"You won't believe it."
"I met an angel and he gave me a magic phone!"
In an apartment building with three bedrooms and two living rooms.
Xu Zhengran hurriedly ran into the house and came to the dignified heroine Teacher Jiang Hongbo.
He took off his coat as he had done countless days and nights before, and threw it on the sofa.
Little did he know that the owner of this house had already changed.
"Hey, Lao Zhang, come on..."
"Are there guests at home?"
At this time, Zhang Yuan officially appeared.
His eyes widened, his expression was slightly exaggerated, and he made a cheerful expression as if "a friend has come from afar".
That naive look was completely unlike his usual state.
"Not bad..." Director Zhang turned to look at the camera, and the camera crew leader also glanced at the director in agreement.
"His condition adjusted very quickly."
"It's quick to get into the role, and the characters don't violate the harmony... His acting path should be quite wide."
Zhang Jianya is a veteran director, and he can basically figure out an actor's ability and talent in one or two scenes.
He felt a bit pity now.
It's a pity that my drama is not that "serious".
The visuals are more like a TV series than a movie.
The cost is already low, and there are so many celebrity guest stars.
For other actors, 50% of the film's salary is already extremely exaggerated.
He accounted for 70% of this drama!
And the content is closer to a sketch, like a bunch of fragmentary stories put together.
This play does not require high performance from the actors.
Therefore, Director Zhang felt that Zhang Yuan's abilities were good, but this drama failed to allow him to see the upper limit of this young man's abilities.
"I heard that he received a salary of 2 million from Lao Mouzi."
"Lao Mouzi keeps the price low."
"If he wanted to earn a salary and take on high-priced movies, he would probably double the price."
Zhang Jianya is very familiar with Lao Mouzi and knows his style.
"He came to our show just for the sake of Xu Zheng and Yiwei, and didn't charge any money."
“At least I saved hundreds of thousands!”
Zhang Yuan also knew this. He lost at least hundreds of thousands during the same period.
But that’s not how the accounts work out.
Calculating accounts like this, the pattern is too small.
If you want to do big things, you must first open up the pattern.
In front of the camera...
"Who is this?"
"That's the one in front of me."
"Oh, senior!" Zhang Yuan smiled broadly, stepped forward, and held Xu Zheng's hands tightly.
"Hehehe..." Xu Zheng couldn't help laughing when he saw him like this.
"My fault, my fault...the contrast between you and your usual appearance is too big."
Led by Xu Zheng, Jiang Hongbo on the side also laughed.
"Great contrast is a good thing!"
The director called out the card and stood up at the same time and said.
"It shows that he has entered the character."
"And I found that there is another advantage to him acting."
"What should I say?" Xu Zheng turned around and asked.
"Because he is handsome, it is very reasonable for your ex-wife to divorce you and marry him!"
"If it were me, I wouldn't want you either!"
As soon as the director said this, Xu Zheng touched his bald head.
"As for it!"
Turning around, I saw the supporting actress, Teacher Jiang Hongbo, nodding her head.
Brother Shan Zheng's face suddenly turned dark.
"Don't be so vulgar, okay? Men need to look at the cultural connotation and understand it."
"I choose the good-looking ones." Teacher Jiang added.
Xu Zheng:......
"Look, this is public opinion."
Hehehe...
There was a lot of laughter on the set.
At the same time, people were laughing at the Magic City TV station thousands of kilometers away.
"Hahaha..." The person in charge of Haha Xuan Dong TV was holding a piece of newly released ratings data with a happy look on his face.
Haha Xuandong from Shanghai Magic City is owned by SMG.
Its positioning, broadcast content, and even its founding time are almost the same as Mango Channel’s Golden Eagle Animation.
These two are considered the largest and most professional local animation channels in the country.
This is the reason why Zhang Yuan came to Magic City Terrace and Mango Terrace.
Because these two companies specialize in animation, the demand is high and the prices are the highest.
