บท 32: Gambling

Levi's question made Alexander's eyes widen, "You haven't given up yet? No way?"

Alexander knew very well what Levi meant when he said he wanted to buy: After the TV series is produced, the right to premiere belongs to the TV network. That's it. However, sometimes TV networks will directly veto a TV series for various reasons and decide not to show it. This series is considered over; every summer, every TV network has to veto about 20 TV series, some of which are due to the low production level, and some for various reasons; such cases are common.

For the major TV networks, losing this little money is nothing. However, sometimes, the people who shoot TV series have enough confidence in their TV series. After the TV series is rejected, they can also spend money to buy back the first broadcast rights of the TV series and then sell them to other TV networks— Anyway, there are four TV networks, and no one can monopolize the market. Maybe they can succeed with another one of them?

However, in doing so, the first and most significant problem is cost. If the production company is a big company like Bruckheimer's and the TV series is rejected after the filming is over, they can buy it and send it elsewhere. However, if a small company like Enigma purchases back and cannot sell, there will be many arrears. No matter how confident Alexander is, considering the possibility of tens of millions of debts, he dare not ignore it.

"Give up? We've already started filming. How can we give up?" Levi rhetorically asked, "If we were to give up now, we wouldn't even have 1 million dollars left. It's almost May, and it's too late to make a new drama. If we give up, we have to delay for a year. I will only have 1 million in my hand. You also know how difficult it is to make a movie with a million dollars."

Levi's speech made Alexander speechless for a while, unable to say anything. In fact, for Enigma, it is now a dilemma. If you buy it, you may lose your fortune; if you don't, that's a waste of time and not getting paid.

"Anyway, ABC rejected first. Even if we don't do a good job now, they can't say anything if we were to take some shortcuts for the next two episodes. If we do that, maybe we can save some money..." After a while, Alexander expressed his idea, "They vetoed our proposal for no reason, and they can't say that we are immoral."

Levi glanced at Alexander: This idea is really terrible. It's better to do less of such things as cheating and appropriating. If they really did so, then his reputation would be ruined.

However, Levi can also think that this is why ABC released the wind in advance to veto it: ABC did not want to have too much trouble with Adam. They initially hoped that Enigma Company would calculate the cost at this time and find a way to save it after paying liquidated damages to the crew and guaranteeing that they would not lose money. In their view, they let Enigma Company know about these things in advance so that it would not lose too much money in the end, which is already a very benevolent approach.

It's just... do these guys really think of them as the second generation of idiots who can be dismissed with a bit of favor?

"Don't be discouraged, it's just that ABC rejected our TV series, and the reason for their rejection is that it does not meet their criteria. We can show the TV series to other TV stations and see who will buy it." Although because of being rejected, Levi was also a little bit lost. He still tried to show a somewhat optimistic mood when facing his friends.

He absolutely could not agree with Alexander's ideas to directly hasten the remaining two episodes. "We can recommend our TV show to other TV stations. Now the four major TV networks have a lot of cooperation, and some will be willing to buy. Good TV shows will always have some controversies. Law and order, Baywatch, etc., there have been controversies, and our TV drama has also had controversies, and in this regard, we are on par with them!"

The two TV series Levi mentioned are very famous. In the earliest days, Law and Order was ordered by FOX TV station. When the TV series was being produced, they even ordered 13 episodes. However, after further research, they believed that Law and Order was too "political" and did not meet the requirements of FOX, so this TV series is no longer aired. After the show was rejected, the producer did not give up. He bought the premiere rights and found other TV stations to broadcast his series. This process was very long, leading to the show's completion in 1988, and it was not premiered on NBC until 1990 and immediately became one of the most popular TV series after it was released.

And Baywatch is a simple TV series, has no plot, and is essentially just beautiful and handsome guys in swimsuits running around to sell their bodies. After the show's first season was broadcast, it also encountered a downturn and was cut. But the producer felt the show still had merit, so it was revived. After persevering, it became one of the most popular TV series in the United States and even the world.

