Entertainment: From the Octagon to the big screen

Chapter 616 - Get it done

7am, Villeroy Manor Hotel, 8th arrondissement of Paris.

Chen Yu and Emmanuel, who had just finished their morning exercise, sat comfortably in the lounge sipping juice.

Emmanuel took a sip of the lemon grapefruit with a hint of sea salt and pepper and then raised his eyebrows.

He turned around, shook his thumb at the neatly dressed waitress, and took out a book from his backpack.

Chen Yu put down the juice cup, leaned over to take it and weighed it twice. This cannot be called a book yet. To be more precise, it is a final draft with exquisite binding, which is more in line with the current situation.

In the middle of the cover is not the title of the book but the beautiful signature of the author: Presented by Percival Everett to Chen Yu, the world boxing champion who loves peace and opposes violence.

Chen Yu touched the tip of his nose and didn't know what to say for a moment. In Europe and the United States, books are particularly formal or precious gifts because they represent knowledge.

By referring to the private education that has been continuously evolving and improving in Europe and the United States from ancient times to the present, we can see the price of knowledge. There is no fairness at all in the European and American education systems.

Emmanuel shook his hands left and right to signal Chen Yu to simply flip it over.

Percival Everett was a black writer who had just emerged in the literary world. He had only published a few short essays and poems before, and the market response was decent.

Last October, this black guy finished writing his first novella, "The Tree". It has not been published yet, but has been identified by Amazon as its flagship product for next year.

It’s just that Amazon wants him to make the protagonist’s childhood more miserable, and white people in Europe and America want to see the black boy living in constant fear.

"That's normal. I also hate those stupid happy endings like "The Pursuit of Happyness". It would be best if the male protagonist was hit by a car and the little black boy went to an orphanage."

Chen Yu threw the book on the table and then took out a wet towel to wipe his hands. Emanuel curled his lips at this. The cowboys in the Lone Star Republic still regarded black people as slaves.

It is also possible that Texans look down on everyone except themselves. Emanuel raised his juice glass and clinked it with Chen Yu's, complaining with a grin.

Chen Yu tapped the cover with his fingertips, looked at Emanuel and roughly guessed what he was going to talk about next: spending money to buy out the copyright of the book and then adapt it into a film or TV series.

The previous book "The Sympathizer" has been successfully acquired by Chen Yu, and Paramount Pictures and Netflix have shown great interest in adapting "The Sympathizer".

But the book involves many scenes about China's assistance to North Vietnam, which is difficult to handle.

Emanuel believes that even if the screenwriter deleted the relevant plot, "The Sympathizer" would not be able to open the door to the Chinese film and television market, of course, piracy does not count.

"Please take a closer look. This is not Percival's first work. It is a new book he wrote impulsively and in anger."

At the beginning of the year, Amazon suggested that he make some minor changes to "The Tree" to allow readers to see the miserable black people, but Percival refused on the spot.

Because he came from a wealthy family and had no idea of ​​the plight of the lower-class black people, he did not want to deceive himself, and even less did he want to deceive his readers.

However, Amazon's disgusting behavior of deliberately stereotyping the black community in the United States made Percival both very angry and helpless.

Therefore, he wrote furiously and created novels full of irony.

Chen Yu read the first three chapters and found them quite interesting. The black male protagonist and his four brothers and sisters in the book don’t know who their father is, and the father is definitely not the same person.

The protagonist's mother even took her eldest daughter to stand on the street to solicit business.

Using the mother-daughter relationship as a gimmick, they engage in vicious competition with their peers.

The protagonist's two brothers belonged to two opposing gangs in the neighborhood. In a fight in an alley, the eldest brother's index finger on his left hand was chopped off by the second brother. The protagonist never went to school until he was fifteen years old, but he lived a decent life by running errands for drug dealers every day. At least he could eat well and wear warm clothes.

However, the gang that the male protagonist serves is controlled by Chinese, which makes the male protagonist and his two brothers potential competitors.

So the male protagonist secretly bought a pistol to prevent being attacked by his brother.

"Hurry up and ask Percival how much royalties he wants!"

Chen Yu firmly believes that "Erasure" can make him a small fortune, while Emanuel thinks that if "Erasure" is handed over to a suitable director, it may win an award!

To be honest, the structure of "Erasure" has been overwritten in the European and American markets, but the strength of this book lies in its absurdity and weirdness.

The key point is that Percival attributed all racial discrimination to the fact that black people have strong bad qualities, and that American blacks and African Americans are not worthy of living in a civilized society.

Such straightforwardness and fierce irony are rare in the European and American markets. After all, the author has to be more or less reserved in his writing.

The buyout fee for the film and television rights of "The Sympathizer" was nearly 1.7 million US dollars. Because the author was one of Chen Yu's earliest die-hard boxing fans, he did not ask for an exorbitant price.

"The team conducted a detailed market assessment of Erasure and came up with a figure of $1.3 million to $1.5 million."

To be honest, the biggest obstacle to buying out this book and adapting it into a film or TV series is not the copyright fee, but the fact that Percival is not very willing to bring the work to the big screen.

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Now he kind of regrets writing the book "Erasure."

Although it is an ironic style, don't expect the lower-class black people to understand it. It would be very troublesome if black racists thought Percival was making a veiled attack.

It wasn't just white Americans who wanted to get rid of that idiot Martin Luther King back then. People with the same skin type as him also wanted to kill the outliers in their group.

His biggest failure was that he failed to win over and unite black racists, resulting in a lack of the sharp weapon and deterrent means to deal with conspiracies and intrigues.

Chen Yu only cares about the book "Erasure". As for Percival's life and death, what does it have to do with the Chinese? That is the job of the state and city police.

Emanuel agreed with Chen Yu's opinion, but he still had to consider how to deal with Percival. Forcing a transaction was definitely not an option.

Emanuel also refused to bring Lionsgate into the negotiations. After all, the latter is larger than Chen Yu, and it would be easy for it to intercept or steal the company halfway.

Emanuel planned to keep the project to himself, but Chen Yu wanted everyone to make money. However, he did not interfere with Emanuel's arrangement, but let him do it.

Chen Yu believed that Emanuel had a contingency plan and could immediately adjust the work direction when things became impossible. This tacit understanding enabled the two to always share weal and woe as well as wealth.

The relationship between them is no longer just that of client and manager, but has now risen to the point of being in cahoots with each other where they prosper together and suffer together.

Once Emanuel gets into work mode, he becomes a man of action. He gulps down the juice and books the earliest flight back to Houston to meet with Percival.

The maximum copyright fee offered by Chen Yu is no more than 1.65 million US dollars, and Percival can also be hired as a screenwriter consultant with a salary of 400,000 US dollars.

But the consultant can only provide advice and must not ask questions. The salary is to buy him to shut up and not talk nonsense in front of media reporters before and after the filming or release of the film.

Before getting on the hotel's special car, Emmanuel asked Chen Yu to call Ana de Armas to discuss cooperation on Jaeger-LeCoultre advertising.

Anna has been busy auditioning for the new movie 007 recently, and she has already won the role.

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(End of this chapter)