1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 374: The Hunger Games

MGM moved quickly.

Within a few days, the titles of new films to be shot in the coming year were announced, among which "Letter from an Unknown Woman" and "The Moon and Sixpence" were prominently listed.

String's readers were ecstatic.

I had just finished appreciating these two novels when they entered the stage of film and television adaptation.

This is an old Hollywood pattern.

Fans of Hollywood blockbusters may have become accustomed to this pattern.

First, I heard from the production company that a new film was going to be released, and then I started looking forward to this film because of a certain promotional point. After waiting for a long time, I finally waited for this movie to be released.

However, although it is said to be a long time, it is actually not that long. Compared with the domestic film production model where one shot takes a day or a whole movie takes a year to shoot, the Hollywood film production cycle is very fast.

Like the previously mentioned "Rocky", this movie was completed in just one month.

That’s right, one month.

There are also comedy films like "Birdman", which only took one month to shoot.

The filming of "Memento" directed by Nolan took less than a month.

Probably only about twenty days.

The film industry here has been fully commercialized.

Just like a factory assembly line, movies are produced in batches.

There are pros and cons.

This shooting mode is indeed efficient, but you could also say it shows a lack of respect for art.

Similarly, the domestic shooting mode can be said to be slow and meticulous in art, or it can be said to be inefficient. Any detail may require discussion in a meeting, and the discussion is repeated over and over again.

But Hollywood's golden age was indeed made possible by this model.

Moreover, in later generations, domestic film production also began to learn this commercial model.

There are exceptions.

For example, a director.

The actor would only appear on screen for a few minutes at most, but he could hold his head and make him shoot for three full years.

"Do you want to participate in the writing of the script?" Maxim from MGM asked Jiang Xian on the phone.

"Yes, I want to give it a try."

"Did you know that you have written an English script?"

"No."

Maxim frowned. "Forget it, Jiang. As far as I know, many people who study film in the United States have experienced the pain of writing English scripts. Are you sure you want to write it?"

“It’s not like I have to write it all by myself.”

Jiang Xian said, "Maxim, I can write a version first, and then find an American screenwriter to polish it. The final script will be signed by both of us and finalized as a collaborative script. As far as I know, this is completely feasible in the American film industry. I have heard that it is very common to find American writers to write for you when you have an idea."

"."

Maxim was surprised.

His first reaction was: How come you are so familiar with these things? Has my great country been infiltrated by your socialism like a sieve?
MGM actually didn't want Jiang Xian to participate in the script writing.

Of course they have their own calculations.

When making an adapted film, producers often hope to create something new independent of the author.

The film and television adaptation is different from the original work.

This is what the production company expects.

They wanted to turn the novel into their own thing instead of just copying Jiang Xian's work.

Another reason is that Jiang Xian is too expensive, and if he is asked to write the script, he will have to be paid a considerable salary.

As for Jiang Xian, he didn't care what Maxim was thinking.

He was just going for the royalties, he had no interest in writing scripts.

There is a term in the United States called "planning purgatory."

That is to say, if you are asked to revise a script again and again, and this goes on for one or two years, it is very likely that it will not be completed.

It is said that in Hollywood, it takes an average of five years for a script to go from first draft to filming, and that's only for the one in ten million scripts that are successfully filmed.

Behind the commercialization is a group of screenwriters who are extremely greedy.

So Jiang Xian plans to find several ghostwriters to write the film at the same time, and MGM will use whichever one it thinks is capable.

It is very likely that Jiang Xian won’t even have to spend any money to hire a gunman.

College students studying film in the United States are very cheap.

They are all fresh leeks.

By then, just leaving the name of a co-creator to the other party might be enough to attract a group of extremely talented college students to compete for it.

"Who should I look for?"

Editorial Board of Simulation Science Fiction and Reality.

As a magazine that once led the golden age of science fiction, Amazing Stories is well-known in the science fiction circle.

