Literary Master 1978

Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou both arrived in Yanjing yesterday. The difference is that Chen Kaige came back from Xi'an, Shaanxi, and Zhang Yimou came back from Jinzhong, Shanxi.

Of course they are happy if someone rushes to give them money. At this time, there is no one who is not short of money when making movies.

In 1983, when the two were filming "Yellow Earth" together, one day Zhang Yimou suddenly shouted, angrily sat on the ground and slapped himself.

Chen Kaige stepped forward to check it out and was confused. It turned out that the films taken in the past few days were not kept well and were all exposed.

They have very little money to make a movie, and the film is even more expensive.

Sometimes in order to save film, the actors even take the time to rehearse several times in advance to ensure that everything is perfect before starting filming.

The loss of several days' worth of film at once, coupled with the expenses required for reshoots, was undoubtedly a major blow to them. Fortunately, Wu Tianming came forward to solve the problem for them at that time.

There are no other advantages to co-producing a film. The funds are definitely much more generous than making a film for a studio, so Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou are very happy.

The two of them stayed at Lin Chaoyang's house for a day, and Tao Yushu chatted with them most of the time. Until the evening, Lin Chaoyang hosted another dinner for them.

While eating, another guest came to the house.

"Da Feng? Why are you here?" Lin Chaoyang was very surprised to see Feng Jicai.

"I have a manuscript for "October" that I need to revise. I wanted to find a place to revise it, so I thought of your house. Is there anyone in your west courtyard recently?"

Feng Jicai explained the purpose of his visit, and Lin Chaoyang said: "No one is there. Just give me a try, there are plenty of idle people in Yanjing."

Feng Jicai came to Lin Chaoyang not to escape and relax, but to meet people of the same mind and find inspiration.

The two chatted for a while, and then Lin Chaoyang took Feng Jicai to dinner and introduced Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou to him.

After finishing the meal, Tao Yushu said to Zhang Yimou: "I will contact Mo Yan tomorrow and ask him to come to Yanjing to discuss the adaptation. You can stay in Yanjing during this period. Do you have a place to live?"

Just as Zhang Yimou was about to speak, Chen Kaige suddenly touched him and said first, "No."

"If there's no room, then you can live in the west courtyard of our house. It happens to be vacant there."

Zhang Yimou nodded in agreement.

Chen Kaige then lied that Zhang Yimou's luggage was left at their home, and went back to pick up the luggage first before asking Zhang Yimou to come back, and then took him out.

After leaving the door, Zhang Yimou asked: "Kege, haven't the dormitories been arranged at Yanyingchang Guest House?"

"What are the conditions at Yanying Factory, and what are the conditions at Uncle Lin's house? It can be the same, you have to thank me, you know?

Besides, didn't you see Feng Jicai coming? Let me tell you, their west courtyard is definitely going to be lively these days.

Get to know a few more writers and build relationships. If you make a movie in the future, are you still worried about not having a script? "

Now Chen Kaige has a sense of superiority when getting along with Zhang Yimou, and he feels like he regards Zhang Yimou as his younger brother. Zhang Yimou is going to change his career to become a director, and he doesn't mind lending a helping hand with a little overlooking.

Listening to Chen Kaige's words, Zhang Yimou nodded lightly, "That makes sense. Thank you, Kaige."

Chen Kaige smiled proudly, "No matter how polite you are, we are all classmates."

The two returned to Yanying Factory and went to the guest house to pick up their luggage. Zhang Yimou left alone.

It was almost eight o'clock in the evening when he returned to Xiaoliubukou Alley, and Lin Chaoyang arranged him in a separate room in the west wing of the west courtyard.

After Lin Chaoyang left, Zhang Yimou took a look around the room and found that the conditions were indeed much better than those at the Yanying Factory Guest House.

He saw the light in the wing next door was on and knew that Feng Jicai lived there. Thinking that the two of them would be neighbors these days, he decided to go over and chat.

It happened that Feng Jicai had just turned off the lights in his room and came out. The two said hello, and Feng Jicai said, "I want to watch TV for a while, let's go together!"

