Online literature and movies: How do they complement each other?

There is a view that the flourishing Chinese literary world in the 1980s and the "Fifth Generation" directors were mutually accomplished. Because, without the stories created by writers like Mo Yan, Li Bihua, Liu Zhenyun, and Wang Shuo, there would not be the popular movies produced by these directors; and it is also the movies that have brought more attention to literary works. So now, when the traditional literary field has been flooded with the Internet army, who can continue to provide stories for Chinese movies?

"Nowadays, any film and television company boss who has some ambitions will read online novels every day." said a person in the film industry. "Internet IP" has become a hot word that Internet companies, film and television companies and directors often talk about. In the past five years, this trend has gradually been nurtured and exploded in the past year. From June 2015 to date, a total of 11 movies and TV series adapted from online IPs have been commercially successful. On June 18, a forum titled "Internet Literature·Film and Television Scripts·New Screenwriter Talents" was held at the main venue of the Shanghai Film Festival. Writer Chen Cun, Wu Wenhui, CEO of China Literature Group, Cheng Wu, Vice President of Tencent Group, Chen Yingjie, Assistant General Manager of Tencent Interactive Entertainment's Film and Television and Copyright Business Department, Li Shaohong, President of the China Directors Association, and online writers Yu Hong and Zhang Ting attended the forum.

"Today's film development situation has begun to force our film and television scripts, and we need new screenwriter talents." Hu Jinjun, director of the Shanghai Administration of Culture, Radio, Film and Television, explained the current relationship between film and online literature at the forum.

Correspondingly, online literature has also undergone new changes. Literary websites have begun to aggregate the entire industry platform from paid reading. For example, Tencent's China Literature Group has 4 million online authors and a total of 10 million works, which accounts for 80% of the Internet's literary content. The massive amount of text materials stored on this platform will be developed in various industries such as publishing, film and television, games, animation, and music.

"The interactivity of online literature" was mentioned by all the industry insiders who participated in the forum. "It is easy to form topics on the Internet because it is an open writing process, unlike ordinary writers who write at home." Chen Cun, president of the Shanghai Online Writers Association, said this in an interview with Yicai. Cheng Wu, from the perspective of an Internet practitioner, called "IP" "a symbol of emotional resonance and a tested user demand." It is precisely because fans have already evaluated and screened the works after the book was published that the popularity of online literary works can be relatively accurately estimated before further development. Therefore, online literature has been favored by huge amounts of capital for a while. Since the beginning of this year, the copyrights of online literature adaptations have been sold at high prices. At the same time, the copyright income of great online writers such as Tiancan Tudou and Meng Rushenji has reached 5 million to 20 million yuan per year.

On the Internet, readers use their own time and money to "vote" for works, which to some extent means that writers cater to readers. Literature is no longer a public discourse, but a material to be read in private spaces. "Write according to the psychological needs of readers" is a principle that many online writers regard as a guiding principle. "The way online literature looks at problems is completely different from traditional literature. There is no continuity between the two. They are cut off," said Zhang Ting. In his opinion, online literature has brought literature, which originally had a certain authority, into the private sphere.

Chen Cun believes that the concept of "Internet IP" is very popular now, but many people have not talked about the fundamental issues. The reason why some TV series based on big "IP" can win audiences is that "our readers and audiences need to make their own voices heard, not just what you experts say. You just picked someone and gave him to us, and we don't recognize him."

In fact, the "online literature" that many people talk about now cannot cover all literary works produced on the Internet, but is almost just a synonym for genre novels. "Today's so-called online literature has killed many things in it." Chen Cun said, "For example, "Flowers" was originally a novel produced on the Internet, but it is not regarded as an online novel because it is not a genre novel. In fact, many works of prose and poetry have emerged in online literature, but because they are different from the requirements of industrialization and cannot bring economic value, people don't regard them as anything."

Where will online literature take movies? Chen Cun expressed his feelings as "the future is uncertain". He appreciated the movie "So Young", but he did not think the success of the movie came from the novel. "The success of a movie is closely related to the ability of the director, screenwriter and actors. It is not that a popular online literature will be good if it is adapted into a movie."

Director Li Shaohong places more emphasis on the professionalism of filmmakers. She has been paying attention to online literature since the late 1990s. In her observation, "Having a good IP does not mean having movies and TV shows. I think these are two different things. If the film is not well made, it will still be criticized. It does not mean that movies adapted from online novels have reason to be weird or rough."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.