Chapter 793: His Works Made Him Sure
Later, Feng Xiaogang directed a movie called "Personal Tailor" and another movie called "If You Are the One". In these two movies, many audiences familiar with Feng Xiaogang can see the shadow of "Party A and Party B". But in fact, most of these works carry the thinking of Wang Shuo when he was young and made a lot of money easily by being clever.
The story of "Party A and Party B" is basically the same as "The Troublemakers" and "Private Tailor". Wang Shuo's three tricks are still fresh to today's Chinese audiences. When watching the movie internally, everyone enjoyed it very much.
Mo Yan came to Wenhua Film and Television relatively late. Although he had read the script of "Party A and Party B", he still had no idea about the movie. When he watched the movie today, he was quite disdainful.
When whispering with Tong Zhonggui, his contemptuous attitude was obvious.
"At the beginning, I had similar ideas to you. It's like writing a novel. Zhang Yimou and his colleagues direct art films, like some serious literary works, while Feng Xiaogang's film style is more commercial, aiming for comedy, like a popular novel.
It would be meaningless to be concerned about the superiority or inferiority; art has no distinction between high and low.”
Tong Zhonggui's words made Mo Yan fall into deep thought. He realized that although he had been in Wenhua Film and Television for some time, his mentality had not been right. He had always used the same attitude as when writing novels to handle work matters, which was not right.
As the two were talking, the screening of "Party A and Party B" was nearing its end, and the cast list on the screen had already been moved to the end.
The lights in the small screening room came on. Feng Xiaogang, who was sitting in the back row, leaned closer to Lin Weimin, his tone mixed with trepidation and anticipation, "Teacher Lin, what do you think?"
Lin Weimin's expression softened. "Not bad, 6 points is a bit low."
Hearing this, Feng Xiaogang smiled brightly.
Mr. Wang standing by was disgusted by Mr. Feng's behavior. Didn't he just praise you? Look how flattering you are!
After Lin Weimin finished speaking, he looked at everyone and asked for their opinions. Everyone said a few words, some praised and some criticized, but the overall evaluation of the movie was relatively high.
"I can rest assured this time!" Feng Xiaogang said happily.
"Party A and Party B" is the second film he directed, with an investment of 2 million yuan. For Zhang Yimou and Cheng Kaige, people may not even look down on it, but Feng Xiaogang's starting point was too low. Even with an investment of 2 million yuan, he still walked on thin ice and did not dare to slack off at all.
Lin Weimin patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Just listen to what we say. The real test still depends on the market and the audience."
After he said that, Feng Xiaogang felt pressured and felt like a huge burden was on his shoulders.
Yu Dong then said, "Teacher Lin, there is no problem with the movie. Can you please finalize the final release date?"
Lin Weimin hesitated for a moment and said, "Let's go with December 24th. Christmas and New Year's Day are together, but it's still a little far from the Chinese New Year, so we can avoid Jackie Chan's movies."
Feng Xiaogang was surprised, "Jackie Chan's movie will be released on the first day of the Lunar New Year this year?"
Lin Weimin nodded. "At the beginning of this year, a movie called Rumble in the Bronx made 95 million at the box office here. This is a profit-sharing movie. Golden Harvest made a lot of money. How can we miss this feast?"
Feng Xiaogang sighed: "The higher-ups really gave them a big slash!"
Not only did these 10 imported blockbusters sweep the domestic film market in one year, they also hung like a sword of Damocles over the heads of many Chinese filmmakers, making them never dare to take it lightly at all times.
"Once any market loses competition, it will lose its vitality. Appropriately adding a few catfish will be good for the overall environment," said Lin Weimin.
Everyone present had different thoughts when they heard this, but they all shared the same feeling that Lin Weimin had a broad vision. Sayings like "he had a broad vision" and "foresight" were flattery, but his perspective on issues was indeed extraordinary.
Lin Weimin also said, "There is still more than a month before the movie is released. During this time, you should work harder on publicity. The concept of 'New Year's film' has already been pioneered by Jackie Chan. Now we need to continue to hype up the concepts of 'New Year's film' and 'New Year's period' to attract more audiences to the theaters."
Film promotion and distribution is the unshirkable responsibility of Yu Dong, the general manager. Like Feng Xiaogang, he feels a heavy pressure.
The publicity work for "Party A and Party B" has started. After being busy for more than half a year, Wenhua Film and Television finally has a work that can be shown off.
During this year, Wenhua Film and Television invested in a total of 4 films, including two in which it participated, namely "Winner" and "Red Suit" from Yanying Studio, and the other two in which it mainly controlled, "Party A and Party B" and "Let's Talk It Out".
"Winner" was released in the second half of the year and earned 1.96 million at the box office. According to the current 6:4 profit sharing ratio between the film company and the theater chain, Wenhua Film and Television and Yanying Studio, as investment and production units, realized considerable profits.
The video tape copyright of the recent film was sold to Zhijiang Audiovisual Publishing House for RMB 100,000, and the television broadcast rights may also be sold later.
For a movie like "Winner" which cost less than one million yuan to make, the rate of return is considered good. After all, the film business has always been high-risk.
For Guowen Publishing House, with an investment of 400,000 yuan, including box office revenue and videotape revenue, the return rate can be nearly 550,000 yuan, which is extremely considerable.
