Wandering the world of film and television begins with the golden years

The press conference benefited from Li Haoyu's performance.

Normally, this kind of news would only appear in an unimportant section, perhaps a tiny, inconspicuous corner at the end. But the news about "The Beginning" made it directly to the front page of the entertainment section.

This time, Li Haoyu really delivered a free blow, because compared to some entertainment stars' bland gossip, what he said was much more entertaining.

From the bold pronouncements of the youngest film and television director in the history of Jiangzhou TV, to the humorous quotes in the later episodes, and the occasional witty remarks during press conferences.

The whole plot is full of twists and turns.

Whether the drama is good or not is hard to say, but the entertainment value is definitely off the charts. Not to mention that Jiangzhou TV really went all out for promotion this time.

Of course, there is another very important reason, which is that each media outlet also received a thoughtful gift after the event.

The result of this two-pronged approach was that whenever viewers turned on their TVs, they were bombarded with news about "The Beginning," with every single screen filled with it.

Curiosity is human nature.

With such frequent bombardment, it's hard for anyone not to become curious. When they can't help but want to see the relevant information, the purpose of this publicity campaign has been achieved.

Even people who don't usually watch TV dramas remembered the name "The Beginning" because of this.

The broadcast date for "The Beginning" is just around the corner.

The time slot is 8 PM on Saturday nights, prime time, a time that no TV station can afford to miss. Every station's flagship dramas will clash fiercely during this time.

This is a war that cannot be avoided.

Everyone will stop at nothing to win ratings. Because ratings are the only standard for judging the quality of a TV series, and the best dramas always rise to the top by stepping on the "corpses" of other dramas!

Subsequently, the TV promotion for "The Beginning" officially kicked off, with various promotional channels being rolled out systematically and comprehensively.

Li Haoyu also made sure the actors from "The Beginning" participated in various variety shows, which would also help promote the film. Everything went smoothly, and before they knew it, it was time for "The Beginning" to be released.

"The Beginning," a work of sincerity meticulously crafted by Li Haoyu.

It's finally going to be released!

This time, Li Haoyu is not going to be so low-key. "The Beginning" only has 12 episodes in total. He wants to make a name for himself from the very beginning and dominate the entire time slot, while also proving his strength.

Let everyone know the strength of a top producer.

It wasn't built on someone else's hype!

…………

Wang Jiangang is a middle-aged man in his early thirties.

Day after day, I work long hours and endure high-intensity overtime.

It had long since left him physically and mentally exhausted and overwhelmed.

His wife became increasingly indifferent to him, and the sweetness of their courtship days was gone. Work pressure was already immense, but after a long day, he couldn't even get a hot meal when he got home.

His wife seemed to only care about the children, while he, the head of the family who worked hard in the workplace, became nothing more than a decoration in the home.

He doesn't know when it started, but he can't help but fantasize in his mind: "Do I no longer love her? Should I really consider divorce?"

When can I quit my job and finally relax and live the life I dream of?

But every time he had that thought, he was quickly overwhelmed by the pressures of life. Car loan, mortgage, and his child's tuition fees were like three mountains weighing on him.

Quitting his job is easy, but how would he manage after that? His child is still young and about to take the high school entrance exam. Therefore, he only dared to think about quitting; the idea never materialized.

"The work pressure is too great. Not everyone can say that, but every working person has the thought of quitting at least a hundred times a day."

Wang Jiangang consoled himself in this way.

He turned on the TV, intending to kill some time.

Wang Jiangang doesn't remember who said this: "The way for stressed office workers to relieve stress is very simple: close the door and watch TV quietly."

Wang Jiangang casually changed channels.

Suddenly, a TV series caught his attention.

Isn't this the movie "The Beginning" that's been getting a lot of hype lately?

He'd barely glanced at it; the male and female leads hadn't even met, and the plot hadn't even begun. Before they could even get to know each other, the bus exploded. What surprised him most was that the bus seemed to have really exploded!

Good guy!

Wang Jiangang checked several times to make sure it was definitely filmed after the explosion. He couldn't help but marvel at how big the production budget was for TV dramas these days.

He later discovered that whenever the female lead dozed off on the bus, she would fall into a loop.

