Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 457 Hollywood Will Welcome a Great Screenwriter
As "Uncle Tom's Redemption" continues to be a bestseller in overseas markets, this trend of "Black slave literature" is gradually spreading to China. Chinese readers, who have been paying close attention to the international literary market, have begun reading it through various channels.

Li Xiaolin, the editor of Harvest, flew directly to Yanjing and took "The Redemption of Black Slave" from Liu Yimin, thus preventing People's Literature from having the advantage of proximity.

"Yimin, you're keeping things from your senior sister. When you came back from America, you didn't even tell her beforehand," Li Xiaolin said, feigning anger.

Liu Yimin laughed and said, "Senior sister, I can't very well use my article to praise myself in front of Ba Jin!"

Li Xiaolin put the manuscript into his bag: "I'm taking it. When I pass by People's Literature and Art magazine in a bit, I'll just tell them not to bother looking for you. You wrote the original English manuscript, and you translated it yourself?"

“Hey, it’s all in my head, so it can’t be considered translation. Writing in Chinese isn’t translation, writing in English is,” Liu Yimin said.

"That's true. How can we call our own language a translation? I was being imprecise."

Li Xiaolin walked out of the study with a smile, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he played with Liu Yu and Liu Lin for a while and took out several sets of toys from his bag.

"Aunt Yang, these are butterfly pastries, Gaoqiao pine nut cakes, and pear syrup candy that I brought you from Shanghai. They're good for the two little ones, helping to relieve fever and cough."

"You brought too much; I'm sorry to have troubled you." Yang Xiuyun had been serving guests with Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin for a long time, and her way of speaking to guests had changed quite a bit.

“Aunt Yang, these things are nothing. Liu Yu, call me aunt.”

Liu Yu glanced at Yang Xiuyun with a puzzled look, then stared at the candy in Li Xiaolin's hand. After hesitating for a moment, she called out, "Aunt Wanfang."

"Oh dear, calling her Aunt Xiaolin, it seems Wanfang comes here quite often!" Li Xiaolin corrected.

"Senior sister, the two little ones only know how to call Wanfang auntie," Liu Yimin said with a smile.

Li Xiaolin kept instructing the two: "Yimin, I don't believe it. If one piece of candy isn't enough, then have two!"

Once Liu Yu and Liu Lin could call her "Aunt Xiaolin," Li Xiaolin stood up with satisfaction, clapped her hands, and said, "That's more like it. Aunt Xiaolin is leaving now. See you next time."

"Goodbye, Aunt Xiaolin." Guided by Yang Xiuyun, the two little ones waved to Li Xiaolin.

While "The Redemption of Black Slave" was penetrating into China, "The Battle of Taierzhuang" and "Amnesty 1959" began to spread abroad, with the main readership being Chinese, especially those who fled the mainland after the 1940s and their families and descendants.

Since these two books have not yet been published abroad, they need to rely on domestic connections to purchase and send them to them if they want to read them.

People's Literature Publishing House sold the domestic version sporadically in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia through channels in Hong Kong, but due to the channel limitations, the distribution volume was not large.

When the foreign publishing house that was cooperating with him obtained the authorization for "The Redemption of Black Slaves" from Liu Yimin, Liu Yimin also packaged "The Battle of Taierzhuang" and "Amnesty 1959" for them.

It should be available overseas in a little over a month. As for the Chinese version that Chinese people want to buy, Liu Yimin discussed with People's Literature Publishing House and Commercial Press to see if they could cooperate with these foreign publishers to distribute the books there.

After opening up my thinking, I realized that there are more than just these two books. Liu Yimin has so many books, and not all Chinese people can buy Chinese versions through domestic channels. This is a long-tail market.

The Chinese-language literature market is not mainstream in the US and Western countries; it is a very small category. However, if the sales volume of all US and Western countries is added together, it is still a large market.

Liu Yimin authorized People's Literature Publishing House and Commercial Press to handle these matters.

Wei Junyi from People's Literature Publishing House also asked Liu Yimin whether Zheng Yuanjie had any plans to publish standalone children's literature books.

