klisemfg Chapter 179 Development Plan
Chapter 179 Development Plan
After returning home, the few people began to discuss Sister Xiaotao's proposal excitedly.
Li Fugui carefully made a detailed plan for Sister Xiao Tao. Here is it for your reference.
1. Market Risk: The Dual Challenges of Competition and Preference
With the popularization of the Internet, the online drama market has shown explosive growth, with massive works flooding into major platforms every year.
On the one hand, this means a broad audience group, but on the other hand, it also creates a fierce competition situation.
The TVB-style web drama prepared by the team of Sister Xiaoyu and Sister Xiaotao has unique creativity, but it is not easy to stand out among many competitors.
Today's audiences' preferences are changing rapidly and their tastes are becoming more and more picky.
Although science fiction themes are popular, audiences have extremely high requirements for the quality of special effects, plot logic, and character creation.
Judging from market feedback, every year a large number of science fiction web dramas fail to gain good reputation due to cheap special effects, dragging plots, and thin character designs, and become "cannon fodder" that no one cares about.
Even some works with big IPs and luxurious star lineups may start high and end low, resulting in heavy losses because they cannot accurately match the audience's current interests.
If the web drama organized by this team is a new work by newcomers, without its own IP and big-name stars to attract traffic, once there is a slight deviation in the grasp of market preferences, it may face the dilemma of mediocre response after going online and difficulty in recovering costs.
Moreover, platform selection and cooperation is also a big problem.
Different platforms have different user positioning and content needs. The top platforms have abundant resources and large traffic, but the competition is fierce. They have extremely high requirements for the quality and innovation of online dramas, and the entry threshold is correspondingly high. Although the mid-level and tail-end platforms are relatively relaxed, the traffic is limited and the promotion efforts are insufficient. Even if the works are launched, they may fall into oblivion.
How to find the right platform among many platforms that matches the style of one's own works and the target audience and achieve mutually beneficial cooperation is a key issue that the team needs to solve urgently. If they are not careful, they will fall into the embarrassing situation of having "nowhere to put" their works or being "hidden" by the platform.
2. Creative Risk: The Difficult Match Between Inspiration and Execution
Scriptwriting is the foundation of web dramas, but it's also a risky process. Although Xiao Taojie was inspired to create a web drama in the style of "Tron: Legacy," she faced numerous challenges from conception to completion.
On the one hand, finding the perfect balance between paying homage to classics and creating innovative breakthroughs is no easy task. Excessive borrowing can easily lead to copyright disputes and be criticized by the audience for plagiarism; while excessive pursuit of innovation can deviate from the original style core that attracted the audience, resulting in a "neither fish nor fowl" style.
Li Fugui often struggled with the plot settings and character dialogues when writing scripts for Xiao Tao Jie. He was worried that the scripts would be too similar to certain TV dramas, but he was also afraid of losing the TVB flavor that the audience was familiar with and loved.
The selection and performance of actors are also key points of creative risk. While new actors are cheaper and more adaptable, their acting skills are immature and their lack of experience may make them unable to interpret complex roles and handle large scenes.
However, senior actors are expensive, and if too many are invited, the investment budget will be significantly overspent.
During the filming process, actors may not be able to present the expected effects of the script due to different understandings of the roles, poor personal conditions, etc., resulting in frequent NGs, affecting the filming progress, and even leading to extended shooting cycles and increased costs.
For example, when filming "The Story of Minglan" a while ago, there was a key emotional outburst scene in the play. The young actor failed to accurately express the character's inner pain and struggle over and over again. The director was so anxious that he scratched his head and the filming progress was once stagnant. This not only wasted manpower and material resources, but also may have affected the creative morale of the entire team.
Furthermore, the preparation of hardware such as shooting locations, props and equipment is also full of uncertainty.
In order to create a sci-fi scene, the team needs to find suitable abandoned factories, science and technology parks, etc. for renovation. However, the rental period, rental price and renovation difficulty of these venues need to be carefully calculated.
If any accidents occur during the renovation process, such as site ownership disputes, construction safety issues, or props and equipment affecting filming due to quality problems or technical failures, it will greatly hinder the creative process and make the early investment go to waste.
3. Financial Risk: The Delicate Balance Between Investment and Return
Funding is the lifeline of online drama investment, and risks are present throughout.
The first is the risk of budget overruns. Budget planning that seems detailed in the early stages of preparation often has many loopholes once it enters the actual operation stage.
If the scriptwriting process requires repeated polishing and the hiring of external writing consultants, costs can exceed expectations. For actors, if there are last-minute casting changes, additional pay increases, or disputes arise regarding contract breaches, funding shortfalls can quickly widen. During filming, weather delays can lead to additional costs for food and lodging. Wear and tear of locations and props can also incur significant repair and replacement costs.
For example, the location scenes that were originally planned to be completed in one month were delayed for two weeks due to continuous heavy rain. The crew's food, accommodation, and equipment rental costs soared instantly, making the already tight capital chain even tighter.
The speed of capital recovery is also a major risk. After the production of a web series is complete, sales and distribution are crucial. If negotiations with distributors are unsuccessful, and a favorable broadcast time slot and profit-sharing ratio cannot be secured, the recovery period will be extended.
Moreover, poor market response will directly affect secondary profit channels such as advertising placement and peripheral product development.
After some online dramas were launched, their ratings were low and advertisers withdrew their investments. The original plan to cover costs through advertising profits fell through, and no one was interested in peripheral products. The funds could only be deposited in the works and were difficult to flow back, causing huge losses to investors.
Li Fugui said that although we have funds to invest, we are faced with various financial risks. If we do not control them properly, we may fall into a financial quagmire and lose all our money.
IV. Policy Risk: The Dynamic Game Between Compliance and Innovation
The film and television industry is heavily influenced by policy, and the online drama sector is no exception. As the industry develops, relevant policies and regulations are constantly being refined, with stricter requirements being imposed on everything from content review to broadcast regulations.
Li Fugui feels that if the team's science fiction web drama involves cutting-edge technological elements such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence, they need to be extremely cautious in presenting the content.
On the one hand, there must be no content that is contrary to the national science and technology development strategy and misleads the audience's understanding of science and technology; on the other hand, at the ethical level, such as human choices in the virtual world, the relationship between AI and humans, etc., it must conform to mainstream values and avoid touching sensitive red lines.
The dynamic nature of censorship standards also creates uncertainty for projects. Policies and regulations are subject to change based on social development and public opinion. A web series that appears to be compliant in its early stages of development may require significant revisions or even fail review after filming is completed and submitted for approval due to shifting policy trends.
For example, some web series featuring soft science fiction or supernatural elements, originally planned for broadcast, were required to cut key plot points and re-dub due to tightened censorship regulations for such genres. This severely impacted the quality and launch schedule of the series, potentially destroying the initial investment and effort. This requires teams to constantly monitor policy trends and maintain good communication with regulators during the creative process to ensure their works are both innovative and compliant, ensuring a smooth market launch. Otherwise, they risk failure.
Investing in web dramas is like a thrilling adventure. While Xiaoyu, Xiaotao, and the Li Fugui team are full of hope, every step carries risks. Only by accurately identifying risks and responding scientifically can they carve out a path of hope on the thorny road of web drama investment, turning their dreams into reality and reaping rich rewards.