Best Movie Star

On the second day of shooting, Matthew only had a part in the morning. After the shooting, when he went to the Burbank Angel Agency, he deliberately asked Brown-Williams to stop for a while at a bookstore passing by, and let a bodyguard enter. Check out the bookstore to see if there are any Hunger Games novels for sale.

The email I saw last night is the latest "New York Times" reading recommendation collected by Bella Anderson. Since winning the copyright of the "Twilight" series last year, his assistant team has been watching this aspect. .

Matthew couldn't tell Bella Anderson exactly which novels to focus on, so she simply asked her to pass each issue's novel recommendations and bestseller list supplements to him in time.

Finally, he waited until "The Hunger Games" appeared.

"Boss..."

A bodyguard opened the car door and handed a not-so-thick novel to Matthew, "Do you think it's this one?"

Matthew took the novel and glanced down. The cover of the novel was a burning golden ring. In the ring was a bird with an arrow inserted into it. There were two lines of letters below, which were the title of the book "The Hunger Games" and the author Susan. -Collins.

"It should be right." Matthew waved to the bodyguard, and when he got into the co-pilot, he said to Brown Williams who was driving, "Let's go."

The car started and drove onto the highway to Burbank.

It would take some time to get to Burbank, and while he was fine in the car, Matthew flipped through the novel and read it quickly.

"When I woke up, the other half of the bed was icy cold. I reached out to test Prim's residual warmth under the quilt, but I only found the rough canvas sheet, and she must have had another nightmare, crawling to the Mom's in bed. Well, that's right. It's Harvest Day."

"I propped myself up on my arms, the room was bright enough to see them..."

Contrary to Matthew's expectations, the novel is described in the first person and first perspective of the heroine Katniss.

Although it was a little awkward to read, he continued to read it, after all, this is not a hobby, but related to future investment income.

Matthew flipped through only 20 pages, and was completely sure that this was the movie that Big Cousin once starred in. Although he was on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, he just dragged and watched the first movie, but it was similar to the battle royale. The settings are still impressive.

He flipped through it very quickly, roughly flipping through the book before the car got to Burbank.

In the popular words of the film industry, this is a typical dystopian novel of a youth idol.

In the future North America, the country of Panam was built on ruins, and its center, the Capitol, was in the center of twelve districts.

Every year, twelve districts are forced to send a boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to the Capitol as "tributes" to participate in "The Hunger Games." It's a brutal and terrifying race of life and death, where all tributes must fight to the death, and the last survivor is the winner.

The arena is an artificially arranged forest and wasteland. During the competition, life and death scenes such as hunting, tracking, starvation, camouflage, and wits are all broadcast live on TV to the whole country. Everyone must watch it and celebrate it like a festival. . For the Capitol, it's an annual event, a game; for the rest of the Twelve, it's humiliation and torture.

Survival is the instinct of 16-year-old Katniss. She relied on poaching and gathering wild fruits outside the 12th district fence to support her mother, sister and herself. When Katniss participates in the Hunger Games in place of her sister who had been drawn, she understands that it means death for her, and that if she wants to survive, she must choose between humanity and survival, death and love.

In the arena, Katniss was portrayed as "Burning Girl" by chance, and formed a "star lover" with Peeta, another tribute in the district, and attracted much attention. Confused about her relationship with Peeta, her attempts to save the lives of other contestants and her witty solutions to the game's puzzles put her at the center of television audiences...

Much like another youth novel series, The Hunger Games also feels like a love story in a dystopian guise.

And the novel is very similar to the "Battle Royale" he read last year in search of "The Hunger Games".

In the future, if it spreads widely, or if it is made into a movie, it will definitely be discussed as plagiarizing the "Battle Royale" series.

However, Matthew didn't care about this at all. Hollywood can be very domineering at times.

Among Hollywood companies, and even with other companies in North America or the Western world, they are very particular about copyright, but outside this scope, the style is a bit domineering.

For example, like the country of origin of "Battle Royale", how many movies have been discussed in Hollywood for plagiarizing their animation or other literary works, but people there rarely initiate copyright lawsuits, and even if someone files a copyright lawsuit, it is difficult to win.

It can be said that for countries and regions that are not within the circle defined by Hollywood, the rules of the Hollywood game do not consider them at all.

