1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Zhang Youan was naturally not in a hurry, "Then write slowly, there is still a lot of time anyway."

Zhang Youan knew Zhou Yan's creative speed better than anyone else, and he was not worried at all that Zhou Yan would not be able to finish it within the agreed time.

Besides, "Shutter Island" didn't come out of thin air. The script has been perfected. Now we just need to turn the script into a novel, which makes the work much easier.

"Besides Shutter Island, is there anything else?"

"It's nothing serious. We're already planning to shoot a music video for 'Someone Like You' and I think we'll be able to release a single in the fall. Other than that, a bunch of companies have approached me to make movies and write songs, but I've rejected them all."

"Well, I don't have time to make movies for other people now."

"What about the music composition work? Should we take it on?" Zhang Youan asked.

He also knew that Zhou Yan's favorite job was composing music, and he was willing to let Zhou Yan take on more composing music jobs.

Composing music is different from making a movie and it is not very time-consuming. If Zhou Yan works at full capacity and only takes on composing music jobs, it will be no problem for him to compose music for more than a dozen movies a year while ensuring the quality and quantity.

Moreover, Zhou Yan now has his own studio, and the music engineering department is also strong and capable of sharing a lot of work with Zhou Yan.

In addition, there is another point that Zhang Youan values, that is, after Zhou Yan composes music for a movie, many things can be derived. For example, his music for "Sense and Sensibility", many of the songs in it are very popular, and he also released the two songs "young and beautiful" and "someone like you".

The market performance of "Someone Like You" remains to be verified, but "Young and Beautiful" is indeed popular all over the world, and even now it is still often on the charts.

It was precisely because of this song that so many record companies extended olive branches to Zhou Yan.

"If you have any music to share, please let me know. If I find a suitable one, I will take it. Alternatively, you can let Li Tao and others do it."

"Indeed, Minister Li and his team do need to expand into the European and American markets. Otherwise, these resources will be wasted, which is a pity. In the future, if I encounter music composition work, I will try my best to negotiate and hand it over to the studio."

This matter definitely needs to be negotiated. After all, they came here for Zhou Yan. If it is to be transferred to the studio, they may not be happy about it, unless Zhou Yan is willing to take it over in his name and then hand it over to the studio.

But Zhou Yan doesn't want to do this unless it is necessary. He still hopes to give the credit to the real creative staff, and at most he will just put his name behind it.

After finishing the business talk, Zhang Youan started gossiping again, "When you came to New York this time, Maria didn't contact you?"

"No." Zhou Yan shook his head. "Is she in New York recently?"

"Yes, she is usually in New York most of the time, and she might even go to the concert hall tonight. I guess she didn't contact you because she wanted to avoid suspicion, after all, the last time you went to Los Angeles, you had a scandal with her."

"You also know what that scandal is about."

"I know, but other people don't know. The point is that Mariah Carey is determined to divorce Tommy Mottola, and the two are currently in court. If a photo of the two of you is taken now, the rumors will definitely be stirred up again."

Zhou Yan didn't care much about these. They were all fake anyway. There was no unclear relationship between him and Mariah Carey.

Besides, Mariah Carey is coming to the concert tonight, so she probably doesn't care much about these things.

Sometimes, Zhou Yan even felt that it was a good thing to have these unreliable scandals, as this would attract the attention of the outside world and prevent anyone from really paying attention to his private life.

……

In the afternoon, when Zhou Yan and his friends went to the concert hall, they did not enter through the main entrance, but when they passed by the main entrance, they saw that some people had already gathered at the entrance.

Of course, the scale of today's concert is totally incomparable to that of their previous concerts.

It’s not that Zhou Yan is not popular in New York, but the situation at Radio City Music Hall is a little different from the music halls they have experienced before.

Radio City Music Hall is on Sixth Avenue. The surrounding area is very prosperous, with buildings everywhere and no spare space at all. The building is right next to an intersection, and there is a main road outside the door.

Even if there are spectators who want to join in the fun, they can only stand on the narrow sidewalk. Even if the spectators are willing, the local police will definitely not agree.

There are a lot of people coming and going at the intersection, and if there are a few more people, it will cause a traffic jam, which will have a great impact on traffic.

Under such circumstances, outdoor extra shows, which have almost become a routine, are no longer possible in New York.

So holding a concert at Radio City Music Hall has its pros and cons. Although a lot more tickets were sold, without the outdoor encore, the impact would inevitably be much less.

Of course, there are many places for outdoor performances in New York, but it is impossible for Zhou Yan and his team to specifically find such a place and perform for free.

