Return to Hong Kong Island for a Century

Chapter 37: Sky-high Copyright Price (Second update, please collect, read, and vote)
"So that means we might have to shoot over a hundred episodes or more?"

"The current serialization in your New Evening News, including the manuscripts in reserve, is only about 300,000 words. If you serialize it at 4,000 words per day, it will take more than two years." The person in charge of the TVB asked after reading it.

"More than that, because there might be a sequel."

"We have already contacted the publishing house, and the plan is to launch the first Ghost Blows Out the Light single volume at the end of this month, with the first batch planned to be printed in 50 copies." Another manager in charge of reception at the New Evening News said.

"In addition, a single volume will be published every three months, and of course the possibility of shortening the schedule is not ruled out."

"This will greatly help your TV series' ratings, and don't forget, the author has exclusive authorization in Hong Kong Island."

"You can look at the growth rate of our advertising expenses."

"In addition, people from Rediffusion Television are also negotiating with our newspaper. The basic conditions are the same. The rest depends on who offers the highest price." The manager of the New Evening News who was responsible for receiving the TVB was not at all panicked because the novel was so popular.

"At 20,000 per episode, that's 2 million for 100 episodes. This is an unprecedented price."

"Even great writers only get copyrights worth 500,000." The people at TVB shook their heads.

"It doesn't matter. If you think it's inappropriate, just think about it again. Maybe when the copyright expires in a few years, you can see if the second copyright will be lower than this one." The reception manager of the New Evening News shrugged.

The person in charge of the wireless TV station was speechless. This was their attitude when they came to give money.

"Your conditions are indeed a bit harsh. First of all, the novel is not finished, and also..." the person from TVB spoke again.

At this time, Li Song received a call from Liu Jiale at home, so he went downstairs to make the call.

"A Song, Rediffusion is asking HK$25,000 per episode, and TVB is still haggling."

"Now it depends on what you say." Liu Jiale said on the phone.

"Can the price be raised further?" Li Song asked.

"It's probably going to be difficult. The TVB boss is quite stingy." Liu Jiale said.

"Brother Le, we can talk about it again. If it really doesn't work, this price is also acceptable." Li Song nodded, and he understood something.

"Okay, then let's try harder." Liu Jiale understood what Li Song meant, which was that 25,000 per episode was fine, but it would be better if it could be higher.

The New Evening News also wants a higher price because the agency also has fees. In addition, once the price is announced, it may increase the sales of the newspaper.

After Liu Jiale obtained Li Song's authorization, he reported to the editor-in-chief.

The people sent by TVB were also communicating with the boss, but the boss of TVB was rather stingy.

Li was also communicating with the boss, who directly gave a maximum price of 30,000. Of course, during the specific negotiations, the boss would definitely not just say 30,000 right away.

After the New Evening News's leader, who had been talking to Li, went out for a while, he received authorization from the editor-in-chief and returned to the conference room. He said, "Everyone, how about we stop here today?"

"Has the deal been reached with TVB?" The person in charge of the negotiations on ATV's side asked directly after hearing this.

"Well, I don't know the details, but the editor-in-chief said the price is a little higher than what you offered." said the person in charge of the New Evening News.

"Thirty thousand per episode, sign the contract immediately." The person in charge of Rediffusion said quickly after hearing this.

"this……."

"Don't say but. If you signed, it's your achievement. If someone else signed, it's their achievement." The person in charge of Li was annoyed because he knew that the New Evening News brought their two companies together for negotiation, which meant they wanted to raise the price, so he directly told the price given by the boss.

"Okay, sign the contract. I'll send someone to tell the editor-in-chief." The people from the New Evening News were ecstatic. They had been playing hard to get, but they hadn't expected the other party to directly offer such a high price. Not long after Li Song went upstairs, he received another pager from Liu Jiale. So when he came downstairs, he learned the good news.

"A Song, congratulations, you're paying ATV 30,000 per episode, and we've already signed the contract." Liu Jiale was also very happy. After all, Li Song was the author he signed, and all the performance was counted as his own.

Then he recounted the general course of the negotiations.

Li Songcai realized that TVB was still haggling, but ATV thought that TVB had already made an offer, so it directly increased it to 30,000 per episode.

"The reason why Rediffusion directly raised it to 30,000 is partly because the novel is so popular, and partly because it's a gimmick. 20,000 and 30,000 are actually similar, but 30,000 sounds a bit scary. With two episodes a day, that's 60,000 a day. That's definitely a lot of advertising money."

"If you watch the news on Rediffusion tonight, they will announce that our new evening paper will be published tomorrow, and newspaper sales will increase again." Liu Jiale spoke again.

“Thank you, Brother Le…” Li Song didn’t actually feel anything, perhaps because there was too much money on the second-hand platform.

"Have you heard that counterfeit money appeared in Wan Chai?" Li Song hung up the phone and was walking back when he heard the two old ladies say this.

"It is said that they were withdrawn from the bank, and the two numbers are exactly the same."

"I heard too. Someone paid HK$100 for groceries today, and the boss looked at it several times."

"It's useless. The fake money was taken out from the bank and later taken back by the bank."

"Be more careful next time."

When Li Song heard this, he also took a breath.

"What a chance!" Li Song was speechless when he returned home.

I bought 10,000 second-hand tickets for HK$100, which is just 100 tickets.

With so many people in Hong Kong, how small is the chance that the second-hand item in your hand and the one with the same number in real life will appear in the hands of the same person?

"We still can't be too optimistic." Li Song had known for a long time that these second-hand currencies would eventually be discovered, but he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

After all, few people pay attention to the numbers on the money, and it seems that it was withdrawn from the bank.

At the same time, Li Song was also very fortunate. On the one hand, it was far away from where he lived when he used it, and on the other hand, he did not buy second-hand currency on a large scale, otherwise he would have collapsed long ago.

In the evening, ATV broadcast a piece of news in the news. ATV obtained the exclusive Hong Kong copyright of the TV series "Ghost Blows Out the Light" at a price of 30,000 per episode. ATV plans to broadcast the TV series "Ghost Blows Out the Light" during the Chinese New Year.

After the news was broadcast, ATV realized the huge traffic of Ghost Blows Out the Light and the TV station’s phone was flooded with calls.

Even the staff working at the TV station were bombarded with calls from relatives.

The relative asked on the phone when the filming would start, who would be the lead actor, who would be the director, etc.

The boss of Rediffusion was also very happy when he heard the news.

After seeing the news about ATV, the boss of TVB was also dissatisfied with the work of his subordinates, but ATV really paid too much.

Not to mention 30,000, even if it was 20,000, the boss of TVB would feel like he was losing money.

But what is giving TVB a headache now is how to compete with ATV’s Ghost Blows Out the Light?

The TVB boss came up with a way to capitalize on the popularity, so he asked the screenwriters to come up with a way to quickly write a script similar to Ghost Blows Out the Light.

(End of this chapter)