Chapter 73 Cooperation and Cast Selection

When he arrived at the Zhujiang Factory, Liu Zhou first found his uncle.

When the uncle saw Liu Zhou coming over with the script, he said:
"Have you thought about it?"

"Well, I've thought about it. Zhujiang Factory is also a good partner. Let's talk about it first."

"Just think about it yourself. I'll take you to Director Xie's office."

When Director Xie saw Liu Zhou coming in with his uncle, he was also very happy and said with a smile:

"Liu Zhou, I've been looking forward to it. Please take a seat."

After that, he continued while pouring tea:

"You're amazing. I heard that the sales of your new novel exceeded 700,000 copies?"

"Yes, that's the news that Mengya magazine just announced." Liu Zhou replied with a smile.

Liu Zhou's new novel "The Mysterious City" was officially published and sold on August 1st. As of August 21st, sales have reached 700,000 copies.

Liu Zhou is likely to set a record of selling over one million copies in a single month.

Obviously, "Mengya" won the bet. No one expected that Liu Zhou's new book would sell so well.

So "Mengya" announced this news in the latest issue of the magazine.

This not only caused a sensation in the industry, but was also reported extensively by the media outside.

Many reporters wanted to find Liu Zhou, but they couldn't find him. Since returning from Cannes, Liu Zhou has been very low-key, and no one knew that he was staying at home writing scripts.

Only reporter Yu from Southern Weekend knew that Liu Zhou was at home, but seeing that Liu Zhou had no intention of being interviewed, he did not disturb him.

However, Liu Zhou still issued a statement through Southern Weekend to express his gratitude to the book fans.

The hot sales of "The Lost Tomb" indeed made Liu Zhou very happy.

Director Xie was obviously good at chatting, and he hit his itch as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Congratulations! You are now the name card of our Yangcheng. You are even the pride of Yangcheng."

"I'm still far from that. I haven't made any contribution to Guangzhou, so how can I claim to be the pride of Guangzhou?"

"Haha, there are very few young people as humble as you."

The two chatted for a while, and Liu Zhou began to get to the point, saying:

"Thank you, Director. This is the script I wrote. You can take a look at it."

"No problem, let me admire your masterpiece."

Director Xie read very quickly and finished the script in less than twenty minutes.

"I have no objection. We can prepare immediately."

For Director Xie, he doesn’t care much about the script, as long as it doesn’t violate any rules. What he values ​​is Liu Zhou.

Moreover, Director Xie believed that Liu Zhou must care more about his first film than he did, and would not make up a random script to fool him.

"Thank you, Director. Don't worry about the preparations. Let's finalize the investment first."

"Yes, I was too anxious. Have you made a budget for this movie?"

"After some thought, I think it might cost five million to make this movie."

"Five million? So much?" Director Xie said a little shocked.

The funding for their Zhujiang Factory this year was less than 10 million, but they didn't expect Liu Zhouyi to make such a big move right from the start.

Liu Zhou also quickly explained:

"Everything else is fine, but for the male lead, I want to invite a popular movie star to play the role."

"Who do you want to invite?"

"Zhang Guorong!"

As a well-known movie star in Hong Kong and even in the whole of Asia, my brother’s pay must not be low.

Liu Zhou prepared a salary of three million for him, but he was not sure if he could invite his brother to come with this price.

If the Hong Kong film industry wasn't in a slump right now and the volume of films produced hadn't dropped significantly, people might not even look at this film at this price.

When the market was good, Zhang Guorong's pay for a film was at least seven or eight million.

But now, except for Shuang Zhou and Yi Cheng, the pay of everyone else is dropping, and my brother is no exception, so he plans to offer 3 million to give it a try.

If the three million cannot be negotiated, Liu Zhou will decisively increase the money.

Because for Liu Zhou, his brother Zhang Guorong is crucial to this film.

Not only because he is suitable for the role, but also because he is needed to make money in the Waifu market.

Especially in South Korea, "My Sassy Girl" was extremely popular and won the second place in the number of viewers that year.

My brother is undoubtedly a very good business card. He is very popular in Asia, especially in South Korea.

No other Hong Kong star can match his popularity in South Korea, not even the Four Heavenly Kings and Jackie Chan.

It all comes down to the original "A Chinese Ghost Story", which made Zhang Guorong and Wang Zuxian soar in popularity in Korea. Many people in Hong Kong don't understand why Koreans like this movie so much.

Twenty years later, when the Korean media selected the most popular foreign stars, the long-deceased Leslie Cheung and Wang Zuxian, who had retired from the screen for many years, still topped the list of male and female stars.

One can imagine the status of these two people in the hearts of Koreans.

If Liu Zhou wasn't afraid of the huge investment and Wang Zuxian is now semi-retired, he would really like to invite her to play the leading female role.

But after thinking about it carefully, having brother Zhang Guorong should be enough, and the heroine should be used to support his girlfriend.

"No wonder. If you want to hire Zhang Guorong, it will indeed cost so much money. Do you also want to try the overseas market?"

"Yes, I think this movie will be popular overseas, so it is necessary to invite a leading actor who is famous in Asia. Zhang Guorong is undoubtedly a good choice."

