Chapter Eighty-Three: Adaptation Rights

  As early as the beginning of December, Hollywood Records announced that Ryan Jenkin's first personal album would be officially released after the New Year, causing widespread attention. "He" is naturally the first single of the album, and on January 1, 1992, the second single "I.Believe.I..fly" will start promoting and charting.

  Ryan has also been cooperating with the record company's publicity plan. When everyone's attention is focused on music, he had to divert most of his energy to film business.

  For months, Spielberg had been engaged in a tug-of-war negotiation with Universal Studios over the film rights to "Jurassic Park".

  The negotiation process was very difficult, Ryan had a big appetite, he wanted to cut a large piece from this super-large cake and put it in his pocket.

  The global film industry is not foolish either, they plan to follow Disney's approach in "The Lion King", with the original author and screenwriter enjoying multiple identities, enjoying box office revenue and subsequent peripheral dividends.

  If he is willing to invest within $10 million, they will also welcome it with open arms. This kind of thing that slightly gives up some benefits and can bring the two parties closer together, why not?

  Against expectations, the other party's appetite was much bigger than they had imagined, and they actually threw out a draft of a cooperation and division agreement.

  Universal Studios could tolerate their participation in the investment but it was unacceptable to take away nearly half of the expected income, and the final negotiation broke down.

  Having absolute control, Ryan is not in a hurry at all. Although he tends to cooperate with Universal Pictures, he also doesn't mind cooperating with other major film companies. After all, the copyright of "Jurassic Park" is 100% in his own hands, and as long as he doesn't nod, no one can do anything about it.

  Of course, he has not given up on the opportunity to cooperate with Universal Pictures yet, and in his view, Universal Pictures will eventually make concessions.

  As the second-oldest of the seven major film companies, Universal Pictures is not doing well, having failed to produce a strong work for several years in a row. If it doesn't take action to save itself, it will fall into decline like MGM and Sony Columbia Pictures.

  It's worth noting that MGM and Sony Pictures, apart from their vast film libraries, have been relying on the 007 franchise for a long time. The latter, after being acquired by Japanese investors, still hasn't figured out how to play the American entertainment market and is constantly paying tuition.

  Universal Pictures' comeback in the previous life was Jurassic Park and Schindler's List, with the former earning nearly $1 billion at the global box office and various peripherals on fire, while the latter produced a huge response and became the big winner of the Oscars.

  The one who ordered the termination of the negotiations was the boss of Universal Studios, the president of American Music, Shawn Scheppsberg. He was extremely dissatisfied and wanted to use this method to tell that young punk who had the initiative in this negotiation.

  However, Ryan Jenkins is no longer the boy of a year ago, nor is he the little star that Tom Cruise can easily question in public. With the consecutive big hits of "Sleepless in Seattle", "Terminator 2" and "The Bodyguard" this year, he has gradually established his position in Hollywood and in the eyes of various film companies, his works are a guarantee of box office success.

  "Get the word out and let multiple people bid so we can get a good price." Ryan had said to Kim after negotiations broke down.

  So, on the very day that negotiations broke down, word got out and Hollywood was abuzz with the news: Universal had beaten everyone else to the punch and was going after Jurassic Park.

  This is a book that has been on the bestseller list in the United States for over 40 weeks, and according to the publisher "Alien Body", it has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. There are many fans of this book all over the world, especially in English-speaking countries. If it were made into a movie, as long as it's not made into something that doesn't make sense, profit wouldn't be a concern at all - the only thing to consider would be how much money can be made.

  Ryan Jenkins and Universal Pictures are so unscrupulous, secretly negotiating and finally breaking down, that's great.

  Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Paramount and 20th Century Fox all contacted Kathleen Kennedy that day. Producers like Tim Burton and Jack Brodsky also got wind of it, and soon the entire film circle was abuzz with the news that "Jurassic Park" was going to be adapted into a movie.

  Strictly speaking, this book was changed by Ryan into a low-age reading material, to be precise, it is a full-age reading material, which is different from the previous life. The book had been on the bestseller list since its release in 86 and with Ryan's growing popularity, sales continued to increase, cultivating a large number of book fans.

  They were overjoyed when they heard this news. What could be more enviable than seeing their favorite dinosaurs on the big screen?

  "We've been waiting for this day, Ryan is finally going to bring his most important work onto the big screen, yes! We're so excited, we love Jurassic Park!"

