Andrew Grande and Heck Potkoe can't believe that there is a mysterious buyer who wants to buy "Cotton"!

Both are graduates of the New York University Film School, in their thirties, but they have not yet achieved anything. Although they are still young in the film industry, they are really uncomfortable, even if they ignore monsters like Ye Wei and compare them with their classmate Todd Phillips, they will ......

Phillips is really a comedic genius, and when he was studying, he didn't think that when Grande and he made the two documentaries "The Sorority" and "The Sweet Bitter Hotel", Phillips wrote and directed "Hala on the Road" in 2000 was a watershed, and after the success of this film, Phillips rushed into the sky like a rocket.

The success of "Single Men's Club" with Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell, and the success of "Police Heroes" with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, who are only 34 years older than them, have already made movies with comedy superstars, and the microphone is not worried, and the future is limitless.

And they are not even small people, just nameless people.

It's not that they haven't had the opportunity, the two also write scripts, and filmmakers who can write scripts always have more opportunities than those who can't. Grande's self-directed low-budget comedy "Puzzle" was launched in 2002 with no theatrical releases, only television broadcasts and a disc market, and the distributor seemed to be right, because it didn't generate any revenue......

Then this year, another small-budget comedy "Mail Order Bride" co-written and directed by the two finally had a chance to be released, they had been looking forward to it for a long time, Grande starred in person, and invited Eugenia Yuan (formerly Liqi) to partner, who she is is not many people know, but when it comes to her mother Zheng Peipei, it is different, the blue-eyed fox in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

As a result, in the case of 4 theaters with the largest screening scale, they only received more than 60,000 box office and went down, and the opportunity turned into a nightmare, and the careers of the two fell to the bottom of darkness.

The two also admit that their talents are not as high as Phillips, but how to say it, they used to be good brothers, but now they are different, Phillips is very busy, he hasn't gotten together for a long time, what can he do when he gets together, he talks about the happiness and troubles of cooperating with celebrities, and they talk about the poor and depressed who can't find investment, so can they talk about going together?

The two of them not only felt ashamed of themselves, but also held back their strength, so they didn't seek Phillips's help, and wanted to catch up on their own, they are also NYU graduates!

Let's face it, what else can we do if the next project doesn't land? Producers, take their scripts and look for investment, I don't know how long it will take to find new opportunities, they have failed twice, maybe months, maybe years.

On this very day, an unbelievable situation suddenly arose, and someone wanted to buy "Cotton"!

The two were so surprised, how could it be "Cotton"? This script was inspired by "Blair the Witch" back then, and also borrowed elements and stories from some classic horror movies such as "The Exorcist", but after four years of writing, they don't know how many times they have submitted it, how many places they have submitted, no one is interested, and those who can get a reply say that it is ordinary, imitated too much, and lacks commercial qualities.

They know that these comments are not wrong, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it exploits "Blair the Witch", but "Blair the Witch" itself eats all the cake, "Blair the Witch 2" has no results, this year's "The Exorcist Prequel" is also rotten, and "Cotton" is a script that has no chance. So they didn't even bother to make modifications, and just used it to pad the table legs.

Unexpectedly, the assistant of Brian Sberlaier, the agent of the middleman CAA in charge of the sale, did not disclose who the buyer was, only that it was a new production company "Cliff Films" to buy, and intended to make a low-budget exploitation film.

Of course, the two were very pleasantly surprised by this, especially the cliff movie also offered a high price, 80,000 US dollars! For "Cotton", 30,000 is the opportunity price, 50,000 is the fair price, 60,000 and 70,000 are the honest price, and 80,000 is the gift price.

They weren't stupid enough to think that CAA would do a loss-making business, and the other party made it clear that Cliff Films bought the script in good faith, and the mysterious man respected the screenwriter's labor and was willing to buy and sell at a price that was happy for both parties.

It is also said that the script will be greatly revised after it is bought, and the middle of the second act will be completely different from then on, and they don't need to do it, and if they don't agree, the new screenwriter won't sign it. The new screenwriter is the buyer, and he will also be the producer and director, he does not like to show up, and his identity will be kept secret during the buying and selling process.

The two know that the script doesn't belong to them if it is sold, and it doesn't matter if they want to revise it, but they don't just want to get a windfall now, they also want to get a chance, even if there is no director's microphone, can they participate in the production work, there are always second and third producers, right?