A circle that attaches great importance to copyright and contracts, but does not pay attention to copyright contracts of other countries and regions, is not new in Hollywood.

In addition, this novel is also full of horror and science fiction elements.

These can also provide a selling point for a film adaptation.

After Matthew read the novel in his hand and determined that this is the original work of "The Hunger Games", he naturally thought of adapting the movie.

More importantly, he saw from the back cover of the novel that the publication date of The Hunger Games was September 14, 2008.

In other words, this novel has only been published for more than half a month, and it should not have attracted people's attention.

When it comes to buying the rights to a novel and a movie, of course, the fewer competitors, the better.

"The film rights to this novel?"

Inside the Angel Agency's office, Helen Herman looked at the cover of the novel in her hand, adjusted her glasses, and asked, "The Hunger Games? Author Susan Collins? I've never heard of this name."

Regardless of this, Matthew pulled out his chair and sat across from the desk, and said, "I just read this novel. It's the same as Twilight. It's a typical youth-oriented genre. I think it has some value for adaptation."

Hearing this, Helen Herman did not respond immediately. Instead, she opened the novel and flipped through it and thought for a while before she said, "The themes of youth-type novels have gradually increased in the past two years, but how about the film adaptation? No related films are released, and no one can guarantee the outcome, and I recommend waiting for the release of Twilight before making a decision."

This is undoubtedly a very safe strategy. If "Twilight", a typical youth novel dressed in other genres, is successfully adapted, it means that there is indeed a market for this genre, otherwise there is no need to waste money and resources on the "Hunger Games" series. time.

But Matthew doesn't see it that way. Now that "The Hunger Games" has been on the market for a short time, few people have noticed it. If the time is prolonged, who knows if other competitors will pop up?

"I think, when "Twilight" is released, once the film sells well, there may be many uncontrollable factors." Matthew reiterated his considerations. Said, "I specifically called Bella Anderson when I came, Susan Collins is a new writer, "The Hunger Games" is her first published work, the copyright fee can't be very high, millions of dollars I It's worth it."

Helen Herman finished thinking and said, "Since you have made up your mind, then do it."

Frankly speaking, it doesn’t matter if No. 13 Film Studio buys the copyright of the novel and film even if she doesn’t agree. The reason why Matthew said it is that on the one hand, she needs to come forward to discuss, on the other hand, it is also out of respect for her agent.

Then again, a few million dollars really doesn't mean much to Matthew.

Matthew was not polite to Helen Herman, and said directly, "You are responsible for contacting the author and publisher of this novel, and strive to win the copyright this month. This novel is obviously not the end, if it is a series of novels. , and also won the serial rights or the right of first refusal~www.readwn.com~ Helen Herman did not speak, just nodded slightly.

"In terms of your commission..." Matthew knew that if you want people to work, you must be paid, "How about referring to the "Twilight" series?"

"Okay." Helen Herman responded, "I'll let people do the preliminary investigation work."

Matthew added, "The sooner the better."

Helen Herman's work efficiency has always been very high. The opening battle scene of "Special Forces" has just been filmed, and she has already passed the preliminary information collected to Matthew.

Things are not as simple as Matthew thought.

Susan Collins is a rookie writer, yes, but not a housewife like Stephanie Meyer who knew almost nothing about film and television before writing, but a veteran children's TV screenwriter who writes for "Niccolò". The series "Clarissa Knows" and "The Mysterious File of Shelby Wu" created by Children's Television have been nominated for an Emmy Award.

In other words, this is a Hollywood insider.

It is not easy to get the film rights of a novel from such a veteran screenwriter at a low price.

Also, the famous writer Stephen King has written a review for this novel: Among dystopian stories, "The Hunger Games" is the best, the story is fast-paced and always full of suspense. The author is a master of words, with no nonsense in his writing, with a pleasant cold humor. Reading The Hunger Games is addictive, like playing a video game; you know the world isn't real, but you can't help but throw the coin over and over again.

These will become the capital of Susan - Collins negotiating the film rights.

Of course, these will not dispel Matthew's decision to win the series. The original strategy remains unchanged, allowing Helen Herman to continue to contact Susan Collins and the publishing house, and strive to buy the film rights as soon as possible.