Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 209 Who Makes a TV Series If They're Serious?

[Evening 2]

On the third day after returning to Tianjin, Zhang Yan was dragged to a dinner table by Ma Yuan.

Previously, if Director Ma needed to contact him, Wei Liben would notify him to go to the TV station. Now, however, they discuss matters over drinks, which indirectly proves that Zhang Yan's status is no longer what it used to be.

Ma Yuan contacted Zhang Yan mainly about the second season of "I Am a Singer".

With the support of the municipal government and the huge investment of the television station, Tianjin TV's satellite broadcasting service is about to be officially launched in the past six months.

This was five years earlier than the original timeline, and it also allowed Tianjin TV to replace Shandong TV as the first provincial satellite TV station to be broadcast on satellite – the original Shandong TV was broadcast on satellite on January 1, 1994.

Zhang Yan said at the time that being broadcast on a satellite TV channel was a necessary condition for the second season to air, and now that the condition has been met, Tianjin TV also needs popular variety shows to support its broadcast on satellite TV.

Ma Yuan naturally urged Zhang Yan to hurry up and develop a plan.

After listening to Ma Yuan's explanation, Zhang Yan smiled and said, "Boss, don't worry, when have I ever let you down? — Take a look at this first."

As he spoke, he took out a thick stack of newspaper clippings and pushed it in front of Ma Yuan.

"I knew you'd be prepared!"

Ma Yuan picked up the clippings with great interest and flipped through them, but the joy on his face was gradually replaced by worry.

How far can singing competitions go? "Shanghai TV's 'My Show' is rife with behind-the-scenes manipulation," "Is it a talent show or a publicity stunt?", "'Mountain City Songs' receives a cold reception," "Why are TV stations frequently sued?", "Who will supervise the judges?"...

Since the end of last year, seven or eight provincial TV stations have launched talent shows similar to "I Am a Singer", with the most popular ones being those from Shanghai and Guangzhou.

But unlike "I Am a Singer", after the talent show had already shown enough popularity, various interest groups also set their sights on this lucrative opportunity.

The final result is a series of shady dealings and a ranking system that resembles the distribution of spoils.

Local media might try to cover it up, but provincial and municipal media that didn't follow suit wouldn't let go of this social hotspot, and their media coverage further fueled public discontent.

This year, Chongqing TV's "Songs of the Mountain City" has faced a large-scale boycott.

So starting in May, many provincial TV stations that were behind schedule and hadn't officially launched their singing variety shows cancelled their program plans—mainly because TV stations these days still care about their reputation and haven't grasped the true meaning of "being famous even if you're not famous."

Ma Yuan knew about this, but he just watched the show and didn't pay too much attention to it—after all, Tianjin TV was different from other TV stations, as it had Zhang Yan as its military advisor.

But now that so much incriminating material has been gathered together, it's quite alarming.

After going through it once, Ma Yuan put the clippings back on the table and tapped them with his fingers, saying, "You collected these, you're not trying to persuade our station to give up on the second season of 'I'm Crazy for Singing,' are you?"

"of course not."

Zhang Yan smiled and said, "What I mean is that the public's voice is the direction of our second season's revamp, and also the stepping stone for us to achieve higher ratings."

"I knew you'd have an idea!"

Ma Yuan immediately perked up, propped his elbows on the table, and leaned forward slightly: "Tell me, what are you planning to do this time!"

Zhang Yan didn't waste any time and said, counting on his fingers, "First of all, we will announce to the public that singers who have already released singles or albums are prohibited from participating in the competition, to highlight the grassroots nature of the second season of 'I Am a Singer'."

Then we'll change the judges to mentors. The mentors will first blindly select contestants based on their voices, and then the contestants will be grouped for battles—this will make the competition more intense, and it also involves the mentors' reputations, making it both more exciting and fairer.

"Wait a moment."

At this moment, Yan Xiaoming, who had been silent all along, interrupted Zhang Yan and asked, "What do you mean by 'blind selection by listening'?"

