Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 463 You Have to Learn from Yimou

Both Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou arrived in Yanjing yesterday. The difference is that Chen Kaige came back from Xi'an, Shaanxi, while Zhang Yimou came back from Jinzhong, Shanxi.

Of course they are happy when someone comes forward to give them money. At this time when making a movie, no one is short of money.

In 83, when the two were filming "Yellow Earth" together, one day Zhang Yimou suddenly yelled, sat on the ground and slapped himself in anger.

After Chen Kaige went forward to check, he was confused. It turned out that the films shot in the past few days were not kept properly and were all exposed.

The budget for making a movie is already limited, and the film is even more expensive.

Sometimes, in order to save film, the actors would even be asked to spend time rehearsing several times in advance to ensure that everything is foolproof before filming begins.

The sudden loss of several days' worth of film, coupled with the expense of reshooting, was undoubtedly a heavy blow to them. Fortunately, Wu Tianming stepped forward to help them solve the problem at that time.

There are no other advantages to co-producing films, but the funding is definitely more abundant than making films for a film studio, so Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou are both very happy.

The two of them stayed at Lin Chaoyang's house for a whole day. Most of the time, Tao Yushu talked about ideas with them. Until the evening, Lin Chaoyang treated them to dinner.

While we were eating, another guest came to our house.

"Da Feng? Why are you here?" Lin Chaoyang was very surprised to see Feng Jicai.

"I have a manuscript for October that needs to be revised, and I was looking for a place to revise it, so I thought of your place. Is there anyone in your West Courtyard recently?"

Feng Jicai explained his purpose, and Lin Chaoyang said, "No one is here. Just ask for help. There are plenty of idle people in Yanjing."

Feng Jicai came to Lin Chaoyang not to avoid idleness, but to meet like-minded people and find inspiration.

The two chatted for a while, and Lin Chaoyang took Feng Jicai out for dinner and introduced Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou to him.

After finishing the meal, Tao Yushu said to Zhang Yimou, "I will contact Mo Yan tomorrow and invite him to come to Beijing to discuss the adaptation. You should stay in Beijing for the time being. Do you have a place to stay?"

Zhang Yimou was about to speak when Chen Kaige suddenly touched him and said, "No."

"If there's no place, then you can live in our west yard, which happens to be vacant."

Zhang Yimou nodded in agreement.

Chen Kaige then lied that Zhang Yimou's luggage was at their house, and said he would go back to get the luggage and then let Zhang Yimou come back, and then took him out.

After they left the house, Zhang Yimou asked, "Kai Ge, haven't the dormitories been arranged at the Yanying Studio Guesthouse?"

"What are the conditions at Yanying Studio? What are the conditions at Lin Shuer's house? Can they be the same? You have to thank me, understand?

Besides, didn't you see Feng Jicai coming? I tell you, their west courtyard will definitely be lively in the near future.

Get to know more writers and build relationships with them. When you make movies in the future, will you still be worried about not having scripts?"

Chen Kaige now feels very superior when interacting with Zhang Yimou, as if he is treating Zhang Yimou as his younger brother. If Zhang Yimou wants to change his career to become a director, he doesn't mind lending a helping hand with a bit of condescension.

Listening to Chen Kaige's words, Zhang Yimou nodded slightly, "That makes sense. Thank you, Kaige."

Chen Kaige smiled proudly, "Why be polite? We are all classmates."

The two returned to Yanying Studio, went to the guesthouse to pick up their luggage, and Zhang Yimou left alone.

It was almost eight o'clock in the evening when he returned to Xiaoliubukou Hutong. Lin Chaoyang arranged him in a separate room in the west wing of the west courtyard.

After Lin Chaoyang left, Zhang Yimou looked around the room and found that the conditions were indeed much better than those at the Yanying Studio Guesthouse.

He saw that the light in the next room was on and knew that was where Feng Jicai lived. Thinking that they would be neighbors for a few days, he decided to go over and have a chat.

It happened that Feng Jicai had just turned off the light in his room and came out. The two greeted each other and Feng Jicai said, "I want to watch TV for a while. Let's go together!"

