Chapter 1905: Wanhe Tianyi

Zhao Fusheng didn't stay there any longer. Seeing that it was about time, he and Fan Baobao left the set.

The crew still had night scenes to shoot. As the boss, staying there wouldn't help much; in fact, it might even make everyone nervous.

Rather than staying and being a nuisance, it was better to be sensible and leave.

Yu Feihong understood this too, so she didn't insist on Zhao Fusheng and Fan Baobao staying for dinner. She personally saw them to the door and then turned back to the set.

On the way back, Fan Baobao said to Zhao Fusheng with emotion, "I think Sister Feihong's aura is getting stronger and stronger. Just now on set, when those people bowed to her and called her 'director,' I was a bit surprised."

After all, she had known Yu Feihong for quite a while, and they mostly interacted as friends, rarely having opportunities like this.

In other words, Fan Baobao's impression of Yu Feihong was mostly that of a kind and amiable older sister, rarely seeing her as a decisive female director.

Now suddenly seeing this side of her, Fan Baobao was deeply impressed.

"What, do you want to be a director too?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled and asked Fan Baobao.

"Can I?"

Fan Baobao's eyes lit up, and she asked in surprise, "Being a director doesn't seem that easy."

"It's not as hard as you think."

Zhao Fusheng shrugged: "After you have the baby, you can go to the Central Academy of Drama for further study. Once you graduate, start with small-budget projects, take it step by step, and when you have enough experience, you can shoot big productions."

This was true. Even a bunch of singers could become directors, let alone a professional actor like Fan Baobao.

It was strange, really. Where did these people get the confidence? They thought that just because they could sing well, they could shamelessly make movies.

It could only be said that blind fans saved them, allowing them to make a fortune.

Zhao Fusheng didn't mind. He was an investor, and if someone was willing to pay for the movies he invested in, he was naturally quite happy.

As for other matters, he wasn't a relative of those audiences. If the movie wasn't good, and they were willing to pay for their idols, what did that have to do with him?

"Then I'll give it a try later."

Fan Baobao nodded at Zhao Fusheng's words.

She was genuinely tempted. The career of a director was novel to her, and besides, she had the conditions for it—after all, she was the boss lady of Future Film and Television, owning a film and television company.

It was said that money could make anything possible. In Zhao Fusheng's view, Fan Baobao could indeed do whatever she wanted, at least within the entertainment industry, without anyone posing a threat to her.

"No need to rush. You'll have your chance to shine."

Zhao Fusheng smiled but said nothing more.

The path he had set for Fan Baobao was simple: first study, then practice with online short films to gain experience, and when the time was right, go straight to shooting theatrical films.

This wasn't a joke; it was a clear fact.

As far as he could remember, there seemed to be companies that had succeeded this way.

China's online dramas were truly an industry with great potential. Without exaggeration, the business opportunities within were absolutely astonishing.

If one were to divide the development of online dramas into eras, then a year would certainly not be the best unit of measurement, because the rise and fall of internet giants created a rapidly changing battlefield. Today you might be on a high platform discussing grand strategies, and the day after tomorrow you could be merged and restructured, swallowed into a bigger fish's belly.

The curtain for video websites officially rose in 2006.

Starting with Hu Ge's short film "A Case of a Steamed Bun" in 2006, this video parody quickly spread across the internet, and the concept of video sharing emerged online.

That same year, the FIFA World Cup in Germany was allowed to be broadcast on the internet for the first time. Oriental Broadband obtained the digital broadcasting rights for the event, and the business opportunities in the online video industry began to emerge.

Video-sharing site YouTube quickly became popular in China, and Chinese video websites also sprang up in large numbers. According to data, that year, over 200 websites including Tudou, Blog China, and Blog World actively imitated the YouTube model. In the same year, Sina, Sohu, QQ, and Baidu also launched their own video services.

After the era of experience, search, and blogs, video websites opened the eyes of the internet that year.

At that time, Tudou had not yet merged with Youku and had only been established for about a year.

It was also in that year that Wanhe Tianyi's current CEO Fan Jun, at the invitation of founder Wang Wei, joined Tudou, established the Tudou advertising sales department, and met Bai Zhongchun, who was then a producer, and Tudou's first podcaster, "Professor Yi Xiaoxing."

Until the merger of Youku and Tudou in August 2012, online dramas had still not taken off.

