The second season of SherlockHolmes had already pulled in sponsorships totaling one billion, and Edward had no issue allocating five hundred million just for actor selection. To him, it was a worthwhile investment — striving for perfection, after all.
And this didn't even include advertising revenue. Factoring in ad money, the figure could be even higher. Still, Edward thought five hundred million was plenty. Even split among the actors, each participant could walk away with tens of thousands. While that might not be much to big-name stars, for struggling actors, it was definitely a significant amount.
Of course, the exact contract details and profit breakdown were left to his company's employees to handle. Edward simply proposed the concept — the execution was someone else's problem.
At the moment, he had something else to deal with.
[A Wicked Ghost: Fear Points – 53,912]
That was the current total fear points the film had collected. Upon reaching that number, Edward discovered he'd earned two lottery draws — something that caught him off guard. He had originally assumed he'd be directly awarded a prize, not this gacha-style system.
"This is really…" Edward looked at the Snorlax-shaped lottery box that had appeared before him, the corners of his mouth twitching. Still, he reached in.
Inside were several ping-pong ball-like spheres. They all looked and felt the same — same size, same texture — so it was impossible to tell them apart. With no reason to hesitate, Edward simply grabbed two of them.
The moment he pulled them out, the Snorlax lottery box disappeared.
Looking down, Edward saw two ping-pong balls. Each contained a rolled-up piece of paper. He opened one and read the blue slip inside:
[Lens Language (Intermediate): Your works will become more visually captivating.]
Edward nodded and pocketed the slip. This was a decent reward — actually quite useful. Over the past few weeks, he'd been studying filmmaking and realized that being a director was no easy feat. Many experienced directors relied heavily on their own trusted teams, and things like camera language and lighting played crucial roles in a film's impact.
He then opened the second ping-pong ball.
Inside was a golden slip of paper.
Edward paused. The first was blue, but this one was gold. Did the color signify rarity?
[Lord of Fear (Basic): The fear brought by your work is like a shadow, and the fear in the audience's heart will be more easily induced]
Edward blinked. "Damn," he muttered.
This ability was ridiculous.
Making it easier to trigger fear in viewers? Wouldn't that cause his fear points to skyrocket?
Rubbing his hands together excitedly, Edward was beyond pleased. This reward alone was more than worth it. It was a double-edged sword, though. If his films scared people too much, they might hesitate to watch future ones.
Still, part of what made horror films so popular was that intense release after the fear — the sense of relief when the credits rolled and viewers realized they were safe. Many people were drawn to horror for exactly that reason.
"Lucky draw this time… I wonder if gold is the highest rank. Maybe there are even more powerful tiers out there." Edward was in a great mood.
With his directive in place, employees at Ghost Film Pictures began sending invitations to actors who passed the auditions. Each invitation clearly outlined the format and scale of the upcoming variety show — along with the renowned lineup of judges. Unsurprisingly, the news stirred up enormous interest.
Many actors quickly realized what Edward was trying to do — provide talented actors with a platform to be recognized by top directors. So, most signed their contracts without hesitation. Some big-name stars also found the project intriguing and joined in. Only a few had to decline due to scheduling conflicts, as they were already committed elsewhere.
Even so, the total number of confirmed participants reached a staggering 11,328.
That number was nothing short of massive.
"Did we send out collaboration invites to the mentors yet?" Zoroark was now stationed at the planning department, busy handling logistics.
With the actors settled, the next step was inviting the veteran directors and award-winning actors.
This part was relatively easy, as most of the invitees were semi-retired or had open schedules. Nearly all of them agreed without much hesitation.
And just like that, an enormous variety show project began to take shape at Ghost Film Pictures. Even Monica, who was in the middle of filming Dollhouse, dropped by several times out of curiosity.
"How are the contracts going?" Edward asked while rubbing his temples. He had indeed hoped to use this as an opportunity for talented actors to be discovered by top-tier directors, but he hadn't expected the number of participants to be this high.
That many people… you could shoot a war film with this cast.
Now, the real problem was figuring out how to film it. How to judge it. How to structure it.
Thankfully, with the arrival of those seasoned directors and legendary actors, Edward sat down with them to brainstorm. Together, they found a solution.
And so, on the fifth day after A Wicked Ghost broke five hundred million at the box office — and just as it crossed nine hundred million — the teaser for Edward's next project, the variety show "Acting Showdown", hit trending lists across all major platforms.
Edward personally funded the marketing campaign. His goal was simple: make sure the entire Alliance knew about this show.
[Ten thousand contestants compete on the same stage — who's the true master of acting in your heart?]
[A variety show with over ten thousand contestants? Legendary director Clive Moreausays he's looking forward to it!]
The flood of promotional content, coupled with the famous judges and high-profile contestants, instantly sent the show into viral territory.
Anyone with experience in variety production knew — once you added a huge number of people into the mix, the difficulty spiked dramatically.
Who to film? How to film them? How to follow them? What locations to use?
These were the kinds of problems that made even veteran directors' scalps tingle and sent chills down the backs of planning staff.
Eventually, the dozen or so variety show planners that Edward had recruited came up with a feasible solution.
Split-screen filming.
Cramming ten thousand people into a single shot was nearly impossible. Getting clear shots of everyone's face? Even harder.
So, the only solution was to divide and conquer.
They broke the participants into smaller groups, with each production team responsible for a specific group. The idea was to begin screening contestants within each group — then conduct broader eliminations after that.
That was their proposed strategy.
(End of Chapter)