The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 738: Popularity
"I thought it would be at the level of The Legend of Sword and Fairy, if not better then not much, but it turns out I was overthinking it. Li Yifeng has no acting skills at all, he can only roll his eyes, and facial paralysis is not the best way to act."

"Sisters, come and watch "Three Lives Three Worlds". Let's not talk about the two female protagonists to avoid quarrels. I want to talk about the male protagonist. Zhu Yilong really beats Li Yifeng in all aspects."

"To be honest, Zhu Yilong is really ugly, with deliberately concave eyebrows, skinny bones, mean lips, and a very strange figure, short limbs, in short, I don't like every detail! He has the temperament of a country boy who came to the city to work. I don't know how much the financial sponsors behind him love this old man."

"call!"

At Huanrui Films, Zhong Junyan frowned and looked away from her mobile phone screen to Chen Yuan who was smoking not far away.

The two are husband and wife. In 2006, they each invested 255 million and 245 million to establish Zhejiang Sanhe Film and Television Culture Co., Ltd.

This little-known startup company is the predecessor of Huanrui Culture.

Prior to this, Chen Yuan, who graduated from Zhejiang Vocational and Technical College with a major in foreign trade, had been working on real estate projects in Singapore. The couple were not familiar with the film and television industry.

In 2007, the fledgling Sanhe Film and Television met a noble man just as it was starting out, Yu Zheng, who was known as "Yu Ma" in the industry.

This year, Sanhe Film and Television participated in the investment of "Rouge Snow" independently produced by Fan Binbin, and "The Last Princess" starring Huo Siyan.

The screenwriter of these two dramas is Yu Zheng.

In the same year, Yu Zheng transformed into a TV drama producer and produced his first drama "The Big Maid", in which Sanhe Film and Television participated in the investment.

Since then, Sanhe Film and Television and Yu Zheng have established a preliminary cooperative relationship, with one party responsible for screenwriting and the other for investment, production and distribution, and began to reproduce Tangren.

The effect was remarkable. In a few years, Sanhe has been thriving in the industry.

The couple was not satisfied with the status quo, so in September 2011, they restructured Sanhe Film and Television into a joint-stock limited company, and transformed it into "Huanrui Century Film and Television Media".

At the same time, the listing plan was secretly launched.

In this regard, they learned from Huayi and imitated Huayi's "star shareholder" model, trying to use the traffic of artists to drive the company's valuation and pave the way for listing.

Among them are Yang Mi, Du Chun and He Shengming, with whom I have worked for many years.

Among the current artist shareholders, Yang Mi is the most popular.

But the couple saw that Yang Mi had a strong personality. He had been in the entertainment industry for many years and had experienced both the ups and downs of life. After his connections and net worth had increased, he was eager to become his own capital.

Yang Mi also signed a short-term contract with Huanrui. She is currently working on her own company with her agent Zeng Jia. Her contract will expire next year, and if nothing unexpected happens, she will go solo.

There are pros and cons to being tied to artist shareholders. The advantage is that it makes it easier for the company to go public, but the disadvantage is that the stock price fluctuates, and Huayi is an example.

Therefore, Huanrui’s top priority is to introduce a popular artist to replace Yang Mi in order to attract investors and paint a rosy picture for shareholders.

After comprehensive consideration, the male lead of "Gu Jian Qi Tan" was chosen to be Li Yifeng, who had a five-year contract and was handsome, and Yang Mi was asked to play his supporting role.

It can be said that "Gu Jian Qi Tan" is Huanrui's ambitious work.

Seeing her husband smoking silently, Zhong Junyan said in an irritable tone: "Come up with an idea, this drama is related to our listing plan."

"We did everything we should and shouldn't do before the show aired. We even dug up the plagiarism allegations of the original author of Three Lives, Three Worlds and hyped them up."

"As a result, Tangren bought the copyright of Peach Blossom Debt a long time ago. What can we do now? The ratings are worse than those of the other party. This is a fact. IQiyi is really unreliable. It even failed at the critical moment. If I had known earlier, I would have cooperated with PPS."

