Unboxing, Director!

Chapter 100

"I'll accompany you to watch the meteor shower fall on this earth.
Let your tears fall on my shoulders
I want you to believe that my love is only willing to be brave for you

You will see where happiness lies

You will see where happiness lies

"

2000 10 Month 29 Day.

IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Center, Bangkok.

The last song is finished.

F4 waved goodbye to the audience in Thai and Chinese:
"Thank you, love you guys, see you next time!"

Then, they left the stage successfully amid the reluctance of 12,000 spectators.

Another exciting performance ended.

At this time, Deng Chao and others were already covered in sweat, and the fatigue had already reached their necks, but they were still excited.

In addition to fame, a big part of it is because of money.

From mid-October to now, I have traveled to a total of 10 countries.

One signing event, one fan meeting in each country, plus concerts in two countries.

In just half a month, each of the three of them had earned nearly 50 yuan through these activities alone.

And that's just part of the income.

In addition to the income from record sales, the "Meteor Shower" album has been released in various parts of Southeast Asia for half a month, and the total sales of genuine copies have exceeded 60.

After dividing the profits, it is said that each of the three people can get about 100,000 yuan.

Not much, but the album is a long-term gain.

In addition to the above two, the biggest income comes from advertising endorsements.

How big is it?
Super big!
"Hurry up and wash up, then eat fried rice."

After finally returning to the hotel surrounded by fans, the three-person temporary captain Yu Bo quickly gave orders.

The other two didn't care about anything else and hurried back to their rooms to wash and get dressed.

It was done in less than five minutes, and then everyone gathered in Yu Bo's room, where a simple fried rice had been prepared.

Fried rice serves two purposes.

The first is to quickly replenish physical strength.

Starting from the morning, there were book signing sessions, meet-and-greets, filming interviews, and then a concert lasting more than three hours in the evening.

The three of them never had a good meal.

Although they were all young people in their twenties, they really couldn't bear it.

In addition to replenishing physical strength, this fried rice has a more important function.

That's to fill the stomach.

In five minutes, after I finished eating a few mouthfuls, I was urged to eat more.

The three of them hurried downstairs and got in the car.

The makeup artist came up first to fix the hair and makeup.

Lu Jiang is already in the car.

After a while, Fan Binbin also came into the car.

When everyone arrived, Li Chao asked, "Have you all eaten?"

The three nodded.

Li Chao began to introduce some details of the reception.

There’s not much to say. As an artist, there’s only one thing you have to do, and that’s drink.

Drinking culture is popular in mainland China these days.

The situation in Southeast Asia is similar, as most of the major financiers are Chinese businessmen.

An advertising endorsement can start at one million RMB, wouldn’t you have to take a sip?

After taking a sip, you would be embarrassed not to take a second sip.

So in the past half month, the three of them have experienced countless times of being drunk.

If you want to last longer in a drinking party, the simplest and most brutal way is to fill your stomach before drinking.

Then after drinking a certain amount, he would induce vomiting to empty the space in his stomach, and then he would be a good man again.

A good man will naturally attract more favors from financial sponsors.

As for income, it will naturally be easier to acquire land.

Of course, sleeping with someone is definitely not an option, and it’s not necessary.

No one will force you.

Why? Because Lu Jiang would not go to Southeast Asia alone.

Southeast Asia is not a benign place.

Even with Warner as the backing, it won’t work.

Warner is at most a multinational company with a big reputation and good performance in its own industry.

But that doesn't mean they can get away with anything, regardless of whether they are black or white.

But it’s different with the support of the embassy.

How to arrange the itinerary for this trip to Southeast Asia actually depended on communication with the local embassy.

The embassy actually has a positive attitude towards this trend started by mainland artists.

So we are also happy to help you contact local reliable resources.

Facing the hot traffic like Lu Jiang and F4.

Local Chinese business connections and local government agencies in various countries are also very happy to cooperate.

In a word, with the support of the country and mutual benefit and win-win results, everything will be fine.

Having said that, after everyone in the car learned about some of the important people they would meet at this drinking party, everyone was prepared.

When we got there, we had the usual small talk, eating and drinking.
There are many Chinese businessmen coming to Bangkok this time, more than from other countries.

