1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Ibuki Suzune was inside the house reading the latest volume of "Dragon Ball" that was released in December. Four months had passed since the last volume was released.

There have been rumors recently that Akira Toriyama is going to end the "Dragon Ball" series. I don't know whether it is true or not, but looking at the development of the story, it does mean that it is about to end.

In fact, Ibuki Suzune also wanted to see the finale, but was a little reluctant to let it go.

Just when Ibuki Suzune saw the "Game with the Whole Universe as a Bet", her younger brother Ibuki Ueno suddenly opened the door and walked in.

"Sister, sister..."

Ibuki Suzune turned her head and gave Ibuki Ueno a cold look, "I have told you many times to knock on the door."

dong dong——

Ibuki Ueno touched the door twice with his heel, "Knock now."

"Why are you so anxious?" Ibuki Suzune rolled her eyes.

"I saw him on TV." Ibuki Ueno pointed to a photo posted on the wall.

There were many photos posted on that wall, both large and small. Ibuki Ueno was referring to an ordinary five-inch photo.

The photos are full of celebrities from all walks of life, foreign, domestic, male, female, movie stars, and singers.

Seeing the photo that Ibuki Ueno pointed at, Ibuki Suzune was quite surprised, "You mean, Zhou Yan?"

"Well, that's him, yes."

"What show is it?"

"It's an advertisement."

"Oh, you're talking about the senior hall's advertisement."

Zhou Yan had shot an advertisement for Senior Hall, and Suzune Ibuki, as a loyal fan of Zhou Yan, naturally knew about this.

When that advertisement came out, it caused a small uproar. Many people said that Zhou Yan was truly a genius director and that he was different from others when shooting commercials.

The most impressive thing is the song "The Street Where the Wind Lives" in the advertisement.

Now when everyone hears "The Street Where the Wind Lives", they will think of Senior Hall. This is considered a very successful marketing.

Speaking of Zhou Yan, Ibuki Suzune couldn't help but curl her lips. He hasn't published a new work for a long time. If he hadn't published a collection of novels with two other Chinese writers some time ago, there would be no news about him recently.

"No, I've seen Shiseido's commercials. This time it's a TV commercial."

"TV?" Ibuki Suzune looked confused, "Are you sure you saw it correctly?"

"determine."

Seeing that Ibuki Ueno was so sure, Ibuki Suzune stood up and walked to the living room.

But the ad was only for a moment and now other ads are playing.

"Maybe he'll come out again soon."

Ibuki Suzune was a little confused. She was really curious about what the advertisement looked like, but she was also thinking about "Dragon Ball".

Advertisements don't have a fixed playing time. Maybe it was the last time they were played today, and you won't be able to wait until later.

After thinking for a long time, Ibuki Suzune went inside to take out the comics, then sat in the living room and read the comics while waiting for the commercials.

Ten minutes passed like this, and the advertisement Ibuki Ueno had not yet arrived.

She began to doubt whether this advertisement really existed. If it was a new advertisement for Panasonic TVs, the frequency would not be low if it had just been launched.

And she didn't dare to change TV stations for fear of missing advertisements when changing channels.

After that, another episode of the TV series was played, and Ibuki Suzune had no choice but to listen to an entire episode of the soap opera.

After the TV series, when the third commercial started, Ibuki Ueno suddenly shouted, "It's coming, it's coming, this is it."

Ibuki Suzune quickly looked away from the comics and looked at the TV screen.

On the TV, a very beautiful girl was standing by the window watching the scenery.

Suddenly a guitar sound was heard, and the girl looked in the direction of the sound.

The scene turned, and in a house in the opposite building, a man was holding a guitar and playing.

It's Zhou Yan.

The younger brother did not admit his mistake, it was indeed Zhou Yan.

But this song...it seems like I haven't heard it before.

Is it a new song?

sounds so good.

And it sounds better and better.

This seems to be the first time I have seen Zhou Yan play the guitar. Zhou Yan really knows all the instruments, and the guitar he plays is also very nice. The key is that this song, although it is not the same as Zhou Yan's previous style, the more you listen to it, the better it sounds. It feels like a rock band, and I feel like Zhou Yan is about to sing in the next second.

