Chapter 804: A starving cal is still bigger than a horse!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
Upstairs.
Central TV Departnt 14.
When Zhang Ye entered the office space, he did not go elsewhere but headed straight to Yan Tianfei's office. Old Yan was having a late lunch and had just finished eating the food from his lunch box prepared by his wife. His secretary was just taking the lunch box from Old Yan to go wash it when Zhang Ye entered.
"Director Zhang." The secretary nodded with a smile. Then he left the office with the empty lunch box.
Yan Tianfei was taken aback and asked curiously, "Teacher Zhang, didn't you just get off the plane today? Why did you co to work in the afternoon if you just arrived back at Beijing this morning? There's no hurry at all. Besides, you should be resting after working so hard for the past two months. Why are you in such a hurry to do the post-production, voice-over, and the editing?"
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I wanted to discuss sothing with you."
Yan Tianfei asked, 'What is it?"
"I want our docuntary to start broadcasting on December 10th," Zhang Ye asserted.
Yan Tianfei was taken aback at first, then looked to be deep in thought while he wondered, "Why does this date sound so familiar?"
Zhang Ye replied, "Rise to the Dance is also going to be broadcast on that day."
Only then did Yan Tianfei recall. "No wonder it sounds so familiar!"
"I would like our docuntary to be broadcast on the sa day and ti as theirs. That's why I ca here to seek your opinion. Zhang Ye stated, "If you think that's not possible, then we can talk about it again another ti."
Yan Tianfei didn't even give it a second thought and just said, "Why not? Since you're the executive director of our only independent program team at Departnt 14, I won't interfere with the matters that you're handling. You can decide on the date and ti by yourself since there are plenty of free broadcast ti slots at Departnt 14. You can just choose any ti slot from Monday to Sunday. As long as you feel that it's alright, then it's settled. There's no need to ask ."
With that, it was now Zhang Ye's turn to be taken aback. "Thank you."
Yan Tianfei chuckled, "We are different from Departnt 1. This is just a small office. As a famous program planner, executive director, and host in the country, we can't be any happier that you are here with us now. We won't limit you in doing anything. As long as you feel it's OK, then anything is fine. I'll let you have absolute freedom and authority on handling that matter, so you can do whatever you like and it doesn't matter how the viewership ratings turn out either!"
They supported him with the money, they supported him with the manpower, he could do whatever he liked, and there was no need to ensure a good viewership rating—even for Zhang Ye, this was the first ti that he had co across such a departnt. Naturally, Zhang Ye felt very grateful to Yan Tianfei, as he knew this was because Yan Tianfei respected and trusted him.
Zhang Ye said, "Director Yan."
Yan Tianfei gave a wave of his hand. "I don't have that many rules here, since I call you Little Zhang, then you can just address as Old Yan."
"Sure." Zhang Ye had to be worthy of his respect so he said, "Don't worry, I'll definitely do a good job on this show."
...
Back in his own office.
The empty Section 3 office space at Departnt 14 already had its new naplate hung on the door and on it were the words of "A Bite of China Program Team." The people inside were excited and the 20-odd staff were discussing in low whispers. Just look at how fast the news had spread. Zhang Ye was only at Old Yan's office for ten minutes, but everyone already found out about it.
Little Wang was stomping around anxiously. "Director Zhang really wants to compete with them?"
Tong Fu pulled a long face. "I can't imagine how embarrassing it'll turn out to be when the viewership ratings are out!"
"All the staff throughout Central TV are discussing this matter now. All the people are waiting to watch the fun…no…waiting to see us make a fool of ourselves!" Huang Dandan smiled wryly. "How could our docuntary possibly verse their variety show? Moreover, it's even a large-scale singing talent show with big shot celebrities like Huo Dongfang, Fan Wenli, and Shen Lili! There's no way we can compete with them! We're only making a traditional docuntary!"
Ha Qiqi remained silent for a long ti.
Zhang Ye ca back to the office and said, "Why are you all here?"
Seeing him, everyone hastily stopped their discussions and did not say another word.
Zhang Ye asked curious, "Didn't I already say that you guys can have a few days of rest? I can handle the rest of the work here and you can rest well."
Zhang Zuo replied, "If you're not resting, then neither should we."
Ha Qiqi responded, "We can't let you do all the work."
Wu Yi spoke, "We'll all rest together after the docuntary's post-production has been completed."
Everyone had gone through thick and thin together since they were on The Voice, so they had a mutual understanding of one another. That was why everyone ca back to work without exception. Even those that had returned on the sa flight as Zhang Ye in the morning also ca back after having their lunch.
Zhang Ye felt quite touched. "Alright then, let's make our final push and complete everything!" After a pause, he continued, "I want to tell you guys sothing which I think everyone already knows about it. I just reported to Director Yan that our docuntary will start broadcasting on December 10th. There's only two weeks left, so we must do our best to quickly finish up and send it for approval."
Little Wang, who looked like she was either crying or laughing, asked, "Director Zhang, are we really going to compete with Rise to the Dance…"
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "How would we know if we don't give it a try?"
Little Wang claid anxiously, "But we shouldn't even be trying. We're only making a docuntary here, how…"
"Even if we changed it to another broadcast ti, so what?" Zhang Ye declared, "Everyone should not feel pressured by this. What's the difference between broadcasting on that day and on a different day? We might as well take advantage of Rise to the Dance's popularity and let them help us promote our docuntary for free. We won't even have to spend any money on that."