  This is a fan club of Ryan's that bought a small space in the newspaper to voice out their support for their idol.

  Of course, there are also concerns. An older bookworm expressed his worries during a street interview with the Los Angeles Times, "I also hope to see the movie version of 'Jurassic Park' as soon as possible, especially that huge Tyrannosaurus Rex. I'm worried that current film technology can't bring the dinosaurs to life vividly enough, which would be terrible, a disaster."

  The Los Angeles Times conducted a survey, asking if people wanted to see a film adaptation of "Jurassic Park". Nearly 20,000 responses were received, with over 90% in support of bringing the book to the big screen.

  As for the previous life of "Jurassic Park", Ryan's understanding was limited, but in this life, even the film adaptation rights had not been sold yet, it was already hotly anticipated, attracting a huge amount of attention.

  In fact, everyone is optimistic about the adaptation of this book. Moreover, Ryan Jenkins will personally write the script. The only concern is the post-production technology of the movie.

  Who has the most advanced film special effects technology in Hollywood today? Of course, it's Industrial Light & Magic. Before long, a reporter came to George Lucas and asked him a question. After hearing the other party's question, the old man replied without hesitation, "With the technology of Industrial Light & Magic, it is entirely possible to create vivid dinosaurs."

  The old man dared to say that, he must have been confident in his heart. With the special effects technology shown in Terminator 2, various film companies were greatly encouraged, and one by one phone calls bothered Goldie Hawn and her team.

  Especially Warner and Disney, who had worked with Ryan before, were more aggressive, with Gerald and Carter Eisner visiting him separately to get him to consider them first.

  Ryan didn't want to directly refuse, so he gave a condition: "The director of this film must be Steven Spielberg. This is the prerequisite for negotiation!"

  The news somehow got out and now it's done, the hatred has been successfully transferred, and the Jewish director became the central figure in the public relations of various companies.

  Someone who had joined Universal earlier than the previous regime played an important role, Ron Meyer muscled his way through the opposition and persuaded Sid Sheinberg to restart negotiations with Goldie Hawn, and used a long-standing relationship to bring Spielberg on board at Universal.

  How Universal Pictures convinced Spielberg is not clear to many people, but Ryan heard that when Spielberg left the Universal Studios, his face was very ugly and he remained tight-lipped throughout the subsequent negotiations.

  Soon, the latest news came out that Universal Pictures would invest $30 million to film "Schindler's List", with Steven Spielberg as its director.

  Things have developed to this point, Ryan no longer needs to ask around and knows that those things happened in his past life. The honeymoon period between Universal Studios and Spielberg has come to an end. It won't be long before Hollywood will undergo a drastic change and welcome a new quasi-giant - DreamWorks!

  What is negotiation? Simply put, it's just a matter of asking for the sky and settling on the ground.

  Ryan was also clear that the conditions he had set were somewhat harsh, and he made a concession. The subsequent negotiations could only be described as swift, and the two parties reached an agreement by December and signed the contract.

  Regarding the film adaptation and investment of "Jurassic Park", Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures agreed to invest $20 million and $45 million respectively as a preliminary budget, excluding future distribution and marketing expenses taken by Universal Pictures. The rights and future profits will be divided according to the investment ratio.

  Ryan reduced the proportion of investment, after all, the production and distribution of peripheral products, he was completely in the dark here, and many places still relied on the channels of Universal Pictures.

  As for him personally, aside from the profits of Jenkins' production company, he can also get $5 million and 3% of North American box office share as adaptation rights and script income.

  It's a good deal for both Universal Pictures and other aspects.

  The cake-cutting ceremony was officially completed, and Ryan welcomed a busy life. He temporarily threw aside the unfinished "Léon: The Professional" and started rushing to write after entering December, striving to complete the first draft of the script for "Jurassic Park" before New Year's Day.

  He simply extended his vacation and planned to return to school after Christmas, except for occasionally paying attention to the box office of "The Bodyguard", he devoted most of his energy to compiling the script.

  Fortunately, I had a clear movie in my mind to compare with, and having written the Ryan Jenkins version of "Jurassic Park" before, it was much smoother this time.

  Finally, before going to attend Diana's charity dinner, Ryan finished the first draft of the script and dozens of dinosaur sketches, all those classic images from the previous film.

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