Chapter 382: Fleeing in Panic

Chen Siqi has become a hit.

On one hand, she is a hit on social media—her previous fame was as Lu Yan He's girlfriend; people were curious about her and followed her mainly because of this identity, not because she was the editor-in-chief of *Jump Up*.

On the other hand, she has truly become a hit in the film and television industry.

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

*Seventeen Layers* allowed everyone to see the terrifying network of connections behind Chen Siqi and her sharp, targeted promotional strategy.

By the time *Late Spring* arrived, Chen Siqi took the two million yuan she got from Long Yan and organized a large-scale event involving over a hundred staff members. Through the creativity and attention generated by the event itself, she brought in Arctic Light Video for a live stream, expanded the event's influence, and then integrated the actors of *Late Spring* into it. This kind of event, involving multiple partners and complex operations, was successfully executed by her and her team, and it even generated a wide range of organic, word-of-mouth promotion.

These methods and ideas for promotion had never appeared in the film and television industry before.

The promotional marketing campaigns Chen Siqi conducted were all based on the advantages of *Jump Up* magazine, combined with currently popular promotional channels and methods, to create customized plans tailored to the characteristics of the film or television drama itself.

*Friends* focused on "Supporting Lu Yan He," *Seventeen Layers* focused on "Watch the Premiere," and *Late Spring* focused on "Youth" and "Regret," allowing the keywords to spread with a brainwashing rhythm, deepening everyone's impression, and subsequently converting them into real viewers.

Judging by the results, everything she did was effective.

In comparison, the current promotional marketing methods for other film and television dramas are the same old three: interviews, talk shows, roadshows, high-traffic placement, and so on.

The exposure is indeed high, and it can let many people know of their existence, but whether it can be converted into viewers is an unknown.

TV series can be played this way, but movies cannot—movies require spending money to go to the cinema to be played.

Selling an art-house film with a production cost of only a few million and a customized promotional budget of only two million to this extent, Chen Siqi has been deified for this one film.

Yu Lang summarized the situation of the film and television dramas that had come looking for them and said to Chen Siqi, "Currently, thirteen film and television dramas have sent invitations, wanting us to customize promotional marketing plans for them."

Chen Siqi shook her head. "We don't have the capacity to take them on right now; we don't have that ability. You should organize the situation of these thirteen projects, and I'll take a look. Also, send it to Linyu and the others, let everyone take a serious look, and we will hold a video conference at nine o'clock tomorrow morning to discuss which ones to take."

Yu Lang nodded.

Chen Siqi added, "Yu Lang, if this business sector takes off, we will be severely short-handed again, and we will have to recruit people again. Have you thought it through? Do you want to continue working with me after graduation?"

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

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

Yu Lang fell silent.

After a few seconds, she said, "My plan for myself is to go abroad to study for a master's degree. I want to experience different cultural backgrounds and lives in different environments. If I start working right after graduation, I won't be able to fulfill this wish."

Chen Siqi nodded and said, "Okay, since you've made your decision, I support you. Then help me post another recruitment notice at school and help me scout for a few candidates. It just so happens that you can also help me train them over this year."

Yu Lang asked, "Aren't you going to let the HR department help you find them?"

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

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

In fact, if possible, Chen Siqi would certainly hope that Yu Lang could continue working for her.

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

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

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

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

Yu Lang said to Chen Siqi, "How about this, I'll find three people for you, and they can all come for a trial period. One will be responsible for magazine business, one for new media business, and one for promotional marketing business. Half a year of competitive selection. I'll take them to do some other miscellaneous tasks, which is just right to see whose personality is more meticulous and cautious, and later they can take over my work here."

Chen Siqi thought for a moment and nodded. "Okay."

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

Chen Siqi said, "Two thousand a month for the first month, and four thousand for the next five months. If they can become full-time employees after half a year, they will get two-thirds of your salary. What do you think?"

Yu Lang said, "I have no opinion. I will sign agreements with them according to this. There's no way around it; we are all still college students, and we can't sign employment contracts, only cooperation agreements, which don't have much binding force."

"Actually, it's good for you to study abroad." Chen Siqi's eyes rolled, and she said, "I've been wanting to expand overseas business anyway."

Yu Lang looked shocked and said, "Chen Siqi, can you let me go?!"

Chen Siqi said, "Anyway, you don't have a family business to inherit. Where isn't it work? Where else can you have as much room for development as I can give you?"

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

She knew that what Chen Siqi said was true.

If she didn't go abroad to study, by the time she graduated, she would have been Chen Siqi's assistant for almost three years. By then, she would definitely have been promoted to manage a business sector on her own.

Although these people are all still college students, they have been tempered by these jobs and have shed much of their childishness.

Yu Lang said, "We'll see. There are still two years until graduation, but I really don't have enough time to be your assistant. I'll have to start applying to schools soon. Even if you hadn't brought up finding a new assistant, I would have had to remind you."