"it is good."

Feng Jicai led him into the main room with ease. Zhang Yimou thought he was going to the East Courtyard, but he didn't expect that there was a TV in the main room of the West Courtyard, and it was a 16-inch color TV.

"Oh! I'm so busy at home that I don't even have time to watch TV." Feng Jicai sat down on the sofa and sighed.

Now in middle age, Zhang Yimou deeply agrees with Feng Jicai's words.

The two of them were watching TV and chatting. In a blink of an eye, the TV screen was covered with snow, but they still talked about sex.

Feng Jicai went outside to tinker with it for a while, and came back with some food and wine. Zhang Yimou asked, "Where did you get this?"

"The kitchen is there. There are gatherings every now and then in this Chaoyang courtyard. Anyone who wants to stay here can do so, especially for writers from other places who come to Beijing. It provides a lot of convenience for everyone.

At first, some people felt embarrassed to live in someone else's house for free, so they left some things behind, and later it became a tradition.

Everyone who stayed in the West Courtyard had to leave something behind when they left. Rice, flour, grain, oil, cigarettes, alcohol, sugar and tea were all there, and it was almost like a small shop.

Look at this salted duck egg... This must have been brought by Wang Zengqi, he is from Gaoyou, and he loves to pickle this stuff."

Zhang Yimou stared at the salted duck eggs in Feng Jicai's hand. For some reason, a scene of a group of scholars toasting each other and reciting poems emerged in his mind, and he couldn't help but be fascinated.

"Come on, have a drink!" Feng Jicai called out.

Zhang Yimou happily sat down, chatting and drinking, and before he knew it he was a little drunk.

When Zhang Yimou woke up again, it was already past nine o'clock the next morning. He hurriedly got up, only to realize that he was no longer on the crew.

When he walked out of the room, he realized that he didn't seem to be living in the same room as yesterday.

"Yimou, get up!"

Feng Jicai was moving around in the courtyard. When he saw Zhang Yimou standing up, he greeted him and said, "There's food in the kitchen. Heat it up and eat."

"it is good."

By the time Zhang Yimou finished his meal, Feng Jicai had already returned to his room to write. He had nothing to do and didn't know what to do, so he planned to buy a copy of People's Literature and study Red Sorghum carefully.

"Red Sorghum" was published in the third issue of "People's Literature" this year. The bookstore had long sold out of this issue of the magazine. He wandered around Xidan for a whole morning but failed to buy the magazine, so he had to return home disappointed.

When I returned to Xiaoliubukou Hutong and just walked to the west gate of the courtyard, I saw a little kid looking around at the threshold of the gate, his big black eyes full of curiosity.

Zhang Yimou had seen this child in the East Courtyard yesterday and knew that he was Lin Chaoyang's son. He glanced into the alley and saw Lin Chaoyang standing there leisurely.

"Teacher Chaoyang!"

The two greeted each other, and Lin Chaoyang asked, "Did you go out?"

"I wanted to buy a copy of People's Literature, but I didn't."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "No need to buy it, we have it at home."

As he spoke, he led Zhang Yimou into the west courtyard and picked up Xiao Dongdong who was playing at the door and held him in his arms.

"Come down, I want to come down!"

After entering the inner courtyard, Lin Chaoyang put him down and warned him, "Play in the courtyard, don't run around, do you hear me?"

"I heard!"

Xiao Dongdong ran to the sycamore tree in the yard to pick up leaves. Lin Chaoyang ignored him and led Zhang Yimou through the corridor and the ear room and into the back room in the backyard.

What caught my eye were several rows of bookshelves filled with books, at least four or five thousand.

Zhang Yimou couldn't help but be amazed. Apart from the library, it was the first time he saw so many books in a person's home.

"The newspapers and magazines are in the first row on the left. Look for them. This year's People's Literature should be there."

Zhang Yimou followed Lin Chaoyang's instructions and searched on the bookshelf for a while. He soon found the third issue of People's Literature that he wanted.

"I found it."

