The King of Directors 2000

Chapter 658 Li Zekai is unwilling to give in
Time flies like an arrow, and time flies like an arrow.

In the blink of an eye, 2014 passed and 2015 is here.

In January, the temperature begins to drop significantly in most places, and it freezes and snows.

In Hong Kong Island in the south of China, the temperature is still strong, and people can go out and play wearing short-sleeved shirts and a jacket.

Of course, this is the choice of young people. Most older people will still be more careful. They will wear thermal underwear and then put on fleece clothes, or thick cotton coats or down jackets.

In the Asia Hotel on Victoria Bay, sitting in front of the glass window on the third floor, was a short middle-aged man with not fat limbs, but a very fat face, with a three-tiered chin. He stared blankly at the people downstairs. Young woman in miniskirt.

"Ahem!" Ahem! cough! "

"Mr. Li, Mr. Li."

A very capable man in his thirties wearing glasses and a suit came. He saw his boss looking at the beautiful woman downstairs and reminded him softly.

Hearing this, Li Zekai frowned and looked over.

"Mr. Li, there are many paparazzi following you, and they like to write and make things up."

Seeing that his boss was unhappy, David Wang immediately explained.

He is the marketing manager of VIutv TV Group newly founded by Li Zekai. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong and his English name is David Wang.

"What can they write about me looking at beauties? I'm not looking at beauties. I just feel sad when I see them wearing so little in such a cold weather."

Li Zekai has been in a bad mood recently.

He has always wanted to expand his influence in Hong Kong Island. He wanted to buy TVB before, but they refused to sell it to him.

Later, he wanted to cooperate with Lee Sheng Yew and set up a TV station together. He provided funds and Lee Sheng Yew provided the content. However, Lee Sheng Yew also did not cooperate with him.

Later, Li Shengyao took over TVB, and TVB became a "mainland TV station" and often ridiculed Li Zekai.

Li Zekai was angry, so he applied for a TV station operating license and established a free TV station, Viutv.

He was ambitious and poached many production talents for TV shows from TVB. However, Viutv looked lively, but in fact it had a very small market share, incomparable to TVB.

This made Li Zekai very irritated, and he was venting his negative emotions at this time.

David Wang heard the boss's words and nodded immediately, "These people want style but not warmth. They don't know how to take care of their own bodies."

Li Zekai waved his hand and said quietly: "Last year at this time, I wore a shirt to go out to sea, but now I can't do it anymore. My health is getting worse."

According to the algorithm of rural China, it is normal for Li Zekai to be physically weak because he is 50 years old.

But a rich man?
No matter what age they are, there are young sisters jumping on them one after another, which makes them sometimes forget their own age.

Li Zekai was like this. It was only just now that he suddenly realized that he was very old and that some of his peers had become grandfathers.

When David Wang heard Li Zekai's words, he hurriedly added: "The boss is in good health. He looks like a handsome boy in his twenties. Many people say you are young..."

"Okay, let's talk, how is the situation?"

David Wang breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, Li Zekai looked like a little old man now. He was bragging without conscience and felt uneasy. He felt like three purple lightnings would strike down.

Fortunately, Li Zekai is self-aware.

But if he realizes his weakness, will he lack the spirit of pioneering? Is Li Zekai good or bad for VIutv?

David Wang bit his tongue, quickly regaining consciousness, and then said: "Boss, TVB's market share in Hong Kong Island is now 80%, and our other TV stations add up to a total of 20%."

There are not many free TV stations on Hong Kong Island, only TVB, Asia Television, and Viutv.

In addition to these three free TV stations, there are also several paid channels.

TVB is the dominant one, and this phenomenon has been going on for almost 40 years.

Yesterday, Li Zekai asked David Wang to investigate Viutv's ratings. David Wang's work was quickly completed. He glanced at Li Zekai and continued: "After Li Shengyao took over TVB, TVB and Fenghua cooperated more closely. Many mainland online novels , which cannot be filmed in the mainland, is all filmed by TVB. TVB actors have received more job opportunities, and their salaries have also increased. Hong Kong audiences also like to watch it, and their ratings have steadily increased."

"Where's our TV series?"

"We have hired many film and television drama production staff from TVB before, but our TV series has two problems. One is that it is too real, and the other is that the actors are not famous."

Almost all of TVB's famous actors have renewed their contracts with TVB. They know that they can cooperate with Fenghua and enter the mainland to make a lot of money.

The actors recruited by Viutv are really 18th-tier young actors. Not to mention mainland audiences, Hong Kong audiences don't know them.

