Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 78 Hot
half a month later.

"Some people imitate my beauty, and some people imitate my face..."

"The vocals are clear, and the music is transparent..."

"FAW Group in Tianjin..."

"Yongli Alkali Plant..."

After several commercials finished, the audio-visual room of Beijing TV station was completely silent.

After the lights came on, the station director slowly rose in silence, walked to the large screen, turned around and looked around at the crowd, saying, "Comrades, just two days ago, I..."

He held up three fingers and shook them vigorously: "This is the third time I've received a call from Tianjin TV. This time it was Director Lin himself who called. He said that Shanghai TV, Guangzhou TV, and Fujian TV have all applied for the broadcasting rights of 'Tianjin TV,' and asked if we in Beijing need it."

What is this all about?! This is blatant boasting, this is a slap in the face to Beijing and Taiwan!

After he finished speaking, he looked around at the audience again, his gaze lingering on the face of Zheng Xiaolong, the director of the production center, for a moment, before continuing: "Some people may say that our 'Aspiration' has higher ratings and received more praise—but this is different, completely different!"

He paused to catch his breath, then said, "When 'Tianjin Wei' first aired, some people in our station were sarcastic, saying that the show imitated Hong Kong dramas, as well as suspense dramas from Europe, America, and Japan—but have you ever considered that they did it on purpose?!"
Why did Director Lin conflate Fujian TV with Shanghai and Guangzhou? Because their real target is the Hong Kong and Taiwan market, or rather, Hong Kong and Taiwan capital!

Not only do they want to take advantage of this trend to promote Tianjin products in mainland China, but they also hope to send the TV series to Hong Kong and Taiwan for broadcast, paving the way for Tianjin to attract investment!
"Ratings are certainly important, but our primary function as a television station is to promote and guide the public, serving as a window into the city and creating a positive impact."

At this point, the station director's tone became increasingly heavy: "Just two days ago, Yang, the newly appointed director of CCTV, personally went to Tianjin TV Station for inspection. He praised Tianjin TV Station's recent practices and even publicly called on CCTV to let go of its burdens and learn more from its brother units."

Yesterday afternoon, the municipal government held a symposium, and city leaders specifically brought up this matter in front of me. Do you know how I felt at that moment?!

As he spoke, he slammed his hand on the screen and said angrily, "Comrades, this isn't a question of whether the TV series is good or bad, but rather that our Beijing TV station is lagging behind in ideological awareness and political consciousness!"

After he finished speaking, the audience fell into an even deeper silence.

After a moment, a senior deputy director finally stood up and said dismissively, "Filming a building from both sides, inserting things that clearly don't exist through editing, just to make people think that Tianjin is full of skyscrapers and has a developed economy, isn't that deceiving the audience?!"
I believe this unhealthy trend should not be encouraged, but rather severely criticized!

Seeing others take the lead, two or three more people mustered up their courage and accused Tianjin TV of distorting the facts, saying that its claims about the business environment were all empty talk.

Before more people could speak up, the station director stared at the deputy station director who had stood up first and said, "Anyone who can catch the mouse is a good leader! By doing this, they can at least give investors a good impression and make them willing to go to Tianjin for inspection! Besides, this isn't a government report or document!"

The senior deputy director was still unconvinced, but he couldn't refute the claim about catching mice, so he could only sit back down in his chair with his head down.

Then someone else spoke up: "Actually, this isn't really thanks to Tianjin TV. I heard that the script and the publicity strategy were all proposed by the screenwriter—what was the young man's name again?"

As he spoke, he looked at Zheng Xiaolong.

"Zhang Yan."

Zheng Xiaolong hurriedly said, "He is an editor at Tianjin Literature Magazine and a bestselling author. This year, 30 copies of his novel have been printed, and pirated copies have even been sold to Hong Kong and Taiwan."

After the TV series became a hit, the magazine printed another 5 copies, bringing the total to 30 copies, which was roughly equal to the sales of Wang Shuo's new book.

"Yes, it's Zhang Yan."

The station leader nodded and said, "I heard that this young man only went to Tianjin last year, and has actually been living in Beijing recently, and has a good relationship with the screenwriters in our production center?"

