Depressive Screenwriter

Su Yan looked at the three invitations for the Xia Yan Award in his hand.

The date was January 31st.

"Why aren't you excited at all, Su Yan?" asked Ayumi Shinozaki.

"Well, I should say it was expected. Aside from the invitation for the TV drama music composition nomination, I knew in my heart that I would most likely be nominated for the other two awards. I wouldn't say I'm completely indifferent, but I'm only slightly moved," Su Yan said.

"Then what about you, Qingyuan? Why do you look so indifferent? This is a nomination for Best New Actress, it only happens once in a lifetime. You can win Best Actress seven or eight times in the future if you have the ability, but an award with the prefix 'new' only happens once," Ayumi Shinozaki said, looking at Gu Qingyuan, who had a cold expression.

"It's only been half a year since I graduated from school last July. To be nominated for Best New Actress already feels more magical than the dramas I've filmed," Gu Qingyuan said.

"It's not that I'm not reacting, it's just that I'm too happy and don't know how to express my emotions."

"Alright, so your performance as Tomoe Yukishiro is a natural fit."

"I'm different. My career as a producer was still precarious in the first half of last year, and now, at the beginning of the year, I'm nominated for Best New Producer," Ayumi Shinozaki said excitedly.

"I'm going to post the news ten times in my junior high, high school, and university classmate groups when I get home later, and I'll also publicize it in the company department group. I'm going to get back the ridicule and humiliation I suffered last year because of 'Sakurajima Love Song' tenfold."

"Qingyuan, your Best New Actress award is a sure thing. No new actress emerged in Xia Country last year who could be like you, playing the female lead right from the start, and 'Ancient Love Song' even entered the top three in viewership ratings in its final week. Su Yan's Best New Screenwriter is also very stable. Compared to Su Yan, the bunch of new screenwriters this year are just worthless trash. I'll help you promote it to everyone I know."

Ayumi Shinozaki's tone naturally carried a hint of pride when she spoke of Su Yan.

"It's just a nomination, everything is still undecided," Gu Qingyuan said.

"What if we ultimately lose the award? Wouldn't that be even more embarrassing?"

"There's no need to think about that," Su Yan said with a smile.

"If you two really lose, then time and history will prove that it's not your loss, but the Xia Yan Award judges' lack of vision, it's their loss."

Ayumi Shinozaki and Gu Qingyuan looked at Su Yan upon hearing this.

Although Su Yan's words were praising them, the more they listened, the more they felt something was off.

They and Su Yan were partners, and their achievements were shared. If the judging committee didn't give them the award, it meant the judging committee lacked vision, it was their loss.

These words were too arrogant.

But they didn't dislike it.

Or rather, it matched their impression of Su Yan.

After the crew dispersed, Su Yan, Ayumi Shinozaki, Gu Qingyuan, Shi Peihua, and the Takezawa couple, along with a few other members of the 'To the Moon' main team, had dinner at a hotel near the filming base.

During the meal, they discussed the scenes to be filmed tomorrow.

In the following days, the filming progress of the 'To the Moon' crew went smoothly.

Su Yan and Gu Qingyuan could only be considered to have decent acting skills, with a gap compared to Qiu Junlin and others.

However, their acting skills were also improving rapidly, and besides, the roles of the two doctors, Cheng Li and Shen Yi, didn't require particularly high acting skills.

Soon, the filming of the first and second episodes ended.

In the second week of the winter season, a large number of C-level dramas, and even some B-level dramas, began airing from the weekdays.

Most TV stations would not compete with the three major TV stations' main dramas at the same time. Not only could they not compete, but they would often hinder each other, and ultimately everyone's results would be poor. What was the point?

However, as one drama after another aired, new viewership rankings appeared in the winter season market.

By Friday, four of the dramas that had aired in the winter season had surpassed 3% viewership, with the drama temporarily ranked first in viewership at 3.52%.

It was a B-level drama produced by Zhongxia TV this season, airing on Thursday nights at eight o'clock.

At eight o'clock on Friday evening, the A-level drama "The Door," produced by Sakura TV this season, premiered.

On the same day at nine o'clock in the evening, the A-level drama "Imperfect Divorce" produced by Zhongxia TV premiered.

The next day, Saturday,

The viewership ratings for the two dramas were released.

