Depressive Screenwriter

The next day, the viewership ratings for the eleventh episode of Gu Xiang Si Qu continued to rise, reaching 3.38%.

Ten years ago, it would have been difficult for a work with mediocre initial viewership ratings to experience such rapid growth in later episodes.

After all, viewers didn't have channels to catch up on missed episodes, and they often had to rely on TV reruns to catch up and eventually watch in sync, which was too restrictive.

But with online platforms like Sakura Net, everything fell into place.

Gu Xiang Si Qu's paid viewership on online platforms this season was second only to Hua Zhong Ren, which had the highest seasonal viewership rating. As Gu Xiang Si Qu's popularity grew, it was only a matter of time before it took over the top spot from Hua Zhong Ren on online platforms.

Now, the dramas produced and broadcast by various TV stations during the autumn season were basically reaching their finales.

Originally, Ye Ying was hovering around the edge of the top ten. Without Gu Xiang Si Qu, its viewership rating would have just barely made it into the top ten.

However, after Gu Xiang Si Qu's viewership rating entered the top ten and squeezed out one spot, Ye Ying's viewership rating dropped to 11th to 13th place for two consecutive weeks.

There were only two episodes left before Ye Ying concluded its broadcast.

At this point,

the battle between Su Yan and Kiyota Sanji, the strongest new screenwriter at Sakura TV, was without any suspense.

Su Yan also became famous throughout the entire TV station thanks to the success of Gu Xiang Si Qu.

News about Su Yan's every move spread throughout the TV station in less than half a day.

Especially a rumor that started circulating on Tuesday.

"Have you heard? That Su Yan seems to have submitted a new script to the production department for the January winter season."

"Yes, yes, I heard that too. The production department's Deputy Director Koike is working hard these days, preparing to ask the production department to squeeze out a budget for her."

"Alas, before the production department meeting, the scripts that could be approved and receive funding were basically determined. Suddenly, Su Yan's new work appeared, and some screenwriters and producers are going to have a hard time. If Su Yan's new script is to be approved, either the budget of other dramas will be cut, or the approval of some dramas will be directly revoked, and the entire budget will be given to Su Yan."

"I heard that the investment in several projects originally confirmed in the group led by Akasaka Yoshitoki is going to be cut to give way to Su Yan's new drama."

"Ah? Really? Cutting the projects of producers under Akasaka Yoshitoki? It's always been Akasaka Yoshitoki treating others like that. Is there anyone who can treat him like that?"

"Success speaks for itself. Su Yan's Rurouni Kenshin and Gu Xiang Si Qu have earned the station a lot of money, so the station will definitely give him the green light."

"The news I heard is that they are directly cutting the budget of one C-level drama and one web drama under Akasaka Yoshitoki to give to Su Yan's new drama."

"What the heck! Transferring the budget of two projects to Su Yan's new drama, doesn't that mean his new drama's treatment will start with a B-level drama investment?"

"Of course! The TV station naturally won't be stingy with a screenwriter who has proven his commercial value twice in a row. Maybe it's not just B-level drama treatment, but A-level drama investment."

"Don't even think about A-level treatment. The A-level drama that the station will broadcast in January has already been decided. Because it's a fantasy drama, there are many special effects scenes that need to be produced in advance, so the budget has been allocated to that work several months in advance. It's impossible to free up a budget for an A-level drama."

"It's indeed unlikely to allocate such a huge amount of money to Su Yan's new drama temporarily, after all, the budget given by the TV station's higher-ups in the winter season is even lower than in the autumn season. But for a new screenwriter, the first work in the summer season is a web drama, the second work in the autumn season is a C-level drama, and the third work in the winter season is likely to be a B-level drama. This is already extremely heaven-defying."

"Damn it, I'm so envious. Is this what a genius is? If Su Yan's new work in the winter season is as good as Gu Xiang Si Qu, wouldn't it be possible for him to have his script approved for an A-level drama or even an S-level drama in the TV station in another year or two?"

"That also depends on whether his works can continue to be so popular. Are there few geniuses who are popular for a year and then fade into obscurity in the history of the Xia country's film and television industry?"

Throughout the day, the heat of the discussion about Su Yan within Sakura TV even exceeded that of some veteran, gold-medal screenwriters and producers.

A genius screenwriter who stepped on Akasaka Yoshitoki's nephew to rise to the top is now even more incredible, and has already begun to step on Akasaka Yoshitoki's head.

