Wang Hui, head of Datang Glory: There are no bosses in the film and television industry, only salesmen

In today's surging film and television industry, there is a film and television company that has successively dominated first-line satellite TV's evening prime-time ratings and online rankings with non-IP and non-fresh meat dramas such as "Keeping a Marriage Like Jade","Police Flower and Police Dog" and "My Love Has Bashed into War".

Original title: Exclusive interview with Wang Hui in film and television: There are no bosses in the film and television industry, only salesmen

. In today's surging film and television industry, there is a film and television company that has successively relied on "Keeping Marriage as Jade","Police Flower and Police Dog" and "My Love Hit War" and other non-IP and non-fresh meat dramas dominate the ratings and online rankings of first-line satellite TV during prime time in the evening. Over the past 12 years, this company has created a gold-lettered brand that has convinced the industry with its pragmatic and low-key style. This is Datang Brilliant Media Co., Ltd.

As the head of the company, Chairman Wang Hui has always adhered to the quality and style of every work with a diligent and low-key attitude. During the conversation, the words he mentioned the most were down-to-earth and steady, and said,"Only by doing your own things well, the market will eventually give you a reward."

After many transformations

into a microcosm of private power

, Wang Hui, who had just left school, entered a terrestrial TV station and started working. He started as an ordinary reporter and editor, and relied on his excellent professional level and low-key and comprehensive attitude to do his work well. He has won many prestigious awards in the industry such as the China Television Award, China News Award, Starlight Award. He has not only successfully transformed into an excellent journalist, but also promoted step by step, serving as director and deputy director of the advertising department and news department.

However, with the advent of the tide of market reform, many media practitioners have seen business opportunities and opportunities, actively adapted to the development of the times, and left the system and became entrepreneurs. Wang Hui, who used to be the director of the advertising department, was influenced by many friends around him. When he saw that they were doing their careers in full swing after starting a business, with high profits and easy money, Wang Hui, who was "willing to try new things", was also moved.

So, Wang Hui registered an advertising company in 2000 and started trading TV drama rights based on his expertise.

According to Wang Hui, after he obtained the copyright to the TV series, he would post an advertisement and then supply the copyright to the TV series to the TV station for broadcast. "When it is broadcast, the TV station will no longer need to pay copyright fees and will directly compensate for it with advertising fees. Trading for goods has become an early form of the TV drama market in China." Wang Hui added,"Even now, TV dramas have followed advertisements. Advertisers are willing to pay to sponsor TV dramas, and TV stations are willing to buy them."

Wang Hui selected this market to be reclaimed with his unique vision, and relied on his honest and sincere way of dealing with people to carry out copyright distribution all the way from Anhui to Jiangsu, Henan, and Northeast China. When he saw the new market space, Wang Hui took the initiative to adjust the company's business direction, continuously transforming from distribution to production, and founded Datang Glory in 2004.

"I am equivalent to moving slowly from the sales terminal." Wang Hui confided,"Audiences are both consumers of products and TV dramas." Viewers will purchase products through advertisements in TV series, and advertisers will re-invest the funds they have withdrawn into TV stations to sponsor the placement of TV series and title advertisements.

Tang Dynasty Glory has gone from one or two dramas per year at the beginning to seven or eight dramas or more per year, relying on the quantity and quality of its works to this day. With the accelerated development of new media in the past two years, the online price of film and television dramas has continued to increase, from hundreds of thousands of single episodes to millions now.

"Our total sales revenue used to mainly come from TV, but now it mainly comes from new media. As the proportion structure changes, we must quickly adjust ourselves." As a result, Wang Hui established a new film business department and a new media department this year to cope with the rise of new media and the decline in TV advertising revenue.

What are the differences between working with TV and video websites? Wang Hui explained that new media is a relatively cutting-edge ecosystem, with young users, young staff, and advanced ideas. Therefore, their understanding of the national radio and television program management policies is not as thorough and profound as traditional media practitioners, but traditional media is not as quick as new media in adapting to the market.

In addition, although the State Administration has established a network department, new media broadcasts in large quantities and relies more on self-examination and self-correction. "In terms of grasping the content censorship system, new media cannot reach the level of traditional media." Wang Hui emphasized.

As his career landscape continues to expand, Wang Hui has gradually become an old man in the film and television industry. Consistency with words and deeds has become his code of conduct. Datang Glory has also followed this concept all the way to this day. Wang Hui's team doesn't like to publicize things that haven't taken shape long ago. When everyone has high expectations for this and fails to achieve the goal by then, there will be a big gap in each other's hearts. The next time they do something, the audience and the market will question them.

Therefore, under the leadership of Wang Hui, all of Datang's brilliant projects and affairs operations were carried out in a down-to-earth and steady manner. "TV stations like these that have been working with us for many years are very stable, and most media have great confidence in us." It is precisely because of the high degree of redemption that everyone has recognized Wang Hui's standards for being a person and doing things."Working together will be more pleasant."

If you want to win the

boss, you must understand

the 12 years since the establishment of Datang Glory in the market."This is the 12 years in which the domestic drama market has developed at the fastest pace, and it is also the 12 years in which the dividends of China's TV dramas have been released."

According to Wang Hui, before 2000, China TV viewers basically watched Hong Kong and Taiwan dramas; with the promulgation of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television's policy of "not allowing the broadcast of foreign TV dramas during prime time", foreign dramas in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Europe and the United States have been adjusted to non-prime time broadcasts, which has created a favorable environment for cultivating the domestic TV drama market. "The development of domestic TV dramas began at that time. It can be said that I personally experienced that period."

