Chapter 596 Winning the Award
If *Love Letter* failed to garner critical support, and was seen by critics as "deliberately pandering to the audience," then *Even Faking Death Won't Work*, in their eyes, turned a director capable of making great films into a clown who resorted to farcical antics to please the audience.
All I can say is that these film critics are generous with their praise, but when they criticize you, they are equally harsh and sharp.
The program booklet for "Even Faking Death Is Not Allowed" received a score of 2.7, placing it in the upper-middle range.
However, Li Zhibai's performance received a lot of praise, and some media even exaggeratedly described it as "perhaps this year's audience will vote for Li Zhibai as the best actor, after all, he is too sexually attractive in 'Even Faking Death'".
Both Chinese-language films in the main competition have finished their premieres and achieved decent results.
Crucially, both films garnered significant media attention, generating substantial interest in the movies.
For the film producers, the benefit is that many overseas film companies have come to negotiate distribution rights.
On the same day, the opening episode of Jump Up Theater, "The Adventures of a Young Girl," garnered a 0.62% viewership rating on Yuehai TV. Compared to the massive promotional campaign that seemed to reach the heavens beforehand, and the viewership miracles previously created by Lu Yanhe, this number seemed insignificant and even appeared to be a "flop." However, for a completely new team with a new director and actors, this viewership rating was still quite impressive.
Lu Yanhe was so busy he could barely stand, but he still remembered to send a congratulatory message to all the main creators.
He also shared a "celebration poster" from the Jumping Theater.
A new team, impressive results!
Amidst those voices that were uninformed and deliberately pessimistic, his stance was actually a clear declaration to everyone that this achievement was already good enough!
However, Lu Yanhe really didn't have much time to pay attention to what was happening at the Jumping Theater.
He is busy with negotiations for the overseas distribution of "Love Letter".
D19 seems to want to replicate the success of "Road to Glory" in North America, and has seriously discussed with Lu Yanhe several times the potential gains "Love Letter" might receive during the awards season.
They seemed very confident that Love Letter would win the Best Foreign Language Film award.
Lu Yanhe himself was skeptical. Because *Love Letter* wasn't the kind of film North American awards season favored. *Road to Glory*, in both its subject matter and style, was definitely a favorite of the North American awards season.
Schmidt Lowry of Green Valley Pictures, who once helped Lu Yanhe with the production of "Road to Glory," clearly shares the same view as Lu Yanhe.
After the premiere of "Even If I Fake My Death," Schmidt Lowry approached Lu Yanhe to discuss his assessment of "Love Letter," believing that the film didn't need to compete in awards season, as doing so would actually negatively impact its performance in North America.
After all, if an award season ends without any significant success, it will create the impression in the industry and the market that "this movie isn't very good."
Schmidt Lowry told Lu Yanhe, "It should take the route of media and audience word-of-mouth."
After returning, Lu Yanhe carefully considered the current offers and distribution strategies of various film companies. He also held two meetings with Chen Ziyan and Xu Tianming to discuss the situation of "Love Letter". In the end, they decided to give the North American distribution rights to Green Valley Pictures for $6 million.
Subsequently, major markets such as Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and France were all acquired by publishers from various countries for seven-figure sums.
In Japan, in particular, several distribution companies were fiercely competing for the rights, all seemingly optimistic that the film would perform very well at the Japanese box office. Ultimately, Higashiyama Pictures of Japan won the Japanese distribution rights for $4.5 million.
After this distribution, streaming services like Maxine and HP lost interest in "Love Letter." The distribution rights acquired by each country included streaming rights. This meant that if Maxine and HP wanted the film to be available to users in a particular country, they would have to buy the streaming rights from them.
In reality, if Lu Yanhe and his team were willing to grant the exclusive overseas distribution rights to any streaming media outlet, the price they would have offered would likely have been higher than the combined value of selling them separately. However, Lu Yanhe and his team believe that Linghe's current need to establish diversified distribution channels far outweighs the value of the copyright revenue generated by a single film.
Xu Tianming, Wan Qingqing, and Song Jiang now need to use a film like "Love Letter" to establish connections with distributors in various countries and "pay their tuition" to accumulate more resources for future film distribution.
The following week was basically spent negotiating with different people about the overseas distribution of "Love Letter".
