Chapter 841 President Lin has a vision
Wang Shuo and Lin Weimin did not attend the party organized by Haiyan.
Wang Shuo didn't go because he had a quarrel with Feng Xiaogang, and Lin Weimin didn't go because he was concentrating on making the final revisions to his new work.
It has been nearly two months since he started writing the novel. He wrote the first draft very quickly and completed it in about a month.
But this novel was inspired by Shi Fu, so he revised it very carefully and finally finalized it at the end of January.
He gave the novel to Shi Tiesheng. A week later, Shi Tiesheng still didn't call Lin Weimin to pick up the manuscript.
Instead, it was Cheng Ximi who called and urged Lin Weimin to take the manuscript away quickly.
Cheng Ximi said that Shi Tiesheng has read Lin Weimin's novel several times in recent days, and each time he reads it, it is a huge consumption for Shi Tiesheng.
Lin Weimin hurried to Shi Tiesheng's home, and as soon as they met, he found that Shi Tiesheng looked very bad, just as Cheng Ximi had said.
He jokingly said to Shi Tiesheng: "When I was the editor-in-charge, I was not as responsible as you."
"Your novel is so well written that people can't put it down." Shi Tiesheng praised generously.
"Is it really that good?"
Shi Tiesheng hesitated for a moment and said hesitantly: "My evaluation is quite subjective."
"It's okay, I'll let the readers comment on it after it's published."
After taking the manuscript from Shi Tiesheng's home, Lin Weimin handed it to He Qizhi the next day.
He Qizhi took the manuscript and was extremely excited. He had been waiting for more than a year and finally saw the new work of the great writer Lin.
"Why are your hands shaking?" Lin Weimin asked.
"I'm excited and happy!" He Qizhi said excitedly, "You know that the current economic environment is so bad that our Contemporary magazine can't even maintain its sales of 1.2 million copies. We are counting on your novel to revive!"
Lin Weimin said with a smile: "If your colleagues heard what you said, they would probably hit you. Don't be so stressed. The poor sales volume is not your fault."
Since the late 1980s, sales of domestic literary magazines have begun to decline. Over the past few years, many literary journals that were once thriving have fallen into operational difficulties.
Even leading domestic literary journals such as October and Harvest are now struggling to survive, with declining sales.
"Contemporary" is in the best situation among many first-line literary magazines, thanks to the solid foundation laid by Lin Weimin during his tenure.
During the peak period of Contemporary, it was common for a single issue of Contemporary to sell two to three million copies.
However, good times don’t last forever, and beautiful flowers don’t bloom forever. The overall downward trend of the environment is bound to have an impact on Contemporary Magazine.
Last year, there were no influential works published in the domestic literary world. As the country's top platform for publishing literary works, the voice of Contemporary is naturally not as loud as before.
The most direct impact is that the sales volume that had been maintained with great effort has shown a continuous downward trend in the past year. The sales volume of the 12th issue in 1996 has fallen below 1.2 million copies, and it seems that there is no sign of this decline stopping. The first issue in 1997 has been on the market for more than 20 days and has barely broken 1 million copies. The sales volume is not optimistic.
The publication of Lin Weimin's new work at this critical juncture is like a shot in the arm for Contemporary Magazine, not only for readers and the market, but also for the editorial department of Contemporary Magazine.
After receiving Lin Weimin's manuscript, He Qizhi was extremely excited, and he still hadn't completely calmed down even after returning to the editorial office.
"Old He, what happened? Why are you so happy?"
Zhu Changsheng saw He Qizhi’s happy face and asked curiously.
"Hehe!" He Qizhi shook the manuscript in his hand, just laughing and not saying anything.
"Whose masterpiece is this?" Zhu Changsheng asked.
To make the editor-in-chief He Qizhi so happy, it must be a new work by a well-known writer.
Over the past year, the influence of the works published in Contemporary has indeed declined, and everyone is looking forward to receiving some high-quality manuscripts to stabilize the magazine's gradually declining trend.
