As the “troika” of Tencent and Reading’s in-depth deployment of film and television business, Tencent Pictures, Xinli Media and Reading Film and Television held a joint press conference of “Xiangrong Rixin” in Shanghai on June 13. This is the second time that the three film and television actors announced the formation of a film and television content production system in October last year. More than 800 leaders, industry partners, celebrities and media guests participated in the press conference.
Cheng Wu, Vice President of Tencent Group, CEO of China Reading Group, CEO of Tencent Pictures, Chairman of Tencent Animation
At the press conference, Cheng Wu, vice president of Tencent Group, CEO of China Reading Group, CEO of Tencent Pictures, and Chairman of Tencent Animation, shared the topic of “Light and Shadow Traveling Through Time Let Good Stories Endure” and shared their views on the film and television industry. How to find and improve deterministic trend insights amidst uncertainty, and based on this, systematically and clearly expounded the thinking in the three directions of the layout of realistic themes, the development of IP serialization, and the creation of the IP industry chain.
Cheng Wu believes that film and television have great uncertainty due to their rich attributes. As the impact of the epidemic continues to stack, it has brought greater challenges to this naturally high-risk industry. How to find a sense of certainty in a high degree of uncertainty, Cheng Wu frankly dare not say that there is an answer, but through the observation and practice of the industry, the “troika” is actively looking for “problem-solving ideas”, hoping to go in three directions Efforts:
The first direction is to do a good job of realistic subjects. Looking back at each major period in the past year, whether it was “Hello, Li Huanying” or last year’s “Eight Hundred”, the box office champions were basically real-themed works. Cheng Wu believes that good stories are hidden in real life, and real themes are the “rich mine” of IP. The IP of the recording era embodies the collective emotions of the whole society and is the greatest certainty. Realistic works are currently the most invested type of “troika”. At the press conference that day, Cheng Wu introduced the “Melody of the Times” trilogy composed of “1921”, “Human World” and “Heart House”. Among them, “1921” is a gift for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the party, and it has been unveiled as the opening film of the Shanghai Film Festival. Cheng Wu also mentioned that in addition to presenting excellent traditional literary works such as “Human World“, Reading has also been vigorously supporting the creation of realistic-themed online literature. In the future, it will also promote the development of more excellent realistic-themed online films and shaping the era. IP.
The second direction is to systematically develop high-quality web text and animation IP. At the beginning of this year, the “Zuo Son” jointly created by the “Troika” relayed “Celebrating the New Year” and became a phenomenal drama in the industry. Cheng Wu believes that multiple-validated stories are the most valuable asset against uncertainty. He said that the web-based ecology is gradually becoming the largest creative “nursery” for China’s film and television industry. One of the key measures to promote the upgrade of “Daiyuwen” is to carry out the overall planning and systematic development of web content and animation IP, so that more good seedlings like “Celebrating the Years” and “Zuo Son-in-law” have the opportunity to grow into heaven. Big tree.
The third direction is to promote the exploration of creative ecologicalization and production industrialization, to create an IP industry chain with Chinese characteristics, and to enhance certainty in the entire creative ecological level. In his speech, Cheng Wu shared his “new view” on the “old proposition” of industrialization: “What we have to actively catch up is the industrialization of production, not the industrialization of creativity. Early creative incubation is difficult to industrialize.” In his opinion, Creativity cannot be industrialized, but it can be ecological. Take “Zui Son” as an example. The popularity of the series has driven the increase of daily activity and fans of the original web articles. The energy of good stories can be circulated in the IP ecology, and it will continue to accumulate potential energy for subsequent development. Cheng Wu said that in the future, we will continue to promote in-depth business integration and build the “troika” into a fully linked China Reading Group, Tencent Animation, etc., to open up the backbone of the industry chain and inject greater impetus into the IP industry chain.
This year is also the tenth year of Tencent’s new cultural and creative strategy upgrade layout. Cheng Wu said that ten years ago, Tencent put forward the concept of pan-entertainment and IP, and set out to lay out a new cultural and creative ecology. Nowadays, Dayuewen has officially started to upgrade, the film and television “troika” has also started, and a new journey for the next decade has begun. In the future, we look forward to working with partners to jointly build China’s unique IP industry chain, continue to create more good stories of “enriching life, warm people’s hearts, and touching humanity”, and explore more possibilities.
Attach the full text of the speech
Light and shadow travel through time, making good stories endless
Dear leaders and distinguished guests, good afternoon everyone! I am very happy to be with you all in Shanghai!
In October last year, Xinli Media, Tencent Pictures, and China Reading Film and Television officially announced the formation of a “troika”, becoming a closely coordinated team with complementary advantages. Many of the videos you saw just now are key works that we have launched since our establishment.
