clear out the independent office area of ​​Tianmen Film and Television from the southeast corner of the third floor, and have the administration department assist the film and television department in preparing to expand the workstations.

Qingxiao sat at his desk, spread out an A4 sheet of paper, and copied the key data from the table one by one.

He had seen too many trends in the e-commerce industry in his previous life—the benefits of Taobao Express, the traffic on the Taobao homepage, the explosion of live-streaming e-commerce—each of which had a window of opportunity of three to five years.

Those who seize the opportunity can become rich overnight, while those who miss it can only watch others rise to prominence.

The same applies to online movies.

The market is still in its growth stage, the platform's revenue-sharing rules have just been established, and the competition is far from fierce.

Now is the best window of opportunity to enter the online film industry.

In a few years, when professional film and television companies enter the market on a large scale and the cost of top projects soars to tens of millions, it will no longer be so easy to leverage hundreds of thousands to generate millions in revenue sharing.

He circled two numbers: 300,000 and 6 million.

Three hundred thousand was the cost of a certain online movie in 2015.

Six million refers to the box office revenue sharing.

If it weren't for the need to gain recognition and collaborate with Yu Zheng's network, there would be absolutely no need to make a web movie with a six million investment.

He pulled out the historical projects of several film and television companies over the past year and discovered an interesting phenomenon.

Behind those blockbuster online movies are often not established film and television companies, but rather new players with a keen sense of opportunity.

There are several companies that originally made GG (Google/Ghost), a new director with a knack for the internet, and a newly established production studio.

On the contrary, traditional film and television companies either look down on this field or fail to adapt after entering it, producing works that are like condensed versions of traditional TV dramas, resulting in poor data.

The same goes for e-commerce.

When SUNSA started making basic styles, showcasing solid colors on models, and releasing forty new styles a day, the entire industry thought he was crazy.

Women's clothing is never done like this! What happened next?

Those in the same industry want to learn it, but it's already too late.

It's not because of high technical barriers, but because of the time barrier.

The supply chain needs to be reorganized, the photography team needs to be re-integrated, and the data system needs to be rebuilt—by the time they learn how to do it, the market will already belong to someone else.

The same logic clearly applies to the online film industry.

Qingxiao silently made a list in his mind—how long could he still use the information gap he brought from his previous life?

Now is the window of opportunity. There is less competition, the platforms are providing strong support, and the revenue-sharing rules are not yet refined. Whoever rushes in first will be able to reap the first rewards.

In the later stages, the industry clearly began to involute, with costs soaring, competition intensifying, smaller players being eliminated, and leading companies beginning to monopolize resources.

Therefore, it is necessary to launch as many projects as possible during the window of opportunity to accumulate funds and experience.

He picked up a pen and drew a line on the paper.

Short-term strategy: Continue producing online films. No need to seek collaborations with other film and television companies.

The last time we co-produced with Huanyu Entertainment, it was entirely to promote Bai Lu and leverage Yu Zheng's industry resources to help her gain recognition.

But things will be different now. Tianmen Films has already figured out the entire process and has access to resources for connecting with online film platforms.

The gate has been opened.

They can completely control the investment and production themselves, from script development to setting up the filming team to post-production and publicity, doing everything themselves.

As a player deeply involved in e-commerce, he understands better than pure film and television companies how to use traffic logic for publicity and distribution.

SUNSA stuffs movie tickets into packages, displays trailers on the store's homepage, and promotes the product simultaneously on Weibo with in-store recommendations—this strategy has already proven effective before.