After dinner, Nortel's teachers all left, but Xu Wangqiu was left behind by Xu Shangchu, saying that he had something to talk to him about. Xu Wangqiu estimated that Xu Shangchu wanted to talk to him about a new play, he was very happy to cooperate with the Magic Shadow Factory, and the technical level of the Magic Shadow Factory was also top-notch, so he stayed with a smile.

However, Xu Shangchu did not directly talk about cooperation, but chatted about it, and Xu Wangqiu naturally did not take the initiative to speak. The two chatted while walking, and soon arrived at the Cultural Affairs Bureau Guest House. In the courtyard, summer insects whisper in the grass, the fragrance of osmanthus ripples in the air, and a few residents are in the shade of the trees, shaking their fans to enjoy the coolness. Xu Wangqiu and the others felt that it was more comfortable to cool off in the courtyard than to blow an electric fan in the room, so they sat by the flower table and continued to talk about movies.

After chatting for a while, Xu Shangchu finally got to the point: ""A Game of Unfinished Chess" is a good script, and I like it very much. This drama is still handed over to our factory, and the movie is still made by you, we can give you the best conditions, to ensure that you want money, money, and people. What do you think?"

Xu Wangqiu nodded slightly: "I can give it to you, but there is a problem, nearly half of the scenes in "A Game of Unfinished Chess" take place in Dongying, which needs to be filmed in Dongying, and there are a large number of Dongying characters, who need Dongying actors. When I go to Dongying to film and invite Dongying actors, it costs a lot of money, how to solve these two problems?"

Xu Sangchu doesn't think it's a problem: "You don't necessarily have to go to Dongying to shoot, I chatted with Zhang Ke two days ago, and he told me that your school made a movie called "Sakura", which also involved the scene of Dongying, but they were filmed in China. The same is true for the role of Dongying, you don't necessarily have to find Dongying people to play it. There were a lot of Dongying people in our previous movies, all of whom were played by their own people, and they acted very well, which is not a problem at all. ”

Xu Wangqiu shook his head lightly and said, "If you really want to shoot, then I hope to shoot the best possible, otherwise I'd rather not shoot." ”

Xu Shangchu likes the script of "A Game of Chess That Never Ends", and he also knows Xu Wangqiu's directing ability, and believes that he will definitely be able to make an outstanding work, so he said: "In this way, I will give you a budget of 900,000 yuan, and we will not earn a penny." You can spend this money however you want, choose Dongying actors, and shoot in Dongying, as long as you can shoot it. Are you satisfied?"

Xu Wangqiu shook his head and said: "900,000 yuan is not enough at all, the cost of filming and using Dongying actors is at least 1.5 million." ”

Xu Shangchu was speechless when he heard the figure of 1.5 million: "You know it's impossible, the cost is 1.5 million, which means that the movie will lose at least 600,000 when it is made." This is all caught up with the profit of our factory last year. You kid didn't want to cooperate with us, and deliberately made such conditions to embarrass us, right?"

Xu Wangqiu denied with a smile: "If I really want to refuse, I will definitely say it clearly, and I will definitely not beat around the bush." According to the conditions of domestic film studios, it seems unrealistic to go to Dongying for large-scale filming, to use Dongying actors, and to spend more than one million yuan to make a movie, but it is not without a solution. ”

Xu Shangchu's heart moved, and he hurriedly asked, "Tell me, what is the solution?"

Xu Wangqiu no longer sold Guanzi, and explained the answer and plate: "It's very simple, cooperate with Dongying Film Company to make "A Game of Chess That Never Ends" a co-production. Assuming that the cost of the movie is 1.6 million, if it is made by the Magic Shadow Studio alone, it will lose 700,000. If it is a co-production, it can be 800,000 yuan from Magic Film Factory and 800,000 yuan from Dongying Film Company. After the film was filmed, the copyright in China belonged to the Magic Studio, the copyright of Dongying belonged to Dongying Company, and the copyright outside China and Japan was divided equally between the two companies. In this way, the Magic Film Studio can make 100,000 yuan by selling the Chinese copyright to the China Film Company, and then take the film to the film festival and sell the film copyright outside China and Japan to make hundreds of thousands. In this way, we used 800,000 to make a movie that took more than one million to make, and we were able to earn hundreds of thousands. ”

Co-productions are nothing new in China, and in 1958, China and France co-produced the children's fantasy film "Kite". In 1959, China and the Soviet Union co-produced a feature film "The Wind Comes from the East" with the theme of showing the friendship between the two peoples. Although these co-production practices had certain repercussions at the time, the co-production strategy had not yet been clarified from the macro policy, let alone solidified as a normal state of industrial operation.

In the past two years, with the end of the movement, the wave of co-productions has begun to rise again, and many foreign film and television institutions want to come to China to shoot and shoot. Just a few days ago, the state set up a co-production company to be responsible for co-production-related matters.

In the first half of this year, Xiong Jingqi took the crew of "The Balance" to China for filming, and Xu Shangchu also provided them with help and knew more about co-productions. After listening to Xu Wangqiu's thoughts, he felt that it was indeed a good idea, but there were also problems: "Co-productions are all made in China by foreign companies and cooperated with domestic film studios. There are no domestic film studios that have taken the initiative to cooperate with foreign countries, we have no contact with Dongying Film Company, we can't contact each other at all, and I don't know if any companies are interested in "A Game of Chess That Never Ends". ”

Xu Wangqiu said with a smile: "The second Dongying Film Week is about to take place, and there will be the person in charge and producer of Dongying Film Company coming over at that time. They will definitely come to see Uncle Zhao Dan, and when the time comes, Uncle Zhao will give them the script, and propose that in order to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, China and Japan will cooperate to make "A Game of Chess That Has Not Been Finished" into a tribute film. ”

Xu Shangchu knew that Xu Wangqiu was well-informed and had a good brain, but after listening to Xu Wangqiu's words at this time, he still couldn't help but say: "Wangqiu, how did you say you have such a brain? I don't know whether to call you a genius or a monster!"