And in Levi's memory, there is another example: In 1995, the TV series JAG was released on NBC; because of its poor ratings, the ranking dropped to 79th and was directly cut off by NBC. But after it was cut off, CBS thought the TV series was valuable, so it bought the right to broadcast it. This TV series was rejected by NBC and later became a golden mountain of CBS, which was used to mine for many years. CBS broadcasted nine seasons of JAG, filmed the spin-off drama NCIS, and filmed another ten seasons. Later, NCIS also released a spin-off drama NCIS: Los Angeles.

With all those successes, it now looks like a failed test screening isn't quite the end. Being rejected by a TV station does not necessarily mean you are entirely dead. Especially if TV stations can't say that their TV series are not good but think they do not conform to their style, they may change their TV series and get approved.

Alexander looked at Levi, knowing he could not persuade him. Enigma Company has been busy for three months but has yet to make hard-earned money. Levi can't accept this, and neither can anyone else. If they don't dare, they may not lose much money but can't make money either.

"If you contact other TV stations...there is only one way, that is, we first beg ABC not to reject the TV series completely, but to participate in the screening during the screening. If we can get enough advertisers, then maybe ABC people will change their minds, and even if they don't, after the screening is successful, companies must be willing to buy our TV series from ABC."

At this point, all Alexander can think about is how to reduce his losses. There is not enough working capital here. The money given by ABC is used to repay the loan of the entertainment company, and there is nothing left. Although he is also considering finding a new investor from Canada recently, no one will invest in them if they can't find a place to broadcast the TV series.

Investors invest in making money, and it is very convenient for them to do anything with capital in hand. If the TV series filming is good, they will not hesitate to count their loans as production investment and sit still and take 40% of the profits. If the filming of the TV series is not good and no one broadcasts it, they naturally recover the loan directly, pat their ass, and leave. Hollywood must also abide by the operating laws of the capital system. Here, the rich never lose money; investors are less likely to lose money than production companies.

And if you don't bring in funds and invest it yourself, the production company can't afford the TV series produced by itself.

After the TV series is produced, it will be sold to TV networks. Even if the TV networks rejected the TV series and the production company wanted to buy back the first broadcast rights, The TV networks would never lower the price. Because they knew that a TV station could only broadcast a TV series, you couldn't keep it for yourself if you bought the first broadcast rights, so it's nothing more than selling it to your competitors. If you are willing to sell it at a lower price, it will be equivalent to reducing the production cost. Although you can recover part of the loss, it may make your competitors take advantage of it, and the TV network would never do such a thing as be taken advantage of by the competition.

As Alexander said, Enigma had no money and no room for turnover. Their only chance is to present their TV series at the screening that will come in May. If the screening goes well and attracts enough advertisers willing to invest money in the commercials of this TV series, then there is no need to worry that no one will buy the premiere rights for this series. If not... Then, his TV series is entirely dead.

"Do what you say, Alex, and get in touch with ABC; our only last request is to go to their screening - we can't afford to do it ourselves. I'll be in touch with my dad and let him also help convince ABC that we don't ask them to give us an order; we ask that they give us a chance to sell our TV series and show them."

Enigma Company is too poor to hold the show. However, ABC is rich and powerful, and there are 20 or 30 TV series in one screening, and they don't care about one more TV series participating in the screening. Levi believed that ABC would not veto his request. After all, it was just a trivial matter for the TV station. They had no reason to refuse if they asked Adam to come forward.

"I don't think it's a big problem to do this. But if we continue to produce with high quality in the remaining two episodes and we fail to get investment, we will have nothing left." Although he already agreed with Levi's opinion, Alexander was still a little apprehensive.

"Man, we're already betting anyway, aren't we?" Levi laughed. "If we win, what do we pay for it? If we lose, we're ruined anyway. Still care about this little money? Alex, this is the starting point of our career. If we don't go all out for this opportunity, will we have another chance in the future? We need to prove to them that we are not the hopeless ones in their eyes; vetoing this will be something Michael Eisner regrets for the rest of his life!"

*****

You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816