Like most of Heinlein's works, Asimov's "Foundation" trilogy, and Herbert's "Dune". A series of classic masterpieces in the science fiction world were launched by their magazine.

Of course, in recent years, their magazines have always been unable to grasp the tastes of readers.

Readers are willing to accept more creative and alternative stories, while their "Simulated Science Fiction and Reality" has a bit of a conservative flavor.

Because of the taste of the former editor-in-chief John Campbell, their magazine rejected a large number of novels of this type, causing a serious decline in the magazine's reputation and sales. In the new wave era of science fiction in the 70s, it gradually lost its former glory.

"They are all the same novels." Editor Creedon grabbed a handful of hair in madness. "Nine out of ten novels are imitations of Heinlein. They can't jump out of Heinlein's framework at all."

Heinlein had a profound influence on science fiction writers.

This leads other novelists to write in his style intentionally or unintentionally.

After going crazy, Creedon still had to continue reading the manuscripts obediently. As an editor, he was accustomed to reading low-quality manuscripts. It was just that because their essay competition attracted too many submissions this time, the huge workload made Creedon a little overwhelmed.

He read on. This novel was obviously written by an amateur author. The sentences were not very fluent. It was about humans discovering alien Zerg in the center of the earth, and then a war broke out. Then, at the most critical moment, the protagonist used personal heroism to single-handedly eliminate the core of the Zerg, resulting in the death of all the Zerg and peace returning to the earth.

"Well, it's okay."

This weird setting, where all the monsters will die instantly once a core is eliminated, has been overused in later generations, but it still looks relatively novel now.

Crotton wrote a recommendation and moved on to the next novel.

"From Iowa"

Creedon flipped through the manuscript and saw a line of English on the first page, which was obviously the title of the work:
Hungry Games!

"What game? What a weird name."

Croyden read on and saw that it was an introduction to the novel. Their writing competition required this format: title first, then introduction.

"The 74th Hunger Games is about to begin."

"In the wild and untamed environment, everyone wants you dead!"

"Can you survive on your own?"

Croden was perked up just by reading the beginning of the introduction.

This is a man who can write novels. The first three sentences show his high expectations for this novel.

Isn't this how an introduction should be written?
It should be easy to understand, so that readers can understand the general content of the novel while also being attracted by the subject matter or content of the novel.

Creedon then read on:

"The world was destroyed after a great war. People built new homes on the ruins of their homeland, but the new regime stipulated that the 12 regions under its jurisdiction must pay tribute to young men and women every year to participate in a live TV show called 'The Hunger Games'."

"This is a cruel and terrifying life and death competition. All tributes must fight to the death, and the last survivor is the winner."

"Twenty-four people compete, and only one survives."

"On the day of the lottery, the life of 16-year-old girl Katniss changed completely"

cool!
Creedon couldn't help but exclaim.

The subject matter in this direction is very novel!
Of course, Croydon knew what live television was.

Live television broadcasts are not uncommon in the United States, although the first live broadcast program was not from the United States but from the BBC, which had been broadcasting television around the world before World War II.

In 1953, the BBC broadcast live the coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey, and an estimated 2000 million people across the UK witnessed the Queen's coronation.

So after reading this introduction, Croyden's desire to read was completely aroused.

He greatly admired the author's imagination.

Moreover, the author's approach is very brilliant. So far, Creedon has not seen any author writing on the subject of live television.

“The subject matter is a good one.”

"How's the text?"

Croden couldn't wait to continue reading.

"Chapter 1, the day of the lottery."

"I was 16 years old and my sister Prim and I lived in District , a place where people could starve to death safely."

"We live in the 'gap'. In order to feed my sister and my indifferent mother, I have to go to the 'ranch' to poach every day. This is dangerous and illegal, and I may be executed."

"Hunting buddy Gale calls me 'Catnip', my real name is Katniss."