CAA said that the only thing that is certain of Cliff Movies now is to buy the script, and it is very urgent, and they only have time to think about it on the night of the 30th, and tomorrow morning they will have to answer whether it will be sold or not, and the mysterious man is looking for the script to make it immediately, if they don't sell it, he will buy something else.

Send money price, can't fake CAA, immediately put up for auction, will be released later, which means that there is a chance to succeed and become famous......

What are Grande and Potkoe going to think about, why don't you sell such a table-footing script?

But they sincerely hope that they can get a job on the crew of "Cotton" and get a chance.

......

December 1st, the new month, the last month of 2004.

"Bought it!"

In the morning, in the boys' room, Ye Wei smiled happily at the DV camera and said: "A qiēshun lì, the contract of intent can be signed today, our company has not been registered yet, and we will sign the formal contract when it is ready." But we can start the work of changing the script, I want to finish the first draft of the new version within today, and then make detailed revisions at any time during the preparation and filming process, let's-go!"

Because Brian has investigated, there is no need to worry that the two screenwriters will turn back, they have no reason to do that, and if there is a viy appearance, they will sell it.

Ye Wei sat down in front of the computer desk, and had already obtained the electronic version of the script, and immediately got busy.

First of all, there are a few points that need to be clarified: demons are possessed, Maggie is indeed possessed by demons, exorcisms are also existent, and exorcists need to truly believe in God to have power.

The first act completes the story background and character introduction more quickly, allowing Cotton and his party to reach the Switzer family farm faster and enter the main story faster. This means cutting out some unimportant scenes, such as these church scenes, pressing the delete button, to show that Cotton doesn't believe that there are many simple and time-saving ways to have God, and that the future stories will not have the meaning of discussing religion, so the foreshadowing and rendering must be eliminated.

The new focus is on Cotton's identity as a descendant of the exorcism family, the mysterious atmosphere of the exorcism, adding new renderings, and necessary foreshadowing.

The second act should also be shortened and not so long, the main body of the first half should be retained, and from the second half onwards, the unnecessary elements and suspense should be removed, the cult and the dark priest Manly should be deleted, and the story should be concentrated on the farm, with a sense of closure rather than spreading to the whole town.

Retain Maggie's pregnancy suspense, the answer is simple demon growth, increase the suspense of Maggie's mother's death, demon = Maggie's mother suspense, the answer is actually all demons in disguise, provocation, and deception; add more visual horror scenes, more dynamic tension and excitement, and more exorcism confrontations.

Improve the rendering of family warmth, strengthen the inner emotional portrayal of Cotton, Maggie, and Switzer, highlight the contradictory confrontation between demons and family affection, and clarify the sense of responsibility of the exorcist.

The new second turning point, the new third act, all had to be rewritten, because the first and second acts were shortened, the length of the third act was increased, and Cotton's reinvention of faith, the helpless pain of the Switzers, and the horror of the demons all had to explode and lead to a powerful ending, striving to be both terrifying and shocking at the same time.

A terrifying, exciting, realistic, and heart-wrenching story, that's it.

During the day, the room crackled with keyboard tapping, paused for a moment at noon, and soon resounded.

During the period, there was also the sound of mobile phone talking:

"Great! Sooner than I expected. Oh...... Tell them that if you want to join, you have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which is a special project. ”

"It's going to be two days before I go back, I have a big surprise for you, yes I said a surprise, but I will definitely surprise you, wait, haha!"

"I'm still in Los Angeles, I'm not going out tonight, it's very, very busy, I can't tell you specifically, it's related to the movie anyway. What, again, the girl's name is Shasso-Perthea Roberts Moda and the boy's name is Binnes Walter Roberts Moda, good name, it's a test of memory. ”

"Who are you talking about? Michael Angelano! really?"

Ye Wei couldn't help but stare and turned his seat, he was really shocked by the news of the LMS casting team, Michael Angelano actually wanted to participate in the audition for "Dewyan".

What did he want to do? They didn't have any other correspondence except for a fight that night, not a single text message, and the gossip that Lev had said before, Angrano and Stewart got back together, and I really don't know how he could stand it. Whatever, Ye Wei doesn't regard Angelano as an enemy at all, and he is not just a friend.

