Like other films, the Tokyo Film Festival has a celebratory reception after the awards ceremony. The closing reception was organized by the festival's sponsoring partner, the Suntory Group, at a hotel not far from the festival's main venue.

Because she wanted to participate in the cocktail party, Zhang Jingchu specially changed her clothes, which were still the "bamboo" series, while Zhang Ran still attended the award ceremony, and the men who attended this kind of event were all suits and bow ties, and no one could see if they didn't change.

After signing a photo in front of the signature wall, Zhang Ran took Zhang Jingchu's arm and walked to the banquet hall, he smiled and kept greeting the guests who came and went.

When Zhang Ran took Zhang Jingchu's arm and came to the banquet hall, he immediately attracted countless eyes, and everyone's eyes were all focused on Zhang Jingchu's body, judging from the admiration and envy of those guests, they were quite amazing and even a little jealous of Zhang Jingchu's dress.

The reception was a buffet format, and the waiters walked around the crowd with various plates of small snacks. Asian dishes are popular, such as Vietnamese spring rolls and Cantonese crystal dumplings. There are two kinds of guests at the reception, one is to socialize, and the other is to fill the stomach.

Zhang Jingchu is quieter than others, a bit of an otaku tendency, and she doesn't particularly like this kind of occasion. Dressed up to attend the awards ceremony in the evening, she didn't eat much, and she was a little hungry, so she took a plate of food with Feng Yuanyi and found a quiet corner to fill her stomach. Jay Chou has long been missing, and he doesn't know whether to run to hook up with beautiful women or do something else.

Zhang Ran's purpose is very clear, that is, he is here to communicate. He held a red wine glass. Wander the halls. The film festival is an important place of communication, and there are many distributors and producers. It is definitely beneficial to know more people, so Zhang Ran kept saying hello to all kinds of people.

"This is Ken Watanabe. Just finished filming "The Last Samurai". Watanabe-kun, this is director Zhang Ran. ”

"This is director Yojiro Takida, whose film Onmyoji is very popular in Japan. Mr. Takida, this is the director of "Bursting Drummer" Zhang Ran. ”

Zhang Ran, who was strolling through the hall, saw a familiar figure, hiding alone in a remote corner, slowly drinking wine. Zhang Ran walked over and greeted, "Mr. Park, there are beauties everywhere at the reception." Why are you hiding in a corner alone?"

Park Chan-wook saw Zhang Ran and nodded at him with a smile: "Zhang Ran, congratulations! This time your movie is shining in Tokyo." Your movie is really great, especially the rhythm, it's a lot better than "Time Prisoner"!"

Zhang Ran said with emotion: "Thank you! To be honest, this was beyond my expectations. I don't have a very good relationship with director Li Zhiyi, and before the premiere of the movie, some media said that the judges of "Burst Drummer" didn't like this movie, so I didn't have any hope of winning the award at all!"

Park Chan-wook smiled: "Lee Ji-ui really doesn't like your movie, and he tried to talk about us. He said that the story is very false, and there is no such teacher in Xiangjiang, which is untrue. None of us agree with him. Art comes from life, but it is higher than life, and it does not have to be the same as real life. I don't know if there is one in Xiangjiang. But there are such teachers in South Korea. He couldn't convince us, and we couldn't change his mind. But he's only one person, and you get four votes in favor!"

I chatted with Park Chan-wook for a few words. Zhang Ran asked: "Your new film should be about to start, when will it start?"

Hearing the new film, Park Chan-wook smiled: "I originally wanted to change the stage play "Memories of Murder" into a movie, but when I went to inquire, I found that it had just been bought by Bong Joon-ho a few days ago. Not long ago, I met Bong Joon-ho and asked him what his next plan was after filming "Memories of Murder", and Bong Joon-ho said that he was interested in the Japanese comic "Old Boy", so I took advantage of the film festival to go to Tokyo and buy the rights to the manga!"

Zhang Ran laughed: "Is this Park Chan-wook's revenge?"

Park Chan-wook also laughed: "Yes, it's Park Chan-wook's revenge!"

Just then, Harvey Weinstein walked over with a wine glass: "Zhang, my dear friend, you made it easy for me to find." Then he looked at Park Chan-wook and asked, "Park, I have something to talk about with Zhang, can we talk?"

Harvey has a lot of influence in this circle, and Park Chan-wook doesn't dare to provoke him: "Of course, I've been sitting for a long time, and I'm just up to get up and move." After saying that, Park Chan-wook stood up, nodded at Zhang Ran, and turned to leave.

Harvey was not polite, sat on the seat, looked at Zhang Ran, and said slightly depressedly: "I didn't expect you to not only win the award, but also win two awards!"

Zhang Ran knew why Harvey came, and said without modesty: "The awards of the film festival are for the best films, and our films deserve it, you should want to get it." ”

Harvey said depressedly: "You know why I came, I won't talk nonsense, $500,000!"

Zhang Ran still felt that the price was too low: "Harvey, I said, as long as $1 million, all the copyrights in North America are yours!"

Harvey's face suddenly became very exciting, and he gritted his teeth and said, "I can only get up to $600,000!"

Zhang Ran shrugged his shoulders and looked indifferent: "You can wait, we will go back to Sundance in January." If the American media has a flood of bad reviews, I will sell you 500,000 yuan!"

In fact, for Harvey today, he doesn't care much about hundreds of thousands of dollars. But as a Jew, what you can take at a low price, at a high price, is a crime.

