Beijing, movie archive.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the archive had a large screening room that could accommodate eight or nine hundred people, and movies were played every Tuesday, with Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang all regulars.

The poor student had no money and drew fake tickets by himself. Tian Zhuangzhuang once used fake tickets to watch movies, but was caught on the spot.

At that time, the archives held a retrospective exhibition of British films, which screened 40 British films at once. This was the first time that such a large-scale foreign film screening was held since the reform and opening up. The audience queuing up to buy tickets was crowded with the yard.

Later, the French Film Festival, Italian Film Festival and American Film Festival were all here, and this place became a window for domestic audiences to understand the world.

To this day, the new building of the archive has been completed and the screening hall has become an art theater, but this tradition has always been maintained, with more than a thousand screenings each year.

On Friday afternoon, a small screening indoor.

The list of producers of "Beautiful New World" scrolled on the screen, echoing Wu Bai's song. Li Meng sat in it, quietly and silent.

After a while, someone said, "The repair effect is better than ours!"

“Can AI coloring reach this level?”

"Say it's the latest technology."

"Anyway, it's absolutely fine to take it to the exhibition!"

"Since there is no problem, then I will send it to Berlin in March as agreed in advance. By the way, Li Meng, you can have a detailed chat with your classmate to see what else you have to think."

"OK."

Li Meng responded and everyone dispersed.

She also left the screening room, returned to the office, and left with her bag when she got off work.

She is a local and has two old houses at home, one of which is a school district house. She was eager to use money for the first two years and sold it at the highest point.

As a result, the policy was introduced and the school district housing was gone!

And another old house began to increase its price...

Winner in life.

Li Meng had a car himself and didn't drive normally. She squeezed into the subway like a turtle in the evening rush hour, and went to a restaurant panting.

After entering the private room, there was already an unnamed supporting role sitting inside.

"Oh, long time no see! That's all that has been in the wedding once, two or three years."

"The hotel you booked?"

"I ordered it."

"What are you doing so luxurious? You're so kind."

"Laozhuang treats you, you are polite to me, it's so funny..."

After dealing with the Hengdian incident, Zhuang Zhou deliberately circled around the capital to meet these old classmates. After several years of graduation, many of them stayed in the capital, basically hang out in the literary and art circles, entertainment circles, or engaged in upstream and downstream work.

As for classmates, the key is contact.

When you get married, have children, and borrow money, you remember to call others, and don’t even call them, and just send WeChat messages. How can you say that there is any friendship?

After waiting for a while, we arrived one after another, with more than a dozen people.

Zhuang Zhou’s last arrival was not a compensation when he entered the door: “I’m sorry, I slept in the hotel, and I’ve had it.”

"Stop talking nonsense, you are still late for your business, drink!"

He was not pretentious, and he blew a cup and sat down to start the meal.

To be honest, except for those who are close to Meng Chaoyang, he didn't contact him much. Today, he deliberately did it. After chatting, he found that most of them were mediocre and lived in the capital.

Among them, the better one is actually a pretty inconspicuous little fat man named Dai Han.

Like Meng Chaoyang, he is a screenwriter, but his route is different. After graduation, he joined a company specializing in online dramas, called Red Fox.

He is a veteran of the company. He initially wrote scripts, and tried to be a director as he wrote them, and he was well-known in the industry.

To what extent?

If you sneak into an 18th-line actor, the other party will not refuse that.

This attracted everyone's envy, and they all said: "Old Dai, you can! You are the only comrade we have who has entered the entertainment industry. Unlike us, we can only be rubbing outside."

"Don't say that, don't say that, Lao Zhuang is much better than me!" Dai Han waved his hand quickly.

"I'll be the late one, you're on the front line of charge." Zhuang Zhou said with a smile.

"That's it! That's it! Let's give us some information?"

"Why is the awkward Jay Bo on his head?"

"Brothers, let me go, I, I'll drink!"

Dai Han had no choice but to have a drink of three drinks in a row, and everyone had a happy time.

Zhuang Zhou also smiled and did not continue to cheer. He turned his head to ask Li Meng next to him: "Have you received "Beautiful New World"?"