The beautiful Li Shiqing witnessed the tragic scene of Xiao Heyun, the boy beside her, being burned in the lake. Li Shiqing saved him in the loop, and as a result, the two of them entered the loop together.

In just the first episode, the bus exploded several times.

From the initial struggles of the two protagonists to explain themselves at the police station, to their eventual exhaustion and encountering a bug they couldn't overcome, all they could think about was quickly deleting their accounts and starting over.

In the end, the male protagonist dies despite all efforts to save him, and suddenly wakes up on the bus feeling like he was dreaming. This echoes the female protagonist's description of a dream within a dream, and the first episode of "The Beginning" ends.

Wang Jiangang finished watching the first episode of "The Beginning".

He couldn't calm down for a long time. Logically speaking, even if the explosion effects in the actual filming were very impressive, repeating them so many times would have made it less surprising.

But Wang Jiangang has always been very dedicated.

The script's ingenious design allowed the suspense to build layer by layer, enabling him to follow the actors and the plot, and quickly understand the story's logic within simple and repetitive scenes.

How to escape the cycle became his biggest concern.

He was really touched by how hard Li Shiqing was working.

Wang Jiangang felt a surge of inexplicable passion; the girl was emotional, the boy rational.

With each iteration, they uncover even more details.

However, repeated failures made Xiao Heyun want to give up. He tried more than once to persuade Li Shiqing to give up the rescue, get off the bus, call the police, and stop caring about the lives of the passengers.

This made Wang Jiangang also get involved in the story.

He couldn't help but start reasoning about who the culprit was.

How can we stop this cycle?

He also compiled a list of suspects.

The most obvious chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) boy. Because his clothes were the strangest, he wore a black mask, carried a black bag, and wore a black hat, making him look like a "rebellious youth" who would do bad things.

He certainly doesn't look like a good person.

However, Wang Jiangang also understands the tricks of screenwriting.

The person who initially seems most like the real killer is definitely not the final culprit.

So he turned his attention to the uncle with the snakeskin bag.

In Wang Jiangang's view, the young man was far more suspicious. He seemed suspicious in every way, especially given the fleeting, eerie expression on his face.

This must be a hint from the screenwriter, right?

However, once this unfolds...

Wang Jiangang suddenly felt that everyone on the bus was quite suspicious. There was another person on the bus who seemed even more suspicious: a person dressed sloppily but carrying a suitcase.

After all, who would need to carry a suitcase on a bus that has nothing to do with a train station or airport? If it doesn't contain a bomb, what would it contain?

Wang Jiangang was completely engrossed at this point, and he quietly turned up the volume, eagerly anticipating the second episode.

This is the charm of high-quality TV dramas.

It can always bring comfort to some people. Reading fifty books will definitely change a person's life, just as watching high-quality TV series can also bring considerable benefits.

…………

Ouyang Nan, the head of Hunan TV, was also watching "The Beginning" and the station's real-time ratings. Although she was watching the drama, her mind was elsewhere.

She couldn't resist lighting a cigarette, which wouldn't be a big deal for a guy. But as one of the few female executives at Hunan TV, Ouyang Nan had to be mindful of her image.

In particular, Shonan TV is extremely competitive, consistently adhering to the principle of using women like men and men like animals. This has led to Shonan TV having one of the highest turnover rates among its senior executives.

Many senior executives either get promoted or start their own businesses within a year or two. A common saying at Hunan TV is, "Hunan TV doesn't support idlers."

Ouyang Nan naturally did not want to leave.

She has only recently taken office.

To be honest, she wasn't entirely confident this time either: although she was confident in her abilities, Ouyang Nan's opponent was indeed quite strong.

Besides Hunan TV's old rival Zhejiang TV, Jiangzhou TV, which inexplicably came out to cause trouble, left her speechless.

Why is she so unlucky!

She couldn't resist taking another drag of her cigarette.

Ouyang Nan watched "The Beginning" and thought it was indeed quite impressive. She couldn't help but feel a little worried; the drama had truly exceeded her expectations.

Actually, she had also watched Li Haoyu's interview, and she felt that he was getting a bit arrogant. TV dramas aren't that simple; it's not just about saying a few nice words.

But after reading "The Beginning," Ouyang Nan really felt that she might have met her match. The quality and completion of "The Beginning" were exceptionally high.

