Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 307 Exorbitant Demands and Reverse Pricing

Today is Sunday.

That afternoon, Cao Sheng was writing in his study on the third floor. Because he had told Wang Jing yesterday that he would have someone from Fox come and talk to him, he did not silence his phone while he was writing.

That's why he heard the call from Fox's copyright department.

His typing was interrupted, and he frowned slightly. He picked up his phone, which was next to his computer, and saw that the caller ID showed a US number. He guessed it was Fox News, and his frown relaxed.

He casually answered the call, held the phone to his ear, and got up to walk to the window, gazing at the quietly flowing Xin'an River outside.

"Hello! Are you Mr. Cao Sheng from Zhongyuan Yidianhui?"

A question came through the phone in a slightly strange tone.

Cao Sheng guessed that this person should be Lin Xiang, the Chinese-American that Wang Jing mentioned.

"It's me, you?"

"Oh, hello! I'm from Fox's copyright department. My surname is Lin. I recently contacted your assistant, Ms. Wang. Our company wants your script for 'Twilight.' Ms. Wang asked me to talk to you about it, you know that, right?"

Cao Sheng remained calm. "Yes, I know. What's your stance now? How do you want to talk?"

Lin Xiang: "Mr. Cao, we would like to take a look at the content of the next three scripts first, and then discuss the specific details of the cooperation. Is that alright with you?"

A slight smile appeared on Cao Sheng's lips.

Yesterday, Wang Jing said that she had spoken with people at Fox about the scripts for the three sequels, and he anticipated that Fox would want to see the content of the scripts for the three sequels.

"Yes, but I didn't plan to sell the three remaining scripts anytime soon, so I didn't have them translated into English."

Before Cao Sheng could finish speaking, Lin Xiang said, "It's alright! It's alright, Mr. Cao! You can just send us the Chinese version of the script. We can translate it into English ourselves. Our company has the talent for that, so you don't need to worry."

Cao Sheng: "Sure! Give me an email address and I'll send it to you via email."

Lin Xiang: "Oh, okay! Please wait a moment, would you like to write this down? I'll give you our manuscript submission email address."

……

call ended.

Cao Sheng sent the scripts for the three sequels to "Twilight" via email.

He wasn't worried that after sending the scripts over, the other party would seize the copyrights to his three scripts.

Because the cinematic worlds he created in "The Exquisite Pagoda of Heaven and Earth" had already been registered for copyright after being adapted into screenplays.

At the time, he thought that registering the copyright as soon as possible could prevent copyright disputes between him and the original authors after they wrote these works.

As a reborn individual, he was well aware of where his works came from.

It is clear that even if he hadn't written these works, the original author would have written them based on the original timeline.

He doesn't remember the exact time when these scripts were published in the original timeline.

Therefore, in order to avoid the original author accusing him of plagiarism, he chose to strike first and prepare the plagiarism accusations for the original author in advance.

He doesn't intend to sue the original author.

However, having no sword in hand and having a sword but not using it are two different things.

As long as he registers the copyright of these works in advance, then... any original author will have to behave themselves in front of him.

Is doing this too shameless?

He felt fine.

He felt that if he used this tactic to send the original author to prison or pay him a huge sum in compensation, that would be truly shameless.

His actions were solely for self-preservation.

As for plagiarizing the original authors' works in advance? Isn't that normal practice for reborn characters? If those original authors were reborn, wouldn't they plagiarize others' works beforehand?

These views represent the psychological preparation he made for himself after his rebirth; he needed to convince himself and put his mind at ease.

Sometimes, he felt that there was a saying that was quite true.

In the adult world, there is no right or wrong, only choices made after weighing the pros and cons.

A week has passed in the blink of an eye.

On Monday morning, during the break between classes, Cao Sheng took out his phone on his way to the restroom and saw that Fox's copyright department had called him twice.

He was in class at the time, and his phone was on silent, so he didn't hear it.

After urinating, he came out of the bathroom, went downstairs to a secluded spot by the flower bed, and dialed Fox's number.

The call was quickly answered.

Lin Xiang's voice came through the phone, "Mr. Cao! I called you twice today, why didn't you answer? You still hold the rights to 'Twilight'? You haven't sold it yet, have you?"

Cao Sheng hummed in agreement, "It's still in my hands, I haven't sold it yet."

Lin Xiang: "Then why didn't you answer the phone?"

