China Entertainment: Director’s happiness is so simple

In Hollywood, tens of thousands of movie scripts are created every year.

Most of them will be lost in the sea and cannot be put on the big screen.

Although the quality of most of them is not up to standard, there are still some masterpieces that have been missed.

In 2005, the "Script Blacklist" created by Universal Pictures' pre-development manager improved Hollywood's traditional project screening efficiency problem to a certain extent. It also provided opportunities for those who longed to develop in the film and television industry but had no way out. Provides a good way.

Later, in 2011, the official website of the blacklist was established.

The website implements a membership system. As long as you pay a membership fee of US$25, authors can upload their own scripts on the website so that more people in the industry can see it.

If you pay a certain fee, the script can be commented and modified by industry insiders.

Scripts with high scores can be put on the "blacklist", recommended by websites, and seen by more production companies.

But this is not 2005, so the method of searching for scripts is more traditional.

There are currently two types of scripts in Hollywood. One is scripts adapted from comics and novels, and the other is scripts actively developed by screenwriters. After they complete their creation, they sell them to production companies through script agents or other channels.

This kind of script is often called a "speculative script". It is called speculation because the probability of being selected is very low, but once it is passed, the rewards are quite generous.

The craze for speculating on scripts began after the writers' strike in 1988, when agents began bringing a large number of scripts to sell to film companies.

In the 1990s, sales of speculative scripts continued to rise, with scripts priced in excess of one million dollars emerging.

But around 2000, due to the bursting of the U.S. information industry bubble, the speculative script market declined.

As an independent film company, Summit, like other independent film companies, receives script submissions and public relations from agents almost every week.

By now, Summit’s database has been stacked with countless speculative scripts.

Lu Ping'an's mission this time was to look for anyone who looked familiar.

"There is rarely gold in speculative scripts, Lu. I think you don't have to waste your efforts."

Watts advised.

He has actually read all of these scripts, but he doesn't think any of them are worth the effort.

"It's okay. I have nothing to do anyway. You can go and do the crew's work."

"Okay, we're sure we only need a single-family villa for the movie, right?"

"Yes, a bigger one, a more traditional one, with a wider surrounding area."

"It's easy. I'll look for it first."

Watts said and left.

Lu Ping'an also quickly found a familiar movie: "He Comes Tonight".

Lu Ping'an's eyes lit up.

A few days ago, Lu Ping'an asked Wattsberg if there was a script submission database in his company, and Watts introduced it.

Summit is not a big company, and the scripts it markets are not as good as those of other big production companies, but they are not much less.

Lu Ping'an then thought of taking a look, and now he found one: "He Comes Tonight".

This script is said to be a superhero movie, but in fact it is original and not an adaptation of a comic book.

The cost of making a movie about an unfamiliar hero with no mass base is high, and the risk is naturally very high.

In the original time and space, the script "He Comes Tonight" has been circulating in Hollywood for more than 10 years, and it was not until finally that it was recognized by a discerning eye and finally filmed.

The final film is called "Hancock".

Starring Will Smith, with an investment of 150 million and a global box office of more than 600 million.

This is a big production, and Peak will not do it for the time being, but since it can be picked up, it is natural to pick it up.

After accepting the script, he decided to ask Watts to ask if he could buy it later.

Lu Pingan then searched for a while. Unfortunately, 99% of them were not recognized by Golden Finger. In other words, 99% of the scripts here will not be made into movies in the future, and he did not listen to the remaining 1%. If you pass it, there is no value in picking up leaks.

Lu Ping'an feels that Summit Company is still a bit small. For a small company, the chance of missing a good script may be smaller than for a large company.

But it doesn't matter, it would be nice to have a "Hancock".

After picking up the leaks, Lu Ping An continued to sort out some copyrights that would need to be involved in the future.

For example, movies adapted from novels, including published and unpublished ones.

For those that have not yet been published, Lu Pingan can consider writing them himself and choose whether to publish them anonymously.

The original ones should also be written down to prepare for the future.

In the afternoon, Lu Pingan and Wattsberg talked about this matter, and Watts asked someone to consult. Then Lu Pingan went to several scheduled studios for "Insidious" that Watts had found, and chose one, that is, After visiting shareholder Bob's villa, he returned to the company in the afternoon to continue writing plans.

At night, he returned to his temporary villa in Los Angeles.

Looking at the current villa and comparing it with Bob's, he immediately called Xiang Guoqiang and asked him to see if there was a suitable villa in Beverly Hills.

It doesn’t need to be too expensive, it’s mainly for identity and safety.

Now he still has more than 100 million US dollars available in his hand. This money must be used to finance the subsequent land acquisitions in the mainland, including those in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong Province. He also needs to deal with subsequent construction and theater acquisitions, which may be There will be some tension.

Fortunately, the movie business will soon bring him a lot of profits, but he still has to save on some things.

