Chapter 381: Behind

Chen Siqi became popular.

On the one hand, she became popular on social platforms—her previous popularity was as Lu Yan He's girlfriend. Everyone was curious about her and paid attention to her mainly because of this identity, not because of her identity as the editor-in-chief of *Jump Up*.

On the other hand, she was genuinely popular in the film and television circle.

*Friends* let everyone see the influence of the editors and writers of *Jump Up*.

*Seventeen Layers* let everyone see Chen Siqi's terrifying connections and keen, targeted publicity ideas behind her.

By *Late Spring*, Chen Siqi took the 2 million obtained from Long Yan, did a large-scale activity involving hundreds of staff, and expanded the influence of the activity through the creativity and attention of the activity itself, and then added the actors of *Late Spring*. This kind of activity involving multiple partners and complex operations was successfully done by her with the team, and also formed a large-scale self-coming publicity.

These publicity methods and ideas were not seen in the film and television circle before.

These publicity marketing that Chen Siqi did were all based on the advantages of *Jump Up* magazine, combined with the currently popular publicity channels and methods, and tailored plans according to the characteristics of the film and television drama itself.

*Friends* focused on "supporting Lu Yan He", *Seventeen Layers* focused on "watching the premiere", and *Late Spring* focused on "youth" and "regret", making keywords spread in a brainwashing rhythm, deepening everyone's impression, and then transforming into real audiences.

From the results, everything she did was useful.

By comparison, the publicity and marketing methods of other film and television dramas now are all the old three: interviews, talks, roadshows, large traffic investment, etc.

The exposure is big, and many people can know their existence, but whether it can be transformed into an audience is unknown.

TV series can play like this, but movies can't—movies have to spend money to walk into the cinema to play.

Selling a literary film with a production cost of only a few million and a customized publicity budget of only 2 million to this point, Chen Siqi is a god.

Yu Lang summarized the situation of the film and television dramas that came to find them and said to Chen Siqi: "Currently, thirteen film and television dramas have sent invitations, wanting to customize publicity and marketing plans with us."

Chen Siqi shook her head. "We can't take it down now, we don't have that ability. You sort out the situation of these thirteen projects, I'll take a look, and also send it to Linyu and the others, let everyone look at it seriously, we will have a video conference at 9 AM tomorrow to discuss which ones to take."

Yu Lang nodded.

Chen Siqi added: "Yu Lang, if this business sector is done, we will be short of manpower again. We have to recruit people again. Have you considered it? Do you want to continue doing it with me after graduation?"

Yu Lang is now Chen Siqi's assistant and also her classmate.

The relationship between the two is very close. At first, Yu Lang was Chen Siqi's assistant because she saw Chen Siqi was too busy, so she started to help.

Yu Lang fell silent.

After a few seconds, she said: "My plan for myself is to pursue a master's degree abroad. I want to experience different cultural backgrounds and lives in different environments. If I work as soon as I graduate, I won't be able to realize this wish."

Chen Siqi nodded and said: "Good, since you have made a decision, I support you. Then help me issue a recruitment announcement at school, help me find a few candidates. It just so happens that you can also help me bring them for this year."

Yu Lang asked: "Don't you want people in the HR department to help you find them?"

"People in the business department can let them find them, I'd better find the people around me myself. We are all college students in school, no matter how much they respect me, they are many years older than us. I don't want them to overhead me, even if it's just a risk," Chen Siqi said. "Especially you know, I have a lot of things every day. If it's someone outside the school, it's very inconvenient to enter and leave the school. It's better to find classmates in the school."

Yu Lang nodded. "Okay, I understand, no problem."

Actually, if possible, Chen Siqi certainly hopes Yu Lang can do it all the time.

Yu Lang is a very reliable person. Because she is a good friend herself, Chen Siqi doesn't have to worry about other problems, doesn't have to worry about being betrayed.

It's just that everyone has their own choices, especially, Yu Lang is still her friend.

Actually, with Yu Lang's ability and talent, being her assistant is a waste of talent.

She herself has a good family background, and her abilities in all aspects are outstanding. Coming to be her assistant, on the one hand, is because she has a good relationship with Chen Siqi, and Chen Siqi was really busy and exhausted at that time, and really needed help. On the other hand, she is also very interested in this job, wanting to understand how *Jump Up* magazine was successfully run against the current, wanting to see what kind of world she can see in this position.

