The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 748: Sharpening the Knife to Face the Fans

"vote?"

"Ah."

Hou Hongliang was puzzled. What was this operation?
Seeing this, Lu Jing asked with a smile: "Mr. Hou, Noon Sunshine has mainly focused on period dramas and mainstream works in the past. Why did you choose to shoot the ancient idol drama "Nirvana in Fire" this time?"

"For transformation!" Hou Hongliang said without hesitation.

"The mainstream films we shoot have a good reputation, but the market audience for this type of subject matter is relatively fixed, mainly middle-aged and elderly people, and the space for commercial realization is getting smaller and smaller."

"Especially after 2010, the capitalization process of the film and television industry accelerated, Internet video platforms emerged, and those born in the 90s and 00s became the main force of watching dramas."

"This group prefers works with compact plots, high-level aesthetics and brisk rhythms, and is not very interested in traditional main-theme dramas that are preachy and serious in style. It is difficult for traditional themes to make a big breakthrough among young audiences."

"There is a flood of urban romance dramas and anti-Japanese dramas in the market, but high-quality ancient costume dramas are very scarce. Nirvana in Fire has the opportunity to fill this market gap."

"In addition, the original novel itself has a huge fan base, and the IP-adapted drama has a natural advantage in terms of topicality and can quickly attract core audiences. It is perfect for our transformation."

Lu Jing agreed, "So you hope that the company can smoothly transform, while targeting the original book fans and young audiences. Why not just let the young group get involved, starting with the selection of the male lead, and launch an unprecedented marketing campaign to make this drama a hit as soon as it airs!"

"Mr. Lu, please tell me in detail." Upon hearing this, Kong Sheng came over without any reservation.

The marketing capabilities of PPS are well known in the industry. The lottery marketing case of "My Love from the Star" is a classic and is said to have been included in marketing textbooks.

Lu Jing put down the pen in his hand and said, "Director Kong currently has Huang Xiaoming, Hu Jian, and Nie Yuan as his candidates for the role of Mei Changsu, right?"

"Ah."

"Too few. Let's add some more people. We'll make a list on PPS and list all the most popular male artists at the moment, and let hundreds of millions of netizens vote for them themselves."

"Mr. Lu, I'm sorry, I have to interrupt you for a moment."

Kong Sheng frowned and said, "In principle, we do hope that the male lead is popular and has high topic value, but the artists selected based on popularity alone may not necessarily meet the requirements of the role. The role of Mei Changsu requires the actor to have a certain amount of life experience."

"I understand, that's why I asked if you have any suitable candidates. Huang Xiaoming, Hu Can, and Nie Yuan are all popular and their acting skills are OK, which meets your requirements. These three are the backup, and the others are just extras. We need to use their power to let the fans compete and argue with each other, and then the topic of this drama will increase."

"What if Huang Xiaoming and Hu Qian don't have enough votes?"

"Simple, we'll choose the top five on the list. There's no way they won't make it into the top five!"

Lu Jing snapped his fingers and said confidently, "When the time comes, PPS will host another program with Director Kong and Director Li Xue as judges. Together with netizens, they will decide the final lead actor in a fair, just and open manner."

Hou Hongliang understood what she meant by openness immediately, but still had doubts: "What if they don't want to come? There is only one lead actor. If they are not chosen, the actors will be embarrassed, the audience will think that their professional ability is not good enough, and the brand will question their commercial value, especially first-line stars like Huang Xiaoming and Hu Chuan, who have no shortage of roles to play."

Lu Jing knocked on the table calmly. "It doesn't matter whether they come or not. We just want to get more people involved. You can tell the netizens who participated in the voting that you are responsible for voting. The crew will send people to contact the actors you voted for one by one. We will talk about whether it succeeds or not. I can't guarantee the others, but Huang Xiaoming and Hu Chuan will definitely come. Don't worry about that."

“What if the person we finally choose does not satisfy the fans?”

"Ha!" Lu Jing laughed. "It's better to be dissatisfied. The more they make a fuss, the more they will attract the public's attention. The data after the show is broadcast will be more impressive."

Kong Sheng pondered over it and felt that this operation was very strange, but upon closer thought it was quite feasible.

During the hesitation, Hou Hongliang said, "Old Kong, who said that Nirvana in Fire can only have one male lead? Who said that this drama can't have a second part?"

Kong Sheng's eyes lit up, he nodded, looked at Lu Jing, and said, "Mr. Lu, can we add someone to the list?"

"Who?"

"Lu Yuan!"

"Uh" Lu Jing was stunned and shook his head like a rattle.

"No, if he's in, there will be no fun for the others. The votes will go up to the sky. If we don't choose him in the end, there will be no excuse and the fans will revolt. Absolutely not. We can't include him."