"What were the ratings of the previous show "Baby Girl, Good Mother"."
The person in charge asked his assistant.
“Our station averages 13% and the highest is 20%!”
"Yes, yes, it's scary high." The person in charge continued.
"This "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" is also produced by them."
"The first episode was 4.5%, but the number rose to 7% in the second episode."
"After four episodes, the highest level is already 12%. If there is a follow-up, it will definitely increase!"
"My expectation for the performance of this animation is that it can at least equal "Baby Girl's Good Mother"."
The person in charge is very confident in his or her judgment.
Because there are two things that make this movie scary.
The increase in its ratings has been astonishing.
At the same time, the average viewership rating of animation during the same period was about 3%.
In comparison, the ratings of "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" are simply unparalleled!
"They just won the Outstanding Domestic Animation Award from Taiwan."
"Now that this animation is here, I guess it will be them who win the award next year."
The person in charge of animation TV sighed.
"At first, we heard in the station that Mr. Li was going to bring an actor back to help design and plan the reality show."
“Many people still have twisted mouths.”
"Lao Li must have received benefits."
"In other words, this actor is supported by him and plans to set up an outsourcing company to take over the work on stage to make money."
"As a result, when people came, they were so busy that they really got things done."
"Then "Come on! Good Man" is now out of the entertainment industry, and its ratings are equal to last year's "Super Girl"."
"The money from advertising business alone is tens of millions, which is stronger than a top production and the top three most popular TV series of the year."
“I heard that everyone in charge of variety shows received bonuses.”
"The people at Animation Television are envious of you..."
"I just didn't expect that this young man is not only very useful in variety shows."
"He has also made great achievements in animation..."
The person in charge of the satellite TV murmured for a while, then turned to look at the assistant.
"Call the original company tomorrow and talk to them about the animation broadcast copyright."
"For the award-winning "Baby Girl, Good Mother" before, we offered an industry-high price of 50,000 yuan."
This person is not talking nonsense, it is indeed a sky-high price.
Cartoons have one drawback.
Advertising and investment capabilities are not good.
"come on! The title sponsor of "Good Man", Leica... is not the Leica of the camera, but the fabric and clothing brand of DuPont.
The title sponsorship fee is 30 million yuan!
Although "Bright Sword" and "Wulin Gaiden" have amazing ratings, the revenue from pre-roll advertising is far less than that of "Beijing Smoke and Clouds".
Gujing Gongjiu alone paid 15 million yuan for inserts and pre-roll advertising.
In TV commercials, liquor, fast-selling fashion, shampoo, and cosmetics are the brands that are most willing to spend advertising dollars.
But cartoons have nothing to do with these things!
Is it appropriate to show half of a cartoon whose main audience is children and give you a "welcome wine to be shared from all directions, and the wine is fragrant and mellow, choose Yanghe"?
After watching the animation, the child pointed at the screen.
"Mom, I want to drink Yanghe Daqu..."
Parents had to complain to the TV station.
The pre-roll advertisements for cartoons can at most include small advertisements for children's snacks, Wenquxing, learning plans, English classes, electronic keyboards, etc.
These ads cost millions every day.
In addition, the domestic animation market is in a slump.
Back then, even Hayao Miyazaki was dumbfounded by the film "Urban House".
What now?
It’s basically an island animation going sideways.
In the 00s, "Naruto", "Bleach", and "One Piece".
There are also "Death Note" and "Inuyasha".
In 2006, the phenomenal work "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" appeared.
Domestic animation is a complete failure.
It can't attract investment, and it can't do island animation.
Therefore, the purchase price of most domestic animations is less than 500 yuan/minute.
For a fifteen-minute animation, the purchase price given by the TV station will generally not exceed 10,000 yuan.
With little money, animation companies have no money to recruit people, upgrade equipment, and improve quality. The finished works are even worse.
The TV station looked ridiculous and offered lower and lower purchase prices.
