377: Chapter 377 Division

What does "going to Hollywood to make a movie" even mean?

Wu Yue was completely bewildered when he heard this.

However, Lin Chuyan had already printed out the script for "la la land" over these past few days and casually tossed it to Wu Yue.

"Read it first. Don't be in such a hurry to dismiss it."

Fine, fine, fine. So confident, are we?

Wu Yue wasn't in a rush to discuss this topic. He weighed the bound A4 pages in his hand and offered a reminder first: "Have you registered the copyright?"

"...I forgot."

Just when he wanted to act cool, he immediately fell off his chair. He remembered every song, yet he had completely forgotten about this single script.

"This isn't like Aiyue.com, which requires submitting application forms and a lot of supporting documents. It's fine. I'll read it first, and after I'm done, I'll have Xia Zhi take care of it for you."

"OK." Lin Chuyan, fearing the other party might overthink things, reassured him, "Don't worry. I won't do anything reckless. I'll do my homework in advance and take some directing courses for a while."

Wu Yue nodded. "This is no small matter. The initial investment for a movie is huge. I don't think we have a chance with those big domestic investors, so we need to plan carefully before acting. How much do you think the cost of this movie will be?"

Lin Chuyan tilted his head and thought about it. "Around 30 million USD. I estimate that's the maximum it will be."

Wu Yue: "...Then we'll have to find a way to pull in a few more investors. If we lose everything, this whole year will have been for nothing."

"Brother, have some faith in me, alright? You should invest a little too! I think it should be able to make money."

Wu Yue wasn't as rich as him. With four elders above and one child below, he had to be extremely cautious. "Let me read the script first, hahaha."

"Hmm... There's no rush to look for investors. Once I'm fully prepared, I'll go lobby them one by one."

"Director Du Qiyu, Director Chu Dong—these two directors can be brought on board, so it should be able to be released in both Hong Kong and the mainland. Also, Sugiura Ran; ask her when the time comes. Going through her connections is better than Director Du Qiyu's; we should be able to secure more screenings in Japan..."

Wu Yue broke it down for him point by point. At the end of the day, wanting to be a director was destined not to be as simple as being an actor or a musician; there were too many things to resolve.

"Also, if we really are going to do this, we should establish a separate film investment company to keep it distinct from the studio's current operations. This can't wait until you're ready. In any case, after I finish reading the script, I'll talk to you again."

"Understood."

With Wu Yue around, Lin Chuyan felt much more relaxed.

Entering March, there was a continuous stream of good news.

News came from Director Du Qiyu: "a moment of romance" had finally finished its theatrical run in the mainland and was moving to streaming platforms.

Lin Chuyan's heart stirred: It's here, it's here.

The split that Wu Yue had helped him negotiate back then—after several rounds of back-and-forth, they had agreed to take the share only from the mainland and Taiwan. Now, it seemed, it was time for the harvest.

As for the box office, it was better than what Maoyan had predicted. It was originally predicted to be 3.5 billion, but later, thanks to the assist from "the play," the box office rose a bit more around Valentine's Day, eventually just barely reaching 3.6 billion.

This achievement couldn't just be called "not bad"; it was the highest-ranking in history for the mainland's "New Year's Eve" slot.

It was similar in Taiwan. "a moment of romance" was currently the second highest-grossing film in Taiwan's history, at around just under 900 million New Taiwan Dollars, which converted to about 200 million.

Because the 3.6 billion from the mainland box office was already such a gem, Lin Chuyan couldn't help but exclaim: "Is that all?"

"Hahahaha, actually, this is partly your fault. If it weren't for your flashy moves, it might have had a chance to compete for first place in history."

"Huh?" Lin Chuyan was confused. "What did I do?"

"You definitely won't guess."

Lin Chuyan really couldn't guess; how was he to blame for this?

Director Du Qiyu didn't intend to make him guess and just said it directly: "You forgot, you sang "dragon fist" at the Spring Festival Gala..."

"Damn, no way, is it that sensitive?"

"Isn't it? They were probably furious. Anyway, the screenings were reduced a lot after that." Director Du Qiyu laughed heartily. "But it doesn't matter; we don't care about that little bit anymore."

"Indeed." Lin Chuyan also laughed. "Congratulations, Du sir, on making big money."

"Same to you, same to you! The box office settlement is coming down one after another. I'll go reconcile this with your agent!"

As for "la la land," Lin Chuyan didn't mention the investment to Director Du Qiyu. There was no rush; he had to let people see the script first.

After ending the chat, Lin Chuyan opened the calculator on his phone and started calculating...

He could figure out roughly how much money he would get from this split.

3.6 billion in the mainland + 200 million in Taiwan. After multiplying this 3.8 billion in box office revenue by his 5%...

Very good, he could probably get around 74 million.

Thank you, Brother Yue. Brother Yue is awesome.

The second piece of good news was that sales of Lin Chuyan's yellow album had reached 3 million copies.

At 28 yuan per copy, 3 million copies... it wasn't a small amount for him either.

When Boss Zhu sent a WeChat message to congratulate him, he even made a bold prediction, claiming that the next album had the potential to aim for 5 million in sales.

After that, he cautiously asked if there were any plans for the next album. Lin Chuyan didn't take the bait: "My girlfriend's next album is actually in production. I'm doing the lyrics, composition, and arrangement. Boss, could you provide some extra recommendation slots when the time comes?"

Boss Zhu: "I will, I definitely will. Although Teacher Ruan doesn't really need those..."

It was a pity that Ruan Xingyu's songs weren't released solely on his platform.

The third piece of good news was what Wu Yue told him. Lin Chuyan was a bit surprised when he heard it—Xiaohongshu had approached him to join their platform.

"Shouldn't they be looking for girls to join? I feel like it's mostly girls playing on it."

Wu Yue explained to him: "First of all, precisely because there are so many girls, they should be looking for you to join..."

Fine, Lin Chuyan understood when put that way.

"Secondly, it's precisely because there are so many girls that this area is already saturated, so there's an even greater need for male users to join."

"Third, you need to update your perspective. Xiaohongshu isn't just about beauty product recommendations anymore; there's also plenty of tech and fitness content."

Lin Chuyan was noncommittal: "The question is: what can I do when I go there?"

"They want you to livestream."

Lin Chuyan hurriedly shook his head: "I can't do that, I can't do that..."

What kind of joke was that? Where would he find the time for this?

"Listen to me first. Don't I know you?" Wu Yue held him back. "I've already asked clearly for you. The platform's meaning is that you can livestream whatever you want. In short, it depends on your needs. If you need it, they can help you plan the whole thing; if you don't need it, they won't interfere with the content creation."

"Ah, this..."

"My point is, this is money that would be a waste not to earn." Wu Yue offered him an idea: "I've thought about it for you. "lotus lantern" doesn't have many night scenes, and you get off work early in the evening. You usually read and study after you get back anyway—so why don't you just livestream yourself studying! If you don't feel like engaging with the audience, then just don't. Just keep your head down and study."

"...Can you even do that?"

"Why not? I've already asked clearly for you."

"So how much are they paying?"

"A flat fee of 30 million. As for the frequency and duration of the livestreams, I'll set that with them; it definitely won't affect your daily work. The content of the livestream has also been made clear. Their intention is very explicit: anything goes. You could even livestream yourself sleeping!"

"Livestreaming myself sleeping, for 30 million?"

"They would love for you to sleep! Being able to watch Lin Chuyan sleep on Xiaohongshu? What a huge gimmick that would be!"

Lin Chuyan didn't really want to sleep, but anyway, since he was just reading and studying after returning to the hotel these few months, starting a livestream wouldn't hurt.