Kong Sheng was disappointed.

Hou Hongliang patted him on the shoulder and said, "Old Kong, there is no problem for Mr. Lu to play this role, but we can't afford the salary. He is now a double actor and a big winner of the small screen. His personal share of the box office of My Love from the Star is more than 100 million. Even if we take the form of dividends, what salary do you think we should give him?"

"Alas~" Kong Sheng sighed. The falling flowers have intention, but the flowing water is unintentional.

His initial target was never Huang Xiaoming and Hu Chuan, these were just alternatives.

From the beginning to the end, he only wanted Lu Yuan to play the role. During the filming of "My Love from the Star", he hinted at it with "The Battle of Changsha", but unfortunately the other party had no plans to film another TV series in the short term.

Lu Jing curled his lips. The two people in front of him had no idea of ​​his real purpose.

The reason why PPS invested in "Nirvana in Fire" is essentially to attract new users to the platform.

From this point of view, she didn't want her brother to be the leading actor at all.

why?
Because most of her brother’s young fans have long been attracted by "My Love from the Star" and became members of PPS.

The rest are diehards who are unwilling to pay or are not used to streaming media.

If her brother is allowed to play the leading role, it will not be possible to bring more new users to PPS in the short term, not to mention that there is a spy drama "The Cliff" to be broadcast.

To put it bluntly, Mr. Lu’s fans have been almost all gone, and he is no longer of much use to PPS.

As for other actors, such as Huang Xiaoming, Hu Can, or the new popular Li Yifeng, their fans can be harvested again.

It is an indisputable fact that in the era of traffic, fans are irrational, brainless, young, and have various problems.

But everything has two sides.

If fans want to vote for their favorite actors, they can do so by registering for PPS first.

If an agency wants its own artist to outperform other artists, there is nothing wrong with it doing some small things within a reasonable and compliant scope. The prerequisite is also to register a PPS account.

In short, only PPS users can vote.

If you want your account to have more power and more votes, then become a PPS paid member. It's only 30 yuan a month, and there are discounts for annual subscriptions, dear~
Of course, these are just marketing gimmicks.

The ultimate goal is to select actors who best fit the roles and produce the best quality dramas.

You must never be swayed by fan groups.

Therefore, the final right of interpretation must and must be in the hands of PPS and the crew director.

The vote count is for reference only.

If this model is confirmed to be feasible, future IP adaptations can follow this idea.

What heroine, what heroine? Just fight with them and that's it.

If nothing unexpected happens, the number of PPS paying members will usher in a new round of growth.

Lu Jing was already thinking about how to cleverly "add fuel to the fire" among the various fan groups and let Huang Xiaoming's fans and Hu Can's fans "fight" first.

Jiejiejie~

"Ah!"

Beijing, Capital Airport.

A gust of cold wind blew, and Lu Yuan sneezed and wrapped his down jacket tightly.

I returned to Beijing from Taiwan. Although I only stayed there for one day, the temperature difference was so great that it was difficult to adapt for a while.

"Beep, beep, beep!" The car parked on the side of the road beeped. Yaoyao poked her head out from the back seat, waved her hands, and shouted, "Uncle!"

Lu Yuan rubbed her head, raised an eyebrow at Liu Shishi, and got in the car.

"Aren't you going to school today? Go sit over there. You have no eyesight."

"Ouch."

Yaoyao was originally sitting next to Liu Shishi, but was pushed away by her butt.

She watched her uncle pinch her aunt's nose, and then the two of them shamelessly clung to each other. She blew her messy bangs angrily and pouted: "Uncle, are you getting senile? Today is Sunday."

"Hey! Who is old and confused?" Lu Yuan turned his head and said viciously: "I will beat you up, believe it or not."

Yaoyao pretended to be scared and dodged. She took a bag of jujube flower crisps and ate them with a humming sound. Her eyes rolled around, and no one knew what she was thinking about.

"Let me see it quickly." Liu Shishi couldn't wait.

"What."

“Golden Horse Trophy.”

"Here, here, here." Lu Yuan took it out.

Liu Shishi looked at the golden Pegasus, held it to her ear with a smile, took a photo, copied a message she had prepared long ago from WeChat, and posted it on Weibo.

Seeing netizens posting comments like "Lu Yuan is awesome", she smiled with satisfaction.

"You have won two Best Actor awards, including the Huabiao and Hundred Flowers awards. Now you only need one more Hong Kong Film Award to complete the Grand Slam. Brother, your film awards are no less than those of the older generation in Hong Kong. You are amazing."

As she spoke, she pouts and kisses Lu Yuan on the cheek.

"Hmm." Lu Yuan enjoyed it very much.

He doesn't expect to win the Best Actor Award at the Academy Awards in the short term, after all, he had offended the Academy Awards badly in the middle of the year.

