Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 321 Many Imitators, Few Successful

A few days later, on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, in the morning.

Beijing.

Inside a courtyard house, Wang Shuo sat in the yard, basking in the sun and drinking tea while flipping through Cao Sheng's "The Exquisite Pagoda of Heaven and Earth".

Although Cao Sheng has become very famous in the past two years, Wang Shuo has never read any of Cao Sheng's works.

Those who know Wang Shuo know that he is very self-centered, arrogant, and rarely takes anyone seriously.

This is related to his family background and his talent.

His family background meant he could live well without having to please anyone.

And his talent?
The main problem is that there are too few truly capable writers in the traditional literary world within China.

This meant he encountered few rivals, and over time, he naturally became increasingly arrogant.

In reality, his achievements are indeed remarkable.

He began writing in 1978 and was the first writer in mainland China to sign a royalty-sharing agreement with a publishing house. He was also the planner of the once-popular TV series "Aspiration".

He has authored many novels, such as "Stories from the Editorial Department", "Addiction to Death", "Ferocious Animals", and "You Are Not a Common Person".

Among them, the film "In the Heat of the Sun" is adapted from his "Animal Fierce".

The movie "The Dream Factory" is adapted from his novel "You Are Not a Common Person".

and many more.

It can be said that he has achieved great success in both the literary and film circles in mainland China.

Feng Xiaogang had always tried to win his favor in order to get opportunities from him.

As a result, his scripts did indeed make Feng Xiaogang increasingly popular.

Feng Xiaogang is already a big director in the eyes of the media and the audience.

But Wang Shuo didn't take Feng Xiaogang seriously, always feeling that without his own script, Feng Xiaogang was nothing.

He always felt that Feng Xiaogang couldn't do without his scripts.

It wasn't until Feng Xiaogang finished filming Cao Sheng's "If You Are the One" that it achieved excellent box office and critical acclaim, and recently he has been filming Cao Sheng's "A World Without Thieves".

Feng Xiaogang suddenly stopped asking Wang Shuo to write scripts.

Moreover, even without commissioning scripts from him, Feng Xiaogang's films actually achieved higher box office returns, and his reputation did not decline.

This made Wang Shuo feel very uncomfortable.

But he was still able to stay calm.

He wasn't worried about finding buyers for his scripts; he planned to wait until Feng Xiaogang's movies flopped at the box office before apologizing to him and asking him to write a script for him.

But during this New Year, while visiting relatives and friends, he heard several people say that Cao Sheng had sold two scripts to Hollywood at the end of last year, earning more than 100 million dollars.

More than 100 million?

This number shocked him.

Because he has worked hard for so many years and has not earned this much money, how can Cao Sheng, who is only in his early twenties, earn so much from just two scripts?
He inquired about the names of the two scripts and learned that they were both adapted from the plot of Cao Sheng's "The Exquisite Pagoda of Heaven and Earth".

They are Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Twilight.

He finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked his assistant to buy him a physical copy of Cao Sheng's "The Exquisite Pagoda of Heaven and Earth". People his age are not used to reading novels on a computer.

I prefer reading physical books.

He didn't have the patience to read it from the beginning, so he went straight to the movie world of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" in the book, and after reading it, he found the plot of the movie world of "Twilight".

He wanted to see what kind of stories these two scripts, each worth over 100 million, actually told.
He spent the entire morning watching the entire storyline of both movie worlds.

After finishing reading it, he casually tossed the book onto the stone table beside him and scoffed dismissively, "Complete fabrication! What kind of rubbish is this?"

Like many traditional writers in China, he looked down on martial arts novels.

I think martial arts novels are all nonsense.

In his eyes, works like "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "Twilight" are all nonsense.

Have gorillas acquired human intelligence and are now fighting against large human armies?
Vampires and werewolves? What is this if not utter nonsense?
He frowned and drank tea for a while, then got up and went into his study. He took out a stack of draft paper and picked up a pen to write a script.

He's had an idea lately, but he hasn't told anyone about it.

He wanted to follow Cao Sheng's example and submit scripts to Hollywood, hoping to earn some US dollars, even hundreds of millions in script fees.

He felt he was fully qualified.

He felt that if Cao Sheng was the new king of mainland writers, then Wang Shuo was the old king among mainland writers.

If the new king's script can sell for such a high price, even if the old king's script is a little cheaper, it probably won't be much cheaper, right?
The main attraction is the potential for revenue exceeding 100 million.

He pondered for a moment at his desk, then picked up his pen and began to write, penning the title of the play, "The Past of China," in a flourish.

He wanted to showcase the historical changes in China over the past two decades through the perspective of an ordinary person, and his age gave him confidence that he could write this story well.

He has witnessed firsthand the changes that have taken place in China over the past two decades.

Writing stories from the perspective of ordinary people is what he excels at.

He believes Americans would be interested in the changes that have taken place in China over the past two decades.

……

A few days later, he finished writing the script.

Then he found a university professor to translate his script into English, and through connections in the film and television industry, he asked someone to submit the script to a major Hollywood studio.

During this period, everyone who read his script praised him for writing it well.

He also thought it was well written.

He thought to himself: This time I'm going to earn dollars standing up.

only……

Within half a month, several major Hollywood film studios declined his script.

When the first film company rejected his script, he was very unhappy, thinking that they didn't know its value and couldn't understand the essence of his script.

