In the quiet café, Julian Hill sat and chatted with Harold, the vice president of Random House China.

Julian, who has never been to Yenching, thought that the city was as backward and poor as the American media advertised, and it looked no less inferior than New York and Los Angeles!

High-rise buildings are rising from the ground, luxury cars can be seen everywhere on the roadside, and even the coffee is so mellow and authentic.

It is no wonder that it can become the second largest movie box office market in the world, and people have to spend on spiritual culture after they have money.

Julian felt more and more that his decision was right, and he took the initiative to invite David Nett, the producer of Warner Bros., to come to Yanjing to discuss the copyright of "Life of Pi" with Zhang Chu, just to be able to mix up qualifications.

Who made that work cross several major film markets, including the two population superpowers of China and India, with endless box office potential!

"Mr. Green, if you can help get Zhang Chu, after I get the film rights here, you will receive additional commissions and Warner Bros. recommendations. In the future, I can help your publishing house recommend your work to producers, directors or screenwriters who have free time, what do you think?" Julian skillfully uses interests to open the way, which is almost an invincible weapon.

Harold Green, who is already a China expert, said with a smile: "You should know that we are not the copyright owner of Life of Pi, and I have never even met Zhang Chu. I'm sorry we can't help, but I think we can work together in depth after the film adaptation. ”

Julian Hill didn't expect to get Random House to help with a casual remark, but as long as it didn't do its competitors a favor.

As far as he knows, at least now, several major Hollywood film companies are still stuck in contact with phone calls and emails, and only their own companies have quietly sent special personnel to negotiate.

Before he left Los Angeles, Dale Nate gave him a death order to get the rights to the film adaptation of "Life of Pi"!

Julian picked up the spoon and stirred it lightly in the coffee cup, but fortunately the other companies were not very efficient in their investigations, otherwise they would definitely see the business opportunities in "Life of Pi".

The sales momentum is so hot, the reviews on Amazon are very high, and even the book reviewers have praised it, and the average person who was randomly selected is willing to go to the cinema after hearing about it.

The shocking literature is the world, and there is no separation due to the problems of religion, culture, and race!

It would be great if it ended up winning the Booker Prize.

"Mr. Green, as far as I know, the short list for the Booker Prize will come out this week, do you think 'Life of Pi' will make it to the end?" Julian inquired that there would be a big difference in treatment between the award-winning works and the non-award-winning works, and there would be a big gap between the best-selling and non-best-selling books.

Harold picked up his coffee cup and said with a smile, "As far as I know, the long list of 13 books has been narrowed down to 5 books, including Life of Pi. ”

This news has not been officially announced to the public, but Random House is a member of the Booker Prize jury, so of course it can be known in advance.

Julian couldn't help but put the weight of the balance in his heart a little heavier at this time, it seems that Random House will definitely push "Life of Pi", and the chances of winning the Booker Prize are not low!

At this time, a young man pushed the door in, he looked like he was in his twenties, his clothes were soaked with sweat, and his face was still flushed with exercise.

"Hey, you must be Zhang Chu, right?" Julian stood up, even if he had seen Zhang Chu's photos and materials, it was hard to imagine that the young man in front of him could write such a good work.

Zhang Chu stretched out his hand and shook hands with the Warner Bros. representative, revealing a bright smile, like the kind of young idol star in Hollywood!

"Julian, you have to know Zhang Chu, he is a real genius, he has a very high popularity in China, with more than 12 million followers on Weibo and more than 30 million copies of his works. ”

Then he introduced Zhang Chu again, "Zhang Chu, this is Julian Hill. He is a member of the Warner Bros. staff and today is primarily represented by producer David Knight, who just won the last Academy Awards, trading $29 million for $255 million at the North American box office, which is an epic example of investment teaching. ”

"It's a pleasure to meet you, your English is amazing, no wonder Life of Pi is a translation of these works by yourself, it's very, very wonderful, this story reminds me of God!"

In the face of such compliments, Zhang Chu seemed very calm, and the smile on his face only deepened a little, "Thank you for the compliment, it's good if you like it." ”

"Why don't we sit down and talk?" said Harold enthusiastically, not to accompany Julian this time to be a foil.

