Chapter 791: A documentary that could sweep away all variety shows?
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
Later that morning.
The Voice's program team officially entered into their new roles.
After Yan Tianfei left, Zhang Ye hung around at his new office for a while, putting out his belongings and getting familiarized with the surroundings. Then he scrambled to continue perfecting the program proposal that he had spent the entire weekend working on. However, as he wrote, his mind was also occupied with something else.
Oh, money!
There wasn't enough money!
As everyone knew, a documentary did not cost much to produce as the standard template of a documentary was different from that of a variety show. It did not need a large sum of money to promote, or a huge joining fee to be paid to celebrity guest stars. It didn't even need to have a host, much less a stage that would require money to build with all its special stage effects and whatnot. None of that was required in a documentary. Only the most basic setup was required, which included a video journalist and a video editor. All of the equipment would then be provided by the station and the staff were also on the payroll of the station, so how much money would they need to spend? If you were to invest 5 million or 10 million into a normal documentary series with three episodes, even if the film crew were to check into a five-star hotel and have abalone and lobsters for their meals, they wouldn't be able to spend it all! Usually, for the self-produced documentaries of Department 14, the production costs would hit 80-100,000 RMB at most. Even for the purchasing of copyrights to a fully produced documentary from their media partners would cost less than 1 million.
Therefore, 1 million RMB was really not a small amount at all!
Zhang Ye knew that Yan Tianfei was being very generous and had even given Zhang Ye a lot of face on this matter.
However, the problem now was that Zhang Ye didn't intend to make just any documentary. It was not the kind of documentary series that would end after just three short episodes, nor was it the type that followed a sports team around which could be completely filmed within a few short days. 1 million RMB was definitely not enough!
This wouldn't do. he had to come up with something!
Zhang Ye couldn't continue writing any further. Without money, even if the proposal was finished, there wouldn't be any meaning to it. He had to first find a way to resolve the funding before anything else!
He took out his cell phone and scrolled through his contacts. Right now, Zhang Ye could only think of approaching Wu Zeqing's nephew, Wu Mo. He was the only boss whom he knew would be willing to fork out so much money and also trusted him at the same time. Oh, Old Wu's elder sister was also one, but Fat Sis's company did not suit the sponsorship profile for what he had in mind. Zhang Ye was planning on using the same old tricks as he did with The Voice. Insufficient production budget? Then he would have to depend on his own reputation to pull in the title sponsors and funding. Once they had that money in their accounts, it would make up for the lack of production money!
He made the call—the phone was switched off.
Eh?
Switched off?
Zhang Ye considered this very serious and was very anxious to resolve the matter. As a result, he made a call directly to the Brain Gold company. "Hello, this is Zhang Ye. I am looking for CEO Wu. Is he around?"
It was a female receptionist on the other end. "Ah, Zhang Ye?"
Zhang Ye said: "I have something urgent to discuss with CEO Wu. But his cell phone seems to be off. Is he in a meeting?"
The receptionist quickly answered: "Please wait a moment, I'll get my manager to speak to you."
The call was transferred. Not long after, a middle-aged woman's voice sounded on the line: "Is this Teacher Zhang? I am Old Li. We've met before. CEO Wu has gone overseas for a business trip. He left in the morning, so I suppose he should be on the plane right now. Is there something urgent? Why don't you let me know about it first?" There were all kinds of opinions about Zhang Ye floating around in the public, but the Brain Gold company's staff were considered to be on very close terms with Zhang Ye. Zhang Ye was the long-term spokesperson for their company, as well as the creator of the brainwashing advertisement that saved the entire company, so how could they not be close?
Thus, Zhang Ye directly spoke: "Big Sis Li, I do indeed have something urgent I would like to talk about. I might be doing another show very soon, ahem, a large-scale documentary series. Right now, the title sponsor's position is still open, and since CEO Wu and I go back such a long way and have cooperated so many times before, I naturally thought of you first. I just wanted to know if you guys have any plans to invest in a title sponsorship again in the company's short-term strategy? If there is, we can discuss further about it."
Big Sis Li exclaimed: "Oh, we don't have any plans for that right now. Since The Voice ended not too long ago, the effects of the title sponsorship from there is still ongoing. The company's operating efficiency is steadily increasing and we have just reached a new milestone in that area as well. But as our company has no new products slated for release temporarily, CEO Wu mentioned in the previous meetings that other than the ongoing long-term TV commercials slots, there should be no other forms of spending on any short-term promotions. Our publicity campaign is already becoming quite saturated and any more money invested would be meaningless."
Zhang Ye said regretfully: "Oh, I see."
Big Sis Li immediately added: "But I can't decide on this kind of thing, so why don't you contact our CEO Wu again instead. As long as you're the one asking, I don't think CEO Wu…"
Zhang Ye interrupted: "No, it's alright. My project is not set yet anyway, so let's forget it for now. Then, Big Sis Li, regarding my call, please don't mention it to CEO Wu."
Big Sis Li acknowledged: "OK…then"
After hanging up, Zhang Ye laughed to himself helplessly. He should have expected that the Brain Gold company would not be increasing their advertising investments in the short term. The Voice's title sponsorship had already spread the name of their product throughout the country. Its brand exposure had also reached a saturation point, so why would they want to buy another title sponsorship? Figuring this, Zhang Ye told Big Sis Li not to inform Wu Mo about his call. Why? Because Zhang Ye knew that based on their friendship, as long as he asked, Wu Mo would surely not reject him. Even if it was a show with a title "How Dog Shit is Produced," as long as Zhang Ye intended to make it, Wu Mo would still buy the title sponsorship rights. He would do so not because of the show, rather basing his decision on their friendship. The more he knew this, the more Zhang Ye would never approach Wu Mo about this anymore. If he did, then it would mean that he wasn't mature. Friendships shouldn't be taken advantage of!
Since he could not count on Wu Mo anymore this time, who else was there?
Quite a number of company names flashed by in Zhang Ye's mind, but he decided against them all a sigh. Your sister! If he was doing a variety show, rather than an 8-10 million RMB title sponsorship fee, even if he asked for several tens of millions, there would still be a lot of large companies snapping it up. With the reputation of The Voice behind him, even an investment of 100 million into the title sponsorship was no longer just a dream. In the field of variety television, Zhang Ye's name was worth at least that much!
But how times had changed!
Where was he transferred to?
It was the documentary channel! The program that he was going to shoot was the unloved and uncared for documentary! Even with Zhang Ye's reputation there, it wouldn't be possible to change the entire country's mindset of a documentary! For something that would look like a scam to most people, who would dare invest in it? Who would be such a fool to buy a title sponsorship to a documentary! If there really were an idiot who'd buy it, the entire corporate industry might end up laughing at that person for years to come, no?
Forget it, there's no point looking for a sponsor anymore!
It would be useless no matter who he asked. Even if he kept on asking, there wouldn't be a company that would want to buy a title sponsorship rights to a documentary, much less a title sponsorship that would cost at least 10 million or so. Regarding this matter, Zhang Ye could do nothing about it for now! Unless he could convince those people to just hand over a mere 10 million RMB to him? That once this bro's documentary series was completed, it wouldn't need any promotions, wouldn't need to build up its reputation, no need to heavily promote it, no requirements for any celebrity guests, nor would it need to be broadcast in a primetime slot, and it would still sweep the entire country, that its viewership ratings could also sweep away all the variety shows?
Hai.
Who would possibly believe that!?