But in the end Zhou Yan did not sing, the music suddenly stopped, Zhou Yan also looked towards the camera, raised his hand and waved this way.

Seeing Zhou Yan waving, the girl here smiled and waved back.

At this moment, the curtains on the opposite side blew, a hand holding a remote control appeared in the camera, and then a scene of a football match appeared.

Seeing this scene, Ibuki Suzune was dumbfounded. Good guy, Zhou Yan playing the guitar just now was actually the scene on the TV?
At this moment, the girl in the advertisement also discovered this scene and was immediately embarrassed.

The ad ends here, and the only sentence in the entire ad appears.

"Panasonic 2288 color TV and video recorder allows you to enjoy everything."

After watching the advertisement, Ibuki Suzune was stunned. She originally just wanted to see Zhou Yan, but she was surprised by the advertisement again.

Zhou Yan's advertisements are indeed different from ordinary advertisements, they are so creative every time.

She never thought that the director of this TV series was someone else. Such an advertisement must have been shot by Zhou Yan himself.

And that girl must be a professional actress. Her expression of surprise at the beginning and then her expression of embarrassment were so similar that Ibuki Suzune could feel her embarrassment even outside the TV.

And what is the song played by Zhou Yan? Is it Zhou Yan's new song?

Ibuki Suzune acquiesced that this song was composed by Zhou Yan, because she didn't believe that Zhou Yan would use other people's music to shoot commercials. Even if Zhou Yan was willing, Panasonic probably wouldn't agree either.

Seeing his sister's expression, Ibuki Ueno said proudly, "Look, I'll just say it's him."

Just now, Ibuki Ueno was nervous when he was waiting for the advertisement. If he hadn't waited, he might have been beaten by his sister. Now he's fine, he won't be beaten.

Ibuki Suzune ignored him at all, ran to the phone and made a call.

"Rina, have you seen the advertisement for Panasonic TV?"

……

Panasonic knew that their new commercial would be well received and the response would be good, but they did not expect it to be so good.

On the first day the advertisement was launched, their company received many calls from people. Some people asked about the 2288 TV, and others asked what the song Zhou Yan played in the advertisement was.

Others asked if there is a complete version of this song.

Zhou Yan's popularity in the neon music industry is higher than they imagined.

The song "Meteor" is definitely nice to listen to, but if the spokesperson was changed, there would definitely not be such a response.

After all, the commercial is only thirty seconds long, and the song doesn’t show much, so most people have heard it.

It is precisely because this song is related to Zhou Yan that everyone pays special attention to it.

Of course, it is also because the advertisement is very creative that it attracts everyone's attention.

Compared with previous advertisements for Panasonic TVs, this advertisement is indeed more attractive. It is not only creative, but also shows all the selling points of Panasonic TVs.

In addition, in addition to asking about the TV set and music, a small number of people actually asked about the actress's information.

Some people expressed curiosity about Chen Hong, a beautiful actress who suddenly appeared.

Although there are differences in aesthetics between China and neon, Chen Hong's appearance is indeed very consistent with neon's aesthetic.

There was a gap of one day, and on the evening of the third day, TV Asahi's entertainment news column inserted a piece of news explaining the advertisement. In the news, the host first praised the advertisement as very creative, and then introduced the advertisement.

"This advertisement was personally performed by the famous composer Zhou Yan, who also wrote and directed it. The guitar song that appears in the advertisement is the advertising song for Panasonic TVs, which was also composed by Zhou Yan himself, and its name is "Meteor"."

"If you want to listen to the full version, please pay attention to our column. At 18 o'clock this Saturday, this column will play the full version of this song. This is also the world premiere of the full version of this song."

"The actress appearing in the advertisement is Chen Hong, a famous Chinese movie star. What I need to tell you is that Chen Hong participated in the TV series "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and this TV series is expected to be released to the domestic audience next year. In this TV series In it, Chen Hong plays Diao Chan, one of the four beauties in ancient China."

"There is another thing that you must be very interested in. Zhou Yan is also one of the soundtracks for "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms"."

As soon as this news from TV Asahi was broadcast, the audience paid attention to three things.

The first thing is naturally the world premiere of the full version of "Meteor", and the second thing is Chen Hong playing Diao Chan.

Neon people's love for "Three Kingdoms" is well known. Almost anything related to the Three Kingdoms will be loved by Neon people.

