novelraw Chapter 45 Reorganization
Chapter 45 Reorganization
At the dining table, Lin Yi ate while casually browsing AC station.
While searching, I caught a glimpse of a trending topic: "Battle Through the Heavens is scheduled for release on September 9.10th, Teacher's Day," followed by a large red "Trending" character.
Lin Yi glanced at it but didn't feel anything.
"Battle Through the Heavens" is a major S+ project that Tencent Video is investing heavily in, so it's normal for it to be promoted with a lot of fanfare now that it's starting to get going.
But a trending topic right next to it made him pause for a moment.
"The Last Choice in Murder on the Orient Express".
Lin Yi put down his chopsticks, somewhat puzzled.
It's been over a week since the first season of "Detective X" ended, and the first case, "Murder on the Orient Express," aired for almost two months.
Logically speaking, without buying trending searches, it would be difficult for a long-running TV series to rise to the top on its own.
Lin Yi clicked in and took a look at the discussion.
It turns out that netizens are no longer discussing how ingenious the case design is; the focus is entirely on the ending, on the choice X makes when faced with all the murderers.
There are also endless debates like "Is vigilante justice right or wrong?" and "Which is more important, substantive justice or procedural justice?"—each side has its own arguments, and the debates never seem to end.
As the argument escalated, a new group of netizens, ostensibly discussing the matter at hand, shifted the focus of the discussion to the background story of the case.
Five years ago (1993), there was the major train robbery between China and Russia, and how that guy named Reichet managed to escape punishment by exploiting loopholes in Russian law.
This incident was frequently brought up when the drama was airing, and Lin Yi remembered it.
There were even protests from viewers in Russia, who wanted to boycott Detective X.
Unexpectedly, this topic has been brought up again and heated up even after the show has finished airing. It doesn't seem like it was created by paid trolls; people are discussing it quite seriously.
Lin Yi pondered it for a moment, but didn't pay much attention.
As long as it's not malicious slander, this kind of discussion is good for the reputation and long-term development of "Detective X".
After breakfast, Lin Yi drove Yu Nuannuan to the company.
Yu Nuannuan went to the practice room to familiarize herself with the new song sheet that Liao Yuzhu had sent her, in preparation for the joint rehearsal in two days.
Lin Yi himself had an even more important matter to attend to: reorganizing "Earth Studio".
Upon arriving at the company, Lin Yi immediately called the entire screenwriting team to the conference room for a meeting.
To better develop the Detective Conan IP, the studio has expanded its recruitment several times, and now has more than 20 screenwriters.
The conference room was packed, everyone staring at Lin Yi in the head seat and the rows of briefcases behind him.
"The main purpose of today's meeting is to make some adjustments to our project team," Lin Yi said bluntly.
"In order to fully develop the 'Detective X' IP and promote new projects, we need to separate some people from the current team to form a new project team."
He paused, looked at everyone, and said, "The new project is tentatively called 'Squid Game,' and the investment and expected scale will be larger than 'Detective X.'"
This group assignment is entirely voluntary.
After he finished speaking, the conference room was quiet for a few seconds, then a low murmur of discussion broke out.
Most people's faces showed hesitation, or even a complete lack of desire to go.
This was also within Lin Yi's expectations.
Detective X is now considered a mature and popular IP.
In the future, this IP will be developed in several directions, including TV series, comics, animation, and derivative products, and will generate substantial revenue every quarter.
As a core member of the project team, you can receive substantial quarterly and year-end bonuses, ranging from tens of thousands to millions of yuan, depending on your responsibilities and contributions.
"The Squid Game"?
A new project, everything is unknown.
Success would be a meteoric rise, but what if you fail miserably, or it drags on for several years?
Then I can only receive the basic salary.
Lin Yikai's basic salary is not low, but comparisons are always a problem.
Giving up a project with stable dividends to develop a new one is not an easy decision to make.
Just then, a young man in the back row raised his hand: "President Lin, I want to join the new project team."
Lin Yi looked over and saw Huang Donghe.
He remembered this person; he had a master's degree and a rather impressive resume.
I learned Korean on my own in college and went to South Korea as an exchange student in my junior and senior years.
Later, he taught himself Japanese and went to Japan to complete his postgraduate studies.
He is a person with ideas and ambition.
In the original "Detective X" project team, because he joined late and had little seniority, he mainly did odd jobs and research, and did not get to get involved in the core plot, so he received less money.
Lin Yi immediately understood his thoughts.
I want to take a gamble and fight for a core position in a new project.
"Okay." Lin Yi nodded and wrote down his name.
Hwang Dong-hyuk started it, and soon several other equally young screenwriters raised their hands, saying they were willing to join the new project team.
Their situations are similar to Hwang Dong-hyuk's; most of them joined later and didn't occupy a core position in the detective project, so they received less profit sharing.
Willing to risk the uncertainty of the future for a potentially bigger stage.
In the end, a total of seven people volunteered to join the "Squid Game" project team.
As a startup team, we have enough members.
Lin Yi turned his gaze to the majority who had chosen to stay.
Lin Yi wouldn't have any prejudice against them.
Their choice is reasonable; the nearly mature IP of "Detective X" also needs people to maintain and continue developing it.
"Going forward, for those of you who remain in the original project team, we'll need to divide your work into even more specific tasks."
Lin Yi quickly made arrangements:
He also serves as the chief screenwriter, responsible for maintaining the world view of "Detective X", planning long-term storylines and designing key plot points, and ensuring that all derivative products stay on track.
Of the initial five "tool" staff, one chose to join a new project team, while the remaining four were promoted and each led a small group.
The live-action film and television production team will be retained (5 people) to be responsible for the scriptwriting of subsequent episodes and to join the production team for filming when necessary.
A new comics team (3 people) has been formed to adapt the story of "Detective X" into comics.
A new animation team (8 people) has been established with the goal of creating an animated series of "Detective X" in the future, attracting a wider audience of all ages.
Set up a content coordination team (3 people) to coordinate the content between comics, animation and TV series to avoid inconsistencies.
Meanwhile, the content coordination team is also responsible for receiving manuscripts from external sources.
After assigning tasks to each project team, the meeting came to an end.
Lin Yi closed the folder, looked at everyone in the conference room, and his tone became relaxed.
"There's one last item on the agenda. I'll just give a brief overview and then the meeting is adjourned."
Lin Yi paused deliberately.
"Give us the money!"
The meeting room was silent for a moment, then a suppressed buzzing sound filled the air.
Lin Yi turned around and placed the briefcases behind him one by one on the table.
"The revenue share from Tencent for September arrived a few days ago," Lin Yi said with a smile.
"The company has money in its account now, so since everyone is here for the meeting today, we'll distribute the bonuses as well."