Top Management

TM Chapter 215

TL: emptycube / ED: Isleidir

Everyone who gathered in Supernatural’s production meeting room darted their eyes. They should be opening champagne thanks to the unexpected effective marketing strategy, but the mood was gloomy. It was because of Director Cha Jaeho, whose eyes glowered as he sat in the seat of honor.

-Irritable Cha, what’s got him all worked up?

A female employee wrote on the planner of her co-worker sitting next to her. Her co-worker silently showed her his phone under the table. The article headline on it read:

{City Jungle hits crowdfunding goal in 1 hour, breaking the previous record}

Exchanging glances, the production employees tried to flatter Director Cha.

“Director, why are you so concerned about City Jungle? They aren’t even on our level.”

“Our breakeven point is 4.2 million, and our goal is 10 million. They will be over the moon if they reach 4 million with that film.”

“There’s no comparing directors either. You’re a master, and she’s a greenhorn.”

“To be honest, if not for Jung Sunwoo, City Jungle wouldn’t have been such a hot topic.”

Director Cha Jaeho, who seemed to relax at being called a master, grew sullen.

“How can I not be concerned?! I’m about to collapse from high blood pressure because of that bastard! Do you know what that Jung Sunwoo bastard said-!”

His employees perked their ears.

Something scandalous was going on between W&U’s Jung Sunwoo and Director Cha Jaeho, and although everyone was hush-hush about it, they knew that Jung Sunwoo stabbed Director Cha Jaeho in the back because of it. This was because the director made several outbursts on set.

“That bastard, that cocky bastard said…!”

Director Cha Jaeho opened and closed his mouth a few times before bursting into a tirade of curses.

Then, soon, he turned around with glittering eyes.

“Where is the marketing coordinator?”

***

-Has City Jungle not started accepting funds? Why won’t my payment go through?

-It’s been sold out, dear customer. The exit is on your left.

-LOL I was fortunate enough to do it as soon as they launched it. If not, I might have missed out!

-Oh my god. I missed it because I was careless. I succeeded in buying tickets to a solo concert that sold out in a minute and never failed to sign up for classes, but how could I miss this?! I’m speechless. q.q Why won’t they take my money when I want them to!

-Their original time frame was a week. Won’t they increase the funding goal?

-I thought everyone moved to Supernatural because that’s all they were talking about. Were all those posts made by Heo Kakyung fans? Or was this the big picture of those who wanted to get rid of competitors?

-I knew this would happen. Since crowdfunding became a hot topic because of Jung Sunwoo lol.

-But do all you investors think you’ll profit? Because it’s Jung Sunwoo’s film? Only a few crowdfunded films until now have profited. You guys are better off investing in shares.

-I only put in 100,000 won. It said that I would receive a VIP screening ticket as well as a general advance purchase ticket, so I didn’t think I would be losing much even if I lost all of it. Looking at other community sites, it looks like there are tons of people who invested 100,000 won.

-I put in 1,000,000! To be honest, half because of expectations and half for fun.

-2,000,000 for me! Half for never-failing Jung Sunwoo, half because I’m Lee Songha’s fan. Songha, let’s get another hit!

Carbonated bubbles surged up glasses. Having received soda, the employees were chuckling.

“If not for the fact you’re still working, I wouldn’t have popped some champagne!”

“Now, let’s get in the mood!”

Although this was a simple celebration at the office, the mood was as though we won the world cup. People chatted while pouring soda into champagne flutes.

“When the producer messaged me, I was like ‘Is this guy on drugs?’”

“This guy? On drugs?”

“I mean, it just doesn’t make sense logically! It ended as soon as it launched!”

“We left our mark on the history of crowdfunding films! The Jung Sunwoo effect is incredible!”

“I told you! It’s more effective than bringing an actor in a star marketing campaign!”

I couldn’t even count the number of flutes that clinked with mine.

Although I did expect a pretty decent result when I sprinkled ‘investments’ onto my special image, this was beyond my expectations.

Soda instantly poured down my throat. My frustrations that built up from Supernatural’s media manipulation was swept away. I was receiving tons of messages from W&U too. Team Leader Park was laughing about how she missed her chance to invest.

“It still feels surreal to me. I asked a few of my friends to invest, but I guess I was worried for nothing.”

The film production company Forest’s CEO looked partly out of it as he laughed. He didn’t have any alcohol, yet his face was red. I looked at the employees behind him and asked,

“Did Director Oh Hyunkyung not come?”

“Ah, I told her to come even for a moment, but Director Oh is really focused right now. She said that she would make a few adjustments after the feedback we received from internal screenings. She really looks… I can’t even strike up a conversation with her.”

I recalled the film I saw at the screening. It made me lose my sleep for the next few days.

Just then, SBE Film’s CEO and project producer, as well as World Art Pictures’ general manager, approached me.

“The platform is asking if we have any plans on raising our goal. They say that they are receiving a crazy amount of inquiries.”

“We originally considered 300 million as our maximum. Is there a reason to be greedier?”

“Well, that’s true, but the public is so…”

SBE Film’s CEO and project producer licked their lips. World Art’s general manager shook his head.

“If we raise the target, it’ll put pressure on us internally. Also, on our partial investors.”

While there was a slight conflict of opinions, we eventually decided not to increase our goal. We were already fully enjoying the marketing effects of having reached our goal in one hour.

The project producer raised his glass.