After looking for the magazine, Zhang Yimou left the room, and Lin Chaoyang told him to come over here if he wanted to read a book.

When they returned to the inner courtyard, they saw Xiao Dongdong climbing up the trunk of the plane tree. He had already climbed more than one meter high.

"Come down!"

Lin Chaoyang shouted, and little Dongdong turned his head to look at his old father, then laughed triumphantly, but had no intention of getting down from the tree.

Lin Chaoyang was not in a hurry and continued, "I'll tell your mother for you!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Xiao Dongdong immediately slipped down from the tree, ran over, hugged Lin Chaoyang's thighs, and acted coquettishly and cutely.

Zhang Yimou couldn't help but feel happy when watching the father and son getting along.

Lin Chaoyang chatted with Zhang Yimou for a few words, then heard someone calling him outside the yard, so he went out carrying Xiao Dongdong.

It turned out to be an international registered letter sent from Japan.

Lin Chaoyang opened it and saw that it was still sent by Kitamura Miyu, and the form was similar to the last time.

First, I reported to Lin Chaoyang on the sales of "Crossing the Guandong" in the past few months, and then translated many reviews from professional critics and enthusiastic readers.

However, the difference this time is that Kitamura Miyu mentioned the royalty settlement in her letter.

"Crossing the Guandong" was launched in Japan in January this year, and 1 copies were sold in the first month. Since then, word of mouth has continued to ferment, and sales have been steadily increasing.

By last month, that is, June, the monthly sales had reached 6 copies, and the cumulative sales in half a year had reached 1.45 copies.

The price of "Crossing the Guandong" in Japan is 3600 yen. According to the royalty contract signed between Lin Chaoyang and Kawaide Shobo, his royalties this time exceeded 2060 million yen.

Since the Plaza Accord was signed last year, the Japanese yen has appreciated wildly. Now the US-Japan exchange rate has soared from around 1:210 last year to 1:170.

International events have little to do with Lin Chaoyang, but the appreciation of the Japanese yen did bring him some benefits.

Originally, these royalties were only about 10 US dollars, but now they have become more than 12. The royalties have increased significantly invisibly.

Perhaps because "Crossing the Guandong" had just entered the Japanese book market and had good sales performance, at the end of the letter Kitamura Miyu mentioned that they, Kawaide Shobo, hoped to strengthen cooperation with Lin Chaoyang and continue to introduce and publish Lin Chaoyang's works.

After reading the letter, Lin Chaoyang wrote back to Kitamura Miyu, agreeing with Kawade Shobo's idea in principle, but also put forward his own requirements.

The reason why we didn’t set any conditions when publishing “Crossing the Guandong” was because the work was being published in Japan for the first time. Now that the novel is performing well after being put on the shelves, it’s natural that we should increase the treatment.

A few days later, Mo Yan returned to Yanjing from his hometown in Shandong with his luggage, and found Xiaoliubukou Hutong according to the address given to him by Tao Yushu.

Two days ago, he received a call from Tao Yushu in his hometown in Shandong, who called from Yanjing, saying that he wanted to adapt his "Red Sorghum" into a movie and asked him to return to Yanjing as soon as possible when he had time.

After receiving the news, although he could hardly believe it, Mo Yan still said goodbye to his family and hurriedly boarded the train back to Beijing.

The reason why he said "return to Beijing" was because he had just left Yanjing half a month ago.

Since being selected by Tao Yushu from among many amateur creators that year, Mo Yan's creative career has opened up a new world.

He has published many novels in many magazines, including "Lian Chi", "Hua Shan", "Novel Monthly", and "People's Literature".

In 1984, he learned that the PLA Academy of Arts had just established a Department of Literature and was recruiting students. After several twists and turns, he successfully became a student of the Chinese Department of the PLA Academy of Arts.

He has been studying at the PLA Art Academy for two years now. He returned to his hometown in Shandong when the school was on summer vacation in July.

After meeting Tao Yushu, Mo Yan felt particularly close to her and told her about his experiences in the past few years.

“I arrived at the Military Art Academy too late and the registration had already closed.

