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

Chapter 58 Pixar

"Andrew, come and see if this story is suitable for adaptation into an animated film?"

Stanton recognized what John was holding at a glance.
"This must be the book by the young Chinese writer who has been very popular in the industry recently."

He took the book and opened it to the article titled "Wall-E". He read it patiently and a strange feeling arose in his heart, as if he had an indescribable emotion for the story.

Stanton said excitedly, "This story is meant to be animated. It is perfect for an animated film."

“We should take it down and film it!”

Stanton stared at John Lasseter and spoke word by word.

Lasseter was a little amused. This is exactly why I took it.

"Don't worry. Many Hollywood companies have gone to China to look for that little writer and wanted to buy the copyright, but they were all rejected. We must think of a way to avoid being rejected."

Stanton touched his chin with two fingers. "Maybe it's because the companies we went to are all small companies? Have you heard of the Big Six in Hollywood going to buy the copyright?"

“I haven’t heard of that.”

"That must be the reason. Who can refuse the six major Hollywood adaptations of his works?" Stanton clapped his hands.
"John, didn't we sign a contract with Disney for five animated films? If we go and negotiate with Disney's people, we will definitely be able to get it."

Lasseter said helplessly, “Brother, these five movies have been completed. The Finding Nemo we are finishing now is the fifth one.”

Stanton thought about it and came up with an idea.

"Disney is already looking to renew the contract, so we can use this little WALL-E as the start of a new collaboration."

Lasseter thought for a moment and said, "We can't contact Disney in advance. With the style of my old employer, they might just ignore us and do it on their own."

"Then let's go to China to find that young writer and see if we can negotiate for the adaptation rights," Stanton encouraged impatiently.

He walked around the room excitedly, as if he had already seen the scene of taking this story and making it into an animation.

Lasseter poured cold water on him, "We don't even know each other's contact information."

Stanton over there didn't care about all this. He was already calling his assistant to book a flight to China.

……

One day in late April, Sister Mei came to see Chen Linfeng.
"Xiaofeng, someone from Emily Ken is looking for you again. This time it's not a small role, it's from Pixar, the Pixar that made Toy Story and Monsters, Inc!" Sister Mei's voice was filled with joy.

She was a little excited. After entering the house, she felt uncomfortable even sitting on the sofa. She stood at the door of Chen Linfeng's bedroom and kept walking around.

Chen Linfeng is tutoring Shi Xiaolong. Brother Long is about to take the high school entrance exam and has been studying hard at home recently.

Upon hearing the news, Chen Linfeng was also a little excited.

Shi Xiaolong pricked up his ears quietly, listening to the conversation between the two, and the pen in his hand gradually stopped writing.

Chen Linfeng tried to remain calm as much as possible. "Did they contact you? Which novel story are they interested in?"

"I just got a call from Mengya. Pixar is eyeing Wall-E."

"It's this." Chen Linfeng's eyes lit up. After several months, a reliable production company finally came to him.

In fact, the process of Pixar finding him was quite tortuous. Lasseter and Stanton did not know Chen Linfeng's contact information, Pixar did not have a branch in China, and did not dare to find someone through Disney's relationship.

They first came to Shenhai, and using the few Chinese words they had learned temporarily, they asked the staff at the airport about Chen Linfeng.

Shenhai is a big city after all, and the airport staff have seen all kinds of people. They patiently answered their questions.

Fortunately, Chen Linfeng is quite famous.

They actually asked about the publishing house that Chen Linfeng cooperated with, and finally found Mengya Magazine, and contacted Sister Mei through Mengya.

Shi Xiaolong opened his mouth in shock. He turned around and said, "Xiaofeng, another Hollywood company is looking for you. I remember we watched Toy Story together before."

He said excitedly, "Maybe I can see a cartoon adapted from your novel in the future!"

"It's still early. Whether the deal can be concluded depends on the other party's conditions." This is why Chen Linfeng can keep a steady mind.

