Dragon, choose cultural victory to make money

Chapter 191 Should we trust the media in ratings?
Drama Guild Headquarters.

In the largest conference room, a group of people looked worried.

The important figures of the entire guild, including the president, vice president, and directors, were all present.

If a spell wizard could perform a cloud burning spell in this conference room right now, the Felin theater industry could save twenty years of detour.

These prominent figures in the theater industry gathered today to discuss how to deal with the new theater guild that is now in full swing.

They had discussed it before when the Demon Shadow appeared, and finally came to the conclusion that they could not defeat him.

They are lucky not to be crushed to death by the Phantom.

Of course, they explained their failure to win as a way to find a differentiated competitive track.

But for the New Drama Guild, this reason doesn't work.

We are all involved in drama, there is no differentiation at all, it’s all the same track.

When "Witness for the Prosecution" came out a few weeks ago, most of them didn't pay much attention to it, intending to deal with this new work with the old ideas.

Major theater troupes compete for the market with similar works, then they suppress them crazily with public opinion, arrange fake audiences to cause trouble, and finally wait until the performances can no longer be continued before buying them out at low prices.

However, the old style of play is clearly no match for this new opponent.

Similar works produced by the guild's theater companies have been losing money one after another, which has made "Witness for the Prosecution" a must-see.

There is only one hot topic of discussion among theater audiences across the city right now: tickets for the Sutton King's Theatre have been hyped up several times over.

The actors of the New Drama Guild have added so many shows that they don't want to perform anymore, and they are too lazy to earn the money from the box office even though every show is sold out.

Audiences in the city would rather pay a higher price to buy tickets than watch the theater guild's performances at a discounted price.

The effect of the public opinion offensive was not significant, and they submitted a large number of negative comments to newspapers.

It took a lot of effort to find the shortcomings.

All the critics who cooperated with the guild discussed it together and spent a lot of money to summarize some shortcomings that sounded reasonable and well-founded.

"It's a cheap courtroom farce with confusing logic. Only the twists and turns in the last few minutes can be barely called interesting. However, this short-lived good experience does not match the high ticket price, nor can it make up for the torture brought by the previous scenes."

"Apart from the barely superb acting, the mystery plot is almost dispensable, the pace is slow, and the twist at the end is abrupt and abrupt. There is nothing unexpected, only forced and deliberate."

"The crude jokes of a street performer are not worthy of entering the highest hall of the theater world. The awkward comedy style is not funny at all and treats the stage as a joke."

"The characters are so thin that they look like machines without beauty. The inexperienced acting makes this feeling even stronger. The final twist is just for the sake of twisting, imposed on the slap of the head, making the shrewd criminal couple look like fools."

"The court scenes are commendable, full of tension and humor, but the ending ruins it all and makes the foreshadowing seem meaningless!"

Copywriting such as this appeared in major newspapers.

I have to say these critics are quite capable, as they can see that the reversal at the end is the part most likely to cause controversy.

In Agatha's original novel, the ending only ends with the client's wife telling the truth, and there is no subsequent plot where the client cheats and is killed.

These were all added by the screenwriter of the movie version, which also caused dissatisfaction among some fans of the original novel, who believed that it was a forced good ending and that the characters' intelligence was lowered.

This view makes some sense.

Although Agatha herself likes this adaptation very much, the author is just a novelist, what does she know about the original work!
It’s a pity that there are no fans of the original novel here, otherwise they would definitely help the drama guild.

If anyone looks carefully at these negative reviews, it is not difficult to find that they are actually contradictory to each other.

But this effect is exactly what the drama guild needs.

People don’t realize that these negative reviews are organized and premeditated, and more importantly, they give people the wrong impression that there are problems everywhere.

Muddy the waters!

After that, criticisms about this work will surge up in waves like old mud at the bottom of a pond being stirred up.

But the idea is beautiful.

The actual implementation effect deviated slightly from what was expected.

Even after spending a lot of money to get the review published on the main pages of major newspapers, it seemed like it didn't make any splash in the public opinion field.

Not many people care about these articles published in traditional paper media.

Newspapers, in just over a year after the birth of Magic Vision and Social Circle, quickly lost their status as a mainstream media channel.

Especially after the birth of the mobile phone that is specifically used for browsing social circles.

