I really don't want to make bad movies!

After staying in his dormitory for a week, Xia Ming spent his days either attending classes or observing public opinion.

Those obviously malicious comments from rival fan leaders who are just trying to smear someone will be deleted by him using various means.

He would choose to leave comments discussing plot holes and character motivation flaws; these discussion posts, while revealing shortcomings in the show's conception, could increase its popularity.

And this is only a small portion of the sound.

Most viewers expressed satisfaction with "The Swindler".

Within a week of its release, "The Swindler" consistently maintained a rating of 9.0 or higher.

After a week of positive word-of-mouth, coupled with Xia Ming's tireless efforts to launch new marketing accounts and the spontaneous efforts of netizens to ride the wave of popularity, "Mao Pian" has become increasingly well-known.

The five main actors in the drama also gained fame.

They are young and beautiful, and their acting skills have been carefully honed by Xia Ming, perfectly matching the character settings, which has attracted countless fans in a short period of time.

The individuals' Weibo accounts all surpassed 10,000 followers within a week, gaining a small following.

Especially Jiangxi Xixi.

Her character, Zhao Ning, is the leader of the team. She has the most screen time in the early stages and shoulders the responsibility of designing the scam, which makes her the most likable to the audience.

In addition, her cool facial features appeal to both men and women, which can attract two groups of fans.

Although she gained the most followers, she had the lowest popularity on Weibo.

Jiang Xixi has only posted two Weibo posts since registering her account: one to celebrate the release of "The Big Hornet" and the other to celebrate the premiere of "The Swindler".

Fans want to see her hobbies and learn about her life, but there are no channels for discussion, so they can only silently follow her.

Unlike the other lead actors, who have shared their private lives to varying degrees.

Xia Ming quickly scanned a bunch of video platforms and social media apps to estimate the current popularity of "The Swindler".

The two episodes on Tencent Video have both garnered over 10 million views and have a popularity score of around 20 million.

It is currently the most popular drama series on Tencent Video.

However, it still lags far behind "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4".

It's worth noting that "Chinese Paladin 4" surpassed 10 million views on its first day of release, and exceeded 100 million views five days later.

That's a real 100 million yuan in publicity, something Xia Ming can't easily catch up to by stirring up trouble online.

Xia Ming wasn't in a hurry, after all, Tengzi hadn't made its move yet.

Just as I was thinking of Tengzi, Pete called: "Producer Xia, I'm at your school gate."

Today is the day for the Tencent interview.

Xia Ming tidied himself up, picked out a decent outfit, and was stopped by Wang Zhengchuan as he walked to the door.

"Where are you going, Ming?"

"North Gate".

"oh."

……

As soon as Xia Ming reached the North Gate, he saw a familiar figure rushing down the pedestrian overpass and looking around at the North Gate.

The other person also saw Xia Ming, and immediately ran up to him, feigning surprise as they covered their mouth: "Oh, Director Xia, what a coincidence!"

"..."

Xia Ming looked at Yan Shu with a suspicious gaze.

Is this woman following me?

Today she was dressed completely differently from her usual mature and sexy style; she was even a little cute.

A light pink and white checkered mid-length wool coat covered her lower body, revealing only a pair of long legs encased in slouch socks.

Her hair was tied into pigtails, and she was wearing an adorable white fluffy beret.

"Director Xia, I'm here today..."

Before she could finish speaking, Xia Ming saw a Mercedes parked at the school gate.

Pete rolled down the car window and waved to him.

"Sorry, I'm busy today."

Xia Ming interrupted him and ran towards the Mercedes.

Watching Xia Ming's departing figure, Yan Shu's lips curled slightly. She ripped off her hair tie and threw it hard on the ground.

"Just you wait!"

……

"Girlfriend?" Pete asked, unable to resist gossiping as he drove.

No, I'm single.

Pete glanced at him suspiciously: "Producer Xia is young and promising, and handsome too, how come he's single?"

"My career is more important," Xia Ming replied casually.

"Haha, well said!"

Pete stepped on the gas, and the two headed straight for the film and television base that Tengzi had built in Jinghai.

This was originally a location used by Tencent to film variety shows, but today they specially reserved a tent for Pitt and set up a stage for his interview.

The background has been simply decorated, and you can see Tencent Video's premium logo.

While the makeup artist was doing Xia Ming's makeup, Pete went over the script with him, giving Xia Ming time to think.

Xia Ming thought the interview would be filmed and edited before airing next week, but he didn't expect it to be a live broadcast.

"Who would bother searching for your interviews? We'll just put the show right before the premiere of the 'The Swindlers' series, forcing those viewers who are waiting for the next episode to watch it."

"We'll upload the recording later; anyone interested can search for it."

This actually did Xia Ming a favor.

"The Swindlers" is currently trending with tens of millions of views, and the second episode ended at a point that left viewers wanting more. At this point, there are at least hundreds of thousands of viewers, if not millions, of people watching the latest episodes.

During the interview, Xia Ming could also give a preview of his new movie.

However, the live stream made him a little nervous, and he took a few deep breaths backstage.

Thinking about the method I had taught Jiang Xixi, I copied it and it really calmed me down.

