Chapter 949 Implantation
Jiang Wen is really good at looking for opportunities, and he found one right away.
Song Chaoyuan asked Zheng Xiaolong what the current situation was. Zheng Xiaolong frankly told Song Yuanchao that the script had been finalized and the leading actors were almost decided. The male lead was Jiang Wen and the female lead was Huang Ji. There were also Yan Xiaoping, Ma Xiaoqing and others.
The film was led by the center and Luo Yang's company was the investor. There was basically no problem with funding due to Luo Yang's participation. However, the problem was that since the film was about the story of Yanjing people in New York, many plots took place abroad, so the crew had to shoot the film abroad, that is, in New York.
In the previous life, this TV series cost a full 1.5 million US dollars . Except for a portion of the money taken by the center, most of the money was raised by Zheng Xiaolong himself through sponsorship. Because there were so many places to spend money, he finally advanced the advertising fees to get this much money.
1.5 million US dollars is a lot of money in China. You have to know that the crew of the recently popular TV series "Desire" only spent 2 million RMB, and this is a 50-episode drama! In terms of length, it is much longer than "Yanjing People in New York".
It was because of Luo Yang's investment that the filming budget of "Desire" was much higher than before. In the previous life, the production budget of this TV series was only 1.1 million yuan, which was pitifully small. So although it was a classic production, to be honest, many scenes and production were still a bit unsatisfactory.
But now it is different. With an additional 900,000 yuan, the crew has more money, so the shooting effect is naturally better than before. Now, this TV series is still being rebroadcast, creating a phenomenon that the whole country mourns Liu Huifang, the whole country scolds Wang Husheng, and everyone sighs for Song Dacheng.
In many dance halls, the theme song of the same name sung by Amin was extremely popular and became a must-play dance music in every place. As the melody of "The years have passed and I want to talk about how confused I was back then..." rang out, men and women snuggled together and danced the slow four, which became a beautiful scene.
This time when filming "Yanjing People in New York", Zheng Xiaolong certainly would not miss the opportunity to raise funds. Having cooperated with Luo Yang many times, this investor is of course the first choice.
Luo Yang had returned to Yanjing some time ago, and Zheng Xiaolong came to him two days later to talk to him about this matter. After reading the script he brought and listening to his story, Luo Yang was very interested in the play and also expressed satisfaction with the several actors who had been temporarily confirmed.
In this way, Luo Yang contacted the center and decided to co-invest in this TV series. He generously paid 1 million US dollars to get the advertising for the TV series.
As a result, the crew has currently raised $2.2 million in funds, which is $700,000 more than the previous $1.5 million.
Even so, this amount of money is more than enough for filming in China, but it is still a little too little for filming abroad. After all, it is the United States, and the cost of filming in the United States is very high, not to mention an international metropolis like New York, where there are many places to spend money. In addition, there are many local legal restrictions, which Zheng Xiaolong is not very clear about, and he does not know how to coordinate.
If Song Yuanchao and the others had not participated, Zheng Xiaolong would have led the crew to the United States to shoot a film in his previous life. They encountered many troubles during the filming process. In addition, there were many restrictions on filming in the United States. If they followed the United States' requirements, the funds they had raised with great difficulty would not be enough. In desperation, Zheng Xiaolong and Jiang Wen and others thought about shooting secretly. These fools were lucky enough not to be taken away by the police, and they finally finished shooting the film when the funds were almost used up.
The current funding is much more abundant, which also gave Zheng Xiaolong more confidence. But even so, he still felt unsure about going to the United States to make a film, so he took the opportunity of today's gathering to ask Luo Yang for help. After listening, Luo Yang thought about it and gave them an idea, which was to ask them to bring Song Yuanchao with them. As long as Song Yuanchao helped, these things would not be a big deal.
After listening to Zheng Xiaolong's explanation, Song Yuanchao was even more at a loss whether to laugh or cry. After all this commotion, the culprit turned out to be this kid Luo Yang. No wonder he and Li Daqi were hiding aside and laughing.
Song Yuanchao considered it and nodded in agreement. Shenghua's company in the United States could assist in the filming, helping them solve transportation, food and accommodation and other needs. In addition, Song Yuanchao would notify the American company to find two professional industry professionals to join Zheng Xiaolong's crew to coordinate some applications and legal issues during the filming process. In addition, if extras and foreign supporting roles are needed, recruitment and interviews can also be carried out through the American Actors Guild.
When Song Yuanchao agreed to this and was willing to help them, both Zheng Xiaolong and Jiang Wen were very happy. If these requirements could be met, not only would their funds be much more abundant, but more importantly, some of the troubles in filming in the United States would be easily solved.
"That's fine, but I have my own conditions when it comes to business!" Without waiting for them to be happy, Song Chaoyuan said seriously, "I only have one condition, which is some TV series interstitial ads and product placement ads in the plot. This must be met."
"This... Old Song, we have to discuss this with Mr. Luo. I have already handed all of this over to him." Zheng Xiaolong said in embarrassment.