But what's going on now, good or bad?

Don't care about this for now, Ye Wei let himself look at it with a pure professional eye, can Angelano play Dewyan? Although the age is in line, it will seem a little small when he really acts, Dewyane is melancholy, eccentric, introverted and quiet, but it seems to be hysterical at any time, Angelano's temperament is neighborly, sunny, friendly, honest, and not very suitable.

Whether it will work or not needs to be found through the audition, and refusing the star's active participation in the audition stage will damage the project and his personal reputation, which is not necessary.

Ye Wei wanted that Angelano would not be defeated and complained to the media that there was a shady scene, and it would be a loss to do so with his fame, and with the current LMS, he was stupid and wanted to sabotage, and his agent would not be stupid together. Angrano should really want to audition, a kind of reconciliation to show that okay, viy is amazing, it's better to be a friend than an enemy, or Angrano is not so utilitarian, he is just fascinated by viy, and he really wants to cooperate, and learn some kung fu or something by the way, haha.

"If he wants to audition, let him try, and I'll wait to see his watch. "With Angelano's appearance and acting skills, it's no problem to enter the final selection.

That's it, after putting down the phone, Ye Wei continued to look at the computer screen, writing a scene from the third act:

Maggie: Kill me, Daddy, kill me while I'm still awake!

Cotton (in front of the gun): No, no, there must be another way!

Switzer (shuddering): Is God watching? Is God seeing my daughter's pain? Where is God?

......

When the draft was completed and some preliminary polishing was done, Ye Wei knocked out the-end, it was already evening, and nearly 40 pages were revised and rewritten in a day, although there was still a lot of work to be done, and the result was enough to make people happy and happy.

"Yami! The first draft of "Exorcism Video" is complete, I love this ending, I love it, I love it, I can't wait to shoot it, hahaha!"

Ye Wei left the computer desk with his hands dancing, opened the locked door and went out, Duoduo came to bang on the door several times before, he came to the backyard of the house, and played football with the cheering Duoduo and Toto for a while, until he found that the mobile phone placed on the porch chair came with a text message, sent by Lily.

"Guys, Orian Shun gave birth to a baby, I have another brother, my dad named him Matthew, I think he's a girl,^_^"

"Wow, congratulations. Ye Wei couldn't help but smile when he looked at it, although it was a group text message, he immediately sent different congratulatory text messages to her and Phil Collins.

He suddenly remembered this year's spring outing, that trip to Hawaii, when Lily said that she wanted a younger sister, and she only needed a younger sister......

He said that those ten days were like a happy love movie, and she said that it was the happiest ten days of her life, and they both suffered from end-of-trip phobia, but they both believed that they would travel the world together in the future...... In fact, it was only in March, and he even clearly remembered the sweetness of laughter every day, why did it feel so long?

In fact, what were those ten days for her? Ye Wei had this idea, she was very curious, purely thinking about love, when she made a love love movie, she would have accumulated. Does she think of these things once in a while? Does she feel empty, as if there is nothing, powerless, flustered, anxious, as if ...... Don't want to lose.

This seems to be called lovelorn syndrome, and the strange thing is that he is in love again, but there will still be some.

What about her? Ye Wei shook his head, shouldn't it, she is so powerful, she is so, for her, those ten days are the garbage that hinders her from moving over quickly, so she has to throw away.

Did she ever cry? No, I really don't know what would make her cry?

The girls were different, he thought, and they were all the same difficult to understand, and Nina understood a little better, because she couldn't hide the words in her heart.

He suddenly had a deeper understanding of "Anne Hall", hateful intellectual! He was suddenly shocked again, isn't what he is doing now like Ivy Singer did to Anne Hall, if Nina looks at "The Road", reads "War and Peace", talks about Shakespeare, oh no...... Forget it, I still don't recommend her to read "Byron's Poems".

......

Rapid production, every millisecond has to be strife, and there is still one night on the 1st, which cannot be wasted.

The script is there, the money is there, and then the crew is being prepared, Ye Wei needs a production team, one more person and one more hands, of course the work speed will be faster, he originally intended to contact USC's old acquaintance Darum and they will work together again, but the brothers are busy doing graduation works and have no time. After graduation, they will have the opportunity to work together.