Thanks to Teacher Xu, he saw my name and had some impression of me, and asked me if I was the Mo Yan who wrote "Folk Music".

I said yes, and he said he had read Mr. Chaoyang's commentary on Folk Music before and had some impression of me, so he made an exception and allowed me to register. "

When talking about his experience of attending the Military Art Academy, Mo Yan's face was full of gratitude. Tao Yushu did not expect that Lin Chaoyang's small action back then would affect Mo Yan's life, but he still said:
"This is all the result of your own efforts. The positive response after the publication of Red Sorghum fully demonstrates that you have been making progress in recent years." After the two reminisced about the past, Tao Yushu brought Mo Yan to the West Courtyard, wanting him to meet Zhang Yimou.

After Feng Jicai came to Yanjing, the West Courtyard, which had been quiet for a few days, became lively again. Today, several guests came to the courtyard.

Tao Yushu introduced Mo Yan and Zhang Yimou to each other, and then briefed Mo Yan on the situation of the movie, and finally mentioned the issue of the manuscript fee slip.

"Yimou was the director of Red Sorghum, and his director's fee was 5000 yuan.

Mo Yan, your copyright fee is 2000 yuan, and the script adaptation fee is 4000 yuan. Can you write the script?"

Zhang Yimou and Mo Yan were both very surprised when they heard Tao Yushu's words. They had never discussed the issue of remuneration with Tao Yushu before, and they did not expect her to be so generous.

Zhang Yimou received a salary from the Guangxi Film Studio, and received a daily allowance when he went out to film, which amounted to just over 100 yuan a month.

Mo Yan is better off than Zhang Yimou. He is now studying with pay, the army pays him a salary, and he can also earn a few hundred yuan in royalties every year.

Mo Yan really wanted to put the script adaptation fee into his own pocket, but he had no experience in writing scripts, so he felt very unsure about taking the money.

"Teacher Tao, I'm afraid I'm not good at writing scripts." Mo Yan said hesitantly.

"You are the author of the original work and the creator of this novel. You must have confidence in yourself," Tao Yushu advised.

As the two were talking, Zheng Wanlong on the other side asked with a smile: "Yushu, why don't you let your Chaoyang write?"

"Chaoyang is writing a new novel." Tao Yushu explained.

"That's easy!" Li Tuo pushed Chen Jianyu out from beside him, "Jianyu's script is well written. Let him cooperate with Mo Yan, it will definitely work out."

Mo Yan has ideas and writing skills, but what he lacks is experience in writing scripts. Chen Jianyu can make up for this shortcoming, and Tao Yushu thinks this is a solution.

She consulted Mo Yan and Chen Jianyu for their opinions, and they were both very happy. With Chen Jianyu's help, Mo Yan gained confidence.

As for Chen Jianyu, he can also take this opportunity to make some extra money.

If 4000 yuan is divided equally, each person will get 2000 yuan, which is more than his annual salary.

The two happily accepted the task, and when they heard that they were going to write a script, Li Tuo and his gang offered advice and the conversation became animated.

Tao Yushu looked at this scene and left the West Courtyard with satisfaction.

A few days later, Chen Kaige came to Lin Chaoyang's house with the script of "The King of Children".

He asked his teacher Chen Maiping from the Central Academy of Drama to write the script of "The King of Children" together. The two of them jointly signed the script, and Chen Kaige was very confident in the script.

After Lin Chaoyang finished reading the script, he said to him, "Kai Ge, as a director, it's okay to communicate your ideas with the screenwriter, but it's not necessary to write the script yourself. In this regard, you have to learn from Yimou."

Chen Kaige didn't understand what Lin Chaoyang said at first, but he understood it immediately.

Uncle Lin was dissatisfied with the poor writing of his script.

"No, Uncle Lin, listen to me, my script... Look at this scene, I plan to shoot it like this... The imagery of this shot... This line has three meanings..."

Chen Kaige intended to use his eloquence to convince Lin Chaoyang, but unfortunately he met Lin Chaoyang who knew his bad character well.

