It's reasonable for me to be a three-time Golden Horse Award-winning director and an all-around

Chapter 108: Snatched the copyright Harvey was eyeing?! Winning hearts and minds, building a team (Seeking monthly votes)
Joe Coffee shop in New York.

Through Peter's introduction, Lü Rui met Stephanie Meyer, the author of the original Twilight novel.

32-year-old Mel, from Connecticut, USA, with her signature brown curly hair, is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Before coming, Lü Rui learned about her personal situation.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Brigham Young University and was a housewife before becoming a writer…

Clearly, she wrote novels not only to fulfill her dream but also to earn money to ease the burden on her family.

Although Twilight is currently quite popular and widely loved among teenagers, it has not been published for long, so the prospects for film and television adaptations are actually not clear.

Although some producers have taken notice of the novel, they have not taken any action and are mostly observing.

At this moment, Lü Rui suddenly sent someone to his door, expressing his desire to purchase the film and television adaptation rights, which was undoubtedly very exciting news for Mel.

This can be seen from her excitement when she saw Lü Rui.

"Lv, I absolutely loved the movie you directed, 'Gone Girl,' the plot was fantastic! The female lead was so cool!"

Huh? Another one is one of my own fans?
Lu Rui raised an eyebrow, and the slight concerns in his heart quietly dissipated.

He then took out a gift box that he had prepared beforehand and handed it to her: "Madam, thank you very much for your kind gesture. It's a pleasure to meet you, and I brought you a gift."

"Gift?"

Mel took the package and opened it. When he saw that it contained a fountain pen, his eyes lit up.

Lu Rui introduced with a smile: "This is a commemorative pen launched by Aurora to celebrate the brand's 85th anniversary. The pen body is inlaid with 1919 De Beers diamonds, and the cap has a diamond weighing 2 carats, with a total diamond weight of over 30 carats. The pen body and nib are made of 18K tungsten gold..."

As he listened to his explanation, Mel's eyes widened in surprise: "This... won't it be very expensive?"

"It's alright." Lu Rui chuckled lightly, his tone calm. "Each pen costs about $100 million."

“A million dollars?!” Mel was so shocked that he almost dropped his pen on the table.

Although she made some money from Twilight, the million-dollar pen was far beyond her imagination!
You have to understand, just last year she was a housewife who had to carefully budget every hundred dollars. Faced with such an exorbitantly priced gift, she simply couldn't afford it!
“Lv, this is too valuable, I cannot accept it.”

Although she was a little reluctant, she put the pen back in the gift box and pushed it away.

"Madam, this gift isn't just for free."

Lu Rui pushed the gift box back to her, and seeing her frowning and surprised expression, he said seriously, "The reason I gave you this gift is that I want you to continue the brilliance of 'Twilight' and write even better words..."

To secure the adaptation rights and potentially earn hundreds of millions of dollars in the future, Lu Rui felt it was worth paying for a pen worth a million dollars.

Without initial investment, how can there be subsequent gains?
He never plays tricks like getting something for nothing.

As our ancestors said, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Even catching a chicken requires a handful of rice; to think you can make money without putting in any effort is simply a pipe dream!
Sure enough, Melton was deeply moved and excited upon hearing his words.

Many people on MySpace criticized her novels for being too childish, which made her cry many times.

And now, someone actually recognizes her book, wants to adapt it into a movie, and even wants to give her a million-dollar pen to encourage her to keep writing...

What incredible support this is!
Women are mostly "emotional creatures".

At this moment, as Mei looked at Lü Rui, it was as if she saw a kindred spirit on her writing journey...

Only one thought remained in her mind: "He understands me! He understands the words I write!"

Once the emotions were in place, the negotiations went exceptionally smoothly.

Mel gladly accepted the pen and immediately called his agent.

The two sides held consultations in a friendly and pleasant manner.

Ultimately, Lu Rui successfully acquired the adaptation rights to the entire Twilight series for $850 million.

According to the established setting, the Twilight series consists of four parts: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.

In fact, given the current market conditions, if you only buy the first "Twilight" movie, you would only need a maximum of $150 million.

