2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 36 A Crazy Marketing Strategy

Chu An's crazy words made everyone think that he was an amateur who just did whatever came to mind.

Dong Wende smiled wryly, "What we do in China is a 'full-film pre-screening system'."

"This alone makes it impossible to film and broadcast instantly!"

What is pre-screening of the entire film? It means you have to produce the entire film, episode by episode, before submitting it for review and approval to obtain a broadcast license. Only then can you sell it and broadcast it.

Dong Wende looked disgusted. "Shoot and broadcast immediately? Everyone knows that shooting and broadcasting immediately is good, but you can't just do whatever you want!"

Director Lu, standing to the side, was both amused and exasperated. "I've wanted to film a real weekly drama series for a long time. The advantages are too obvious."

It's not that there aren't weekly dramas now; various local TV stations, including CCTV, have weekend drama slots. In fact, airing two to four episodes a week isn't a problem for audiences.

However, these are not true weekly dramas. They were not filmed and broadcast simultaneously. They were pseudo-weekly dramas that were only broadcast after the entire film had been approved.

Spreading your hands means, "You're naive!"
He assumed Chu An wasn't familiar with the censorship process for TV dramas, so he started explaining it to him.

"The review process is roughly like this."

“When a TV series is approved, the creation process usually begins by adhering to the content prohibitions for film and television works issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.”

"Afterwards, the script and episode outlines were submitted for filing, and the provincial radio and television departments conducted a preliminary review before submitting them to the General Administration for public announcement."

"If the content involves sensitive topics such as politics, military affairs, or religion, a written opinion must also be submitted."

To put it simply, provincial-level radio and television departments are responsible for the filing and review within their respective jurisdictions, while the State Administration of Radio and Television is responsible for nationwide public announcements. Major topics also require review in accordance with the collaborative review mechanism.

"If we can't bypass the approval process, then the idea of ​​filming and broadcasting on the fly becomes a pipe dream."

Ji Yinglai also said, "Judging from the situation of our production team, weekly broadcast is indeed the most perfect solution."

"We can film four or five episodes first and then broadcast them on TV. CCTV will see my work soon, and all the problems will be solved."

Looking at Chu An, she changed the subject, no longer pessimistic, "Chu Shikuai, what are you really thinking?"

Ji Yinglai had a feeling that Chu An couldn't possibly be unaware of the approval process, yet he still proposed a weekly drama series. There must be a reason for it, right?
In response, Chu An replied with a knowing smile, "Brother, you understand."

Then, he glanced at Dong Wende and Director Lu with disdain, "Impossible? That's because you haven't found the right path!"

Everyone was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

Then Chu An calmly took out the script and tore the pages of the first two episodes off the script with a ripping sound.

"A license."

Everyone, "???"

Chu An tore off episodes 3 and 4, saying, "Two licenses."

Then, there are three licenses.

Four, five, six!

He divided the 24-episode series into 12 parts, secretly enjoying the process as he did so.

The "Standard for Production of TV Series Master Versions" stipulates that the total length of a single episode, including the opening and closing credits, shall not be less than 41 minutes.

The total runtime of the entire series must not be less than 492 minutes, which is twelve episodes.

In other words, his crooked trick of initiating these two projects will definitely not work.

But those regulations were introduced in 2021, what the hell does that have to do with my 2001?
After distributing the scripts, Chu An scanned everyone and said, "Two episodes, one license; two episodes, one submission for review. And ours is an urban campus drama that doesn't contain any sensitive topics."

"Isn't that enough?"

There was so much stuff in the conference room, everyone was exhausted.

12 projects approved, 12 filming permits? How come this kid is so unorthodox? He's got it all done through unorthodox methods.

Even Lu Mingze was quick-witted this time, not praising Chu Shikuai's cleverness, but rather...

"You're fucking crazy!"

Pointing at the 12 portions Chu An had divided out, he said, "You're trying to pull this trick on the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television? They won't let you film a single episode!"

Even this idiot knows what you're trying to do? What? Do you think the bigwigs at the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television are blind? Don't they know you're trying to exploit a loophole?

I'm speechless and on the verge of a breakdown. "Besides, there's still not enough time!"

