Heads Up Hollywood

China's introduction of American dramas began more than ten years ago.

That "Growing Pains" is a memory of a whole generation.

However, "Band of Brothers" encountered Waterloo.

For this American drama, CCTV spent a full 1.5 million US dollars!

This is the highest price ever paid for a foreign film!

But failed to achieve the desired effect.

Domestic audiences really have little interest in this kind of cruel war realism. On the contrary, they are not as good as the anti-Japanese dramas such as "Tunnel Warfare" and "Landmine Warfare".

Furthermore, due to time constraints, CCTV split "Band of Brothers" into 14 episodes, and also made appropriate deletions and Chinese dubbing, resulting in the complete loss of the flavor of the original version.

Since then, CCTV has become more cautious in introducing American dramas.

But this time is different, "One Bamboo Ding Jinshan" is about an American drama about the struggle history of the Chinese!

Most of the actors are Chinese!

This creates a great prerequisite for cooperation.

Especially the Starz TV station, it's like thunder!

With world-class communication power!

Even with the just-started Discovery Channel, CCTV is scrambling to cooperate, hoping to produce film and television works that can go international. Not to mention Starz TV.

Director Zhao seemed even more excited than Mr. Han.

Talking about this matter, the two hostesses who made jokes and had a lively atmosphere stopped talking, and both smiled and listened quietly.

Tang En smiled and said, "This is a big production."

Director Zhao waved his hands anxiously, and said, "Boss Tang, tell me the truth, how much investment does this American drama really cost?"

Tang En thought for a while and said, "About 40 million US dollars, not more than 50 million US dollars."

Although it's not an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, for a TV series, an investment of this scale is definitely considered a big production.

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the office changed their colors slightly.

It really is Hollywood, the tone is big!

Director Zhao looked embarrassed, "One season?"

Tang En smiled, "That's right, one season!"

Master Zhao took a deep breath.

It is not that CCTV has not done TV dramas with huge investment, such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but that is a TV drama with more than 80 episodes. "One Bamboo Ding Jinshan" has 10 episodes in one season, and more than 40 million US dollars will be invested, which is really extravagant!

"One Bamboo Ding Jinshan" is not "Band of Brothers".

"Band of Brothers" has nothing to do with CCTV. CCTV just spent 1.5 million US dollars to buy the TV rights in mainland China.

However, if CCTV participated in the production of "One Bamboo Ding Jinshan" as a collaborator, it would be impossible to pay only 1.5 million US dollars, which is a drop in the bucket.

I'm afraid this will be an expenditure of no less than 10 million US dollars!

Of course, if you have the opportunity to form an international influence, let alone 10 million US dollars, you have to spend 100 million US dollars.

This is national policy.

No one knows how much money has been spent on the country's big money-spreading policy.

The problem is that CCTV is very poor and stingy!

Such a large investment is of great significance to CCTV.

We must be cautious.

Tang En explained: "$40 million is really not that high. Let's talk about the male lead, Jeter Lee is the only candidate. With his position, one episode of TV series will get a salary of 1.5 million to 2 million dollars."

"So much? Doesn't that mean that the salary for one season...will be nearly 20 million dollars?" Director Zhao gritted his teeth, looking pained.

Tang En said: "There is no other way. For the same actor, the pay for a TV drama is about 50% higher than for a movie. Jeter Lee's appeal is worth the price."

"Isn't it okay to change people?" Director Zhao frowned.

It was useless for Tang En to answer, and Mr. Han smiled and said, "Old Zhao, you're going to kill yourself. Americans recognize Li Mianjie. If he doesn't play the leading role, this project won't pass the trial at all. New Universal also wants to make money. Yes, it's the choice of the commercial market."

Tang En added: "It's not just that. American audiences... generally don't have the habit of reading subtitles, so the filming language will be mainly English, especially for the leading actor, English proficiency is a mandatory requirement."

"English?"

Director Zhao thought of the tragedy of "Band of Brothers".

He is the deputy director in charge of content, and he was in charge of "Band of Brothers" back then. As a result, this English-only American drama was dubbed into Mandarin, and it received much criticism.

Tang En said: "If CCTV is really interested in cooperating, it might as well be a bilingual production. Just like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", the American version speaks English, and the Chinese version speaks Chinese. There is no contradiction."

Mr. Han bowed his head and praised: "That's great. To be honest, our country's dubbing system needs to be reformed. That kind of translation accent is getting more and more awkward for an old guy like me."

Master Zhao nodded.

If this is the case, then for Chinese audiences, this American drama will not have much viewing barrier.

Language comes first.

"I heard... the TV series on Starz are relatively large?"

"Haha, that's true."

"CCTV can't do it."

"Can be deleted."

"Band of Brothers cuts didn't work out."

"Oh? What does Zhao Tai mean?"

