Bao Lixin’s ability to stir up news was inferior to Yuan Fenghui’s, but his way of painting grand visions was surprisingly in sync with Yuan Fenghui’s.
What a coincidence. Yuan Fenghui had said the exact same words to Wen Ying!
The difference was that Bao Lixin was just painting pies in the sky, while Yuan Fenghui meant every bit of it.
Wen Ying’s refusal to appear on camera for ads was within Yuan Fenghui’s expectations. Yuan Fenghui went ahead and secured two blog promotion deals for Wen Ying in one go. It was not that Yuan Fenghui lacked the pull to land more; these two brands were simply the most suitable at present.
Yuan Fenghui wanted to gauge the promotional effects.
If the results were exceptionally good, 500,000 yuan per deal would be on the low side!
On Bao Lixin’s end, his promises to Blue Whale were pure pie in the sky.
The first print run of “Crown of Thorns” was 600,000 copies, and he had even sold the film and TV adaptation rights to Manager Guan. By rights, even if Blue Whale’s wealth did not match Wen Ying’s, she should count as a little rich girl.
With a full purse, what was a bit of scolding?
The fact was that Blue Whale had only received the 100,000 yuan advance from the publisher so far.
100,000 yuan was a lot for an ordinary university student, but for Blue Whale, this sum was hardly enough to face all the abuse with equanimity. Before, after winning second place in the long-form category of the essay contest, “The Gentle Her” got published smoothly. The royalties from its first print run of just 50,000 copies had exceeded 100,000 yuan!
Later, “The Gentle Her” had another print run of 100,000 copies, so Blue Whale had some savings in hand.
After jumping ship to follow Bao Lixin, he did not deliberately lowball Blue Whale’s royalty rate. “Crown of Thorns” was still signed at 12 percent royalties.
However, that was just the public publishing contract.
As the saying goes, nothing happens without self-interest. Bao Lixin’s vigorous push for Blue Whale was naturally not just to win one argument.
Privately, Bao Lixin and Blue Whale had signed an agency contract. For all of Blue Whale’s income, Bao Lixin took a 60 percent cut.
If Blue Whale earned 1 million yuan, 600,000 went to Bao Lixin. To him, Blue Whale was a solid money tree, and he would not allow her to bail midway!
Moreover, to control Blue Whale better, Bao Lixin used his usual tricks. Even the 40 percent income Blue Whale was due, he dragged his feet on paying, fearing she would grow unruly with too much money in hand.
After a mix of coaxing and intimidation, Bao Lixin temporarily steadied Blue Whale.
Blue Whale gradually stopped crying and sobbed, “I will listen to you.”
“You are very sensible. That is one reason I value you. Manager Guan is filing the project for “Crown of Thorns”. Once the TV series airs, you will be an undisputed star writer.”
Bao Lixin brimmed with confidence and continued to beguile Blue Whale.
On the other side, Manager Guan was not faring smoothly with the project filing.
Manager Guan was particularly shameless, directly benchmarking “Crown of Thorns” against “The Galaxy and You”, claiming they were IPs of the same calibre.
The TV station leaders had no time to read books. Once the internal assessment passed and the leader signed off, the project could file.
At this point, Director Fan stepped up to make trouble for Manager Guan. Director Fan did not mention “Crown of Thorns” plagiarising “The Galaxy and You”. He only brought up the performance data of the two books.
A first print run of 600,000 copies did not mean 600,000 copies actually sold. Those were two different things!
Whether they were IPs of the same grade was not decided by hot air. Let the data speak for itself.
“I heard “The Galaxy and You” sold 660,000 copies in three months.”
Director Fan’s attitude was mild, not like he was targeting anyone. He was simply standing on a fair footing. ” “Crown of Thorns” had a first print run of 600,000 copies. How many have sold now?”
Manager Guan remained composed. “The publisher is still tallying the exact data. It will not lag behind “The Galaxy and You”.”
Director Fan sneered inwardly.
Not lag behind “The Galaxy and You”?
With how the internet had trashed “Crown of Thorns”, did this Guan fellow think everyone was some offline antique who never surfed?
Director Fan pretended to be that antique and chuckled, “No rush then. Wait until the publisher tallies the data, and we can discuss filing the project.”
Manager Guan naturally would not agree.
Merchants chased profit. Manager Guan had bought the rights to “Crown of Thorns” and wanted to start shooting quickly to make money. No issue there.
Furthermore, Manager Guan knew Tianjiao had no idol dramas lined up lately, just one serious drama to sell. He wanted to exploit the time gap. After clashing with Tianjiao twice and losing both, Manager Guan felt a bit wary and did not want to go up against them again in scheduling.
Filing now, with one or two months of prep, would miss this summer slot but catch the winter break slot.
Manager Guan had planned everything. One sentence from Director Fan upended all his arrangements, leaving his face rather unpleasant.
Did Director Fan think this could pin him down?
Wanting sales data for “Crown of Thorns”? Fine, he could just have Editor-in-Chief Bao issue one. See what Director Fan had to say then!
This was to hasten the film and TV incubation of “Crown of Thorns”. Manager Guan believed Bao Lixin would cooperate.
Because of “Crown of Thorns”, Manager Guan and Bao Lixin had become a community of interests. Manager Guan wanted to shoot the drama and earn money, Bao Lixin wanted to sell books and profit, and more importantly, to seize the chance and mould Blue Whale into a star writer.
Director Fan saw through Manager Guan’s intentions and directly blocked his path. “Actually, I am not trying to make trouble for anyone. I draw my salary from the station, so naturally I must consider the station’s interests. Outsiders only see how grand our setup is. They do not know how tough it is to keep such a big operation running. You count as half one of our own. Outsiders may not understand, but surely you do?”
Manager Guan professed deep understanding and echoed Director Fan, expounding on the station’s hardships. The leaders bore the heaviest burden, with so many mouths above and below waiting to be fed. It all relied on the leaders’ wise decisions for the whole station to live comfortably.
Director Fan nodded vigorously. “Just as I thought. You understand best. Since you are not an outsider, can you lighten the load for the station? You benchmark “Crown of Thorns” against “The Galaxy and You”. I trust your judgement. I hear “The Galaxy and You” had a production cost of forty or fifty million. It is too much pressure for the station to fork over that much at once. How about the station invests a symbolic amount? Treat “Crown of Thorns” as a co-production between the station and your company… You are so bullish on “Crown of Thorns”. No reason this drama will lose money. Once your company shoots it, I will give it the prime slot for sure!”
For the production cost of “Crown of Thorns”, Manager Guan wanted Hunan TV to foot the entire bill.
The station pays to shoot, then sells the rights back to the station. Manager Guan would use the station’s money to make money, bearing zero risk himself.
Director Fan spoke lightly. With one phrase of “not an outsider”, he wanted Manager Guan to shoulder the bulk of the production cost.
Even if Manager Guan squeezed the cost of “Crown of Thorns” lower than “The Galaxy and You”, to achieve the same effect, it would still take at least twenty or thirty million.
Having his company bear twenty million in production costs was too risky.
Manager Guan opened his mouth to refuse, but Director Fan fed him a reassuring pill. “Give it the best slot. The rights fee will not be low. We can sign the contract first.”
Manager Guan’s heart stirred.
Sign the contract first?
If it could definitely sell once shot, that did reduce the risk.
