Chapter 544

According to everyone's habit, after finishing work on Friday, they would all gather to watch that night's update before leaving.

But that was clearly not possible today.

Filming didn't end until nine o'clock.

However, they finally finished on Friday, so there was no need to come back for overtime filming tomorrow.

Everyone said goodbye to each other, preparing to go back.

At this moment, Hu Siwei suddenly shouted excitedly.

Everyone looked toward him.

Hu Siwei said: "Tonight, the real-time peak viewership exceeded 3%!"

Everyone on set cheered.

Lu Yan He also waved his arms, feeling very encouraged.

Hu Siwei smiled and said: "Everyone, let's keep working hard. We've already gotten the bonus for breaking 3. Is the bonus for breaking 4 far away?"

The cheers on set became even louder.

In the show *Friends*, only Bai Jingnian and Lu Yan He receive dividends; other actors and staff receive bonuses.

Whatever achievement is reached, the corresponding bonus amount is received.

Of course, the bonus system for different people is different.

But regardless, *Friends* is the first TV series to include drivers and set staff in the bonus system. As long as they are official staff of the crew, not temporary helpers, they have a corresponding bonus system.

Therefore, the better *Friends* performs, the higher the income everyone gets.

This point was negotiated by Lu Yan He and all the main creators with Yuehu Station.

This also means that Yuehu Station's personnel expenditure for this show must be higher than other film and television projects. However, as Lu Yan He emphasized at the time, the creation of a show is not enough just because a few core creators care about it. Its final quality has always been a collective result.

In fact, the moment the show's peak viewership broke 3, Yuehu Station had no position or reason to question the design of the bonus system.

Including CCTV, there hadn't been a show with a peak viewership breaking 3 for several years.

"This is the charm of sitcoms. It will only become more and more popular, as long as you don't sabotage yourself," Hu Siwei said with a smile, the last sentence making many people on set smile knowingly. "Everyone, keep working hard. We still have a long, long road ahead. Let it not only become a representative work of our careers but also provide the strongest and most powerful material foundation for our lives, our real lives. Yes, I'll be that vulgar."

At this moment, the cheers and screams on set reached the clouds.

"Maxine's viewership has exceeded 8 million, and the number of people who have watched more than one full episode is 5.17 million."

Zhong Benshuo would come to tell Lu Yan He the latest results of *Friends* on Maxine every week, without fail.

His perseverance made Lu Yan He almost put down his guard against him and the idea of "not wanting to cooperate directly again" several times.

Of course, it would always be awakened by the memory of that small room in South Korea.

"Thank you for the promotion you've done for *Friends*," Lu Yan He said with a smile.

Maxine's two talk shows both interviewed the *Friends* crew online to promote this Chinese-language series.

These were also two important nodes where *Friends*' viewership on Maxine showed irregular growth.

"This show is very likely to enter the 20 million club," Zhong Benshuo said. "Moreover, it has also driven all three seasons of *Friends* into the top ten most-watched shows in the Asian region this week. Yan He, you must have scripts that haven't been released yet. Come on, let's work together."

"Zhong Zong, my cooperation with Maxine is already so close," Lu Yan He smiled. "Look, *Friends*, *Seventeen Layers*, and what else? Oh, right, there's also *Silent River*. I'm also creating the script for the second season of *Silent River*. It's already enough. Maxine's audience is going to get tired of seeing me."

"God, you are now one of the most popular faces on the Maxine platform. How could everyone get tired of seeing you?" Zhong Benshuo paused. "I know, you want me to express my determination for this cooperation to you in person."

"No, I'm busy enough now. I'm serious, Zhong Zong. The projects I'm going to do next, *My Own Swordsman*, *Chinese Paladin*, and a few movies, are almost all backgrounds related to traditional Chinese culture, which are types you don't like," Lu Yan He said. "I also need to calm down. I'm about to board the plane, let's talk later."

Zhong Benshuo could only sigh and say okay.

"I must say, if anyone has the perseverance of Zhong Benshuo, it would be strange if he didn't succeed." Lu Yan He was impressed.

Chen Ziyan smiled and flipped through the magazine in her hand.

This was a magazine provided by the airport VIP lounge, the latest issue of *Fashion*.

