Chapter 499: Who cooperates with whom (7,000-character update!)

"I was really almost dizzy from him throwing 50 million US dollars at me!"

In a phone call with Chen Ziyan, Lu Yan He said with extreme shock, "Finally, someone has brought out so much money to throw at me."

Chen Ziyan's reaction was "Uh—," and then she said: "If I say that many film and television companies in China have brought contracts worth hundreds of millions to ask you to write and direct a play, but they were all rejected by me, will you be angry?"

Lu Yan He: "What? I thought people in our country were more rational."

"When someone brings out such a salary to invite you, do you think they are not rational enough? No, it's that you don't know how much money they can make from you," Chen Ziyan said. "You are the most valuable person."

Chen Ziyan said again: "You actually saw it long ago; *Rouge* and *Lost on Journey* both brought you nine-figure income. The most profitable thing is never one person's salary."

Lu Yan He: "But that was... how to put it, it was real money earned through box office and licensing. No matter how much was earned, I only felt that the project was very successful and very lucky, so it could earn so much. But Zhong Benshuo coming to me with a 50 million US dollar agreement—as long as I am willing to give the broadcast rights of the *Squid Game* sequel to Maxine, I can earn 50 million US dollars, and the procurement fee for the broadcast rights is given normally as well. I just... maybe I'm used to earning a little bit at a time, and this kind of unexpected windfall makes me subconsciously feel uneasy."

"Because we are all influenced by one idea—there is no such thing as a free lunch," Chen Ziyan summed it up in one sentence, clarifying what Lu Yan He hadn't explained clearly just now. "Right? You are actually worried about this matter."

"Yes!"

Chen Ziyan: "Let's put it this way: I'm not surprised that Zhong Benshuo brought this 50 million US dollar agreement. You don't know what *Squid Game* means to Maxine. Actually, to be precise, from *Friends* to *Seventeen Layers*, and then to *Squid Game*, the returns these few shows have brought to Maxine compared to the costs Maxine spent to procure them are several times or even more than ten times. And how popular *Squid Game* is globally—not just the number of viewers, but that same principle, did you forget? A big hit show is a catalyst for a video platform, a catalyst for stock prices."

Lu Yan He suddenly realized.

He had indeed ignored this aspect again.

"Then you know what a big hit show series means to a platform like Maxine," Chen Ziyan said. "It's a show that has broken historical records."

Lu Yan He took a deep breath upon hearing this.

Chen Ziyan: "For other creators, if they encounter such a big hit work, even if they don't do it themselves, investors, producers, platforms, agents, etc., will all urge them to give up other works and devote themselves wholeheartedly to this work. But for you, it's different. Every one of your works has hit to varying degrees. You are an actor, a screenwriter, a director, and you are sought after by all parties and circles. Even I find it hard to say which identity you should mainly focus on now. For you now, every identity is indispensable. So next, will you prioritize the film *Those Years*, or prioritize writing the *Squid Game* sequel script? As Maxine's representative and the contact person for the *Squid Game* project, Zhong Benshuo wants to ensure that this project will continue to stay at Maxine, and secondly, he wants to ensure that this project will continue to advance and not be delayed by your other projects. This is the significance of these 50 million US dollars."

Lu Yan He let out a long sigh.

"Will you write the script for the second season of *Squid Game* this year?" Chen Ziyan asked.

Lu Yan He thought for a while, nodded, and said: "I will write it, but it might not be finalized."

After all, when he transmigrated, there was no second season of *Squid Game*; he could only write it himself. He had never created an original script himself; he had only added some original content during script creation. These are two different things. Lu Yan He didn't know if he could write it, but he wanted to try first.

Chen Ziyan: "Then... have you considered changing to another platform to broadcast? Like HP?"

Lu Yan He shook his head and said: "I haven't considered it. Success is not so easy to replicate. *Squid Game* has already become a hit on Maxine; why change it easily? I don't want to have too much private friendship with Zhong Benshuo; that's a personal matter between him and me. Maxine itself is a very good streaming media, and it hasn't treated me badly, has it?"

"Mm, it's certainly good that you can think this way," Chen Ziyan said. "Zhong Benshuo... I've dealt with him a few times, and his impression on me hasn't been very positive. He is that kind of typical, refined egoist. However, we don't need to make value judgments about others. A refined egoist can also be a collaborator with common interests, but for this kind of person, I just feel that it's better to just cooperate, and apart from that, there's no need to develop any friendship. You have a natural vigilance and defense against him now, which is very good."

Lu Yan He laughed.

Chen Ziyan's blunt expression of her dislike for Zhong Benshuo was quite relatable to Lu Yan He.

