* * *
Gu Feiyang said in a ambiguous tone, “I just woke up and saw you were still asleep. I thought you had a hard time yesterday, so I didn’t wake you up and quietly went out to buy breakfast.”
Gu Feiyang’s words sounded ambiguous no matter how you listened to them!
The atmosphere in the office became strangely awkward. Su Lingwei was momentarily confused, not knowing how to respond to Gu Feiyang’s words. His words sounded ambiguous no matter how you listened to them!
Xu Dingjun, who was sitting next to him, seemed to have no reaction at all. He didn’t even blink, casually picked up a small steamed bun from the bag, and calmly put it in Su Lingwei’s bowl, saying in a gentle tone, “You still have one steamed bun left.”
Su Lingwei: “Uh…”
“President Su, the plan you asked for is ready…” The office door was pushed open from the outside again, and Zhang Mingen walked in with a file.
There was work to be done. Zhang Mingen’s appearance finally eased the awkward atmosphere in the office.
Su Lingwei quickly stood up from the sofa and walked towards the desk, saying to Zhang Mingen, “Bring me the prepared plan to have a look.”
“Okay.” Zhang Mingen noticed that something was off in the office’s atmosphere, but he had already walked in, and Su Lingwei had spoken, so he couldn’t just back out. He had to walk to the desk with the prepared plan in hand and hand over a thick stack of documents to Su Lingwei.
“I’ll take a look first. Wait for me for a few minutes. This matter needs to be dealt with quickly.” Su Lingwei took the documents and began to carefully examine them, showing no intention of looking up, focusing all her thoughts on work.
On the sofa, Xu Dingjun saw Su Lingwei starting to work. Zhang Mingen was still waiting for Su Lingwei to make a decision. It seemed inappropriate for him to stay in Su Lingwei’s office any longer, so he stood up from the sofa and quietly walked out of the office without disturbing Su Lingwei, who was busy reading the documents.
As he passed by Gu Feiyang, Xu Dingjun didn’t even glance at Gu Feiyang seriously; he just brushed past him.
Seeing Xu Dingjun walk out, Gu Feiyang turned back and glanced at Su Lingwei, who was fully focused on the documents. He realized that she wouldn’t be able to finish her work for a while. Since Xu Dingjun had already left, it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to stay any longer, so he followed suit and left.
When Gu Feiyang got outside, he realized that Xu Dingjun wasn’t waiting outside; he had left directly after walking out earlier.
Gu Feiyang hesitated for a moment before also taking the elevator downstairs.
When the elevator reached the parking lot, Gu Feiyang stepped out and happened to see Xu Dingjun getting into a black Bentley and driving away.
Who’s car did Xu Dingjun get into? Gu Feiyang wondered.
In the office, Su Lingwei finished reading the proposal that Zhang Mingen had prepared and felt that the proposal was still not quite right. She looked up and said to Zhang Mingen, “Do you think hiring a small-time celebrity with a similar popularity to Ding Yiming can save the situation?”
“A small-time celebrity has a large number of fans, which guarantees a certain viewership for the TV series,” Zhang Mingen explained his analysis. “Moreover, Ding Yiming plays the male lead in the drama. If we want to replace him, we need to find a small-time celebrity who is similar to him in popularity. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the TV series to achieve good ratings.”
Although Zhang Mingen’s analysis sounded reasonable and the configuration of the drama was indeed built around Ding Yiming’s popularity from the beginning, the situation had changed.
Ding Yiming had made a mistake and was caught, which meant that most of the drama had already been ruined.
It was unrealistic to stick to the original configuration, and the drama no longer had the advantage it had at the beginning; instead, it faced numerous disadvantages and had reached a point where a change in strategy was necessary.
Su Lingwei said, “I don’t think finding a small-time celebrity similar to Ding Yiming is feasible. First, our drama is already beyond redemption. Ding Yiming’s incident has destroyed most of the drama. If we still stick to the original configuration, it is definitely unrealistic. Moreover, our drama no longer has the initial advantage. Instead, it is full of disadvantages and has reached a point where a change in strategy is necessary.”
“Second, even if a small-time celebrity agrees to act in this drama, I believe his fans will not agree. If his fans boycott this drama, not only will we fail to convert fans into viewers, but we may also offend a large number of potential customers, which is not worth the candle.”
“Third, you have also asked the finance department to recalculate the costs. Almost 70% to 80% of the entire drama needs to be reshot, which will cost a lot of money. This does not include the salary for the male lead. Hiring a small-time celebrity like Ding Yiming will cost a large sum of money. We have already spent a lot of money on the early investment in this drama. If we have to spend a large sum of money to hire the male lead, it will be difficult for us to bear.”
Increasing the scale inadvertently raises the cost of the drama, making it even harder to break even.”
“Fourthly, it’s clear to the naked eye that our drama is going to fail. Without a reshoot, it’s destined to lose money. Bringing in someone for a reshoot is like trying to save a dead horse as a last resort. If there’s a chance to save it, we should take it.”
“So, we shouldn’t spend too much money on risky things like hiring a male lead. Instead, we should change our approach.”
“Su, what do you mean?” Zhang Mingen had some ideas but still wanted Su Lingwei’s opinion.
Su Lingwei said, “What I mean now is, spend a small amount of money to find a good-looking, handsome but not well-known actor as the male lead. Save the cost of hiring a male lead and use it all for the filming and production of the drama, trying to improve the quality of the drama.”
This was also a solution that Su Lingwei came up with after careful consideration.
From Su Lingwei’s understanding, people’s perception and understanding of popularity have changed from previous years.
Most of the time, the public’s understanding of popularity is having a huge fan base but poor acting skills, acting in dramas for their fans, not for the general public.
Gradually, popularity has also been labeled as having poor acting skills.
After a period of development to now, a drama cannot boost its ratings just by hiring a popular young actor.
People’s choices are more rational now, preferring to watch well-produced dramas rather than ones with popular young actors.
So Su Lingwei believes that when a drama is already in a desperate situation, there is no need to spend so much money on the male lead. Instead, the focus should be on the production of the drama to improve its quality, which might turn the tables.
“Hire a good-looking and handsome unknown actor as the male lead?” Zhang Mingen was not sure if this would work, hesitating, “Can this really work?”
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