"Well, I'm very satisfied, I'll go to the exhibition in March."

Li Meng paused and asked, "Do you have any other ideas? I mean, you are willing to help repair the movie. We are very grateful, but the exchange conditions you proposed are too abstract, and it is better to have detailed rules."

"How much does it cost to repair a 4k movie abroad?"

"If the damage is not serious, it will be OK if it is tens of thousands of dollars. If the damage is serious, it will cost one or two million dollars."

"Then I will give you a 30% discount, and you can trade in batches, with quality and quantity guaranteed. I will entrust you to do the preliminary repair work, and with the introduction remuneration, I will give you 30%."

If a film needs 100,000 US dollars to be restored, Zhuang Zhou will offer a price of 70,000 yuan. Of this 70,000 yuan, 30% will be distributed to the archives, leaving 49,000 yuan.

In the early stage of repair, it is mainly about cleaning, reconnecting, and scanning film, which is not tiring.

The key is the US dollar!

Converted to RMB, these 3 Chengdu is enough to restore a movie in China.

Li Meng was excited when she heard this, but she was also surprised and asked: "You have to pay such a low price and have to repair it in batches. Are you busy?"

"So you have to share the burden!"

Zhuang Zhou was serious and said with his fingers: "In this way, I don't have to buy equipment, I don't have to ask someone to clean it, reinstall it, and I have to scan it. It's so troublesome!"

whispering sound!

Li Meng just thought he was joking, and Zhuang Zhou asked again: "Do you know about the copyright protection of those old foreign movies?"

"What country?"

"USA."

"Well, Hollywood is complicated."

Li Meng himself studied this and tried to say simply: "The copyright law of the United States in 1909 stipulates that the protection period is 28 years. If it is renewed, it can be extended for another 28 years, which is 56 years.

During this period, the copyright law was revised several times, and by 1992, it had been extended to 75 years.

But even so, Hollywood was not satisfied. In the 1990s, Disney saw its first Mickey Mouse work "Steamboat Willy", released in 1928, expired in 2003.

Disney could not stand Mickey Mouse entering the public sphere, so it lobbled Congress to change its copyright law, and later Warner and Universal joined it.

So the copyright law of 1998, also known as the Mickey Mouse Terms, was born, and the term was extended to 95 years. In other words, the copyright term of "Steamboat Willy" was extended to 2023.

2023 is coming soon, and Disney is likely to make another trick!”

Li Meng explained it and said with great hatred: "I firmly safeguard the copyright, but I hate to seek personal gain and occupy the public sphere in the name of protecting copyright.

What did Disney rely on to start a business? It relies on the public domain!

Did he create Snow White? That's a fairy tale! But now when Snow White is mentioned, how many people think of it as "Grimm's Fairy Tale" instead of Disney?

They draw nutrients from the public sphere and make money from the public sphere. Now that they are developing, the first thing they do is to prevent their works from entering the public sphere. Isn’t it enough to protect them for 95 years?”

"Okay OK, don't be excited."

Zhuang Zhou looked at this calm old classmate with admiration, but unexpectedly he still had an restless heart and asked again: "Will the policy of the United States be applied to the country?"

"No, we are following the Bernier Convention, and the protection period is 50 years.

All movies from the Hollywood studio era, movies from the European New Wave era, Japanese Golden Age films represented by Akira Kurosawa, and early Japanese animations represented by "Astro Boy" have entered the public sphere in China."

“Wow!”

Zhuang Zhou silently gave a thumbs up.

"What are you asking about these things?" Li Meng was surprised.

"Learn, what if it works."

After Zhuang Zhou asked about the situation, he ruthlessly abandoned the tool man and wiped himself to find another tool man.

"Old Dai!"

"Oh, Mr. Zhuang!"

Dai Han had just left the enthusiasm of his classmates, and turned around and saw Zhuang Zhou sitting next to him. In the moment, he became a little more enthusiastic. A production company and a special effects company may have a business relationship.

The two clinked glasses, and Zhuang Zhou said: "How are you doing recently? Is it easy to get involved in the online drama circle?"
To be continued...