"Sister Wei, shouldn't the publication of individual volumes of children's literature be the responsibility of children's literature publishing houses?"

Wei Junyi said with a smile, "This has nothing to do with the publishing house. As long as the author is willing and the publishing house is willing, we can publish children's literature. Black cat or white cat, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat. Publishing houses are now responsible for their own profits and losses, and making money from publishing standalone books is the main thing."

"I'll ask about it later. You can also have the editor contact Comrade Zheng."

When I left People's Literature Publishing House, I ran into Cui Daoyi, who was lamenting that "The Redemption of Black Slave" had been taken by Harvest magazine.

Liu Yimin patted Cui Daoyi on the shoulder and said, "Senior brother, every cloud has a silver lining. I recently read some good articles in People's Literature and Art."

"Haha, not bad, not bad." Cui Daoyi couldn't hide his pride. Then he put his arm around his shoulder and said, "You're an editor of People's Literature and Art. You've come all this way, so go and inspect our work."

Liu Yimin was pulled into the editorial department of "People's Literature and Art" by Cui Daoyi. After greeting the editor, he chatted with Wang Meng for a while.

"I never imagined that Nie Hualing would accept money from the CIA." To this day, Wang Meng still can't understand it.

“We thought too highly of Westerners, genuinely believing they would drop everything to befriend us. Some people also felt resentful and deliberately leaned towards the West. These are all problems that reform and opening up need to address,” Liu Yimin explained.

Wang Meng said, "Foreigners always use the slogan of pure literature, but where is there a pure land for literature?"

"We should not feel defeated, but rather ignite our fighting spirit. Comrade Wang Meng, you are the editor-in-chief of People's Literature and Art, the forefront of the ideological battle!"

After returning from the United States, Tang Dacheng, the secretary of the Writers' Association, discussed these issues with Wang Meng many times, but they basically didn't come to any conclusions.

The current writers are too difficult to manage, and it is impossible to manage them. The only way to demonstrate the overall will of the Writers Association is through the selection of works by People's Literature and Art and Literature Gazette.

Wang Meng pulled Liu Yimin aside and held a meeting with several editorial board members of "People's Literature" to reaffirm the editorial policy and the focus of future manuscript submissions.

Two days ago, Liu Yimin moved his whole family from the Overseas Chinese Apartment to a courtyard house in Nanluoguxiang. The courtyard is now lush and green, and Liu Yu and Liu Lin are learning to walk under the ginkgo trees.

The two can now walk more than ten steps at a time; any further and they'll have to crawl.

“The Overseas Chinese Apartments are too high up and not grounded, so the children need to be closer to the ground,” Yang Xiuyun said happily.

Liu Yimin said with a smile, "Look how happy they are."

Xi Mei stood by, watching over them to prevent them from suddenly falling to the ground and getting injured.

Steven Spielberg looked at the vermilion gate of the courtyard house, confirmed the information, and then had the translator next to him knock on the door.

Steven Spielberg felt he was at a disadvantage because he couldn't understand Liu Yimin's insults in Chinese, so he found a young teacher from a foreign language institute through a friend to act as a translator.

Liu Yimin opened the door and said, "Steven, come in. How did you manage to find this place?"

Upon entering the courtyard, Steven skipped the pleasantries and went straight to discussing the script fees for "Uncle Tom's Cabin" with Liu Yimin.

Liu Yimin sat in his study, quietly sipping his tea without saying a word.

"Liu, we are willing to offer $80,000, plus a two percent share of the film's net profit."

From $10,000 to $80,000, that old bastard Steven is really ruthless; he dared to underreport by $70,000 at the beginning.

This price is much more reasonable, but a net profit of 2% for a movie is a bit low; it's usually between 3% and 5%.

There's another bug here, namely the Hollywood algorithm. The bigwigs in Hollywood use their unique accounting system to calculate big-profit films as losses.

Once a net profit sharing agreement is signed, Hollywood will practically devour the screenwriters, leaving them with nothing but the advance payment.

