Back to 80: My Literary Life

Since Shengshi Film and Television co-produced the "Harry Potter" film series with Warner Bros., Fang Minghua also has some knowledge of some film and television companies in Hollywood besides the eight major film companies.

The establishment of DreamWorks can be traced back to 1994.

1994 was a very important year for the film industry. Many films that are still popular today were released in this year, including "Alive" and "Chungking Express" in China.

Overseas, "Forrest Gump", "The Shawshank Redemption", "Pulp Fiction", "Days of Love", "The Lion King", "Speed", "True Lies" and "This Killer Isn't Too Cold" were released.

Also in this year, in the United States, three important entertainment industry giants came together and they wanted to open a company.

These three people are Spielberg, the box-office director who is loved by audiences around the world, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the animation wizard who has served as executive director of Disney films, and David Gerard, known as the godfather of American music in the recording industry. Finn, the company they created was DreamWorks.

The company's English name Dreamworks SKG refers to the three of them (Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen).

DreamWorks' products include movies, cartoons, television programs, home video entertainment, records, books, toys and consumer products.

After the establishment of the company, the three of them were gearing up and ambitious, hoping to combine their respective achievements in the fields of film directing, music and animation to create an independent film in television, film, music and the Internet that is not dominated by consortiums. Kingdom can compete with Disney and Paramount in Hollywood.

DreamWorks started with three to five feature films a year, and the number of productions continues to increase, with continuous masterpieces, such as "Saving Private Ryan", "Gladiator", "War of the Worlds", "Borrowed Knife", "Anchorman", "The Terminal", "Memory" Cracks" etc.

Of course, there are the first four "Harry Potter" movies, but they were directed by Spielberg, but the rights are not with DreamWorks.

In terms of animated films, DreamWorks quickly established a foothold in the animation industry with "The Prince of Egypt" and "The Ants", and also "Chicken Run", "Shrek" series and "Madagascar".

But what Fang Minghua didn't expect was that DreamWorks would be acquired by Universal Pictures!

If this news hadn't appeared in the famous "Entertainment Weekly", Fang Minghua would have thought it would be a rumor.

Why is DreamWorks selling itself?

Are there financial problems or something else to hide?

Fang Minghua suddenly became interested.

Among the three founders of DreamWorks, Spielberg is the one he is most familiar with. Apart from filming the Harry Potter series, the two actually knew each other as early as 1986.

In that year, Fang Minghua was invited to participate in the Iowa International Writing Program and came to the United States. Spielberg found him and bought the film adaptation rights of the novel "Catastrophe of the Sun" from him.

Talk to Spielberg?

He didn't know Spielberg's contact information, but it didn't matter. He took out his mobile phone and called Wu Tianmin directly.

The two have been working together on "Harry Potter" for several years, and Wu Tianmin will definitely have Spielberg's phone number there.

Sure enough, Fang Minghua called Wu Tianmin and asked. Although Wu Tianmin was a little surprised, he didn't ask any more questions and sent Spielberg's mobile phone number to Fang Minghua's mobile phone.

Fang Minghua dialed the other party's phone number.

Not long after, the phone was connected and a man's voice came: "Who is this?"

"Hello, Mr. Spielberg." Fang Minghua sat on the sofa with his legs crossed and said with a smile on his mobile phone: "I am the Chinese writer Fang Minghua."

"Oh, it's Mr. Fang." Spielberg's tone became enthusiastic: "Look at your mobile phone number, are you in the United States now?"

"Yes, I'm in San Francisco." Fang Minghua said.

"Oh, is it to restart the filming of "Harry Potter"? The news said that your wife, Ms. Song, the president of Shengshi Film and Television, came to the United States in person to negotiate with Warner Bros., but no agreement was reached."

"Yes, the conditions proposed by Warner Bros. are unacceptable to Shengshi Film and Television." Fang Minghua answered frankly, then suddenly changed the subject and said:

"Mr. Spielberg, I saw in Entertainment Weekly that the negotiations between your DreamWorks and NBCUniversal Films have also been blocked. Why do you want to sell DreamWorks? Is it because of financial problems?"

"Mr. Fang, yes." On the other end of the phone, Mr. Spielberg sighed and said, "Yes, so Jeffrey and David and I discussed selling it altogether so that we can concentrate on doing what we like to do."

When Spielberg said this, Fang Minghua's heart moved: "Mr. Spielberg, are you in Los Angeles now?"

"Yeah, I'm in Los Angeles."

"I'm going to spend the weekend at my private estate in Los Angeles this Saturday. How about my wife and I inviting you to my house for afternoon tea?"

"OK, I don't have anything to do this weekend, so I'm happy to accept your invitation." Spielberg replied with a smile.

Fang Minghua told Spielberg the specific address of Amber Mountain Manor on the phone, said a few more words and hung up the phone.

After making the call to Spielberg, Fang Minghua called up another number in his address book and called out. This time it was to his butler Lucas: "Lucas, book me a flight to Los Angeles this Friday. Tickets, don’t worry, I’ll ask the kids if they want to go to Los Angeles for the weekend with me.”

"Okay, Mr. Fang."

The original article can be found in Liu#9@书/吧!

When Li Li and Xinxin returned home in the afternoon and the whole family was having dinner together, Fang Minghua told them about going to Los Angeles over the weekend and asked them if they would like to go to Los Angeles for vacation over the weekend.

His son Fang Le said it didn't matter, but his daughter Xinxin was very happy: "Dad, I want to go to Disneyland!"

"Okay, daddy will take you to play." After that, he asked Li Li: "Lili, what about you?"

"I'm afraid I won't be able to go. The Confucius Institute at school will hold an event on Saturday," Li Li said.

Since the establishment of the Confucius Institute, Li Li, one of the deans, has been very enthusiastic and often holds various interest activities in the school without resting on weekends.

"Okay then, I'll take Xinxin and Lele." Fang Minghua decided.

"Don't forget to call Ruirui and see if she is willing to go together." Li Li reminded.

"Dad, my sister said on QQ last night that she is going to Los Angeles to meet Sissy this weekend." Fang Le suddenly said something while he was eating.

These two girls have a great relationship.

Fang Minghua couldn't help but shake his head after hearing this.

When it was time to rest in the evening, Fang Minghua called Song Tangtang and told him that he was taking his children to Los Angeles for the weekend.

"You can take the children to play." Song Tangtang's voice was a little tired on the phone: "I won't accompany you anymore. I want to have a good rest."

"Tangtang, I'm not just here for fun this time in Los Angeles, but I have an appointment to meet someone at the manor." Fang Minghua's voice was slightly mysterious.

"Who did you date?"

"Spielberg."