Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 29: Hollywood's Arrogance
Before this, Gu Bei had to suspend the filming of the short film for two days due to heavy snow in New York, which was fatal for a short film with a five-day shooting cycle.

In that case, Gu Bei could only shoot part of it.

Or simply stop filming and only pay the crew members part of their salary.

The earliest we can prepare the short film again is the end of November.

It is even possible that due to the need to avoid the Christmas season, filming will not resume until the end of January next year.

Even if it is the end of November, filming and post-production will take time, so it is naturally impossible to catch up with the shortlist released now.

This is why the system prompts that Gu Bei won the Palme d'Or for Best Short Film!

The current situation is that she forced $10,000 on Gu Bei, causing Gu Bei to finish shooting the short film ahead of schedule, just in time for the Sundance Film Festival.

She wasn't sure whether this change was good or bad.

It can only be compared with future task prompts.

If she delayed Gu Bei's development, she would have to find a way to help Gu Bei catch up with his original development, but even if she emptied her small treasury, she might not be able to make a feature film.

"The Cannes Film Festival is stronger in feature films, and the Palme d'Or for short films is only average. Besides, more people from Hollywood production companies will go to the Saint-Denis Film Festival, so there will be more opportunities."

The same was true for Gu Bei who was unwilling to wait for a few months.

The short film awards at Cannes and Sundance actually play the same role, which is to provide an endorsement and a stepping stone.

However, if I were to return to China to develop my career, the Short Film Palme d'Or would definitely be a better choice.

After all, only poet Chen has won the Palme d'Or.

No Chinese director has ever won the Palme d'Or for short films.

With this award alone, Gu Bei was confident that he could get funding from China Film Group to shoot his first feature film.

But these two years are a good opportunity to make money in Hollywood. Who would be willing to return to China if they can stay in Hollywood?

Last year in 2005, the total box office revenue of mainland movies was only 20 billion yuan, which is equivalent to 2.5 million US dollars.

And the only movie that has grossed over 100 million yuan is "The Promise", which no one understood within the past ten years.

The second-place "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" only had more than 9000 million.

"Oh, I thought we had to wait until next May, but I didn't expect the film to be exhibited so soon."

Liu Yifei breathed a sigh of relief.

It sounded like Sundance offered more opportunities, even though she had never heard of the film festival before.

After chatting for a while, Gu Bei hung up the phone.

He then contacted Joel and learned that the two film companies were 21st Century Fox and Paramount Pictures, so he made an appointment to meet the next day.

"Hello, Bruce, I really didn't expect you to be so young!"

Bruno is the representative of 21st Century Fox. He is probably in his forties or fifties and looks like a traditional white elite. He shook hands with Gu Bei very politely.

"I didn't expect that 21st Century Fox would have such a keen sense of smell."

After shaking hands, Gu Bei sat down opposite Bruno.

The business conference room of the hotel where they met was rented by Bruno in advance. It was relatively quiet and suitable for discussing business.

After shaking hands with Bruno, Joel sat next to Gu Bei.

Gu Bei waited until Bruno sat down before asking, "I'd like to ask, after purchasing the film and television copyright, does Twenty-First Century Fox have any development plans?"

"I thought you would ask our price first."

Bruno looked at Gu Bei with a little surprise. Generally, authors are most concerned about the copyright price. As for the development plan, it is more of a tool for them to raise the price.

After a pause, Bruno said seriously, "Actually, I'm a producer. I discovered this book on my daughter's recommendation. After reading it, I decided to adapt it into a TV movie!" "TV movie?" Joel frowned. "We were talking about a movie before!"

"You may have made a mistake. I've always said it was a TV movie." Bruno responded very calmly, not at all panicked by Joel's attitude.

“Here’s the latest New York Times bestseller list!”

Joel pushed the prepared newspaper over.

First place: The Fault in Our Stars, Bruce Koo, priced at $19.99, ranked second last week, on the list for 2 weeks.

Second place: Cross, James Patterson, priced at $27.99, ranked first last week, on the list for 1 weeks

Joel said proudly: "Even James Patterson's series of novels was squeezed out by our "The Fault in Our Stars" after two consecutive championships, and the sales of the books have exceeded one million copies.

With a novel of this level of achievement, you only want to develop it into a TV movie?"

"terribly sorry!"

Bruno shook his head. "We at 21st Century Fox have a dedicated department to assess project risks. This book has performed very well and has sparked huge discussion among teenagers.

But we have to consider that this book is written from the first-person perspective of an Asian girl, and the language is full of playful dry humor.

These elements are very good when placed in the book.

But if it were adapted into a movie, people would have to consider whether to spend $10 to go to the theater.

Especially when they have Pirates of the Caribbean, X-Men, Superman, and even Lightning McQueen to choose from!"

Bruno's tone was very polite.

But amidst the politeness there is still a hint of Hollywood arrogance.
Obviously, he is not optimistic about the success of the movie adaptation of "The Fault in Our Stars".

Even though it’s 2006, the golden age of feature films in the 90s is over.

The three movies Bruno cited were all special effects blockbusters.

Even Lightning McQueen is the protagonist in "Cars".

Pixar's animations are also special effects blockbusters to some extent, and they are content that cannot be seen on TV.

"So what's your bid?"

Gu Bei had been silent, letting Joel play, and suddenly spoke at this time.

Bruno's gaze immediately shifted away from Joel.

He gave Gu Bei a confident smile: "20 US dollars!"

Gu Bei: “…”

He glanced at Joel, but found that Joel looked expressionless, but was secretly winking at him, as if persuading him to sell the film and television adaptation rights at this price.

Naturally, Gu Bei would not agree to this price.

Bruno looked a little surprised, but he still sent Gu Bei and the other man away with grace.

"This price is already very good. You may not be able to get this price at Paramount." After Joel came out, he said to Gu Bei with some regret.

"How much did "Twilight" sell for?" Gu Bei thought of the "Twilight" series, whose copyright had been purchased and would be released in more than a year.

“It’s not as high as this price, but Twilight is developing a movie, and there will be a share of the profits later.”

Joel suddenly thought of something and added, "But I heard that MTV Films has given up on this project and plans to wait until the copyright expires in April next year, so Stephenie Meyer will not get any share of the money."

Gu Bei was moved when he heard this.

　PS. The copyright transaction price was based on a report from Newsweek. In 2009, when the sales of the first "Hunger Games" trilogy did not reach 50, the author sold the film and television adaptation rights of the trilogy for a total of US$20.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)