radicalducati Chapter 50 Online Film Project Proposal
Chapter 50 Online Film Project Proposal
Qingxiao turned on his computer and created a new document.
Title: Tianmen Film and Television Network Film Investment Plan
Bai Lu brought over a water glass, and the screen still showed a blank timeline.
2013年、2014年、2015年、2016年、2017年、2018年——每个年份下面都空着。
Qingxiao didn't state any conclusions first. Instead, he listed the data from the warm-up period of the domestic online drama market in 2011 to the original IPs of Guan Xiaojie's team that became successful by relying on online platforms in the corresponding years of the timeline.
Bai Lu pulled up a chair and sat down next to him, the water glass in her hand steaming.
She watched the numbers on the screen jump down one by one without saying a word.
Qing Xiao first listed several successful examples: "The Rise to Power" in 2013, through a combination of online streaming payment and product placement, garnered 70 million views on its first day, surpassed 120 million views in three days, and had over a million paid viewers within five days, generating over three million in revenue. Around the same time, Guan Xiaojie's "Public Enemy of Women" surpassed 500 million views in 25 days, with a net profit approaching three million.
"What these two films have in common is that they both adopted the online streaming subscription model."
Qingxiao circled the words "online cinema" in red.
"Before 2013, online films either relied on brand customization or platform guarantees. But starting this year, iQiyi's 'Sharing the Joy' and Youku's video revenue-generating platform have officially opened up a new revenue-sharing channel, where viewers pay for on-demand viewing and the platform and the film producers share the revenue proportionally. This means that box office revenue no longer belongs solely to theaters; as long as you put your film on the platform, you have the opportunity to directly collect money from the audience."
He moved his mouse to the 2014 section and clicked on the new item list.
He entered "Adult Academy 2" and added the note "2014 iQiyi Revenue Sharing Champion, 63.4 RMB per film".
This film has no big stars and no big production, but it seized the window of opportunity presented by pay-per-view.
In 2014, the user's willingness to pay for online movies was still developing. There were few competitors, and the platforms gave relatively concentrated recommendation slots. Whoever rushed in first could push up the revenue sharing at a very low cost.
Then he added another line on the right side of the film: The total box office revenue of the top 20 online films in 2014 exceeded 6 million yuan, indicating that the entire market was still in its early stages, but the annual champion had already reached 600,000 yuan.
"Six hundred thousand yuan may not seem like much, but it proves one thing: the online cinema model can work. Users are willing to pay for content, and the platform's recommendation slots are also functioning. The next step is just a matter of increasing investment."
He entered the market in 2015 with "The Taoist Priest Goes Down the Mountain," which cost about 28 yuan and ultimately grossed over 2400 million yuan in box office revenue, with a return on investment of over 80 times. The online revenue from this single film alone was enough to make the production company very wealthy.
Following closely behind was another film released around the same time, "Hillbilly Goes to Town," with an investment controlled between 100 million and 200 million yuan. It won the 2015 iQiyi revenue share champion with a revenue share of 987.55 million yuan, proving the box office appeal that well-known companies can bring when they enter the online film market.
"2016." Qingxiao continued writing on the timeline.
"Hillbilly Goes to Town 2" topped the annual charts with 1829.4 million in revenue sharing, almost double that of the first film.
"The path of serialization has also been successfully implemented. It doesn't rely solely on the success of the first installment, but rather on the positive word-of-mouth and popularity of the previous installments, allowing the second installment to reap the benefits."
Next was 2017. He entered "The Monkey King," which grossed 2655 million at the box office, starring Hong Kong actor Benny Chan.
"This is the 'celebrity + Journey to the West IP' model: a national-level IP plus a recognizable actor can get a higher price in the revenue-sharing system of online cinemas. Even a mid-tier star has the appeal of a top star in online movies."
Then he released 2018's "The Ferryman: Huangquan," which grossed 4548 million yuan and had a return on investment of 469%.
He added a note next to the work: This is a spin-off film of a hit web series, which fully demonstrates the role of "television-film synergy" in further amplifying the value of online cinema IPs.
The last film was "The Great Serpent," which had a budget of around 500 million yuan and grossed 5078 million yuan in box office revenue.
He put an asterisk next to this film and wrote "new track" to prove that as long as online films can open up a rare category, the market is willing to pay far more than expected box office returns.
Qingxiao completed the timeline and typed out the summary paragraph.
The revenue-sharing model for online films has evolved from the exploratory phase in 2014, to achieving box office success of tens of millions of yuan in 2015 and 2016, and then breaking the tens of millions mark in 2018—each year marking a new milestone, with top-tier content seeing returns increase several times or even dozens of times.
However, the premise is that the positioning must be clear before the project starts, and themes that traditional cinemas cannot touch or disdain to touch must be avoided.
Bai Lu remained silent, completely unable to understand what Qing Xiao was doing.
Qingxiao didn't explain anything, but simply added a project distribution table to the last page of the plan: the number of projects to be developed in the first batch, the genre pool—thriller, suspense, youth comedy, and urban romance—running in parallel, with suspense and comedy films having faster returns and higher attendance rates under the revenue-sharing model.
Urban workplace is a reserve item tailor-made for Bai Lu, and can be placed in the second batch.
When he saved the document, he remembered that he had looked at the data of the direct traffic campaign in the e-commerce backend in his previous life.
A linked data curve is drawn, showing click-through rate, add-to-cart rate, and conversion rate; behind each number lies a decision.
In his lifetime, he moved the mouse cursor forward by one node: investment timing prediction.
He typed the last line.
The Tianmen Film and Television Network Film Special Investment Fund has an initial scale of 10 million yuan and plans to invest in the production of 12 to 15 films, aiming to cover costs with the probability of blockbuster hits, while reserving priority participation rights for Bai Lu in high-quality films.
A few days later, Qingxiao summoned Bai Lu to the office of Tianmen Film and Television, where several script outlines were spread out on the table.
Bai Lu sat down, not flipping through the script first, but glancing at him instead.
He cleaned his desk very thoroughly today, pushed the computer aside, and laid out several outlines side by side, each with a label on it.
The series "Taoist Priest Goes Down the Mountain" is a mountain horror series, the series "Hillbilly Goes to Town" is a rural comedy series, "The Monkey King" is a fantasy story about the Journey to the West, "The Ferryman: Huangquan" is a fantasy romance, and there is also an urban workplace-themed "Operation Diary".
His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and he was twirling a pen in his hand, just like when he used to adjust the data for the express train on the computer in his rented room.
"These are the projects I think are most suitable for you after screening them." Qingxiao pointed to the leftmost list with the tip of his pen. "《The Taoist Priest Goes Down the Mountain》, a mountain thriller, has a very low cost but an amazing revenue conversion rate. Thrillers don't need big-name stars; they can become popular just by the script and atmosphere. Moreover, actresses can show a lot more emotional depth in thrillers than in romance films. 《The Country Bumpkin Goes to Town》, a rural comedy, has proven this path with the joint production of Benshan Media and Huayi Brothers. The entry of a well-known team into online movies can bring huge box office appeal. Comedy greatly enhances the approachability of actresses, allowing you to take the chemistry of the shrewish character to another level."