A widower's entertainment

Chapter 324 [Incredible Numbers] (Please Subscribe)
Xinghua Hutong, Beijing.

Zhang Wei naturally knew that Lin Youcheng's novel "The Time Traveler's Wife" had won the Hugo Award. Zhang Wei didn't know much about this award, but in his opinion, it was called the Nobel Prize of science fiction literature, so it must be quite prestigious. He was very happy for Lin Youcheng, but he was also surprised and puzzled to hear that Lin Youcheng had rejected the offer from Universal Pictures in the United States to adapt the novel into a film.

Zhang Wei didn't understand why Lin Youcheng would refuse, so he came to the courtyard house in Xinghua Hutong to congratulate Lin Youcheng on winning the Hugo Award and also asked Lin Youcheng about it.

"Youcheng, I heard that Universal Pictures in the US wanted to make a film based on your movie, 'The Time Traveler's Wife,' but you turned it down?"

Clearly, Zhang Wei was more concerned about Lin Youcheng's rejection of Universal Pictures.

When Lin Youcheng heard about Zhang Wei's statement, he smiled and nodded, saying, "Yes, I refused."

"why?"

Hearing Zhang Wei's words, Lin Youcheng twitched the corner of his mouth, wanting to say that the people from Universal Pictures probably wanted to make a fool of him, offering $50,000 for the film and television adaptation rights to "The Time Traveler's Wife".

The key issue is not just film adaptation rights, but all film and television adaptation rights.

This really made Lin Youcheng laugh. The people from Universal Pictures were definitely trying to fool him by offering him money for adapting domestic movie scripts.

"The price offered is too low."

Zhang Wei didn't know how much Universal Pictures was offering, so he asked, "How much did they pay for the adaptation rights?"

"fifty thousand."

"fifty thousand?"

Zhang Wei paused for a moment, then asked, "US dollars?"

Lin Youcheng nodded. Seeing Zhang Wei's surprised expression, he could understand why Zhang Wei was so surprised. After all, in Zhang Wei's eyes, $50,000 was already a very high price. At the current exchange rate, $50,000 was equivalent to more than 200,000 RMB, not to mention that it was foreign exchange.

With the Asian Games approaching, shopping malls near the Asian Games Village and ticket sales for the Games are placing great emphasis on foreign exchange.

Zhang Wei didn't understand why Lin Youcheng hadn't agreed to such a price.

He knew that Lin Youcheng's "Atonement" was filmed by Chen Aige, and the script adaptation fee was only 8,900 yuan. This was because Lin Youcheng wrote the script himself. You should know that later, when Zhang Guoshi adapted and filmed Su Tong's "Wives and Concubines", he only received 4,000 yuan in copyright fees. And a few years later, when he adapted Yu Hua's "To Live", even though the copyright fees had increased a lot, it was only a little over 20,000 yuan.

Now, a US company is offering $50,000 for the film's adaptation rights, but Lin Youcheng's side is still refusing to agree.

This naturally puzzled Zhang Wei and others.

Lin Youcheng was well aware that the film adaptation rights fees in China were not high, but it was different overseas. You should know that fifty years ago, in 1939, the film "Gone with the Wind" was based on the novel "Gone with the Wind." Even though the novel was not famous and its author was unknown, producer David Selznick bought the film adaptation rights for $50,000.

Now, after all these years, Universal Pictures is actually offering him $50,000 for film and television adaptation rights. Isn't that just taking advantage of him because he's from an island nation?
Besides, his novel is very popular overseas and has won the Hugo Award, so it's not some unknown novel.

$50,000 seems like a lot, but it's a complete joke.

Leaving aside "Gone with the Wind" from decades ago, let's just talk about "The Truman Show" in another timeline. In 1991, screenwriter Andrew Niccol completed a one-page outline, then wrote the script. Later, producer Scott Rudin bought Niccol's script for $100 million. This gives you an idea of ​​how high the copyright fees for screenplays are now.

How outrageous was the $50,000 offer that Universal Pictures gave Lin Youcheng?

Now that the novel "The Time Traveler's Wife" is so popular overseas, the royalties are enough for Lin Youcheng's family to live in luxury. They don't need the $50,000 from Universal Pictures at all, so why would they agree to sell all the film and television adaptation rights for that price?

He also knew that the novel "The Time Traveler's Wife" was not only adapted into a movie, but also into a TV series, and not just one season. Although this was still a long way off, Lin Youcheng had no intention of selling the film and television adaptation rights of the novel so cheaply.

After all, this isn't a film produced for domestic film studios. The situation in China is due to the national conditions and market environment, but it's different abroad. It's obvious that Universal Pictures is deliberately assuming that Lin Youcheng is unaware of the overseas market and wants to buy all the film and television adaptation rights at a low price.