Yu Lang said to Chen Siqi: "How about this, I'll find you three people, all come to try it out, one responsible for magazine business, one responsible for new media business, one responsible for publicity and marketing business, half a year, competitive selection, other chores, I will take them to do, just to see whose personality is more meticulous and cautious, and can take over my work here."

Chen Siqi thought about it and nodded. "Okay."

Yu Lang: "How much internship salary do you plan to pay them?"

Chen Siqi said: "Two thousand a month for the first month, four thousand for the next five months, if you can become a regular after half a year, you will get two-thirds of yours, what do you think?"

Yu Lang said: "I have no opinion, I will sign an agreement with them according to this. No way, we are all college students, we can't sign an employment contract, we can only sign a cooperation agreement, and the binding force is not big."

"Actually, it's good for you to study abroad," Chen Siqi's eyes turned, and said: "I want to open up overseas business myself."

Yu Lang showed shock and said: "Chen Siqi, can you let me go?!"

Chen Siqi said: "Anyway, you don't have a family business to inherit, where is it not working? Where can you have such a large development space like me."

Yu Lang didn't question Chen Siqi's words.

She knew what Chen Siqi said was true.

If she didn't study abroad, by the time she graduated, she would have been Chen Siqi's assistant for almost three years. At that time, she would have been promoted and managed a piece of business alone.

Although these people are still college students, they have been tempered by these jobs and have taken off a lot of childishness.

Yu Lang said: "Let's talk about it later, there are still two years before graduation, but I don't have enough time to be your assistant. I have to start applying for schools soon. Even if you don't propose to find a new assistant, I have to remind you."

Chen Siqi hugged Yu Lang, buried her head on Yu Lang's shoulder, rubbed it twice, and said: "Sigh, I can't bear you."

Yu Lang: "I just have less time to accompany you, not dead."

Chen Siqi: "..."

During the seven-day National Day holiday, *Late Spring* took a total of 340 million box office, and the total box office exceeded 400 million, shocking the industry.

Major media outlets posted articles without hesitation.

*Late Spring* broke the box office record for art films!

400 million box office, pointing to 600 million! The box office miracle of *Late Spring*!

Marketing queen helps performance king take the box office record, young couple shocks the whole entertainment circle!

Well, the last one came from a third-rate tabloid, and the title was inexplicably exaggerated.

Long Yan Films, Huang Zhongjing and Wen Zhimao sat in the executive meeting, listening to the reports of relevant work from various departments.

During the National Day holiday, Long Yan Films had two movies released.

One is the blockbuster *Explosion Experience*, and the other is *Late Spring*, which was not expected to have a high box office.

As a result, although *Explosion Experience* took more than 80 million box office on the first day, it began to usher in a halving trend on the second day, and finally only took more than 300 million box office.

The actual production budget of this movie is as high as more than 90 million, and the publicity and distribution spent nearly 50 million, totaling 140 million spent.

From the current point of view, it is not to say that it is losing money. Counting other copyright income, it can still make a small profit. But compared to expectations, it is really a big difference.

The person in charge of the data analysis department said: "The preliminary data of *Explosion Experience* are all very good, located in the leading position, but the audience reputation of the movie is too poor. After the first day of release, a large number of bad reviews appeared on the internet, mainly concentrated in evaluations such as cliché, boring, etc. This is the main reason why the box office trend of *Explosion Experience* is not good. On the contrary, *Late Spring* relied on the audience reputation accumulated during the screening period, lengthened the front line, successfully let this movie stay in the cinema until the National Day holiday, and formed word-of-mouth, keeping the screening."

Huang Zhongjing's face was serious, and he said: "Why did such a situation appear in a blockbuster lineup like *Explosion Experience*? We have all seen the film, you all know how its quality is. Is it as bad as the audience said? If it is really that bad, why did we invest such a large publicity budget in this movie?"

The senior executive in charge of *Explosion Experience* immediately said: "The biggest problem this film faces is actually the scandal of the second male lead Huang Qi, and the constant smearing of the film by the heroine Li Qingyang's black fans, which caused a lot of negative public opinion from the beginning."

"Did you not anticipate these problems before the release? Why didn't you make a public relations plan for these possible problems?"

"At that time, they felt that this film was an all-star lineup and would not be affected by these small black materials," another executive who had nothing to do with himself laughed lightly. "Actually, this film can't be said to be smashed. It didn't lose money. Movies that don't lose money are always making money later."

"According to your thinking, Long Yan Films should not continue to develop," Huang Zhongjing said angrily. "The movie *Late Spring*, a film with a total investment of less than 20 million, has now sold 400 million box office. If it weren't for this movie, the joke of our Long Yan in the National Day holiday would be big, and our face would be lost."

