Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 122: Xiangtai Talks about "Chinese Paladin"

The concept of Golden Week is an imported product of the daily routine.

Since 1999, the State Council has combined the Spring Festival, May Day and National Day holidays to form a seven-day holiday.

In the film market, National Day has also become a key time node for box office competition.

From mid-September to the end of the month, the "Whiplash" crew traveled through Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and key cities in the Yangtze River Delta, visiting one city almost every one to two days.

According to the roadshow and film schedule, the film will be officially released nationwide from October 10st.

On the evening of September 9, the crew landed in Changsha.

Xiangtai, which had previously been in contact with Wenjie Culture on the "Legend of Sword and Fairy" project, served as the host and hosted a banquet for Lu Kuan and several leading actors.

Since Wenjie Culture does not have its own TV drama directors and filming team yet, it can only choose to cooperate with film and television companies or TV stations.

Sugar man? Not considered.

In his previous life, Tang Ren had a small disagreement with Liu Yifei during the filming of "Legend of Sword and Fairy", and Liu Zeyu and Tang Ren had a bad record of conspiring to intercept, so he was directly ruled out.

As for other domestic film and television companies, Shanying focuses on serious dramas, while Hairun is a Beijing-based company and is very close to Huayi.

Dongyang Qingyu is the producer of "Don't Talk to Strangers", and it doesn't look like the type of company to make a romantic fantasy drama.

Boss Lu is optimistic about Zhouyi, but it is not a cooperation, it is a merger.

In recent years, Zhouyi Film and Television has been in a stage of vigorous development. The movie "Love Across Time and Space" which was just released in May this year has also become a hit.

Next year's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", "Water Moon Cave" and "Legend of the Spirit Realm" are all childhood classics for a generation.

However, it gradually declined and faded out of the domestic film and television drama scene.

The reasons behind this are not discussed here, but Zhou Yi has the strongest original screenwriter team in the industry and a complete and well-coordinated shooting structure.

This is what Lu Kuan covets the most, and he has already sent people to contact them to seek investment, otherwise it will take too long to wait for them to die naturally.

It is also normal to directly swallow up and incorporate others to enrich the company's product lines and subdivided industry ecosystem through mergers and acquisitions.

"Guide, welcome!"

Lu Kuan was a little surprised that it was the headmaster Ouyang Changqing who came to the banquet in person. This shows how much importance Hunan and Taiwan attach to "Legend of Sword and Fairy".

"Jay, congratulations on the record sales!"

"Thank you, Master."

Jay Chou is an old acquaintance of Hunan TV. He had just been to the base camp for album promotion.

On behalf of the station, Ouyang Changqing congratulated Lu Kuan on winning the Venice Golden Lion and wished him a big box office success before politely taking his seat and starting the meal.

After three rounds of drinks, Yao Jia, the deputy director of the film purchasing department brought by Ouyang Changqing today, got the leader's signal and got straight to the point.

"Director Lu, the station has already sent a cooperation invitation to Wenjie. I wonder what your current thoughts are?"

Soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals, Lu Lao glanced at Lu Yao who had just arrived in the evening.

"Director Yao, we do not accept your station's request for full copyright."

"If we cooperate, Wenjie can only give the broadcasting rights to Hunan TV, not the full copyright."

Yao Jia's face froze, and he continued to put forward conditions.

"The buyout price can be negotiated, and it still takes hard work for this kind of game-adapted series to be broadcast on TV."

Boss Lu looked at her in surprise and signaled Lu Yao not to rush to refute.

"Director Ouyang, this Director Yao under you is no ordinary person. His words are very sharp!"

Ouyang Changqing is a veteran in the film and television industry and is well versed in negotiation. He admires Yao Jia's daring and fighting spirit.

This involves the core demands and bargaining points of both parties.

The core appeal of Wenjie Culture: to be on the star.

The reason why we are not cooperating with Zhouyi and other film and television companies for the time being is because this type of fantasy drama has certain difficulties in being broadcast on satellite TV.

In 2005, the later "Chinese Paladin" was not broadcast on the first-tier satellite TV stations due to the "travel restriction order" of the Radio and Television Administration. Of course, this problem must be solved by producing and distributing it in advance.

At present, apart from CCTV, Hunan TV, a provincial TV station that is second only to the president and above everyone else, is the TV station that can best ensure that "Chinese Paladin" will be broadcast on satellite.

