Chapter 289 - 286: Negotiation

Chapter 289: Chapter 286: Negotiation

Li Weiya didn’t rush to look at the contract. Instead, she drew the curtains, turned on the projector, and played the latest episode of Cat and Mouse for Zhou Lu.

By now, Zhou Lu was what you’d call a die-hard fan of Cat and Mouse. She had watched the episodes from the first two seasons over and over again, and she knew all the classic scenes by heart.

But this time, as she saw the familiar opening animation, she felt that something was different.

The picture quality was higher, and the animation was smoother. She turned her head to look at Li Weiya, who just smiled silently, gesturing for her to keep watching.

The episode was about Tom spotting a beautiful white cat. No matter how Jerry tried to prank him, Tom would just stare blankly at her. In an effort to get Tom back to their usual game of cat and mouse, Jerry wrote a letter to a black cat, asking him to pursue the white cat so Tom would give up. After a series of shenanigans, Tom was chased out of the manor by the black cat. But just as Jerry thought he and Tom could go back to their friendly games, he himself ran into a beautiful little female mouse.

Zhou Lu laughed constantly while watching the cartoon. It had the familiar art style and characters, but the short seven minutes passed by in a flash. Li Weiya then opened the curtains and turned off the projector.

"Chief Zhou, that was an episode from the third season. What did you think?" Li Weiya asked with a smile.

She immediately replied, "It’s excellent."

"But... has the picture quality improved a lot?" After watching that episode, the only word that came to Zhou Lu’s mind was "silky-smooth."

The animation was fluid, the transitions were seamless, and the cuts were perfect. The overall quality had jumped several tiers.

"Yes," Li Weiya said with a smile. "We’ve adopted a new production method. Before, it took six people two months to grind out a season. Now, it requires the coordination of over thirty people to produce one in the same amount of time."

"No wonder."

It dawned on Zhou Lu. In this day and age, there was no other way to improve animation quality except by increasing the number of keyframes, which also meant a significant increase in production costs.

Generally speaking, few companies were willing to do such a thankless task. If the original quality was already profitable, why spend more money to improve the picture quality? Other than boosting the company’s reputation, there was almost no other tangible benefit.

Those who liked it would watch it even if it was as choppy as a PowerPoint presentation, while those who didn’t would find it boring even if the animation was shoved in their faces.

And yet, Qitian Animation Company had done exactly that. It meant they were reinvesting their earnings into seriously developing their product. They wanted to make this animation a long-term, sustainable project, unlike those trashy companies that cash in and run.

In other words, as soon as the third season of Cat and Mouse aired, they would be hailed by countless netizens as a "conscientious company."

"If all the episodes in season three are this quality, Cat and Mouse’s reputation is going to explode again," Zhou Lu said with a laugh.

"This is our company’s philosophy. We strive to create better and more outstanding animated works to give back to the public for their support, not just go through the motions."

"Impressive," Zhou Lu said, giving a thumbs-up.

’If all animation companies had the same attitude as Qitian Animation, the domestic animation industry wouldn’t be in such a sorry state. Most of them aren’t even thinking about making good productions; they’re just churning out shoddy trash to scam government subsidies.’

"So, what price is the TV station planning to offer us this time?" Li Weiya asked, leaning slightly forward with her fingers interlaced on the table, an overtly aggressive posture.

Zhou Lu suddenly realized what was happening. Showing her the animation, talking about the company’s philosophy—it was all to get the TV station to offer a higher price. After all, the animation’s production costs had genuinely increased, and not by a small amount.

She hesitated slightly. The contract drafted by the station was actually about the same as before: 8,000 yuan per episode, with a fluctuation of about 1,000 yuan up or down, capped at 10,000.

But given the situation now, even 10,000 an episode probably wouldn’t be enough to secure it.

After all, no one had told the station the picture quality for Cat and Mouse had improved this dramatically. Their offer was based on the old standard.

"What price does Director Li think is appropriate?"

The smile on Li Weiya’s face softened. She sat up straight, took a shallow sip of her tea, and said slowly,

"CCTV Children’s Channel contacted us before and offered 30,000 yuan per episode for just the first-run broadcast rights. We didn’t agree, considering our pleasant cooperation with your station. Later, they raised their offer to 50,000. President Jiang said we should ask for your thoughts first."

Zhou Lu’s expression froze. 50,000 per episode? For a seven-minute show? That was a price Yu Du TV Station hadn’t paid for anything in the last decade.

To put it in perspective, the exclusive broadcast rights they had agreed to last time were only 30,000 per episode.

"Thank you for President Jiang’s generous consideration, but I’ll have to discuss this price with the station’s leadership," Zhou Lu said, taking a deep breath.

Li Weiya shrugged and made a "go ahead" gesture.

Business was business; personal feelings couldn’t be used as bargaining chips. Besides, this was also Jiang Xia’s intention. By giving Yu Du TV Station the right of first refusal, he was already showing them a great deal of respect.

At the end of the day, the company wasn’t a charity. Now that production costs had risen so much, they had to make the TV station bleed a little to share the burden. Besides, it wasn’t that the TV station couldn’t make a profit at this price—it was just a matter of how much.

Zhou Lu took her phone to the meeting room to communicate with the station. During the call, she asked Li Weiya for a sample clip of just over ten seconds and sent it to the station, likely so their experts could professionally evaluate the current picture quality of Cat and Mouse and determine a final price.

Over half an hour later, Zhou Lu returned, pushing open the office door with a dejected look on her face.

"How did the discussion go?" Li Weiya asked with a smile.

"Sigh... The station is giving up the first-run broadcast rights for Cat and Mouse," she said with a wry smile.

Even though Yu Du TV Station had garnered very high nationwide ratings in recent months thanks to Cat and Mouse, a price of 50,000 per episode was still too high.

Moreover, as other TV stations also began to sign broadcast agreements, their share of the ratings would be diluted.

All in all, the leadership at Yu Du TV Station felt that Cat and Mouse wasn’t worth that price. Furthermore, CCTV Children’s Channel was just too rich; they couldn’t compete. They would just have to be content with getting the leftovers.

In the end, Qitian Animation Company and Yu Du TV Station signed a broadcast contract for 20,000 yuan per episode, but they could only air the show after the first-run broadcast period had ended.

"Chief Zhou, a pleasure doing business with you," Li Weiya said with a smile, shaking Zhou Lu’s hand.

"Phew, it’s finally settled. I should be going now," Zhou Lu said, letting out a long breath.

"Won’t you stay for lunch before you go?"

"Director Li, you’re a very busy person. I won’t impose. We’ll meet again some other time," Zhou Lu said, shaking her head.

"Then take this with you."

Li Weiya turned, took a scarf from the coat rack, and handed it to her with a slight smile.

"Chief Zhou, it’s cold in the Imperial Capital. Don’t catch a chill."