Lin Chaoyang's words caused a brief silence in the room. Li Hanxiang's face was serious and a little cold.
Shi Kuan looked at his expression, fearing that the conversation between the two would break down, and said: "Comrade Chaoyang, this movie script still has to be directed by the director. Good scripts are all modified. How can it work without modification?"
Lin Chaoyang said with a normal expression: "I'm not saying it can't be changed, but it can't be changed significantly. It's fine if you want to change it, but if the workload is too big, I can't change it."
Lin Chaoyang proposed that he could not make major changes to the script because he suffered a loss from Xie Jin last time. He had written the script for "The Wrangler", but Xie Jin used it to change the script and used it as a slave for half a month.
In fact, there were basically no changes to his literary scripts, and they were all adapted to Xie Jin's split-shot scripts.
This time he learned wisely. He can change the script, but it must be moderate and not waste too much of his time and energy, otherwise he will lose the money he earned!
If you have time, why not write more novels!
Shi Kuan keenly grasped the key points of Lin Chaoyang's words and asked: "You mean, you don't want to spend too much energy on revising the script, right?"
Lin Chaoyang nodded slightly, "That's right."
After receiving this answer, Shi Kuan felt relieved. He glanced at Li Hanxiang's expression, and the seriousness on his face also melted away a lot.
Shi Kuan joked: "Director Li hired you as a screenwriter. It's your job to change the script. You wouldn't want to just throw the script to Director Li after you've finished it, right?"
Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Of course I will communicate with Director Li during the script creation stage. What I'm talking about is the revisions after the final draft."
After listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Shi Kuan looked at Li Hanxiang and asked for his opinion with his eyes.
At this time, Li Hanxiang's face had relaxed and he said, "Okay, I can promise you this. What about the other question?"
"The other question is simple, how to calculate the royalties?"
Lin Chaoyang's question made Shi Kuan stunned, but Li Hanxiang was not surprised. He worked for Shaw Brothers and was already accustomed to highly commercialized communication.
But before he could speak, Shi Kuan said: "The royalties will be paid in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Culture and the studio, and every penny will be paid."
Lin Chaoyang shook his head and asked: "How much did Director Li get paid for making this movie?"
Li Hanxiang was stunned again when he heard this, and then understood Lin Chaoyang's subtext.
Shi Kuan asked: "Comrade Chaoyang, what do you mean..."
"Although Director Li's film is a co-production, since everyone is a participant in the film, the effort and salary should be on the same level. It doesn't matter how much the royalties are, but there must be no differential treatment."
The reason why Lin Chaoyang said this is because later generations Li Hanxiang had problems due to the treatment of the crew when filming "The Curtain" and "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace".
At that time, the crew included both Hong Kong and mainlanders, and not only did their salaries differ, but their living conditions were also different.
In the end, the lead actor Liu Xiaoqing made a scene on the set and finally got some treatment for the mainland staff.
But even so, the pay gap between the two sides is still huge.
In the world, we don't worry about the scarcity but the unevenness.
Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Shi Kuan was a little unhappy, "Comrade Chaoyang, the remuneration standards given by Director Li and our co-production company are in accordance with the highest standards set by the Ministry of Culture. Director Li and the others are from Xiangjiang, so their remuneration is naturally based on Xiangjiang standards.
.”
Lin Chaoyang said calmly: "I have no control over other people's affairs. I don't have to write this script, but I can't accept this kind of differential treatment."
"this……"
Seeing Lin Chaoyang's resolute attitude, Shi Kuan felt unhappy, but he also knew that Li Hanxiang wanted Lin Chaoyang to write the script, so he turned his attention to Li Hanxiang.
Facing Lin Chaoyang's eloquent attitude, Li Hanxiang kept thinking.
For him, there is no difference in remuneration to Lin Chaoyang according to Hong Kong or Mainland standards, since all he spends is investors' money anyway.
The reason why he kept silent was because he didn't want to agree to Lin Chaoyang all at once. The young man in front of him was talented, but he was even more arrogant.
If you don't handle him, it will be difficult to communicate with him in the future.
Seeing Li Hanxiang's expression gloomy and silent, Lin Chaoyang thought he was unhappy because of his conditions and seemed not ready to agree.
As a result, Lin Chaoyang stood up and said, "I have made my thoughts clear to you two. It is fate that we meet today. I think we will leave it like this for now. We will communicate with you if we have any ideas in the future."
After he finished speaking, he walked directly to the door of the room without waiting for Li Hanxiang and Shi Kuan's reaction, leaving the two of them messy in the wind.
No, you haven’t allowed us to consider your conditions after you stated them?
Li Hanxiang really didn't expect that Lin Chaoyang would run away if he disagreed with him, and his temper was too hasty.
He finally spoke, "Mr. Lin, please stay!"
Seeing Li Hanxiang speak, Shi Kuan stood up, quickly pulled Lin Chaoyang back, and said with a smile: "We can discuss the royalties slowly, the matter is not finished yet. Don't leave in a hurry, I will treat you to dinner at noon."
Shi Kuan's words not only gave Lin Chaoyang a step up, but also gave a step up to Li Hanxiang.
He originally wanted to manipulate Lin Chaoyang, but he didn't expect that the young man had no moral ethics at all and would flip the table if he disagreed.
Anyway, it was not his own money that was spent. Li Hanxiang made a decision in his mind and said: "Mr. Lin, I can agree to the salary standard you want. As long as your script satisfies me, I can give you a royalties of 30,000 Hong Kong dollars.
