Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 812 Semi-finished products

"The New Year is with you." Fang Minghua said a respectful expression that people in Xijing often say during the New Year, and smiled as he let Zhang Yimou into the yard.

The two of them came into the living room, and Fang Minghua asked, "Tea or coffee?"

"Tea, to be honest, after living in the United States for two years, I still can't get used to drinking coffee," said Zhang Yimou.

"Then let's have tea. Xiaohong, go and get the Baisha green tea from my study." Song Tangtang shouted to the new nanny.

A few minutes later, the nanny came down from upstairs. Fang Minghua took a small tea can and said to Zhang Yimou, "This is a new tea that Han Shaogong from Tianya Magazine sent me. It's a new tea that was launched this year. It tastes good. Come and try it."

As he spoke, Fang Minghua began to make tea.

Looking at the bright yellow-green tea soup in the white porcelain cup, Zhang Yimou picked up the cup and tasted it slowly: "Well, it's good tea, and it has a bit of fragrance."

"When you leave, take some back to savor slowly."

"No, no, I don't understand tea. It would be a waste if I take it back." Zhang Yimou quickly refused.

The two chatted for a while, and then they heard Zhang Yimou say, "Minghua, how is the script going?"

Fang Minghua knew that Zhang Yimou would definitely ask about this when he came to pay New Year's greetings today, so he said, "It hasn't been finalized yet, would you like to take a look first?"

"Okay, let me take a look."

The two went upstairs to the study. Fang Minghua turned on the computer and called up a document, while Zhang Yimou looked at it carefully.

"Take your time to read it." Fang Minghua knew that a script of more than 40,000 words was not long, but Zhang Yimou was a very serious person and would definitely take a long time to read it.

Sure enough, Zhang Yimou stayed in the study room the whole afternoon, and Fang Minghua even asked the nanny to go up and add two cups of tea for him.

It was not until half past five that Zhang Yimou came down from upstairs.

"Have you finished watching? Let's have dinner soon. The two kids will be home from school soon." Fang Minghua greeted.

Zhang Yimou said something polite and agreed.

During the Chinese New Year, many things are ready. The nanny prepared a table of dishes, Fang Minghua opened a bottle of Moutai, and after the two children came back, everyone sat in the restaurant to eat.

"Minghua, give me the script." Zhang Yimou said.

"I haven't finalized it yet." Fang Minghua replied.

"Okay, I think it's pretty good and very much in line with my ideas. Isn't Ms. Song coming back from the United States soon? I want to talk to her about the film project and some of my own ideas. I need to familiarize myself with the script first."

This one
In fact, Fang Minghua has already completed the script, which is basically the same as the historical script of "Hero", but the defects in the script have not been resolved.

He wanted to think about it further. It was not an easy task to maintain the watchability of a commercial blockbuster while deepening the realistic depth.

I didn't expect Zhang Yimou to want them all now.

Seeing Fang Minghua was a little hesitant, Zhang Yimou said, "I heard that Taiwanese director Ang Lee is also planning to make a martial arts movie. I want to get ahead of him."

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"!
Historically, Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was indeed released at this time. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was also the first Chinese-language film in history to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Soon after that, Zhang Yimou directed "Hero", but it was only nominated for an Oscar but did not win the award. It is said that this was also due to the fact that he directed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

The Best Foreign Language Film award can’t always be given to Chinese martial arts films, right?
Now, Zhang Yimou did not shoot "My Father and Mother" and "Happy Times", but went straight to "Hero", and the timing was the same as Ang Lee's.

The two martial arts films were shot at the same time. If "Hero" could be released before "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", maybe Zhang Yimou's dream of winning an Oscar would really come true.

Thinking of this, Fang Minghua agreed.

"Okay, I'll give it to you first. I'll discuss anything I think needs to be revised."

"Okay, I'll start preparing when I get home today!" Song Tangtang came back three days later, and Fang Minghua drove to Xianyang Airport to pick her up. In the car, the two talked about what happened to each other.