But how could Lin Youcheng possibly agree? He was no longer a poor widower struggling to write articles, sweep the streets, and raise his child. He was not short of money at all, let alone $50,000.

Although Zhang Wei was quite shocked that Lin Youcheng had refused such conditions, it was Lin Youcheng's own decision, so he didn't say much. He simply said, "It seems that your novel is really popular in the United States. Not only has it won an award, but now there are also film and television companies in the United States that want to adapt your novel into a film. This is quite rare."

Lin Youcheng smiled and nodded, saying, "It is quite rare."

After all, it's rare for foreign film companies to buy domestic novels for adaptation and filming. Most of the time, film companies invest in some big domestic directors, like the Japanese investment in Zhang Yimou's films. But they wouldn't buy the novels themselves and film them themselves.

Even the film *The Last Emperor* wasn't based on a novel. Director Bernardo Bertulucci referenced Puyi's autobiography, *From Emperor to Citizen*, and other related works to create a historical biography, and the story was about people and events in China. However, it's clear that Universal Pictures' purchase of Lin Youcheng's novel *The Time Traveler's Wife* for adaptation will not be a Chinese story; it will naturally be a love story set in the United States.

Just like the movie "Il Mare," which was adapted into a local version by Hollywood because of the success of the original.

This is precisely why such things are still rare in the domestic literary world, and why people in the literary circle are so shocked by this.

Just as Zhang Wei and Lin Youcheng were chatting, the person from Universal Pictures came to Xinghua Hutong looking for Lin Youcheng again.

Clearly, the people from Universal Pictures hadn't given up, otherwise they wouldn't have come back again.

Here comes Bowers from Time Publishing Company, accompanied by Charles from Universal Pictures, to find Lin Youcheng. Since Time Publishing Company is the distributor and publisher of the overseas version of the novel, Universal Pictures naturally contacted Lin Youcheng through Time Publishing Company first.

Charles's Chinese isn't very good, and sometimes he needs Bowers to translate for him. Last time when Charles came to Xinghua Hutong, Bowers accompanied him and introduced him to Lin Youcheng to discuss the film and television adaptation rights of the novel.

They hadn't reached an agreement last time. Zhang Wei was quite surprised; he hadn't expected these two foreign friends to come again, especially the people from Universal Pictures. This naturally surprised him, meaning that after being rejected by Lin Youcheng, Universal Pictures was still trying to negotiate with him, and the price they had offered before was likely to be even higher.

Bowers looked at Lin Youcheng and said, "Mr. Lin, Charles has been thinking about it again after he got back and wants to discuss the price of the film and television adaptation rights for 'The Time Traveler's Wife' with you again."

Although the deal fell through last time and was rejected outright, it didn't have a significant impact on the relationship between the two parties. In particular, Bowers was still looking forward to continuing to collaborate with Lin Youcheng and translating and publishing several of Lin Youcheng's other novels, so he was even less likely to let the matter with Universal Pictures ruin his relationship with Lin Youcheng.

Lin Youcheng poured tea for Bowers and Charles, then turned his gaze to Charles, waiting to hear what Charles would say next.

"Lin, your price is too high. We can't offer you such a high price."

"Is it high?"

Although Lin Youcheng could understand Charles's words intermittently without Bowers' special translation, especially since Charles would occasionally throw in a Chinese word or two, Lin Youcheng, despite being a literary master, was still just a high school dropout, especially from his time in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. His English was naturally much worse, so he always waited for Bowers to translate before speaking to Charles.

Lin Youcheng looked at Charles and said directly, "I don't think so, especially since what you want is the film and television adaptation rights. I know that means you can also adapt this novel into a TV series."

Lin Youcheng's words also prove that there are some things that are not so easy to fool him about.

Clearly, Bowles and Charles are now well aware of this, especially since Bowles had previously discussed the royalties for Lin Youcheng's novel "The Time Traveler's Wife" and knew that Lin Youcheng would rather concede on advance payments than on royalties, which proves that Lin Youcheng understands the importance of royalties.

Later, Bowers also learned that Lin Youcheng was the first writer in China to propose a royalty system to a publisher, which was quite impressive.

Zhang Wei, standing to the side, naturally remained silent. He didn't know what price Lin Youcheng had quoted before, but he felt it certainly wouldn't be too low, and might even have doubled. At this moment, he simply sat quietly to the side watching Lin Youcheng and the people from the foreign company, thinking that if Lin Youcheng needed him in any way, he would definitely stand up for Lin Youcheng.