"that is……"

Zhang Yan turned his chair around, facing away from the two judges, and said, "When the contestants go on stage, the judges will face away from the stage. After the contestants start singing, the judges will decide whether to turn around based on the contestants' performance. Turning around means selecting that contestant. If multiple judges turn around for a contestant, then the contestant will choose their judge..."

Zhang Yan briefly explained the rules of "The Voice of China" to the two of them, and Ma Yuan listened with shining eyes and applause.

Master Ma is not a reserved person to begin with, and now that it's a private gathering, he's even more open about his emotions.

Although Yan Xiaoming nodded frequently, it was clear that he wasn't very interested. After all, Deputy Director Yan was currently focusing all his energy on the large-scale anti-corruption documentary "The Right Path in the World".

Zhang Yan continued, "When we get to the later stages of the competition, we'll take advantage of Tianjin TV's unique strengths and stuff the draft cards into instant noodles, letting the national audience vote instead of the live audience to decide the winner."

Without saying a word, Ma Yuan instructed Wei Liben, who was sitting at the bottom of the table, "Call Director Chen and tell him to come over right away!"

After Wei Liben left the private room with his mobile phone, Ma Yuan asked again, "Should we invite a sharp-tongued judge again this time?"

"Is this..."

Zhang Yan thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "A mentor needs to have a certain prestige. It's unrealistic to expect someone like that to be a harsh judge. It would be better to try to stir up conflict among the mentors and get them to argue with each other."

"Then let's invite a few judges with whom we have old grudges!"

The group then discussed some details, such as changes in the production team and the promotional arrangements for the satellite TV broadcast.

after this.

The production team of "I Am a Singer" Season 2 quickly began preparations. Because of the experience of the last time, the progress was faster and the scale was bigger this time.

Most importantly, with the reputation established last time and the legend of the Five Tigers fulfilling their dreams, there was no need to send any working group this time, as contestants from all provinces and cities flocked to participate.

Because Yan Xiaoming declined the position of executive producer, Zhang Yan was basically in charge of everything and had the final say, so there were many things he couldn't refuse.

So throughout June, he was busy pushing forward the progress of "The New Dragon and Phoenix" while also overseeing the "I Am a Singer" program.

It's fortunate that the production team are all experienced; otherwise, he would have been overwhelmed.

It wasn't until early July, two or three days before the application deadline, that he managed to temporarily escape and, with the project proposal and the pre-arranged approval procedures, rushed to the capital.

When Zhang Yan arrived at the guesthouse prepared by the State Administration of Optics and Electronics and inquired about the options, he discovered that apart from "Yuan Meng," all the other companies were releasing movies instead of TV series.

For example, Wang Shuo's Dingli Pictures launched the project "I Am Your Father"; Dong Ping's Huayi Asia Union Film and Television picked up the project that Zhang Yan didn't want and prepared to invest in and produce Jiang Wen's "Animal Fierce".

Ultimately, people still think movies are more sophisticated these days, so when the government opened up the market to private capital, everyone flocked to the film industry.

On the afternoon of the day they checked into the guesthouse, Jiang Wen passed by Zhang Yan's door several times, each time loudly asking what film projects the other pilot companies had submitted.

This guy was just short of saying, "Who in their right mind would make a TV series?"

It turns out that his connection with Dong Ping this time was also a butterfly effect brought about by Zhang Yan.

Dong Ping was originally supposed to enter the industry in 96, starting by investing in Zhang Yimou's "Keep Cool". Now that he has entered the industry three years earlier, he naturally set his sights on Jiang Wen's debut film.

Meanwhile, Wen Xie, the Hong Kong Island investor who was almost bankrupted by Jiang Wen, has changed from a major investor to one of the co-investors. It is unclear whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for him.

In short, Jiang Wen bragged about this for a long time.

However, by noon the next day, he could no longer be so smug. He was visibly agitated, like an ant on a hot pan.

On the first day of the meeting, Dingli Pictures was specifically criticized by the higher-ups, who believed that the scripts they provided were problematic and would only lead young people to establish incorrect values ​​and outlooks on life.

Ding Li's script was adapted from Wang Shuo's novel, and Jiang Wen's script was also adapted from Wang Shuo's novel, so he was naturally worried that he would be implicated.

(End of this chapter)