1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 371 This is not the place for you to tear down!

After working for three minutes, Weinstein comfortably lit a cigar and leaned back on the sofa.

The sofa is truly one of the greatest things ever invented by mankind.

Weinstein exclaimed.

He likes the sofa.

Not only can you sit in a variety of postures, but you can also make a variety of postures.

"Hi."

Weinstein took out a few bills, put them between the edges of the woman's stockings, and patted her on the back, "You can get out now."

"."

The woman gave him a charming look, immediately packed up her things and left the room.

Bob passed by the door of the room, glanced at the woman who walked out of the room, and covered his forehead with his hands in grief, "God, Harvey, how many times have I told you not to mess around, especially not with these women, don't you know? There is a very dangerous STD recently."

"Relax, Bob."

Weinstein looked relaxed, "She is not the kind of woman you think."

"Come on, there are women like this all over New York, standing on the street, crazy people, they even don't let go of the children passing by."

"Be less cynical, Bob."

Weinstein smiled. "How's String doing? What's he doing these days?"

".enjoy."

Bob was holding it in for a long time before saying, "Either he's enjoying a hot stone massage in the pool or a variety of dishes in the room. He orders the most room service in the entire Plaza Hotel. God, this stingy guy doesn't even give a penny in tips."

Weinstein smiled and said, "What did I say? These Chinese people have never seen the world."

"Also, my people said that a producer from Hollywood came to visit him these days."

"Relax, no one dares to offer a higher price than me."

Weinstein said, "These Hollywood producers are very stingy. They can't possibly offer too high a copyright fee to a Chinese country bumpkin."

"Oh, by the way, Jiang Xian also borrowed a car from us."

"BORROR car?"

Weinstein smiled, as relaxed as ever, "Let him do it, Bob, this money is nothing, believe me, I will make him spit it all out."

"Smith, smile, eggplant."

Jiang Xian held up the camera and helped Smith take a photo of him and the Statue of Liberty.

"Jiang, let me take the photo for you."

Smith said sheepishly, "This is nothing new to me as a New Yorker."

"it is good."

Jiang Xian handed the camera to Smith and then made a scissors hand gesture in front of the Statue of Liberty.

His trip to New York was not in vain. With Smith, a local, as his tour guide and driver, he visited all the tourist attractions in New York: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Empire State Building.

Driving Weinstein's cars, burning Weinstein's oil
After taking the photo, Smith looked at his watch and reminded:
"Jiang, it's almost time for the appointment with Mr. Maxim."

"Great, let's go meet him then."

The two got in the car and drove back to the Plaza Hotel.

Maxim was in his 30s and originally worked for United Artists, a not very popular production company in Hollywood.

The company's business was not going well, but the films it had produced were still very famous, such as "Lilies of the Field", "West Side Story", "The Apartment", "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "The Graduate", and "Rocky".

In addition, the 007 brand also belongs to them.

The company's turnaround, a small turnaround, came from its acquisition by MGM, once the largest film studio in Hollywood, two years ago.

MGM knows all about this, right?
Ben-Hur

"Gone with the Wind"

"The Broken Blue Bridge"

The Wizard of Oz

Lolita

And Tom and Jerry!
The lion logo at the beginning of "Tom and Jerry" is MGM.

Even the Oscars were launched by them.

MGM was once a giant in Hollywood and the king of Hollywood.

Before the end of World War II, they were the largest and most influential film company in Hollywood, integrating production, distribution and screening.

Its majestic logo has even become a symbol of Hollywood and even the United States.

Unfortunately, the company suffered a series of heavy losses after World War II.

First, after World War II, television began to enter households in large numbers, and the number of moviegoers decreased rapidly.

Under such circumstances, the US Supreme Court dealt them another heavy blow. The court believed that MGM was engaging in illegal monopoly and required them to only engage in production and give up screening and distribution.

This is too deadly.

You know, screening and distribution are the main sources of income for this type of company.

Giving up screening and distribution means cutting off all sources of income.

