Chapter 72 New Movie

Through his uncle's introduction, Liu Zhou learned that the deputy director of the Pearl River Factory was named Xie, and was in charge of script writing and production, which means he was Liu Zhou's uncle's direct leader.

"Thank you, Director Xie. Uncle, please take a seat first. I'll go make you some tea."

"Comrade Xiao Liu, don't bother me. It's hot now, so I won't drink tea."

After hearing this, Liu Zhou gave the two of them two bottles of iced cola and opened one for himself.

"Director Xie, why would you consider working with me to make a movie? I haven't even graduated from college, and I've only made one short film." Liu Zhou asked directly.

"A man of ambition has no age limit. Although you are young, you are very talented. We have also carefully watched the short films you shot, which are very good. We think you are fully capable of shooting feature films."

To be honest, this is the first studio that has approached Liu Zhou to make a movie, and he is quite interested.

In fact, even if no one came to find him, Liu Zhou was ready to prepare his first movie after returning to school.

Now that a film studio wants to work with him, that would be the perfect opportunity.

The market and environment at the moment were not very good. Going it alone would not work. It would be much more convenient to have a state-owned film studio to back it up.

"So how are you going to cooperate?"

Director Xie was well prepared and said directly:

"You can go directly to our script library to choose a script. If you don't find one you like or want to adapt a literary work, we can discuss it. Of course, you can also write one yourself."

"What if you are not satisfied with the script I wrote?"

"If the script you wrote is approved by the higher-ups, we won't review it again in our factory."

It seems that the Pearl River Film Studio is quite sincere and does not interfere with their own creations as long as they are not underground films.

"Are you responsible for all the investments?" Liu Zhou asked the most crucial question.

Hearing this, Director Xie was a little embarrassed and said with a dry laugh:

"This year, our studio's budget has been invested in this year's tribute film. The funds are not very sufficient, so we need you to solve part of it."

"Then how much can you offer?"

“We can provide the entire crew and behind-the-scenes production, and take care of the distribution.”

Damn, Liu Zhou now understood that Zhujiang Factory was trying to get something for nothing.

I'm not prepared to spend a penny!

Although Liu Zhou has feelings for Zhujiang Factory, he will not pay for it.

With his conditions, Liu Zhou might as well go to China Film Group, which is much stronger than Pearl River Film Studio.

China Film Group was officially established in February this year. After merging several state-owned factories, it has become the undisputed leader in the industry.

Zuoshan Diao Han Shanping has already served as the vice chairman and deputy general manager of China Film Group, holding great power.

He is very fond of supporting young directors and commercial films. Without requiring too much investment from China Film, if Liu Zhou goes to them for cooperation, they will most likely agree.

“Xie, Director. I grew up in the Pearl River Factory and have a certain affection for it, but making a movie is not something that can be decided all at once. We still need to think about it over the long term.

To be honest, I also have plans to make a feature film and I'm already thinking about the script. How about we talk about it after I finish writing the script?"

Director Xie didn't expect to be able to reach an agreement on the first try, and the conditions he offered were indeed not attractive at all.

Seeing that Liu Zhou's attitude had obviously changed, he was not discouraged and continued:

"Comrade Liu Zhou, I know that we can offer very little, but if we cooperate, we will do our best to give you sufficient support, and even make certain concessions in the distribution of benefits."

Director Xie was also helpless as he had just been transferred to the Zhujiang Factory at the end of last year.

Now, except for the Beijing Film Studio, all the studios are having a hard time, even the Xi'an Film Studio, which was once glorious a few years ago.

Even if Xiaoxiang Film Studio wants to make an art film, it has to ask for help from everyone to attract investment. Currently, Zhujiang Film Studio is not as good as Xiaoxiang Film Studio.

Almost all of the limited funds this year were spent on tribute films.

This year is 1999, the country’s birthday, and a tribute film must be made. This is our mission.

He came to the Pearl River Factory to make a difference, and he couldn't just watch the people and equipment of the Pearl River Factory go to waste.

It was not until Liu Zhou returned from Cannes with honors that Director Xie noticed this young man and could not help but find out more about him.

I didn’t know until I knew him. I was shocked to find out that he is not only a director, but also a famous best-selling author. More importantly, he is from Guangzhou and has a connection with the Pearl River Film Studio.

After careful consideration, Director Xie also decided to place his bets on Liu Zhou.

He didn't know whether Liu Zhou would agree to cooperate, but he had to give it a try, so today he dragged Liu Zhou's uncle to Liu Zhou's house. Now he has given the best conditions that Zhujiang Factory can give, and he doesn't know whether Liu Zhou will agree.

