141: The 141st day of being popular
"What did you say? Yao Bianliang actually formed her own studio?" In the office, a middle-aged man dressed in a suit, with the appearance of a successful person, stood up, looking quite surprised.
Lu Yanchen, sitting across from him, interlaced his fingers and said calmly, "Yes, it's true. It's thanks to President Sheng's special invitation that she joined Ansheng Entertainment. But now it seems her ambition is not just to be a simple celebrity."
President Sheng chuckled awkwardly, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Rubbing his hands, he said, "Yan Chen, if I had known that Yao Bianliang offended you, I would never have brought her into Ansheng Entertainment, no matter what!"
When Yao Bianliang was mentioned, President Sheng's eyes showed a hint of displeasure and disgust.
He had never seen such an arrogant female star before.
They promised her such good resources, yet she didn't appreciate it and went on to form her own studio.
Not only couldn't she see the situation clearly, but she also acted foolishly.
Without the support of a major company, could a small artist with no background like her survive in the entertainment industry by herself?
Of course, it was good for him when she chose not to sign with Ansheng Entertainment. Otherwise, it would not be worth offending the Lu's Group just for Yao Bianliang.
"Yan Chen, thanks to your help, we were able to suppress the scandals involving our company's artists this time," President Sheng said with a smile. "I assure you, Yao Bianliang will not get any attention from the [Best Drama PK Competition] this time."
Lu Yanchen nodded a hint of satisfaction in his eyes.
This was exactly what he had been waiting to hear from President Sheng.
Yao Bianliang, fighting alone, barely had enough funds to produce her drama. How could she have any extra money for promotion?
In the end, while other contestants had their own companies to buy trending topics for promotion, the program team would also help generate publicity. Yao Bianliang had nothing.
Moreover, she chose an extremely niche theme this time, completely contrary to the mainstream market. It was simply impossible for her to become popular!
"Good, then I'll leave it to President Sheng," Lu Yanchen nodded slightly.
President Sheng chuckled and didn't say anything more, but a glint of cunning flashed in his small eyes.
Actually, even if Lu Yanchen didn't say anything, he had no intention of giving any promotion or exposure to Yao Bianliang's film.
Since she rejected the invitation from Ansheng Entertainment, she should be prepared to sit on the cold bench in variety shows.
He would let Yao Bianliang know that rejecting the signing with Ansheng Entertainment was undoubtedly the biggest mistake of her life.
*****
In fact, Lu Yanchen and President Sheng made a slight miscalculation.
Yao Bianliang did not lack sufficient funds for promotion. On the contrary, she had no intention of investing any expenses in promotion!
It's a joke. The system mission requires a sufficiently low number of views.
If she invested money in promotion and increased the number of views, wouldn't that be digging her own grave?
Only a crazy person would do that.
In fact, this mission requirement was very favorable for Yao Bianliang. Good reviews and views didn't have a particularly direct relationship.
For some dramas, despite receiving ratings of 8 or even 9 on certain platforms with a flood of positive reviews, it didn't translate into high viewership. Some had very low viewership despite seemingly average ratings of 5 or 6 on Douban. Many people criticized these dramas for having clichéd plots, but they still achieved record-breaking viewership and brought in a lot of profit for the production team and investors.
In the end, the silence was the majority.
"It feels like the situation is pretty good," Yao Bianliang looked at the comments on Weibo and showed a satisfied expression. "The theme of our drama unexpectedly clashes with Yao Xinxin's."
Actually, it wasn't a complete clash.
Although the female lead in Yao Xinxin's short drama was a doctor, the main plotline was diferent. The entire drama was filled with refreshing elements, face-slapping, and romantic storylines, making it a commercial film that catered to the market.
On the other hand, Yao Bianliang's drama had no refreshing elements or romantic plotlines, maintaining a restrained atmosphere throughout. It had no market appeal.
Although the comments from netizens were mostly positive, Yao Bianliang couldn't guarantee that many people would watch the drama in the end.
"Teacher Yao... Do we really not need to make any changes to the script?" Screenwriter An Xincheng sat across from Yao Bianliang, nervously rubbing his hands.