"
After hearing Li Hanxiang's words, Lin Chaoyang's expression relaxed and he smiled.
Now the Hong Kong dollar is worthless, and the exchange rate between RMB and Hong Kong dollar is about 1:3.3. If the HK$30,000 mentioned by Li Hanxiang is converted into RMB, it will be about more than 9,000 yuan.
This figure is much higher than the royalties paid by domestic studios. He only paid 2,000 yuan in royalties for writing "Wrangler" to Xie Jin.
Moreover, Lin Chaoyang also knew that Hong Kong movies had never paid much attention to screenwriters. Until the mid-to-late 1980s, a script by a famous writer was only worth 50,000 to 60,000 Hong Kong dollars.
The price Li Hanxiang offered him can be said to be full of sincerity.
"Director Li, let's talk about the script." Lin Chaoyang said with a warm face.
With money, everything is easy.
Li Hanxiang has made many historical films, and he is particularly familiar with Qing history and has an extremely solid historical foundation.
He wanted to make "Teahouse" and "The Last Emperor" before, but it was actually because he had a complex in his heart, which was a strong anger towards the history of losing power and humiliating the country in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.
"I want to systematically and profoundly reflect the political corruption in the late Manchu Qing Dynasty and the stupidity of those in power, and truly reflect that painful history on the big screen."
At the end, Li Hanxiang concluded.
Lin Chaoyang digested his thoughts, and after a while, he asked: "How about starting with the character Cixi?"
"Cixi?" Li Hanxiang's eyes lit up, "I had this idea before, and we thought of it together."
Li Hanxiang's tone was impatient, but Lin Chaoyang said: "I will write an outline of the script when I go back, and I will ask you to review it later."
"About when will it be written?" Li Hanxiang asked.
"It should be soon. Is this urgent?"
Li Hanxiang said: "In two months I will go to Haojiang to meet Mr. He and finalize the investment with him. The script must be completed within these two months. Is that okay?"
Lin Chaoyang nodded confidently, "It's not a big problem."
His confidence made Li Hanxiang very happy, but also a little worried, "Can he really show it?"
"Don't worry about this. It only took me a month to write the script of "The First Floor in the World"."
Li Hanxiang did not know the inside story of the birth of the script of "The First Floor". When he heard that the script only took one month, he couldn't help but be surprised and said: "One month?"
His surprise is not surprising. Whether it is a movie script or a drama script, the number of words is much less than that of a novel of the same size, but its information content is not much at all.
This requires that the content of the script must be refined and refined. It may not take long to write a script, but it is normal to revise three or five drafts. It takes no more time than writing a novel.
The novel is short.
If a script as mature and sophisticated as "The First Floor in the World" really took only one month to write, it proves that Lin Chaoyang undoubtedly has strong strength and talent in drama creation.
With this guarantee of strength, Li Hanxiang felt relieved and said gently: "I'll leave the script to you."
It was already past eight o'clock in the evening when I got home from Yanjing Hotel.
In addition to chatting about some miscellaneous things in the morning, Lin Chaoyang and Li Hanxiang have been discussing script issues in the afternoon and evening.
When he got home, Tao Yushu asked him if he had eaten. Lin Chaoyang said he had, and then told her about writing a script for Li Hanxiang.
Li Hanxiang's name is not widely known in the mainland today, but Tao Yushu has watched many internal reference films before and is no stranger to Li Hanxiang's name.
Lin Chaoyang just finished writing the script for Xie Jin some time ago, and now he is writing a script for Li Hanxiang. Tao Yushu asked: "You won't change your career to become a screenwriter in the future, right?"
"It's just to make some extra money. Do you know how much I paid for writing this script?" Lin Chaoyang started to talk to her.
Tao Yushu was very cooperative with him, his big eyes blinking with vague questions and curiosity, which made Lin Chaoyang feel itchy in his heart.
He stretched out his finger and said, "Thirty thousand yuan!"
"Thirty thousand yuan?" Tao Yushu exclaimed, disbelief written all over his pretty face.
"People in Xiangjiang are too rich. Isn't this enough for you to write more than a dozen novels?"
A dozen movies?
Lin Chaoyang was stunned for a moment, then realized that he didn't mention the currency just now.
"It's Hong Kong dollars," he added.
"Hong Kong dollars? Is that more valuable?"
No one cares about the exchange rate these days, and Tao Yushu doesn’t know the exchange rate relationship between the Hong Kong dollar and the RMB.
"No. RMB is more valuable. One yuan is worth three yuan and three Hong Kong dollars."
Tao Yushu calculated in his mind that it was more than 9,000 yuan.
When she heard the figure "30,000 yuan" just now, she was overjoyed, but she couldn't help but feel uneasy, because this figure has exceeded the awareness of most ordinary people today.
After she finished the calculation silently, she found that it was more than 9,000 yuan, which made her feel relieved.
"More than 9,000 yuan, that's enough. Our house only costs over 10,000 yuan, and you actually made enough money to buy the house with just one script!"
Tao Yushu couldn't help but fall into Lin Chaoyang's arms, "Chaoyang, you are awesome!"
Feeling the warm fragrant nephrite in his arms and the woman's admiration, Lin Chaoyang was distracted.
"I have something better!" One of his hands wandered on the graceful curves.
Tao Yushu's breathing became rapid and his eyes became blurred.
Chapter completed!