Before this, the influence of print media could be said to be declining, but as soon as mobile phones came out, it began to fall.

People who can afford a mobile phone basically never put it down. Once there is any news, the feedback in the social circle is much faster than writing an article in the newspaper.

As for those who cannot afford mobile phones, they don't read newspapers much.

As president, Sir Tuart had long had the idea of ​​leading critics to the Internet.

But because the network was developed by the Drogo Group, an organization that the guild is reluctant to mention, the plan to enter the network was rejected during the board vote.

Everyone thinks that allowing critics to write content on the Internet would be contributing to the enemy.

This is what is called the "inertia" of large organizations.

Everything new is difficult to promote.

The fake audiences who were arranged to cause trouble were even more miserable. Most of them came back crying and asked for their money back.

Many were directly recruited by the other side and turned to cause trouble in the theaters under the Drama Guild.

After the usual tactics failed, the Drama Guild froze up. It had never seen anything like this before.

At this time, a director proposed a plan, which was to first declare that nothing had happened.

It's just a suspense drama. No matter how popular it is, how much influence can it have? There is only one theater troupe performing it.

It will take several years to tour the mainland, and by then the craze will have passed and it will no longer pose a threat to the drama guild.

Can they keep producing plays like that?

Who are you lying to?
In the end, the Drama Guild still dominated the market.

This cold treatment plan received unanimous praise from the council members.

until today.

"Have you all seen the announcement from the Pseudo-Drama Guild?" Sir Tourte asked in a hoarse voice.

In the territory of the Drama Guild, Grandpa Karina’s organization certainly cannot have the prefix “new” in its name.

"I saw it." Everyone answered.

This announcement can be said to be the biggest news in the literary and art circles in recent times.

The New Drama Guild is open for recruitment and all theatre companies are welcome to join.

Any theater group that joins can perform the scripts provided by the guild free of charge within the first year.

Now their influence is far more than just a theater troupe.

Moreover, after the first year, the script licensing fee is only a profit-sharing fee. Without careful calculation, it can be seen that it is much lower than the licensing fee of the Drama Guild.

In contrast, the Drama Guild looks like a black-hearted factory.

"Tell me, what should we do?" Sir Tourte asked everyone present.

"I have a humble opinion," said the director who proposed the cold treatment plan, "They only have one script, Witness for the Prosecution, and cannot guarantee the quality of subsequent scripts. After all, all the famous playwrights are on our side.

“So just because the fake drama guild is being very vocal right now doesn’t mean we should take action.”

If the trustee could meet Sir Humphrey, they would certainly get along well.

When he finished his speech, many people nodded in agreement.

If you do nothing, you will not make any mistakes. If you do something wrong, who will take the responsibility? It is better to do less than more.

Most of the people here are not young, and the income brought by the drama guild can only last until the day they retire. As for what will happen in the future, it is not up to them to worry about it.

"Many small theater companies have already withdrawn." Sir Tuart flicked the pen with his fingers, and the pen body rotated on the table.

Metal scraped across marble, making a cold sound.

"Small theater troupes don't bring in much revenue," the vice president said at this time.

“They represent a trend of withdrawal from the association.”

"The interests of the larger troupes are aligned with ours." "They are just waiting and watching. As long as the other party can bring them more benefits, they will withdraw without hesitation."

“The big theater companies have to pay huge compensation if they want to withdraw.”

“What if the benefits outweigh the compensation?”

"Then they have to produce the scripts. We own the copyrights of almost all the plays."

“They took it out.”

Sir Stuart stopped his pen with a snap.

"They've already taken it out, and this author called Agatha Christie has given them more scripts."

The vice president was silent.

Agatha Christie.

I don’t know where this writer came from, and I can’t find out his background, origin, or relationships.

It's like something the Drogo Group made up.

If she had a stable output, it would be enough to support many theater troupes.

"And they have more creators," Sir Tuart said. "More playwrights will move there in the future, and they pay much better than we do."

Drama guilds have always treated creators like slaves.

No, the cattle and horses still need to be taken care of.

The creators of the guild are only fit to sit at the same table with machines. As long as they can still move, they will be used to death.

"Do you want to see the guild disintegrate quickly?"

Everyone looked at each other and had the answer in their minds: disintegration was possible, but rapid disintegration was not possible.

"We can send an undercover agent to that guild to write down the script and retell it. We will then adapt it and perform it in advance," suggested the vice president.

