191: The 191st day of being popular
The next morning.
Yao Bianliang woke up and found that the world seemed to have changed.
#Marketing failure of 'The Legend of An Hua'#
#Is it appropriate to romanticize the courtesan profession?#
#'Spring's Warmth and Rich Dew' the overlooked conscientious drama#
Discussions about "The Legend of An Hua" flooded the internet. In addition, after seeing these discussions, some netizens were intrigued and turned to watch "Spring's Warmth and Rich Dew"
Not long ago, many netizens praised "The Legend of An Hua" while criticizing "Spring's Warmth and Rich Dew" However, now, such opinions are nearly impossible to find.
Looking around, the direction of public opinion has completely reversed. Whatever fake accounts An Sheng Entertainment had bought before, now it's facing a backlash of similar magnitude.
"What on earth is going on..." Yao Bianliang looked at those comments, feeling somewhat skeptical.
This doesn't make sense. In her impression, until yesterday, the storyline of "The Legend of An Hua" hadn't taken such criticism.
How could everything have changed overnight?
She didn't dare to hesitate, immediately scrolling through the comments from netizens.
It turned out that the early episodes of "The Legend of An Hua" were still decent. The problem mainly arose in the two episodes that were updated last night.
The female lead, a princess from a fallen kingdom, was initially portrayed as someone who cared for the world and its people.
However, in the most recent two episodes, she was depicted as if she were the antagonist. She not only looked down on commoners but also implicitly considered illiterate citizens as foolish and lowly beings.
Netizens mockingly commented, "You're just a *** yourself, yet you look down on other commoners." The character's integrity was in jeopardy.
If it were just the character's integrity collapsing, that would be one thing.
"The Legend of An Hua" has also presented some extremely far-fetched plotlines.
For example, the female lead wanted to help her sisters escape the fate of serving clients, so she advised them not to learn any musical instruments. This way, no one would want her sisters to serve clients.
If you're wondering why the female lead herself doesn't serve clients...
That's because she can play musical instruments, so she only needs to play some tunes on a regular basis, without needing to serve clients.
And that's where the problem arises.
Among the courtesans, those who can play instruments don't serve clients, and those who can't play instruments don't serve clients. Then, who exactly is responsible for serving clients in the brothel?
— Could it be the madam of the establishment?
Yao Bianliang: "..."
What kind of absurd plot twists are these?
There are many bugs like this. No matter how good the initial character design of the female lead is, her character deteriorates significantly in the later stages.
Before long, the female lead went from being a "princess of a fallen kingdom with a heart for the people and the ability to endure humiliation," to becoming a "scheming courtesan who looks down on lowly courtesans and commoners, with a sole intention of using rich men to climb up the social ladder."
Yao Bianliang believed that she had already made the script absurd enough to be filled with twists, but she couldn't have anticipated that someone could come up with even more ridiculous plotlines!
"What on earth are the writers of 'The Legend of An Hua' doing?" Yao Bianliang struggled to understand. "How did they make the script deteriorate to such an extent?"
This is truly a talent!
Yao Bianliang looked up the writer of "The Legend of An Hua" a person named Ling Huanxuan. Besides "The Legend of An Hua" she had participated in the scriptwriting of four other shows in total.
Some of these shows became popular, while others flopped, but without exception, they all received very low ratings.
Seeing such astounding achievements on the other side, Yao Bianliang felt quite conflicted. She couldn't help but think of her own scriptwriter, Xie Wan'er.
Look at the other scriptwriter, so formidable!
She completely ruined an excellent script.
And what about Xie Wan'er? Armed with a plot full of twists and turns, she managed to write an exciting, dramatic storyline that received high praise.
This is the gap.
"What kind of luck do I have?" Yao Bianliang couldn't help but sigh.
Just pick any scriptwriter randomly, and they turn out to be this amazing.
If her scriptwriter this time weren't Xie Wan'er but Ling Huanxuan, would her drama have ended up as a failure?
Unfortunately, now, even if she regrets it, it's already too late.
Originally, Yao Bianliang had planned to rely on the excellence of "The Legend of An Hua" to highlight how unattractive her own show was.
But as the saying goes, it's not about fearing god-like teammates, it's about fearing pig-like opponents.
"The Legend of An Hua" is obviously a pig-like opponent. Not only did it not fall behind her drama, but it even played the role of an example, making her show appear even better.
Yao Bianliang's heart felt suffocated with anxiety.
With such a luxurious lineup, an excellent team, and such a good script.
Why is it still failing?!
Amid this distressed mood, Yao Bianliang received a call from her assistant Yan Xiaoli.
"Sister Liang! Have you seen the Weibo trending topics? 'The Legend of An Hua' initially criticized us for marketing, and now it's backfiring on them. They're in complete shambles," Yan Xiaoli's voice was filled with excitement. "That video by the video blogger is so interesting, and the public is loving it."
"Video blogger?" Hearing that term, Yao Bianliang's brow furrowed.
It seemed that the reason the public opinion had changed so quickly wasn't just because "The Legend of An Hua" itself had fallen apart, but there were also external factors at play.
"Is Feng Shiyuan meddling again?" Yao Bianliang said through gritted teeth.
She knew very well that this dreadful Feng Shiyuan had ill intentions toward her. He had repeatedly targeted her with tasks, not giving her any leeway!
"It seems not," Yan Xiaoli said, "I remember it was a video blogger named He Youkun."
Yao Bianliang: "..."
