Chapter 744: Movement

While Lu Yan He was writing the proposal for the variety show *Flowers and Youth*, the program *Chinese Good Songs*, which they had been preparing for a year and a half, was finally scheduled for broadcast.

It would be broadcast simultaneously on three platforms: Yuehu TV, Arctic Light, and Ice Field.

At the same time, the program was also purchased by HP at a relatively low price for overseas streaming rights.

Variety shows are rarely sold overseas under normal circumstances.

The main reason HP did this was to maintain their relationship with Lu Yan He, and also because Lu Yan He had given priority to HP for the sitcom *2 Broke Girls*; Maxine didn't even have a chance to bid or compete.

For HP, Lu Yan He's weight and value were very significant.

HP had also been trying to get Lu Yan He to tailor-make a series for them, or rather, a show that could be developed into a franchise.

Several Chinese-language dramas like *Friends*, *Squid Game*, and *Seventeen Layers* had brought Maxine generous returns, but they were all licensed dramas; in reality, the copyrights were not in Maxine's own hands.

*2 Broke Girls* was the same.

HP had already seen the rough cut, and internal reviews were very high. The only pity was that this show did not belong to HP.

However, no matter what price HP offered, Lu Yan He was unwilling to write a show for them.

Even though HP had actually offered a number that would make anyone feel incredulous.

Lu Yan He still held to the same point: he was not short of money.

Now, a consensus had basically formed in the Chinese film and television industry: you couldn't move Lu Yan He by throwing money at him.

Even if you threw hundreds of millions at Lu Yan He, you couldn't move him.

With the assets Lu Yan He currently possessed, including shares in the Jump Up Group, Linghe, and Shi Huo, throwing the entire budget of a project at him was, for Lu Yan He, truly just a concept of numbers.

"We are very clear that compared to these things, what you care about more is attitude."

That day, Huang Zhongjing specifically went to the Lingyang District to meet Lu Yan He in the conference room of the *Jump Up* editorial department.

He said to Lu Yan He, "Of course, this is our attitude. The *Burning Fire* film series would lose its soul without you."

Today, Huang Zhongjing had come to discuss Lu Yan He's appearance in the second installment of *Burning Fire*.

To this day, Lu Yan He refused to commit to signing, but the film was about to start shooting.

"Zhang Yang will leave this series, and Long Yan will arrange for someone else to be responsible for the promotional work for this series," Huang Zhongjing said, only bringing this up to Lu Yan He after discussing the salary and such.

Lu Yan He nodded and said, "Mr. Huang, I won't say empty words. Since you were able to let Zhang Yang leave this series, I believe in your sincerity. As for the salary—"

"A salary of 20 million, the same as Shang Yongzhou's salary," Huang Zhongjing said. "However, he does not enjoy a share of the overseas revenue."

Lu Yan He nodded, "Since that is the case, my salary does not need to be the same number as my senior brother's."

He took the initiative to reduce his own salary by one million.

Huang Zhongjing looked at him with some surprise.

Lu Yan He said, "The first lead of this film is my senior brother, isn't he?"

If Lu Yan He didn't enjoy this extra overseas revenue share, that would be fine, but if he did, he didn't want Shang Yongzhou to feel uncomfortable when comparing the two.

In fact, actively reducing his salary by one million was nothing compared to the overseas revenue share.

But this was an attitude, a gesture.

Lu Yan He was making this gesture for everyone to see.

The core actor of the *Burning Fire* film series was still Shang Yongzhou. This was also to prevent the company Long Yan from resorting to some "divine operations" again to make the relationship between him and Shang Yongzhou awkward.

Lu Yan He still clearly remembered that when Long Yan used many marketing accounts to spread the news that he was dissatisfied with Shang Yongzhou's treatment and refused to participate in the film's roadshow promotion, Shang Yongzhou was the first to clarify the rumors for him at the roadshow site.