Harvey was very dissatisfied with Zhang Ran's attitude, and he was eager to punch Zhang Ran in the face, and the "New York Times" and "Huasheng Reading Post" all gave good reviews, how could it be sent to Sundance with such bad reviews?

Zhang Ran said with a smile: "Li Ka-shing once said to Li Zekai that he has a principle in doing business, a business should take 10 yuan, and he can get 11 yuan, but he only takes 9 yuan, I think it makes sense, so 800,000 yuan is 800,000 yuan, I hope there will be opportunities for cooperation in the future!

Why did Zhang Ran insist on a one-time payment. What about asking for payment as soon as possible? In fact, it is very simple, the film and television industry is a circle where people die and do not pay for their lives. Harvey is a well-known villain in the circle, from the United States to Europe. When I went to China, there were many people who were cheated by him.

Take "Burst Drummer" as an example, Zhang Ran sold the copyright to Harvey, and he would pay a deposit of $20,000 first. Other buyers saw that the movie was sold and withdrew. He told Zhang Ran, I don't want to buy this film, and he gave up the $20,000 deposit. The other buyers had already left, and Zhang Ran had no way to sell to others, so he could only sell to him at a low price. Many filmmakers in China have suffered Harvey's losses. Feng Xiaogang even pointed out that Harvey was a liar!

Harvey rolled his eyes: "It's only $800,000, am I going to lie to you?"

Zhang Ran smiled and said: "You are all worried about 200,000 catties, how can I not care about 800,000 catties?"

Harvey really has no intention of cheating Zhang Ran, he has cheated many people, but he has never deceived potential directors. For example, he was very good to Quentin, the budget of "Kill Bill" was originally only 50 million, but Quentin filmed and played, resulting in the filming period being extended from the original schedule of 85 days to 135 days, and the final cost exceeded the expected budget by 11 million. In this case. Harvey did not complain about Quentin at all, but supported it.

In Harvey's view, Zhang Ran is a potential director, looking at Zhang Ran and saying: "You graduated from UCLA, and you are quite familiar with the production process of American films. And you have very good film shots, scheduling, and rhythm, and you have enough ability to control commercial films, have you ever thought about going back to the United States to make movies?"

Zhang Ran had no idea of cooperating with Harvey. This person is strong, and he is new. Now I am working with him under such conditions, casting and editing. There will be no rights, and he said lightly: "The next movie will be an English film, a sci-fi action movie, and it will be filmed in the United States!"

Harvey was stunned, Zhang Ran's film had just won an award at the Tokyo Film Festival, and he was completely new in the United States, how could an American company ask him to make a movie. After thinking about it, I understood a little: "Are you going to cooperate with Columbia Asia?"

Columbia Asia is a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures in Xiangjiang, in addition to introducing and promoting excellent Hollywood film works in China, the company is also actively engaged in cooperative shooting and overseas distribution and promotion of Chinese films. In recent years, the company has begun to invest in the production of Chinese-language films, such as the highly acclaimed films "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Big Names", and "My Father and Mother".

But Harvey clearly guessed wrong!

Zhang Ran shook his head with a smile and said, "No, I plan to finance this project by myself." ”

Harvey was stunned and said curiously: "Oh, do you have a detailed plan? If the project is good, we Miramax can participate in the investment!"

Zhang Ran said lightly: "I don't need other investors to invest in the shares, but I plan to pre-sell financing to Europe and Japan, and operate this project like "Tomb Raider"!"

Harvey's two big projects this year are based on Tomb Raider, and he knows very well that there are two conditions needed to run such a project, the first is a big project, and the second is a big company. He suddenly became a little interested in Zhang Ran's project: "What is your budget for this project?"

Zhang Ran did not hide it: "It is expected to be about 90 million US dollars, but now the project has not started, and the detailed budget has not yet come out." ”

Harvey stared into Zhang Ran's eyes and said slowly: "To operate such a big project, it is not possible to support it without a large company in the back. You won an award at a film festival, but you never proved yourself at the box office. It is simply impossible to solve tens of millions of funds through pre-sales. Even if the pre-sale is completed, a rookie director like you will not lend you a loan with the pre-sale contract. Therefore, you need a reputable producer to run the project. Show me your plan, how the project is good, I can be the producer of your movie!"

Miramax is an American company, and the channel is mainly in the United States. If Zhang Ran wants to pre-sell in the United States, cooperating with Harvey is undoubtedly a good choice, but Zhang Ran does not plan to pre-sell in the United States. He hopes that when the film is finished, it will be distributed by American companies in North America, and he will take a share. If it's pre-sold, there's no way to get a share.

In fact, pre-sales are not cost-effective, because pre-sales are to sell the movie in advance, and if the box office hits well in the future, you will not be able to share this part of the profits. What's more, in the pre-sale, the buyer can't see the actual effect, so the price is often kept low in the negotiation.

Zhang Ran grinned: "When it is released in the future, I may look for you, but I have a more suitable person than you to operate this project, and I came to the Tokyo Film Festival for him!"

Harvey was stunned and asked, "Who?"

Zhang Ran raised his hand and pointed: "He!"

Harvey looked in the direction of Zhang Ran's finger and saw a middle-aged man in his forties, with a beard and a chubby man. He knew this man, the director of "This Killer Is Not Too Cold" and the chairman of the jury of the festival, the Frenchman Luc Besson! )