When they thought about it, it was indeed as he said.
Even if they avoided the broadcast ti of Rise to the Dance, there would still not be much of an audience who would watch their docuntary, so there wasn't going to be too much of a difference in the end.
Following that, Zhang Ye started to assign the tasks.
He did not idle around either and started to make so phone calls.
The first call:
"Hello, Director Qu. I've finally managed to reach you."
"Teacher Zhang, hello, I was in a eting earlier."
"I'm doing a show now which I think you might have heard of?"
"I know, it's a docuntary."
"Look, we had a very good working relationship previously with the second-tier ads on The Voice and you also know my character now. We definitely won't disappoint you with this show, but for now, we still do not have a title sponsor yet, would you—"
"Aiya, I'm sorry, Teacher Zhang. Recently, our budget is really low and we really can't afford to fork out any."
"We're making a docuntary on food which is very suited to the branding of your winery."
"We really do not have enough money. Perhaps next ti. Next ti, we'll definitely cooperate with you again."
The second phone call:
"Hello, Boss Zhou, it's ."
"Director Zhang, it's been a long ti."
"I've just finished a docuntary, so about the ads, your fruit juice product—"
"Director Zhang, let be frank with you. If you were making a variety show, even if it were a talk show, I would definitely be fighting to be your title sponsor. But now, it's a docuntary you're making, and that basically has no comrcial value in it and the viewership ratings are also poor. So then, I'm really sorry about this."
"The viewership ratings will definitely be much higher than what you would expect."
"Maybe next ti, when you're making a variety show again, I'll definitely be the first one to look for you. I'll even invest 50 million RMB on it!"
A few phone calls later, he received no favorable responses.
Zhang Ye was feeling helpless. Those businessn were too shortsighted!
Ha Qiqi also ca back from making so calls. "Director Zhang, I've had no success at all. I've checked with seven, eight food and beverage related companies and none of them were interested in buying our advertisent slots. Only one company was slightly interested but when they heard that we wouldn't be inserting ads inside the actual docuntary, they also rejected it."
Zhang Ye explained, "We're not doing a variety show this ti, so the actual docuntary has to be cleanly presented. Otherwise, it'll affect the overall quality of the docuntary. That's why we're only selling the title sponsorships and advertisents outside of the actual docuntary."
Ha Qiqi sighed, "Then it'll be even less attractive. I also discussed with so online video hosting sites regarding the online exclusive broadcast rights. They were very interested in cooperating with us, but the price offers were very low and almost negligible. It'd be as good as giving it to them for free."
"Forget it, I was already ntally prepared for this outco." Zhang Ye said, "We'll just go ahead without the advertisents then. We'll talk about it again after the show is broadcast."
The program team felt that Director Zhang was being too positive.
For the past few decades, there were almost no docuntaries in the entire country that earned any money, much less earning from advertising fees. This felt like idiotic nonsense!
Selling advertisents?
Following the variety shows' style of simulcast over the Internet?
And even thinking of competing with Rise to the Dance by broadcasting at the sa ti slot?
No one on the program team knew what Zhang Ye was thinking about. They were just an unloved and uncared for traditional docuntary and yet he wanted to do it like how variety shows were done?
Zhang Ye did not bother to explain it to anyone. If no one wanted to take up the advertisent slots, so be it. He imdiately moved onto the next step and arranged for the art designers to create so publicity posters for A Bite of China, then led a group of people to edit the docuntary. They took an hour before finally ending up with three-minute trailer, or you could call it a promotional video too. Once the music and voiceover was added, it would be ready for release.
The background music was a huge task and it was even more troubleso than Zhang Ye doing the narration by himself. Hence, he handed this job to around eight staff mbers and let them handle it. If they really could not manage, they could also choose to spend so money to hire soone from a music company to do it for them. Zhang Ye still knew a few people in the music industry who could help them out. Their program team still had so money left over which should be enough to cover those costs. As for the editing and narration work, they were entirely Zhang Ye's tasks to handle. The others could do little for him here as they wouldn't be able to help him out essentially.
The work started!
"Director Zhang, I've completed it."
"That won't do, make it a little more detailed."
"Director Zhang, is this poster OK?"
"No, it looks too plain. It only depicts the scenes of so farrs working in the field? This looks too monotonous."
"Uh, but our docuntary is a food show that introduces different foods and cuisines, this—"
"Even if it's a food show, we still have to bring out the artistic atmosphere of it. Especially the cover poster. It has to be more outstanding. Why don't we do this? Change all the rice in these paddy fields into the shapes of calligraphy writings."
"Calligraphy?"
"Yes. Replace the paddy fields with calligraphy. When seen from far, they look like paddy fields, but when viewed up close, the farrs are actually planting calligraphic words in the fields. Oh right, create a few more posters. For example, piping hot rice dumplings. Make them look like it's in the shape of a mountain and place two real mountains beside it to further enhance that effect."
"Wow, this idea is so aweso!"
"Yea, the atmosphere is brought out imdiately!"
"Director Zhang is truly a professional."
"Isn't that nonsense? Director Zhang has been making advertisents since a long ti ago. Which advertisent made by Director Zhang isn't known by all? In the aspect of publicity, no one can compete with us. Even if we're not making a variety show but a docuntary instead, our starving cal is still bigger than a horse!"
Imdiately, the program team of A Bite of China went into full swing!
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