Chapter 463: Give Me a Chance

The LED screen displayed a large image, visible to nearly all audience members; those who couldn't see it could just film it with their phones and study it later.

Many people in the audience were already holding up their phones, aiming them at the large LED screen on stage.

Zhang Nan was also explaining Chang'e Video's revenue-sharing model, which mainly consisted of three parts: advertising revenue share, membership revenue share, and distribution channel revenue share.

Members were divided into basic members and new-user acquisition members.

Basic members were the original paying subscribers; new-user acquisition members were those who subscribed specifically to watch this drama.

Advertising revenue share included pre-roll ads, embedded ads, and others.

The distribution channel simply meant wholesale distribution—for example, as online television becomes widespread, some online TV platforms import Chang'e Video content to fill their programming.

Of course, Chang'e Technology doesn't operate online TV itself; anyone who wants it can license it.

Because Fang Hong knew that despite how booming internet companies' online TV services seemed now, by year-end no internet company could own its own online TV service—they'd all have to rely on licensed operators.

They couldn't even use their own logos; all those online TV services were just throwing money away, with no return, and every company was losing heavily.

And television was doomed anyway—no need to worry about it!

Revenue sharing also had tiers: if exclusive, meaning no investment from Chang'e Technology, the split was 3:7.

Platform 3, producer 7.

This generous concession left all the producers in the room stunned—it was higher than the usual 50-50 split.

Of course, the 70% share came with a condition: it applied only to producers who didn't seek investment from Chang'e Video, like Yutu.

Ordinary small studios couldn't enjoy this; they got only a 50-50 split—equal halves.

That was the split for cases where Chang'e Video had co-invested, or didn't invest but wasn't exclusive.

Even then, it was more ethical than other platforms; using Chang'e's resources, taking less was only fair—very generous.

Of course, there was an unspoken rule: exclusive content received better treatment, with more promotion—though this was never stated outright.

But non-exclusive content still came from high-quality productions by major studios with traffic, featuring stars who didn't worry about viewership.

Also, the 3:7 and 5:5 splits didn't guarantee that much money—if the drama used novel copyrights, you still had to pay a royalty fee to Yutu or Chang'e.

It wasn't that Chang'e Technology was generous; it simply didn't plan to buy external copyrights at all, fully adopting a revenue-sharing model to expand the pie.

Combined with the premium dramas produced by Yutu for Chang'e Video, Chang'e Video's future content pipeline was more than sufficient.

"Thank you all for attending today. I hope we can work together wholeheartedly and create brilliance in the future."

Zhang Nan concluded the Web Drama Industry Summit.

The guests all stood up and began dispersing, without even waiting for meals—if you wanted to eat, go home; if you weren't even trying this hard, when would you ever?

The meeting lasted about two hours.

Fang Hong, Chen Zhixi, Zhang Nan, Han Jia_nv, Yang Yuanying, and some others they knew still sat down to eat together.

They booked a large private room in the hotel.

They chatted and laughed, while the remaining guests watched this group of big shots with respectful gazes.

"Principal, Principal."

Just as Fang Hong and the others reached the door, a man rushed forward and called out twice.

This startled Chen Zhixi and Zhang Nan, who had been walking beside Fang Hong and talking.

But the man didn't do anything excessive—just rushed ahead—and Fang Hong recognized him: a long face, it was Peng Yusi.

Fang Hong looked at him in confusion and asked, "What is it?"

Peng Yusi seemed nervous and agitated: "I I I."

"Don't rush, take your time," Fang Hong said.

Passersby glanced over curiously; some looked once and walked on, others stopped to watch.

"Can I work with you? Can I join you to make web dramas?" Peng Yusi swallowed hard, looking at him hopefully.

Fang Hong smiled at those around him: "Our current policy is excellent—if you work hard and have ideas, you can carve out your own future."

"To be honest, Principal, I've made some web dramas before, always as a background extra—even when I became lead actor, nothing happened. I just want to work with you. Can you take me in? Give me a platform?" Peng Yusi spoke with visible tension.

Fang Hong understood and asked, "Don't you have an agency?"

"No," Peng Yusi replied.

In his past life, he joined a company called Seven Entertainment Pictures in July.

That company was based in Hong Kong and specialized in web dramas, but it had only been founded yesterday—on the 27th.

That explained why his web dramas always featured faded Hong Kong stars.

Clearly, web dramas had created opportunities for many, giving people a chance to eat again, because it was a completely new arena.

Others now understood his intent and glanced at him twice—quite bold, blocking the Principal's path!

"I see," Fang Hong mused.

"I'm very hardworking—if you give me a chance, I'll repay you tenfold," Peng Yusi hurried to say.

"Where are you from?" Fang Hong asked.

"Gansu," Peng Yusi replied quickly.

That place probably had poor family conditions.

"I said earlier at the meeting that Yutu won't make web dramas anymore—we won't produce any more such content. So what's the point of following me?" Fang Hong said. Chen Zhixi and Zhang Nan exchanged glances—even if they didn't produce, they still invested.

A couple of people could still be accommodated.

