On "Oscar Night", "The Hero with a Thousand Faces User Guide" was used by Hollywood film companies such as Warner, Disney, Paramount, and MGM, as well as producers, directors, screenwriters, actors, etc. Waiting for reservations.
Random House did not dare to neglect and immediately sent professional editors to assist Bai Ruoxue and Mike in translation.
Fortunately, the "Usage Guide for "Hero with a Thousand Faces"" only has a few pages. Everyone worked overtime, hurrying and slowing down, and finally completed a series of tasks such as translation, proofreading, and revision within a week. The entire book was reduced to the final 7 pages.
Soon, the first batch of sample books were sent to the eight major Hollywood film companies including Paramount and MGM for review.
Naturally, it was also delivered to Christopher, who immediately distributed it to his colleagues in the animation department.
"Is this the book you've been talking about that structured "The Hero with a Thousand Faces"?"
Buck turned the first page curiously.
Christopher nodded and said: "That's right!"
Linda glanced at the cover: "The author is the Chinese who just won the 'Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay'?"
“That’s right!”
Christopher praised him: "He is an amazing wise man. The 'mono-myth' model and the 'hero's journey' story he constructed are really wonderful!" Then he held up the manual and said, "All of this , he wrote them all in this booklet."
"Just a few pages?"
Linda shook off the thin book and smiled at each other. .
Buck lowered his head and took a quick look. What caught his eye was this sentence:
“From thrilling suspense films to funny comedies, from soul-stirring westerns to singing and dancing. Musicals, from epic war movies to fist-pumping kung fu movies, tens of thousands of movies actually repeat the same core story, that is, the 'hero's journey'."
"What a loud tone!"
I couldn't help but be surprised, "You actually want to use one story model to cover the plots of so many different types of films?"
Including Linda. Everyone present had similar thoughts, and felt that this newly nominated Oscar-winning screenwriter was too crazy!
Ji Jian Dialect not only describes the "hero's journey" and "single myth" models in words in a small book, but also quantifies the characters and plot patterns in the models in the form of charts, making the entire story The model suddenly becomes intuitive and easy to understand, clear at a glance.
“How was it?”
Christopher was all smiles: "What do you think?"
Linda, who had just laughed at the dialect, frowned and said, "Emm, it does seem to make sense."
"What? It makes sense!”
Christopher plausibly said: "This is definitely an amazing structuralist screenwriting tutorial!"
"Indeed, but I have a question, can this 'mononyth' model really be applied to animation? In the movie? ”
Buck asked the question that everyone else in the room wanted to ask.
“Of course!”
Christopher said: “You can think back and see if there are plots and scenes similar to the ‘Hero’s Journey’ in the animated movies you created before. ?" Then he said solemnly: "Just like what is written in this book, 'Many Unforgettable movies, like many unforgettable stories in the world, involve a journey, which may be a physical movement, but more importantly, a psychological or spiritual movement."
Everyone looked at each other, unable to find anything to refute for a while.
On the contrary, in the following discussions, the "Usage Guide of "The Hero with a Thousand Faces"" was increasingly proven to be correct and priceless!
At this point, the argument finally attracted Frank Wells, who happened to be patrolling the animation department.
Everyone immediately shut up, and the whole office became quiet.
After all, this airborne president and CEO has laid off many people in various departments since last year, including the animation department, which is the backbone of Disney, because Disney’s current situation is very bad, and movies are on the market. It failed at the box office, and it can be said that it has half its foot in the coffin.
"What were you talking about just now?"
Frank Wells looked around, calmly.
Christopher handed over the user guide and said bravely: "We are discussing this script guide book."
Frank Wells didn't care at first, but when he heard that it was a dialect What he wrote made me feel interested:
"Is this the Chinese writer who wrote "Saving Private Ryan"?"
“That’s him!”
Christopher said that this user guide transformed Campbell’s concept of “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” into film language, and researched and summarized the monomyth model. , can be used as a tool for script writing, and should even become one of the must-read books for Disney screenwriters.
After hearing this, Frank Wells became more and more interested in the brochure:
"If it is really as good as you said, I will discuss with Michael to promote this booklet throughout the company. This book!”
…………
An hour later, there was a knock on the door of the Disney Chairman’s office.
Michael Eisner rubbed his eyebrows, with a hint of tiredness in his tone:
"Come in."
"Michael!"
Frank Wells walked in holding the "Hero with a Thousand Faces" User Guide, "You're looking for me?"< br>
"I want to talk to you in person." Michael Eisner emphasized seriously, "It's a big deal!"
Frank Wells asked and found out that Michael Eisner Eisner actually planned to shut down Disney's animation department completely.
"The animation department has been losing money. Instead of continuing to lose money, it is better to cut the knot quickly. In this case, we can invest the saved funds, resources and talents into the film and television departments, and expropriate the land of the animation department. Give it to the TV and movie department, like we did at Paramount..."
Michael Eisner gushed.
Frank Wells frowned and said: "The plan is indeed good, but will Roy agree?"
"This is the most difficult part of the whole plan."
< br>Michael Eisner sighed. Roy is the nephew of Walt Disney, the founder of Disney. He is the only male heir to Disney. He is also an important director on the board of directors. It was at his invitation that he resigned from his job. Paramount jumped ship to Disney after 7 years.
"We have not yet established a firm foothold on the board of directors and have not produced decent results to gain the support of the majority of directors." Frank Wells suggested: "At this time, it is better not to offend Roy easily."
Michael Eisner said with a livid face, “We really have to leave Roy with enough dignity, but we don’t want to tear him apart. But Frank, we can afford to wait, but Disney can't afford to wait. The animation department has not released a profitable animated film for a long time."
