Conquer America, Start with a Boxing Champion

"Hey, Bob!"

Link saw Bob Weinstein in the crowd and took the initiative to greet him.

Bob was wearing a gray suit and a red tie, and was talking with Jean Dujardin, the leading actor of "The Artist", with a bulging belly. Jean Dujardin is a French actor and the Best Actor in Music/Comedy tonight.

"Haha, Link, you Palm Beach Pictures did a great job this year. Five movies received more than ten nominations. That's amazing."

Bob laughed when he saw him.

"Thank you, you guys are also very good, Jean, congratulations on winning the Best Actor Award."

Link smiled lightly, congratulated Bob and Dujardin, and told Bob about the plan for Silver Linings Playing to win an Oscar. Now Lionsgate is doing public relations for related awards to try to get more nominations.

Weinstein Pictures is one of the producers of Silver Linings Playing and originally promised to help with the Oscars. Now they need to take some practical actions.

When he mentioned this, Bob's face changed.

This year, Weinstein Pictures has two films ready to compete for the Best Actress Oscar, Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady and Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn.

Resources are limited, and they will not be used to help Jennifer Lawrence compete for the Best Actress Oscar. If they really do so, it will be like hitting the right hand with the left hand, and it will hurt themselves.

Comparatively speaking, Weinstein Pictures would rather let Meryl or Michelle win the award, and they will benefit more.

But when Bob told Link, he naturally would not refuse directly.

He told Link that Weinstein Pictures is also the producer of Silver Linings Playbook, and helping this movie win an Oscar is also helping the company make money, which is a good thing for everyone.

So during this period, they are also helping Silver Linings Playbook with Oscars, ensuring that the film gets multiple nominations.

In fact, even if Link didn't say it, he and Harvey would help Jennifer Lawrence get a Best Actress nomination, yes, just a nomination.

One is to promote Silver Linings Playbook through the Oscar platform and get more box office.

Second, Harvey hopes to defeat Link at the Oscars ceremony and see Link's defeated expression with his own eyes, which will make winning more satisfying.

Bob doesn't agree with Harvey's plan, but considering that Harvey was angry with Link for a whole year last year and suffered several high blood pressure attacks, letting him vent his anger at the beginning of the year will also be more conducive to this year's work.

"That's not bad."

Link glanced at Bob and could see a perfunctory look on his face, but he didn't care. He came to the other party to mention this matter in accordance with the original agreement.

Then he said that Lionsgate was not very good at Oscar public relations, while Weinstein Pictures was a master in this area, and hoped that Bob could arrange a few staff members to join the Lionsgate public relations team.

Both sides worked together and would definitely get more Oscar statuettes.

Bob hesitated and agreed.

Link stopped bothering Bob, raised his champagne glass and gestured, then turned and left.

Bob glanced at his back and immediately found Harvey to talk about this matter.

Harvey smiled coldly and said that he was overestimating his abilities. He asked Bob to find two people for Link, and it would be best if Link could spend more money.

——

Soon after the Golden Globe Awards for Film and Television, the shortlists for the 84th Academy Awards were announced one after another.

The films released by Lionsgate received 18 nominations, and "The Help" received six nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress twice, Best Original Song, and Best Costume Design.

"Moneyball" received five nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound Effects, and Best Editing.

"Silver Linings Playbook" received four nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay.

"Mr. Tree" received one Best Foreign Language Film.

"Bridesmaids" received two nominations, including Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay.

"Midnight in Paris" in which Link participated received four nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress.

The film with the most nominations this time is Martin Scorsese's Hugo, with 12 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, etc.

The Artist, released by Weinstein Pictures, ranked second with nine nominations.

Link still failed to get an acting nomination, but six films produced by Palm Beach-Lionsgate were nominated for the Oscars, which also shows that the quality of the films produced by the two companies is good and recognized by the Oscar judges.

The Hollywood Reporter said that although Link failed to be nominated for any award, he participated in the Oscars in another way.

The report claimed that Link might be another person who would be thanked many times at the Oscars after Spielberg, Harvey Weinstein, and God.

After the announcement of the shortlist, the Oscar selection entered the second round of voting, and the Academy of Oscars selected more than 6,000 judges from various trade unions to start the second round of voting.

Who will finally get the little golden man, the operation during this period is very critical.

For this reason, Hollywood public relations companies began to carry out various public relations activities.

The main way is to promote the film and use various means to increase the film's exposure so that more judges can see the film, such as participating in film festivals, placing advertisements in major theaters, and advertising in newspapers and magazines.

In addition, there are some unspoken rules, including sending private emails, holding grand screenings, giving holiday cards, giving away soundtracks, holding celebrity parties, etc.

According to statistics, independent production companies spend about $300,000 on public relations for each movie, and the six major film studios spend more, more than one or two million.

This investment is more like a gamble.

If you bet right, the movie will win awards, have a good box office, and earn back all the investment.

If you fail, all the investment will go down the drain.

Lionsgate has six movies nominated, and more publicity funds need to be invested, which is also a happy trouble for Link.

The public relations department suggested that he make a choice and give up the film projects with a low probability of winning the award and concentrate funds on public relations.

For example, "Mr. Tree" has been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. It is extremely difficult to defeat "A Separation" and win the award.

There are also "Moneyball" and "Bridesmaids", which do not have much advantage compared with other movies, so it is recommended to reduce public relations costs.

After considering it, Link agreed.

"Link, Weinstein Pictures is playing the emotional card, saying that Meryl hasn't won an Oscar for 29 years, and it's time for her to win it again. I feel that many judges voted for Meryl, and it will be very difficult for Jennifer to win the Best Actress Award."

In the office, Ms. Mandy said while flipping through the newspaper.

"I saw it too."

Link nodded. Jennifer Lawrence's luck is not very good this year.

Compared with "Silver Linings Playbook" starring her, it does not have much advantage in film quality.

Secondly, the opponent Meryl Streep is an old actor and performed outstandingly in this movie. It is very difficult for the public relations team to help Jennifer snatch the award from the opponent.

In addition, there have been many scandals between him and Jennifer in the media during this period.

Some media brought up the old story again, saying that in order to support Jennifer, he spent 800 million to buy Lionsgate last year, and this year he is going to spend tens of millions to help Jennifer win the Oscar for Best Actress.

Lionsgate helped Jennifer promote the Oscars as a game to pick up girls.

This move was very vicious and would affect the judges' impression of Jennifer and make them vote for others.

For this reason, Link had to increase publicity. On the one hand, he promoted positive news about himself and Jennifer, such as charity and environmental protection, which is also Leonardo's usual move when competing for awards. On the other hand, he arranged for someone to reveal the news that Harvey had a secret relationship with actresses, which were all old news in the past.

And published photos of Harvey and Meryl talking intimately in the newspaper.

Whether everyone believes it or not, let's muddy the water first.