A widower's entertainment

Although the mainland film market has entered a downturn, life must go on, just as early winter is coming to Beijing. Even with the cold wind blowing, time continues to move forward.

Several Hollywood film companies are now trying to collaborate with Lin Youcheng on scripts. The box office success of "Final Destination" has once again made them envious, so they have been contacting Lin Youcheng one after another, hoping to get such a low-budget, high-quality script from him, and ideally, to make it into a series.

However, it is obvious that Lin Youcheng would not casually take out such a script, especially now that he is going to improve the script of "Our Millionaire" for his daughter Lin Zhaomei.

Although Xie Shuhua didn't know much about the film industry before, because she lived with Lin Youcheng and they often discussed scripts, and because Lin Youcheng ran a film and television company, she naturally understood the huge clash between domestic and foreign films. She also knew that leaders of film units had consulted Lin Youcheng. So she couldn't help but ask, "Youcheng, what do you think of the opinions you raised with the higher-ups?"

"I don't know, but I hope you can adopt it, even if not all of it, I hope you can adopt some of it."

Lin Youcheng also offered his suggestions, and naturally it depends on how the higher-ups act. Of course, the same applies to the reform of film studios, since the box office revenue is ultimately determined by the film market.

Xie Shuhua nodded and then asked, "How's that notebook you were writing coming along?"

Lin Youcheng knew that Xie Shuhua was asking about the script for "Our Millionaire".

"The script is finished, but it depends on when Zhao Mei plans to shoot the movie. We will need to revise some details based on the timeline, but these are just details."

Xie Shuhua knew what Lin Youcheng was referring to, and couldn't help but ask with some curiosity, "When does Zhao Mei plan to film it?"

"I saw that she was very excited when she came back from Shanghai."

“She does want to make a feature film. She is currently working on the shot breakdown and doing some preliminary research. She is really preparing for this story.”

Lin Youcheng naturally knew that Xie Shuhua had returned from the set of "Strange Tales of the Human World". Although she went to school afterwards, Lin Youcheng also knew that Lin Zhaomei was already preparing the script for "Our Millionaire". Otherwise, he would not have specifically talked to him about this story.

However, this is also true. When a director is about to shoot his first feature film, he naturally needs to be well-prepared.

Lin Youcheng was naturally in no hurry. In any case, he had already finished the script, which was reserved for Lin Zhaomei. Even if someone outside asked about this amazing script, Lin Youcheng would still not touch it. In fact, he himself was also looking forward to his daughter Lin Zhaomei filming "Our Millionaire".

It's important to know that because Lin Zhaomei wanted to make a movie about it, Lin Youcheng didn't listen to Zhang Wei's suggestion to write the story into a novel first. He wanted to make the script more mysterious, since the most exciting part of the story was how the questions in the program connected the protagonist's ups and downs in life.

"I'm also really looking forward to her making this movie."

Xie Shuhua also really liked Lin Youcheng's "Our Millionaire" and was naturally looking forward to Lin Zhaomei making the story into a movie. She said, "Your realistic story ends with a romantic ending. It's really wonderful. No wonder Zhang Wei wanted to publish it as a novel."

"We can wait until Zhao Mei finishes filming the movie before publishing the novel as a movie."

For Lin Youcheng, publishing the novel was not important; what mattered was his daughter Lin Zhaomei's first feature film.

Xie Shuhua understood this as well. She knew that Lin Youcheng was doing this because of Lin Zhaomei. She knew that if the movie were actually made and released, even if the novel were published, it would be very difficult to get it published in a literary magazine like *People's Literature*. After all, *People's Literature* hadn't reprinted it. Of course, if the movie wasn't released, that would be a different story.

Xie Shuhua and Lin Youcheng chatted about movies, and they also talked about literary creation. Naturally, they talked about some things in the current literary world, such as the debates that have occurred in the poetry circle around Cha Haisheng.