Cao Sheng: "I'm in class, and my phone is on silent."

Lin Xiang: "Huh? According to the information we've gathered, you're in a junior college. Shouldn't you have already graduated? Why are you still attending classes?"

Cao Sheng chuckled slightly, "That means your investigation wasn't detailed enough. I've upgraded from a junior college to a university, so I'm still a student."

Lin Xiang: "Associate to Bachelor's Degree? What is an associate to bachelor's degree transfer program?"

Cao Sheng chuckled twice, finally realizing the cultural gap between himself and this Chinese person. On a whim, he casually joked, "Oh, it's similar to having a baby. To put it simply, I'm an undergraduate now, so I'm still studying."

"Huh? It's similar to giving birth? A vocational college graduate can give birth to a bachelor's degree? This... this..."

Lin Xiang was stunned.

Cao Sheng: "Mr. Lin, I'm currently on break between classes and don't have time to talk to you much. I'm calling back to ask if you still want the rights to 'Twilight'?"

Lin Xiang: "Yes, yes, that's right! We've assessed the value of the next three scripts and would like to discuss the price of this series with you. If we want these four scripts, what price do you think would be appropriate?"

Cao Sheng saw two girls walking towards him from a distance. He subconsciously took a few steps to the side and said in a low voice, "Sorry! I don't have time to talk about this with you right now. I have two more classes in a bit. How about this? Since you're interested in continuing the conversation, how about we talk again at 2 PM this afternoon? Is that alright?"

Lin Xiang: "..."

Lin Xiang: "Oh, sure, sure! Two o'clock in the afternoon, right?"

Cao Sheng: "Hmm."

Lin Xiang: "Okay, then let's talk again at 2 pm, no problem."

Cao Sheng: "Okay, then it's settled. Goodbye."

Lin Xiang: Goodbye!

……

After the call ended, Cao Sheng put away his phone, squinted his eyes, and thought about it for a while.

Over the past week, he has had some new ideas about the four scripts for Twilight.

They were all thinking about how to get more money from Fox.

The script for this four-part series is now his.

As the copyright holder, he naturally wanted to sell the four scripts for the highest possible price. Over the past week, he had occasionally thought about how to negotiate prices with Fox, and in the process, some new ideas came to him.

Originally, he thought that the biggest gain would be if he could sell all four scripts of the series to Fox at once.

But recently, he felt that besides those four scripts, there seemed to be something else he could sell.

……

Time quickly came to 2 p.m.

This afternoon is PE class, and Cao Sheng plans to skip it and not go to school.

At this moment, he is sitting on the banks of the Xin'an River next to the villa, basking in the sun and fishing.

The weather is a bit cold, and the fish aren't biting much. After lunch today, he returned to the villa and set up his fishing rod. He threw two large clumps of bait into the river, but so far the float hasn't moved at all.

This made Cao Sheng feel a bit unlucky.

This afternoon he's going to talk to people from Fox about the price of the Twilight script, a deal worth at least several million dollars.

On days like these, his fishing float remained completely still. What could be more unlucky than this?
At 2 o'clock sharp, his phone rang.

I took out my phone, and sure enough, the caller ID showed it was Fox's number.

"Hello? Mr. Lin?"

Cao Sheng spoke first this time.

Lin Xiang: "Yes! It's me. Mr. Cao, is it convenient for you to speak now?"

Cao Sheng hummed in agreement.

Lin Xiang: "So, if we wanted all four scripts for 'Twilight,' what price would you consider reasonable?"

Cao Sheng countered, "What price do you think is appropriate?"

Lin Xiang: "Uh, our company thinks that if we buy four of your scripts at the same time, we should offer some discounts. It can't be like when we discussed the price for the first script, where each script cost more than 200 million. What do you think?"

Cao Sheng was prepared for the other party to try to bargain.

Therefore, Cao Sheng was not surprised to hear Lin Xiang say that.

He simply asked, "Name your price! I'd like to hear it."

Lin Xiang paused for a few seconds before saying, "500 million US dollars. We'll buy the rights to all four scripts in the Twilight series. Is that acceptable to you?"

$500 million?
Converted to RMB, that's thirty to forty million.

Although it's the price of four scripts, such news, if it gets out, will be enough to cause a sensation and make all Chinese-language screenwriters envious.

but……

Cao Sheng, however, was very dissatisfied.

