I’m Really a Superstar

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The developments that followed could only be described as swift. After Yan Tianfei gave the word, Zhang Ye and his team received the orders and established a new program team immediately. Before even confirming the staff assignments and related work duties, the program team\'s bank account was already set up and running. Yan Tianfei specially approved their department\'s Finance Section to transfer the 10 million RMB over to the program team. It was done in about ten minutes, as though that money would disappear if they did not quickly get it done. Around ten minutes later, Zhang Ye already had his hands on a legal-looking document with the official department stamp on it that detailed the establishment of the new show.

Yan Tianfei\'s high efficiency made everyone\'s jaws drop!

Instantaneously, everyone started discussing in whispers what just happened.

"Wha-what happened just now?"

"I don\'t know. What on earth is Director Yan doing?"

"Excluding the copyright purchase funds, our department should only have around 10 million or so left in our production budget, right? All of that has been allocated now? All of it will be used for making a documentary? I\'ll faint if that\'s true. What\'s Director Yan thinking?"

"10 million RMB for a documentary? That is enough for 100 documentaries!"

"If they spend it carefully, it might even be enough to shoot 200 documentaries!"

"What on earth is going on?"

"Did anyone hear about anything?"

"I heard that Director Yan went to see the deputy station head, and he\'s been like this since came back!"

"There wasn\'t any warning that this would happen, neither have I heard of anything! Uh, but there was an incident that happened at the stage of Central TV Department 1\'s Rise to the Dance. Could this be related to that?"

Nobody could figure out what was happening.

Tong Fu of Department 14 suddenly exclaimed, "I get it! The deputy station head must have tried to make some arrangements on behalf of Central TV Department 1 and asked for access to our department\'s production budget to be diverted over to Department 1! There were precedents of such actions before, like last year when the station\'s funding was tight, didn\'t they ask for our department\'s budget to help tide them over!?"

Huang Dandan slapped her thigh, creating a loud pop. "Oh, that\'s true!"

Tong Fu continued, "Could it be that Director Yan does not want them to have their way, therefore distributed all the money to Director Zhang using a newly set up bank account? He\'d rather spend it all than give it up for nothing to Central TV Department 1!"

Someone cursed, "Fuck! Central TV Department 1 has really gone too far!"

Another person said, "They\'re outright bullying us!"

"Do they think that Department 14 is so easy to pick on? Ah?"

"It\'s the same with the station. They\'re always siding with Department 1!"

"Seems like Central TV Department 1 is Central TV\'s biological child while we\'re merely the stepchild!"

Little Wang grunted, "That bunch of people at Central TV Department 1 are always behaving in that way!"

Ha Qiqi said, "The Voice\'s copyright that belonged to Director Zhang was almost sold off by their management who wanted it for themselves. I wouldn\'t be surprised by what that bunch of people are capable of!"

Wu Yi said, "Those immoral people!"

Zhang Zuo said, "Don\'t talk about it anymore. I get angry just at the mention of it!"

The people on Zhang Ye\'s team also started scolding with the same thoughts in mind.

These two groups of people held a grudge with Central TV Department 1, some of it was new, some of it was old.

Zhang Ye was listening to this from the side all this while, suddenly realizing that something had happened to Rise to the Dance\'s stage! As he was in his office using the Lucky Halo, he did not know about it yet. Needless to say, this was definitely the work of the Lucky Halo. The stage was built by Zhang Ye himself according to the original version of The Voice of China in his previous world. Zhang Ye had spent much time and effort to recreate it and it represented his blood and sweat. It also represented a lot from his previous world, so now that it had been destroyed? It was just as well. The new show had been taken away by Chen Ye and his team, but that was not an issue to him. However, the stage must not be left to them. With his activation of the Lucky Halo this time, it also helped him bring down the entire stage setup in an instant. It was so powerful that Zhang Ye secretly felt a little afraid of it!

So this was the upgraded Lucky Halo!