Watching the Tengzi staff set up the lights and cameras, Xia Ming felt like he was an actor.

At 5:30 p.m., Xia Ming and the host sat down and began the interview on time.

Meanwhile, the live stream also appeared on the devices of various viewers who were waiting for the latest episode of "The Swindler".

"Hello everyone, I'm your host Jelly. Today's episode focusing on creators is a little special."

"We adopted a live broadcast format, without a script or plot, so that everyone can truly hear a young and talented creator sharing his work."

"First of all, let's welcome our guest for this episode, Xia Ming, the director and screenwriter of 'The Swindler'."

The host clapped with a sweet smile.

Most of the questions were fairly standard, and the host mainly picked out a few that netizens were interested in.

"We all know that the producer of this web series is the well-known director Jiang Wen. At your age, how did you manage to get Director Jiang Wen to join the production team?"

"I interned on Director Jiang's film crew before and had the opportunity to get to know him. He inspired me a lot."

"So, what kind of idea led you to create this script?"

"I've been scammed before, so I thought I'd make a web series to help people be more discerning and avoid being scammed."

"Everyone knows that your first film was 'The Big Hornet.' What prompted you to make 'The Big Hornet'? This film was quite a shock to us!"

Xia Ming smiled at the camera: "Actually, I've always been interested in science fiction. I just casually took a picture and posted it online, and I never expected it to go viral..."

Behind the camera, He Junyan, the marketing operations director of Tencent Video, stared at the screen and asked the live stream operator next to him, "How's the audience?"

The operations manager replied, "It's alright. The number of people hasn't dropped too quickly; there are still many people interested in Xia Ming."

He Junyan nodded silently, beckoned Pete over, and they discussed it in hushed tones.

The interview continued, and the host posed the final question: "So, the last question is also the one everyone most wants to know."

"Director Xia, will there be a second season of 'The Swindlers'? Or have you already finished writing the script for a second season?"

Xia Ming thought for a moment, then smiled and replied, "The outline and framework for the second season are already in production, but I'll see how the first season is received first."

The host smiled and said, "Did you all hear that? If you want to see the second season of 'The Swindlers,' remember to support 'The Swindlers' on Tencent Video. Every click, share, and membership you make will motivate Director Xia to create more content."

"Not necessarily."

Xia Ming suddenly changed the subject: "I actually have a movie that I've been conceiving for a long time and have always wanted to present to the audience. Before creating the second season of 'The Swindlers,' I might finish this film first."

"oh?"

The host was very professional and was not affected by Xia Ming's change of heart, continuing to ask questions along the line.

"What kind of movie is it?"

"It's a science fiction movie, so it fulfills my science fiction dream."

The live broadcast director pointed to his wrist, indicating to the host that time was running out.

Jelly understood immediately and smiled as she said goodbye to the camera: "That concludes today's interview. Thank you, Director Xia, for accepting the interview, and thank you to everyone watching. Don't go away, there are still exciting episodes three and four of 'The Swindlers' coming up!"

After the live stream ended, staff began cleaning up the mess.

Pete led Xia Ming to He Junyan and introduced him, "This is Mr. He, the director of our Tencent Video Marketing Operations Department."

"Hello, Mr. He."

Xia Ming shook hands with him.

He Junyan was a middle-aged man with a sharp appearance, clean-shaven hair, and square-framed glasses.

"Do you know that 160,000 people were watching your live interview just now? You're a big star now, Director Xia!"

So little?

Xia Ming was disappointed, but he still put on a relieved expression: "You bet I was so nervous."

He Junyan and Pete exchanged a smile.

He Junyan then said, "I've watched the whole series of 'The Swindler Mao,' and the plot is getting more and more intense, especially with Chen Kun's appearance, which brings the story to a climax."

"We'll ramp up our marketing efforts, and we're absolutely confident we can surpass iQiyi's 'Sword and Fairy 4'!"

"With a reliable storyline as a guarantee, we will also apply to enable advanced on-demand viewing in advance."

"You'll be a millionaire soon! Such a promising young man!"

Enabling early access to on-demand viewing means that Xia Ming's revenue sharing will increase.

Even though the series hasn't finished airing yet, a quick calculation shows that the revenue sharing will exceed one million.

It's important to understand that this revenue comes from a split between Tengzi and Quanquan (80/20), and then between Quanquan and Xiaming (90/10).

Xia Ming didn't even dare to imagine how much money Tengzi could make from "The Swindler".

After exchanging a few pleasantries, He Junyan wanted Xia Ming to stay for dinner.

Xia Ming made an excuse to leave and went straight back to school.

He could tell that He Junyan was deliberately trying to get close to him for the copyright of the second season of "The Swindler".

Xia Ming is not stupid.

The first season of "The Swindlers" was a hit, so the copyright price for the second season had to be driven up, with the highest bidder among the various platforms getting the rights.

Back in his dorm, Xia Ming checked the viewership of episodes three and four of "The Swindler" before going to sleep.

It remains stable at just over ten million.

However, he didn't expect that the number of views would be different when he woke up the next day.

Tencent's aggressive marketing tactics are starting to kick in!