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The word-of-mouth of the series is inseparable from the investment and control of the producers. Will there be more and more such works? How to grasp the scale of quality and topics in the current TV drama industry? How to find the right actors to make the TV series achieve the effect of 1+1>2? How to balance topic and word of mouth?

During the Shanghai TV Festival, four producers who have produced highly topical dramas - Bai Yicong, the producer and chief producer of the TV series "Three-Body Problem", and the chief producer of "The Son-in-law" and "Daily Life" Filmmaker Liu Wenyang, producer Zhang Yan of "The Wind Blows Pinellia", "Police Honor" and "Ideal City", and Yang Liu, chief producer of "Meeting You for the First Time Like an Old Man Returning", jointly discussed the popular dramas they produced Discussed the above issues for two hours.

Can you still innovate?

One of the characteristics of the current domestic drama series is that they are obviously typified. Ordinary audiences can open their mouths to tell the field of a drama, sweet pet, romance, city, ancient costume, era, suspense... On the one hand, this type is the result of the industrialization of TV dramas. As a result, on the other hand, it also hinders creative innovation. All producers, screenwriters and directors know how to make films that the audience likes and how to make films that don't buy it. Therefore, how to break through and innovate on the current basis is an important issue.

"Daily Life" Poster

Before "Qingqing Daily" was broadcast, there were not many dramas of this type. It was a light comedy in ancient costumes. The drama has become a phenomenal drama. Producer Liu Wenyang is someone who has not entered the routine, "Our team has never said that there is a 'methodology' to locate and choose the track. When "Qingqing Daily" was made, it was not which track we chose, but We chose what we wanted to do the most." But he also reminded that from the original work to the series, the content has changed a lot, "This is also a very risky thing. Don't think that this is a thing that can be applied to every approach to the project.”

"Personally, I don't want to chase after the audience's so-called positioning hotspots, which will cause a lot of overlap." Bai Yicong said. Obviously, "Three-Body" is a new theme and field for both the domestic market and Bai Yicong himself. He believes that although everyone wants to innovate, they often fall into routines unconsciously. He generally appears to be "pessimistic" ","There are also happy times, such as finding some very interesting innovative methods. Most of the time is painful, because everyone spends it in the process of constantly proposing and denying." Not only subjective pessimism, but more importantly, objective Environmental pessimism.

"Three-Body Problem" Poster

"Everyone is talking about innovation, and there is nothing to innovate. Currently, there is a big problem for the entire industry. Sometimes it will fall into a state of disappointment. When you want to innovate, you will find that you There are too many barriers, for example, the platform calls for innovation, but it still takes out the data of the past, and uses the existing data to analyze for you.”

He gave an example. He made a drama last year. Before doing it, the team proposed many innovative methods, including narration methods, visuals, and character design. Erase it, "The process of innovation is very difficult for the creator itself, and it is very difficult to implement it."

Stills of "Three-Body Problem"

Bai Yicong said frankly that the greatness and innovation of "The Three-Body Problem" come from the creation of the original author Liu Cixin, but Bai Yicong was not satisfied with the execution process of the series. He believes that there is a big gap between us and foreign dramas, and it is too late to talk about innovation. It’s hard to accept.” He thinks the best result is that both the platform and the audience can accept the gap, and then maintain an innovative attitude.

In addition to genre innovation, content innovation can actually bring good results. Zhang Yan, the producer of "The Wind Blows Pinellia" and "Police Honor", focuses on solving the checks on the spirit and core in her work. "At that time, "Wind Blowing Pinellia" had a slogan: dare to break through to win. Not only limited to the steel industry, not only limited to that era (1990s), but every era has such a group of pioneers, that Stuff is a very important point for the work to resonate with the audience at this moment in dialogue."

"The Wind Blows Pinellia" poster

When it comes to the implementation level, it is the tiny innovations that can actually make a breakthrough. She doesn’t think genre innovation is a problem, but it’s inherent. “It’s hard to say that no one has done this type of drama in history. Everyone thinks that Pinellia is a business war drama, but there is no shortage of business war dramas in the market, and there are many mature ones.” Therefore, what she hopes to innovate is the perspective innovation based on the story, “We want to break the so-called business war drama. Special groups, so that people are universally affectionate and righteous." In the end, "The Wind Blows Pinellia" is not only a commercial war, but also a heroine. The same principle also applies to "Police Honor". "There are many good dramas in police dramas, but Our surprise is that it wrote the stories of ordinary people that people haven't had time to go back to, the pyrotechnic police drama."

The old question of IP and originality

In the past when discussing IP and original scripts, more questions came from how to modify the screenplay and how to make it into a film and television, but obviously the current question is more about the difference between book fans and audiences. After "Daily Life of Qingqing", Liu Wenyang led his team to make "Da Feng Da Changren", which was already very popular on the Internet. Compared with the former, the difficulties he had to face were different.

Liu Wenyang shared that the biggest difficulty has two parts: one part is that although this IP already has a lot of book fans, there must be many people who have not read this novel, "Are you reading it for book fans or for more audiences? ?” He believes that if you keep entangled in this question in your mind, you will eventually lose your fans and audience. And his way of solving this problem is to think from a different perspective, "In fact, there is still a story behind the IP, and the story can be presented in the form of online texts or in the form of film and television." The second part of the difficulty is that the production team must unify Aesthetics and imagination, from director and screenwriter to producer and actor, "maintain a unified imagination of IP, give the audience a complete perspective, and don't think of each other." Liu Wenyang revealed that the story foundation of "Da Feng Da Chang Ren" is very good. The drama will still be created based on the original work as much as possible.

