Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 276 Peace Hotel
To be honest, Leshi.com has indeed encountered some disasters this year.

First, it "broke up" with ArcLight Pictures in the middle of the year, which led to a lot of controversy in public opinion.

In the second half of the year, due to the sluggish capital market, financial pressure suddenly increased, and the acquisition of Leshi Pictures suddenly became difficult.

These are just external factors; Leshi.com also faces numerous problems internally.

On the one hand, Boss Jia was obsessed with making cars, which consumed a lot of money. On the other hand, the film and television business that provided blood supply for the group was repeatedly exposed to thunder.

As for online dramas, needless to say, with the departure of Arclight Pictures, the quality of Leshi.com's self-produced dramas instantly dropped to a second-rate level.

The "Crown Princess" team, which had been highly expected, had to give up the new project "The General Is Female" because the investment was too large.

The film business was equally bleak, but "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" still made a small profit because it had a guaranteed release.

But the movie "Jade Dynasty" released last month was a bit miserable. It cost 2 million yuan and grossed 3.6 million yuan, a loss of nearly 3 million yuan.

Guo Xiaosi’s attempt to replicate the fan economy of the “Tiny Times” series failed, and he collapsed to the point of shouting at a roadshow, “You people who are scolding me will only be satisfied if I die, will you?”

Now the only hope that Leshi Pictures can pin on is that "The Great Wall", which will be released at the end of the year, can turn the tide.

"In fact, if Boss Jia can give up the smart car business and find someone to take over, he should be able to recover." Meng Bai said with emotion while watching the news.

"No chance. Leshi has had so many messed up business units over the years. The top management has mentioned this more than a hundred times. Look who gave up in the end."

Liu Jun snorted and shook his head. "Based on my understanding over the years, it shouldn't be difficult for Boss Jia to find someone to take over, but the fundamental problem will definitely not be solved. In the end, it will just be a slow death after a few more days."

As a veteran who has worked at Leshi.com for many years, he obviously understands the character of his former boss better.

Meng Bai laughed along: "Okay, let's wait and see who this sucker is."

Liu Jun also started laughing. It was obvious that no one could resist the urge to have fun.

"By the way, what do you want to talk to me about today? Have you finished filming at Blue Island?"

"'Day and Night' has been completed, and 'Psychological Crime 2' should be filmed until the end of the year." Meng Bai said, "I came here to discuss with you the project arrangements for Hu Guang next year."

"I was just thinking of finding you about this." Liu Jun said, "Now that Arc Light has quite a few fans and viewers, I think it would be best to release the planned film list for the year at the beginning of each year. This will make it easier to schedule, and it can also warm up in advance and enhance publicity."

Before Liu Jun came, the overall management style of Arclight Film and Television was the same as its boss Meng Bai, which was casual.

Whether it is the establishment of a new drama project or foreign investment, basically he will do it if he thinks it is good.

Chen Jing has no problem handling internal affairs, but he is weak when it comes to content, so there is no way to control him.

However, in the past six months since Liu Jun joined ArcLight, not only has someone been responsible for daily operations, but the overall structure has also become much more regular.

To put it simply, ArcLight Pictures finally looks like a legitimate company.

Therefore, Meng Bai has always attached great importance to Liu Jun's suggestions.

After thinking about it, he decided that making a preview of the annual film list would have many benefits, except that the scheduling would be a little more troublesome, so he agreed immediately.

"Let's set the time before the Spring Festival every year so that it can be fixed."

"Then I'll go back and discuss with the project department and come up with a preliminary plan, and then show it to you."

"Okay." Meng Bai responded and turned the topic to today's business. "I recently had an idea. Should we try making a TV series?"

"TV drama?"

Liu Jun was stunned for a moment, but not too surprised.

As the leading team in the current online drama market, ArcLight Pictures has almost entered a bottleneck period.

If you want to continue expanding, you either have to explore new subject matter tracks horizontally, or wait for the entire market scale to expand.

ArcLight has been doing the former, such as investing in Xiaotangren Culture and expanding into the field of youth idol productions.

