Fortunately, Cao Zhiqiang didn't have to wait long. The phone rang again. When he picked it up, it turned out to be Yongshan Kozo.
Only after asking this question did I know that it was really a big deal. This big deal could be summed up in one sentence: Sayuri Yoshinaga stopped acting.
Specifically, during the filming process, Sayuri Yoshinaga always added scenes for herself, and then Ryoko Sakuma and Yuko Furotegawa also followed the same example. They both added scenes for themselves without permission during filming, which caused great dissatisfaction among others.
It's just that Yoshinaga Sayuri, Sakuma Ryoko and Furukawa Yuko are too popular, so even if the other actors are dissatisfied, they don't dare to object openly. They just keep asking him, the director, for explanations.
Although Kozo Nagayama was the director, he couldn't suppress Sayuri Yoshinaga, so he called Cao Zhiqiang, hoping that he would come forward and come up with a solution.
Cao Zhiqiang frowned after hearing this, knowing that this was a big-name incident.
Tsao has never encountered the phenomenon of acting like a big name before, not because Tsao was lucky in the past, but because the filming situation was good.
For example, when Cao Zhiqiang personally filmed "Love in the Ancient Pavilion", he was the absolute master. He was also the producer, director, screenwriter and leading actor. The entire crew had to hang around him and everyone had to listen to him. Naturally, no one People play big cards for him.
Later, when filming "101 Proposals", although Cao Zhiqiang did not star in it himself, he hired actors with whom he had a close relationship, such as Akina Nakamori and Kyoko Koizumi, or who were very dedicated and humble themselves, such as Tetsuya Takeda, so the entire filming crew The shooting atmosphere was very good, and there were no actors acting like celebrities.
As for the few MTVs that Cao Zhiqiang shot, let alone them. They were originally his ideas and his songs, so naturally he had the final say.
But it's different now.
Now when I was filming "Tokyo Love Story", because of a cocktail party, Cao Zhiqiang accidentally met many Japanese first-line stars, and for various reasons, they were all willing to star in Cao Zhiqiang and Nagayama Kozo's new drama.
The so-called star-studded show is this "Tokyo Love Story".
However, the gathering of celebrities not only brings traffic and attention, but also brings a disadvantage, which is the lack of a backbone.
Originally, the male and female protagonists should be the proper backbone and the number one person, but in this TV series they are not.
For example, Sayuri Yoshinaga was definitely the number one actress, but she only played the second female lead in the film, and the real heroine was given to Akina Nakamori.
However, although Sayuri Yoshinaga gave up the heroine, during the actual filming process, Sayuri Yoshinaga kept adding scenes for herself, as if she regarded herself as the heroine.
She got this bad idea, and Ryoko Sakuma and Yuko Furotegawa, who had a good relationship with her, also followed the same example and began to add drama to themselves.
It's troublesome enough to add one person to the scene, but suddenly there are two more people. How can others act?
There is only so much time for one scene, and the three of you have been filmed, so what else can we film for other people’s scenes?
If this continues, Yoshinaga and Sayuri will become the protagonists, and the entire story will change drastically.
Under normal circumstances, if something like this happens, the director should suppress it immediately, but Nagayama Kozo is too junior to suppress it.
Although he persuaded everyone, no one was satisfied, and many actors eventually stopped acting.
For example, Yutaka Nanjo stopped performing in anger.
Because of this, Nagayama Kozo called himself.
"Isn't it?" Cao Zhiqiang said speechlessly, "We have just started shooting, and within two days of shooting, something like this can happen?"
Indeed, less than two days have passed from the launch ceremony to now, and during this time, he has been accompanying Zhu Lin and Xu Qingdong from China, walking around Tokyo.
I thought nothing would happen in such a short time, but unexpectedly something happened.
This came too quickly.
"Who says it's not?" Nagayama Kozo smiled bitterly on the phone, "Don't tell me, I didn't expect it to be so soon."
Cao Zhiqiang frowned: "Why didn't Mingcai mention it to me, but you told me?"
Nagayama Kozo said: "Maybe it's because Miss Akina doesn't want you to worry about it. After all, she said that you are receiving distinguished guests from China, and she doesn't want you to be distracted by this. I hope I can handle the matter myself, but I really I had no choice, so I came to find you."
Cao Zhiqiang said speechlessly: "If you come to me for this kind of thing, what can I do? It's more useful to come to your father than to me!"
Yes, Nagayama Kozo's father status is unusual. If he comes forward, this kind of thing will definitely be suppressed easily.
Unexpectedly, Yongshan Kozo said: "Cao Sang, you are joking. How could my father come forward for this kind of thing? Don't say that I can't bear to beg him. Even if I really go to him, he won't care about this kind of thing."
Cao Zhiqiang sighed: "I'm sorry, I can't help you. If it doesn't work, you can just find another actor. Anyway, the filming has just started now, so there is no loss in changing actors."
"How can this work?" Nagayama Kozo said, "Let's not mention that we have signed a contract with the actor, and we will have to pay liquidated damages for breaking the contract without authorization. Let's talk about Sayuri Yoshinaga. If we really dare to fire him, she will not let it go.