Another point is that Viutv is positioned for young audiences in Hong Kong Island. The film and television dramas they produce are all modern urban dramas that reflect the living conditions of young people in Hong Kong Island.

Such TV dramas are very real, and many dramas have received high ratings, but the ratings are not good.

The Hong Kong audience is already so tired in life that they don’t want to go home and watch such realistic TV series.

Therefore, Viutv TV series have high ratings but no one watches them.

Li Zekai waved his hand and said, "Go on."

"The ratings of our TV series are not good, and many media have published articles mocking us. Now only the online broadcast data is better, but this cannot last long."

The so-called webcast is the APP playback data obtained by Viutv itself. It is completely filled in by Viutv staff. Once it is exposed, the situation will be even worse.

David Wang felt that there was no need to cheat like this, at least not all the time.

He paused and then said: "We have united with several media outlets that have good relations with us to disparage TVB's TV series for being exaggerated and unreliable. However, it has no effect. TVB still accounts for the majority of the ratings in various time periods."

This is the current situation of TV media in Hong Kong. TVB is the leader, and other TV stations are not on the same level as TVB.

Li Zekai sighed. He couldn't compete with TVB in Hong Kong, so he could only go overseas to look for opportunities.

"How is the situation in Southeast Asia?"

Viutv not only established Hong Kong Island TV Station, but also developed in Southeast Asia, hoping to become a popular film and television drama viewing platform in Southeast Asia.

David Wang glanced at Li Zekai, took a deep breath and said: "The development situation in Southeast Asia is not very good. Now the largest film and television drama broadcasting platform in Southeast Asia is Fenghua Online."

"This is a video platform launched by Lee Sheng Yew. It is divided into very precise categories, including Indonesian, Thai, Burmese, Vietnamese, Malay and English."

"Relying on the influence of the previous Fenghua idol dramas, they quickly harvested users in Southeast Asia. Now Fenghua Online's registered users in Southeast Asia have reached 50 million, and they have subsequently produced a large number of idol dramas, sweet dramas, and fairy dramas. In Southeast Asia, It’s very popular and their number of registered users continues to rise.”

"We have Viutv, Netflix, Disney, HBO, and even Tencent in the Mainland. The influence of iQiyi is very small, almost negligible. In Southeast Asia, Fenghua Online accounts for 90% of the share."

Li Zekai took a deep breath. Unexpectedly, Viutv's situation in Southeast Asia was even worse. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Our idea here is to unite with Peninsula Film and Television Drama Production Company to produce excellent idol dramas."

"Peninsula's idol drama?"

"Yes, boss, there are many excellent actors on the Peninsula, and their pay is relatively low. The only trouble is that almost all genre dramas have been filmed by Fenghua, and there are no novel themes. We and the screenwriters on the Peninsula are watching every day. Qidian and Jinjiang, once we have a good idea, we will copy it immediately." "Is this plan feasible?"

"It's not good. Needless to say Fenghua's idol dramas. Now the mainland's economy is getting stronger and stronger, the mainland's influence is growing, and people in Southeast Asia are increasingly yearning for mainland culture."

It is human nature to be strong.

Hollywood has taken the world by storm, and the beautiful country’s economy is the largest in the world.

When Li Zekai heard this, he felt even more agitated.

"Where's Ah San? Can you cooperate with Ah San?"

"No, today's audiences like to watch sweet dramas and idol dramas. Ah San is the cesspool of the world. No one watches their idol dramas."

Noticing Li Zekai's puzzled look, Wang David went on to explain: "Except for A Sanguo, no one wants to see the male protagonist wiping his butt with his hands and then grabbing food with his hands. How can such a scene attract little girls?"

After hearing this, Li Zekai felt disgusted when he brought it in.

David Wang continued: "Boss, according to your instructions, we have contacted the top management of Netflix, and they have decided to come to Hong Kong Island in three days."

Li Zekai wanted to cooperate with Netflix.

Netflix was founded in 1997. It was once a company that sold and rented DVDs of movies and TV shows. It later developed rapidly. In 2006, it received a large amount of financing and began to establish an online movie viewing platform.

In 2010, Netflix began to expand out of the beautiful country. In 2011, Netflix's market share in the beautiful country surpassed Apple. In 2014, it launched services in various European countries and quickly occupied a large number of markets.

So far, Netflix has about 70 million users worldwide.

Netflix was once ridiculed by Apple executives as a porter. Their most fatal flaw was that they had no content, and all movies and TV series had to be purchased for broadcasting rights.

In 2013, Netflix began to independently produce film and television dramas, and excellent TV dramas such as "House of Cards", "Orange Is the New Black", "Hemlock Grove" and so on came into being.

