Chapter 582

Ma Zhiyuan's statement in the livestream room was to hype up topics for himself and increase his buzz.

*The Summit* can also use this matter to counter-hype.

A topic delivered to the door.

*The Summit* finally entered another dimension of popularity—

Contradiction.

First, Yan Liang generously admitted that this role of his was indeed because Ma Zhiyuan didn't act back then, so it fell on his head. Later, the director of *The Summit*, Chen Mofan, stood up and said that when the script was sent to Ma Zhiyuan back then, it was mainly because Yan Liang was not as popular as he is now. From a commercial perspective, Ma Zhiyuan could help this drama in commercial value. Looking back now, everything is the best arrangement.

Ma Zhiyuan was ridiculed by many people.

He broke his defense in the livestream room and cursed, scolding Yan Liang for being just a beggar who relied on Lu Yan He's charity to have today, and that he just didn't have a friend like Lu Yan He.

Lu Yan He counterattacked: Don't be jealous, Yan Liang has me as a friend, you have a son.

A big defense was broken.

Lu Yan He's words were almost to the point of killing the heart.

You have to know, Ma Zhiyuan's career fell into a slump because of this matter.

Yan Liang also counterattacked: I didn't rely on my friend's charity, it was your charity. After all, *The Summit* wasn't given to me because Yan He didn't act, it was because you didn't act that it fell on my head, don't be humble.

For a time, the excitement of this big drama made the traffic of the entire platform increase a lot.

*The Summit* ushered in a big wave of heaven-sent traffic.

The daily playback volume broke 100 million for the first time when it was nearing completion, and the number of followers for the latest episode broke 9 million.

Strictly speaking, this drama is still not a big hit.

In terms of average playback volume per episode, this drama is currently only about 40 million, and if you don't use this domestic calculation rule, but look at the intuitive number of followers from the backend, the actual viewing ID that watched *The Summit* for more than thirty minutes is only 17 million.

Popular, but not a hit.

But the domestic way of playing does not completely look at the indicator of the number of viewers, but also looks at its number of pre-roll ads and its topic degree on major social platforms.

The pre-roll ads of *The Summit* have reached as many as five by the latest episode.

In the vertical field, this drama has indeed attracted a group of loyal audiences.

This makes brands very willing to pay for this drama.

From this dimension, *The Summit* is indeed considered a hit.

Mainly because its word-of-mouth is too good; it is the best word-of-mouth drama so far this year.

"Your performance in this drama should be able to let you continue to get nominations for acting awards this year," Zhou Ping'an said to Yan Liang. "However, the hope of winning the award is still not big."

Yan Liang nodded.

His performance in *The Summit* indeed received a lot of praise, but this time, the performance of the other male lead in *The Summit*, Wei Mingran, received more attention. Even Yan Liang himself had to admit that in this drama, the characters who truly had the charm of breaking out of the circle were the two actors Wei Mingran and Ren Suping.

Zhou Ping'an said: "You have had several big hits in a row, all of which are double male leads or ensemble dramas like *Friends*. Later, I have to take big male lead dramas for you, otherwise, it will affect your subsequent development. I hope your *Flowing Light* starring with Zhang Lan can have a good broadcast effect."

Yan Liang said: "I am going to film *Chinese Paladin* soon, which is also the second male lead. Zhibai's role is the first male lead. Are there any suitable scripts now? I also feel that I need to adjust my direction in taking dramas later. *Gold Rush* 2 and the *Friends* series have to be filmed one after another, still mainly double male leads and ensembles. I see many marketing accounts saying that although my dramas are popular, they are not carried by me."

"This doesn't matter. You are actually carrying dramas now. Look at the first episode playback number of *The Summit*, you will know. The data of its opening is actually very good. You have to know, the only popular star in this drama is you. Although Wei Mingran and Ren Suping are both acting schools, they have never been very famous. It is this drama that let them further open up their popularity," Zhou Ping'an said. "So, don't worry about what the marketing accounts say. People in the industry can see the doorway. *The Summit* didn't broadcast well in the middle, it's not that you can't carry the drama, it's the style problem of this drama. I evaluated your recent dramas, actually, I still want to take a big male lead drama with a more relaxed style for you, preferably a workplace drama."

