Chapter 252: A New Cooperation

"Akiwara, this is the information regarding the other party." Asano Aiko handed a document to Akiwara Yuto.

Akiwara Yuto took the document and began to read it carefully.

After their conversation yesterday, he had let Utsumi Takuto and his partner leave first.

After all, when it came to matters involving his own personal interests, it was naturally impossible to make a decision so easily.

Although Utsumi Takuto had talked a big game and claimed to have many connections, glib-tongued swindlers were not exactly rare in Japan during the 90s.

What if the other party took the copyright and then set up a shell company to license it to others?

This matter could not be ignored, which was why he had asked Asano Aiko to find the relevant information to verify if Utsumi Takuto truly had the background and connections he claimed.

He set aside his thoughts and began to examine the resume, discovering it was several pages long and detailed the other party's education, work, and family.

But as he read on, his expression became strange.

Because this experience was too similar to a director he knew in his past life named Miike Takashi.

An Osaka native, he had attended the Japan Institute of the Moving Image, later shot his first direct-to-video film in '89, and then made an original theatrical film about the Heishe Society.

After that, he took on a mess of assistant filming jobs, ranging from gangsters to romance, and comedy to horror; one could say he was extremely prolific.

Akiwara Yuto recalled the achievements of that Miike Takashi from his past life and began to ponder.

If this was really the case, might handing the copyright over to the other party be a good choice?

"Akiwara, this is that original theatrical film about the Heishe Society." Asano Aiko took out a videotape; Akiwara Yuto took it, inserted it into the VCR, and turned on the television screen.

Immediately after, the screen lit up, and the five characters for "Osaka Heishe Society" appeared on the display.

As time passed bit by bit, Akiwara Yuto and Asano Aiko understood the ins and outs of the story.

The story described a male protagonist of Vietnamese descent who walked the line between the underworld and the law. His goal was to capture the leader of Osaka's largest gang.

As the protagonist solved the case step by step, a large number of struggles and transactions within the Heishe Society organizations began to appear, and the protagonist also drew closer to that gang boss through constant battles of wits and courage.

In the end, to protect his family, the protagonist, who had originally held fast to his principles, chose to kill the gang boss by any means necessary.

After 100 minutes, the entire film concluded.

Akiwara Yuto turned his head and asked Asano Aiko, "Asano, what do you think of this film?"

Asano Aiko hesitated for a moment and replied, "I think it was filmed very thrillingly, but..."

She paused and added, "Aren't there a bit too many scenes of violence and murder?"

During the film's screening, a large number of violent shots were displayed nakedly, including eye-gouging, sexual assault, dismemberment, and so on.

So after watching it, her face was a little pale.

Akiwara Yuto nodded in agreement.

It wasn't that he cared about this point, but rather he felt that Utsumi Takuto's attributes as a director were somewhat incompatible with "Suspect X".

In his past life, he had watched all three versions—Chinese, Japanese, and Korean—of "Suspect X", and the violent scenes in them were all fleeting, rarely described in great detail.

Compared to that, the more prominent element in the film should be the portrayal of emotions.

However, did he really want to give up on cooperating with Utsumi Takuto?

Just as he had said, film companies were currently too cautious to open up about box office profit sharing; only independent producers were not afraid of this.

But how much energy would it take to find a suitable independent producer?

Perhaps he could consider changing to a different collaborative project?

While Akiwara Yuto was thinking, Utsumi Takuto and his partner Nagayama Yoshito were drinking sullenly at an izakaya.

Utsumi Takuto poured himself a drink and sighed deeply, while Nagayama Yoshito on the side consoled him, "Utsumi, don't sigh anymore; the odds of this kind of thing weren't high to begin with."

This copyright negotiation was just an "attempt" where they saw an opportunity.

If it weren't for Akiwara Yuto demanding a share of the box office, his film and television rights as a famous author would certainly have been snatched up by large film companies.

So, having had a chance to try was already very rare.

Utsumi Takuto downed a mouthful of alcohol and shook his head, saying, "I'm not depressed; I'm just feeling sentimental."

"Sentimental?" Nagayama Yoshito asked, puzzled.

"Yeah," Utsumi Takuto continued, "Look at Akiwara Yuto; he's much younger than us, yet he's already living in such a high-end apartment and is even a bestselling author!"

"But me? I'm still an obscure producer to this day."

Nagayama Yoshito patted him on the shoulder and was just about to offer more comfort when he heard his friend say.

"Although I'm jealous of him, I think there's still a chance for this film and television copyright!"

Nagayama Yoshito didn't expect to hear this answer and asked, confused, "Didn't he already tell us to leave?"

"But he didn't say we couldn't come back next time."

Utsumi Takuto laughed, "I'm planning to visit a few more investors to see if we can sign a letter of intent first. Once we have an agreement, I'm sure Akiwara Yuto will take us more seriously."

So-called independent producers were "thick-skinned" by nature.

In other words, if one gave up easily after being rejected once or twice, they wouldn't last long in this line of work.

So he intended to try a few more times before Akiwara Yuto rejected him completely.

The two finished their drinks and returned to the apartment they shared.

Utsumi Takuto lived on the third floor, while Nagayama Yoshito lived on the fourth.

But just downstairs at the apartment building, the manager called out to them, "Mr. Utsumi, you've come at the right time; there's a phone call for you."

Utsumi Takuto was a bit puzzled; who would be calling him so late?

Just as he was wondering, the manager added, "It's from a lady named Asano."

Hearing this name, Utsumi Takuto and Nagayama Yoshito looked at each other, feeling it was a bit unbelievable.

Utsumi Takuto didn't hesitate; he immediately ran into the manager's office, picked up the receiver resting on the side, and said in an excited tone, "Ms. Asano, this is Utsumi Takuto. May I ask what this is about?"

Asano Aiko's voice came through the receiver, "Mr. Utsumi, Akiwara-sensei asked me to tell you that he hopes to discuss the relevant cooperation again next Tuesday."

Utsumi Takuto suppressed his excitement and said in a low voice, "I understand."

The opportunity was right before his eyes; if he missed it again, he would really be letting himself down!

Time quickly reached next Tuesday, and Utsumi Takuto and Nagayama Yoshito came to visit again.

In order to successfully persuade Akiwara Yuto, this time, besides wearing rented high-end suits, they also brought a large stack of letters of intent.

These letters of intent were obtained after they had run around to several companies for negotiations during this period.

Some of these companies were theaters, some were film companies, and some were investors who had nothing to do with the film industry.

Basically, everyone's goal was to make a quick buck—after all, after '93, the market environment was poor, and there weren't many investment opportunities.

Films were considered one of the few industries that were still relatively prosperous.

And as a famous author, Akiwara Yuto's works had a high probability of achieving decent box office results when adapted for film and television.

However, these agreements were only letters of intent and didn't even include a deposit, so they didn't have any real legal effect, meaning it would be easy for either party to break the contract.

But the reason they still spent great effort to obtain these letters of intent was to further persuade Akiwara Yuto.

Look, so many people are interested in our film project!

So budget funding is absolutely not a problem!

But to the two men's surprise, this time when they met Akiwara Yuto, the other party was not interested in these at all, but instead took out a manuscript titled "Memories of Murder" and placed it in front of them.

"If possible, I hope you can turn this work into a film."