Huayu: As a child star, I just want to be famous

Chapter 268 Twilight
Yenching Film Academy.

Chen Linfeng strolled on the playground, watching the new class of 07 participating in military training.

Wang Rui beside him smiled and said, "Do you feel nostalgic? It's only been four years."

"Yeah, time flies." Chen Linfeng said with emotion.

In the blink of an eye, we have reached Class 07. Think about the students in this class.

Cool, hiss~
There is also a more famous flower called Fuguihua, which is a pity to waste such a good resource.

"But he is still a student of our school after all. We can always come back to visit. Let's go."

"it is good."

Among the freshmen who were undergoing military training, one of them was not paying much attention and just turned his head and took a look casually.

"Hey, is that Professor Chen? Or am I seeing things?"

"Where is that? Where is that? Several people around immediately turned their heads to look."

"That's right, the person walking by the playground."

"He's so handsome just looking at his back. I really want to find a boyfriend like him."

"..."

The instructor was angry. "What are you looking at? Does it look like military training, huh?"

He glanced casually in that direction, "Fuck, Li Shimin! No, Xiao Chen."

The sound was so loud that all the students in the class couldn't help but turn their heads to look.

"Still looking? Xiao Chen is also a human being. What is there to look at? Stand at attention. Be serious!"

However, this could not stop everyone from staring at him.

……

When we arrived at the directing department's office, Tian Dazhuang was already waiting there.

The three of them exchanged greetings and sat down.

“It doesn’t make sense to say that I’ll be the one to guide you, since you’ve mastered everything perfectly by yourself.

Even if there are some things you don’t know, you have a strong ability to learn on your own and the training on the crew will be more effective.

If there are any problems, we can just discuss them with each other. As for academics, you can just come to the school and take a look after a while."

Tian Dazhuang said a lot of words right at the beginning, and he had a completely laissez-faire attitude towards this new student.

This is also something the school has carefully considered before.

I used to think that since Xiao Chen is a novice director after all, letting him go to graduate school would be of some benefit.

Who would have thought that the next two works directed by Xiao Chen, a TV series "You Who Came From the Stars" and a movie "Whiplash", would become bigger and bigger.

In September, when school was about to start, he unexpectedly won the Golden Lion Award.

How else can this be taught? At this level, it is beyond the reach of academic education.

Just let them develop on their own.

Chen Linfeng was still humble and said that he was young and needed to learn more.

Neither of the remaining two people would take it seriously.

Wang Rui then asked with concern, "Is Whiplash going to premiere soon?"

"Yes, No. 27." At this point, Chen Linfeng seemed to remember something.

"I almost forgot to invite the teachers. Are you available to attend?"

"Okay, okay," Wang Rui said with a smile.

"Yes, I will go." Tian Dazhuang nodded.

The three of them chatted for a while, and then Chen Linfeng said goodbye.

He came to school today mainly to communicate with the department about his subsequent studies. Fortunately, the school was very reasonable and he didn't have to say much.

In late September, Sister Mei came back.

These days, she has first negotiated the film copyrights in major regions of the world.

This was followed by a fierce battle with the BBC.

"In the end, there was no definite result?"

"Yes, it's too tricky. We should wait until your second book comes out, Xiaofeng, and then we can talk about the follow-up."

"Okay, I get it. You've worked hard, Sister Mei."

Although the latter matter has not been confirmed, the overseas copyright of "Whiplash" was sold for a good price.

Except for the copyright in East Asia, which was retained by the company, the copyright in other regions was sold smoothly, totaling US$800 million.

This number can be referenced by previous domestic films.

Last year's Golden Lion Award-winning film "Still Life" was also a domestic film, and its overseas copyright was sold for US$500 million.

This is probably the most common price for award-winning films in China.

Because Chen Linfeng has a certain degree of fame, his works are sold at a higher price.

The transaction price of copyrights in China has actually been declining year by year.

It may be even lower in the future, which is also an important reason why domestic directors are gradually becoming less interested in film festivals.

Sister Mei did not sell the copyright of East Asia to the film distributor, but later found other partners and sold them separately.

The price is definitely much higher than in other areas.

Because Chen Linfeng is already very popular in these places, even Liu Qianqian's supporting role in the movie can help sell box office revenue.

This was also one of the reasons why he had spared no expense in doing public relations in Venice.

In fact, so far, the cost has been recovered even before the film was released, and there is still a lot of profit.

It is easy to understand why so many directors flocked to various film festivals in those years, and sometimes even did not care about the domestic box office.

After discussing this topic, Sister Mei talked about the situation on Emily Ken's side.

"You asked me to buy the rights to Twilight before, but there are new circumstances this year."

"Oh? What do you say?"

Sister Mei was amazed when she talked about this. "At first, I didn't believe you when you said this book would be a hit, but later it competed with our Infinite World on the bestseller list for a long time.

This year, the third volume of the book was released some time ago, and sales reached 15 a day, which seems to be skyrocketing.”

"Really? I really didn't pay attention to it during this period."

"Of course not. Many of your beautiful Guoshu fans are complaining that you haven't published the third book yet, otherwise you will never be surpassed."

Sister Mei introduced the specific situation.