Netflix’s executives are very smart. They are the world’s first truly global film and television production company.

In the past, all countries produced their own films and TV dramas, and it was amazing that actors from several countries participated in them.

Netflix has realized the globalization of film and television drama production. They hired screenwriters from Peninsula, actors from Mexico, composers from Denmark, and directors from beautiful countries.

This not only ensures quality but also saves costs.

In addition, they will also buy foreign TV series with excellent investment, such as the British drama "The Crown", the German drama "Darkness", and the French drama "Arsenal Robin".

Relying on true globalization and a large number of users, they have successfully achieved profitability.

Li Zekai heard David Wang's words and nodded proudly, "By cooperating with Netflix, we can export to domestic sales. Then our TV series will be sold all over the world. In addition, Netflix has established a foothold in Europe and the United States. We can borrow chickens to lay eggs. Expand our reach.

As long as this road is open, we will have a chance to overtake in corners and defeat Lee Sheng Yew. "

David Wang secretly glanced at Li Zekai, with sympathy in his eyes.

After Li Shengyao took over TVB, TVB often yin-yang Li Zekai, Li Fatty and others.

Li Zekai was angry, but he couldn't fight back. Now he was holding back his energy to prove himself.

However, Lee Sheng-yew was already a major international director, and he was focused on making movies, and Li Zekai was not in his eyes at all.

……

Three days later, still at the Asia Hotel, Li Zekai led several senior executives of Viutv to receive Netflix partners.

After some negotiations, the two parties reached a preliminary intention.

Li Zekai was ready to sign the contract, but Wang David and others stopped him.

David Wang pulled Li Zekai to the rest room, "Boss, you can't sign this contract!"

"why?"

According to the results of their discussion, Netflix wants to enter the Southeast Asian market. They also understand that Fenghua idol dramas have a huge advantage in stock and their previous influence is still there.

Netflix wants to invite some Chinese idol stars, Chinese screenwriters, and behind-the-scenes staff to produce idol dramas through viutv, so that it can quickly expand its influence in Southeast Asia.

"Boss, Lee Sheng-yao now has theater chains, video websites, and film and television production companies. We simply can't recruit outstanding actors from popular idol dramas. They don't dare to cooperate with us."

Viutv can’t even attract popular TVB actresses, let alone popular mainland actors.

Li Zekai frowned, and then said: "Netflix is ​​open to the whole world, and the pay is also high. There must be people who want to go out."

"Boss, the salary offered by Netflix is ​​indeed high, but it may not be as high as in the Mainland, and no one dares to offend Lee Sheng-yew. We still have to prepare for a rainy day."

Li Zekai was very impatient when he heard this. He didn't want to hear Li Shengyao's awesome words, "No matter what, we have to give it a try. If it doesn't work, let our actors do it."

"No, boss, Netflix has resources and money. They can give high salaries, but we can't. Once the salaries of our actors, directors, and screenwriters go up, they won't come down. We won't have money to produce movies and TV series in the future. ”

This is a big conspiracy of Netflix.

They have money and invest very heavily in a certain film and television drama. In this case, the salaries of the actors, screenwriters, directors, sets, etc. of this film and television drama will increase a lot.

After this film and television series ends, these people have tasted the sweetness and will not lower their prices easily.

This is equivalent to increasing the cost of film and television drama production in this country.

However, other film and television production companies in the country have no money and cannot afford to hire these high-paying film and television production personnel, so the number of film and television drama productions will drop significantly in a short period of time.

Audiences in this country have no new movies and TV series to watch, they can only watch Netflix series.

This is how the film and television industries in many countries were destroyed by Netflix.

Those 18th-tier actors on Viutv are cheaper than TVB, and they really get Netflix-level salaries. How can they compare to Viutv’s salary in the future?

David Wang is worried that if they cooperate with Netflix, future film and television production will be ruined.

When Li Zekai heard this, his expression kept changing. He made himself a cup of coffee, looked at the rising heat, and suddenly asked, "What has Li Shengyao been doing recently?"

"I heard that "Joker" has finished filming and he has returned to China to rest."

"How is the reputation of "Joker"?"

"The movie hasn't been released yet, but it's highly rated in beautiful countries. Many people say they hope to win an Oscar next year."

Li Zekai put down his coffee with a sneer, "If we don't cooperate with Netflix, we won't have any development in Hong Kong Island or Southeast Asia. We can only fight hard. If we die, we will die. If we survive, we can still compete with Fenghua.

You should hurry up and contact popular mainland artists. We want to invite them to make idol dramas. Remuneration is not an issue. I don't believe that everyone will be afraid of Lee Sheng Yew. "

(End of this chapter)