Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Chapter 1391: The Short And Minimal ‘Executer Academy’

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

A few minutes later, Wu Chuan knocked on the door and entered.

“Boss Pei, this is the first episode of ‘Executer Academy’ according to your previous instructions.”

Wu Chuan handed the tablet computer over as he spoke.

Pei Qian took it and clicked on it.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Pei Qian watched the video that he had just finished playing and fell silent.

Good lord, this length!

It was gone if one did not pay attention, it would really catch one off guard…

Pei Qian had watched ‘Successor’ for an hour per episode. After work in the afternoon, he would watch three episodes of ‘Successor’ in the conference room. Then, he would be able to get off work.

Yet, this ‘Executer Academy’ was good. The first episode, including the introduction, lasted 14 minutes!

In other words, removing the film’s title and ending would only take ten minutes for this episode.

Even though he had already expected the shortcomings of ‘Executer Academy’, he had not expected it to be so short!

Of course, Wu Chuan could not be blamed. After all, that was what Pei Qian had requested from the beginning.

Back then, Wu Chuan had spent a long time inspecting all the animation workspaces in the country. In the end, Pei Qian was not satisfied. He felt that the possibility of making money by handing them over to these animation workspaces was too high. Thus, he slapped his head and decided to use his own method of making games and using real-time calculations to make comics.

Of course, Wu Chuan raised many suggestions. The general idea was that these models might have to be redone if they wanted to do real-time calculations. They would have to find special motion capture actors. It would not be easy to control the cost. The difficulty would be too high.

Thus, Pei Qian was elated. That was exactly what he wanted!

In the end, Executer Academy was forced to use instantaneous calculation. Wu Chuan pulled a group of people from Fei Huang Workspace and a group of people from outside to start production.

Of course, Pei Qian would definitely provide the most financial support. How could he stand by and do nothing with such a good thing that could burn money?

Back then, Pei Qian’s request was that an episode could be done in fifteen to twenty minutes. That was quite a suitable time.

He would be considered to have completed the task as long as he made one episode before settlement. At the very least, this project was considered online. The system could not pick on this, right?

Now, it looked like Wu Chuan had completed the task in advance. However, his completion of the task was a little discounted.

What happened to fifteen to twenty minutes? It was only ten minutes!

Short and helpless!

Pei Qian said, “It seems to be… shorter than I imagined.”

Wu Chuan quickly explained, “Actually, I originally planned to make it more than 15 minutes. However, during the actual production process, I realized that the original plot of ‘Executer Academy’ was relatively fragmented. It would be more suitable to make it more than 10 minutes. It would be difficult to break it in a particularly perfect place if it was 15 minutes.”

“What’s more, this is a new method of making comics after all. It’s filled with risks. Make the first episode shorter. Let’s produce a finished product to see the effect first. It would be easy to correct it in time if we discover problems.”

“Of course, Boss Pei, if you think that the time is too short and the audience might not be able to accept it, I can go back and edit some of the content for the second episode. I can make it fifteen minutes or even twenty minutes.”

Pei Qian raised his hand. “Forget it. Actually, ten minutes is not bad.”

He suddenly realized. The shorter it was, the more cliffhanger it would be. Wouldn’t the audience hate it?

There was nothing bad about being short.

To be fair, the quality of the first episode was alright.

It was neither particularly good nor bad.

GOG’s game might have ready-made heroes modeling, and the modeling was very detailed, but it was still not enough to directly use them as comics. After all, GOG’s perspective determined that there was no need to achieve the precision of standalone games. That would instead take up more resources. It would be stuck on some low-end computers and reduce the players.

Thus, even though the production team of ‘Executer Academy’ could directly use GOG’s hero model and some background materials, they still needed to make some refinement and adjustments.

From the finished product, ‘Executer Academy’ must have improved qualitatively compared to some domestic animations and short videos.

After all, the entire animation production team had been transferred from Fei Huang Workspace. They had also poached some professional talents from outside. This regular army was not something that ordinary amateurs could compare to.

However, on the other hand, the production level of the first episode of ‘Executer Academy’ was still very far from some foreign dramas and top-notch animation production companies in the country.

Then, he thought about the huge amount of resources Tengda Corporation had invested in the Executer Academy and the speed of content production…

This project seemed alright? It seems like it could still incur losses?

Pei Qian counted with his fingers. The last time Wu Chuan came to him to officially finalize the ‘Executer Academy’ was at the end of October last year. Then, the official production should have started at the beginning of November. It had been more than two months since then.

Only one episode every two months? Every episode is only 10 minutes?

That efficiency was really touching.