The current situation is that the three major Best Actress awards can be given, but the Best Actor award will never be given. The mainland is blocking the Golden Rooster Awards for male artists from Hong Kong, and Hong Kong is blocking the Golden Image Awards for male artists from the mainland, and they are holding each other back.

"Bo~" Yaoyao followed suit, quietly approached him, and kissed him as well, saying flatteringly: "Uncle is the most awesome."

Lu Yuan reached out his hand and touched his face, and found it was covered with the crumbs of the jujube flower crisps, and he was extremely disgusted.

"Tell me, you're so sweet, what do you want?"

Yaoyao happily stretched out her hand: "Uncle, didn't you bring me a gift from Taiwan? Give it to me."

"Uh." Lu Yuan was stunned. What gift? He had completely forgotten about it.

"Uncle, are you going to make an excuse again?"

"No, how is that possible?" Lu Yuan rummaged through his pockets, trying to find something to deal with it, and accidentally dropped a few banknotes.

Yaoyao picked it up, held it in her hand, and said curiously, "Why is it different from the money we usually use?"

"This is Taiwan dollars. One hundred Taiwan dollars can be exchanged for 20 RMB." Liu Shishi explained.

"One hundred for twenty!" Yaoyao widened her eyes and repeated, then counted like a money-grubber. There were eight in total, worth eight hundred yuan.

"Uncle, I want this."

"What do you want this for? You can't spend it. Wait for me to find it."

Yaoyao acted like a spoiled child and bumped her head into his arms: "No, uncle, I want this."

"Give me a reason."

"Qiqi has a lot of New Year's money. I'll trade it with him, two hundred for one hundred. He's so stupid, he'll definitely agree."

Lu Yuan was stunned. What a devilish sister this was. She treated her brother like a Japanese.

He narrowed his eyes and inquired, "How much New Year's money did Qiqi save?"

"He didn't let me count. There were so many Mao Zedongs. Dad said there were about 70,000 or 80,000."

Lu Yuan pinched his chin and looked at the dozen or so Taiwan dollars in his hand, which seemed not enough.

He thought for a moment, remembered something, and said, "Well, I'll get you some Thai baht when we get back."

"What is Thai Baht? Is Thai pig delicious?" Yaoyao was curious.

"Why do you want to eat everything? That's Thai money, but you have to promise me that you can't take all the New Year's money from Qiqi. Let's split it 30-70, I'll take 70 and you 30."

Liu Shishi was speechless as she listened to this. What kind of people are these? Qiqi is so miserable.

"No, I want seven." Yaoyao is not stupid and shook her head quickly.

"Are you kidding me? This is my money, and I decide how to divide it."

"I don't care, I want seven, or I'll tell mom that my uncle wanted me to cheat Qiqi out of her New Year's money."

Lu Yuan felt that his fist was hardened. What does it mean to turn the tables?

Liu Shishi coughed, and seeing that the two were about to become enemies, she looked at her boyfriend and said, "Didn't we go to Mauritius last month? I still have some rupees here, about a few thousand. One hundred rupees can be exchanged for 8 yuan in RMB. Who wants it?"

"I want it. Give it to me. My aunt is the most beautiful in the world. I love her the most." Yaoyao immediately looked up and flattered him.

"Who is prettier, my aunt or my mom?" Lu Yuan asked in a mean way.

Yaoyao said without hesitation: "Of course it's my aunt. My aunt is ten thousand times prettier than my mother. My mother is a tigress, super fierce."

"Okay, okay." Lu Yuan took out his cell phone, which was recording at the moment, and clicked play. "I'll have seven, you'll have three. Do you agree?"

Yaoyao was completely dumbfounded when she heard her own voice. She felt wronged and uncomfortable. She wanted to cry and asked her aunt for help.

Liu Shishi touched her head and comforted her softly: "Be good, we don't want his dirty money, I'll give you rupees."

"Yeah, long live aunt."

"Wait, I'm not done yet. I'll give you 70% of the money you got from Qiqi."

"Ah?" Yaoyao was dumbfounded again.

November 11th was the third day after the 26th Golden Horse Awards.

PPS announced that it will collaborate with Noon Sunshine to adapt the novel "Nirvana in Fire".

Since August, "My Love from the Star", "Soul Ferry", "Let's Get Married" and "Eternal Love" have fully demonstrated PPS's vision for selecting dramas.

Therefore, whether it is several other platforms, the male actor, or the fans of "Nirvana in Fire", they all pay special attention to it.

It was just when Noon Sunshine posted a message saying that the male lead candidate had not been decided and was left to netizens to vote.

Netizens are excited.

The same is true for all major brokerage firms!

(End of this chapter)