I really don't want to make bad movies!

Xia Ming strolled to the north gate of the school.

At 8:40 a.m., a conspicuous black BMW was already parked at the school gate.

I glanced at the license plate number sent by my senior, and it was clearly this car.

Xia Ming stepped forward and knocked on the car window.

"Wow, nice car, senior."

The car window rolled down, revealing a well-dressed, elite-looking man inside.

His beard was clean-shaven, his hair was styled with hair gel, and he held a half-finished cup of coffee in his hand.

"Get in the car."

Huang Xuke is also a pragmatist. Without much talk, he opened the car door directly.

"That coffee under the seat was bought for you."

Xia Ming fastened his seatbelt and casually took out an American-style drink from the bag.

The two of them tacitly avoided exchanging words in the car.

As the car started, it drove northwest and eventually stopped in front of a glass curtain wall building.

Huang Xuke led Xia Ming straight up to the seventeenth floor, through the bustling office area, and finally into a spacious office.

The first thing you see is the impressive floor-to-ceiling windows, offering a panoramic view of the vast science park.

"Wow, impressive, senior."

"Alright, stop with the formalities. I'm just an employee too."

Huang Xuke invited Xia Ming to sit down and got straight to the point: "How did you come up with the idea of ​​making a film like 'The Big Hornet'?"

Xia Ming answered quickly: "Because Transformers 5 is about to be released, I want to ride the wave of its popularity."

"You're quite honest."

Huang Xuke turned on his computer, opened his email, and rotated the screen: "You sent me an email before, but I was too busy to notice it."

"When I checked the emails afterward, I found that you had already predicted that 'The Big Hornet' would get more than 10 million views."

Huang Xuke carefully observed Xia Ming's expression and asked solemnly, "Before we officially begin our conversation, I'd like to ask, if I may be so bold as to ask, how much money did you invest in this work?"

Xia Ming did a quick calculation: the actors' salaries plus meals amounted to 1,500 yuan, the photo studio shooting and post-production to 2,000 yuan, special effects production to 500 yuan, plus publicity costs to 1,000 yuan, and the rest of the process was free.

"About five thousand dollars."

"Five thousand?!"

Huang Xuke's fingers suddenly stopped typing.

The movie "The Big Hornet" was playing on his computer.

No matter how many times you watch it, you will be shocked by its audiovisual style, which is comparable to alien aesthetics.

However, this was a film with a budget that was less than his weekly salary.

It actually garnered 30 million views on the iQiyi website!

Although the rate of increase is slowing down, the momentum is still considerable.

If we had signed the contract for this work in advance, the GG fee we could have made from just the clicks would have been unimaginable!

If he had been even bolder and used this work to sign a performance-based contract, he might have become a legend at Kiwi.

Xia Ming knew everything in advance via email.

But Huang Xuke didn't believe it!

Unconsciously, Huang Xuke bit down on the straw, trying his best to hide his regretful expression.

"How did you ever imagine that this work would become such a hit, even surpassing ten million views?"

This is the question Huang Xuke most wants to ask.

"Senior, shouldn't this fall under the category of paid knowledge content?"

Xia Ming did not answer directly.

"I'm your senior, and we were discussing academic issues related to the film and television industry. You're asking me for money?"

"Senior, I stuffed a wad of cash right into your mailbox back then, so you still owe me some money."

Huang Xuke choked and nearly bit off the straw.

He glared at Xia Ming, put down his coffee, and pulled a contract out of the drawer.

Xia Ming took the contract handed to him by Huang Xuke and saw that it was a contract to acquire the copyright of "The Big Hornet".

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be 30,000 yuan.

"Our company has a variety show about film production, and next week we will be discussing Transformers and The Wasp together."

Huang Xuke composed himself and began to speak in a gentle and detailed manner.

"As your senior, I still put in a good word for you during the meeting. I convinced the higher-ups to buy your film and television rights for 30,000 yuan, so that they can give your movie a full-on boost on the show."

"Could you call that a few kind words, senior?"

They say they're buying the copyright, but it's really just for the sake of creating a variety show effect so people can criticize it to their heart's content.

Huang Xuke shrugged helplessly.

"When we first heard you were a freshman, the company only wanted to offer you 5,000 yuan!"

"I'll negotiate the price down to 30,000 yuan for you. How about I pay you for asking me a question?"

Xia Ming picked up the contract and silently pondered it while flipping through it.

After "The Big Hornet" became a hit, he started thinking about how to convert that traffic into cash as much as possible.

