Literary Master 1978

Friends came over to congratulate the couple on their move. This weekend, the home in Overseas Chinese Apartment was bustling for most of the day, and finally everyone returned home happily.

Another Monday, Lin Chaoyang was at work when Master Xie from the reception room called him over and said he had his phone number.

He thought it was an editor who wanted to make an appointment with him, but he didn't expect that it was Xie Jin who called.

The two met before at the National Outstanding Short Story Award Ceremony, and they only exchanged a few words.

Xie Jin called to make an appointment to meet with Lin Chaoyang. Lin Chaoyang readily agreed and arranged to meet at the overseas Chinese apartment's home.

He had to work during the day, and going to the city was time-consuming, so he could only arrange the meeting in the evening.

Recently, Tao Yushu has been busy rehearsing for "The First Floor in the World", so he came back late in the evening.

Xie Jin came in a Jeep 212. When he arrived, Lin Chaoyang was preparing fried noodles.

"Thank you, Director, can we have something to eat together?"

Lin Chaoyang's tone was familiar, as if he was entertaining an old friend. Xie Jin smiled and said, "Okay, I just didn't have dinner tonight."

Each person had a bowl of noodles and finished them in a few minutes.

After finishing the meal, Lin Chaoyang made a cup of tea for Xie Jin, "Not a good reception."

"Originally I wanted to treat you to a meal, but instead I treated you to a meal."

"Please come back next time you have a chance." Lin Chaoyang said with a smile.

As the two chatted, Lin Chaoyang learned that Xie Jin was preparing for his 12th movie "The Legend of Tianyun Mountain" recently.

Xie Jin is a director of Shanghai Film Studio. He has won many film awards at home and abroad since directing films in the 1950s.

Before the emergence of the fifth generation of directors, he could be said to be a banner of Chinese cinema.

After chatting for a while, Xie Jin explained the purpose of his visit today.

"The article "Wrangler" that you won the award for, I want to make it into a movie."

Lin Chaoyang was not surprised by Xie Jin's words. His novel came from the original time and space "Soul and Flesh". This novel was later adapted by Xie Jin into the movie "Wrangler" and became very popular after it was released.

"Sure! It's also a good thing if it can be adapted into a movie. Do I need to participate in the script?"

Lin Chaoyang's cheerful statement surprised Xie Jin. He asked, "Can you write a script?"

"It's okay. If you don't want me to write the script, I will charge you a royalty fee for the copyright of the novel. If you let me write the script, then I will add the royalties for the script."

Lin Chaoyang's clear statement made Xie Jin Wan'er realize that he had been in the film industry for so many years and had seen many writers, but none of them put money directly where his mouth was like Lin Chaoyang.

"You want to write a script, right?"

According to current conventions stipulated by studios and the Ministry of Culture, the average starting fee for a feature film script is 1,000 yuan.

But if the novel is adapted into a screenplay and the original author does not participate in the adaptation, the author and screenwriter will share the royalties. The author generally only gets 20 to 30% of the royalties, and 70 to 80% of the royalties go to the screenwriter.

"If I can make more money, I will definitely be willing to write! And I am also the author of the original work, so I have this advantage." Lin Chaoyang said bluntly.

Lin Chaoyang is a popular young writer in the domestic literary world today, but Xie Jin dared not hand over the script to him rashly, even though he was separated by mountains and rivers.

"Do you have a script ready to go?"

Lin Chaoyang knew that Xie Jin wanted to see how well he could write scripts. He shook his head, "No."

"But I wrote a play for the students of Yan Normal University some time ago. They are currently preparing for a revival. I will take you to see it tomorrow?"

Xie Jin heard that it was a drama script written for students, and he was a little hesitant in his heart, but he thought that since it was a revival, it should prove to be quite good.

"That's fine."

That night, after Tao Yushu returned home, Lin Chaoyang told her that Xie Jin was going to Yan Normal University to watch their rehearsal.

It can be said that their generation grew up watching Xie Jin's movies, "Women's Basketball Team 5", "Red Detachment of Women", "Stage Sisters", "Youth"...

How could Tao Yushu not be excited when such a great director wanted to watch a play put on by students like them?

When she came to school early the next morning, she told her classmates the news, and everyone was naturally excited again.

In the evening, a Jeep 212 drove into the YNU campus.

Lin Chaoyang led Xie Jin to the auditorium to watch the rehearsal of "The First Floor in the World". The actors on the stage were almost exhausted.

Especially Li Luyang, who plays Lu Mengshi, became famous in the Yanjing cultural circle in "The First Floor" at the end of last year. These student actors made a big splash, and even people from the General Political Repertory Theater came to inspect them and wanted to cast them. The outstanding ones are absorbed into the drama troupe.

At that time, Li Luyang won the unanimous recognition of the inspectors of the General Political Repertory Theater with his wonderful performance of the role of Lu Mengshi. However, it was a pity that he was too old and exceeded the recruitment standards of the General Political Repertory Theater. It was a pity that he missed that time. Chance.

Now, a great director like Xie Jin came to watch their play, and Li Luyang's originally dead heart came back to life.

If you can’t be a drama actor, you can be a movie actor!

Unfortunately, what disappointed him was that after watching their rehearsal results, Xie Jin was full of praise for the stage performance and script, but did not mention the performance of the actors.

"It would be a pity not to get a script of this caliber to be acted in by Renyi!"

Today's rehearsal almost maintained the level and intensity of the performance because of Xie Jin's presence. After watching it, Xie Jin applauded without hesitation, and then said to Lin Chaoyang with an exclamation tone.

"The script, talent and talent really clicked. We started planning it last year and said it would be performed in the first half of this year." Lin Chaoyang said.