"The box office miracle of *Late Spring* also has many coincidental factors. If it weren't for the marketing that Chen Siqi and the others did, this movie wouldn't sell this box office."

"Is this a problem of that marketing?" Huang Zhongjing said angrily. "If the film quality is not good enough, what is the use of more marketing? The box office of *Late Spring* on the first day of National Day was only 60 million, *Explosion Experience* had more than 80 million! Why is one trend better than the other, don't you have any points in your heart?"

Seeing Huang Zhongjing really angry.

The meeting room was silent.

Huang Zhongjing: "So-called big directors, big stars, big movies, now the projects you do are increasingly playing this kind of safe card. *Late Spring* was originally established, and it was blocked by you. Are you ashamed now? I feel ashamed for you. You have lost your keen vision! If you only know how to play safe cards, what do I want you to sit here for!"

Everyone lowered their heads silently and stopped answering.

*River of Silence* reshoot ended, Lu Yan He rushed back to school for class without stopping.

*Late Spring* is being screened, and he was caught off guard by a large wave of people at the school gate.

They are all movie fans who watched *Late Spring* and very much wanted to see Lu Yan He at the gate of Zhenhua.

After broadcasting so many plays, this is the first time

In terms of popularity, the buzz surrounding *Friends* and *Seventeen Layers* was far higher than that of *Late Spring*, yet Lu Yan He had never been mobbed by so many fans and moviegoers before.

Lu Yan He had no idea what was going on.

Fortunately, the security department at Zhenhua had noticed the large crowd of fans gathering at the entrance and had long been prepared. Over a dozen security guards were already in position, and the moment Lu Yan He got out of the car and was blocked, they moved with lightning speed to push through the crowd and escort him into the school gates.

In that short half-minute, Lu Yan He saw an unprecedented number of people frantically shouting his name, wanting to shake his hand, asking for autographs, and he also saw, for the first time, so many people saying they loved him with faces full of excitement and fervor.

At this moment, Lu Yan He finally realized that the popularity he had received before was different from being truly, crazily popular.

In *Late Spring*, Lu Yan He was handsome, melancholic, and erupted with the most intense youthful emotions—an image Lu Yan He had never displayed before.

In the words of a film critic, this image had more sexual tension than his previous ones.

Now, reality proved that this critic was right.

How much an actor is loved by fans always depends on the charm of the characters they play.

This is also the reason why many actors, despite having god-tier acting skills and being recognized by the audience, are not loved by them from the bottom of their hearts; it is because they have never had that one role that the audience keeps in their hearts.

Without a representative role, no matter how good an actor's skills are, they are just an unsharpened sword. People might be amazed by the craftsmanship of its creation, but it will never become a legend like Gan Jiang and Mo Ye.

Lu Yan He's fan base suddenly grew.

The number of fans who truly liked him as a person, who developed an idol-like appreciation and focus on him, and who wanted to follow his every word and action, surged sharply.

It wasn't just Lu Yan He; the other young actors in *Late Spring* also became popular.

These days, not only were they constantly exposed, but news related to them frequently hit the trending searches.

This is the hallmark of a film that has truly become a hit; newcomers who were once "non-existent" suddenly became the focus of media and public attention.

Yan Ling, Kong Fan, He Qingqing, Wang Jing... these young people, who were all still students at acting school, experienced what it meant to become famous overnight.

Of course, at this moment, they didn't have much time to digest this.

They were still following Liu Bige on the roadshow tour.

For a film, having the main creators run roadshows is the most laborious method, but it is also the one that can yield the best results.

Roadshows are not just about securing screen time; every roadshow venue provides a wealth of material for the production team to use for subsequent promotion, maintaining the film's heat and boosting box office sales.

Liu Bige really put in a lot of hard work, hitting one city a day.

After a full round, Lu Yan He watched the latest roadshow videos and felt that Liu Bige had lost a whole layer of weight.

Liu Bige was already thin to begin with, and losing even more weight made it look like he had gone through a grueling training camp.

But presumably, because good things bring high spirits, he wasn't tired at all; instead, he had a kind of adrenaline-fueled excitement.

His eyes were shining brightly.

Although Lu Yan He did not participate in the later roadshows, he stayed in touch with everyone in the main creators' group every day, listening to them talk about the interesting things that happened on the road.

Lu Yan He thought they would be tired after running for so long, but he didn't expect that not only did they not feel tired, but they were all as pumped as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

Perhaps it was because it was their first time doing roadshows, and they still had plenty of freshness.

