Chapter 323: Two Smoking Barrels

Jennifer praised the song "We Are Young" to the skies, which made Zhang Youan want to hear what the song was like.

Many viewers who just started listening to "Music World" were like Zhang Youan. They really wanted to know what the song was like, so much so that the fifth listener directly asked Zhou Yan if he could play it again.

However, Zhou Yan couldn't agree to such a request. The show didn't last long, and by the time the fifth listener was connected, it was almost over.

After the fifth connection ended, Zhou Yan and Jennifer talked about music for a while, and then the show ended.

The director started playing "People Like You". Jennifer took off her headphones and said with a smile, "Y, thank you for your cooperation. Today's show is very good, better than we thought."

"You have worked hard. Today's show is inseparable from your efforts."

After saying a polite word, Zhou Yan stood up and stretched his body. Today's show was relatively relaxed. Jennifer's rhythm was very good, and he didn't feel any pressure throughout the whole process.

The only episode was David's phone call, but this episode made the show even better. Without that episode, there would be no "We Are Young".

Jennifer invited Zhou Yan to lunch on behalf of the radio station, but Zhou Yan declined.

When Zhou Yan walked out of the radio station, he received a call from Zhang Youan.

On the phone, Zhang Youan told Zhou Yan that Jack Williams had taken a fancy to the song "We Are Young" and wanted to buy it for an advertising song.

"There were too many things to do this morning, otherwise I would have listened to the show. Now I don't know what the situation is with this song."

"It's just a light song, and it can indeed be made into a song."

"Then Williams..."

"Talk to him, as for the conditions, you decide."

Although "We Are Young" was not written specifically for New Balance, Zhou Yan also felt that this song was indeed quite suitable for their brand.

Zhang Youan smiled and said, "Then I have to listen to this song first, so I can have a rough idea in my mind."

"I'll find time to record a version for you to listen to."

"Don't find time, just do it now. The office has keyboards, synthesizers and so on, which should be enough for you."

Hearing Zhang Youan's words, Zhou Yan agreed. There is indeed still some time now.

...

Thomson's office in Los Angeles is larger than Zhou Yan imagined. After all, there are not many people in this office, so it doesn't need a large office area.

But when Zhou Yan arrived, he found that the office actually had six or seven rooms.

Zhang Youan told him that the office has a total of more than 500 square meters, with independent offices, conference rooms, and recording studios, and its functions are very comprehensive.

"It looks quite empty now, but we are going to continue to recruit people. When you come next time, you will find that there are more people."

"Does our business need so many people?" Zhou Yan asked with a smile.

Thomson's business in the United States is not very much now, and it is mainly concentrated on Zhou Yan. Most of the time, the office is dealing with business related to Zhou Yan.

In Zhou Yan's view, the current staff structure is completely sufficient.

Zhang Youan also laughed, "If we don't recruit people in advance, the business expansion will be hindered later."

"What business expansion will our company have next?"

"There is something I forgot to tell you. I have already rented the Golden Hall for September."

"For the Central Folk Orchestra?" Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows.

He had talked about this with Zhang Youan before. He said that he wanted to arrange a performance abroad for the Central Folk Orchestra, and the standard should be higher. He also mentioned the Golden Hall.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Youan not only kept it in mind, but also got it done.

"Well, I have been talking about this with Director Yu. Basically, there is no problem. In a few days, we will be able to announce their orchestra's performance abroad. At that time, it will not only be the Folk Orchestra, but also the Piano Youth Orchestra and the Folk Orchestra. "

Zhou Yan nodded, and was also very pleased. He was very willing to see the Folk Orchestra go out.

The Central Folk Orchestra went abroad to perform, and it was in the Golden Hall. This matter itself has extraordinary significance. After all, the Central Folk Orchestra can represent the official.

"That's a good job, but since we're going abroad, we can't just do one show."

"Of course, we have plans for Europe and North America, and our goal is to do a tour. If the folk music trend can pick up, we'll bring Qingyinfang back."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "I'm at ease with you, Lao Zhang."

Zhang Youan continued, "In terms of music, you're still the main person, and you should focus on the soundtrack, albums, and songs. Don't underestimate your music territory. If you develop well, even if the office has twice as many people, you won't be able to serve alone. There are many companies looking for you to compose music and invite you to sing songs. Just for this business, one or two people are needed to do it."

Hearing what Zhang Youan said, Zhou Yan realized that he could be a hands-off boss and just write music, shoot movies, and perform because there were many people behind him, and the number of people needed was more than he thought.