Not only Chen Linfeng's "Infinite World" was on the sales list that day, but even "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" released in July this year was also suppressed.

The Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final Harry Potter book and its sales have been insane.

On July 7st, sales in the UK and the US exceeded 21 million copies, which seemed like a fantasy.

It is worth mentioning that the third book of "Twilight" was able to surpass "Harry Potter" which was released a month ago on its first day of release.

However, the total sales of the "Twilight" series is now less than 10 million, which is far less than "Infinite World".

The fact that it had previously been competing back and forth on the book sales rankings with "Infinite World", which had been on the market for several years, is very telling.

When Meryl Streep mentioned "Twilight", the focus was not on the sales of its novels, but on the film adaptation rights.

After all, this is what they bought in the first place.

"Has a company approached you about this?"

"Well, Summit Entertainment, a Hollywood company."

"I know this one." Chen Linfeng waved his hand, indicating that Sister Mei didn't need to introduce it.

This company is not very famous now, but they have produced many famous films such as "Twilight", "The Hurt Locker" and "Source Code".

Sister Mei was not surprised at all, she continued.

"The initial condition is that they pay a buyout of $10 million."

Chen Linfeng sneered, "What are the other conditions?"

"Convert it into the investment and give us a 15% share."

"At least 20%. The production cost of this movie will not exceed 4000 million. Tell Summit Entertainment that I can pay another 400 million US dollars to increase the share to 30%."

"Okay, I understand. I'll contact them later."

Chen Linfeng said, "If the deal is successful, give 5% to Pete, and you know the rest."

Sister Mei nodded in understanding.

It seems that Xiaofeng is really optimistic about the final box office of this movie.

This is an advance preparation for Summit Entertainment to take all the spoils and do the Hollywood profit-sharing thing. With Pitt, a second-generation Disney star, involved, there is no need to worry about them doing that.

Chen Linfeng did this because he had read a news report in his previous life about a lawsuit caused by uneven profit sharing of "Twilight".

That company is the issuing company and one of the investors. Even this matter has to be settled in court, and there is no guarantee that the company will get the money in the end.

As a small company, Summit Entertainment encountered big money for the first time and did not want to continue cooperating with them. It had to do some accounting and not be too relaxed.

A small company...

The movie is expected to be released at least by the end of next year.

Thinking of this, Chen Linfeng suddenly had some other ideas.

"Sister Mei, don't tell Peter yet. When the movie is about to be released next year, remind me and I will make a decision then."

Sister Mei didn't understand why the other party changed his mind, but she still made a note of it.

On September 9, Whiplash premiered.

Chen Linfeng did not invite many celebrities from the industry, nor did he intend to hold a big event.

At school, it was only after seeing Wang Rui had this intention that I took the initiative to invite him.

In addition, we mainly invited some close friends. Zhao Yuming was even specifically sent a message to ask him to pick up tickets and attend the premiere.

The main reason is that the box office this time is obviously not going to be particularly impressive, so he doesn't want to make a big fuss about it. But in the end, when he looks at the box office, those who dislike him behind his back will definitely try to stir up trouble.

Judging from the audience’s reaction at the premiere, everyone should be quite satisfied.

"Whiplash" is said to be an award-winning art film, but in fact the plot is not obscure or complicated at all, and ordinary people can understand it very well.

That evening, many favorable comments appeared online.

The professional reviews are especially good.

"At the Venice Film Festival, Director Xiao Chen said that this film actually has some tragic elements. After watching it, I completely agree.

In order to play drums, the male protagonist lost everything: friends, lover, and his daily life.

In the field of art, there are only geniuses and mediocre people, no middlemen. If you want to excel, you have to pay with blood and sweat.

However, this will inevitably come at the expense of daily life. It is best not to be too serious in life, but you must be serious in art.

From the conversation between teacher and student Li Xuechang in the bar, we can see that the male protagonist has actually believed the teacher's theory at this time.

At the final concert, after the male lead gave an incredible performance, his shocking smile seemed joyful, as pure and bright as a baby's, yet it gave people a chill when looking at it.

Director Chen gave clear hints throughout the process in lighting and shots, and I fully understood the price of wanting to reach the highest realm.

Ordinary people are better off giving up.

I think this is what Xiao Chen wants to tell us.”

"The devil teacher in Whiplash is portrayed as a psychopath, with corrupt morals, beating and scolding students at will, calling it nurturing, and saying that strict teachers produce excellent students.

In reality, there may not be such an extreme teacher, but the critical attitude towards such teachers in the film is obvious.

I think this is Xiao Chen’s wake-up call to China’s education system.”

“I have to mention the music in Whiplash.

Based on the consistently wonderful soundtracks in Xiao Chen's works, although Xiao Chen did not appear in this movie, it is obvious that his musical aesthetics is still playing a role.

The soundtrack, on the surface, has several key songs adapted from traditional classical jazz, but in terms of actual musical listening, it is almost a complete re-creation compared to the original songs.

It’s both traditional and cutting-edge, and I’d call it awesome.”

"..."

Although these professional reviews will not have a particularly large impact on the movie box office, they will still have a significant impact on the ratings.

(End of this chapter)