Chapter 248 Copyright of "Three Body"

Yangquan, Niangziguan Power Station.

Liu Cixin was enjoying the scandal about Jiang Heng on the old computer screen.

There are so many news of this kind recently. One moment it says Jiang Heng is good with Liu Yifei, the next moment it says Jiang Heng is having an affair with Tang Yan, and they sound like they are true.

It's not that he believes in these things, he's just killing time out of boredom.

Among all the domestic directors, he has a more favorable impression of Jiang Heng.

Because "The Matrix" and "Inception", although these two works have nothing to do with space, they are science fiction after all!

And his biggest hobby is "science fiction literature"!
As a genre of literature, science fiction has a history of nearly 1818 years, starting with "Frankenstein" in 200, and there are countless classic works.

But in China, apart from Liang Qichao and Lu Xun who introduced science fiction in the early 20th century, there are very few original Chinese science fiction works. In the 80s, science fiction works were even regarded as a kind of "spiritual pollution."

Liu Cixin likes "science fiction literature", which is considered childish and abnormal by her leaders and colleagues.

In the industrial sector where he works, leaders can tolerate your mistakes at work, but they cannot tolerate your being childish.

Especially since he is already in his 40s, he still likes science fiction and devotes a lot of energy to it, which gives people a very bad impression and makes them think that he is not a normal person.

Therefore, Liu Cixin's creation has always been in a "semi-underground" state, working during the day and writing at night.

If I am too busy and have to work overtime, I won’t be able to write at night.

But sometimes, when there is not much to do at work, Liu Cixin sometimes works on her creative ideas, and sometimes she reads some reports online to pass the time.

As for entertainment news, he likes to read Jiang Heng's the most, because Jiang Heng has made "science fiction movies", although he has never involved "interstellar" type stories.

Maybe Director Jiang didn't have a good script? Liu Cixin sometimes thought so.

He also thought about writing a science fiction script and submitting it to iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video, but he was never satisfied with it after writing it over and over again.

He is better at depicting an unknown world, but cannot write a fast-paced commercial film script neatly.

Recently, I wrote a novel that I am quite satisfied with, titled "The Three-Body Problem", which was published in the magazine "Science Fiction World".

He didn't know if he would be picked up by the film and television industry, but when he thought about it, he didn't know how to adapt it into a film or TV series. It would be great if he could talk to Director Jiang about it.

Unfortunately, this is just thought.

He is just an ordinary man who looks "ordinary". He slacks off at work, buys groceries and cooks after work, picks up and drops off his daughter, and thinks about supporting his family.

Life is not easy. The manuscript fee offered by Science Fiction World magazine is 150 yuan per thousand words.

It looked okay, but it wasn't that much and didn't make much of a difference in his life.

What keeps him going in writing is actually his love for science fiction.

"Are you still not leaving, Da Liu?"

The colleague opposite asked, actually it’s not time to get off work yet.

But under normal circumstances, everyone will leave a little earlier.

Liu glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the computer and said, "I'll wait a moment, you go first!"

Without saying anything else, Liu waited for about five minutes and then got up to pack his things.

Suddenly I heard my cell phone ringing, I picked it up and saw that it was the editor-in-chief of Science Fiction World magazine.

Liu was stunned. He couldn't guess why the editor called at this time, but it was certain that there was something. "Hey, Mr. Li... Going to Chengdu? iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Pictures? OK, OK, I'll ask for leave from my boss!"

After hanging up the phone, Liu Cixin still looked dazed, as if she was dreaming.

It turned out that the editor of "Science Fiction World" said that two people claiming to be from iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Pictures came to the magazine today and said they wanted to buy the copyright of "The Three-Body Problem" and wanted to ask the magazine to help contact the author.

It would be best if we could invite the author over, because Director Jiang Heng is currently shooting on location in the province.

The leaders of Science Fiction World magazine were extremely surprised when they heard this.

It’s really because the theme of “science fiction” is too niche and not well understood and supported by the general public.

If the news that Jiang Heng purchased "The Three-Body Problem" published in "Science Fiction World" magazine was reported and then adapted into a film or TV series, it would definitely greatly boost the confidence of science fiction authors!

As a result, the sales of magazines will also increase significantly.

The magazine leader immediately ordered the editor-in-chief to contact Liu Cixin and ask him to take leave and come to Chengdu. It would be a good thing for him if he could have a face-to-face meeting with Director Jiang Heng.

Liu Cixin also felt so. He first thought of a reason, called his boss to ask for leave, and then went home to tell his wife about it. The latter was also very happy.

"Director Jiang Heng started out as a sci-fi filmmaker. He's not really going to adapt your book into a movie, is he?"

Liu thought about it and said, "It's hard to say. It's quite difficult!"

"Don't say that when you go, in case you don't buy it again!"

Liu nodded. He really didn't think the book "The Three-Body Problem" had much value in being adapted into a film or television work. Otherwise, he would not have sold the copyright of "The Three-Body Problem" for a mere 09 yuan in .

And for quite a long time, I felt like I had picked up 100,000 yuan for nothing.

Compared with the huge economic value that the "Three-Body" IP later created, Liu Cixin's life is really miserable.

In 2015, "The Three-Body Problem" won the Best Novel Award at the rd Hugo Awards. The film and television rights that were bought out became a hot commodity, and capital rushed to invest in all projects related to "The Three-Body Problem."

The couple who bought the copyright sold the film and television rights of "The Three-Body Problem" to You Zhu for 120 million yuan.

In 8 years, the copyright fee increased a thousand times. One can imagine how Liu Cixin felt afterwards.

The next day, Liu Cixin packed his bags and took a bus to Taiyuan, and then flew from Taiyuan to Chengdu.

It was already midnight when we arrived at the hotel. After a night's rest, we arrived at the Science Fiction World Publishing House on the third day.

The publishing house leaders and his editor-in-charge first chatted with Liu Cixin and congratulated him on his work being chosen by Jiang Heng. Perhaps it wouldn’t be long before his work was adapted into a movie.

Liu Cixin was still a little panicked and said that he didn't dare to think that way at all and he didn't know how to adapt it!
The editor-in-charge said, "You don't have to belittle yourself. Director Jiang chose it, so he naturally had his own ideas. I just didn't expect that he actually had time to watch Science Fiction World!"

Jiang Heng naturally had no time to read "Science Fiction World". He just remembered when and in which magazine "The Three-Body Problem" was published.

At ten o'clock in the morning, people from iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Pictures came over and, witnessed by Science Fiction World magazine, bought the film and television rights to the Three-Body novel series for three million yuan.

Liu Cixin has only completed the first part of the work and is serializing it in the magazine as scheduled. The subsequent content is still being conceived.

Three million is the overall price of the series. According to the contract, the first part is one million, and all subsequent contents, whether one or two, will be priced at a total of two million.

Both Science Fiction World magazine and Liu Cixin were shocked by the price, which was definitely a astronomical price.

Liu even felt that The Three-Body Problem was not worth so much money, and tactfully told the representatives of iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video, "Director Jiang, do you want to support science fiction literature by spending a fortune on it?"

(End of this chapter)