Depressive Screenwriter

Fifth week of the Spring Season.

The competition between 'Edgerunners' and 'Black Gate' has reached a fever pitch.

Taiwan Fiction Network→𝐭𝐰𝐤𝐚𝐧.𝐜𝐨𝐦

The former's viewership is at 5.36%, while the latter has surpassed it, reaching 5.37%.

On the other hand, 'South Dream' showed signs of fatigue by its fifth episode.

Its viewership remained at 5.28%.

Although, strictly speaking, the viewership gap between the three dramas isn't significant, staying within 0.10%, reaching this point in a work's performance means that even a 0.01% increase is very difficult.

As a fantasy drama, a large-scale production, and featuring a cast of big stars, 'Black Gate', and the cyberpunk 'Edgerunners', which emphasizes special effects, world-building, and plot, the feeling of these two works being the strongest of the season is becoming increasingly intense.

Su Yan, Akasaka Yoshitoki, Sakura Television, Zhongxia Television, and other parties are now using all their tricks.

In terms of publicity, Su Yan mainly relies on Zhongxia Television to cooperate with Zhongxia for marketing.

In this aspect, Zhongxia Television doesn't lose out to Sakura at all.

Otherwise, Su Yan wouldn't have put so much effort into cooperating with Zhongxia.

Even if Su Yan produces excellent work, it's useless if the publicity channels and platform aren't good.

Indeed, a true masterpiece can slowly gain recognition through word of mouth even if broadcasted on a slightly inferior platform.

But this 'slowly' will be measured in years!

But television dramas don't have that kind of time?

It only takes three months from the start to the end of the broadcast. If the broadcast platform doesn't have enough traffic, the word of mouth might not spread until the work is finished.

Then it's meaningless.

And with the broadcast of 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' during Zhongxia Television's prime time slot, Su Yan's reputation has spread even further.

At this time...

Before attending various events, Su Yan also slowly began to promote 'The Garden of Words'.

After all, the movie release of 'The Garden of Words' is less than three months away.

[Sixth Week of the Spring Season: The battle for the seasonal crown between 'Edgerunners' and 'Black Gate' intensifies! Who will be the top drama of the season?]

[Akasaka Yoshitoki, the head of the production department at Sakura Television, couldn't have imagined that a rookie screenwriter who left the television station would one day become his greatest enemy.]

[A Grudge Match! If 'Black Gate' loses in viewership to 'Edgerunners' this season, it will have a huge impact on Akasaka Yoshitoki's position at Sakura Television!]

[Failure to secure the seasonal crown with an S-level drama is already a major failure. If the opponent 'Black Gate' loses to is Su Yan's work, Akasaka Yoshitoki will bear the brunt of Sakura Television's failure this season!]

[The Genius Screenwriter's Counterattack. Although April topped the viewership ratings last year, it's not enough. If 'Edgerunners' tops the viewership ratings this season, all the achievements Akasaka Yoshitoki has made since taking office as the head of the production department will be reset to zero!]

In the office, Akasaka Yoshitoki looked at these media comments with a dark expression.

Although he was very unhappy, Akasaka Yoshitoki also understood.

'Black Gate' absolutely cannot lose to 'Edgerunners' this season.

This drama had an investment of over 70 million. If it doesn't win the seasonal crown and loses to 'Edgerunners', his image in the eyes of the television station's shareholders will be at its lowest.

Although 'Black Gate's' viewership in the fifth episode surpassed 'Edgerunners' again,

How could a 0.01% viewership advantage put his mind at ease?

He had always thought that the viewership of 'Black Gate' would skyrocket starting from the fourth episode.

In fact, it was indeed the case. At least 'South Dream' had already been left behind by a considerable margin.

But why is 'Edgerunners' viewership also rising so fast?

Su Yan...

He felt a little angry, but also a little regretful.

If he hadn't become hostile to Su Yan because of his nephew,

Then Su Yan would now be a great general under his command.

The television station's two S-level dramas would occupy the first and second place in the seasonal and even annual viewership ratings. Next year's Xia Yan Awards, Zhongxia and Shanghai would have no chance of getting any meat, let alone soup.

But now...

Although Akasaka Yoshitoki kept comforting himself in his heart, seeing that 'Edgerunners' had soared to a 9.4 rating and had over 10 million paid views per episode on Xingxia.com,

A sense of unease grew thicker and heavier in his heart.

Early in the morning, Su Yan woke up on the large bed in his villa.

As the chairman of the company, Su Yan had to negotiate cooperation with various partners and handle company affairs in addition to filming.

His daily routine was no longer as casual as it was when he was at Sakura Television. The company's assistant had arranged his schedule to be very full.

Driving to the company, Shinazaki Ikumi was already sitting in his office chair.

Dressed in a black dress with her hair draped over her shoulders, she, as the company's vice chairman, actually looked much more imposing than Su Yan.

At least most of the company's employees were more afraid of her than Su Yan.

After all, even if an employee didn't do a good job, Su Yan would at most come over and advise you a few words, speaking very politely and gently.

That was his personality. He was always generous to people he didn't hate.

And Shinazaki Ikumi strictly followed the rules. She would scold when she needed to scold, and fire when she needed to fire, absolutely not considering personal relationships.

Although she also understood the pain of the working class, the company's development couldn't tolerate leniency. If rewards and punishments weren't clearly defined, then Dimensional Pictures wouldn't go far.

She would play the villain.

"The release date for 'The Garden of Words' has been confirmed," Shinazaki Ikumi immediately said as soon as she saw Su Yan.

"Confirmed?" Su Yan said with a happy expression upon hearing this.

"Yes, the last day of July, Friday."