Steven Spielberg's eyes were already gleaming with victory, and the translator next to him was so excited that he was grabbing his thigh. Eighty thousand dollars! He must have really stumbled upon a god's house today!
"Steven, there's something I'm really curious about: why do you guys always like to make huge profits by exploiting information asymmetry?"

Steven chuckled awkwardly, “I’m used to it. Liu, I’m sorry, my behavior was very unprofessional and showed a lack of respect for a famous writer, playwright, and screenwriter. I think we can make up. I believe that with your screenwriting skills and my directing skills, we can definitely make an Oscar-winning masterpiece.”

They're honest, but they're used to taking advantage of information asymmetry to scam people!

“Steven, you don’t need to apologize. You were just showing the arrogance you were supposed to have.”

"Liu Wo!"

“I will not sign a contract with you, even if it is more than $100,000. Consider this a lesson for you,” Liu Yimin said as he stood up.

"WHY? Liu, are you going against the US dollar?" Steven couldn't help but roar.

Liu Yimin laughed and said, "You should understand one thing: good scripts don't lack directors, and even better scripts not only don't lack directors, but they will also be highly sought after."

"Who's coming?"

"It's not time yet, but if he's as arrogant as you, I don't think I'll cooperate with him."

Steven desperately wanted to salvage the situation. The novel was gaining more and more influence in the United States, and he had already made a firm promise to the investors: how would he explain himself if he couldn't get the money back?
"Steven, if you'd like to eat, I'd be happy to treat you to a meal."

“Liu, this is business. Business is negotiable. My low offer doesn’t mean I’m cheating.” “Business is based on fairness. Selling a loaf of bread worth 10 yuan for 15 or 20 yuan is still business. Do you think selling it for 50 yuan is still business?” Liu Yimin asked.

"Of course not, where would you find bread worth 50?"

“Steven, you should ask the Germans in 1922.”

Steven's face turned ashen. He suddenly remembered Miller's advice to him before he arrived and calmed down, but the calm disappeared in an instant.

Miller had advised Steven not to discuss the issue of the Japanese with Liu Yimin, as it would be easy to suffer losses. But now Steven felt that while Miller was no match for him, he might be able to do the same. He had to teach the kid a lesson.

"The 500,000 marks for bread is due to market forces, not the Japanese."

"The anger of ordinary Germans—and I'm not talking about the Nazis—is the result of what you call market forces. There's a Chinese saying, 'You reap what you sow.' Steven, a nation that has wandered for a thousand years, shouldn't you reflect on why it has become a wanderer?"

"We have now returned to the Promised Land!"

"Yes, you seized a territory and claimed it as the Promised Land, while other races on that territory were driven out and killed. How is that any different from the Nazis?"

"The difference is that it used to be our place."

"The Germans also have a legitimate reason to drive you away, because that's their territory."

"Indiscriminate killing is immoral!"

"So you're the ones who have a moral high ground?" Liu Yimin asked calmly.

"That is the will of our Lord."

"I don't know how different your 'master' is from the German 'master'."

"That one of theirs is a demon!"

"How can you prove that they are demons and that your response to the 'Lord' of the Promised Land is good?"

"Because the Lord is with us!"

"Then why don't you dare fight the Germans? Go and defeat this demon?"

My legs are getting weak from translating, and I'm already thinking of running away. This translation fee is really hard to earn.

Fortunately, Steven had nothing more to say and could only leave Liu Yimin's courtyard house in anger.

Recalling Miller's words, Steven murmured, "Joseph Miller didn't lie to me!"

"What?" the translator asked.

Steven turned to the translator and said, "Liang, I hope you have the professional ethics of a translator. No one is allowed to know about what happened today."

Steven did not return to the United States immediately, but stayed at the Yanjing Hotel for another half month. He wanted to find other ways to defeat Liu Yimin, which was not only related to him, but also to the honor of the Yutai people.

Yang Xiuyun and Ximei were playing with their two little ones in the alley. The argument between Liu Yimin and Steven had startled them. They didn't know what they were talking about, but the other person's expression looked like he wanted to eat them alive.