In Wang Hui's view, the development of domestic TV dramas has gone through three major stages. Early domestic dramas had relatively low costs, rough production, and low grades. At that time, most domestic film and television practitioners learned from Hong Kong and Taiwan directors and producers. Some directly made them like Hong Kong and Taiwan dramas, and some made many co-productions. In this atmosphere, the domestic drama market has made initial development.

In the second stage after the development of the TV drama market, capital entered the market on a large scale, pushing up the level and entry threshold of film and television production. Especially after 2009, a number of film and television companies gradually went public. With the help of big capital, it took only six to seven years to quickly mature domestic dramas and develop in the direction of high-quality, high-quality, and large-scale production. "The investment scale, production quality and quality of TV dramas in China are now no weaker than those of any country in the world. Domestic dramas often cost as much as RMB three to four million or four million per episode, and the investment is close to the international level."

Nowadays, the "export" of domestic TV dramas has become a new trend. A few years ago, South Korea rarely aired China TV series. Through conversations with industry professionals in South Korea, Wang Hui learned that South Korean audiences are now willing to watch China TV series and want to introduce more China TV series and broadcast them on specially established digital channels. "In the past 10 years, we have gone from low-end small productions to high-investment, large-scale productions, and internationalization, gradually approaching the highest production level of TV series in the world. South Korea has recognized the production quality and production quality of China's TV series. This is the best explanation."

After rapid development, will the TV drama market move forward rapidly? Will dividends be impaired? Wang Hui said,"The development speed of the cultural industry will definitely not decrease." In his eyes, from 2016 to 2020, this period will be a period of rapid development of the domestic drama market. Not to mention that the country wants to make the cultural industry system a pillar industry of the national economy by the end of the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan", its proportion in the national GDP will increase from 3.76% in 2014 to more than 5% in 2020. The determination and intensity are unprecedented.

Moreover, with the gradual deepening of domestic industrial upgrading, cultural fields including TV dramas have become one of the main industries for adjustment. Moreover, in terms of the proportion of the total cultural industry to the total GDP of countries around the world, the United States is about 31%, Japan is about 20%, Europe is on average between 10% and 15%, South Korea is higher than 15%, and my country is less than 5%. "This shows that it still has a lot of room for growth, and the TV drama industry will be in a period of rapid development."

At the same time, he also believes that as the TV drama industry develops to a certain stage, it will also usher in a period of rapid cultural consumption. "Because in this industry, there is not only content production, but also technological innovation and changes in the media landscape. When TV consumption weakened, new media consumption increased. Audiences need cultural content and also have cultural consumption needs."

However, no matter whether it is a TV series or a movie,"audiences 'tastes change every year, and this change in the market is very subtle." If the boss doesn't understand the market and production, but just makes decisions on his own, problems will definitely go wrong." Wang Hui said with emotion,"So, if you want to win, the boss must understand the market. There are no bosses in this industry, only salespeople." Therefore, many departments of Datang Glory perform their respective duties. While controlling the market vane, Wang Hui will also go deep into all aspects of it. "This participation is supposed to be very hard and tiring, but if you don't participate, the final decision may be inaccurate."

Writing good stories and controlling risks has

become the key to success

. In recent years, Datang Guangliang has produced many major dramas, which have won high ratings and good reputation in different time periods. Wang Hui pointed out,"When we make film and television, the first thing is to tell the story well, and the second thing is to focus on quality." The key to a good drama lies in the foundation of a drama. As long as you change the angle, you can do a good job in the story and create a new theme.

Returning to the practical level, the number of TV dramas shot by Datang Glory has decreased in recent years, but the production scale has become larger, and the length of each work is lengthening, equivalent to changing from the original one to the current one and a half to two. "There are basically no episodes below 40, and most of them are between 40 and 60 episodes. At present, this trend is the case for domestic TV dramas in China."

In addition, the investment quota is also increasing."In 2006, seven or eight million yuan could be invested in one drama, and about 10 million yuan was a large sum at that time. However, it is impossible now. It needs at least seventy to eighty million yuan, which has increased tenfold in the past 10 years." Wang Hui said with emotion,"It can't be lowered anymore. If it goes any lower, the quality will drop."

Faced with such a high investment, are there risks? Although Wang Hui has always done an excellent job, he still walks on thin ice every time he manipulates it. He admitted frankly,"There is still pressure in my heart, just scared." Because no one is 100% sure that you can make as much money as you invest, it is still necessary to adjust your ideas and plans frequently during the operation process to ensure that there are not too big mistakes in the continuous development of the entire market.

Of course, he also believes that doing what you are good at is the key to success. In his mind, the State Administration of China has a 15% annual control limit on the costume drama market, so the digestion of costume dramas is limited, the inventory is large, and the risks are also high. "What we have done in the past few years has been about family emotions, youth, and military and police themes. This kind of drama will not have much problem in the market. Because of what? It's what everyone always says,'the north and south take all.'"

In the era of large-scale capital operations, Datang Glory has successfully listed through mergers and acquisitions with Zhongnan Culture in order to attract more investment participation. Wang Hui also shoulders the heavy burden of performance."We are still under a lot of pressure. For this reason, we must shoot every drama well, not only must we sell every drama, but also sell it with good benefits." When the task is completed next year, Wang Hui thinks that the pressure will be much less then, and he may adjust himself then."However, I think for the theater industry, what cannot be changed is that every drama must be done seriously."

Editor: yvette