Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 540 Nameless
Although TV dramas are still the mainstream broadcasting platform, the proportion of video websites is also increasing year by year.

Especially last year, major video websites joined forces to get rid of Qvod, which also made the protection of online copyright more rigorous. In addition, it is more convenient to watch dramas on video websites, so the traffic of video websites is also increasing day by day.

Last year, Qvod was jointly sued by the video website industry and the film and television industry, and the lawsuit was well-founded. Qvod, a video player with users but no backing, was about to collapse after not holding on for long.

Although all major companies have been severely criticized by netizens, it does not affect the intensity of their crackdown on QVOD at all.

Qvod may still be able to struggle for a while, but its closure is a foregone conclusion.

The only difference from the original time and space is that, thanks to Liu Zhou's help, Lao Wang, the founder of Kuaibo, does not have to go in and operate the sewing machine.

With the collapse of Qvod, its market share has also been divided up by several other video websites.

At the same time, the video website industry once again launched a vigorous price war.

Now that the external enemies have fallen, everyone is still fighting among themselves, and the fighting is becoming even more fierce.

In just two or three months, another video website collapsed. It was a core player that survived the first round of fighting, but now it can't hold on.

Everyone can see that the video website industry will undergo another brutal reshuffle, and those companies that do not have big capital support will eventually either be swallowed up or go bankrupt.

This is indeed the case. Currently, the most fierce price wars are fought between Sina Video, the newly established Penguin Video and Kiwi, which is backed by Baidu.

Even Youku and Tudou, which were listed not long ago, are a little hesitant in the face of such fierce competition despite raising a lot of funds.

After all, their money is gone once it’s used up, while those three companies still have a wealthy giant to support them when their money is used up.

But this is good news for film and television companies, as it provides them with another large source of income.

It has also added a broadcasting channel with relatively loose censorship, but the major film and television companies have not noticed it yet.

If you want to build a modern superhero universe, the movie starts with Ning Hao's "Tian Yi". It takes at least two years from preparation to production and final release.

Then it takes about two years from the official filming to the release of the first superhero movie, which adds up to four years.

During these four years, in order to cultivate fans, Liu Zhou also plans to start with online dramas and animations.

One season of animation can be produced every year, and one web drama can be released every six months. For the investment in these two items, Golden Harvest does not care whether it is profitable or not. The most important thing is to launch it.

Even if the number of viewers is not large, at least you can accumulate a certain number of fans.

The most important thing is that it is the first superhero movie in four years. If it succeeds, everyone will be happy. If it fails, there is nothing we can do but keep going.

For superhero movies, Liu Zhou plans to invest in three films. If all three fail, it means that Liu Zhou's plan is not feasible. If even one movie becomes a hit, he will continue to work on it.

So Liu Zhou was prepared to be willful and spend ten years to implement this plan and cultivate the audience. If it really didn't work out in the end, he would accept it.

If it fails, the maximum loss in ten years will be one billion, which Jiahe can still afford, and the annual profit can cover these losses.

After Ning Hao left excitedly, ready to do a big job, Liu Zhou did not delay and immediately called Jiang Xueruo from Golden Harvest Film and Television, Qu He from Zhoushan Literature, and Zhang Zhao, the group's president.

They all worked downstairs and soon arrived at Liu Zhou's top-floor office.

Liu Zhou didn't waste any time and told the three of them his plan.

After hearing this, the three of them were a little confused, and then they were shocked, but Zhang Zhao was the first to react and said:

"Boss Liu, why did you suddenly come up with such a big plan? Even the early preparations are not a simple matter."

"It's a bit sudden. I wanted to discuss it with you next year, but Ning Hao's new film happened to be related to this, so I decided to move it forward."

Zhang Zhao couldn't help but sigh in his heart. He would be busy now.

He didn't understand why Liu Zhou suddenly wanted to learn from Marvel and create this superhero universe.

You have to know that Marvel Comics has a history of sixty or seventy years, and its fans are spread all over the United States, and of all ages.

In the past two years, Marvel has found its correct positioning in humor, coupled with good film quality, which has brought it back to life.

Marvel has made superhero movies before, but they all failed and they had to sell the superhero copyrights to maintain operations.