*Late Spring* was not the highest-grossing film; strictly speaking, *Late Spring* never once took the daily box office crown.

But its level of discussion was extremely high, especially among major self-media and bloggers, who were basically all discussing this film, sharing their own feelings and interpretations.

For a full half-month, there were many people squatting at every gate of Zhenhua, just to catch a glimpse of Lu Yan He.

This was a situation that had never happened before.

This also caused some people to complain.

Lu Yan He felt sorry about this, but there was nothing he could do.

He could only appeal on his social media, asking everyone not to linger at the school gate and affect others' travel, and also emphasized that he had no work coming up and would basically not be leaving the school, telling everyone not to wait, as waiting would be in vain.

Even though he said this, there were still a large number of fans and moviegoers waiting there.

Only then did Lu Yan He witness the power of *Late Spring*.

In the minds of many, art films are synonymous with being unwatchable and boring.

But in fact, for many top-tier art films, while their box office might not be that high for a moment, the number of their fans is absolutely not to be underestimated. And it's the kind where the longer time passes, the more fans they have.

For some classic art films, their sacred status among fans is in no way inferior to the fanatical status idols hold in the hearts of their fans.

*Late Spring* brought Lu Yan He a character that made a large audience feel moved and perceive "sexual tension" for the first time. This was an effect that his previous roles had not achieved, or had not achieved sufficiently.

Chen Ziyan came to Zhenhua to find Lu Yan He, carrying a thick stack of scripts.

"You've been staying at school these days, so you might as well read these scripts," Chen Ziyan said. "These are the scripts that have been sent over recently. After I looked through them, I found some worth considering, so you take a look."

This stack of scripts was nearly half a meter high.

Lu Yan He was startled.

"Holy crap? Why are there so many?"

Chen Ziyan said: "Almost all the film scripts on the market with a protagonist in your age group have been sent over. *Late Spring* is too hot; everyone wants to get you to act in their films."

Lu Yan He: "With so many scripts, how long will it take me to read them all?"

Chen Ziyan said: "That depends on your fate with them. You really have few film scripts lined up for the future. *The Silent River* has already finished filming, and you only have *Road to Glory* left to shoot, with no other roles. You can look at new projects, or is it that you are writing a script for yourself?"

Lu Yan He shook his head.

"Not yet."

He then said: "By the way, when is the short film for *Rouge* being shot this month?"

"The 22nd, Saturday," Chen Ziyan said. "Two days, just a weekend. However, if they really haven't found another male actor by the end, do you really intend to film this?"

Lu Yan He: "We can't just stop filming because we haven't found a suitable male actor."

Chen Ziyan nodded and said: "It's not that we won't film if we don't find a suitable male actor. Your film, because the investment isn't high, doesn't put much pressure on the investors. Plus, although this film is a commercial film according to your words, to the outside world, Director Wang Zhong plus Chen Bige as the lead looks like an art film lineup. People come to invest not to make a lot of money, but to maintain a good cooperative relationship with you, Director Wang, and Chen Bige. So, if you can't find a suitable male lead and can't start filming, they aren't in a hurry either, thinking it's an art film, so having high requirements and pursuing art is normal."

Lu Yan He asked: "Then what are other films usually like?"

"To be honest, if it's a commercial film intended to earn box office revenue, it would absolutely not allow a film to be shelved for such a long time. When to start filming and when to release it are all planned," Chen Ziyan said. "Otherwise, there wouldn't be cases where a crew is about to start filming but has to change actors at the last minute because of scheduling conflicts. If they could wait, why wouldn't they wait until everyone is available?"

Lu Yan He realized and nodded.

Chen Ziyan said: "You can choose to act in *Rouge* or not. I've read the script; to be honest, the focus of this play is on Ruhu. The character of Thirteen Young Master... is too cold and too scummy. Whoever plays him won't be liked."

Lu Yan He didn't expect Chen Ziyan to say that too.

But looking back, *Rouge* is really like that. If it hadn't been for Zhang Guorong to play it back then, perhaps Thirteen Young Master would never have become a classic remembered by moviegoers.

The actor's attributes for this character are too strong.

If Lu Yan He were to play it, it is indeed very likely he would end up just being a foil.

Chen Ziyan said: "You need to act in a commercial film, and it has to be a big-budget commercial film. You can't always act in these low-budget films that create miracles; otherwise, over time, people's perception of your positioning will be set in stone."