Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 124: Want it!
Huayi's abacus beads all fell on Li Qiutang's face!

"The company has absolute faith in you, but you also have to understand the company's difficulties." Wang Zhonglei came to talk to Li Qiutang in person, "If you only want 20 or 30 million to make a small science fiction film, I will definitely give you the money, but if you want to invest 100 million to make a science fiction blockbuster, the company does have to consider the risks and benefits.

"You know, science fiction films are very risky in China, and almost no one makes them. How about you change the script, or the company finds you another one?"

Li Qiutang knew that what Wang Zhonglei said was true, but he felt that he was worth Huayi's 100 million investment.

Li Qiutang has never calculated the specific accounts, but he knows that the movie "Arrogant" alone earned Huayi 50 to 60 million yuan - the copyright income outside of the box office share is the bulk of the income, and the copyright of this movie sold very well.

Wang Zhonglei proposed his own idea: "How about this? The company will invest 2000 million yuan in you. Let's sign the new contract first."

2000 million is not a small amount, but Li Qiutang hopes that even if Huayi is not in control this time, it should show more sincerity to attract him to sign a new contract. He asked for 4000 million.

Wang Zhonglei was very embarrassed about this number. The 2000 million was paid out by Huayi with great pain. Internally, people said it was just a gift of 2000 million to Li Qiutang to play with.

Wang Zhonglei didn't want to spend more money either, as making a science fiction blockbuster was too risky, and the political risk of "In Time" was so great that Wang Zhonglei was a little scared.

"There is no rush to invest. You can first listen to the new contract we have prepared for you."

Li Qiutang nodded, indicating that he was listening.

"The signing fee is 1000 million, priority investment rights for 5 feature films, plus 50 original shares." The internal share subscription of Huayi had already ended, and these 50 shares were paid by Wang Zhonglei personally.

This signing gift is quite generous, almost the highest salary in the industry. Li Qiutang expressed his satisfaction, but still wanted to gain more support from Huayi for "In Time".

2000 million was not enough to entice him to sign the new contract.

It took 10 months from the idea of "In Time" to the basic draft of the script. These 10 months cost almost 100 million yuan, and Li Qiutang paid for this money herself.

Wang Zhonglei left with a heavy heart. On the one hand, he didn't want to lose Li Qiutang, the cash cow; on the other hand, he didn't want to displease Feng Xiaogang, as Aftershock had already been launched and the first payment had already been paid to Feng Xiaogang; on the other hand, the Wang brothers didn't like In Time.

The reason why they don’t like science fiction movies is not entirely because the cost and risks of science fiction blockbusters are too high, but also because they understand what they saw in “In Time”.

Wang Zhonglei knew what Li Qiutang was exposing and criticizing.

"In Time" reveals the true faces of this group of people. It doesn't feel good to have your mask taken off, so he doesn't like it.

If you don't like a project, you naturally won't be very interested in it.

Wang Zhonglei gradually figured it out. What Huayi signed with Li Qiutang was a project cooperation agreement. Not investing in In Time didn’t mean anything. Huayi also didn’t invest in Lu Chuan’s Nanjing! Nanjing!, so Lu Chuan still owed Huayi a movie.

The problem now is that Li Qiutang made money before, and Huayi has always marketed to the outside world that "Li Qiutang is Huayi's director."

If we don't invest in "In Time", the media will definitely say that Li Qiutang and Huayi have terminated their contract, which will be detrimental to the company.

Therefore, when Wang Zhonglei was interviewed by reporters in the following days and was asked about Li Qiutang's contract, he always emphasized to the outside world:
"We had a very pleasant first phase of cooperation with Director Qiu Tang. We signed a project priority investment agreement, but Huayi has acquired all three of his films. We are still discussing how to cooperate in the second phase."

“We originally said we would not invest in ‘Famous’, after all, this style is rare in China and there are risks, but I still invested in it later.”

Wang Zhonglei also compared Lu Chuan's contract with Li Qiutang: "We signed three films with Director Lu Chuan. We invested in "Looking for the Gun" and "Kekexili", but not "Nanjing! Nanjing!". Director Lu Chuan still owes me one."

"We are still negotiating a new contract with Director Qiu Tang. We do not rule out the possibility that he will join Huayi as an employee. We welcome him very much. Haha."

Li Qiutang is not stupid. After hearing what Wang Zhonglei said in the interview, she probably guessed that the other party did not want to invest in "In Time".

If they don't want to invest, then don't invest. Wang Zhonglei was actually right. He signed a project contract with Huayi, and Huayi could choose not to invest in his film. He didn't have any particular grudges, as the other party was just acting out of normal commercial considerations.

Huayi has invested in his past three films, and he has also earned excess profits for Huayi. The two parties are in a cooperative relationship, and there is no question of who owes whom.

Li Qiutang flew out of Yanjing the next day and went to Gusu to meet Mr. Han and showed him the script of "In Time".

Li Qiutang knew that it would be impossible to make a film like "In Time" without the participation of a national production studio.

Mr. Han had work in Suzhou, so he took an hour and a half to meet with Li Qiutang and spent 50 minutes reading the script.

Take a deep breath.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mr. Han did not say anything about the book, but asked Li Qiutang for confirmation.

"Sure. I and my five screenwriters have been working on this for 5 months. I won't be satisfied until this film is finished."

Li Qiutang's "In Time" has basically nothing to do with the original version. Apart from sharing the setting that life span = currency, Li Qiutang and the screenwriters rewrote the entire story.

In Li Qiutang's story, the protagonist is no longer a Robin Hood-like chivalrous thief, but a young revolutionary leader. After witnessing the death of the older generation of revolutionaries in front of his eyes and his widowed mother, who depended on him for life, dying in his arms, he resolutely joined the revolutionary team against the rule of the Time Planning Bureau, and followed the team step by step, leading the team to overthrow the rule of the Time Planning Bureau.

The heroine was still kidnapped, but after seeing the real miserable life of the lower class, she spontaneously participated in the revolution.

Li Qiutang exposed the huge gap between the rich and the poor and the class gap in the script. The poor work in the factory every day, but they can only make ends meet, and the factory owners tell them that it is a blessing to have a job.

Prices change every day. If you want to survive, you have to work harder.

When Li Qiutang was writing about the heroine's experience of working life at the bottom of society, she specifically wrote a scene where the workers used a stopwatch to go to the toilet and would be punished if they exceeded the time limit.

Li Qiutang sympathized with them, but he did not exaggerate the suffering of the lower class people in his script. Instead, he spent a lot of space describing their simplicity, kindness, optimism and wisdom.

They would accept the heroine, a girl who was originally completely opposite to their class, and get along with her in a friendly manner.

What is even more valuable is that Li Qiutang did not write about the love between the male and female protagonists. The two had feelings for each other, but their relationship was more like that of comrades-in-arms.

After hearing Li Qiutang's determination to make this movie, Mr. Han lit a cigarette and sat in a chair without saying a word.

The cigarette burned out after just two puffs, and he lit another one. Director Han didn't say anything, and neither did Li Qiutang.

Of course, he saw what Li Qiutang wanted to express in In Time, which was to use the name of science fiction to film a film about the proletarian revolutionary struggle.

"How much do you want?" The second cigarette was gone.

"1 million. I can make this movie with million!" Li Qiutang was determined.

"One hundred million is not enough, I'll give you 1 million!" Director Han said excitedly in Sichuan dialect.

"That's great!" Li Qiutang smiled.

"Kid, work hard, this movie is incredible."

"You want it!"

(End of this chapter)