What should I do if the system forces me to copy books?

There are three different things in three sentences, and the person in charge of the company is really busy.

The Lord of the Rings peripherals are currently cooperating with the domestic Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to launch the Lord of the Rings cover version of the Federal Reserve Card and credit card, but the issuance time is too short, and it is still unclear how the customers who apply for the card are.

In the next step, we plan to cooperate with the well-known brand "Zhou Daxing" Gold Company to launch the 99 gold version of the same Supreme Lord of the Rings, but the price will be a little expensive, and we will only accept pre-orders for the time being.

The reason for such pricing is to prevent the flooding of products in the market, so that if someone wears it when going out, it turns out that everyone has one, and bumping into a ring is as terrible as bumping into a shirt!

In addition, the global peripheral products developed in cooperation with Random House, from key chains, coasters, thermos cups, notebooks to dolls and other friendly peripherals, there is nothing that cannot be used.

Li Chungang knows that the surrounding area of ​​Lord of the Rings is a huge gold mine, which is more than hundreds of times stronger than the surrounding area of ​​works such as "Ghost Blowing the Lantern" and "Knives in the Snow"!

Now small-scale development has so many uses, and when it is adapted into a movie and released in the future, it may make much more money than the box office revenue by joining forces with those manufacturers and film dealers.

But the second thing surprised him quite a bit. The global release of "The Lord of the Rings" achieved a total sales of nearly 17 billion within a week and seven days. This is undoubtedly an astonishing success for a fantasy work with a western background!

It has injected a shot in the arm for the entire publishing market, and made people see the infinite possibilities of book sales.

Li Chungang is very satisfied with this data, and the sales will definitely decline in the future, but almost everyone can conclude that it will definitely easily break through the 20 billion mark!

"The Hollywood company came to my door with the script? Could it be someone from Paramount again? Why are they so persistent? They just rejected the other party two days ago, and they couldn't wait to come to me with the script in less than three days It's weird what you do."

His mind was full of doubts, subconsciously ignoring that it was illegal to adapt without the authorization of the author of the work, but he was very curious about what the Paramount company thought.

The market prospect of "The Lord of the Rings" is there for all to see, and this can be seen from the global sales.Even boring text can attract so many readers to buy, what if it is adapted into a more vivid movie?

It's just that the vast majority of Hollywood studios are currently in a state of "wait and see". In fact, there are already answers, but there are still necessary processes and steps that should be taken.

As for those film companies that feel that the company is not strong enough, they have long since given up with self-knowledge.

While waiting for Lin Meng's reply, Li Chungang couldn't help but murmured, "Could it be that Paramount and the others think that they can impress me with an adapted script, or that they don't even know about me?" Also a screenwriter? Maybe it's that kind of unpredictable way of doing things that keeps Paramount at the bottom of the pack year after year."

"Senior sister, what exactly is the situation where the Hollywood company you are talking about comes to the door with the script? It can't be Paramount again, right?"

Li Chungang's reply was full of doubts, and he was not a person who started chaotically and ended up giving up.

Lin Meng guessed that the other party should be in the code words when Li Chungang didn't reply to his message immediately, so he has been waiting for Li Chungang's response. It is difficult and troublesome to type such important things through WeChat. Knowing that he didn't have the hand speed of Li Chungang's typewriter, he simply called.

She laughed and said: "Today the company received a script outline of "Lord of the Rings" from Universal Pictures, and their producer named Evans said it was a matter of sincerity, and planned to spend a lot of money to buy "Lord of the Rings" He asked if it would be convenient for you to have a chat with him about the film in Yanjing in person."

"Didn't everyone let Caitlin help to disclose the news that there is no plan for film and television adaptation in a short period of time? Why are companies coming to buy film and television copyrights?"

"It's just that we don't believe in evil or think that we are waiting for a price, and maybe we really want to win the copyright of the "Lord of the Rings" series."

Li Chungang thought it over and over again, and asked: "It's not Paramount anyway, has Universal written the script now? If it's true, we can take a look at the content of the script first, and talk about the copyright issue."

He didn't believe that anyone could get the script out in such a short period of time. Did he really think that everyone had the same help as himself from the [Literature Encyclopedia System]?

Even if it is the world's top studio like Universal Pictures, no matter how many talented screenwriters it has, it only takes a few days to get the detailed script of "Lord of the Rings", which is completely a fantasy!

Sure enough, Lin Meng emphasized: "The other party said in the email that it was just a script outline, and there may be some related settings, plot direction arrangements, shooting ideas, etc. But you must not be fooled by their rhetoric. Fuck you, the best thing these Hollywood producers do is write bad promises."

"How is it possible, I have high requirements. If they can't meet this requirement, no matter which company they are in!"

