Chapter 811 Works and Copyright
Song Yuanchao was actually half a layman when it came to antiques, calligraphy and paintings. He knew nothing about them in his previous life. It was only after coming into contact with these things in this life that he slowly learned some knowledge.
Song Yuanchao does have a lot of , and only a part of them is in Yanjing. He was able to do this because he had more money and started early.
After hearing what Ma Dudu said, Song Yuanchao smiled and waved his hand, and roughly explained how he got this yard, how he found someone to renovate it, and how he collected these things because of his interest.
After listening to Song Yuanchao's story, Ma Dudu's eyes were filled with envy, especially when Luo Yang interrupted and told Ma Dudu that Song Yuanchao had paid a high price to buy a large batch of calligraphy and paintings, Ma Dudu's interest became even greater.
If it wasn't for the inconvenience today and the fact that it was their first meeting, Ma Dudu would have even wanted to directly suggest visiting Song Yuanchao's collection. How could his thoughts escape Song Yuanchao's eyes? Song Yuanchao took the initiative to invite Ma Dudu to come and see the collection if he was free, and he also wanted to ask Ma Dudu for advice in this regard.
This sentence hit Ma Dudu's heart, and he blurted out, "If it's convenient, can we do it tomorrow?" Seeing his eager look, Song Yuanchao smiled and agreed. Anyway, he had a flight the day after tomorrow, and he had nothing to do tomorrow, so he could come if he wanted to.
Wang Shuo also became interested after listening and said that he would come and take a look tomorrow. Song Yuanchao of course welcomed him with open arms. Even Luo Yang said that he would come and have a look tomorrow, and asked Chen Xiaoer if he wanted to join them. Chen Xiaoer shook his head and said that he was not interested in this, and that he had something else to do with the crew, so he would not come tomorrow.
The drinking session lasted until midnight. It was the first time for Chen Xiaoer to drink rice wine. Although Song Yuanchao reminded him, he still drank more in the end.
After finally stuffing the drunk Chen Xiaoer into the car, he asked Xiao Qiao to help drive him home. After seeing off Wang Shuo, Ma Dudu and the Dabing couple, Luo Yang did not go back. Instead, he stayed at Song Yuanchao's place today.
"What are you thinking about?" After washing his face, Song Yuanchao returned to the room. He saw Luo Yang lying on the bed with his eyes open, wondering what he was thinking about.
"I've finished my cigarette, give me one." Luo Yang stood up and said.
Song Yuanchao took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it over. Luo Yang took out a cigarette, lit it, took a puff and said to Song Yuanchao: "I was just thinking that many literary works are very good sources of scripts, such as today's Wang Shuo. What do you think about me getting a few people to look for these?"
"Do you mean to find some suitable works to purchase the copyright? And then adapt these works into scripts?"
"Yes! That's it!" Luo Yang said seriously, "I had some vague ideas in my mind before, but after talking with Wang Shuo today, I suddenly had this idea. There have been many good literary works in recent years, and there are many famous writers. Some of their works are very popular. Aren't these the best sources of scripts? If we can get them, we will never lack scripts in the future. Even if we can't use them for the time being, it's not bad to keep them in our hands. We can use them one day."
"It's a good idea, but it's a bit difficult." Song Yuanchao frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you know how many works are produced every year? How many are short stories? How many are novellas? How many are novels? Which of them are suitable for script adaptation? How much work will it take? In addition, everyone has different views and opinions on the works. There is a saying that goes, there are a hundred Hamlets in the eyes of a hundred people. What others think is suitable may not be suitable for you, and vice versa."
"Many works are fine to read, but whether they are suitable for adaptation into scripts is questionable. In addition, the scar literature that was popular in previous years and the satirical works on some social issues that have emerged in the past two years are mostly not suitable for adaptation."
"The reason is simple. If you stay true to the original work, many things will be difficult to film. But if you adapt too much, the original flavor of the work will be lost. In addition, although film and television dramas are art, they also need to be commercialized. You should know that you have been in Hong Kong for so long. There are art films in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but these art films are often well-received but not popular. The ones that really make money are commercial films."
"I think that many domestic TV dramas are also caught in this vicious circle. Any film, whether it is a movie or a TV series, is usually required to have connotation, meaning, artistry, etc., and it also has to meet these requirements while being commercial. But where in the world can you find such a good thing that has the best of both worlds?"