If it weren't for that, given Shang Yongzhou's status, influence, and fan base in the industry, if that kind of news had been allowed to ferment, even if Lu Yan He had stood up to explain it himself, it would definitely have been a bloody storm.

In fact, Lu Yan He's approach did indeed dispel the last trace of contempt Huang Zhongjing had deep in his heart for Lu Yan He.

Thus, the other contract details were followed up and negotiated by Wang Biao.

The main points had been settled.

Lu Yan He officially returned to the *Burning Fire* series.

Before *Chinese Good Songs* started airing, a press conference was held.

It was very grand and spectacular.

This was not done by Linghe, but jointly hosted by Yuehu TV, Arctic Light, and Ice Field.

With the massive hit *Birth of an Actor* as a precedent, they were all very certain that *Chinese Good Songs* would definitely be another massive hit program.

Lu Yan He actually wanted to say that in terms of popularity alone, the influence of *Chinese Good Songs* definitely couldn't compare to *Birth of an Actor*.

But, forget it, why talk down his own work?

Whether *Chinese Good Songs* would be a hit or not, he didn't know, but based on what he understood, many future popular singers and singer-songwriters would definitely emerge from this program.

Just like the original version of this program.

Lu Yan He sincerely hoped that this would become a lasting stage that continuously introduced new singers.

In any industry, only when fresh blood flows in continuously can it get better and better.

Lu Yan He thought about it for several days and finally decided not to attend this press conference.

Furthermore, he proposed that he hoped to minimize his association with this program as much as possible.

This is for the good of the program.

Let the program return to its essence, return to purity.

After all, the biggest difference between this and *Birth of an Actor* was that *Birth of an Actor* was a bunch of "old birds" "re-entering the workforce," focusing on being colorful and vibrant.

*Chinese Good Songs* was about blank slates stepping onto the stage, facing the audience's evaluation in the most rustic state.

The mindset with which the audience approached this program determined the first impression the "blank slates" had in the audience's hearts.

At the same time, Linghe finally officially established a variety show production department—

Previously, it was just Xin Zixing leading the Shi Huo team, preparing together with Linghe, and later, Li Zhenzhen's team from *Young Days* also joined.

This was completely a "combined army."

And the reason Linghe was able to establish this variety show production department and recruit on a large scale was because this department now had the *Birth of an Actor* series and the *Chinese Good Songs* series, and after learning that there was an idea called *Flowers and Youth* incubating, this department could already support itself.

For Shi Huo, these hit variety shows, to a certain extent, had even more "practical value" than film and television dramas.

Because no one knew what the final result of a film or television drama would be, but a massive hit variety show could be done continuously, and the audience base was very stable.

Whether it was a newcomer wanting to get familiar faces and popularity, or an old-school artist wanting to maintain exposure, variety shows were the fastest way, with short cycles and quick "monetization."

"For the new singers from *Chinese Good Songs*, as long as they haven't signed with a company, we at Shi Huo have already extended an olive branch."

That day, Lu Yan He was eating with Chen Ziyan and Lu Qingzhen.

They brought up *Chinese Good Songs*.

Lu Qingzhen said, "However, basically, the singers who obtained the recording qualifications for *Chinese Good Songs* had actually long been targeted by major music companies. We at Shi Huo are just a comprehensive talent agency and are not professional in music. I estimate that most of them will only be able to sign business split contracts in the end." "That's fine too," Chen Ziyan said. "These days, being a musician, music companies are doing it at a loss. I even suspect that if they couldn't control the business contracts, they might not be willing to invest resources to build a singer."

Cultivating a singer requires resources and money, but music is very difficult to make money from now.

The sales of electronic albums on music platforms, for those that sell very well, only bring in one or two million in revenue per album—

Compared to the production and marketing costs of making this album, the cost-effectiveness is really not good.

After all, making an album takes at least a year, and normally two or three years.