Likewise, this also made Lu Yan He want to laugh.

Chen Ziyan suddenly said again: "For the second season of *Squid Game*, the cast, except for Jiang Jun and Liu Zefan, has almost been completely reshuffled. There will be a lot of trouble later."

Lu Yan He laughed.

"Have you watched the third season of *Friends*?" Chen Ziyan asked.

Lu Yan He shook his head.

When *Friends* was airing, it was exactly when he was filming *Love Letter*, and he was so busy every day that he had no time to watch the third season of *Friends*.

Chen Ziyan said: "The ratings plummeted, and later there was almost no one discussing it online."

Lu Yan He was stunned.

"The third season hasn't been on domestic video platforms yet. It's estimated that there's a problem with web broadcast investment, and it's suffered a setback," Chen Ziyan laughed in a very satisfying way. "You probably can't imagine how much the ratings of the third season fell later. By the seventh episode, it fell to only 0.3%."

Lu Yan He showed an expression of disbelief.

"No way?"

How could it have a foundation of being a big hit and still collapse like this?

Chen Ziyan: "I didn't watch every episode either. Their reputation has collapsed like this, and they still insist on airing only one episode a week, and they don't synchronize it on video platforms, so I don't even have a channel to see how rotten it is."

Lu Yan He looked at Chen Ziyan in surprise, unable to recover for a long time.

Lu Yan He really didn't expect that *Friends* would be made into this state by Jingtai.

*Squid Game* is indeed very popular in China, but compared to the original *Friends*, it is still a bit worse.

*Squid Game* is only popular among young people, unlike *Friends*, which became a social phenomenon, with every media outlet using the characters and plots in *Friends* to discuss values and issues.

It can be said that the phenomenal degree of *Friends*' popularity in China is incredible. With a show that has such a basic foundation, Lu Yan He couldn't figure out how rotten the third season could be to make the ratings fall below Jingtai's bottom line.

He searched online for relevant comments to see what people were saying about the show. Once he saw it, he realized how heavy the resentment towards the third season was.

The spearhead of the cursing was all directed at the third season's director, Gao Bohua.

There were basically no clips longer than one minute online.

Clips longer than one minute probably infringed on copyright, which is why there weren't any.

Lu Yan He clicked on several places that were most criticized by everyone. One was the new character played by Zhang Lan competing with Li Lili for a man, which became one of the main storylines of the third season. The other was the introduction of Chen Wanqiu's ex-boyfriend character in the third season, who suddenly turned back to pursue Chen Wanqiu bitterly. The theme of the third season suddenly turned into a love-tearing drama, and because of this, it was cursed like crazy.

Not only that, many people were saying that the more they watched the third season, the less they liked these characters. Because they had a filter for the characters who had accompanied them since the first season, even if an annoying fly appeared in the second season, they could still endure it and persist. Now the third season was completely uglifying the characters they liked.

Like the white moonlight in their hearts, they had become greasy middle-aged uncles and noisy middle-aged aunts.

Seeing this description, Lu Yan He inexplicably got everyone's mood.

"*My Own Swordsman* has finished filming, right? How is the post-production going?"

That day, Hu Siwei invited Bai Jingnian out. Long-time friends sat together to have a drink and chat.

Bai Jingnian nodded and said: "The post-production of this show is easy to do. It's basically finished, and it's expected to air this summer."

Hu Siwei asked: "I heard it's being aired in three seasons?"

"Yes," Bai Jingnian nodded. "But actually, we have already filmed half of the content, and we will start filming the other half this year."

Hu Siwei: "That's great. Are your three seasons airing one season a year?"

"Yes," Bai Jingnian nodded. "That's also quite good, no pressure."

"After you left Jingtai, you've been smooth sailing now," Hu Siwei said with a smile.

"To be honest, I have to thank you, Old Hu. If you hadn't supported me in doing the *Friends* project back then and found Lu Yan He to rewrite the script, I might have really just been mediocre at Jingtai until retirement," Bai Jingnian said. "Speaking of which, are you still planning to continue working at Jingtai?"

Hu Siwei was stunned, "Hmm?"

"The *Friends* third season..." Bai Jingnian said.

Hu Siwei smiled and lowered his head, seeming a bit embarrassed.

"It's more than just a small blow," he sighed. "There was an internal meeting to do a review, and I, as the producer, took the brunt of it."

Bai Jingnian frowned, "Did Xu Bin push you out to take the blame?"

"That's not quite it. At the time of the meeting, I requested that the meeting minutes must record my opposition to the third season's adaptation ideas," Hu Siwei said. "It's just that even if I did that, it was of no avail. No one listened to me at the time."

