Chapter 316 You Can Make the Decision for Anything Below 2 Million US Dollars

Zhou Yan and his friends chatted briefly with Catherine and then went to check in.

Bregman sat in Zhou Yan's room for half an hour and got up to say goodbye. After all, he was a busy man and it was not easy for him to come and pick up Zhou Yan in person.

Tomorrow is the celebration banquet of "The Sixth Sense". As the producer of the film, he has a lot of things to do.

Originally, Bregman wanted to treat Zhou Yan to a meal, but Zhou Yan said that he had just eaten a meal on the plane and was not hungry, so Bregman gave up.

Not long after Bregman left, Zhou Yan picked up the phone in the room and dialed out.

"This is Zhou Yan."

Hearing that it was Zhou Yan's call, Chris on the other end of the phone said happily, "Have you arrived at the hotel? What's the room number?"

"1201." Zhou Yan reported his room number.

"Okay, Mr. Zhou, wait for me."

After that, Chris hung up the phone.

About two minutes later, the doorbell of Zhou Yan's room rang.

Zhou Yan walked over and saw Chris standing outside through the peephole.

Opening the door, Zhou Yan smiled and said, "You came quite quickly."

"I'm downstairs, you can go up the stairs."

Knowing that Zhou Yan would come to the United States today, Chris arrived a day in advance, and then checked into the hotel where Zhou Yan and his friends were staying. Today, he had been waiting for Zhou Yan's call.

"Please come in."

Inviting Chris to the room, Zhou Yan smiled and said, "There is no tea here to treat you."

"You are too polite. Have you had lunch? Do you want to go for lunch together? There is a restaurant nearby that serves good steaks, and it's not far to walk there."

Zhou Yan waved his hand and said, "I'll have steak next time I have a chance. I had a meal on the plane, and I'm not hungry at all now." Zhou Yan opened his bag and took out a script, "This is the English version of "Shutter Island."

This script was translated the day before yesterday. Anyway, Zhou Yan was going to Los Angeles, so he brought it himself.

He also knew that Chris was in a hurry, so he didn't say much, and directly took out the script for Chris.

Chris took the script with a smile and flipped through it. "Thank you, Mr. Zhou. I will take it to the company as soon as possible."

Zhou Yan immediately turned on the mode of chasing guests away. "If there is nothing else, go quickly."

Although he was sent away, Chris was still very happy because he didn't want to waste more time here. He nodded and said, "Okay, then I will inform you as soon as I have news."

"Well, you can come to see me before tomorrow morning. Let's make another appointment after noon."

"Understood."

After that, Chris got up and said goodbye.

…

After leaving the hotel, Chris rushed to the company without stopping and handed the script to Terry Semel.

Terry Semel was originally dealing with other things, but when he heard that Zhou Yan's script had arrived, he put down the work at hand and concentrated on reading the script.

While he was reading the script, Chris was waiting beside him.

Chris believed that Terry Semel would definitely be moved by this script.

The result was as Chris expected. After reading the script, Terry Semel burst into laughter. "Chris, you did a great job. This script is very good and worth our full efforts."

Chris smiled and said, "Should I talk to Y directly, or should the company send someone else to talk?"

Terry Semel thought for a while and said, "You should talk to Y. After all, you are more familiar with each other, and you are good at Chinese, which is convenient for communication. He will not stay in the United States for too long this time, and we need to make a quick decision."

"Yes, the key is that he has a lot of things to do. In addition to the celebration banquet of "The Sixth Sense", he also has to connect with the soundtrack work of "Titanic". I heard that Tomson has arranged some other activities for him, so his time is relatively tight these days. Before coming, he also told me that I can go to him directly before noon tomorrow, and after noon, I have to make another appointment." Chris said. "In that case, you should go back to him as soon as possible. Even if the specific details cannot be finalized in a short time, you should discuss the general direction of cooperation. Otherwise, I am worried that something will happen. This time he is here to attend the celebration party of "The Sixth Sense". No one knows whether Columbia will jump out halfway."

Chris nodded and asked, "Then my authority..."

"Under 1.8 million US dollars, you..." Terry Semel paused for a while and said, "Under 2 million US dollars, you can make the decision."

