Chapter 258 Foreshadowing
It was already evening when we arrived in Xiangjiang.

Du Sheng didn't even have time to contact Zhang Baizhi and Zhong Xinyu. He just rehearsed with the host of Jade Channel's "Entertainment 100%" and then got into the busy schedule.

Fortunately, these are easy for him.

Although it is physically and mentally exhausting and running around is a bit tiring, my popularity, reputation and status are steadily increasing, so it's all worth it.

To be honest, it is impossible for ordinary people to achieve such an achievement in such a short time.

Not to mention, his next goal is to surpass the Four Young Freshmen and become comparable to the Four Heavenly Kings.

All of these require huge popularity and audience base.

And reaching the K1 finals, the kind of fermentative spread that would occur is absolutely unprecedented.

This gap can be shortened to a great extent.

Du Sheng was busy until almost the early morning before he finally relaxed.

After getting in the car, he rubbed his brows and then sent a text message to Zhang Baizhi and Zhong Xinyan respectively.

Everyone is busy, and we will have a chance to get together only after the semi-finals.

But the time is almost up.

When we returned to Zhejiang Province, it was already four o'clock in the morning.

Since the crew needs to shoot in the suburbs of Xixi today, many staff members are already busy at this point.

In order to avoid competing with the leading actor for the dressing room, some actors who had roles to play staggered their makeup times and arrived early to wait.

Du Sheng took a nap on the plane and rested for two hours after returning to the hotel. He was in good spirits.

However, he had something to do in the morning and could not return to the crew, so he went straight to Star Media.

Early this morning, Wang Jinhua, Zhong Zhen and Ye Jingzhi gathered together for a rare occasion to discuss important matters.

Zheng Zetao and Bi Shi'an were also there. It seemed that they had rushed over last night.

As expected, this time the purpose was to discuss the planning of the "Kung Fu" program.

After a period of preparation, the team's structural framework has been firmly established.

When Du Sheng stepped into the production department, the first thing he saw was several colleagues working in an orderly manner.

There were men and women, all wearing the same company uniform, and all of them were in high spirits.

But when they saw Du Sheng come in, these usually calm employees exclaimed in surprise.

Some little fans even covered their mouths and exclaimed in surprise.

"Woo woo, Brother Sheng is here!"

"Really? Isn't he filming right now?"

"So handsome..."

This group of people were all newly recruited employees of the production department, and had never seen Du Sheng in person before.

Although I have heard a lot about him from Wang Jinhua, the feeling is completely different when I see him with my own eyes.

They were delighted to see the characters who had appeared on the TV screen not long ago now standing in front of them.

"Hello, Brother Sheng!"

Seeing Du Sheng walking by, a girl's face turned slightly red with excitement.

Obviously, this was her first time to be so close to her idol.

Maybe, joining Star Media is a bit like chasing stars.

"Hello everyone."

Du Sheng responded with a smile and asked as he walked:
"Is Miss Hua in the office?"

"Yes, President Wang and the others are having a meeting in the conference room."

The girl quickly led him to the meeting room.

After watching Du Sheng leave, the entire production department began to boil like water.

"Oh! I didn't expect Brother Sheng to be so approachable."

"Calm down, you're embarrassing us all by being such a nympho!"

"You are the same, wipe the saliva from the corners of your mouth."

"He's a fighting champion who has won glory for our country. My brother is a huge fan of him! When Brother Sheng comes out, I must get his autograph!"

"Du Sheng is really charming. No! I have to take a photo with you later!"

"Be more restrained, my cousin hasn't spoken yet."

"Cousin? He is my happy brother now!"

"Stop arguing, little fangirls. Have you finished your work?"

.........

The atmosphere in the meeting room became more lively with Du Sheng's entry.

Zhong Zhen looked at this increasingly prosperous partner and joked with a smile:

"Look, our rising star in the sports world has finally decided to return from the sweet land of Hong Kong!"

Du Sheng sat down with a smile and looked at Zhong Zhen in a relaxed tone:

"If I really win the K1 'King of Fighters' title, will Sister Zhen give me any special gift?"

"Absolutely. How about you treat me to a meal?"

Zhong Zhen responded generously.

"Hey, Sister Zhen, aren't you famous for not being tempted by fame and fortune? Could it be that you have been thinking about me for a long time?"

Du Sheng shook his head in an exaggerated manner, which made everyone laugh.

"Haha, that's enough, no need to beat around the bush."

Zhong Zhen smiled and waved his hand:
"You don't have a house in Hengdian yet, right? I'll give you a villa as a reward. It's up to you to choose where to buy one."

Du Sheng nodded with satisfaction: "This is what a rich woman looks like."

After some pleasant greetings, the atmosphere became more harmonious.

