The director starts by learning from the abilities of renowned directors.

Chapter 160 Douyin

After Zhu Wenjia finished speaking, he quietly looked at Shen Qing. The boss seemed a little distracted, and he didn't know if the boss could understand what he was saying.

"What do you think of the name 'Check-in Together'?" Shen Qing suddenly asked.

"what?"

"How about this standalone app you just mentioned, called 'Check-in Together'?"

"Mr. Shen, the name I'm proposing is 'Cat's Eye Street'."

Shen Qing thought for a moment upon hearing this and said, "'Maoyan' already has brand recognition; it's obviously related to celebrities. 'Street' implies geographical space, which directly aligns with content formats like store visits and travel, and its explanation cost is low—it's a suitable name. However, 'Street' locks the content format into the geographical dimension. The easiest monetization logic for the app you envision is celebrity outfits, everyday people wearing the clothes, and beauty tutorials—these don't actually need to rely on 'Street.'"

Zhu Wenjia said, "But isn't 'clocking in' a way of checking attendance at work?"

Shen Qing laughed and said, "That was true before, but now there are signs that the usage is expanding. Last year, people on Weibo were already talking about checking in at exercise, vegetable markets, and visiting parents."

"Checking in" is an action, not a location, naturally guiding users to engage in behavior rather than passively browsing. It can infinitely accommodate various content categories: checking in on celebrity schedules, store visits, fashion trends, beauty products, sports, studies, international coups, breaking news, and ultimately, everything can be checked in.

The phrase "Together" implicitly carries a community element, fostering strong user engagement. As for the cost of explanation, it involves celebrities posting two check-in photos of famous scenic spots...

The concept was spread through Weibo posts about checking in for yoga and study sessions.

Zhu Wenjia became excited. Everyone knew that President Shen was rich and had billions in cash on hand. As long as he approved the project, it could be implemented.

Shen Qing took a sip of tea and pondered for more than ten minutes. Zhu Wenjia waited quietly, not daring to disturb Shen Qing in the slightest.

A dozen minutes later, Shen Qing finally made up her mind.

"I will establish a wholly-owned subsidiary under the Magic Investment Group called CiYuan Rhythm Technology," and under that, two independently operating companies will be set up. One is "YiQi Daka," which will be responsible for operating the content we just discussed, and the other is "CiYuan Rhythm Research Institute," which will be the technology and algorithm platform under CiYuan Rhythm Technology. You will be responsible for setting up this CiYuan Rhythm Research Institute."

"The 'Word Rhythm Research Institute'? Mr. Shen, what is a technology and algorithm platform?"

The concept of "technology middle platform" only emerged in 2015 with Alibaba's "big middle platform, small front-end" strategy, and it was not widely used until 2018-2019.

Shen Qing briefly explained his vision of a technology middle platform, the essence of which is "architecture reuse." The current SOA architecture and middleware system are already very mature. Zhu Wenjia himself works on this at Baidu, so he understood immediately after Shen Qing only mentioned the beginning.

Senior engineers in Baidu's search department have seen more "siloed" construction than anyone else, and the concept of "middle platform" is precisely to solve the problem of reinventing the wheel. In the future, with the information explosion, all kinds of content can be found on Douyin. These ideas, which seem very ordinary to Shen Qing, are like opening the door to a new world to Zhu Wenjia.

In layman's terms, a non-central platform setup is like building a house using a monolithic casting method, while a central platform is like building a house using building blocks. The technology of the central platform can be used to build a platform for people to check in together, and in the future, it can be directly used to build a Douyin (TikTok) platform.

Checking in together was never Shen Qing's goal; it was merely a training ground for him to hone his skills and algorithms. The real prize was Douyin, which he was going to incubate later.

He named the new company "Token Technology". "Token" is the standard translation of the basic unit of AI. The rhythm of token is AI. Rhythm is TikTok. The rhythm of token is the rhythm of algorithm and the rhythm of music.

In the future, every video, every audio clip, and every creative segment on Douyin can be seen as a rhythmic movement of "content morphemes".

Since we're going to do this together, we definitely need to study recommendation algorithms, information finding, and content distribution.

Since we're going to study algorithms anyway, let's just make TikTok too.

Since they've already done Douyin (TikTok), how could they not participate in the development of large-scale AI models?

Shen Qing, a filmmaker, suddenly enters such a long entrepreneurial chain. Can he make it to the other side?

Zhu Wenjia's heart was churning with emotions. The boss, who didn't understand technology, had put forward a strategically conceived middle platform idea, and the independent middle platform system, separate from the business departments, had an overwhelming advantage in attracting top talent.