After talking for a long time, Lin Chaoyang finally said only one sentence, "You make a movie, and ultimately you want to show it to the audience. Even if it is an author's movie, it still needs an audience."

After realizing that his efforts were in vain, Chen Kaige became indignant.

Just now Uncle Lin compared him to Zhang Yimou. Are they comparable?

Do you think Zhang Yimou doesn't want to write scripts? He just doesn't have the talent.

"What are you thinking about?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

Coming back to his senses, Chen Kaige said, "Nothing."

Lin Chaoyang pointed out: "Ah Cheng's original work has a good story. Since you like this work, you should keep this point. The rhythm of the script should be faster, with fewer meaningless lines and empty shots...

A script is not a novel, but it is even less of an essay. You wrote the script so loosely, are you planning to film it for your own enjoyment?"

Chen Kaige felt very aggrieved and wanted to refute Lin Chaoyang, but everything Lin Chaoyang said made sense.

The most important thing is that he holds the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Every time Chen Kaige wants to refute him, he always feels insecure.

Uncle Lin won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival. His achievements in drama creation must be much higher than mine. If there are things I don’t understand, it must be because I am not experienced enough.

"Then I'll take it back and modify it."

After being criticized by Lin Chaoyang, Chen Kaige said in a muffled voice.

"Well, fix it as soon as possible." Lin Chaoyang said, and felt that he should give a sweet reward after the slap.

"We will try to start shooting the film in September or October and complete post-production as soon as possible so that we can make it to the West Berlin Film Festival next year."

Hearing this, Chen Kaige, who was originally in a low mood and unhappy, suddenly became excited.

"Uncle Lin, can my movie go to the Cannes Film Festival?"

"Whether you can go depends on the quality of your photos."

The reason why Chen Kaige was so excited was that when he was filming "Yellow Earth", he had intended to enter the three major international film festivals in Europe, namely Cannes, West Berlin and Venice.

Unfortunately, his luck was a bit off and he only made it to some less influential film festivals in Europe.

If the new film has Uncle Lam's guidance and the quality is guaranteed, it will definitely not be difficult to be nominated, and then win an award...

Chen Kaige didn’t dare to think about it, for fear that he would not be able to hold back his laughter.

Besides being happy and excited, he also felt motivated to revise the script.

"I understand, I understand. When I get back, I will hurry up and revise the script so that we can start filming as soon as possible."

"Okay, let's go."

Chen Kaige walked out of the East Courtyard happily with the script. When he passed by the West Courtyard, he heard the noisy sound inside and knew that there must be another writers' gathering there.

Normally he was willing to participate in occasions like this, but now when he thought about his film being able to participate in the West Berlin Film Festival, it was as if a fire was burning in his heart.

It doesn’t matter whether there is a party or not, just get the script ready first.

Thinking this in his heart, he strode away in a leisurely manner.

Time flies and it is already mid-August. Tao Yushu returned to Hong Kong a few days ago, mainly for the dividend settlement of "The Truman Show".

After the Cannes Film Festival, the overseas copyrights of the film were sold one after another. As of early August, overseas copyrights had been sold to 29 countries including Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea, and the cumulative copyright transaction volume had reached 1145 million US dollars.

In addition, there is a symbolic copyright buyout fee of US$2 in mainland China.

The overseas copyright revenue alone converted into Hong Kong dollars is HK$9176 million.

In addition to overseas copyright transactions, "The Truman Show" has also been released in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries over the past two months.

香江是5月24日上映、湾岛是5月29日、泰国是6月4日、马来西亚是6月5日……各地区和国家的放映时间从25天到35天不等。

By mid-July, the film had basically finished showing, with a box office of HK$3346 million in Hong Kong, NT$4273 million in Taiwan, and RM629 million in Malaysia...

All in all, "The Truman Show" achieved impressive results in its screenings in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, with the final total box office reaching HK$7155 million.

The box office revenue belonging to producers such as Golden Harvest, Hui's, Lam's, and New Kunlun was HK$2895 million.

