Chapter 645: On fire even before the broadcast!
Outside the office area.
Many people from around Central TV Department 1 had gathered here to watch.
“Who’s that?”
“Is that Zhang Xia?”
“Whoa, what is Chen Guang doing here?”
“Fan Wenli is also here with her manager?”
“What are they doing here!”
“It can’t be that The Voice‘s program team managed to pull them aboard for the show, right?”
“Ah!”
“Don’t scare me like that, my heart is not that strong!”
“Each one of them could be considered a big star who could easily shake the singing industry with just a light stamp of their feet! With any one of them coming aboard, it’s already a dream fulfilled, so how did they get all three of them?”
With so many celebrities here who were the big shots among big shots of the singing industry, many staff from the other departments had now gathered curious on this level at Central TV Department 1 where a small portion of the offices were located. Although they could guess what was happening, they were all still rather in disbelief that it could really happen.
Even Ha Qiqi and Zhang Zuo of the program team for The Voice found it hard to believe, much less them!
However, what would surprise them much more than that was only about to begin. They thought that the three people gathered here right now was already a very astonishing sight to see. But the next moment—when another person walked in from outside, whether it was Central TV Department 1’s staff or The Voice‘s program team—everyone was left with their eyes wide and tongues tied!
It was a woman, and she was not a celebrity, yet many people knew her and had heard of her name. The reason was simply because she was the manager of the Heavenly Queen!
It was Fang Weihong!
Zhang Yuanqi’s manager!
At this moment, the entire area inside and outside of the office fell silent!
Zhang Xia blinked.
Chen Guang and Fan Wenli were dumbfounded.
Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the rest were also stunned!
Only Zhang Ye quickly stepped up to welcome her. “Haha, Sister Fang!”
Fang Weihong did not look to be in the mood for small talk. She just shook Zhang Ye’s hand and said, “Teacher Zhang, pass me the contract. I have to leave after getting it signed.”
Zhang Ye asked, “Sister Zhang is not here today?”
“She’s busy with an activity and authorized me to sign on her behalf.” Fang Weihong was already a familiar acquaintance with Zhang Ye having worked with him twice before, so her tone with him was also less formal. “Oh, Teacher Zhang, do you know that Sister Zhang has such a packed schedule recently that it has almost filled up the entire 24 hours of her day? I was still thinking of how I could reject some bookings to lighten the load, but somehow, this new booking arrived. Sister Zhang is really great. She did not even ask me about it and directly agreed with you. She’s not a superhuman. Besides, there’s only so much time in a day, so who gets left with planning her time and schedules then? Won’t it just be left to me to coordinate and organize her activities? I already have a big headache from all these.”
Zhang Ye laughed, “That’s because Sister Zhang is so popular. Just look at people like me who are small timers and have no activities. All I do is just go to work or drink some tea.”
Fang Weihong laughed when she heard that. She replied, “Oh, come on. That’s just because you don’t have a management company and refuse to take on any commercial deals. If you spread the word that you’d do them, even with a hundred hours a day, it wouldn’t be enough for you.” She paused for a bit and then said, “What I’m really curious about is, since Sister Zhang has always rejected taking any talent shows, how on earth did you convince her to do it?”
Zhang Ye smiled and said, “I promised to write her a song.”
Fang Weihong, suddenly understanding everything, exclaimed, “That’s exactly what I thought!”
Zhang Xia said from a distance away, “Little Fang, you’re here too?”
“Ai, Grandma Zhang, did you get deceived by Teacher Zhang and join the program too?” Fang Weihong politely greeted her while casually making a joke.
Zhang Xia was tickled and quipped, “Yes, I was fooled by this child.”
After chatting for a little while, Fang Weihong also shook Chen Guang and his wife’s hand and chatted for a while. They all knew each other; it wasn’t the first time they’d met.
Chen Guang was quite surprised. “I hadn’t expected Sister Zhang to join as well!”
Fang Weihong also said helplessly, “Me neither. Yesterday, Zhang Ye made a call and spoke to Sister Zhang directly about the contract. I didn’t know about it until much later.”
