Chapter 671

*Seventeen Floors* Season 2 began its pre-promotion and released a promotional video.

It is itself a very popular drama, and now that the sequel is out, the original cast has returned, so it is naturally highly anticipated.

Lu Yan He, as the male lead, did not participate in the promotion itinerary of the main force. In fact, not only him, but Jiang Jun also didn't.

However, fortunately, this drama has enough stars, so even if the two of them don't participate, others can run the promotion.

And Jiang Lan did one thing at this time.

She paid 20 million to the marketing and promotion team of *Jump Up*, used to ask the *Jump Up* team to do promotion for *Seventeen Floors* Season 2.

Chen Ziyan said: "People are indeed smart enough. Even if you have fallen out with Beijing TV Station, she still wants to show favor through such a way and maintain her private friendship with you."

Lu Yan He nodded.

*Seventeen Floors* Season 2 definitely has sufficient promotion funds.

It's just that no matter how sufficient these funds are, where they are used is up to Jiang Lan.

And Jiang Lan took out 20 million to give to the *Jump Up* team to do drama promotion, which is definitely a high price.

On one hand, under normal circumstances, drama promotion or movie promotion is a "wide net" behavior, and will not invest too high funds in one promotion team.

Because no matter how big the promotion team is, for the entire market, the coverage is small.

And the promotion and marketing of the *Jump Up* team has always been quality over quantity.

On the other hand, Beijing TV Station itself is a traditional TV station with a large volume, with its own media matrix, and many companies and studios doing this business under its banner.

Strictly speaking, they all belong to a group. According to convention, these resources will generally be contracted to their own companies first, rather than looking for them outside. Especially for a big hit drama sequel like *Seventeen Floors* Season 2, what it needs is to let everyone know that this drama is going to be broadcast, and audiences who like this drama remember to watch it, which is enough. What is needed is quantity, not quality.

The focus of promotion is different.

In this case, Jiang Lan found the *Jump Up* team.

In fact, the biggest profit project of the *Jump Up* team now is the advertising business.

Because *Jump Up* is essentially a content platform, from magazines, to electronic versions, to different media accounts and content platforms under its banner, as well as signed author accounts...

*Jump Up* has now established a huge media matrix.

This media matrix is so large that it is coveted by many capital forces, and people come to talk about acquisition every week.

In this case, why does Chen Siqi's team still insist on doing other business sectors?

Because any company, if the source of profit is single, is very easy to be restricted, and falls into crisis due to low anti-risk ability.

Promotion and marketing business is a point that Chen Siqi values very much. According to the requirements of the *Jump Up* team for the promotion and marketing business, in fact, the net profit of this business sector cannot achieve large growth. They take the "boutique route," personalized customized promotion and marketing plans, rather than running quantity.

Any business model that cannot run quantity is destined to be difficult to achieve quantitative growth in profits.

However, Chen Ziyan believes that this has a pivotal role for the *Jump Up* brand.

At the same time, it can also use this business sector to open up the relationship between *Jump Up* and the film and television circle. You know, *Jump Up* has another very important business, which is IP operation and development.

Therefore, for *Seventeen Floors* Season 2 taking the initiative to come to the door and taking out 20 million to ask them to do promotion, and even having no substantive requirements for the effect that promotion wants to achieve, Chen Siqi's first reaction was—

Who is Beijing TV Station trying to pit again? -

"This can be accepted," Chen Ziyan said to Chen Siqi. "*Seventeen Floors* is a project responsible by Jiang Lan. Jiang Lan is the only person in Beijing TV Station who has a really good relationship with Lu Yan He. She is also wanting to thank Lu Yan He for still being willing to cooperate with the broadcast of *Seventeen Floors* Season

Chen Siqi was enlightened.

She asked, "So, their relationship is actually quite good?"

"Yes," Chen Ziyan said. "Lu Yan He originally stopped associating with Jingtai, but now the only person from Jingtai he is still willing to deal with is Jiang Lan."

Chen Siqi: "I was worried that it was because Yan He is unwilling to deal with Jingtai now that Jingtai suddenly came to me, asking me to handle the promotion for the second season of 'Seventeen Layers'. To be honest, the promotion for the second season of 'Seventeen Layers' doesn't need us to do it at all."

Chen Ziyan: "I'm quite curious, from your perspective, if there is anything worth promoting about the second season of 'Seventeen Layers', what would you think it is?"

Chen Siqi said: "I haven't seen the show or the materials yet. Purely from the theme and cast of this show, there's actually nothing left to say. After 'Seventeen Layers' aired, this type of show basically only had 'Squid Game' perform well; no other hit shows of the same type have appeared since. I once tried to analyze it. You see, several platforms have used casts of big stars to develop similar shows, but they often have a lot of thunder but little rain. They are quite homogeneous—all that kind where a group of people are gathered in a certain place, actively or passively accepting some kind of life-or-death game challenge. They are all much the same."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ziyan said: "But isn't this type of show just set up like that? This is also the biggest selling point of this type of show."