Director Zhao pondered: "I have watched some American dramas, the rhythm is very fast, the content is deep, obscure and not clear enough, this is not suitable for audiences in our country."

Mr. Han frowned and said, "Old Zhao, do you want an American drama to be filmed at the pace of a domestic film? Isn't that nonsense?"

Tang En said: "Such a large investment must be considered from the perspective of the market. The United States is just the largest TV market in the world. Generally speaking, the US market will account for between 70% and 90% of the total revenue of an American TV series."

Director Zhao repeatedly said: "No, no, that's not what I mean. I mean... Will there be other forms of cooperation possible?"

"Oh? Tell me." Tang En made a gesture of invitation.

Director Zhao is not a dead man, he is one of the few CCTV leaders with real power and professional ability, he tentatively said: "I am thinking of a new cooperation model, such as... Unified shooting, separate editing?"

"Unified shooting, editing separately."

Tang En and Mr. Han looked at each other, pondering each other, thinking about the feasibility of this proposal.

Director Zhao said: "I don't know the specific data, but judging from the high-quality American dramas launched by Starz, the production method is not much different from that of movies. In other words, there are enough shooting materials."

Tang En took a deep look at him and nodded lightly, "That's true. On average, the ratio of the material to sample length of a Hollywood movie is 50:1, and TV dramas are worse, reaching 10:1. Starz channel TV dramas are well-produced, and the ratio will reach 20:1."

That is to say, Starz's blockbuster TV series usually have to edit 1 hour of samples from 20 hours of material sources.

Director Zhao was a little dazed in surprise.

20:1?

This is a TV show?

Most domestic films can't reach this level!

With 20 hours of optional material, at least 100 hours of film was wasted! One season is 1000 hours!

Really rich!

Too extravagant!

Director Zhao is an expert in TV dramas, and he knows very well that if domestic TV dramas... can reach a ratio of 5:1, they are considered the best of the best.

In many cases, the material selection ratio is 3:1, or even lower!

For example, the TV series "Journey to the West" that was still popular in China a few years ago can really entertain this industry expert.

Because the shooting material is far from enough to meet the 45-minute editing standard for an episode, what should I do?

The producer adopted a very ridiculous method - repeat!

For a fighting scene, play it forwards, backwards, forwards, and backwards.

A group of shots, played back and forth three or four times repeatedly, to fill up the time.

Isn't this bullying the audience's IQ?

This kind of industry atmosphere is simply a miasma!

It's no wonder domestic TV dramas are good.

Look at the TV series broadcast on Starz, the selection ratio of 20:1... really makes people envy and hate.

Such excellence, the investment of 40 million US dollars is not too high.

Director Zhao was filled with emotions.

When Mr. Han heard such data, he was also inexplicably shocked.

The gap between the Chinese and American film and television industries is even bigger than imagined.

The rise of a great power has a long way to go!

Tang En saw the solemn expressions on their faces, and said with a smile: "Let's learn from each other's strengths and make up for our weaknesses. At least we have a good start now, haven't we? More cooperation with Hollywood can allow the Chinese side to learn more advanced experience and The concept of film and television. In this regard, South Korea has already started and is very determined. I hope that China will not fall behind."

One step behind is one step behind.

The prosperity of Korean dramas and Korean movies is already the trend of the times and irreversible.

Director Zhao nodded. Tang En's words strengthened his determination to participate in "One Bamboo Ding Jinshan".

Only when CCTV participates, can it cultivate more talents and learn more production concepts. At the same time, it has a certain right to speak about the content of "One Bamboo Ding Jinshan".

The initial period of Chinatown was not just a simple story of Chinese united against American imperialism, the bloody storm was very cruel.

The battles between the Chinese people are often fought with their lives.

In addition, there are also illegal organizations in Chinatown, such as smoking halls, brothels, gambling halls, arms sales, mercenary groups, and killer gangs.

Especially An Liang Tang and Xie Sheng Tang, they did all sorts of crimes and were extremely crazy.

Not to mention that the US government is going to suppress them, even Chinatown will resist them.

It was simply the darkest and most terrifying criminal gang in the United States back then. They dared to exchange fire with the police in broad daylight, and then killed a large number of policemen before fleeing. Much more powerful than the criminal gangs from Italy and Mexico.

The classic old film "The Photographer" in the 1920s had a similar plot.

This was also the trigger for the Chinese Exclusion Act.

"One Bamboo Ding Jinshan" must not express this part of the content. Otherwise, this is not promoting China, but smearing and satirizing.

If CCTV wants to participate in it, it must form a decision on the content of the TV series, and cannot shoot this part of the content.

Director Zhao is also determined to improve the cooperation model, saying: "The selection ratio of 20:1 is really...really amazing. No wonder the plots of American dramas on Starz are so tight. However, it is not necessary in China, and the audience prefers to Get used to the slow pace, even if it's mostly unnecessary water injection."