The drunkard did not mean to drink, he wanted to get Zhang Chu's Chinese publishing rights as well, and Random House was not satisfied with publishing only English works, and set up a Chinese branch.

However, there are not many writers on the China branch, and neither writers nor readers may know that Random House will also publish Chinese works.

This time, let's build a good relationship first, and next time we will talk about the purpose, Harold knows that he can't rush it.

Julian didn't rub on anything, and said directly: "Mr. Zhang, I flew here from Los Angeles this time just to talk to you about the film adaptation plan of "Life of Pi". ”

"Very good, I have always been contacted by film companies before, but for various reasons, I didn't agree. I wonder what your plan looks like?"

Zhang Chu is now the one who has a choice, so his attitude will not be so flattering, but neither humble nor arrogant, and he wants to see something from the plan.

"Every year, about 20,000 films are bought by Hollywood for priority adaptations, but only 1% can enter the production process in the end. Many small companies have a habit of hoarding copyrights, they are like hamsters, they like to hide things at home. We Warners are different, we only like to buy the rights of valuable works!"

When Julian boasted about his company, he didn't forget to belittle the rest of the company, which can be regarded as the arrogance of a big studio, and he didn't look down on Lionsgate's petty family spirit at all.

"Readers who have seen Life of Pi think it is very good, whether it is the description of various religions, or the battle of wits with tigers at sea, it is fascinating, and the scene of fighting with nature is very grand and small, and the thought of this work having the opportunity to be presented on the big screen is exciting!"

He not only listened to the analysis of professionals, but also did not waste time on the plane flying from Los Angeles to Yanjing, and read the book slowly.

Julian adds: "My favorite and most brutal part of my time was not the death of his parents or the abandonment of Richard Parker when he arrived, but the part where he went blind. ”

This plot was deleted in Ang Lee's version of the "Life of Pi" movie, but it existed in the original book, and Zhang Chu decided to add it after weighing the pros and cons of both parties when writing.

Before Pie drifted to Cannibal Island, he had a brief period of blindness, darkness, despair, and hunger, and I don't know how long it took for him to hear human voices!

I thought I was saved, but I didn't expect that it was just another shipwrecked drifter, who was also blind.

The boats of the two men gently collided together, and they held each other's hands and wept with joy, although they were not saved, but at least they had companionship, and they would not die alone in the darkness.

However, God seems to have played a little joke on them here: when the other party happily groped his way to board Pie's lifeboat, it quickly got into Richard Parker's belly!

Pie was so annoyed that he didn't see the other person's appearance or ask for their name.

The vast Pacific Ocean is vast and boundless.

What are the odds that two tiny lifeboats will meet?

What are the chances of going blind at the same time?

What are the chances that there happens to be a hungry tiger on one of the ships?

It's a miracle.

However, when the man's throat was bitten by a tiger, he probably wouldn't believe that he didn't die in the shipwreck, but in the mouth of a fierce tiger!

This is the so-called malicious mockery of humanity by the gods.

Zhang Chu couldn't help but nod after listening to Julian's words, which made him confirm the fact that Warner Bros. should not have had time to confirm the script.

It's not even clear what kind of work "Life of Pi" will look like, whether it will be full of cruelty or pity and compassion.

Many readers in this section felt that it was too cruel and too fake, and they didn't expect it to have such a high evaluation. ”

Julian didn't expect this to impress Zhang Chu, even if it was a young man in his twenties, so he continued: "It's very difficult to adapt this story, but if the adaptation is successful, it will definitely be a big hit, just like the original Robinson Crusoe." We are ready to invite top Hollywood directors to direct and Oscar-level screenwriters to do the script processing, and you are also welcome to be the script director. I heard that you wrote the script for Sherlock, right?"

"That's right, that's not something to boast about. Zhang Chu was telling the truth, not exaggerating or pretending to be forced at all.

For Shenxia's work, the script is ready-made, so you need to spend effort and write it slowly!

If anyone who has read the script knows, this literary genre is very concise, with only character dialogues and simple cutscenes, and no descriptions in between.

Harold also thought that Zhang Chu was modest, and he praised: "It was a very good TV series, and we were all surprised by the quality of this movie." I wouldn't be surprised if Sherlock was nominated for the Emmy or Golden Globes next year!"