1994: I Became a Literary Master in America

Chapter 66 Shocking Epstein

After hanging up the phone, Xu Shengjie stopped thinking about Wang Dajun.

In a sense, he and Wang Dajun are now like two parallel lines going in opposite directions, and it is unlikely that they will ever cross paths again.

Can it replicate the success of Brothers Pictures' IPO?

I don't know, I don't know, and I don't want to guess.

In short, it has nothing to do with him.

What he wants to do is establish himself in America, make money off the American people, and enjoy the most decadent and extravagant lifestyle of capitalism.

He wasn't anything particularly powerful himself.

Write a book, make a movie, and then...

And that's it.

Anyway, Xu Shengjie himself wasn't a person with lofty ambitions.

He doesn't want to trouble his motherland or cause trouble for its people, that's all... But he's quite happy to cause trouble for the American people.

As for Wang Dajun, Xu Shengjie felt that he was unlikely to be in any trouble.

Because he always felt that this was a setup. Although he was involved, he was at most fueling the fire, not the mastermind behind it.

Hehe, let's wait and see!

……

That day, Xu Shengjie received the tickets sent by Vanessa.

It's a ticket for a Broadway show.

Vanessa is currently performing on Broadway.

He readily accepted!

To be fair, Vanessa was quite generous; the $150,000 plus 15% of the business revenue made Xu Shengjie very satisfied.

However, there has been no word from the agent for a long time.

Xu Shengjie had no choice but to find Jessica, the lawyer who had helped him register the studio.

Then Jessica and Vanessa's agents and lawyers contacted them and signed the contract directly.

The terms have all been agreed upon. Thank you, Aunt Susanna.

The rest is just the contract and terms, which are legal matters, and Jessica is enough for that; Xu Shengjie doesn't need to worry about it at all.

However, agents are still very important.

If Disney is interested in the project, the agent will need to intervene.

We can't possibly ask Aunt Susanna for help again... She has a proper job, and she's already been very generous by helping to negotiate with Vanessa. Asking her to negotiate with Disney as well? It just doesn't seem quite right.

Disney's headquarters are in Burbank, California.

Are you suggesting that Aunt Susanna take leave and travel across the United States from New York to California?

That's really not appropriate!

On Wednesday, Xu Shengjie received a call from Robert, inviting him to visit Jason Epstein at the Random House Tower.

The signing process is still ongoing and will not be completed immediately.

Whether it's Doubleday or Random House, they have to go to a meeting to discuss it before they sign a contract.

Xu Shengjie came here this time to talk to Jason about his creative ideas.

It's a kind of emotional connection...

The Random House building, as the name suggests, is the headquarters of the Random House publishing group.

The publishing houses under Random House all have their offices here.

Located at the intersection of Broadway and 56th Street, it is also known as the Empire Park Apartments. It is a 52-story mixed-use skyscraper, serving both office and residential purposes. The office entrance is located on Broadway, while the residential entrance is located on 56th Street.

This is also one of the most bustling areas in New York, and thanks to Broadway, it has a unique artistic atmosphere.

Zhang Disha's Pan-Asian Theatre Company is located not far from this building.

Jason Epstein was a typical older white man with a literary temperament.

He was of average height and build, and wore a pair of black round-framed glasses.

At first glance, Xu Shengjie almost mistook him for Woody Allen.

Yeah, they do look a bit alike!

Jason was quite amiable, lacking the arrogance typical of older white men like Mario.

He talked with Xu Shengjie and Robert in the office for more than an hour, inquiring about Xu Shengjie's creative ideas.

Jason largely agrees with Xu Shengjie's concept of "youth campus fantasy novels".

"Why isn't the main character a man, but Buffy?"

Xu Shengjie laughed and said, "After Rebacca Walker proposed the concept of the 'Third Wave' in 1990, women's rights have been advancing and flourishing. In 92, the number of women in Congress increased significantly, and the number of women in the Senate increased from 2 to 6."