Finally, all things considered, Love Letter sold distribution rights to 32 countries and regions during the Jose Film Festival, totaling $29.4 million.
The overseas distribution alone made Love Letter a fortune.
Variety magazine reported on the phenomenon of "Love Letter" being "highly sought after" at the Jose Film Festival's market, but also pointed out that Linghe actually rejected several higher offers from streaming services and insisted on a traditional theatrical release. "It is reported that one streaming platform even offered a sky-high price of $55 million."
Lu Yanhe was speechless when he saw the news.
There's no need to ask; this so-called "reportedly" was definitely information released by Maxine herself. Since it's impossible to buy it anyway, she just quoted an exaggerated number to make it seem like she's extremely sincere.
It's not uncommon for streaming services to offer a movie a high price of $5,500, but this is usually reserved for new works by world-renowned directors or films starring several A-list celebrities and receiving widespread attention.
It's impossible for "Love Letter" to reach that number.
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The overseas distribution rights for "Even Faking Death Is Not an Option" were acquired by the American film company Paramarter for $15 million, with the rights excluding mainland China being sold to them.
It is also a high price.
Moreover, based on the information Lu Yanhe had, the distribution agreement between "Fake Death Is Not Allowed" and Parameter meant that the revenue "Fake Death Is Not Allowed" would not necessarily be lower than that of "Love Letter".
To Lu Yanhe's surprise, Longyan Film Industry actually acquired the distribution rights for three films in mainland China, including Rubian Murray's "Paradise".
Lu Yanhe said to Chen Ziyan, "Unfortunately, we have no experience in distribution in China, nor do we have any distribution channels."
Chen Ziyan: "Domestic distribution is a deep and dangerous area. If you don't have a certain background and channels, don't do it easily. Otherwise, even if you get the distribution rights for many films, getting them approved is one hurdle, and whether or not theaters will give you screenings is another. Only after you get past these two hurdles can you enter normal market competition—a competition with a nine-out-of-ten chance of survival."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
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Lu Yanhe spent two full weeks in Jose.
Everyone else in the crew went back.
The day before the awards ceremony, Lu Yanhe suddenly received a notification inviting him to attend the ceremony—there was an award to be won.
Lu Yanhe breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he had long anticipated that Chen Bige would have no chance of winning the Best Actress award this time, Lu Yanhe was still a little disappointed after confirming that they had not recalled Chen Bige—people always hope for a miracle.
However, "Even Faking Death Is Not an Option" did not receive a "recall" notice, so it is basically hopeless for winning an award.
Of course, Longyan Film Industry is already very satisfied with this trip to Jose.
With $15 million in overseas distribution fees secured and production costs largely covered, everything after that was pure profit.
Because there was too much work to be done on the set of "Jump Up," Chen Siqi didn't stay in He Xi with Lu Yanhe for the whole time and went back several days ago.
On the day of the awards ceremony, Lu Yanhe attended the closing ceremony alone.
He was also invited to present the Best Actress award.
Lu Yanhe was curious about what awards "Love Letter" could win.
He couldn't win any performance awards, and the technical awards from Jose's department were few, with only one Best Cinematography award.
As a result, not long after the awards ceremony began, it was announced that "Love Letter" had won the Best Cinematography award.
Lu Yanhe: "..."
The director of photography for this film is Liu Bige, and the cinematographers are Wu Zhou and Bao Wenliang.
But none of the three were there.
Lu Yanhe had no choice but to go on stage.
“It’s a surprise. If I had known our cinematographer would win an award, I would have kept Liu Bige on the team. He’s the cinematographer for this film—and he’s also the director of *Even Faking Death Is Not an Option* and *Late Spring*.” Lu Yanhe accepted the trophy. “Similarly, as the director of *Love Letter*, I also want to thank the two cinematographers, Wu Zhou and Bao Wenliang. I’m very happy to accept this award on your behalf. Without your support, I, as a new director, certainly wouldn’t have been able to make *Love Letter*. I cherish the days I spent working with you all. Thank you for recognizing *Love Letter*. Thank you.”
Lu Yanhe accepted the award and stepped down from the stage.
He immediately took a picture and sent it to the "Love Letter" production team's group chat, tagging Liu Bige, Wu Zhou, and Bao Wenliang.
