1980 My literary era

Lin Weimin, Xu Feng and Michael Phillips quickly reached an agreement on the investment and production of "Farewell My Concubine", and Xu Feng was responsible for the specific preparation of the crew.

She found Cheng Kaige and explained the specific situation of the "Farewell My Concubine" movie.

"Farewell My Concubine is a classic work of Chinese literature. In the past two years, the play "Farewell My Concubine" was performed on Broadway in the United States and has a high influence in the United States. In fact, it is not only in the United States, but also in the vast overseas countries. The market has a strong influence.

Since the Cannes Film Festival in 1987, I have recognized that you are a talented director, and "Farewell My Concubine" will definitely become the pinnacle of your directorial career. "

Xu Feng's persuasion made Cheng Kaige shaken.

To be honest, he had read "Farewell My Concubine" since it was published. At that time, he thought the story of this novel was a bit popular, and was not even as good as Lin Weimin's earlier short story "The Death of Yura".

But over the years, "Farewell My Concubine" has not only been a bestseller in China, but has also gained countless readers abroad.

When "Farewell My Concubine" landed on Broadway in the United States in 1989, he was studying in the United States and even went to Broadway to watch the play.

The Broadway version of "Farewell My Concubine" maintains the original flavor of the People's Art version of "Farewell My Concubine". He was sitting in the auditorium that day and listened to the American audience giving this drama a tsunami of applause and applause when the drama ended. Screaming, my heart couldn't calm down for a long time.

From that day on, his perception of "Farewell My Concubine" changed.

After returning home, he took out the novel and read it again, probably because he gradually lost the cynicism of his youth in middle age. When he read "Farewell My Concubine" again, he was completely moved by this story.

Cheng Kaige never expected that Xu Feng would get the rights to adapt "Farewell My Concubine"

He has been in the domestic film industry for so many years, but he has never heard of anyone getting the rights to adapt Lin Weimin's works.

Moreover, Xu Feng organized such a large bureau to invite himself to be the director. Look at the actors to be invited, Zhang Guorong/Zun Long, Gong Li, and Han Zhuangzhuang. Which one is not an actor with certain influence in the world?

Just looking at this lineup, the investment in the movie is huge.

The 8 million-meter investment Xu Feng mentioned made Cheng Kaige feel thirsty. Except for those foreign films shot in China, this amount of investment should set a history for Chinese films, right?

With an original work of international influence, high film investment, and a luxurious cast, Cheng Kaige couldn't think of a reason for rejecting this movie.

Ever since "Red Sorghum" in Berlin in 1987, he has been firmly suppressed by Zhang Yimou, who was his photographer at that time.

In the past few years, Cheng Kaige had been holding his breath in his heart. Today he knew that his chance had finally come.

He must use "Farewell My Concubine" to crush Zhang Yimou!

Xu Feng kept describing her various ideas for the movie, trying to persuade Cheng Kaige to take the movie.

But she didn't know that Cheng Kaige had already decided to take the movie, but looking at her excitement, he couldn't find a chance to interrupt her.

After finally waiting for her to finish speaking, Cheng Kaige opened his mouth and said, "I accepted this movie!"

Xu Feng was overjoyed when he heard this and couldn't help but drag Cheng Kaige to continue discussing the production of the film.

After spending a few days on the film version of "Farewell My Concubine", Lin Weimin's work became busy again.

The editing and review work of "World Literature Masterpiece Library" is in full swing. Although there were some objections and doubts in the initial demonstration of this huge project, these voices gradually disappeared during Lin Weimin's rapid progress.

Everyone can see clearly that Lin Weimin is determined to do something unprecedented in his tenure. The communication that needs to be communicated has been done long ago, and he cannot be stopped if he wants to.

That afternoon, Lin Weimin finished reviewing a manuscript and came to the Tongwenshe office.

"Li Xin, how are you? Are you used to the work here?"

Years ago, Li Xin, the director of the first editorial office of Contemporary Literature, was poached with a high salary. In order to retain talents, Lin Weimin gave Cheng Wuchun an idea. He first asked Li Xin to work in the publishing department of the agency to smooth out some contradictions and problems in the publishing department, and then Give him a promotion justifiably.

When Li Xin arrived at the distribution department, he lived up to the high expectations of Cheng Wuchun and Lin Weimin and completed the task brilliantly.

Because of this, he was promoted to the vice president of Tongwen News Agency, which he was just transferred a few days ago.

The office of Tongwenshe is right next to the second editorial office of Contemporary Literature. It used to be one office, but now it has two offices. Li Xin has his own separate office.

Although he has not left the Chinese Literature Society, his work content has changed, and Li Xin also needs to adapt.

Seeing Lin Weimin, Li Xin stood up and said, "There's no problem, I'm just a little busier than before."

"sit!"

Lin Weimin pulled him to sit down, chatted for a few words first, and then talked about work.

“The work in the agency is quite busy, and I can no longer manage Tongwen Agency in every detail like I did last year.