The difficulty lies in the fact that the quality of "The Big Hornet" is predictable at a glance, and most people are just watching it for entertainment.

Huang Xuke was right; he really might have negotiated that 30,000 yuan.

An investment of 5,000 yuan yielded an income of 30,000 yuan.

If you also include the 10,000 yuan cash reward from the school, Xia Ming's first film can be considered a great success.

This is a huge sum of money for a freshman.

But that's a bit too little for Xia Ming.

He pushed the contract back.

Huang Xuke's eye twitched almost imperceptibly.

Since they were from the same school, he certainly didn't want to show an unpleasant expression.

He thought he had given his junior classmate enough face by spending 30,000 yuan on a poorly made long video.

"Junior, you and I both know how bad 'The Wasp' is. Its popularity is just due to riding on the coattails of 'Transformers.' Once the hype dies down, you probably won't even make a penny."

"If you don't value this 30,000 yuan and have higher aspirations, then I really can't offer a better deal."

Huang Xuke's tone gradually turned somber.

Xia Ming was not intimidated by Huang Xuke's cold expression. He leaned forward slowly and spoke gradually.

"Senior, do you think the phenomenal viewership of 'The Big Hornet' is just a matter of luck?"

"Isn't that exactly what I wanted to ask?" Huang Xuke leaned back in his chair. "I don't want to discourage you, but even if I gave you an investment of 100,000 yuan, you definitely couldn't make a second 'Big Hornet' movie."

"Snap—"

Xia Ming gently closed his palms.

"Senior, you've clearly fallen into a misconception."

"What?"

Huang Xuke frowned, not understanding Xia Ming's meaning.

Xia Ming explained with a smile.

Why do you think the success of "The Wasp" was due to luck, rather than because I caught the wave of viral content?

"Of course," Huang Xuke smiled calmly. "Who doesn't know you're riding the coattails of the upcoming Transformers movie?"

"Then why don't other people film it? Kiwi is such a big website, can't they afford five thousand yuan?"

That's because—

Huang Xuke originally wanted to say that it was because his family was so wealthy and powerful that he couldn't bring himself to do it.

But thinking about it carefully, if we had known that this project would become a huge hit, who would have cared about saving face?

Xia Ming got up, walked to Huang Xuke's side, took the mouse, and began operating the computer.

He opened Bilibili and typed "Transformers" into the search bar.

Soon, dozens of similar videos popped up on the webpage.

"In fact, long before filming began, I noticed that there were many rumors about Transformers 5 circulating on video websites."

Huang Xuke was taken aback upon hearing this and turned to look at the webpage.

After graduating, he rarely watched long videos anymore, and he only had time to watch music videos when he was in line.

He wasn't really familiar with these marketing videos circulating online.

Upon closer inspection of the submission dates of these videos, it's clear they were indeed uploaded before "Big Hornet" was released.

Moreover, each video has a high number of views.

"How can you film in such a short time...?"

Huang Xuke stopped talking halfway through his sentence.

Given the quality of "The Big Hornet," filming could be completed in a single day.

"So you decided to make a pirated Transformers movie to ride the wave of popularity after seeing these circulating rumor videos?"

Huang Xuke turned to look at Xia Ming and realized that this junior was no ordinary person.

At the very least, they possess market insight and exceptional execution capabilities.

But it wasn't to the point that he was impressed.

"After saying all that, you're still just riding the coattails of others' popularity, aren't you? Without a stable output of creative content, relying solely on riding the coattails of others' popularity won't make your copyrights sell for a higher price."

Huang Xuke hesitated slightly, then placed his hand on the contract: "I'll personally give you another 10,000, just to be friends."

Xia Ming sighed slightly, straightened his back, and shook his head.

Huang Xuke was already somewhat dissatisfied: "If you can't do it, then go back!"

"Senior, you see, you're still stuck in the misconception I mentioned."

He deleted "Transformers" from the search bar and searched for "Bumblebee" instead.

"As someone working in the internet industry, it's more important to catch up with the traffic trends than to create them."

As the search keywords changed, the videos that popped up all became clips from "The Wasp".

The endless stream of parody clips is also included.

Some videos are a cathartic outpouring of frustration, others are a barrage of angry rants, and still others are clips of unforgettable scenes from movies, intended to poison the eyes of other viewers.

Although the number of views was not high, the amount of video output that day was very high, with several fan-made videos of "Big Hornet" appearing every few tens of minutes on average.

"Senior, I have a proposal. Would you like to hear it?"