More money, worse quality...a vicious cycle.
The high acquisition price usually only gives TV stations self-produced animations, or a few productions from related households.
At that time, Li Ruigang was willing to pay the sky-high price of 50,000 yuan for an episode of "Baby Girl, Good Mother" because this animation beat the ratings of the island country animation in the same period!
Now I see that the momentum of this animal-themed animation is not weaker than the previous one, and the other party is even planning to pay a premium of 20%.
However, they still underestimated Zhang Yuan's ambition.
At the same time, he also underestimated his opponent's ambition.
Haha Xuan Dong’s biggest enemy is in the office of Mango Channel Golden Eagle Animation.
"Okay!"
Lei Yin, director of Golden Eagle Cartoon Co., Ltd., couldn't help but smile when he saw the gratifying ratings report.
Golden Eagle Cartoon is an independent company but is part of Hunan Broadcasting Group.
Just like SMG is part of the Magic City Dawenguang Group.
Compared with other TV stations, Mango Channel has a great feature.
That’s making good use of women!
In addition to a large number of very famous female hosts, there are also many outstanding female workers in the team.
This is also the reason why its reality shows, variety shows and idol dramas lead the country.
This thing really has to be done by women, and it’s not something that big men can do.
Leiyin is also for women.
And in 2004, at the age of 31, she was personally appointed as "Taoist Priest" by Ouyang Changlin, the director of Mango Channel.
Of course, Daozhang is a joking name, which means the person in charge of Cartoon Channel.
Anyway, that’s what everyone calls it in Taiwan.
And more often than not, he used this title to tease her behind her back.
When a 31-year-old woman was appointed as the head of a new channel, many people were jealous and dissatisfied.
Just like how many people in Modutai initially spread rumors that Zhang Yuan was a relative of Li Ruigang.
The rumors about Lei Yin are even worse.
As for women, that’s the content anyway.
Said she was the station director’s mistress...
The more this happens, the more this woman wants to achieve something.
Rumors will not disappear automatically, only strength can break them.
At the beginning of 2005, this person made major adjustments to the channel.
It abandoned the positioning of "cartoons for all ages" and instead proposed the strategic slogan of "happy cartoons, happy families". It wants to target families as the audience unit. Simply put, children and parents.
And it is very trendy to create the country's first animated Spring Festival Gala hosted by a virtual host, "Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit Celebrate the New Year".
Afterwards, the channel's ratings increased significantly, and it attracted permanent advertisements from children's products, children's shoes, and even paper towel companies, and increased its advertising revenue by more than three times.
It can be seen that this person is very capable.
So when she saw the ratings of "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" in the first three days... Mango Channel aired it one day later than Modu Channel.
“3% on the first day, 9% on the second day!”
“Today it reached 13%!”
Lei Yin obviously didn't expect that a FLASH animation that didn't seem to cost much could achieve such terrifying results.
Moreover, the ratings of Mango Channel are obviously better than those of Magic City Channel!
The previous "Baby Girl, Good Mother" was the best-performing show on ModuTV.
This is caused by the positioning problem.
The positioning of Golden Eagle Cartoon was changed by Leiyin to parent-child.
As for Modutai, it is still aimed at teenagers.
But "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" is obviously more suitable for parents and children to watch.
Lei Yin is younger and bolder.
"For their company's previous animation, the first-run price offered by Modu was 50,000 yuan per episode, right?"
she asked her assistant.
"Yes, it was called sky-high prices at the time."
The assistant pursed his lips and replied.
"I'll contact the animation company tomorrow... No." Lei Yin turned his head.
"Contact Zhang Yuan directly. After all, he contacted us through Li Xiang."
"It's closer to go to him directly than to the animation company."
"Understood!"
……
"Senior, let me tell you!" On the set, Zhang Yuan spoke with a Baodao accent according to the director's request for dramatic effect.
In those days, Baodao accent was very popular.