Before Zhou Yan could speak, Zhang Youan continued, "In addition to music, the film business is also expanding. Do you remember Sting, who I met in the UK before?"

"Yes, of course I remember."

"We are currently cooperating with the couple and are preparing to invest in a movie. Although the investment is not large, it is still an opportunity."

"What movie, who acted in it, and who directed it?" Zhou Yan asked curiously.

"You definitely don't know the director. He is a new director in the UK. He has never even made a feature film before. The name of the movie is a British proverb, which means to go all out and fight."

"Go all out and fight?" Zhou Yan was confused and had never heard of this movie.

"Lock, stock and smoking barrels." Zhang Youan said the original name.

When he heard the name, Zhou Yan looked a little surprised. Isn't this "Two Smoking Barrels"?

He never expected that this movie would be picked up by Zhang Youan.

Guy Ritchie is undoubtedly a talented director, and his debut feature film "Two Smoking Barrels" is also his masterpiece, and can even be said to be his pinnacle.

This movie may not be the best movie made by Guy Ritchie, but it is definitely the movie that best reflects his style. The later "Crazy Stone" produced in China also drew a lot from this movie.

Seeing the change in Zhou Yan's expression, Zhang Youan asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Zhou Yan shook his head, "I just didn't expect that you would invest in a newcomer's movie."

Zhang Youan laughed, "Isn't this strange? When Mr. Xu invested in you to shoot "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly," you were also a new director. But now, you are already a well-known director with a world-renowned reputation. Although this Guy Ritchie has no experience in making feature films, but I have watched his short films and they are very special. In this way, they are very similar to yours."

As Zhou Yan said, the reason why Xu Feng was able to invest in Zhou Yan's "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly" was initially because of his scoring ability and the previous short film "Antfly".

Although "Antfly" was short, Xu Feng saw Zhou Yan's potential in making movies. Otherwise, no matter how good the script of "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly" was, she would not have let Zhou Yan be the director.

Maybe the script will be kept and other experienced directors will be invited to film it.

"How much did the company invest this time?" Zhou Yan asked.

"Not much, two hundred thousand pounds. The Stings hope that we can invest a little more, but I think it is better to be conservative. First of all, Guy Ritchie is a newcomer after all, and his movies have not been confirmed by the market. Secondly, he This movie is quite special and may not be in line with the public’s taste.”

Zhou Yan knew that Zhang Youan's concerns were right. Movies like "Two Smoking Barrels" are very special now. No one knows whether it will be loved by the audience.

Although they all liked the script, no one wanted to make a loss-making deal.

The Stings must have been murmuring in their hearts, otherwise, they wouldn’t have asked Tomson to invest, they could have done it themselves. After all, the cost of this movie was not high in the first place, and this amount of money was not worth it to them. What kind of.

They can feel much more relaxed if they find Tomson to help them share risks.

Zhou Yan thought for a while and said, "Please show me the script when you have time."

"I have it in my office. I can show it to you now."

"Well, let's record the demo of "We Are Young" first."

Zhang Youan patted his forehead and said, "Yes, let's get down to business first. Let's go. I'll take you there. The facilities in our office are still acceptable..."

…

The facilities in the office are indeed good, but they can only record a demo. If you want to do something more advanced, it won't work. First of all, the recording equipment and recording environment are very average.

Fortunately, there were no requirements for the sample, and the equipment in the office was basically enough for Zhou Yan.

He was also very efficient. It took him less than an hour to record a demo that was over four minutes long.

While Zhou Yan was recording, Zhang Youan was listening beside him. The more he listened, the happier he became.

Zhang Youan knew that with this song, he could completely control New Balance. Even if New Balance didn't want it, there would still be a lot of record companies that would want it.

Sure enough, Zhou Yan never disappoints, whether it's music or movies.

After the music recording was over, Zhou Yan asked Zhang Youan, "Do you want to give the tape to Williams?"

Zhang Youan smiled and waved his hand, "No rush, wait until he comes to see me again. It's getting late now, let's eat first."

At noon, the two of them didn't bother anymore, just followed the Romans and ate some sandwiches and salads.

After dinner, Zhang Youan showed Zhou Yan the script of "Two Smoking Barrels".

Before Zhou Yan opened the script, Zhang Youan also reminded, "This script may be a bit messy."

Zhou Yan smiled and opened the script without saying anything.

As Zhang Youan said, the script of "Two Smoking Barrels" is indeed a bit "messy". Not only is the narrative structure "messy", but the relationship between the characters is also very messy. Most people will not even read a script like this the first time they get it. don't know.

