1980 My literary era

After leaving Cheng Wanchun's office, Lin Weimin returned to the editorial department. Cheng Wanchun hoped that he would write a Chinese version of "No matter what, life is beautiful". Of course there would be no problem. All the details of this novel were installed in his mind. It wouldn't take much. It takes a long time to sort it out.

From Lin Weimin's perspective, different cultural backgrounds may indeed affect the sales of this novel.

"No matter what, life is beautiful" is a little different from "Burning", a novel that describes American society. "Burning" is somewhat interesting to everyone, but "None" is a novel set before and after World War II. I'm afraid there won't be many people interested.

However, he has no hesitation about this. The novel itself is mainly published abroad, and whether it sells well or poorly in China has no impact on him at all.

As for what I said to him in Cheng Wuchun's office just now, it was natural that he was joking. He has been in the Chinese Literature Society for so many years, from a young boy at the beginning to gradually becoming the leader of the unit. Naturally, he has feelings, and there is always love. You need to read some.

The manuscript fee offered by the agency cannot be compared with that of foreign companies, but it is indeed quite interesting. In the early years, the maximum manuscript fee was ten yuan per thousand words. If the agency could give itself twelve yuan per thousand words and fifteen yuan per thousand words, it would be enough. Considering such a thing, Lin Weimin would not easily give away the publishing rights of his works.

Unless, they gave it too high!

The most important event in the country in April is undoubtedly the conference in Yanjing.

The General Assembly passed a constitutional amendment, adding a provision to Article 11 of the Constitution: The state allows the private economy to exist and develop within the scope prescribed by law. The private economy is a supplement to the socialist public ownership economy, which clarifies the legitimacy of the private economy.

The spring tide of reform and opening up is surging again, and the new term "going to sea" has become popular again after 1984.

On April 11, at 5 pm local time in the United States, the 60th Academy Awards were held at the Temple Civic Theater in Los Angeles, the United States, attracting the attention of many Chinese groups.

After almost two months of warm-up, most people in the United States have learned about "The Last Emperor" through the news, a film that has been nominated for multiple awards. Naturally, the Chinese people's attention to this film is because of its reputation. The content of the story is about China.

Domestically, the news about this Oscars ceremony was reflected in the "News Network" on the evening of the 12th.

"The Last Emperor," a feature film co-produced by China, Italy, and the United Kingdom, directed by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, and distributed in the United States by Columbia, won the Best Award at the Academy Awards held in Los Angeles last night. Nine awards including Film Award, Best Director Award, Best Original Screenplay Award...

For the first time in recent decades, a film with Chinese themes and shot on location in China won nine Oscars in the United States. "The Last Emperor" reflects Puyi...

One of the screenwriters of this film is Comrade Lin Weimin, a famous Chinese writer..."

The 1 minute and 14 seconds of "Xinwen Lianbo" broadcast proved that CCTV attached great importance to this news. It specifically named Lin Weimin, which made him shine again.

With the previous Goncourt Literary Award sweeping the domestic news media, this time Lin Weimin's name appeared on "Xinwen Lianbo" because of "The Last Emperor", and the sensational response caused by the nationwide response was not that strong.

The main reason is that "The Last Emperor" was not released in China and has little mass base, so ordinary people will just listen to it and get over it.

But the news caused an unprecedented sensation in the film industry.

There are two reasons for the shock in the film industry. The first one is naturally because "The Last Emperor" was nominated nine out of nine times and became the biggest winner at the Oscars. You must know that this is a Chinese-themed movie.

Seeing such award-winning results, many brave people have begun to imagine that Chinese people will appear at the Oscars in the future.

The second reason is because of Lin Weimin.

Everyone knows that Lin Weimin is good at writing plays, but his main focus has always been on dramas. Everyone is familiar with the many dramas performed by Renyi, as well as the two award-winning dramas in the United States.

This time, "The Last Emperor" he wrote won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. In addition, "Lover" won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and "Red Sorghum" won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival...

It’s not just that I don’t know how to count them, but I’ll be shocked when I count them. Lin Weimin only made three attempts in the film industry, but he never failed, winning big awards every time.

This kind of strength is simply inhuman.

Even gods can’t do this!

"The Last Emperor" won nine Academy Awards. Officials had worked hard to coordinate the production of this movie. Now that it's time to reap the rewards, it's natural to launch a massive publicity campaign.

After "Xinwen Lianbo", newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations reported one after another. Regardless of whether people like to read it or not, they have to read it.

The news about the Academy Awards has reminded some people in the film industry of certain rumors that have been circulating in the industry before.

