The literary era since 1979

$50? !
Everyone held their breath. Even though this amount of money was just a drop in the bucket for Fangyan, it was a huge sum for them.

Zheng Xiaolong was so excited that his face was flushed: "It couldn't be better that Teacher Fang is willing to sponsor us!"

"I'll have someone arrange it." Plan reminded, "But you'll need to raise the rest of the funds yourself."

Su Ya sighed, "In fact, raising funds is not the biggest problem. The key is how to recover the cost of such a large investment?"

This question stumped everyone present. Although TV dramas are very popular nowadays, their profit model is very simple and relies on the purchase of TV stations. However, even TV dramas like "Desire" and "The Story of the Editorial Department" with a viewership rate of over 95% still caused the TV Drama Art Center to lose a lot of money. That is, "The Inspector General of the Song Dynasty" was introduced to Hong Kong by TVB and earned a considerable amount of licensing fees.

But a TV series like "Yanjing People in New York" that has an investment of millions of US dollars is bound to lose all the money according to the current model.

This is also another unsolvable problem that troubles Zheng Xiaolong, and he can only put his hopes on the "omniscient" dialect.

"Teacher Fang, you are very knowledgeable. Do you have any good ideas?"

“Sometimes you can’t find a solution within your existing thinking, so you have to think outside the box.”

Fang Yan said, "For example, insert a few advertisements before and after a TV series. If a TV station is willing to sponsor the filming of "Yanjing People in New York", then the bidding for the advertisements will be handled by the TV station. Otherwise, your art center will handle the bidding for the advertisements. I believe that domestic companies will not miss the opportunity to insert advertisements during popular TV series."

"But……"

Zheng Xiaolong said that the Yanjing Television Drama Art Center is a television drama production studio under the Yanjing Television Station.

As usual, "Yanjing People in New York" will also be broadcast on Yanjing TV, and the right to host the advertising bidding will also belong to Yanjing TV.

"If we want to recoup the cost of more than one million US dollars, we must maximize the advertising revenue."

Fangyan curled his lips. How much money can be made from advertising on Yanjing TV? If you want to earn money, go to CCTV!
"Can the Central Television Station agree to this?"

Feng Xiaogang shrank his head.

"That depends on how you cooperate."

Fang Yan said that he exchanged the first broadcast rights and distribution rights of "Yanjing Native in New York" with CCTV for three to five minutes of advertising time, and requested to co-produce the drama with CCTV. As for the actual shooting cost of one million US dollars, it was still borne independently by Zheng Xiaolong's team.

"According to you, CCTV only needs to give out three to five minutes of advertising time to get 'Yenching People in New York', right?"

Zheng Xiaolong was very surprised.

"That's right. Don't underestimate these three to five minutes of advertising time on CCTV. If the bidding goes well, it could be worth tens of millions."

Fang Yan analyzed carefully: "After covering the cost of filming the TV series, there may be a surplus of hundreds of thousands or millions."

When they heard that there was profit to be made, Feng Xiaogang, Su Ya, Zhao Baogang and others' eyes sparkled.

"Your idea of ​​'exchanging TV drama copyright for advertising time' has never been thought of before."

Zheng Xiaolong couldn't help but sigh.

"How will you know if you don't try?"

Fang Yan said, "The biggest advantage of your TV Drama Art Center is the ability to produce popular TV dramas. This is a capability that no other TV station in the country, not even CCTV, has. If you can make good use of this advantage, CCTV may agree to it."

"Teacher Fang is right."

Feng Xiaogang took the opportunity to praise it and asked, "Does CCTV look down on TV dramas adapted from dialect novels?"
Zheng Xiaolong thought about the operating space inside, and a conflicted look appeared on his face: "But if it is co-produced with CCTV, how should Yanjing TV explain it?"

"Ugh!"

Su Ya sighed, and then said bluntly: "Although our Art Center is a subsidiary of Yanjing TV, we naturally don't want outsiders to take any good things. But "Yanjing People in New York" is a large project worth millions of dollars after all. We can't let Yanjing TV take all the benefits and let the TV Drama Art Center bear all the losses like "Desire" and "The Story of the Editorial Department", right?"

Wang Shuo suddenly interrupted: "In my opinion, this matter is not that complicated. You might as well just tell Yanjing TV that if Yanjing TV is willing to give you US dollars and support the filming of "Yanjing People in New York", you can give the broadcasting rights to Yanjing TV. Otherwise, haha!"

"Hardtop?"

Zheng Xiaolong frowned, looking worried.

Fangyan looked around and suddenly asked, "Yanjing TV, and your Art Center, besides producing TV series, have you ever considered developing into the film industry?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone exclaimed.

Zheng Xiaolong nodded. "If you hadn't mentioned it, Mr. Fang, I would have almost forgotten that there is indeed such a plan. The station is going to contact the Yanjing Film Company and the Cultural Art Audiovisual Publishing House, and add our art center to form a company specializing in film production."

Su Ya was shocked. "Why haven't I heard you and Director Lu talk about this?"

Zheng Xiaolong said that the joint establishment of Forbidden City Pictures is still in the discussion stage and nothing has been done yet.

"Forbidden City Pictures, that's a good name."

Fang Yan said that once Forbidden City Pictures is established, although its scale and fame may not be comparable to those of first-class studios such as the Western Film Studio and the Beijing Film Studio, it is not without advantages. The first is that it has a mature production team like the Television Drama Art Center, and the second is that it maintains a long-term cooperative relationship with them. It just so happens that the studio has now developed into a film and television media company, which can continuously provide film scripts for Forbidden City Pictures.

Every word touched the hearts of Zheng Xiaolong, Yu Hua and others.

Feng Xiaogang, in particular, originally thought that his highest ambition as a stayer in the art center would be to be a TV drama director like Zhao Baogang. But if Forbidden City Pictures was established, with the support of Mr. Fang and Wang Shuo, he would have a chance to jump from TV dramas to the film industry.

He stared at Fang Yan with his eyes wide open. When he thought about how a photographer like Zhang Yimou could win the Berlin Golden Bear Award and the Oscar for Best Cinematography under Fang Yan's cultivation and support, he felt an impulse in his heart: if Zhang Yimou could do it, why couldn't he!

"Since your station has the idea of ​​setting up a film company, then the matter of 'Yenching People in New York' will be easy to handle."

Fangyan narrowed his eyes into slits.

"Teacher Fang, what you mean is..."

Zheng Xiaolong was shocked and confused.

"This film, A People from Beijing in New York, can not only be adapted into a TV series, but the stories in it can also be made into a movie."

Fang Yan smiled and said, "For example, the couple Xu Datong and Jian Ning, can we make the story of 'Gua Sha' into an independent movie to tell the contradictions and conflicts between Eastern and Western cultures? Another example is Gu Yan and Lin Zhouyun, how did they get together after being abandoned by their partners?"

"Yup!"

Su Ya clapped her hands and said, "We can discuss the movie "Yanjing People in New York" with the station."

Everyone was talking about it, one person saying something, and gradually, the sadness on everyone's face disappeared.

"I will bring your opinion to the leadership of the station."

Zheng Xiaolong's heart was also burning with excitement: "The station has always valued you very much and will definitely seriously consider and study your suggestions." (End of this chapter)