Andrew Grande and Heck Portkoe, two high-achieving students of NYU Academy, have done projects many times, although their creativity is not very good, the production execution should be there, he felt that he could give them a chance, they also signed a non-disclosure agreement, and they were idle in Los Angeles, so he agreed to meet them this night.

To keep it a secret, meet in a secret place, Brian's studio.

When Ye Wei walked into the elegant reception room with a briefcase and a Monkey King mask, he saw two people who arrived earlier than him sitting on the sofa, one was tall and thin, wearing glasses, and the one who was bald but had a beard was Potko, and the other was Grande with short black hair, and they were a little surprised when they saw him.

"Hey, I'm Gu You, it's nice to meet you. Ye Wei walked towards them, took off his mask, and showed a smiling face.

"You, you are ......" Grande and Potter Cole were suddenly even more surprised, Huo Di stood up, some didn't know what was going on, isn't this young man Ye Wei? Ye Wei wants to buy their script!? This is Ye Wei!

They laughed at each other's humor, and their faces were bloodied with excitement for this opportunity, and viy wanted to shoot their script......! Isn't Ye Wei busy with "Little Sunshine Beauty"?

What's going on!?

"Gentlemen, please be seated, and allow me to explain why my name is Yunik-Gu. ”

Ye Wei shook hands with the two, sat down on the small sofa, and explained to them briefly, without revealing the internal disputes of "Little Sunshine Beauty", just saying that the preparations were ahead of time, he had time, and then he wanted to make his girlfriend happy, so he had this exploitation project that needed to be kept secret.

Grande and Potter looked at each other, both smiling a little bitterly, it turned out that their luck was due to Ye Wei wanting to make his girlfriend happy, but it was also an opportunity......

"In any case, I won't be sloppy with the film, and if you are willing to co-produce, I will invite you. Say it in advance, the coming month is super busy, it's impossible not to suffer, we have to race against time, and there are confidential. In addition, its release is not fixed for the time being, it may be very long, it may be very fast, and all I can promise is that it will be released, and it will not be just a private film. ”

Ye Wei paused and asked seriously, "So, do you want to join?"

"We join. Both of them nodded happily, with their own situation, do they still need to think about it? When they see this genius boy, they know what to do, and the script can be filmed for him for free!

No matter how secret it is, it will always be known that VIY filmed "Cotton", whether it is released before or after the release of "Little Sunshine Beauty", if the LMS is successful, they will be lucky! And as long as there is a chance of success, what will happen if "Cotton" itself is a big success? Regardless of Gu You or Ye Wei, they are both one of the producers and screenwriters, why not? It's just pie in the sky!

"That's good!" Ye Wei smiled, and while taking out two newly printed new scripts from the briefcase he brought, he said, "I have changed the first draft of the new version today, you can take a look." He sent them and said, "I'm going to revise about 40 percent, mainly in the second and third scenes, and you can decide if you can sign it." ”

So fast?Both Grande and Potko were shocked, and looking at the name of the cover, "The Exorcism Video", a different sense of mystery had come to their faces.

They silently flipped through it, although it was a stepping table script, how could it be written by themselves, and they had read it several times since they received the news last night, turning through the pages of the script paper, they knew very well where the changes had been made, where the new scenes were, and they all seemed to be different, the theme, atmosphere, focus, emotion......

The two never thought their version was bad, and they still are, but reading this version, there is clearly a clearer and more commercial force. Although there are fewer elements, the characteristics are strong, and the emotional conflict of the characters is ...... When they saw the ending, both of them couldn't help but be moved.

This is a great story, Ye Wei gave it a new soul, "Cotton" is theirs, and "Exorcism Video" is his.

The two of them looked at each other, and both nodded in approval, and Grande said, "Weige, no, Yunik, of course you have to sign it, nearly half of it was written by you, it's a new script." ”

"Okay, then let's sign it, Gu You. Ye Wei smiled, didn't talk about it, and continued to talk back to the producer: "You know that within this month, to be precise, within 20 days after the official launch, the production will be completed, which requires us to be mobile enough to shoot a pseudo-documentary, just an intensive crew."

The budget, shooting schedule, and other copywriting work are also simplified, with fewer scene changes, short shooting cycles, and the split script must be done well, and there is no need to be complicated in the rest, so I will leave these to you.

