Extraordinary Genius

“Sohu needs to set up a TV program production center. We will produce our own original TV shows and let CCTV air them. This is separating production and broadcasting!”

“We are going to produce our own shows and let CCTV air it?! Is it possible?!” Zhang Chaoyang’s jaw dropped. They are talking about CCTV, and why would they want their TV shows?

CCTV is a massive entity, and all the top TV producers in China are working for them. Why would they be interested in Sohu’s production?

“Why not? It will not be a problem if we can produce good TV shows. I am not afraid to let you know that <Wind and Rain – Happy Dictionary> and <Songjiang – Lucky Fifty-two> are my ideas.”

Zhang Chaoyang is impressed. These two TV shows had been popular for years, and its Manager Feng’s ideas.

Seems like what Manager Feng said might still be possible.

“Manager Feng, we have another issue. We don’t have a recording studio for our programs.”

“Just rent the venue from Beijing TV Station. They will agree if we pay them. Also, we can use our Wind and Rain Building’s Grand hall with some decorations.”

“Ah?! How can we use it? That’s not even a proper stage.”

“It’s only for the audition, and you don’t need a proper stage. You can also rent some small theaters. Just see which is better and more worthwhile.”

“Wait... Manager Feng, what do you mean by auditions?” Zhang Chaoyang is confused.

“Have you watched crosstalks or singing competitions?” Feng Yu asked.

“I had watched Cross-talks before. I like to listen to this.”

“That’s right. For a TV program, how many crosstalk performances do you need? What if there are a lot of people registering for it? We must pick the best performance. The entry-level for our program is lower, and anyone can participate as long as he is not a criminal. We will let these participants go through auditions and pick the better ones to appear on our program. This will make the show better and more exciting!”

“Oh, you are saying that we will pick those that are suitable to appear on our show through auditions, right?”

“That’s right.” Feng Yu replied. Zhang Chaoyang has a good understanding.

“But the scale will be very big. What if there are too many people registering for this program? Also, what should we do if there are a lot of outstanding performances?”

“Split them into four seasons. This program will be aired weekly. The first ten weeks will be used to pick the ones that can enter the next stage, and the last two weeks will be the finals. The talented performers will be split into different seasons, and we can guarantee they can move on to the next stage. This way, every season will be exciting. As for the winner, just give a Songjiang-Oriental Deer and 1 million RMB as the prize. Oh, we can also set up an agency and tell them that all of them have a chance to sign with our agency and will become a celebrity!”

“Manager Feng, is the prize money too high?”

“Too high? But if it’s not high, it will not be exciting. Look at the youth singing competitions. The prize money is so little, and the winner can only get a stupid trophy. What can you do with it? Even if the winner gets to enter the Cultural Arts Troupe, they are only paid pathetically. If they can become a superstar, they can earn a lot more. Just shooting an advertisement might be more than their one year’s salary.”

“But what about the directors and production crew? We don’t have these staff. We need an experienced team to produce this show, right?” Zhang Chaoyang asked.

“Hahaha... I had thought about this. I have someone in mind for the Chief Director. Chen Peisi. The judges will be Zhu Shimao, Na Ying, and Aaron Kwok. This cast must be made up of superstars. As for the lightings, camera crew, etc., Chen Peisi will handle it.”

In Feng Yu’s previous life, Chen Peisi had fallen out with CCTV due to royalties’ issues and was blacklisted for many years.

In this life, Feng Yu had helped CCTV paid their broadcasting rights. It is not a big amount, but it helped settle the conflict. Chen Peisi had still fallout with CCTV, but it was not as serious. At least, he was not blacklisted.

These two years, Chen Peisi could not write a good script and was staying at home. When Feng Yu told him he wants him to direct a TV program, he becomes interested. He had directed movies, TV series, plays but had never directed variety shows.

Chen Peisi has a crew, and if it is not enough, he can poach from other TV stations. Many people working in TV stations are not used to be working under strict restrictions. But if they can move over to Sohu, they might do better.

Feng Yu chose Ma Xi as the host of this program. He is the son of a famous Cross talker and is humorous. Furthermore, this program doesn’t need a good host. Feng Yu had wanted to get someone from CCTV but was rejected.

“Manager Feng, the production fees for this program will be too high, and you had set such high prize money. Will we lose money?” Zhang Chaoyang asked worryingly.

“Who says? Those judges, directors, and crew might be high, but they will be giving us a discount. After all, they are also trying this out, and they are my friends. As for the car and prize money, it will be sponsored by Bing City Manufacturing Group. The stage will be sponsored by Lehaha, and we will let them do some product placements. Other brands like Aiwa, Wind, and Rain, Lenovo, etc., will also be sponsoring this program, and all we need to do is to show their advertisements in between the show.”

“After this TV program is ready, we will let CCTV air it for free. But they can only air it once and cannot repeat it. Also, they are not allowed to re-edit it or cover any parts of the footage. They must air all the advertisements.”

“This is equivalent to CCTV helping us to advertise, and we are paying them for the adverting slots through this program, right?”

“Yes. Station Chief Jia had agreed, and everything will be fine as long as this program is good. We can also make a viewer voting segment during the finals. We can work with a mobile telecommunication company for viewers to vote for the winner through SMS. We can get some revenue from this.”

What Feng Yu said are what those TV programs from his previous life did. He consolidated all those ideas to form this <Wind and Rain – Got Talent Show>. It will definitely be more popular than other variety shows now.

“Don’t worry about all these. You only need to set up the online platform now. After this program is aired, and CCTV is not doing any reruns, people will have to come to our platform to watch it. Regardless they download it or watch it online, the number of users will increase. We can also buy broadcasting rights of other TV stations’ programs, movies, TV series, etc. In the future, when people want to watch a certain program, they might not know which channel it is on. But they will know it will be available on our Sohu Channel!”

Chen Peisi