After busying himself for the entire morning, the overall plan was finally completed.
Zhang Ye looked at the time and saw that it was almost lunchtime. However, he was not in a hurry to go downstairs to get his lunch. Instead, he did not waste any time and went to Yan Tianfei's office, which was not far from his office. There was a metal sign hanging on the door that read: Central TV Department 14's Director's Office.
Knock knock.
He knocked on the door.
"Come in, it's not locked." Yan Tianfei's voice came from inside.
Zhang Ye pushed the door open and entered. He found Yan Tianfei eating lunch. Tong Fu from Department 14, whom he had met earlier, was also inside and reporting to Yan Tianfei.
Tong Fu turned around and gave Zhang Ye a friendly smile, then continued, "Director Yan, I'll continue."
"Go on."
"For this week, our department's Crossing Shangri-La's viewership rating was 0.014%."
"Mhm."
"The second part of Returning to Xining, the nationwide viewership rating was 0.027%."
"Mhm."
"Visiting the Tribal Peoples, viewership rating was 0.066%."
"Oh."
"The Road to the CBA Basketball Championship, viewership rating was 0.092%."
A long list of viewership ratings was read out by Tong Fu.
Zhang Ye listened from behind. The more he heard, the colder his heart became and the more he sighed.
This viewership rating was too tragic!
No, it was too f * cking miserable!
0.0-something? Could this even be called a viewership rating? This was the current situation of Department 14? The current situation of the documentary industry? This was way too low! What did a 0.0-something viewership rating mean? For an ordinary TV show, be it a variety show or an interview show, this viewership rating was just a fraction of a percent! For The Voice, which Zhang Ye had created in this world, this viewership rating was almost zero!
Previously, when Zhang Ye was at Central TV Department 1, he had seen someone doing viewership ratings statistics and related tables. There was a very interesting statistic. Central TV Department 1 would stop broadcasting every day at 4 or 5 AM and turn into a fixed color image with a long beep in the background. Yes, it was this image with nothing going on all the way until the morning. Guess what the viewership rating was? It was fucking 0.02%! These were all people who had been watching Central TV Department 1 all night and had gone to sleep without switching off their televisions. That was why the viewership ratings for that period of time could be calculated based on the sampling data. Putting aside the accuracy and accuracy of the data, this was indeed reported as data!
What did that mean?
Central TV Department 1's program that was halted late at night had a higher viewership rating than a small portion of Central TV Department 14's programs that were aired during the day or even during primetime. As for the other programs of Department 14 that had higher viewership ratings than Central TV's halted broadcast, they weren't actually that much higher. The highest viewership rating was a sports documentary about the CBA league, but it didn't even reach a viewership rating of 0.1%!
This was an inhumane tragedy!
This was a tragedy that could not be looked at directly!
Zhang Ye didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Once again, he had a deeper and more intuitive understanding of this world's documentary channel. No wonder this channel's viewership ratings were at the bottom of all the Central TV channels!
Alas, luckily I'm here!
Give this bro a fulcrum, and this bro can move the earth for you!
Over there.
Yan Tianfei nodded and said expressionlessly, "I understand."
Tong Fu smiled. "Then eat. I won't disturb you any further."
After Tong Fu left, Yan Tianfei called out to Zhang Ye, "Have a seat."
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Whoa, it smells so good." He looked at the two lunchboxes on his desk and asked, "Did you prepare these yourself?"
Yan Tianfei pointed at the lunchboxes and said, "My wife brought these for me this morning and reheated them in the microwave at noon. It saves me a lot of trouble. You came at the right time. There's quite a lot of food today, so let's eat together. Have a seat."
Zhang Ye said, "No, I'll go to the cafeteria later."
"The food over there isn't much to it." Yan Tianfei laughed and said, "Have a taste of my wife's cooking. I guarantee it won't taste the same as the rice from the cafeteria. I also have disposable chopsticks here. Come."
Seeing that Old Yan was not being polite and was really inviting him to eat together, Zhang Ye did not reject him. "Alright, I'll bask in your glory then. The food in the cafeteria downstairs is really getting more and more confusing."
After eating for a while.
Yan Tianfei finally said, "What's the matter? What are you holding?"