Chen Yuan scratched his forehead with the little finger of his left hand holding the cigarette, and added: "By the way, this Li Yifeng you picked doesn't seem to be very good."

“No problem!”

"Acting!"

Zhong Junyan retorted: "That was just a draft released by Tangren to maliciously attack Li Yifeng. The character of Baili Tusu is very suitable for him. He looks taciturn and has a cold and cute personality. This role does not require high acting skills at all, and a blank expression is enough."

"You know that although Li Yifeng's previous dramas didn't make much of a splash, he is often more popular with female fans than male protagonists. Only a few days after the broadcast of Swords of Legends, his Weibo followers have increased by 100 million. If it weren't for Eternal Love, he would have been a phenomenal male artist in the ancient idol drama track this year."

"That's true, but isn't there "Eternal Love"? Compared to Zhu Yilong, his acting skills are indeed far behind. What netizens say makes sense." Chen Yuan put out his cigarette.

Recalling the comments from netizens, Zhong Junyan was suddenly speechless.

She had her considerations for choosing Li Yifeng.

Because we have conducted in-depth research on the Tang people's start-up model, we can cross the river by feeling the way they did.

She believes that ancient costume dramas are one of the "most convenient" paths for an actor to become a big hit, and has identified ancient costume dramas as Huanrui's core track.

The reason is simple.

Ancient puppet shows can involve immortals, talk about the martial arts world, talk about ghosts and monsters, and discuss palace strategies. They can satisfy people's imagination of immortals, fantasies about the martial arts world, and their desire for power.

You can tell the story of love over three lifetimes, past lives and present lives, and the love, hatred, and vengeance of predecessors can all form a huge emotional network, allowing the protagonists to be pulled back and forth, and also allowing the audience to feel more involved.

If these were put into a modern drama, it would seem extremely melodramatic.

In addition, ancient costume dramas can magnify the charm of characters several times through settings that transcend reality.

The characters in this type of drama are mostly perfect and powerful. Whether in terms of identity or appearance, they are the ceiling of the drama.

If the characters are well-designed, the plot will also be fascinating.

At this time, the actor's shortcomings in acting will be weakened or even ignored, and the audience will naturally have a role filter for him.

Just like Hu Chuan.

Hu Can’s current fame is based on the many filters and popularity that the “Legend of Sword and Fairy” series has brought him.

Is his acting really that good? If not, it's just so-so.

There were many actors who were more suitable for Li Xiaoyao than him back then. The reason why he was able to securely become a first-line actor was that he did not act like a troublemaker, had few negative scandals, and was marketed by Tangren Club.

When "Gu Jian Qi Tan" was first aired, Cai Yinong, while promoting "Three Lives Three Worlds", also released a comparison draft between "Gu Jian Qi Tan" and "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", and made an entry for the audience that "Without Hu Jian, there is no The Legend of Sword and Fairy".

Zhong Junyan was so angry that her teeth were itching.

If Tangren can bring out a Hu Chuan, Huanrui will bring out a Hu Chuan 2.0.

In this competition, Yang Mi and Liu Shishi are PKing, they actually don't care about winning or losing. It doesn't matter if Yang Mi loses, after all, he will be the one leaving sooner or later.

But Li Yifeng must surpass Zhu Yilong in popularity and become the number one in ancient idol drama.

With this thought in mind, Zhong Junyan hesitated and said, "Why not just let Li Yifeng and Yang Mi hype up a couple."

"She won't agree." Chen Yuan shook his head: "Yang Mi and Liu Kaiwei just announced their relationship at the beginning of this year, and she is pregnant."

Zhong Junyan squinted at him and said, "What a joke. We need her to agree? Who does she think she is? Anyway, her contract is about to expire and she has no plans to renew it with the company. She is obliged to cooperate with the marketing during the contract period."

"Duh~Duh~Duh~" Chen Yuan tapped the table slowly with his fingers, and suddenly paused: "How about this, call Jia Shikai first and ask for his opinion."