The reputation points needed to keep it activated were many, something that Zhang Ye would never be able bear in normal circumstances. However, when it was used, its power was very significant. It had the ability to cause an earthshaking effect that could turn things around!

Ha Qiqi said to Zhang Ye, "Director Zhang, although Director Yan has already given the word, but for this 10 million production budget, how should we spend it? There\'s nothing much that we can spend on when it comes to documentaries, right? Usually, a documentary can be made with just 80 to 100,000 RMB."

When Zhang Zuo heard this, he gave a wry smile and added, "The problem now is that we have to spend it all no matter what?"

Tong Fu and Huang Dandan, along with the rest of Department 14\'s staff, all knew best about a documentary\'s expenses. For a documentary, this 10 million was indeed an astronomical figure. To put it bluntly, even if the 10 million yuan budget was given to them, they couldn\'t spend it all.

When Zhang Ye heard this, he rolled his eyes. This bro was just worrying about the lack of money and only managed to get this 10 million after having such a hard time, so how could he possibly not be able to spend it all. Don\'t worry, there won\'t even be a single cent left! It was even better since he was just considering increasing the production budget to replicate the popular documentary series of his world in its whole to present it to this world. This 10 million had arrived timely and the funding was all of a sudden in such great excess!

With so much extra funding, he was no longer limited to just filming the first season of the documentary series. He could even go ahead and do the second season as well, as long as he did not waste too much time. By not capturing unnecessary footage, he could easily finish filming for the two seasons\' worth of the original series. There should be enough money now to support this change of plans. Zhang Ye\'s advantage was that he knew the final cut of the documentary, thus reducing the time needed for him to repeatedly test his shots. In most cases, a documentary had the lowest percentage rate when it came to recorded footage making it into the final cut. Perhaps a little more than a dozen shots out of a thousand would be selected while the remaining would end up not being used, but none of that was a worry for Zhang Ye. The footage he was going to film would have already been "chosen" by the professionals of his previous world who had spent so much time fine-tuning and refining their shots and were later market-tested when the documentary was broadcast. Because of all those reasons, he would undoubtedly be able to avoid wasting any unnecessary expenses. This was an advantage that no one could ever beat him at!

At this moment, Yan Tianfei\'s secretary walked into the office area hurriedly.

"Director Zhang, are you busy?" the secretary asked politely. "Director Yan just informed me that your team has a total of around 20 people and that all of you are working from Section 1\'s office space for now, so it has gotten a little crowded here. He told me to unlock and open up Section 3\'s office space and get it cleaned up before telling you about this, but starting today, your new program team will operate from the Section 3 office space which will become your independent work area."

For a team of around 20 to have their own workspace might seem like it was too much, but with their team setup, they were also considered to be qualified to use it since they were a full team after all.

Zhang Ye smiled and replied, "Great, thank you. Help me thank Director Yan as well."

The secretary smiled. "You can also pick out a few people from Section 1 and 2 to join your new program team. Director Yan has considered the fact that since you\'re still new here and might not be too familiar with our documentary department\'s operation and filming process, you would probably need a few old hands to help familiarize you with the work here."

Zhang Ye remarked, "OK, but since I\'m still new, I\'m not familiar with the people either…"

"Shall I recommend a few people to you then?" the secretary asked.

Zhang Ye answered, "That would be great."

The secretary turned around and looked at the people of Department 14 before saying, "Tong Fu is quite good. When the department was first set up, he was already here, so you could consider him veteran around here. Every time our department has a self-produced documentary job to handle, Tong Fu usually follows along. He knows all about the workflow and approval standards for the documentaries."

Zhang Ye smiled and stated, "Alright then, but I will still have to respect his wishes and not force him to join my team." Saying that, he looked at Tong Fu. This was someone he had a good feeling about since he arrived at the office this morning. He was one, while Huang Dandan was the other. Both of them were very active and cheerful, and it was exactly this type of person Zhang Ye preferred getting acquainted with.