Seeing that He Qizhi just smiled and said nothing, not only Zhu Changsheng was curious, but other people in the editorial department also looked at him inquiringly.
"Editor-in-chief, now that we have the manuscript, please stop hiding it."
As Yang Xinlan spoke, she moved closer to He Qizhi.
She glanced at the first page of the manuscript. The paper seemed to have magic, which immediately attracted her attention.
Seeing Yang Xinlan's performance, others couldn't wait to get together with He Qizhi.
Finally seeing the name on the first page of the manuscript clearly, Zhu Changsheng smiled and said, "Great, great!"
Yao Shuzhi clapped her hands and said, "Oh, this idle guy finally remembered his old ways!"
Everyone in the editorial office was in high spirits, even happier than when they got their salary.
While the editorial department of Contemporary Magazine was excitedly discussing Lin Weimin's new work, several guests came to Lin Weimin's office.
To be precise, there was only one guest, the other two were Yu Dong and Zheng Yuanjie.
"President, this is Director Jin Guoping of the Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio."
Yu Dong introduced him, and before Lin Weimin could say anything, Jin Guoping on the opposite side laughed heartily and shook Lin Weimin's hand enthusiastically.
"Hello, President Lin! I have heard a lot about you!"
Jin Guoping has a generous personality that is rare among Shanghainese. The enthusiasm he showed when they first met made Lin Weimin, a native of Northeast China, a little uncomfortable.
"Director Jin, please take a seat."
Guowen Publishing House has recruited Zheng Yuanjie, a big name in the field of children's literature in China, and naturally wants to make great strides in this area.
As carriers of children's literature, besides novels, comics and animations are the best choices.
In terms of comics, Guowen Publishing House owns two extremely popular magazines, "Huawang" and "Hongdou Comics", and is fully committed to developing the potential of Zheng Yuanjie's many series of works.
As for animation, Guowenshe had no experience at all and could only rely on external help.
in the country, when talking about animation, the Shanghai Animation Film Studio is a name that cannot be avoided.
The Shanghai Art Film Studio was established in 1957. Its predecessor was the Art Film Group of the Northeast Film Studio. In 1950, the Art Film Group moved from the Northeast to Shanghai and became a part of the Shanghai Film Studio.
In the following years, with the continuous expansion of personnel, the Shanghai Art Film Studio was officially established. At that time, it gathered a large number of famous artists and writers such as Wan Laiming, Wan Guchan, Wan Chaochen, Qian Jiajun, Yu Zheguang, Zhang Chaoqun, Lei Yu, Jin Jin, Ma Guoliang, Bao Lei, and Wu Yingju.
China's first color puppet film "Little Heroes", the first puppet film using real people and puppet synthesis technology "Xiaomei's Dream", the first color animation "Why Crows Are Black", the first color paper-cut film "Pigsy Eats Melons", the first ink animation "The Tadpole Looking for His Mother", the first cinema animated feature film "Havoc in Heaven"...
The history of the Shanghai Art Film Studio almost condenses the animation history of New China. The numerous works with strong national style produced by the Studio have also made Chinese animated films unique artistic masterpieces in the world film and art fields, and have had a wide and far-reaching impact worldwide.
After entering the new era, Shanghai Art Film Studio has maintained a good momentum of development, producing a series of popular animated singles and medium-length films such as "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King", "The Story of Avanti", "Mountain and Water Love", "The Nine-Colored Deer", "Three Monks", "The Snow Child", and "The Monkey Catches the Moon".
After 1985, Shanghai Animation Studio entered the era of animated series. Many cartoons well-known to those born in the 1980s, such as "Calabash Brothers", "The Adventures of the Sloppy King", "Black Cat Sheriff", "Shuke and Beta" and so on, were produced during this period.
However, with the deepening of domestic economic reform, the drawbacks of Shanghai Art Film Studio as a state-owned unit began to gradually emerge. After the 1990s, the glorious period of Shanghai Art Film Studio was completely over and its decline was evident.
When Guowen Publishing House wanted to make an animated film, the first company it thought of was Shanghai Animation Film Studio.
