Chapter 795: The new show will be called—

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The developments that followed could only be described as swift. After Yan Tianfei gave the word, Zhang Ye and his team received the orders and established a new program team immediately. Before even confirming the staff assignments and related work duties, the program team's bank account was already set up and running. Yan Tianfei specially approved their department's Finance Section to transfer the 10 million RMB over to the program team. It was done in about ten minutes, as though that money would disappear if they did not quickly get it done. Around ten minutes later, Zhang Ye already had his hands on a legal-looking document with the official department stamp on it that detailed the establishment of the new show.

Yan Tianfei's high efficiency made everyone's jaws drop!

Instantaneously, everyone started discussing in whispers what just happened.

"Wha-what happened just now?"

"I don't know. What on earth is Director Yan doing?"

"Excluding the copyright purchase funds, our department should only have around 10 million or so left in our production budget, right? All of that has been allocated now? All of it will be used for making a documentary? I'll faint if that's true. What's Director Yan thinking?"

"10 million RMB for a documentary? That is enough for 100 documentaries!"

"If they spend it carefully, it might even be enough to shoot 200 documentaries!"

"What on earth is going on?"

"Did anyone hear about anything?"

"I heard that Director Yan went to see the deputy station head, and he's been like this since he came back!"

"There wasn't any warning that this would happen, neither have I heard of anything! Uh, but there was an incident that happened at the stage of Central TV Department 1's Rise to the Dance. Could this be related to that?"

Nobody could figure out what was happening.

Tong Fu of Department 14 suddenly exclaimed, "I get it! The deputy station head must have tried to make some arrangements on behalf of Central TV Department 1 and asked for access to our department's production budget to be diverted over to Department 1! There were precedents of such actions before, like last year when the station's funding was tight, didn't they ask for our department's budget to help tide them over!?"

Huang Dandan slapped her thigh, creating a loud pop. "Oh, that's true!"

Tong Fu continued, "Could it be that Director Yan does not want them to have their way, therefore he distributed all the money to Director Zhang using a newly set up bank account? He'd rather spend it all than give it up for nothing to Central TV Department 1!"

Someone cursed, "Fuck! Central TV Department 1 has really gone too far!"

Another person said, "They're outright bullying us!"

"Do they think that Department 14 is so easy to pick on? Ah?"

"It's the same with the station. They're always siding with Department 1!"

"Seems like Central TV Department 1 is Central TV's biological child while we're merely the stepchild!"

Little Wang grunted, "That bunch of people at Central TV Department 1 are always behaving in that way!"

Ha Qiqi said, "The Voice's copyright that belonged to Director Zhang was almost sold off by their management who wanted it for themselves. I wouldn't be surprised by what that bunch of people are capable of!"

Wu Yi said, "Those immoral people!"

Zhang Zuo said, "Don't talk about it anymore. I get angry just at the mention of it!"

The people on Zhang Ye's team also started scolding with the same thoughts in mind.

These two groups of people held a grudge with Central TV Department 1, some of it was new, some of it was old.

Zhang Ye was listening to this from the side all this while, suddenly realizing that something had happened to Rise to the Dance's stage! As he was in his office using the Lucky Halo, he did not know about it yet. Needless to say, this was definitely the work of the Lucky Halo. The stage was built by Zhang Ye himself according to the original version of The Voice of China in his previous world. Zhang Ye had spent much time and effort to recreate it and it represented his blood and sweat. It also represented a lot from his previous world, so now that it had been destroyed? It was just as well. The new show had been taken away by Chen Ye and his team, but that was not an issue to him. However, the stage must not be left to them. With his activation of the Lucky Halo this time, it also helped him bring down the entire stage setup in an instant. It was so powerful that Zhang Ye secretly felt a little afraid of it!

So this was the upgraded Lucky Halo!

The reputation points needed to keep it activated were many, something that Zhang Ye would never be able bear in normal circumstances. However, when it was used, its power was very significant. It had the ability to cause an earthshaking effect that could turn things around!

Ha Qiqi said to Zhang Ye, "Director Zhang, although Director Yan has already given the word, but for this 10 million production budget, how should we spend it? There's nothing much that we can spend on when it comes to documentaries, right? Usually, a documentary can be made with just 80 to 100,000 RMB."

