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

Chapter 59: Pixar Negotiations

Chen Linfeng did not respond directly, but asked about other things, "I noticed that only your Pixar people came this time, where is Disney? Haven't you been cooperating with them? Disney has always attached great importance to copyright, why didn't they show up this time?"

Stanton was about to answer.

Lasseter stopped Stanton and said, "Chen, I know you. You are a genius. You should know that once Disney shows up, you will be eaten to pieces. Talking to us is your best choice."

Zhao Changtian was a little confused after hearing what the translator said. He whispered to Sun Fengmei, "Aren't we talking about Pixar? How did it get to Disney?"

Mei also whispered, "Making animated films in Emilycon cannot be separated from the influence of Disney, and the subsequent distribution will definitely be in cooperation with Disney."

She remembered what Chen Linfeng had said to her before he came, and said, "Pixar currently has a contract with Disney, and they are negotiating separately, so they should be doing it behind Disney's back.

Xiaofeng is using Disney to pressure them and try to gain dominance.”

Chen Linfeng said calmly, "So when it comes to choices, Disney is also an option, isn't it?"

He then added, "Besides, Disney is much more famous around the world than Pixar, so why shouldn't I cooperate with them?"

Lasseter chuckled. "Disney is overbearing. You won't gain anything by cooperating with them."

Chen Linfeng retorted, "But it can maximize fame, right? Once a writer has fame, benefits will follow."

Lasseter was speechless. If he really met someone who only wanted fame and not money, he would have no idea what to do. Pixar was not even a little bit behind Disney in terms of publicity.

Seeing that John was speechless for a moment, Stanton stood up.

He said seriously, "We at Pixar are serious about this cooperation. Before we came to China, we already had a preliminary idea of ​​the animated film we wanted to make."

Stanton pulled out a notebook from his bag, which contained several simple character designs and storyboards.

"Look, this is my rough imagination of Wall-E and Eva. And this one shows Wall-E picking up trash. This one shows Wall-E finding cockroaches. This one... this one..."

After the presentation, Stanton said seriously, "Disney does have a powerful publicity machine, and all we can do is to do our best to make this movie so that your work will not be wasted."

Indeed, from these design drawings and storyboards, we can already see some shadows of the previous life robot Wall-E.

Chen Linfeng was silent for a moment and stopped pulling from the edge.

He crossed his arms and asked confidently, "I believe in your sincerity in the production, so how much can you offer for the adaptation rights?"

"Three million dollars!" Lasseter made the offer.

This is the approximate price for the adaptation rights of many low- to medium-cost films.

Chen Linfeng did not comment and asked, "How much do you estimate the production cost?"

"One hundred million dollars!" Stanton blurted out.

Lasseter covered his forehead with his hands, even though he knew that John wanted to let the other party know Pixar's importance in order to promote cooperation.

But if we mention this price now, it will be difficult to lower the adaptation costs.

"One hundred million US dollars?" Zhao Changtian and Sun Fengmei were both a little surprised, feeling like they were listening to some Arabian Nights fairy tale.

Because in this era, the cost of film production in China is still at the level of tens of millions of Chinese yuan.

"The gap is too big." Zhao Changtian sighed in his heart.

Chen Linfeng was not moved at all.

Animated films require huge investments and take a long time to make. An estimated $100 million is just the pure production cost without any publicity or distribution.

He said calmly, "The copyright fee for film adaptation usually accounts for 10% to 30% of the production cost. I don't ask for much, only 15%."

"That's impossible." Lasseter objected immediately. "This is an animated film. The production cost is very high. It can't be compared with ordinary movies. We can't completely follow the industry practices." It was no longer surprising that Zhao Changtian was always aware of some things in the industry.

He roughly calculated that if this ratio was true, Chen Linfeng could receive 1000 to 3000 million US dollars, which was too exaggerated.

There has never been such a high copyright transaction case in the country.

Chen Linfeng also knew that what he asked for was a bit high. He asked for an exorbitant price and had to pay a low price.

He took a step back and said, "Then I'll lower it a bit, how about 10%, which is the lowest standard in the industry."

Lasseter said awkwardly, "It's still a bit high. The cost of animation production is high and the cycle is long. We can't come up with such a large sum of money to buy the adaptation rights."

"If you don't want copyright fees to take up the production costs, then why not take a 5% share of the box office?"

"Box office sharing is impossible. The investors won't agree to it." Lasseter shook his head.

"Then change it to profit from the surrounding areas?"

Now even Stanton shook his head, let alone thinking about the share of profits from the surrounding areas.

Chen Linfeng's face darkened. "This won't work, and neither will those. If I can't get any monetary benefits, I might as well go and work with Disney."

The conference room fell silent for a moment.

After a while, just when Zhao Changtian was trying to smooth things over and ease the atmosphere.

"Well, I'll take one last step back."

Chen Linfeng said, "It's still 10%, but considering the long cycle you mentioned, I can agree to pay it after the movie is released."

He said firmly, "This is the last condition. If it still doesn't work, I can only seek cooperation with Disney. Even if the adaptation fee is lower, at least I can get greater publicity support and fame benefits."

Lasseter thought about it for a long time, discussed with the on-site financial and cost accounting personnel many times, and asked the company for instructions. In the meantime, he had several arguments with Chen Linfeng.

Chen Linfeng refused to give in, and finally Lasseter reluctantly agreed to his conditions.

The two parties first signed a letter of intent, and the formal signing can only take place after the lawyers of both parties draft the formal contract and review it.

The contract states: Pixar purchased the eight-year film adaptation rights of "Wall-E" for US$10 million. The US$10 million will be paid after the film is released, no later than six months after the release.

After signing, Lasseter shook hands with Chen Linfeng.

"I've never met a young man as difficult as you, Chen. You've impressed me."

Chen Linfeng smiled without saying anything. It would be better to just keep quiet and make a fortune at this time, so it’s better not to say too much.

After the Pixar people left, Mei cheered and said, "Finally, it's done. Xiaofeng, you're going to be famous."

"I just can't believe that in this day and age, someone can write a book and sell it for $1000 million in copyright fees."

Chen Linfeng explained, "I was actually lucky. Pixar's five-film cooperation agreement with Disney just ended, and they were in urgent need of a good project to continue to win Disney's support."

"Not only that, these two really like this story from the bottom of their hearts, otherwise they would not have offered such a high price."

Of course, it was also crucial that "Infinite World" helped him become famous in the United States.

Zhao Changtian asked, "What will you do if the other party doesn't agree in the end? Will you really go to Disney for cooperation?"

"Of course not. I'm just being ridiculous. I trust Pixar more in terms of its production capabilities for 3D animated films in recent years. If they still don't agree, I'll just lower the price."

Zhao Changtian pointed at Chen Linfeng and smiled, "Xiaofeng, you are really..." He thought for a while, couldn't think of the right words, shook his head, and didn't say anything else.

(End of this chapter)