He suddenly realized, "Brother Long, continue to do your homework, don't interrupt me." "You are using chicken feathers as a token of authority, and you don't let me participate in fun things."

Shi Xiaolong curled his lips, turned back and continued to do the questions.

Chen Linfeng closed the door of the study, and the two chatted quietly in the living room.

Xiao Yunmiao saw the two of them sitting on the sofa and talking about something, so he jumped onto the sofa and lay down beside Chen Linfeng's legs.

After waiting for a long time without any movement, it nudged Chen Linfeng's thigh with its head.

Until he felt a familiar touch on his head, the little cloud cat squinted his eyes comfortably and dozed off on his paws.

This time was different from the previous Resident Evil. That time, Chen Linfeng was thinking of losing money to gain publicity, so he didn't ask for too much.

Although the cooperation with Pixar will not pursue extreme profits, it will clearly mark the price.

Even though his main goal was fame, money was just a bonus.

However, being too modest will make those companies treat him as a fool and want to get rid of him with just a few rewards.

The human psychology is very strange. If we put in less effort, we tend not to pay attention.

On the contrary, the more money one spends to obtain the film adaptation rights, the more likely one is to invest a lot of resources in publicity and promotion in the later stage, praising the original author to the sky, thereby indirectly increasing the value of the film itself.

Moreover, the price of film adaptation rights is indeed very flexible. The prices for novice and famous writers are completely different. The prices for domestic and foreign authors are also different.

Not to mention the low price, there are many examples of people selling the adaptation rights for just one dollar.

It’s a high price, and it’s an example of a high-priced adaptation right outside the United States.

What Chen Linfeng had heard about was the news he saw in his previous life.

The original work of "Alita Battle Angel" was bought by a truck driver for a sky-high price of $100 million.

And the time was around 2000, not far from now.

However, that kind of thing requires a long period of negotiation and is a rare opportunity.

If you copy others blindly, you will most likely end up losing both your wealth and fame.

Chen Linfeng's plan is to get the standard price in the industry, which is 10%-30% of the film production cost.

Considering his current situation as a rookie in the United States, getting 10% would be considered a success.

Chen Linfeng and Sister Mei kept discussing and simulating various possible situations to prepare for the meeting in a few days.

Through Mengya as the middleman, the two parties agreed to meet at the Shenhai Mengya Magazine three days later, that is, on May 1st.

On May Day, Chen Linfeng and Sister Mei met John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, as well as their assistants and other staff in the meeting room of Sprout.

This group of new staff, including legal, translation, financial and administrative cost personnel, have only arrived in the past two days.

Zhao Changtian was with Mengya, and he was also paying close attention to this matter. Perhaps, this was the beginning of Chen Linfeng's journey towards the Western world.

If a world-class writer could emerge from them, then life would be well spent.

Everyone exchanged greetings for a while. Since only Chen Linfeng on Mengya's side understood English, they couldn't ask him to translate all the time, so Mengya found an employee who had worked in a multinational company to act as a translator in advance.

Stanton got straight to the point right away. "Chen, I hope to get the film adaptation rights for the novel "Wall-E". I am very optimistic about the content of this novel. If we are given the job, it will be an excellent adaptation."

Chen Linfeng was not surprised at all that this foreigner made his attitude clear right from the start. From the previous greetings, it could be seen that he was a person who focused on his own affairs and was not very good at communication.

Lasseter then said, "Chen, John is right. You have rejected cooperation from many Hollywood companies. I believe you are waiting for an outstanding company to treat your work."

He took out a few discs from his bag. These were pirated discs he bought at Shenhai Video Store these days. They were Toy Story 1&2, Monsters, Inc., and A Bug's Life, all of which were previous films produced by Pixar.

"These discs have very high sales in China. I believe you should know something about Pixar. If you want to make your story into a 3D animated film, Pixar is your best choice."

(End of this chapter)