But as the saying goes, you have to look at things from a long-term perspective!
If the first movie adaptation is a hit, then you can forget about buying a sequel for less than $500 million.

Therefore, adapting and packaging the entire series is the best solution!

In a previous interview, the president of Summit Entertainment revealed that they paid $3700 million to adapt the entire Twilight series, including $1500 million for the first film.

In other words, they spent a whopping $2200 million to buy the adaptation rights.

Today, it seems that Lu Rui spent $850 million plus a $100 million pen, but in reality, he got a great deal!

Of course, in addition to adaptation copyright fees, profit sharing is also essential.

However, neither Mel nor his agent took this seriously, demanding only 3%.

Looking at writers across North America, they don't actually place much importance on the percentage of royalties.

It's mainly because of Harry Potter.

J.K. Rowling's contract with Warner Bros. clearly stipulated that she would receive 9% of the total box office revenue and merchandise sales.

But how did Warner do it?

When J.K. Rowling came to their door demanding money, they replied directly: "Profit sharing? You can only get profit sharing if you make money. We've been losing money making these movies, and we're still showing a loss on paper. How can we give you profit sharing?"

After this series of actions, the authors learned their lesson.

Instead of hoping for a share of the profits, it would be better to ask for more adaptation licensing fees, so as to avoid having to go to court over profits later.

Both of them are straightforward people.

After agreeing on the terms, Lü Rui signed a cooperation agreement with Mei Er that afternoon.

Just before dinner, Ruixing Film Industry's finance department transferred the money to Mel's bank account.

With this, the adaptation rights for "Twilight" officially fell into the hands of Lü Rui.

While having dinner at the restaurant that evening, Mel hadn't fully accepted the fact that he had become a multimillionaire and would occasionally drift into a daze.

Before parting, she gave Lü Rui a warm hug and said emotionally, "Lv, thank you for making my dream come true!"

Lu Rui patted her on the back: "You're welcome. It's my honor. I hope you can write even more wonderful works when you get back."

"I definitely will! I will write the sequel very seriously and guarantee that it will be of even higher quality than the first one."

After seeing her off in a taxi, Lü Rui sat back in the car, unable to contain his excitement any longer. He pounded the seat, clutching the contract tightly to his chest, unwilling to let go.

Peter, standing to the side, couldn't hide his surprise at his state.

Lu Rui had never been this excited before, even though "Lurking" earned more than $45 million and "I Am Legend" attracted more than $100 million in investment.

But all they've done is buy the rights to a vampire teen novel, why are they getting so worked up? That's really unusual.
"Lv, is this novel really that good?" Peter couldn't help but ask curiously.

Lu Rui raised the corners of his mouth, waved the contract, and said, word by word, "In my opinion, it's worth at least a billion dollars!"

Peter: "(⊙o⊙)!"

Meanwhile, inside the taxi, Mel was excitedly sharing the good news with his family.

Her book sold out, and she became a multimillionaire—it's so exciting!

However, just as she finished her call with her husband, an unfamiliar number suddenly called.

As I pressed the answer button, a hearty laugh came through the receiver: "Ms. Mel, do you remember me?"

"Mr. Harvey?"

"Haha, that's right, it's me. I'm honored that you still remember my voice..."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Harvey steered the conversation toward Twilight:
"Madam, what are your thoughts regarding the novel's copyright? If you can't accept the $50 offer, I can raise it by another $30, bringing the total to $80, plus a 10% profit share. What do you think?"

Mel curled her lip, finding the fat man utterly repulsive.

Lu Rui was willing to pay an average price of over $200 million for the copyright, but he was only willing to offer $80? Isn't that a joke?

As for profit sharing, who doesn't know that's just a scam?
She didn't want to deal with the fat man anymore and immediately said, "Excuse me, Mr. Harvey, I've already sold the copyright. Let's work together again next time. Bye."

beep...

Harvey, sitting in his office, was stunned for a moment as he listened to the busy tone on the phone.

Someone actually snatched the copyright he had his eye on?
Who dares to be so bold?!
……

After returning to Los Angeles from New York, Lü Rui began arranging her new job.

He doesn't need to be in charge of "The Pursuit of Happyness (US version)"; Sony Columbia will handle everything.

