“I decided to talk to Journey Films first after discussing the matter with Director Liu and Director Hou. Both of them believe that the company made a huge mistake by withdrawing from funding ‘Legend of Wei and Jin.’ The company is now looking for a chance to fix the damage. I believe that even if Journey Films does not accept my proposal right away, they will still think about it. This could be a chance for them to make a comeback. Also, I’ve let Director Hou and Director Liu read the script already,” Tan Jinqi said. “They are both very interested in the plot as well. Both of them agreed that if we do everything right, this could actually set a new milestone for dramas produced by our country. Director Liu even said that he would clear most of his unimportant schedule to help me with this. Director Hou mentioned the same thing as well. With these two legendary directors backing me up, I’m pretty sure that Journey Films would still consider funding this drama.”
Tan Mo nodded as what her brother said made sense.
She quickly requested a leave of absence from her classes so that she could head to Journey Films with Tan Jinqi.
Tan Jinqi arrived early the next to pick Tan Mo up, and they headed straight toward Journey Films.
Technically speaking, Tan Mo had a brief relationship with the company.
She was the reason the company decided to withdraw its funding. When they heard that the consultant was also working as a scriptwriter for “Legend of Wei and Jin,” they thought it was improper and unprofessional for Director Liu to do that.
They pressured the director to either fire Tan Mo, or they would withdraw themselves from the drama.
When “Legend of Wei and Jin” had garnered huge success and wide attention, Tan Mo finally showed herself at the Tulip Awards ceremony. The world finally learned that she was the scriptwriter and consultant for the drama.
After the award ceremony, Journey Films never brought up the topic again.
This was Tan Mo’s first time officially meeting with someone from the company.
She was also curious as to how the company would treat her.
The chairman of Journey Films, Mr. Yao, had joined the meeting this time.
Tan Jinqi only told them the synopsis of the drama. He chose the important points and plots for the first two episodes. After that, he told them about the estimated risk-return ratio.
“Wait!” Chairman Yao stopped Tan Jinqi mid-way. “Mr. Tan, don’t you think it’s a little too much to ask for $600 million right away? The salaries for actors are restricted by law. Let’s say we are paying that main male and female leads $250,000 each per episode, and then we spend another half a million for some other stuff. If we are shooting a 40-episode drama, that would total to around $40 million. And let’s say we include the salaries for the rest of the actors. That would only roughly total around $70 million. Are you telling me that you are planning to spend more than $500 million on the production?”
“We need a lot of special effects for this genre,” Tan Jinqi explained.
“I know that. This is not our first time filming this kind of drama. The market for the Xianxia genre is pretty much a mature one. The price for special effects isn’t as expensive as it was.”
“But I’m pretty sure that the price you have in mind, no offense, isn’t the best, right?” Tan Jinqi asked. He came prepared and showed the data he had collected on the PowerPoint. “The special effects in dramas up to date aren’t the best in the market. People could tell right away that everything looked fake. The experience was so bad that people never stopped complaining and roasting about the special effects done in dramas. It’s not that we don’t have the ability to have better special effects. Just as you said, the market and technologies for filming a Xianxia drama have pretty much matured.”
Tan Jinqi paused before continuing, “What we lack is people willing to spend more money on the special effects. If some of the past dramas could move some of their fundings from salaries to special effects, the people would’ve been satisfied with the end product. If we are paying $500,000 per episode for the two main leads, then we are talking about first-rate actors and actresses, right? I don’t plan on having these people playing the main roles. I plan to use actors that are pretty well-known but not as expensive as the best ones. It wouldn’t be hard too. Even if we are going to use first-rate actors and actresses, I’m pretty sure they will give us a discount for Director Hou and Director Liu.”
The new director did not stop there. “Also, 40 episodes is too much. I’m planning to separate the drama into different seasons. For now, we are planning to have 20 episodes per season. This isn’t a serious drama like ‘Legend of Wei and Jin.’ Historical dramas need many episodes to explain the before and after. What Xianxia dramas focus on are the plot and special effects. Too many episodes will feel too redundant. There’s no way the viewers would have the patience to watch everything. Also, if the first season was good, we could continue with the second season too. The world we have in mind is too huge for the first season to even cover one continent. There’s just no way we can cover all three continents in 40 episodes. Even 80 would not be enough. But if we let the viewers watch 100 episodes in one season, they would get bored or exhausted.”
“So, are you basically saying that you plan to spend $600 million on 20 episodes, and you don’t even know if the first season is going to be great or not?” Manager Zhang, who was sitting next to Chairman Yao, scoffed. “What? Are you planning to follow the American drama style or something?”
There was no way Tan Jinqi couldn’t see their attitude toward him, but he still nodded. “I know that you guys must think my plan is hilarious because this is the first drama that I’ll be directing.”
Just as he had expected, the people from Journey Films could not hide their laughter any longer.
“Well, since you mentioned American dramas, we can also try going with how they do a trial episode. We can film the first episode first and see how the response from the viewers is. If it works out well, then we can go on with the rest of the drama. If it doesn’t, then we’ll pay for all the losses.”
Everyone looked at each other. From a profit point of view, Journey Films would not lose anything if they accepted his proposal.
“Wow! You sure are the eldest son of the Tan family,” Chairman Yao said mockingly. “I do have a problem. Since you are the eldest son of Tanyue Homeware’s president, and you guys have already proved you have enough money by replacing us as the sponsor for ‘Legend of Wei and Jin,’ why don’t you just get Tanyue Homeware to sponsor your drama? I mean, it’s your family business. You can get as much money as you want.”
“Of course, Tanyue will be funding most of the drama. What I need now is a professional company that can help us with all the processes starting from the revision.”
“Couldn’t you just find a small-time film studio to do that for you?” Manager Zhang asked. “Why don’t you just come clean and say that you’re just afraid that the drama will be a failure and your family will lose a lot of money?”
“Why don’t all of you come clean and say that your company never planned to fund the drama from the beginning,” Tan Mo suddenly asked.
It was evident enough from their attitude that they never planned to invest in Tan Jinqi’s first project.