"Do you know how long the review process takes at the State Administration of Radio and Television?! The fastest is two months, and the slowest is half a year."

"By the time they finish their trial, it'll be too late!"

Chu An didn't argue with him, and coldly asked, "I'm asking you, where was 'My High School Days' submitted for review?"

Without hesitation, Director Lu replied, "The Shengjing Broadcasting and Television Department!"

Chu An, "How many TV dramas are submitted for approval in Shengjing each year?"

Lu Mingze: "There are many."

Domestic film and television resources are concentrated in Shenyang, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, so most of the applications for approval are also submitted to these three cities.

"There should be several hundred, right?"

Chu An, "How many dramas does Liaoning Provincial Radio and Television Station submit for approval each year?"

Director Lu was both angry and amused. "Who comes here to submit their work for review? Aside from provincially produced dramas, it's always local authorities trying to meet their quotas..."

He was stunned for a moment, then he began to understand what Chu An was talking about.

Director Lu suddenly realized, "You mean, it's easier to get approved if we submit our application in Liaoning Province?"

Chu An: "It can greatly shorten the approval time!"

In Shengjing, submitting a film for review involves waiting in line, but even without waiting, there's a standard approval process. It's not easy to make an exception for your film. Besides, although Lu Mingze is a famous director, in the eyes of Shengjing Radio and Television, he's just so-so.

Those with bigger names than him could form a reinforced platoon.

You're splitting one script into 12 parts? And you're trying to use back channels to streamline the approval process?
Go play somewhere else!

But what if you tried Liaoning Radio and Television? Their censorship department must be incredibly busy.

What processes can't be simplified?
Besides, he's a famous director!

Twelve licenses were issued!

These are all achievements.

Whether or not the 12 licenses are granted by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television is not Lu Mingze's concern; that is a matter for Liaoning Provincial Radio and Television to strive for.

We finally got a big project, so what? Are you going to stop your subordinates from making progress?
Given the prevailing social atmosphere and the actual situation at the time, even the top official of Liaoning Radio and Television would have to rush to the General Administration of Radio and Television to seek justice.

"Why won't you approve it? So what if our show only has two episodes?! Can't we make eleven sequels?!"

"Which document prohibits filming like this?"

……

"What? It has a negative impact? It increases the workload?"

"Our Liaoning province is willing to shoulder responsibilities and is not afraid of burdens!"

After Chu An finished explaining, everyone looked at each other in disbelief, thinking, "This works too?"
Little did they know, their counterparts in another timeline were doing things like Conan and Sherlock Holmes, going to great lengths to make a few films, employing even more elaborate schemes! They were finding loopholes in policies and exploiting regional differences in approval processes.

For Chu An, a seasoned veteran of the industry honed by later generations, 2001 couldn't be happier.

At this moment, Director Lu's mind was still a little foggy, and his IQ returned to its usual level.

Looking around blankly, he wondered, "Will this work?"

The others frowned, their thoughts more insightful than Director Lu's; perhaps it really could work!
"The problem is that the State Administration of Radio and Television might approve it on the surface, but secretly they're unhappy, which would then create problems for publicity and distribution!"

This kind of thing has happened before. The State Administration of Radio and Television issued licenses after considering various factors, but no one dared to buy them to broadcast.

Ji Yinglai said, "Whether it's CCTV or local TV stations, they're all under the jurisdiction of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. They can do whatever they want with a word!"

Chu An spread his hands, "The way you're talking makes it sound like if the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television gives you a license and lets you broadcast it, you can sell the show."

"Wake up, everyone!" Chu An's voice was loud, almost scolding. "Don't you remember what Li Chunhua said before? Tiandu would rather sell its new drama for next year at the lowest price than let the others down, just to make an example of them and make the major TV stations not buy our shows."

"So no matter what, we're going to have a hard time selling this film!"

Everyone, "..."

Chu An's reminder
Why is every step I take a hurdle?
Ji Yinglai was going crazy, "Damn it! Maybe we should just break up, I'm under a lot of pressure!" This damn film crew has never had a moment's peace, one difficulty after another, it's even more arduous than the journey to the West!
Chu An laughed at this, "Don't rush, we've already reached the publicity stage, haven't we? Comrades, we've arrived at Little Western Paradise in Lion Camel Ridge, and the Great Thunder Temple is right in front of us!"