If the algorithm components are grouped together within the app project, it becomes the app's "Technical Operations Department," naturally viewed as a cost department, constrained by operational KPIs, and inferior to the operations department that directly creates value. In contrast, the independent "Word Rhythm Research Institute," with its name carrying an academic and technological aura, enjoys a high degree of autonomy and freedom, embodies the group's strategy, and provides employees with greater job security.

The two talked for more than four hours. Zhu Wenjia left the chairman's office with a radiant face. Shen Qing had already entrusted him with the task of establishing the "Word Rhythm Research Institute" and recruiting talents.

Building a middle platform means not being limited to working on a single product, but rather creating a product matrix. Who knows what kind of monster it might eventually incubate? For a technical person, this is simply the ultimate ideal.

After Zhu Wenjia left, Shen Qing called his assistant Gao Yue and arranged for her to be in charge of the registration of the new company.

Gao Yue is the president's assistant at the parent company, "Miracle Investment Group." The parent company has an extremely simple structure, with no board of directors and only one executive director, Shen Qing himself. The company has a president's office, staffed with one president's assistant and seven consultants specializing in various fields.

The president's assistant is Gao Yue.

Magical Pictures, Jumei Entertainment, and Maoyan Movies are all subsidiaries of Magical Investment. In the future, we will also add "CiYuan Rhythm Company".

CiYuan Rhythm will also have subsidiaries such as YiQiDaKa, CiYuan Rhythm Research Institute, and Douyin. CiYuan Rhythm is benchmarked against ByteDance, founded by Zhang Yiming.

-

At the end of November, Shen Qing went to Jietai Temple in Mentougou, a suburb of Beijing, to attend the opening ceremony of "The Legend of Zhen Huan". Deng Chao, who had just held his wedding with Sun Li in June, was also there. Deng Chao was like Sun Li's shadow, following her wherever she went. Sun Li couldn't bear to leave him.

Why are you following me around like this?

"You're my wife, who else would I follow if not you?"

"You're so spineless. Director Shen Qing is here too. Go and talk to him more."

"I've already informed them."

"Just saying hello isn't enough; you have to show something."

"Isn't that too pragmatic?"

Are you going or not?

"I'll go, I'll go, okay?"

Then Deng Chao sneakily moved closer to Shen Qing.

When Shen Qing saw Deng Chao, he thought of "Running Man". Then he thought that Nazha and Rouba's acting skills were not good. There were few roles that suited their Western appearance. Perhaps the company should find a TV station or video website to cooperate in producing some variety shows. If they don't have acting talent, then they can shine in variety shows.

The original copyright of "Running Man" is held by South Koreans; it's time to buy it in advance.

"There are so many beautiful women today."

Shen Qing moved closer to Liu Shishi, who was dressed in theatrical costume. Liu Shishi turned her head and glanced at Shen Qing, then suddenly sighed.

Shen Qing looked around. Tong Liya, who played Ye Lanyi, was quite good. Bai Bing, who played Li Fei, was also his type. Li Yexing, who played Ying Guiren, was also good. There was also Mao Xiaotong and Tan Songyun. Actually, Tan Songyun was not particularly beautiful. She had a cute baby face, but Shen Qing liked them all.

Liu Shishi turned her head and glanced at Shen Qing again. Seeing that he was really looking at the beautiful women, she wanted to pinch his waist, but she managed to hold back because there were so many people around.

"How about it? Lots of beautiful girls, right? I wasn't lying, was I?"

Her voice already sounded a bit sarcastic.

"Um."

Shen Qing nodded.

The single word "hmm" infuriated Liu Shishi.

He even dared to say "uh-huh" and nod?

Regardless of how many people were around, he reached out and pinched Shen Qing's waist. After pinching her, he looked around nervously, and only felt relieved when he saw that no one was paying attention.

Why did you pinch me?

"Who told you to look at pretty girls?"

Although she knew that Shen Qing had many women, Liu Shishi still couldn't stand seeing him looking at other women with such a blissful expression.

"You're the one who told me to look, and I looked around and there were indeed a lot of beautiful women." Shen Qing paused, and seeing that Liu Shishi couldn't help but pinch him again, he changed the subject and said, "But my neck hurts from looking, and in the end, there was only one woman here who could be called a goddess."

"Who is the goddess on site?"

"Far away, yet right before my eyes."

"I wouldn't dare accept that; I'd get scolded if people found out."

"Anyone who's not convinced is just jealous. If they're so capable, they should bring back a Golden Eagle Goddess too."

Liu Shishi then remembered that she was the third Golden Eagle Goddess.

"Trying to be clever."

Liu Shishi muttered to herself.

Shen Qing left after staying on set for a while. He still has a lot to do every day and doesn't have time to stay on set all the time.