"I don't need many resources—just give me a platform, give me a chance, and I'll build my own future," Peng Yusi said with surprising confidence.

But he was right—if he had Yutu's platform, with its production team, investment, and Chang'e's backing, his path would be smooth.

He only needed to walk his own road; everything else didn't matter.

This made Fang Hong, Chen Zhixi, and Zhang Nan—all the CEOs—smile.

"Why not, Chen Zong? Take him on—get him to sign with your Yutu," Zhang Nan chuckled.

"I can take him, but I can't lead students astray," said Chen Zhixi.

Now Yutu says it won't produce low-quality web dramas—how do we place this man? Should we just let him fend for himself? That's unrealistic.

"Here's what we'll do: leave me your phone number, and I'll have someone contact you," Fang Hong signaled.

An assistant stepped forward and recorded Peng Yusi's phone number.

"Thank you, Principal, thank you, thank you," Peng Yusi put away his phone and bowed repeatedly to Fang Hong and the others, then walked away into the distance.

He was still very excited—he had gotten a chance.

After this man left, the others gradually dispersed, though some murmured, saying he had real guts, real courage, and so on.

Most people couldn't bring themselves to block a General Manager's path and beg for an opportunity—it's just too hard to lose face.

Meanwhile, Fang Hong and his group were heading to a private room for dinner. Chen Zhixi said: "Young people with this kind of courage are rare now."

"So to succeed, a person needs more than luck—he must seize opportunities himself. Arrogance won't get you anywhere," Fang Hong said.

There are many talented people in this world, but if they think too highly of themselves, they'll still be passed over.

Sometimes you must discard so-called face and seize possible opportunities.

When I shot my first film, I didn't care about face—I plagiarized when I had to.

This remark left everyone silent.

"How should we arrange this man?" Chen Zhixi asked.

"Start a small company for him, let him run it. Later, when we want to produce web dramas, we can use this company as a shell," Fang Hong said offhandedly.

Yutu says it won't produce low-quality web dramas—so it won't—but that doesn't stop Yutu Holdings from setting up a shell company.

Of course, they probably won't actually produce anything anymore; you've got to leave others some food on the table.

Keeping this option open is mainly to guard against rivals sabotaging us or creating some move that leaves Chang'e Video short on content—then we can use the shell company to supply web dramas to Chang'e Video.

We must prepare for possible external risks.

As for Peng Yusi himself, he can fill part of an ecological niche—so we might as well take him in.

Hearing this, Chen Zhixi nodded in understanding and asked: "Should we sign his agency contract?"

"Sign it. It doesn't matter," Fang Hong said.

The Web Drama Industry Summit invited reporters, so after the meeting ended, reports appeared.

Universal Technology reported on the summit, with the headline: "First Web Drama Industry Summit Convenes, Leading the Next Decade of Film and Video Evolution."

The article stated: "On May 28, the 2014 China First Web Drama Industry Summit, hosted by Chang'e and Yutu under the theme of Video Evolution Theory, was grandly held at the Jingcheng Kunlun Hotel."

The summit held in-depth discussions on topics related to the development of China's web drama industry, bringing a grand intellectual exchange to this burgeoning sector.

At the event, Fang Hong, Chairman of Chang'e and Yutu, announced Chang'e Video's 2015 web drama cooperation plan and declared the establishment of the Excellent Web Drama Support Fund, with an initial fund of 300 million RMB to discover high-quality content."

The article was long, detailing how web dramas were undergoing a full-scale explosion, and predicted: "In 2014, web drama production will reach approximately 1,700 episodes; in 2015, this number is expected to reach 3,000."

In short, it was a thriving boom—and major media outlets also reported on this summit.

"Web Drama Summit Supports Originality; Chang'e Video Invests Hundreds of Millions!"

"Chang'e Chief Operating Officer Zhang Nan: Web Drama Investment Will Surpass Traditional TV Dramas!"

"China's First Web Drama Industry Summit Convenes, Leading the Next Decade of Film and Video Evolution!"

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The number of media outlets reporting was not large—this was normal; the first event wouldn't have much authority or widespread attention.

Unless it was extremely grand, with Lao Mouzi, Chen Daren, Xu Laoguai all showing up to lend support, and a proper discussion held.

And the web drama风口 was still just beginning—it wasn't yet respectable.

But this Web Drama Industry Summit was fully recorded, and since there were no copyright issues, it was directly uploaded to Bilibili and Chang'e Video.

General netizens aren't interested in such conference videos and don't care how the industry develops, so there won't be much viewership data.

Besides, they don't even watch news like this—unless Liu Tianxian were brought over, it wouldn't even trend.

Netizens weren't interested, but the CEOs of Youku, Tencent, and iQiyi were very interested: Sun Zhonghuai of E-Factory Video, Gong Yu of iQiyi, Gu Yongjiang of Youku, and the General Manager of Sohu all watched the video—and watched it all the way through.

Because this video revealed Chang'e Video's future direction and policies; to respond, they needed to understand their enemy.

In short, they wanted to see what the Principal was up to.

(End of Chapter)