Chapter 52: Making the web drama "Yu Zui"

"Oh, by the way, please give these script outlines to the studio's writing department and ask them to come up with the scripts as soon as possible."

Yang Hao handed the other party the script outlines of "My Sweetheart, My Sweetheart" and "The Journey of Flower" that he had prepared in advance. These two scripts are the studio's key projects in the future and must not be lost.

"Also, negotiate with China Film Group and ask them to settle the box office revenue share as soon as possible. Even if they can't settle all of it, at least they have to settle part of it. There's not much money left in the studio's account now. If they don't settle the box office revenue, many projects won't be able to proceed."

After giving these instructions, Yang Hao waved his hand, indicating that Yu Li could go down to work.

"Okay, Mr. Yang, I'll go to work first."
After saying this, Yu Li left the office and closed the door.

Thinking about the box office share that will be received soon, that is several e, it is time to start my own investment plan. The 4G network will be opened soon, and live streaming and short videos will be a hot industry. I can still make money by investing now, but if I delay it for another half a year or a year, I won’t even be able to drink the soup, and I can only eat the bones dropped by others.

Moreover, the best way for my system should be to invest externally and then get cash back through movie box office.

Thinking of this, Yang Hao quickly found the contact information of a headhunting company he had cooperated with before from his address book and asked them to help him recruit an investment manager. It didn't require the other party to have a good investment vision, but only required them to have strong execution capabilities and be able to execute completely according to his intentions.

Just when Yang Hao was thinking about how to develop the studio next, Yu Li knocked on the office door again and walked in.

When Yang Hao was still wondering what Yu Li wanted to talk to him about again, he saw a middle-aged man in his forties following behind Yu Li.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that this was the landlord of his studio, Mr. Zhang from Sohu, Zhang Chaoyang, the future senior expert in live physics classes.

Yang Hao immediately stood up from his office chair, walked towards Zhang Chaoyang and shook hands with him.

"Mr. Zhang, why did you come to my small studio? Logically, I should visit you first," Yang Hao greeted politely.

"Mr. Yang, yours is not a small studio. The movie "Charlotte's Troubles" produced by your studio has created a box office record in Chinese film history. I also went to the cinema to watch this movie some time ago. I finally found out that the investor of this movie is actually in the Sohu building. It can be said that the real God is right next to you without you knowing it." Zhang Chaoyang is worthy of being the boss of a large company. He is full of compliments.

While the two were complimenting each other, Yu Li started her assistant's job and made a cup of tea for each of them. Zhang Chaoyang and Yang Hao then sat on the sofa, drinking tea and chatting.

"Mr. Zhang, what are you doing here in my studio?"

Yang Hao didn't believe it. He thought the other party just wanted to visit him because he had watched "Charlotte's Troubles".

Sohu is still very powerful now, especially Sohu Video, which, backed by the Sohu portal, has a good development momentum.

Moreover, last year, Sohu Video’s self-produced short drama "Diaosi Nanren" became popular on the entire Internet, bringing a considerable amount of traffic to Sohu Video.

Thinking about it, it is already May 2013. By the end of the year, 5G licenses will be issued. The first year of 4G has officially started. Video websites are about to rise, and several video websites are about to start a money-burning war. It is at this point in time that online dramas begin to rise.

Yang Hao thought about it and decided that the only business that his studio and Sohu could have some overlap in was film and television production.

Could it be that Zhang Chaoyang has such a long-term vision that he has already thought of planning a web drama in advance?
"I heard that your company not only invests in movies, but also in TV series. Not long ago, it also finished filming "Legend of Lu Zhen". I wonder if you are interested in making a TV series that will be exclusively broadcast on online video sites."

Zhang Chaoyang directly stated the purpose of this trip.

Hearing that what Zhang Chaoyang said was exactly what he thought, Yang Hao felt more confident. Yang Hao pretended to be very interested in the web drama and asked, "What price do you plan to buy the web drama for?"

Seeing that Yang Hao was very interested in the web drama, Zhang Chaoyang also became excited. To be honest, in order to plan the web drama in advance, he approached several film and television production companies, but was rejected by all of them. All companies felt that it was difficult to make money by shooting web dramas.

"Let's go by the number of hits. For 5000 million to 1e, we'll pay one million per episode. For 1e to 1.5e, we'll pay 120 million. And so on. For every 5000 million hits, we'll increase the price by per episode. How do you think?"

Zhang Chaoyang didn't elaborate on how to purchase below 5000 million clicks, but Yang Hao understood what it meant.

The first season of "Diaosi Nanzi" was a huge hit on the entire Internet. The number of clicks exceeded 1e in a few months, which was already the best among online dramas.

According to Zhang Chaoyang, the click volume of an e is only 1.2 million per episode. At this point in time, a high-quality TV series sold to a TV station would also fetch about 1.1 to 200,000 yuan. However, if sold to a TV station, there are also second- and third-round prices, so the total revenue is much higher than selling directly to video websites.

Film and television production companies will all settle accounts and certainly will not choose to cooperate with Zhang Chaoyang.

But Yang Hao has a vision for the future. He knows that when the 4G network is opened at the end of the year, the traffic on video websites will surge. By then, the number of clicks on online dramas will easily reach 1 or exabytes, let alone exabyte.

In its previous life, "Yuzui" had exceeded 10e clicks in just a few months. Even if it was released more than a year in advance, 4G networks were not as popular as they were in 2015, but it should have been no problem to reach -e clicks.

If the number of clicks reaches 5e, that would be 320 million per episode. Zhang Chaoyang is definitely here to give away money.

"Okay, that's settled then." Since the other party wanted to give him money, Yang Hao certainly couldn't refuse it and immediately agreed to the other party's request for cooperation.

Hearing that Yang Hao agreed to cooperate, Zhang Chaoyang added, "We must ensure that the online drama is on the shelves before the end of this year."

Yang Hao nodded to show that he understood.

The end of the year marks the beginning of the first year of 4G, and Zhang Chaoyang wants to fire the first shot in the online video war.

"Then how long does it take to count the number of clicks on an online drama?" Yang Hao asked again.

"Half a year"

In this way, Yang Hao and Zhang Chaoyang reached a preliminary verbal agreement.

Since the two companies were adjacent, the specific contract was signed quickly.

After dealing with the contract issues regarding "Yuzui", Yang Hao immediately began to write the script of "Yuzui".

This time he did not let the studio's screenwriting department take charge, but created it himself.

This script is crucial. It is the first online drama in the first year of 4G network. If it goes well, Yang Hao Studio will immediately become a hot commodity in the eyes of several video websites. The subsequent series of online dramas such as "The Rise of Phoenixes" will be able to sell for a good price, which forces Yang Hao to pay attention.

(End of this chapter)