Just before lunch, the phone in the room suddenly rang.
Zhou Yan was writing something inside when Wang Zuxian shouted, "Third brother, phone."
"You answer the call, it's probably An Li and the others."
"Okay."
Wang Zuxian answered the phone, "Hello."
Hearing Wang Zuxian's voice, Zhou Hong on the other side of the phone smiled and said, "Xiaoxian, I'm the second brother Zhou Yan."
"Oh, hello second brother."
"The third brother is here. "What?"
"Here, let me call him for you." Wang Zuxian took the phone and shouted to Zhou Yan, "Third brother, it's the second brother."
I heard it was the second brother. Zhou Yan got up and walked over when he called his brother.
"Hey, second brother, you're calling me right now, are you okay?"
"Are you still used to going to England? There's nothing good to eat there."
"It's okay, I'm fine again It’s not permanent. I’ll stay for a few days and then leave. The food is okay, it’s not that exaggerated.”
“I’m calling you because I want you to help me with something.”
"What happened?"
"You know Zhang Xinyan, right?"
Zhou Yan smiled and nodded, "Of course I know him, he is the director of "Shaolin Temple"."
The movie "Shaolin Temple" is one of the best in Chinese film history The status is too special.
Its popularity is so high that China will never be able to find a more famous movie than "Shaolin Temple". The key is that this movie has been famous for more than 40 years and has a very wide audience.
"Yes, this is Director Zhang. He is now working with Yuan Heping to make a movie, but their funds are still a bit tight, so he asked us if we are interested."
Hearing Zhou Hong's words, Zhou Yan was quite surprised, "How did they contact you?"
"Xu Junrong had dealt with Yuan Heping, and it was Xu Junrong who bridged this matter. I have seen the script, and I also It's okay, and there should be no problem with the level of Zhang Xinyan and Yuan Heping."
"What's the name of the movie?" Zhou Yan asked.
"Tai Chi."
Tai Chi, Zhou Yan searched in his mind and found no information about this movie.
"What story are you telling?"
"The background of the story is the Qing Dynasty. There was a Tai Chi master named Yang Chongwu, and he had a son named Yang Xuewen. This boy..."
Zhou Hong probably The script was told to Zhou Yan, and when Zhou Yan was halfway through it, he knew what kind of movie it was. It wasn't "Tai Chi" at all, but "The Kung Fu Boy".
This movie is not famous, but the actors who participated in it are quite famous, including Wu Jing, Christi Chung, Yu Hai and Billy Zhou. Of course, Wu Jing and Christi Chung should have just debuted at this time.
Zhou Yan doesn’t know how the box office of this movie will be, but it shouldn’t be very good.
The male and female protagonists are not big names, and the story is quite cliché.
The plot of "The Karate Kid" would have seemed old-fashioned even in the 1990s. If it were ten years ago, many people would still like to watch it, but the things that audiences like now are not the same as those ten years ago. There was a big difference before.
Zhang Xinyan is a good director, but his ability to grasp the market is not outstanding. Except for the Shaolin series, his other movies did not do well at the box office. His previous film "Heroes of the Yellow River" attracted much attention when it was released. , but ultimately failed at the box office.
“Do you think this project is suitable for us to participate in?”
Zhou Yan thought for a while and said, “I can invest a little, but not too much.”
Zhou Hong is so shrewd that he immediately heard what Zhou Yan meant, "Are you not optimistic about their project?"
He knew that his younger brother was not a conservative person. If he was optimistic about this project, he would definitely support more investment. a little.
"I'm really not optimistic about this movie. There's a high chance that their movie won't make any money."
Zhou Hong said with a smile, "Since it's not going to make any money, why do you still want to persuade me to invest in it?"
“Because opportunities are rare, there are not many times when Zhang Xinyan and Yuan Heping are short of money.”
Zhang Xinyan and Yuan Heping have both extraordinary statuses in the film industry. If they want to make a movie, it will be easy for them to get money.
"Well, I think so too. The results of Zhang Xinyan's previous films were so poor that many investors are now more cautious, and films like "Tai Chi" are not in line with the mainstream of the market now. This is why As a result, they are short of money. In this case, I will invest some money."
Zhou Hong has the same idea as Zhou Yan, so that we can form a good relationship and can do it again if there is a chance. cooperate.
Of course, Zhou Yan's purpose is more clear, because he knows that although the box office of "The Kung Fu Kid" is average, the "sister chapter" of this movie, the TV series "The Master of Tai Chi" has received a very good response. good.
