Back to 80: My Literary Life

"I want to shoot, but I won't do a business that loses money." Zhao Hongjun expressed his opinion.

"Tangtang, what do you think?" Fang Minghua asked his wife again.

"I think it doesn't matter if it loses money temporarily, but if it keeps losing money and the whole industry is losing money, we have to be cautious. After all, we are not like those TV stations. Anyway, the money belongs to the country, so it doesn't matter whether we lose money or not."

"That's true." Fang Minghua agreed with Song Tangtang's analysis: "But I think if you really want to get involved in film and television, now is a good opportunity."

"Aren't you afraid of losing money?" Zhao Hongjun asked back.

"Minghua means that the script he wrote will be very attractive in the future, and the audience will like it after it is filmed. This will win us a good reputation. If we shoot the next drama, we can negotiate the price with the TV station! Just like Wu Tianmin took "Red Sorghum" and negotiated the box office share with China Film!" Song Tangtang expressed his thoughts.

Wu Tianmin won in the end.

Although it was a 19-19 split, the box office of "Red Sorghum" was as high as 40 million!

10% is also 4 million, Xiying Studio made a lot of money.

Zhao Hongjun agreed with what he heard. He looked at Fang Minghua again: "Is that what you mean?"

"In fact, it's not necessarily a loss. As long as we operate well, we may be able to break even."

Fang Minghua took a sip of tea calmly: "But there is a prerequisite here. It must be filmed well! The script is not a novel, and it can't be directly shown to the audience. No matter how good the script is, it will be useless without good directors and actors."

"And find a suitable TV station to cooperate with!" Song Tangtang added.

"TV stations are easy to find. There are so many TV stations in the country. I don't believe that we can't find one! The key is the director and actor Minghua mentioned. We really don't understand this stuff."

Zhao Hongjun said, scratching his hair, looking a little irritated.

"I think we can be simpler and just invest. The specific director and actor will be found by the TV station that cooperates with us!" Song Tangtang expressed his opinion.

"Tangtang, now that you've said that, I've figured out the clues." Zhao Hongjun's brows relaxed: "The key now is to find a cooperative TV station - CCTV is in trouble, they probably won't care about us, at least it has to be provincial, don't consider the municipal level."

"Our provincial TV station is not good enough." Song Tangtang added.

"Of course! They don't know a thing!" When Zhao Hongjun mentioned the provincial TV station, he looked disdainful: "Why would they want such a good one? Find one in Jiangsu and Zhejiang or Guangdong Province, those places are doing well and have high ratings.

Listening to the conversation between the two, Fang Minghua said leisurely: "I suggest you find this TV station."

"Which one?"

"Yanjing. ”

Yanjing TV Station.

Recently, Zheng Xiaolong has been a little annoyed.

It turned out that just a few days ago, the director of the radio station gave him a task: he must shoot a 50-episode TV series within the next year, and it must be in line with the actual lives of the people and popular with everyone!

This is a fucking impossible task.

Now there is not even a script, and more importantly, the director also told us to save money and the budget cannot exceed 1 million!

Fuck!

On average, it’s only 20,000 yuan per episode!

Are you kidding me?

Do you think this is the early 1980s? I don’t know how many times the price has increased now!

Complaints aside, Zheng Xiaolong, who has not been the director of the Yanjing TV Art Center for a long time, still took on this task.

The first task assigned by the director is to quit. Does he not want to be the director of this center?

It’s annoying

Zheng Xiaolong sat in his office, thinking about this matter. The most urgent thing is to get a good script.

Find a book Adapting a novel into a script?

But the novels in the literary world nowadays are either scar novels full of deep hatred and resentment, or avant-garde novels that are written in a foggy and confusing way, or martial arts romance novels. None of those things are close to the lives of ordinary people.

Two years ago, Minghua wrote a book called "Crossing Guandong" and won the Mao Dun Prize. It feels good to adapt this novel into a TV series.

But the budget is not enough.

There are many outdoor scenes in the mountains and rivers, and 20,000 per episode is definitely not enough.

It is better not to shoot it if it is shoddy, so as not to tarnish other people's novels.

Oh.

There is no suitable novel, so I can only find someone to write a script.

Who to find?

