A widower's entertainment

Chapter 440 [Seeking a Large Reward for the Original] (Please Subscribe)
The success of "Coherence" in Hollywood spurred a host of film companies. Universal, which had previously released "Seaside Town," might have been okay, since they also had another film, "After This Our Exile," which was a collaboration with Lam Yau-shing. But even so, the Hollywood film companies were undoubtedly very envious and jealous of Warner Bros.

Producers from Paramount Pictures and MGM Studios flew directly to Beijing to discuss cooperation with Lin Youcheng, as a show of sincerity.

Paramount Pictures had worked with Lin Youcheng before, and producer Freeman was also an acquaintance. He never expected to meet Mark, the producer from MGM, in Beijing. Clearly, they were both there to see Lin Youcheng.

Lin Youcheng also did not expect that people from Paramount Pictures and MGM would come to find him together.

The people in Xinghua Hutong were already used to foreigners coming to see Lin Youcheng, because they all knew that this great writer and screenwriter was not only famous in China, but also very famous abroad, and had even won an Oscar, which was quite rare.

Not only were the neighbors in Xinghua Hutong not surprised that foreigners came to see Lin Youcheng, but even Lin Youcheng's children were already used to it.

Since it's summer vacation now, some children have gone out to play, but naturally there are still children at home. For example, when Lin Zhaomei saw that people from foreign film companies came to see her father again, she felt very proud.

She knew very well how popular her father's screenplays were abroad; otherwise, people wouldn't be coming to him one after another.

Xie Shuhua naturally took her youngest daughter, Lin Zhaoyuan, and let Lin Youcheng talk to the people from these foreign companies on his own.

Freeman, on the other hand, seemed more composed. He smiled and praised Lin Youcheng's film "The Night the Comet Came," saying, "Lin, the story you wrote, 'The Night the Comet Came,' is truly fantastic!"

"Your imagination is truly incredible!"

Lin Youcheng remained remarkably calm in the face of Freeman's praise, as he had heard it countless times, especially after his collaboration with Paramount Pictures on "The Truman Show," which won several Oscars, including Best Picture and his own Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

It can be said that after the release of "The Truman Show," Paramount Pictures contacted him with nothing but praise, and later even invited him to attend the Oscars ceremony. Clearly, Paramount Pictures already knew very well at that time that the success of "The Truman Show" was due to the script written by Lin Youcheng.

Without Lin Youcheng's imaginative script, there would never have been an Oscar-winning film, The Truman Show.

At that time, the global craze surrounding "The Truman Show" was far greater than that surrounding "Coherence," so Lin Youcheng didn't pay much attention to Freeman's praise.

Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "Thank you. It seems that American audiences also like this story."

"It's not just that I like it, this story is really amazing!"

Freeman and Lin Youcheng were discussing the film's popularity and its astonishing box office performance after its release. Naturally, their conversation drifted to collaboration, with Freeman saying with a regretful expression, "Lin, it would be great if we could have collaborated on this script!"

Freeman's words naturally carried a hint of bitterness, or perhaps regret and pity.

This is similar to the regret and pity that Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. felt after the success of "The Truman Show," because they weren't the ones who made that movie.

Lin Youcheng said with a smile, "If there's an opportunity, we can certainly continue to cooperate."

Freeman had come specifically for this reason. He hoped that when Lin Youcheng finished a script next time, he would prioritize collaborating with Paramount Pictures. He said, "Lin, could you give priority to collaborating with our company next time?"

"We even won an Oscar for Best Picture together!"

"I think we deserve another Oscar for Best Picture!"

Clearly, Freeman's words were a deliberate attempt to win over Lin Youcheng. He was thinking about how their previous commercial film, "The Truman Show," had been a huge success both commercially and in terms of art awards. He hoped that this would entice Lin Youcheng to prioritize collaborating with Paramount Pictures next time.

Upon hearing Freeman's words, Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "Of course I hope we can win another Oscar for Best Picture, but when it comes to cooperation, I will also have to consider the conditions you offer."

"Warner Bros. offered very good terms, and I have worked with Warner Bros. before, and the cooperation went very well."

Lin Youcheng naturally wouldn't make any absolute statements. Although screenwriters are, to some extent, the service provider, Lin Youcheng isn't in a service provider's position. This is because several other clients want to work with him as a service provider screenwriter, and they are all vying to collaborate with him.

Freeman understood what Lin Youcheng meant and said, "I just hope that next time you finish your script, you can let me know and I will come over as soon as possible. Our terms will definitely not be lower than those of other companies."

Lin Youcheng understood Freeman's meaning and said with a smile, "I also hope that we can continue to cooperate."

Freeman was actually there to discuss this matter with Lin Youcheng. He knew that several companies had approached Lin Youcheng for cooperation, and Lin Youcheng naturally wanted to see the prices offered by each company.

After Paramount Pictures' Freeman communicated with Lin Youcheng, MGM producer Mark came to talk to Lin Youcheng.

Although the two companies arrived one after the other, the cooperation was discussed separately, and both producers brought translators with them.

In contrast to Freeman's praise, MGM producer Mark also expressed his love for Lin Youcheng's screenplays, whether it was the original novel "The Time Traveler's Wife", or later films like "The Truman Show", "Every Day", or more recently "Seaside City" and "Coherence". He liked them all very much.

"Lin, I personally really love the script you wrote!"

"You're really amazing!" "Our company is very keen to work with you. No matter what your next script is like, we're willing to buy it. In our opinion, the two million dollars in royalties offered by Warner Bros. is nothing."

Without a doubt, what the MGM producers said was truly unprecedented.