"good."

Feng Jicai led him into the main room with ease. Zhang Yimou thought he was going to the east courtyard, but he didn't expect that there was a TV in the main room in the west courtyard, a 16-inch color TV.

"Oh! I'm usually busy at home, and I don't even have time to watch TV." Feng Jicai sat on the sofa and sighed.

When Zhang Yimou reached middle age, he deeply felt the same as Feng Jicai's words.

The two of them were watching TV and chatting. In a flash, the TV screen turned into snowflakes, but the conversation about sex continued.

Feng Jicai went outside to tinker for a while, and when he came back he brought some food and wine. Zhang Yimou asked, "Where did you get this?"

"There is a kitchen. There are parties every now and then in this courtyard in Chaoyang. Anyone can come and live there, especially foreign writers coming to Beijing. It provides a lot of convenience for everyone.

At first, some people thought it was embarrassing to live in other people's houses for free, so they left some things behind, and later it became a tradition.

Anyone who stays in the West Courtyard must leave something behind when leaving. Rice, flour, grains and oils, tobacco, wine, sugar and tea have all almost become canteens.

Look at this salted duck egg... This must have been brought over by Wang Zengqi. From his hometown in Gaoyou, he loved to pickle this stuff. "

Zhang Yimou stared at the salted duck eggs in Feng Jicai's hand. For some reason, the image of a group of literati changing cups and reciting poems appeared in his mind, and he couldn't help but be fascinated.

"Come on, have a drink!" Feng Jicai greeted.

Zhang Yimou happily sat down, chatting and drinking, and unknowingly became a little drunk.

When Zhang Yimou woke up again, it was already past nine o'clock in the morning the next day. He hurriedly got up, only to remember that he was no longer on the set.

When he left the room, he realized that he didn't seem to be living in the same room as yesterday.

"Yimou, wake up!"

Feng Jicai was doing some activities in the courtyard. When he saw Zhang Yimou, he got up and said hello to him. He also said, "There is food in the kitchen. You can warm it up and eat it."

"good."

By the time Zhang Yimou finished eating, Feng Jicai had already gone back to his room to write. He had nothing to do and didn't know what to do. He planned to buy a copy of "People's Literature" and study "Red Sorghum" carefully.

"Red Sorghum" was published in the third issue of "People's Literature" this year. The bookstore had long since sold out of this issue of the magazine. He wandered around Xidan all morning without buying the magazine, and in the end he could only return in frustration.

Returning to Xiaoliubukou Alley, as soon as I walked to the entrance of the west courtyard, I saw a little boy looking at the threshold of the courtyard, with big dark eyes full of curiosity.

Zhang Yimou had seen this child in the east courtyard yesterday and knew that he was Lin Chaoyang's son. He glanced into the alley and saw Lin Chaoyang standing there leisurely.

"Teacher Chaoyang!"

The two greeted each other, and Lin Chaoyang asked: "Going out?"

“I originally wanted to buy a copy of People’s Literature, but I didn’t.”

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said: "No need to buy it, I have it at home."

As he said this, he led Zhang Yimou into the west courtyard and picked up Xiao Dongdong who was playing at the door and held him in his arms.

"Come down, I want to come down!"

After entering the inner courtyard, Lin Chaoyang put him down and warned: "Just play in the courtyard, don't run around, do you hear me?"

"I heard you!"

Xiaodongdong ran to the sycamore tree in the yard to pick leaves. Lin Chaoyang ignored him and led Zhang Yimou through the verandah and ear room and into the back room in the backyard.

What comes into view are several rows of bookshelves, filled with books, at least four to five thousand.

Zhang Yimou couldn't help but be speechless. Apart from the library, this was the first time he saw so many books in his own home.

"The newspapers and periodicals are in the first row on the left. Look for them. This year's People's Literature should be there."

Zhang Yimou followed Lin Chaoyang's words and searched on the bookshelf for a while, and soon found the third issue of "People's Literature" he wanted.

