Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 143: Grabbing land in Hollywood!

Zhang Chao naturally didn’t know about the troubles that happened to Teacher Yu Hua—if he knew, he would definitely thank Yu Hua. “Sloppy Puppy” didn’t pass on any of the pressure that was put on himself to Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao has recently focused his main creative energy on "The Vanishing Lover".

He has read both the original novel and the movie, so his rewrite this time still combines the novel's in-depth portrayal of marriage with the movie's suspenseful and compact narrative rhythm.

He changed the original novel's method of narrating the story through the first-person perspectives of the couple, and instead used the first-person perspective of Tanner Bolt, the lawyer hired by her husband Nick to defend him, to unfold the story.

Although doing so weakens the original novel's exploration of the characters' inner emotions to a certain extent, it makes it appear more objective and cold, and is easier to adapt into film and television.

More importantly, since there is no need to rewrite the same plot from two first-person perspectives, the number of words in the novel is greatly reduced. The original work is about 40 words after being translated into Chinese, and Zhang Chao will control it within 20 words.

Zhang Chao thought that he still lacked in-depth understanding of the American marriage system, laws and customs, so he asked IWP to coordinate a professional divorce lawyer in Iowa City to provide him with a lot of references.

He still decided to let Xu Ruiya translate this novel, so the translation of "The Great Doctor" had to be postponed. Every day, Zhang Chao wrote 6000 words and sent them to her via email.

Combined with other writing work, "ten thousand words a day" became Zhang Chao's normal work routine.

6000 words is exactly the upper limit of Xu Ruiya's daily translation, but Zhang Chao paid a considerable amount for the translation. Moreover, there is a reliable person who is proficient in both English and novels to help...

I was busy like this until the end of October, and the creation of "The Vanishing Lover" was finally coming to an end.

When Xu Ruiya saw the latest plot sent to her, in which his wife Amy cut open Collins' neck with a kitchen knife she had hidden beforehand when playing poker with her ex-boyfriend Collins, she couldn't help but send Zhang Chao a reply email with only five words:

You devil!
At first, Xu Ruiya thought that this was really a story about an American couple finding love and returning to their family, but the more she translated it, the more depressed and scared she became.

After seeing the scene of cutting the neck, Xu Ruiya's image of Zhang Chao "collapsed", and even her vision of marriage and family collapsed.

But she had to admit that Zhang Chao had very accurately and viciously portrayed the hypocrisy and fragility of marriage among the white middle class in the United States. He not only set up a series of twists and turns, wonderful and meticulous plots, but also created many vivid and lifelike characters.

Zhang Chao's writing is chilling and eerie, like a scalpel that cuts through the family illusion shrouded in the halo of the "perfect couple", gradually revealing the bloody reality to the readers.

As the first reader of this novel, Xu Ruiya, who has a cultural background of both the East and the West, seems to have seen it becoming a best-seller on both sides of the ocean.

Thinking that the first time her name appeared in a translated work was in a best-seller, even if Zhang Chao was really a devil, Xu Ruiya was determined to finish translating this novel.

Zhang Chao did not see Xu Ruiya's email immediately because he was visiting and communicating in Hollywood at that time.

Originally, he had a heavy writing workload and rarely participated in activities that required him to go out, but this time was very special. IWP arranged for the writers to connect with the Writers Guild of America in Hollywood to learn how writers maintain their independence and fight for their rights in the most industrialized film industry in the world.

The airfare and accommodation expenses for this event needed to be paid by the participants themselves, so not many people went. Including Zhang Chao, only about 10 writers came.

The Writers Guild of America also attached great importance to the visit and asked David Simon, a senior executive and veteran screenwriter of the association, to receive them.

David Simon used to work as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun in Baltimore, which is known as the "Crime Capital". He was best at following and reporting on various street fights and police and gangster news, which later became the material for his screenwriting career. David Simon first took everyone to visit the office area of ​​the Writers Guild of America and introduced the origin of the association: "The Writers Guild was originally affiliated with the Writers Union of America, which was established in 1912. At that time, there were only 350 members. Most of them were magazine and newspaper writers, and there were very few screenwriters.

By 1921, there were more and more screenwriters in the Writers' Union, which gradually began to become an independent force, so it separated and established the Screenwriters Association.

Later, our organization became larger and larger, and our interests diverged more and more, which restricted the development of the industry. So in 1960, we split into the Eastern Writers Guild and the Western Writers Guild along the Mississippi River.

The Western Writers Guild is us, and the Eastern one is in New York…”

In the subsequent discussion, Zhang Chao asked David Simon: "How will you protect the interests of screenwriters now?"

David Simon said: "Our main partners and opponents are the same - the film companies. We will fight for higher royalties and profit-sharing standards on behalf of screenwriters.

These film and television companies have been stealing screenwriters' scripts and ideas in disgusting ways, including avoiding giving us a fair share of the profits. We fight dozens of lawsuits for our members and film companies every year.

Last year, our Western Association recovered more than $3000 million in unpaid wages and hidden dividends for everyone.”

Zhang Chao then asked: "How do you protect the screenwriter's script or creativity?"

David Simon said: "In addition to member registration, we also have a 'script registration' system. Registering a script requires an annual management fee of $10. As long as the registration is valid, any film company that uses this script, or even an original plot or idea in the script, we will help them protect their rights.

We helped a screenwriter named Harlan Ellison sue a big director, guess who it was?"

Zhang Chao and others naturally didn't know that David Simon said proudly: "James Cameron. His "Terminator" plagiarized the novel and TV script written by Ellison in the 70s.

In the end, he chose to settle, had to pay Ellison a large sum of money, and added Ellison's name to the list of screenwriters for The Terminator. "

The writers were all amazed. In most countries, creative protection for novels, scripts and other literary works is not as strict as in the United States. In fact, "Terminator" is only slightly similar to Ellison's novel.

In other countries, it would be a fantasy to sue a famous director for such reasons, but it is common in the United States.

Zhang Chao was obviously very interested in this. He asked a few more details and finally asked, "Does the filing require a complete script?"

David Simon said: "It is best to have a complete script, which will make it easier for directors to take a liking to your script and it will also be easier to defend your rights in case of infringement.

Of course, it can just be a synopsis of the script, but it must contain key plot points and ideas, and cannot be too general. It must have a clear, distinct, and solid story core and character relationships. "

Zhang Chao nodded with satisfaction and asked the most crucial question: "If I am a foreign screenwriter or writer, can I register my script with you?"

David Simon was obviously a little surprised, but he answered truthfully: "Of course, but the annual management fee is $22."

So cheap! ?
Zhang Chao began to seriously consider whether to expand his business in Hollywood...

(End of this chapter)