Chapter 791 One of the most important writers of the second half of the twentieth century
"The Season of Flowers and Rain" is the highlight of Wencheng Film and Television this year. It has consumed a lot of time, money and energy of the entire company. Even the editor-in-chief Lin Weimin has participated in it, which shows how much importance it attaches to it.
In order to promote the drama, Haiyan came up with a unique idea and cooperated with "Hongdou" magazine to promote "Season of Flowers and Rain" by releasing actor information every month, which had a miraculous effect.
Over the past six months, although the TV series "Season of Flowers and Rain" has not yet been aired, many of the child actors have already gained considerable popularity among young people.
This novel way of publicity also brought a lot of attention to the TV series "Season of Flowers and Rain". Even many media outlets noticed them. Each of them is handsome and beautiful, and they might be tomorrow's stars. These media outlets also followed suit and reported on them during the period.
After the National Day holiday, the TV series was finally completed and is now in intensive post-production.
Haiyan came this time to cooperate with the work of the Copyright Operation Department. The Copyright Operation Department has recently connected with a stationery factory in the south. "The Season of Flowers and Rain" mainly targets the student market. This time, Guowen Publishing House plans to develop a "The Season of Flowers and Rain" series of stationery, which is divided into two series: TV series and comic images.
Haiyan chatted with "Contemporary" for a while and was about to leave. When he walked into the corridor, he happened to meet Wang Yongsheng who was also from the Copyright Operation Department.
"Teacher Wang!"
"Boss Hai!"
The two men usually work close to each other and are acquaintances. They greeted each other and exchanged a few words before passing each other.
Wang Yongsheng entered the Copyright Operation Department and stayed there for more than ten minutes before coming out. He did not leave immediately, but ran to Lin Weimin's office.
"Teacher Wang, come and sit down." When Lin Weimin saw Wang Yongsheng, he enthusiastically made him a cup of tea.
"Please don't bother me." Wang Yongsheng said politely, "I came here to report to you about the situation of Red Bean Comics."
Lin Weimin sat down on the sofa and said, "You say."
"Our first issue of Red Bean Comics was published on the 15th of last month. The first print run was 500,000 copies, which sold out within three days. After that, we reprinted it three times. Now, the first issue has been on the market for 20 days, and the sales have exceeded 2.4 million copies.
At the same time, sales have not slowed down. We contacted many bookstores. Readers love the "Spirited Away" comics very much. Many readers are loyal fans of the original novel and buy the novel just for the original.
Your novel really gave Red Bean Comics a perfect start."
Lin Weimin waved his hand. "It's not only the original novel that has contributed to this, the name 'Red Bean' also played a big role. Romance magazines and girls' comics have almost the same audience. 'Red Bean' has been in business for several years and still has a great influence among readers."
Wang Yongsheng smiled and said, "This is of course an important reason. In short, it is inseparable from your and the agency's great help."
He sighed and said, "I really didn't expect that Red Bean Comics would achieve such brilliant results just after its launch. This issue might even surpass the sales of Painting King."
"This is also inseparable from the hard work of your editorial department."
After Wang Yongsheng finished talking about sales, he reported to Lin Weimin that "Hongdou Comics" was selected for the "5155 Project".
Last month, the Ministry of Rites and the General Administration of Press and Publication officially launched the "5155 Project". The specific measures of this project are: to establish 5 comic publishing bases, publish 15 sets of large-scale comic books, and create 5 original comic publications to help revive the Chinese comics that have been sluggish in recent years.
With Lin Weimin at the helm, the newly born "Hongdou Comics" was unsurprisingly selected for the "5155 Project". Four other publications were selected at the same time as "Hongdou Comics", including "China Cartoon", "Yanjing Cartoon", "Youth Comics" and "Comic King".
As the only comic magazine among the five that focuses on the girls’ market, the first issue of Red Bean Comics sold out immediately, shocking many of its peers.
At the same time, the currently serialized "Season of Flowers and Rain" and "Spirited Away" have also been successfully shortlisted for the "5155 Project" to "publish 15 sets of large-scale comic books". Tongwen Publishing House is also recently preparing to seek one of the "5 comic publishing bases" with the "Painting King" editorial department and the "Red Bean Comics" editorial department as the core.
For this purpose, Li Xin specially applied for several shop rooms from the community.
In just one year, almost one-third of the retail space reserved by the community has been used.
Guowen Publishing House will strive to reap the full benefits of this "5155 Project".
While Lin Weimin and Wang Yongsheng were discussing the "5155 Project", Hai Yan, who had left the Chinese Literature Society, had just arrived at the Friendship Hotel.
During this period, the script of "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo" has been being revised.
Haiyan came to the room in the Friendship Hotel, where several screenwriters, Liu Yanming, Zhang Heping and others were.
Hai Yan first took a look at the four episodes that had just been revised and felt that there were no major problems. He felt that the script weakened the imperial power and the role of bureaucrats and highlighted criticality, and all of these were done well. So he asked Qin Peichun and Shi Ling to continue creating.
He started chatting with Liu Yanming and Zhang Heping. The hottest topic in the television circle recently is the new document from the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television.
On September 1, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued this year's No. 16 Order, "Interim Provisions on the Management of Film and Television Production and Operation Institutions," which includes one clause: In principle, individuals and private enterprises shall not establish film and television production and operation institutions.
At first glance, this seems to block the development path of private enterprises.
