I'm not mentally ill, I'm a master of a thousand faces!

Chapter 509, The Arrogant Western World

The availability of slots for these two months is quite unusual.

Apart from the August First Film Studio's "Wesley".

Apart from Li Yun's two works, the rest of the films released during these two consecutive months were all second- or third-tier trash.

With unknown actors, a terrible script, a meager budget, and absolutely no publicity, it was all just for the sake of filling a quota, simply to let others know that their company is still alive and producing works, nothing more.

Are there no outstanding works?

That's not necessarily true.

The domestic TV drama market is still somewhat better than the domestic film market.

Every genre has its own fixed audience. If you really want to talk about it, there's no problem with sticking to your own little corner of the world. But the current situation is that people aren't even willing to stick to their own little corner of the world.

The current approach is nothing more than another instance of being cowardly before the battle even begins.

This is actually what Liu Shanhe admires most about Li Yun: he doesn't back down in the face of battle, but has the courage and awareness to face difficulties head-on.

His patriotism is a burning passion, and his sense of social responsibility is deeply moving.

At this moment, Lu Zhengguang spoke.

"Are you going to go head-to-head with Westworld? Use your Wesley."

"Yes, that's the arrangement for the next two months."

Daylight and Westworld are scheduled for December and January respectively.

Liu Shanhe planned to give up the slots here in December, because he didn't have enough works to work on.

The Spring Festival film season in January, which is the period that belongs to the Western world, is absolutely not to be lost; this is the absolute bottom line.

When TV dramas are at their peak in popularity nationwide, it's crucial not to lose your foothold.

We can't afford to lose out. We can't let Westworld take the lead.

"If it's lost in December, so be it. Besides, you're not fighting alone. Li Yun is still here, isn't he? Try to be optimistic," Lu Zhengguang said with a slight smile.

In December, Li Yun will be guarding a secret corner.

Can he hold off the Japanese army's White Night Mission?

do not know.

But Liu Shanhe only knew that.

The New Year film season is absolutely essential and cannot be missed.

Wang Chen at this moment.

This is the future chairman of Huaying.

The release of "Dying to Survive" did have some impact on him, but it did not affect the overall picture or his choice of direction.

Although Xie Qingya was given sufficient resources.

However, the company's internal planning for the future still leans towards imported works.

Making money simply by getting game licenses is incredibly easy and risk-free – it feels amazing and comfortable.

I've gotten used to this risk-free approach.

There's no need to get used to anything else.

Wang Chen was very busy at this time, busy with what was to come.

The matter of receiving Keigo Higashino.

That's right, this time he really pulled out all the stops, which was to invite Keigo Higashino himself over.

This is our trump card.

As for Keigo Higashino himself...

The most legendary suspense writer in the island nation.

He himself came to hold the press conference, letting this most legendary figure in the East Asian suspense genre endorse the work.

The TV series "Journey Under the Midnight Sun".

This is one of his trump cards: getting the original author of this extremely popular work to handle the promotional activities.

Keigo Higashino's influence in Asia can be described as legendary, an influence that no one can match.

At this moment, Wang Chen personally went to receive this legendary writer. He was handsome and roguish, which suited the aesthetics of young men and women, and he also had a melancholy air about him.

Not surprising at all.

After all, this legendary author's works were aimed at teenagers.

Works that drive teenagers crazy.

The unique melancholy in his works is also irresistible.

"Higashino-san, I'm counting on you this time."

"Mr. Wang, you flatter me. It is my honor to be able to cooperate with your company and bring the best works to our fans in China."

This Mr. Keigo Higashino has said quite a few polite things.

This made Wang Chen feel very comfortable.

As expected of someone so commercially savvy, he always speaks and acts with impeccable discretion.

Of course, this refers to the conversation between the two.

It's definitely not as simple as just exchanging a few pleasantries. The subsequent business activities, the offline press conference at which World Trade Center, and the book signing event are all arranged in detail.

The person who provided this technical support was Wang Jinghua.