Fan Wenli looked over admirably at Zhang Ye.
Ha Qiqi and the others were also looking at Zhang Ye with extreme admiration!
Oh my god!
Zhang Yuanqi is really coming aboard!
Zhang Ye had somehow managed to invite the Heavenly Queen to join!
An S-list celebrity who always rejected taking any talent shows and didn’t even usually appear on television as a program guest was now making an exception and joining their program? Everyone knew that Zhang Yuanqi was a celebrity at the very top of the entertainment industry in the country. Being able to invite her wasn’t down to a matter of money anymore. It wasn’t like she lacked that anyway. But what she was chasing after was of a different level and not found in the domestic market anymore. She had already set her sights on the foreign markets, so none of them knew how Zhang Ye had managed to get this deal done! How did he convince the Heavenly Queen!
Central TV was in chaos!
Jiang Yuan and some other leaders came over a while later, as they were the authorized signatories for Central TV for their part of the contract.
At this time, when the amount that Zhang Ye had agreed with the four celebrities earlier was written down by him, the figures were finally made known publicly for the first time. When they saw the joining fees, even though they had just received an astronomical title sponsorship fee earlier, everyone was still stunned with their mouths agape!
Zhang Xia: 10 million!
Chen Guang: 10 million!
Fan Wenli: 10 million!
Zhang Yuanqi: 40 million!
They could still reluctantly accept the joining fees of Zhang Xia, Chen Guang, and Fan Wenli since it somewhat matched their statuses and were done in accordance with the market practices for similar programs which usually paid out several million at least. But since the three of them didn’t usually take up such projects, it resulted in an additional premium of about 2 to 3 million more than the market rates which everyone could understand. But the fee for Zhang Yuanqi left everyone sucking in a breath of cold air!
40 million!
That was a f**king sky-high joining fee!
Many other talent shows only had a total investment of around 30 million or so for the entire program and production, and that was even for the more highly invested in programs. But Zhang Yuanqi alone already commanded a fee of 40 million? It was even higher than the entire investments put into other programs? This was a never before seen sky-high joining fee in the entire variety show industry! Even if she were an S-list Heavenly Queen, this amount was still way beyond the market rates!
This was too frightening!
This was too exciting!
Yet another record had been broken!
Many of the staff looked over at Jiang Yuan, wondering what he would say.
Jiang Yuan was trembling from this for a while, but managed to calm his nerves, and he quickly signed off on the contract as the authorized party for Central TV. Then he stamped the contract firmly with the organization’s seal!
Was it expensive?
Yes! It was too damn expensive!
But was it worth it? Jiang Yuan felt that it was worth it, and it seemed like many of the Central TV’s staff also felt that it was worth it! If Zhang Ye’s name could already pull in a sponsorship of 100 million, who was to say that the reputation of Zhang Yuanqi—an S-list Heavenly Queen—did not command a joining fee of 40 million!?
Being able to have Zhang Yuanqi to come aboard was already an unprecedented event. It was something that no other television stations’ programs could achieve. Now that Zhang Ye had completed this unimaginable task, it was already considered a job completed. As for the money spent, that was only a secondary concern!
The contract signing ended.
Everyone started clapping.
Outside the office, many of those Central TV Department 1’s staff who did not seem too optimistic about The Voice back then and felt that the program would be canceled even before it started were now looking at Zhang Ye and his program team with a different attitude. A 100 million title sponsorship, a total production value of more than 100 million, a coaching group headed by a Heavenly Queen. This investment and lineup had them patting themselves on the chest and admitting that no other television program in the history of this industry could do what The Voice had done. They did not know how the program would turn out from here on, but just this glittering lineup alone had totally blinded everyone!
……
An hour later.
The promotions and marketing for The Voice began and immediately spread like wildfire!
On the official website for The Voice, the section where the introduction for the four guest coaches were originally a black picture with a question mark over them but were now being updated with their pictures and detailed introductions!
“Quick, take a look!”
“Wow, the list of coaches is being announced!”
“How exciting, I wonder who’s the first?”