The success of "Iron Man" in 2008 was also the result of Marvel's desperate attempt. If it had failed, Marvel might have been dismembered or gone bankrupt because they had mortgaged most of the superhero copyrights.

Now you want to copy an "Avengers" without any basic knowledge. Zhang Zhao feels that Liu Zhou made the decision on a whim.

He didn't know where Liu Zhou got his confidence from. Although he had always had absolute confidence in Liu Zhou, this time he really felt that there was a great chance that Liu Zhou's plan would fail.

Zhang Zhao originally wanted to persuade Liu Zhou, but seeing that Liu Zhou seemed to have made up his mind, he could only hold his words back and had to carry out Liu Zhou's plan.

“Boss Liu, even if we want to produce web series and animations, at least the world view and the creation of superheroes need to be prepared in the early stages, and these cannot be determined in a short period of time.

Moreover, the plot of the movie is the main storyline, and the web series and animation are supplementary. The arrangement of the plot cannot be completed in a short time. "

Looking at Zhang Zhao's frown, Liu Zhou also knew that it was a bit difficult for him to be entrusted with this matter all of a sudden.

"I understand. The reason I asked you to come here is not to ask you to start the plan immediately, but to prepare for the early stages. I hope that President Jiang and President Qu will also participate.

Then, when it comes to constructing the world view and shaping the superheroes, you can arrange for the company's screenwriter department to invite some well-known screenwriters, science fiction writers, and some excellent online writers with similar ideas to participate in the preparations.

It doesn't need to be too perfect. It's enough to have a basic world view and a basic main line in the early stage. Make a few movies first and see how things go. It will be easier to make adjustments then.

I hope to complete the preliminary preparations this year, and then officially launch the animation and web series next year."

Hearing Liu Zhou say this, Zhang Zhao breathed a sigh of relief. He was really worried that Liu Zhou suddenly called the three of them over in order to do this matter immediately.

It’s better since we have nearly a year to prepare.

But it is not easy either. After all, it is about building a world view from scratch and creating multiple characters with their own characteristics. The workload is very heavy.

"Okay Mr. Liu."

Seeing Zhang Zhao's slightly serious expression, Liu Zhou couldn't help but smile:
"Mr. Zhang, don't be too stressed. This is just an attempt. Even if it fails, it doesn't matter. At most, we will just lose some money, and we at Jiahe can afford it.

But if it succeeds, it will be a treasure trove for Golden Harvest. With the strength of Golden Harvest, we are also qualified to try and make mistakes, so it doesn’t matter if we spend more money and put more effort into it.”

Zhang Zhao thought about it and it seemed to be true. He was a little too obsessed with it just now. Jiahe's long-term success also made him develop the habit of making sure all the projects Jiahe undertakes must be successful.

This habit is good, but the resentment he holds in makes not only him but also everyone in the company nervous.

To be honest, if Golden Harvest fails in a key project, it will actually have a lot of benefits, as it will allow the company and other film and television companies to breathe a sigh of relief.

But I don’t know if it was the Buddha’s blessing, but Jiahe was unable to achieve its goal.

After staying for a while to understand Liu Zhou's specific ideas, Zhang Zhao and the other two left.

However, the three of them did not separate, but came to Zhang Zhao's office and called Chen Guofu from Golden Harvest Films over.

Zhang Zhao planned for the four of them to first discuss a framework and then make a division of labor.

This is the first time for everyone to do something like this, so they can only cross the river by feeling the stones.

Not to mention Zhang Zhao's intensive preparations, Liu Zhou was also thinking about perfecting his somewhat bizarre idea after handling company affairs.

But I don’t know if he and Ning Hao had a tacit understanding, but the next day his good friend Xu Zheng also came over, also to talk about the movie.

Originally, a movie did not require Liu Zhou's personal involvement, but who made Liu Zhou arrange this movie for Xu Zheng personally?

During this year's Spring Festival, the movie "Modern Times" directed by Xu Zheng and promoted by Golden Harvest did not perform well at the box office.

Then, because Xu Zheng set the tone for this film too high due to the success of "Lost on Journey", he suffered a great backlash and became a laughing stock for a while.

Just when he was feeling discouraged, Liu Zhou personally handed him the simple script of "Lost in Thailand", asked him to perfect the script and then let him direct the project.

This was like timely help to Xu Zheng at the time, and he immediately grabbed this life-saving straw.

