Have you ever been a celebrity? Why are you writing about entertainment?

Director Xu Zhen was dressed in a dark gray Zhongshan suit and had a slender figure.

Without any unnecessary formalities, he went straight to the head of the table, but did not sit down. Instead, he placed his hands on the edge of the table and got straight to the point.

"Good morning, teachers and experts. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules at the end of the year to accept the invitation from CCTV and shoulder this weighty responsibility."

"The Spring Festival Gala is a national annual cultural feast and a family reunion dinner presented to Chinese people all over the world."

"Song programs are the most direct, widely disseminated, and memorable part of the program. They must carry joy, express reunion, and convey feelings of patriotism, while also taking into account artistic innovation and popular aesthetics."

"Our goal is not to select the top singers, but to choose the most suitable and relatable songs and the best performers for the specific context of New Year's Eve and for the hundreds of millions of viewers from different backgrounds in front of the television."

His voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear and powerful, resonating loudly in the quiet conference room.

Yu Wei strongly agrees with this point: the Spring Festival Gala is not a talent show, and good works are not necessarily suitable for the Spring Festival Gala stage.

The programs he selected for his friends were all ones that had appeared on the Spring Festival Gala stage in previous years, rather than just a bunch of good works.

Even though it was a fake Spring Festival Gala, Yu Wei's song selection was very suitable for the New Year atmosphere. When to listen to what song is more important than the numerical value.

Just as he was marveling at how his ideas coincided with those of the director, that sharp gaze struck again, and Yu Wei could feel it even without looking up.

This person sized him up for even longer than Ye Shengyu. Did they know each other?
Yu Wei tried to return to normal, pretending to focus on the documents in his hand and read the terms word by word, but his gaze followed her like a shadow, making no attempt to hide it.

A master of voyeurism...

Next, Xu Zhen introduced the main creators beside him. Ye Shengyu, needless to say, is the music director and a highly respected senior. He is in charge of the overall coordination of song programs.

Yu Wei exchanged a glance with Ye Laodeng from afar. Well, the father and son, one in charge and the other in charge, were practically in charge of everything!
The slightly plump man is Wang Taikang, the deputy director of the station. He has a kind of affable demeanor cultivated by long hours spent at his desk and in meetings. He is the chief producer of the Spring Festival Gala.

It's quite normal that the highest-ranking executives and resource managers of a gala are usually senior managers from the television station or production company.

The woman next to him, who had a gentle smile, was Teacher Zhao Rujun. Yu Wei knew her; she was a well-known artist with great prestige in the industry.

Teacher Zhao was the "chief aesthetics officer" for the gala, leading the overall visual style, stage design, lighting, color scheme, and costume design.

The bespectacled, refined-looking man is Feng Qi, the director of the gala's language-based programs. He doesn't participate in the judging of the music programs; he's just here to make an appearance.

Finally, Xu Zhen introduced the woman who had been spying on Yu Wei. Liao Ling had a well-proportioned figure, impeccable manners, an oval face, and delicate, elegant makeup. Her lipstick was a rosy red that enhanced her complexion.

Putting aside the stalking issue, she appears to be a rational, capable, elegant, and strong woman with a powerful presence.

She is the director of the gala, manages a large technical team, and is fully responsible for all technical systems in the studio, including sound, light, electricity, mechanics, communication, and transmission.

She was also in charge of the live broadcast of the gala. Although she didn't have much real power, she was indispensable and could be considered the engineer of the Spring Festival Gala.

Holy crap, there really is a female director...

To advance the plot of his novel, the female screenwriter in his novel took on too much responsibility, but unexpectedly, she stumbled upon a stroke of luck.

Then, their gazes met briefly across the long table and through the floating dust. There was indeed a hint of something indescribable, like "hostility," in Liao Ling's eyes as she looked at him.

But it wasn't hatred directed at Yu Wei personally; it was more like an instinctive unease and wariness towards "uncertain factors."

However, the other person looked away the moment their eyes met, making it clear that they were only staring without actually looking at the other person.

After the introductions, today's meeting officially began. The Yuwei judging panel was divided into three professional groups, each with different responsibilities.

Group 1: Artistic Expression and Singing Techniques, consisting of vocal professors, singers, and senior recording engineers.

They primarily assess technical indicators such as pitch, rhythm, timbre control, breath control, and emotional interpretation, and even include an assessment of the stability of live performances.

This was the group Yu Wei feared the most, because his teammates were not very skilled and could be eliminated if they weren't careful.

Unfortunately, he wasn't in the first group, so he had no say at all and could only hope that everyone would unleash their full potential...

The second group: Works and Innovation. Yu Wei is in this group, along with some well-known lyricists, composers, music producers, and professors from the composition departments of music academies.

They need to focus on the work itself: the literary and ideological qualities of the lyrics and their fit with the theme of the Spring Festival; the smoothness, memorability, and innovativeness of the melody; and the sophistication of the arrangement and its potential for combining audiovisual language.

In short, they need to judge the selection of songs for the Spring Festival Gala; if the songs are bad, don't blame the road for being uneven.

In a sense, it is quite fitting. Although Yu Wei is technically excellent, his most celebrated quality is indeed his creative ability.

Yu Wei does have a say in this group, but his song selection was fine in the first place. Even without him, this part wouldn't have gone wrong.

They've been set up by CCTV...

Actually, this group is very important, but for Yu Wei's own team, this group is meaningless.

He always showed favoritism in the other two groups, but he didn't need to show favoritism in the song selection group, so he was just wasting his potential.

Yu Wei's novel was featured on the Spring Festival Gala with such a grand scale that CCTV naturally paid attention to it. They found that although Yu Wei's plot was completely illogical and the judging was very hasty, the song selection was indeed very good.