When Zhang Zuo heard this, he gave a wry smile and added, "The problem now is that we have to spend it all no matter what?"

Tong Fu and Huang Dandan, along with the rest of Department 14's staff, all knew best about a documentary's expenses. For a documentary, this 10 million was indeed an astronomical figure. To put it bluntly, even if the 10 million yuan budget was given to them, they couldn't spend it all.

When Zhang Ye heard this, he rolled his eyes. This bro was just worrying about the lack of money and only managed to get this 10 million after having such a hard time, so how could he possibly not be able to spend it all. Don't worry, there won't even be a single cent left! It was even better since he was just considering increasing the production budget to replicate the popular documentary series of his world in its whole to present it to this world. This 10 million had arrived timely and the funding was all of a sudden in such great excess!

With so much extra funding, he was no longer limited to just filming the first season of the documentary series. He could even go ahead and do the second season as well, as long as he did not waste too much time. By not capturing unnecessary footage, he could easily finish filming for the two seasons' worth of the original series. There should be enough money now to support this change of plans. Zhang Ye's advantage was that he knew the final cut of the documentary, thus reducing the time needed for him to repeatedly test his shots. In most cases, a documentary had the lowest percentage rate when it came to recorded footage making it into the final cut. Perhaps a little more than a dozen shots out of a thousand would be selected while the remaining would end up not being used, but none of that was a worry for Zhang Ye. The footage he was going to film would have already been "chosen" by the professionals of his previous world who had spent so much time fine-tuning and refining their shots and were later market-tested when the documentary was broadcast. Because of all those reasons, he would undoubtedly be able to avoid wasting any unnecessary expenses. This was an advantage that no one could ever beat him at!

At this moment, Yan Tianfei's secretary walked into the office area hurriedly.

"Director Zhang, are you busy?" the secretary asked politely. "Director Yan just informed me that your team has a total of around 20 people and that all of you are working from Section 1's office space for now, so it has gotten a little crowded here. He told me to unlock and open up Section 3's office space and get it cleaned up before telling you about this, but starting today, your new program team will operate from the Section 3 office space which will become your independent work area."

For a team of around 20 to have their own workspace might seem like it was too much, but with their team setup, they were also considered to be qualified to use it since they were a full team after all.

Zhang Ye smiled and replied, "Great, thank you. Help me thank Director Yan as well."

The secretary smiled. "You can also pick out a few people from Section 1 and 2 to join your new program team. Director Yan has considered the fact that since you're still new here and might not be too familiar with our documentary department's operation and filming process, you would probably need a few old hands to help familiarize you with the work here."

Zhang Ye remarked, "OK, but since I'm still new, I'm not familiar with the people either…"

"Shall I recommend a few people to you then?" the secretary asked.

Zhang Ye answered, "That would be great."

The secretary turned around and looked at the people of Department 14 before saying, "Tong Fu is quite good. When the department was first set up, he was already here, so you could consider him veteran around here. Every time our department has a self-produced documentary job to handle, Tong Fu usually follows along. He knows all about the workflow and approval standards for the documentaries."

Zhang Ye smiled and stated, "Alright then, but I will still have to respect his wishes and not force him to join my team." Saying that, he looked at Tong Fu. This was someone he had a good feeling about since he arrived at the office this morning. He was one, while Huang Dandan was the other. Both of them were very active and cheerful, and it was exactly this type of person Zhang Ye preferred getting acquainted with.

Tong Fu chuckled, "Of course I don't have a problem. I'm just afraid that Director Zhang will find me unreliable. As long as you don't mind, I'll surely give my all!"

Zhang Ye was very happy at that. "Then it's confirmed!"

Tong Fu immediately started packing his things to prepare to go over to the Section 3 office space. However, as he packed, he kept signaling to Director Yan's secretary with his eyes, making it seem like they knew each other very well or something.

Director Yan's secretary glanced at him and coughed, then pondered as he pointed at a girl—Huang Dandan. The secretary said, "Well, Director Zhang, Huang Dandan is quite good as well and she's rather spirited too. She's also well-versed in communication skills and interview techniques. Not only is she one of the more excellent video journalists in our department, she can handle filming very well too if you don't have enough cameramen. Whenever there's a shoot that follows the soccer or basketball leagues, she's always the first choice to go along with the film crew. Her experience is definitely good enough."

