Feature Shows Extravaganza - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: This Isn’t What I Want

[What’s your opinion on the fact that Balala the Fairies has achieved the highest viewing ratings nationwide on its third rerun?]

“Thank you for your question! I’ve just landed at the South Pole, and there are so many penguins here…”

“Ding!”

Before Wang Kui could finish typing, a notification popped out of the lower right corner of his screen, reminding him of a new incoming mail.

It was from Japan, and it was sent by Ishikawa, Pengda’s contact at TBS.

After quickly reading through the email, Wang Kui was no longer in the mood teasing the netizens anymore. He immediately grabbed his phone and called Meng Lang, who was shooting in the suburbs.

Meng Lang was dumbfounded when he received the phone call.

He only realized what had happened after he carefully read through the email Wang Kui forwarded.

The worst of situations had happened!

Ishinomori Shotaro had really ruined Magical Girls… To be more precise, he hadn’t ruined it, but had changed it to something else.

Armoured knights that wore masks coming out at night.

From the description TBS used alone, he could already tell what Ishinomori had turned this show into.

Nothing in that description said “girlie”!

TBS had every right to be angry. The live-action magic-themed show was supposed to target teenage girls, but what did they have now?

It was common practice for a director to alter the script. Directors might change the script at a whim even when they were the ones who had written it themselves, let alone dealing with a script that was from a screenwriter.

However, Ishinomori had changed too many aspects of this script.

According to the exaggerated version of TBS, Ishinomori had been enjoying himself so much that he had completely forgotten about the target audience of the show.

It was a reasonable concern.

Meng Lang didn’t agree with Ishinomori’s changes either.

“Kamen Girls” might sound like a cool name, but such a show would offend both sides. Boys would like to see girls transform into world saviors, and girls would find it hard to accept the strange costumes, because they had been expecting lovely magical girls.

“It’s my turn!

“Come to me, my Kamen!

“Fuse, Magical Girls!

“Bring it on! Kamen Magical Girls are here!”

And Pengda wouldn’t let that happen.

Meng Lang wasn’t in the mood of filming another scene. He left the filming site and quickly went back to the office, where he summoned his senior directors and held an international conference call with TBS.

“Mr. Meng, Ishinomori has crossed the line!”

Ishikawa complained on the screen. “He has no respect for us whatsoever! I have to report this, because he has failed to live up to your expectations! You should fire him…”

Rubbing his forehead, Meng Lang tried to calm him down. “Well, Mr. Ishikawa, it’s a bit too late for that. I heard that the filming has almost come to an end?”

“Yes… Ishinomori was very efficient…”

He had to!

All men who were up to no good had to be efficient!

Fighting back his impulse to roll his eyes, Meng Lang tapped the desk with his fingers and pondered for a while before saying, “At this point, we have no other choice but to have faith in Ishinomori.”

Changing the director wouldn’t be an option.

A new director would make the second half a completely different show from the first half, not to mention that they probably would never be able to find a director who would take this difficult job.

“Mr. Meng, our director is very disappointed with Director Ishinomori and has decided to hire someone else.”

“Do you have an ideal candidate, then?” asked Meng Lan.

“Have you found one yet? Or have you been too busy firing him without figuring that out yet?” Meng Lang pressed.

“Please trust TBS! We’re more than capable of taking over the job!”

Ishikawa sounded very confident when he said, “Mr. Meng, please don’t worry. Our company has a lot of outstanding directors and producers!”

“What about the part that’s already been filmed?”

“…”

Ishikawa was rendered speechless.

Ishinomori had been so efficient that the filming was almost completed. Of course TBS could hire a new director to finish what was left, but in what way?

As designed by Ishinomori?

Then why bother changing the director at all?

If the new director would adopt a different style, then what should they do with the part that was already finished? In other words, were they going to throw away everything that they had paid for?

Ishikawa remained silent, which made Meng Lang sigh in relief.

Good, they still cared about the cost!

Meng Lang would be put in a difficult position if TBS didn’t care about the cost and insisted on changing the director.

Judging by Ishikawa’s reaction, TBS couldn’t accept the show Ishinomori had made, but what they couldn’t accept even more was that all the money they had put in would go to waste.

They had to choose the lesser of the two evils.

As expected, TBS accepted Meng Lang’s suggestion in the end and agreed to keep Ishinomori on the show until he finished all the shooting.

Of course, they had their terms. If the viewership ratings of the show ended up not reaching the expected level, Ishinomori’s employer, Pengda’s Japanese branch, would have to cover half the loss of TBS.

Meng Lang agreed.

Come to think of it, he was in the wrong.

Pengda had the right to supervise this project, and Ishinomori Shotaro was their employee. Because of that, what Ishinomori had done had become a filming accident due to the lack of supervision.

All parties were responsible for what had happened, and Meng Lang realized that he couldn’t be too careless with the Japanese branch anymore. Someone had to be there to supervise.

But that could wait. His top priority now was to let Ishinomori know that he could have his own ideas, but they had to be within a reasonable range!

Once the video conference with TBS was over, Meng Lang contacted Ishinomori through the person in charge of their Japan branch.

After telling him the result of the negotiation, Meng Lang asked to see a sample of Ishinomori’s work so far.

Ishinomori was delighted to hear that he was still the director and immediately sent Meng Lang an encrypted source file.

The first thing Meng Lang saw was Sakura, the main character, in her full costume.

She was blond, and she wore armor with a big saber and a mask…

What the hell?!

That wasn’t even Kamen Rider!

The sample piece that followed confirmed Meng Lang’s speculation. Instead of Kamen Rider, Ishinomori had come up with an idea of “mutated life form”.

And the story still happened in a magical world.

But Sakura didn’t know any magic.

In Ishinomori’s setting, everyone in this world was capable of discovering their own magic power. Some of them joined the “Judges” and became heroes that kept the world order. Other people had the evil in them magnified by magic, and they became Dark Fairies.

Sakura ran into a battle between Dark Fairies and Judges on her way to school. The blast knocked her unconscious, and an alien mutated life form fused into her body by accident.

The mutated life form changed Sakura into a fellow mutated life form, giving her the ability to form a shiny armor and a biological saber with her power.

Mutated life forms feared the sunlight, and they couldn’t exert all their power under the sun. Therefore, Sakura would go to school in the daytime and save the world at night.

Apart from that, Sakura also had unbelievable rejuvenation abilities. She could instantly reassemble her body and come back to life even if she had been burned into ashes by magic…

“This isn’t what I want…”

Meng Lang felt conflicted after seeing the sample.

What happened to the Kamen Rider he remembered?