Who is this person again?
She lowered her head and used Weibo to search for this video blogger's ID. Finally, she managed to find the person's previous works on their profile.
"He Youkun... Isn't this the person who once helped the Lu Group promote me, and was very corroborative with them?" Yao Bianliang was nearly dumbfounded.
This video blogger, who spends all their time promoting products, didn't come forward to support "The Legend of An Hua." Instead, they came to freely promote her show, even risking offending An Sheng Entertainment...
Are they out of their minds?!
Yao Bianliang's mind was in turmoil.
He Youkun's video felt more like a signal, a sign that she was about to attract the attention of all the video blogger in the entertainment industry—
Could it be that her enemies wouldn't just be Feng Shiyuan from now on? Instead, she would have to deal with a bunch of newly emerged, opportunistic water-spouting video blogger?
Dealing with just Feng Shiyuan was already giving her a major headache.
If there were a whole bunch of Feng Shijin, Feng Shizhang, and Feng Shili... how would she even manage?
*****
These few days were bound to be an extremely tough time for Yao Bianliang.
As positive reviews piled up, she blocked all online messages, lying as limp as a salted fish in her luxurious villa.
Boss Mo Yougan was generous. After receiving her payment, Yao Bianliang bought herself a luxurious villa in the countryside.
But even so, it couldn't soothe her wounded soul.
She was exhausted; her heart was truly exhausted.
Just the thought of the likelihood that she might fail that she would have to continue working tirelessly as a laborer made Yao Bianliang feel as if life had lost all hope.
"Host, be a bit optimistic," the system consoled, "when the biggest poison point of 'Spring's Warmth and Rich Dew' is revealed, perhaps the situation will take a turn."
Yao Bianliang remained silent, not responding.
Indeed, when the male lead gave the female lead to the lord of the neighboring estate as a concubine, this poison point would certainly upset many viewers.
Perhaps after this plot aired, 'Spring's Warmth and Rich Dew' would suffer a reputation collapse, just like 'The Legend of An Hua.'
However, for some reason, Yao Bianliang's heart was filled with unease.
She couldn't shake the feeling that this matter wasn't so simple.
"No, I must be prepared for anything."
On the third day of lying still, Yao Bianliang could no longer sit idly.
If the mission failed again, she needed to prepare for the next system task in advance.
"System, I feel like I've been trapped in a misconception from the beginning," Yao Bianliang opened a computer document, summarizing her past mission experiences while pondering seriously.
Since receiving the tasks, all the shows she has acted in had outstanding plots, excellent production quality, and strong acting from the entire cast.
The reasons these shows became popular varied, but they all shared a common feature—
High quality!
This wasn't something Yao Bianliang intentionally aimed for.
On one hand, with the system's rules in place, Yao Bianliang didn't dare to participate in those incredibly bad productions.
On the other hand, in the world she once lived in, the production standards of films and television were high, with all actors having excellent acting skills.
So, subconsciously, Yao Bianliang believed that a film or TV show with acceptable quality was the norm.
However, she subconsciously overlooked that poor quality films and television shows were the norm in this world!
A film or TV show that meets the quality standards undoubtedly stands out among a pile of poorly made ones.
Compared to other terrible shows, a good show is much more likely to gain a positive reputation and attract a large audience.
"If this mission fails, then next time I must avoid this easily trending factor," Yao Bianliang's thoughts rapidly turned.
According to the system's requirements, the shows she acted in couldn't be too terrible. She would stick to the minimum standard demanded by the system and create a moderately balanced script.
Additionally, she needed to change her cast lineup.
Since professional actors easily made the script shine, she would act alongside popular celebrities!
If one popular celebrity wasn't enough, then two, three... even if everyone else in the cast had terrible acting skills.
Furthermore, she couldn't work with unknown directors and screenwriters.
Experience had shown that from Cheng Luhui to An Xincheng, all of them were hidden treasures. They appeared harmless but were actually the industry's big shots behind the scenes. Who could handle that?
Yao Bianliang had grown cautious from being tricked. By now, she couldn't easily trust these lesser-known figures.
Therefore, ideally, the collaborators she was looking for should have acted in both hit and flop dramas, establishing a presence in the industry.
This way, the likelihood of producing a bad drama increased substantially.
With this thought in mind, Yao Bianliang didn't hesitate any longer. She immediately dialed Assistant Chen's number.
"Keep an eye out for a few commercial scripts targeting easy money," Yao Bianliang instructed, "The acting skills of the co-stars must be terrible. The director and screenwriter only want to make money, and the production team doesn't put in any effort."
Assistant Chen: "..."
Yao Bianliang's instructions were always unconventional, and Assistant Chen thought he had gotten used to it.
However, even now, hearing these strange demands, he was once again deeply astonished.
After a few seconds, Assistant Chen noted down Yao Bianliang's instructions one by one and then paused before asking, "What about the script's genre, does Sister Liang have any preferences?"
Yao Bianliang thought for a moment. "Anything goes, whether it's historical or modern, it doesn't matter to me. However, the script must be the type of standard commercial production."
After saying this, Yao Bianliang added a few more details.
After discussing for a while, they settled on a general direction.
Just as Yao Bianliang was about to hang up, Assistant Chen stopped her.
"Oh, by the way, Sister Liang, you probably haven't been online these past two days, so you might not know," Assistant Chen reminded her, "On a certain platform, our new drama and 'The Legend of An Hua' started receiving ratings on the same day."
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