But for Zhou Yan, there was no problem at all.

First of all, Zhou Yan has a very good memory. He can remember these seemingly complicated character relationships after just watching them once. Secondly, he has seen the movie, and the plot and character relationships have long been clear in his mind.

The script Zhang Youan gave him was basically the same as the plot of the movie "Two Smoking Barrels", with no changes.

This is understandable. This kind of multi-line narrative, interlocking script is difficult to make major changes in the later filming. If one part is changed, many other parts will be changed.

It's like a domino. If there is one missing piece in the middle, there is no way to connect the back.

Zhou Yan quickly finished reading the script. When he closed the script, Zhang Youan couldn't wait to say, "The relationship between the characters in this story is very complicated. It's easy to get dizzy when you read it for the first time..."

Before he finished speaking, Zhou Yan smiled and said, "I can understand it. It's really a good script."

Zhou Yan's words made Zhang Youan stunned for a moment, and then he said with some frustration, "Okay, it turns out that geniuses like you are different from ordinary people like us."

This script has been read by many people, but almost everyone is a little dizzy after reading it for the first time. Taylor also admitted that he had to take notes to understand the relationship between the characters in this story.

Zhang Youan was also worried that Zhou Yan couldn't figure out the relationship between the characters and couldn't feel the charm of this script. Who knew that Zhou Yan didn't have any worries in this regard at all.

Sure enough, his worries were unnecessary. Zhou Yan himself is a movie genius.

Being able to write scripts like "The Sixth Sense" and "Shutter Island", it doesn't seem strange to understand "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels".

Zhang Youan's frustration lasted less than a second, and he soon calmed down and asked Zhou Yan, "Do you think this movie will be loved by the audience?"

Zhou Yan shook his head, "I'm not the worm in the audience's stomach, how do I know whether they will like it? I can only say that as a viewer, I am definitely willing to spend money to watch this movie in the cinema."

"Well, since you said so, then we will invest 200,000 pounds and we won't lose money."

Anyway, 200,000 pounds is not much, for them, the risk is not big, this kind of low-cost movie is originally a small risk, and the loss is not much money.

Zhou Yan thought about it and said, "In fact, I think we can invest more."

"Invest more?" Zhang Youan looked at Zhou Yan in surprise.

Zhou Yan can say this, which proves that he is actually optimistic about the market of this movie.

"Anyway, the cost of the movie is not high, even if we cover all the costs, it won't cost much."

"It's definitely impossible to cover all the costs. Sting and his team will also invest, but if we increase the investment to more than 50%, there is still hope." Zhang Youan was still a little uncertain, "Do you really think we should invest more?"

Zhou Yan smiled, but didn't answer directly. He just said, "If the company doesn't invest, I would like to invest some money."

Although Zhou Yan didn't want to snatch Tomson's chance to pick up a bargain, if Tomson didn't want to invest more, then he didn't want to waste it.

Zhang Youan raised his eyebrows. Although Zhou Yan didn't give him a positive answer, the answer was very clear.

After a moment of silence, Zhang Youan said firmly, "Okay, I will report this situation to President Xu tonight to see if I can invest more money."

In fact, before the call was made, Zhang Youan already knew the result.

President Xu trusted Zhou Yan too much. As long as she knew that Zhou Yan was optimistic about the movie, she would definitely invest unconditionally. Not to mention hundreds of thousands of pounds, even if it was hundreds of millions of pounds, President Xu could pay.

Zhang Youan sometimes feels that Xu Feng trusts her instincts too much. Once she likes a director, she will support him unconditionally. This was the case with Chen Kaige before, and Zhou Yan is also like this later.

Xu Feng is like this, both good and bad. The good thing is that if the person she trusts lives up to her trust, then the benefits will be very high.

The bad thing is that once the person she trusts fails, the risk will be very high.

Chen Kaige is a clear proof. The movie "Feng Yue" has failed. Although the failure of "Feng Yue" did not hurt Tomson, it is hard to say if it continues like this.

The good news is that because of the failure of "Feng Yue", Chen Kaige seems to no longer want to cooperate with Xu Feng.

Chen Kaige may think that the failure of "Feng Yue" is partly due to Tomson's lack of sufficient support.

But Xu Feng is really loyal enough. He has given everything he should have given. Xu Feng can't influence how the movie is made.

As for Zhou Yan, he has never failed so far, and his development is getting better and better.

It is precisely because of Zhou Yan's existence that Tomson Films has been able to develop so well in recent years. Xu Feng's unconditional trust in Zhou Yan has also been rewarded handsomely.

, (End of this chapter)