Traffic Star Development Program

Chapter 22 The Terrifying Aspects

Dilraba looked up. "Yes, I just signed the contract."

"Actor or singer?"

"actor."

Yang Shanshan said "Oh," and lowered her head to touch up her makeup again, without asking any further questions.

Zhang Tianai didn't say anything. She changed her shoes, stood up, picked up her bag, and paused as she passed Dilraba, glancing at the script in her hand. "Did the company give you this script?"

"No," Dilireba said, "I found it myself."

Zhang Tianai didn't say anything more and walked out.

The door closed, and Yang Shanshan glanced at Dilraba's reflection in the mirror without saying a word.

Dilraba lowered her head and continued reading the script.

No one reported this scene to Zeng Hao, and he didn't ask about it either.

The three of them are on different paths, and none of them affect the others; that's enough.

The filming of "Back to 20" was coming to an end. On the night of the wrap-up, Peng Bing sent Zeng Hao a message: "All filming is complete, no overtime, total expenditure 492 million."

Zeng Hao stared at the number 492 for a few seconds and replied with a single word: "Okay."

It saved 500 compared to the budget of 8 million. It wasn't much, but it didn't exceed the budget, so that's enough.

The post-production of theatrical films is more complex than that of web series. Color grading and sound mixing alone take two weeks. With editing and special effects added in, Zeng Hao set a deadline of September 10 for the post-production team to lock in the film, with the theatrical release scheduled for September 25.

While the later stages were underway, the publicity campaign was also launched simultaneously.

Zeng Hao condensed the publicity plan into three actions.

First, the theme song for "Lu Han" will be released two weeks before the film's release, on September 11th, which roughly coincides with the film's release date. The release platforms will be QQ Music and NetEase Cloud Music for a simultaneous premiere, rather than iQiyi. This ensures the theme song and the film are two separate dissemination channels, not tied together, allowing fans to naturally discover the connection between the two.

Secondly, the roadshow. Six cities were selected, not first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, but rather Wuhan, Chongqing, Xicheng, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Tianjin. These six cities share two common characteristics: large cinema box office and rapid dissemination of local entertainment information. Audiences in first-tier cities have too many choices and the competition is too fierce; it's better to penetrate the market thoroughly in box office strongholds.

Third, we don't buy trending topics; we only maintain natural dissemination.

The effectiveness of buying trending topics began to fail in 2015. Platform users have an instinctive ability to distinguish between artificially generated keywords and those that are artificially generated, and the credibility of natural dissemination is far higher than that of manual intervention.

The promotional plan was sent to Xu Wen, who read it and replied with a message, "President Zeng, let's not buy trending topics... what if it doesn't spread naturally before the film's release?"

Zeng Hao replied: "Leave the theme song to Lu Han's fans, leave the movie to word-of-mouth, and you are responsible for the execution of the roadshow. You don't need to worry about anything else."

Xu Wen did not ask any further questions.

Post-production on "Back to 20" was completed on September 9th, one day ahead of the deadline.

On the day the film was locked, Zeng Hao watched the entire finished film in the editing room.

The film is 103 minutes long, with a steady pace overall. The two emotional outbursts are handled without being overdone, and the ending is clean and concise.

He walked out of the editing room, Peng Bing following behind. "How did it go?"

Zeng Hao thought for a moment, "I can do it."

Peng Bing laughed. "That's it?"

"What do you want to hear?" Zeng Hao said, "Compliment your haircut?"

Peng Bing shook his head, both amused and exasperated. "President Zeng, can't you say something nice?"

"Once the box office results come out, people will naturally speak well of me," Zeng Hao said as he walked toward the parking lot. "You'll cooperate with Xu Wen on the roadshow. The Jiangcheng show is on September 18th. You and the lead actor both need to attend; no one can be absent."

Peng Bing responded with a "Okay" from behind.

Zeng Hao didn't say anything more, got into the car, started the engine, and drove out of the parking lot.

On September 11, Lu Han's theme song premiered on QQ Music.

Zeng Hao didn't look at the data; he put his phone on the table and continued to handle other company matters.

Two hours later, Sister Liu came in and said, "President Zeng, the theme song has surpassed two million plays on QQ Music in a single day. Someone on Weibo discovered that it is the theme song for 'Back to 20,' and Lu Han's fans are starting to spread the word."

Zeng Hao hummed in response, without looking up.

Everything is going as expected.

This is the terrifying aspect of traffic stars in this era.

Even if everything is a complete mess, their fans will still buy it like crazy.

Its heyday was from 2015 to 2018.

It wasn't until the "chaos in the fan circle" was called out by the authorities that it was hastily brought to an end in 2021.

Zeng Hao can be said to have been reborn into the golden age.

Sister Liu paused for a moment. "Any other instructions?"

"No," Zeng Hao said. "Have Xu Wen keep an eye on the roadshow arrangements. There can't be any problems with the Jiangcheng show on September 18th."

Sister Liu went out.

Zeng Hao put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.

Lu Han's fan base is a stable source of publicity in China. Once the theme song is released, this group of people will actively trace the source, find the movie, and spread the word.

This kind of promotion doesn't require spending money; you just need to wait.

He mentally reviewed the timeline before the September 25th release, but found no loopholes, and then opened his eyes.

My phone on the table vibrated. It was a message from Xu Wen: Yang Shanshan has some issues. She said her schedule is too packed and she wants to cancel two slots. She asked me to reschedule for her.

After reading it, Zeng Hao replied: "Those within the contract limit cannot be postponed. Let her read the contract herself, and if there are any problems, contact Sister Liu."

Xu Wen replied after a while: Okay, I'll handle it.

Zeng Hao put down his phone and made a small mark in the column for Yang Shanshan on his notebook.

This is the third time she has suggested reducing the number of announcements.

If you push someone to their limit again when they're nearing their critical point, something bad is bound to happen.

But the accident didn't happen now.

With the release of "Back to 20" imminent, the company's finances are not yet in good shape. Yang Shanshan's earnings from appearances are stable at between 220,000 and 250,000 yuan per month, and this line of income cannot be cut off at this point.

He wrote two words next to the mark in the notebook: End of the year.

Once the company's cash flow becomes more abundant and its cash flow structure changes, its reliance on Yang Shanshan will naturally decrease. Only then will it be the right time to address this issue.

It's all just a matter of time.

He closed the notebook and picked up another document on the table, which was Xu Kunkun's latest monthly training evaluation report.

Vocal performance B+, dance B+, and dialogue C+ have been upgraded to B-, while physical performance is now B.

The dance has improved from B to B+, and the dialogue is also getting better.

Zeng Hao paused for two seconds on the dialogue section, then wrote B-, an improvement from last month's C+. It wasn't fast, but it showed progress.

He recalled the look in Xu Kunkun's eyes in the listening area on the day Lu Han recorded the video.

He put down the evaluation report and wrote a line on the last page of the memo: Xu Kunkun, lines B or above, activate the boy group preparation plan.

After finishing writing, cap the pen and push the memo aside.

Autumn was approaching in Qianhu City outside the window, and the office building lights were on a little earlier than in summer. Zeng Hao glanced at the time, 6:40, stood up, grabbed his coat, and prepared to go out.

As I reached the door, my phone vibrated again. It was a message from Peng Bing: There was a problem with the color grading in post-production. There was a significant difference in color temperature between two scenes. The post-production supervisor said it would take two more days to fix. Would that affect the release date?