242 Dual Function Base (1/2)

S4 saw a rise in viewership, but S5 remained pretty much the same. Viewership did not drop by much as there were still many interesting events occurring on planet Baiji and a lot of news.

Every time Fang Zhao followed people from the outpost team to assist with construction, some thrilling or exciting scene was captured—the weird creatures and plants of planet Baiji that could be both dangerous and violent.

Also, sometimes Fang Zhao followed the outpost team and completed more dangerous tasks that were not convenient for Kevin Lin to follow. Thus, in these cases, Kevin Lin headed to the military district and did some interviews to help the masses understand the thoughts of the pioneer immigrants. This aroused the curiosity of the many viewers as well.

The pioneer immigrants did not have as easy a time as others imagined. When they arrived here, they needed to adapt to all sorts of things. Physical acclimatization was still considered light—the main issue was psychological acclimatization. Fortunately, there were professional psychologists in the military district.

The masses learned about all these through Kevin Lin's live broadcasts and video interviews.

Kevin Lin also interviewed Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother Fang. Probably due to them having similar experiences before, the two elders had not had many problems adapting after arriving at the military district. The people here were warm, friendly, and treated them well. As they loved the environment, the two elders would wait till Fang Zhao was discharged from the military next year before leaving together with him.

Shanta allowed Kevin Lin to have more interviews with the two Fang elders. This was good publicity for planet Baiji's immigration plan and told people that, among immigrants that came over, while there were some that did not adapt well, there were also others that adapted superbly.

Now, network fees were slowly dropping as the communications network structure was upgraded more and more. People who had been unable to adapt at the start no longer had such intense reactions.

Entertainment allowed people to divert their attention elsewhere. ”Beauties” had already started airing with two episodes per day. Technological advancements had greatly shortened the time required for postproduction. As long as filming was smooth, each episode could be churned out quickly. There were special effects, but they were all supplementary, unlike those older period dramas in which, besides the cast, everything else was made from special effects. Some companies did not even have physical casts and used virtual idols instead.

The drama series that Zaro had reckoned would be awful quickly became the hottest show on all the large internet video websites after it started airing. A large majority of viewers were females. Many people from the military district here also loved watching it, and immigrants gathered together to watch it and save on network expenses.

After ”Beauties,” other drama series, including ”Vampire Duke,” Mountain of Immortals,” and ”Cinderella,” began rolling out.

Although Zaro might normally have seemed unreliable, this time, he had been triggered, and his acting had improved a lot. Leizhou's audiences were all discussing what had caused such a big change in Zaro.

Zaro's agent felt gratified when he saw the amount of clicks on the internet. Bringing Zaro to watch Woo Tianhao film had had its upsides and had provoked Zaro into being slightly more serious when it came to acting. Why was it that Zaro's performance this time seemed especially good?

Because he had few lines!

If Zaro wanted to portray nobility, he could really do so. After all, he had been born into the Renault family and knew what it was like to be an aristocrat. If he was serious, he could really scare people—the only prerequisite was that he not speak. When this b*stard opened his mouth, people would just feel like hitting him.

During a discussion with the script writer, to obtain even better results, Zaro's agent had insisted that Zaro's original lines be cut by 70%!

”Vampire Duke” was popular among many youngsters. Ornamental silver crosses like the one that appeared in the series were best sellers. Even garlic saw a rise in price. In addition, household items that appeared in the series with special characteristics, along with that especially pretentious black cape, were selling like hotcakes.

Taking into account advertising fees, copyright fees, endorsements, and other sources of revenue, these drama series profited quite a lot. The money spent on purchasing land and constructing the castle was all recouped.

The other drama series all had similar circumstances, and all the companies involved were very satisfied.

