Chapter 103: Three Major Projects Advance Together, Rising Steadily

In the following days, Seeing Yan Li stayed at the Beiying Community.

Huang Shengyi went home for summer vacation, and Qin Lan traveled to Hunan Province to promote "Huan Zhu Ge Ge 3," and wouldn't return to Beijing for several days.

However, compared to romantic entanglements, Seeing Yan Li devoted more energy to his work.

Currently, Yi'an Film & Television's three key priorities!

The first is "Detective Di Renjie."

This project is primarily handled by Li Xing and is now in the final stages of pre-production, with filming expected to begin in about a month.

During this return to Beijing, Seeing Yan Li took time to meet with director Qian Yanqiu.

The other party, knowing Seeing Yan Li was also an actor, considering his appearance and producer status, proactively suggested he take a role, such as Hu Jinghui.

It sounded enthusiastic, but Seeing Yan Li learned from the system.

This guy was afraid Seeing Yan Li would snatch Li Yuanfang's role from his best friend, so he spoke up first, trying to appease him with Hu Jinghui.

After all, Seeing Yan Li was the second-largest investor in the crew, holding a 40% stake, with considerable influence.

If he truly wanted to snatch the role, Qian Yanqiu, despite being the director and screenwriter—the creative core of "Detective Di Renjie"—would still be stuck.

But Qian Yanqiu was being petty; Seeing Yan Li had no intention of snatching Li Yuanfang's role.

Aside from not wanting to alienate the director, he planned to continue collaborating with him later.

Moreover, from future knowledge, Seeing Yan Li knew the actor playing Li Yuanfang delivered an excellent performance, even one that deeply resonated with audiences.

As a producer, Seeing Yan Li valued the entire crew's interests; since the actor was fine, there was no need to force a replacement—he didn't lack for roles.

He declined Li Yuanfang, and also turned down Hu Jinghui; he had two more dramas and a pile of work ahead, with no available schedule.

However, just because Seeing Yan Li wouldn't act in "Detective Di Renjie" didn't mean he wouldn't insert roles into it.

Five million had already been spent; making money alone wasn't enough—he'd also help his own people along the way.

Thus, Zhang Songwen landed a villain role, Zhou Yi was given a part, and Lin Jiachuan could join if he had time.

Originally, Seeing Yan Li had wanted to secure the role of Jin Mulan for Qin Lan, but the crew had already cast Peng Dan.

Seeing Yan Li had some rapport with Peng Dan and didn't want to snatch her role.

The other female roles had insufficient screen time, so Seeing Yan Li didn't pursue them, planning to wait for the sequel.

By the way, Seeing Yan Li had also considered Huang Shengyi, but the girl was in the critical phase of her Xingyu Lang audition and couldn't afford distraction, fearing it would ruin Zhou Xingchi's film, so he gave up.

Trusting his people, since Li Xing was handling "Detective Di Renjie," Seeing Yan Li didn't micromanage—just checked in periodically.

…

The second priority was the distribution of "Snow Goddess Dragon."

Although Seeing Yan Li secured the distribution rights for this drama, Li Peng didn't fully trust him, so he only assigned part of the business.

In plain terms, two distribution companies each claimed their own regions and sold the drama within their "territories."

Local channels and city-county stations had limited reach; sell as much as you can, then collect your share.

If it could be sold to satellite TV, it was first-come-first-served and highest-bidder-wins—whomever closed the deal faster or better, the crew signed with.

This practice wasn't uncommon in the industry.

But it was usually reserved for hot projects; for a low-budget drama like "Snow Goddess Dragon," few distribution companies were interested, let alone willing to accept such terms.

Yi'an Film & Television was just starting out, with limited operations, but Seeing Yan Li was confident this drama would become a hit, profitable and needing exposure, so he took it.

The other distribution company also seemed newly established, lacking confidence, and agreed to "Snow Goddess Dragon"'s terms.

The distribution of "Snow Goddess Dragon" was personally overseen by Seeing Yan Li, with newly hired Market Director Xiao Guan handling specifics.

This Director Xiao, whose name alone inspired trust, was formerly a client manager at an advertising agency.

In plain terms, he acted as an intermediary between brands and TV stations—very similar to film and TV distribution.

Seeing Yan Li hired him with a high salary because of his outstanding sales ability and existing connections within TV stations.

With just a little guidance from Seeing Yan Li, understanding the ropes of film distribution, he could quickly get up to speed and operate independently.

Compared to when he distributed "Conquest," Seeing Yan Li now had accumulated some connections and no longer needed to trudge city by city.

A few phone calls could identify likely TV stations and their contacts, then focus on key public relations.

As always: once the first TV station sold, it lowered the hesitation and defenses of subsequent stations; the responsible officers gained talking points for both superiors and internal teams, drastically reducing sales difficulty.

Thus, within less than three days of securing the distribution contract, Seeing Yan Li had entered final negotiations with Hebei Provincial TV Channel.

Not only was the "Snow Goddess Dragon" crew stunned, but even the new Market Director Xiao Guan looked at Seeing Yan Li as if he were a god.

A sales genius!

He hadn't even figured out the distribution strategy yet, and Seeing Yan Li had already pinpointed targets, sealed the deal with a single drink—his name should've been given to Seeing Yan Li.

Originally, Director Xiao, proud of his resume and connections, had harbored some arrogance joining such a startup.

Seeing Yan Li's show of force had humbled him, filling him with intense pressure.

If his boss's sales ability surpassed his own as Market Director, how could he ever hope to make any achievements and survive in the company—or the industry?

So Xiao Guan volunteered: he contacted his own channels and connections, and under Seeing Yan Li's direction, traveled to several regional TV stations with potential interest to negotiate.

This was precisely why Seeing Yan Li hired Xiao Guan.

It would be a waste for Seeing Yan Li to handle sales himself—he could use the system to coordinate centrally while Xiao Guan led the charge.

Ground channels and city-county stations offered limited profits; even without the system, if the price wasn't rock-bottom, it was acceptable.

Once several local stations aired the drama and generated some influence, Seeing Yan Li would personally oversee or negotiate the satellite TV deals.

With Xiao Guan handling negotiations and PR, Seeing Yan Li could free up time and energy to advance the third priority—

"Huan Tian Xi Di Qi Xian Nü."

Or more accurately, Seeing Yan Li used this project as an excuse to seek investment from financiers.

Seeing Yan Li discovered through contact that this project was ideal for attracting investment—the reason was simple: the crew needed many female actors.

He refused to use the drama's female actors to court financiers—that sort of thing, bordering on pimping, was beneath him.

But if one or two roles were freed up, he could use them as bait to arrange "good friends" and "dry sisters" for bosses who needed someone promoted, and as long as the cash was plentiful, Seeing Yan Li didn't mind being so eager to help.

Of course, these good sisters and the like were best taken from within the circle—pretty, with a certain level of acting skill—only then could Seeing Yan Li arrange things properly.

Otherwise, dragging in a few amateurs who laughed like they were crying would drag down the drama's quality and hurt the profits…

(End of Chapter)