It’s just Sayuri Yoshinaga, but don’t forget, she also has a husband, who is my boss’s boss! "
Cao Zhiqiang laughed angrily: "Then what do you think we should do? You can't do anything, so what can I do? In the worst case, I will shelve it and stop filming. Anyway, I didn't invest in this movie."
Indeed, the drama "Tokyo Love Story" was produced by a joint venture between Fuji TV Drama Production Center and Warner Pioneer, and Cao Zhiqiang did not contribute any money.
Cao Zhiqiang did not pay, mainly because the nature of TV series and movies are different. If he paid for the filming, the cost-effectiveness would be too low.
TV series, unlike movies, are supported by box office.
During this period, if TV dramas wanted to make money, they could only earn money from advertising and sell copyrights, or broadcast rights.
Whether it is advertising revenue or broadcast rights, it is the TV station that has the final say.
Therefore, if Cao Zhiqiang wants to invest money, he can only earn broadcast rights and copyrights, but not advertising revenue.
The problem is that these days, the income from broadcast rights and copyrights of TV series is not high, and it is incomparable with movies. After all, the bulk of it is actually advertising income, and this income can only be eaten by the TV station alone, and the producers cannot get it. .
On the contrary, the script provider, that is, the screenwriter, can get an additional copyright fee. This copyright fee is not fixed and will increase or decrease based on the ratings.
In short, if TV dramas were made independently during this period without the relevant production department of the TV station, the returns would not be high, at least not comparable to investing in movies.
When he was filming "101 Proposals" before, Cao Zhiqiang invested in it because he was afraid that no one would film it and the project would die.
But now that Fuji TV's TV drama production bureau is willing to pay for the film, and Warner is also willing to pay part of the money, Cao Zhiqiang naturally does not have to pay.
Instead of spending money to invest in TV series, it would be more profitable to invest in TV series peripherals, such as TV series soundtracks and TV series character costumes.
The most typical example is "Sensen Clothing", a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aiyin Office.
This clothing company is actually a clothing company invested by Aiyin Office. However, this clothing company does not have its own factory. It only has an office including a design department and a sales department, and a well-decorated store.
However, all the costumes of this clothing company are designed according to the costumes of various characters in "101 Proposals", including the clothes of the male and female protagonists and related supporting roles.
After registering the intellectual property rights for the styles and designs of these clothes, they entrust other clothing factories to produce them, which is euphemistically called OEM.
After that, these OEM products were put on the shelves of Sensen Clothing’s flagship store and officially sold to the outside world.
At the same time, this clothing store also ran several TV commercials, in which characters from "101 Proposals" appeared, such as Akina Nakamori and Tetsuya Takeda, as well as other supporting male and female characters.
Not only are the actors in the commercial the original cast of "101 Proposals", but even the commercial song is pretty good.
Cao Zhiqiang personally "composed" the song "Sad as Snow" (Sad as Falling Snow), and asked Akina Nakamori and Tetsuya Takeda to star in the commercial.
The artistic conception of the advertisement is also very good. It starts with the snow falling in the sky. The heroine looks up at the snow with a sad face, and recalls her dead ex-boyfriend, while the male protagonist passes by her with his head downcast, his face Full of helplessness and frustration.
Later, there are some clips from "101 Proposals" interspersed. These shots are of course authorized.
The final ending is when the heroine returns to the place where she usually commemorates her ex-boyfriend. At this time, the sky is still covered with snow, but her face is no longer sad and helpless, but happy and hopeful.
At the end, that is, after the official music disappeared, the heroine Akina Nakamori shouted to the sky: "Don't worry, I will live a good and happy life, because, because someone needs me more, I will Love him with your whole life!”
Well, this TV commercial itself is very sensational. If it is not a commercial, it can be regarded as a supplement to a TV series.
More importantly, this commercial is not a spoiler. After all, the heroine shouts to the sky in the end, and the hero does not appear. It can be said that it appears after the ending, or it can be said that it appears during the development of the story.
At the same time, this can be seen as a spiritual transformation of the heroine, which is perfectly consistent with the main plot of "101 Proposals".
As soon as this TV commercial was released, in conjunction with the popularity of "101 Proposals", it immediately received excellent reviews.
Not to mention anything else, at least Sensen Apparel's brand clothing is selling out, and requests from various franchisees are coming in like flakes, all asking to join.
Yes, Sensen Clothing is a brand franchise model, which is a sales model based on franchised stores, coupled with the brand effect of various actors in TV series. At least in this era, it is still quite advanced.
At least as far as the income during this period is concerned, Sensen Clothing not only recovered its investment instantly, but orders also surged.
In particular, the heroine's same-style clothing is selling extremely well, and franchise stores have begun to increase. So far, the first batch of thirty-two franchise stores have been sold out.
But time is limited, most franchise stores are still under renovation, and if they really want to open, they will have to wait at least half a month.
