Chapter 18 Two new dramas and the opening ceremony
Not long after coming out of Fang Weimin's office, Zuo Le and Chen Fatty inquired about the general content of this morning's Taili senior leadership meeting.
In fact, there was no need to inquire deliberately, but within one lunch, the news of "Purchasing Department's Dasheng Production Center" spread throughout most of Dongshan Terrace.
Only then did Zuo Le understand why Lao Fang went out of his way and took the initiative to increase the budget for the "Underground Transportation Station" and approved the budget for several million dollars as soon as possible, as if the center would not be able to survive in the future.
Now, looking at the current situation of the center, isn't it just that life is almost unbearable?
Zuo Le somewhat figured out Lao Fang's crazy idea of increasing the budget for "Underground Traffic Station".
Anyway, the center is in a precarious situation now, and it may be abolished and merged someday. At that time, instead of benefiting others, the funds on the center's account are better spent in your own hands.
Spell it out, everyone is happy!
It didn't work out and the center ran out of money, so he gave up and stopped messing around.
"Lao Fang is fighting a last-ditch battle and sinking the boat."
Zuo Le was under great pressure. How could his debut, a small-budget sitcom, be inexplicably linked to the life and death of the entire television production center?
If "Underground Traffic Station" had mediocre results, wouldn't he become the center's eternal sinner?
Zuo Le felt a little uneasy.
But soon, Fang Weimin proved that Zuo Le had overestimated the importance of himself and "Underground Traffic Station".
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It is true that Director Fang is very optimistic about the prospects of "Underground Traffic Station", otherwise he would not be acting in person again after so many years.
But being optimistic about it does not mean that Fang Weimin will put all the weight of the production center on a TV series that has not officially started filming.
Director Fang Da, who understands that eggs cannot be put in one basket, not only increased the budget for Zuo Le, but also added an additional 5 million to the budget for another film in the center, "The Kind Grass", which is currently being filmed.
In addition, Fang Wenmin is still busy preparing to launch two new TV series.
The first one is called "Living Alone", which is a reality-themed TV series adapted from a novel. It mainly talks about empty-nesters, and the plot is very in-depth.
In fact, the center has already obtained the adapted script of this drama, but has never formally approved the project. This is because it feels that the subject matter of this drama is too unpopular and the ratings cannot be guaranteed when it is produced, so it has been shelved.
Now that Director Fang has restarted the "Living Alone" project, he doesn't think about the ratings. He is really focused on winning awards.
He wanted to see if, with the depth of the story of "Living Alone," he could be nominated for an award or something. No matter what award, it would still be an achievement for the center.
However, Fang Wenming himself also knows that the chance is very low, and TV series and movies are different.
Films can be divided into commercial and artistic films. The judges of major awards prefer works with artistic depth. There is even a saying in the industry that artistic films win awards and commercial films earn box office.
TV dramas are different in that they have no threshold and are more for the public. If you add depth to the plot, the artistry may be there, but the audience may not like to watch it.
No audience means no attention and influence. Even if the judges like it, they will not nominate an unpopular TV series that not many people have watched.
Of course, the theme of the main theme is another matter...
Therefore, even those high-quality word-of-mouth TV series that have won awards will not have too bad ratings, and they are even popular dramas that have achieved both word-of-mouth and ratings.
Word-of-mouth, word-of-mouth, word-of-mouth, if no one cares about you, how can you talk about word-of-mouth!
Fang Weimin has been working in television for many years, so he certainly doesn't understand this principle, but he has no idea. Anyway, the investment in "Living Alone" is not high, so he just thinks he is being willful.
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In Fang Weimin's mind, "Living Alone" is a casual move, and he doesn't know whether it can be used at critical moments.
But the second drama that was newly planned has a different status in Director Fang's heart, even far surpassing "Underground Traffic Station".
"Purple Masked King Kong" is the first martial arts drama in mainland China. Dongshan Production Center has become a famous masterpiece in the industry and is also one of the production center's best-performing TV dramas.
Fang Weimin, who had not retreated behind the scenes back then, even played the second male lead in a jade-faced young man.
Whether in Fang Weimin's heart or in the entire glorious history of Dongshan Production Center, "Purple Masked King Kong" plays a decisive role.
At a time when the production center is in such a critical situation, Fang Weimin plans to remake this classic TV series of the center, not only to save the situation of the center, but also for a secret selfish reason.
If Dongshan Production Center cannot escape the end of being abolished, then the remake of "Purple Face King Kong" will send the center to its last stop.
The center has flourished since "Purple Face King Kong" and now has ended with the remake of "Purple Face King Kong". It has been going around in circles for decades, which can be regarded as a complete cycle of cause and effect.
Out of grief and indignation, Fang Weimin raised the budget for the remake of "Purple Masked King Kong" to 50 million, breaking the center's filming funding record since its establishment.
However, no one from the center raised objections. Other departments did have some objections, but they were suppressed by deputy director Mo Dashan.
Even Taiwan Director Chen Changshan, who was aware of Fang Weimin's ideas, and Deputy Director Wu Mao, who was opposed to the center, sighed after hearing the news, and then expressed their implicit support for it.
Fang Weiminhe Production Center has worked hard for Dongshantai for decades, with both merit and hard work. Now if he wants to choose a decent ending, this face should be given to the station.
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With the acquiescence of the Taiwanese leaders, the remake of "Purple Face King Kong" was successfully approved. After deducting the 50 million budget prepared for it, there was very little money left in the central bank account.
At the end of August, Fang Weimin held a meeting of all colleagues in the production center and communicated with everyone without any cover-up.
After "The Purple Faced King Kong", the production center has no spare capacity to develop new drama projects. The current six drama projects are the center's last chance.
By next summer at the latest, if the performance of self-produced dramas continues to show no improvement, the production center may be abandoned by the station. Some of those working in the center will be merged into other departments, and some may leave the station.
Therefore, whether it is to build the center or to consider their own future, all center colleagues must be united and work hard for collective and personal interests.
At the end of the meeting, colleagues in the center felt very heavy, but Zuo Le and Fatty Chen, who were the backbone of the center, had no time to think too much.
Because "Underground Traffic Station" is about to start shooting at Changqing Film and Television Base!
Tuesday, September 1, 2015, is a good time to start school and start the school.
Accompanied by a continuous burst of firecrackers, Zuo Le, Fatty Chen and several leading actors, holding long incense and pious faces, paid homage to Guan Gong on the red cloth table.
Although he didn't understand why Mr. Guan was still in charge of the filming business, Zuo Le still sincerely prayed for Mr. Guan's blessing.
"The filming went smoothly, the broadcast ratings were high, the reputation was great, I got a promotion and a salary increase, and the center successfully weathered the crisis..."
