Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883

by Inebriation-seeking Blue Shirt, 青衫取醉

  He only had one feeling: this was extremely toxic!

  The story outline had been toxic before, but it had only been an outline after all. The plot was extremely basic. However, the current script contained the conversations between the protagonists, their expressions, and a lot of other details. One only had to imagine the background music, and the toxicity levels would be…

  Through the roof.

  Pei Qian could not stand to read any further. It was too miserable!

  He continued scanning the script and confirmed that Zhu Xiaoce and the other scriptwriters had not changed the storyline. They had only added more details to the outline and expanded the script.

  It was not any less toxic. Instead, the additional details made it look even more toxic!

  At that point, Pei Qian began to relax. If they stuck to this, the movie would definitely contain every toxic point in history! “This script is perfect! I’m very happy with it.”

  Pei Qian praised Zhu Xiaoce and his script-writing team highly.

  Zhu Xiaoce could not help but grin. “You’re too kind, Boss Pei. Your story outline was good. We only added in some minor details.”

  They were both chatting happily when Pei Qian’s cell phone rang.

  He glanced at it and saw that it was Chang You.

  “Hello? Boss Pei, I just wanted to tell you that we’re more or less done with the preparations. We’ve selected a suitable office, and I’ve recruited all my brothers.

  “We want to set a general direction for the first cell phone model today and come up with a plan for the initial stages of production. Could you come over and offer some guidance if you have spare time on your hands?”

  Offer some guidance? This was a bad time.

  Pei Qian was still discussing the script with Zhu Xiaoce at Fei Huang Workspace; he was afraid he would not have time to spare for the rest of the day.

  Should he ‘guide’ the successful Fei Huang Workspace or the dream team that had experienced failure many times before?

  The choice was obvious.

  Of course, Pei Qian could also arrange to meet Chang You and the rest the next day. However, on further thought, it seemed meaningless to make everyone waste one entire day waiting. Pei Qian also felt like he could not meddle in Otto Technologies’ business. On one hand, he could affect the dream team’s performance. On the other hand, if he offered help and the first cell phone model failed, Boss Pei would be taking the blame in place of Lin Wan. It would hinder Lin Wan from leaving the industry, going home, and taking over her family business.

  “You can go ahead with the discussions. I am quite busy today, and so I won’t be able to come down.

  “Don’t ask me to give instructions for everything. I’m letting you call the shots.”

  Chang You answered, “Alright, Boss Pei! Don’t worry, we’ll finish the task!”

  After hanging up, Pei Qian continued discussing the script with Zhu Xiaoce. Zhu Xiaoce hesitated and said, “Boss Pei, there’s one more problem.

  “You should have noticed by now that the characters’ names have not been set. That’s because we can’t decide if the main characters should be Eastern or Western.

  “You seem to hint that these people are from a future age. However, you haven’t given us any hints on their nationality.”

  Pei Qian nodded. That was indeed a problem.

  “Since the movie is to be set in the future, the concept of nations has to remain blurry. Furthermore, this story cannot happen in our country.

  “The characters and scenes should be in English. The lines should be in English as well.

  “Look for foreigners to play the main characters. If you can’t find any, look for locals who can speak good English. You don’t have to explain their identities. The audience would understand that the characters are only ethnically Chinese.”

  Pei Qian figured that hiring foreign actors would probably cost more than hiring local ones! He could not forego any chance to spend more money. Zhu Xiaoce quickly nodded. “Yes, Boss Pei, that’s what I thought as well.

  “However, there might be one difficulty… we’ll probably not be able to hire famous foreign actors. We might not even be able to hire moderately-famous foreign actors.

  “After all, this is Fei Huang Workspace’s first time filming a movie. We are practically unknown overseas. Even if we offer a lot of money, we might not be able to convince them to travel all the way to Jingzhou.

  “It’ll be easy for us to hire the calefares but much more difficult for us to find the main actors-especially the male protagonist and judge. Those two have many more lines than the others. That means we need to have higher requirements for their acting.

  “For that reason, should we try looking for local actors to play those parts?”

  After some thought, Pei Qian replied, “Alright.

  “However… if we can’t hire famous foreign actors, do you think we’ll be able to hire famous local ones?”

  Zhu Xiaoce smiled helplessly. “It won’t be easy either. However, it would at least be easier for us to communicate with local actors. That would increase our chances of hiring them.”

  Pei Qian had wanted to suggest hiring a few newbie actors from various schools to fill the roles. However, he subsequently realized that they would cost too little. Fei Huang Workspace would not be able to spend much on remuneration.

  No matter what, they had to find an actor or two who would request for higher pay. Otherwise, Fei Huang Workspace would not be able to finish spending their budget for remuneration.

  Yet, who could they look for? That was another problem.

  All of a sudden, a person’s name popped into Pei Qian’s mind.

  I know a local actor, and I’ve even worked with him before!