After the second Harry Potter film's roadshow in the United States, it has been released simultaneously in North America and Europe. With the blessing of the "Hugo Award", authoritative organizations predict that the box office will exceed that of the first film.

An agreement has been reached with Warner Bros. on the development of peripheral products for the Harry Potter film series, and both parties have jointly authorized the rights. It has been agreed that Hasbro of the United States has obtained the rights to toys and games, Scholastic has obtained the educational publishing rights, and WBCP, a sister company of Warner Bros., has obtained the electronic game rights.

All copyright revenues will be split between Shengshi Films and Warner Bros. in a 70:30 ratio.

This is a considerable income!

"Minghua, I want to open a subsidiary of Shengshi Films in the United States, located in Los Angeles, and be fully responsible for the company's business in the United States, including the filming of Harry Potter and peripheral licensing agreements, so that I don't have to run back and forth."

"This is a good idea!" Fang Minghua fully agreed: "Who will be the person in charge of the company?"

"Let Wu Tianmin take over the job temporarily. As for the other personnel, I will discuss it when I get back to the company and then send them over," Song Tangtang explained.

"Yes, but I think it's better to have a good selection of people rather than too many. In American companies, employees should mainly be local Americans or international students from our country. They are most familiar with the American market and accounting laws. The key positions in the company can be in the hands of people sent there."

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

Of course, there is also the matter of Zhang Yimou's plan to shoot "Hero".

"Minghua, I received an email from Yimou. He talked about this matter in detail, including the script you wrote. I feel that the depth of this script is not as profound as your previous ones." Song Tangtang expressed his opinion.

"It was originally written with the idea of ​​a commercial blockbuster in mind, and it's still a half-finished product." Fang Minghua explained: "Zhang Yimou is in a hurry to prepare, so we'll give it to him first. There's still time to modify it when filming starts. Anyway, the basic framework won't change."

Song Tangtang nodded and said with a smile, "I think Zhang Yimou is very competitive. He has been competing with Chen Kaige and now he is fighting with Li An."

Fang Minghua laughed out loud: "He's from Qin. Don't be fooled by his silly appearance like a terracotta warrior!"

Song Tangtang came back from the United States and started to get busy again after just a few days of rest.

The third Harry Potter film has started filming, but Wu Tianmin is the producer, so Song Tangtang doesn't have to worry about it.

More than half a year has passed since Shengshi Films acquired Xiying Studio. Internal integration and personnel diversion are still ongoing, but Song Tangtang's focus is not here. She handed it over to Deputy General Manager Liu Xiaoguang. She is mainly responsible for the establishment of the US company and the project establishment of the company's film and television repertoire.
The first thing was to formally launch the film "Hero" project. On the one hand, we submitted the project to the State Film Administration, and on the other hand, we prepared the crew.

Naturally, it was Zhang Yimou's creative team. In addition, they also invited the famous Chinese-American musician Tan Dun to compose the music for "Hero".

At the same time, according to Zhang Yimou's idea, this time a huge investment and production will be made, and all plans are to invite big-name stars from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In addition to "Hero", Shengshi Film and Television has started shooting several other films.

Feng Xiaogang's "Never Ending", the third part of the Lunar New Year trilogy, has started filming.

The script of Zhang Yuan's "Going Home for the New Year" was successfully reviewed and filed with the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. Filming started immediately, and newcomer Li Bingbing, who graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy, was hired to star.

Wang Quanan, who has been silent for several years, also started filming his second movie "Lunar Eclipse" this year. The leading role is Yu Nan, an actress who graduated from Yandian University.

Only one TV series was filmed: the third part of "Kang Weifu's Private Visits".

Shengshi Film and Television will shift its focus back to movies.

After Fang Minghua finished writing the script for "Hero", she basically had nothing to do. She was supposed to write the sixth Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", but she really couldn't muster the energy to do it.

Leave it alone for now.

It is now mid-March, the spring is bright and beautiful, and the annual provincial writers' association meeting is about to be held, but this time it is not held in Xijing, but in Tianhan.

The scenery is even more beautiful in the south of Qinling Mountains in spring, so you can take a walk around.

(End of this chapter)