1990: Starting from Baojia Street

After talking to Zhang Youan on the phone, only two days passed before Zhang Youan got another call.

After the call was connected, Zhou Yan was very curious, "Why did you call again?"

Zhang Youan sighed, "I don't want to keep calling. The main reason is that Jeff Brown urges me to call me every day."

"Jeff Brown?" Zhou Yan asked curiously.

"It's the person in charge of the Backstreet Boys at Jive. I told him not to worry and wait for a few days, but he still called me every day. After calling you that day, I received a call from him. I just answered His phone calls cost a lot of money and I have to ask you to reimburse him later.”

"It's so urgent..." Zhou Yan thought for a while and said, "Well, I'll ask the studio to send the tape over now, and I'll get back to you today after listening."

"Okay, I'll wait for your news."

After hanging up the phone with Zhang Youan, Zhou Yan called the studio and asked them to send over the demo of "yellow".

That morning, the tape was delivered.

This demo is better than Zhou Yan expected. The voices of two people in the group are quite suitable for this song.

In this case, Zhou Yan did not hesitate anymore and directly replied to Zhang Youan saying that he agreed to give the song to Backstreet Boys.

After Zhang Youan received the reply, he contacted Jeff Brown.

When Jeff Brown received the call, it was already 11 o'clock in the evening. He had just laid down on the bed and was not asleep yet because he had been thinking about "Yellow" in his mind.

He told Zhang Youan that if there was any news today, no matter how late it was, he must be notified.

So when he heard the phone ringing, Jeff Brown quickly got up and ran to pick up the phone.

"Hello, is this John?"

John is Zhang Youan's English name.

Zhang Youan, who was opposite, smiled and said, "It's me, Jeff, you haven't gone to bed yet, right?"

"Of course, I'm waiting for your news. How about it? Has Y agreed?"

"Yes, I agree. You can come according to the terms we negotiated. Let's find a time to sign the contract."

Hearing Zhang Youan's words, Jeff Brown breathed a sigh of relief. Although the process was not that smooth, the result was good.

As for signing the contract, it is very simple. Tomson has a copyright company in the United States that cooperates with the authorized company. They just sign the contract with the other party directly. There is no need for Tomson to send anyone over.

After getting up tomorrow, he can arrange the signing and at the same time arrange the recording of a single for the Backstreet Boys.

There is no need to find a recording studio, because I have to record a single for the Backstreet Boys before, so I have already contacted the recording studio. It is in Sweden, and several members of the group can fly there directly tomorrow or the day after tomorrow to record "Yellow".

"John, if I have the chance, I will definitely thank Y in person."

Zhang Youan laughed and said, "If you send me the money as soon as possible, that would be the biggest thank you. Our Y is also a very pragmatic artist."

"Don't worry about this. After the contract is signed, I will let the company arrange the payment. There will be no delay."

"That's good. It's very late over there. You can't do anything today. Just have a good rest and talk about it tomorrow. I'll ask the company we work with to contact you directly."

"Then trouble you."

"You are Welcome."

The next afternoon, the Backstreet Boys were sent to Stockholm, Sweden, to start recording "Yellow".

The recording went so well that they stayed in Sweden for a few more days and recorded three more singles.

After returning from Sweden, the members of the group began recording music videos.

Once everything is finalized, the single should be released in the United States on June 1st.

……

"Spring in the Cowherd Class" was filmed for half a month, and the crew took their first vacation.

During this period, everyone was tense and a little tired. In addition, it had been raining for the past two days, so the crew was shut down. Zhou Yan gave everyone two days off.

Zhou Yan himself also returned to the city, but instead of taking a rest, he met Bregman on the first day of vacation.

Bregman came to China this time, on the one hand, for the establishment of the Columbia Yenching Representative Office, and on the other hand, for the remake rights of "The Sixth Sense".

It had been less than two months since Zhou Yan came back from England, but after many days, the two met in Yanjing, and Bregman couldn't help but sigh, "It feels like I haven't seen you for a long time." ”

Zhou Yan asked with a smile, "Did the filming of "Sense and Sensibility" go smoothly?"

"Well, everything went well. With Lindsay and the others watching the scene, I don't need to worry too much."

Zhou Yan nodded. He had heard An Li say before when he was on the set that Bregman didn't often stay on set.

"I heard from Zhang Youan that you have something to tell me about "The Sixth Sense"?"

"Yes, I do have some thoughts that I want to communicate with you."

Zhou Yan picked up the tea cup and took a sip, then said with a smile, "Anthony, although we are friends, I can't make it easier for you to reshoot "The Sixth Sense". In the end, it still depends on the decisions of your companies." conditions of."