Tong Fu chuckled, "Of course I don\'t have a problem. I\'m just afraid that Director Zhang will find me unreliable. As long as you don\'t mind, I\'ll surely give my all!"

Zhang Ye was very happy at that. "Then it\'s confirmed!"

Tong Fu immediately started packing his things to prepare to go over to the Section 3 office space. However, as he packed, he kept signaling to Director Yan\'s secretary with his eyes, making it seem like they knew each other very well or something.

Director Yan\'s secretary glanced at him and coughed, then pondered as he pointed at a girl—Huang Dandan. The secretary said, "Well, Director Zhang, Huang Dandan is quite good as well and she\'s rather spirited too. She\'s also well-versed in communication skills and interview techniques. Not only is she one of the more excellent video journalists in our department, she can handle filming very well too if you don\'t have enough cameramen. Whenever there\'s a shoot that follows the soccer or basketball leagues, she\'s always the first choice to go along with the film crew. Her experience is definitely good enough."

"Ahem, you\'re praising so much that I feel embarrassed. Am I that good?" Huang Dandan scratched her head and then stepped up. "Director Zhang, from now on, wherever you point, Tong Fu and I will follow. Now that I\'m a part of your team, I can\'t guarantee other things, but I definitely won\'t embarrass you!"

Zhang Ye put out his hand. "Welcome aboard!"

Tong Fu and Huang Dandan both shook Zhang Ye\'s hand.

Actually, Zhang Ye had already noticed something. He saw the two of them throwing looks at each other every so often and believed that they were probably a couple. It was likely that everyone else in the office knew about this as well.

Next, Director Yan\'s secretary recommended another two people and Zhang Ye gladly accepted them without hesitation and took them into his fold.

Seeing that, the secretary felt his heart warm. He knew that this was down to Zhang Ye\'s trust for him. "Director Zhang, regarding the equipment that you requested, Director Yan has already settled it all. He just made some calls a while ago and everything should be sent over by tomorrow."

Zhang Ye reacted with surprise. "That fast?" Accustomed to the red tape in a television station and the delay from the department leaders, Zhang Ye was still not used to working under a leader who was so efficient.

The secretary said, "It was just a few sets of HD equipment, so they still gave us some face regarding that request. Uh, Director Zhang, do you still need me to recommend a few more people for your team?"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "No, it\'s alright, that\'s more than enough. If I were to get more people, then the other sections would be emptied out soon and Director Yan would surely take it up with me if that happens, right?"

After confirming the team members, some people kept their composure as though nothing had happened while a few others clearly looked disappointed. It seemed like they had wanted to go over to the new program team as well, but were unfortunately not chosen to do so. Zhang Ye was still a legendary figure in the industry and his team was also the one who had created the miracle of the variety world. Joining this legendary team and working with them would surely have been a good experience that they could mention to others in the future: I worked on a show as part of Zhang Ye\'s program team before! Who wouldn\'t be impressed if they heard that? Even if they were to leave Central TV, with that line in their résumés, they might even be able to get a better job!

Hua la la. The metal chains on the door were removed by Director Yan\'s secretary.

The office space at Central TV Department 14\'s Section 3 was officially opened for Zhang Ye\'s program team starting today.

The money was in place!

The equipment was in place!

The staff were also in place!

Zhang Ye suddenly felt very emotional. OK, with everything ready, the platform has been set up. The rest will be up to me now! This bro will show those people at Central TV Department 1 that even if I get transferred over to Department 14, even if I end up making documentaries, I will still be able to fucking demolish you all!

The secretary suddenly asked, "Director Zhang, what is your new show going to be called? I\'ll get someone to make the plate for you to place on the office door."

Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the others looked over.

Tong Fu, Huang Dandan, and the rest of the Department 14 staff also perked up their ears in curiosity.

Zhang Ye looked at everyone and then smiled before announcing, "The new program will be called—A Bite of China!"

Chen Ye?

Rise to the Dance?

Central TV Department 1?

Let\'s meet again in December! See you then!