Chapter 15: The Play of a New Era (1)
Media mix.
To put it simply, it means taking a single IP and spinning it every which way, practicing the Anabada creative economy, and making it available through various forms of media.
In my previous life, the most famous examples were things like anime adaptations or webtoon adaptations.
Why do people do that, you ask?
Because, of course, it has that much effect.
Both commercially and as fan service.
“What?! [Now That I’ve Become a Girl, I’m Aiming to Be a World-Class Idol!] is getting an anime adaptation?!”
“And they’re even going to include all the songs that were skipped in the original?! I can’t miss this! I have to watch it live!”
For existing fans, showing the work through another medium can stimulate new interest.
By adding or supplementing things that weren’t in the original, you can raise their satisfaction and loyalty even further.
“Oh, this webtoon is fun. There’s an original novel?
Maybe I should read that too.”
And for people in a different demand group from the original, you can introduce the IP and draw them in as new fans.
Needless to say, the market expands that much, and it makes money.
In other words, it’s a clear system where each side pushes and pulls the other, a cyclical relationship that boosts promotion and sales.
Thanks to that, there are cases where an otherwise ambiguous work goes bang! and blows up after a media mix.
And if it was already popular to begin with, there are plenty of cases where it ascends straight into the realm of the heavenly gods.
Well, on the other hand, there are also cases where the media mix fails and drags the original down with it.
Even so, people generally attempt media mixes for the promotional effect and synergy they produce—in other words, for the so-called media mix buff.
And among those media mixes, the method that divides opinions the most and worries people the most is...
“Live-action adaptation, of course.”
People’s assessment of live-action adaptations, even when put nicely, is close to that of a double-edged sword.
If you can pull it off properly, it’s an absolute jackpot, but it’s also the most difficult field to get right.
Especially when adapting works with unrealistic elements into live action—that tends to be the most polarizing.
After all, when you try to realize the unreal in reality, the sense of dissonance is strong.
Swordsmanship that was dazzling in the original just turns into awkward flailing in real life, so of course people are disappointed.
But even if it’s live action, what if that’s the only method you have?
“Then I guess you have no choice but to do even that with sheer spite and grit.”
Unfortunately, the methods of media mix I can use in this world right now are extremely limited.
Movies or dramas, which require complex functions like filming, editing, and broadcasting, are obviously impossible.
Animation? Comics haven’t even been born yet, let alone anime.
I’ve recently been looking for an opening to create comics, at least, but that still won’t be easy.
I thought of other methods for media mixes too, but the only conclusion I reached was that they were still impossible.
Well, it hasn’t been long since I seriously started releasing the culture of my previous life, so I suppose it can’t be helped.
Now then, since every other method is impossible for us, what can we do besides bring popcorn?
“What else? There’s only theater.”
That was why I told Duke Lucid I would turn it into a play.
For now, a stage adaptation was the only possible media mix method.
And although I did speak rather negatively about it earlier...
In truth, objectively speaking, a stage adaptation was actually a fairly decent method in the current situation.
“First of all, the people of this world are familiar with it.”
It isn’t as developed as in my previous life, but theater exists in this world as well.
Even people who don’t watch plays should be familiar with bards, so they likely wouldn’t find it strange to adapt a novel into a play.
On top of that, this world is a fantasy world.
It’s a world where swordsmanship and magic actually exist, so if we borrow their power...
There’s a high chance we can handle even slightly unrealistic scenes or action without issue.
In other words, the biggest problem of live-action adaptation—the dissonance from the original—can be made to melt away like cotton candy a raccoon dropped into water!
There’s also the fact that the work should be relatively easy.
No special technology is needed. You just adapt the novel to fit a stage script, and that’s it.
However.
“That’s only if we do the bare minimum.”
Since this is a request that came through the royal family and Duke Lucid, my image will skyrocket only if I handle it perfectly.
Therefore, in order to raise the level of completion a little further, I obtained the cooperation of a theater in the capital.
I decided to conduct a preliminary inspection by personally watching the plays currently being performed.
And after watching several plays as part of that inspection, my feelings were...
“This is the level of theater in the capital, the most developed place in the kingdom?
It’s so lame I want to die...”
Pure disappointment.
Of course, I hadn’t expected a level similar to my previous life.
But it was far more uninteresting than I had anticipated.
“No, first of all, the actors’ performances are clumsy.
Are those people really professional actors?”
“Ah, they aren’t professional actors. Most of them have other jobs as well.”
“Pardon?”
“That’s why the actors change from performance to performance.
That actor hasn’t done this play many times, so he is certainly a bit clumsy.
Please come see it again on a day when the actors who have handled this play often are performing.”
“What does that even...”
According to the theater owner, who answered calmly as if it were the most natural thing in the world...
Most actors had never received proper acting training, and they weren’t particularly professionals either, just people with side jobs.
Apparently, income from acting alone was too unstable to make a living.
As a result, naturally, they didn’t cast roles suited to each play on a case-by-case basis.
Instead, they forced whatever actors they had into whatever roles they could and made do.
Naturally, since there wasn’t enough time to practice a single work in depth, their acting was clumsy.
And since they roughly shoved available people into roles, there were many times when someone who didn’t fit a character’s personality ended up playing that role.
So the gap was apparently huge depending on whether or not there was someone who had done a particular play many times.
“The script has serious problems too.”
On top of that, in truth, this situation was tangled up with issues in the script as well.
Putting aside the fact that most of the script content was nothing but musty old heroic tales, not much different from what bards recited...