  Zha Zhuti!

  Zhang Zuting had been severely criticized after acting as the spokesperson for Bloody Battle Song back then. However, he also gained a significant following through that episode. Many people started to pay attention to him, so that even he began to accept being referred to as ‘Zha Zhuti’.

  Of course, Pei Qian still remembered this old friend of his.

  old Zhang was a good friend of Tengda. Thus, Tengda could not treat him badly. As the saying went, one could not allow benefits created by one’s own work to accrue to others. Since Fei Huang Workspace was ready to offer a high salary, they had to offer the role to Zhang Zuting first.

  Even if the movie failed later on, people would only curse at the scriptwriters and not the actors.

  Old Zhang just had to act well in the movie to avoid being scolded by the audience. What’s more, one particular character in the script suited Old Zhang well—the incorrigible judge.

  The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more appropriate the plan seemed. He said, “I’ll help to look for actors as well.

  “I’ll contact Zhang Zuting later and ask him for his availability for filming. If he agrees to star in the movie, we will cast him as the judge.

  “As for the male protagonist… We can continue looking around and inform each other if we find suitable actors.”

  Zhu Xiaoce looked surprised. “Zhang Zuting? It’ll be great if we can hire him. He’s an old actor, whose acting skills are guaranteed to be good! What’s more, his English is not bad. He can probably speak English during the entire filming process.

  “Boss Pei, you have a wide network indeed!”

  Chapter 333 - Director Lin’s Responsibilities

  In Otto Technologies… Chang You, Lin Wan, and the core members of the company had gathered in the conference room, ready to discuss the general direction for the new cell phone. Lin Wan had just arrived from Shang Yang Games.

  Research and development of Be Quiet was underway. Ye Zhizhou, Wang Xiaobin, and the other designers had already produced a design manuscript. At the same time, the other employees were working on foundational tasks like obtaining art resources.

  Lin Wan did not have to get involved in such tasks. Thus, she could spare s
ome time to travel down to Otto Technologies and sit in the meeting about the new cell phone.

  All the employees sat upright and still with somber expressions. They looked very serious.

  At Otto Technologies, they were still employees working on cell phones, just like they had been at Hongcheng Technologies. However, everyone’s attitudes seemed slightly different here.

  Chang You had been the Vice President when they were at Hongcheng Technologies. However, he had not had much say.

  There had been many other Vice Presidents with the same authority as Chang You. What’s more, there had still been a CEO above him.

  Since those at management level had had different mindsets, there had been a lot of conflict and wrangling. Since even Chang You—as Vice President, had not had much freedom, the friends who had been working under him had had it worse.

  Yet, now, Chang You had gained Boss Pei’s trust. Thus, he was allowed to decide on the general direction of the new cell phone. He had much more authority now than before.

  Naturally, the friends working under him no longer looked so sullen as well.

  Furthermore, when the previous company had gone bust, everyone had had to go their separate ways. Now that they were reunited, most of them felt like they could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. As a result, all of them felt grateful to be where they were.

  Chang You hung up and addressed everyone. “Boss Pei said that he’s busy at the moment, and so he won’t be able to come down. He said we can make the necessary decisions.

  “Let’s begin, then.

  “Director Lin, as Tengda’s representative, please feel free to raise any opinions you have.”

  Lin Wan nodded. “Alright.”

  She did not think that she would have any problems. After all, everyone seated in the room was more experienced than she was. Still, she had to maintain the right attitude as the head.

  Chang You commenced the meeting according to the established agenda.

  “The new cell phone model will be based on the research and development plan we created for Hongcheng Technologies’ flagship model back then. I think all of us likely have plans that we were forced to stop midway. Some of us had probably even negotiated a procurement plan with suppliers in detail. If there are no legal risks, we can make use of them.

  “Our company’s first cell phone must use Original Design Manufacturing. I don’t expect anyone to have questions about that.

  “At the moment, we mainly have two things to work on. First, we have to research and develop a system that belongs exclusively to our brand. Second, we have to set a general direction for our products and communicate this with the manufacturers.

  “It goes without saying how important the system would be…”

  Lin Wan listened quietly by the side, taking down notes from time to time.

  Although she had not conducted research on the cell phone industry on purpose, she understood the basic concepts from her observations of her family business.

  Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) and Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) were two common modes of manufacturing in the cell phone industry.

  A tech company producing cell phones did not have to take care of everything from designing to manufacturing, branding, and selling. They just had to outsource the various tasks to the relevant producers.

  For OEM, the company itself would design the product and outsource the manufacturing. That was what companies like Pineapple did.

  On the other hand, for ODM, the company would merely communicate their standards and requirements to the manufacturers. The manufacturers would then design and produce the products. This was more commonly known in the market as ‘private labeling’.

  Of course, cell phone manufacturers could make custom requests. As long as they were willing to pay more, everything was negotiable.