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

Yu Lang: "I'm just spending less time with you, not dead."

Chen Siqi: "..."

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

Major media outlets published articles without hesitation.

*Late Spring* breaks the box office record for art-house films!

400 million box office, aiming for 600 million! The box office miracle of *Late Spring*!

Marketing queen helps acting king set a box office record, young couple shocks the entire entertainment industry!

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

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

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

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

As a result, although *Explosive Experience* took over 80 million in box office on the first day, it began to see a halving trend on the second day, and finally only took a box office of just over 300 million.

The actual production cost of this movie was as high as over 90 million, and the promotion and distribution cost nearly 50 million, totaling 140 million spent.

As of now, it's not to the point of losing money; counting other various copyright revenues, it can still make a small profit. But compared to expectations, it's really a huge gap.

The head of the data analysis department said, "The early data for *Explosive Experience* were all very good, in a leading position, but the audience word-of-mouth for the movie was too poor. After the first day of release, a large number of negative reviews appeared online, mainly concentrated on evaluations such as cliché and boring. This is the main reason for the poor box office trend of *Explosive Experience*. Conversely, *Late Spring* relied on the audience word-of-mouth accumulated during the preview period, lengthened the battle line, successfully allowed this movie to hold on in the cinema until the National Day slot, and formed word-of-mouth, preserving the screening schedule."

Huang Zhongjing's face was serious. "With such a blockbuster lineup for *Explosive Experience*, why did this situation occur? We have all seen the film; you all know what its quality is like. Is it as bad as the audience says? If it's really that bad, why did we invest such a large amount of promotional funds in this movie?"

The executive in charge of *Explosive Experience* immediately said, "The biggest problem this film faced was actually the scandal of the second male lead, Huang Qi, and the black fans of the female lead, Li Qingyang, constantly smearing this film, which caused a lot of negative public opinion from the beginning."

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

"At that time, they felt that this film was an all-star lineup and wouldn't be affected by these small, trivial black materials." Another executive who was not involved chuckled. "Actually, this film can't be said to have crashed; it didn't lose money, did it? Movies that don't lose money are always making money in the end."

"According to your thinking, then 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 in box office. If it weren't for this movie, our Long Yan would have made a huge joke this National Day, and we would have lost all face."

"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 have sold this box office either."

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

Seeing that Huang Zhongjing was really angry.

The conference room was silent.

Huang Zhongjing: "The so-called big directors, big stars, big blockbusters, the projects you are doing now are increasingly playing this safe card. *Late Spring* was even blocked by you when it was first established. Are you ashamed now? I feel ashamed for you. You have lost your sharp vision! If you only know how to play safe cards, what do I need you sitting here for!" Everyone lowered their heads silently and stopped responding.

After the reshoots for *Silent River* were finished, Lu Yan He returned to school to attend classes without stopping.

With *Late Spring* currently showing, he was caught off guard and blocked by a large wave of people at the school gate.

They were all movie fans who had watched *Late Spring* and really wanted to see Lu Yan He at the gate of Zhenhua.

Having broadcast so many plays, this was the first time Lu Yan He had encountered such a grand occasion.

If we talk about popularity, the popularity of *Friends* and *Seventeen Layers* was much higher than that of *Late Spring*, but Lu Yan He had never been blocked by so many fans and movie fans before.

Lu Yan He didn't even know what was going on.

Fortunately, the security department of Zhenhua noticed the large number of fans gathered at the gate and had long been prepared. More than a dozen security guards were already in place. When Lu Yan He got out of the car and was blocked, they pushed through the crowd with lightning speed and escorted Lu Yan He into the school gate.

In just half a minute, Lu Yan He saw many people shouting his name crazily, wanting to shake hands with him, asking for his autograph, and also saw many people saying they loved him with excited and thrilled faces, which was unprecedented.

At this moment, Lu Yan He finally realized that the welcome he had received before was different compared to being truly crazily welcomed.

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

In the words of a film critic, such an image had more sexual tension than his previous images.

Now reality has proven that this film critic was right.

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

This is also why many actors, although their acting skills are deified and recognized by the audience, are not so genuinely loved by the audience, because they don't have that kind of character that the audience remembers in their hearts.

Actors without representative characters, no matter how good their acting skills are, are just a sword that has never been sharpened. People might be surprised by its manufacturing craftsmanship, but it will never become a legend like Gan Jiang and Mo Ye.

Lu Yan He's fans suddenly increased.

The kind of fans who truly like him as a person, have an idol-like appreciation and gaze for him, and want to pay attention to his every word and action, surged suddenly.

Not just Lu Yan He, the other young actors in *Late Spring* also became popular.

These days, not to mention continuous exposure, news related to them frequently hit the hot searches.

This is a sign that a film has truly become popular. Newcomers who were once unknown suddenly became the focus of media and people's attention.