"Y, please don't get me wrong. I don't want to get any convenience from you. Just because we are friends, I cherish this friendship very much and don't want to mix in too many other things. I'm here to find you. From a producer’s perspective, I want to understand the inner world of the original author, so that it will be easier for us to reshoot the film later. I think this is something that is beneficial to both of us.”

Zhou Yan smiled. Bregman was a very talkative person. He came to him simply because he wanted to take advantage of their hypocrisy to give them an advantage in the competition with Warner.

But he can always describe his backdoor behavior in a high-sounding and impeccable way.

"Of course I also hope that those who remake it will have a deeper understanding of this movie. Anthony, let's not beat around the bush. If you have any ideas, just tell me directly."

Bregman smiled and said, "What I want to tell you is that this time we can find Martin Brest to direct the remake of "The Sixth Sense."

Zhou Yan narrowed his eyes, "Martin Brest, are you talking about the Martin Brest who filmed "Scent of a Woman"?"

Hearing Zhou Yan say "Know a Woman by Scent", Bregman's smile became even brighter.

"Yes, he also filmed "The Three Old Guns" and "Midnight Run"."

"Are you sure you can invite me?" Zhou Yan showed a doubtful expression.

Although Martin Brest is not a well-known director, he is definitely a good director and has his own style.

Compared with some other great directors, Martin Brest has very few honors and has basically never won any awards, but his reputation is very good.

There are not many works, but the quality is quite good.

Especially "Scent of a Woman", because of Al Pacino's wonderful performance, this movie is very well-known around the world.

Therefore, Zhou Yan is more skeptical about whether Columbia can really invite Martin Brest to remake "The Sixth Sense".

Bregman nodded affirmatively, "I can guarantee you that, and we can increase the budget to sixteen million dollars."

Zhou Yan glanced at Bregman, "Have you told Zhang Youan this?"

"We talked about the budget, but not about Martin Brest."

Sure enough, Zhang Youan was more difficult to deal with, so Bregman came to attack him.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "It seems that Warner's competition has troubled you a lot."

For Zhou Yan, it doesn't matter if the remake rights of "The Sixth Sense" are given to Warner or Columbia, or even to a small company outside the Big Eight, as long as the bid is appropriate.

The cost of reshooting rights and the budget of the film are what Zhou Yan values ​​most, and what Tomson Company values ​​the most. Bregman came to him privately, and there was a high probability that he could not beat Warner in these two areas.

However, what Bregman said is indeed attractive to Zhou Yan. Given similar conditions, Zhou Yan certainly hopes that the director can be better. In his opinion, Martin Brest is quite suitable.

Zhou Yan thought for a while and said, "If you can invite Bruce Willis or Kevin Costner, I can let go of the other conditions."

Bregman's expression froze. This was the second time he heard about these two actors from Zhou Yan.

To be honest, he also thinks that inviting these two actors to participate in "The Sixth Sense" is a good choice, but with their budget, it is difficult to invite such actors again when they can hire Martin Brest. level actor.

Maybe they can also negotiate risk remuneration with these actors, that is, a share, but they must also agree to it.

Besides, even if risk remuneration is negotiated, the fixed remuneration will not be much less.

Bregman sighed slightly, and told Zhou Yan honestly, "Y, it's already difficult to increase our budget... No, it's not very difficult, it's impossible to increase it again. I can guarantee that Warner can The budget we make can only go so far.”

Zhou Yan picked up the tea cup and blew on the tea foam. The hot air emitted by the tea was blown up and floated in the air. Zhou Yan looked at Bregman through the hot air, "How did the budget limit of 16 million US dollars come from?" , are you unable to raise more money, or do you only have such a high budget for this movie? If it is the latter, I don't understand why you are so optimistic about a film with a global box office of tens of millions of dollars? The film’s estimated budget is only 16 million?”

The box office of "The Sixth Sense" in North America was more than 13 million U.S. dollars, but this movie was not only released in North America. It also achieved great success in mainland China and Neon, with several box office sales totaling several Ten million dollars.

“We are still considering European and American ticket positions more,” Bregman said.

Zhou Yan frowned, "If it's because of your risk assessment for this movie that you can only give us a budget of 16 million US dollars, then it's probably hard for us to continue the negotiation."

Bregman asked strangely, "Is there any difference between the two?"

"If you just can't raise more money, I can help you."

"You help us?"

Zhou Yan nodded, "Well, I can invest some money for you."

Bregman was stunned for a moment, "You mean, you want to invest in this remake of the movie?"

Zhou Yan shrugged his shoulders, "Isn't what I said clear enough?"

Bregman pondered for a moment, "Then how much money can you invest?"

"Four million US dollars, I can help you get 20 million, or if you want to reduce your risk, I can also invest a little more, but if I take more risks, I will naturally need more dividends."