Now, among very popular drama series, nine out of 10 series were shot at the Wai film studio complex. There were fairy-tale romances, action thrillers, medieval fighting movies, movies about court power struggles, supernatural horror flicks set in ancient times, and slapstick comedies. There were films that adults loved to watch and films suitable for children. Having watched lots of interstellar conflicts, superheroes vs. monsters, and explosive flicks, watching these films and dramas set in ancient times was a novelty for everyone.

The popularity of these few drama series gave rise to a new wave of historical fads. Filming outdoors on planet Wai was also convenient. If it were to switch to planet Baiji, if a group headed into the forests without a military squad for protection, nobody could say for certain whether anyone would return alive.

Presently, Silver Wing was also filming another drama on Wai, ”Warring States,” which was set in ancient times and was about a power struggle. Many new constructions were added for the filming of this next series.

Some Yanzhou celebrities that had opened their owned studios made connections with Silver Wing and came over to planet Wai for filming. Earnings were secondary; these people came with other motives. First, they wished to know what the Wai film studio complex was like, and second, with so many production teams here, there were actors, directors, and investment firms from continents across the entire world. Getting to know more people could help pave a few more roads in future.

Many people seemed to soar in Yanzhou, but when put on the global stage, they were nothing more than infants learning to talk. Yanzhou alone was too small. Any actor or actress with ambition aimed to develop themselves on the global stage, and Wai film studio complex gave them such an opportunity.

As Wai film studio complex was more or less fully developed and was being hyped up in the news, Wai base's commanding officer, Huo Yi, submitted an application for a film entertainment cultural base.

At the start, Huo Yi had been rather apprehensive. After all, previous applications to be a major research base had been rejected multiple times. Now that he was applying to be a film entertainment cultural base, he had expectations, but he also made mental preparations for rejection.

However, when he received the results and saw the words ”application approved,” Huo Yi's hands trembled and he wanted to scream, but he restrained himself from doing so. Suppressing the billowing ecstacy in his heart, Huo Yi sat in his own office the whole afternoon and carefully considered many things. However, when he returned to his senses, he realized he had not come up with anything.

On the same day, Huo Yi, informed every investor that the Wai film studio complex had officially been named ”Wai Filmed Entertainment Cultural Base”!

When a few companies and superstars posted new statuses on their social platforms, the tagged location had already changed to ”Wai Filmed Entertainment Cultural Base.”

Film studio complex and film entertainment cultural base. It was obvious from the names which of the two was of a higher level. Since approval had already been obtained, the original film studio complex would surely continue to expand, and development and would not be limited to the extent it was now.

Planet Wai could not be like planet Baiji and bank on having high-grade power ore to develop the planet. Wai had to take its own special path, so Huo Yi decided to build up the major research base and film entertainment cultural base. There was no need to compete with planet Baiji—all that was needed was to compete with other planets that were of similar levels.

The film entertainment cultural base being approved let a lot more people know about planet Wai. In the past, even though there had been the influence of Project Starlight, not many people had understood planet Wai. Now, with the rebuilding of those ancient historical structures, a lot more people were learning of planet Wai.

When investors that had adopted a wait-and-see approach saw this piece of news, a portion of them immediately made their choice, but the remainder continued to hesitate till Wai base had yet another announcement. Wai Major Research Base had been approved.

After the film entertainment cultural base had been approved, Huo Yi had clenched his teeth once more and submitted the application for a major research base. From an economics point of view, there were many examples. For example, during the filming for the film Silver Wing had invested in, ”Beauties,” many of the plants within the palace had been transplanted from the experimental plots. Furthermore, with the extreme popularity of this series, a few of the bonsai plants featured inside had become highly sought after.

Through these means, plants from the experimental plot had publicized their existence. This was something that had been discussed between Silver Wing and the relevant researchers.

A few large wholesale vendors of the flowers and plants market had contacted planet Wai to place an order for a batch of these goods.

With popularity and economic value, the probability of it being approved had been much higher, but even so, when Huo Yi had received the results, he had not been able to control himself as tears flooded his eyes.