A widower's entertainment

Chapter 333 [A Groundbreaking Literary Giant] (Please Subscribe)
Xinghua Hutong, Beijing.

Warner Bros. is undoubtedly one of the world's largest film and television entertainment production companies. Founded in 1918, it is clear that they have a certain consideration for the global film market. The fact that they chose Lin Youcheng's "Il Mare" is naturally because Warner Bros. believes that Lin Youcheng's "Il Mare" is worth making.

"Lin, please believe that we will definitely adapt and film your story carefully. This story is very special, and we believe that the audience will also like this movie."

Lin Youcheng just smiled at what Warner Bros. producer George said, taking it half as truth and not paying much attention.

Lin Youcheng would naturally not refuse Warner Bros.' purchase of the film rights. After all, exporting the film rights of novels, screenplays, and movies to the United States is definitely a very good thing. However, the copyright fee would naturally need to be discussed.

Lin Youcheng wouldn't let Warner Bros. directly get the script and story for free.

"I wonder how much royalties Warner Music is planning to pay?"

Lin Youcheng was speaking to Bowers, and Bowers was needed to translate. Xie Shuhua, who was also sitting next to him, was also quite good at English and could help with the translation.

Of course, Lin Youcheng could understand some of it, but he felt that he should study English more in the future so that he could explain that he could speak English.

Clearly, Powers had already discussed the copyright fees with Warner Bros. producer George before arriving, especially mentioning the negotiations with Universal Pictures. This also revealed that Lin Youcheng, unlike many authors here, was not in a particular hurry to sell the copyrights, and would be willing to accept the price offered by the United States.

George had actually inquired privately about the film rights fee for Lin Youcheng's "The Time Traveler's Wife," and naturally had his own opinion. Although he wouldn't treat Lin Youcheng as a Japanese person, he would definitely not spend a lot of money to acquire the film rights for "The Lake House." Ultimately, it would depend on how much the story was worth.

"Lin, we're planning to offer $300,000 for the film rights."

When Xie Shuhua heard George's words, she was actually a little unsettled. Three hundred thousand was definitely not a small amount, especially since it was in US dollars, which would be close to one million yuan. However, she tried her best to keep her expression calm and composed, and in the end, she left it to Lin Youcheng to negotiate.

Three hundred thousand dollars?
Undoubtedly, Lin Youcheng thought it was too low. Even though Warner Bros. didn't intend to acquire all the film and television rights, Lin Youcheng also knew that "The Lake House" and "The Time Traveler's Wife" were different. "The Time Traveler's Wife" had won the Hugo Award and had a very high level of influence and literary status. What made "The Lake House" special was its particularly novel and imaginative story.

However, if Warner Bros. doesn't buy the film rights to "The Lake House" and instead uses a similar time-travel technique to adapt and film the story, Lin Youcheng's only option in China would be to sue Warner Bros. However, it's uncertain whether they would side with him in court, and even if he wins, the process would likely be quite lengthy and troublesome.

However, this does not mean that Lin Youcheng would readily agree to Warner's offer.

"You should know about 'The Time Traveler's Wife'; Universal Pictures didn't offer this price."

"Lin, you should know that these two stories are different. We only want the film rights."

Undoubtedly, these are all issues that need to be discussed by both parties.

After their conversation, Lin Youcheng looked at George, the producer from Warner Bros., and said, "George, I think you should know that I am a writer and screenwriter. And the works I have written are not limited to just 'The Lake House'."

"The movie script I just finished is very interesting, and I think your company would be interested."

"Of course, if you're not interested, I'll ask Universal Pictures. After all, I had considered selling this movie script to Universal from the beginning, and they're very interested."

The last sentence was naturally just something Lin Youcheng said casually, since Universal Pictures hadn't even read the script yet and had no interest in it whatsoever.

This can be seen as indirectly putting pressure on WarnerMedia by dragging Universal Pictures, a potential competitor, into the mix.

Bowers and George were clearly surprised that Lin Youcheng didn't continue discussing the film rights fee for "The Lake House" but instead brought up another film script, which naturally made Bowers and George very curious.

George, in particular, was quite puzzled as to what kind of interesting movie script it was, and why his company would be interested.

"May I ask what kind of story it is?"

Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "Of course, but I think the copyright fee of 500,000 for the novel 'The Untouchable Lover' is really not high."

George was surprised that Lin Youcheng was holding a script he hadn't even seen yet and was now talking about the copyright fee for "The Untouchable Lover." He shook his head with a smile and said, "Lin, you're really too cunning. But I really want to know what kind of interesting story you're talking about is like."

"If it's really exciting and interesting, I can agree to this price."

Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "I think we can talk about the copyright fee for 'The Untouchable Lover' first."

Clearly, Lin Youcheng meant that they should first agree on the copyright fee for "The Untouchable Lover" before discussing the script.

After Bowers translated for Lin Youcheng, he naturally waited for George's reply.

George was undoubtedly very curious. Paying $500,000 for the film rights to The Lake House was actually above his expected price, but he also knew that the price wasn't too high.

"By the way, I can tell you that this script story can actually be made into two completely different movies, which can be considered as two scripts."

"Two scripts?"

This naturally made George even more curious.

Warner Bros. eventually agreed to the price, and Lin Youcheng naturally told George about the general plot of "Everyday" and "The Beauty Inside". "If your company can get some famous Hollywood actors to make cameo appearances in this movie, I think it will be very interesting and the box office results will not be bad."