The director of "Red Suit" is Li Shaohong. The film has been delayed and is still in production. It is expected to be released next year.
"Party A and Party B" is the first film invested and produced by Wenhua Films. Yu Dong is a very young general manager. It is the first time for him to lead the distribution of a film. He wants to use all his strength for fear of disappointing Lin Weimin's kindness to him.
When Wenhua Films was busy with the distribution of "Party A and Party B", a guest from afar walked into the office building of Guowen Publishing House, accompanied by two government workers.
Michael Isikoff is a reporter and writer for Newsweek, now in his early forties. Unlike Richard Stengel, a senior reporter for Time magazine who graduated from a prestigious school, Michael Isikoff came from a humble background and has worked hard in the American journalism industry for twenty years to achieve his current success.
His most praised achievement was exposing the affair between Lewinsky and Lewinsky, the disclosure of which directly led to the second impeachment trial of a president in U.S. history.
It is not difficult to see from Michael Isikoff’s fierce record that media like Newsweek is definitely not liked by the US government.
Similarly, works like Lin Weimin and "God Bless America" will not be welcomed by the US government.
Whether they were like-minded or they admired each other, Michael Isikoff and Lin Weimin had a very pleasant conversation.
Michael Isikoff likes to ask questions related to politics. After all, he is a reporter for a current affairs magazine and this is part of his expertise, so it is understandable. However, Lin Weimin mostly just gives a brief answer when answering questions.
You can be as joking and sarcastic as you want in novels, but you still have to be rational in real life.
After talking about politics, Michael Isikoff turned the question back to the novel itself.
"According to the information I have collected, your novel has sold 700,000 copies in the first month since its release. This not only broke your personal sales record in the United States, but is also a very rare number in the American book market. Even many bestsellers do not show such dominance. What do you think of this?"
"I always believe that once a work is completed, it is out of the author's control. Sales or reviews will not have much impact on you."
"Your works have always sold well."
Michael Isikoff pointed out the problem with Lin Weimin's answer incisively, which can be understood as easy talk without any pain in the waist.
"Of course. Maybe when my novel sales are worse than Richard Yates's, I will say something different: the American people are blind."
Lin Weimin's answer was frank and humorous, which made Michael Isikoff laugh. "Aren't you afraid that others will say you are hypocritical?"
“A person wearing a mask could be a clown or an ace. Our attitude towards the world depends on what kind of feedback we want.”
Lin Weimin said this lightly, but Michael Isikoff pondered on it for a long time.
The writer in front of us is so young that people often overlook his achievements in literature, but he always inadvertently throws out wise words that impress people.
"Before I left, I read an article in The Atlantic Monthly that mentioned your nationality. The author believes that if it weren't for the influence of your nationality, you would have won the Pulitzer Prize or the National Book Award, or even the Booker Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature... What do you think about this?"
"There is nothing much to say about nationality. Every country has certain restrictions on literary awards. For example, in my country's Yanbing Literature Award, only writers from the country can participate, so this is not a problem.
Although I may not win the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, or the Booker Prize, I may still have a chance of winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.”
Michael Isikoff became excited when he heard the last sentence. "It seems that you are very confident that you will win the Nobel Prize in Literature?"
"I don't have much confidence, but I'm young and I can hold on!"
Lin Weimin suddenly got smart, which made the staff accompanying him unable to freeze and their shoulders shook continuously.
After laughing, Michael Isikoff could not help but sigh: "Lin, I admire your optimism and open-mindedness. You are unlike some writers who are so sensitive and delicate that they are pathological."
"If you often chat with Chinese people, you may often hear them mention a sentence: China has a long history. But you may not understand the meaning behind this sentence.
Behind that are the changes of dynasties, natural disasters and man-made calamities. Every color in the history books contains the ups and downs of the lives of countless people.
We Chinese grew up with this kind of historical perspective. Sometimes it may make us conservative, but more often it teaches us to be open-minded, optimistic, and believe that man can conquer nature. "
When Lin Weimin said this, his tone became excited.
Michael Isikoff also seemed to be infected and praised: "Great national genes!"
Then he added: "This seems to be the exact opposite of what we Americans think. I remember you ridiculed us Americans for having no history and culture more than once in your novel."
He suddenly attacked, but Lin Weimin laughed and said, "I didn't say that, it was the British!"
What a good trick to divert trouble!
The staff nearby couldn't help but give Lin Weimin a thumbs up.
Michael Isikoff smiled bitterly, "Well, damn English!"
He restrained his smile and said, "Let me ask you one last question. Last year, Time magazine interviewed you and the article concluded that you are one of the most important writers in the second half of the 20th century. Do you agree with this evaluation?"
Lin Weimin also became serious and said, "We Chinese have a saying that the final judgment of a person is made only after his death. Their evaluation seems to be a little premature."
Michael Isikoff heard a sense of courage in Lin Weimin's tone. He recalled that when he was doing homework for the interview, he read many interviews with Lin Weimin, and the confidence he showed in those interviews was exactly the same as it is now.
His eyes fell on the Chinese version of "God Bless America" on the desk next to him, and he couldn't help but think that it was probably these outstanding works that made him so confident!
(End of this chapter)
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