Lu Yan He said, "But for them, coming out of the program, popularity, fans, heat... they have an innate advantage. They also avoided the stage of being unknown newcomers where cost-effectiveness is lowest. Unless you want to make an album for them right away, otherwise, it shouldn't be a loss, right? Music festivals, commercial performances, film and television OSTs... current singers just don't rely on album sales to achieve sales freedom like the original singers, it's not like they really have nothing to eat."

"Business brings money the fastest," Lu Qingzhen said with a smile. "Many talent agencies hate us because we took away the part that is easiest to make money from."

"But Shi Huo also helped them increase the artists' popularity and exposure, it's not like we're just eating without working."

Lu Yan He knew Shi Huo's operating model. Heaven knows how many of his projects had film and television OSTs and promotional songs sung by Shi Huo's signed singers. Wasn't that just a case of being close to the water and getting the moon first?

Not to mention, Shi Huo's resource integration capability was so strong that many artists continuously had new topics, allowing them to always maintain heat. Many talent agencies had very single capabilities. For example, music companies only had music production resources to give to singers. Other things, whether it was brand business resources, film and television industry connections, or public relations, promotion, packaging, and planning, simply couldn't keep up with this rapidly changing era.

"People won't tell you that much," Lu Qingzhen said. "In their view, the whole cake should be theirs. We, the people who make the cake bigger, are all cake-snatchers. They can only see the whole cake, not the small cake getting bigger."

Lu Yan He: "Then is the production of *Chinese Good Songs* finished?"

"One-third of the recording is done." Although Lu Qingzhen didn't manage the production of *Chinese Good Songs*, because many of her own clients were in this program, she was also very clear about the progress of the program, and added, "The *Birth of an Actor* team has also started recording the second season. One-third of the artists currently signed to Shi Huo are in these two programs."

Lu Yan He smiled.

One singer program, one actor program, indeed covered the main types of artists in the entertainment industry.

"However, singers still have too few stages now," Lu Qingzhen said. "Except for those who can continuously hold concerts themselves, there are only some galas and events with performance stages. But generally, the sound equipment for stages in these occasions is just like that, not good enough. Only music variety shows are doing quite well now."

"Music variety shows are also very easy to homogenize."

"Yes," Chen Ziyan nodded. "But fortunately, music festivals are doing very well now. Basically, newcomer singers and young singers rely on running music festivals to slowly open up their popularity. Singers still have to be heard live. But the types of music that can be performed at such music festivals are relatively limited."

Lu Yan He said, "Then you want to create a long-term performance stage for singers, and a stage that can accommodate more styles of singers?"

"Of course I want to. Shi Huo has signed quite a few singers now, especially many old singers who were famous before."

Lu Yan He said, "Then why don't you go talk to Sister Zixing? They do the *City Travel Notes* series and have connections and cooperation with cultural and tourism departments in various places. Can't this be combined with the performance form of music variety shows, becoming a derivative section of this program, or simply making another derivative program? Every time you go to a place, hold a small concert, use the best sound equipment, invite some singers to participate. On one hand, you can do live streaming, on the other hand, you can edit it into a program, both are fine."

Chen Ziyan: "It's simple to say, but difficult to do. Think about it, just these sound equipment, going to a city, you have to move it once, the shipping cost is very exaggerated."

Lu Yan He nodded.

Indeed, many times, it's really that the idea is beautiful, but reality is skinny.

"However, if *City Travel Notes* does it, it might not be impossible." Lu Qingzhen suddenly thought of something, her eyes lit up, and she said, "Ye Mai Net is funded by Shijin behind the scenes. They have money and are willing to burn money. For a program like *City Travel Notes* that focuses on word-of-mouth and has a foundation, spending a little more money, Shijin should be very willing, right? At this stage, profitability is not Shijin's first goal. Building a brand, opening up the market, and establishing an image is the top priority, right?"

"Saying so much, isn't your central meaning that Shijin is a rich landlord now, and can be slaughtered with open hands?" Chen Ziyan laughed.

Lu Qingzhen: "Then tell me if I'm wrong. They need high-quality content, we can provide it. We need some funds in the early stage to innovate, they can provide it. Isn't this mutual benefit and win-win? They want to enter the entertainment industry, how many pits do they have to step on? At least we won't pit them."