"Why?"

"Because next, you have *Flowing Light* and *Chinese Paladin* in costume dramas, both of which take the muscle action image route, while the styles of *Gold Rush* and *The Summit* are both relatively heavy," Zhou Ping'an said bluntly. "*Friends* is still relatively relaxed and life-oriented. In the workplace drama area, you actually still have a lot of room for play."

Hearing this, Yan Liang nodded.

"Your image is very scarce among young actors; you are one of the few actors among young actors who have a martial arts image. The dramas you take, except for *Friends*, are basically based on this image. So, taking a workplace drama with a heavy literary drama color can help you dilute the inherent impression in this regard."

Yan Liang understood Zhou Ping'an's meaning.

"Then you see if there is a script suitable for me."

"It's just that it's not easy to choose a script right now. Your previous dramas have all been broadcast very well, and I don't want to take a script for you casually. Even if this script is 70 or 80 points, it's not enough," Zhou Ping'an said. "Based on your current situation, I think the best situation is still to help you contact big directors' dramas, but I don't know which of them will do workplace dramas later. I will consider this. Anyway, you have to film three dramas this year: *Chinese Paladin*, *Gold Rush* 2, and *Friends* Season 2, and the schedule is basically filled. The key is to see what dramas to take next year."

"Hmm."

"Actually, suitable films are also fine," Zhou Ping'an said. "However, the risk of films is greater. Based on your current situation, maybe if you act in films, for slightly larger productions, you can only act as the second or third lead, which doesn't mean much to you."

"Brother Ping'an, can you help me contact an art film every year?" Yan Liang said. "Regardless of box office and commercial value, I want to go to such films to hone my acting skills. Anyway, I won't follow the film route in the short term, so it doesn't matter if the box office performance is not good, but it can let me challenge myself."

"It's possible, but I'll tell you the truth, I will only take that kind of film with a filming time within one month for you, otherwise it will delay too long," Zhou Ping'an said. "You have two series to film, and your schedule for the year is limited. You have pursuits, I won't stop you, but you also have to consider the stage of your career development right now, which doesn't allow you to consume too much time on this kind of art film that you don't know how much return it can bring."

"Fine." Yan Liang nodded.

Yan Liang was actually quite surprised. He didn't expect that his communication with Zhou Ping'an would become smoother and smoother.

He even had a bit of doubt, curious about when this change started.

Did Zhou Ping'an change, or did he change?

This exchange made Yan Liang suddenly have a feeling of "talking exceptionally smoothly."

Whatever thoughts, whatever needs, both of them spoke bluntly, without any ambiguity or concealment.

Yan Liang went back and told Lu Yan He and Li Zhibai.

Lu Yan He said: "If he hadn't changed at all after so many years, that would be strange. You are the only trump card in his hand now, he definitely hopes to keep you, so naturally, he respects you."

Li Zhibai nodded, also agreeing with Lu Yan He's point of view.

"Don't forget, Zhou Ping'an learned a lesson from me and Ma Zhiyuan before; there must be reflection," Li Zhibai said. "He is such a human essence, he definitely knows his current situation, it's not the same as before. Before, he had several star artists, if this one was yellow, there was another one. If I left, there was Ma Zhiyuan, so of course he didn't talk to you properly."

Yan Liang: "No, I feel it's not just that simple. His personality feels softer; this is a change in personality, not a change in the method of doing things. I can't help but suspect if he was stimulated by something else."

Li Zhibai said: "What stimulation can he receive? The biggest stimulation for him is that Ma Zhiyuan suddenly exploded."

Yan Liang supported his chin and pondered.

Lu Yan He: "Why do you care what stimulation he received? He can communicate with you properly now, that's fine."

"And his planning on your taking dramas is quite accurate," Li Zhibai said. "I didn't expect that you wanted to act in an art film a year, and he actually agreed. With his past profit-seeking personality, how could he agree? Acting in an art film has no salary, and you have to spend a lot of time filming in the crew, and in the end, the box office is not good, which will affect the market's assessment of you."