A considerable number of movie adaptations these days come from novels, and writers have always had a high status in the film industry.

Lin Weimin became famous in the early 1980s, but there was not even one film adaptation of his work.

With his reputation and the popularity of his works, it is not that no one has approached him. On the contrary, quite a few domestic studios and directors have approached Lin Weimin, including "Two Xie"s Xie Tieli and Xie Jin.

But surprisingly, no one got the rights to adapt Lin Weimin's work.

From the few words revealed by the studios and directors who had communicated with Lin Weimin, everyone in the circle knew that Lin Weimin was extremely harsh on his co-directors, and even the director could not change the lines of the script even if he wanted to.

This guy is going to be a director, he is obviously going to be a grandson.

The point is, when you become a grandson and someone gives you the title of "director", you just say you are not impressed, right?

The circle is so big, and it won't take long for the news to spread to everyone. Who dares to approach Lin Weimin to discuss cooperation?

Movies are a director's art. If you and a screenwriter are placed on top of it, do you still want to lose face if word spreads about it?

As time went by, everyone naturally developed a tacit understanding.

It’s okay not to change Lin Weimin’s works.

There are so many writers in China, who wouldn’t be overjoyed to have his work adapted by a director?

There is no need to go to Lin Weimin and suffer this anger!

But……

Lin Weimin's play won the Tony Award in the United States!

"Lover" written by Lin Weimin won the Cannes Best Screenplay Award!

"Red Sorghum" written by Lin Weimin won the Berlin Golden Bear!

"The Last Emperor" written by Lin Weimin won another Oscar for Best Original Screenplay!

News comes one after another, constantly challenging the bottom line of directors in the film industry. As the value and popularity of awards become higher and higher, their fragile nerves are constantly being tortured.

The directors' cognition is constantly being refreshed. Looking at the awards that have shone in the world's film industry, some people suddenly begin to feel that the conditions proposed by Lin Weimin are not so difficult to accept.

Once the mentality changes, it will naturally be reflected in the behavior.

It had been several years since a director had come to seek an adaptation, but after the news of the Oscar came, Lin Weimin became the most high-profile and popular figure in the domestic film industry.

Senior directors from major film studios called one by one to seek cooperation, leaving Lin Weimin overwhelmed.

Lin Weimin knew very well the reason why these people called so diligently. How could he hand over his work casually under such circumstances?

Besides, the fees quoted to him by domestic film directors were only three to five thousand yuan at most, which was really shabby.

Lin Weimin didn't ask for money to help Zhang Yimou polish the script. He was doing it as a favor. His script won many awards including Cannes, Berlin, and Oscars. However, the directors only paid a few thousand yuan for the adaptation at the outset. This was not to take advantage of Lin Weimin. A stick?

Lin Weimin knows that this of course has a lot to do with the fact that the domestic film industry is still in the studio era.

Everything is under the planned economy. Today's movies are not able to share the box office like later generations. The studio can only recoup the cost by selling copies. Even for the best-selling movies, it is difficult to make much money by selling copies.

As a result, where will the studios get the funds and motivation to support expansion and development?

It’s nothing more than hanging on for a breath!

The script of "The Last Emperor" was co-written by Lin Weimin and Teng Jinxian. Bertolucci gave him a script fee of 200,000 meters. The 200,000 meters were shared equally between Lin Weimin and Teng Jinxian. Teng Jinxian had an official status, so the higher-ups specially gave him 200,000 yuan for the script. Teng Jinxian gave the green light.

Not to mention that a movie costs 100,000 yuan, even if it is 100,000 yuan, it is impossible for domestic film studios to produce it. This has nothing to do with courage, but a problem of the system, just like the royalties that Lin Weimin and Cheng Wanchun discussed.

There were phone calls one after another, and people came to visit with sincerity from time to time, but none of them moved Lin Weimin.

Many film directors came here with great enthusiasm, but came away disappointed.

Within a few days of the Oscar buzz blowing, Lin Weimin's reputation in the domestic film industry became even worse.

This thief wants money!

Lin Weimin could only smile helplessly when he heard such news. The two parties were not on the same channel at all.

The directors from the studios who came to him were basically under the planned economy system, and his request was based on the market economy, so it was normal for him to not reach an agreement.

And just when there were rumors in the domestic film circle that Lin Weimin was asking for sky-high script royalties.

With the conclusion of the 60th Academy Awards ceremony, "The Last Emperor", as the biggest winner of this ceremony, has become the focus of countless media pursuits. More and more American film and television companies have noticed the screenwriter column of "The Last Emperor" Signed name.