"That being said, this does not explain the animation department. We will always be depressed, if we can have a good script."
Frank Wells patiently consoled us.
"I believe we will have a good script, but I have to wonder if the people in the animation department can still write a good script."
Michael Eisner's words were full of sarcasm.
"Why do you think so?"
Frank Wells was surprised.
“Isn’t this the development pattern of a company with creativity and innovation as its core?”
Michael Eisner said: "When the founder of a company dies, is squeezed out, or is forced to switch to other businesses, the company will inevitably be taken over by leaders who care about financial reports and interests. will cut costs, and in the process they will thwart corporate Over time, the company will become rigid, weak, or even die..."
"Michael, I think maybe this can help you"
Frank Wei. Sis handed over the "Instruction Manual for the "Hero with a Thousand Faces"".
Michael Eisner raised his eyebrows: "What is this?"
Frank Wells smiled: "This is a special cure to solve our Disney script problems!"
Michael Eisner flipped through it casually, finishing the seven pages in less than a moment.
“Who is this ‘YanFang’?”
“It’s the one who won the Oscar for Best Screenplay this year.”
Frank Wells said: “Word of mouth spreads on Wall Street. "The Lucky Oriental" is also a Chinese writer who is famous in the world of literature."
Michael Eisner has bright eyes, "It is true that only a person with his talent can write such good things. ! ”
"Michael, we can definitely apply this 'monomyth' story model to our future products."
Frank Wells nodded in agreement, "TV, movies, and even animation!"
>
“Bang!”
Michael Eisner slammed the table and vigorously requested that more copies of this manual be printed and distributed to various departments at Disney.
“Ahem, I’m afraid this won’t work.”
Frank Wells reminded: "The rights are with Random House, and we can order a batch now."
"That's it!"
Michael Eisner said : “Especially producers, directors, animators, screenwriters, script planners, these people Everyone must have a copy, and everyone must write a review. When the time comes, we will organize an exchange meeting for them to exchange their experiences and ideas. What do you think?”
Frank Wells readily agreed and put This exchange meeting is regarded as a major test for talent selection and elimination.
Any unqualified employees will be eliminated from the next batch of "Guangjin List" who are paid in vain and have no ability.
"Frank, I'm wondering if we can find an opportunity to cooperate with him?"
Michael Eisner glanced at the "Dialect" in the author's column, "He can write novels, he can write Script, what about the animated movie script?”
A booklet of only 7 pages conquered Disney and, not surprisingly, other Hollywood film companies.
The producers, who had found a treasure, went to Random House to order a large number of "The Hero with a Thousand Faces User Guide" and sent them to every cooperating director and screenwriter. Some film companies began to require screenwriters to refer to the booklet when creating scripts.
In just a few days, the dialect booklet became more and more popular and became highly sought after.
Random House struck while the iron was hot and released a series of guide books such as "The Creation Standards of Movie Scripts" originally written by Diao Yan for Mike. These screenwriting tutorials using structuralist structures have spread not only in Hollywood, but also in the University of Southern California. Wait until film school catches on.
Although he has been awarded the Oscar for Best Screenplay, the sales of dialect script guide books have been rising steadily.
Now with more recommendations and promotions from insiders, "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" Guide, "Creation Standards for Movie Scripts", etc. immediately rushed to the New York Times bestseller list, and Hot on the heels of the reissue of Saving Private Ryan.
The New York Times, as the benchmark for high-end serious newspapers, also wrote a recommended book review in the cultural section:
“As we all know, "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" is not only a book about myths, but also a book about myths. It is also a book about writing, but many people are at a loss as to how to apply it to literary creation and script writing, which has become an unsolvable problem so far
However, the "Hero with a Thousand Faces" user guide teaches us how to master the essentials in easy-to-understand language. Ordinary people can understand it, and can even use it as recreational reading to increase knowledge while passing free time; professional scholars I am even more fascinated by it...
There is no doubt that it will play a huge role in film education and will almost become a must-read reference book for film students.
More importantly, the value of this book lies not only in guiding how to create, but also in allowing us to understand the various stages of film creation from a broader perspective, allowing us to clear away the fog of myths and see through The journey of ancient heroes, so as to make your life journey more leisurely. Listen to the Sing of the Wind, it can be said that this is a very precious guide book for anyone who yearns for script creation. ”
In the days to come, “The User’s Guide to “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”” has become one of the must-read books at the World Film Academy.
The 7-page booklet developed accordingly. It is a classic best-seller in the field of film studies. The screenwriting course designed with this blueprint has become one of the core courses of film departments in American universities. Many film theorists have even successively perfected the "Monomyth" model system.
So much so that both screenwriters who are about to enter the industry and those who have already entered the industry regard his books and theories as the "screenwriting bible".
Even Hollywood film companies have been deeply affected, such as "Avatar", "The Lion King", "Beauty and the Beast" and other movies.
Of course, there are also some screenwriters who believe in auteur theory and individual creation, who have risen up, vowing to spare dialects, find new ways for script creation, and find new ways out, but they are often rejected by producers, directors, film companies, and Markets and other harsh blows.
The result is that in 2008, the American Film Institute selected out of 500 nominated films after comprehensively considering the film's performance in terms of critical response, awards, popularity, historical importance and cultural influence. 100 representative works of American film history.
In this list of "100 Classic Movies", the story model of "Hero's Journey" accounts for nearly 95% of the films.
As the founder of the "Hero's Journey" model, Dialect is undisputedly regarded as one of the godfathers of screenwriting in Hollywood. (End of this chapter)