Most importantly, the rhythm is quite captivating.

This time, she was in charge of a drama series for Hunan TV, which was still another self-initiated tearjerker by Hunan TV. The actors and the script had been tested together, but it lacked a bit of novelty.

Therefore, the program "The Beginning" on Jiangzhou TV made her feel like she was facing a formidable enemy.

Not only is the pacing extremely fast, but the first episode also leaves the audience in suspense. This is much better than our own TV station's "Meteor Shower Again".

The key point is that the two TV series aired in the same time slot.

This is quite deadly.

Because the essence of TV dramas is to compete for viewers' time. Once viewers have made their choice to watch a particular series within the same time slot, they generally won't watch a second one.

Unless it's a TV series they particularly love, most viewers generally don't watch reruns. Now it seems that "The Beginning" might be its biggest competitor.

Despite its current influence and reach, Hunan TV is still significantly stronger than Jiangzhou TV, even if we only consider the ratings of the first episode.

He is still slightly ahead.

But this is already quite outrageous, considering that Hunan TV used to completely dominate Jiangzhou TV. The fact that they failed to establish a clear advantage in the first episode means Hunan TV has already lost.

It's worth noting that it didn't take Hunan TV just a few years to become a leading player in the industry. Today, Hunan TV remains a top player.

But who knows if tomorrow we'll become Jiangzhou TV's lackey? The Yangtze River flows on, and new generations surpass the old; this isn't uncommon in television.

After all, most viewers don't have much loyalty.

They'll watch whichever TV series is better.

The situation was already this dire in the first episode. What's even more frightening is that the best parts of "The Beginning" are clearly in the later episodes. By then, can "Meteor Shower Again" really win?

Ouyang Nan fell into deep thought. Originally, she was just doing her usual market research by monitoring the ratings of various TV stations. She never expected that Jiangzhou TV would actually pull off such a "game-changer".

Most importantly, Jiangzhou TV really came up with something new, avoiding the stale and overused themes of the past. Instead, they uniquely chose the crime and suspense genre.

The quality this time was surprisingly high, which was truly impressive. Even as a competitor, she couldn't help but feel a bit more admiration.

Putting aside other practical considerations, if "The Beginning" doesn't have a terrible ending, it can maintain the quality of the first episode. This time, Shonan TV has really met a formidable opponent!

Li Haoyu?

He's truly a figure not to be underestimated. It's true that outstanding people never fare too badly in any field or whatever they do. I really didn't take my opponent seriously.

Ouyang Nan couldn't help but sigh as she thought about this.

At this moment, her subordinate returned and said directly, "I've checked the situation on the forum, and it's not good. Everyone's saying that we're just making recycled content again with 'Meteor Shower Again'."

"There's one more thing..."

Ouyang Nan noticed his subordinate's stammering manner.

She said with some dissatisfaction, "Just say what you have to say. I hate people who only say half of what they mean. You know me well enough."

The person on the other end said, "Everyone says that watching this is not as good as watching 'The Beginning' on Jiangzhou TV. The two dramas are not even in the same league. It's like comparing a pearl to dog shit..."

"Although the first episode of 'The Beginning' is getting good reviews, it's only the first episode, and nobody knows what will happen later. Besides, our Hunan TV station's core audience is enough to crush it."

"That's enough!"

Ouyang Nan interrupted him before he could finish speaking.

This person's emotional intelligence is low; they lack even the most basic judgment.

However, now is not the time to worry about her subordinates. What she cares about most right now is how to salvage the declining ratings and the drop in reputation.

"Alright, go tell our team to be prepared to work all night, delete some of the more offensive negative reviews, and put up our own reviews."

"We are already in a very passive position, so we must seize every minute."

Ou Nannan knew how significant the impact of a TV series' reputation was on viewers. There were quite a few dramas that started out unknown but later turned their fortunes around through positive word-of-mouth.

Similarly, negative reviews for TV dramas can be quite devastating. If a trend develops without proper production, even the largest platform and the strongest capital behind it cannot reverse the situation.

"You're so beautiful, chicken" is a bloody lesson.

After all, you can't silence the people.

In fact, even Ouyang Nan himself is a bit of a hater.

…………