"His girlfriend—the female lead in 'Tianjin Wei'—lives in Beijing, so he's been staying there recently and is even planning to buy a house there."

Does he own a house in Tianjin?

"It looks like it's rented..."

"Isn't that settled?!"

The leader spread his hands and said, "If he buys a house in Beijing, we can help him solve his household registration problem. Then he'll be a true Beijinger. We Beijingers helping Tianjin improve its standards is called promoting good manners." Although he didn't say it explicitly, he actually meant to bring Zhang Yan into the Beijing-Taiwan region.

Zheng Xiaolong nodded, but he was also having a headache. He had originally planned to wait until the hype died down before trying to get Zhang Yan into the production center.

But who could have imagined that "Tianjin Wei" would become so popular!
Although its overall popularity in society is still somewhat less than that of "Aspiration", its impact on the government level is unmatched by ten "Aspirations".

After all, what local governments value most now is attracting investment. Of course, there are many conservatives like that deputy director, but they have been marginalized and it is difficult for them to occupy the mainstream.

That's why Zheng Xiaolong found it particularly troublesome, unsure of what price to pay to win over Zhang Yan—TV stations always value seniority, and they couldn't very well let a young man who wasn't even 25 years old become a leader right away!
After the meeting.

Zheng Xiaolong was still racking his brains over this matter when he was suddenly stopped by the station director.

"Little Zheng."

The station director patted him on the shoulder and said, "I know this time it's not your fault, but the pressure from above is immense. We must do something as soon as possible and show a positive attitude so that our superiors can be satisfied and reassured."

I think Lao Xu's suggestion is excellent. You should hurry up and implement it—I heard that Director Yang of CCTV is also very interested in Zhang Yan; we can't let them beat us to it.”

Got~
Upon hearing this, Zheng Xiaolong immediately understood that the person from earlier must have been a plant by the station director.

He hurriedly asked, "Director, CCTV has a greater platform advantage than us, and Tianjin will definitely do its best to retain its staff. So, shouldn't our station... at least show them our sincerity?"

"Hmm~"

The station director nodded calmly and said, "You're right. You handle this matter as you see fit—remember, you must be careful to maintain the right balance."

After saying that, he patted Zheng Xiaolong on the shoulder and then left on his own.

Zheng Xiaolong watched the station director's retreating figure, barely managing to suppress the urge to unleash a torrent of curses. "Take care of it" plus "keep things in check"—wasn't that basically saying, "The matter must be handled properly, but you'll have to take the blame if anything goes wrong"?

But while leaders can shirk responsibility, Zheng Xiaolong cannot refuse.

Back at the production center, he called Feng Xiaogang: "Xiaogang, what's Zhang Yan up to lately?"

"Zhang Yan?"

Feng Xiaogang was at the Beijing Film Studio, helping director Xia Gang with post-production on "Da Sa Ba". When he heard the question, he thought for a while before saying, "He's probably working on records."

"Making records?"

Zheng Xiaolong was taken aback at first, then suddenly realized and said, "Was it made for his girlfriend?"

"No, it's about producing records for rock bands in Beijing, one song per band, ten songs in total, called something like 'China Fire.' The rock scene in Beijing is in an uproar over this."

What the hell?

It's understandable for a writer to also be a screenwriter and shoot commercials on the side, but why would they go and record rock music?
Zheng Xiaolong asked speechlessly, "Then can you contact him?"

"What, is the station going to make a move?"

Feng Xiaogang wasn't surprised at all: "I'm afraid it's too late. I heard that Tianjin TV wants to transfer him to the production center as deputy director. We at Beijing TV probably can't offer that kind of treatment, right? And it seems that CCTV also wants to hire him to do programs."

This is really what I'm afraid of.

Zheng Xiaolong didn't have the ability to get Zhang Yan a deputy director position, but he couldn't refuse the task assigned by his superiors, so he could only bite the bullet and say, "Why don't you sound him out first? After all, Beijing has abundant resources, which Tianjin can't compare to."

(End of this chapter)