Clearly, George, as a film producer, was quite impressed after hearing Lin Youcheng's stories of "Every Day" and "Inner Beauty".

Because he understood better than Lin Youcheng how appealing such a film was. Putting aside the filming process, Lin Youcheng's script alone was quite brilliant; it was truly astonishing.

"Lin, you're a genius! Your script is fantastic!"

"Oh my God, this script is so funny!"

George knew very well that "The Lake House," "Everyday," and "The Beauty Inside" were all low-budget films, which was actually the most important reason why Warner Bros. wanted to buy the film rights to "The Lake House."

Moreover, as Lin Youcheng said, if the male lead in "Everyday" were played by different actors, whether male or female stars, veteran or young actors, the whole movie would be more interesting, and the overall production cost would also be reduced. Of course, this would only require Warner Bros. to use some favors to get the actors to make cameo appearances. Thinking about Lin Youcheng's movie script, George felt that it was even more interesting than "The Lake House".

With so many actors making cameo appearances, this movie's box office performance will at least attract a lot of attention in terms of publicity.

Lin Youcheng didn't react much to George's words, he just smiled and said, "Like I said, this script can actually be filmed in two different stories, and it can even be adapted into other TV series. In this respect, 'Everyday' or 'The Beauty Inside' can be made into TV series, or even several different TV series. Depending on the changes in the main characters, the whole story will be different."

George said excitedly, "Lin, you're absolutely right!"

Bowers, who was standing to the side, was also very clear about the story Lin Youcheng was telling. He was actually very curious as to why Lin Youcheng didn't write the story into a novel. Of course, in his opinion, it would be very interesting to think about having different stars play this special male lead A.

For example, what if the protagonist wakes up one day to find himself a sexy actress? How would he fall in love with the female lead in this new identity?
Such a clash would be truly spectacular!
Seeing George's excited expression, Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "So what I want to say is that Universal Pictures is also very interested in this script."

Well, the truth has finally come out: it all comes down to the copyright fees for the script.

This naturally led to another extremely protracted negotiation battle.

But as Lin Youcheng said, in addition to Warner Bros., there will also be Universal Pictures. Especially since Lin Youcheng and Universal Pictures have already reached a cooperation agreement, Warner Bros. will naturally not want to miss out on such a particularly interesting movie script as "Everyday".

No, I should say I missed out on two such interesting movie scripts.

Clearly, Warner Bros. producer George is now completely captivated by Lin Youcheng's two stories, "Everyday" and "The Beauty Inside," which, while seemingly similar, are also different.

This movie script can be considered a buy-one-get-one-free deal for Lin Youcheng, but the price he paid for it wasn't cheap.

Lin Youcheng looked at George and said, "If you think this price is too high, I think we can split the profits based on box office results. I heard that there is a screenwriters' union in the United States, where screenwriters split profits based on ticket sales."

George was surprised that Lin Youcheng knew about this. His eyes widened in astonishment. In the United States, new screenwriters or those not affiliated with screenwriters' guilds rely on one-time buyouts for their script income, with limited profit-sharing rights. However, established screenwriters earn a considerable income through a combination of basic royalties and profit-sharing. This profit-sharing includes not only box office revenue but also subsequent DVD releases, videotapes, and television broadcasts. Of course, this requires the work to be profitable in the long term.

"I think the price you mentioned is acceptable."

Clearly, George did not think it necessary for Lin Youcheng, the Chinese writer, to participate in the film's revenue sharing. He naturally preferred to buy out the script outright rather than share the profits.

Lin Youcheng couldn't help but laugh when he heard George's words.

Well, the capitalist world is naturally very clear about what maximizes profits, and they are determined to exploit new screenwriters.

However, it is clear that Lin Youcheng, even though he is an author from the East, is not some unknown new screenwriter. After all, the popularity of his previous work, "The Time Traveler's Wife," is undeniable.

Lin Youcheng did not insist on a profit-sharing arrangement. The reason he brought this up was obviously to tell George that he was not completely ignorant, and the price he offered of 1.3 million was not high. After all, "Everyday" and "The Beauty Inside" can be said to be two different movie scripts, and there are also overseas film and television adaptation rights for this story.

Obviously, news of Lin Youcheng's collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures will naturally spread.

The domestic literary circle does not know the exact amount of the copyright royalties that Lin Youcheng finally agreed with Warner Bros., but it is clear in their view that the price must not be low, after all, the film and television rights for "The Time Traveler's Wife" reportedly cost one million US dollars.

I wonder how much the royalties will be this time!

The exact amount of the royalties has not been released, but it has already stirred the hearts and excited countless literary and film workers.

What shocked the entire literary and film circles even more was that Lin Youcheng's agreement with the American film company was not only about the copyright fee for the novel "The Untouchable Lover," but also that the American film company had taken a liking to the screenplay he wrote himself.

Lin Youcheng's movie script is also going to be made into a movie by an American company!
It even seems like there's more than one movie script!

This is something that has shocked many people in the domestic film and literary circles even more!

Who would have thought that a movie script written by a domestic screenwriter would be bought by a film company from the United States? This is unprecedented and a first in history.

The key point is that this isn't about overseas Chinese, but about a local author whose screenplay has been bought and is being made into a movie abroad. This means that the movie might even feature the name of the Chinese screenwriter, Lin Youcheng, in Hollywood.

Clearly, under the tide of reform and opening up, Lin Youcheng, a literary giant, earned foreign exchange by exporting his novels and screenplays, truly opening his eyes to the world!
(End of this chapter)