"The Door" premiered with a viewership rating of 4.02%.

Higher investment, more intensive premiere promotion, and a more reliable producer, a golden screenwriter from the station, and a director allowed Sakura TV's "The Gilded One," which had failed to achieve a 4% viewership rating for an entire season, to achieve it in the first episode of "The Door."

And the first episode viewership rating of "Imperfect Divorce," an A-level drama that was Zhongxia TV's second-highest investment this season, was only 3.84%.

That day, there was cheering inside Sakura TV.

At least in the winter season viewership rankings, "The Door" was temporarily in first place.

This result also allowed Akasaka Yoshitoki to breathe a sigh of relief in his office.

Last season, the viewership rating of "Ancient Love Song" actually surpassed "The Gilded One," which directly made him lose face.

"The Door" this season was also a drama created by a producer under him.

The success of "The Door" could be said to be related to his position in the production department.

A premiere viewership rating of over 4% could also be considered to have slightly restored his dignity.

What genius screenwriter... Akasaka Yoshitoki's expression was dismissive.

There were too many geniuses in this industry, but these people didn't understand that capital and connections were indispensable.

All geniuses would have peak periods and low periods. These people would often be directly plunged into the abyss after one or two works didn't perform well during their creative slump. At this time, without accumulating enough connections and relationships in the early stages to give them a hand, it would be difficult to turn over again.

Akasaka Yoshitoki had originally wanted to become Su Yan's network resources after seeing Su Yan's talent earlier.

But unfortunately, this young man was not smart.

Akasaka Yoshitoki had personally read the script for "To the Moon."

To be honest, if Su Yan hadn't earned a lot for the station in the previous two seasons, a script that was so slow-paced and hadn't clearly explained the main story even after three episodes would most likely not have passed the production department meeting.

"You like slow-paced, artistic scripts, huh... Young people don't understand anything. Sakura TV is a commercial TV station!"

Akasaka Yoshitoki lit a cigarette and looked at another document covered by the viewership report.

The leave request from Production Department Director Yoshizaki Shigeura, who had recently been in poor health and was going to the hospital for treatment.

He would hand this over to higher-ups in the station later.

"It's best if the old guy's health completely deteriorates and he doesn't come back. That way, as long as Su Yan's 'To the Moon' doesn't achieve the expected results... I will never easily let you get any investment at the TV station in the future, including that Shinozaki Aki's daughter, Shinozaki Ayumi... You're retired and still causing me trouble, I'll take care of you all together then."

Yoshizaki Shigeura had been in poor health for several years and had taken leave several times. Sometimes he would return to his post after one or two weeks of recuperation, and sometimes it would take one or two months to return.

But he was, after all, one of the TV station's veteran employees. If he didn't say he wanted to retire, the higher-ups in the station wouldn't force him to retire.

It was just that people were ultimately limited by their age, and sometimes personal will couldn't stop the laws of biology.

No one knew when Yoshizaki Shigeura would really retire, and then Akasaka Yoshitoki would take over.

However, Akasaka Yoshitoki had the patience to wait.

At eight o'clock in the evening,

Shanghai TV's only A-level drama this season, "Blood-Colored Magician," premiered.

This kind of horror and grotesque drama often received good reviews when it premiered.

After its first episode aired, there were discussions about the drama everywhere online.

But at the same time, as it approached nine o'clock in the evening, Sakura TV's viewership ratings were also constantly rising.

A large group of fans of "Ancient Love Song" and "Rurouni Kenshin" were already in place.

The middle-aged fans of Qiu Junlin and Takezawa Kayano were also eagerly waiting.

Although the first episode didn't have the childhood scenes of the two main characters, the fans of the two famous child stars of Xia Country, Cao Shou and Gu Yingjie, would naturally come to support the premiere of "To the Moon."

Moreover, at this time, the other two of the three major TV stations didn't have any popular dramas premiering, which could be considered giving Su Yan and Sakura TV some face.

Su Yan's performance in "Ancient Love Song" last season was somewhat outrageous. When many competitors chose the premiere time for their dramas, they would avoid facing "To the Moon" head-on.

This also led to many casual drama fans at this time only being able to come to Sakura TV to see... what exactly was going on with the drama "To the Moon."