From the moment he received notice that the script had passed the review to signing the contract and receiving the payment, it had only been two days.
During these two days, An Xincheng felt like he was dreaming.
He had never dared to imagine this kind of good fortune before, and now it was happening to him.
However, although he had received the payment and improved his quality of life, An Xincheng became increasingly uneasy.
He knew the script he wrote had almost no commercial value.
Yao Bianliang had spent so much money to buy his script and invested so much in filming. If the outcome turned out to be disastrous and they ended up losing everything, wouldn't he be responsible for ruining her?
Although the money lost wouldn't be his, An Xincheng still felt a bit guilty.
"Change the script?" Yao Bianliang was taken aback, then her mouth twitched. "Why would we need to change it? It's already great."
She paused and reassured, "Don't worry, our drama wasn't made for chasing views and making money. It doesn't matter if we lose money; I have plenty of it."
When she received the trillion yuan prize, what would this amount of money mean?
It was like a drizzle, not worth mentioning.
An Xincheng: "..."
Okay, since the client has said so, what else is there to worry about?
An Xincheng also felt quite emotional.
There were rumors that Yao Bianliang was passionate about acting and didn't care about viewership at all. At first, he was a bit skeptical.
But now that he had truly come into contact with her, he realized that the rumors were not only not exaggerated but even a bit conservative!
In order to create good work, Yao Bianliang was even willing to pay out of her own pocket to do a project that was destined to lose money. It couldn't be simply described as "full of passion" anymore.
Having been a struggling screenwriter for so long, An Xincheng had encountered all kinds of clients. Upon seeing the script for the first time, most clients would inquire about its market potential, whether it tapped into hot topics, and if there were similar successful cases.
He had never encountered someone like Yao Bianliang before.
In the face of Yao Bianliang's sincere gaze, An Xincheng's heart also burned with passion. "Alright, since that's the case, can I completely shoot it according to my ideas?"
As a screenwriter, the most taboo thing was others meddling and giving instructions.
Sometimes actors demanded additional scenes, investment partners requested changes to the plot, and directors or people with connections offered opinions. In short, anyone could interfere with the plot design.
With everyone having different ideas and non-professionals giving guidance, it was easy to end up with a script with inconsistent elements that didn't make sense.
Once the drama aired, if any plot didn't sit right, the screenwriter would be the one to take the blame.
Under An Xincheng's anxious gaze, Yao Bianliang smiled slightly. "Of course, I'll leave the entire process to you. You handle it, and I trust you!"
An outstanding screenwriter who could write such a script should definitely be given full responsibility.
If someone else were to guide the process and introduce some trendy elements to turn it into a plot that the audience loved, where would she go to cry?
Receiving such a positive response, An Xincheng was moved and excited.
"Thank you, Teacher Yao," he said. "Thank you for appreciating me. I... I will do my best to shoot this drama!"
No delayed payment, no arbitrary modification requests, allowing him to be fully involved in the filming process and even have creative freedom. A client like this was truly hard to come by.
An Xincheng secretly made a firm resolution.
Regardless of the outcome this time, he would not let Yao Bianliang down and strive to do his best!
Upon careful consideration, with Yao Bianliang's acting ability, it wouldn't be difficult for her to perform these roles. There wasn't much need for him in that regard. However, the same couldn't be said for the other actors.
With this in mind, An Xincheng took out his phone and invited several supporting actors, creating a small group for everyone.
*****
On the other side.
Long Guoqing and a few others sat in the corner of the hospital.
---- They sat in the corner mainly because to unsuspecting onlookers, their group looked suspicious, with their heads poking around, looking in different directions, and behaving strangely as if they were up to no good.
In order to avoid arousing suspicion and being kicked out, they had to keep a low profile.
However, at this moment, they had all stopped observing and learning and simultaneously lowered their heads, looking at their phones.
When they saw the content of the document the screenwriter had shared in the chat group, they fell into a long state of bewilderment.
"Is... Is this our script?" Skinny and tall, Xiao Hu opened his mouth, his voice trembling.
What did he see?
Significant supporting roles, well-developed characters with names and surnames, and not only having screen time but also a bunch of lines!
Were these the roles they, as extras, were supposed to play?
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