"Ahem, you're praising so much that I feel embarrassed. Am I that good?" Huang Dandan scratched her head and then stepped up. "Director Zhang, from now on, wherever you point, Tong Fu and I will follow. Now that I'm a part of your team, I can't guarantee other things, but I definitely won't embarrass you!"

Zhang Ye put out his hand. "Welcome aboard!"

Tong Fu and Huang Dandan both shook Zhang Ye's hand.

Actually, Zhang Ye had already noticed something. He saw the two of them throwing looks at each other every so often and believed that they were probably a couple. It was likely that everyone else in the office knew about this as well.

Next, Director Yan's secretary recommended another two people and Zhang Ye gladly accepted them without hesitation and took them into his fold.

Seeing that, the secretary felt his heart warm. He knew that this was down to Zhang Ye's trust for him. "Director Zhang, regarding the equipment that you requested, Director Yan has already settled it all. He just made some calls a while ago and everything should be sent over by tomorrow."

Zhang Ye reacted with surprise. "That fast?" Accustomed to the red tape in a television station and the delay from the department leaders, Zhang Ye was still not used to working under a leader who was so efficient.

The secretary said, "It was just a few sets of HD equipment, so they still gave us some face regarding that request. Uh, Director Zhang, do you still need me to recommend a few more people for your team?"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "No, it's alright, that's more than enough. If I were to get more people, then the other sections would be emptied out soon and Director Yan would surely take it up with me if that happens, right?"

After confirming the team members, some people kept their composure as though nothing had happened while a few others clearly looked disappointed. It seemed like they had wanted to go over to the new program team as well, but were unfortunately not chosen to do so. Zhang Ye was still a legendary figure in the industry and his team was also the one who had created the miracle of the variety world. Joining this legendary team and working with them would surely have been a good experience that they could mention to others in the future: I worked on a show as part of Zhang Ye's program team before! Who wouldn't be impressed if they heard that? Even if they were to leave Central TV, with that line in their résumés, they might even be able to get a better job!

Hua la la. The metal chains on the door were removed by Director Yan's secretary.

The office space at Central TV Department 14's Section 3 was officially opened for Zhang Ye's program team starting today.

The money was in place!

The equipment was in place!

The staff were also in place!

Zhang Ye suddenly felt very emotional. OK, with everything ready, the platform has been set up. The rest will be up to me now! This bro will show those people at Central TV Department 1 that even if I get transferred over to Department 14, even if I end up making documentaries, I will still be able to fucking demolish you all!

The secretary suddenly asked, "Director Zhang, what is your new show going to be called? I'll get someone to make the plate for you to place on the office door."

Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the others looked over.

Tong Fu, Huang Dandan, and the rest of the Department 14 staff also perked up their ears in curiosity.

Zhang Ye looked at everyone and then smiled before announcing, "The new program will be called—A Bite of China!"

Chen Ye?

Rise to the Dance?

Central TV Department 1?

Let's meet again in December! See you then!

Translator's Thoughts

Legge Legge

Hey people, I forgot to paste the link for the show if you're interested in it, so here goes... (English Dub wasn't the best, so you know which to go)

- Official CCTV English Dub http://english.cntv.cn/special/a_bite_of_china/homepage/index.shtml

- Official CCTV YouTube Chinese Playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwXMmy5fUrVyGt6mtGEGf5_hv3gB1aSJG

- Unofficial A Bite of China English Subs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jopH3nBZYw&list=PLzYHLNgFdRjvyge-9eRENVFUiaBrvhRiJ

Chapter 796: The cameras start rolling for A Bite of China!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day at work.

News of the matter started spreading internally at Central TV. Many of the Central TV staff who came to work were chatting privately about the matter which they had heard from their friends or seen in the media.

"Hey, have you heard? Zhang Ye got his new show approved by Yan Tianfei the very same day he assumed his new duties at Department 14 yesterday. I heard that Yan Tianfei has established a program team and specially set aside an office area for Zhang Ye and his team. He even borrowed HD equipment from everywhere and allocated a production budget to him. It seems that the cameras will start rolling soon for the new documentary that Zhang Ye's team is going to make. Central TV Department 1 had the intention to freeze Zhang Ye, but Department 14 doesn't care about this. It looks like we'll be able to watch Zhang Ye's documentary very soon."