He originally thought that he might be abandoned by Golden Harvest after this failure. After all, such things are very common in the entertainment industry. Moreover, he had come into contact with many senior executives of film and television companies before.

Although he stayed in the end, it also showed that he had plans to leave.

He can be said to be someone who aspires to move upwards, but to Jiahe, this is the behavior of a traitor.

But he didn't expect that after his failure, when the attitude of the film and television companies that had contacted him before became ambiguous, it was Golden Harvest that helped him again and gave him a chance.

To be honest, Xu Zheng at that time really had the idea that a gentleman would die for his friend.

So after getting the simple script of "Lost in Thailand", Xu Zheng devoted all his energy to perfecting it.

I have to say that Xu Zheng is talented in comedy. After reading his improved script, Liu Zhou felt that it was similar to the original version. If the film is shot according to the script, there should be no surprises.

"Yes, it seems that you are really good at road comedies. The script of Lost in Thailand that you have perfected in the past month is much better than the script of Modern Times that you have been polishing for more than half a year."

"It's mainly because you gave a good main storyline, Mr. Liu. I just filled in some content at most." Xu Zheng complimented with a smile.

"I understand the role I played. The main plot was just two or three pages, but now it has become a thick stack of scripts. It is mainly your credit.

Don't worry, I won't steal the fruits of others' labor. Let your name be the first screenwriter of Lost in Thailand."

Hearing Liu Zhou's words, Xu Zheng's eyes suddenly lit up and he said:

"Mr. Liu, do you think this script is worth investing in?"

"That's right, we can start investing in the filming. The director is still in your hands. You should make a filming plan first, and then go discuss with Mr. Chen how much investment is needed."

"Thank you, Mr. Liu. I will definitely take good pictures this time."

"Every failure makes you wiser. I believe you can make Lost in Thailand a good movie. It will at least be more successful than Lost on Journey."

Xu Zheng's eyes almost turned red when he heard this. After expressing his loyalty and gratitude, he left in a hurry.

Looking at Xu Zheng's leaving back, Liu Zhou couldn't help but feel a little funny.

To be honest, the failure of "Modern Times" is actually a good thing.

At least Xu Zheng won't be as restrained as before.

The huge success of "Lost on Journey" did make him a little arrogant. In his heart, he actually wanted to continue staying in Golden Harvest, but he felt that his status was higher and he always hoped that Golden Harvest would take the initiative to retain him.

But Golden Harvest has not made any move, and Xu Zheng even dared to use other film and television companies to put pressure on Golden Harvest.

It wasn't until the failure of "Modern Times" that he woke up.

Only after seeing that Xu Zheng had finally woken up did Liu Zhou give him the script of Lost in Thailand.

Although Liu Zhou had seen the movie "Lost in Thailand" in his previous life, it had been so long that he could not remember the specific plot clearly. He only remembered the general main line, otherwise he would have written a complete script.

But it's almost the same to let Xu Zheng improve it. She was the original screenwriter, and now it seems that the script is still the same and has not changed because of the butterfly effect.

This project was originally supposed to be given to Xu Zheng, but he was a bit pretentious before, so Jiahe was going to put some pressure on him. Unexpectedly, there was no need to put any pressure on him because he got away with it.

Even though Xu Zheng seemed grateful and loyal just now, Liu Zhou didn't take it to heart at all.

He did reveal some true feelings just now, but Liu Zhou dared to guarantee that when the box office of "Lost in Thailand" started to soar, he would definitely forget all these emotions and even become more arrogant than before.

So Liu Zhou never thought about asking Xu Zheng for favor, he just wanted him to make a good movie.

If Lost in Thailand wasn't so important that Liu Zhou had to review it personally, Liu Zhou wouldn't even meet him.

Xu Zheng is a very savvy filmmaker. When Lost in Thailand became a huge success, Liu Zhou didn’t know if he could keep him.

But it doesn't matter even if he wants to leave. Although the box office of the later "Lost in Hong Kong" is good, the reputation is very different. It doesn't matter if he doesn't shoot it. The worst thing that can happen is to kick him out and let Wang Baoqiang take the lead in the "Lost in Hong Kong" series.

It’s just that some settings need to be changed, which can be connected to the plot of "Detective Chinatown".

(End of this chapter)