The main reason is that the cost of scripts has risen rapidly in the past two years. Some famous screenwriters have to sell a script for more than 3 million US dollars, or even 4 million US dollars.

For example, Shane Black, who wrote the script of the movie "Agent Madness" to be released this year, was directly auctioned for a high price of 4 million US dollars.

Although Zhou Yan is not a well-known screenwriter, his reputation in the film industry is not bad at all, and his script will definitely not be cheap.

Two million US dollars, in Terry Semel's view, is considered to be more sincere.

Chris also thought that two million dollars was already quite good, so he was quite confident in getting this permission, "Okay, I'll go talk to Y now."

"Oh, and one more thing." Terry Semel said, "If possible, see if there is any hope that he can compose the soundtrack for this movie. His soundtracks are very popular now."

"What about negotiating rights for the soundtrack?" Chris asked.

"You should test his tone first. It would be best if you can finalize the script first."

"Okay, I understand." Chris didn't leave in a hurry. He asked again, "What if Zhou Yan asks about the movie budget, director, and casting?"

"Don't take the initiative to say this. If he wants to ask, just ask for a budget of more than 40 million US dollars. You should ask him about the director and casting to see what he thinks. Didn't he say it last time? Do you have a favorite director?”

"It was exactly what he mentioned before that I wanted to confirm."

"Whatever he has in mind, you should verbally agree to it first."

Chris nodded, "I understand."

…

It was just after five o'clock in the evening when Chris knocked on Zhou Yan's door again.

At this moment, Zhou Yan is writing a score in the room. He promised to write another piece of music for Shizuka Kudo before, but he didn't just say it casually. He plans to write the piece during this period, maybe when Shizuka comes to Yan in some time. You can record it in Beijing.

When he heard a knock on the door, Zhou Yan put down his pen, stood up and took a look. He was surprised to see Chris standing outside the door.

Opening the door, he asked in surprise, "Chris, why did you come so fast?"

"Our company is not very far from here." Chris smiled, "And we are very eager to cooperate with you, so we came back right away."

Zhou Yan nodded, "From what you say, your company is interested in this script."

"Of course, the script of "Shutter Island" is very good. The company has decided to buy this script. What do you think about the cost? Nowadays, the screenwriting fee in Hollywood is generally around half a million US dollars. There are well-known screenwriters. I hope to get more than one million US dollars. Our company attaches great importance to you and will definitely give you a higher amount if appropriate.”

Zhou Yan didn't know much about screenwriting fees in Hollywood, but he felt that there was something wrong with the numbers Chris mentioned.

"Don't talk to me about the screenwriter's fee. Go talk to Zhang Youan. Don't you know each other?"

Chris was stunned for a moment. He had already anticipated many possibilities on the way, but he didn't expect that Zhou Yan wouldn't discuss the screenwriting fee with him at all.

This made him a bit confused. When they wanted to buy "Spring of the Cowherd Class" before, Xu Feng could have decided by himself, but Xu Feng had to ask Zhou Yan, and in the end it was Zhou Yan who vetoed the decision.

Now when it comes to the screenwriter's fee, Zhou Yan can decide it himself, but he must be asked to talk to Zhang Youan.

Some screenwriters have agents, and they really like to have agents help them negotiate business, but usually, the general direction is negotiated by the screenwriters themselves, and only when some details are involved will they go to the agent to contact them.

After all, the cooperation model between screenwriters and agents is different from that of artists.

When it came to Zhou Yan, it was the other way around.

Could it be that this is a negotiation strategy between Zhou Yan and Xu Feng?

Thinking of this, Chris did not give up. He continued to fight, "How about you tell me your thoughts first, so that when I talk to Zhang Youan again, it will be more efficient. I think, even if Zhang Youan talks to me, He will definitely come and ask you what you think.”

Zhou Yan shook his head and said, "No, Zhang Youan has full authority to decide on screenwriter fees. There is no need to ask me. If you talk to me now, it will be a waste of time, because what I talk to you cannot count. After all, I I don’t know much about the market in Hollywood, and Zhang Youan is in the United States now, so it’s easy for you to contact me.”

"That's it." Chris pondered, "Can I call him now and ask him to come over, and then the three of us can talk together?"