"Seems that they were allocated 10 million RMB for it as well."

"What? How can that be?!"

"It's true! I've also received very reliable news that it's 10 million RMB!"

"10 million?"

"Can they spend that much money on a documentary?"

"That's because there is something more to this. Yan Tianfei did not want their money to land in the hands of Central TV Department 1. That's why he allocated all the money to Zhang Ye in a fit of anger."

"What's the new documentary about?"

"I'm not sure, but I've heard that it's about cooking?"

"A documentary about cooking? What's so interesting about that?"

"Who knows? But even if it's not based on cooking, there's nothing to look forward to in a documentary. After all, documentaries are a niche genre. No matter how they're shot, they are more or less still the same. I've heard that they even intend to shoot the documentary with HD video cameras? That's a purely superfluous move. Is there even a need to shoot a cooking documentary with HD equipment? I've never heard of anyone using HD video cameras to shoot a documentary! That's such a waste of money!"

"Who knows what Zhang Ye is thinking?"

"Hai, then what do you expect him to do? The place that Zhang Ye went to is Department 14. It's the only place willing to take him in and give him the money to make a show. Do you think that he still has a choice? All he can do is to brace himself to produce a documentary. Therefore, all of you shouldn't be thinking too hard. Hur hur, my guess is that Zhang Ye himself also does not know how his documentary might turn out this time. I bet that he just got tired of idling around and so chose to make a casual documentary for fun. Probably no one is taking this too seriously."

"You're right on point."

"Yes, I think the same as you."

"Hai, Zhang Ye is finished. He has at least another half a year to go in his contract at Central TV and this is as good as being frozen. Right now, what's getting the most attention from everyone at Central TV is only Department 1's Rise to the Dance. Even the Central TV station leaders are placing a great deal of emphasis on it. Didn't their stage just get badly damaged yesterday, and then on the same night, the station started withdrawing funds from everywhere else so that they could use it to cover Xu Yipeng and Chen Ye's show? Who wouldn't notice that favoritism? All of Central TV's people and resources have to make way for Rise to the Dance since it's a critical show that will help cement Central TV Department 1's position as the best in the variety show industry. They cannot afford to mess this up. As for everyone else? All the other shows? All of them will have to step aside!"

"That's unavoidable since Department 1 has a special status at Central TV."

"But there are certain things that Central TV Department 1 has indeed gone overboard with. Regarding Zhang Ye back then, they never gave their full support to him. Frankly, ever since the beginning, Central TV Department 1 has never treated him as one of them. They would only trust someone like Chen Ye who has been a long-serving employee of Central TV."

"Don't say any more. There are some things that we just cannot do anything about, hai."

"That's right, this is a fight between gods. Let's just watch from the sides."

Not long after, it was on the news as well.

"Zhang Ye to oversee and produce a documentary!"

"A new challenge faces Zhang Ye and the team of The Voice: A documentary series!"

This news was not very prominent and the number of the media outlets reporting were not that many either. However, when it was published, it attracted a whole lot of attention!

Zhang Ye's friends were all stunned!

Crosstalk actor Yao Jiancai posted on Weibo in shock: "Little Zhang is going to shoot a documentary?"

Singer Chen Guang: "Is he crossing over into other industries again? This should be considered crossing industries, right?"

Dong Shanshan, the host of Beijing Television's Do You Remember: "I wish everything goes well for my old classmate. Always supporting you! Hur hur."

Beijing Television's program team lead, Hu Fei: "A documentary? That won't be easy to shoot at all."

A popular contestant of The Voice, Luo Yu: "Director Zhang is challenging the impossible again!"

The netizens could not stop discussing.

"A documentary? Did they make a mistake?"

"I know that Zhang Ye has gone over to the Central TV Documentary Channel, but I never expected that he would really be making a documentary!"

"Will the final product be watchable? Fuck, who even watches documentaries anyway?"

"I don't."

"I don't watch them much either, ahem."

"Documentaries are overdone with the same old topics. There's nothing interesting about them!"

"Get lost! Even if Teacher Zhang shoots a documentary about dog shit, I'll still watch it!"

