Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 363: The Huala Gang Gathering

After watching the sample film, Zhang Chen checked the progress of post-production. Even though Pete repeatedly assured him that he was keeping an eye on it, he still felt uneasy without checking it himself.

The post-production of "A Quiet Place" was not complicated, there were not many special effects shots, and they had plenty of time.

Zhang Chen’s requirements are not high, as long as the quality and quantity are guaranteed.

In fact, a film with this kind of investment is kept in the hands for half a year before being released, which is a bit too long.

For film projects, the sooner they are monetized the better. If they are delayed for too long, no one can guarantee what will happen.

But Zhang Chen wants to try to release the film simultaneously in multiple locations, so he is willing to pay some price.

After leaving New Line, Zhang Chen and his team returned to Cube. "Hold Your Breath" was about to start filming. This was Cube's first work and there was no room for error.

On the way, Diane talked about the copyright of "The Walking Dead".

"Robert Kirkman, the author of The Walking Dead, was reluctant to sell the copyright to us. He felt that we were a small company and was worried that we could not achieve the effect he had in mind..."

Originally, Robert Kirkman is not only the author of "The Walking Dead" comics, but also the screenwriter of the American TV series. The original American TV series "The Walking Dead" was made possible by him.

"The Walking Dead" is really a gold mine. It took twelve years to shoot an American TV series.

Twelve years have come to an end.

But the finale is just to derive personal branch lines.

It's really an American TV series that will make you enjoy it for a lifetime.

Zhang Chen wanted to take advantage of such a huge bargain, but he already knew it was not easy to get one.

Although he is a reborn person, others are not fools.

Many people can tell the difference between a good project and a bad project.

"It doesn't matter. We'll keep in touch slowly. Maybe after we release a few works, the other party's attitude will change."

Every author hopes that their work can be presented as brilliantly as possible, but at the same time they are afraid that their work will be tampered with.

Stephenie Meyer of "Twilight" would rather not sell her movie than allow the film and television companies to make any changes to it.

But literary works and film and television works are two completely different concepts, and sometimes magical adaptations are not entirely useless.

The simplest example is Gossip Girl.

"Gossip Girl" is a novel about the decadence and debauchery of Manhattan's Upper East Side. The novel was published a long time ago, but it has never been very popular and has not had much influence.

Later, it was picked up by CW radio station and made into a TV series, which became popular all over the United States and boosted the sales of the original work.

But in fact, the original novel was not very well written. The entire story of the book was filmed in the first season, and the rest was entirely the credit of the screenwriter.

Therefore, it is actually a double-edged sword for the author of a literary work to insist on adapting the work according to the original.

Books with particularly good sales may be successful if filmed like this because they have a reader base, but it is hard to say for other books.

"Gossip Girl" was something Zhang Chen thought of when he was riding a horse that night. Brian Lively became famous because of this drama.

Zhang Chen has already included this novel in the copyright list, but he did not get it immediately, mainly because he had no money.

He made a lot of box office money in China, but when converted into US dollars and spent here, it's really not enough.

So he planned to wait until "Hold Your Breath" was released and see the return money.

Not only "Gossip Girl", but also "The Vampire Diaries" and so on...

"The Vampire Diaries" is also a novel. Many people think it is a follow-up to "Twilight", but it is not.

It was published in 1991, but it was a flop and had little influence.

It wasn't until the release of "Twilight" and the benefits of vampires that it became popular again.

This was then noticed by others, made into an American TV series, and sold to Columbia and Warner Bros. Television Networks.

The two were talking about copyright along the way when Diane suddenly received a call from someone looking for Zhang Chen. The other party didn't have Zhang Chen's contact information, so they called Diane.

After hanging up the phone, Diane said, "It's James Wan from Lionsgate. He got the news from somewhere and knew that you are in Santa Barbara. He said they have an internal party for horror film directors tonight and want to invite you to join them..."

James Wan?

James Wan is James Wan, the director of "Saw", and is now considered one of the hottest stars in Lionsgate.

"Saw", with a budget of $120 million and a shooting time of 14 days, generated more than $5000 million in box office revenue for Lionsgate, not to mention other subsequent revenue.

So James Wan is very famous. Although he is not the director of "Saw 2", he is the producer.

Zhang Chen probably understood James Wan's thoughts. Perhaps he had watched Zhang Chen's "Darkness" and regarded him as a kindred spirit and wanted to exchange views with him.

"OK, tell me the time and place, I'll meet them in the evening."

He doesn't consider himself a horror film director, but that doesn't stop him from attending such gatherings.

In the future, he plans to position Cube Company to produce various low-budget movies, including horror films, erotic films, and comedies, with the main theme being to make a small investment for a big return.

"Hold Your Breath", "The Purge", "Paranormal Activity", "Happy Death Day", and others include "Fifty Shades of Grey" and "The Hangover" series. These are all examples of making a big profit with a small investment, and Zhang Chen is not going to miss any of them.

He had no intention of turning Cube into a great brand, he just wanted it to be an ATM.

Cube makes money in North America with low-budget blockbusters, subsidizing Star Entertainment to produce various blockbusters, such as "Pacific Rim" and "The Wandering Earth".

In the evening, Zhang Chen showed up on time at the small cafe where the party was held. The moment the doorbell rang, Zhang Chen became the focus of the room.