However, the Chinese language is profound and extensive. The six words "in principle not to be established" themselves carry a certain gray element. Hai Yan, Liu Yanming and others have been dealing with the government for many years, so how could they not understand the meaning behind it.
Only one month after the issuance of Order No. 16, the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television issued Order No. 17, "Regulations on the Management of Television Drama Production Licenses". Some careful people have studied the contents of the regulations in detail.
It was found that there were no conditions that explicitly prohibited private companies from participating in TV drama production, and that private companies that met certain conditions according to the terms could even apply for a "Temporary License for TV Drama Production."
This is undoubtedly what Lin Weimin said last year about "loosening restrictions on private enterprises involved in TV drama production." It can be assumed that the government has tacitly allowed private companies to participate in TV drama production.
A duck knows first when the river water warms in spring. Since the beginning of this year, film and television companies such as Tanglong International and Page Taihe have been established one after another, which is enough to show that the field of TV drama production is undergoing earth-shaking changes.
When Liu Yanming and others discussed this matter, there was a hint of relief in their words. With Lin Weimin's advance notice, everyone was working together and had already been half a step ahead of all their peers in the field of TV drama production.
At present, the post-production of "Season of Flowers and Rain" is underway. The TV series took more than half a year from preparation to production, and attracted the attention of many media, readers and the public. Now we can only wait for the effect after the TV series is broadcast.
If it can maintain the momentum of “A Romantic Affair,” Wencheng Pictures will surely become a leading company in the domestic television drama production field.
Two days later, Lin Weimin received a call from Roger Strauss.
On the phone, Roger Strauss told Lin Weimin that several American media wanted to interview him.
Before this, Lin Weimin had been interviewed by many American media, but most of them were literary magazines or literary review magazines. Even for comprehensive magazines, the content of the interviews was mainly about literature.
But the subjects who wanted to interview Lin Weimin this time were different. They were all American political magazines.
When talking about the reasons, we have to mention "God Bless America" which was released in the United States last month.
On October 7, "God Bless America" officially landed in major chain bookstores in the United States.
As Lin Weimin's latest masterpiece, this novel has already caught the attention of many booksellers before it was published. For the first time in many years, FSG Publishing House, which is responsible for publishing and distributing the novel, has experienced the pleasure of being chased by booksellers.
When talking about Lin Weimin's influence in the American literary world and among readers, ordinary American writers cannot compare with him.
First of all, in terms of sales, over the years, more than 10 of Lin Weimin's works have been introduced to the United States, with outstanding sales.
Not to mention Farewell My Concubine, whose sales have exceeded 10 million copies, in the first half of 1995, the sales of The Horse Catcher also exceeded 7 million copies, and is constantly making progress towards the 10 million copy mark.
The rise in sales of this novel is inseparable from the Broadway version of the drama "The Kite Runner".
There is also the children's literature work "Spirited Away", which has been published in the United States for nearly three years and its total sales have exceeded 5 million copies.
In addition, works such as "The Lover", "Chasing the Murderer" and "Burning" also have sales of millions of copies. Even "The Sound of the Wind", which was introduced by FSG Publishing House later, has sold more than 400,000 copies despite the huge cultural differences.
Looking at the American literary world, even many best-selling authors have not achieved such an achievement.
The great popularity of Lin Weimin's novels is also influenced by many factors.
In the earliest days of introduction, we relied solely on word-of-mouth effect from readers, so the sales of several imported novels in those two years were not very high.
What really allowed Lin Weimin's works to break through the barriers of readers and achieve leapfrog growth for the first time was the successful development of the drama and movie "The Intouchables" and the feat of "The Last Emperor" winning nine Academy Awards.
Since then, Lin Weimin's name has successfully entered the American literary world.
Over the years, his works have won many awards including the Tony Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and his influence has become even greater than before.
In 1993, in order to fulfill Richard Yates's last wish, Lin Weimin asked Roger Strauss to publish "The Collected Works of Richard Yates".
With the strong support of Roger Strauss, the American media widely publicized the friendship between Lin Weimin and Richard Yates, successfully bringing Lin Weimin's name into the sight of ordinary American people.
During those two months, Lin Weimin's name was linked to Richard Yates and he became the most familiar writer to the American people.
The media reports about him also aroused the favor of the vast majority of the American people, making Lin Weimin's name transcend the category of "Chinese writer" and "Asian writer" and being regarded by many Americans as a great writer with international influence.
Especially after the movie "Farewell My Concubine" was released in the United States, the film perfectly restored the content of the novel and raked in nearly 300 million US dollars at the box office. It not only broke the record of American art films, but also broke into the top ten in North American film history, becoming a classic work that will be forever engraved in film history and has also influenced countless American movie fans.
Nowadays, if you ask a random passerby on the street in the United States about which Chinese writers he knows, most people’s first response will be Lin Weimin.
If we expand this scope to Asia, he is still the first choice.
Even on a global scale, many people will think of him. After all, the impact Lin Weimin brought to the American people was too recent in time.
What's more, over the years, relying on his works, Lin Weimin has accumulated tens of millions of readers and viewers in the United States and even around the world.
Last year, Time magazine interviewed Lin Weimin and used his photo as the cover of its 9th issue.
At the end of the article, the interviewer Richard Stengel made the following comment on Lin Weimin:
He is confident and unique, and likes to call his works "third-rate novels", but no one can deny that he is one of the most important writers in the second half of the 20th century.
There is no prefix of "China" or "Asia" in the name, which is enough to prove Lin Weimin's influence in the world literary scene today.
(End of this chapter)
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