A widower's entertainment

Xinghua Hutong, Beijing.

In the courtyard, Lin Zhaomei was taking pictures of her younger siblings with a camera. This was something Lin Zhaomei often did after receiving the camera, a very valuable gift, a long time ago. Moreover, thanks to her father Lin Youcheng's support, Lin Zhaomei did not have any concerns about the price of color film.

After all, Lin Zhaomei knew that her family was currently in very good financial condition.

The camera in her hand, for example, is not cheap at all. It was a gift from her father a long time ago and cost several hundred yuan.

Even though her father, Lin Youcheng, didn't specifically mention the family's assets, Lin Zhaomei still knew that her father owned a film and television company in Beijing, and that he also didn't know how many houses were rented out—yes, how many houses, not how many rooms.

Lin Zhaomei also knew that her father's screenplays were quite valuable to Hollywood film companies. She had heard of screenplay copyright fees of millions of dollars before, and she had even privately calculated how much that would be in RMB. The answer she got was unbelievable, and this was a figure that Lin Zhaomei had known for a long time.

Lin Zhaomei naturally wouldn't tell her younger siblings that her family was very wealthy, since her father hadn't mentioned it either. He would simply fulfill their reasonable requests, but he didn't spoil them in any particular way.

Lin Zhaomei naturally understood the reason, which was that she didn't want her younger siblings to develop extravagant spending habits because of their circumstances.

"Okay, smile!"

Lin Zhaomei watched as Lin Zhaohuan held Lin Zhaoyuan's little hand. The two sisters stood under the pomegranate tree and smiled as they pressed the shutter, recording the traces of their younger brother and sister's growth.

Xie Shuhua noticed that Lin Zhaomei had time to take photos for them this Sunday, so she didn't say much. Although Lin Zhaomei still had to take the college entrance examination, her grades had always been good, and she balanced work and rest. Naturally, they weren't particularly worried about Lin Zhaomei's studies, nor did they think there was anything wrong with Lin Zhaomei taking photos of her younger siblings at this time.

Just as Lin Zhaomei was taking pictures of her younger siblings, someone arrived outside the courtyard.

It was George, the Warner Bros. producer who had received news of Lin Youcheng's new script, who arrived with a translator.

George clearly recognized Lin Youcheng's wife and children, and with a smile, he said in broken Chinese, "Hello!"

This was also part of George's efforts to better interact with Lin Youcheng, the screenwriter from the East. He learned some simple Chinese sentences over time, though translation was still needed for most of the communication. While Lin Youcheng had also studied English and could communicate to some extent, translation was undoubtedly still present during these exchanges.

Lin Zhaomei did not expect that this foreign producer would come to her father again, clearly because of her father's script.

George came from the United States and brought some gifts for Lin Youcheng's family. Although the United States doesn't have these kinds of customs, George has been dealing with Lin Youcheng for so long that he naturally knows a thing or two about them.

These people naturally wanted to maintain a good relationship with Lin Youcheng, the screenwriter from the East.

Undoubtedly, Lin Youcheng's children are quite used to foreigners coming to their home.

Before Xie Shuhua could even tell Lin Youcheng, Lin Zhaole excitedly ran into the main room to tell his father that a foreigner had come to see him.

"Dad, Uncle George is here again!"

Clearly, Lin Zhaole had already remembered George's appearance and name and had not confused the foreign producers.

Lin Youcheng was surprised to hear Lin Zhaole's words. He hadn't expected that George's producer would come in such a hurry. He had only told him the truth after receiving the call that the script for "The Sixth Sense" was already in place, and George had already flown to Beijing without hesitation. It was truly a show of sincerity.

Now that George is here, Lin Youcheng will naturally talk to George about the story of "The Sixth Sense".

Actually, to some extent, out of trust in Lin Youcheng's work, George's first thought was not to read the script, but to directly acquire it. However, after learning about the story of Lin Youcheng's script "The Sixth Sense," George was still completely surprised by Lin Youcheng.

Unlike his previous science fiction and realistic themes, this is a thrilling and suspenseful supernatural story. Of course, there are realistic elements in it, but very much so, the story of "The Sixth Sense" really surprised George.

Because the whole story was so exciting, especially knowing the ending, which was completely unexpected.
George was truly overjoyed.

"Oh God! That's amazing!"

"Lin, this story is really wonderful!"

"The ending is unbelievable!"

Although audiences throughout Hollywood, or rather the United States, are well aware of the imagination of screenwriter Lin Youcheng, George still couldn't help but marvel at how amazing the script of "The Sixth Sense" was after reading Lin Youcheng's new script!
Although it's a thriller, it's a completely different kind of thriller story, and the emotions within it earned the praise of this producer who has watched countless films.

That's truly amazing.

George knew perfectly well that there were many plot developments in this story, such as Cole helping the dead little girl fulfill her wish and truly realizing that the spirits he saw might need his help to redeem them. Other developments included Cole telling his mother the truth and Dr. Malcolm realizing that he too was a spirit.

The truth was so shocking to George! He was still reeling from the astonishing ending; it was simply unbelievable. The more he thought about it, the more completely stunned he became by Lin Youcheng's words.

As a well-known Hollywood film producer, George was well aware that this script was not only exciting in its plot and surprising in its ending, but even more brilliant in its depiction of human relationships, which reached an unparalleled level.

The most prominent example is naturally the bond between the young boy Cole and his mother. The mother works part-time to support her son, protects him in her sleep without hesitation, and comforts her. Especially during their final conversation, when Cole explains that he can see ghosts, the mother mistakenly believes that her son is very ill. However, she still solemnly declares to her son, "You are not a monster in my eyes, never!" This is the greatness of maternal love.