"But the problem is that this type of show often needs very distinct character traits, especially emotional arcs and character fates that can resonate with the audience, to truly allow the audience to enter this worldview. Otherwise, it's like watching a group of kids playing house; you can't believe in these characters."

Chen Siqi shrugged helplessly and continued: "But look at the domestic ones. To give a simple example, the show 'First Year' previously developed by Bingyuan Video, the main storyline was a couple who had already broken up and their friends being invited to an island to play a treasure hunt game, not expecting that these games hid deadly dangers. This show had very high popularity at the beginning, and the leads were all popular stars, but after six or seven episodes, the word-of-mouth plummeted. Why? Because the game's worldview design had bugs, which were discovered by the audience. That's one thing. Once the game's worldview design has bugs, this world is directly proven false. Audiences who like this type of subject matter will abandon it without mercy. Secondly, their main storyline turned into this pair of male and female leads constantly arguing and reminiscing about various things from when they were together, unfolding their emotional drama in an environment full of deadly crises. Which audience wouldn't be annoyed watching that?"

Chen Ziyan nodded thoughtfully.

"Most importantly, if these emotional arguments, reconciliations, and so on could become key factors in driving the plot, then that would be one thing—although this itself is a taboo for this type of subject matter because the audience doesn't like it. But on top of that, these don't even have anything to do with the main storyline. It feels like they found one screenwriter to write the emotional arc and another screenwriter to write the game arc, and then stiffly pieced them together," Chen Siqi said. "Later, I also went to ask around. To put it bluntly, they really just wanted to get this project done as quickly as possible, so they found a few screenwriters and cobbled together such a script. To put it bluntly, current platforms still don't value scripts. No matter what they say, they don't value them. Those actors aren't easy to deal with either. Those with a bit of fame all demand to add scenes for their own characters. How can you add scenes? Every character has a set arrangement. Which level to get injured in, which level to die in—so they can only add emotional scenes, then add flashback scenes."

Chen Ziyan: "It's truly pathetic when you think about it. Everyone knows the importance of a script, but the result is that anyone can interfere with the script."

"Yeah," Chen Siqi said. "In the Jump Up Theater we do, most of the first-tier stars we've collaborated with have all offered suggestions to modify the script. Of course, this isn't an absolutely bad thing. It's normal to have opinions. As long as they are proposed during normal contact, we can discuss them. What's most annoying is the kind where everything is fine during the initial communication, but when it's time to join the crew or start filming, they start wanting to change the script in all sorts of ways."

"How do you handle this situation?"

"I don't indulge them," Chen Siqi said. "I basically tell them directly. If they want to act like big shots, fine, we will issue a public statement directly. Even if this show isn't filmed or needs to be reshot, I won't indulge them, as long as they can bear the consequences. Those actors, to put it bluntly, are just used to being arrogant in other crews. They always think they are big shots, and in order to keep them as leads, we would usually give in." Chen Ziyan: "Are there any who have gone head-to-head with you to the end?"

"No," Chen Siqi said. "You have to know, the main reason these actors dare to challenge so arrogantly is that they have someone backing them. Even if you are a producer or a director, that doesn't matter. They have people backing them at the platform and aren't afraid of being blacklisted. But the problem is, this is Jump Up. I have the final say. Whether it's the platform or the investors, no one can control me. It's useless for anyone to put in a good word. After I slammed the table with people a few times, no one dared to jump around anymore."

Chen Ziyan sighed.

"It really is quite pathetic to think about," she said. "We are constantly committed to getting this industry on the right track, but every time we feel we've made a little progress, there's always one or two things to remind us that, actually, we haven't."

Chen Siqi: "But there is still some change. At least in our own film and television projects, we truly value the script and respect the creators' ideas."

Chen Ziyan: "Compared to the entire industry, this is just a drop in the bucket."

"If one day, four or five of the top ten annual box office films are made by us, and half of the annual hit shows also come from our projects, then the rules we set will become the rules of the entire industry. I'm actually quite confident," Chen Siqi said. "To be honest, look at those big names who initially acted like emperors of the crew; didn't they end up honestly finishing the play for Jump Up Theater?"

"That's because you are strong enough, but many crews don't have the ability to be as strong as you," Chen Ziyan said. "Forget it, we can only do our own work well; we can't manage things so broadly. You're right, at least those who come out of our projects all know what needs to be done to make a good show."

"Yeah," Chen Siqi said. "Next year, the production budget for Jump Up Theater can be further increased. The overall broadcast performance of the shows launched by Jump Up Theater this year has been very stable. After doing this theater for a year, all aspects have gotten on the right track. Now everyone recognizes this theater, and when preparing projects, we finally don't have to waste our breath explaining what Jump Up Theater is."

Chen Ziyan: "Then will Jump Up Theater continue to use the same approach next year?"

"Hmm," Chen Siqi nodded. "We will continue to use this short-drama model because Jump Up itself doesn't have the capability to produce film and television dramas. It's mainly the production companies under Linghe, Yuehu Station, Bingyuan Video, and Beijiguang Video that are responsible for the filming of specific projects. Short dramas can reduce the production cycle and don't need to stretch the front too long, which is more suitable for us."