Thirty or forty million RMB sounds like a lot.

However, Hollywood movie box office statistics have always been calculated in US dollars.

As for movies like "Twilight," although he didn't remember the box office figures for each film in the original timeline, he could easily guess that since four films were made in total, the first three must have done well at the box office, and making money was a certainty.

In his memory, Hollywood blockbusters are basically released worldwide, with global box office takings often reaching hundreds of millions or even billions of US dollars.

Imagine: How many billions of US dollars did the four Twilight movies gross in total?

Such a huge dish, and you're giving me $500 million?
On average, the script fee for each film is less than $150 million. No wonder he can't be satisfied.

Therefore, he chuckled unabashedly on the phone.

Laughter reached Lin Xiang's ears.

Then Cao Sheng spoke up: "Mr. Lin, if this is the highest price Fox can offer, then there's no need for us to continue this discussion."

Lin Xiang's heart skipped a beat; he sensed Cao Sheng's displeasure.

I also recalled the time when my negotiations with Cao Sheng's assistant fell through for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," which ultimately led to Disney snapping up the script first.

Missing out on "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" made Lin Xiang a scapegoat, almost costing him his job.

This time, the four Twilight scripts were combined and assessed by the company's senior management as an S-level project, on par with Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Some of the company's senior management even believed that this project was worthy of being upgraded to SS level.

The reason is: with four Twilight movies, even if the first one loses some money, the first one will lay the foundation and spread the fame, so the second one should be able to make a profit, and the chances of the third and fourth ones making money are over 80%.

Overall, the Twilight quartet has a high probability of being profitable, exceeding that of Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Lin Xiang was quite surprised when he learned this from his foreign boss.

Because he remembered that the script for the first Twilight movie had previously received an A- rating within the company.

Later, in order to keep his job, when he strongly suggested to his foreign boss that he take on the script for "Twilight", he misled the other party by saying that with Disney signing "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and Paramount signing "Pacific Rim", the value of Zhongyuan Yidianhui's work would definitely rise. Therefore, "Twilight" should be rated A+.

And now?

If the quality isn't good enough, quantity will make up for it? The scripts for four Twilight movies were combined and were actually rated as an S-level, or even SS-level, project by the company's top management.

He was about to be fired by the company because he didn't sign a contract for the S-rated film "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".

If he can't sign a contract for the SS-level "Twilight" this time, will he be able to keep his job?

Lin Xiang began to panic, fearing that Cao Sheng would hang up the phone immediately and never answer his calls again.

He quickly said, "No! Don't hang up! For the sake of being compatriots, please don't hang up yet, okay?"

"Hmm? For the sake of our compatriots?"

Cao Sheng was a little surprised and asked curiously, "What? You haven't become a U.S. citizen?"

Lin Xiang: "..."

At this moment, Lin Xiang didn't know how to respond.

I thought to myself: Now that I've become a U.S. citizen, don't you consider me a fellow countryman? I'm Chinese too!

But reason told him not to argue with Cao Sheng on this issue.

He took a deep breath, barely calming himself down, and asked with a smile, "Mr. Cao, Fox is very sincere in wanting to cooperate with you. Since you're not satisfied with the price I just mentioned, why don't you name one? As long as it's within my authority, I'll definitely agree to it. If it's beyond my authority, I can report it to my superiors. Don't you think so? Business is all about negotiation, right?"

Cao Sheng smiled silently.

He could sense Lin Xiang's tension.

If the other party gets nervous, he knows he has the initiative, and that's when there's room for negotiation.

"Five million dollars!"

He casually stated the number.

"Huh? What? This...this not only didn't offer a discount, but it's increased by $200 million? This...this...Mr. Cao, even if each script is $200 million, the total price for the four scripts is only $800 million. How can you ask for an extra $200 million? I can't explain this to my superiors! This...this..."

Lin Xiang seemed to have suffered a great shock; he was even a little incoherent and appeared quite agitated.

Cao Sheng narrowed his eyes, his tone remaining calm. "Of the $1000 million, $800 million is for the scripts, and the remaining $200 million is for the fees I've authorized you to have adapted these four scripts into English novels for publication and sales. Don't you think that adapting these four scripts into novels and publishing them would not only increase your revenue but also promote the film series and build a fanbase in advance? I know this is beyond your authority, but you can report this suggestion to your superiors."

(End of this chapter)