Depressive Screenwriter

In December, temperatures plummeted across Xia Country.

Whether it was Shanghai or Tokyo, the two regions Su Yan frequently traveled to, both began to see snowfall.

But even amidst this, the film crew for "Your Name" and the drama crew for "From Me to You" were essentially fully assembled.

In "Your Name," the original male lead, Taki Tachibana, was a bit on the weaker side, and his appearance gave off a delicate impression, but not to the point of being handsome.

What made it even more difficult was that the actor needed to be skilled enough to portray the mannerisms of a girl inhabiting his body. Coupled with Su Yan's high expectations for this film, he directly approved a production budget exceeding 300 million within the company.

The selection of the male lead for this film was naturally of utmost importance.

After spending the better part of a month, the crew finally settled on the actor.

Qi Hao, a first-tier Xia Country movie star, currently 23 years old.

With a youthful appearance and excellent acting skills, he debuted as a child star and had been working in the film and television industry for thirteen years. Despite his young age, he was a "veteran" in the industry.

Assembling the "From Me to You" drama crew was much simpler.

After confirming Su Yan as the male lead, Shota Kazehaya, and Gu Qingyuan as the female lead, Sawako Kuronuma, the only supporting role that required a bit more effort was the second female lead, Kurumi.

After all, there weren't many actors who could switch between the qualities of a green tea and a pure goddess.

However, given the current influence of Dimensional Entertainment, 99% of the actors in Xia Country would not refuse an invitation from Su Yan.

So, it only took a little extra effort. They still managed to invite a first-tier actress to participate.

After all, even just a second female lead role would boost popularity far more than the female lead role in a self-produced drama by the three major television stations.

Dimensional Entertainment currently had over 2 billion in its accounts and over 300 employees of all kinds. While two crews were filming simultaneously, the public relations department was still negotiating publicity cooperation details with various parties according to plan, promoting FZ and Rurouni Kenshin.

It was difficult to hide the fact that Su Yan was taking action to film new dramas from the media, and naturally, also from Su Yan's fans.

In order not to steal the publicity traffic from the FZ and Rurouni Kenshin films, Su Yan did not announce the news that his two new works' crews had been assembled and filming had begun.

But in just two days, this news spread throughout the Xia Country drama industry.

"Your Name? From Me to You? Old Thief's titles for these two new dramas are really peculiar!"

"Just from the titles, they sound like romance works. Alas, two more depressing masterpieces are about to be born!"

"I'm already looking forward to the scene of national mourning after the two works are released!"

"Is there any possibility that the two works won't be depressing? The titles actually feel quite youthful!"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! Just looking at the title, 'Tokyo Love Story' is even better, right? But without an 'if' ending, this drama is simply a tragedy of life!"

"Anyway, rumors say that Old Thief seems to be personally playing the male lead in 'From Me to You' this time. After so long, we can finally see Old Thief and Gu Qingyuan collaborating again as male and female leads!"

"The last time the two collaborated as male and female leads was in 'Line Walker,' right!"

"Wasn't it 'Tokyo Love Story'?"

"The female lead in 'Tokyo Love Story' was Shen Liqian! Don't get it wrong. This time, alas, although I think it's unlikely, I still hope the characters they play can have a good ending! The Rurouni Kenshin film version has confirmed that Gu Qingyuan has almost no screen time. It's probably just some flashbacks interspersed throughout the plot. From the released materials, the true female lead is Shen Liqian playing a girl named Kaoru Kamiya. The regrets that weren't fulfilled in the Kenshin drama should have an ending, right."

"Dream on!"

"Although I follow Old Thief's works, I absolutely don't believe he will ever do pure romance!"

"As everyone knows, in the endings of Old Thief's works, the male and female leads either part forever, like 'Line Walker' and 'April,' or there is no male lead, like 'Life is Strange' and 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' or... the male and female leads break up, like 'Tokyo Love Story.' Stop fantasizing. As long as you watch these works with the expectation that Old Thief is creating depressing dramas, then you won't feel the pain of being backstabbed by Old Thief."

"Then let me ask you. If you watch with the mindset of watching Old Thief's depressing dramas, and then one day you discover that Old Thief created pure romance, tell me, isn't that another kind of backstab?"

"Then I'll eat ten pounds on the spot. I'll leave my words here, this post is welcome to be bookmarked, come dig it up next year! If Old Thief's two new works aren't depressing, come find me, I'll live stream it!"

"Although I'm very annoyed by your arrogant demeanor, but thinking about it being Old Thief, I feel like the chances of slapping your face are slim! Never mind, I'll bookmark it first, and if the prediction really comes true, I'll come and supervise you eat!"

In December, the minds of most Xia Country film and television drama fans were still not on the dramas that premiered this season.

The materials and promotional video details for FZ had been analyzed to the point where there was basically nothing new, and everyone could only pay attention to the news of Su Yan's new crew in their boredom.

Although it was just two titles.

"Your Name" and "From Me to You" still stayed in the top ten of the hot search list on major video websites for three days. Even more popular than this season's A-level dramas.

Su Yan's colleagues in Xia Country all felt despair at this situation.

As for the three major television stations, the usually laid-back Shanghai Television Station couldn't sit still either.

Although they didn't know what the script was like or how the finished product would be, since Su Yan's crew had started filming, the three major television stations also began to form negotiation teams to go to Tokyo to compete with Su Yan to discuss the terms of cooperation.

In the past, Su Yan looked for them to broadcast his works, and the broadcast copyright fees were also generally low.

But now, they were competing with each other. Everyone had informants within their respective stations and knew what the other was doing, but everyone also understood that whoever could win the broadcast rights for 'From Me to You' would depend on how much the station's budget was.

Involution was not only happening among employees.

The top executives of the three major television stations also slightly sensed this now.

Time passed, and soon it was late December.

The entire market began to become anxious from this moment on.

Across Xia Country, the promotional efforts for FZ reached their peak. As long as Sakura Television had GG time, the first information that popped up was always the broadcast time announcement for FZ.

Su Yan, Zhuang Yuxin, and other main crew members of FZ also began to set off for Shanghai to begin accepting variety shows, interviews, and various commercial activities arranged by Sakura Television. The news media in the drama section reported about Su Yan almost every day during these days.

Especially at the promotional event at the end of the month, Su Yan's appearance in a golden armor, with a cold expression, holding Gram, reached the top of the hot searches on major websites that day.

Until now, no one knew what the setting of this strangely named drama with a bunch of Western-faced actors was.

But no one doubted its excellence.

This was the reputation that Su Yan had built among fans with so many works.

Soon, December ended.

January arrived.

There were no new dramas broadcast during the three-day New Year's holiday at the beginning of the month.

From January 4th, the self-produced A-level and B-level dramas of the three major television stations, Central Xia Television, Sakura Television, and Shanghai Television, were broadcast one after another.

Although the schedule was crowded, the top executives of the three major television stations understood in their hearts.

Competing with each other in this schedule would still have some ratings.

Once Fate/Zero premiered at 8 p.m. on Sunday,

the ratings of all television stations in the same time slot, and even nearby time slots, would be extremely dismal.

Except for Sakura Television, all the dramas and variety shows in the same time slot would be numerous!

And so, time came to Sunday, the day of Fate/Zero's premiere.

On this day, Su Yan's fans no longer pretended, and began to frantically post during the day. On major video websites, hot search terms such as FZ premiere and Su Yan's new drama directly dominated the top of the list.

The media also frantically posted articles to蹭流量 from the daytime.

The entire Xia Country drama industry was waiting for 8 p.m. tonight, the premiere of Fate/Zero.