“Anyways, it’s an overwhelming victory for us in terms of crowdfunding! There are probably a few of you who couldn’t get enough sleep from Supernatural or whatever, but now you can sleep easy!”

Laughter shook the office.

However, the smiles of victors quickly faded the next day.

{Supernatural vs City Jungle}

This title, which seemed for suited for the octagon, quickly spread.

Strictly looking at the production scale, Supernatural should be competing with foreign films because Supernatural’s scale was three times that of City Jungle. That was why the reporters writing those titles and the public weren’t comparing the number of viewers.

Profit.

Among the two films that asked for crowdfunding, which one would pass their breakeven point and give their general investors a share of the profits? This was precisely the part people were excitedly comparing and discussing.

The people from Supernatural skillfully brought in general investors who participated in the crowdfunding. Selling snake oil again about how they were making the film with the audience.

City Jungle’s marketing budget was small so we worked hard to market through our crowdfunding event, but Supernatural wasn’t satisfied with getting the first taste and now was trying to suck our work dry.

The marketing teams on either side clashed even more aggressively.

The sparks ignited by Supernatural were enough to burn an entire mountain. In particular, general investors became passionate marketers and were competing on various fronts.

Competition always sparked people’s interest.

On top of that, after the story about how Lee Songha was offered the position as the female lead of Supernatural but was filming City Jungle because of my decision was leaked to the public, people’s interest shifted immediately.

From ‘Would Jung Sunwoo’s next project, ‘City Jungle’, succeed or fail?’ to ‘Which of the two, ‘City Jungle’ or ‘Supernatural’, bring in higher projects?’

*

“You know the 3scene interview you did last time?”

Team Leader Park approached me. Her firepower was surging these days from fighting with Supernatural’s marketing team, but today, she had a miserable expression on her face for some reason.

“That special interview?”

3scene. It was a well-known national film professional magazine. One where film production companies and marketing agencies would do anything to put on the cover or do a special interview for.

We gave up on getting the cover because a Hollywood series blockbuster was decided to be on it already. From what I remember, that was why we set up a photoshoot with Lee Songha, Nam Joyoon, Director Oh Hyunkyung, and me as well as a special interview.

“Did it come out?”

“It did. It did but…”

“What? Is there a problem?”

“There is… a problem.”

Team Leader Park handed me the magazine she had brought over.

“I guess they paid a ton for the advert.”

‘Supernatural, Director Cha Jaeho’ was on the cover in huge letters.

Along with a photoshoot of Heo Kakyung.

That wasn’t all.

I suddenly received a call from my mother in the afternoon.

-Sunwoo, your film… City, City, what was it again? I keep forgetting.

“City Jungle.”

-Yeah, that. Do you not have any commercials on TV? I went to the hair salon today, and they were advertising Supernatural or whatever on TV. All the ladies were talking about how fun it looked and that they should go watch it once it releases.

“We also advertised on TV.”

-You did? Why haven’t I seen it?

“We didn’t buy a large volume, so we need to wait for the right time.”

-Supernatural shows up whenever I turn on the TV. Young people can just look it up on the internet, but older people will probably have to see it on TV to know about it. Why didn’t you buy more?

“It costs a ton, mom.”

-Really? But I heard you raised 300 million? That’s what your brother said.

“We did. But playing a 15-second ad for a few days costs a few hundred million.”

-… Oh my, what robbers.

While we were doing better if we looked at viral or word-of-mouth marketing online, we couldn’t compare to Supernatural in just the sheer volume of ads.

Autograph signing events, exhibition shows with the Supernatural cast, and campaigns or whatever.

They hosted these large events every day.

Supernatural’s ads weren’t just on TV or in newspapers but also on buses, the subway, theatre banners, online portal banners, and even walls outside. Supernatural ads were everywhere. Wherever I walked, wherever I drove, there was always an ad about the damn Supernatural film.

It was just insufferable.

The next time I saw Director Cha Jaeho was on the parking lot of a newspaper company.

He seemed to have come for an interview as he was all dressed up. He frowned as soon as he saw me. Of course, my expression wasn’t great either. We were no longer in a situation where we could exchange pleasantries, so we greeted each other with foul words.

“… This competition isn’t all that bad for City Jungle either, no? What is that, yeah, they are putting you on the same level as us. You are also receiving a lot of the public’s attention. How about you do an interview with me?”

Director Cha Jaeho smirked like last time.

I was about to pour out all the words I had been preparing for this moment when my phone rang. It was SBE Film’s project producer.

What the? Was this déjà vu?

Even if it was not as big of news as reaching our 300-million-won crowdfunding goal in one hour, I picked up the phone hoping it was at least some good news. Like last time, his side was very noisy. They were causing such a ruckus that my eardrum hurt.

“Yes, producer.”

It seemed I wasn’t the only one who remembered last time as Director Cha Jaeho’s expression crumbled like he had swallowed a bug.

I gulped before hanging up.

Then I looked at Director Cha Jaeho and said,

“You can do the interview by yourself. I, we might have to go to France.”

“Wh-why France?”

“Apparently, we’ve received an invitation. From Cannes.”

Director Cha Jaeho blinked.

It looked like he needed some time to process what I just said.

Of course, I didn’t plan on waiting for me. I felt like I had to hurry.

“I think I need to hurry up and leave today. Ah, I hope your interview goes well.”

As soon as I said this, Director Cha Jaeho’s face turned sour.