Becoming Rich with Daily Scavenging APP-Chapter 429: Losing Money to Create Quality Short Dramas?

Chapter 429: Chapter 429: Losing Money to Create Quality Short Dramas?

"Because Earth Wandering 2 is a sci-fi film with a dedicated fan base, many people go to the cinema just to watch Earth Wandering 2.

During the New Year, many people who don’t usually watch movies also come out to see a film for leisure. These people don’t really care about the quality of the movie; they’re just out to spend money during the New Year.

So here’s the problem: if you’re a cinema chain, and you allocate more screenings for Earth Wandering 2, those people who come out during the New Year will naturally choose to watch Earth Wandering 2.

In the end, Earth Wandering 2 can earn fifty billion in box office, while Patriot in Red would only get twenty billion.

Many people who are willing to watch Patriot in Red won’t go to the cinema after the New Year, and the cinema chains permanently lose the ticket money from those people.

But on the contrary, if they allocate more screenings for Patriot in Red during the New Year and let those who don’t care which movie they watch see Patriot in Red, then give the best, most expensive screens to Patriot in Red and the average ones to Earth Wandering 2.

After the New Year, the loyal fans of Earth Wandering 2 might still want to watch it again on a good screen, and those who couldn’t get tickets during the New Year might choose to find time to go to the cinema to watch Earth Wandering 2.

Originally, the box office for these two films was fifty billion for one and twenty billion for the other. But after the cinema chain’s operation, the box office for these two films might both become forty billion.

It might be unfair to Earth Wandering 2, but for the cinema chains, they earn the most money they can."

After Wu Jing finished speaking, Chen Yiyang immediately realized that the situation was quite tricky.

Because in the whole situation, only Earth Wandering 2’s interests were damaged, possibly losing over ten billion in box office due to not getting good screenings during the New Year.

But the investors and cinema chains of Patriot in Red earned quite enough profit.

Sacrifice one, happiness for everyone.

As long as they are not the ones sacrificed, everyone else will surely support this approach.

"Maybe we should just leave it at that." Gong Fan spoke up at this moment. "We might earn ten billion less at the box office, but Earth Wandering 2 has already made up for the missing part with all the merchandise and game licensing."

"That’s not acceptable." Chen Yiyang was somewhat unsatisfied. "We should not lose a single dime that’s rightfully ours."

"Actually, the main issue lies with the cinema chains." Wu Jing said.

The investors of Patriot in Red just need a good preliminary box office performance to boost stock prices.

Initially, a movie might rely on high box office to fool investors.

Once investors find out that the so-called high-box-office movie has a mediocre reputation, and the box office is strangely high, they won’t be fooled anymore, and the stock will immediately fall.

But by then, the investors have already earned money by selling stocks, cashing out, and leaving; they don’t care about the subsequent box office performance of the movie."

"Yes, that’s the rationale." Chen Yiyang nodded.

The biggest issue still lies in cinemas wanting to use the New Year crowd to boost Patriot in Red’s box office for a higher share.

If you can make the cinemas compromise, you might consider giving Patriot in Red good screenings only for the first few days of the New Year; once they cash out on stocks, immediately switch the screenings back to Earth Wandering 2.

But how can you make the cinemas compromise?

This isn’t a problem of one or two cinemas; multiple big cinema chains have already reached a consensus to maximize profits during the New Year.

"I’ve seen many unfair situations in my time." Wu Jing seemed quite open-minded. "Sometimes you just have to hold back because there’s nothing you can do about those people."

After Wu Jing finished speaking, Chen Yiyang didn’t know what to say.

So the three of them drank all night at Gong Fan’s place.

By the next morning, Chen Yiyang got up feeling groggy.

"I’m going now." Chen Yiyang bid farewell to Gong Fan, then took a cab straight to Zhang Yuling’s house.

Seeing Chen Yiyang looking hungover, Zhang Yuling quickly made some hangover soup for him.

"What are you watching?" Chen Yiyang drank a few sips of hangover soup, feeling a bit better.

He saw Zhang Yuling grinning at her phone, so he curiously asked.

"Watching a short drama, it’s quite interesting and perfect for killing time when you’re bored."

Zhang Yuling sat beside Chen Yiyang with her phone, showing him the screen.

Short drama?

Chen Yiyang watched for a while before he understood what it was.

A short drama is a micro TV show where each episode is only about ten minutes or even a few minutes long.

A hundred-episode short drama is not even as long as one full-length movie.

But this length isn’t a disadvantage for short dramas; rather, it’s an advantage.

Because these short dramas condense the essence of a TV series, which would take tens of hours, into mere tens of minutes.

This perfectly fits modern people’s desire for quick stimulation.

After all, in a TV series where each episode is tens of minutes long, the truly essential content might only be a few minutes.

Short dramas directly pull out those few minutes for you, saving you the time of watching the boring content.

Of course, that’s something for the future. Now most short dramas feature exaggerated performances and abysmal costumes and settings.

"If this becomes popular and develops, who would still watch TV and movies?" Chen Yiyang sighed.

"Yeah, but unfortunately most short dramas now require payment. Although each episode is cheap, it adds up to quite a bit of money."

"Hmm, really?"

Watching Zhang Yuling engrossed in short dramas on her phone, an idea suddenly came to Chen Yiyang’s mind.

"How about I make a free high-quality short drama?"

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Zhang Yuling turned to look at Chen Yiyang.

"It’s about hiring professional actors and using professional costumes and settings to film a short drama. Then release it for everyone to watch for free."

"How will you make money then?" Zhang Yuling wasn’t just a pretty face. With her dealings with many businesspeople, she could tell whether a venture could be profitable.

"Advertising revenue." Chen Yiyang said.

"Advertising revenue alone can’t support that." Zhang Yuling looked at Chen Yiyang skeptically.

She felt like Chen Yiyang was trying to fool her.

Currently, there are some free short dramas relying on advertising revenue to make money. But those short dramas feature poor actors and productions. This results in very low production costs, so going free can still be profitable.

But Chen Yiyang talks about making high-quality short dramas.

It would be impossible to cover costs solely with advertising revenue.

"Advertising revenue can’t support it, but if I chip in a bit personally, right?" Chen Yiyang smiled slightly. "Can’t I just lose money on this venture?"