"There are eleven movies being released in the entire month of July, three of which have investments exceeding 100 million! However, these three works will be released successively in the best time slots in early and mid-July. Small and medium-sized investment films like ours naturally have to avoid them. But many film production companies think the same way, so in the last week of July... six movies will be released simultaneously on Friday. Four romance movies, one military-themed movie, and one suspense-themed movie, with investments ranging from 10 million to 50 million," Shinazaki Ikumi said all the information she knew in one breath.

Su Yan thought for a while and said.

"There's no way around it. So many movies are produced in Xia every year. Every time slot will actually have a bunch of competitors! If I was afraid of competition and losses, then I wouldn't have made this movie in the first place."

"The shooting of 'The Garden of Words' cost a little over 20 million in total, and then the GG implant fees that the company received before, the overseas broadcasting copyright fees for 'Atypical Life', etc., will be about 10 million more. By the time July arrives, we estimate that we can raise a total of 20 million. This money..."

"Take it all and use it for publicity and distribution," Su Yan said without hesitation.

It's not to say that excellent works can be left to grow wildly on their own.

In Su Yan's previous life, 'The Garden of Words' had extremely high praise and reviews among most Makoto Shinkai fans, even better than 'Weathering with You' and 'Suzume'.

But its commercial value was not even a fraction of the latter two.

That's because it was Makoto Shinkai's early work and didn't have capital to promote it!

'The Garden of Words' is a movie with only a few characters and a few scenes throughout the entire work, so the production cost was not high in the first place. 20 million was enough to make it very good.

But Su Yan certainly wouldn't be stingy on publicity.

"In this case, the total production cost of this movie will exceed 40 million. Even if we pay the bulk of the publicity and distribution fees, the revenue split will be higher, but I'm afraid this movie will have to gross more than 90 million in total at the box office to break even. If we want a reasonable return on investment profit margin, it must gross at least 150 million."

Don't think it's easy to break 100 million at the box office. For a newcomer like Su Yan in the film industry, achieving this kind of result with his first movie is considered a not-so-small goal.

Xia's movie fans are very rational and are definitely not like the pile of fan films in Su Yan's previous life.

In addition, the Xia currency has sufficient purchasing power, there is no inflation in the country, and ticket prices are cheap.

The total box office of those movies with investments exceeding 100 million during the summer season is normally below 600-700 million.

In most cases, Xia's annual box office champion is only around 2 billion.

And for small and medium-sized investment films like 'The Garden of Words', because theaters are unlikely to give it too high of a screening share, and in addition, the summer season will enter its mid-to-late stages at the end of July, and the market will be sluggish.

So it's definitely not easy to break 100 million at the box office.

"If I didn't dare to dream of breaking 100 million at the box office, then I wouldn't have invested in 'The Garden of Words'!" Su Yan laughed.

"Feel free to do it. If the revenue split from 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' hadn't arrived by the time 'The Garden of Words' is released, I would dare to add double the publicity funds!"

"You really don't treat the money you earn as money," Shinazaki Ikumi said after a pause.

"Money... you have to dare to spend it if you dare to earn it," Su Yan laughed.

"I believe in my vision. As long as 'The Garden of Words' is given sufficient publicity and exposure opportunities. Its movie can be a hit."

Shinazaki Ikumi looked at Su Yan's face, and after a moment of silence, a faint smile appeared on her face.

"Alright, although I really want to complain about you. But I understand the principle of 'you can't catch a wolf without putting out the bait'."

"Anyway, even if 'The Garden of Words' has zero box office after its release, we will still have ample funds to shoot future works after the revenue from 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' arrives..."

"Then as you said! Without borrowing money, all the funds that enter the company's account during this time will be used for the shooting and publicity funds for 'The Garden of Words'!"

After Su Yan and Shinazaki Ikumi reached a consensus on the release plan for 'The Garden of Words'.

In the afternoon, Shinazaki Ikumi went to have more detailed negotiations and publicity plan confirmations with the film distributor, "Skywalk".

And Su Yan himself drove to the real-life location rented by the crew to carry out the post-production shooting of the movie 'The Garden of Words'.

The most classic part of this movie is the scene where the male lead he plays and the female lead played by Gu Qingyuan express their feelings to each other on the torrential rainy staircase at the end.

To put it bluntly, he and Gu Qingyuan had been filming the shots before and after this scene for two weeks.

But it really takes a lot of effort to achieve that level of acting in a live-action movie.

It's also a good thing to keep NGing and striving for perfection.

Two more days passed.

The sixth week of the Spring Season began.

Friday night at eight o'clock.

The sixth episode of 'Black Gate' premiered.

That night, 'Black Gate' fans cheered and rejoiced!

The strongest single episode since the show started appeared.

The plot, special effects, production quality, and actor acting were all the strongest since the broadcast.

The next day, the sixth episode of 'Black Gate' exploded among film critics and news media with a viewership rating of 5.42%.

What is the concept of a 5.4% viewership rating?

The S-level drama 'Dawn' five years ago also had this result in the eighth week of its broadcast.

In the end, the highest single-episode viewership rating of 'Dawn' was fixed at 5.52%. This result has not been broken for five years so far.

And the 5.42% of the sixth episode of 'Black Gate' has made people in the Xia Television industry realize the potential of this drama.

It seems very likely that its viewership will exceed that of the drama 'Dawn'.

Now, the media's attention is focused on 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'.

'Black Gate' has broken 5.4% in viewership.

What about 'Edgerunners'?

Can its sixth episode have any divine development?

Will its viewership continue to rise this week, or...

Like 'South Dream', will the upward trend disappear, the viewership remain unchanged, or even decline?