Why is it so hard to continue sequels?

|Editor of Vernica

|Li Chunhui

Three years have passed, and "Qing Yu Nian 2", which has released preparation news for many times, has never been released. Recently, one of the leading actors Li Xiaoran responded directly to the current situation of "Qing Yu Nian 2" in the interaction with fans - "the script has not yet come out".

looked forward to the three-year drama fans returning from disappointment, and turned to crusade against "Celebrating More Than Years" screenwriter Wang Juan . Some people speculate that there are too many sequel projects in Wang Juan's backlog in the past three years, such as "Da Song Juvenile Chronicles 2" which has just started and "Douluo Continent 2", which has just been launched. progress of the script.

also excused the screenwriter, thinking that the failure to start the game for three years is definitely not the reason for the screenwriter.

In fact, not only the screenwriter Wang Juan's drama sequel is difficult to give birth, the former actor Zhang Ruoyun is also on the hot search because he owes too much debt for the sequel. He starred in " Forensic Qin Ming ", " Kyushu Sky City ", "Celebrating More Than Years", " Swordsman in the Snow ", "Police Honor" and other popular popular dramas, but none of the promised sequels ("Forensic Qin Ming") "Ming" sequel substitutions).

is worse than the sequel. We can choose not to watch it. It is even more embarrassing that the anticipated sequel has been difficult to produce, and it is also the status quo of domestic dramas becoming more and more prominent.

"There are too many factors that limit the sequel project, and each project is different." Producer Leo sighed to Hard Candy Jun, although the film side often draws the audience's IP sequel cake, but in fact everyone knows I know that I won't pay too much to force a sequel project.

Obviously some IP sequels are expected, once they are broadcast, they can gain a lot of popularity, but why have they become the abandoned children of domestic dramas?

The filming system is destined to have a difficult sequel

Our kind audience generally has a notion that a good script takes years to polish, and a good drama like "Celebrating More Than Years" has a difficult sequel because it is too difficult to continue writing classics. The

script is indeed one of the reasons why the sequel is difficult to produce, but it is not the main reason. Mr. Hard Candy also mentioned before that the screenwriter is, after all, a service party B, and it is the party A who pays the final decision when to come up with the script.

Once Party A decides to do this project, the contract will set the time nodes for handing over the outline biography, the five-episode script/ten-episode script, the complete episode diversity, and the complete script. Party A will not wait for the screenwriter to continue writing without time limit. If the screenwriter fails to submit the work within the time limit, it is a breach of contract.

Therefore, projects such as "Celebrating More Than Years 2" have not come out with a script for three years, and there is a high probability that Party A has some concerns and encountered other problems. The most common problem is: Can't beat the same schedule of the original starring team.

Domestic dramas do not have the sequel planning awareness of American dramas, and they will talk about the actors' salary for many seasons at the beginning. Zhang Ruoyun once revealed in an interview that he signed a five-year contract with the "Celebrating More Than Years" project for three seasons. However, in the opinion of the producer Leo, the signing Zhang Ruoyun said may just mean that the two parties have discussed the cooperation intention for three seasons, and it is not a formal contract that can restrict the actor from taking other plays. No one in the current industry will sign an actor's contract for several seasons.

"Doing a domestic drama is a one-shot deal," said producer Leo. Even if a sequel is planned, but the show is not on fire, the sequel will naturally abort. Most episodes wait until the show hits the air before actually starting to plan for a sequel. But at this time, there will be a lot of trouble.

First of all, when the drama is on fire, it will naturally bring bonuses to the main actors. The main actor will receive an offer from another family, which makes it difficult to find time to shoot a sequel together.

Second, the cost of making a sequel is bound to increase. For example, the actors, directors, and screenwriters who receive bonuses cannot be the market price of the first film.

As soon as Party A calculates, if the profit pressure of the sequel project is high, and even the probability of losing money is high, of course, it will not start the project easily. The first part of "Celebrating More Than Years" was contracted for actors before the "salary limit order" in 2018, and the main actors' remuneration accounted for a lot. Contemporary styles with 10% participation in "Celebrating More Than Years" (nowIn the case of ST Mingcheng), in the information disclosure supervision work letter in response to the 2020 annual report, it was disclosed that the company invested 300 million yuan in the modern drama " If the years can turn back " during the same period.

This modern drama only took four months to shoot, while "Celebrating More Than Years" was filmed for 178 days, nearly half a year. It is also a costume drama, and the cost should not be lower than that of a modern drama.

Although there is now a salary limit order, the cost of actors may not rise but fall, but it is still a lot of money for the platform. Earlier, "Celebrating More Than Years 2" also appeared in Disney+'s film list, which inevitably made Hard Candy Jun suspect that in order to balance the budget, the platform talked about overseas distribution early.

Of course, there are also experts in the industry who can make sequels, such as Noon Sunshine. The main reason for this is that from actors, directors to behind-the-scenes, the team is all in-depth cooperation with their own family members. They are both fixed and easy to talk, which saves the trouble of raising the price of the film and knocking on the schedule. This is why in the era of traditional TV stations, it will be relatively easier to do sequels, because the team of TV stations will be relatively fixed, and the remuneration and schedule are controllable.

The difficulty level of a sequel is also divided into types

In addition to the common problem of difficult sequels, "Each type has different problems in making a sequel." Leo gave Hard Candy as an example. For example, modern drama sequels are better than costume dramas. , but often the story volume of modern dramas is not enough for sequels, and many big IP dramas in ancient costumes are suitable for sequels.

This is the inherent contradiction of the sequel, so there is a situation where " Ode to Joy " could not be continued, and "Celebrating More Than Years" was highly anticipated but could not be continued.