At this time, Liu Zhou couldn't help but fall into deep thought when he heard what Director Xie said.

Liu Zhou could see that Director Xie was indeed sincere.

At first he thought that Director Xie wanted to get something for nothing, but now it seems that he had misunderstood.

In fact, Liu Zhou had already prepared for the film investment. He had worked so hard to make money before, wasn't it just for this moment?

He never considered that writing a few good scripts would impress people and eventually make them invest unreservedly in a young man who had not even graduated from college.

Therefore, he never considered relying on others for film investment, and he has been saving money to make movies.

Since you have to invest your own money, it is undoubtedly a better choice to cooperate with a familiar production studio that can give you more support.

At present, the Pearl River Factory seems to be the most suitable.

However, I haven’t decided what to shoot yet, so it’s hard to give an accurate answer now.

"Thank you, Director. I understand. I am very grateful for your appreciation. How about I finish writing the script first, and then we can discuss cooperation?"

When Director Xie saw that Liu Zhou's attitude was not as polite as before, he knew that there seemed to be a chance for cooperation. He also understood that what Liu Zhou said was right and that they had to wait until the script was out before they could talk about it.

"No problem. Once you finish writing the script, you can come see me anytime. Your uncle knows which office I am in."

After saying that, Director Xie did not stay long and left directly. After seeing Director Xie off, the uncle returned to Liu Zhou's house.

"Zhou Zhou, whether you want to cooperate or not is up to you, don't consider me. When Director Xie first came to me and said he wanted to invite you to make a movie, I thought it was a good thing, but I didn't expect the factory would not pay a penny and asked you to pay."

"Don't worry, uncle. I will seriously consider it. I won't spend my money carelessly."

Liu Zhou also knew that his uncle was thinking about him, no wonder he didn't say a word just now.

"Just let it be known to yourself. You are already grown up, so I won't say any more."

After sitting at home for a while, Uncle Liu Zhou also left, leaving Liu Zhou sitting in the room in a daze.

Liu Zhou was certainly not in a daze, he was just thinking about what he should make for his first film.

First of all, he didn't consider art films, as he thought his level might not be high enough, and he didn't want to make art films for the time being.

As for commercial films, Liu Zhou is self-aware and considers shooting simpler types of films first, and the easier ones to shoot are horror films and romance films.

Horror films are a difficult genre to make in mainland China, as the censorship is quite strict, so romance films are currently Liu Zhou’s best choice.

If he were to shoot a romance film, not only would it be easier to shoot, it would also be more in line with Liu Zhou's persona as a youth writer, and would also have more selling points when it came time to promote it.

Liu Zhou had many choices when deciding to make a romance film, but a romance film that he particularly liked in his previous life immediately emerged in his mind.

"My Sassy Girl"!
This movie was released in South Korea in 2001. It combines the freshness and delicacy of an idol drama, the romantic feelings of European art films, and the nonsensical humor of Hong Kong movies.

Its story is very old-fashioned, but it created a brutal character of "a woman beating a man" which was rare in previous films, and also made Jun Ji-hyun famous throughout Asia.

This film is not difficult to make and has a big enough influence. It is a very good choice as Liu Zhou’s first film.

Liu Zhou remembers that "My Sassy Girl" was adapted from a short online novel from South Korea. He heard that the content of the novel was based on the author's personal experience.

At this time, the author should have just started serializing the novel on the Internet. It will not be until next year that the novel will be seen by director Guo Zairong and adapted into a movie.

After selecting the target, Liu Zhou immediately commissioned a Hong Kong consulting company to investigate the situation of "My Sassy Girl" in South Korea.

Sure enough, the author was writing this novel on the Internet at this time.

Liu Zhou did not hesitate and asked the consulting company to directly buy the film and television rights of the novel, including not only the film but also the TV series.

The process went smoothly and I got the copyright for less than 50,000 yuan, but the money I paid to the consulting company was more than 50,000 yuan.

When the author heard that someone wanted to buy the copyright of his novel, he didn't believe it at first, but when real money was handed out, he became excited.

I never thought that what I wrote in my spare time could actually make money.

And when he heard that it was a Hong Kong company that was buying it, he agreed without hesitation.

Liu Zhou breathed a sigh of relief after obtaining the copyright of the novel.

At this time, Liu Zhou could also concentrate on writing the script of "My Sassy Girl", so he stopped the creation of "Longling Mystery Cave".

By late August, Liu Zhou had finally finished writing the script.

Looking at the somewhat thick manuscript in front of him, Liu Zhou breathed a sigh of relief, took it to the copy shop outside to print a few copies, and then walked towards the Pearl River Factory with the script.

(End of this chapter)