Isn't this topic full of highlights?

Even if Akasaka Yoshitoki's information is closed, he naturally noticed that his prestige within the TV station has been damaged.

Su Yan.

Akasaka Yoshitoki took a deep breath and slowly calmed down the emotions in his heart.

On Thursday, the production department meeting was held.

What happened at this meeting became vivid in the word-of-mouth among Sakura TV's internal staff.

Akasaka Yoshitoki said at the production department meeting that Su Yan was just a newcomer, his creative ability was unstable, and the new script submitted didn't show any obvious highlights. The TV station should guard against risks and shouldn't bet heavily on newcomers.

But Koike Ayaka slapped Akasaka Yoshitoki in the face at the meeting.

She criticized Akasaka Yoshitoki's nephew, Kiyota Sanji, for being incompetent and not as successful as Su Yan. Akasaka Yoshitoki didn't think about guarding against risks when he supported Kiyota Sanji, which was obviously double standards.

She also brought up the kinship between Kiyota Sanji and Akasaka Yoshitoki on the table.

Several high-level executives in the production department quarreled with each other every quarter to compete for the budget, but they rarely were so intense.

The whole station was eating melons online together.

This is the chain reaction brought about by the success of Su Yan's two works.

Even if Akasaka Yoshitoki still wanted to suppress Su Yan, the production department's director, Yoshizaki Shigeharu, couldn't agree.

He directly made a final decision at the production department meeting.

On Friday, Su Yan, who was still filming the last episode of Gu Xiang Si Qu on the set, learned the news from Shinozaki Ikumi.

The script for To the Moon passed the production department's project approval meeting and received the TV station's B-level drama investment approval.

The allocated amount was 25 million.

"It's a pity that the TV station's budget has been reduced again this season, otherwise we should have been able to fight for a higher investment amount," Shinozaki Ikumi said with some regret.

"There is no perfect thing in this world," Su Yan said with satisfaction.

Filming To the Moon into a live-action drama doesn't have too many big scenes in itself. Of course, investment can always be spent, but for To the Moon, this investment is enough to film it with quality and quantity, and even invite some famous and powerful stars to participate.

In fact, Su Yan was initially most worried that the script of "To the Moon", which had a relatively bland plot in the first few episodes, would be rejected by the production department, rather than the amount of funds allocated by the TV station.

The production department of such a large TV station as Sakura TV is not stupid, and they must have noticed these problems, but out of confidence in Su Yan and the success of Rurouni Kenshin and Gu Xiang Si Qu, this time, they chose to believe in Su Yan unconditionally.

"Then, will you participate in any roles in To the Moon?"

Shinozaki Ikumi's mood was naturally very good that To the Moon was so easily supported by the TV station, and at this time she had already begun to consider the filming plan for the To the Moon crew.

"I don't have any suitable roles to participate in this drama," Su Yan smiled after thinking about it.

"Forget about the leading roles, but Kiyo and I can participate in some minor supporting roles in the later scripts, which can be regarded as attracting fans of Gu Xiang Si Qu and Rurouni Kenshin to To the Moon... Well, also, in the last few episodes of this drama, some special effects shots need to be produced. I will write out the scripts for those shots that need to be added with special effects, and Producer Shinozaki, you may have to find some special effects companies to produce them first."

"Special effects?" Shinozaki Ikumi's expression showed suspicion.

"Very complicated special effects?"

The Xia country's film and television market is said to be filmed and produced simultaneously, but it actually depends on the situation.

Dramas without special effects shots can do this, after all, the post-processing is just editing, dubbing and other routine work.

But dramas with special effects shots are not too different from Su Yan's previous life, and the production cycle is not short.

"It won't be particularly complicated. It's only a few minutes of footage in total, and it will basically appear in the last episode. The production time of the special effects should be enough," Su Yan said.

Those special effects shots are actually the rocket launch at the end of To the Moon and the scene where the male protagonist drives the spaceship to the moon.

It's not difficult to make, but it's extremely important, and it's one of the highlights of To the Moon.

A few more days passed, and another Sunday arrived.

It was the day of the premiere of the twelfth episode of Gu Xiang Si Qu.

Su Yan's fans had no idea that he had already begun to be distracted by the new drama's crew building work.

At this point, Gu Xiang Si Qu finally entered the last chapter of the entire work.

The most regrettable chapter of the entire work.