No mistakes in the content, read it all!

Chen Ziyan: "I estimate that in the next few years, apart from his own acting, Yan He's other focus might shift overseas. He seems to still want to use his own strength to establish some of our own power and influence overseas. Of course, I think so too, and I think doing so is a good thing. It's just that you also know that Linghe is still quite dependent on his projects. Although there are a few projects to be done, they are all series like 'Home Alone', '2 Broke Girls', and 'Roommates'. I want to say, if you are prepared to continue doing Jump Up Theater according to the previous method, please give Linghe a few more projects. Otherwise, I'm afraid they really won't be able to handle it."

"That goes without saying, I will," Chen Siqi said. "I heard that Linghe has signed quite a few production staff."

"Yes," Chen Ziyan said. "But not everyone can enter those few projects. Many of the people they signed are newcomers who just graduated from school and still need to constantly join crews to accumulate experience."

Chen Siqi nodded.

"I will try my best to provide them with some job opportunities in the Jump Up Theater projects."

Lu Yan He actually hadn't thought about whether his future work focus should shift overseas.

Chen Ziyan just saw this trend from Lu Yan He's next few projects.

She now rarely specifically discusses with Lu Yan He how his career should be planned next.

This actually doesn't fit Chen Ziyan's usual style.

But now Chen Ziyan feels that for Lu Yan He's planning, plans can never keep up with changes.

The biggest variable in him is his endless stream of scripts. Every time a new script appears, it seems to be able to take Lu Yan He into a stage that he didn't dare to imagine before.

For example, after the scripts 'Source Code', 'Red Eye', and 'Buried' emerged one after another, no one expected that they would become the breakthrough points after 'Doomsday' fell into a stalemate. Under these circumstances, Lu Yan He accidentally seized the opportunity and became the producer of 'Doomsday'.

Linghe became one of the investors in 'Doomsday' and officially entered the investment circle of Hollywood films. Although there were great accidental factors in this.

This small attempt, the initial purpose, was actually just to win the battle against Chen Pinhe.

However, just as Chen Ziyan said to Chen Siqi, after Lu Yan He successfully pushed Jiang Jun to the position of the male lead in 'Doomsday', a brand-new idea indeed sprouted deep in his heart: on one hand, he is working hard to promote Chinese film and television dramas to go overseas; on the other hand, he should also exert the biggest promotional tool of this industry, the star effect—for example, pushing more Chinese actors to be known by more people in the world, letting them understand more Chinese film and television dramas through the actors.

He himself is a typical example.

Now, the box office of films starring Lu Yan He in the American theater market can basically reach the achievement of one million dollars.

This is a very remarkable achievement. For many foreign-language films, it is extremely difficult to break through the five million dollar box office mark.

Many people can only see those dark horses that achieve earth-shattering results. In fact, if one really has loyal fans like many directors, their works can also break through barriers and limitations.

Just like the Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, his films may not be able to achieve particularly high box office results in any single market, at most a few million dollars. However, such directors have their own fans in every country, and their films are released without being constrained by scheduling and other aspects—because the target audience is very clear. The final global total box office for their works is as low as thirty or forty million dollars, and as high as nearly one hundred million, or even breaking one hundred million.

Now, Lu Yan He has a bit of this "auteur filmmaker" quality in film markets around the world. There is a small group of fans who recognize him as a person. Therefore, whether he is the director, the lead actor, or the screenwriter, as long as it is a film project he truly participates in, there will be a group of fans willing to buy movie tickets.

Lu Yan He built his commercial influence through 'The Mist', 'Squid Game', and 'Friends'.

But the true, core influence—where a group of people are willing to support and pay for whatever he films or does—Lu Yan He accumulated bit by bit through films like 'Sanshan', 'Late Spring', 'Road to Glory', and 'Rouge'.

Whether it's Jiang Jun or Jiang Yuqian, both of them are now standing at a very high starting point.

It can be said that if there are suitable projects to push them to be further recognized by global audiences, they can fully further improve their popularity, and even their appeal and influence as actors.

However, whether there are Asian roles in Hollywood projects really requires luck, and it also requires waiting.

Therefore, Lu Yan He feels that instead of always waiting for others, it is better to actively create some projects himself.

Just like a project like 'Red Eye'.

It is indeed not a classic masterpiece, nor can it win awards, and it might not have broken one hundred million at the box office.

However, this is a thriller drama film truly carried by the female lead. At that time, it took over fifty million dollars at the box office in the United States. It had no other movie stars (Cillian Murphy actually only made a name for himself in Hollywood from this film; he was even noticed by Nolan because of this film). Rachel carried the box office alone, and in the end, it was a film with very good returns, which was a great help to Rachel's career.

You have to know, if you really have a film in Hollywood that you carry the box office for alone and it finally succeeds, you are basically waiting to enter the first-tier list. Because after that, invitations from major film companies will be sent over, knocking on your schedule. (End of chapter)