Made in Hollywood

In mid-February, Duke assembled his post-production team and hired the editor Mike Dawson, who worked with him for the third time in a row, to officially start the post-production of "Independence Day." According to his expectation, the post-production of the film will be the fastest It will not be completed until early June, and Duke has a full four-month plan for the later stage of the film.

In fact, if there is no cumbersome computer cgi special effects synthesis, Duke is confident to end all post-production work in May. Unfortunately, special effects cannot save time and effort. Industrial Light and Magic's special effects team started special effects production in October last year. After completing the special effects scenes in the Super Bowl advertisement, other special effects pictures are the prototype.

All the air combat scenes in the film need special effects synthesis. Duke also needs to edit the actors into special effects shots. Even when shooting, the model production department produced 3978 f-18 fighters, 52278 fragments, and 3931 aliens for the film. Fighters, 1,549 missiles and 2,2014 light balls, "Independence Day" still requires nearly 4,000 cgi special effects lenses, which is a huge project.

Because of the need to cooperate with the special effects department, Duke's post-production work can only be described by Turtle Speed, and his special effects production always feels powerful and useless.

Computer special effects are quite tedious and professional work. Duke can put forward ≡, his own requirements, and he can also dictate the scenes he produced, but let him play in person, it is completely beyond the scope of his ability.

In this way, Duke also had enough time to exchange the soundtrack with the musicians after finishing the work every day, which was originally in accordance with his ideas. I want to continue to hire Hans Zimmer as the soundtrack for "Independence Day", but the Germans signed a contract with Walt Disney after "Break in Death Island". Served as the soundtrack of "The Lion King".

Without Hans Zimmer, Duke would not regret it. He found Skywalker sound effects who are good at opera-style soundtracks and handed the soundtrack of "Independence Day" to his former partners.

In the post-production, Duke always kept safety in mind, and fire protection was the top priority. The benefits of cooperating with Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox at the same time were also evident. Few people use unconventional means to compete with the "Independence Day" crew. After all, there are very few people who are impulsive to provoke the two giants at the same time, especially the project also involves hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. If you use methods that violate the bottom line, you will face the anger of Time Warner and News Corp.

Compared to so many bad things that happened in "Break into Death Island", "Independence Day" went smoothly from preparation to shooting to post-production nowadays.

The reasons are also more complicated.

The first is the cooperation between the two giants. Enough to **** the film.

Secondly, Duke has fully proved himself in the past two summer files. It proves that his film has a strong competitiveness in the summer file. Now it comes with a huge production cost of 100 million U.S. dollars. This has caused many competitors such as "Forrest Gump" to voluntarily retreat, although the summer file basically has every weekend. Heavyweight movies are released, but it’s more cost-effective to touch other movies than to touch a giant such as "Independence Day."

The last and most important point, Duke's biggest competitor, has now entered a period of turbulence.

Since October last year. It is rumored in Hollywood circles that Michael Ovitz, the helm of CAA, wants to transfer up to 28% of CAA shares. Leaving the brokerage industry that had worked hard for two decades, he turned to a large media group and accepted the invitation of his childhood friend Michael Eisner to become Walt Disney's new CEO.

Although Michael Ovitz has not officially stepped down, caa inevitably started turmoil. Around Ovitz’s shares and position, many people fought openly and secretly, even with Michael Ovitz’s prestige. In the face of huge interests, the disputes within the company are suppressed.

Maybe Michael Ovitz has no intention of suppressing it anymore, he wants to enter the platform far beyond caa, and realize the greater ambition in his heart.

In fact, it is not difficult to see from Michael Ovitz’s choice to go to a higher place, the future rumored and mythical caa, no matter its strength or influence, is far inferior to the six major Hollywood companies, otherwise Ovitz would not. Make the most risky and failed transition of your career.

When an opportunity arises, both Ron Meyer and Michael Ovitz, the founders of caa, can't wait to switch jobs to film companies, which is enough to explain many problems.

However, Duke remembers very clearly that Ron Meyer is relatively successful in Universal Pictures, while Michael Ovitz can only be described as a defeat at Walt Disney.

Perhaps Michael Ovitz is indeed a super genius and a unique giant on the agent side. However, ruthless facts prove that the person who can control caa may not be able to control a film company. According to the analysis of countless people, Ovitz There is only one reason for the failure-insufficient ability, or lack of the ability to control a behemoth like Disney!