Wang Jinhua promptly drew everyone's attention back to the main topic of the meeting:
"Since Du Sheng is already here, let's get straight to the point."

Ye Jingzhi glanced at Bi Shian and said elegantly as before:
"Mr. Bi, what do you think? Do we need to discuss the previous topic in depth?"

Bi Shian looked at the representative of Yangshi 5 and continued to express his views:

“When it comes to the core, it’s still a question of program style and planning.

I personally think that we should strengthen the entertainment as the selling point of the program and highlight it..."

The focus of the meeting was nothing more than the differences among the parties in program style and market positioning.

Wang Jinhua, Zheng Zetao and others tend to use Du Sheng's status as the country's first boxing representative to create a top domestic professional fighting event comparable to K1 GP.

We strive to ensure professionalism while maintaining interest and viewing pleasure.

In contrast, Bi Shian took another perspective and firmly believed that the core charm of the program lies in its entertainment value.

In his eyes, the reason why K1 GP is so popular is more because of its stimulating sensory and visual experience.

Rather than purely competitive level.

According to his understanding, every K1 GP match is actually a carefully planned theatrical performance.

Take off the boxing gloves and it's essentially a large-scale entertainment show.

Actual physical collisions only account for a very small proportion of the competition.

It is more about verbal confrontation before the game, packaging of players' images and media hype.

This was the case for Du Sheng in the round of 16 and the quarterfinals.

The former stirred up controversy between Du Sheng and Japanese idol star Masato through a weigh-in ceremony to stir up the heat.

The latter also evokes people's joy, anger, sorrow and happiness through the duel between Du Sheng and Mark.

Behind this is a carefully designed packaging hype.

Through warm-up and preparation, the audience's interest is aroused until a grand performance brings the viewing experience to a climax.

Therefore, Bi Shian insisted that ratings must be an important consideration when producing programs.

If Du Sheng frequently participates in actual combat in the program, the program may become his one-man show and lose its appeal.

The audience's preferences are changeable, and it is difficult for Du Sheng alone to maintain their attention for a long time.

Fresh and attractive elements must be constantly incorporated.

Based on these considerations, he advocates planning the program in a variety show format, writing scripts, arranging routines, and tailoring role settings and plot conflicts for each contestant.

To sum up, we should refer to the successful experience of K1 GP and learn from its strengths to overcome our weaknesses.

As the initiator of the program, Bi Shi'an has a detailed plan for each design step.

Their plan is more mature and comprehensive in depth and breadth than the ideas of Wang Jinhua, Zheng Zetao and others.

But Wang Jinhua, Zhong Zhen and others also have their own ideas.

One thing that is certain is that the program’s selling point is Du Sheng’s personal charm.

He was even established as an irreplaceable iconic figure in the "Kung Fu" show.

With such a strategic layout, it is easy to deal with issues such as contract renewal in the future or Yangshi Channel 5's desire to regain program copyrights.

After all, what the audience wants to watch most are the events related to Du Sheng, and it is difficult for the other party to control them.

Bi Shi'an was well aware of Star Media's foresight, and the points he raised were also helping to avoid this potential risk.

Of course, he also advocates that the program should focus on content and actively promote other potential contestants to diversify risks.

It also prevents the program from relying too much on Du Sheng, thus putting the program in a dilemma.

Both sides have their own considerations and are planning for their own interests.

This is the norm in the business world.

However, no matter how intense the debate is, Du Sheng's opinion will ultimately prevail.

After all, this program, which has not yet started, has only a chance of taking shape thanks to Du Sheng's reputation.

Previously, this issue was not discussed in depth because Du Sheng was busy filming or competing.

Now, with the K1 GP entering the final four, it's time to make a decision.

Du Sheng learned about this from Ye Jingzhi after an interview in Hong Kong last night.

I thought carefully on the way back and finally came to my own conclusion.

"The foundation of a show is ratings, so how to balance entertainment and actual combat is indeed a problem."

Du Sheng said in a calm tone:

“Mr. Bi’s opinion is not without reason, the burden of ratings should not be placed entirely on me.

Moreover, if a program wants to have long-lasting vitality, content is the foundation.

In addition, the domestic environment is currently not sufficient to support high-level professional fighting events, especially talent reserves are a big problem.

It is difficult for me to support the overall situation by myself, we should have a broader vision and cultivate the audience and players first..."

Du Sheng's speech plunged the meeting room into silence.

Bi Shian and the representatives from Yangshi 5 Channel had mixed feelings.

They thought that Du Sheng did not participate in the program planning after the K1 quarterfinals and was raising the price.

However, Du Sheng's statement at this moment was obviously based on consideration for the long-term development of the program.

This touched them deeply.

.........

(End of this chapter)