A few years ago, Zheng Yuanjie's "The Adventures of Shuke and Beta" and "Magic Cube Building" were made into animated films by Shanghai Art Film Studio. Based on the previous cooperative relationship, Guowen Publishing House contacted Shanghai Art Film Studio through Zheng Yuanjie.
At this time, the Shanghai Mei Factory was facing internal and external troubles, so it was naturally more than happy to accept the Guowen Publishing House's initiative to seek cooperation.
After communicating twice on the phone, the factory director Jin Guoping decisively came to Yanjing, intending to meet with Guowen Publishing House to discuss cooperation matters in detail.
After some pleasantries, Lin Weimin spoke candidly with Jin Guoping about the prospects of Guowen Publishing House in the field of animation.
After the 1990s, the Shanghai Animation Studio did not develop smoothly, and China's animation industry seemed to have fallen into a slump.
The animated feature films that were like works of art that could be enjoyed in theaters in the past have almost disappeared, leaving only TV screens filled with cartoons with crude painting styles, stiff movements and expressions, and weird plots. It is not easy to produce one or two animation works that are worth watching every year.
At that time, making animations was almost synonymous with losing money.
In a market economy, no one will do business without money.
All that's left on TV are those shoddy products that survive on government subsidies. Bad money is driving out good money, and the market is going from bad to worse.
It was not until after 2015 that domestic animation began to show some improvement.
It is now 1997 according to the Western calendar. The domestic animation industry is experiencing a trough, and this trough will continue for a long time. If Guowen Publishing House wants to enter this field, the difficulties it will face will be enormous.
Lin Weimin is well aware of the difficulty of this matter, but things like industries must be nurtured. If you don’t nurture them, pie in the sky will not fall.
What's more, the cultivation of animation IP will be a very important piece of the puzzle in the future IP map of Guowen Publishing House. Just look at Disney, which has been dominating the world cultural field since 2000. This is a field that Lin Weimin cannot give up no matter what.
It is difficult to enter the animation field, and it is even more difficult to cultivate the animation market. Guowen Publishing House cannot do business at a loss.
Therefore, we must find a good entry point.
The entry point that Lin Weimin found for Guowen Publishing House was animated feature films.
The Chinese people in later generations seem to have entered a misunderstanding when making cartoons. It seems that they must start with animated series, cultivate IP and audiences bit by bit, and then make big movies, that is, animated feature films, and then peripheral products, theme parks...
But therein lies a paradox.
If you want to make an animated series, you have to sell it to TV stations. As we all know, the purchase prices of cartoons by domestic TV stations are shockingly low.
How can you produce this animation if you can’t even recover your costs?
The answer is self-evident: low price and low quality.
In this way, the most direct effect is that the audience training time is greatly extended.
Many children can be fascinated by watching one episode of "Naruto", but it is hard to imagine that those kids would fall in love with "Xiyangyang" at first sight. The main feature of this thing is companionship.
As a result, the animation's investment payback period will naturally be greatly extended, and the risk will not be reduced much.
Lin Weimin plans to start directly with animated feature films. Naturally, the risk is not small. After all, the investment cost of animated feature films is much higher than those low-quality cartoons, and most importantly, there is no government subsidy.
But the benefits of making animated feature films are also obvious, that is, you can directly explore opportunities in the already mature animated feature film market, rather than going through the trouble of cultivating the market and audiences on your own.
As for how to attract audiences to the cinema, this of course depends on Zheng Yuanjie's influence, otherwise Lin Weimin would not have gone to such great lengths to bring him to the Guowen Society.
"Our Chinese Literature Society is not going to do animation on a whim, nor is it going to be a one-off effort. Instead, we will work hard for ten years to create a cultural industry with international competitiveness for our country!"
At the end of the conversation, Lin Weimin concluded with a serious tone and expression.
Jin Guoping, Zheng Yuanjie and Yu Dong were so excited after hearing this!
President Lin has a vision!
(End of this chapter)
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