"Found it."

After looking for the magazine, Zhang Yimou exited the room, and Lin Chaoyang told him to come here if he wanted to read.

The two returned to the inner courtyard and saw Xiao Dongdong climbing up the trunk of the French plane tree. It was already more than one meter high.

"Come down!"

Lin Chaoyang shouted, and Xiao Dongdong turned to look at his old father, and laughed proudly, but had no intention of getting off the tree.

Lin Chaoyang was not in a hurry and continued: "I'll tell your mother!"

As soon as these words came out, Xiao Dongdong immediately slipped down from the tree, ran over and hugged Lin Chaoyang's thigh, acting coquettishly and cutely.

Zhang Yimou couldn't help but feel happy when he saw the father and son getting along.

Lin Chaoyang chatted with Zhang Yimou for a few words, then heard someone calling him outside the hospital, so he carried Xiao Dongdong and walked out.

It turned out that there was an international registered letter sent from Japan.

Lin Chaoyang opened it and saw that it was from Miyu Kitamura. The form was similar to the previous one.

First, I reported to Lin Chaoyang the sales volume of "Enter Guandong" in the past few months, and then translated the reviews of many professional critics and enthusiastic readers.

But the difference this time is that Miyu Kitamura mentioned the royalty settlement in the letter.

"Enter Guandong" was released in Japan in January this year. It sold 9,000 copies in the first month of its release. Since then, word-of-mouth has continued to grow, and sales have steadily increased.

As of last month, June, the monthly sales had reached 14,500 copies, and the cumulative sales in the past six months had reached 71,800 copies.

The domestic price of "Into the Guandong" in Japan is 3,600 yen. According to the royalty contract signed by Lin Chaoyang and Kawade Shobo, his royalties this time exceeded 20.6 million yen.

Since the signing of the Plaza Accord last year, the Japanese yen has appreciated wildly, and now the U.S.-Japanese currency exchange rate has soared from around 1:210 last year to 1:170.

International events have little to do with Lin Chaoyang, but the appreciation of the yen did bring him some benefits.

Originally, these royalties were only about 100,000 US dollars, but now they have directly increased to more than 120,000 US dollars, which is equivalent to an invisible increase in royalties.

Perhaps it’s because “Into the Kanto” entered the Japanese book market for the first time and has performed well in sales. At the end of the letter, Miyu Kitamura mentioned that Kawade Shobo hopes to strengthen cooperation with Lin Chaoyang and continue to introduce and publish Lin Chaoyang’s works.

After reading the letter, Lin Chaoyang replied to Kitamura Miyu. In principle, he agreed with Kawade's study room idea, but he also put forward his own requirements.

The reason "Into the Guandong" was published without any conditions was because it was published in Japan for the first time. Now that the novel has performed well since it was put on the shelves, it is natural that the treatment should be improved.

A few days later, Mo Yan returned to Yanjing from his hometown in Shandong with his luggage and found Xiaoliubukou Hutong according to the address Tao Yushu gave him.

Two days ago, he received a call from Tao Yushu in his hometown in Shandong from Yanjing, saying that he wanted to adapt his "Red Sorghum" into a movie, so that he could have time to return to Yanjing as soon as possible.

After receiving the news, although he couldn't believe it, Mo Yan said goodbye to his family and hurriedly boarded the train back to Beijing.

The reason why he said "returning to Beijing" is because he just left Yanjing half a month ago.

Since being selected from many amateur creators by Tao Yushu that year, Mo Yan's creative career has opened up a new world.

He published many novels in many magazines such as Lianchi, Huashan, Xiaoshuo Yuebao, and People's Literature.

In 1984, he learned that the PLA Art Academy had just established a literature department and was recruiting students. After several twists and turns, he successfully became a student of the Chinese Department of the PLA Art Academy.

He has been studying at the PLA Art Academy for two years. He returned to his hometown in Shandong during the summer vacation in July.

After meeting Tao Yushu, Mo Yan felt particularly cordial and told her about his experience in the past few years.