Because of the popularity of "Meteor Garden", many young people have a "motorcycle" taste in their mouths.
Of course, in ten years or so, anyone who speaks with a Baodao accent will definitely be laughed at by the people around them.
This time, that time.
"My wife made this fried noodles."
"It's true, there are not many in the entire imperial capital!"
Zhang Yuan looked serious and praised his wife's craftsmanship from the bottom of his heart.
Teacher Jiang Hongbo on the side showed a look of relief and happiness.
Only Xu Zheng saw that his wife and fried noodles, which he had once despised, were praised as "rare treasures" by another man. His heart was full of mixed emotions, and his face was so gloomy that he seemed to be dripping with water.
"Stuck!"
“Calling it up for today!”
Director Zhang Jianya clapped his hands.
"Zhang Yuan, there are still a few scenes in the next few days, please help me."
"It's a small matter, it's okay, don't talk about helping." Zhang Yuan replied immediately.
The director chuckled, thinking that this guy was so nice to talk to, no wonder he was so good at it.
"Let's go, let's have some supper, I'll treat you!" Xu Zheng waved his hand and led everyone to a nearby barbecue stall.
Even though Xu Zheng is from Modu, he has a very good drinking capacity.
But the problem is that he met Zhang Yuan.
Two hours later, the assistant helped the confused man back to the hotel.
"You are the best drinker I have ever met, okay, okay..."
Zhang Yuan waved his hand.
It's okay, you can still meet Bao Qiang and Huang Bo in the future.
One meal can keep you strong enough to drink three bottles of white.
Bo Ge can keep drinking as long as he doesn't drink too much.
Then you will know how powerful it is.
The next morning, Zhang Yuan received a call from Mango Channel.
Huang Weimin from the animation company also called him.
"Modu TV is willing to pay 60,000 per episode!"
Huang Weimin was very excited, getting higher every time.
"I know you are in a hurry, but don't be anxious yet."
"First of all, how many episodes do you plan to make for our animation...or should I ask, how many episodes can you make?"
"Do you have the screenwriting ability to continue producing for a long time?"
"Yes!" Huang Weimin replied without hesitation.
"Including me, there are five or six people in our company who are capable of screenwriting. We all take turns, and it will be absolutely no problem to produce hundreds of episodes."
Zhang Yuan chuckled, the layout was still small.
I only dare to think about a hundred episodes at most.
"Well, if we have sufficient funds, how soon can we release an episode?"
"I can produce an episode in about a week." The other party was proficient in his business and did it without thinking.
"Then if we divide the work into several groups and start work at the same time, can we shorten the production cycle?"
"Theoretically it's possible..."
"That's fine, just do it." Zhang Yuan replied seriously: "And from now on, we will recruit another group of people."
"Form four to five working groups, take turns making and resting, and train new people at the same time."
"Ah, if we look for more people, our office will almost no longer have enough seats."
"When the deposit comes down, you can find a big office and upgrade the decoration and equipment."
Upon hearing this, the grand vision of "becoming bigger and stronger" appeared in Huang Weimin's mind, and his blood boiled for a moment.
"That's the only thing he's good about, he's willing to spend money!"
“It’s not like some bosses who make a lot of money and buy their own cars and houses.”
"He still has a long-term vision."
"Leave the rest of the negotiation with the TV station to me. You can just continue making animations." Zhang Yuan said caringly.
"No problem...that's right." Huang Weimin added.
"Sugarman told me that there is a project for me to participate in, and I will be responsible for directing and shooting some of the special effects scenes."
"I guess I have to work hard for a few months."
"What project?"
"Boss Cai really values "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".
Zhang Yuan:......
He knew that the film would not be made.
But he didn't say anything, he just agreed.
Just let Huang Weimin arrange the work of the animation company.
Put down the phone.
Zhang Yuan moved his neck.
"Then, next..."
"It's time to negotiate the price with these two companies!" (End of Chapter)