The sequel to "Lurking" can wait. The first one has just been released, so there's no need to rush into a second one. It's not too late to film it next year.

"Taken" has not yet passed censorship and its release date is pending. "The Prestige" is still a month away from release, and Warner Bros. will arrange the distribution; he doesn't need to worry about it much.

In this way, the focus falls on "I Am Legend".

Lü Rui does not plan to direct this film himself.

Firstly, he didn't have the time, and secondly, he wasn't good at making horror or thriller films.

Although the system rewarded him with many directing skills, he is still better at creating "suspense" style.

"Gone Girl," "Mystic River," and "The Prestige" are all suspense films, so it's no wonder that fans have given him the title of "King of Suspense."

Since the decision has been made to hire another director, it's natural to look for someone you know.

So, Wen Ziren was summoned by him with a phone call.

If you're not familiar with a director, you have to work on the project again, and you also have to consider whether the other person will listen to you, which is a lot of trouble. So it's much easier to find someone you've worked with before.

When James Wan first arrived at the company, he thought it was time to start preparations for "Insidious 2".

After all, Lionsgate is currently also pushing forward with the preparation work for "Saw 2".

He felt he could easily finish filming both movies in the first half of the year, since horror movies are generally easy to make and have short production cycles.

But when he walked into Lü Rui's office and saw the "I Am Legend" project proposal, he was immediately stunned!

With a $1.5 million investment, this is definitely a big-budget production!

Top-tier cast, massive special effects, global distribution, horror/thriller/action genre, targeting global box office...

Looking at these words in the project proposal, he felt a chill run down his spine amidst his excitement!
After all, he has only made two movies since his debut!

The combined investment of "Saw" and "Insidious" did not exceed $500 million.

He was suddenly given a $1.5 million project, which immediately threw him into a panic.

"Lv, I...I might not be able to do it. This project is too big, I..."

To say that I don't want to direct a project of this caliber would be a lie.

After all, most Hollywood directors, and even directors worldwide, would never be qualified to direct a film project with such a huge investment in their entire lives.

But James Wan knew his own limitations; how could he possibly have the ability and confidence to back it up?

Across the desk, Lü Rui smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll help you. I'll handle the production and supervisor roles, and I'll try my best to be on set the whole time."

Staying with the crew the whole time?

James Wan was somewhat puzzled: "Then why don't you film it yourself?"

“I have other jobs.”

When Lü Rui mentioned being on set the whole time, he wasn't like other film producers who spend all day on set keeping an eye on things.

He plans to continue profiting from the deals, and pull off a rare "double-shot" strategy in the industry...

"Taken" is going to be filmed in North America, and "I Am Legend" is also going to be filmed in North America. It's not unreasonable for them to share the same filming location, is it?
Since they're all works by Ruixing Pictures, how they're arranged is entirely up to them.
Of course, this cannot be announced in advance, otherwise it would cause trouble if it displeased the investors. We have to wait until filming officially begins before we can move forward with this.

Although Wen Ziren didn't know what he was up to, he immediately became interested after confirming that he would provide a safety net.

"Lv! Don't worry! I will do my best! I will never let you down!"

“Okay.” Lü Rui extended his hand. “Let’s make Hollywood famous together with this movie!”

James Wan gripped the handshake firmly, his face filled with excitement and exhilaration: "Make a name for yourself in Hollywood!"

Subsequently, both parties signed a simple letter of intent for cooperation.

With February fast approaching, Lü Rui had to return to China, so he simply arranged: "I still have some things to take care of in China. Before I go back, I will set up a special project account for 'I Am Legend'."

The finance department will initially inject $1000 million. You and Peter Griffin will work together to complete the preliminary preparations…

“Okay.” Wen Ziren nodded in agreement, then remembered something else, “LV, can I invite a friend to help? This project is too big, I’m afraid I can’t handle it by myself.”

He wanted to find an assistant director to help out. To manage such a large production, it would be best to find several knowledgeable people.

Peter Griffin is very talented in management, but he doesn't understand how film crews operate, so he may not be able to help with some things.

"of course can."

Even if Wen Ziren hadn't said anything, Lü Rui would have done it anyway.