Qizhi Company wants to develop a TV series, and this is a good opportunity.
If we form a good relationship with Yuan Heping and others because of "The Kung Fu Kid", when "Tai Chi Master" is released later, Qizhi Company can take the opportunity to get involved.
Zhou Yan suddenly thought of a question, "Second brother, which company are you going to invest in this time? Is it Zhou's or Qizhi?"
"I have thought of this question before. , I really can't make my own decision on this matter. I have to communicate with Siqi. If he is willing, he can do it through Qizhi. If he is not willing, he can do it through Zhou. I will talk to him about the risks. It depends on him. You decide for yourself."
Hearing what Zhou Hong said, Zhou Yan smiled, "It seems that I have been worrying too much."
"Your reminder is good, actually, there is no need to ask. I also know Siqi’s answer. The money must come from Qizhi in the end. It’s not much after all. No matter what angle he considers, he has no reason to refuse.”
"Yes." Zhou Yan nodded. With Huo Siqi's acting style, he would definitely not leave this matter behind.
"Okay, I won't disturb you anymore. You should be having lunch by now."
"It's almost done. We'll go eat in a while."
"Let's go then. Long distance calls are quite expensive. We'll talk about it later. Say hello to Xiaoxian for me."
"Hey, okay."
...
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yan and Wang Zuxian went to the restaurant to eat.
After returning from dinner, the phone rang again not long after.
Zhou Yan sat next to the phone and picked up the phone casually, "Hello."
Zhang Youan's voice came from the other end of the phone, "Teacher Zhou, is everything okay in the UK?"< br>
"It's not bad. The weather has been good these two days, and the sun is nice."
"Did the meeting go well?"
"Yes, it went well."
"That's good. I'm calling you because I have something to tell you. Someone is interested in your "Meteor" and wants to sing it."
Zhou Yan smiled and said, "This is nothing. What’s new, Lao Zhang, you called me just to talk about this?”
Since the commercial for Panasonic TV was aired, many companies have contacted them and wanted to write lyrics and sing for this song, but there has been no good candidate, so Zhou Yan did not relent.
"It's different this time. This time it's the Jive Record Company in the United States."
Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows and asked, "Which singer are they asking for the song for?" "A new one" The group is called Backstreet Boys, and they are preparing their first single. Jive takes them very seriously, and the terms they gave us are quite good," Zhang Youan said.
Backstreet Boys... Zhou Yan was quite surprised when he heard this name. He did not expect that the Backstreet Boys would be fanned to him by butterfly wings.
He didn't expect that the Backstreet Boys had just debuted at this time. In his impression, the Backstreet Boys were already quite popular in the mid-1990s.
But that’s right. This group became popular when they debuted. If they debut now, it will only take a year or two for them to become popular.
It would be a good choice to make "Meteor" the Backstreet Boys' first song, but Zhou Yan still has doubts. He is worried that the style of this song is not suitable for the Backstreet Boys.
The Backstreet Boys' well-known songs are basically pop, rhythm and blues and other genres, which are different from the genre of "Meteor". Can they master different genres?
Although they have great potential, if they are not suitable, Zhou Yan does not want to ruin the song.
After thinking for a while, Zhou Yan said, "I have to listen to this group sing this song."
"Should I let them hum, or sing randomly?"
"I'll give you one later. As for the music score with lyrics, ask them to record a demo for me to listen to, and then I’ll make plans after listening to it.”
“You actually wrote the lyrics?” Zhang Youan said in surprise.
“Well, what’s so strange.”
"It's not strange, it's not strange. I'm not surprised by whatever you do now." Then Zhang Youan joked, "Teacher Zhou, do you know how to sing? If you can sing, you might as well sing it yourself. You are original, appearance It’s good that you also know so many musical instruments. If you become a singer, there will be nothing else to do.”
Zhou Yan coughed lightly, “I really can’t do this”
He said it privately. It’s not like he hasn’t tried practicing before. After all, he has very solid theoretical knowledge. There are many ways to practice vocal music, but after practicing, he found that this thing is not so easy to get started.
Although he can definitely sing almost as well through hard practice, it is too time-consuming and completely unnecessary.
"Haha, that's right. I have to close a window for you. Okay, I'll go tell jive and I'll be waiting for your news later."
"Okay." Zhou Yan thought of what Bregman said last night and asked, "By the way, has Columbia contacted you?"
"Columbia contacted us, what do you say?" Zhang Youan said strangely.
"That's right, last night..."