"Jingtai is just that pissy."

Bai Jingnian originally wanted to curse a few more times, but after looking at Hu Siwei, he fell silent again. Forget it.

He said: "You really should consider leaving Jingtai. Your ability is so strong; it's a pity to be delayed at Jingtai."

Hu Siwei smiled.

"Old Bai, I'm not you. I'm not a director, and I don't do creative work. Leaving Jingtai is easy to say, but what would I do outside?" Hu Siwei's mouth revealed a wry smile. "I was just a producer on *Friends*. To put it bluntly, I was just a high-level accountant, managing this and that, all miscellaneous things."

Bai Jingnian said sternly: "Lu Yan He's film and television production company is missing someone like you."

Hu Siwei looked at Bai Jingnian in surprise.

"What?"

Bai Jingnian: "I'm not just saying this casually. He complained to me before that when filming *Love Letter*, his entire team was found by asking friends for help."

Hu Siwei immediately waved his hand, "Don't tease me. How could Lu Yan He's company be short of people? If he wanted to recruit people, the entire entertainment industry would send resumes to his company."

"I'm talking to you seriously about this matter," Bai Jingnian said. "Lu Yan He's production company, how its future will be, I don't need to say. His company is short of people now; this is a fact. He might not have thought about whether he would continue to be a director in the future, so he didn't recruit real production personnel. But regardless, think about it: Lu Yan He has to participate in so many projects—those he acts in, those he writes, and even those where he is purely a presenter or producer in the future. He needs someone who understands film and television production very well to help him. He doesn't have such a person around him now. Your relationship with him has always been good. When you two were filming *Friends*, you were clearly quite familiar with each other. Why don't you try it?"

Hu Siwei fell silent and didn't refute again.

Bai Jingnian said: "If you are too embarrassed to speak up yourself, I'll help you say it."

Hu Siwei immediately shook his head.

"No need."

Bai Jingnian's words left strong ripples in Hu Siwei's heart, and it didn't calm down for a long time.

The third season of *Friends* smashed through the bottom of the pot, the station head was furious, people from other factions watched their jokes, and within their own internal circle, it was also a cloud of gloom.

These past few days, the question Hu Siwei was asked the most was: Will *Friends* continue to be filmed? Will there be a fourth season?

Facing such a question, Hu Siwei didn't know how to answer.

Because he didn't know either.

In fact, with the third season airing like this, several lead actors had already clearly stated that they didn't want to participate in the filming of the fourth season without fundamental changes. Even if their Jingtai wanted to film it, they would face the situation of the lead actors being absent. It really became a mess, and a mess that didn't know how to end.

Xu Bin called him to the office again.

"Can *Friends* still be saved?" Xu Bin asked him.

Hu Siwei said: "Unless Lu Yan He can be invited back, or Bai Jingnian can be invited back, otherwise, with the situation of the third season, even if the fourth season returns to the level of the first season, it may not be able to pull those audiences back."

Turning the tide against the wind is always harder than pressing the attack while winning.

Hu Siwei looked at Xu Bin, who had huge dark circles under his eyes, and sighed in his heart, thinking that he had said who knows how many times before that the third season couldn't let that director poached from Hollywood mess around, but Xu Bin didn't believe him, believing in that director named Gao Bohua as if he were possessed and had found a straw to save his life.

Now that the third season had smashed, Gao Bohua's shadow couldn't even be seen.

Xu Bin was silent for a long time, then suddenly said: "Since it can't be saved, then forget it."

Hu Siwei looked at him with some surprise, not understanding what he meant.

Xu Bin said to Hu Siwei: "Then *Friends*..."

Hu Siwei didn't expect that Xu Bin would make the decision to pause *Friends* so quickly.

So, in Xu Bin's eyes, could this decision be made so quickly?

Hu Siwei felt a bit silent in his heart, a bit... lost.

In the past, people like them who came from TV stations liked to call themselves "TV people."

Later, such a saying slowly cooled down, was eliminated, and no longer appeared.

Hu Siwei had also once been proud of this identity as a "TV person." When he first joined the job, he really had a period of time when he was in his prime. At that time, making programs, buying TV dramas, going on location, searching all over the country for materials that could be aired on TV... Hu Siwei felt from the bottom of his heart that this was a place where he could struggle for his whole life.

Then, the internet era arrived.

When the first season of *Friends* achieved such dazzling results, what Hu Siwei thought of wasn't anything else, but finally... they finally found a path that TV stations could continue to walk on.

They should do exclusive broadcasts.

As long as there is the best content, whether it's TV or mobile phones, they are just carriers for viewing.

