Upstairs.
Central TV Department 14.
When Zhang Ye arrived, he did not go anywhere but went straight to Yan Tianfei's office. Old Yan was having dinner a little late today as he had just finished the lunch box that his wife had brought for him. His secretary was preparing to wash the lunch box for Old Yan.
"Director Zhang." The secretary smiled and nodded before leaving with the empty lunch box.
Yan Tianfei asked curiously, "Teacher Zhang, didn't you just get off the plane today? Why did you come back to work in the afternoon? I don't care about that short period of time. You guys have been busy for two months, it's time for you to take a break. The post-production, dubbing, editing, what's the rush? "
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I was just about to tell you."
Yan Tianfei asked, "What's the matter?"
"I would like our documentary to be broadcast on December 10th," Zhang Ye said directly.
Yan Tianfei was taken aback at first, then said thoughtfully, "Why does that date sound so familiar?"
Zhang Ye said, "Rise to the Dance will also be broadcast on that date."
Only then did Yan Tianfei remember. "I was wondering why it sounded so familiar!"
"I want to share the same date and time slot with them, so I came over to ask for your opinion." Zhang Ye said, "If you don't think it's possible, then we can talk about it again."
Yan Tianfei said without even thinking, "Why not? Since you're the executive director and also the only independent program team of our Department 14, I'll leave this to you. I won't interfere too much, but you can decide on the date and broadcast schedule yourself. Anyway, our Department 14 has a lot of time on our schedule, so you can choose any time slot from Monday to Sunday. If you think it's okay, then just do it. There's no need to ask me."
This time, it was Zhang Ye's turn to be taken aback. "Thank you."
Yan Tianfei chuckled and said, "Our department is different from Central TV Department 1. We're just a small organization, so we couldn't be happier for a famous domestic program planner, executive director, and host like you to join us. There aren't any restrictions either, so as long as you think it's okay, you can do anything you want. I'll give you the absolute say and decision-making power to do whatever you want. It doesn't matter what the viewership ratings are!"
If they wanted money and people, they could do whatever they wanted. They didn't even care about the viewership ratings — this was the first time Zhang Ye had come across a department like this. Naturally, Zhang Ye was also very grateful to Yan Tianfei. He knew that this was a sign of his respect and trust in him.
Zhang Ye said, "Director Yan."
Yan Tianfei waved it off. "I don't have that many rules here. I'll call you Little Zhang. You can just call me Old Yan."
"Alright." Zhang Ye had to live up to his respect, so he said, "Don't worry, I will definitely make this program good for you."
…
He returned to his own office.
A new sign had been hung on the door of Department 14's empty office block 3. It had the words "A Bite of China Program Team" written on it. Inside, there was a flurry of activity as more than 20 staff members were whispering to each other. Just think about how fast the news spread. In the ten minutes that Zhang Ye had gone to Old Yan's office, everyone already knew about it.
Little Wang stomped her feet anxiously. "Director Zhang is really going to challenge them?"
Tong Fu scowled miserably. "When the viewership ratings are out, how ugly will it be!"
"Right now, the entire Central TV is talking about this matter. I wonder how many people are waiting to watch the show … No, they're waiting to see us make a fool of ourselves!" Huang Dandan also gave a wry smile. "We're a documentary, how can we compete with a variety show? Moreover, it was a large-scale talent show that had invited Huo Dongfang, Fan Wenli, and Shen Lili? There was simply no way to compete! We're just a traditional documentary after all! "
Ha Qiqi was also silent for a long time.
Zhang Ye came in. "Why is everyone here?"
When everyone saw this, they hurriedly stopped their discussions and kept quiet.
Zhang Ye asked curiously, "Didn't I already say that I'll give you all a few days off? I can handle most of the matters here by myself, so you guys can all take a break."
Zhang Zuo said, "If you don't take a break, then we won't either."
Ha Qiqi said, "We can't let you handle everything by yourself."
Wu Yi said, "Let's wait for the post-production of the documentary to be completed before we take a break."
Everyone had gone through thick and thin together at The Voice, so there was still a tacit understanding between them. As such, everyone came to work today without exception. Even those colleagues who had flown back to Beijing with Zhang Ye in the morning also came to the office after lunch.
Zhang Ye was quite touched. "Alright, then let's work together one last time!" With a pause, he said, "Let me say something that I believe everyone already knows. I've just reported to Director Yan that our documentary is scheduled to be broadcast on December 10th. There's still half a month left, so let's try our best to get it done and approved as soon as possible."
Little Wang looked like she was crying and laughing at the same time. "Director Zhang, are we really going to work with Rise to the Dance …"
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "How would we know if we don't try?"
Little Wang said anxiously, "But there's no need to try. This is a documentary, so how …"
"Even if we change the broadcast time to another time, so what?" Zhang Ye said, "Everyone, you don't have to feel pressured. Doesn't it matter which day we broadcast it on? Who knows, with the popularity of Rise to the Dance, we might even be able to promote our documentary for free. We won't have to spend a single cent. "
When they thought about it, they agreed.