Xu Wangqiu chatted with Xu Sangchu for a while, talking a lot about many ideas about "A Game of Chess That Didn't End", and then slowly returned to school. Along the way, he was thinking about the script, not "A Game of Chess That Didn't End", but the script of his new play.

"A Game of Unfinished Chess" is a fairly mature script that can be filmed directly, but the state is relatively strict in the review of co-productions, especially co-productions in the name of gifts, the review will be stricter, and it will be revised repeatedly, plus it will be communicated with Dongying, and it will definitely not be possible to do it in a year or two. Xu Wangqiu remembered the previous life "A Game of Chess That Didn't End", and it was tossed until 1982 before it was officially launched. It is almost impossible to shoot "A Game of Chess That Hasn't Been Finished" in the short term.

Xu Wangqiu can't wait all the time, he will definitely make a new film. These days, he has been thinking about what he will shoot next, but he has not made up his mind until now. It's not that he doesn't have a story in his heart, let alone a good script, but all kinds of conditions that make it impossible to shoot these scripts. For example, the script of "Wang Xuance" is ready-made, but it takes millions to shoot this drama, and it is impossible to shoot it now.

In the following week, Xu Wangqiu has been thinking about the new play, but he has never found a suitable story. Just when he was at a loss, he received an invitation to a symposium. The forum was jointly convened by the editorial department of "Literature and Art Daily" and the editorial department of "Literary Review", and the main purpose was to counter an article entitled "Goethe and the 'Lack of Virtue'" published in the June issue of Hebei Literature and Art.

After the end of the 1976 Movement, cultural confinement was opened, and literature, drama, film and other artistic disciplines showed an initial prosperity. Almost simultaneously, the writers turned their attention to the history of the past, acting as the vanguard of historical criticism, exposing, critiquing, and reflecting on the social trauma caused by the movement.

The proliferation of works exposing and depicting the catastrophe of the movement caused some people to be uneasy. They are worried, worried, and even write articles to criticize them. The publication of Liu Xinwu's "Class Teacher" has already aroused some criticism, and after the publication of Xu Wangqiu's "Mom Loves Me Again" and Lu Xinhua's "Scars", this criticism has become even more violent. However, most people in the literary and artistic circles, including officials such as Zhou Yang and Xia Yan, applauded this phenomenon and defended "scar literature".

The debate between the two sides over whether artistic creation should be "exposed" has become more and more extensive, and many literary and artistic theorists, teachers and students of liberal arts in various universities have written articles to argue. There are those who agree with it, and there are those who oppose it. This controversy finally triggered a nationwide storm with an article entitled "Goethe and the 'lack of virtue'" published in the June issue of Hebei Literature and Art. The author of Goethe and the "Lack of Virtue" transforms the previous misgivings and tactful criticisms of "scar literature" into sharp political criticism.

As soon as "Goethe and the "lack of virtue" was published, it immediately caused an uproar in the literary and artistic circles. The literary and artistic circles rose up to refute and resolutely defend the hard-won relaxation and freedom. On July 16, the People's Daily published a signed article to take the lead in responding. The article pointed out that it is still not enough, not too much. On July 20, Guangming Daily published an article in which the rhetoric became even more indignant. The article said that the publication of "Goethe and the "Lack of Virtue" was like a cold wind blowing in spring. On July 31, the third page of the People's Daily devoted a full-page discussion on "Goethe and the "Lack of Virtue". Subsequently, Modu and Beiping launched a criticism of "Goethe and the "Lack of Virtue" in the form of holding symposiums.

The symposium jointly held by the editorial department of "Literature and Art Daily" and the editorial department of "Literary Review" was of a relatively high standard, chaired by Chen Huangmei, vice minister of culture, and invited young and middle-aged writers and literary theorists to attend. Xu Wangqiu's "Mom Loves Me Again" is considered a representative work of scar literature, and it is natural that he was invited.

However, Xu Wangqiu didn't go, he was having a headache for his new play, where did he go to the symposium. Of course, he has another set of rhetoric for Su Bai, how can the symposium be as important as accompanying his girlfriend. Su Bai said that I didn't believe it, but he was very happy in his heart.

That afternoon, as soon as Xu Wangqiu and Su Bai walked out of the library and were about to go out for dinner, they heard someone shouting "Wangqiu!" He looked up and saw that it was Xu Shangchu, so he greeted him: "Director Xu, you are really busy, you have only been back for a few days, why did you come again?"

Xu Shangchu said helplessly: "Yes, my butt didn't sit hot, so I received a notice to let me come to Beiping for a meeting." ”

Xu Wangqiu smiled and comforted: "Those who can work harder." Director Xu, Su Bai and I are about to go out to eat, since you are here, then let's go together, we know that there is a restaurant nearby, let's take you to try it. ”

Xu Shangchu laughed and said: "Next time I go with you, now you still come with me, someone has a treat today." ”

Xu Wangqiu said curiously: "Who is treating?"

"Wang Yang of Beijing Film Studio. Zhang Xiaoping from your show studio, as well as the directors of several other film studios, are here. We have something to discuss, and we want you to be our counselor. Xu Shangchu explained simply, turned around and said, "They are still waiting, let's go quickly!"