Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 157 District

Columbia Pictures' attention exceeded Cao Yang's expectations.

Just one week later, the Colombian group arrived in the capital.

The people who came this time were all the company's real senior executives, including Columbia Pictures Executive Director Tom Rothman and Columbia Pictures Asia President Barbara Robinson.

As someone who has a particularly close relationship with Cao Yang, Berman also came along. After all, he is familiar with both sides and can act as a middleman to pass messages privately, giving both sides room to maneuver.

Berman introduced the other party's identity to Cao Yang and reminded Cao Yang that Tom Rothman had enormous power in Columbia Pictures, and he deliberately used the word "huge".

Cao Yang immediately understood that this person was a powerful figure who had real say in Colombia.

“Cao, to be honest, I didn’t expect you to be such an excellent novelist. Someone recommended a novel in Cao Yang’s Fantastic Journey to me and said they wanted to buy the rights to adapt it into a film.”

Tom Rothman seemed very talkative and used gestures while speaking. "I asked someone to check and found out that this book was written by the famous director Cao Yang. It's really surprising. You are an amazing person.

I told him at the time, put away your fantasies and don’t think about adapting the novel. As the best director in the world, he would definitely give priority to filming these novels himself.”

Look, he is worthy of being a senior executive of a big company, his words are so pleasant.

"I always have all kinds of weird ideas in my mind, so I write down the new ones and expand them into a short story. I think this is also very interesting."

Cao Yang smiled and said: "After that, I wrote more and thought it would be good to publish it, so there was "Cao Yang's Fantastic Journey".

"What a great idea! I have to say that you have the most vigorous creativity in the world. This is amazing. That's why you can become the youngest great director."

Well, who says foreigners can only be straightforward? When it comes to complimenting others, they are no worse than Chinese people.

Just as Cao Yang finished thinking this, he didn't expect the foreigner to go straight to the point.

"Cao, let me tell you my idea first. After discussion within the company, we plan to have a 1+1 cooperation with you."

Tom Rossman looked at Cao Yang and explained, "We will invest about 1.5 million in your first movie. If the North American box office exceeds million, or exceeds million worldwide, the second clause will be automatically activated."

"Is that the so-called +1?" Cao Yang asked.

"Yes, we will invest about 1 million to 1.5 million in the second part to create your second blockbuster."

"Mr. Rossman, I think you misunderstood. I am not seeking investment from Columbia, nor do I want to engage in any 1+1 plan."

Since Tom Rossman came straight to the point, Cao Yang didn't hesitate and directly rejected his proposal.

Cao Yang knew that since Tom Rossman said this, there would definitely be follow-up plans and conditions, but in negotiations, of course he had to take a good stance first in order to bargain better.

"Mr. Director, don't rush to refuse. Listen to me. First of all, Columbia will do its best to help you win the Oscar for Best Picture..."

"No, no, no, Mr. Rothman, the current "Mean Milk" has nothing to do with me. You know, I have given up my share of the box office.

If you want a good box office, then go for it. Otherwise, don’t worry about it. I don’t care. To be honest, the Best Picture award doesn’t have much impact on me.”

It's not that easy to trick me with an award that you have to fight for.

Tom Rothman smiled, spread his hands and said, "Okay, Cao, I know you want the Best Director award, but to be honest, this is really difficult. Warner has been working on it for four or five months, and they will not give up easily."

Seeing Cao Yang's calm face, who didn't seem to be disappointed because he said he would not compete for the Best Director award, Tom Rothman once again put forward the conditions. "Cao, Columbia will strive to get as many nominations as possible at the Oscars, and will do its best to help you win at the Golden Globe Awards. Don't worry, we will focus on working on the Best Director award for you."

"No, Mr. Rothman. The Golden Globe doesn't mean much to me. You know, I already have the Golden Lion and the Palme d'Or. The Golden Globe is far less authoritative than them."

Cao Yang smiled and said that there was no need to be polite when discussing interests with these people. Being straightforward would make everyone feel more at ease.

"What if we add this? When you want to win the Golden Bear in the future, we will provide the necessary support. What do you think? I know the style of those European guys very well.

According to their habits, it is basically impossible for an Asian to win a Grand Slam, and it is difficult for you to win the Golden Bear. Of course, I am not discriminating against Asians. Americans will be treated the same way. "

Cao Yang hesitated for a moment. To be honest, this did make him a little tempted.

He also knows that it will be difficult to win the Golden Bear again in a short period of time. Just like Tom Roseman said, the Grand Slam is difficult to achieve.

"Let's talk about the movie we are going to work on together first." Tom Rossman saw that Cao Yang was in deep thought, so he spoke up without forcing Cao Yang to express his opinion immediately.

"Which novel did Rothman value?"

“I wanted to make District 9 the first film adaptation.”

Tom Rothman said, without any pretense, he said directly: "If the first part meets expectations, there are two options for the second part.

This year, 2012th Century Fox invested in a disaster movie called "The Day After Tomorrow," which will be released next year. It is said to be somewhat similar to , both of which are about the end of the world."

Cao Yang understood that there are no fools in this world who can become big and powerful.

Tom Rothman's meaning is very clear. If "The Day After Tomorrow", invested by Fox, sells well next year, Columbia will definitely invest in "2012", which is equivalent to using Fox's "The Day After Tomorrow" to explore the way forward.

“What if The Day After Tomorrow doesn’t do well at the box office?”

Cao Yang wanted to know which one Columbia would use as a backup just to be safe.

Tom Rothman smiled and said, "If The Day After Tomorrow doesn't live up to expectations, I would personally be inclined to invest in your second volume of the series."

“The Hunger Games?”

In order to save trouble, Cao Yang directly adapted "The Hunger Games" parts one, two and three into three novels and put them in "Cao Yang's Fantasy Journey 2".

District 9 is a novel in Book 3.

There are also five chapters in "Cao Yang's Fantasy Journey 2".

Cao Yang thought Tom Rothman would choose "Inception" or "The Martian", but he unexpectedly preferred "The Hunger Games".

That’s right, the fan orientation of “The Hunger Games” is more obvious.

Moreover, compared to "Inception" or "The Martian", which are movies that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, "The Hunger Games" obviously has less investment and less risk.

Negotiating cooperation is certainly not something that can be done in one go. The specific methods of cooperation and how to divide the profits still need to be discussed.

(End of this chapter)