Even if we really do outdoor activities, we will have to charge for it.

……

The concert that evening was naturally very successful. Since there was no outdoor encore, Zhou Yan spent more time in the hall.

The concert, which normally lasted only two hours, ended up lasting nearly three and a half hours.

Although Zhou Yan only returned seven times, he never returned empty-handed. He played a song each time, which made the fans at the scene very excited.

The tickets for the concert are not cheap, with the average price reaching US$126, which is much more expensive than ordinary concert tickets.

But even so, the organizers still felt that the ticket price was a bit low, because the tickets were sold out several days in advance, even though the ticket sales were very late.

The organizers believed that if they raised the ticket prices by 20 to 30 percent, they would still be able to sell out the tickets on the day of the concert.

Even if the tickets are not sold out, it doesn't matter. The ticket price can be increased by 30%. As long as the attendance rate is higher than 76.92%, the total box office will be higher than before.

However, Zhou Yan would definitely not agree to this. He holds concerts not just to make money, but also to increase his popularity in the United States. If the ticket price is too high, it will easily be criticized, and many people will not be able to afford it.

In addition, the prices in New York are set too high, which is not conducive to pricing in other cities. After all, not every city has the same economic level as New York. There are still many rich people here, otherwise tickets with an average price of US$126 would not sell so well.

That night, Zhou Yan and his colleagues got off work early, and when they returned to the hotel, it was not even eleven o'clock.

Zhou Yangang had just returned to his room and was about to take a shower when Zhang Youan knocked on his door.

Zhou Yan opened the door for Zhang Youan and asked in confusion, "What are you doing here now?"

"There is something I want to tell you."

"what's up?"

"There's a bookstore here in New York that wants to invite you to hold a book signing event."

Hearing that it was a book signing event, Zhou Yan waved his hands and said, "I don't have the time right now, and if we hold a book signing event temporarily, can we set up a venue?"

A book signing event also needs pre-heating, it's not something that can be done on the spur of the moment.

Zhang Youan smiled and said, "I know it's a bit rushed to hold a book signing event right now, but this bookstore is a bit special, and the owner is very sincere. I mean, even if we don't hold a book signing event, we can still stop by and have a look."

"bookstore?"

"Yes, it's a record and bookstore. Its full name is Little Bear Record and Bookstore. There are two stores in New York, both of which are quite large. The boss used to work for Random House and has some connections in the book publishing industry. He likes your music and was at the scene today, sitting in the first row."

With so many people in the first row, it was naturally impossible for Zhou Yan to have any impression of the boss.

After a moment of silence, Zhou Yan said, "I'm sure we can't hold a proper autograph session, but we can take some time to go and take a look."

Naturally, Zhang Youan did not expect Zhou Yan to agree to hold a book signing event on short notice. Seeing that Zhou Yan was willing to go and have a look, he knew that his goal had been achieved.

The reason why he wanted Zhou Yan to show up was naturally because he hoped to establish a good relationship with Harry, the owner of the Little Bear Record Bookstore. Harry had worked at Random House for many years before, and his position was not low.

Harry's success in running a bookstore must be related to his previous work experience. When Zhou Yan's novel "Shutter Island" is to be published, he can use Harry to get in touch with the Bantam Group under Langdon. With the help of such a large group, the sales of the novel will definitely be better.

As for why Zhou Yan agreed, it was of course not only because he was about to publish "Shutter Island", but also because he thought of Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng. If possible, Zhou Yan still hoped to push Yu Hua and others to the United States.

He wasn't sure if he could push it, but he was determined to give it a try.

"Well, do you think we should go there tomorrow morning or the morning after tomorrow?"

They will finish their second concert in New York tomorrow night and will leave New York for their next destination the day after tomorrow afternoon, so during this period Zhou Yan will only have time tomorrow morning and the day after tomorrow morning.

"Tomorrow morning."

Anyway, there is no time tomorrow morning, so just take the time to go there. Zhou Yan still hopes to push things forward. No one knows whether he has other things to do the day after tomorrow morning.

"Okay, I'll go talk to Harry now."

"Go ahead, I'm going to take a shower."

……

As soon as Zhou Yan came out of the shower, the phone in the room rang.

After the phone was picked up, it took a long time before Shizuka Kudo's voice came from the other end.

"Can you hear me?"

After all, it was an overseas call, the speed was very slow and the signal was unstable.

"I can hear you." Zhou Yan answered while wiping his wet hair.