I specially transferred you here this time because I want to entrust you with a heavy responsibility.

Last year, our Tongwen Society worked hard in the field of martial arts novels and achieved very good results. It should be said that we have established a firm foothold in the domestic publishing industry, but such results alone are not enough. Let’s talk about your docking Come down and see Tongwenshe’s development path! "

After one week in the new position, he has adapted to everything he needs to get used to, and it's time for him to show off his talents.

Li Xin knew very well Lin Wei's purpose for polling him, so he had been thinking about the future development of Tongwen Society in the past few days.

He pondered for a moment, then looked at Lin Weimin and told the results of his thinking over the past few days.

Li Xin’s idea is that Tongwenshe is based in the field of popular literature, and its achievements in the subdivision of martial arts novels alone are definitely not enough. This year, it should continue to make efforts in the fields of officialdom literature and criminal investigation literature.

Officialdom literature and criminal investigation literature were born out of the reform literature that was popular in the past few years, but now they have gradually turned into "anti-corruption literature" and "investigation literature", focusing on reflecting all kinds of corruption, illegal and criminal behaviors in society. Expose, criticize and criticize.

In recent years, official literature and criminal investigation literature have entered a period of vigorous development, and the readership has continued to expand. This is inseparable from the increasing number of corruption and public security cases in society.

After he briefly stated his thoughts, Lin Weimin asked curiously: "You mean to specialize in these two fields this year?"

Li Xin nodded, "Last year when Tongwen Society was founded, the route you planned for Tongwen Society was to focus on martial arts literature. The achievements of Tongwen Society in the past year have fully demonstrated that your vision and decision are completely correct. . Our Tongwen Society is small in size and is restricted by the Chinese Literature Society, so it is not suitable for a development path of large-scale expansion and cooperation. In a few years, we have deeply and thoroughly understood various subdivisions of popular literature, and mastered a large number of author resources and copyrights. resources may be more suitable for our development.”

After hearing what he said, Lin Weimin nodded slightly and praised: "The thinking is very clear."

Li Xin said modestly: "It's all based on the route you set."

"There's no need to flatter me." Lin Weimin smiled and waved his hand, "Now that we have an idea, we might as well execute it boldly. Now several colleagues in the club are focusing their energy on the field of martial arts literature, and we must focus on officialdom literature. and criminal investigation literature, your burden is not light!"

"President, can you recruit a few people from outside?" Li Xin suggested.

"Where to dig it? How many do you want?"

"For "Woodpecker," I contacted you and if you can edit it, two people can come over."

Lin Weimin was a little surprised, "It's very efficient!"

"Work waits for no one, and there are no relevant editors. Doesn't that mean that a clever woman can't make a meal without rice?"

"Woodpecker" magazine is a literary journal of the public security system. It was founded in 1980 and specializes in criminal investigation documentary literature. It has been widely praised by readers over the years, with sales of a single issue reaching 1.8 million copies at its peak.

The big difference between popular literature and pure literature is that pure literature readers usually have mixed reading tastes. What they want to read is literary, ideological and artistic, and they often ignore the type or subject matter of the work and story.

But readers of popular literature are different. They often have a single hobby. Those who like martial arts novels just like martial arts novels. If you like to read romance novels, you will like to read romance novels.

There are many readers whose reading tastes span multiple subdivisions, but the difference is much more obvious when compared to pure literature.

Therefore, it is easy to gain a group of fans by engaging in popular literature and specializing in a certain niche. The success of "Woodpecker" is the best example. The same is true of the development of Tongwen Society last year. Now many martial arts novel fans only need to read it in bookstores. When you see books published by Tongwenshe, you will subconsciously have the desire to buy them.

Reform literature, a genre that was born in the early days of reform and opening up, has evolved many times over the years. Official novels, criminal investigation novels, and historical novels can all be regarded as branches of reform literature, but they are not entirely so. The relationship between them is more like the intersection of sets and sets.

Therefore, "Woodpecker" has published a large number of officialdom novels and criminal investigation novels in recent years, and many of them are quite influential and have created a number of writers.

For example, Liang Shouchen who wrote "The Painted Face County Magistrate", Li Jihua who wrote "Kidnapping", etc.

"Okay. I promise you I will communicate with Lao Cheng about this matter."

Lin Weimin agreed to Li Xin's request and felt the leadership's support for his work, and his mood lifted.

“In addition, you should also supervise your colleagues in the editorial office to expand their reading scope and capture the essence of various subdivided literary fields.

We can't break into a niche field and just recruit people once. The company doesn't have that many staff.

Last year everyone had too many tasks, so I didn’t have too many requirements in this regard. This year you are here to implement this work well. "

"I understand. I will urge everyone more when I go back." Li Xin responded.

After the conversation, Lin Weimin stood up and left Li Xin's office, and Li Xin saw him off.

As soon as he arrived at the door, he met Cheng Wanchun and saw a happy face on his face.

"For the people, I really have you!"