Yan Liang: "This is also what shocked me. I originally thought I would have to argue with him for a while, but I didn't expect him to agree as soon as he said it."

Lu Yan He: "Maybe he realized that you actually have hope of winning an award, so he also hopes that you can win an award by acting in art films. Look, doesn't he care very much that *The Summit* can help you impact the nominations for the three major awards again?"

"That's true," Yan Liang nodded. "He might really pin his hopes on me possibly winning nominations for film awards by relying on art films? I can't imagine him not doing things based on profit and loss."

"If *The Summit* impacts the awards this year, will the Blue Ribbon incident last year affect you?" Li Zhibai asked.

"Don't know," Yan Liang shook his head. "If there is an impact, there is nothing I can do. The decision was already made at that time. If they want to deliberately block me from winning the nomination because of this incident, I can't do anything either."

Lu Yan He said: "Go and impact the overseas awards."

"Ah?"

"*The Summit* can go and report to several major Asian TV drama awards," Lu Yan He said seriously. "Has the overseas streaming copyright of this drama been sold?"

Yan Liang said: "I heard they are still communicating with HP and Maxine, but these two platforms gave lower prices, so they didn't talk it through. Actually, this drama might not be able to set off a viewing craze on streaming media like *Gold Rush*. *Gold Rush* occupied the dividend of the theme, and the viewing threshold of *The Summit* is indeed a bit high."

Lu Yan He: "But the word-of-mouth of *The Summit* is also really high. You go and tell Zhou Ping'an, wait for *The Summit* to be broadcast overseas, you let Zhou Ping'an go and help you operate it, at least let this drama enter the evaluation range of those few big awards. The quality is hard, what needs to be done is to let more people know about this drama and see the goodness of this drama."

Yan Liang: "Hmm, I feel Zhou Ping'an still hopes very much that *The Summit* can bring me some gains in awards. Nominations are also fine. He said, I have dramas helping me enter the nominations for acting awards for two consecutive years, which itself can create a momentum. He didn't say that I must win an award now."

"Indeed, having a popular work helping you enter the nominations for acting awards for two consecutive years also proves your acting strength to a certain extent," Lu Yan He nodded. "Actually, these two dramas should also have let you be seen by many big directors, right?"

"Hmm," Yan Liang nodded. "Over the past half year, I have actually been taken by Zhou Ping'an to see quite a few directors, but wanting to have a suitable opportunity for cooperation is still quite difficult. This depends on fate. I won't take ensemble dramas or double male lead dramas in the short term except for the few dramas that have already been decided. I have to act as a big male lead, otherwise, I am afraid of being stereotyped in the industry. Then let me act as a big male lead in a big director's crew, this difficulty is too great. Their dramas are not necessarily big male leads, and even if they are big male leads, they are generally more mature male characters. Our age does not have an advantage. I especially understand what Yan He said now, our age has great limitations, making us unable to act in many dramas."

In film and television dramas, the golden age for male actors is thirty to fifty years old; the few of them are still too tender now.

Lu Yan He said: "If you really can't find a suitable script, I will write a big male lead script for you when the time comes."

Yan Liang: "Don't, don't, don't. If you have a suitable script, you can find me, don't always help me write scripts. I also want to prove myself. If I don't act in Lu Yan He's scripts, I can still be a good actor."

"You don't have to listen to those people talking nonsense at all. The *Gold Rush* and *The Summit* you acted in were not scripts written by me, and you are already very successful, but they act as if they can't see these two dramas."

"That is indeed something I must admit. If there was no *Friends*, my acting path might have to be more tortuous and difficult. Since they have such an impression of me now, I can't explain it over and over again, so I will try my best to rely on myself, act in more dramas, if one drama doesn't work, then two, if two dramas don't work, then three, and I will always be able to change everyone's impression of me."

Yan Liang's words touched Lu Yan He very much. But at the same time, he also felt very gratified; this is the Yan Liang he knows. It's so good, they are still them. Still the them from back then. ===== CHAPTER 583 =====