The main cast and crew had dinner at a private restaurant on the Bund in Magic City that evening. The private room was on the third floor, with windows facing the Huangpu River.
Director Zhou sat in the main seat, with President Fang to his right, Cheng Che and Ning Qing on either side, and Zhao Yiming, Actor Zhou, and several other supporting actors were also present.
With most of the dishes served, Director Zhou stood up, holding his wine glass, said a few words of thanks, and then changed the subject:
"I 'President Fang. We'll definitely include the usual variety shows and live streams, but I'd like to add something."
He put down his wine glass, took a printed copy of the proposal out of his bag, and pushed it to the center of the table.
""The Realm and Old Friends and A Chat with Old Friends"." Director Zhou read the title aloud, a hint of smugness in his expression. "A spin-off series featuring your characters from the drama. Your characters live together in a Hyundai setting, with unscripted interactions, and will be filmed for three episodes."
A moment of silence fell over the table.
Zhao Yiming looked up, still chewing on a piece of braised pork, and asked vaguely, "No script? You mean we're given a scene and we improvise?"
"Yes." Director Zhou nodded. "You're all familiar with the script and character biographies, and you've been acting out your characters' personalities for months. Here's a Hyundai apartment scene for you; you'll live in it using your characters' personalities. Shen Che will be the same way he is in the Hyundai. The female lead will have the same temper in Hyundai drama. The political intrigue is gone, but the character relationships remain."
President Fang chimed in from the side:
"Simply put, it's about placing the ambiguity and tension from the drama into a relaxed, everyday setting, letting the audience see how you interact. This kind of content has a strong reach on short video platforms and is much more effective than hard-sell advertising."
Director Zhou glanced at Cheng Che and Ning Qing:
"Especially the two of you. The romantic storyline between Shen Che and the female lead in the drama is a subplot, and viewers will definitely feel unsatisfied after watching it. This variety show is for them to catch up."
Cheng Che thought about it and thought it was a good idea.
The Charisma Trial: Second Stage requires global exposure. Although this derivative content is not large in volume, it is flexible in its dissemination and suitable for fragmented spread.
Moreover, the lack of scripted interaction and the fact that he was standing next to Ning Qing already created a buzz. He glanced at Ning Qing, and Ning Qing was looking at him too.
"I can," Cheng Che said with a smile.
Ning Qing nodded. "I'm fine with that too."
Zhao Yiming raised his hand. "What about me? I play Shen Che's strategist, so what's my identity in Hyundai?"
Director Zhou chuckled, "You guys figure it out yourselves. The identities, professions, and relationships with the main character—you decide that. It's scriptless, so we're giving you the freedom."
Zhao Yiming rubbed his hands together, his expression clearly showing interest.
Actor Zhou asked from the side, "Where are we staying?" Director Zhou replied, "We're going to Rongcheng tomorrow. The location has been booked—a duplex apartment with three bedrooms and two living rooms. That should be enough for you to manage."
Cheng Che smiled slightly upon hearing the words " Rongcheng ".
Rongcheng is not far from Spring City, just a few hours' drive away.
During breaks in filming, he can go home to see Jiang Xue and Cheng Jianguo.
He hasn't been back for a while.
After the dinner party ended, Cheng Che returned to the hotel, took a shower, and leaned against the headboard.
Qin Lie was in the living room coordinating the follow-up schedule with President Fang. His voice came through the door, muffled and indistinct.
Cheng Che took out his phone and searched for "Recent Events in Rongcheng ".
He scrolled down a few screens, then suddenly stopped.
The Rongcheng Comic Con will be held this weekend at the Century City New International Convention and Exhibition Center.
It was quite a large event, with a long list of participating groups and cosplayers, including several names he recognized.
Zhao Yiming had mentioned to him before that Li Siyuan also did cosplay, and the two of them had even gone to a comic convention last year.
Cheng Che stared at the message for a few seconds, his mind racing.
This is a variety show filmed without a script, featuring interaction, and consists of three episodes.
If the first episode had simply filmed their daily life in the apartment, viewers would have seen Shen Che and the female lead living their lives in Hyundai times, which would have been good, but it would have lacked something that would have made it "break out" of the genre.
If some of the filming locations could be moved to comic conventions, allowing the characters to freely express themselves, cosplay, interact, and have chance encounters, the content would be more vibrant.
Furthermore, Ning Qing has a [ Roleplay ] buff.
She probably didn't even realize that her demeanor automatically matches the character's when she's cosplaying, resulting in an extremely high degree of accuracy.
If you let her cosplay a character at a comic convention, the result will be even more eye-catching than usual.
In addition, there are the three buffs he just acquired: Aloof Immortal Venerable, Roleplay, and Mermaid. Two of them are related to cosplay and teaching, and one is related to water.
Water isn't needed for now, but that outfit for cosplay is practically tailor-made for anime conventions.
He sat up and sent a message to Director Zhou: " Director Zhou, could we change the setting for the first episode of the variety show? There's a comic convention in Rongcheng this weekend, we can film part of it there. Having the characters stroll around, interact, and cosplay at the convention will be much more interesting than just sitting and chatting in an apartment."
Director Zhou replied quickly, "Comic convention? Let me ask President Fang."
A few minutes later, another message popped up. " President Fang said it's okay, she'll go and discuss the venue and filming permits. What exactly do you want to film?"
Cheng Che thought for a moment and typed a line:
"The theme of the first episode was ' Shen Che's First Comic Convention Experience.' Ning Qing and I dressed up as characters from the show, strolled around the comic convention, and encountered various things. There was no need to deliberately plan a plot; we just reacted on our own."
Director Zhou replied with a thumbs-up emoji, "Great idea. I'll talk to Ning Qing about it tomorrow and see if she'd be willing to cosplay."
Cheng Che placed his phone on the bedside table, leaned back against his pillow, and smiled slightly.
He could almost picture it.
Ning Qing cosplayed as the female lead from the drama. Standing in the crowd at the comic convention, the [ Roleplay ] buff brought her whole demeanor into the character's state.
He stood beside her, strolling around the Hyundai comic convention in Shen Che manner.
Neither of them needs to act; they just need to be the characters they're playing.
Moreover, comic conventions have audiences, fans, and cosplayers.
He and Ning Qing walked in the crowd, their good looks and charisma alone were enough to make them stand out, there was no need to plan any scenes.
Then we can leverage the promotion from anime fans and get a free boost in popularity.
Oh dear, it's such a shame I'm not in marketing.