Hearing Zhou Yan's voice, Kudo Shizuka laughed, "Is the concert over...Haha, it must be over, otherwise you wouldn't be able to answer my call. Did the concert go well today?"

"It went very smoothly. How about you? Are you doing well in Yanjing?"

"Of course. I don't have work today, so I took Akina out to play."

"She hasn't returned to Neon yet."

Kudo Shizuka tutted, "You're not here again. If Akina goes back to Japan, I'll be so lonely here. Anyway, she doesn't have much work in Japan these days, so she stayed to accompany me. It's a good opportunity for her to learn more Chinese. She has made great progress in Chinese in the past two days."

Zhou Yan smiled indifferently. He had just left Yanjing, so how much improvement was expected in Akina Nakamori's Chinese?

"You will be surprised when you come back and see her," Shizuka Kudo said again.

Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows and asked, "Does this mean that she will stay in Yanjing until I return?"

"Not in Yanjing. When I go somewhere else in a while, she will follow me."

"She's going to release a new song soon, why doesn't she go back to promote it?"

"It's still early, and her new song also needs to be promoted in China. It's a good opportunity to finish the promotion work in China before going back, so that she doesn't have to run back here later."

Zhou Yan nodded, "That's an idea. Then you two can have fun in China. If you need anything, you can contact Liang Youxing or Xu Junrong. They will help you."

"Don't worry about this, it will be fine."

Although she said so, Zhou Yan still reminded her, "Don't wander around at night."

"You're not here, why are we wandering around? If we run into hooligans again, we won't be able to handle them."

"It's good to know."

The two chatted for a while, and Kudo Shizuka hung up the phone reluctantly. When they were in Yanjing, they spent very little time together. As soon as Zhou Yan left, Kudo Shizuka missed him.

Zhou Yang had just hung up the phone with Kudo Shizuka when the phone rang again.

This time it’s Joey Wong.

"Why is the line always busy? Is there something wrong with the hotel's phone?"

"Zhang Youan just wanted to talk to me about something." Zhou Yan explained vaguely.

"Oh, I thought so." Then Wang Zuxian laughed again, "Third brother, let me tell you, Feng Jie called me today and talked to me about "Time Traveler". She also thanked me and said that I was very loyal."

"Haha, tell her that since you are so loyal, I will give you more pay."

"The pay is too high. When she finds out about our relationship, she'll accuse you of abusing your power for personal gain."

Zhou Yan smiled and shook his head, "You underestimate Sister Feng. If she knew about our relationship, she would definitely want to raise your pay."

"Forget it then. Even if she gives it to me, I can't take it. I'll just pay the normal market price."

When Joey Wong took on the role in "The Sixth Sense", her salary was 1.5 million. This price was considered a normal friendship price. After all, the salary requested by Lucy Cheng at that time was 1.6 million, and the market price of Joey Wong's salary was actually a little higher than that of Lucy Cheng.

If it weren't for Zhou Yan's relationship, it would have been normal for Joey Wong to ask for two million at that time.

After starring in "The Sixth Sense", Joey Wong's salary has skyrocketed. In addition, the overall salary of actors has been rising in the past two years, so the market value of her salary is now around three million.

This salary is definitely among the first tier for actresses. The only special actresses like Michelle Yeoh can get higher salary than hers.

"You are a man of high character."

"My boyfriend is making a movie, so of course I have to support him. Besides, you made this movie just for me, so I'll take it even if you don't pay me."

Zhou Yan laughed, "Xiaoxian, this kind of wasteful behavior is not good."

"My pleasure."

"When I finish my work here and come back, it shouldn't be long before you can join the team."

"Don't worry, Director Zhou. I'm always on standby, waiting for your call."

……

The next morning, after Zhou Yan had breakfast, he went to the Little Bear Record and Bookstore with Zhang Youan.

The bookstore owner Harry Kane attached great importance to Zhou Yan's visit and personally led the store staff to greet him at the door.

Harry Kane is not old, probably in his forties, in his prime, and he looks energetic and very capable.

This puzzled Zhou Yan. How could Harry Kane quit Random House at such an age? Wasn't being an executive at Random House better than opening a bookstore?
Random House is a giant in the industry, and it is no exaggeration to call it a business empire.

However, when Zhou Yan actually entered the bookstore, he began to understand a little.

The Little Bear Record Bookstore was bigger than he had imagined. In a place like the city center where every inch of land was valuable, opening a five-story bookstore with each floor covering several hundred square meters was not an easy task.

And Harry Kane has six such bookstores.

Two in New York, and the other four in four other cities. (End of this chapter)