"Police Honor" poster

Zhang Yan started from "The Honor of the Police". She also admitted that she had actually watched a lot of police dramas before, and they also included many major cases, but many of them were not stories about policemen from the police station. What is the novelty? This is the difference between an original work and an IP adaptation."

Bai Yicong's opinion is closer to the practical level, "For a relatively well-known project, you must consider which parts cannot be moved at the beginning, which will bring a lot of framework to the creation, and you can't go beyond it. Not so well-known , relatively speaking, the creative space will become more relaxed." When it comes to the shooting stage, "When you use some unknown actors, you feel that the scene is very cooperative, but when you broadcast it, you will feel that if you used coffee at that time, the data It will be better." Later, when it comes to selling dramas, there are still conflicts, "The IP is not that big, but the story itself is very good. When you need to sell, you will feel that the IP seems a little smaller. Not a good sell."

At present, it seems that domestic TV dramas are still more popular than IP adaptation scripts. The reasons behind this include complex factors such as book fans, investment return considerations, announcement rhythm, etc., but original scripts do not mean that they are not easy to shoot or good-looking , as can be seen from the producer's discussion, just riskier.

There is still an important problem in IP adaptation, how to connect the ancient stories with the present. Domestic dramas currently encourage realism creation is unprecedented, and it can be clearly felt that popular dramas from ancient costumes to modern times can Finding the connection with reality from it, you can imagine the producers' efforts on this.

"A friend from the platform said that your style is ancient costume realism. I slapped my thigh at the time, and I said I didn't even think of it. I said you were too precise. In "Qingqing Daily", I said what external Find your own, a group of boys and girls sit together, write when you have an OS in your heart, and grab what you want most in your heart. After you really do this, it will have flesh and blood.” On this issue, "Qingqing Daily" is the most obvious. As an ancient IP, it has been changed to meet current social issues. The mutual help of women to women, the avoidance of palace fights, and the hard work of women in their careers are all the reasons for leaving the circle at that time. Liu Wenyang shared , "When you create mechanically and operate data, it actually lacks the special taste of people. The most rare thing in this industry is that it is very personal and very personal, but it has the ability Get the emotional resonance of the public through film and television works."

Stills of "Daily Life"

Bai Yicong denies that there is any necessary connection. He believes that the producer should be close to the product manager in thinking, "We must first study the product. After the product is ready, as for other things, more people can supplement them instead of We design it. The connection point is dug out for you by the marketing team or other teams, and converted for you, instead of being thought of and done at the beginning. This is putting the cart before the horse. We still have to start from the beginning. The simpler the better, the better it will be when other teams come in and improve continuously in the later stage. You can’t think too much about creation.”

Zhang Yan thinks, "The important point of realism is to evoke what is already in everyone's heart. It may be an emotion or a memory." Similar to Liu Wenyang's point of view, she believes that the most important part is "truth", " For example, Zhang Ruoyun's interpretation of the image of a police officer who has just joined the job, and the opening scene where the old director looks like everyone's parents. There is a very long shot. The old director walks from the entrance of the police station to the second floor. This event, especially a very lively and realistic police station, begins a lively day." She also talked about the follow-up announcement, Zhang Yan felt, don't be afraid of negative voices, "Even if the audience scolds, just talk about this It shows that this matter resonates."

Do you want to invite traffic stars?

Bai Yicong has experienced a lot on this issue. The projects he has handled not only use traffic stars, but also have all-round talents, and there are even dramas with all newcomers. He first stated that the so-called traffic is not worth it, " I personally don't like to smoke actors, if an actor needs you to drink, he may not be so enthusiastic about the creation of the project."

He also complained that using traffic stars will indeed encounter a lot of troubles, such as the fan effect. The advantage is that fans will make a lot of materials. "They will even send private messages on Weibo to teach us how to do things. It should be like this and shouldn't be like that." But more Trouble is inevitable, "For example, I really hate skinning actors. I want to retain some real texture. I had a play last year because of the subject matter. Make a texture effect, fans will come over and say, you let our so-and-so, how can you make him like this, you can see his wrinkles, what will he do in the future." He reminded that fans and the team want them to be more motherly Some, but this is not the actor's own choice, "Most male actors don't want to be a person without texture."

Both Liu Wenyang and Yang Liu emphasized that, in fact, producers, like ordinary audiences, use their works to get to know a person before they meet, and only after contact can they judge whether they are suitable. "Appropriateness is more important than innovation." Liu Wenyang concluded that in the face of issues such as platform project ratings, actors can be used in the early stage, but the melons that are twisted are not sweet. "The producer has to bear the responsibility of choice."

Stills of "The Wind Blows Pinellia"

After "The Wind Blows Pinellia", Zhao Liying found a new career path again. This is also the most typical example in the discussion. Zhang Yan shared that using traffic and having fans can have a happy effect. "Don't just consume For a star, if he is in a state of being consumed, he and his fans must be unhappy, but if a star devotes himself to the role with all his heart, he will finally achieve a state of happiness for everyone, and we will give the entire market a new image. For example, the original Zhao Liying has never had such a role before, it is a two-way nourishing process."

The two-hour discussion involved multiple practical issues in current domestic dramas. Different producers have different approaches in different fields. Bai Yicong found hope from pessimism and faced up to the gap. Bi, we just don’t have more money than others. When it has enough money, it will naturally have a lot of imagination. We also want to do well, but later found that we can’t do it, and the funds will be stuck in that position. I know Netflix For the final budget of the version, they shoot one of our episodes, which is a very real problem. This gap does not mean the gap between us and a certain movie of the other party, but the gap between our industry and the other’s industry." Liu Wenyang and Yang Liu are both selective. Looking at the audience feedback, Zhang Yan is a person who is always willing to face public opinion and communicate with the audience. "The sound itself is important or not, but what is more important is how the sound is produced."