"Can go talk about it." Chen Ziyan nodded.

Lu Yan He smiled.

Shijin is definitely not a nouveau riche who is "stupid and has a lot of money."

However, Lu Qingzhen's judgment is indeed correct.

If it were for a mature program or a mature company, such an attempt at a new section would probably be killed off for the purpose of controlling the budget, as it "looks unnecessary."

However, isn't the program *City Travel Notes* just ushering in a moment of "new people, new atmosphere"?

Timing is everything.

For such cooperation, Xin Zixing showed a difficult expression.

She hesitated for a moment and indicated that she still wanted to maintain the original *City Travel Notes*.

The original *City Travel Notes* is to let the documentary shooting method and video style, let the celebrity guests "de-celebrity," and return to the essence of humanities and nature.

The positioning of *City Travel Notes* is to walk into a city—

The city is the protagonist. They are not here to bring something to this city, but to come to this city to feel something.

Regarding this, Lu Yan He didn't have any opinions.

*City Travel Notes* is a program of Ye Mai Net. What it finally becomes, of course, is up to Xin Zixing.

It's impossible for Xin Zixing to agree to every idea he proposes.

Xin Zixing said, "However, I think this form of program that goes to various cities to hold concerts is also quite novel, and it also fits the tone of Ye Mai Net quite well. Can we explore how to combine such a form with the elements of Ye Mai Net, and let's make a new humanities program together?"

Lu Yan He nodded, "If there is a good way, of course it's good."

Chen Ziyan asked, "Zixing, then do you have any good ideas for such a form?"

Xin Zixing said, "Actually, I have also been thinking, besides doing *City Travel Notes*, Ye Mai Net should also do some humanities programs with different forms of expression, among which is music, music itself is the most important art form. I have thought before, should I do a program similar to digging for local singers and music, just like those shop-exploring ones? In local bars, or on some stages, there are some singers who are still unknown but very excellent, and then, go to shoot their live performances, and tell the music stories of such a group of people."

It is indeed artistic.

A program destined to be unable to be popular, but easy to have high word-of-mouth once done well.

Xin Zixing's ideas and thoughts for Ye Mai Net actually didn't lean too much towards the market.

"This idea is very good." Chen Ziyan was the first to agree, saying, "However, is it not quite matching with our idea of going to every city to hold a concert?"

"Of course it can match," Xin Zixing said. "Let the singers you have already made famous form a discovery group to listen to the live performances of those singers. If they like them, they will issue an invitation on the spot, and then, they will hold a small concert together. In this way, the program has a main line, and the theme is also good. Musicians have both past stories and current stories."

Lu Yan He heard this, and his eyes lit up instantly.

This idea is indeed very novel.

When he turned his head, sure enough, the expressions of Chen Ziyan and Lu Qingzhen were also "this idea can be done."

"Sigh, ever since Lu Yan He came back, he has been on vacation, hasn't taken any work, either staying in the *Jump Up* editorial department, or meeting with his agent and friends."

The paparazzi who had been following Lu Yan He were a bit depressed.

Because they hadn't shot anything of value.

"I told you long ago, if you want to shoot Lu Yan He, you basically can't shoot anything, at most you can shoot him getting on and off the car," a peer said. "His itinerary confidentiality, and his security team, are all top-notch."

"But with Lu Yan He's current heat, if you shoot anything of value, you'll make a fortune."

"The problem is, can you shoot it?"

"..."

"However, he met with Xin Zixing today. If we can shoot a photo of them in the same frame, it's not impossible to publish," the peer said. "Xin Zixing is Huang Kai's wife, and she had a deep relationship with Lu Yan He before, and later returned to Ye Mai Net. Now meeting again, maybe it's to talk about cooperation. We can use this as an entry point to dig a little."

Thus, the two paparazzi began to take action. ===== CHAPTER 745 =====