"If this is the case, then I will arrange it for them. You don't have class on Wednesday afternoon, right? Make that time available. Then you can find a quieter coffee shop. I will tell the other party the address and sit face to face with you. Let's chat, and see Universal's specific sincerity."

Li Chungang recalled the class schedule, and after confirming that there was no class on Wednesday afternoon, he agreed: "I think this can be done. I hope that Universal Pictures will not only write empty promises like Paramount. Can you give me a little surprise? Otherwise, you're wasting everyone's time."

After all, it is not easy to fly to Yanjing from Los Angeles. At least some basic progress is required. If it is just a simple meeting, it is meaningless.

"Then I'll reply to the email first. Their company hopes that we can keep a low profile and keep this meeting secret, and not make this meeting public. This is exactly what we thought. We just rejected Paramount and let Caitlin go out for a walk. I don't want to make a movie adaptation. The news, and now he has agreed to meet with Universal Pictures, it is not suitable to publicize because of emotion and reason."

Originally, "The Lord of the Rings" has just been released not long ago. If it can be revealed that [Universal Pictures executives paid three visits to Maolu just to obtain the right to adapt the film], it will definitely attract the attention of many people who eat melons on this book. .

They will be curious about what kind of content can impress the famous Universal Pictures. At the same time, those consumers who missed "Lord of the Rings" because of the subject matter will passively accept this name in the baptism of news again and again, and sooner or later they will become readers. !

Book shortage is a fate that every book lover cannot escape.

When they have a book shortage, they will subconsciously start with familiar works or authors to see if they have any new works.

After hanging up the phone, Li Chungang seriously considered the significance of this meeting.

"If the script can't convince me, then there's no need to talk about the rest!"

Chapter 586 Movie Universe

There are two flowers on each table.

Malibu Beach, far across the ocean, is one of the two richest gathering places in the city of Los Angeles. The number of stars here can even be compared with Beverly Hills, the most famous wealthy area in the United States.

This is the closest to several large-scale filming studios in Hollywood, but it is backed by mountains and facing the sea. It is a good place for leisure and vacation. It is a luxury house in China called "near the mountains and rivers, and you can see the invincible sea view when you open the balcony". If you gather here, you are either rich or expensive!

The first [-]-square-meter mansion that Evans owned in his life is located on the edge of Malibu Beach, where he can see the beautiful scenery of sunrise and sunset every day when he opens his eyes, and the open mind of the American people is People all over the world know that there are pretty girls who are naked on the beach almost every day. Not only will they not be shy when they are stared at by others, but they will also invite you to discuss the mysteries of life together.

He walked out of the room wearing a sky-blue silk nightgown, and the sun had just risen on the roof terrace in front of him. The ipad in his hand displayed the email that Zhou Kang had just replied to.

"Yes! The other party finally agreed, and the next step is to look at our preparations."

It was actually very risky to hand over the project of "The Lord of the Rings" film and television adaptation to Charles Ashley, President of Universal Pictures. It has only been on sale for a week, and the entire book has not been read yet. It is so reckless to judge that it will be a work of great value based on its amazing sales and unanimous praise from book critics.

At the beginning, Evans' thoughts tended to be more steady and steady, but time was running out——

Later, news reports from the "Lord of the Rings" Shanghai signing event spread around the world. From some gossip, it came out that their old rivals of Universal Pictures, Paramount, [-]th Century Fox, Disney, etc. wanted to get "Lord of the Rings" After obtaining the copyright of The Lord of the Rings, Evans became more convinced that there was nothing wrong with his vision, and at the same time, his sense of urgency to win the copyright of the film and television adaptation of The Lord of the Rings also soared.

And according to an insider, Paramount seems to have contacted Li Chungang, the author of The Lord of the Rings, in advance, and the result is still unknown.

It is very difficult to pick out the leaks from so many competitors. Only with sufficient preparation, strength and sincerity can it be possible to impress the young writer far away in the eastern country.

Therefore, under the guidance of Charles Ashley, Evans invited two screenwriters who had worked with Universal Pictures for many years and knew everything about it to "create" the script.

In order to show their strength and sincerity, these two screenwriters are not the kind of shams that are casually found in the screenwriters union. The name of the film industry is good, but if other Hollywood film and television companies come to your door to ask someone to adapt a script for a novel in a hurry, they will not even look at you sideways.

However, it is impossible for these two screenwriters who have won the Oscar nomination for the best screenplay to conjure up a script out of nothing.

Under the condition of limited time, at present, only some main frameworks have been sorted out from the book, and the rest is to slowly fill in various contents in this big framework through reading and understanding the content of this novel... …

For example, the world and scene where the story is located, the five to eight main people in the story (including decent villains), their respective background stories, and the reason and process of their encounter.