We have also recently been discussing with Huace Film & TV about creating a new "Huaguang Studio" to try our hand at producing ancient idol dramas.

These two are evergreen popular themes in film and television. There is no need to worry about censorship, they are easy to sell on the platform, and it is easy to promote the actors. They are much better than suspense.

As for the market size, it is not the result of Arc Light’s own efforts, but mainly depends on the investment of various investors.

And because of Meng Bai's previous series of collaborations with Ruyi Pictures, Arc Light has gained some entry into the film industry.

The only thing left that I haven't touched yet is the TV series.

Although the TV drama market has declined somewhat in recent years due to competition from online dramas, the basic market is still very stable. Being able to be broadcast on satellite TV, or broadcast simultaneously on TV and the Internet, is still worth bragging about for online dramas.

but……

"The TV drama market has been developing for so many years, and various old forces are intertwined and complicated. The water inside is much deeper than that of online dramas." Liu Jun reminded.

"I know, but we have to try, right?" Meng Bai smiled. "Besides, we are not newcomers who have no confidence at all. Let's take it slow."

"It's OK as long as you are mentally prepared." Liu Jun said with a smile: "What kind of subject are you going to write? Suspense or criminal investigation?"

"The censorship of TV dramas is too strict. Even a criminal investigation script is not enough for them to revise." Meng Bai shook his head and continued, "I plan to start with a spy war theme."

"Spy war?"

Liu Jun thought about it, and then his eyes lit up.

Needless to say, this is really the most suitable subject for Arclight Films.

Firstly, spy warfare is still a suspense field, so there will be no style conflicts among the Arclight team.

Secondly, as one of the classic themes, as long as the story is set before 49, there will be basically no problems with the censorship.

What's more, spy war themes have been very popular in the past two years, and "The Disguiser", which started the trend, was also written by Meng Bai.

Therefore, Arc Light started out as a spy war drama, which can be said to have all the “right time, right place, and right people”.

"Since you came to talk to me, I guess you have some ideas about the project." Liu Jun said, "What is it like? Something like The Disguiser?"

"It's a little different. There have been too many similar spy war dramas in the past two years. I plan to do something new in terms of format." Meng Bai said.

"how to say?"

“Have you ever heard of escape rooms?”

Seeing Liu Jun shaking his head, Meng Bai explained, "It's probably about a group of people being trapped in a confined space, and then trying to find a way to escape. This is the kind of story I want to shoot this time."

Liu Jun pondered and nodded, as if he had never seen this kind of spy war drama before.

"What's your name going to be?"

"The one I've tentatively chosen is called 'Peace Hotel'."

Liu Jun asked: "The one in Shanghai?"

"No. Over the years, spy war dramas have either been set in Shanghai, the mountain city, or Nanjing. I plan to go north." Meng Bai said.

"Tianmen?"

"Go north to BJ again?"

"Beijing North is the north... OK, it is also north of Tianjin." Meng Bai said: "But we have to go further north."

“Then it’s only the Northeast.”

"Snapped!"

Meng Bai snapped his fingers: "Yes, Northeast China, the Ice City Harbin."

Liu Jun took a deep breath and said, "Okay, this pole will be extended directly to the northernmost end."

A little further north, you have to shoot the KGB.

Meng Bai continued, "The regional atmosphere of Northeast China is very strong, and I plan to follow the style of light comedy. Including the leading actors, I will try to choose people from Northeast China."

"Don't worry about it. It's hard to find actors from other places in the industry, but there are plenty of actors from the Northeast."

This is true. Due to the natural character and early economic development, there are many artists and actors from Northeast China.

"When do you plan to shoot?" Liu Jun asked.

Meng Bai calculated the time: "If we start preparing now, it will be around the Spring Festival next year. The main reason is that the scene will take a long time."

"By the way, speaking of scenes, I was just about to ask, is there a Peace Hotel in Harbin?"

"No." Meng Bai shook his head and smiled, "So we have to make one."

(End of this chapter)