"You've learned quite a bit from Tang Min." Wang Chen looked at Wang Jinghua with admiration; this legendary agent had arranged everything perfectly.

"She's my friend. The more I interact with her, the more I learn," Wang Jinghua said casually.

There might be some ulterior motives involved in being friends with Tang Min.

At least, she learned this set of fan circle tactics from Tang Min.

"You've worked hard."

At this moment, Wang Chen looked at Wang Jinghua and said, "You don't need to arrange anything from now on."

"No?"

Wang Jinghua was somewhat puzzled at this moment.

There are two sets of combined punches to be thrown during this period. The first set is Higashino Kigo's "Journey Under the Midnight Sun" and the second set is "Westworld".

This is actually the main event.

The creators, actors, and original authors of Westworld were invited to a reception to generate offline buzz.

"They're having a yacht party and can't come, so that's it." Wang Chen waved his hand and turned to leave. Although he still really wanted the creators of Westworld to come and generate buzz offline, the initiative wasn't in his hands.

After Wang Chen left, Wang Jinghua remained standing there, stunned.

Are you kidding me? You turned down this publicity invitation just because of the yacht party?

Did you leave all the things you prepared unattended because of this?

This is fucking ridiculous.

That's arrogant.

At this moment, Wang Jinghua truly understood what arrogance and frustration meant.

The other party completely disregarded it.

This arrogant attitude of giving alms even includes a sense of disregard.

Knowing they had no rivals here, and knowing the audience could only appreciate their best works, they ignored the demands of those on the other side.

More degrading than insults are the emotions that are trampled upon.

It's this kind of disregard.

"Aren't they afraid? Aren't they afraid that some outstanding work will emerge here and really overthrow them?" Wang Jinghua murmured at this moment.

But then Wang Jinghua started talking to herself again.

"Should they be afraid? In the realm of science fiction, what is there to be afraid of?"

History has proven one thing.

"They don't need to be afraid."

But at this moment, a face suddenly flashed through Wang Jinghua's mind—an unusually young face with eyes like the universe, eyes that contained an immeasurable amount of information.

Industry analysts called him a madman.

But there are also people.

They call him a genius.

A super genius.

Can he instill fear in these arrogant people?

Even though they have different stances, Wang Jinghua still has this impulse.

At this moment.

Li Yun was standing next to him, looking at the illusory reflection beside him, which was the sum of his own body's memories and his own personality.

Start from the hidden corner.

Next up is The Three-Body Problem.

For two consecutive months, the schedule was uninterrupted.

Zhang Dongsheng, a bad adult, but a good adult in the eyes of outsiders.

Zhu Chaoyang, a bad kid, but a good kid in the eyes of outsiders.

When people live in this world, they always carry with them a kind of disguised shell.

Some people disguise themselves very well, while others do not. In this world, people always use different reasons to disguise themselves.

Even Li Yun discovered that he, too, was living in this world wearing a disguised shell.

What are you pretending to be?

There are a lot of things.

The secrets of time travelers, the secrets of mental illness, so many things that must not be known to others, things that one must take to the grave.

"Next, I'm going to expose my dark side to the general public. Are you ready?" Li Yun said jokingly, looking at himself in the mirror.

It wasn't a dialogue with one's own personality, but rather a dialogue with oneself, a self-talking posture and manner.

Looking at myself

The dark side revealed in the hidden corners can be seen as Li Yun's way of confiding in and venting to himself.

Secrets are not a good thing.

If something stays in your heart for too long, it will rot and ferment, and if it rots and ferments for too long, it will become foul.

Li Yun didn't think he would rot away from keeping this secret.

But occasional venting.

It is still needed.

Now this work has become his outlet for venting.

It's both a pursuit of fame and fortune and an outlet for the darker side of one's heart.

"Bad Kids"

At this moment, after greeting himself, Li Yun returned outside, where Jiang Wen, Jiang Chenggang, Liu Qianqian, and Gao Yuanyuan were already waiting.

Li Yun looked at everyone present and smiled.

"It's quite rare that everyone has this time."