The reason they assigned Yu Wei to the song selection group was because of their shared philosophy—he's so knowledgeable.
It wasn't that CCTV was targeting him; rather, it was this unintentional collaboration that harmed him.

"It was me, who killed me?"

The third group: the stage presentation and audience resonance group, they need to imagine how this song will ultimately be presented on the big screen on New Year's Eve.

It sounds abstract, but it's actually about evaluating the show from the perspective of the audience and the market. The singer's stage presence, audience appeal, performance style, and the match between the performance and the song are all evaluation criteria. "Three groups will judge independently and score back to back."

Xu Zhen emphasized: "Each submitted work will receive three evaluation reports with different focuses."

“We encourage debate, but we reject favoritism. All review comments will be compiled in coded form and submitted to the creative team for final review and approval.”

Next, he demonstrated the review process: initial screening, preliminary review by a panel, cross-review by a panel, deliberation meeting, and submission of final review recommendations.

The entire process is expected to last two weeks and is very fast-paced.

The professionalism of the Spring Festival Gala judges completely exceeded Yu Wei's expectations, and the complexity of the process was something that entertainment novels could not "imagine".

No wonder Jingle Bells said he wrote nonsense and made things up; compared to reality, the scoring and ranking system in his novels is utter rubbish...

The meeting lasted all morning, and Yu Wei felt his head was spinning. He had really been tricked by CCTV and hadn't gained any benefits, nor had he managed to become a crony.

Actually, this is fine too. Yu Wei also hopes that they can stand on the stage based on their own strength. If they rely on connections to get on, they are no different from those idols who can't even get on stage.

This is a good opportunity to test their individual talents and achievements. What future can they talk about if they can't overcome this hurdle?
After the meeting ended, just as Yu Wei was about to leave with the crowd, Ye Shengyu called him over and asked him to come and talk.

"Ah this."

This was something Yu Wei hadn't expected. With so many big shots present, why single him out for a private meeting?

Several judges around me cast brief but restrained glances at me. We're all judges, so why were you able to infiltrate the creative team?

There are also differences among the judges...

"He's a very handsome man."

Deputy Director Wang Taikang patted Yu Wei on the shoulder, his eyes filled with undisguised admiration.

He was sitting in the VIP section of the audience that night and was deeply impressed by Yu Wei's heroic efforts to turn the tide.

He made up his mind at the time that this kid had to be on the Spring Festival Gala. He already sang two songs at the concert, so he had to sing three songs on the Spring Festival Gala.

The others nodded to him, all with very good manners. Liao Ling was the same; although her gaze was a little strange, her etiquette was impeccable, and she didn't make Yu Wei feel uncomfortable.

"Xiao Yu has arranged a few programs."

Xu Zhen glanced at him with interest. In the past few days, Yu Wei had included at least a dozen works related to the Spring Festival Gala in his novels.

Based on his style, all of these works should be put to the test...

This lineup is truly intimidating. If they were to put together more than ten programs at once, no matter how good the quality, they wouldn't be able to accept them all.

They just wanted to find out in advance that Yu Wei had a lot of inventory, but there was no need to exaggerate; the Spring Festival Gala couldn't hold that many.

If it really doesn't work out, we can come back next year.

Before Yu Wei could even speak, Liao Ling's gaze swept over him. Could this kid really be trying to cast a wide net and catch only the most important fish? With over twenty programs, how are other people supposed to survive?
"Eight..."

Okay, there are quite a lot, but Yu Wei dares to guarantee that they are all top-quality, I swear to God!
"what?"

Liao Ling's exclamation drew everyone's attention. Ye Shengyu thought to himself, "This is bad. This girl has always been wary of Yu Wei's family's dominance. Could she be losing her temper after hearing eight programs?"

This kid is really something, why put on so many shows at once? Does he really want to devour all the popularity of the Spring Festival Gala in one go?

“That much?”

Ye Shengyu was just complaining about Yu Wei's lack of manners when Liao Ling's next sentence completely shut him down.

What do you mean by "this little bit"? You think eight is too few?
Indeed, there are fewer. Liao Ling read through each chapter one by one. Yu Wei's new works in the "Spring Festival Gala episode" include seven skits alone, and even more songs.

If she remembers correctly, there were exactly twenty-one. Where did the rest go?

Eight is indeed a lot, and Liao Ling also thinks it's a lot, but compared to the total number that Yu Wei brought out, it's far less.

"Xiaoling, what you're doing..."

The main creators never expected that Liao Ling would complain about the amount, after all, she was the one who suppressed Yu Wei the most during the meeting.

To be honest, Xu Zhen was just trying to play the "checks and balances" game. If Yu Wei brought too many works, he could use Liao Ling to stop him.

He won't even need to show his face; he can simply act as a neutral observer and say a few words in agreement, and he can easily achieve his goal of suppressing Yu Wei.

Who would have thought that Liao Ling would suddenly turn against him, complaining every day that Yu Wei had too many programs and was planning the Spring Festival Gala, but when Yu Wei actually came, she complained that there weren't enough. What a joke!

Xu Zhen felt like she was being messed with. Others might complain that it wasn't enough, but you can't complain about it? Is that your persona?
Now things are really messed up; it's not even easy to get Yu Wei to cut a few performances...

Where did all those shows from your novel go?

Liao Ling didn't care about office politics. She never expected Yu Wei to be so stingy, writing a bunch of things and getting eight. There must be something fishy going on!

Yu Wei was taken aback. This person was reading his book?

Otherwise, how could they know it so well...? (End of Chapter)