One reason is that the "meteor shower trend" is bigger than a few days ago, and the commercial value of Lu Jiang and others is also much higher.

Second, the number and strength of local Chinese businessmen are much better than those in previous countries.

No matter what, Thailand is now a country with a per capita GDP of US$2000, while the mainland's is only US$950.

Moreover, most of the wealth is in Bangkok. If we really consider the level of economic development of the local city, it can be said that it may be better than Shanghai, and the business atmosphere is incomparable to Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries.

The third is thanks to state relations.

China-Thailand relations are okay.

There are also many precedents in cultural exchange.

For example, more than ten years ago, the crew of "Journey to the West" had already come here.

We filmed and exchanged culture here, and came here several times later.

Children here can often watch "Journey to the West" on TV during the summer vacation.

Therefore, when Lu Jiang came this time, he was particularly welcomed by the local political and business circles.

Benefiting from "friendship" and "Chinese drama filter", F4's commercial value has once again risen.

Of course, in addition to these, Lu Jiang’s own fame also played a role, but Lu Jiang felt that there was no need to brag about this. Anyway, it was good enough to be able to make money easily.

During the dinner.

Deng Chao and his team dealt with the children and friends of bigwigs in both the political and business circles.

Lu Jiang discussed and finalized various matters with the bigwigs.

This is a regular item on this trip to Southeast Asia.

One is the harvesting of profits from advertising endorsements.

The second is early negotiation of future cooperation.

In terms of advertising endorsements.

From food, clothing to electrical appliances.

Endorsements in each country are negotiated independently.

It is easy to talk about domestic products. For example, if you endorse a beverage here, it will not affect the endorsement in the next country because they also have their own products.

It is not difficult to negotiate endorsements from multinational brands. You can just get local regional endorsements.

In other words, I traveled to five countries this time and negotiated advertising endorsements five times.

Although the unit price is certainly not as high as that of China, a country with a large population, the quantity and frequency are high.

After the meal, Thailand's advertising intention was basically finalized.

Roughly 7 products can be confirmed, with a total price of approximately 1100 million RMB.

In addition to these seven brands, there are seven or eight other brands yet to be determined.

Lu Jiang was not in a hurry, since he would not be visiting Thailand just once anyway.

This time, when traveling to Southeast Asia, I have to visit several major countries at least twice. There is no other way, the fans are too enthusiastic and I cannot harvest them all in one go.

The endorsement was negotiated under the name of F4, with the four splitting the profits equally. However, since the other three were Lu Jiang's employees, Lu Jiang took 1100%, so of the 850 million, Lu Jiang could get around million.
This price may not seem like much, but it is actually the highest price endorsed by Thai artists, just like in several other countries.

In other words, Deng Chao and his team are now the top stars in Southeast Asia.

After talking about advertising in general, Lu Jiang had a detailed chat with the relevant acquaintances of the local TV station.

The Southeast Asian market has been opened with great difficulty, and we must maintain it well.

Therefore, next time, shows like "Number One Under Heaven" will definitely continue to be broadcast here, in an effort to make people like Deng Chao, who are now top stars in Southeast Asia, achieve "long-term popularity."

After the dinner, Deng Chao and others were almost drunk again.

Fortunately, the workload tomorrow is not heavy. After a half-day rest, I will shoot various commercials.

On November 11, Lu Jiang and his group ended their trip to Thailand.

Before leaving, the local concert organizer brought someone with him.

After the introduction, it turned out that he was from the royal family.

The other party's intention was simple. They invited Lu Jiang and others to come to Bangkok again on December 12 to attend King Bhumibol Adulyadej's birthday party.

Lu Jiang was not surprised.

Because in the original record of "Meteor Garden", F4 had the item of "being received by the King of Thailand".

Of course, I have to act flattered now.

After agreeing, the local organizer said that the next time in December, it would not be the same convention center as a few days ago, but would be replaced by the Rajamanlah Stadium, which can accommodate 12 people.

When talking about this, this person's face was filled with regret.

Because it was only mid-October when the performance venue was booked.

Who knew that in just two weeks, the rain in "Meteor Garden" would turn into a thunderstorm.

He initially thought that if he could sell out all 12,000 tickets, it would be a success.

