1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Just before lunch, the phone in the room suddenly rang.

Zhou Yan was writing something inside when Wang Zuxian called out, "Third brother, phone."

"You answer it, it's probably An Li and the others calling."

"it is good."

Wang Zuxian answered the phone and said, "Hello."

Hearing Wang Zuxian's voice, Zhou Hong on the other side of the phone smiled and said, "Xiaoxian, I am the second brother Zhou Yan."

"Oh, hello, second brother."

"Is the third child here?"

"Yes, I'll call him for you." Wang Zuxian held the phone and called to Zhou Yan again, "Third brother, it's the second brother calling."

When he heard the call from his second brother, Zhou Yan got up and walked over.

"Hey, second brother, you called me at this time, are you okay?"

"Are you still used to going to England? There's nothing delicious there."

"It's okay. I'm not here permanently. 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 your help on something."

"whats the matter?"

"Zhang Xinyan, you know, right?"

Zhou Yan smiled and nodded, "Of course I know him, he is the director of "Shaolin Temple"."

The movie "Shaolin Temple" has a very special position in Chinese film history.

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 has dealt with Yuan Heping, and this is also the bridge that Xu Junrong built. I have seen the script, and it is pretty good, and the level of Zhang Xinyan and Yuan Heping should be no problem."

"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. He had a son named Yang Xuewen. This boy..."

Zhou Hong probably told Zhou Yan the script once, and when Zhou Yan was halfway through it, he knew what kind of movie it was. It was not "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 this movie will fare at the box office, 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" seemed old-fashioned even in the 1990s. If it was ten years ago, many people would still like to watch it, but what the audience likes now is very different from what it was ten years ago.

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 "The Yellow River Hero" 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, "You can throw a little, but you can't throw too much."

Zhou Hong is so shrewd that he immediately understood Zhou Yan's meaning, "Are you not optimistic about their project?"

He knows that his brother is not a conservative person. If he is optimistic about this project, he will definitely support more investment.

"I'm really not optimistic about it. There's a high chance that their movie won't make any money."

Zhou Hong smiled and said, "Since you're not making any money, why do you still want to persuade me to invest a little?"

"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, that's what I think 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, which is why they are short of money. Since If so, I’ll vote for it.”

Zhou Hong had the same idea as Zhou Yan, to invest some money with them so that they could form a good relationship and cooperate with them if there was an opportunity later.

Of course, Zhou Yan's purpose is more clear, because he knows that although the box office of "The Karate Kid" was average, the movie's "sister", the TV series "The Master of Tai Chi", received a very good response.

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 planning to finance this time? Is it Zhou's or Qizhi?"

"I've thought about your question before. You really can't make your own decision on this matter. You have to communicate with Siqi. If he is willing, he can come from Qizhi. If he is not willing, he can come from Zhou. I'm at risk. I’ll talk to him about it and let him decide.”

Hearing what Zhou Hong said, Zhou Yan smiled and said, "It seems that I am worrying too much."

"Your reminder is good. In fact, I know Siqi's answer without asking. The money must come from Qizhi in the end. It's not much after all. No matter what angle he considers it, 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."

"That's almost it. Let's go eat soon."

"Then go ahead. Long-distance calls are quite expensive. We'll talk about it later. Say hello to Xiaoxian for me."

"Hey, good."

……

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yan and Wang Zuxian went to the restaurant to eat.

After returning from dinner, not long after, the phone rang again.

Zhou Yan sat next to the phone and picked it up casually, "Hello."

Zhang Youan's voice came from the other end of the phone, "Teacher Zhou, is everything okay in the UK?"

"It's okay. The weather has been pretty good these two days, and the sun is nice."

"Did the meeting go well?"

"Well, it went well."

"That's good. I'm calling you because I want to tell you something. Someone is interested in your "Meteor" and wants to sing it."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "This is nothing 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.

"This time it's different, this time it's the American Jive Record Company."

Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows and asked, "Which singer are they asking for the song for?" "A newly formed group called the Backstreet Boys. They are preparing their first single. Jive takes them very seriously. , the conditions given to us this time are also quite good," Zhang Youan said.

Backstreet Boys... Zhou Yan was quite surprised when he heard this name. He didn't expect the Backstreet Boys to 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 would 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' famous 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, Zhou Yan does not want to ruin the song if they are not suitable.

After thinking for a while, Zhou Yan said, "I have to listen to this group sing this song."

"Should we let them hum, or sing randomly?"

"I'll give you a score with lyrics later, and you ask them to record a demo and let me listen to it. I'll make plans after I listen to it."

"You actually filled in the lyrics?" Zhang Youan said in surprise.

"Well, there's nothing strange about it."

"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 also good that you can play so many musical instruments. If you become a singer, no one else will have anything to do.”

Zhou Yan coughed lightly, "This one really won't come."

It's not like he hasn't tried practicing in private. 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 could definitely sing almost as well with hard practice, it would be 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?"

"Colombia contacted us, what do you say?" Zhang Youan asked curiously.

"That's right, last night..."

Zhou Yan told Zhang Youan that Columbia wanted to win the rights to remake "The Sixth Sense". After hearing this, Zhang Youan was quite 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 report the situation to Columbia Company and then he would contact me."

"That's about it... I lied to him and said that Warner or Universal also wanted the rights to remake "The Sixth Sense"."

Zhang Youan smiled and said, "You are not lying, because Warner did contact me a few days ago, but it was just a new contact. I didn't even know their specific thoughts, so I didn't tell you."

"Unexpectedly, the two of them have the same idea."

"It's not surprising. Although the movie "The Sixth Sense" only grossed more than 10 million US dollars at the box office, everyone can see its potential. They couldn't remake the movies of An Li and Chen Kaige, but "The Sixth Sense" "It's 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 twelve million."

"That's more sincere than Colombia."

"No, Warner's 1,200 includes the buyout fee for the reshoot rights and the right to use the soundtrack in the film. In total, it's actually about the same as Columbia."

"Oh, if you think about it this way, it's indeed about the same."

"What are your own thoughts on production costs?"

"The more, the better. Thirty-five million is not too little, and one or two hundred million is not too much."

"You mean U.S. dollars?"

"That's natural."

Zhang Youan couldn't help but sigh, "You better dare to think and do it. Otherwise, I will just go and talk to them."

"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 moved back a little bit.”

From the perspective of Tomson Company, Zhang Youan's idea is definitely correct. Selling more money for the reshoot rights would be better than anything else. As for the box office share and production costs, those are all uncertainties.

……

Jeff Brown was a little unhappy when he received a call from Zhang Youan and heard that Y Chou 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 originated from a British record company, and Jeff Brown was the company's founder.

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.

Later, the company 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 company's first song for the Backstreet Boys was in the style of teen-pop, but Jeff Brown discovered the song "Shooting Star" and thought that this rock song could be sung by the Backstreet Boys. .

Therefore, he fought hard in the company and won the support of 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, "Where are the other people?"

"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.

“Demo from ‘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, but just said, "You don't have to worry too much, just remember to talk to a few other people."

Young people are high-spirited, and they would probably be unhappy if they knew they were going to be 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)