"I went to the PLA Art Academy late, and the registration was closed.

Thanks to Teacher Xu, he saw my name and had some impression of me, and asked me if I was the Mo Yan who wrote "Folk Music".

I said yes, and he said that he had read Teacher Chaoyang's comments on "Folk Music" before, and had some impression of me, so he allowed me to register as an exception."

When talking about his experience of enrolling in the PLA Art Academy, Mo Yan's face was full of gratitude. Tao Yushu didn't expect that Lin Chaoyang's small move back then would affect Mo Yan's life, but still said:

"This is all the result of your own efforts. The response to "Red Sorghum" was so good after its publication, which fully proves that you have been making progress in recent years."

After the two reminisced about the past, Tao Yushu took Mo Yan to the West Courtyard, wanting him to meet Zhang Yimou.

After Feng Jicai came to Yanjing, the West Courtyard, which had been silent for a few days, became lively again. Today, several guests came to the courtyard.

Tao Yushu introduced Mo Yan and Zhang Yimou to each other, and introduced the situation of the movie to Mo Yan, and finally mentioned the issue of the manuscript fee bill.

"Yimou is the director of Red Sorghum, and the director's fee is 5,000 yuan.

Moyan, your copyright fee is 2,000 yuan, and the script adaptation fee is 4,000 yuan. Can you write a script?"

Zhang Yimou and Moyan were very surprised to hear Tao Yushu's words. They had never discussed the issue of remuneration with Tao Yushu before, and they didn't expect her to be so generous.

Zhang Yimou was paid at the Guangxi Film Studio, and he would receive a daily allowance when he went out to film, which was only more than 100 yuan a month.

Moyan was better than Zhang Yimou. He was now studying with pay, and the army paid him a salary, and he could also earn a few hundred yuan in royalties every year.

Moyan really wanted to put the script adaptation royalties into his own pocket, but he had no experience in writing scripts at all, so he was very unconfident to take the money.

"Teacher Tao, I'm afraid I can't write a script." Moyan said hesitantly.

"You are the original author and the creator of this novel. You must have confidence in yourself." Tao Yushu advised.

As the two were talking, Zheng Wanlong on the other side asked with a smile: "Yushu, why don't you let your Chaoyang write?"

"Chaoyang is writing a new novel." Tao Yushu explained.

"That's easy!" Li Tuo pushed Chen Jianyu next to him out, "Jianyu writes good scripts, let him cooperate with Moyan, it will definitely be right."

Moyan has ideas and writing skills, but what he lacks is the experience of writing scripts. Chen Jianyu can just make up for his shortcomings. Tao Yushu thinks this is a solution.

She consulted Moyan and Chen Jianyu for their opinions, and the two were very happy. With Chen Jianyu's help, Moyan gained confidence.

And Chen Jianyu can also take this opportunity to make some extra money.

4,000 yuan divided equally means 2,000 yuan per person, which is higher than his annual salary.

The two happily took the job. When they heard that they were going to write a script, Li Tuo and his gang also gave advice and chatted enthusiastically.

Tao Yushu looked at this scene and left the West Courtyard with satisfaction.

A few days later, Chen Kaige came to Lin Chaoyang's house with the script of "The King of Children".

He found Chen Maiping, a teacher at the Central Academy of Drama, to write the script of "The King of Children". The two jointly signed the script. Chen Kaige was full of confidence in the script.

After Lin Chaoyang finished reading the script, he said to him: "Kaige, as a director, it is okay to communicate your ideas with the screenwriter, but it is unnecessary to write the script yourself. In this regard, you have to learn from Yimou."

Chen Kaige did not understand what Lin Chaoyang said at first, but soon understood.

Uncle Lin was disgusted with his poor script writing.

"No, Uncle Lin, listen to me, my script... Look at this scene, I plan to shoot it like this... The image of this shot... This line has three meanings..."

Chen Kaige intended to use his eloquence to persuade Lin Chaoyang, but unfortunately he met Lin Chaoyang who knew his bad nature.