"Row!"

A moment later, an artistic man with eyeliner and long hair knocked on the door and came in.

Jia Shikai has rich experience in the circle. Initially, he worked with Tianyu Media.

Tianyu Media is backed by Hunan Radio and Television Station. From the full operation of "Super Girl" and "Happy Boy" to the artist management business for new debuts, Jia Shikai was responsible for the artist work. Later, he joined Dongwang Culture and became an artist agent.

Compared with Tianyu Media, Dongwang Culture is more inclined towards film and television production and distribution, and has invested in a series of well-known TV series.

Such as "The Number One Under Heaven", "Emerald on the Roof", "The Three Heroes of the Wind and Dust: Lady Hong Fu", etc., Jia Nailiang is one of the artists under it.

After leaving Dongwang Culture, Jia Shikai jumped to Silverfish Music, where he was responsible for the performance-related work of Na Ying and Chen Kun.

Later, Jia Shikai became the brokerage director of Tangren, and became acquaintances of Liu Shishi, Hu Can and others.

In the end, Huanrui wielded a hoe and poached him from their company with a high salary. He served as Huanrui's vice president and general manager of the agency, and is also Li Yifeng's current agent.

Zhong Junyan and Chen Yuan told him about their considerations.

Hearing this, Jia Shikai smiled and replied, "Mr. Chen, Mr. Zhong, you don't have to worry so much."

Under their puzzled gazes, he explained: "Eternal Love is a drama with a strong female lead, and it is more inclined towards the heroine Liu Shishi. Although Zhu Yilong is the male lead, his role is slightly weaker. Swords of Legends is different. It has a real male lead, and Li Yifeng is the focus of the whole drama."

"In the short term, Li Yifeng's popularity will definitely not be as high as Zhu Yilong's. After all, this is Liu Shishi's return to the small screen after two years since "Scarlet Heart", and it is a heroine role tailor-made for her, plus Yuanfang Media and Tangren are behind the scenes."

"I think we can slow down the marketing for Yang Mi and put the marketing focus and funds on Li Yifeng. The popularity of the male lead Baili Tusu and his stickiness and long-tail effect on fans will definitely be stronger than Zhu Yilong's Ye Hua as long as we operate it properly."

"Besides, it is necessary to put a label on Li Yifeng."

"What label?" Zhong Junyan and Chen Yuan were curious.

As for cutting off Yang Mi's marketing, it was already part of their plan.

Jia Shikai knew very well that Huanrui couple had been imitating Tangren, so he brought up the example of Tangren.

"Didn't Hu Chuan's popularity soar as he was known as the best young actor in ancient idol dramas? Then Li Yifeng's label is a popular young actor, and he is the male artist who started the era of popular actors."

"Traffic star?"

Four Nine Entertainment.

Jiang Qiuyun was flipping through the artist analysis reports submitted by others.

In the six months since she left Yuanfang Media, she has done a lot of things.

On the one hand, we signed several promising new generation talents from the three major universities and poached several pillars from other brokerage companies.

At the same time, during the period when "Let's Get Married" was on the air, Guo Jingfei was packaged, and through a series of marketing methods, the audience's recognition of Guo Jingfei's label as the "Little Prince of Drama" was deepened, and his "powerful" personality was further built, allowing him to remain in the first line and become a popular hotshot.

And her next target is Zhu Yilong.

"Jiang Jie, Jiang Jie!"

She raised her head and looked at the secretary who rushed in: "What's wrong?"

The secretary panted and said, "Huanrui has given Li Yifeng a title of popular young actor, and the whole network has released a press release. The data has surpassed Zhu Yilong, and the highest one has even ranked in the top three on Weibo."

Jiang Qiuyun frowned. With the help of the attention brought by Liu Shishi's super high popularity, Zhu Yilong's popularity has skyrocketed recently.