"Right! Supporting Teacher Zhang!"

"There's finally news of Teacher Zhang's new program. Praise be! But it's just too bad that it's a documentary. Sob! How do you expect us to watch a documentary?! Even if I forced myself, I wouldn't be able to watch it! The educative nature of a documentary is too strong and too boring! Hai. In any case, I'm not keeping my hopes up, but really it's not because I don't support Teacher Zhang!"

"Making a documentary after making a variety show? This jump is a bit too much!"

There were all sorts of differing opinions.

Even some of Zhang Ye's fans also expressed that they wouldn't be able to watch if it were a documentary, much less those who were not his fans. Not many netizens believed that it would do well at all.

Almost instantaneously, the heated discussions about Zhang Ye's new show died down. Many people's attentions turned back to discussion posts or Weibo posts related to Rise to the Dance and they talked about it fervently. Regarding Central TV Department 1's large-scale dancing talent show, many people were more optimistic about it. In the past few days, under Central TV Department 1's intense promotions and troll army led commentary, the discussions about this topic never ceased and stayed fresh in the minds of everyone.

"Chen Ye's status has risen again."

"It's probably the same for Xu Yipeng too. If Rise to the Dance becomes popular, do you think Old Xu can land the position of executive director for this year's Spring Festival Gala? He has even taken on the role of assistant director at previous Spring Festival Galas before."

"I'm looking forward to this dance show."

"Yes, I'm already tired of watching the recent variety shows, but there really haven't been any dancing talent shows before!"

"Central TV Department 1 really has the makings to become the dominant force of the variety show industry."

This was the entertainment industry and it had always been so realistic. If you had good works, stories, or news, everyone's discussions would revolve around you. Once you were out of new works, or if your stories became boring, even if you were an A-list celebrity, everyone would stop following you. With time, if you didn't have any new works, no topics of discussion, and no popularity, even an A-list celebrity would drop to the B-list and a B-lister would drop to the C-list. There were many celebrities who ended up like that, and Zhang Ye was also in that awkward position now. However, the difference between him and the fallen celebrities was that this fellow had great capability. Even if he couldn't perform in his own profession, he could still pull in fame from his ventures in the gaming and mathematics worlds to maintain his popularity. Although it might not increase his popularity much, at least it helped in not letting it decline for the time being.

Therefore, Zhang Ye had nothing to worry about or had any concerns for now. His popularity was already stable for the time being. He did not need to consider other matters and only needed to shoot the documentary well. When A Bite of China got broadcast, everyone would find out whether his show was good or bad!

...

In the afternoon.

The last set of HD equipment was finally delivered by the staff of their sister channel.

Zhang Ye's heart was set and he immediately called out, "Little Wang!"

Little Wang blinked as she walked over. "Are you looking for me, Director Zhang?"

"Go and book the plane tickets. The teams will be split into three according to plan. We will set off on time tomorrow morning, so no one is to be late as the plane will not wait for anyone!" Zhang Ye instructed.

Little Wang was stunned. "Ah? Tomorrow morning?"

Ha Qiqi also asked, "Director Zhang, why…why are we in such a hurry?"

All the other program team staff of A Bite of China were not at all prepared either.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "It will already be winter if we keep dawdling like this. We won't be able to film at many of the northern locations if that happens. We can wait, but time does not wait, so let's just endure the hardship for now and start packing once you all get back home in the evening. For a period of time, everyone will be working outside of Beijing on a business trip. Unless you have a very special reason, you won't be going back home for a while. Therefore, please inform your family about this beforehand. When we are finished with our work, I will apply to Director Yan to give everyone a long vacation."

"Sure."

"Understood, Director Zhang."

"Then we'll go prepare!"

Zhang Ye also called home to his parents.

Du du, the call connected. His mother answered the phone.

Zhang Ye said: "Mom, help me pack my luggage and put in more clothes. I'm afraid that I might not have time to pack when I get home. I'll be flying out tomorrow morning."

His mother asked: "Where are you going off to?"

"I will be filming a show. It's a documentary." Zhang Ye said.

His mother nearly fainted. "You're truly serious about filming the documentary? Can you do it?"

Zhang Ye laughed: "You'll know once the documentary is broadcast!"