A group of people immediately came out to congratulate them.
Lu Yanhe said with a smile in the group chat: Send red envelopes! Treat us to dinner when you come back!
Liu Bige: Damn! I should have stayed!
Lu Yanhe: Hahahaha.
Wu Zhou: ? ? ? We won an award?!
Some people say: Yes, Mr. Wu Zhou, you will win the Best Cinematography Award in the main competition of the Jose Film Festival!
Wu Zhou: Holy crap!!
...
Lu Yanhe was chatting happily with everyone when suddenly someone gently patted his arm.
Lu Yanhe turned to look at him with some confusion.
There was a strange woman next to me.
She gestured to the stage and said with a smile, "Love Letter, Best Screenplay Award."
Lu Yanhe then suddenly realized what was happening and showed a surprised, even somewhat astonished, reaction.
After he went on stage, everyone was so surprised that it took them a while to recover.
"I'm sorry, please forgive me. I thought that since our film 'Love Letter' won the Best Cinematography Award, we wouldn't have a chance to win a second award, so I was a little confused and didn't react in time."
Looking at the audience, Lu Yanhe spoke the truth and then gave a somewhat embarrassed and shy smile. But this smile brought him back to the state of playing Huai Jingshu in "Love Letter" at that moment, that youthful and slightly naive state.
The people in the audience applauded him.
"Last time I came to the Jose Film Festival, 'Rouge' won the Audience Choice Award and the Best Actress Award. I didn't expect that this time, 'Love Letter' would win two more awards. I am very grateful to Jose. It seems that this place has become my lucky place," Lu Yanhe said with a smile.
"These past few days, I've received blessings and care from friends all over the world. To be honest, as a first-time director, I was completely clueless and had no idea where to begin. But thankfully, after working as an actor and screenwriter for several years, I've met many mentors and friends who immediately started helping me when I was at my wit's end. I knew exactly what kind of visual film 'Love Letter' was going to be when I was writing the script. Anyone who makes films knows what the process of transforming words into images is like."
Holding the trophy in his hand, Lu Yanhe said, “Love Letter is not a film about the complexity and depth of human nature. I hope that what everyone gains from this film is not reflection, but a remembrance of a certain period of the past and a certain person in their life. We keep moving forward, but sometimes we should not forget to look back and know what we want to see when we look back, so that we can know where we want to go in the future. Thank you again.”
He bowed deeply.
The applause rang out for the third time.
Lu Yanhe looked at the trophy in his hand in disbelief, shook his head, as if to say that he really did not expect to win a second award.
Later, the Best Director award was given to Rubian Murray for "Paradise".
The Best Actor and Best Actress awards both went to European films.
The final two awards, the Audience Choice Award and the Best Film Award, were won by "Paradise" and "The Long Rainy Season" by Vietnamese director Song Moc Thanh.
Upon hearing the final result, Lu Yanhe quietly suppressed the thought of "whether it's possible to win another big prize."
Two awards already, that's great, we should be content.
Lu Yanhe posed for a group photo with all the award winners, followed by an official press interview session.
The media was very satisfied with the award-winning performance of "Love Letter".
"Paradise" and "Love Letter" are the two most popular films among the media, while "The Long Rainy Season," which won the top prize this year, received only lukewarm reception from the media.
I don't know why the audience voted for "The Long Rainy Season" this year.
The media is very interested in Lu Yanhe's next directorial film, with several outlets pressing him for details. Although Lu Yanhe has stated that he has no plans to continue directing for the time being, it seems no one believes him. It's as if they're saying, "You made a film like 'Love Letter' as your directorial debut, how could you not have plans to direct another one?"
Before leaving Jose, Wu Yang came to the hotel to see Lu Yanhe off.
Wu Yang said, "I'll come to Jose more often in the future."
Lu Yanhe smiled and nodded, then said, "However, I may not be that prolific; I don't have a film every year."
Wu Yang: "As long as you're willing to come, we can definitely find a suitable way."
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "Actually, China produces many good Chinese-language films every year, but they may not have the channels to send their films to the Jose Film Festival. Director, I hope you can pay more attention to new Chinese directors every year, just like Liu Bige back then. There are many directors like him in China."
