Chapter 202: Veteran Dual Combination

After making the decision, Fuji Taishu quickly signed this letter of intent for authorization.

After all, this contract was just a preliminary exploration of intent between the two parties and did not have strict legal effect.

In his heart, he still intended to try for "Detective Kamimura" first, and as for "Furuhata Ninzaburo," it would be Plan B after failure.

Akiwara Yuto also smiled and nodded, then accepted the letter of intent without saying anything more.

Immediately after, everyone at the table put down their work and chatted while eating.

By the time dinner ended, the time had already reached 9:40 PM.

Akiwara Yuto and Asano Aiko said goodbye to the other two, then took the business sedan provided by Kexiao Hall and left the Western restaurant.

Asano Aiko sat in the passenger seat, turned her head to look at Akiwara Yuto, and asked in a confused tone: "Akiwara, don't you think it's inappropriate for us to be so proactive?"

In her view, that Mr. Fuji never mentioned taking "Furuhata Ninzaburo" as the first choice from beginning to end, nor did he propose any conditions.

As the original author, is Akiwara Yuto willing to let his work be inferior to others?

Akiwara Yuto leaned back in the passenger seat, looking at the black night view outside the car window, and replied: "Asano, I probably know your thoughts, but I want to ask you, when do you think it's appropriate?"

Asano Aiko pondered for a while and said: "I think it's more appropriate to wait until 'Furuhata Ninzaburo' is serialized for over 20 issues, and then wait for the TV station to take the initiative to send someone to talk. In that case, it would be easier to negotiate the price."

Akiwara Yuto shook his head: "Asano, you are wrong. If 'Detective Kamimura' is successfully adapted for the screen, the value of 'Furuhata Ninzaburo' will shrink significantly."

"Why?" Asano Aiko looked confused.

Akiwara Yuto adjusted his seatbelt and then explained: "Although the market for detective dramas is very large, any work emphasizes a first-mover advantage. If 'Furuhata Ninzaburo' only starts negotiating copyright after being serialized for over 20 issues, 'Detective Kamimura' might have already finished airing its first season."

"With the accumulation of such a season, what does 'Furuhata Ninzaburo' have to compete with?"

In Akiwara Yuto's view, the essence of both works is a fixed-formula detective drama, and many plot points and paths will inevitably have overlaps.

Just like what Dacheng Lixiang told him, the other party has now largely begun to borrow from the "Furuhata" series regarding the analysis of the murderer's humanity.

If the other party's screen adaptation speed is faster, maybe later on, many viewers will think that "Furuhata" is plagiarizing "Detective Kamimura."

By that time, there will probably be a bunch of die-hard fans of the other party's work scolding him online.

Asano Aiko didn't think of this layer, hesitated for a while, and then said: "Akiwara, I roughly understand your thoughts, which is to drive sales through screen adaptation. But I have a question: what if that Mr. Fuji gets the rights to 'Detective Kamimura'?"

Akiwara Yuto twitched the corners of his mouth and said in a helpless tone: "Then we'll contact that producer from Asahi TV. If that doesn't work, we'll contact every TV station."

He wouldn't hang himself on one tree; in fact, he had already made multiple preparations!

If no TV station took it, he planned to find some connections to contact production companies to see if he could cooperate with the production company in the form of copyright and self-funding, and then sell it to the TV station.

But that would make things much more troublesome.

In short, hopefully, that Mr. Fuji's progress won't go smoothly.

Akiwara Yuto pondered for a long time and found that this was the most consistent with his interests.

Time passed quickly. In fact, everything was as Akiwara Yuto expected.

Because Asahi TV exceeded Fuji TV in both scale and budget, and had a history of multiple collaborations with Dongying Society, it very smoothly obtained the screen adaptation rights for "Detective Kamimura" and announced it in the newspaper.

And after Fuji Taishu confirmed his failure, he brought his team to Kexiao Hall.

Under Dacheng Lixiang's arrangement, both sides brought lawyers and assistants to launch multi-faceted negotiations on "Furuhata Ninzaburo": including primary and secondary usage fees, script status, peripheral revenue, BD sharing, etc...

After experiencing about 3 days of negotiations, they finally signed a contract that both sides were satisfied with.

However, at Akiwara Yuto's request, the announcement of this work's screen adaptation was temporarily suppressed.

Saturday afternoon, Fuji TV.

Akiwara Yuto brought Asano Aiko, made an appointment, and arrived at the entrance of this TV station.

While waiting for Fuji Taishu to arrive, he carefully examined this TV station.

Different from the image of Kexiao Hall, Fuji TV was a huge architectural complex, the most important of which were two tall white buildings, and between the two buildings, a huge sphere that made people a bit curious was connected, though he didn't know what its purpose was.

While Akiwara Yuto was observing, Fuji Taishu, wearing a loose suit, arrived and greeted from afar: "Sorry, Teacher Akiwara, Miss Asano, kept you waiting."

Akiwara Yuto nodded, while Asano Aiko greeted him with a smile: "It's okay."

Fuji Taishu was polite again, then led the two inside, saying as they walked: "Today's purpose is mainly to meet with the director and screenwriter."

"Then thank you for the trouble. Actually, I also want to meet the director," Akiwara Yuto replied.

He didn't care much about the screenwriter because "Furuhata Ninzaburo" was adapted from the TV drama, so even if it was adapted back into a script, it would still be that formula.

He was more concerned about the director, after all, the director's ability relates to the soul of a drama.

"Mr. Fuji, what is this director's name, and what works have they filmed before?" Akiwara Yuto asked bluntly.

"The director in charge of filming is named Wakayama Tomoki, who has over ten years of experience in filming urban dramas," Fuji Taishu replied seriously: "Teacher Akiwara, we take 'Furuhata Ninzaburo' very seriously, please rest assured."

Akiwara Yuto nodded in understanding. If he had over ten years of experience as an urban drama director, then this Director Wakayama could be considered experienced. He subconsciously glanced at Fuji Taishu again, remembering that the other party was not young either, looking like he had worked for many years.

With this combination of a veteran producer and a veteran director, his confidence increased quite a bit.

While talking, the three walked into the main gate of the white building, and Fuji Taishu took the initiative to help Akiwara and Asano register. Immediately after, the three walked along the corridor toward the other side of the lobby.

After 10 minutes, the three walked to an annex building. Here, Akiwara Yuto saw a sign with the words "Production Bureau Conference Room."

As a veteran producer, Fuji Taishu had a certain amount of connections and prestige within Fuji TV. Therefore, along the way, many people took the initiative to greet him.

Akiwara Yuto saw this scene and felt a bit strange, asking curiously: "Mr. Fuji, doesn't the TV station have the day off on Saturday? Why are there so many people?"

Fuji Taishu revealed a bitter smile: "Teacher Akiwara, in our line of work, there are no normal holidays. Only after a TV drama has completely finished filming can we take a short break."

Akiwara Yuto just wanted to express sympathy, but quickly restrained it, because he thought of one thing.

In this era, it's good enough to have a job. Not to mention that as an employee of a TV station, the other party's income far exceeds the wages of ordinary industries.

The "busyness" the other party mentioned might be a kind of showing off from another perspective.

He pondered in his heart, then followed Fuji Taishu to a large conference room. Fuji Taishu pointed to the door of the large conference room and said: "This is the production headquarters currently set for 'Furuhata Ninzaburo'."

He pushed open the door and led Akiwara Yuto and Asano Aiko inside.

Akiwara Yuto took out his business card holder and prepared to smile and nod.

Alright, let me see what kind of person this Director Wakayama is! ===== CHAPTER 203 =====