"Mr. Yosuganosora, regarding the matter we discussed previously, after reviewing the contract documents you submitted, the company board has decided to agree to your request.
We will act as investors and provide two million US dollars in production funding for the 'RWBY' theatrical film. In return, once the work is completed, we will only need to pay an additional one million US dollars to obtain exclusive worldwide streaming rights for the 'RWBY' theatrical version, along with all related licensing permissions. At the same time, you will also receive an additional forty percent share of the online broadcasting copyright revenue."
Robert Jones, the director of Fakebook's animation section, carefully organized his wording before sending this message to Kamiyā Yuu.
While producing the third character trailer, Kamiyā Yuu had contacted Robert and negotiated with him regarding cooperation terms for the 'RWBY' theatrical film.
The fourth character trailer would be completed in early February. After that, Kamiyā Yuu planned to produce a theatrical animation film as the conclusion to his efforts on the 'RWBY' series. As for this massive pitfall of a project afterward, it might remain forever in a half-buried state.
After repeated negotiations during this period, this final profit-sharing arrangement was determined.
Kamiyā Yuu would first receive two million dollars in investment. After the theatrical film was completed, it would stream exclusively on Fakebook worldwide. Kamiyā Yuu would then receive the additional one million dollars in production fees as well as forty percent of the online copyright broadcasting revenue.
From this alone, one could see Fakebook Company's evaluation of the value of a 'RWBY' theatrical animation.
They would handle promotion and distribution, taking the licensing rights and half the profits from the 'RWBY' series as compensation. The total of three million dollars they would pay before and after production effectively served as guaranteed production funding, and according to their projections, represented only one-tenth of the expected value and returns of 'RWBY'.
Honestly speaking, Robert himself was rather dissatisfied with this nearly harsh style of cooperation from the board of directors. From his perspective, the potential value of the 'RWBY' series was worth at least hundreds of millions of dollars.
If this animation were placed onto cinema screens, and if quality and promotion were maintained properly, the box office alone could potentially exceed one hundred million dollars.
When he saw the company board finally agree to Kamiyā Yuu's conditions, he had nervously relayed the news, afraid that Yosuganosora would be disappointed and cancel cooperation with Fakebook altogether.
The 'RWBY' series had already established its name. Numerous major companies were greedily eyeing this piece of meat. Compared to them, Fakebook's only advantages were its network platform and the fact that it had gotten there first.
"How will Mr. Yosuganosora respond? Reject it?"
Robert frowned heavily. After much thought, he had nearly confirmed that outcome.
In his opinion, this cooperation deal simply wasn't worthwhile enough. So how could someone as experienced in negotiations as Yosuganosora possibly agree?
"Sounds good. Mr. Robert, when will you come to Japan so we can formally sign the contract? At that time, I should fulfill my duties as a host."
Not long afterward, an unexpected reply arrived.
Kamiyā Yuu agreed.
Robert froze internally for a moment before immediately becoming overjoyed as he typed:
"Anytime is fine. When would Mr. Yosuganosora be available?"
"How about this Sunday?"
"Of course."
······
Kamiyā Yuu had agreed because, viewed comprehensively, these cooperation terms really weren't bad.
From an outsider's perspective, the only weakness might be that two million dollars of funding was merely a drop in the bucket for an animated theatrical film.
But for Kamiyā Yuu, it was already more than enough.
Furthermore, the latter profits were percentage-based and increasing. The better 'RWBY' performed, the greater his returns would become.
At first glance, it looked as though he had lost out considerably. In reality, these cooperation terms far exceeded the minimum line he had originally expected.
He disliked trouble, and the 'RWBY' series wasn't everything to him.
So why not save himself a great deal of trouble by simply sharing a small slice of the cake with others?
What he currently possessed was an entire gold mine waiting to be excavated. Cakes like this could be produced endlessly.
Now, although his 3D production team could not yet be considered fully mature, it was already taking shape.
The speed of producing a high-quality 3D character trailer animation no longer depended on production speed itself, but rather on the speed of Kamiyā Yuu's ideas.
For example, as long as Kamiyā Yuu released the concept script for the fourth character trailer, the 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio could complete the animation within one week.
Back then, Kamiyā Yuu had spent more than a month producing 'Red—Crescent Rose' by himself.
Now, the 'Yosuganosora' Animation Studio possesses more than ten professional high-performance computers and four professional 3D animators.
······
After the release of the third character trailer, Kamiyā Yuu immediately threw himself into constructing the framework for the fourth character trailer without pause.
The protagonist of the fourth trailer was Weiss Schnee, nicknamed Whitey. Her character prototype was based on the famous fairy tale 'Snow White'.
Her identity was the daughter of the chairman of Schnee Dust Company—the company whose train had been attacked by Blake in the third trailer.
This foreshadowing planted within the trailer would erupt during the original work's first season, causing conflict between the two girls.
Weiss Schnee believed the White Fang were terrorists who had taken countless innocent lives.
Blake believed the Schnee Dust Company was one of the causes of war and one of the main culprits behind the oppression of her race.
So what style should the fourth character trailer adopt?
The answer was obvious.
It would remain faithful to the original work.
Whitey, Weiss was Kamiyā Yuu's favorite character from the original series. Although she possessed a somewhat American-style princess complex, her beautiful character design and tsundere personality that carried traces of Japanese anime aesthetics deeply attracted Kamiyā Yuu.
Faithful to the original. Surpassing the original.
That was Kamiyā Yuu's fundamental philosophy in recreating 'RWBY' within this world.
For the final character trailer, Kamiyā Yuu planned to extend the runtime to fifteen minutes.
The first five minutes would be song and dance.
The latter ten minutes would be combat.
For the musical section, Kamiyā Yuu did not intend to use the original work's songs. Besides, the original singing portion itself had not even lasted five minutes.
This time, Kamiyā Yuu also did not plan to create an original song.
Because deep in his heart, he already had the perfect choice for Weiss Schnee's musical sequence—
'The Beginning Song That Welcomes the End'.
The original work had been an MMD video uploaded by a Japanese creator on the Nico Nico video website in his previous world, featuring an original MMD character named Leia dancing alongside the song.
When Kamiyā Yuu first watched that MMD video back then, his eyes had immediately lit up.
Even though it was an individual production with rough 3D character models, somewhat clumsy and uncoordinated dancing, and an overly simplistic background, the MMD work still radiated a strangely captivating charm.
Most importantly, the style of 'The Beginning Song That Welcomes the End' fits Weiss Schnee's circumstances and character design perfectly.