Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 290 The judges who can't hold back

On May 5, the Chinese men's badminton team won the Thomas Cup for the first time, which sparked a badminton craze in newspapers and on television, but the momentum was far less than that of the women's volleyball team's victory.

That evening, Lin Chaoyang stood at the gate of the courtyard, watching a red motorcycle scurrying around in Xiaoliubukou Hutong like a red mouse.

It's rare to see a good motorcycle being ridden so obscenely.

"If you want to speed up, speed up. If you want to slow down, slow down. Why do you keep adding and subtracting?"

"Brother-in-law, I'm scared!"

"Are you still riding if you're afraid?"

"I don't ride it, so it's a waste to leave it there."

Lin Chaoyang was speechless. "There are so many unoccupied rooms at home. I haven't seen you living in every room?"

"Brother-in-law~"

Lin Chaoyang didn't allow Tao Yushu to ride this Yamaha 125 since she became pregnant. Tao Yumo had been eyeing it for a long time. During this period, she got her driver's license and came here eager to try to become a female rider. Unfortunately, she was a little overambitious.

After riding shakily for more than half an hour, he finally rode more steadily. Tao Yumo was so excited that he almost shouted out.

Just as she was about to ride out of the alley, an old man suddenly appeared at the entrance of the alley, and she immediately stepped on the brakes.

Xie Jin looked at the little girl in front of him and remembered that she was Lin Chaoyang's sister-in-law. "Is it Yumo? Be careful when riding a bike!"

Tao Yumo nodded, "Director Xie, are you here to see my brother-in-law?"

"Yes."

At this time, Lin Chaoyang had already run over. Seeing that there was nothing to do, he greeted Xie Jin and said, "Why are you free today? Aren't you busy with the casting?"

"Hey, I'm done."

"What do you mean?"

"The actors have been selected."

Lin Chaoyang was surprised: "Didn't several main actors have to choose before? How come they have been selected now?"

In fact, Xie Jin was a little bit unbelieving. Lin Chaoyang recommended Tang Guoqiang to him that day, and he was very satisfied after meeting him in person.

Immediately afterwards, Wu Zhennian, who went to the Northeast to look for actors, brought good news one after another. She found two male actors whose image and temperament matched those of Liang Sanxi and Jin Kailai in Changchun Repertory Theatre and Shenyang Repertory Theatre respectively.

She had just brought him back to Yanjing yesterday, and it really met Xie Jin's psychological expectations.

At this point, the casting problem that had troubled Xie Jin for three months was finally solved.

It just so happens that the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards are held the day after tomorrow, and Xie Jin felt relieved as he had settled the casting issue before the awards ceremony.

As soon as I attended the award ceremony in Shaanxi, I returned to Shanghai to pack my luggage and headed for the filming location.

Being in a good mood, Xie Jin couldn't help but think of Lin Chaoyang again.

The first time they worked together, The Horse Herder, they created a new high for Xie Jin. This time they worked together again in The Garland Under the Mountain. The casting problem that had been puzzling was immediately solved after Lin Chaoyang appeared.

This inevitably gave rise to some feudal and superstitious thoughts in Xie Jin's mind.

"When choosing actors, you can pick and choose when you don't meet the right person. Once you meet the right person, the problem will be solved naturally." Xie Jin and Lin Chaoyang walked side by side towards the gate of the courtyard. "I'm going to Shaanxi tomorrow and come over to have a drink with you."

"I'm getting honors right away, and the filming of 'High Mountain' is about to start, it's a double blessing!"

Lin Chaoyang joked, then remembered something and turned to Tao Yumo, who was still lingering at the entrance of the alley, and shouted, "Stop riding, go home!"

Tao Yumo, who was just thinking about leaving the alley to explore the world, was filled with disappointment and rode his motorcycle back.

A few people entered the yard and had just sat down for a while when another guest came to the house. It was Liu Xinwu who came to give Lin Chaoyang a sample copy of "The Chess Master".

Originally, Yenching Publishing House was going to publish "The Chess Master" in April, but it happened to coincide with the publication of "Shutter Island" in the second issue of "October" this year, and that issue of the magazine sold out.

This directly affected the publisher's topic selection work in the second quarter, causing the publication of many books to be postponed.

By this month, the third issue of "Contemporary" had been published for more than half a month, and sales were stable. On the other hand, the sales of the second issue of "October" also reached a record 155 million copies, basically exhausting its potential.