Starting from the next day, Lu Pingan was sorting out the plan while watching the preparations of the "Latent" crew.

"Latent" is a small production and is expected to be completed within half a month. At that time, "Death Anniversary" has not yet been taken off the shelves, so the efficiency is extremely high.

News came from Xiang Guoqiang that the preparatory work for Nolan's "Batman" was already halfway through, and Lu Ping'an decided to go and watch "Insidious" after filming.

The style of "Batman Trilogy" is quite distinctive. Lu Ping'an had to communicate with Nolan a lot before filming started, and once again he had to shape and strengthen the scenes of the two of them creating together, so that he would be more justified in taking over the second part. .

Of course Jimmy Fallon called that night and said the talk show was going to start.

Jimmy Fallon's tone seemed to be more nervous than Lu Ping'an's.

Lu Ping'an expressed his understanding. He had only served as the substitute host of "The David Late Show" for a few episodes, and the show had a deep imprint on the original host. The host was suddenly changed. The ratings dropped for sure, but the decline Much more than Jimmy Fallon expected.

And this is also the reason why a small-budget movie like "Death Day" can be promoted on this program.

If the show were to be the same as before, Lu Ping An might not be able to get on. Even if he could get on, he wouldn't be able to get stuck on such a good spot, which means he has hit a good opportunity this time.

As soon as Lu Pingan came on, the show became the best episode that Jimmy Fallon said he had hosted.

If the program is effective, the ratings will be high. For Jimmy Fallon, this is performance and a job issue.

So it's normal for him to be more nervous and excited than Lu Ping'an.

"Lu, if the ratings of this show are good, I would like to invite you to come again."

"Of course, "Death Anniversary" is currently doing well, and it was supposed to continue to be promoted."

"Then it's agreed, I'll wait for you."

"OK."

"The TV is about to start, Lu, you must remember to watch it."

"okok"

At 11 o'clock in the evening, Lu Ping'an turned on the TV and locked the CBS station. After a while, the talk show started.

The effect of the show looks okay.

His biggest feeling is that his abdominal muscles do look pretty good on TV, but not as good as in reality.

He lifted up his clothes and patted his abdominal muscles, feeling very satisfied.

At this time, the phone rang, and it was Rachel: "Lu, I saw you showing off your abs on TV."

"What a coincidence, are you watching the show too?"

"Yes, but the abs on TV are not as good-looking as they are in reality."

"of course."

"Lu, where are you?"

"Still in Los Angeles."

"I'm coming to find you."

"Look at the abs?"

"is it not OK?"

Lu Ping'an didn't refuse. When he was out, he drank less and ate more vegetables. Rachel's food was not wine, and she had no stamina, so eating more was not a big problem.

After hanging up the phone, someone called again, it was the widowed sister: "Hey Lu, guess what I saw?"

"Are you watching TV too?"

"Yeah, haha, I saw your abs!"

"Is CBS TV's ratings so high? Has the whole United States seen my abs now?"

"Of course not, I just happened to change the channel and saw it."

"I'm relieved now, otherwise it would be the same as running naked. By the way, have you seen my movie?"

"Since you have exposed your abs for publicity, I will definitely go there tomorrow to see if it is as good as you said."

"Just don't regret it, you were my first choice at the time."

"Then I'll be your heroine next time as compensation."

"Why do I feel like I'm still at a loss?"

The two chatted for five or six minutes before hanging up the phone.

The relationship with the widowed sister is a simple friend, at least the current level of familiarity is far from developing further.

Lu Pingping could still feel this, and he didn't think about how to develop it. They were just friends.

The most emotional thing this phone call brought him was actually the effect of the TV program.

He exposed his abdominal muscles, which made the widow call her directly. This probably reflects the reaction of other TV viewers.

Sure enough, half an hour after the show ended, Jimmy Fallon called again: "Lu, haha, we succeeded."

The ratings of this episode of "Late Night with David" have returned to the level of the old host.

Overall, it seems that it cannot compare with other popular programs, but compared with Jimmy Fallon's previous ratings, it is much better.

In addition to making Jimmy Fallon extremely happy, this will also bring great benefits to Lu Ping'an himself.

For "Death Anniversary", it will definitely be more effective.

Lu Ping'an is looking forward to what the box office will be like after tomorrow.

Then the phone rang, it was Rachel: "I'm here."

After opening the door, Rachel entered the room. Lu Ping'an asked curiously: "Where did you come from? It took you more than an hour?"

"How long it took is not the important thing, the important thing is that I'm here."

Rachel hugged him.

Well, this dish is quite spicy.

Rachel left early the next morning, saying she was going to interview the crew.

The relationship between the two has ended here for the time being. The next time they meet is to wait for the box office results to come out in a week and then go to Jimmy Fallon's show to record the show.

Lu Ping'an put Rachel behind for the time being and turned his attention to the yellow man who came to Summit Company to recommend himself.