Zhou Yan told Zhang Youan that Colombia wanted to win the right to remake "The Sixth Sense". After Zhang Youan heard about it, he also Very happy, "This is a good thing, but I haven't received a call from them yet."
"Will they contact the company directly?"
"Probably not, because Bregman has called me several times. If they want to contact me, they can't go far away. And even if they contact the company, the company will tell me quickly. I guess, Bregman After Ligeman talked to you, he should have reported the situation to Columbia Company. He would not contact me until the company had instructions."
"That's probably it... I just lied to him and said, Warner. Maybe Universal also wants the rights to remake "The Sixth Sense"."
Zhang Youan smiled, "You are not cheating, because Warner did contact me a few days ago, but they have just contacted me. , I didn’t even know their specific thoughts, so I didn’t tell you.”
“I didn’t expect that the two families had the same idea.”
“It’s not surprising. , although the movie "The Sixth Sense" only had a box office of more than 10 million US dollars, its potential is visible to everyone. They can't remake the movies of An Li and Chen Kaige, but "The Sixth Sense" is different. This movie is not difficult to remake at all, and its box office is relatively guaranteed.”
"Did Warner say how much the production cost would be?"
"About 12 million."
"That's more sincere than Columbia."
"No, Warner's payment of 1,200 includes the buyout fee for the reshoot rights and the right to use the soundtrack in the film. In total, it is actually about the same as Columbia."
"Oh, If you think about it this way, it’s almost the same.”
"What do you think about the production cost?"
"The more, the better. Thirty-five million is not too small, and one or two hundred million is not too much."
"You said Is it U.S. dollars?”
“That’s natural.”
Zhang Youan couldn’t help but sigh, “It’s better if you dare to think about it, or I’ll talk to them like this.”
"Haha, it's not impossible. The ideal budget in my mind should be about 20 million US dollars. This budget is just right. If it's too much, it won't be used up. If it's less, it's almost useless."
"If it's 20 million US dollars, it's still reasonable. We will try our best to negotiate within this budget, but I think we still have to seize the immediate benefits. If they pay more for the reshoot rights, Others can be postponed a little later.”
From the perspective of Tomson Company, Zhang Youan’s idea is definitely right. Selling more money for the remake rights is better than anything else. As for box office sharing and production, Costs are all uncertain.
......
Jeff Brown received a call from Zhang Youan and was a little unhappy when he heard that Ychou wanted to listen to the Backstreet Boys to record a demo before making a decision. .
But under the current circumstances, he couldn't change his mind easily, so he agreed to the matter.
jive company originated from a British record company, and Jeff Brown is the founder of the company.
In the 1970s, Jeff Brown was still a young boy under the age of twenty. At that time, his company actually wanted to promote rock music in the United States, but the result was not successful.
The company later changed its style and focused on hip-pop, launching the hip-pop group whodini, which was a great success.
Since then, the company has been promoting hip-pop and has a large group of hip-pop singers.
Now the company wants to expand its style, so it signed the Backstreet Boys.
Originally, the first song set by the company for the Backstreet Boys was in the style of teen-pop, but Jeff Brown discovered the song "Shooting Star" and he thought this rock song was completely acceptable. Sing it for the Backstreet Boys.
Therefore, he fought hard in the company and won the support of the company boss Barry Weiss.
Under such circumstances, he must get this done, otherwise his early efforts will become a joke.
After talking to Zhang Youan on the phone, Jeff Brown went to find several members of the Backstreet Boys.
In the small office, only Brian Little was there.
Brian Little just celebrated his 20th birthday last month. He is still a big boy, but in the group, he is still relatively calm.
This group is really young, the youngest Nick Carter is only fifteen years old this year, and the oldest Kevin is only twenty-four years old.
Seeing Jeff Brown coming, Brian Little stood up and said hello, "Mr. Brown."
Jeff Brown looked inside the office, "Several other people What?”
"Kevin and Howie went to play basketball, but AJ and Nick didn't come today."
"You guys need to prepare in the next two days. You may need to record a demo."
"What demo?" ?" Brian asked.
"The demo of "Meteor"."
Brian looked surprised, "Why did we record the demo?"
Logically speaking, shouldn't someone else record a demo for them, and then they go into the studio to record the record? How could they be asked to record a demo? Once the demo is recorded, who should it be given to?
Jeff Brown did not explain, just said, "You don't have to worry too much, just remember to tell a few other people."
Young people are high-spirited. They will probably be unhappy if they are tested, so there is no need to tell them such things.
When Jeff Brown said this, Brian didn't ask any more questions. He nodded, "Well, I know, I will tell them." (End of Chapter)
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