And then we have already decided on the filming location, Toronto, everything is cheap, and I am also convenient, but it is very cold in winter, but there is a terrible atmosphere of broken cold in winter, which is not bad. And then there are the actors, my girlfriend plays Maggie, and the others I'm going to use all the unknown actors who are not unionized, and each one is an unfamiliar face, which will be more pseudo-documentary, and there are no union rules, at least we can work overtime to the fullest......"

Grande and Potko nodded their heads as they listened, and the biggest feeling at this time was that they were genius.

This is Ye Wei!

They laughed at each other's humor, and their faces were bloodied with excitement for this opportunity, and viy wanted to shoot their script......! Isn't Ye Wei busy with "Little Sunshine Beauty"?

What's going on!?

"Gentlemen, please be seated, and allow me to explain why my name is Yunik-Gu. ”

Ye Wei shook hands with the two, sat down on the small sofa, and explained to them briefly, without revealing the internal disputes of "Little Sunshine Beauty", just saying that the preparations were ahead of time, he had time, and then he wanted to make his girlfriend happy, so he had this exploitation project that needed to be kept secret.

Grande and Potter looked at each other, both smiling a little bitterly, it turned out that their luck was due to Ye Wei wanting to make his girlfriend happy, but it was also an opportunity......

"In any case, I won't be sloppy with the film, and if you are willing to co-produce, I will invite you. Say it in advance, the coming month is super busy, it's impossible not to suffer, we have to race against time, and there are confidential. In addition, its release is not fixed for the time being, it may be very long, it may be very fast, and all I can promise is that it will be released, and it will not be just a private film. ”

Ye Wei paused and asked seriously, "So, do you want to join?"

"We join. Both of them nodded happily, with their own situation, do they still need to think about it? When they see this genius boy, they know what to do, and the script can be filmed for him for free!

No matter how secret it is, it will always be known that VIY filmed "Cotton", whether it is released before or after the release of "Little Sunshine Beauty", if the LMS is successful, they will be lucky! And as long as there is a chance of success, what will happen if "Cotton" itself is a big success? Regardless of Gu You or Ye Wei, they are both one of the producers and screenwriters, why not? It's just pie in the sky!

"That's good!" Ye Wei smiled, and while taking out two newly printed new scripts from the briefcase he brought, he said, "I have changed the first draft of the new version today, you can take a look." He sent them and said, "I'm going to revise about 40 percent, mainly in the second and third scenes, and you can decide if you can sign it." ”

So fast?Both Grande and Potko were shocked, and looking at the name of the cover, "The Exorcism Video", a different sense of mystery had come to their faces.

They silently flipped through it, although it was a stepping table script, how could it be written by themselves, and they had read it several times since they received the news last night, turning through the pages of the script paper, they knew very well where the changes had been made, where the new scenes were, and they all seemed to be different, the theme, atmosphere, focus, emotion......

The two never thought their version was bad, and they still are, but reading this version, there is clearly a clearer and more commercial force. Although there are fewer elements, the characteristics are strong, and the emotional conflict of the characters is ...... When they saw the ending, both of them couldn't help but be moved.

This is a great story, Ye Wei gave it a new soul, "Cotton" is theirs, and "Exorcism Video" is his.

The two of them looked at each other, and both nodded in approval, and Grande said, "Weige, no, Yunik, of course you have to sign it, nearly half of it was written by you, it's a new script." ”

"Okay, then let's sign it, Gu You. Ye Wei smiled, didn't talk about it, and continued to talk back to the producer: "You know that within this month, to be precise, within 20 days after the official launch, the production will be completed, which requires us to be mobile enough to shoot a pseudo-documentary, just an intensive crew."

The budget, shooting schedule, and other copywriting work are also simplified, with fewer scene changes, short shooting cycles, and the split script must be done well, and there is no need to be complicated in the rest, so I will leave these to you.

And then we have already decided on the filming location, Toronto, everything is cheap, and I am also convenient, but it is very cold in winter, but there is a terrible atmosphere of broken cold in winter, which is not bad. And then there are the actors, my girlfriend plays Maggie, and the others I'm going to use all the unknown actors who are not unionized, and each one is an unfamiliar face, which will be more pseudo-documentary, and there are no union rules, at least we can work overtime to the fullest......"

Grande and Potko nodded their heads as they listened, and the biggest feeling at this time was that they were genius