Everyone laughed, which eased the tension considerably.

However, they still had no clue how to break through the situation. With such a huge investment from Tiandu, how could their small film crew possibly succeed?

Ji Yinglai completely lost her temper. "Chu Shikuai! If you have a solution, just say it now!"

Chu An's eyes gradually brightened, and that almost manic expression from before returned to his eyes.

是 的
Filming and broadcasting on the fly wouldn't have caused Chu An to have such an expression. Even if the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television couldn't handle it, he had other options. At worst, he could register the filming in Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan and try to make a comeback as an imported drama series.

This period coincides with a downturn in Hong Kong's film and television industry and a time when the mainland is attempting to catch up, leaving room for loopholes to exploit.

The real reason for his excitement was the subsequent promotional strategy of filming and broadcasting live.
What he's about to do is something that no one has ever done before, even in another time and space, more than 20 years ahead of its time.

He wanted to forge a new path, a path no one had ever taken before.

The risks are extremely high, but the potential rewards are terrifying.

"I never planned to air this show on a major satellite TV network! With the entire network being targeted by the government, it's impossible to recoup costs by premiering it on a satellite TV channel."

As mentioned before, in 2001, there were very few satellite TV stations that had the ability to buy the first broadcast rights.

If Tiandu can control a few TV stations and prevent them from buying "The Best of Us", then even if other TV stations want to buy it, they won't be able to offer a high price.

In other words, even if all the difficulties are overcome and the film is made, it is destined to be a money-losing project.

Ningyuan TV Station, Director's Office.

Station Director Du Zhenglin was very polite to the woman sitting in front of him.

No wonder, she's the external relations director for Director Lu's film crew. Ever since Director Lu came to Ningyuan to film, Zhang Junmei has been in charge of everything from liaising with the local government to finding location shooting sites.

During this time, Ning Yuantai provided Zhang Junmei with many conveniences because of their similar majors, and the two became quite familiar with each other.

"Director Zhang, what brings you to our humble temple today?"

As Du Zhenglin brewed tea for Zhang Junmei, he greeted her with a smile, "If you have any difficulties, please feel free to mention them, and we will do our best to help."

Zhang Junmei smiled, "Old Du, we're old friends, so I won't beat around the bush. I'm not here to cause you any trouble today; I have some good news for you!"

Du Zhenglin chuckled upon hearing this, "Good news? I'd better listen carefully, what good news is it!"

Zhang Junmei took a contract out of her bag. "Take a look at this first."

Du Zhenglin wasn't in a hurry. He first pushed the porcelain cup in front of Zhang Junmei, gesturing for her to drink tea, before sitting back down behind his desk, putting on his reading glasses, and glancing at the cover.

"Film and Television Broadcast Contract?"

He looked up at Zhang Junmei and joked, "Wow! This is the first time I've ever seen something like this."

Ningyuan TV is a county-level television station. Every evening at 7 p.m., it broadcasts CCTV's "News Broadcast" and "Weather Forecast" simultaneously, followed by a ten-minute "Ningyuan News" segment and two episodes of a TV drama. It usually stops broadcasting around 10 p.m.

They're not even a full-time television station.

Occasionally, on weekends, or during winter and summer vacations and Chinese New Year, TV dramas would start airing at eight or nine in the morning. However, whether it was the eight o'clock time slot in the evening, or on weekends or during Chinese New Year, the TV dramas broadcast were all old shows that had been replayed countless times.

They are all selected from the provincial radio and television station's film library, which is very cheap. The broadcasting rights for a drama only cost a few thousand or ten thousand yuan.

Occasionally, they'll find a loophole and broadcast some Hong Kong and Taiwanese martial arts films or Japanese and Korean soap operas. Some of these are from legitimate sources, while others are simply pirated.

The general public seems to enjoy watching it.

For example, the 83 version of The Legend of the Condor Heroes became popular in mainland China thanks to these county-level TV stations.