It turned out that there were not enough to sell!
Changing the venue temporarily is definitely not an option.

Even if I change it, I don’t have time because Lu Jiang’s schedule is full.

So he regretted it deeply at that time.

Now, we have moved to a large venue that can accommodate 60,000 people and have the king's blessing. Although the profit share is a little less, it will still be more profitable than the convention and exhibition center a few days ago.

Once everything was finalized, the team headed to their next destination: the Philippines.

It's still a charter flight.

On the plane, Deng Chao and others discussed the food and scenery of the Philippines, as well as the latest news. It was said that there were already more than 10,000 people waiting to pick them up at the airport. Everyone was very excited and looking forward to another wave of wealth.

Lu Jiang was also very excited, this was all money.

In total, I have visited five countries so far.

The advertising endorsement fee that can be confirmed is more than 4 million.

Plus various business revenues from albums, copyrights, concerts, etc.

In half a month, five countries, that’s 60 to 70 million.

After deducting taxes and the share of Deng Chao and others, the total amount received was more than 40 million.

Half a month, 4 million.

It is really profitable to support traffic stars. No wonder there are so many traffic stars in the future, who have no works, no acting skills, and no singing skills, but they are still active.

This can really help the company make money, and the training cost is low.

However, Lu Jiang knew that although Southeast Asia was profitable.

But from the perspective of the mainland, these places are not very important after all.

The film is a big hit in Southeast Asia, so it's okay to just hear the name in mainland China.

But if you become famous in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, that would be amazing.

Of course, if you can become famous in Europe and the United States, then you are a god!

The good news is that Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other places have also begun negotiations on the introduction of dramas and performance schedules.

Lu Jiang had no doubt whether the deal could be reached.

The golden finger is here, and the achievements continue to advance step by step.

After the "regional idol craze" and "multi-national broadcasts and meteor showers", it has "completely become a continental phenomenon".

So it is only a matter of time for places like Japan and South Korea.

That evening, Lu Jiang and others arrived in Manila, an economic engine city known as Little New York that contributes one-third of the GDP of the Philippines.

At the same time, news about Lu Jiang's "Meteor Garden" being a huge hit in Southeast Asia also began to spread in mainland China.

Since the end of the Olympics in early October, until late October.

Lu Jiang seemed to have disappeared in the mainland.

It’s not that there isn’t any popularity, but compared to the popularity starting in June, it’s completely incomparable.

The only two times he appeared in the whole of October were on the 11th, when Lu Jiang promoted Warner's junior sister Stefanie Sun's second personal music album "The Happiness I Want" through various media.

Then on the 20th, a new album "Jay" by a singer named Jay Chou was promoted.

The two albums will be released in November and December respectively.

Lu Tianwang rarely promotes other singers' albums, which allowed fans to quickly get to know these two "lucky guys".

But overall, Lu Jiang does seem to have "disappeared".

In contrast, in October, other singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan appeared on variety shows, radio stations, and various promotions.

Among them, Xie Tingfeng is the most popular, and Feng Feilian has become popular again. They are seen holding hands while shopping in Shanghai, eating together, etc., which is very lively.

Then at the end of October, Xie Tingfeng was reportedly injured while filming in Thailand, which also attracted a wave of attention. Some media spontaneously commented that Xie Tingfeng had the style of his Hong Kong predecessors in filming, and he was daring and combative, etc.

For a time, the popularity of the entire domestic entertainment industry seemed to have returned to the world of Hong Kong and Taiwan people.

Fortunately, just when everyone was preparing to look for Lu Jiang.

Southeast Asia quickly "caught fire".

"China Entertainment Report" fired the first shot.

Starting from mid-October, the formation of Lu Jiang in Southeast Asia began to be reported, and the scenes of thousands of people welcoming him at the airport were made into live reports and released.

This time when Lu Jiang went out, he naturally brought a filming crew with him.

Their task is simple, which is to record the actual situation on the scene.

After the broadcast was broadcast back in China, people in mainland China saw the scene of tens of thousands of people welcoming the passengers at the airport, as well as the various frenzied scenes that followed.

Although mainland fans feel proud, they don’t feel much.

After all, in everyone's eyes, Thailand is not very important.