Even if they avoided the broadcast time of Rise to the Dance, not many people would watch their documentary anyway, so there wouldn't be much of a difference in the end result.
Following that, Zhang Ye started assigning tasks to them.
He did not idle around and started making calls one by one.
The first call:
"Hello, Director Qu, I've finally managed to reach you."
"Teacher Zhang, how are you? I was in a meeting just now."
"We have a show here that I believe you've heard about."
"I know, it's a documentary."
"You see, we had a good time working together on the secondary advertisement for The Voice. You know what kind of person I am, so this program will definitely not disappoint you. Right now, we still don't have a title sponsor, so you …"
"Aiya, I'm sorry, Teacher Zhang. We don't have much money recently and really can't afford it."
"We're making a documentary about food, so it's very suitable for your winery's brand."
"We really don't have enough funds. Next time, we'll definitely work together next time."
The second call:
"Hello, Boss Zhou, it's me."
"Director Zhang, long time no see."
"I've just made a documentary. In terms of advertising, your fruit juice drink …"
"Director Zhang, let me be honest with you. If you were making a variety show, or even a talk show, I would definitely fight to get the title sponsorship from you. But you're making a documentary now, and there's basically no commercial value in it. The viewership ratings are not good either, so I'm really sorry about that."
"The viewership ratings will definitely be much higher than you think."
"Maybe next time. The next time you make a variety show, I'll definitely look for you first. I'd even dare to invest 50 million RMB!"
After a few calls, there was still nothing.
Zhang Ye felt extremely helpless. This bunch of businessmen were too short-sighted!
Ha Qiqi also called back. "Director Zhang, it's not working. I've asked around seven or eight food and beverage related companies, but none of them are willing to buy our advertisement slots. There's only one company that is slightly interested, but when they heard that we won't be doing product placement in the documentary, they didn't agree to it either."
Zhang Ye explained, "This isn't a variety show, so the documentary itself has to be clean and tidy. There can't be any foul smells, or else it will affect the overall quality of the documentary. That's why we're selling the title sponsorship and advertisements at a place other than the documentary itself."
Ha Qiqi sighed. "Then it's even less attractive. I've already discussed the online broadcast rights with a few video hosting sites, and they're very willing to work with us. But the price they're offering is very low, almost negligible. It's as good as letting them broadcast it for free."
"Forget it, I'm already mentally prepared for that." Zhang Ye said, "If there's no advertisement slots, then so be it. We'll take it slowly after the documentary is broadcast."
Everyone in the program team felt that Director Zhang was overthinking things.
In the past few decades in China, there weren't many projects that could make money from documentaries, much less earn any advertising fees. This felt like a lunatic's dream!
He wanted to sell advertisement slots again?
He wanted to do the online broadcast of a variety show again?
He even wanted to compete with Rise to the Dance for airing at the same time?
No one in the program team knew what Zhang Ye was thinking. They were just a traditional documentary that was not loved by anyone, yet he still wanted to do it in the style of a variety show?
Zhang Ye did not explain anything to anyone. This was not going to work, so he did not insist on it. He immediately moved on to the next step of his work and arranged for the art designers to make the promotional poster for A Bite of China. Then he brought a group of people to edit the film and used only an hour to edit a three-minute trailer for A Bite of China. Or rather, it could also be called a promotional video. As long as it was accompanied with music and dubbing, it would be ready for broadcast.
The background music was a big job, and it was even more troublesome than dubbing for Zhang Ye himself. As such, he handed the job over to seven or eight people to do it. If it really did not work out, he could spend some money to hire someone from a music company to do it. Zhang Ye knew quite a few people in the music industry, and their program team still had some spare cash, so it should be enough. As for the editing and dubbing, it was pretty much all up to Zhang Ye to handle by himself. The others were only here to lend a hand and would not be of much help to him.
Work began!
"Director Zhang, I'm done with it."
"That won't do, make it more detailed."
"Director Zhang, will this poster do?"
"No, it's too thin. It's just a picture of a few farmers farming in the fields? That's too monotonous. "
"Uh, but we're only a program that introduces food ingredients and delicacies, this …"
"For a culinary program, we have to create an artistic atmosphere, especially the cover poster. It has to stand out even more. How about this? Change all the rice in the paddy fields into the shape of calligraphy."
"Calligraphy?"
"Yes, change the rice into calligraphy. From afar, it looks like rice, but from a closer look, the farmers are actually planting calligraphy. Oh right, make a few more posters. For example, a steaming hot dumpling. Make it into the shape of a mountain and add two real mountain peaks around it to set it off."
"Wow, this idea is so great!"
"Yeah, the atmosphere is instantly created!"
"Director Zhang is still the most professional."
"Isn't that obvious? How long has it been since Director Zhang started making his own commercials? Which one of his commercials isn't well known by everyone? In terms of publicity, no one can compare to us. Even if we don't do variety shows and do documentaries, even a skinny camel is still bigger than a horse! "
A Bite of China's program team was in full swing!
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