In short, there's no need to sign any broadcasting contracts. Just bring the broadcasting rights back from the provincial capital and broadcast it. These county and city-level TV stations don't have that many rules.

So, this is truly the first time I've ever seen a broadcasting contract.

Upon seeing the contract header bearing the title "With You," I couldn't help but ask, "Whose drama is this? I've never heard of it."

As far as I can remember, I've never seen or heard of this show.

Then Zhang Junmei replied, "Director Lu's."

"Who!?" Old Du didn't hear clearly, or rather, he couldn't believe it.

"Director Lu's film, are you going to air it for me?"

I thought to myself, I've never heard of Director Lu directing this movie before?
Looking further down, Lao Du was speechless. "Director Lu's new movie?! It's been renamed?"

He threw the contract down and said, "Director Zhang, are you kidding me?"

"How could we afford to buy tickets for Director Lu's new film in such a small town?!"

Zhang Junmei smiled calmly, "Look down, it's very cheap."

Old Du grabbed the contract, still complaining, "Even if it's cheaper, I won't buy it."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly saw the price, his mind went blank, and he couldn't speak anymore.

After taking a while, I read through the contract in its entirety.

He looked up, his face still showing disbelief.

"Premiere??"

Zhang Junmei: "Yes! Premiere!"

Old Du, "Twenty thousand?"

Zhang Junmei: "Yes! Twenty thousand!"

Old Du, "It's not 20,000 per episode, it's 21,000 for the entire series!?"

Zhang Junmei corrected, "The 20,000 is the basic purchase fee for the series. If your advertising revenue remains at the original level after the broadcast, that is, no more than 10,000, we will only charge the 20,000 basic purchase fee!"

“单集广告收入超过1万，我们要10%，2万25%。5万40%，10万.”

Before he could finish speaking, Du Zhenglin impatiently interrupted, "Stop talking, I'll give you half! No matter how much advertising fees we collect, I'll give you half!"

He held the contract close to his chest, saying, "It's settled, I'll sign it."

A drama series costing 20,000 yuan, and it's a big production directed by Lu Mingze and starring Xu Shu!

It's the premiere, damn it!!
Although this is the largest expenditure on film purchases since Ningyuan TV was established, it costs less than a thousand yuan per episode. Only a fool wouldn't sign such a contract!
Well, even Lao Du is starting to wonder if Director Lu has gone mad?

As soon as Zhang Junmei left, clutching the still-warm contract, he ran and burst through the door of the deputy director's office.

The deputy director was startled. "Old Du, what are you doing?"

Du Zhenglin went berserk, yelling, "You! Right now!!"

"Contact those wealthy people in the county! Like fertilizer plants, shopping malls, and the like. Tell them that Director Lu's show will premiere on our station, and we'll rake in the advertising and sponsorship fees!"

Even the deputy director was amused by Lao Du. "What nonsense are you talking about? Director Lu? The Director Lu who's filming in Ningyuan?"

How can it be?

On the other hand, after leaving Ningyuantai, Zhang Junmei did not return to the guesthouse, but instead headed straight for the train station with two assistants.

She had to rush back to Shengjing immediately, where Ma Lan had already temporarily recruited a sales team of nearly a hundred people.

Zhang Junmei couldn't wait any longer and told her assistant, "Divide 100 people into 20 groups, and each group will go to one or two provinces!"

"You must visit every county and city-level TV station within a month!"

The assistant looked bitter. "There are about 3000 local TV stations across the country. On average, each team covers 150 counties and cities. It's too difficult."

Zhang Junmei knew that the burden on her shoulders was heavy, but...
"Let's run as many as we can! This time, let's show Tiandu that even without that butcher, we still won't eat pigs with hair on!"

His eyes held the same madness and passion as Chu An's that day.

Suddenly, someone asked, "Which drama has the highest premiere sales so far?"

The assistant immediately replied, "Last year's 'The Republic of China'? 40 episodes, 45 per episode, that's 1800 million."

Zhang Junmei: "1800 million? Ha!"

She closed her eyes and smiled coldly, needing to rest. She knew she needed to recover her energy, as the next month would be very tiring.

.

(End of this chapter)