In the early 1970s, Kouki Yokoyama's "Three Kingdoms" began to be serialized, and it gained a large number of fans. Many people regarded it as a masterpiece, and this work has been serialized for more than ten years.

Neon has now released many games related to the Three Kingdoms, and there are still many games related to the Three Kingdoms being produced. Such games are released almost every year.

This time, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was filmed in China, and Neon was also very interested. Originally, before the TV series was even filmed, NHK expressed its willingness to invest in the filming.

At that time, the crew was short of funds, so they went to negotiate with NHK, but in the end the negotiation was not successful because the conditions of Neon's watch were a bit outrageous.

Now that the TV series has been filmed, NHK has gone to negotiate for the broadcast rights. It should not take long to reach an agreement.

After NHK has reached an agreement, it will be broadcast on Neon next year.

Knowing that Chen Hong played Diao Chan in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", many Neon viewers became very interested. The role of Diao Chan has a filter in their eyes.

In fact, Panasonic's decision to let Chen Hong participate in the commercial was not made casually.

There are so many actresses in China, but they chose Chen Hong precisely because she played Diao Chan.

Panasonic understands the preferences of the neon audience very well. If they invite Diao Chan to star in their commercials, the effect will definitely be greatly enhanced.

And they are not just trying to please the audience, but also trying to please the group leaders.

Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic Group, is a fan of the Three Kingdoms. He likes the Three Kingdoms very much.

The King of Chu has such a slim waist, and the palace concubines often starve to death. If the founder likes the Three Kingdoms so much, other senior executives will naturally study Matsushita Konosuke's preferences.

In addition to the above two things, the third thing is that the audience knows that Zhou Yan is the soundtrack of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

This is a great joy for viewers who like Zhou Yan.

When Hiramatsu and Guang knew the news, they almost jumped up. For a fan of the Three Kingdoms and Zhou Yan like him, this feeling was so happy.

If Neon can really bring "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" over, it means that next year he can watch his favorite TV series and enjoy Zhou Yan's music at the same time.

I heard that "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has nearly a hundred episodes, which means that the happiness will be a hundred times greater.

……

China Television Production Center, deputy director Kan Weiming is leading the staff of the distribution and operation department for a meeting. The content of their meeting today is related to copyright sales.

This meeting was actually held specifically for Neon. Recently, NHK TV station came to them to discuss copyright matters.

The initial price offered by NHK was not low, five thousand US dollars per episode, and they were willing to package and take away all 84 episodes.

Compared with the previous one thousand US dollars per episode of "Dream of Red Mansions", it is naturally much higher.

But times have changed now. Five thousand US dollars now is not the same concept as five thousand US dollars a few years ago. The key point is that at that time, "Dream of Red Mansions" even sold an episode for one thousand US dollars and lost money.

Besides, the investment cost of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is high, which is not comparable to that of "A Dream of Red Mansions".

TV Center's bottom price is fifteen thousand dollars per episode, and there are additional conditions, that is, it will only be sold for three years.

"NHK has contacted us again in the past two days and expressed its willingness to increase the price to US$15,000 per episode. Do you think we should agree to this?"

After the leader asked, the others looked at each other, but no one spoke for a while.

Seeing that no one expressed their opinion, deputy director Kan Weiming looked at a young man at the edge and said, "Ma Chong, you have been in Neon and are relatively familiar with Neon people. Do you think we can do it based on $10,000?" Want more?"

Ma Chong originally didn't want to be the first person, but when the leader named him, he could only bite the bullet and said, "The price can definitely be negotiated, but it may take a little more time. The Neon people are very interested in the subject of the Three Kingdoms , spending an extra one or two thousand dollars per episode should be fine.”

"One or two thousand dollars..."

Kan Weiming knocked on the table and pondered.

If you continue to haggle and fail to close the deal, you will end up with only one or two thousand dollars more per episode, which is not very attractive. It is better to close the deal as soon as possible and realize the cash in advance.

They can get the money earlier, and it will be easier for them to explain to their superiors.

Selling TV drama copyrights abroad is originally considered a "political achievement". If you sell it as soon as possible, you will naturally get the "political achievement" as soon as possible.