"Haha, of course I know, so this condition is for him. What do you think, Boss Luo? Now it's up to you." Song Chaoyuan asked Luo Yang with a smile, "I told you to do something behind the scenes, and you were just gloating over the misfortune, weren't you? Now the ball is kicked directly at your feet, let's see if you will catch it or not."
Luo Yang was stunned. He didn't expect Song Chaoyuan to suddenly put forward this condition. He was scratching his head for a moment.
"Yuan Chao, logically this isn't a big deal. Advertising is absolutely fine. It's nothing more than adding it to the beginning and the end of the film. But the product placement you mentioned is a little difficult. I originally just wanted to..." Luo Yang roughly explained his plan. After listening to him, Song Yuan Chao waved his hand and said, "Your way of doing it is boring, and this product placement method is too low-level. So, let me give you an idea, but we have to make it clear that the product placement I need must be guaranteed first. As for the others, I don't care. You can discuss it among yourselves."
Song Yuanchao immediately proposed several plans, which included the placement of Shenghua's products in the TV series, Si Te's beverages, Nandu's food and even Chaoxian's pickled mustard tubers, etc., all of which could appear in the daily lives of the male and female protagonists of the TV series.
In addition, there are Shenghua's VCD products, including advertisements for the Xiaolingtong, which has not yet been launched on the market. This is Song Yuanchao's focus. The former is easy to solve, and for the latter, he plans to directly replace some plots in the TV series related to mobile phones with Xiaolingtong, and then give Xiaolingtong a few scenes to make people remember it deeply.
This method of product placement was not unusual at all a dozen or twenty years ago, and could even be said to be commonplace. But now it is very new. The earliest product placement in domestic TV dramas was just last year. Lao Zhao filmed a TV series called "The Story of the Editorial Department", in which a Bailong mineral water kettle product appeared in the plot. This was the first use of product placement in China.
Luo Yang is an investor in this TV series. It was because this TV series used product placement for the first time that Luo Yang discovered business opportunities. That’s why he directly secured the advertising rights for this TV series when he was discussing investing in "Yanjing Natives in New York" with Zheng Xiaolong.
According to Luo Yang's idea, he just wanted to simply insert a few advertisements according to the model of the last film and make a profit from it, but he didn't expect Song Chaoyuan to suddenly talk about so many ways to implant products into the plot. After careful consideration, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that Song Yuanchao's method of advertising implantation was far better than the blunt implantation.
All of a sudden, Luo Yang came to his senses. He immediately thought of other aspects, such as the clothes, watches, accessories, shoes and hats, means of transportation, etc. of the male and female protagonists in the TV series. Combined with the sponsor model in Hong Kong, the more Luo Yang thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, and he immediately agreed to Song Chaoyuan's request.
Everyone present was a smart person, even those who were slow to react soon understood what was going on. For a moment, everyone subconsciously exchanged glances, and they all felt that if they followed Song Yuanchao's idea, there would be too many ways to embed advertising in the filming process in the future.
Cooperating with merchants in this way can not only solve many problems with props and costumes, but also cleverly sell advertisements directly during the filming process, which also solves the problem of insufficient funds.
"That's a good idea!" Wang Shuo clapped his hands on the table and praised. He then looked at Ma Dudu and said, "What do you think? Is the method I told you before okay? It's not as accurate as what Old Song did, but it's pretty close."
Ma Dudu nodded without saying anything, but his expression proved that he agreed with what Wang Shuo had just said. After hearing what they said, everyone became curious and asked what was going on. Was Ma Dudu also planning to make a film?
Seeing everyone's curiosity, Ma Dudu did not hide it and told them that his dance hall could no longer be run. He talked about this with Wang Shuo when they were drinking a few days ago. Wang Shuo said that since it could not be run, it could be closed. But Ma Dudu was reluctant to leave. It was not that he was reluctant to leave the dance hall, but he was reluctant to leave the money lost on the dance hall. This was not a small amount of money. Not only did Ma Dudu not make a penny in the past two years, but he also lost a lot of money for the operation of the dance hall.
"Your dance hall should have closed down as early as possible. What kind of bastards are those who come and go here! They all have onions stuck in their noses, eat your food and drink your drinks, and leave after having fun. They even have to take something back with them. And you have to serve them with a smile. How can you do business like this?" Although Zhang Qiang is a woman, she is a straightforward person and always says what she thinks.
Zhang Qiang and Da Bing have become a couple and are now living a happy life. They get along well with Wang Shuo and others on weekdays, and naturally they are also familiar with Ma Dudu.
Ma Dudu's dance hall has been open for quite some time. Although it seems to be doing good business, it has always been losing money. The key is not that the dance hall's business is bad, but that there are too many "buddies" who eat, drink and play for free in the dance hall, and even take away free things when they leave.
Ma Dudu is a person who loves making friends and is also very concerned about his reputation. Although he knows that this is not good, he can't say it out of face. But Zhang Qiang is different. She looks down on those guys who talk about their buddies but actually like to take advantage of others. She has advised Ma Dudu several times in private, but it's useless. Ma Dudu's personality is there, and he really can't say it. The dance hall is losing more and more money, and Ma Dudu has lost half of his confidence.
