Huayu: This director specializes in promoting young actresses.

Chapter 51 Xiaoda comes to Beijing

He had barely finished speaking when he picked up his phone and sent a message: "Li Yi, come to my office."

Li Yi arrived quickly, holding a promotional report: "Director Lin, you wanted to see me?"

"We need to speed up the promotion of the comic book for 'Take My Brother Away'," Raymond Lam said. "We need to link the comic book with the movie to drive traffic to each other."

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away." Li Yi nodded, then asked with a hint of curiosity, "Is this the comic you invested in before?"

"Hmm," Lin Feng recalled the twin sisters, "When I was writing my script last October, I discovered that they were also conceiving a similar story, so I contacted them. After talking with them, I realized that our ideas coincided."

The sisters were working at a small company at the time. Raymond Lam helped them terminate their contract, set up a studio, and invested in it, taking a 40% stake, so that they could focus on creating the comic "Take My Brother Away".

After the comic was launched at the beginning of this year, it accumulated a lot of fans because of its lighthearted and interesting plot, but it did not go viral.

"Now, with the popularity of 'The Beginning,' it's a good time to promote the comic," Raymond Lam said. "Let the audience know that the movie is adapted from the comic, and then the popularity of the comic can benefit the movie."

"Understood!" Li Yi's eyes lit up. "I'll contact the platform immediately to increase the promotion of the comics and edit a few more videos linking the comics with movie trailers."

Time flies, and it's Friday, July 3rd. Kiwi Fruit suddenly dropped a bombshell: all episodes of "The Lost Tomb" were released at once, allowing members to watch them all at once.

This move instantly attracted a lot of people, since following the updates is too tedious, and being able to watch it all at once is really satisfying.

Kiwi's new member acquisition surged, and the backend data was all red. The person in charge looked at the data and breathed a sigh of relief: "At least we can break even."

However, after staying up all night to watch it, the members' criticisms became even more intense than before.

The live chat was almost entirely filled with complaints:

"Hand the scriptwriters over to the state! This is basically 'The Treasure Protection Diary'!"

"Even five-cent special effects are too much; is that exploding red ball for real? It's kindergarten level!"

"Are High Boy and Chen Chengcheng just here to pad out the runtime? They take up 8 out of 12 episodes!"

"The tomb chamber is brighter than my living room. What are you shining a flashlight on? The screenwriter's brain?"

"Wu Xie 'hands over' everything to the state throughout the entire story. Fans of the original novel say they can't spoil a single detail because they have no idea what the plot is about either!"

On social media platforms, negative reviews are overwhelming:

"500 million per episode for this? The special effects are worthless, the plot is drastically altered, it should be renamed 'Diary of Cultural Relics Protection'."

"The 3.1 rating on Douban is well-deserved. Apart from the actors' looks, none of them are good-looking. The tomb set looks like a haunted house in an amusement park."

"Even a server crash couldn't stop the bad reviews; the membership fees were more wasted than Dou E's."

"Aside from the actors' good looks, this drama is utterly worthless and is a prime example of a failed IP adaptation."

Someone even made a compilation of "Famous Scenes from 'The Lost Tomb'", which garnered over a million views overnight.

On the morning of July 4th, Lin Feng had just arrived at the company when he received a call from Wang Man.

"Director Lin," Wang Man's voice was a little excited, "Did you see what iQiyi did yesterday? They released the entire series at once, and it boosted new memberships significantly. Why don't we do what they did and release the remaining episodes of 'The Beginning' all at once?"

Lin Feng thought for a moment and shook his head: "No need, Mr. Wang."

"Why?" Wang Man asked, puzzled. "Look at their new user acquisition numbers yesterday, they were quite impressive."

"They resorted to this tactic because their reputation collapsed," Raymond Lam said. "They wanted to salvage viewership by releasing the entire episode at once, but as you can see from today's negative reviews, it's completely useless. Our 'Beginning' has such a good reputation; if we continue with the original plan of releasing it weekly to maintain its popularity, the effect will be even better."

He paused, then continued, "The process of viewers following the episodes is also a process of accumulating discussion and buzz. Releasing everything at once results in a quick rise and fall in popularity. What we want is not temporary new member acquisition, but long-term reputation and influence."

Wang Man was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly realized, "You're right, I was too impatient. Okay, let's proceed according to the original plan."

Lin Feng hung up the phone, and Li Yitong walked in with a cup of coffee: "Was that Mr. Wang calling?"

"Hmm," Lin Feng took the coffee, "They want us to be like Kiwi, releasing all the remaining episodes at once."

"So you refused?"

"Hmm," Lin Feng took a sip of coffee, "A good drama isn't afraid of a slow pace; a gradual release is the only way to maintain its popularity." He looked out the window, a smile playing on his lips, "Besides, our movie is about to start its promotional campaign, and it would be best if the popularity of 'The Beginning' could continue until the movie's release."

At Beijing Capital International Airport on July 12, Lin Feng stood at the arrival gate, looking at the flight information scrolling on the electronic screen. Liu Haochun next to him was carrying a backpack and holding a small fan in his hand, occasionally tiptoeing to look at the exit.

I just finished my exams yesterday, and today is the official start of summer vacation. I'm so happy thinking about being able to do movie promotions with Brother Feng.

"Brother Feng, Xiao Tian's flight should be arriving soon, right?" Liu Haochun asked, turning his head with excitement in his voice.

"Almost done," Lin Feng glanced at the time. "Ten more minutes." He remembered Xiao Tian's excited chatter on the phone yesterday, "Brother Feng! I finished my exams! I'm flying to Beijing today, you have to come pick me up!"

Not long after, a commotion arose at the exit. A figure with a high ponytail, dragging a small suitcase and carrying a backpack, rushed out and immediately spotted Lin Feng.

"Brother Feng!" Tian Xi shouted, releasing her suitcase and rushing over to hug him tightly around the waist, burying her face in his chest and nuzzling against him. "I missed you so much!"

Lin Feng was knocked back half a step by her bump, and patted her on the back with a smile: "How old are you? Still so clumsy. You're almost 18, don't you have any shame?"

"What's the big deal!" Tian Xi loosened her grip on him slightly, looking up at him. "We've been hugging since we were little, you'll always be my Feng-ge!" She looked Lin Feng up and down, then suddenly wrinkled her nose. "Feng-ge, you seem to have lost some weight. Are you too tired?"

"It's alright," Lin Feng said, ruffling her hair. "But you seem to have grown taller again."

Tian Xiwei then noticed Liu Haochun beside her, her eyes lit up, and she rushed over to hug her: "Haochun! Happy summer vacation!"

"Happy, happy..." Liu Haochun was choking and couldn't breathe. He patted her back, "Let go, I'm suffocating."

"Haha, you're letting go now!" Tian Xi slightly loosened her grip, then shook her hand. "Let me tell you, I did exceptionally well on this exam. After the movie promotions are over, my parents even promised to take me on a trip!"

"That's amazing," Liu Haochun said with a smile. "I did pretty well on the test this time too, and the teacher even praised me for my improvement."

Lin Feng picked up Tian Xiwei's suitcase: "Let's go to the hotel to drop off our things first. You're only staying for two days, why did you bring so much stuff?"

"Not much, not much," Tian Xiwei chattered behind him, "It's full of my snacks, plus some spicy broad beans and Chen's twisted dough sticks that I brought for you guys, they're super delicious!"