Among them, there are box office champions like “Eight Hundred”, which were released after the epidemic control, and strongly promoted the recovery of the industry; there are also “The Golden Years” and “The Son-in-Law”, which started shooting immediately after the industry resumed work and quickly brought it to A masterpiece by the audience; and a “dark horse” “Hello, Li Huanying” that was repeatedly polished during the epidemic and surprised us at the Spring Festival stall.
The smooth launch of all these works is inseparable from good domestic epidemic prevention and control, and it is also inseparable from the great efforts of the creative team to overcome difficulties. However, from a global perspective, the impact of the epidemic will continue. I think some industry reports predict that the overall market performance will return to the level before the epidemic. It is estimated that it will take 3-5 years, especially abroad, including the latest 007. , “Avatar 2” and other works with huge investment, have repeatedly changed their release dates and shooting plans. The recovery of the entire industry is still facing great uncertainty.
But the epidemic is only a magnifying glass, not all of the difficulties. The special feature of the film and television industry is that it is not only creative, industrial, commercial, but also cultural, artistic, and social and living. The superposition of these rich attributes and influencing factors makes the creation of film and television works increasingly complex and unpredictable. How to find a definite development in a high degree of uncertainty, how to find a definite direction in the unpredictable, this is not only a proposition that all our practitioners are very concerned about, but also the most essential challenge facing the entire industry.
With thinking about this proposition, here, I want to talk about a few recent feelings:
The first feeling comes from an industry phenomenon. Everyone knows that this year, from New Year’s Day, Spring Festival, to Ching Ming Festival and May Day, the box office of each schedule broke historical records. What is the biggest commonality among them? ——It can be seen that, including “Hello, Li Huanying”, the winners of the box office are all realistic works. Going forward, last year’s National Day files and “Eight Hundred” are also both. I think good stories are hidden in reality. Certainty lies in the real emotions of society.
The second feeling comes from an overseas news. Not long ago, Amazon announced the wholly-owned acquisition of MGM for 8.45 billion US dollars. So far, Hollywood, whether it was the original eight or later six, has basically been acquired, and the only one that has always remained independent is Disney, because it has begun to attach importance to the reserve of high-quality IP earlier. Among the top ten movies in the Hollywood box office in 2019, Disney occupies 7 seats, all of which are based on mature IP development. It can be seen that the roads built in the right direction will be the acceleration in the future. Continue to improve the IP system, allowing Disney to gain its own certainty.
The third feeling comes from our own works. After the broadcast of “Zuo Son”, it not only quickly broke the platform’s popularity record, but also increased the number of daily active readers of the original work, which was still being updated, by 17 times. When the straightforward and lovely Geng Huyuan unfortunately “sacrificed” in the play, we used Fanwai to “resurrect” him on the reading platform and continue to update our novels. As a result, 190,000 readers were added that day. I see that the energy of good stories can be circulated in the IP ecology, accumulating potential energy for subsequent development.
This year, it has been ten years since we proposed related thinking and business strategies for pan-entertainment and IP. At the beginning of this month, we also officially launched the upgrade of the “big reading” system. Faced with the natural high risks and uncertainties of the creative industry, we dare not say that there is an “answer”, but we are actively looking for “problem-solving ideas”. Next, I would like to take this opportunity to share the three directions we are working on:
The first direction is to do a good job of realistic subjects. Realistic themes have always been the biggest “bonanza” of IP. The IP of the recording era embodies the collective emotions of the whole society and is the greatest certainty.
“Articles are combined with time, and songs and poems are combined with things.” Bai Juyi told us more than 1,000 years ago that literary and artistic creation should be based on the times and life, and should be derived from true historical memory and social emotions. Behind “Eight Hundreds” is the sorrow of history and the respect for heroes, “Hello, Li Huanying” is the praise and empathy for the great maternal love, and “The Golden Years” is the warm and lasting friendship. These works derived from reality have burst out with powerful emotional energy and social influence, and become the new mainstream of China’s film and television industry.
In today’s release, realistic works are the type that we invest the most. Among them, the “Melody of the Times” trilogy composed of “1921”, “Human World” and “Heart” is even more important: as a tribute film for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the party, “1921” has been used as the opening film of the Shanghai Film Festival Debut. One hundred years, positive youth, hope that through the film, we can reproduce the critical moment of the founding of the party a hundred years ago, and feel the power of “our mission will begin” together. We also hope to portray the changes of the times in China in the past 50 years through “Human World“, and show the tireless and hard-working urban life through “Heart House”.
It is difficult to tell a good story about reality, but it is a “compulsory course” for telling a good Chinese story. In addition to presenting excellent traditional literary works such as “Human World“, Reading has also been vigorously supporting the creation of realistic-themed online literature. For example, under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department, it has held realistic-themed essay contests for five consecutive times to continue to explore the new era. China’s good stories have hatched batches of outstanding works such as “Da Guo Heavy Industry” and “The Warm Sun in the Old Alley”. In the future, we hope to work with more like-minded partners to develop these Chinese stories through film and television and to shape more era IP.