When the second and third film companies were working on his script, he still firmly believed that they were just ignorant and didn't believe that none of the major Hollywood film companies recognized its value.

He only calmed down after several major film companies rejected his script, locking himself in his house and not going out for several days.

……

In fact, during this period, there were many mainland screenwriters, like Wang Shuo, who submitted scripts to Hollywood.

The rumor that Cao Sheng's two scripts sold for over 100 million yuan was a huge shock to everyone.

Who wouldn’t be jealous?
Who doesn’t want to get rich?

Thinking that trying wouldn't lead to pregnancy, many screenwriters and writers secretly prepared scripts and submitted them to Hollywood film companies.

Everyone hopes to get a share of the profits.

Some people thought: Cao Sheng has opened the door to Hollywood, which may spark a craze for Chinese screenplays in Hollywood. I don't expect it to sell for more than 100 million, even if it only sells for a few million, that would be good!

result?

More than half a month has passed, and the domestic literary scene remains quiet.

No one announced that their script had been sold to Hollywood.

On the contrary, in Hong Kong, a script called "The Twins Effect" was bought by Yinghuang Film Company and is being prepared for production.

"The Twins Effect" was written by Wu Weilun.

The inspiration came from the Twilight movie world in Cao Sheng's "The Exquisite Pagoda of Heaven and Earth".

Previously, he had contacted Cao Sheng and told him over the phone that he hoped Cao Sheng could authorize him to adapt the Twilight movie universe into a screenplay.

Cao Sheng naturally refused him.

At that time, Cao Sheng had already written the script for "Twilight".

But Wu Weilun did not give up the idea. He imitated "Twilight" and wrote a vampire-themed novel called "The Twins Effect".

Before the New Year, he took the script to many film companies, but he couldn't sell it.

Firstly, it's the zombies that are popular in Hong Kong, not vampires.

Secondly, he has only been in the film and television industry for a short time, has not yet made a name for himself, and has not proven his abilities. This time, he wrote a Western vampire-themed novel, so it is naturally difficult for it to sell.

Until the end of last year, news of Cao Sheng selling the script for "Twilight" spread like wildfire, letting the outside world know that the script had not only been sold to Hollywood, but also for an astronomical price.

This is what made Yinghuang Film Company notice Wu Weilun's investment in their film "The Twins Effect".

Only then did someone carefully read the contents of the script.

After reading it, I was surprised to find that the script was of surprisingly good quality.

Not long after, they bought the copyright to the script from Wu Weilun.

However, the price was far less than that of Cao Sheng's "Twilight". As a newcomer to the industry, Wu Weilun's script only sold for HK$20.

Wu Weilun had mixed feelings after receiving the script fee.

I felt both happy and bittersweet.

He was happy that he finally sold his first script and even earned 200,000 yuan, but he felt very bad whenever he thought about how Cao Sheng's "Twilight" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" sold more than 100 million yuan.

When he heard that Yinghuang was planning to invite big stars like Ekin Cheng to star in the film, he felt even worse.

This shows that the script was of good quality; otherwise, Yinghuang wouldn't have invited a big star like Ekin Cheng to star in it.

It's worth noting that Ekin Cheng is currently incredibly popular, having starred in hit movies such as "Young and Dangerous," "The Storm Riders," and "Chinese Hero."

He is hailed by many as the fifth of the Four Heavenly Kings.

For Wu Weilun, who was writing a script for the first time, being able to get Ekin Cheng to star in it was definitely exciting news.

But you can't think about the fact that you only received 20 yuan for the script.

He couldn't feel happy just thinking about his script fee.

……

Huizhou.

The Lantern Festival has been over for several days now.

Cao Sheng had already returned from his vacation with his parents.

He only stayed in Sanya for a week.

The first thing I did after returning was to buy a house.

I bought a villa with three floors above ground and one floor below ground, with a total area of ​​over 480 square meters, plus front and back yards.

It is a villa area built at the foot of the mountain.

The Xin'an River flows at the foot of the mountain.

It is surrounded by mountains and rivers and has beautiful scenery.

I bought a second-hand house because I needed to move in urgently.

The interior decoration is very nice. Except for the basement, the three floors above ground are all covered with solid wood flooring, which is waxed and shines like a mirror.

The price was also very high for that era, reaching over 120 million.

Of course, Cao Sheng considered this price to be dirt cheap.

Before his rebirth, this price would only buy a 100-square-meter commercial residential unit in many cities.

The only thing that didn't quite satisfy him was that it was a bit far from Huizhou Teachers College, requiring more than half an hour's drive.

But there's no other way; if you want a villa to be surrounded by a beautiful environment, you can only build it in the suburbs.

I bought the house more than ten days ago.

His family has already settled here.

The nanny, Sister Zhang, was dismissed at the strong insistence of his parents.

His mother insisted on doing the cleaning and cooking herself, and Cao Sheng couldn't persuade them otherwise, so he had to agree.

His parents lived on the first floor, while the second and third floors were his own world.

The basement is a garage and storage room.

However, with the start of the school year, Cao Sheng moved to the school. Usually, only his parents lived in the villa, while he rented a teacher's dormitory inside the school.

He plans to stay at school as little as possible during the week, which should be safer.

His parents live in a new villa, which is in a safe neighborhood with security guards.

(End of this chapter)