"Jiabao is generous enough. Recently, they've smashed three covers of first-tier magazines for Jiang Yuqian, and here comes another one, still the year-end issue," Chen Ziyan pointed to Jiang Yuqian on the cover. "Even if the box office of the second part of *Behind the Golden Clothes* is average, only on par with the first part, and didn't break 100 million, it doesn't affect anything at all."

Lu Yan He: "The cost of this movie itself is not high, and it's a film leaning toward the mainstream. It's already quite good to have a box office of over 80 million. Moreover, the word-of-mouth is still very good, no worse than the first part. That's already very good, isn't it? The market is so sluggish recently, you can't blame the movie for not breaking 100 million at the box office."

"The once-prosperous New Year's slot is now so cold," Chen Ziyan lamented.

"It's been sucked away by the Spring Festival slot," Lu Yan He smiled.

"It's a pity you don't have a movie in the Spring Festival slot this year."

"Then I'll strive to go next year."

"Buzz buzz—"

Chen Ziyan looked down at her phone, which had been vibrating several times, and opened it.

"The nomination list for the Blue Ribbon Awards is out. Oh? Yan Liang is actually nominated for Best Actor this time?" Chen Ziyan showed a surprised expression.

Lu Yan He was also stunned.

"What's the situation? Didn't Yan Liang apply for Best Supporting Actor?"

Previously, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Tripod Awards.

In *The Gold Rush*, he was the second lead, so he could apply for the supporting category. Moreover, according to this year's competitive situation, he had a high hope of winning a Best Supporting Actor award from one of the three major awards.

Therefore, Yan Liang's award application strategy this year was to go for the Best Supporting Actor category.

"Did they make a mistake?"

Lu Yan He took a screenshot and sent it to the group of three, tagging Yan Liang and asking: Congratulations, but why did you apply for Best Actor?

They had analyzed it before: given Yan Liang's age, seniority, and his performance in *The Gold Rush*, the possibility of winning in the Best Actor category was very small.

Between a Best Actor award with a very small chance of winning and a Best Supporting Actor award with a very high chance of winning, one would definitely choose the latter.

Nominations are always just the icing on the cake; winning the award is the real deal.

Yan Liang: I don't know what happened. It was agreed before to apply for Best Supporting Actor. I don't know how it became the Best Actor category. I'm asking about the situation.

Li Zhibai: Don't all award applications require the person's signature?

Yan Liang: Some awards require it, some don't. The Blue Ribbon doesn't require a personal signature; it only needs the applicant's signature.

Li Zhibai: You suddenly went from a favorite to win to a runner-up.

Lu Yan He: Don't let it be that someone deliberately sabotaged you.

While they were discussing this, netizens also had different opinions about the nomination list for the Blue Ribbon Awards.

Because the works and individuals nominated for the Blue Ribbon Awards this time were very different from the Golden Tripod Awards.

The three major awards actually don't differ much in nominations; usually, they avoid each other when it comes to winning.

And the nomination list for the Blue Ribbon this time, how should I put it, almost all of them are shows with particularly good audience word-of-mouth.

Clearly, the positioning of the Golden Tripod Awards is audience recognition, while the positioning of the Blue Ribbon Awards is artistry, but now it seems to have been reversed.

Of course, the audience is happy to see it.

Because the nomination list is full of shows that have truly been praised and liked by everyone on social media over the past year.

After a while, Yan Liang updated the latest news from his side in the group: It was the Blue Ribbon side that proposed that my scenes should be applied for Best Actor, so they made changes at the end.

Li Zhibai: Blue Ribbon... what are they doing?

Lu Yan He: You guys look at the nomination list. This year's Blue Ribbon is very un-Blue Ribbon.

However, no one expected that two hours later, Jiang Mingzheng, who had won the Best Actor award at the Red River Awards, suddenly posted on Weibo:

—*Jianghe Rishang*, which won three major awards at the Golden Tripod Awards, doesn't even have a single nomination at the Blue Ribbon? I don't understand.

As an industry heavyweight and a powerful Best Actor, he openly questioned the Blue Ribbon Awards.

This was like a bomb, directly exploding social media.

In this era, you don't fear others liking to cause trouble; you only fear having no gossip to eat.

Maybe there is, maybe there isn't, no need to wait.