Other than the order of lines and simple facial expressions or poses, there were often no detailed directions or settings, leaving things to the actors’ ad-libs.
Perhaps because the actors weren’t fixed and kept changing, they seemed to have made things as simple as possible.
These problems went round and round, creating a massive vicious cycle, and it had only grown worse over time.
“No wonder proper actors can’t come out of this.”
The entire industry environment itself was a complete mess.
The fact that costumes weren’t standardized, changing every time, or that the same props were reused across multiple plays was nothing compared to the rest.
Even the plays of a troupe with a proper theater were at this level, so how could I not be disappointed?
If anything, it was more surprising that they could even operate in this state.
Or maybe, to the people of this world, theater was originally supposed to be like this?
“No wonder Aria is treated like a superstar.”
At the very least, Aria’s performances had been clean and professional.
Well, the theater side wasn’t entirely without excuses.
“If someone is that skilled, wouldn’t they become a bard or go under the patronage of a noble or a wealthy person? Why would they be here?”
“Mm, that’s not wrong.”
In other words, actors who were truly good at acting were being exclusively employed by nobles or rich people.
Honestly, in this damn status-based society, the problem is that the privileged classes monopolize culture.
In any case, it was a good thing I came to inspect things myself.
If I hadn’t known these circumstances and had simply adapted the novel into a script and handed it over...
It might have flopped spectacularly.
“This won’t do.
We’ll have to tear everything apart and fix it.”
I don’t need a third-rate theater for my play!
“Pardon? What are you talking about?”
“What else? I’m talking about this theater system!”
All the boring plays up until now are over!
From now on, I hereby declare that I will purge this rotten theater system and introduce a proper one!
Let’s start with the things money can solve first.
“First, let’s hire the actors as professionals.
Make it so they can receive weekly or monthly wages and live stable lives.
Or else distribute a portion of the performance revenue to them.”
Until now, the theater had taken most of the income, and the actors were treated like day laborers, right?
How could actors possibly feel motivated to act properly like that?
If we want to normalize this catastrophically bad level of theater, improving the actors’ acting ability is the most important thing.
So raising their treatment is essential.
Of course, the theater owner, who would obviously see his own income decrease by that much, looked troubled.
“I’ll buy this theater.
Then there won’t be a problem, will there?”
“...Pardon?”
“Okay! From now on, this theater is mine.
That means I can do whatever I want with it, right?”
I made him obey by taking over the theater entirely.
I didn’t know much about management, so I decided to leave operations to the former theater owner as before, but the ownership was now mine, so I could make him follow this level of instruction.
Since it was the largest theater in the capital, it cost me around ten thousand gold to acquire it.
But this would be the place where my works were adapted into plays from now on, so this level of expense was worth it.
Once the new system got on track, the income itself would increase, and I’d be able to make up for it soon enough.
Besides, there were other ways to raise revenue as well.
“As a rule, outside food should be prohibited in the theater.
The theater should monopolize the sale of drinks and snacks.”
“It’s fine to set the prices slightly higher than outside the theater.
People will naturally look for them because their mouths will feel bored.
However, no alcohol. Drunkards could ruin the play.”
Like monopolizing drinks and snacks, which had supposedly been the core of revenue even in movie theaters in my previous life.
“Let’s divide the seats by section and sell them at different prices.”
“Ah, it would also be good to allow only the premium seats the right to drink alcohol.
If they can afford to sit there, they’ll be careful on their own out of concern for their dignity anyway.”
Make it possible for poor commoners to watch as well.
And at the same time, stimulate the sense of superiority of nobles and wealthy people who don’t want to mix with them, then squeeze money out of them.
Differential pricing by seating section.
And finally.
“Let’s accept some advertising too.”
“Advertising? What is that?”
“To put it simply, it means receiving money to promote someone else’s something.”
“Pardon? Who would do something like that?”
“If the play succeeds, everyone will be dying to do it.”
Advertising.
We could charge a fee every certain period and sell the right to set up a signboard inside the theater.
Or we could insert indirect advertisements, PPL, during the play.
Of course, it couldn’t be to the point of ruining the play itself.
But if done within reasonable limits, wouldn’t the theater’s income increase quite a bit?
“If it seems to work out well, I should try putting it in my novels later too.”
“...Did I just hand my theater over to a demon of gold coins...?”
All I did was mention a few simple business tricks that immediately came to mind.
But the former theater owner’s gaze, as if he were looking at some monster crazed for money, stung a little.
Ahem.
In any case.
That’s as far as money can solve things.
Aside from that, it seemed we would also need to work on the backgrounds, costumes, props, and stage devices for direction.
Most importantly...
We needed someone to teach acting and singing to the actors right away.
“So. Could you help me, Miss Aria?
I’ll make sure to compensate you generously!”
“If it is a request from you, Author, then of course I must help.”
Therefore, I immediately asked Aria for her cooperation.
Needless to say, she was the greatest bard in terms of skill.
She was also someone who could communicate directly with me by my side and produce the optimal result.
“And if people hear that actors taught by Aria are performing, we’ll be able to mobilize definite ticket power!”
Especially the nobles, among whom Aria had many fans!
Once nobles started coming to watch, it would be like a guarantee stamped onto the quality of the play.
Then even more people would regard it as a work they could trust and watch.
“If it is a play made from your work, Author, then it must be perfect!
I will train the actors perfectly so that they do not bring shame upon the original!”
Fortunately, Aria accepted with overflowing enthusiasm born from her fan spirit.
“Good. Then let’s begin.
Let’s show them what a proper play looks like!”
It is time to lead a new culture into this world!