“I’m here, I’m here to check it out!”
With The Voice at the heart of the struggle on the news, all entertainment news today was focused on them. Right now, any minor changes on the website would attract the attention of countless people!
The first name was announced: Zhang Xia!
This caused quite a commotion!
“It’s Grandma Zhang!”
“She’s a great singer!”
“Heavens! Grandma Zhang has come out of retirement?”
The second name was also updated: Chen Guang!
At once, Chen Guang’s fans all flocked to this news!
“My prince!”
“Old Chen has joined as well?”
“Hahaha! Old Chen, well done!”
“Chen Guang and Zhang Ye are two of my favorite celebrities! I would never have expected them to work together! Looks like this is going to be fun!”
“Teacher Chen is a truly talented singer! I like his songs a lot!”
Then, the third name: Fan Wenli!
“Aiyo!”
“Old Chen, even your wife has joined!”
“Heavens! They’re all big shot celebrities!”
“Yeah, just how much did The Voice‘s program team spend on this!”
“My eyes have been blinded!”
“Even Old Chen and Old Fan have been invited? Isn’t this line up defying all common sense? Won’t Teacher Zhang have to pay for his crimes if he scares us all to death? There’s still a fourth? Who’s the last one going to be?”
“Quick, announce the fourth coach’s identity already!”
“Why are they so slow, who could it be?”
“Who’s the final one?”
As the names were announced one by one, in just a short period of time, everyone’s appetite was whetted as they excitedly reacted to each announcement. Everyone was utterly convinced by Zhang Ye’s amazing work. It was truly too surprising!
Eventually, under the watchful gaze of everyone, the fourth coach’s picture was updated!
Refresh! A picture of Zhang Yuanqi at a concert now appeared in the place of the fourth coach’s introduction!
Upon seeing Zhang Yuanqi’s picture, it was as if at that moment everyone browsing on the website for The Voice had fallen silent. It seemed like time had stopped for an instant!
Then the comment section exploded!
“What?”
“It’s the Heavenly Queen!?”
“Damn!”
“Do they need to be that extravagant!?”
“Did Central TV invest all they money they had? They’re really willing to give everything for this program?”
“Not only that, this is no longer a question of money! In the past, even when many variety shows offered Zhang Yuanqi a lot of money, she did not join them!”
“This is big news!”
“The Heavenly Queen has descended onto The Voice!”
“Is this for real?”
“Zhang Ye’s truly awesome!”
“I only wonder how much Sister Zhang’s joining fee is worth!”
“Yeah, how much?”
At this time, an anonymous user left a comment: “Don’t ask how much it is, all I can tell you is that it is a sky-high figure!”
“Don’t leave us in suspense!”
“Quickly speak!”
“Just how much money was it?”
That anonymous user did not reply for a long time, and then finally posted: “The exact amount is…40 million before taxes!”
With that, those industry insiders from the other television stations who came to check out the situation nearly vomited blood!
What did you say?
40 million?
It was getting lively on the internet as the media and netizens began discussing this. All these news and updates had really left everyone in shock!
The people left speechless were those experts.
Many of these experts and so-called industry insiders did not say a word. Because they really did not know what they could say anymore. They had analyzed The Voice of China from head to toe and called out its problems and flaws, saying and backing up their claims of how this program would definitely only be a cult television program or average quality show, similar to all the other talent shows produced in this time of downturn. Yet somehow these big shot celebrities still jumped aboard the program? Why did they all rush to join like they were not afraid of anything? Were they all crazy?
Some people were looking forward to it.
Some people called it good.
Some people maintained their doubt.
Some people still were not optimistic.
But however people put it, with the attention The Voice of China was getting, with the lineup of the guest coaches, with the invested production costs and title sponsorship, the program was already on fire even before the broadcast! This discussion topic could no longer be matched by anything else!
Zhang Ye had planned for all the news to be spread out within a 12-hour time frame in order to bombard the internet with overwhelming publicity for The Voice. The first steps were already beautifully taken, but from here on, he knew he had to spend more effort on the auditions!