Shen Qing's assistant, Shen Ying, stayed with the "Empresses in the Palace" crew. Driver Shen Lei would drop Shen Qing off and then return to pick up Liu Shishi after filming wrapped, taking her to Shen Qing's home. They would then return to the crew around 4 AM. Actresses usually start their morning makeup quite early.

The car that picked up Liu Shishi drove into the Panhai International Community at night. The driver, Shen Lei, waited in the car, while his assistant, Shen Ying, accompanied Liu Shishi upstairs. Shen Qing then asked Shen Ying to bring over a late-night snack an hour later. After that, he quickly sent her away. As soon as the door closed again, Shen Qing pulled Liu into his arms and bit her lips.

A minute later, she released Liu and stared intently at Shen Qing. After a while, she said, "Don't be so impatient next time, okay?"

"What's wrong?" Shen Qing asked, puzzled.

Liu Shishi said somewhat embarrassedly, "I specifically told Xiaoying to come back in an hour to deliver the late-night snack. What do you plan to do in that hour?"

"you!"

Shen Qing replied succinctly, and Liu Shishi blushed.

"you----"

Liu Shishi was speechless. Was that how she should respond?

"Little Oriole is probably thinking about this right now."

"Shall we get started?" Shen Qing asked with a smile.

Liu Shishi, annoyed that she was interrupted again, reached out and pinched Shen Qing's waist. Shen Qing took the opportunity to pick her up and carry her to the bedroom.

"Let's not waste any more time, otherwise when Xiaoying comes back, she'll have to wait for us outside the door like a maidservant. In ancient times, maidservants would bring hot water and towels outside the door, but she'll bring us our midnight snack."

Well, Shen Qing's mouth was practically blessed; it actually made Xiao Ying wait outside the door for a while.

The next morning, when the driver and Shen Ying came to pick up Liu Shishi to return to the film set, Liu Shishi was too embarrassed to make eye contact with Shen Ying.

At the end of the month, Yang Mi flew back to Beijing from the film crew in another city. Before boarding the plane, she called Shen Qing and asked Shen Lei and Shen Ying to pick her up at the airport. She wanted to go to Shen Qing's house, take a nice bath, and treat him well.

"From now on, you should stay away from your little lovers and rest up at home while you wait for me."

A few days ago, the box office of "Breakup Buddies" officially broke the 11 billion yuan mark, which made Yang Mi feel good.

Her next film, "Bad Genius," is also directed by Ning Hao. Now that Ning Hao has successfully become a director with a box office of over 1 billion yuan, Yang Mi is instantly filled with fighting spirit and hopes that "Bad Genius" can achieve similar success to "Breakup Buddies."

The two films are indeed quite similar in terms of their inherent qualities.

The screenwriter of "Breakup Buddies" is Shen Qing, and the screenwriter of "Bad Genius" is also Shen Qing.

The director of "Breakup Buddies" is Ning Hao, and the director of "Bad Genius" is also Ning Hao.

There's no reason why "Breakup Buddies" could succeed while "Bad Genius" couldn't!

Do you think "Bad Genius" can also break 10 billion at the box office?

"I'm not a fortune teller, how would I know?"

"No, I have to guess."

"Well, I guess 3 million shouldn't be a problem, 5 million shouldn't be too much of a problem, and anything over 7 million depends on luck."

"No, you have to try harder. I also want to be the lead actress in a billion-dollar movie like Gao Yuanyuan."

"Yes, I'm pushing."

"Don't interrupt, I just want a movie that grosses over a billion dollars."

"The female lead in 'Breakup Buddies' had too little presence. The female lead in 'Bad Genius' was absolutely the focal point. If you played this role well, the 3 million yuan box office of 'Bad Genius' would have been a greater boost to you than the 10 billion yuan box office of 'Breakup Buddies' would have been to Gao Yuanyuan. In fact, it would have been much greater."

A movie called "The Warring States" was released in April this year, starring Sun Honglei and Jing Tian. The production cost was 150 million yuan, but the box office was less than 100 million yuan, and the production company lost a lot of money.

Sun Honglei was even willing to return his salary to criticize the film.

This film was a huge blow to Jing Tian; she was even worried that Shen Qing's "The Great Wall" would also be criticized because of her.

"I am the director. Whether 'The Great Wall' succeeds or fails, the reason lies with me. I don't need you to take responsibility for 'The Great Wall'."

Jing Tian was invited by Shen Qing to read the script. He arranged for Jing Tian to play the second female lead in "Bad Genius," a rich second-generation heiress who was good for nothing. The role was perfect for Jing Tian in every way.

The script reading took place at Shen Qing's house. Before reading, they warmed up by having Jing Tian turn off the lights, but Shen Qing objected.

"How can you read a script with the lights off? Are you going to use a glow-in-the-dark script reading system? The lights have to be on."

"Is this how you usually read scripts with women?"

"Well, not entirely."