Of course, although Sensen Clothing is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aiyin Office, the president, that is, the manager, has nothing to do with Akina Nakamori, but is operated by an experienced professional manager.
Aiyin Office only holds a controlling stake and provides advertising support and brand support. It does not interfere much in other matters, especially the actual operations.
This is a professional thing for professionals to do. Aiyin Firm is just an investor.
In this way, the shortcomings of Cao Zhiqiang and Nakamori Akina who are not good at management can be avoided.
After all, neither Cao Zhiqiang nor Nakamori Akina has a professional management background, so it is best to leave the specific operations to professional managers.
In fact, a clothing company like this focuses on branding.
After all, Japan is now a developed country. At least domestically, the clothing industry is already a sunset industry and is an industry that has been involved in various ways.
Therefore, in Japan, only those clothing companies with brand premiums can survive. The era of winning purely by quality and low price is gone forever.
This is exactly the opposite of the situation in China.
Although China has begun to pay attention to brands, it is mainly foreign brands.
As for domestic clothing, there is basically no brand name, and everything depends on high quality and low price.
This kind of original high quality and low price is naturally irresistible when it comes to foreign goods and foreign brands.
For example, Pierre Cardin was actually a low-end product abroad, but it became a high-end product in China.
It was not until later, when the country became rich and rich, and big brands settled in, that everyone began to know about the real top brands such as Prada and Hermès. By that time, due to the intensification of involution, Pierre Cardin and his like became a flash in the pan. .
Of course Cao Zhiqiang also knew this truth, so Cao Zhiqiang asked Nakamori Akina to register a clothing company. He had never thought about building a century-old brand, so he chose the outsourcing OEM and franchise store model to make quick money.
To put it bluntly, what Cao Zhiqiang earns is brand premium, and what he wants is to tie it with popular TV series and earn TV series peripherals.
In this era, everyone's pursuit of idols is no worse than that of later generations. It is even stronger and crazier than that of later generations.
This is especially true in Japan.
During this period, fans and moviegoers committed suicide for their idols every year in Japan, such as Andy Lau.
When Yamaguchi Momoe became famous, how many Japanese girls imitated Yamaguchi Momoe’s style.
Therefore, Cao Zhiqiang decided not to take the usual path and invest in the TV series itself, but in peripheral products of the TV series.
Among TV drama peripheral products, the easiest and most profitable ones are undoubtedly original soundtracks and clothing accessories.
Not to mention the original soundtrack, let’s talk about the decorations. If the corresponding original costumes of the TV series can be launched during the period when the TV series is popular, or the products are officially authorized and starred in the commercials by the TV series actors, then it will naturally be very attractive. .
Therefore, Cao Zhiqiang had already produced commercials and clothing stores before the TV series was aired. Once the TV series was released and gained some popularity, he began to fully launch it.
The effect is naturally very good, at least the sales of the products and the sales of the franchisees are real.
If nothing unexpected happens, by the time "101 Proposals" is finished, Cao Zhiqiang will probably make more money from Sensen Clothing than he invested in the TV series itself.
This is true of "101 Proposals", and so is "Tokyo Love Story". At least Cao Zhiqiang intends to replicate the success of "101 Proposals".
Therefore, Cao Zhiqiang has already prepared the original costumes and records for "Tokyo Love Story", waiting for the filming of this film to be completed.
From this perspective, Cao Zhiqiang does not want this TV series to be shelved.
The reason why he said this was just to put some pressure on Nagayama Kozo.
After all, Cao Zhiqiang knows very well that if Nagayama Kozo really goes to beg his father, he will definitely be able to suppress Sayuri Yoshinaga.
"Cao Sang, don't talk in anger." Yongshan Kosan said, "Actually, I will have a solution when the time comes, but it requires you to come forward in person."
"Me? Come forward in person?" Cao Zhiqiang frowned, "What do you mean?"
Nagayama Kozo said: "That's it, it's almost noon, I booked a high-end Japanese restaurant, specially invited Yoshinaga Sayuri, hoping to make peace.
After all, Yoshinaga Sayuri is the core in this matter. As long as she can be convinced, nothing will be a problem.
But it’s not appropriate for me to be the only one, so I hope you’ll attend too.
If you are here, I will definitely be able to convince Sayuri Yoshinaga. "
"How can I possibly convince her?" Cao Zhiqiang looked at the stairs subconsciously and frowned.
Just kidding, there is a high-end beauty waiting for me here, so I don’t want to eat some high-end Japanese food.
"That's not possible." Kozo Nagayama said, "Sayuri Yoshinaga said that if you don't come, she won't go, so please, you must come, it really has to be you!"
"Can't you do it yourself?" Cao Zhiqiang frowned.
"It's really not possible." Yongshan Kosan said, "Cao Sang, if this matter is not settled, the drama will not be filmed. You don't want this drama to continue to be delayed, right?"
Cao Zhiqiang sighed: "Okay, tell me the location, and I'll go right away."
"Great!" Yongshan Kosan said happily, "I'll tell you the address right now. You must come. Come right away. I'm waiting for you!"
(End of chapter)