  Otto Technologies had only just been established. It was not possible for it to independently research and develop every part of a cell phone. Thus, ODM was the better option.

  Going for ‘private labeling’ did not mean that the quality would be worse off. There was also nothing embarrassing about it. Most local and foreign cell phones were ODM products. Many cell phone models, including Shenhua, were also completed using ODM. Many Original Design Manufacturers had been designing cell phones on behalf of other companies for a long time. They had good plans for everything from the products themselves to hardware assembly. They also had tons of experience, good quality control, a stable supply chain, and reliable efficiency.

  Some cell phone manufacturers even managed to produce low-end models using ODM that were of better quality compared to high-end models produced using OEM. This was a phenomenon that had confused many consumers.

  Of course, things were different for large, stable companies like Shenhua or Pineapple. In those cases, taking over the designing work and creating a flagship model using OEM would increase the high-end brand’s value. OEM would obviously be the better choice.

  However, for Otto Technologies, it was still too early to take this step. ODM was akin to private labeling, but they could still create custom cell phones. Of course, the more custom requests they had, the more money they would have to spend.

  At that moment, everyone focused on coming up with a general plan for the new cell phone

  -in other words, how to integrate the various existing plans.

  They spoke freely, to their heart’s content.

  “We definitely have to use the latest microchip.”

  “We also have to use the best screens, right?”

  “The camera can’t be too bad either. In fact, it looks like many flagship models have two cameras now. We have to follow suit, right?”

  “We need to take care of battery life, too. Maintaining a good microchip and screen would require a lot of battery.”

  “It should have more internal storage as well, and maybe add some RGB?”

  “Wait, we’ll only be purchasing in small quantities. Can we get good microchips and screens?”

  “If we can’t, we can always pay more! If we don’t use the best microchips for such an expensive model, we’d be criticized upside-down. We have to get them at all costs!”

  They all spoke one after another, obviously excited to include the latest hardware in the cell phone.

  The original design was intended to be Hongcheng Technologies’ flagship model, M9. It was what Hongcheng Technologies was supposed to use to enter the high-end market.

  However, M9 was only supposed to cost about four thousand yuan. Now, the current model was to be sold for eight thousand yuan.

  How many more good things did they have to

  add?

  Every time they had worked on cell phones before, they had had to be stingy and try their best to reduce costs as much as possible. They could only daydream about good ideas that had often been too expensive to execute.

  In the end, they had often been left with no choice but to reduce costs for things like the motor, charger, and NFC.

  However, things were very different now. They could insert as many good parts into the cell phone as they wanted and still not have enough!

  What’s more, cell phones could be extremely expensive for different reasons. It was not as simple as throwing all the latest hardware and technologies into the design.

  Take the unpopular-as-yet full-screen technology for example. Companies could make the top part of the cell phone’s frame extremely narrow, but that would require them to find a new place to put the speakers and other hardware that normally occupy that space. This would undoubtedly require them to compromise other parts of the cell phone.

  Although such phones would look more interesting, there were huge sacrifices involved. Moreover, practicality could be compromised.

  Everyone discussed these considerations for a long time. Ultimately, Chang You decided to give up on pure aesthetics and focus on mature, reliable, and expensive technology instead. They would remain down-to-
earth and pile on such resources to increase the cell phone’s value.

  Soon, discussions about the model’s hardware came to a close.

  From what Lin Wan could understand, the cell phone’s hardware design sounded quite similar to Shenhua’s flagship model. However, she was certain that it would not surpass Shenhua’s cell phones in terms of the system, custom design, and unique selling points. There was also a world of difference between the two brands’ reputations.

  Otto Technologies’ cell phone design would also make use of new technologies available in the market and look quite impressive. However, it would definitely not be able to overshadow other large companies’ flagship models.

  What’s more, Shenhua’s flagship model was only priced at less than six thousand yuan.

  From the looks of the current situation, Lin Wan guessed that it would be difficult to sell their cell phone for even 5,500 yuan, much less eight thousand.

  Chang You said, “Think of more ideas, everyone. Boss Pei has given orders. We must sell this cell phone at eight thousand yuan.

  “When I was talking to Boss Pei earlier, he made some suggestions. For example, we must only replace cell phones and not repair them. If a customer’s phone breaks down, we would have to deliver a new set to their doorstep and help them to transfer their data over. Then, we’ll have to initialize the old set.

  “All in all… We have to think of additional services to add to the cell phones so that they are valued for money.”

  With this new conversation opening from Chang You, the others began offering suggestions once again.

  “What if we intensify the replacement services? We could allow customers to trade in their older models each time we produce a new one. We’ll give them five hundred yuan on top of their old models’ valuations. This way, we could encourage customers to stick to our brand.”

  “I think we could make our packaging more exquisite. We’ll choose the best factory-installed screen protectors and casings to increase the value of our cell phones.”