Wu Yang said, "Lu, if you discover a director like this, or if you have any films you'd like to recommend to me, feel free to contact me anytime. You have my contact information."
Lu Yanhe: "Okay."
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Returning to China.
Lu Yanhe, who returned to China with two major awards, greeted his fans at the airport before heading home to rest and prepare for the final episode of "The Birth of an Actor".
He had already missed one episode of recording.
"Now, Wang Dashan, Zhen Hongyu, Zhang Pingqing, Xu Liang, and Qu Yan have entered today's final recording." On the way there, Chen Ziyan, who had returned to China ahead of time, told him about the latest developments of the show. "Cheng Hai was eliminated in the top ten to top eight round, but he will be returning today as a guest performer."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
Of these five names, apart from Wang Dashan, which surprised Lu Yanhe, the others were among the best actors on the show. Apart from Zhen Hongyu, they were all actors who became known to the public through the show.
Chen Ziyan: "Our program has brought a lot of attention to everyone. Among those who entered the finals, apart from Wang Dashan and Zhen Hongyu who are not short of leading roles, Zhang Pingqing, Xu Liang and Qu Yan have now received invitations to play leading roles in scripts."
"That's good." Lu Yanhe said with a smile, "In that case, if we want to do a second season of this show, it should attract more good actors to participate?"
“Yes.” Chen Ziyan nodded. “We have almost finished recruiting actors for the second season, but we did lose a few of our original choices to the show ‘Directors, Please Advise.’ However, they all said they would like to participate in ‘Directors, Please Advise’ and then come to our show. ‘Directors, Please Advise’ is scheduled to air in the summer, while the second season of our ‘The Birth of an Actor’ will air next spring.”
Lu Yanhe: "If that's the case, then forget it. If they appear on two similar programs in such a short period of time, the audience will get tired of it. Besides, if they perform well on 'Director, Please Advise,' they will definitely receive acting offers."
Chen Ziyan nodded.
"Yuehu TV is also asking if we should put the trailer for 'Love Letter' on the last episode of 'The Birth of an Actor'?"
Did they bring it up themselves?
"Yes." Chen Ziyan nodded.
“That would be great,” Lu Yanhe said. “Love Letter is scheduled to be released during the Qixi Festival this year, in August. The first trailer will be released in May, so that should be about right.”
“Hmm.” Chen Ziyan nodded. “The market reaction to ‘Love Letter’ is quite enthusiastic right now. Although you keep saying that the film’s box office will not be very large, there are indeed some romance films in the domestic film market that have grossed around 1 billion yuan.”
Lu Yanhe knew that not all romance films fail at the box office; he was well aware of examples like *Us and Them*, *Finding Mr. Right*, and *More Than Blue*. However, these successes are heavily reliant on chance. A well-made romance film isn't guaranteed to achieve the same box office success as others, unlike certain genres with proven market potential. Romance films are too much about chance.
Therefore, he consistently emphasized that "Love Letter" wouldn't have a large box office, precisely to shatter unrealistic expectations from the outset and avoid disappointment. If a miracle did occur, great, everyone would be happy. If no miracle happened, and it performed normally at the box office, then the goal had already been achieved.
Lu Yanhe said, "The movie 'Love Letter' has already made a profit through overseas sales, so there is no pressure for its release in China. But if we set such a high goal for 'Love Letter' now and push the marketing too hard, it may discourage people from watching it. After all, this movie is not the kind that everyone should go to the cinema to see."
The two of them chatted until they arrived at the recording location.
Although it's a program from Yuehu TV, the recording took place in Yuming.
They got out of the car and walked into the studio. Not long after they went in, several cannon salutes suddenly rang out.
The entire production team of "The Birth of an Actor," including director Luo Yuzhong and the actors Wang Dashan and others who were participating in today's recording, were present. They all applauded, and cheers and applause rose and fell.
A banner was unfurled, which read—
A warm welcome back to Lu Yanhe, winner of the Best Screenplay Award at the Jose Film Festival!
"Congratulations!" Zhou Tong, the director of the program, presented Lu Yanhe with a bouquet of flowers on behalf of the entire crew.
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I recommend the older book, "I Became the Leading Lady of a Scandal Overnight".
(End of this chapter)
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