Meanwhile, director Frank Darabont came to China. Before his trip, he specifically sought out Stephen King to learn more about Liu Yimin.

Stephen King and Liu Yimin had only met two or three times, but they had done a lot of research together, especially the scene of him rejecting Harvard University's $150,000 offer, which had a great impact on him at the time.

Following Stephen King's advice, Frank sincerely approached Liu Yimin. He entered the courtyard, admired the beautiful scenery, and presented the gifts he had brought.

Frank was originally French, but he had been working in Hollywood, USA.

“Liu, this is my sincere offer. The price for the script is $90,000, with a 4% share of the net profit, or $120,000 paid in a lump sum. Stephen King’s script is priced at roughly the same level,” Frank said earnestly.

"Frank, I don't want a share of the net profits."

"So you're choosing $120,000?"

"No, I want a share of the total revenue."

"Four percent of total revenue? I can't do that, Liu."

"I want 0.5%."

The total income split for screenwriters or key creative personnel is roughly this ratio. Using total income split can largely avoid Hollywood's ruthless practices that could ruin a company's future.

Frank picked up the tea on the table, took a sip, and found it a bit bitter: "Liu, you really understand Hollywood's revenue-sharing model, but I think profit sharing is more advantageous."

"Frank, you're the director, you don't represent the film company."

“You’re right, but I’m in a difficult position. I need to discuss it with the investors.”

"can."

Liu Yimin treated Frank to a meal. Frank wanted to befriend Liu Yimin because he knew through his friendship with Stephen King how a bestselling author's work could conquer the film market.

Stephen King was his benefactor, and he also wanted Liu Yimin to become his benefactor.

When Frank discussed the plot with Liu Yimin, he acted like a die-hard fan, nodding frequently at Liu Yimin's points.

After dinner, Frank began communicating with the American side. He argued back and forth until he finally negotiated Liu Yimin's terms.

Frank's last sentence was the key to the investor's relent. Frank told them that if he delayed any longer, other companies and directors would come to China.

When Frank came over with the drafted contract, Liu Yimin smiled and said, "Frank, I hope this is just the beginning for us."

"Of course, we will continue to cooperate in the future. Liu, take a close look at the contract. I can swear to God with the Bible that there is not a single trap."

After reviewing the contract, Liu Yimin signed his name: "The script will be delivered to you in a month, but you cannot make any changes to the script without my permission."

"Liu, don't worry." Frank hugged Liu Yimin excitedly.

After putting away the contract, Frank asked Liu Yimin if he wasn't afraid that no one would watch his movies since he wasn't a big-name director.
"Frank, who says a movie script can only be sold once? If you don't make it well, I'll just sell it to someone else."

"Liu, I thought you would comfort me."

"Only the weak need comfort."

Frank picked up the contract and left for free. After only one day of sightseeing in Yanjing, he flew back to the United States to prepare for filming.

At the Yanjing Hotel, Steven looked at the investor's reply with a puzzled expression. He finally came up with an excellent reason to inform the investor that the script had been taken, but the investor simply replied with "I know".

He thought the other party had misread it, so he sent another message to tell them that it was director Frank who had signed the contract with Liu Yimin.

Upon seeing the investor's reply, Steven couldn't help but tear up the telegram.

The investment that Frank's team received also came from a company we control.

Steven had lost all interest in debating with Liu Yimin and flew back to the United States with a plane ticket.

Seeing Steven's expression, Miller couldn't help but say, "Steven, that's just how Liu is. You have to get used to it. Now when we meet, there are no more conflicts."

How did you do it?

Miller brazenly replied, "As long as I don't bring it up, there's no conflict."

Upon returning to the United States, Frank took advantage of the popularity of "Uncle Tom's Redemption" to announce in the newspapers that a film adaptation was in the works. This would be one of the most anticipated films of the year for Americans, and also Liu's first screenplay for his foray into Hollywood.

"Hollywood is about to welcome a great Chinese screenwriter!"

(End of this chapter)