To put it bluntly, Southeast Asian countries are just like how Western countries view China now. The stereotype of being messy, dirty, and backward is very serious.

So what if you become the local tyrant?
But then China Entertainment News and other media outlets began to follow up on this wave of news.

In the report, Lu Jiang, "Meteor Garden", F4, meteor shower, etc. were mentioned.

Everyone soon discovered that this was not as simple as they had imagined: "Lu Jiang was bored and making money in Southeast Asia."

But "Meteor Garden" exploded in Southeast Asia? !
At the beginning, no one felt much.

But soon, China Entertainment News and other TV stations, especially Anhui TV, began to report the exaggerated popularity of Meteor Garden in Southeast Asia.

Philippines ratings exceed 60%?

Topped the ratings in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and other places?
Are concert tickets hard to come by?
There were actually fans who fainted on the spot after seeing Lu Jiang?

Watching the exaggerated scenes on TV.

So many people were holding up F4 support signs.

Everyone's expression began to change from calm to distorted.

This... is a bit exaggerated, right?

After all, it's really hard to understand.

How could a practice play cause so many people to go crazy?
It was said that "Return of the Condor Heroes" was also very popular in Southeast Asia back then, but it seems that it didn't bring anything like this.

This impression is actually related to the lack of information dissemination at that time.

After "Return of the Condor Heroes" became popular, the main creators were very active when they were active in Taiwan, but in mainland China, it was only spread through text, so naturally not many people knew about it.

But now it is broadcast on television, so the effect will naturally be completely different.

In addition, "Return of the Condor Heroes" was popular in Southeast Asia, but that was for all age groups and it could not be compared with "Meteor Garden". "Meteor Garden" was mainly targeted at young people, and most of the fans were also from this group.

Besides, to be honest, the ratings of "Meteor Garden" in Southeast Asia and other places are indeed higher than those of "My Fair Princess", and they are growing rapidly.

So this trend is much stronger than "Return of the Condor Heroes".

It’s just that “Meteor Garden” has not yet been broadcast in mainland China.

So even if people saw the live situation on TV, many people expressed doubts about it.

When there are doubts, they seek verification, so some media heard the news and set off to Manila.

Then, throughout November, various media outlets reported the facts.

On November 11, mainland China reported that tens of thousands of people came to Manila to welcome Lu Jiang at the airport, and the attendance at the concert broke the local record.

On November 11th, Lu Jiang visited Malaysia for the second time. Thousands of people greeted him at the airport, and the attendance at the concert broke the local record.

On November 11, Lu Jiang and the crew of "Meteor Garden" visited Singapore for the second time
January 11th.
We tracked and reported all the way, and the time it took for the news to reach China became longer and longer, and more and more exaggerated.

People in mainland China began to believe that Lu Jiang had really made an incredible TV series, and it actually became popular in Southeast Asia!

But after all, Southeast Asian countries are still at the bottom of the contempt chain, so people still don’t feel it particularly strongly.

until
"According to our station, on December 12th, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand personally met with Lu Jiang and the cast of 'Meteor Garden.'"

When the TV station broadcast this news.

The people in mainland China were completely shocked.

Received by the King of Thailand?
The meaning of this is completely different from the previous "thousands of people welcoming at the airport" and so on.

This is another level!

Is this the kind of pomp a singer can get?

At this point, all domestic entertainment media were shocked.

The "meteor shower" in Southeast Asia has also been taken seriously by people in mainland China.

Not only the mainland, but also South Korea and other places seem to have completely finalized the cooperation because of this.

Soon, news began to spread that Lu Jiang's practice work "Meteor Garden" would soon be released in South Korea.

Then on December 12, news came that Taiwan and Hong Kong were introducing "Meteor Garden".

After all, it is a "developed" area.

Their movements become particularly important.

In the eyes of mainland media, the fact that the drama can be introduced to these three regions shows that "Meteor Garden" is really something.

Then on Monday, December 12, Taiwan first released the news that "Meteor Garden" premiered on the 18th and set a record of 16% viewership!
Next is Hong Kong, where TVB’s ratings reached 34%, ranking fourth this year.

The most important one is South Korea.

At the end of December, the first episode of "Meteor Garden" was broadcast and ranked first in the ratings in the same time period.