Hard Candy has calculated that the most popular sequels from audiences are almost all costume dramas. From " Chu Qiao Chuan " to the recent "Snow Swordsman", " Son-in-law " and so on. The reason why costume dramas are more difficult to make sequels than modern dramas is that costume dramas themselves are more difficult to do implantation and advertising investment than modern dramas, and the overall profitability is less than modern dramas. Even famous costume sequels are not as profitable as modern dramas. For example, dramas like "Ode to Joy" are easy to implant, and most of the income can be locked in in the early stage, and the business can be made without losing money. Who wouldn't be happy?

This is why "Ode to Joy" obviously doesn't have enough actors, the story is finished and the IP needs to be rebuilt, but it can continue to do sequels, and it has already been scheduled for the fifth season. According to industry insiders, the investment revenue of " Ode to Joy 2" is the unbreakable peak of the industry so far.

However, although it is also a modern drama, the situation of suspense drama is different. The sequel to the suspense drama is difficult to produce, mostly because of the censorship factor. A suspense drama is very popular before making the second part, but because the first part is popular, the censorship encountered when making the second part will be stricter, and the script will be difficult to pass. Because of this. Wang Wei, the director of

"Chasing the Murderer in the White Night", also revealed the matter euphemistically, "To put it bluntly, the director is just a director, I have no other power, I can shoot it if I want to." After high-scoring word-of-mouth dramas such as "Corner " released the label of iQIYI Misty Theater, the review of all Misty Theater dramas will be stricter.

After the broadcast of "The Hidden Corner" in 2020, the four misty theater suspense dramas "'s silent truth ", " very witness ", " doomed " and "'s fatal wish " have been put on hold for a while. , precisely because of this problem. Now there are only two months left in 2022, and the promised new season of The Mist Theater is unknown.

So in today's domestic dramas, it is difficult to see the sequels of suspense dramas. Audiences who want to watch the sequel to the suspense drama can only try to find a meal replacement.

Of all the genres, the easiest sequel is the main theme drama. Because from top to bottom, they are giving the green light for this kind of drama. There will be neither the issue of salary increases and schedules for actors, nor the issue of censorship. The actors who shoot the main theme drama have all negotiated, and there is no possibility of skyrocketing prices for this kind of task-based drama, and the schedule will be reserved early. This is whySo " Dajiang Dahe " can do three seasons smoothly.

Now, it's harder to make a sequel

"It's harder to make a sequel now than it was two years earlier." Leo sighed helplessly.

Previously, Mr. Hard Candy discussed the issue of "the landlord's family has no surplus food". The era of the drama industry has changed, and the platform has passed the stage of burning money. To make matters worse, the investment environment has become worse and worse. No matter which IP sequel

is, it is difficult to achieve the same amount of investment advertising and new members as before. Then the platform will naturally think twice about the investment in the sequel.

This summer, there have been a lot of "naked" dramas - they started broadcasting when there was a lack of investment, leaving a lot of business opportunities. This kind of drama is now being ridiculed by netizens as "radish drama", and the first name came from the ratings research center group of Douban.

"The Radish Drama" takes a lot of risk. Not every drama can achieve the same effect as " Xinghan splendid " and " Canglan Jue ". While broadcasting, it attracts investment. Because of the popularity of the broadcast, the business was recruited and some losses were recovered. If

can't make sure that the sequel makes money, it is difficult for the current platform to open the project at the risk of losing money. After all, profit is the first priority. The "Da Song Juvenile Chronicles", which was broadcast in the same year as "Celebrating More Than Years", has exceeded expectations. After three years of anticipation, the audience finally started filming for the second season. The reason why this show can be made into a sequel is mainly because it is not expensive. Although

starring Zhang Xincheng , Zhou Yutong , Su Xiaotong are more famous than before, and the remuneration is naturally not low, but the investment in the first part was not high, it was regarded as a small and medium cost web drama at that time. According to the financial report of mango supermedia , the investment of "Da Song Juvenile Chronicles" is less than 100 million. And the first season was 42 episodes, and the second season only had 12 episodes.

has fewer episodes, so the cost is naturally not too expensive. At the same time, the demand for actors' schedules in short dramas is also reduced. The three actors Zhang Xincheng, Zhou Yutong, and Su Xiaotong may not have a four-month schedule, but it should not be difficult to get a schedule of more than one month.

Therefore, "Da Song Juvenile Chronicles" can be made into a sequel, and some compromises have been thought of to reduce the cost and discuss the actor's schedule, so as to satisfy the audience's expectations for the sequel, but it will not lose money. But for a drama of the size of "Celebrating More Than Years", there should be no way to reduce the number of episodes. Audiences waiting for the sequel to "Qing Yu Nian" may have to be a little patient.

"Everyone in the industry has a basic consensus that they won't force a sequel project. Now many producers have taken a different approach and turned to the universe." Leo revealed that, for example, the production company Stellar Gravity, which has recently become popular due to "The Secret of the Orchid", The boss, Wang Yixu, has repeatedly emphasized the need to be a universe.

"Freedom" and the upcoming " Seven Auspicious " are both adapted from Jiu Lu Feixiang novel. Although there is no linkage in the original novel, it has been linked in the TV series. In "Canglan Jue", Xianjun Chang Heng will appear in "Auspicious Seven O'clock", linking the plot. In this way,

can not only grab the popularity of the previous IP, but also in case "Auspicious Seven O'clock" is also popular, it is not impossible for Wang Yixu to create a fairyland version of "Avengers".

It seems that viewers who are eager to see the sequel can look forward to the universe instead.