Zhou Yan shrugged his shoulders, "I have no problem, but you have to see if Zhang Youan has time."

Chris nodded and called Zhang Youan directly.

He has quite frequent contact with Zhang Youan, and he also knows Zhang Youan's contact information in the United States.

The call was quickly connected, and Chris quickly told Zhang Youan what had happened.

Zhang Youan told Chris that he was still in New York, but would arrive in Los Angeles tomorrow morning. If he wanted to have a face-to-face interview, he could wait until tomorrow morning.

Chris thought about it secretly and decided to wait until Zhang Youan came tomorrow morning before they could talk, so that the matter could be settled quickly.

After making an appointment to meet tomorrow morning, Chris hung up the phone. Then he turned to Zhou Yan and said, "Teacher Zhou, I have made an appointment with Zhang Youan to meet at your place tomorrow."

Zhou Yan nodded, "Well, you just need to make an appointment. I don't actually have any requirements for screenwriting fees, but I have some requirements in terms of copyright."

When he heard Zhou Yan talk about copyright requirements, Chris's eyes lit up. No matter what, just negotiate the terms.

"Tell me, what are the copyright requirements?"

"We still have to wait until Zhang Youan comes to talk about the details, but I want to tell you in advance that I will change the script of "Shutter Island" into a novel, which will be published and sold by then, so the copyright of this piece It must be agreed upon.”

Chris was even more happy when he heard that Zhou Yan was going to adapt "Shutter Island" into a novel and publish it, because this was a good thing for them.

Although this novel may not be a hit, it will play a positive publicity role for the movie.

It is best to have a complete set of configurations for the promotion and distribution of movies. Combining movies with novels is a very good way. There are also reasons for this that so many film companies like to adapt novels into movies.

A movie with an original novel is an innate advantage.

"Of course there is no problem. If you agree, we can also discuss the film and television adaptation rights of the novel."

"Just talk to Zhang Youan about these."

Chris nodded, "You said before that you have a favorite director. Can you tell me now?"

This time Zhou Yan did not keep it a secret, but directly told Chris a name, "Martin Scorsese."

Hearing this name, Chris blinked, quite surprised, because he had really thought of Martin Scorsese before.

After reading the script at that time, Chris was thinking about which directors were suitable for this movie. Many names flashed through his mind, and Martin Scorsese was the one he thought was more suitable.

Zhou Yan wanted to invite Martin Scorsese, which was both a good thing and a bad thing.

Martin Scorsese is indeed quite suitable for making this kind of movie, but the problem is that Martin Scorsese is not easy to invite. He is not the kind of director who can be invited with a little money.

Among all the Hollywood directors, Martin Scorsese's commercial purpose is relatively weak, and he has his own persistence.

However, if the script can impress Martin Scorsese, things will become very easy.

The key question now is whether Martin Scorsese will be impressed by this script.

Although Chris thinks that Martin Scorsese is suitable for this script, this is all his subjective opinion. As for what Martin Scorsese will think, he can't be sure.

But in order to let Zhou Yan hand over the script to them, Chris said very confidently, "Since you want to cooperate with Mr. Scorsese, we will definitely try our best to satisfy you. In fact, our company cooperates closely with Mr. Scorsese. You know that the "Goodfellas" that won the Silver Lion Award for him was a cooperation with our company."

Zhou Yan certainly knew about "Goodfellas", and he also knew that the movie won the Silver Lion Award, but he didn't know whether Scorsese had a close cooperation with Warner.

These well-known directors will have some cooperation with big Hollywood works, which is very normal.

Zhou Yan also thought of many directors, but after thinking about it, he still felt that it would be better to let Martin Scorsese shoot the movie, after all, he shot the original version and the effect was very good.

Scorsese is not a young director, and his current style is very mature. Let him shoot, there should be no problem.

As for the actors, although Leo performed well, there are many actors who can replace him, such as Kevin Costner who just played in "The Sixth Sense" and Bruce Willis, one of the original candidates.

Both of them have good acting skills and good box office appeal.

In addition to the two of them, Zhou Yan thinks Tom Hanks is also very good. The key is that Tom Hanks' box office appeal is very strong now, and he belongs to the first echelon. (End of this chapter)