There are reasons why Michael Eisner is too strong, but don’t forget that entering any large company as the top level of the power structure will inevitably face complicated personnel struggles. Even if the loser has a thousand reasons, it is still in the end. The problem of ability.

In any case, caa is now in trouble, and the internal giants are fighting for power. According to Duke's analysis, they should have no time for him in the past six months.

When Michael Ovitz went to Disney, caa re-organized the internal relationship. At least "Independence Day" has been shown in North America for a period of time. If the film’s journey to the theater goes well, then Duke will have it as the capital. , Will no longer be the former director, he may enter the ranks of Hollywood's first-level commercial director.

At that time, he will be the partner that major companies are actively striving for, far from what caa can suppress at will.

In fact, in recent months, Universal Pictures and Walt Disney have not interrupted their contacts with Nancy Josephson. "Independence Day" has no hope of investment, but Duke has also filed another script with the Screenwriters Association. .

This is inseparable from the global box office of "Break into Death Island" step by step towards 400 million US dollars, whether it is an independent director or a commercial director. In Hollywood, after all, it depends on commercial achievements. If the films directed by them continue to bring profits, investment will never be a problem. If the film directed by it is just applauded and not popular—for example, some Oscar-level directors—it usually takes several years or even longer to get a chance to direct the tube.

Although he is now one of the hottest new directors in Hollywood, Duke has always kept a clear head. He is very clear that Universal Pictures and Walt Disney and Nancy are only in contact with each other, in a wait-and-see and wait state. , They are waiting to see the box office results of Independence Day. As long as the film fails, these people will inevitably turn around, and cooperation or something is just a joke.

"There is good news."

Finished the afternoon work. Duke had just returned to the office, and Sophia, who was looking through the documents, raised her head and said, "Your personal accountant David just sent you a financial report. The second part of your salary on Independence Day was $2 million. ."

This is indeed good news. According to Hollywood practice, the basic remuneration of the cast members is paid in three installments. Duke has already received US$2 million out of the total US$5 million in basic remuneration when the film was filmed, and another US$2 million has been made after the filming was completed. In the account, the final $1 million will have to wait until the film is down-grade in North America.

"Anything else?"

Pulling a chair, Duke sat on the opposite side of Sophia's desk, "Has the remaining overseas share of "Break into Death Island" not arrived yet?"

"The statistics are out." Sophia handed the financial statement directly to Duke. "I just called Warner and asked about it. The money won't arrive until October at the earliest."

"October?"

Duke sighed. The Warner Bros. management really will pick time, which is forcing him to devote all his efforts to Independence Day.

However, this did not go beyond the scope of the contract, and Duke couldn't say anything, focusing on the figures in the financial statements.

Today, "Break into Death Island" has been downgraded from all overseas markets that have signed a sharing agreement. Excluding the box office share of the last settlement, the Duke Studio can still earn 2.1 million US dollars from the overseas box office, and another income The Duke Studio also shared a total of $500 in revenue for the bulk of the video tape and television rights.

The revenue sharing of "Break into Death Island" has come to an end. Duke used $10 million in investment to get back more than $27 million in income. Even in Hollywood, the ratio of investment income is very high. Rank up.

Although only part of the 27 million dollars belongs to him, it is still more cost-effective than mere film pay.

"Has the copyright negotiations progressed?" Duke has not forgotten the film adaptation rights he wants to buy.

"Nancy is still talking." Sophia shook her head. "It's not going well."

Many problems are actually price issues, but now there is plenty of time. Duke does not want to pay too high a price, and according to the feedback from Nancy and the private detectives he hired, there are no competitors now. Let's talk slowly.

Afterwards, Duke hung up the accountant David and his mother respectively. He was not short of money for the time being. He planned to repay his mother’s $10 million loan. After all, the loan was seriously overdue, and the interest would have to be settled by Warner and the Duke’s studio. Time for all payments.

Then there is the division of Nancy Josephson, accountants and lawyers, as well as Sofia Coppola’s personal assistant salary. Although Duke inherits the fine traditions of Hollywood, he will never settle with them all at once, but also If you temporarily pay part of it, you want to get people to work, but you don't want to pay enough. In the end, you only have bad consequences.

"Mom, do you have a familiar stockbroker?"

Finally, Duke dialed his mother's phone again. Now he is an adult. He doesn’t need to be like he was before the age of 21. Whenever large amounts of money are involved, he needs a guardian’s signature and he has enough power to control his own income. Yes, Mom, the U.S. dollar is constantly depreciating. I just received part of the salary and want to invest in the stock market."

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