Charles looked at Lin Youcheng and said, "Lin, I hope you understand that we can't give you a million. That price is too high."

what?
one million?

Upon hearing Bowers' translation, Zhang Wei, who was sitting next to him, trembled so much that he almost dropped the teacup. He was completely stunned.

Zhang Wei was starting to doubt if he had misheard. He felt a little dazed and tried to calm himself down so as not to lose his composure. But his mind kept going back to what Bowers had said about one million. He couldn't have misheard. It really was one million. It was actually one million for the movie adaptation rights?

Lin Youcheng actually asked for a million dollars in adaptation rights fees?

That's way too...too outspoken!

It's a million!
How could that be? Our foreign friends aren't stupid; they wouldn't agree to such an impossible price.

Why does Lin Youcheng dare to ask for such a high adaptation rights fee?

Zhang Wei felt his heart pounding wildly. He didn't dare to think about how much a million dollars actually amounted to. He really didn't dare to think about it. He had previously thought that Lin Youcheng would at most ask for an extra ten or twenty thousand dollars, or at most double that amount, but now...

Zhang Wei's mind was buzzing; he felt like he could hear his own heartbeat. His throat was dry, so he swallowed a mouthful of tea and sat quietly listening to Lin Youcheng talk to the foreigners.

Lin Youcheng, oblivious to Zhang Wei's shock, calmly said, "You should know better than I how popular this novel is in your country right now, and it even won the Hugo Award. This isn't just an award known in your country, but in the whole world. Furthermore, when you adapt it into a movie and release it, it will reap global box office rewards."

"You should know that my novel 'The Devotion of Suspect X' was adapted into a film and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. If you guys can make a serious film adaptation of this novel, 'The Time Traveler's Wife,' you might win an award in addition to box office success."

"I think the price I've given you is already very low. You have to understand that this is not just the film rights, but also the television rights."

Clearly, Lin Youcheng was also praising the excellence of his novel, citing Hou Xiaoxian's adaptation of "The Devotion of Suspect X" which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival as an example. He argued that his novels have always been exceptional, and that while other works were also his, they were all his own, especially "The Time Traveler's Wife," which won the Hugo Award.

These factors also contribute to Lin Youcheng's confidence.

Of course, the biggest reason for Lin Youcheng's confidence was that he didn't really care whether he could get the film and television adaptation rights for this novel. He wasn't short of money, and the copyright fee for this novel might be more expensive later on. So he told Charles that even if the deal didn't go through, he would still do his best to entertain Charles as a host.

"Of course, if your company thinks it's too expensive, then forget it. You're still very welcome to come to Beijing. Would you like me to take you to see some of the city's attractions later?"

Bowers listened to Lin Youcheng's words and naturally translated them to Charles. He knew very well that the price Lin Youcheng offered was not high. This was because Charles knew that the film and novel copyrights in China were not expensive, so he wanted to buy them at a lower price and take them back to film himself. However, he did not expect that Lin Youcheng would not agree at all.

This naturally requires Charles to re-evaluate Lin Youcheng, the author from the East.

Charles could tell that Lin Youcheng had already decided on the price, and more importantly, Lin Youcheng didn't care about their Universal Film Company at all. He was very calm. Charles knew that Lin Youcheng was a very famous writer in China and his economic conditions seemed to be quite good. He was very confident and his attitude towards him was very calm, even very composed and confident. This was completely different from the Chinese people he had dealt with before.

This made him somewhat dissatisfied. A writer and cultural figure was acting like a miserly businessman, extremely cunning, constantly talking about how popular his novel was, how it won the Hugo Award, and how much box office revenue it would make worldwide when it was made into a movie. He was not at all the honest Chinese person he had imagined.

This was a miscalculation on his part, but Charles was also very clear that Lin Youcheng was telling the truth. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made a special trip to Beijing to discuss the film and television adaptation rights of the novel with Lin Youcheng. He knew very well how wonderful Lin Youcheng's novel, "The Time Traveler's Wife," would be if it were made into a movie, especially since the novel had won the Hugo Award. All of this was enough to prove how wonderful and moving the story was, and the commercial value behind the story was also quite high.

Charles hadn't expected to offer Lin Youcheng such a high price, nor had he anticipated that Lin Youcheng would be so indifferent to the failure to reach an agreement on the adaptation.

Charles was naturally unwilling to let the matter end without securing the film and television adaptation rights to the novel.

Charles glanced at Bowles, pondered for a moment, and seemed to have made a very difficult decision. Although he thought Lin Youcheng was a petty and annoying businessman, he still maintained a very gentlemanly and proper smile, looked at Lin Youcheng, and said, "Alright, Lin, you win!"

"One million!"

(End of this chapter)