"Today is Harvest Day, and we all have to dress up for the breathtaking drawing of lots.

"."

Croyden quickly absorbed the novel.

The protagonist of the novel is Katniss, a 16-year-old girl from a poor family. Her father has passed away. She relies on poaching and gathering wild fruits outside the fence of District to barely support her mother, sister and herself.

The story is set in the future world.

During this period, the old world was destroyed, and a powerful country was established on the ruins of the old world.

——Panem.

"Panem" is divided into 12 districts and a central district called "Capitol".

The twelve districts had previously rebelled against the Capitol's tyranny and were brutally suppressed.

In order to make people remember and punish those who rebelled and their descendants, the rulers created the horrific "Hunger Games".

The Hunger Games is held every year.

In each game, one boy and one girl are selected by lottery from young boys and girls from the 12 districts to participate in the competition.

There are 12 districts, which means a total of 24 contestants.

During the competition, there will be cameras following the game 24 hours a day and broadcasting the content live for people across the country to watch.

This event will be broadcast live on television across the country and everyone must watch it and celebrate it as a festival.

For the other twelve districts, this was undoubtedly humiliation and torture.

But for the central district Capitol, the "Hunger Games" is an annual event and the greatest fun of the year.

By the way, there is a very interesting mechanism in "The Hunger Games": spectators can vote for their favorite contestants, or they can give gifts to the contestants, and these gifts will become props that the contestants can use in the game.

The words are divided into two parts.

Those selected contestants will be gathered in an artificial wilderness survival environment.

Within the specified time limit, only one final winner can survive and become the champion.

As a reward for the championship, the winner will no longer have to live a life of poverty and hardship, and will never have to worry about food and clothing again.

The novel's many aspects alone were enough to amaze Croedon.

What game. Live
oops.

novel!

So novel!

He continued to look back.

Since the novel has been laying the groundwork for the "Hunger Games" for a long time, the protagonist Katniss of the novel must of course participate in this game.

It all started like this. Katniss's sister was chosen as a tribute. In order to protect her sister, Katniss replaced her sister and became a contestant in "The Hunger Games". She participated in the 74th "Hunger Games" with a boy named Pete from the same district.

During the preparation for the game, their instructors and stylists made a lot of creative preparations for the two's appearance, which made them win the love of people all over the country.

Well, to put it in a more trendy way, it is called CP hype.

For the sake of popularity and topics, Katniss and Pete were promoted as a couple. In fact, they were not a couple at the beginning, but in order to survive, they had to act affectionate in front of the camera.

The "Hunger Games" finally began. At first, Katniss and Pete fled separately, using their limited skills to protect themselves.

Later, the two gradually discovered that the audience who liked them as a couple would "reward" them with some useful medicines and food out of pity for them.

After discovering this.

In order to get help, Katniss and Pete began to perform affection to please the audience. The two of them were forced to help each other, and there was both true and false affection in the process of getting along.

In addition, in addition to Katniss, the novel also tells the background and motivations of each of the other contestants.

In the game, they hunt, track, starve, disguise, and fight with wits, staging a life-and-death survival game.

"oops."

Croyden's adrenaline was rushing as he watched.

This novel is written smoothly and the various settings are very eye-catching.

The more Croydon watched, the happier he became, and the more he watched.

This author is so thoughtful!
What kind of escape game, hyping up CP, and sending gifts?
Especially the gift giving thing, it's really interesting.

Unexpectedly, in the author's vision, future live TV broadcasts would develop in this direction.

He read the rest of the novel in one sitting.

The author writes with ease and very beautifully.

After reading a good novel, Croydon stretched and felt in a good mood.

Both because I received a good manuscript and because the future of this novel is very bright.

In Croydon's view, after the publication of "The Hunger Games", it will surely be a masterpiece that will shock the American literary world.

The thought of this made him feel even better.

“Our American literature is really thriving.”

(End of this chapter)