The director of the operations department sitting next to the deputy director understood the leader's thoughts and said with a smile, "If there is only one or two thousand dollars in room for improvement in the end, I think it is better to make a quick decision and sell the copyright as soon as possible. On the one hand, it can end it as soon as possible." The copyright cycle, on the other hand, can also launch the overseas promotion of TV series as early as possible.”

"The original intention of producing "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is not to make money, but more to meet the expectations of domestic audiences and promote traditional Chinese culture."

These words spoke to Kan Weiming's heart, but he did not finalize it immediately, just nodded, "What Director Sun said is not unreasonable. What about other people, do you have any opinions? Since we have this meeting today, I naturally hope that everyone can speak freely." . Let’s work together to reach a consensus and implement this matter as soon as possible.”

Kan Weiming looked around, but no one spoke.

"Since everyone has no different opinions, then..."

Just when Kan Weiming was about to make a decision, another young man next to Ma Chong suddenly raised his hand, "Director Kan..."

Kan Weiming looked at the other party, "Xiao He, what do you think?"

Xiao He licked his lips and said, "Director Kan, I think we can raise the price. I heard that Zhou Yan's advertisement was broadcast on Neon a few days ago and the response was very good."

"Zhou Yan's advertisement?" Kan Weiming was confused for a moment, "Does his advertisement have anything to do with this?"

Xiao He nodded, "Yes, in Zhou Yan's commercial, Chen Hong, who plays Diao Chan, also participated. Because of this, our TV series is now very anticipated in Neon China. Zhou Yan is one of the soundtrack directors of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" , and his popularity in the neon music industry is very exaggerated, and now many neon viewers are waiting to hear the soundtrack in the TV series."

"I guess the sudden increase in quotation from NHK is also related to the popularity of Neon today."

Kan Weiming raised his eyebrows, "Is this the case?"

"Well, I heard it from a friend of mine in Neon. It wasn't even today when the commercial aired, so the popularity hasn't spread yet."

After hearing Xiao He's words, Kan Weiming pondered again.

If what Xiao He said is true, then there is really no need to worry about closing the deal. Although he is also anxious for political achievements, if the price of 15,000 US dollars can be raised to more than 20,000, or even to 10,000 For eight dollars, this political achievement will look much better.

One or two thousand dollars is not worth dragging on, but three thousand dollars and up makes a huge difference.

After thinking for a moment, Kan Weiming said to Director Sun of the Operation Department, "Director Sun, go and verify this."

Director Sun nodded, "Okay, I will verify it as soon as possible and report to you."

"Okay, let's adjourn the meeting first. We will discuss this matter after Director Sun has an outcome."

After the meeting ended, Director Sun quickly went to verify what Xiao He said.

This is not difficult to verify and can be done with just a few phone calls.

They had a meeting in the morning, and Director Sun's verification results came out that afternoon. The results showed that Xiao He was right.

Due to Panasonic TV commercials, the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" TV series and Chen Hong are now getting a lot of attention in Neon. NHK TV station is probably also eager to finalize the copyright and get it back for broadcast as soon as possible.

After receiving such news, the production center became more confident when talking to NHK.

In the end, the production center raised the price of each episode from 15,000 US dollars to 25,000 US dollars, but it was still only sold for three years, and could only be broadcast twice in three years.

Even with such conditions, nhk still agreed, because they knew that if they couldn't win the situation, other neon TV stations would soon compete.

Twenty-five thousand US dollars per episode, eighty-four episodes, a total of only US$2.1 million, which is within the range of NHK. They are too confident in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Just look at the popularity of this TV series in Neon China. Many people want to listen to the soundtrack in the TV series, just because Zhou Yan is included in the soundtrack director.

After hearing that NHK TV station agreed to the quotation, the production center was a little surprised. The reason why they quoted a high price of US$25,000 was actually to let NHK negotiate the price.

When talking about business, one is asking for a high price and the other is paying back the money. Always leave some room for bargaining for others. From the production center's point of view, if you quote 25,000 US dollars, leave 5,000 US dollars for the other party to bargain. In the end, They were satisfied with the deal for $20,000.

But who would have thought that NHK would directly agree without much counter-offer.

Seeing how happy they were, the production center even felt a little regretful and wondered if their price was still too low. (End of chapter)