The publishing house finally had the spare capacity to consider publishing other books. As one of the key books of Yenching Publishing House this year, "The Chess Master" was naturally the first to be put on the agenda.

"The paper consumption for this quarter must have exceeded the limit. The publishing house temporarily coordinated 60 tons of paper so that "The Chess Master" could be published smoothly. Otherwise, we would have to wait until July. Most of the 60 tons of paper coordinated were used for "The Chess Master"."

In the publishing industry, the 80/20 rule is very prominent, whether it is sales or printing.

The top best-selling books occupy the vast majority of the publishing house's printing resources, and the remaining small amount of printing resources will be spread over dozens or hundreds of books.

The first print run of "The Chess Master" was 20 copies, not because of the publisher's blind confidence, but because of the strong confidence given to them by the sales of Lin Chaoyang's previous works.

The day after Liu Xinwu delivered the sample book, Lin Chaoyang received the manuscript fee invoice from Yenching Publishing House.

The basic remuneration for publishing "The Chess Master" is 14 yuan per thousand words, plus a 5% print run remuneration of 3640 copies. This publication brought Lin Chaoyang an income of yuan.

It may not seem like much, but considering that "The Chess Master" is a short novel with only 130,000 words, the income from the manuscript is already considerable. What's more, as long as it sells well, there will be follow-up income.

A few months ago, Renwen Press published "The Death of Van Gogh". The novel was warmly welcomed by readers as soon as it was released, and sales volume reached nearly 50 copies in one and a half months.

It’s been four months now, and the momentum has slowed, but sales are still easily over 100 million copies.

According to the agreement between Lin Chaoyang and Renwen Press, if the sales of the novel exceed 80 copies, the printing royalties will be settled at 5% per copies.

The royalties for printing are paid every three months. In mid-April, Lin Chaoyang received more than 11,000 yuan in royalties from Renwen Publishing House.

This is the largest amount of royalties Lin Chaoyang has ever received since his novel was published.

In the future, as long as "The Chess Master" sells well, the number of copies will be paid. At this time, the newspaper published the results of this year's Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards, and the venue for this year's Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards was set to be Xi'an, Shaanxi.

The award ceremony was held on the evening of May 5 at the SX Provincial Gymnasium. That evening, the newly decorated gymnasium was brightly lit with colorful flags flying. There were as many as 23 people present, and many enthusiastic people gathered outside the venue, making the venue bustling with people both inside and outside.

"The Shepherd" won the Golden Rooster Awards for Best Supporting Actor and Editing, and the Hundred Flowers Awards for Best Feature Film and Best Supporting Actor.

"The Horse Herder" swept the Chinese film industry in early 1982. Both industry insiders and ordinary movie fans had high hopes for the film's performance at the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards.

Putting aside the acting awards Niu Ben won, the film deservedly won the Best Feature Film award at the Hundred Flowers Awards.

Because the Hundred Flowers Awards is a film award sponsored by Popular Cinema, and is a mass film award determined by voting by the general audience, the fact that "The Shepherd" won the Best Feature Film Award fully demonstrates the people's love for this film.

But the results at the Golden Rooster Awards seemed somewhat snubbed. You know, "The Horseman" received rave reviews in the film industry after its release, but when it came to this professional award, it only won the Best Editing Award.

The next day, Xie Jin couldn't help but call Lin Chaoyang to complain, thinking that the jury was trying to balance the situation.

Last year, the Golden Rooster Awards were held for the first time. Xie Jin won seven awards including Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Writer and Screenwriter, and Best Actress for her performance in "Legend of Tianyun Mountain".

This year's "The Shepherd" is a step up from "Legend of Tianyun Mountain". Both the industry evaluation and the audience's reputation are impeccable, but its award performance is far inferior to "Legend of Tianyun Mountain". How can Xie Jin balance this?

"We Chinese judge awards in this way. You can be good, but not too good. Since everyone is here, you can't come empty-handed. Even if you don't have any merit, you have worked hard.

The excellence of The Shepherd is obvious to all. You also won the Hundred Flowers Award!"

Lin Chaoyang comforted Xie Jin in this way.

“I don’t think my film is so good that I have to win this award, but I don’t think my film is so bad that I can only win Best Editing.

Besides, I have received all the honors I deserve, so this is nothing.

