At eleven o'clock in the morning on February 22, 2001, the sun was shining in Los Angeles and the weather was excellent.

In front of a dilapidated building on Lombard Street, stands a tall, young East Asian man, who is none other than Lee Shengyao.

It is a famous location in Hollywood, and there are many tourists and actors from Asia.

Li Shengyao is handsome and stylish, and someone will come over soon, "Man, do you need me to take you into the Actors Guild?" (Equivalent to work)

"No, I don't."

"I have friends who are looking for Asian actors, you can give it a try."

"No, I don't."

In the mainland, there are Beijing drifting, Shanghai drifting, Hong Kong drifting, they have dreams, hoping to soar to the sky.

In fact, there are many Chinese people in Hollywood, and these people are called "dock drifters", and the total number is about 800.

Many of them graduated from the three major film and television academies in China, and they want to step into the world film center.

Naturally, there are a lot of people in Hollywood who do their business, introduce them to the Screen Actors Guild, and introduce movies.

In fact, it's all about cheating money, and there is no love in this world for no reason.

For example, for a group performance without fame, the cost of entering the actors' guild is generally 380 US dollars, and the famous ones are much more expensive, such as Lu Yi, to enter the actors' guild of the beautiful country, the cost is between 3,000 and 4,000 dollars.

And like the eldest brother, Li Lianjie, the annual cost is higher, between 5,000 and 6,000 dollars.

Lee Shengyao got off the plane yesterday, and he has registered as a screenwriter of the Beautiful Country Screenwriters Guild and paid his dues.

The screenwriter's dues in the beautiful country are slightly lower than those of actors, but they are also very expensive, and Lee Shengyao has works, with a membership fee of 3,000 dollars a year.

In addition, he went to the copyright office in Hollywood to register the copyright for Pirates of the Caribbean.

There is a basic information registration fee of 500 US dollars, a special information registration fee of 800 US dollars, and a long-term retention service fee of 500 US dollars.

In short, it's all about money.

The definition of infringement of the script story in the beautiful country is that there are five to sixty percent of similar works, even if it is a problematic work, and the nominal stipulation is that all the proceeds of the infringing work must be given to the original author.

But in reality it doesn't give that much.

The story structure of Red Dead Redemption is plagiarized from Akira Kurosawa's "Hold with Heart".

Kurosawa sued the producers of "Red Dead Redemption", and in the end, Kurosawa won the lawsuit and received 15% of the dividends of "Red Dead Redemption", as well as additional compensation of 100,000 dollars.

Of course, this is Akira Kurosawa, and the impact is huge.

In other words, the vast majority of people who have been infringed by large companies have suffered from it.

"The Lion King" plagiarized the island country's animation "Forest Emperor", and the island country's animation company was tough to sue at first, but later withdrew the lawsuit, saying that it couldn't be provoked.

"Frozen" has some scenes plagiarized the animated short film "Little Snowman", and after a year of lawsuits, Disney and the author of "Little Snowman" "reconciled".

So it's not that if you register for copyright, people can't shoot it, and they don't dare to shoot it.

However, Lee believes that if Disney were to make "Pirates of the Caribbean", they should talk to him.

After all, he is now a well-known director, and the main thing is that Disney has always wanted the mainland market.

Don't look at the face of the monk and look at the face of the Buddha.

There are still advantages to being in a big country, and when the time comes, the script of "Pirates of the Caribbean" can really make money, and Li Shengyao will take out 30% to do public welfare and give back to the motherland.

Why do you need to join the Screenwriters Guild to register for copyright?

Because the Screenwriters' Guild in the beautiful country has a certain amount of adjudication power, they have the right to judge whether the work is suspected of plagiarism.

The works of the members of the Writers Guild were plagiarized, and theoretically the guild had to come forward to administer justice.

Whether it works or not, let's have one more choice.

In fact, whether it is registering the copyright or joining the Screenwriters Guild, as long as you pay the money, it is easy to say, and the efficiency is very high.

Li Shengyao finished it early, he came here now, not to see the place where the cannon was fired in his previous life, he wanted to see two people.