Then there are the five most important things the audience needs to know about the main character.

What is the core conflict of the story, the reason and process of this conflict, where is the scene with the richest visual information, and what are the ten most critical lines that can promote the development of the plot and shape the characters.

It is a hard work to turn an imaginary world constructed by words into an audio-visual world that audiences can see and hear. Their work these days is only to catch the "Lord of the Rings" The complete narrative thread!

For a normal screenwriter, if he wants to carve a story into a script, it is common for him to spend a year or two in order to achieve perfection. It can be regarded as a high-yield screenwriter in the screenwriting industry. After all, no one can follow the "systematic" adaptation genre like Li Chungang.

Now it is equivalent to the cooperation of the top experts in the two industries, and they can barely sell the "things" within these four or five days.

"Corbert, I'm going to China in two days. Before that, please give me the story of the script. Without that story, I can't convince a writer who knows Hollywood well and is wary!"

Evans yelled into the phone. Fortunately, there were no neighbors around, otherwise it would be a little troublesome, and he would be called a nuisance every minute.

Corbett on the other end of the phone brushed the few remaining hairs on the top of his head with his hands, and then yawned. He hadn't closed his eyes for more than 30 hours, and now his energy was only supported by a sip of coffee.

After hearing Evans' angry voice, Corbett also wanted to vent his dissatisfaction: "Hey, the time you Universal gave is too short! I shouldn't take this job at all! God, you guy Have you really read "The Lord of the Rings"? If you haven't really read this book, you can't imagine how huge the content of this novel is. What is it? It is very difficult for such a story to be filmed, I have to spend another five days, no, ten days is better if possible, otherwise what I will show you will only be a pile of rubbish!"

It is not easy to be a screenwriter, and the script is often changed.

This time, I was directly sent to the deadline. I didn’t read the book carefully, and I didn’t understand the content and emotion of the story. How can I write a suitable script?

If the writing is biased, then handing it over to the writer who is about to negotiate, wouldn't it be a slap in the face?

At the beginning, I heard the job content proposed by Universal Pictures: to let myself adapt a work from a writer from the Eastern Huaguo into a script.

At that time, Corbett was completely disapproving when he heard that the works written by Hua Guo writers, thinking about the value of adapting the works written by Hua Guo writers into scripts?

A well-known screenwriter who has been nominated for an Oscar for the best screenplay has actually adapted a script for a work by a Chinese writer. If this news spreads to the circle, it will be ridiculed by colleagues.If it weren't for Universal Pictures' reputation and generous remuneration, plus the sharp decline in property after divorcing his second wife some time ago, he wouldn't have accepted this job.

Day [-]: Watch The Lord of the Rings;

Day [-]: Watch The Lord of the Rings;

Day [-]: Still watching The Lord of the Rings;

……

In the five days, the first three days were spent reading the book "Lord of the Rings". Fifty days may not be able to complete it, but I have also signed the contract for this job. If it is not completed, not only will I not be able to get the generous remuneration, but I will also have to pay a painful liquidated damages , this is absolutely not acceptable.

Therefore, for two or three days in a row, Corbett didn't even dare to go to sleep, and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings".

It's just that this time he completely let go of his original arrogant heart.

Evans also realized something was wrong at this moment. Usually, Corbett was a submissive old man, but today he yelled at himself for the first time, paused, and asked in a low voice: "Hi, old man. I was in a bad mood just now. , just received the email over there and made an appointment to meet. I'm not afraid to tell you frankly, I really, really need it, and only you can help me! By the way, why didn't I hear Rossetti's voice, where did he go ?”

Corbett took the mobile phone in his hand and placed it next to the nose of the person next to him, and a loud snoring sound reached Evans' ears, "Did you hear that! He was sleeping soundly on the workbench, I'm the only one left who is still streamlining the content. I'm already so sleepy, I'll take a nap here in the studio later."

The volume of general novels is much larger than the script, so streamlining the content has become one of the necessary actions for film adaptation.It's just that no matter how much or how much you delete, you will offend readers and writers, which is not easy to do!

Being urged for a long time, the time is tight and the content is so rich at the same time, the temper of the good old Corbett will explode.

Evans also knew that his request was a bit overwhelming. These days, he was not idle, but was making simple shooting plans and funding arrangements, and all kinds of budget plans had to be prepared in a simple way.

Although the actual shooting plan is definitely different from the current one, the more formal and detailed the thing, the more sincerity can be seen.

Obviously he was the one who got angry, but now he has to hold back his anger and start to comfort Corbett who has entered the irritable period: "Listen to me, listen to me, now you keep what you have in hand, and then go to sleep. I would rather you slow down the progress, and don’t give me some semi-finished products, which will ruin the whole project. After I arrive in Yanjing, Huaguo, that is the real deadline. You can refer to the opinions of those readers on the Internet, if this If this novel is going to be made into a movie, what do they want to see."