Of course, the most crucial person is Mayer, one of the founders of MGM and the “King of Hollywood”.

This man who founded the Oscars and created the glorious scene of Hollywood for half a century, this most powerful man in Hollywood, this Jew from Russia.

Kicked out of MGM.

Under the blows, MGM suffered losses year after year and gradually fell into decline. Two years ago, they chose to acquire Maxim's company, hoping to inject some new vitality.

Maxim is a man with a very unique vision. The fact that United Artists can produce so many excellent films is closely related to him.

He had been eyeing String's two novels for a long time. After learning that String was in New York, he rushed over from Los Angeles immediately. When he saw Jiang Xian, he was stunned for a moment. What a joke! He is still so young, but his writing is so emotional?

Jiang Xian invited him into the room.

"This hotel is great," said Maxim.

"Not bad, I live very comfortably."

"Is it."

Maxim glanced at the interior of the room and was greatly shocked. His opinion of String increased rapidly.

This string is very unusual.

That was what Maxim's first impression told him.

String is very elegant in every gesture.

Well, the key consumption level is also high enough.

He had to hesitate for a long time before he wanted to stay at the Plaza Hotel.

Hell, the bathrooms here have 24-karat gold-plated sinks.

"Would you like some chocolate, Maxime?"

"No."

"Have a piece, it tastes good."

Jiang Xian ate while handing over a golden plate.

"This is a French brand of chocolate. This family has always insisted on hand-making chocolate. They own seven of the world's top cocoa farms, and only twelve Michelin three-star restaurants in the United States use their chocolate."

"Is it."

Maxim absentmindedly took a piece from the plate and put it in his mouth.

Although it was only a brief contact, when Maxim faced this guy who came from a socialist country, he felt more like a bumpkin compared to this string.

Isn't this right? Without giving Maxim time to think, Jiang Xian went straight to the point.

"How much are you, MGM, prepared to offer?"

"."

Maxim opened his mouth, but as if something was stuck in his throat, he choked and lowered his head to think.

His plan was to pay $2 for each novel.

But at this moment, I couldn't say it for some reason.

"You haven't thought about it yet?"

Jiang Xian stuffed two more pieces of chocolate into his mouth and then glanced at the Tiffany clock in the room.

"I think Mr. Maxim might be a little tired. How about we eat something together first? We Chinese are very strange. We like to talk about things at the dinner table. How about you follow the local customs?"

"."

Maxim almost rolled his eyes.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

It’s really the opposite of Tiangang.

This is America!
It's not yours to demolish!
"Well, I would very much like to dine with you, sir."

The three of them went to the restaurant on the second floor together.

Jiang Xian wiped his hands and quickly ordered a bunch of food.

There is French freeze-dried foie gras with red chicory, sashimi wrapped in lettuce and seaweed crisps, celery root and bone marrow with black truffles, and caviar mixed with mashed potatoes.
"Give me more of this." Jiang Xian pointed at the caviar, "Let's each have one portion."

"No, sir, this may be too much." Maxim was a little dumbfounded when he saw the table.

Jiang Xian didn't take the money seriously, "Not much, not much, otherwise if those foreigners see us, they will think we can't afford it."

"."

With some trepidation, Maxim had a very expensive dinner.

Seeing Jiang Xian eating with relish, as if he often went to such places, Maxim dared not even mention the 2 US dollars.

When it came time to pay the bill, Maxim showed his sophistication and took the check out of his pocket.

"Old Ma, no need, no need." Jiang Xian blocked his check, then patted Maxim's shoulder twice, which hurt Maxim.

"It's my treat this time."

"What? This."

"Okay, that's settled. Next time, I'll let you treat me again."

Jiang Xian decided this matter cheerfully, then looked at the waiter with a smile and said softly:
"It's still hanging in room 1742."

"Ok sir."

After dinner, Jiang Xian and Maxim returned to the room and got back to the topic.

"MGM won't offer a price that's too low, right?"

"."

