A few days later, Lu Sijia reported that there was a pretty good script, and she planned to buy it. The price wasn’t high, just 180,000. If we negotiated, it could go a little lower.
Out of curiosity, Chen Feng came over to take a look. It was an urban romance drama, not too lengthy, just around two to three hundred thousand words.
The script’s content is quite simple. It tells the story of a third-year female college student whose father is hospitalized with cancer, and she meets and falls in love with her father’s chief surgeon. Of course, it also includes the ever-popular love triangles and quadrangles.
The story content is quite flat and not particularly innovative. Chen Feng spent more than an hour skimming through, not finding anything outstanding about it.
However, he was certainly an outsider when it came to scripts and film production, so he asked Lu Sijia if she was optimistic about the script. Lu Sijia gave an affirmative response, and Chen Feng didn’t dwell on it, immediately stating to buy it. As for whether to start production, it would require collective discussion before making a decision. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ N(o)vᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt
Lu Sijia moved quickly. The next day, she spent 150,000 to purchase this script named "Please give me more advice in the rest of my life" and immediately started the process of project initiation for the TV series.
To this end, several company executives held a project initiation meeting. Chen Feng, the boss, and consultant Zhao Guoqing were present. Furthermore, managers at various levels also attended.
Although positions like the financial manager, administrative and HR manager, publicity manager weren’t exactly field-specific for this, three heads are better than one, and they were all at the management level, so it was necessary to ensure their sense of participation.
"Everyone should have read the script. Please each give your opinions."
Although Chen Feng sat in the main seat, the meeting was chaired by General Manager Lu Sijia, who first laid out the theme of this meeting.
Liu Ying was the first to ask, "How much budget does this project need?"
Lu Sijia said, "The project hasn’t been initiated yet, so there’s naturally no talk of a budget. We can estimate the budget and make a budget table once the project is successfully initiated."
Liu Ying frowned and asked, "You’re the one who initiated this project, so you should have a rough idea of the budget. If it’s too high, I suggest abandoning the project. Our company has just been established, so we shouldn’t invest too much in the first project."
Wu Mengting also said, "Our company’s first film and television project does indeed need to be conservative with investments. However, I personally have high hopes for ’Please give me more advice in the rest of my life.’ Since it’s an urban drama, as long as we don’t hire extremely famous stars, the investment shouldn’t be too much."
Lu Sijia nodded and said, "That’s right. Chairman Chen previously told me to keep the cost of our company’s first TV drama production below ten million. Therefore, I selected this script among many others. From just reading the script, this urban drama doesn’t have any grand scenes, so costumes, settings shouldn’t cost much. As for casting, we’d prioritize choosing from our company’s talents for the main roles, and for some less critical roles, we don’t need to hire high-paid actors, so the production cost can definitely be controlled within ten million."
Sun Xiaorui began, "I read the script yesterday, and I think it’s pretty good, very touching and sweet. The male lead is cold on the outside but warm on the inside, very caring, and is also a young, handsome doctor. From the perspective of an average female audience, I would like a male lead like that. Of course, the actor playing the male lead must be handsome, with suitable acting skills. I think those two young male artists from our company match the look requirement fairly well."
"So, are you in favor of initiating the project?" Lu Sijia asked Sun Xiaorui.
"Of course. I believe if this drama is shot well, it has the potential to be a hit."
"What about everyone else’s opinion?" Lu Sijia looked towards the others.
HR and Administration Manager Xu Hai Xia stated, "I also agree to initiate the project."
Following her, the managers of the Publicity and Planning departments also voiced their approval.
"Although I’m not very optimistic about this drama, it does require minimal funding, so we can give it a try." Wu Mengting, perhaps unsurprisingly, also stated her approval.
Hu Rui also added, "This drama’s advantage is low cost. We can give it a try. Furthermore, the company should prioritize having our artists lead the cast."
Finally, aside from Chen Feng, only Liu Ying and Zhao Guoqing had not expressed an opinion, so everyone’s eyes turned to them.
Liu Ying spoke first, "I think the cost of this drama should ideally be kept under five million. Exceeding that would be somewhat risky."
Lu Sijia frowned slightly at this but said nothing. She turned to Zhao Guoqing and asked, "Mr. Zhao, what’s your opinion?"
Zhao Guoqing was undoubtedly the most experienced in the room, having worked in the film industry for decades and directed numerous films and TV shows.
Zhao Guoqing slowly responded, "Honestly speaking, the quality of this script isn’t very high. It can’t be considered bad, but it’s just about passable. Buying it for 150,000 can’t be considered expensive; it’s about the market price. As for turning it into a TV series, there’s definitely some risk involved. Of course, before any film or TV series is released, no one can guarantee it will definitely make money. We can only try to minimize this risk.
If we want to meticulously produce this TV drama, even without hiring those high-fee stars, we need at least an investment of ten million to ensure the quality of the scenes, costumes, and makeup. Otherwise, the production might end up lacking. But are we really willing to risk investing ten million, or even more, on what seems like an ordinary urban drama?