Chapter 252: New Cooperation

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

Akiwara Yuto took the document and began to look at it carefully.

After finishing the talk yesterday, he let Nei Hai Tuo Ren and the two go back first.

After all, for this kind of thing involving his own personal interests, naturally, he couldn't make a decision so easily.

Although Nei Hai Tuo Ren talked eloquently and indicated that he had many connections. But liars who talk big were not rare in the 90s era of Japan.

What if the other party took the copyright and established a shell company to authorize it to other companies?

This matter cannot be guarded against, so he asked Asano Aiko to find relevant information to see if Nei Hai Tuo Ren was just as he said, having those resumes and connections.

He put down his thoughts and began to look at the other party's resume in detail, discovering that it had a full few pages, detailing the other party's studies, work, and family.

But as he looked, his face became strange.

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

Osaka person, undergraduate studied at the Japan Film School, later filmed his first video movie in '89, and then filmed an original cinema movie about the underworld.

After this, he took on a bunch of auxiliary filming work, from gangsters to romance, from comedy to horror, which could be said to be very prolific.

Akiwara Yuto recalled the achievements of that Miike Takashi in his past life and pondered.

If it really is like this, would handing the copyright to the other party be a good choice?

"Akiwara, this is the original cinema movie about the underworld." Asano Aiko took out a videotape; Akiwara Yuto took it, inserted it into the VCR, and turned on the TV screen.

Immediately following, the screen lit up, and the five words *Osaka Underworld* began to appear on the screen.

As time passed bit by bit, Akiwara Yuto and Asano Aiko also understood the causes and consequences of this story.

The story describes a male protagonist with Vietnamese descent who walks between the black and white paths. His goal is to capture the leader of the largest underworld gang in Osaka.

As the male protagonist solves the case step by step, a large number of struggles and transactions regarding underworld organizations began to appear, and the male protagonist also got closer to that underworld boss through constant wits and courage.

In the end, in order to protect his family, the male protagonist, who originally adhered to his philosophy, chose to kill that underworld boss by any means necessary.

After 100 minutes, the whole movie finished screening.

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

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

She paused and added: "Would there be too many violent and murderous scenes?"

During the movie screening process, a large number of violent shots were nakedly displayed, including gouging eyes, rape, limb dismemberment, etc.

So after watching, her face was a bit pale.

Akiwara Yuto nodded in agreement.

He didn't care about this point, but felt that the director's attributes of Nei Hai Tuo Ren were a bit inconsistent with *The Devotion of Suspect X*.

In his past life, he had watched the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean versions of *The Devotion of Suspect X*, and the violent scenes inside were all fleeting and rarely expressed in large sections.

Compared to this, the more prominent element in the movie should be the depiction of feelings.

However, did he really want to give up the cooperation with Nei Hai Tuo Ren?

Just like he said, now that the film company side is afraid to open up and talk about box office share, only independent producers can not be afraid of this point.

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

Perhaps, he could consider changing a cooperation project?

……

While Akiwara Yuto was thinking, Nei Hai Tuo Ren and his partner Yongshan Yi Ren were drinking dull wine in an izakaya.

Nei Hai Tuo Ren poured himself a cup of wine and sighed deeply, while Yongshan Yi Ren on the side persuaded in a comforting tone: "Nei Hai, don't sigh anymore; this kind of thing didn't have much certainty to begin with."

This copyright negotiation was just a "try" they saw an opportunity for.

If it weren't for Akiwara Yuto requesting box office share, his filming copyright as a famous writer would definitely have been taken away by large film companies.

So having a chance to try was already very rare.

Nei Hai Tuo Ren drank a mouthful of wine and shook his head: "I'm not frustrated; I'm just emotional."

"Emotional?" Yongshan Yi Ren asked puzzledly.

"Yeah," Nei Hai Tuo Ren continued: "Look, Akiwara Yuto's age is much younger than us, but he already lives in such a high-end apartment, and is even a bestselling writer!"

"But me, I'm still an unknown producer to this day."

Yongshan Yi Ren patted his shoulder and was just about to comfort him two more words, but never expected to hear his friend say again.

"Although I am very jealous of him, I think there is still a chance for this filming copyright!"

Yongshan Yi Ren didn't expect to hear this answer and asked puzzledly: "Didn't he already let us leave?"

"But he also didn't say we couldn't come to the door next time."

Nei Hai Tuo Ren laughed, "I plan to visit a few more investors to see if I can sign an intention agreement first; as long as there is an agreement, I think Akiwara Yuto will also value us more."

The so-called independent producer is "thick-skinned" to begin with.

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

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

The two finished the wine and returned to the apartment they lived in together.

Nei Hai Tuo Ren lived on the third floor, and Yongshan Yi Ren lived on the fourth floor.

But just downstairs of the apartment, the administrator stopped them, "Nei Hai-san, you came just in time; there happened to be a call for you."

Nei Hai Tuo Ren was a bit puzzled; it was so late, who would call him?

Just when he was puzzled, the administrator said again: "It was a call from a Miss surnamed Asano."

Hearing this name, Nei Hai Tuo Ren and Yongshan Yi Ren looked at each other, feeling it was a bit incredible.

Nei Hai Tuo Ren didn't hesitate, immediately ran into the management room, picked up the receiver placed on the side, and said in an excited tone: "Miss Asano, I am Nei Hai Tuo Ren; may I ask what is the matter?"

In the receiver came Asano Aiko's voice, "Nei Hai-san, Teacher Akiwara asked me to tell you, hoping to talk about the relevant cooperation again next Tuesday."

Nei Hai Tuo Ren suppressed his excited mood and lowered his voice: "I know."

The opportunity is right in front of him; if he misses it again, he would be too sorry for himself!

……

Time quickly reached next Tuesday, and Nei Hai Tuo Ren and Yongshan Yi Ren visited again.

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

These letters of intent were obtained by them running to several companies for negotiations during this period.

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

Basically, everyone's purpose is to earn a quick buck—after all, after '93, the market environment was bad, and there weren't many investment opportunities.

Movies are considered one of the few industries that are still considered prosperous.

And Akiwara Yuto, as a famous writer, might be able to obtain quite good box office performance for the filming of his works.

However, these agreements are only letters of intent, and there isn't even a deposit, meaning that if one party wants to breach the contract, it can be done easily.

But they still spent great effort to obtain this letter of intent, the purpose of which was to further persuade Akiwara Yuto.

Look, there are so many people interested in our movie project!

So the budget funds are absolutely not a problem!

But what surprised the two was that this time meeting Akiwara Yuto, the other party was not interested in these, but took out a manuscript called *Memories of Murder* and placed it in front of the two.

"If possible, I hope you can film this work into a movie." ===== CHAPTER 253 =====