Of course, Pei Qian did not blame him at all. Instead, he felt that Wu Chuan had done very well.

He could only lose money if he had more of such employees!

Even if he became proficient in the process and the production speed increased, the efficiency would at most double, right?

One episode a month, no more.

结果一集才十分钟,这播放量就算上天,又能有多少钱?

Since ‘Executer Academy’ was a short film and animation, it would definitely be the same as ‘Successor’. They could only discuss cooperation with the video website. They would either buy it out at a fixed price or calculate profits based on the number of views and popularity.

However, ‘Executer Academy’ was not as good as ‘Successor’!

No matter how much criticism ‘Successor’ received now, it was still a large production with high standards. There were also guest stars of Lu Zhiyao and the other movie kings among them. It could fool the Aili Island website.

What virtues and capabilities did the Executer Academy have? At most, it would have the same treatment as other domestic models.

At that time, whether it was fixed-rate contracts or royalty contracts, it would not make much money.

Considering the production cycle and the quality…

Steady!

Of course, there was another thing he had to consider: the plot of ‘Executer Academy’.

Pei Qian felt that this plot was not bad. It was a good replay of the original plot. In short, it used the hero characters in GOG as the background. It talked about the funny daily lives of a group of Executers (which was players). Many of the memes were used with relatively widespread memes in reality. It also created some jokes. It was more than enough to make food videos.

However, was it particularly exciting?

That was all.

All in all, this was a cartoon with a good plot and quality. However, time, investment, updating frequency, and other factors determined that it would definitely not become popular.

That was comforting.

“Alright, I think it’s quite good. Just broadcast it!” Pei Qian handed the tablet computer back.

Wu Chuan was stunned. “We’re going to broadcast it now? Boss Pei, are you not going to give any more suggestions and change it?”

Pei Qian shook his head. “What’s there to suggest? I don’t know much about this. You’re all professionals. You’ll definitely do better than me.”

“What’s more, from the perspective of an experienced audience in Aili Island, I think it’s quite good. There’s no problem even if it was to be watched during a meal. Since the quality has reached this stage, there’s no need to improve.”

“Hurry release it, that is the most important!”

Pei Qian tried his best to instill in Wu Chuan the concept of ‘as long as it’s not too bad’. He hoped that the quality of ‘Executer Academy’ would stop there and not improve.

Even if there was a small problem, he could not change it. As long as it was not too much.

Wu Chuan nodded. “Alright, Boss Pei. We’ll do as you say. I’ll contact the video website now.”

“Then… what kind of charging mode should we use for ‘Executer Academy’? If we buy it out, I’m afraid it won’t be very expensive for our first animation…”

Pei Qian waved his hand. “That’s easy. Go look for Huang Sibo and talk to the Aili Island website. It’ll be the same as’ Successor ‘. We’ll split the profits according to the number of views and ratings.”

“However, it’s still a little different from ‘Successor’. The impact of the ratings should be as low as possible. The overall viewership and the overall viewing duration should be higher.”

Pei Qian thought about it. The production level of ‘Executer Academy’ was quite good. It might not be as good as some of the top animated movies in the country, but it was still considered good in the domestic animation section of the Aili Island website.

On top of that, GOG’s gamers were biased towards this theme. Coupled with the fact that funny short videos might naturally benefit from it, the ratings might not be low. It was completely incomparable to the situation in ‘Successor’.

Since that was the case, he would focus on the total number of views, especially the total number of views.

According to the updating frequency of ‘Executer Academy’, how many views could there be for a ten-minute-long film that was as short as an Needle?

Even if the viewership was good, there shouldn’t be any problems with the total length, right?

Wu Chuan was stunned for a moment, but he did not say anything. He nodded. “Alright, Boss Pei. I’ll arrange it now.”

Pei Qian could not help but feel happy as he watched Wu Chuan leave.

Double joy!

‘Successor’ had broadcasted two more episodes last weekend. Meng Chang’s publicity resources had also been pouring in, but the situation was still not profitable. The ratings were fluctuating, but it was still very low overall.

Now, he had to strike while the iron was hot. Even if the reputation of the Executer Academy was good, as long as he could not make money, everything would be fine.

In that case, Zhongdian Chinese Network’s inspiration class would have three copyrights and adaptations projects. Two would incur losses, and one would earn money.

Eternal Reincarnation was the only one who made money. That was completely acceptable.

After all, Repent and be Saved had become popular first. Tengda Games had also developed it. It was understandable that it would make money.

What’s more, he had also gained Yu Fei, the chief designer. It was not a loss to arrange for Hu Xianbin to go back and forth.

It was quite optimistic thinking about it this way!