All in all, the total after-tax revenue of "The Truman Show" reached a staggering 1 million Hong Kong dollars.

"The Truman Show" had four producers, but Golden Harvest monopolized most of the profits because they were not only the producer but also took charge of the film's distribution.

Lin Chaoyang initially earned a 10% return on his investment in the script, and in the end, Lin's Pictures' after-tax income barely exceeded HK$1000 million.

This figure does not seem much compared to Golden Harvest's revenue, but movies are a business, and it is impossible for you to reap all the benefits just by having a good script.

Whether it is "The Truman Show" or "A Better Tomorrow", the most important purpose is to enable Lam Pictures to gain a firm foothold in the Hong Kong film industry.

Looking back now, just one movie, "The Truman Show", has exceeded the mission.

After Tao Yushu returned to Hong Kong, Golden Harvest settled the profits of Lam Pictures very happily. Zou Wenhuai also chatted with Tao Yushu about the future cooperation.

In fact, not only Golden Harvest, but also Xu Guanwen and Li Hanxiang are looking forward to a second collaboration with Lin's Film Company. However, the prerequisite is that the script must be written by Lin Chaoyang himself, but obviously this condition cannot be met at present.

Tao Yushu did not directly reject Golden Harvest. After all, Golden Harvest is now the dominant force in the Hong Kong film market, responsible for both production and distribution. Since the cooperation has started well, they must try their best to maintain the relationship.

She just said that Lin Chaoyang was currently writing a new work and had no time to take care of the movie.

After Jiahe's profits arrived, Tao Yushu was delighted when he looked at the eight-digit liquid funds in the company's account.

With this considerable amount of funds, Lin's Pictures can finally recruit people openly.

After a busy day's work, Tao Yushu called Tao Yumo. As expected, she was at the New World Apartments in Tsim Sha Tsui at that time.

The New World Apartments in Tsim Sha Tsui is a gathering place for many female celebrities in Hong Kong at this time. Maggie Cheung bought an apartment here with the money she earned.

The area is not large, just over 500 feet, less than 60 square meters, very suitable for single nobles.

Since the couple left Hong Kong, Tao Yumo has spent most of his time with Maggie Cheung, except hanging out in the company and the crew.

The state of the two people when they are together can be described as "a train running on rails" - shopping and eating.

"Have you gained weight again?"

As soon as they met, Tao Yushu asked Tao Yumo.

"Not fat." Tao Yumo said with a firm look in his eyes.

Tao Yushu looked at Zhang Manyu again, and she immediately came closer, "Sister Yushu, when did you come back?"

"I just came back two days ago."

Tao Yushu looked around the apartment again. There was no essential difference between a single female star and a bachelor. They were all single dogs, and the environment in the house could hardly be called clean.

Maggie Cheung felt embarrassed by her gaze and said guiltily, "I've been too busy filming recently."

Tao Yushu didn't dwell on these things and said, "Let's go, let's have dinner together tonight."

The three of them came to the coffee shop downstairs. In addition to selling coffee, they also sold dishes such as wonton noodles, which were very Hong Kong-style.

While eating, Maggie Cheung and Tao Yumo secretly looked at each other. They didn't know why Tao Yushu came to the apartment today. They felt as guilty as elementary school students who were caught by the teacher while talking in class.

"Maggie, when you were at Jade Channel, did you know any good screenwriters, directors or producers?"

Maggie Cheung didn't know why Tao Yushu suddenly asked this. She thought for a moment and said, "I don't know many of them. Zhao Zhenqiang and Wang Jing are the most familiar with them. Sister Yushu, why are you asking this?"

"We are running a film company, so we need to hire some people!"

"Do you need me to ask them for you?"

"Then please ask them for me. If they are interested in changing jobs, let's arrange a meeting to talk."

Maggie Cheung gave Tao Yushu an OK gesture, and Tao Yushu smiled gently, "Thank you, Maggie!"

Seeing Tao Yushu's smile, Maggie Cheung looked a little shy for some reason and her voice became lower and lower.

"It's okay, Sister Yushu, I'm glad I could help you."

(End of this chapter)