Chapter 250 - WebTV’s First Historical Live Broadcast! (1/2)

Evening.

Nearly 7 P.M.

Zhang Ye came to work under the light of the moon. According to the company, this was a cla.s.sic case of working late. It was also something that the Leaders had specially approved. It wasn’t too different from a traditional television station. Usually, before a live broadcast, the hosts wouldn’t be kept too busy. They’d also usually do their preparations an hour or two before the show started, otherwise, if they were to work normal hours like everyone else, how would they be able to handle the live broadcasts at night? They wouldn’t be able to their energy levels up!

The lift doors opened just as he entered the building.

Zhang Ye quickened his footsteps so that he caught the lift just in time.

There was a man inside the lift, someone that Zhang Ye knew. It was the person who he’d met on his first day after joining the company—the one from Human Resources who’d made him fill in his form with an English name.

His name was Yang Yang. He glanced sideways at Zhang Ye with a sunken expression.

Zhang Ye didn’t pay any attention to him, and pressed the b.u.t.ton for his level, looking relaxed.

Yang Yang didn’t attempt to speak to him either. The two of them had already argued in the past, so of course they didn’t want to speak once again!

The lift went to the bas.e.m.e.nt first, where Zhang Ye walked out. He walked straight to Studio 7 for the recording. He entered by pus.h.i.+ng the door. d.a.m.n, it had already transformed into a whirlwind of activity and staff.

“Is the signal okay?”

“It’s almost there.”

“I’ll adjust it a little more, then.”

“Lights, we need some more lights over here!”

Over a dozen people were busy climbing around and carrying equipment.

When Zhang Ye noticed the WebTV department’s second-in-command, w.a.n.g Xiong, he knew that the company had placed a lot of emphasis on this live broadcast of “Zhang Ye’s Talk Show”. The department leaders were all handling this personally, causing Zhang Ye to subconsciously feel pressured.

“Little Zhang, you’re here?” w.a.n.g Xiong said when he saw him.

Zhang Ye went forward to greet him, “Director w.a.n.g.”

w.a.n.g Xiong looked at him, laughing, “You look pretty confident. How’re your preparations? Has the script and all of the joke segments to be used been decided already?”

Zhang Ye nodded, “It’s been decided.”

w.a.n.g Xiong said with heartfelt emotions, “Your talk show’s program style is the first of its kind in the country, as well as in the world. There’s been no precedence nor experience with this sort of program. Although our company has many scriptwriters and editors, they can’t really write good material for joke segments like you can. It’s their first time handling something like this, so before they familiarize themselves with it, we’ll still depend on you to write it. When they know it better, in the future, it’ll be much easier. I’ll find a group of writers for you, in order to help with your background research and work, so that you won’t have to work so hard.”

Zhang Ye smiled. “It’s alright, Director w.a.n.g. Writing these things comes quite naturally to me.”

w.a.n.g Xiong cautioned, “Director Feng asked me to remind you that the joke segments should all be original, just like in the first episode. If you’re out of any original joke segments, you can get some from online too. However, the company will have to purchase the rights on your behalf. At least we’ll avoid any copyright issues then.”

“Don’t worry.” Zhang Ye didn’t have any such worries. He said, “You won’t find any of the joke segments from my talk show online.”

w.a.n.g Xiong said at ease, “Haha, that’s good then. Come, you should get ready. Go do your makeup and get changed first. I’ve gathered the best from each department in order to help out the situation here today. This is a historical live broadcast in WebTV history, and also a first. It’s a real milestone for us, so we’ve gotten the backstage works all ready for you. You can rest a.s.sured, and just do your best up on stage. This live broadcast isn’t only watched by our company’s top management… you should’ve seen the discussions online? There are many people in the same industry, and peers, who are watching us. We aren’t asking you for perfection, just for you to do the best that you can.”

Zhang Ye replied, “I won’t betray the leader’s trust.”

Backstage.

In the aisle.

Sister Four from the filming department was chatting with Dong Shanshan and w.a.n.g Bei. Ah Qian and Little Yu were present as well, but didn’t say anything.

Zhang Ye was a little stunned, “Shanshan…teacher Shanshan, aren’t you busy with your program? What’re you doing here?”

Dong Shanshan turned around and smiled at him, “My old cla.s.smate’s doing a live broadcast today, therefore I definitely have to come and support him. No matter how busy I was, I’d still have come.”

Zhang Ye said happily, “Interesting.”

Dong Shanshan added on, “The main reason is because I’m afraid that you’d use me as your topic again, so I’m here to watch you!”

Everyone laughed.

Zhang Ye looked over at Sister Four, “Sister Four, you’ve worked hard.”

Sister Four snapped her fingers, “It was nothing. The person one who’s going to have to work hard in a while will be you. If anything happens during the live broadcast, the responsibility is all on you…Pui, curse my mouth!” Then, without saying any more worrisome words, Sister Four said, “Oh right, how’d you offend that Lee Parkwoo from Korea?”

Zhang Ye held his hands up in denial, “I don’t even know him, nor have I even heard of him before this.”

w.a.n.g Bei added her share of opinions, “That person is such a grandson. He had nothing better to do, so he wanted to create trouble for you? His sense of superiority is really there. A Korean thinking that he has fans from both countries, and that he can even forget his surname? I’ve already posted a reply on Weibo to scold him. That Lee Parkwoo really is unbearable to watch. He looks all high and mighty, and with just a few words, leads those brainless Chinese fans of his to do all the dirty work for him. He even looks like he’s enjoying the entire process, which makes him that much more hateful!”

Little Yu echoed, “Yeah! He still said that Teacher Zhang was faking going off-script? Why doesn’t he just die? We all saw it clearly back then, even the audience saw it! Teacher Zhang never once referred to the script from beginning till the end. He didn’t have an earpiece prompter either. Lee Parkwoo is just blatantly accusing him. I read on the internet that many Hallyu fans believed it, and are scolding both Teacher Zhang and our company for misrepresenting it to the audience. What do we even call this?”

Zhang Ye smiled, but then sighed, “It’s just a small matter. If they wish to say so, then leave them be. I’ll go and get changed, and have my makeup done first.”