Depressive Screenwriter

It was late May, and the weather was hot, with a wave of heat hitting you in the face as you walked down the street.

But for the television and film industries, this time was an important juncture.

In the Xia Country world, television dramas were generally produced and broadcast simultaneously.

Usually, they consisted of about a quarter's worth of episodes, a dozen or so in total, and were broadcast quarterly.

With just over a month until July, various television stations were preparing to launch and film their summer dramas for the July slot.

The production departments of various television stations were also incredibly busy during this period.

The total budget for each quarter at the station generally didn't change much; how the pie was divided depended on the abilities of these producers.

Normally, for Xia Country's top three television stations, such as Sakura Television, at least seven or eight dramas would be produced for broadcast each quarter, with each one having an investment of over ten million, or even higher. Genres like romance, history, and suspense were generally included to satisfy the preferences of the general drama audience.

However, with so many people in Xia Country, not everyone liked mainstream works.

Therefore, the three major television stations all had their own controlling online broadcasting platforms, similar to Su Yan's previous life's iQiyi, Tencent Video, and Youku, but with far less influence and user base.

In addition to the three major television stations producing some special-themed web dramas and variety shows for sale and broadcast on these platforms, a large number of small and medium-sized film and television companies in Xia Country also produced dramas that were broadcast on these online platforms.

Low-budget web dramas would occasionally produce some popular works, with influence no less than that of dramas broadcast on television.

Three days ago, after receiving a clear intention of cooperation from Su Yan, Shinozaki Ikumi immediately signed the station's standard letter of intent with Su Yan to prevent other producers from causing trouble.

Then, for these three days, she fully demonstrated her shameless spirit.

Normally, with Shinozaki Ikumi's past performance, even thinking about a television drama project would basically not pass the high-level review, not even a web drama.

She should work as an assistant for two years, learn more, improve herself, and then think about this kind of thing.

However, Shinozaki Ikumi's retired mother had decent connections in the production department back in the day, and several high-level members of the production department were her long-time mahjong partners.

After Shinozaki Ikumi's own project proposal was rejected, she directly had her mother, who was far away in Sakura Island, put her face on the line and call several high-level aunties to play the emotional card.

In this way, the low-budget web drama project, Rurouni Kenshin, with only four episodes, passed through layers of review and finally made it to the high-level meeting of the production department today.

First were several major dramas that could be broadcast on Sakura Television, and their budgets were the top priority of the meeting, with the high-level officials present arguing fiercely.

Then there was the budget proposal review for the talent shows, variety shows, and documentaries broadcast by the television station next quarter.

Then there were the six web dramas that the station was preparing to launch and film this quarter.

The station had its own standards for the filming budget of web dramas, generally not exceeding 600,000 per episode.

At this time, the Rurouni Kenshin project proposal was being reviewed at the meeting.

"An investment of 2.2 million? For a work with only four episodes?" The tall and dignified Akasaka Yoshitoki spoke at this time.

"When did our television station even allow this kind of project proposal to reach the final review meeting?"

"The script of this work has been reviewed and is indeed of excellent quality. Ancient costume martial arts romance dramas are extremely rare in Xia Country. After market research, we unanimously believe that this work will achieve considerable revenue after its launch."

At the meeting, several long-time friends of Shinozaki Ikumi's mother helped to speak.

They also knew that this work was likely the key to determining whether Shinozaki Ikumi's career as a producer at Sakura Television could continue.

Since these people had decided to help this little niece, they wouldn't be stingy. They simply suggested that Shinozaki Ikumi write the investment amount for Rurouni Kenshin according to the station's highest standard for web dramas.

Anyway, if the filming was completed and the broadcast performance was a failure, Shinozaki Ikumi would definitely resign and apologize, so what was there to be afraid of?

As for them, with their status, how much could a television drama project with a total investment of only one or two million lose? It wouldn't affect them too much.

"How could it be so hasty?" Akasaka Yoshitoki said angrily at this time.

"Producer Shinozaki Ikumi? Her achievements are obvious to all. And this screenwriter named Su Yan is also a newly promoted rookie at the station. Their combination is too risky."

"I believe that this project proposal should be directly abandoned and not approved."

"We can't say that. The genius screenwriter Wen Yutong of Shanghai Television also debuted as a rookie back then, and didn't her work win the national viewership runner-up last year?"

Shinozaki Ikumi's several aunties began to exert their strength.

Although their positions were not as high as Akasaka Yoshitoki's, they were also members of the production department's review committee, and their combined energy was not small.

There was another round of back-and-forth speeches at the meeting.

Finally, under the restraint of Yoshizaki Shigeri, the head of the production department, the investment in Rurouni Kenshin was directly cut from 2.2 million in the project proposal to 1.2 million.

At the meeting, Shinozaki Ikumi's several aunties exchanged glances, sensing something was wrong.

Why did Minister Yoshizaki Shigeri want to get involved in the investment of a small-budget web drama?

At this time, a smile appeared on the corner of Akasaka Yoshitoki's mouth.

He wasn't deliberately targeting Su Yan and Shinozaki Ikumi. If he wanted to forcibly reject a project that had already been put on the table, he would offend too many people, and he had to consider that others might target the projects of his producers in the future.

The reason for saying this was mainly to retreat in order to advance, and the purpose was only to cut the budget of Rurouni Kenshin.

Next, the discussion of the project proposal for "Qingfeng" began at the meeting.

"What? The budget for 'Rurouni Kenshin' was cut to only 1.2 million. The station actually approved an investment budget of 11 million for 'Qingfeng,' a drama with only ten episodes?"

In the office, Shinozaki Ikumi, who was waiting for the results of the final review meeting, felt her blood pressure rise as soon as she received the news.

"Little Ikumi, we tried our best, but the minister and vice-minister reached a unified opinion, saying that they were optimistic about the prospects of web dramas and were preparing to produce a high-quality industry benchmark for web dramas, so the investment amount of the other five web dramas launched this quarter was affected."

A woman's voice came from the other end of the phone.

After a long time, Shinozaki Ikumi hung up the phone.

After thinking for a long time, she let out a long breath.

The situation was now very clear.

Akasaka Yoshitoki was shamelessly trying to promote his nephew, Kiyota Sanji's, drama.

The total budget couldn't be changed, so how could he give a high budget to a certain work?

Anyway, he would cut the budgets of other projects and forcibly put together a ten million investment for his nephew's drama.

Anger, depression.

Of the six web dramas launched this quarter, the other four all had a total investment of four to five million. Akasaka Yoshitoki was afraid of offending too many people, so he only cut the budgets of these projects by 400,000 to 500,000, which wouldn't have too much of an impact on others.

But Rurouni Kenshin only applied for an investment of two million, and he directly cut it to only one million.

In terms of proportion, others' works had their budgets cut by one-tenth, while Rurouni Kenshin had its budget cut by one-half.

This kind of differential treatment.

It was clearly saying, I'm not afraid of offending you, Shinozaki Ikumi.

It was obvious that he looked down on Rurouni Kenshin, looked down on Su Yan, and looked down on her!

"You wait, Akasaka Yoshitoki. A budget of 1.2 million, right? Okay, if the average sales and reputation of 'Rurouni Kenshin,' with an investment of one million, is higher than that of 'Qingfeng,' with an investment of 11 million, I'll see where you put your face," Shinozaki Ikumi said fiercely.

Of course,

She actually understood in her heart that the possibility of this happening was very low.

But people, after all, like to fantasize.