These two people are Wen Ziren and Jia Ziren. Werner.

They are the makers of the famous "Saw".

Wen Ziren and Jia. Werner was both a student at the Australian Film and Television Academy, and the two became friends in Australia.

Werner always believed that he was terminally ill and wanted to create a story about the terminally ill before he died, and he wrote "Chainsaw".

Of course, the current script is certainly not perfected later, but this guy has registered the copyright.

Li Shengyao can't copy it, but it doesn't matter, he can invest.

The production cost of "Saw Horror" was only 1.2 million dollars, and in the end, the global box office was 100 million, the video market sold 40 million, and the net profit was about 50 million US dollars.

It has become a classic with small and broad.

Now Wen Ziren and Werner have no money and live in this rotten house.

The first and second rounds of broadcasting rights for Gusu Satellite TV and Hucheng Satellite TV have been transferred to Daifuku Film and Television Company, and Li Shengyao has received his dividends, which are 2.2 million after tax deduction.

With the addition of his previous money, his account now totals sixteen million.

Soon after, Lee found Wen Ziren and Werner in a messy room, both of whom now looked embarrassed.

They were actually in their early twenties, Wen Ziren was short and thin, and Walner was full of scum.

Both of them looked puzzled, not understanding what the tall and handsome Li Shengyao was looking for them.

The difference in temperament is too big, and they are all a little inferior.

"Hi, hello, my name is Li Shengyao, and I am a director, editor, and producer."

He introduced his identity, and then said directly: "I know one of your scripts, "Chainsaw", are you interested in selling it to me?"

Werner shook his head, "Of course not, this is what I wrote, and I will rely on him to become a first-class screenwriter in Hollywood." ”

Li Shengyao just asked casually, he knew that these two people had been reluctant to sell "Chainsaw".

In fact, many film and television companies are very interested in "Chainsaw", but they can't trust the fledgling Wen Ziren and want to find another director, and Werner is very righteous and must require Wen Ziren to be the director, and he himself is the screenwriter, and the film and television company is not allowed to change the script.

Geniuses are like that, they trust their instincts.

Later, Lionsgate picked up a big bargain and invested 1.2 million yuan in this movie.

Li Shengyao smiled, "Then do you need to invest?" ”

Wen Ziren and Werner's eyes lit up when they heard this, the two of them are in a really bad situation now, and they even have the idea of returning to Australia.

If someone is willing to invest in improving their current poor living conditions, they are willing to give up some of the benefits.

"Can you make a movie in Hollywood?"

This sentence is to ask Lee Shengyao if he has a theatrical relationship in Hollywood, and whether he can help release the movie after making it.

Li Shengyao shook his head, "I don't have it, I only have money." ”

He was able to invest in the first "Saw Horror", a low-budget horror film, once the director and screenwriter became famous, countless people wanted to invest.

Lee Shengyao has no connections in Hollywood, it doesn't matter, only a few million, and he can't get started.

Wen Ziren and Werner glanced at each other and understood the value of Lee Shengyao, they couldn't let Lee Shengyao fully invest in the film, otherwise there would be no one to help them promote it.

In order to attract big studios, you have to give up enough profits.

Then there is not much left for Li Shengyao, "200,000 US dollars, after the release of our movie, we will give you a 7% profit dividend." ”

Li Shengyao shook his head, "Your movie, the cost is pitiful, if you shoot it now, one million is enough." ”

"Two hundred thousand, at least fifteen percent."

"Saw Horror" didn't have any big scenes, the cost was really low, Lionsgate didn't do much marketing back then, and cleverly premiered the movie at the Sundance Film Festival and became famous in one fell swoop.

All the money for production and marketing combined, will not exceed one and a half million.

Wen Ziren asked, "How much dividend do you want?"

"Ten percent, you're definitely taking advantage of it."

You're handsome, you're right.

Wen Ziren and Werner looked at each other, then nodded in agreement.

"Let's go, let's find a lawyer to sign a contract, and I'm a director, I have some ideas for your script, maybe we can talk."