But it is undeniable that although the ratings of "Three Lives Three Worlds" are higher than "Gu Jian Qi Tan", it does not mean that the latter is not popular. The ratings on the first day were 1.65%, which is also a big hit of the year.

In addition to iQiyi's hard work in promoting the company, Li Yifeng also has good looks and is especially popular among young girls, so he has become a hot topic.

And she also wants to secure a place for Zhu Yilong as the number one in the ancient idol drama track.

The two sides are at odds with each other.

Fortunately, Zhu Yilong’s acting skills are good and he performed well enough to interpret Ye Hua very well. In contrast, Li Yifeng, who has facial paralysis, became a sitting duck in terms of his professional ability.

In addition, her internet trolls also criticized the five-cent special effects and the homosexuality of the male characters in "Gu Jian Qi Tan".

But fans who only care about appearance are unreasonable.

The two sides fought back and forth, and the fight was a mess, even more exaggerated than that between Liu Shishi and Yang Mi.

Liu Shishi and Yang Mi have quarreled over popularity and other issues more than once, and it's the same thing.

The two male protagonists are different. Both want to be the number one in the ancient idol drama field, so naturally they use all means.

She clicked her mouse and easily found topics related to Li Yifeng on Weibo.

#Li Yifeng said in an interview that although Yang Mi is sharp-tongued and often chokes him with words, she attracts him from the tip of her hair to her toes#
#《Gu Jian Qi Tan》is a big hit on the screen, the most popular post-80s actor, Li Yifeng#
Jiang Qiuyun's gaze lingered for a moment on Li Yifeng's blog post evaluating Yang Mi, because the number of comments was too exaggerated.

Before she could think, the words in the second blog post made her confused.

"Traffic star, what the hell?"

The mainland entertainment industry is divided into many types of young actors based on the male artists' acting style and image characteristics.

For example, ancient costume actors mainly act in costume dramas and are good at interpreting ancient style roles such as immortal heroes, palace heroes, and martial arts heroes.

A modern urban young man, focusing on modern urban themes such as workplace, love, and family, most of his characters are elites or warm men.

Youth campus boy, military boy, drama boy.
Above them, there were four young and big boys, four middle-aged boys, and in the early 80s, there was also the creamy boy, Tang Guoqiang being the representative.

But what is this new thing called a traffic star?

Traffic, she knows, usually refers to the number of vehicles or pedestrians passing a specified point within a specified period of time, or the number of visits to a website address within a certain period of time, or the number of mobile data traffic on a mobile phone.
Traffic + young actor, she was a little confused.

It was not until she finished reading the entire content of the topic that Jiang Qiuyun understood the meaning of the traffic star.

The press release stated that since the broadcast of "Gu Jian Qi Tan", the number of Li Yifeng's Weibo fans has continued to soar by millions, with a maximum of 100 million in a single day, breaking the record for mainland actors. The number of Weibo comments easily exceeded 100, with a single Weibo post exceeding million comments and over million views.

According to the statistics, the actor born in the 80s ranks first, so he is called the number one traffic star.

"It must be fake." Jiang Qiuyun immediately thought that the data was falsified.

In order to make the artist's statistics look good, many celebrities or their management companies usually form voting groups with fans.

A voting group is a fan organization that creates data for stars. Voting means voting on charts to help stars impact their ranking on certain charts.

It is impossible for a male lead in a newly aired ancient costume drama to have more than 100 million comments on a single Weibo post.

Even if Li Yifeng is trying to hype up a couple with Yang Mi.

Obviously, this is a capital-driven or, to be more specific, a premeditated “deification” by Huanrui and iQiyi.

Jiang Qiuyun was thinking about what to do, whether to let Zhu Yilong follow up and brush some, or directly expose the other party's "deification" action.

Then I found that a blog post on Weibo quickly became the top one.

The number of comments started from scattered four-digit numbers, and then quickly increased to ten thousand, one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, and five hundred thousand per second. It was visibly approaching the one million mark rapidly.

I took a closer look at the blog post and saw that it was posted by my boss.

(End of this chapter)