There is no doubt that being broadcast on satellite TV is beneficial to the promotion and value realization of a TV series.

Boss Lu also established a full range of cooperative relations with Hunan TV in later variety shows such as Super Girl, and this drama can be regarded as a preliminary battle.

Hunan and Taiwan’s core demand: full copyright.

This is a loss caused by "Returning the Pig".

When Hunan TV and Qiong Yao collaborated on this hit drama, due to the unequal status of the Taiwan Province and the mainland in the discourse power of drama at that time, Hunan TV only obtained a limited authorization from Qiong Yao.

In 2018, "Returning the Pig", which had been rebroadcast countless times before, was aired again on Hunan TV and won the ratings championship.

However, due to the Yu Zheng plagiarism incident, Qiong Yao withdrew the authorization, and Hunan TV was unable to broadcast the unauthorized "Return the Pig" for four years.

Although no such bottleneck incidents had occurred at this time, Ouyang Changqing and Lu Kuan, who were collaborating on the film "Legend of Sword and Fairy", naturally wanted to hold the initiative in their own hands from the beginning, even if it meant having to bear more investment.

Ouyang Changqing smiled and said, "Director Yao is a young talent introduced by our station. He is very disciplined in his actions and words."

Lu Kuan sneered, leaving no room for negotiation: "Director Ouyang, there is no room for negotiation on the copyright issue."

The scene was instantly frozen.

Also present today were the famous Hunan TV hosts Li Xiang and He Jiong, both of whom are among the top domestic hosts today. They read people's expressions, react quickly, and busily try to smooth things over.

Li Xiang held up a goblet and filled it with Jiugui Liquor, a local liquor from Hunan Province.

"Director Lu, I've heard a lot about your name. Let me toast you!"

Boss Lu watched the 26-year-old host walking towards him. Her slightly plump figure had the charm of a mature woman.

He also put on a familiar smile: "It's not a matter of respect or disrespect, it's common, common."

Everyone present was smart, and seeing that things were not going well, they did not argue over the copyright issue and focused on talking about love and romance.

The guests and hosts had a great time at the banquet and then left.

"Xiao Yao, come with me. I'll tell you something in the car." Ouyang Changqing called the deputy director of the film purchasing department, whom he had promoted, and told the driver to drive.

The old director and Yao Jia sat in the back row, still flipping through the paper materials of "Legend of Sword and Fairy" in their hands.

Yao Jia, who was standing by, looked at his focused leader and was impressed by his professionalism and dedication.

The new leader, who inherited the reform ideas of former Minister Wei Wenbin, just started to take charge of the overall work this year and immediately began a drastic resource integration.

Ouyang Changqing is a workaholic.

In that era when provincial satellite TV stations were struggling to survive in the market after being launched, it was said that he had to personally inquire about any decision with a budget and expenditure of more than 2000 yuan, and he had to personally attend any meeting with more than 8 people.

In just three years from 2002 to 2005, he did three major things that had a huge impact on the entire domestic entertainment industry and provincial satellite TV stations.

Three major projects: Super Girl, National Ball Games and the introduction of the Korean drama "Jewel in the Palace".

There is no need to elaborate on the influence of Super Girl. It pioneered large-scale national talent shows, cultivated the first group of fans that could not yet be called fan circles, and invented the promotional methods of SMS voting and entertainment hype. Whether it is innovation or harm is a matter of opinion.

"Xiao Yao, what do you think?"

Yao Jia was suddenly questioned by his leader and he quickly adjusted his state to respond to the question.

She recalled her amazement when she first saw the script of "Chinese Paladin", which was a perfect work written by Golden Lion Award winner Lu Kuan.

The screenwriter of Sugar Man in the Previous Life certainly has his merits, but he also has many flaws.

For example, the extremely awkward nicknames the protagonists gave each other, from Tang Yu Xiaobao to Zhu Po Xuejian in "Chinese Paladin III"...

For example, Anu was changed from a clever and clever Miao young master to a silly and innocent foodie;
For example, Yueru was changed from a heroic heroine to a noisy and unruly young lady;

For example, Zhao Linger's highlight scenes in the original game were deleted to balance the relationship between the characters in the love triangle, and Li Xiaoyao's gangster personality was another example.

