I'm Really a Superstar

Chapter 978: The return of Zhang Ye!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

At Beijing Television.

In the program team office of Do You Remember.

Hu Fei, Dong Shanshan, Hou Ge, Hou Di, Dafei, Xiao Lu, and the rest of the program team were seated in the office. They looked up at Zhang Ye, busily writing on a blackboard that he had pulled over as he spoke bombastically.

Zhang Ye drew a picture on the blackboard. “The Do You Remember set can be reused, but we cannot scrimp on the funding for it. It still requires many changes, like the expansion of the stage. What we have right now is not going to work. We must change the overall atmosphere of the set to become darker as it is currently too bright. These changes won’t be terribly difficult as it should be quite simple to implement them without requiring us to do too much work. Then, about the production budget for the show, this time we will need at least 100 million as the base amount!”

Everyone was dumbfounded.

“Ah?”

“100 million?”

“Do we need that much?”

Hu Fei was also very astonished by this figure and silently wiped at his sweat.

Their Beijing Television was not considered an elite station among the provincial television stations. Their viewership ratings were quite good, but not actually that high. That was the reason why their variety shows were more conservative as they did not have as much money as Central TV. As such, they had never been willing to put such a large sum of money into their productions. When they heard the proposed figure of 100 million, everyone became a little flustered.

Dafei asked, “Teacher Zhang, just what kind of show is this?”

“Yeah, King of Masked Singers? We don’t really get it,” Xiao Lu said.

Hu Fei added, “How would they be masked? Who would be masked?”

No such show had appeared in this world before, so everyone was confused by it.

But Zhang Ye had forgotten this detail. “OK, I didn’t explain it clearly. Let me talk about the show’s content first. The core of the show will be to invite some celebrities, singers, actors, or hosts—perhaps even some athletes if necessary. The only requirement is that they must be well-known and can sing well. Then we get a designer to design some masks, headdresses, or costumes to cover up the faces and/or easily identifiable parts of these celebrities. We’ll have them face off against each other on the same stage, with the winner not required to unveil themselves and moving on to the next round, while the loser can choose whether or not to take off their mask. As for how the specific elimination and advancement system works, I will explain in detail later. At the same time, we’ll invite those heavyweights of the industry as judges and guests of the show. We can make them the guessing panel, where they’ll give their reviews and try to guess the contestants’ true identities!”

Everyone was once again dumbfounded!

A few newcomers on the program team were slack-jawed!

King of Masked Singers?

So that was what it meant to be masked?!

Zhang Ye said, “The selling point of the show is this: If these celebrities were standing onstage, we would know who they are. But if they have a mask on, and we can only hear their singing voices, we would have to guess their true identities while enjoying their singing. That’s what makes it explosive!”

Hou Di swiftly brought up a problem. “But a lot of singers have very special and unique voices.”

Zhang Ye replied, “We can ask them to slightly alter their way of singing, or to change their vocal placement a little, all of which can be easily achieved.”

Hou Ge raised another issue. “But won’t they be exposed the moment they speak?”

Zhang Ye laughed. “There are voice changers nowadays, which we can directly connect to the microphones. After the voice changer is in effect, even our own parents couldn’t recognize our voices.”

Hu Fei stood up agitatedly. “Celebrity face off? What if those singers who’ve been famous for a long time are concerned about losing to the newer singers? They might find it embarrassing and decide not to take part, no?”

“Use the appearance pay and tempt them. Besides, I just touched on that.” Zhang Ye said, “The loser can choose to keep their mask on and just depart from the stage. As long as their identity stays hidden, as long as the internal team keeps it confidential, no one will find out who they are. Regarding this point, we’ll need all of the staff to work together, but I suggest that only the director alone knows their true identity. We just won’t tell anyone else. And make them wear their mask during the rehearsals and recording! We must not allow their identities to be exposed! If we allow that to happen, our show’s selling point will lose its support! That is most definitely not acceptable!”

Zhang Ye’s explanation was already enough to form the structure of the show!

Everyone listened in awe, looking at each other at times and seeing the surprise in each other’s eyes!

A rookie gaped and asked, “In the past, singing shows have always had the structure of a talent show. We’ve always had amateurs taking to the stage to showcase themselves. But I have never, ever heard of celebrities taking to the same stage and competing against each other before. Th-This is too big a clash! No one has ever done something so excessive before! Would anyone really come and participate?”

Zhang Ye laughed and said, “Don’t worry about that.”

Everyone gasped.

A celebrity face off? Compete on stage? Only Zhang Ye would dare to come up with something like that! This idea had probably not even crossed the minds of others before! No wonder it required 100 million RMB in production fees. How much would it cost just to invite those participants? Then there was still the stage setup and the guessing panel of industry insiders?

That would be too excessive!

Wouldn’t he be going for broke this way?!

This would surely turn the music industry upside down!

A woman rookie said, “I-Is that really going to be alright?”

Dong Shanshan suddenly raised her head. “I think it will be good!”

Hu Fei suddenly slapped his thigh. “Good? This will be great!”

Instantly, many of the program team staff felt excited. Just imagining Zhang Ye’s description of the show and stage was already making their blood course!

Whether it was creativity.

Whether it was the scale of the show.

Whether it was the competition format.

Whether it was the professionalism.

All of them were unheard of in a variety show in the history of television shows!

In the past, every show that Zhang Ye proposed could not be understood by others when they first heard the proposal, and they would always think that it would not work out. Like for Do You Remember. What was so good about a show that required people to remember the lyrics? Like for Zhang Ye’s Talk Show, what in the world was a talk show anyway? Like for A Bite of China, what kind of waves could a documentary set off? But as always, the results proved that Zhang Ye was right. His vision and knowledge were much greater than anyone else’s. He was light-years ahead of the industry!

But today, when Zhang Ye brought up the King of Masked Singers show, almost no one doubted him. When they heard the summary of the show, they immediately knew that it was going to be spectacular!

Hu Fei was in a great mood. He laughed heartily and clapped Zhang Ye on the shoulder. “Sure enough, Teacher Little Zhang, we really needed you to take charge after all! You can come up with an idea for a show so easily. That’s what makes you different from everyone else! Who else in the entire industry could have come up with a show like that? Just how does your mind work!”

Xiao Lu also exclaimed, “We can finally work alongside Teacher Zhang again!”

“With you back, we’re all feeling very confident again!” Dafei went up and gave Zhang Ye a long-awaited bear hug. “We really missed you! Teacher Zhang, welcome home!”

Hou Ge went over. “Welcome home!”

Hou Di also gave him an emotional bear hug. “Teacher Zhang, we’ve waited for your return for a long time! Welcome home!”

Zhang Ye had gained his fame at Beijing Television, but was also driven away by Beijing Television. He had had his share of grudges, gratitude, and friends in this place. Too much had happened in these two years.

But now, Zhang Ye had returned.

He had returned and brought with him a television show that could possibly set the entire country alight.