Just like the fatherly love Lin Youcheng wrote about in *Interstellar*, it truly transcended the barriers of time and space, and was incredibly great.
This powerful emotional description also includes the mother-daughter relationship between Cole's mother and her grandmother. Years ago, during a similar student performance, a conflict arose between the mother and daughter. The little girl thought her mother hadn't seen her performance, but in fact, her mother was watching her angelic daughter from the back row. Through Cole's retelling, the misunderstanding between mother and daughter was resolved, and Cole's mother was convinced that Cole truly had special abilities. Even more touching was that at the cemetery, when Cole's mother asked, "Have you ever been proud of yourself?" the grandmother's answer was, "Every single day."

This is conveyed through the boy seeing the spirits of the dead; this love that transcends life and death is also an incredibly profound way of expressing emotion.

As for the love between the male protagonist, Dr. Malcolm, and his wife, although his wife also had suitors and made moves to choose a boyfriend, she still held her deceased husband's ring late at night, watched her wedding video as she fell asleep, and Dr. Malcolm, after struggling, accepted his death and chose to say goodbye to his wife. This is also a description of emotions.

It's truly a thriller beyond imagination.

After all, George has seen a lot of thrillers, which often use bloody and explicit scenes to stimulate the audience. They are either bizarre and ugly or filled with pus and slime. Although they are very scary at first, after seeing them many times, you become visually numb. However, this movie, while also thrilling, is very special in that it combines suspense and ethics, using details to create atmosphere.

This was something George had initially considered when discussing the script with Lin Youcheng. He thought it might be a story exploring children's psychological issues. Although the plot was somewhat clichéd, the details were very interesting. But everything changed after the boy in the script mentioned he could see dead people. It became increasingly exciting, and the ending left him breathless with relief. It was truly unexpectedly good!

The whole story surprised and delighted him. He was extremely grateful that he was the first to arrive in the capital and find Lin Youcheng to discuss the script. Otherwise, it would have been a great pity to miss it.

George really loves this story; his mind is now filled with the plot of The Sixth Sense.

Not to mention that this script is also a low-budget film. Even though it's a lighthearted film, it doesn't have many exaggerated special effects or technical processing, so the filming cost will undoubtedly be very low. Of course, the most important thing is the actors, especially the casting of this boy, which is also crucial.

"Lin, Warner Bros. will definitely make a great film out of this story!"

Lin Youcheng smiled when he saw George's excited expression. He was well aware of how amazing the script for "The Sixth Sense" was, especially since it was 1995 and it appeared four years earlier than the original film set in another timeline.

Speaking of which, this film was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

I just don't know if this movie will win him another Oscar, his second Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Of course, Lin Youcheng was also well aware that it ultimately depended on the competitors and public relations capabilities. If this were a domestic film award, where some strong competitors were deliberately excluded from the nominations for the sake of capital operations, it would be an extremely outrageous operation.

However, regardless of whether "The Sixth Sense" wins an Oscar, this film is definitely a very powerful and compelling script.

Since Lin Youcheng is a screenwriter who has been nominated for an Oscar four times in a row, why should he take a roundabout approach? He should go all out and truly accumulate his solid capital with one great work after another.

Although Lin Youcheng's previous scripts had already laid an incredibly solid foundation, it would be equally satisfying to further strengthen it into an impregnable fortress and maintain his dominance to the very end.

Yes, it's a really cool thing!
Lin Youcheng is now looking forward to what will happen if "The Sixth Sense" is nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay again after its release. After all, no matter how the movie is made, the script of "The Sixth Sense" is undoubtedly strong.

"Regarding the copyright fees—"

Before Lin Youcheng could finish speaking, George quickly added, "It's the same as what we discussed on the phone before. In addition to the script copyright fee, there's also a share of the net profit later."

Lin Youcheng nodded when he heard George's words.

He didn't intend to increase the profit sharing ratio or reduce the script copyright fee. After all, the movie hadn't been filmed yet, and no one knew how the final product would turn out. The same script could have different results depending on the director. Lin Youcheng naturally had no reason to lower the script copyright fee and try to get a higher share of the net profit. After all, the terms offered by this Eastern screenwriter were already quite generous. He was definitely the most expensive screenwriter in Hollywood, and perhaps even the most expensive.

In fact, Xie Shuhua has become numb to the script copyright fees that Lin Youcheng sold to the United States.

That's right, that number has been challenged too many times. The current two million US dollars is equivalent to more than 15 million RMB. If the movie is profitable in the future, even if the net profit sharing ratio is low, it will make this number even more exciting...

Of course, this is also because Lin Youcheng has successively collaborated with Hollywood film companies on film scripts, which is a really strong impact.

Lin Youcheng didn't pay much attention when he saw George and the others leave. Although he didn't want to say it, he could probably use a quote from Teacher Ma during the interview: he wasn't interested in money. The happiest time for him when he was making money was when he was a sanitation worker sweeping the streets in Decheng—but that's a lie!
If it weren't for profit, why would Lin Youcheng continue to write such a brilliant script as "The Sixth Sense" and remain so assertive?

Clearly, Lin Zhaomei had also heard about her father's two million US dollars script copyright fee, and was silently calculating how much money that would be enough to buy how many houses in Beijing and how much color film she could buy...

Lin Zhaomei silently calculated, and she really didn't know how to describe her feelings, because that number was truly astonishing.

Looking at her father, Lin Zhaomei truly felt she needed to look up to him. (End of Chapter)