This is also the Drama Guild’s forte.

When faced with a new script of a certain level, they can quickly complete the plagiarism and, with their channel advantages, snatch up the original market.

The difficulty lies in how to plagiarize without being classified as plagiarism by the law.

They have done a lot of research on this.

"You signed their confidentiality agreement, so you should know that you can't repeat it at all."

"So they can't buy stage props."

"Drogo Group can produce it."

"They bribed the local security teams and checked any theater their troupe performed at."

"Are you going to buy off the entire continent?"

"Then what do you say we should do?"

"Why are you shouting so loudly?"

Everyone in the conference room put forward suggestions at once, but they were rejected one by one.

However, no one ever mentioned improving the treatment of guild creators and theater troupes.

In their minds, this was never an option.

Give tool people a raise?

What's the difference between that and taking their lives!
Half an hour later, the dispute in the conference room gradually subsided.

Everyone turned their attention to Sir Turtle, after all, he was the president.

If you enjoy the best treatment, you must bear the greatest responsibility at the most critical moment.

Seeing that the time was almost right, Sir Turtle finally stood up and cleared his throat.

He said: "My idea is to take advantage of our large number of professional critics and establish an evaluation system controlled by us on the Internet."

"Isn't that still providing content to the Drogo Group?" someone asked doubtfully.

"Yes, because we want to use the resources of the Internet. What we can earn back in the future will definitely be more than what we invested, as long as we can control the right to speak in the evaluation."

Sir Tuart's eyes were full of greed.

This is the conclusion he came to after repeatedly studying the film and television database in recent days.

A new section related to drama has been opened there.

It is a foreseeable trend that the database will become an important criterion for audiences to judge whether a work is worth watching.

Now there are only audience ratings, and a lack of professional evaluations.

That's what they're good at.

Sir Stuart gave the council members a detailed account of his plans.

Let critics collectively publish content on the Internet and use their professional advantages to establish an evaluation system that is different from the audience ratings in the database.

In the future, when people discuss whether a work is good, they must consider audience ratings and professional ratings as two important indicators.

As a result, in order to gain positive reviews, creators must establish good relations with drama guilds.

The original Drama Guild Annual Work Award was expanded into the Annual Work Award to award all film and television dramas within a year.

This award will be the highest honor most recognized by the public and pursued by practitioners.

With awards, there is a lot of room for maneuver.

From then on, the Drama Guild transformed from an organization that operated theater troupes to an organization that evaluated theater troupes.

As for the hard work of creation, rehearsal, and touring, these thankless tasks can be given to the new guild.

They want to make easier money.

The prerequisite for realizing this plan is the right to speak, and we must master the right to speak in evaluation.

After listening to his description, the vice president asked uncertainly: "So we are now going to praise "Witness for the Prosecution"?"

"Of course not!" said Sir Stuart passionately.

"We are going to attack this work more strongly and more thoroughly, and our critics are going to refute those who praise this work online.

“We need to tame the audience!”

He spoke in a somewhat crazy manner, saying such outrageous words that if the audience heard them, it would guarantee his downfall.

“Ordinary people don’t have the ability to distinguish. They need the leadership of elites. We should be the elites and let them pursue our aesthetics and recognize our standards.

"Only in this way, only in this way can we completely grasp the right to speak in evaluating drama. No! Not just drama, but the right to speak in all types of literary and artistic works."

In Sir Stuart's conception, the Drama Guild has transformed into an absolutely hegemonic empire of literary and artistic evaluation.

Just like in print.

But it is more authoritative and influential.

As the leader of this empire, he will hold the supreme power to distribute awards, guide aesthetics, and control the reputation of works.

I never thought that maybe the audience would form their own judgments, and the process of going against the audience's preferences is the process of gradually eroding credibility until it completely collapses.

At the same time, a red dragon with a good heart will definitely speed up the collapse process a little bit.

His arrogance made him ignore the risks.

"Is it really feasible to do this? I'm worried that it will provoke public resistance."

As a secretary who only does his job, he is responsible for expressing his concerns.

But I have already started planning my next job.

"Of course it can be done, and it must be done."

Others fear his greed, Sir Tourte said affirmatively.

"If there is no better solution, take action now. Time waits for no one, my friends."

(End of this chapter)