This means that they bought the film script even before seeing it written by Lin Youcheng, which is essentially a pre-order of Lin Youcheng's next film script, which is truly unprecedented.

Of course, this also means that Lin Youcheng has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for three consecutive years since his screenplay for "Every Day". This year, he was nominated for both Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay. Now, with the extraordinary screenplay for "Seaside City", it can be said that the screenplays written by Lin Youcheng, an Eastern screenwriter, are absolutely good in the eyes of Hollywood companies. It can be said that anything written by Lin Youcheng is bound to be a masterpiece.

Just like the currently showing film "Coherence," it has truly opened the eyes of many Hollywood film companies. They all know very well that the success of this film can be said to be entirely due to Lin Youcheng's script. If it were another company, director, or actor, it would not have affected the box office performance of this film. It is simply because the script of this film is too outstanding. It is because of the unbelievable script plot that this film has created such incredible box office results.

Clearly, Lin Youcheng hadn't expected that a producer from MGM would say something like that—buying his next script without even reading it. This undoubtedly showed great confidence in his work and a strong desire to collaborate with him.

"If possible, in addition to the copyright fee for the script, we can also discuss a share of the net profit."

Lin Youcheng could tell that MGM was being sincere.

They were willing to pay him two million dollars for the script rights directly, which shows their sincerity.

In fact, Lin Youcheng was well aware that, for example, in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" which was released in the United States this year, the director Frank Darabont's salary as director and screenwriter was only $75, not including the additional net profit share that the director received later.

However, it is clear that the film's box office performance was not optimistic after its release. In its first weekend, it grossed $72.7 in 33 theaters. Later, the film was released in 944 theaters, but it only earned $240 million in its first weekend. By the end of its run, the film's total box office was about $1600 million, failing to recoup its $2500 million budget, not to mention the advertising costs and theater revenue sharing.

This means the film was a loss-making venture. Although the film later received eight Oscar nominations, the producers were estimated to have earned $1 million from the revenue share from box office, home media sales, and television broadcasting rights, but that was many years later.

Undoubtedly, the fees Warner Bros. paid to acquire Lin Youcheng's "Interstellar" and "Coherence" for four million dollars were also substantial.

Warner Bros. showed great sincerity, and it was precisely for this reason that Lin Youcheng sold both scripts to Warner Bros.

As for the net profit sharing, Lin Youcheng is, after all, a foreign screenwriter. Firstly, the copyright fee for the script is already very high, and secondly, as a foreign screenwriter, Lin Youcheng is also uncertain about the box office performance. So he didn't make any special demands at the beginning, since even the screenwriter's share wouldn't be that high.

After all, if a movie like "Interstellar" were to be filmed now, with such a large investment, Lin Youcheng wouldn't dare say that it would necessarily be a great film or very popular in the 1990s. If, like some movies, it were to lose all its money, then the so-called profit sharing would naturally be nonexistent.

In fact, Lin Youcheng was well aware that the reason MGM offered such high terms was not only because his previous works were so successful, but also because Lin Youcheng had never worked with MGM before, and they wanted to win over this Eastern screenwriter and collaborate with him.

Lin Youcheng also had a good discussion with Mark, the producer of MGM Studios. Although nothing was finalized, Lin Youcheng expressed his hope to work with MGM if the opportunity arose.

Although Lin Youcheng was aware that MGM would eventually go bankrupt, that was in the future; at least for now, MGM was still one of the seven major Hollywood film studios.

Xie Shuhua gently placed the sleeping Lin Zhaoyuan on the bed, then turned her gaze to Lin Youcheng and asked with a smile, "They've come to discuss cooperation with you, haven't they?"

Lin Youcheng nodded and said, "Yes, MGM is willing to buy the script rights for two million US dollars no matter what I write for my next script, and we can also discuss the subsequent profit sharing."

“They can even pay a partial deposit now.”

These words startled even Xie Shuhua.

To think that someone would buy the collaboration opportunity without even reading the script, and to ask for two million US dollars upfront, with the option to pay a deposit, is simply outrageous!
Clearly, Xie Shuhua was unaware of the immense impact Lin Youcheng's "The Night the Comet Came" had on Hollywood film companies. A low-budget film shot in less than a week with a production cost of less than $100,000, it has now grossed over $20 million and continues to climb at the box office. Crucially, besides the box office success, there are also DV rights and distribution in other countries and regions, which means Warner Bros. is making a killing. It is precisely because of this impact that Paramount Pictures and MGM are now directly approaching them to discuss cooperation.

This truly shows immense trust in Lin Youcheng, the screenwriter from the East.

Lin Youcheng was well aware that this was MGM's sincerity, but in his view, that was all the sincerity he could offer. After all, if his script was excellent, why would he necessarily want to collaborate with MGM? He was the one who held the power of choice.

The most important reason, Lin Youcheng understood even better, was that capital companies like MGM Studios were also pursuing profits.

Xie Shuhua was genuinely surprised that Lin Youcheng's script was valued so highly in the United States. She asked, "Youcheng, are you planning to collaborate with them?"

When Lin Youcheng heard Xie Shuhua ask this question, he raised an eyebrow. He was well aware that Hollywood companies were offering huge sums of money to collaborate with him because of his success. If his script had failed as a movie, they probably wouldn't be pursuing him so aggressively.

Why not cooperate?

Lin Youcheng looked at the sleeping Lin Zhaoyuan with a smile and said, "This is a good thing in the first place."

In Lin Youcheng's view, the more money Hollywood companies offer to cooperate, the better for him, since the amount of money offered will naturally be even greater.

(End of this chapter)