This is the debate between intellectual writing and folk writing in the poetry world. Poets such as Xi Chuan's "Our Situation" and Wang Jianchang's "Advocating 'Intellectual Writing'" were published in "Poetry God" and many other poets participated in the discussion.

Cha Hai-sheng had naturally discussed this matter with Lin You-cheng, but Lin You-cheng was not a poet, and similar debates existed in the literary world.
Lin Youcheng said, "Leaving aside poetry, aren't we still discussing the humanistic spirit of literature and for whom it is written?"

Lin Youcheng couldn't help but laugh as he spoke. Now, continuing the debate that began in 1993, literary magazines such as "Shanghai Literature," "Zhongshan," and "Literary Criticism" have published articles such as "Cultural Effects and Folk Space" and "For Whom Do We Write?" These articles revolve around the questions of "For Whom Do We Write?" and "The Spiritual Value of Literature," and all reflect on the impact of the market economy on literature.

Xie Shuhua smiled and said, "Youcheng, so you're writing for your daughter."

"Regardless of the purpose of writing, the story itself is still the most important thing."

Xie Shuhua nodded in agreement.

Lin Youcheng always remembered that when he first started working in Chunfeng Lane, it was just to make a living and work with his pen. Of course, now that conditions are better, he doesn't need to work so hard to meet deadlines anymore.

This is why Lin Youcheng wasn't in a hurry to write the script for "Our Millionaire".

Moreover, before the idea of ​​the millionaire in "Our Millionaire," Lin Youcheng had also provided Columbia Pictures with a brilliant idea for "Final Destination." In fact, that idea, or rather the story outline, was naturally for the script copyright fee from the United States.

After all, the script royalties offered by Hollywood companies are quite high. Moreover, with Lin Youcheng's rising status as a screenwriter, having won two Oscars and starred in several successful films, he can now negotiate additional net profit sharing from the films. Even if the percentage isn't high, it's not much lower than the original script royalties.

Lin Youcheng and the Hollywood film company were naturally after capital; they knew that fame could be converted into profit.

Just like those companies that have come knocking on his door now, wanting to discuss cooperation with Lin Youcheng. Lin Youcheng naturally won't refuse any of them, after all, the foreign exchange earnings from the special zone are much more than what you can earn by making a movie in mainland China now.

The copyright fee from "Final Destination" was enough for Lin Zhaomei to film "Our Millionaire" later. Even if the filming costs increased, it wouldn't matter, since Lin Youcheng was really not short of money. Moreover, he was planning to sell his other scripts to Hollywood film companies.

Lin Youcheng knew very well that all Hollywood film companies wanted was profit.

Now, after writing the script for "Our Millionaire," Lin Youcheng will also write the script for the Easter egg in the script, "The Nameless." In addition, he also plans to collaborate with a Hollywood film company to write another low-budget film script, but he hasn't decided which company to submit it to yet.

This low-budget script is really just a simple story about a phone booth, namely "Phone Booth".

The story of "Phone Booth" is quite simple, winning with its novel concept and tense pace. It tells the story of a young man who wants to make a phone call but receives a threatening call warning him not to leave the phone booth or he will be shot.

What makes this film truly special is its breathtaking pace and single-scene setting.

Lin Youcheng knew very well that the filming of this movie only took 12 days, which was only a few days longer than the filming of his previous work, "The Night the Comet Came". It should be noted that of these 12 days of filming, 10 days were spent filming the interior of the phone booth, and the remaining two days were used to film the surrounding exterior scenes.

It can be said that the production cost of this film was quite low, but despite the low production cost, the box office return rate was very high. After its release, it raked in 90 million US dollars at the box office, and this was only the box office performance in North America.

It's a remarkable number, though far from comparable to any blockbuster, but it's hard for a low-budget film to expect to reach the sky with just one hit.

It's safe to say that even without these box office figures, given the production cost, no Hollywood film company would refuse such a low-budget production, since low cost means low risk.