Hu Siwei fully believed that the *Friends* series could last at least five or six seasons.

Because this is different from general drama content; this is a sitcom, with almost no main storyline. As long as you are familiar with this group of lead actors, it doesn't matter if you don't watch it continuously.

As long as a group of audiences who like this series is cultivated, the ratings can always look down on the heroes.

Who knew that the time it continued to shine was like the flash of a dying person.

Xu Bin said to Hu Siwei: "You've also worked hard during this time, take a rest."

Hu Siwei nodded, looked at Xu Bin, and stopped talking.

Xu Bin saw it, but he didn't ask, waving his hand, "Go take a rest."

Hu Siwei sighed silently in his heart and left.

"Restart *Friends*?"

Lu Yan He looked at the man in front of him in shock.

The station head of Yuehu TV, Xu Senjin.

Xu Senjin is forty-two years old this year, has been in the Yuehu radio and television system, and became the station head last year.

Chen Ziyan sat beside Lu Yan He, smiled at Xu Senjin, and said: "Station Head Xu, the rights to *Friends* are in Jingtai's hands, not in ours."

Xu Senjin said: "Ms. Chen, as long as Yan He is willing to return to *Friends*, we will handle other matters."

Lu Yan He and Chen Ziyan looked at each other.

This station head, who also came from a first-tier TV station, felt very different from the several TV station heads Lu Yan He and the others had met before.

Some people have a kind of boldness that makes people look at them and know they can get things done, and Xu Senjin is such a person.

Lu Yan He and Chen Ziyan looked at each other.

Xu Senjin said: "Yan He, if you have any concerns, you can say them directly. I am very sincere and want to do the *Friends* series. Our Yuehu TV has been working hard to develop over the years, and it can be said that it is the TV station among the first-tier TV stations that is still focused on making content and innovating content. Jingtai did not see the true value of the *Friends* series. Like the matter of you being affected for no reason because of internal infighting at Jingtai, I can promise you that as long as I am at Yuehu TV for one day, it will not happen."

Lu Yan He was silent for a moment and said: "Station Head Xu, do you hope that the *Friends* series will continue to be made and aired on Yuehu TV?"

"Yes," Xu Senjin said. "You have absolute autonomy; you have the final say on how this show is filmed."

Xu Senjin's proposal made Lu Yan He fall into deep thought.

To be honest, the *Friends* series has a very different significance for Lu Yan He.

Back then, he laid down harsh words and quit *Friends*, and he did what he said, but in his heart, there was more or less regret.

If that incident hadn't happened, *Friends* would have been filmed normally to the third season, right?

Regardless, it wouldn't have smashed through the bottom of the pot like it is now, right?

*Friends* was the first project he participated in as a non-actor. And it wasn't just as an editor. Just as Bai Jingnian said to reporters at the time, Lu Yan He participated in casting, participated in the discussion of the filming plan, and participated in many links of this show. Lu Yan He made huge contributions to what *Friends* would be filmed into and what it was filmed into in the end.

Lu Yan He himself knows best how much effort was put into this.

Subsequently, as if to let Lu Yan He see the sincerity they expressed, Yuehu TV aired *Phoenix Terrace* and *Silent River* one after another. Not only that, they also bought the TV broadcast rights for *Three Mountains*, *Late Spring*, *Lost on Journey*, *Rouge*, and *Road to Glory*, and created a "Lu Yan He Film Week" column, airing from Monday to Friday.

Lu Yan He was impressed by this operation of Yuehu TV.

When these shows are bought by TV stations to be aired, copyright fees are calculated based on the number of broadcasts.

Every time it is aired, it must be paid for.

Except for the rights to *Friends* Season 1, *Golden Age*, and *Seventeen Layers* which couldn't be bought, they aired everything they could buy.

This operation was also noticed by many people.

"Does Yuehu TV like Lu Yan He so much?"

"Are they... going to cooperate with Lu Yan He?"

A first-tier TV station airing the same person's works so densely is indeed a signal in many people's eyes.

Of course, no one would think of this matter in terms of *Friends*.

After the rendering time and time again over the past few years, everyone has automatically cut Lu Yan He off from the *Friends* series.

As for Yuehu TV... it has even less to do with *Friends*.

A common guess among everyone is that Lu Yan He is going to cooperate with Yuehu TV on a new project.

Many people went to inquire with Yuehu TV, and also came to inquire with Lu Yan He and Chen Ziyan.

Lu Yan He and Chen Ziyan replied uniformly: No.

"Is Lu Yan He really going to cooperate with Yuehu TV?"