Hearing what Zhou Yan said, Bregman was very surprised. He found that he still knew too little about Y. Y could actually come up with four million US dollars without blinking an eye.

Four million U.S. dollars, let alone in China, even in the United States, is a lot of money.

As far as Bregman knows, the budget for a movie made in mainland China is usually between 1 million and 5 million yuan. If it exceeds 10 million yuan, it is already a large-scale production.

"If you're willing to invest, of course we can talk."

No matter what Zhou Yan's situation is, Bregman will not reject any investor casually.

As a producer, making money is a very important skill. The most important job he has to do every day is making money.

With a reliable financial backer, his father will be able to go further in his production career.

If Zhou Yan can really invest more than four million US dollars in them, then the plan for "The Sixth Sense" will be easily launched. And with Zhou Yan's participation, it is basically impossible to win the right to remake "The Sixth Sense". No more suspense.

However, it seems that Zhou Yan is very confident in the remake of "The Sixth Sense".

Zhou Yan looked at his watch and said, "Well, you'll come over again at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, and we'll talk in detail then."

Bregman nodded. It seemed that the investor was not Y, but someone else. This made sense.

"Then we'll see you tomorrow."

"Well, see you tomorrow."

After Bregman left, Zhou Yan called his brother Zhou Hong and told him about "The Sixth Sense".

After hearing what Zhou Yan said, Zhou Hong said in surprise, "You are really generous. You are going to invest four million US dollars at once. So what do you mean by calling me now? Do you want to use the dividends that you received from Qizhi before?" ?”

"No, I just want to ask you and Brother Siqi if you want to vote with me. If you are not interested, I will vote by myself, and I will not touch the dividends from Qizhi."

"Do you have that much money?"

"Well, that's about enough."

Zhou Yan received a lot of money during this period, and there was nothing to use the money in the middle, so he saved it.

"Your ability to make money is really strong." Zhou Hong couldn't help but sigh.

"I've been working for several years, and I've only saved this little money."

"It's already quite a lot. In this way, you won't have to pay the money alone. You can pay it directly from Zhou's Entertainment. You can keep the money for yourself. If you don't have money in your hands, you won't have enough confidence."

"Brother Siqi, do you want to ask?"

"No, there's no need to involve him in everything. I'll talk to Colombia about investing in the movie. These foreign companies are very scheming, and I'm afraid you'll get caught. If you invest money, will the box office be good? It doesn’t matter if they make money, as long as the movie does well at the box office, they will make all the money.”

"Indeed, this is to be guarded against."

"Don't worry, I've dealt with Americans a lot, and I know them quite well." Then Zhou Hong laughed again, "But I have to talk about you, your business style is not very good. Even if you are optimistic about another project , and you can't play stud. If something happens, you will be in jeopardy. Although doing business requires a bit of risk-taking, businessmen are not gamblers and must leave a way out for themselves. "

Zhou Yan laughed, "What does it matter? Even if I lose all my money, I still have you, and I still have shares in Qizhi Company, so I won't be completely doomed."

In fact, Zhou Yan never thought about relying on Zhou Hong and Huo Siqi. Even if all the money he had on hand was lost, he would get money again after a while. As long as he was not in debt, he could get up at any time.

Although "Mysterious Country" and "Piano Boy" are not as popular as before, they can bring him an income every major period of time.

The reason why he was able to save so much money during this period was also because his previous share of the money was delayed in delivery.

In addition, many of the dividends and bonuses from "The Sixth Sense" have not been received.

It is precisely because he recovers blood quickly that he dares to bleed like this.

"You are such a confident boy, but you also need to think about starting a family. I think Xiaoxian is also good at making money. Don't end up with more money than her. If a man doesn't have a woman who can make money, his family status There’s no guarantee.”

"Hey, it sounds like you are someone who has been here before. Are you married? Where is my sister-in-law?"

"You..." Zhou Hong was angry for a while, then sighed and said, "I looked at a piece of land here in Yuhua, built a few houses, and left one for you. The house my mother left was still too big. If you are too small, it will be inconvenient to travel. You don’t like pomp and enjoyment, but you can’t let your woman suffer with you.”

"You give me a house, of course I want it."

"It's not for free. If Mr. Zhou makes money in the future, I will deduct 30 million from you and use it as money to buy a house."

"Thirty million?" Zhou Yan's lips twitched, "Then I still don't want this house."

"No, no, I've already calculated it for you. Without your 30 million, I wouldn't be able to build this house."

"Aren't you buying and selling by force? How many houses can 30 million buy...is it fully decorated?"

"Of course it's rough."

"Does this mean I still have to pay for the renovation?"

"If not, I'll deduct another ten million from you and I'll help you decorate it."

"Forget it, I'll decorate it myself." (End of chapter)