In the same year, the Riot Grrrl movement emerged, using punk music to promote gender equality... Mr. Epstein, women's rights were awakened once again; they were no longer content to be mere ornaments and hoped to gain more rights. In literary creation, they hoped that women would no longer be just symbols or decorative figures, but that more female protagonists would appear.

In 91, Thelma & Louise was just the beginning.

And now, this trend is hard to stop. Given that, why can't Buffett be a woman to gain more female support?

Robert, standing beside him, stared wide-eyed.

How did you manage to associate your work with feminism?

Behind Jason Epstein's black-rimmed round glasses, a glint of surprise shone.

"Ha, Jeffrey, you usually follow current events?"

"Yes, I subscribe to more than a dozen newspapers in order to keep up with the latest trends."

"Very good, very good...you've given me a new idea."

Jason immediately became very talkative, and what was originally scheduled to be a one-hour meeting turned into a conversation that lasted for more than two hours.

During the visit, Jason also invited Harold Evans, president of Random House, over. However, Harold didn't stay long, only exchanging a few words before leaving in a hurry. Random House was currently working on acquiring Bantam Books, so Harold was very busy. The fact that he even bothered to meet with Xu Shengjie was already a great honor.

"We've already discussed that Langdon will definitely take over the books 'Buffett' and 'Canal Street'."

The problem is, publishing it this year might cause some trouble.

"Forehead?"

Robert took off his glasses and gently wiped the lenses with a glasses cloth.

"Robert, you also come from an editing background and have been in the publishing industry for decades, so you should be familiar with some of the processes."

At the beginning of the year, Langdon had already identified its key publication for the year: Nathan McCall's *Makes Me Wanna Holler*. This was a project that began at the start of the year, and we invested a significant amount of manpower and resources in it. *Canal Street* is an excellent work, but if it were published this year, it wouldn't receive many resources.

Xu Shengjie looked at Robert.

Robert nodded slightly at him.

"Similarly, Doubleday's key release this year is Naipaul's *A Way in the World*. Anchor Books is focusing on Alice Munro and William Trevor, while Danielle Steele's new book, launching in November, will also take up significant resources. *Buffy* wouldn't have an advantage if it were to be published this year."

"What about Naknov?"

"Knoff has always been known for its literary quality, and Canal Street is a good fit, but I would prefer that Canal Street be published by Random House so that it can get as many resources as possible; as for Buffy, it doesn't suit Knoff's image."

The implication is that while "Canal Street" is sophisticated enough, it would be a shame to publish it in Knov.

"Buffy is a good story, but it lacks literary merit and is more suited to Doubleday Publishing than to Knov."

Each of the sub-brands under the American publishing company has a very clear positioning.

Robert looked at Xu Shengjie, "Jeffrey, what do you say?"

"I think Mr. Epstein is right. As an author, I certainly hope to publish as soon as possible, but I hope even more to achieve excellent results. This requires not only outstanding works, but also resources from the publisher."

That's fine, my focus now will be on my movies.

However, I hope that when these two works are published next year, I will receive the strongest support from the publisher.

"Movie?"

Epstein paused for a moment.

Robert explained, "Jeffrey is still a young director; he's preparing to shoot a film?"

"Canal Street?"

No, no, no, that's another story.

I met with directors Spike Lee and Paul Verhoeven a few days ago. They were very supportive of my script. Verhoeven even offered to sell it to me for $600,000, but I prefer to direct it myself.

"When did you meet Pao?"

Robert was also a little surprised.

"It was through Spike's introduction..."

Epstein straightened up at this moment, and the way he looked at Xu Shengjie changed somewhat.

Previously, he regarded Xu Shengjie as an excellent writer with keen intuition and sharp observation skills.

But now...

Xu Shengjie was able to resist the temptation of six hundred thousand US dollars!

That's six hundred thousand dollars in 1994! That amount of money could even buy a large apartment in Tribeca.

hiss!

Jason Epstein realized that he seemed to have underestimated the Chinese-American teenager in front of him.

……