Victory was reported in the three places, and then meteor showers occurred in the three places.

Lu Jiang and F3 arrived in South Korea for the first time, and thousands of people greeted them at the airport, a scene unprecedented for mainland stars.

At the same time, Japanese media released a report titled "Asia's Phenomenal Idol Drama" to define the popularity of "Meteor Garden" in Southeast Asia and East Asia.

Although they didn't want to admit it, when the mainland media saw that the Japanese media had said so, they now completely confirmed the fact and immediately reported the matter as "phenomenal."

The attitude of the mainland people also changed completely from calmness in early November, to concern in mid-November, to shock in early December, and finally to carnival at the end of December.

Chinese dramas have once again broken through the mainland and impressed South Korea! Replicating the miracle of "Return of the Pearl"!
Oh no!
It cannot be said that it has broken out of the mainland.

Because it hasn’t been broadcast in mainland China yet!
So everyone's attention was focused on Anhui Satellite TV.

Lu Jiang also received another overseas call from the director of Anhui TV Station: "Xiao Lu, when will you be back?"

There are only a few days left before "Meteor Garden" is broadcast in mainland China.

Fortunately, Anhui TV’s advertising investment was not finalized in advance.

Otherwise you will suffer a great loss!
According to the director, the amount of investment this time is likely to set a record.

No wonder the director's tone is so cordial.
After hanging up the phone, Lu Jiang's lips curled up.

He is satisfied.

The current popularity of "Meteor Garden" is steadily continuing in line with its performance.

Because the broadcast period is much shorter than the original version, the performance inheritance period is also greatly shortened.

The first phase, “regional boom,” took three weeks in the original version, but now it only takes one week.

The second stage, "setting off a meteor shower", originally took five to nine months, but now it only takes three to five months.

Now is the third stage of "completely achieving the European phenomenon level". The original version started with the TV series landing in South Korea.

"Meteor Garden" finished airing in September 01 and was broadcast in South Korea four months later, triggering the East Asian meteor shower.

"Meteor Garden" finished airing on Macau Channel in August, and it is exactly now four months later.

This record is just right.

In other words, it originally took at least a year to completely trigger a pan-Asian phenomenal meteor shower, but now Lu Jiang only took four months.

Efficient and comfortable!
So now, it's time to return home in glory!

2001 1 Month 1 Day.

Lu Jiang ended his two and a half month trip to Southeast Asia and landed in Beijing with the crew of "Meteor Garden".

At this time, thousands of people were waiting to pick up the plane at Beijing Airport.

The scene was grand, rare in Beijing, and even a first in the entertainment industry.

But Deng Chao and others naturally felt a little lost, after all, in Southeast Asia, they were the kings!

But the good news is that it will be broadcast in mainland China soon.

And at this time, piracy seemed to have become popular in the South.

So it is possible that the meteor shower has already started in the mainland before Anhui TV broadcasts it.

But no matter what, F4 is now considered a superstar in mainland China.

After all, this is another opportunity to "win glory for the country."

Seeing this lively scene, the blue treasure chest with the words "Experience fame in your hometown and BJ" on Qiao Zhenyu's head fell down.

Then another blue treasure chest appeared: [Qiao Zhenyu wants to get the commission as soon as possible, buy a house, and bring his parents to BJ]

A new blue treasure chest also appeared above Deng Chao's head: [Get commission, buy a house, and bring parents to BJ]

It seems that Yu Bo, a fan of Siheyuan, has done a good job of brainwashing!

Lu Jiang was very satisfied, it was worthy of being the new treasure chest cow!
"Lu Jiang, how do you feel about this trip to Southeast Asia?"

"I heard that the Thai princess likes you, what do you think?"

"You've achieved such success in your first drama. How do you feel now, Lu Jiang?"

“Will Meteor Garden be released in Japan?”

"Which do you think has a greater influence, Meteor Garden or My Fair Princess?"

"."

Although one can still clearly feel Lu Jiang's joy and pride in "bringing glory to the country".

But this time the reporters were obviously much calmer than in previous times.

After all, this is not the first time Lu Jiang has done this.

Lu Jiang felt that if he came a few more times, these people would probably become desensitized.

Alas, invincible, lonely.
(End of this chapter)