The second direction is to systematically develop high-quality web content and animation IP, and create more IP serialized products such as “Celebrating the Years” and “Zui Son”. These stories, which have been verified by a large number of user emotions and multiple content forms, are the most valuable assets to fight against uncertainty.
Among the most popular online dramas in 2020, the proportion of online text adaptations has risen to 60%, and the online text ecology is gradually becoming the largest creative “nursery” of China’s film and television industry.
Before the broadcast of “Zuo Son”, the Chinese Film Association released an “Evaluation Report on the Adaptation Potential of Network Literature IP Film and TV Series”. 46 IPs were on the list, accounting for more than 52% of the readings, and among them, the most valuable In the first echelon, reading accounts for 75%. “Zuo Son” was actually only in the second echelon at the time. It can be seen that “Celebrating More Than Years” and “Zui Son” are not special cases. There are many potential seedlings. With the advancement of web comic reform, more visually based IPs will enter the market.
Therefore, the most critical question is how to give these good seedlings a chance to grow into a big tree in the sky. And we promote the “big reading” strategic upgrade, a key move is to carry out the overall planning and systematic development of IP.
Prior to this, “Celebrating More Than Years” and “Zui Son” were the first to try, IP planning first, and then work development. From the beginning, they were designed in a serialized and quarterly broadcast manner. The production process is also improving efficiency through professional collaboration. It took only eight months for “Zuo Son” to go online. And, like “Qing Yu Nian”, it was urged by countless fans after the first season was broadcast. At present, the sequels of the two works are in the process of intensifying creation, and the development of more web-based IP such as “Da Feng Da Geng Ren” is also on the agenda. At the same time, animation IPs such as “Under One”, “Fox Fairy Little Matchmaker”, and “Journey to the West” have also launched development plans for serialized movies and dramas.
In the future, I hope to work with more colleagues to turn more verified good stories on the creative platform into high-quality movies and televisions for users to “chase more”.
The third direction is to extensively link up with industry partners to continuously promote the ecologicalization of creative sources and the industrialization of the production process, to create an IP industry chain with Chinese characteristics, and to enhance certainty in the entire creative ecology.
Many people are talking about the industrialization of China’s film and television industry, but we should actually re-understand this old proposition: what we really have to try to catch up is the industrialization of production, not the industrialization of creativity. Industrialization is the solution that Hollywood originally proposed to solve the quality and efficiency of production, but the initial creative incubation is actually difficult to industrialize.
Therefore, we will see that Disney, Amazon and other giants continue to invest heavily in acquisitions, all of which are companies with both production capabilities and IP, and long-term continuous output capabilities for building good stories. But in China, we are not relying on the acquisition of one or two companies, but on a new creative ecosystem composed of a globally unique online culture and an active online comic industry.
I believe: Although creativity cannot be industrialized, it can be ecological. Only by fully relying on creative ecological platforms such as Wenwen and Tencent Animation, outputting good stories steadily and continuously, continuously incubating good IP, and continuously improving the industrialization capabilities of film and television production, can we truly build an IP industry chain with Chinese characteristics , Let good stories continue.
To this end, we will continue to promote the in-depth integration of our business, and build the “troika” into a backbone that fully links with China Reading Group, Tencent Animation, etc., to open up the industry chain, and rely on this to link more partners and activate Film and television, the IP core engine, together inject greater momentum into the IP industry chain! Including in the aspect of publicity and distribution, we will also try more with platform partners. Next, we will carry out more in-depth cooperation with Maoyan on the basis of the “Tengmao Alliance” to provide excellent works with “full-text entertainment and full-link” , All-scene” publicity support, so that more good stories can be seen.
Film and television works may not be a necessity for survival, but they are a necessity for people to pursue a better life. It has been leading us to overcome the limitations of reality, to cross time and space, to expand the experience of life, to enrich the meaning of life, and to establish a richer emotional connection. Therefore, in the final analysis, the common human emotions are the greatest constant that leads the film and television industry through all variables.
And this constant quantity needs to be carried one by one, and to be continuously verified, which requires a very long-term investment. Counting from the birth of the starting point of the Chinese website, the development of Chinese online literature has taken about 20 years; from the beginning of Tencent Animation, our online animation has developed for nearly 10 years; since the introduction of pan-entertainment and IP, our new cultural creation The layout has also been carried out for 10 years. Nowadays, DaYuewen has started an official upgrade, the film and television “troika” has also started, and our new journey for the next ten years has begun.
In the future, we look forward to working with all colleagues to build an IP industry chain belonging to China through more open collaboration and more systematic exploration, and together we will continue to create more “rich lives” in order to demonstrate the Chinese spirit, Chinese values and Chinese power. , Warm hearts and touch humanity” good stories, and let these good stories, as well as the emotions and culture they carry, travel through time and space and live endlessly!
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