But that year, Sohu Video, iQiyi, and Tencent Video reached an agreement to share resources in copyright and broadcasting. Earlier, in 2011, Tencent, Baidu, and NetEase had already started open platform strategies. The internet was slowly building every detail, connecting individuals to individuals, weaving a large net.

Although the basic channels for online film and television were gradually being built by video websites, in terms of content, micro-films and UGC content were popular, while the number of true online dramas was minimal, let alone emerging film and television companies. Video websites stood in abundance, but online film and television had not yet collectively entered the stage of industrial production; it was still in a primitive era.

From 2012 to 2013, the landscape of video websites changed: Youku and Tudou merged, and iQiyi also merged with PPS. Along with channel mergers, copyright competition intensified. The licensing fees for TV dramas, variety shows, and movies were high, making self-produced dramas a choice for video websites.

In 2011, Tudou went public, and Fan Jun chose to leave. In January 2012, together with Bai Zhongchun and Professor Yi Xiaoxing, he founded Wanhe Tianyi. Seeing the business opportunities in online film and television, they jointly created the short-form online drama "Surprise" in 2013, which became an instant hit upon release.

Unlike the previous advertising model of custom-made dramas and micro-films for clients, "Surprise" was a work after Wanhe Tianyi's business adjustment. It was a brand based on film and television after separating the production team from the creative team, and through it, they launched their own artists.

"Surprise" was different from micro-films at the time. This new genre, with its fast narrative pace and even a bit of ghostly attributes, used fragmented, nonsensical humor and short, fast-paced expressions to quickly win over the post-90s generation, the original internet natives.

Data from Youku showed that the first two seasons had over 100 million views per episode, surpassing the total views of many current online dramas. In the comments below the videos, a novel term often appeared: "weekly lifeline" (meaning relying on you to get through the week). Some even asked on Zhihu, "Will Professor Yi Xiaoxing become the second Stephen Chow?"

Classic lines like "My career is without regret. I think of that run under the sunset, that is my lost youth" and "Get a promotion and a raise, become general manager, become CEO, marry a fair, rich, and beautiful woman, and reach the peak of life" began to spread widely.

At a time when "loser culture, mourning culture, and grassroots" were prevalent, this dull-eyed, droopy-eyed character with a loser personality, who endured all kinds of life's blows but never gave up, suddenly became the darling of millions.

Wang Dazui became an internet symbol, leaping into the public eye with labels of self-mockery, sarcasm, and satire, along with the driving force behind him, Wanhe Tianyi.

After that, the series of works they released quickly entered the public eye and received a series of positive reviews.

Without exaggeration, if not for the later so-called "Surprise" feature film, the brand Wanhe Tianyi would have truly become a leading enterprise in China's internet short dramas.

However, the decision-makers of Wanhe Tianyi made a wrong decision at the most critical moment.

Or rather, they were deceived by the booming film market at the time, believing that it was time to reap the rewards.

As Zhao Fusheng recalled, after watching the "Surprise" feature film, he never watched any works by Wanhe Tianyi again.

The reason was simple: he found that Wanhe Tianyi's level was really just so-so. Apart from making online short dramas, they seemed unable to come up with anything new.

Even when just making short dramas, they could only play with a bunch of old jokes.

Under these circumstances, Wanhe Tianyi gradually disappeared from Zhao Fusheng's sight.

Fan Baobao's words just now reminded Zhao Fusheng. He suddenly realized that this might be an opportunity for him.

An opportunity to lay out the business of online short dramas.

After all, he was familiar with the history of internet development and knew clearly that in the next few years, online movies and online short dramas would become very influential brands.

Some TV dramas even gave up broadcasting on major satellite channels and chose to premiere on online platforms, still making a good profit.

In short, as long as one wasn't as greedy as Uncle Bo, generally speaking, if a TV drama was placed on an online platform, it could recover its costs just through click-through rates and view counts.

"What are you thinking about?"

Seeing Zhao Fusheng sitting there in a daze after speaking, Fan Baobao asked in confusion.

Zhao Fusheng snapped out of it and chuckled: "Nothing much. I just think that since you plan to be a director, maybe I should arrange some things in advance."

"Huh?"

Fan Baobao was taken aback, then shook her head: "No need to go to so much trouble. I don't mind."

She thought Zhao Fusheng was making arrangements for her sake, so she quickly said, "It's okay if I don't become a director. I just thought Sister Feihong looked really cool doing it, so I wanted to give it a try."

Zhao Fusheng laughed heartily, waved his hand, but said nothing more.

Some things were better left to tell her after they officially started.