At an internal meeting at Jingtai, Station Head Shen Tailin looked at Jiang Lan and asked.

Jiang Lan is currently the only deputy station head at Jingtai who can still form a cooperative relationship with Lu Yan He.

Jiang Lan shook her head, "Asked them, they said no, but I don't know if it's true. However, even if they really cooperate with Yuehu TV, it's not strange."

Shen Tailin: "Regarding the *Friends* series, is Lu Yan He still unwilling to return?"

"I also asked privately," Jiang Lan looked at Xu Bin, "I also expressed to him that as long as he is willing to return, this time he will be invited as a creative consultant for *Friends*, possessing full decision-making power and autonomy. However, he also said very directly that he said in front of everyone that he would not return to Jingtai to participate in *Friends* again. This is not a matter of whether he personally wants to return or not, but that he cannot go back on his word. Actually—"

Jiang Lan paused, looked at Xu Bin and other deputy station heads, and then said: "The fact that he can say these things so frankly makes me feel that he is actually telling the truth. When talking about the second part of *Seventeen Layers* with him, it was also basically very smooth, without encountering any difficulties. This show is going to start filming this year."

Jiang Lan said these things not for anything else, but to subtly remind Shen Tailin: no matter how much you want to pull Lu Yan He back into the *Friends* series, don't mess with my side; Lu Yan He still has to continue acting in *Seventeen Layers*.

The third season of *Friends* flopped, but her *Seventeen Layers* is still in full swing preparing for the second season.

Shen Tailin asked: "Besides *Seventeen Layers*, what about Lu Yan He's other projects?"

Jiang Lan: "I have looked at some scripts in his hands that still have copyrights and can be developed into TV dramas, but for the time being, there are none that I think are suitable."

Shen Tailin nodded, "Then what if we invite him to write a sitcom script again? Will he come?"

Jiang Lan was silent for a moment, "I need to talk to him to know, but, Station Head, Lu Yan He's market value is no longer what it used to be. Other things are easy to say, but now basically all his projects have copyrights kept in his own hands, and only broadcast rights are sold, or the copyrights of the shows are shared with the producers, but the story and other derivative development rights are all kept in his own hands. This is already completely different from when *Friends* was made."

Shen Tailin nodded.

"If he can write another show like *Friends*, these conditions are easy to talk about," Shen Tailin looked at Jiang Lan, "The key is whether he is willing to write it and whether he can write it."

From beginning to end, Xu Bin didn't say a word.

On one hand, he didn't want to speak, and on the other hand, he also felt that Shen Tailin didn't seem to care about his attitude and opinions.

This is a TV station, an environment passed down from generation to generation for decades. Perhaps in some companies, on video platform websites like Arctic Light Video, subordinates will still be taught like grandchildren in front of superiors, but in TV stations, this situation is almost impossible to exist. Because no one relies on anyone else to eat, they all eat public food. Usually, the division of power is clear, and the hierarchy is strict, but if they don't intend to tear their faces apart, they are usually "you are good, I am good."

Today, Shen Tailin ignored Xu Bin as if he didn't exist, which was already a bit too obvious.

The meeting ended, and Xu Bin returned to his office with a face as dark as water.

He sat in his seat for a while and called Hu Siwei.

"Come over."

Hu Siwei came to his office.

Xu Bin said: "Lu Yan He just doesn't want to continue doing *Friends*. When you were filming *Friends* with him, wasn't your relationship good? Go talk to him and see if you can cooperate on other projects. He has several scripts in his hands. Jiang Lan has seen them, but Jiang Lan didn't like them and didn't want to develop them. You take them over, and we'll do them."

Hu Siwei was stunned and looked at Xu Bin in disbelief, "Ah?"

Xu Bin said: "Why? Is there a problem?"

Hu Siwei saw a bit of angry paranoia in Xu Bin's eyes.

So, the words Hu Siwei wanted to say were suppressed and didn't come out.

"I'll go contact Lu Yan He," Hu Siwei said to Xu Bin.

He walked out of Xu Bin's office, stood in the corridor, looked at the light coming in from the window at the end of the corridor, and sighed heavily.

The words Bai Jingnian said before floated out of his mind again.

Last night before going to sleep, I suddenly saw the new article *Reversal* by Lin Hai Ting Tao, an author who is very famous for writing sports-themed novels. I haven't read his other articles before, this is the first one. It's serialized to 140,000 words. I thought I could look at a theme I've never read before, maybe it could make me sleepy and sleep well. As a result, I finished reading 140,000 words in one breath and caught up to the latest. I like it very much. Those who are interested can go and see it. ===== CHAPTER 500 =====