Xie Jin nodded. The excellence of the script of "The First Floor in the World" is self-evident. It is not surprising at all that people and art can like it.

He looked at Lin Chaoyang again. The excellence of "The First Floor in the World" far exceeded his expectations, which made Xie Jin feel that he was impressed by Lin Chaoyang.

Novels and screenplays seem to be very similar styles, but they have completely different techniques and expressive goals in creation.

It is already recognized that Lin Chaoyang's novels are good, but it is really surprising and surprising that his scripts can be so brilliant.

"I'll leave the script to you!" Xie Jin said.

Lin Chaoyang chuckled and said, "Director Xie, we haven't discussed the royalties yet."

Xie Jin smiled and shook his head, "The Ministry of Culture and our studio have regulations. It's useless for you to talk to me."

"How much does it cost exactly?"

"1,500 yuan."

Lin Chaoyang was overjoyed, but his face remained calm, "One thousand and five, it's a bit less."

Xie Jin glanced at him and said, "It only costs a few hundred yuan to write a novella and publish it. How many words does the script only have?"

"The effort required is different!"

"Then what do you mean?"

"I heard that a script at Yan Film Studio costs two thousand yuan."

Lin Chaoyang's words were not lies, but he heard what Tao Yucheng said when he talked about mountains and rivers, so he didn't know whether he was keeping the truth or not.

Xie Jin hesitated and said nothing, and Lin Chaoyang added: "You are a famous director, and my novel is also very influential. It will definitely be popular when it is made into a movie..."

Xie Jin finally understood what he meant, which was that he wanted two thousand yuan.

There are rules and regulations for the amount of royalties, but Xie Jin is a film director and actually has a lot of decision-making power.

He pondered and said: "If I give you two thousand yuan, can I produce a script within a month?"

"Yes! That's great!" Lin Chaoyang said happily.

As long as the money is in place, all the glass will be broken!

Let alone releasing a script in a month, there is no problem in releasing a script in a week.

Xie Jin looked at him in surprise, held it in for a long time, and then said: "You really don't look like a scholar!"

"That's what you said. Writing makes money. I have to work hard. Working people are the most glorious!"

Lin Chaoyang's tone was relaxed and humorous, without any sense of loss of face, exuding a free and easy atmosphere.

Xie Jin laughed and said, "Okay. If you publish the script in one month, the two thousand yuan in royalties will be yours."

"That's it!"

After taking over the script of the "Wrangler" movie, Lin Chaoyang became busy again.

During this period of the new year, due to house issues, he had not been able to calm down and write.

The fee for a movie script was two thousand yuan, which was about the same as the fee for writing a novel, which immediately made him full of motivation.

After hearing the news, Tao Yumo was even happier than his sister Tao Yushu.

"Brother-in-law, if you write a script for Director Xie Jin, will you have to join the crew in the future?"

Naturally, what she is concerned about is not the amount of royalties, but whether she can meet movie stars.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, China's film industry has been booming. Low ticket prices and various free screenings have made watching movies the most cost-effective entertainment activity for Chinese people.

Especially in recent years, after the end of the buzz, the domestic literary and artistic circles have ushered in a state of blooming, and the number of moviegoers has been rising rapidly every year.

Each issue of "Popular Cinema" could easily sell millions of copies. The 1980s was known as the golden age of literature, but the highest sales volume of literary magazines had never exceeded two million copies. The record of "Popular Cinema" at its most glorious period was The single issue sold nine million copies.

In an era when the public is so obsessed with movies, the appeal of movie actors is naturally huge.

"I'm writing a script, not filming. Where can I see stars?"

Lin Chaoyang's words made Tao Yumo feel disappointed, "That's boring."

"Your brother-in-law wants to write, so don't disturb him."

Tao Yushu drove his sister away, followed Lin Chaoyang into the study, and said, "Chaoyang, there is something I want to discuss with you."

"What's up?"

"I have collected several royalties recently. I already have more than 4,000 yuan in my hand. Do you want to give Lin Fugui another sum of money?"

It's almost May. In the past few months, Lin Chaoyang has not produced any works except for the novel for "Contemporary", but this does not prevent him from collecting royalties.

During this time he received several royalties.

First, the royalties for 20% of the print run of "Little Shoes" are 80 yuan;

The second is the National Outstanding Short Story Award with a bonus of 180 yuan;

The third is the fee for the work to be reprinted by "People's Literature" and published by the Humanities Society because of the award. The fee for reprinting is not high, only 3 yuan for 1,000 words.

However, the publishing fee is still considerable. For the collection of this year's award-winning novels, the Humanities Society will give them a uniform fee of 8 yuan per thousand words.

The total royalties for the two works totaled 495 yuan.

The other largest sum was the novel for "Contemporary". The 200,000-word work earned Lin Chaoyang 2,000 yuan in royalties.

Added together, Lin Chaoyang recently received a total of 2,755 yuan in royalties.

Adding the remaining money in Tao Yushu's hand, the salary, subsidies and the occasional comments and manuscript fees from Tao Yushu in the past two months, the couple has 4,260 yuan in their hands.

After Tao Yushu finished the account, he said to Lin Chaoyang easily: "Give Lin Fugui another sum of money, and we will still have more than 700 yuan left, which is enough."

"Give him in advance? It's not necessary."

Tao Yushu nodded, "Okay, then wait until the day comes, and you can earn interest by putting it in the bank anyway."

With Tao Yushu's personality, he will definitely deposit the money in the bank to earn interest as soon as he has money. Now even if it is a deposit, there is an interest rate of three points.

The couple discussed it and decided to deposit the money in the bank first and pay Lin Fugui when the time comes.