Maxim coughed lightly and made his offer: "The copyright fee for two novels, 80,000 US dollars!"

"Eighty thousand dollars? Two articles?"

Jiang Xian rolled his eyes. "Maxim, I invited you to dinner, but you were kidding me. Miramax offered me 20 US dollars for a novel. That's a total of 40 US dollars? Five times what MGM paid!"

"what?"

Maxim was no longer calm.

He said the number of 80,000 with gritted teeth.

The result is still too conservative? !
"40 US dollars, Jiang, if you don't consider other things, I can only tell you that unfortunately, I'm afraid we can't offer a higher price than Miramax. It's too expensive."

"It's not expensive at all. If each reader of these two novels buys a movie ticket, you can earn dozens or even hundreds of times more."

“But what if your readers don’t buy it?”

"The era of movie theaters is over, Maxim." Jiang Xian suddenly said, "Now is the era of television and videotapes."

Maxim was stunned for a moment, and then heard Jiang Xian say:
"You know better than me how hot the video tape market is right now. Even if my readers don't buy movie tickets, it's not that difficult to rent a tape. In Iowa, I can rent a tape I want to watch for only $2 to $3. In a movie theater, I might spend dozens of dollars but still not get a movie that interests me.

Oh, right.

I know you, MGM. You don't have any cable TV channels, TV networks or broadband pipelines, nor do you have any media groups to back you up. As an independent production company, you are naturally controlled by others. Oh, I heard that your film market share is only a pitiful few percent.

In this situation, I am afraid that no novel is more suitable for you than my novel. My novel has a large number of die-hard readers! If these people buy the novel, they are very likely to buy the movie.

Besides, novels never go out of style. Even after half a century, I would still be willing to watch Pride and Prejudice again. Your videotapes can continue to sell and make profits for the next half century."

"."

Maxim sweated more and more as he listened.

"Maxim, you have seen my sincerity. I only sold the copyright of my two novels to you for $40. You, MGM, have made a lot of money."

"Jiang, I am really amazed by your understanding of our Western society." Maxim wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He tried to calm himself down, but no matter how calm he was, he still had this feeling and impulse:

Damn, if it’s only 40, it seems like we really made a profit!
the other side.

After Weinstein had eaten and drunk his fill, he sent someone to Jiang Xian's room to invite him over to discuss something.

Weinstein did a lot of things in New York these days, and Jiang Xian's matter was just one of them. It was not a big deal, but he did not forget it.

After all, this was the success of his great "strategy".

Weinstein quite likes the feeling of playing with and manipulating others, and the hunting feeling of waiting for the prey to be trapped in the spider web little by little.

"Hey, Jiang Xian, how are you doing in New York these days?"

"Excellent."

Jiang Xian shook hands with Weinstein enthusiastically.

"I have to say, Mr. Weinstein, your hospitality is really thoughtful."

"Haha, we in Los Angeles are also preparing quickly, but there are still some things going on over there."

"What happened? The company was burned down by wildfire?"

"what?"

Weinstein didn't quite understand what Jiang Xian meant, and continued:
"Jiang, I am just one of the members of the company. There are other directors. We plan to discuss this matter at the board meeting next week."

"Next week? That's so troublesome."

"Yes, making a movie is a serious matter." Weinstein's acting skills burst out.

"Uh"

Jiang Xian showed a trace of worry on his face, which then turned into an apologetic look, "Since it's so troublesome, let's forget about our cooperation for now."

"Don't worry, I'll let them what? Forget it?!"

Weinstein, who was originally very relaxed, was stunned for a moment, "What do you mean by forget it?"

Jiang Xian had an innocent look on his face and spread his hands.

"Forget it, doesn't it just mean I don't want to sell it to you anymore?"

(The old man is in the hospital. He has gallstones and is going to have surgery. I have to wait on him in the hospital.

I typed these words in the middle of the night in the hospital, so the update will be later than before.

Say sorry.

In the next period of time, I will adjust the update time and try to update the chapters before 7 am.

Sorry again.)
(End of this chapter)