"As the saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it too. This idea and request is too idealistic and unrealistic." Song Yuanchao shook his head and said to Luo Yang seriously, "Maybe there will be works that take both into account, but such works are hard to come by. Take Chen Xiaoer's skits and movies for example, why are they so popular with the audience? Isn't it because they are popular? If it's just preaching, who would like to watch it? Anyway, I definitely won't like it."
Luo Yang listened carefully to Song Yuanchao's words and nodded: "That's right. We can't have the best of both worlds. We have to make some trade-offs."
"Yes! That's the truth!" Song Yuanchao said, "If I had to choose between pursuing art and business, I would never choose the former. I would first consider the latter. Starting a company is not charity. The investment must be rewarded. If you give up business for the so-called ideal pursuit, then you will never go far on this road."
"Of course, at a certain stage in the future, when you have accumulated enough strength, you can appropriately pursue art. For example, you can shoot one or two artistic films and TV works every once in a while according to your ability, and use them to participate in competitions, awards, and thus gain honors. This is all fine, but the key issue is not to put the cart before the horse!"
"This is a bit off topic, but your idea is good. You can select some suitable works as reserves. I support this. But I remind you that it will take a lot of work to do this, and it will require quite professional people to handle this matter. You have to think about it carefully!"
Luo Yang agreed. He smiled and said, "Let's give it a try first. It doesn't matter anyway. As for the personnel issue, I want to recruit a few in the mainland, and then find a few from Hong Kong. By the way, isn't Ma Dudu coming tomorrow? He is the editor of Youth Literature. Let him help with recommendations and spread the word in the industry. Keep an eye on it. It's better than just groping around here like I do."
"That's fine. You don't have to rush this matter. Just take your time to think about it." Song Yuanchao reminded him, and then suddenly remembered something he had discussed with Luo Yang before, and asked about the progress of this matter.
Song Yuanchao was asking about documentaries. After experiencing this era again and watching the changes of the times once again, he had the idea of preserving this era in the form of a documentary.
I discussed this idea with Luo Yang last year and got his approval. At that time, Luo Yang was also training his team. In addition to the cooperation with Shanghai Film Studio, the advertising company also prepared for this. So the two of us hit it off and established this project.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a year has passed. Song Yuanchao has been busy for more than half a year and has not paid too much attention to this matter. Today, when talking about film and television dramas, Song Yuanchao suddenly remembered this matter and asked Luo Yang about the progress of the documentary.
Luo Yang told Song Yuanchao that after the project was confirmed, the preparation and shooting of the documentary began. Since the documentary needed to be shot in various places, and Song Yuanchao had high requirements, it was not just in a few representative cities, but also in rural towns and villages.
The differences between the south and the north also factored in, so the documentary filming took a longer time. In addition, the director in charge was Mr. Li from Shanghai Film Studio, a very experienced and capable old director who was very good at documentary filming. He suggested to Luo Yang that in addition to the ordinary documentary mode, the filming could be done by taking family members as units and gradually radiating to enterprises, society and the entire city, so as to make the documentary better with vivid storylines.
This idea was approved by Luo Yang, and at the same time, it also prolonged the difficulty and time of documentary shooting.
Some time ago, Luo Yang was in Shanghai and listened to the progress of the documentary shooting. At present, most of the documentary has been completed, and it will take at most one month to finish shooting, and then there will be editing and production. If everything goes well, it will probably be completed after the National Day.
"Teacher Li suggested that after the documentary is completed, we could send it to an overseas exhibition. If it can win an international award, it will be very beneficial to us."
"That's fine! How about this, you find some time to ask Teacher Li when the rough version will be available, and I'll take a look then." Song Yuanchao immediately became interested. Most of the documentaries about this era that have survived to this day were made by foreigners. Although they were well-filmed and had many merits, foreigners' ideas and concepts are different from those of Chinese people. What they pay attention to and like may not be suitable for Chinese people.
If this documentary can be successfully filmed and is of sufficient quality, it would be a good idea to send it to an exhibition. After all, documentaries are different from TV dramas. Unlike TV dramas, which can recover their costs through film or television broadcasts, documentary investments are often doomed to lose money. If it weren't for Song Yuanchao's insistence and direct financial support, this documentary would never have been born.
Luo Yang agreed immediately and said that he would inquire about the current progress after he returned and give Song Yuanchao an approximate time to watch the film.
Then, Luo Yang and Song Yuanchao started discussing the previous topic again. They talked until late at night before going to bed. The next morning, they had just got up and were still eating breakfast when Ma Dudu and Wang Shuo arrived. Seeing that Ma Dudu looked impatient, Song Yuanchao smiled and invited them to eat together. It would not be too late to look at the collections after they finished eating.