Lu Kuan adapted this pioneering fairy tale drama with the same meticulousness and care as he would in making a movie, and almost immediately impressed Yao Jia from the Hunan and Taiwan film purchasing department.

She was also the first one to strongly recommend this work to the director.

It is worth mentioning that Yao Jia was the producer of the hit drama "The Ming Dynasty 1566" and the thunder drama "Let's Watch Meteor Shower Together".

Facing the leader's inquiry at this time, Yao Jia was thinking about how to give a precise answer so as not to let the director make a wrong judgment.

"I think this is a work that can create a new genre, just like Zhouyi Film and Television's "Love Across Time and Space" this year."

Ouyang Changqing didn't even raise his eyelids, flipped through a few more pages, and hummed noncommittally.

"How's it compared to 'Pig Three'?"

"The audience for Huan Zhu is definitely much wider than that for The Chinese Paladin, and its ratings should also be much higher than that of The Chinese Paladin."

Ouyang Changqing agreed with her judgment: "Well, then try your best to fight for it, and don't give in on the copyright."

The traffic and revenue brought in by the two directors of Mango TV through the three "Return of the Condor Heroes" series were too high, forming a broad IP moat, ensuring that Mango TV would have no worries for several years.

They are also very confident.

Yao Jia hesitated for a while, then steeled himself and said, "Leader!"

Ouyang Changqing then raised his head and looked at her in confusion.

"Director, if you buy The Legend of Sword and Fairy, then there's no worries for Huan Zhu III. But if Jiangsu, Zhejiang, or Shanghai TV stations buy it, I'm afraid Huan Zhu III will be in trouble!"

Ouyang Changqing's silent thinking seemed to be an encouragement to her, and Yao Jia continued to explain logically and meticulously.

"Now the first-tier provincial TV stations are all targeting us, such as Jiangsu TV's "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber", Zhejiang TV's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", etc., but I think this "Chinese Paladin" is the drama that poses the greatest threat to us."

Ouyang Changqing was extremely courageous, otherwise he would not have created an entertainment empire like Mango TV in later generations.

He leaned back in the leather seat, took a long breath, and made the decision immediately.

"We can give up our interests financially in exchange for copyrights. If that doesn't work, we can negotiate with them for an exclusive license of at least 5-10 years."

"Yes! Master!"

Generally speaking, TV drama copyrights are divided into buyout rights and broadcasting rights.

As the name suggests, buying out the copyright means that you buy it home and operate it yourself, and you have the final say on the remaining second-round and other secondary sales and adaptations.

If "Chinese Paladin" can be broadcast on satellite TV, the exclusive first round will definitely be on Hunan TV.

The subsequent first round of broadcasts (everyone broadcasts together) and the second round of broadcasts (broadcasting after others have broadcast it) still have high profit potential.

Yao Jia thought to himself that if he wanted to sign such a long-term broadcasting rights transfer agreement between Lu Kuan and Hunan TV, he would probably have to pay a considerable price.

Huatian Hotel, Jiefang East Road, Changsha.

"Mr. Lu, the copyright issue we just discussed at the table..."

Lu Kuan looked at the general manager of the artist management department who was brought in temporarily to take charge of the matter and handed him a cigarette.

"Lu Yao, Yao Jia will definitely contact you tomorrow, so go ahead and talk. They're the ones eager to cooperate right now."

"Even without Xiangtai, we still have Zhouyi and the sugar man chasing us. It doesn't matter."

Lu Yao hesitated and asked, "What about going to the planet?"

Being broadcast on satellite TV is indeed a problem, but compared with having the copyright in hand, it is not a big problem.

"The Legend of Sword and Fairy" is a phenomenal work.

Its profits come not only from the drama itself, but also from peripheral products, IP value, copyright income, movie adaptations, and so on.

There was a news in 2017 that the "Chinese Paladin" broadcast in 2005 brought considerable copyright income to Jetrun Technology Co., Ltd. in 2017.

This is called the long-tail effect of high-quality dramas.

The most typical example is "Friends". More than 2000 years after it was broadcast, Warner can still bring in more than million US dollars in revenue every year from rebroadcasts.

Boss Lu has a whole set of ideas in mind about how to reap the fan economy through IP operations, and he will definitely not give up the copyright.

"Copyright comes first, everything else can be discussed."

"Yes, Mr. Lu."

With the bottom line and endorsement given by the leader, he knew how to negotiate.

(End of this chapter)