Zhang Ye handed over a stack of draft paper. "It's the program proposal that I mentioned to you this morning. Can you take a look at it?"
"You're done already?" Yan Tianfei was a little taken aback.
Zhang Ye said, "I started preparing it over the weekend."
Yan Tianfei took it from him and gave it a few glances in surprise.
Zhang Ye stopped eating and introduced, "At the front is the program preparation, followed by the filming arrangements, the estimated schedule, and so on."
Yan Tianfei praised, "As expected of Teacher Zhang. With just a glance, you can tell that the program planners in our department are not on the same level as you." Yan Tianfei flipped through the draft paper quickly but did not read it in detail. Then he put down the proposal and said, "Alright, we'll do it according to what I mentioned to you this morning. Once this program is approved, you'll be the executive producer and executive director. The original team members of The Voice will be at your disposal. If you don't have enough manpower, you can also lend a few people from Section 1 to help out. The shooting schedule is up to you, and it doesn't matter when you finish filming."
It was approved just like that?
He didn't even take a closer look at it? That was too casual!
Zhang Ye felt helpless. He knew that Old Yan did not take this program seriously and did not take it seriously at all. He probably did not even read the content of the program or how it would be filmed. He was probably just giving Zhang Ye some face and letting him make a documentary for fun. He did not expect Zhang Ye to produce any kind of documentary, right? In any case, Department 14 had always been on the brink of collapse. It didn't matter if it was handed over to the original team members to make the documentary or Zhang Ye. It would be a documentary with a 0.0-something viewership rating that not many people would watch, so it would be the same no matter who made it, right? Yan Tianfei would definitely feel that there was no difference.
If it was shot differently, it would only be 0.0-something.
If it was shot well … it would only be 0.0-something.
What was the practical difference between 0.01% and 0.09% viewership ratings?
He had guessed correctly. That was what Yan Tianfei really thought.
It wasn't that Yan Tianfei did not trust Zhang Ye, but that Old Yan had been at Department 14 for the past two to three years and had given him a good understanding of the domestic documentary industry. The more he understood, the more he realized how deep the waters of this industry were. To them, or perhaps to their department, the most ideal place for a domestic documentary industry to reach was to produce a documentary independently and win a domestic artistic award. By taking the high-end route of the arts, they could earn a good reputation and make a name for themselves. As for the viewership ratings? He had never expected a documentary to have any viewership ratings. The phrase "viewership ratings" in the domestic documentary industry was just a nonsensical extravagant hope. It was something that could not be obtained even if one wished for it! It was not only Central TV Department 14 that was like this. The other domestic television stations and the documentary industry were more or less the same. No one was laughing at each other and no one was any better than the other!
Zhang Ye suggested, "Director, why don't you take a look at it first?"
Yan Tianfei nodded and said, "Alright, I'll take a closer look at it over the next few days."
Zhang Ye said, "Then about the production budget …"
Yan Tianfei said straightforwardly, "I've already said this morning that I'll approve a million yuan for you guys to shoot as you please! You don't have to report to me for approval even if there's any extra money left after the shoot. If you still want to shoot another documentary, you can go ahead and shoot a second one. Our department doesn't have that many restrictions, so there's a lot of freedom here! "
Extra money?
A second documentary?
If the cost of the equipment was included, a million yuan wouldn't even be enough to shoot a single episode!
What Zhang Ye was most worried about was the production budget. The shortfall was too big, so much so that he was too embarrassed to ask for it. "Ahem, about that, Director Yan, about the money … uh, could it be …"
Yan Tianfei was taken aback. "What? Don't tell me that the money isn't enough? "
Now that he had asked about this, Zhang Ye found it hard to answer. Thinking about it carefully, Old Yan had indeed treated him quite well. He had approved the proposal without even looking at it too much, giving him the manpower and authority that he wanted. It was also their first time meeting and they were not familiar with each other yet, so how was Zhang Ye supposed to ask for it?
Zhang Ye could only say, "No."
Yan Tianfei asked, "Then what did you want to say just now?"
Zhang Ye had already thought about it before coming here, so he settled for the next best thing and said, "I would like to borrow a few sets of HD recording equipment. From the machines to the accessories, I want everything. It would be best if there could be three sets. That way, it would be able to support the simultaneous multi-threaded recording of three teams in different provinces and regions. It would increase the speed of our work by several times."