Director Xie felt that what Liu Zhou said made sense. He believed that one cannot catch a wolf without risking a lamb. At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh that young people are still more energetic.

Looking at the young man in front of him and thinking of his brilliant achievements in the field of novels, Director Xie gritted his teeth and said:

"Okay, then we'll invest five million. Our Zhujiang Factory can pay five hundred thousand in cash, and provide equipment, venues, and personnel support. We'll also coordinate the relationships. We'll value these at five hundred thousand, and the total investment will be one million. Do you think that's okay?"

"No problem, I'll take care of the remaining four million."

Liu Zhou didn't expect that Director Xie would actually take out 500,000 yuan in cash. He had already prepared himself to pay for all the funds himself. He thought that they had squeezed out the money with great difficulty.

As for Director Xie pricing their other resources at 500,000, Liu Zhou certainly had no problem with it, because in the end he still made the profit.

However, employing their people can also provide work for the people at the Pearl River Factory, and the equipment will not be left idle, which can be considered a mutual benefit.

After both parties agreed on the issue, Liu Zhou and Zhujiang Factory prepared to sign a formal investment contract.

It took a total of three days to sign the contract. Zhujiang Factory invested 500,000 yuan and some other resources, with a total value of 1 million yuan, accounting for 20% of the share. At the same time, those resources were also written clearly one by one.

Liu Zhou's Zhoushan Cultural Studio invested 4 million in cash, accounting for 80% of the share.

It was also stated at the end that the copyright of "My Sassy Girl" belongs to Zhoushan Cultural Studio, and Zhujiang Factory had no objection to this.

After discussion, the filming location was finally decided to be in Yangcheng, which is the home base of the Pearl River Factory and where relationships can be better coordinated.

Then they started preparing the crew. Director Xie personally served as the producer, and invited Liu Zhou's uncle and an old producer to serve as executive producers.

Director Xie expressed his support for Liu Zhou through his actions, and specifically protected him to ensure that no one in the crew would disobey his management.

Liu Zhou also reciprocated the favor. Except for the male and female protagonists, he ensured that all other actors would be selected by Zhujiang Studio, and this also made things easier for Liu Zhou.

As for choosing Zeng Li as the female lead, Director Xie had no objection even though he knew she was Liu Zhou's girlfriend, and did not interfere with Liu Zhou's selection of the actress at all.

It took Liu Zhou several days, accompanied by Director Xie and his uncle, to select the behind-the-scenes personnel, including photographers and lighting staff, who he thought were suitable. They were all experienced talents.

As for other roles, Liu Zhou handed them over to Director Xie and let them choose by themselves. Anyway, except for the male and female protagonists, the others did not have many roles.

The most important thing now is to invite Zhang Guorong.

This reflects the convenience of having support from a state-owned factory. If Liu Zhou had contacted Zhang Guorong himself, it would have taken some effort to get Zhang Guorong's contact information.

Perhaps the only thing that makes Liu Zhou's agent pay attention to him is his identity as a best-selling author in mainland China. Otherwise, there is a high possibility that his scripts will not even be handed to Zhang Guorong.

As for Berlin's encounter with his brother last year, it was of no use at all. It was even a question whether he still remembered it now.

But for Zhujiang Studio, they could send the script directly to my brother Zhang Guorong.

Regardless of whether he refuses or not, at least he will give a reply, and both parties can have a normal communication channel.

It was already the beginning of the new semester, but Liu Zhou had not finished his work yet, so he called Lao Huang to ask for leave.

Huang Weiruo was also very supportive of Liu Zhou's collaboration with Zhujiang Film Studio to make a movie, and kept asking him if he needed any other help.

Liu Zhou quickly said no and thanked the teacher for his kindness.

Afterwards, while Liu Zhou was waiting for a reply from his brother Zhang Guorong, he determined the shooting location to see which ones needed to be shot on location and which ones needed to be shot in the studio, so that the Pearl River Factory could make preparations in advance.

Time slowly came to mid-to-late September. Liu Zhou had almost completed the preliminary preparations, but had not yet received a reply from Zhang Guorong.

This made him feel a little anxious.

Even if you refuse, I can still think about how to convince you.

Now, there is no news and the waiting is the most difficult thing.

At the end of September, Zeng Li came to Guangzhou from Beijing after finishing filming "Blue Love".

Liu Zhou had already told Zeng Li before, and he came to fulfill his promise.

If he said he would invite her to be the heroine in his first movie, he would definitely keep his word.

Zeng Li was also very happy when she heard the news.

However, before coming to Yangcheng, Zeng Li suddenly became a little worried, because Liu Zhou's hometown is Yangcheng and his parents are also in Yangcheng.

She wasn't ready to meet Liu Zhou's parents.

Finally, I gritted my teeth and boarded the flight to Guangzhou with a nervous mood.

I don’t know if Zeng Li’s arrival brought good luck to Liu Zhou. On the day Liu Zhou received Zeng Li, news came from the Zhujiang Factory that Zhang Guorong had replied.

(End of this chapter)