"It's almost Chinese New Year, there's not much work to do." Gao Yuanyuan lay lazily on the sofa. "I'll be free for the next three months, so don't blame me for bothering you every day."

"If I had a beautiful woman to bother me every day, I'd definitely enjoy it," Jiang Wen mused. "Of course, if a fat guy came to harass me every day, I'd definitely be unhappy."

Jiang Wen shuddered. Who was that fat man? It was none other than Jiang Fatty himself. For the next two months, he would be the one constantly harassing Li Yun.

As the year draws to a close, actors begin to rest and recuperate, looking forward to next year, without having to endure the hardships of long journeys.

Then came the Lunar New Year.

Then I returned to the state of being exhausted from traveling.

That's the nature of the entertainment industry; you're never home, always separated from your family.

"Aren't you afraid your sister-in-law will have a problem with that?" Liu Qianqian asked with a smile, squinting her eyes.

"As long as I get home on time tonight, that's fine."

At this moment, Jiang Wen wailed, "It's so hard to have to work during the day and at night."

"You little brat," Jiang Chenggang said, watching silently from the side.

Looking at the group of people in front of me, scattered and disorganized, I realized they were all mingling together.

Li Yun could sense it.

This noise.

In my own house.

Their voices lingered there for a long time. At first, it was a bit annoying, but after listening for a while, you would find that the voices were actually quite nice.

A kind of noise that Li Yun could enjoy.

At this moment, Li Yun also took his seat.

Waiting for the next episode of Hidden Corner to air.

This December and January will definitely be a small feast for television lovers.

Suspense and science fiction go hand in hand.

Moreover, this was the first time that the content was imported from overseas and broadcast directly on television.

We witnessed history.

Although these TV dramas were available online before, it always felt like something was missing when they weren't broadcast on TV.

The situation is different now.

Foreign TV dramas entered China and were broadcast on television.

Competing with other programs during prime time, ensuring truly fair competition, will ultimately lead to the good driving out the bad.

It's truly a competition where whoever is stronger wins and whoever is stronger is right; everyone competes on the same platform.

"This is truly brutal competition. I feel like this wave is going to cripple the domestic entertainment industry."

"They don't even need to cripple the domestic entertainment industry in one fell swoop. They haven't even put in any effort yet, and the shows haven't even started airing. All the big and small companies in the domestic entertainment industry have either pulled their shows from release or postponed them. There's no one who dares to act recklessly here."

For public opinion on Weibo and the internet, there is a sense of "disappointment that they are not living up to their potential".

After all, being cowardly before the battle is never something to be proud of, and it's laughable.

As the Shanghai-based online community with the most control over domestic internet public opinion, even seeing these indignant opinions, one can only sigh softly.

Li Liguo, who was standing next to him, then spoke.

"Actually, at this time, it is not a bad thing to face the difficulties head-on, given the prevailing public opinion."

Seeing the outrage and ridicule online, Li Liguo felt frustrated and wished he could put "Wesley" on the airwaves next month.

Theoretically speaking, "Wesley" also has elements of suspense.

It would be perfectly fine to release it in December to compete with "White Night".

But he could only vent his frustration, because his responsibility and obligation was to block the January New Year film season.

Before the start of the New Year's winter break and before the Spring Festival Gala ends, we need to maintain the viewership ratings for this TV slot so that we don't end up in a mess.

"Should we rise to the challenge in a time of such public outrage?"

At this moment, Tang Min paused and said, "It's obvious that you only focus on your work and not on anything else."

As a director, Li Liguo only needs to think about how to make the drama a good one.

But as a producer and distributor, there are many more things to consider.

We need to consider the audience's preferences and analyze their behavioral logic.

"This..." Li Liguo was speechless. Judging from the analysis of the audience, Tang Min from the Shanghai circle was indeed a professional.

With this approach, the Shanghai entertainment circle became one of the major entertainment circles in China.

"These viewers, they say they're indignant now, but when it comes to making a choice, they'll only make a 'realistic' choice. As consumers, they'll choose mature works from mature markets and support domestic products. It's always been a joke."

(End of this chapter)