Yan Tianfei was stunned. "HD equipment? Three sets? "
Zhang Ye said, "Yes."
He probably wouldn't be able to get the money, but if he could get the HD equipment, it would save him a lot of money. The machines and accessories were not cheap, much less three sets of equipment that could be used independently.
Yan Tianfei asked, "Why do you insist on three sets?"
Zhang Ye said, "I want to finish recording by December. It's written in the proposal that I want to record more. After all, it's going to be winter soon. If the weather gets too cold, we won't be able to record some of the scenes."
Yan Tianfei wondered, "Why do you insist on HD equipment? Can't you film with normal equipment? "
"Our channel also has HD signals now. Although the programs in the station follow the standard image quality, and the domestic documentaries have always done the same, I still feel that it's too wasteful. If there's an HD signal output, then the HD programs would definitely be more valuable. Besides, the value of HD equipment is not only in terms of image quality. Many professional shots and close-up shots that can be magnified several times can only be produced with HD cameras," Zhang Ye said.
Yan Tianfei said, "But no one uses HD equipment to film a documentary, right?"
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "We can be the first to try it."
Yan Tianfei said, "But the cost of filming will be greatly increased, and it won't be just by a little bit. Have you thought about this?"
Zhang Ye said, "That's why I'm hoping that you can help us solve the problem of the equipment. Does our channel have it?"
"We don't. That stuff is too expensive and a waste of money. The station has never allocated it to our channel before either." Yan Tianfei gave it some thought, then said, "Central TV Department 1 does have quite a lot of HD equipment, but I don't have a good relationship with their directors and deputy directors. Even if I wanted to borrow it, I wouldn't be able to do so. Also, there are two sets for the foreign language programs and four or five sets for the Sports Channel. I have a good relationship with their directors, so it shouldn't be a problem if I insist on borrowing it."
Zhang Ye was amused. "Then I'll have to trouble you!"
Yan Tianfei threw up his hands. "I can only say that I'll give it a try. Who knows if they'll really need it."
"I'll only borrow it for two months at most. I'll get everyone to work overtime and finish recording as soon as possible. After that, I'll return it to our sister channel!" Zhang Ye immediately promised.
Yan Tianfei added, "But I won't be able to borrow anyone. The cameramen and reporters at our channel might not necessarily be able to use those professional equipment."
Zhang Ye laughed. "It's fine, I know how to do it!"
Yan Tianfei didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He did not take Zhang Ye's words seriously and only felt that Zhang Ye was making an excuse to get his hands on the HD equipment. As such, he did not say anything else.
Actually, Zhang Ye really knew how to do it!
In the previous lottery draw, Zhang Ye had not only won 100 Directing Skill Experience Books, he had also won 101 Cinematography Skill Experience Books. He more or less knew how to use the equipment needed for filming. 101 Experience Books was not a small sum. Even if he couldn't be considered a professional, it wouldn't be a problem for him to be proficient in it!
Well, now that he had settled the issue of the equipment, he wouldn't need to purchase these things by himself. That also meant that he wouldn't need to spend 10 million yuan to film the show. If he scrimped a little more and squeezed a little, six to seven million yuan should be enough? That was good news! He had reduced the production budget by quite a bit, but the bad news was still the same as before!
Where was he going to get the rest of the money? He had to think of a way!
The documentary that Zhang Ye was going to film this time was one of the famous signature shows of the documentary industry back in his previous world. It wasn't that he couldn't shoot it even if he didn't have enough money. No matter how much the production budget was, he could still get a decent documentary out of it. But if he did that, the quality of the program would definitely be greatly discounted. It definitely wouldn't be able to achieve the desired viewing effect and viewership ratings. This was something that Zhang Ye could not accept. Zhang Ye would not do such a thing!
It was fine if he didn't do it, but if he wanted to do it, he would do it to the best of his abilities!
In fact, Zhang Ye was even thinking of increasing the production budget. He even wanted to use a production budget that was even richer than his previous world's to carefully craft this classic documentary. He wanted to let the entire country's people and the entire world see the pinnacle of the Chinese documentary industry!
Money!
Money!
How was he going to fill the gap of several million yuan??
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