A familiar Asian man stood up and walked towards Zhang Chen with a smile.

"Dear Zhang, thank you for coming to this party..."

"I heard that tonight is a gathering of horror film directors. It's my honor..."

Zhang Chen smiled and hugged James Wan.

James Wan is a regular supporting actor in American entertainment. He is the first talent that all male protagonists recruit in North America, and usually also their partner.

Zhang Chen had similar thoughts today.

But it is impossible to expect the other party to bow down and kowtow.

James Wan has not experienced failure yet and is still very confident.

If you want to win him over, you have to wait until two movies fail.

"Zhang, I've seen your film Dark Invasion, it's very good..."

When seeing Zhang Chen, someone immediately came up to him and said something, but was immediately interrupted by James Wan.

"Wait a moment, Ross, let me introduce everyone to him first..."

As he spoke, James Wan introduced everyone present to Zhang Chen one by one. Only then did he realize that the person who had just spoken to him was Eli Roth, the director of "Hostel".

Others include Rob Zombie, director of "House of 2 Corpses", Leigh Whannell, screenwriter of "Saw", and Darren Ryan Bousman, director of "Saw ", Tobe Hooper, director of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and Alexander Aja, director of "The Hills Have Eyes".

In fact, they are the famous "Huala Gang" in later generations, representatives of the new wave of horror movies.

Zhang Chen then remembered that Neil Marshall, the director of "Dark Invasion" in the original time and space, was a member of the Huala Gang. In this time and space, "Dark Invasion" was intercepted by him. Is the Huala Gang preparing to call him to justice?

"I also watched your movie Hostel. To be honest, it scared me..."

As Zhang Chen was a newcomer, he should of course express his honor appropriately, not to mention that "Hostel" was indeed amazing and could be called the childhood nightmare of many people.

"Thank you for your recognition. I got the inspiration for that movie when I was chatting with a friend..."

"What inspiration?"

This sentence successfully piqued the interest of others. "Hostel" was only released this year, and this was the first time they met after the release, so they didn't know the inside story.

"My friend told me that somewhere in Thailand, there is a trade that makes money by killing people. For $1, you can get a loaded gun and a person who is willing to be killed by you.

This kind of transaction is of course not allowed by law, but the victims are willing to do it. They are all poor people whose families can no longer make ends meet. In order to relieve their families from hunger, they have no choice but to sacrifice themselves.

So I thought of the story of "Hostel". In order to make it look more immersive, I changed the location to Slovakia in Europe, but I didn't expect it to cause trouble to the tourism industry there..."

Zhang Chen had seen this news in his previous life. It was said that Eli Roth even made a formal apology to the Slovak government for this.

Everyone was deeply saddened, not by the impact on Slovakia's tourism industry, but by the source of inspiration.

That's what horror movies are like. Many times, a piece of news you hear by chance can become a very good story.

"My deepest impression of this movie is not the inn, but the gang of kids in the town who would kill for a piece of candy..."

Zhang Chen's words really touched Eli Roth's heart. He put a lot of thought into the setting up of the Kids' Gang, and it also has deep meaning.

"Zhang, can you tell me about your "Dark Invasion"? How did you come up with such a story?"

Eli Roth returned the favor and turned the topic back to Zhang Chen. As Zhang Chen was a newcomer who came here for the first time, everyone was curious about him.

“It’s actually very simple. When I was a kid, there were many underground air-raid shelters near my home. I got lost in one of them and the only way to find my way was with a flashlight.

I was very scared at the time. I always felt that there was a pair of malicious eyes staring at me in the dark. There were also all kinds of strange noises in the air-raid shelter. They should be made by some small animals, but it was very scary.
Fortunately, I found a way out later, but that experience left a deep impression on me. Later, when I studied directing and wanted to make my first film, I thought of this experience and processed it a little bit, turning those sounds into an underground monster. It’s that simple…”

Zhang Chen is talking nonsense.

"You did a particularly good job on one detail: the underground monsters all have degraded eyesight and can only rely on hearing to locate their positions. This way, the DV plays a key role in the entire play..."

James Wan expressed his opinion, and others also agreed.

The DV setting is indeed a highlight of "Darkness", which even the film critics think is good.

"But Dark Invasion 2 is a lot worse~"

"There's nothing we can do about it. In horror movies, a lot of surprises are just for show. Of course it's surprising the first time it happens, but the second time, the audience already has expectations in their minds, so it's not that surprising anymore..."

"Saw is like this. You all know the first one. The highlight is actually the last scene of the movie, when Jigsaw's identity is revealed. But the second one doesn't have such a surprise. I can only think of other points..."

Everyone started discussing it, and they said that horror movies also have their own routines, and these are all valuable experiences.

In fact, Zhang Chen was not as profound as they thought in this regard. Most of the time, he just listened quietly and occasionally expressed his opinions.

Everyone present here is a leader in the field of horror films in today’s film industry. Each of them has a representative work, and they are all people Zhang Chen can work with in the future.

Zhang Chen has too many horror film scripts in his hands, many of which are classics that can turn small profits into big returns, but he can't remember the original directors of every movie, so he needs to find someone else to direct, and those present here are good choices.

Even though these people are masters of horror films, their pay is not high.

Compared to low-budget horror films, the investment may not be low, but Zhang Chen has golden eggs in his hands. Compared with the profit, the director's fee is really negligible.

(End of this chapter)