He had already planned to hire more people, since a $1.5 million production couldn't be handled by just one person; assistant directors and executive producers were essential.

However, to his utter surprise, the very next morning, James Wan brought him a great deity!
"This is directed by Zack Snyder, a cinematographer by training, who remade the horror film 'Dawn of the Dead' last year..."

"Insidious" was the third highest-grossing horror film in North America last year, while the second place went to "Dawn of the Dead," directed by Zack Snyder, which grossed $5899 million.

Lu Rui was genuinely surprised, never expecting to meet this renowned Warner Bros. director from his previous life in this way!
Superman, Batman v Superman, Justice League... Putting aside the box office performance of these films directed by Zack Snyder, his skill in directing large-scale scenes is absolutely top-notch among Hollywood film directors!

"Lv, I've long admired your name."

Zack Snyder, who gained some fame last year with "Dawn of the Dead," is still a "green" middle-aged man.

He was very respectful to Lü Rui, who was 17 years younger than him but already famous worldwide.

"Hello, Director Zack."

Lu Rui shook hands with him, but was silently making plans in his mind.

The rights to 300 seem to still be held by the famous cartoonist Frank Miller? Or has Warner Bros. acquired them?

"Peter should find out. If it hasn't been sold to Warner Bros. yet, we could buy it and run it ourselves."

While pondering this, Lü Rui chatted with Zack Snyder.

Upon learning that the other party came from a family of professional photographers, he immediately offered to hire him as the director of photography for "I Am Legend" so that he could work with James Wan.

The $1.5 million production project was equally tempting for Zach, and he agreed almost without hesitation.

“Lv, thank you so much for your recognition. I will work hard with James to make this movie a success…”

Zack Snyder clearly didn't expect that he would be dragged into such a huge production when he only intended to try his luck with James Wan and see if he could find a job!
Just like James Wan yesterday, he was filled with excitement and exhilaration!

After chatting for several hours, at noon, Lü Rui treated the two to lunch at an upscale restaurant near the company.

Although both of them are now directors with representative works to their name, they are limited by the horror genre and are both paid fixed salaries, so they are not actually wealthy...

This was a perfect opportunity for Lü Rui to win people's hearts.

To win people over and use them for your own purposes, you must address their specific needs and give them what they dream of having.

And the US dollar is exactly the most suitable!

At the same time, in addition to assembling a dedicated team for Ruixing Pictures, the development of distribution channels is also being prepared for the future.

A film company without an independent film distribution channel will be like the one in "Lurking," relegated to the downstream of the industry chain and exploited by Lionsgate.

In its previous life, Lionsgate was founded in 1997 and took more than a decade to successfully surpass DreamWorks, one of the Big Three, becoming the second largest film company in the industry after the Big Six Hollywood studios. Its performance even once crushed Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures.

Compared to DreamWorks, Lionsgate is actually closer to being the seventh largest film studio in Hollywood.

Unfortunately, Lionsgate's performance plummeted after several film series ended.

In the traditional distribution field, Lionsgate ultimately cannot compete with the six major companies that have deep roots and are backed by large media groups.

The six major Hollywood studios have never operated in isolation; each has a massive media platform behind it, which is the fundamental reason why they have been able to maintain their dominant position in the industry.

It's too difficult to break through the blockade of the six major companies by relying on traditional channels!

However, traditional distribution channels cannot be abandoned, as they are also a very important part.

Lü Rui did not set overly ambitious goals, because he knew he couldn't compete with the Big Six in terms of distribution, since they also controlled film rating.

His only thought now is to catch up with Lionsgate as much as possible, and at the same time, explore new channels.

For example: the internet!

He's been keeping an eye on Netflix lately and has bought a lot of the company's stock...

Of course, you have to eat one bite at a time; you can't achieve everything at once.

While making plans and preparations, Lü Rui returned to China just before the Lunar New Year.

However, as soon as he landed, he saw a lot of news about the film and television industry online.

Li Lianjie, Jackie Chan, Wanda, film and television, script approval, and even a certain singer preparing to enter the big screen—the industry was buzzing with excitement...

(End of this chapter)