Depressive Screenwriter

Special effects-heavy productions like "Code Geass" are different from typical dramas.

Most dramas in Xia only take three to four months to produce, and for three of those months, they are filming and broadcasting simultaneously. However, although "Code Geass" was only released in July, the first season was almost completed by April.

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Only the final few episodes of the first episode remained to be completed.

At this time, the company's executives, who had watched the entire first season of "Code Geass," were filled with anticipation and confidence in the show.

No one can say for sure how a drama will perform after its premiere. Everyone certainly hopes that "Code Geass" will surpass "Fate," but only the market can provide the answer to that.

"Fate's" performance is already among the best of the best in Xia's dramas. Even Shinozaki Ikumi, Zhuang Yuxin, Shen Liqian, Gu Qingyuan, and even Su Yan himself were not confident that "Code Geass" would definitely have higher ratings than "Fate."

But the only thing they were confident about was that the quality of the "Code Geass" drama would definitely be higher than the quality of the "Fate" drama.

This was the unanimous opinion of the group after watching the edited "Code Geass" drama.

Especially Su Yan, a huge weight was lifted from his heart.

"Code Geass" was also a chuunibyou masterpiece in his previous life's anime series. Frankly, the scheming in this drama isn't particularly brilliant. It's more about the supporting characters being given an intelligence-reducing halo by the screenwriter to highlight the protagonist's high IQ. The political struggles inside also seem like child's play.

But couldn't anime fans in his previous life see this?

But anime fans actually watch these works for fun. It's great if your work has a grand theme that allows the audience to immerse themselves and think deeply. If not, then it's also good to stir up the audience's emotions and give them a thrill.

And "Code Geass" happens to have both. The ending sublimated the entire work, and although the viewing process was chuunibyou, it was also very enjoyable!

What Su Yan was worried about was that after filming it into a drama, the live-action version would seem awkward and lack immersion.

But the final result of the drama was...

Su Yan was overthinking it.

Most live-action adaptations that ruin the original work are based on the premise that the actors involved have low appearances. Anime characters are automatically beautified and processed in the audience's minds, so the appearance of actors in live-action dramas destroys the filters of the original fans and causes negative reviews.

But there is no original "Code Geass" in Xia, so there's no need to worry about this. Moreover, the appearances of the actors in this drama can be said to be the highest in Su Yan's film and television productions. A group of first- and second-tier stars are guest-starring in the supporting roles. It can be said that the actors playing even the extras are handsome men and beautiful women when placed on the street.

Plus the special effects scenes that were created with heavy investment.

"The peripheral merchandise for 'Code Geass' has already started production, right?" Su Yan asked Shinozaki Ikumi next to him.

"Of course. The peripheral merchandise for 'FSN' was in short supply before, so we won't make that kind of low-level mistake this time. We will definitely fill up the inventory. It's just..." Shinozaki Ikumi looked at the prices of the 'Code Geass' merchandise.

"This is more than 50% more expensive than most peripheral merchandise on the market. Is this pricing a bit..."

"This is a reasonable price," Su Yan said upon hearing this.

Of course, this reasonable price was also based on the pricing of the "Gundam" series merchandise from Su Yan's previous life.

If a mecha combat-themed work like "Code Geass" becomes popular, Su Yan will also start exchanging for works such as "EVA" and "Gundam" in the future. If the price of "Code Geass" mecha merchandise is not set well, it will definitely affect the pricing of subsequent works' merchandise.

For Su Yan personally, it's not particularly important how much money he can make from these works. He has enough wealth to spend for ten lifetimes, but the company's development and employee bonuses all depend on the revenue of the works.

"Alright," Shinozaki Ikumi didn't dwell on it too much.

Expensive has its reasons. At that time, she will supervise the factory to maximize the quality of the merchandise.

"Then should the promotion for this drama start immediately?"

"Mid to late May, I guess," Su Yan said after thinking for a while.

"Among the company's current works, 'Weathering with You' has been filmed and the post-production is almost finished. 'Howl's Moving Castle' will only be released during the Spring Festival next year, so there is still plenty of time. Speaking of which, we haven't had a vacation in a long time. Whether it's the few of us in the company's high-level management or the grassroots employees, we have been working at a high intensity. Let's take a vacation in April. Everyone should travel, spend time with their families..."

Shinozaki Ikumi looked at Su Yan with a smile on her face.

"I didn't expect you to think of this. Not bad."

"You think too little of me. I'm not one of those black-hearted bosses who exploit their employees. Although the people under me do work hard, their income is also four or five times higher than their peers in the industry," Su Yan said.

"However, you have to have time to spend the money you earn."

Su Yan and Shinozaki Ikumi manage the company very casually.

The profit margin of the company's series of works is enough to allow the two to be so casual. Some companies will immediately have insufficient revenue and go bankrupt if they reduce the exploitation of their employees even slightly, but for Su Yan, the profit from one of his dramas is enough to support his group of employees for ten years. This kind of operation of taking a month-long vacation at every turn is basically no pressure for him.

However, the relevant news quickly spread to the industry.

The news media reported in a flurry.

Without exception, they praised his generosity!

During this month-long vacation, Su Yan also put his thoughts elsewhere. With billions of dollars lying in the company's account, Su Yan spent a sum of money to equip the company's middle and high-level management with top-of-the-line cars, and then prepared to purchase headquarters and branch properties in Shanghai and Tokyo in the company's name.

Although Dimension Pictures has made so much money, its office location is still rented, which is really inappropriate.

Then he invested a lot of money into the stock purchases of several large video websites at home and abroad.

He also specially searched for short video platforms similar to Douyin in his previous life to invest in, both in Xia and abroad. The internet in Xia has begun to rise in recent years, and the speed of development is changing every year.

Su Yan doesn't have the ability or experience to judge which company will have the last laugh in the market competition. Anyway, he makes angel investments of tens or hundreds of thousands in all those with a little potential. If he really invests in one, even if he only occupies a few percent of the original shares, it will be an astronomical figure when these companies grow up.

If he loses money, Su Yan will also accept it. At worst, he will work overtime a little, spend a few months filming one or two more dramas to relax and earn it back.

Of course, out of their mysterious trust in Su Yan, Shen Liqian, Gu Qingyuan, Zhuang Yuxin, Shinozaki Ikumi, Shi Peihua and others were also very interested when they saw Su Yan busy with this aspect of things, and they were all willing to take out some money to invest in these things together with Su Yan.

Time quickly came to May. The market was completely unaware of Su Yan's operations during the vacation period, but his peers and the media were actually starting to count the days.

In theory, the promotional trailer for "Code Geass" should have been released, and Dimension Pictures should have fully launched its promotional offensive.

And "Weathering with You," which will be released at the end of July, is only more than two months away now, so the promotion should start, right?

Why is Su Yan still not moving?

Haven't the people on vacation in the company returned to work one after another?

In fact, the media's doubts did not last long.

On May 20th, Dimension Pictures jointly released a promotional trailer for "Code Geass" on the company's accounts on major online broadcasting platforms around the world without any prior notice or warning.

The Xia drama market, which had been silent for two months, was completely detonated.