The screenwriter has limited time, so let the assistant collect these contents as a reference, maybe it will be miraculous.

To be honest, Corbett didn't want to miss this project either. He has been a screenwriter for a long time and has been nominated for Oscars many times, so he is quite well-known in the industry.

Now I am stumped by a new book by a Chinese author, of course I want to overcome it and get it down.

Leaving aside that sense of accomplishment, let's just say that the compensation given by Universal Pictures is the real reason why he doesn't want to give up!

The screenwriters themselves don't earn much, and the status of the screenwriters' union is the weakest in the entire film industry. Every time they want to increase their remuneration, they have to go through a fierce struggle.Now the second ex-wife divorced and took away a large part of his property. To make matters worse, his daughter is going to a top Ivy League university, and the tuition fees are not small figures.

The "Lord of the Rings" project has not yet been won, but Evans has promised that no matter whether he finally gets the copyright or not, he will give the two screenwriters a remuneration of US$50 each.

For the sake of so many green Franklins, Corbett could only endure and work hard to polish the script.

It can be said that Evans is bound to win "The Lord of the Rings". He has paid so much to get the copyright, but he is not willing to make a wedding dress for others!

There is also great competition within Universal Pictures. How did this mansion come about?

It was earned because of the huge sales of the movie series "The Mummy" he once directed. The cost of the entire series is only more than 5000 million US dollars, but the cumulative global box office is as high as 54 billion US dollars, and the net profit is much higher than that of the top blockbusters. .

Now Evans doesn't expect "The Lord of the Rings" to have such a high profit rate, but he also hopes that it can at least bring enough profits to give himself enough weight in the company's right to speak!

Seeing that the rest of the old rivals are developing movie universes one by one, Marvel Universe and DC Universe are famous all over the world, and Universal itself is also creating a dark universe, but it is a pity that Dracula, Frankenstein, Werewolf and other screen monster images are classics, but the audience But he didn't buy it.

Even Paramount, which is not as good as it is every year, still has a cybertron universe that does not live up to its name. No matter how bad the word-of-mouth is, this Transformers will be filmed as soon as it should be filmed, and this box office will be earned as it should be.

While the rest of the movie universe is in full swing, Universal can only stand still.

Evans regards Li Chungang's series as an important opportunity. At present, judging from the content of the novel, the series is about to be made into at least three series, and there are still many outstanding characters in it that can be singled out made into an independent film.

So does it have a chance to develop into a movie universe and become the new pillar of Universal Pictures after entering the 21st century?

There is no doubt about Li Chungang's strength, and the story is exciting enough, but it is still relatively weak to have only a series of stories to support the entire universe.

He intends to wait for Li Chungang to be pulled into the ship of Universal Pictures, and then tie it up firmly. After the film starts to be produced, he will try to persuade the young writer to create a different story centered on Middle-earth. Come.

Isn't this a brand new movie universe?

Everyone, including Universal President Charles Ashley, thought that Evans just wanted to make the "Lord of the Rings" series of films. Unexpectedly, the producer's ambitions were so big, and he wanted to create a movie without saying a word. A cinematic universe to come.

Evans didn't know whether his idea was right or wrong. Can he bear the burden of pinning all his hopes on a young man?

"Even if it can't form a movie universe, it can at least become a classic series of movies!"

Anyway, it’s not a loss, at worst it would be a failure like the restarted version of "The Mummy". Anyway, the company paid for the film, and he, the producer, did less damage, and the loss was only fame and status.

As long as it doesn't fail all the time, Evans can afford a major failure now.

Want to create a movie universe without any pressure, apart from Disney, which of the other movie companies is not trembling?

Warner's DC universe has failed so many movies, that is, a "Wonder Woman" to save a little face.

Legendary's monster universe was a little better, with "Godzilla" doing mediocre, "Kong: Skull Island" was a hit, and last year's "Godzilla 2" and "Godzilla vs. Kong."

Now the question that Evans needs to consider is how to tie Li Chungang with Universal Pictures and complete this action before other competitors join the competition sequence.

"Difficult, too difficult!"

The sea breeze in the morning made Evans a little cold. He wrapped his nightgown tightly and looked far into the distance, but his thoughts had already flown to the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

Chapter 587

The cool air of the air conditioner was blowing in the dormitory, and Li Chungang, who had just come out of the bathroom, exuded the unique fragrance of shower gel.

Some people like the light fragrance of this shower gel after a bath, and think that this fragrance is not as strong as perfume, which is just right, while some people avoid it.