It’s just that the story of The Horse Herder is so brilliant, but you don’t even have a best screenwriter award, which is really unacceptable.”

Xie Jin's complaint made Lin Chaoyang laugh. "I'm just an amateur screenwriter. What does it matter if I win an award or not?"

Lin Chaoyang really didn't take the Golden Rooster Award seriously. Firstly, he knew what the award was about, and secondly, he didn't consider himself a screenwriter, so winning or not the Golden Rooster Award was really irrelevant to him.

"I advise you not to take this award too seriously. Gold and silver cups are not as good as the reputation of the people. Making a good movie is more important than anything else," said Lin Chaoyang.

"Do I need you to teach me? I'm finally done with all the hard work. Now I have to put all my energy into "The Wreath Under the Mountain"."

On the phone, Xie Jin's tone was full of confidence.

Two days later, it was almost the end of the month, and the one-year "May Fourth Youth Literature Award" essay collection activity launched by "China Youth" was also coming to an end. Lin Chaoyang came to the "China Youth" magazine office in North Sanlitun, Chaoyang District for a meeting that morning.

There are not many judges for the May Fourth Youth Literature Award, a total of six people including the young Lin Chaoyang, but they all have some connection with him. Apart from him, the remaining five judges are Ding Ling, Feng Mu, Wei Junyi, Wang Meng, and Liu Xinwu.

In the past year or so, dozens of excellent short stories have been published in China Youth. All of them have been carefully selected by the editorial department. Several of them have had a considerable impact and won national awards.

After some discussion, everyone determined the final list of winners.

Nowadays, many literary awards are of the nature of "Excellence Awards" and there is no ranking of first, second, or third place. As long as the jury's selection requirements are met, the award can be won. The same is true for the May Fourth Youth Literature Award.

The final list of winners of this year's May Fourth Youth Literature Award includes as many as 23 works, such as Han Shaogong's "Flying Across the Blue Sky", Wang Anyi's "Ordinary People", Chen Cun's "Blue Flag", Jin Dai's "Rain and Snow" and other outstanding works all won awards.

One week after the award results were announced, China Youth Magazine held an awards ceremony.

China Youth magazine has a profound heritage. It was founded in the 1920s. It has been suspended and resumed three times over the past half century, and can be said to have experienced many ups and downs.

The magazine put in its utmost effort in organizing the May Fourth Youth Literature Award and even invited a deputy F-level leader to attend.

"…To build our country well, we need all kinds of talents, including writers. In the construction of the four modernizations, literary workers are an indispensable team…"

The leader on the stage was speaking, and Lin Chaoyang was whispering to Wei Junyi.

“Shutter Island received great response after it was published!”

“It’s OK. It’s all thanks to the readers’ support.”

"Why did you choose October? Didn't you have a pleasant cooperation with Contemporary Magazine before?"

Of course, Lin Chaoyang couldn't directly say that the payment was high, so he could only euphemistically say, "October Magazine values ​​my novel very much."

Wei Junyi nodded slightly. She knew a little about Lin Chaoyang, and she had already found out the reason why "Shutter Island" was not given to "Contemporary Magazine". She said this just now just to find an excuse for a conversation.

"The influence of October is still a little lacking. We at Renwen Press have always paid you a high salary. If you have any requests, you can communicate with us."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said nothing. October didn't ask me to raise the standards proactively, but they raised the standards themselves.

Looking at Lin Chaoyang's expression, Wei Junyi cursed him in her heart, "You sly boy."

"It's been a while since Shutter Island was published, and it's time to put it on the agenda. Come to our office tomorrow and we'll discuss it in detail."

Seeing that the old lady's words were open to negotiation, Lin Chaoyang nodded calmly, "Okay."

While the two were talking, the leader on the stage had finished his speech, and the next step was the awarding of the prizes.

First, more than 20 young writers took the stage, many of whom could no longer be considered young writers, but middle-aged writers.

After the writers stood on the stage, Lin Chaoyang and several other judges went on stage to present awards to everyone.

Most of the six judges were respected veterans, and the youngest, Liu Xinwu, looked a little older than his actual age, but he was able to hold his own.

Only Lin Chaoyang, a judge in his twenties, stood out on the stage.

Especially when awards were being presented to writers, Lin Chaoyang stood together with writers older than him, which made people who didn't know the inside story think that Lin Chaoyang was the winning writer.

(End of this chapter)