Lin Youcheng knew very well that the protagonist of "Phone Booth" was just an ordinary advertising salesman in New York. On an ordinary day, he walked into an ordinary phone booth and picked up an ordinary telephone receiver.

However, the phone call was fatal. A sinister voice on the other end told him that if he dared to hang up and leave the phone booth, he would be killed on the spot.

The protagonist naturally dismisses the threat as a prank until he is about to step out of the phone booth when a sniper shot is fired, and an innocent passerby falls to the ground. Only then does terror truly grip his heart: it is all real.

The gunshots attracted the attention of local police officers. They arrived outside the phone booth, suspecting the protagonist was the killer hiding inside, and ordered him to come out. Stu's portrayal of the protagonist, however, did not satisfy them, only fueling their suspicions.

More and more people gathered around, and the media, with their keen sense of smell, also began to gather outside the phone booth, turning it into a live broadcast site, and the story became increasingly thrilling and exciting.

The most exciting part is when the male protagonist, driven to desperation, breaks down and shouts out all the despicable things he has done. After confessing everything, the male protagonist slams down the phone, grabs a pistol, walks out of the phone booth, and shouts for the mysterious man to fire. It's incredibly exciting.

The ending, in particular, is full of twists and turns. The police eventually located the mysterious man through their investigation, only to find that he had already committed suicide by shooting himself. The protagonist recognized the mysterious man as the pizza deliveryman he had verbally abused. It seemed like a story that would teach people to be forgiving of others, but when the protagonist was being taken to the ambulance, the real mysterious man appeared, only to tell him not to do anything wrong again, or he would call him again. It was quite an amazing twist.

In Lin Youcheng's view, this film is full of dramatic elements. It almost abandons the richness of spatial layers brought about by the multiple scene transitions that movies are good at. However, the limitations brought about by the camera frame have another deeper meaning.

The camera is mostly positioned slightly above the viewer's eye level. In the center of the square screen is the square phone booth that the protagonist never leaves. Occasionally, the camera shifts slightly to the New York street scene where the protagonist is located, with tall, square buildings and the sky divided into square sections by skyscrapers. All of these images convey an impression of suffocation and tension that lingers, like a mental prison that the protagonist cannot escape. Although there are no bloody scenes, the ever-present anxiety and unease seem to penetrate the screen and reach the heart through the simple camera work.

Clearly, in terms of plot and pacing alone, this is a fairly exciting thriller.

The story, purely in terms of space, is actually extremely limited, confined to the small space of a phone booth. However, the story's premise is clearly to use the confined physical space to highlight the depth of the psychological space. What keeps Stu agonizing is the inability to know the true identity of the murderer, who is hiding somewhere, thus filling him with the fear of an unpredictable death. What truly creates suspense and draws the emotions is the protagonist's forced self-reflection during this process.

Lin Youcheng knew very well that filming this story was very simple, especially since filming a movie could involve directly observing the reactions of passersby on set.

Of course, the most important reason is that the production cost of this script was low, even ridiculously low.

Lin Youcheng didn't think any Hollywood film company would refuse the script. If they did refuse, or if the terms weren't right, Lin Youcheng could simply find another company to work with.

After all, it's not him who's coming to their door now.

Lin Youcheng thought to himself that he was writing this book just for money, but so what?

Lin Youcheng didn't think there was anything wrong with it; these were his assets.

As for humanistic spirit, it's not absent. Just like the realistic plot in "Our Millionaire," these are things that should really be noticed. Perhaps it's the things that will attract attention after the movie is actually filmed and released that are most important.

Not to mention the plots in stories like "The Heavenly Dog" and "Atonement".

Lin Youcheng gazed out the window at the desolate scene in the courtyard, the cold wind howling. Those stories, sharp as knives, had always existed, and the butterfly effect they created had always been present. (End of Chapter)