After talking for a long time, Lin Chaoyang finally said only one sentence, "You make movies for the audience. Even if it is an author's movie, it needs an audience."

After realizing that he wasted his efforts, Chen Kaige became indignant.

Just now, Uncle Lin compared him with Zhang Yimou. Is this comparable?

Do you think Zhang Yimou doesn't want to write a script? He doesn't have the talent.

"What are you thinking about?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

Come back to his senses, Chen Kaige said: "Nothing."

Lin Chaoyang pointed out: "Acheng's original story is good. Since you like this work, you should keep this point. The rhythm of the script should be faster, and there should be fewer meaningless lines and empty shots...

The script is not a novel, but it is even less an essay. You wrote the script so scattered. Are you going to shoot it for your own enjoyment?"

Chen Kaige felt very aggrieved and wanted to refute Lin Chaoyang, but every word Lin Chaoyang said made sense.

The most important thing is that he holds the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Every time Chen Kaige wants to refute him, he always feels insecure.

Uncle Lin has won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival. His attainments in drama creation are definitely much higher than mine. If he doesn't understand something, it must be because he is not good enough.

"Then I'll take it back and change it."

After being criticized by Lin Chaoyang, Chen Kaige said angrily.

"Well, change it as soon as possible." Lin Chaoyang said, and felt that after the slap, he should be given a sweet date.

"We will try to start shooting the film in September or October and complete the post-production process early so that we can catch up with next year's West Berlin Film Festival."

After hearing this, Chen Kaige, who was still in a low mood, suddenly became excited.

"Uncle Lin, can my movie go to the Cannes Film Festival?"

"Whether you can go depends on the quality of your photos."

The reason why Chen Kaige is so excited is that when he first filmed "Yellow Earth", he wanted to hit the three major international film festivals in Europe, namely Cannes, West Berlin and Venice.

It's a pity that my luck was a bit bad, and I only visited some less influential film festivals in Europe.

If the new film has Uncle Lin leading the way and the quality is guaranteed, it will definitely not be difficult to be shortlisted and win an award when the time comes...

Chen Kaige didn't dare to think about it anymore, for fear that he wouldn't be able to help but laugh out loud.

In addition to being happy and excited, he also felt motivated to change the script.

"I understand, I understand. When I get back, I will make sure to take the time to change the script and try to start filming as soon as possible."

"Okay, go ahead."

Chen Kaige happily walked out of the east courtyard with the script. When passing by the west courtyard, he heard the noise inside and knew that there must be another gathering of writers inside.

He is usually very willing to participate in occasions like this, but now when he thinks about his film being able to participate in the West Berlin Film Festival, it feels like a fire is burning in his heart.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a party or not, just get the script out first.

With this thought in his mind, he walked away gracefully.

Time flies and it is already mid-August. Tao Yushu returned to Xiangjiang a few days ago. The main purpose was to settle the dividends of "The Truman Show".

After the Cannes Film Festival, the overseas copyrights of the film have been sold one after another. As of early August, a total of overseas copyrights have been sold in 29 countries including Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea, and the cumulative copyright transaction volume has reached 1145. million dollars.

In addition, there is a symbolic copyright buyout fee of US$20,000 in mainland China.

The overseas copyright income alone is equivalent to HK$91.76 million in Hong Kong dollars.

In addition to overseas copyright transactions, "The Truman Show" has also been released in Hong Kong, Bay Island and Southeast Asian countries in the past two months.

Xiangjiang is released on May 24, Bay Island is on May 29, Thailand is on June 4, Malaysia is on June 5... The screening time in various regions and countries ranges from 25 to 35 days.

By mid-July, the screenings were basically over, with a box office of HK$33.46 million in Hong Kong, NT$42.73 million in Bay Island, and RM6.29 million in Malaysia...

All in all, "The Truman Show" has achieved good results in screenings in Hong Kong, Bay Island and Southeast Asia. The final total box office reached HK$71.55 million in Hong Kong dollars.