Yan Lingyu, Kong Fan, He Qingqing, Wang Jing... several young people who were still students at the performance school experienced what it means to become famous overnight.

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

They were still running roadshows with Liu Bige.

For a movie, having the main creators run roadshows is the most laborious way, but it is also the way that can produce the best results.

Running roadshows is not just about the screening rate. Every roadshow scene will have a lot of material that can be used by the film party for subsequent promotion, maintaining the film's popularity and promoting the box office.

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

After running a circle, Lu Yan He watched the latest roadshow video and only felt that Liu Bige had lost a circle of weight.

Liu Bige was already thin, and this loss of weight made him look like he had gone through a training camp.

But it is estimated that people are refreshed when they encounter happy events; he was not tired at all, but instead had a kind of excited energy like he had been injected with chicken blood.

His two eyes were shining.

Although Lu Yan He did not participate in the subsequent roadshows, he kept in touch with everyone in the main creator group every day, listening to them talk about the interesting things that happened during the roadshows.

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 like they had been injected with chicken blood.

Probably because it was their first time running a roadshow, they still had plenty of freshness.

*Late Spring* was not the one with the highest box office. Strictly speaking, *Late Spring* had never won a daily box office champion.

But its discussion level was extremely high, especially major self-media and bloggers, who were basically discussing this movie, talking about their feelings and understanding.

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

This was a situation that had never appeared before.

This also caused some people's complaints.

Lu Yan He felt sorry for this, but he couldn't do anything.

He could only appeal on his social media, asking everyone not to stay at the school gate, affecting other people's travel, and also emphasized that he had no work next and would basically not leave the school gate, telling everyone not to wait, as waiting would be in vain.

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

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

In the minds of many people, art-house films are equal to not good-looking, equal to boring and tasteless.

But in fact, for many top art-house films, their box office may not be that high for a while, but the number of their movie fans is absolutely not to be underestimated. And it is the kind where the longer the time, the more movie fans there are.

For some classic art-house films, their sacred status for movie fans is no less than the fanatical status of idols in the minds of fans.

*Late Spring* brought Lu Yan He a character that made a large number of audiences feel moved and feel "sexual tension" for the first time. This was an effect that previous characters had not achieved, or the effect was not enough.

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

"You have been staying at school these days, so you might as well read these scripts." Chen Ziyan said. "These are the scripts sent over during this recent period. After I read them, I think there are some worth considering. You take a look."

This stack of scripts was nearly half a meter high.

Lu Yan He was scared.

"Damn? Why so many?"

Chen Ziyan said, "Almost all the movie scripts on the market with you as the protagonist in this age group have been sent over. *Late Spring* is too popular, everyone wants to find you to act."

Lu Yan He: "With so many scripts, I don't know when I'll finish reading them."

Chen Ziyan said, "Then it depends on your fate with them. Your subsequent movie scripts are indeed few. *Silent River* has already been filmed, and you only have one *Road to Glory* to film next, and there are no other plays. You can look at new projects, or is it that you are writing scripts for yourself?"

Lu Yan He shook his head.

"Not yet."

He added, "By the way, when is the short film for *Rouge* being filmed this month?"

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

Lu Yan He: "We can't just not film it because we haven't found a suitable male actor."

Chen Ziyan nodded and said, "It's not that we won't film it if there's no suitable male actor. Your movie, because the investment is not high, doesn't put much pressure on several investors. Plus, although this movie is a commercial film according to your statement, to the outside world, Director Wang Zhong plus Chen Bige starring, it looks like an art-house film lineup. People come to invest, not to make much 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, people are not in a hurry, thinking that art films have some pursuit of art and high requirements, which is normal."

Lu Yan He asked, "Then what are other movies generally like?"

"To be honest, if it's a commercial film, it's for the sake of box office, and it will absolutely not allow a movie to be shelved for such a long time. When to start filming, when to release, these will all be planned." Chen Ziyan said. "Otherwise, there wouldn't be a crew about to start filming, and because the schedule doesn't match, they have to change actors temporarily. If they can wait, why not wait until everyone has time?"

Lu Yan He suddenly realized and nodded.

Chen Ziyan said, "For the movie *Rouge*, you can act or not. I read the script. To be honest, the focus of this play is on Ruhu. The character of Shisan Shao... is too cold and too scummy. Whoever acts it will not be liked."

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

But looking back, *Rouge* is really like this. If it wasn't for Zhang Guorong to act it at the beginning, maybe Shisan Shao would never have become a classic remembered by movie fans.

The actor attribute of this character is too strong.

If Lu Yan He acts it, it is indeed very likely to be directly acted as a foil.

Chen Ziyan said, "You have to act in a commercial film, and it must be a big-production commercial film. You can't always act in these small-cost miracle films. Otherwise, over time, everyone's positioning of you will be fixed." ===== CHAPTER 383 =====