Zheng Xiaolong thought of his buddy, Wang Shuo.

This guy has three novels adapted into movies and put on the screen this year, and he has become a hot chicken all of a sudden.

Ask him for help?

Zheng Xiaolong was thinking, just about to pick up the phone on the desk, suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Come in! ”

The person who came in was a staff member of the production center. He said to Zheng Xiaolong: "Director Zheng, a boss named Zhao wants to see you."

"Zhao?"

"Yes, he said he is the general manager of Xijing Shengshi Book Publishing Company, Zhao Hongjun."

Shengshi Book?

Zheng Xiaolong has heard of this company.

It is said to be the largest private book publishing house in China. Many best-selling books on the market, although they are under the names of other publishing houses, are actually published by this company.

However, I am not familiar with this Manager Zhao.

Why did he come to me?

"Please ask him to come in." Although Zheng Xiaolong was confused, he invited him.

"Okay."

The staff went out, and within two minutes a fat man in a black woolen coat walked in.

"Hello, Director Zheng, I am Zhao Hongjun, the general manager of Shengshi Books."

"Hello!"

The two shook hands warmly.

Zheng Xiaolong also poured a cup of tea for the other party, and then said: "Mr. Zhao, do you have something to talk to me about?"

"I know that Director Zheng is very busy, so I won't beat around the bush. I have a script here and I want to cooperate with you to make it into a TV series." Zhao Hongjun went straight to the point.

Zheng Xiaolong was delighted when he heard it.

How could this be a case of sleepiness meeting a pillow?

I am in need of a script.

But there was nothing unusual on his face, he just smiled and said: "Oh? What script?"

Zhao Hongjun didn't say much, he took out a thick stack of manuscripts from his bag and handed it to the other party.

"Desire. Written by Minghua?!" Zheng Xiaolong was shocked when he saw the author's signature: "Is it Minghua, the editor-in-chief of your Xijing Yanhe magazine?"

"Haha, who else but him?" Zhao Hongjun laughed.

Zheng Xiaolong immediately became interested.

He is a famous writer in China. I was just thinking about his book "Crossing Guandong", but he actually sent me a finished script.

God's will?

Zheng Xiaolong read it carefully and soon got into it.

Zhao Hongjun was not in a hurry and drank tea slowly.

After drinking a cup, no one gave him one, so he stood up and picked up the thermos on the table to pour himself a cup.

Zheng Xiaolong suddenly woke up.

"Hey, Mr. Zhao, why do I let you pour the water yourself? I'll do it."

"You're welcome, Director Zheng, what do you think of the script?" Zhao Hongjun asked with a smile.

"The beginning is well written, but I haven't finished reading it." Zheng Xiaolong said after thinking for a while:

"How about this, Mr. Zhao, I'll hurry up and finish reading the script today, and try to get back to you tomorrow morning, how about that?"

"Okay, no problem, I'm staying at the Yanjing International Hotel, this is my room phone number, you can call me when the time comes." Zhao Hongjun picked up a pen and paper and quickly wrote a number and handed it to the other party.

"Then I won't bother you, I'll leave first." Zhao Hongjun stood up.

"Okay, I'll see you off."

"No, no, you can watch your own."

Zhao Hongjun said as he left Zheng Xiaolong's office and came to the outside of the Yanjing TV building, looking at the dim sky.

Although the weather was cold, he still had to do something.

Go see a courtyard house.

Fang Minghua bought a courtyard house in Yanjing, and he boasted about it so much that Zhao Hongjun was also tempted.

Not long ago, his friend in Yanjing contacted him about a courtyard house for sale, and he stopped by to take a look during his visit.

Zhao Hongjun was busy with this all day.

Zheng Xiaolong was busy reading the script.

Damn it.

This is written for me.

At six o'clock in the evening, Zheng Xiaolong finished reading it all. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

It tells the story of ordinary people themselves, down-to-earth.

And most of the shots are indoors, so there are not too many outdoor scenes, which can reduce the cost of shooting.

Of course, the background of the story is Xijing, and it can be modified and set in Yanjing. This is not a difficult task for Minghua.

"That's him! Contact Zhao Hongjun tomorrow and try to buy the script!" Zheng Xiaolong made a decision.