The box office revenue attributed to producers such as Golden Harvest, Xu's, Lam's, and New Kunlun was HK$28.95 million.

In total, the total after-tax income of "The Truman Show" reached an astonishing HK$100 million.

"The Truman Show" has four producers, but Golden Harvest monopolizes most of the revenue because they are not only the producer but also distribute the film.

Lin Chaoyang originally invested in the script and received 10% of the income. In the end, Lin's Pictures' after-tax income exceeded HK$10 million.

This number doesn't look much compared to Golden Harvest's revenue, but movies are a business, and it's impossible for you to get all the benefits just by getting a good script.

Whether it's "The Truman Show" or "A Better Tomorrow," the most important role is to help Lam Pictures gain a foothold in the Hong Kong film industry.

Looking at it now, just one "The Truman Show" has exceeded the task.

After Tao Yushu returned to Xiangjiang, Jiahe happily settled the profits of Lin's Pictures. Zou Wenhuai also chatted with Tao Yushu about the next cooperation.

In fact, not only Jiahe, but also Xu Guanwen and Li Hanxiang are looking forward to a second cooperation with Lin's Pictures, but the prerequisite must be that Lin Chaoyang personally writes the script, but obviously this condition cannot be met at present.

Tao Yushu did not reject Jiahe directly. After all, they are now the dominant player in the Hong Kong film market, with production and distribution in hand. Since they have a good start in cooperation, they must try their best to maintain the relationship.

She just said that Lin Chaoyang was writing new works for the time being and had no time to worry about movies.

After Jiahe's income arrived, Tao Yushu looked at the eight-digit working capital in the company's account and was filled with joy.

With this considerable amount of funds, Lin's Pictures can finally recruit more and more people.

After a busy day's work, Tao Yushu called Tao Yumo. As expected, she was at the New World Apartment in Tsim Sha Tsui at this time.

The New World Apartment in Tsim Sha Tsui is now a gathering place for many female stars in Hong Kong. Maggie Cheung has already bought an apartment here after making money.

The area is not large, more than 500 feet, less than 60 square meters, which is very suitable for single nobles.

Since the couple left Xiangjiang, Tao Yumo spent most of his time with Maggie Cheung in addition to hanging around the company and the crew every day.

You can use "trains running on rails" to describe the state of the two people when they are together - eating and shopping.

"Have you gained weight again?"

As soon as they met, Tao Yushu asked Tao Yumo.

"No." Tao Yumo said with a firm look in her eyes.

Tao Yushu looked at Maggie Cheung again, and she immediately came up to him, "Sister Yushu, when did you come back?"

"Just came back two days ago."

Tao Yushu looked at the environment in the apartment again. There is no difference between single female stars and bachelors in essence. They are all single dogs. The environment in the house is really not clean.

Maggie Cheung was embarrassed by her look and said guiltily: "I've been too busy filming recently."

Tao Yushu didn't dwell on these things and said: "Let's go, have dinner together tonight."

The three came to the coffee shop downstairs. In addition to selling coffee, there are also wonton noodles and other dishes, which are very Hong Kong-style.

During the meal, Maggie Cheung and Tao Yumo secretly looked at each other. They didn't know why Tao Yushu came to the apartment today, which made them feel guilty, like elementary school students who were caught talking in class.

"Maggie, did you know any good screenwriters, directors or producers when you were at Jade Channel before?"

Maggie Cheung didn't know why Tao Yushu suddenly asked this. She thought for a while and said, "I don't know many. I am most familiar with Zhao Zhenqiang and Wang Jing. Sister Yushu, why are you asking this?"

"We are running a film company, so we need to recruit some people!"

"Do you need me to ask them for you?"

"Then you ask them for me. If you are interested in changing jobs, let's meet and talk."

Maggie Cheung made an OK gesture to Tao Yushu, and Tao Yushu smiled gently, "Thank you, Maggie!"

Seeing Tao Yushu's smile, Maggie Cheung didn't know why her eyes were a little shy, and her voice got lower and lower.

"It's okay, Sister Yushu, I'm glad to help you."