Made in Hollywood

After the cost of any movie has piled up to a certain stage, the production company’s review and investment will become extremely cautious. Although James Cameron’s two masterpieces have truly opened the era of 100 million yuan production in Hollywood, it is like The huge investment that Duke called for "Independence Day" can be described as rare.

Those small productions with an investment of only a few million dollars will be strictly reviewed by the film company, not to mention projects like Independence Day. The birth of each tens of millions of dollars film project is an extremely cumbersome process.

In Hollywood, the process from a screenplay concept to the real approval of the studio and the decision to shoot is called "green light" (). In addition to the necessary review by the review committee, there are numerous preliminary investigation processes.

First, there must be a script whose quality and creativity will interest the production company.

Second, the script must be reviewed by the production department. The production department will analyze whether the script is novel, has commercial value, and whether it conforms to the production company's product structure. If it is approved, the production department will estimate film production costs, tax costs, and so on.

Third, this project will be reviewed by the distribution department, and they will work with distributors to investigate many issues together-what is the commercial value of this film? Its goal ⊥∠, who is the audience? Is it adapted from a novel, is there a fixed fan base? Can this film be integrated into the studio's global distribution system? Can you get support from partner TV stations and video tape partners? The type and release time of the film? Is it possible to place ads in the video? Is it possible for the film to impact awards? In the past and the next 18 months, how many movies of the same type have been released or are in preparation? How do they perform? What about the return on investment?

Fourth, the establishment of a production team, for "Independence Day", this is a relatively simple question.

Fifth, finalize the shooting details and cooperation intention...

Sixth, the budget, filming, location, and production team were finally approved and received the "green light."

In fact, this is only a rough process, and does not explain the completeness and refinement of the commercial rules in Hollywood film production, but there are some data that may explain this.

For example, every year, Hollywood studios will receive more than 15,000 scripts. In the end, only about 300 films will enter the production stage. It is not known how many of them are scripts that have been suppressed for several years.

Even if Duke had the success of "Life and Death Hour" and "Course to Death Island" as capital, companies such as Warner Bros. only had more confidence in him and would give priority to his projects, but would not casually. Give the green light, after all, this will eventually involve more than 100 million US dollars of investment.

"Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox have completed their initial audits."

In the Duke’s studio, Nancy Josephson sat opposite Duke, tapping the simple desk in front of him with one hand, “Their production department, distribution department and marketing department have temporarily given the project a grade A rating. Of course, the premise is that after the film is shot, the effect described in the script can be achieved."

"As long as the funds are sufficient, I think this is not difficult for me." Duke said.

Special effects can't save money at all. Different prices can produce completely different effects. If the project passes smoothly, Duke's first choice in special effects must be Industrial Light and Magic!

"Have the tripartite talks been held?" Duke asked again.

"I have talked with Warner Bros. and the management of Twentieth Century Fox three times."

While talking, Nancy rubbed her forehead lightly, her face seemed tired, and she probably consumed a lot of energy. "Basically, the intention to cooperate in shooting has been reached. If the project is finally approved by the two companies, they will each Responsible for half of the investment, and a consensus has been reached on the issuance temporarily. Warner is responsible for the overseas issuance, and 20th Century Fox is responsible for the North American distribution."

Cooperating with other companies for shooting is the most common way to reduce investment risk in large productions. Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox competed fiercely during the summer season. Now they can sit together and negotiate, which is enough to prove the survival of major Hollywood companies. Normality, competition and cooperation are always themes.

To put it bluntly, in the face of profit, no commercial conflict is irreconcilable.

"Nancy, Warner and Fox..."

Now that it has passed the preliminary review, the general possibility of project approval is extremely high. Duke asked the opposite broker, "Do you plan to invest independently or raise funds?"

"They are ready to start the pre-sale. If the project review is over, they will contact you as soon as possible," Nancy leaned back in a high chair, "to discuss the possibility of placing ads in the film."

This kind of commercial film with an investment of hundreds of millions and a modern social theme is impossible without advertising. Duke does not reject it. Just like "Break into the Dead Island", he will try his best to arrange advertising in Appear in the right place at the right time.

"With pre-sales, there will definitely be third-party guarantees." Duke sighed. Any director actually doesn't like the appearance of third parties, which means more wrangling and censorship.

However, Hollywood has a mature film system, and the film completion guarantee system is obviously the greatest guarantee for the interests of investors. Production companies want to attract global distributors, video tape partners, TV stations, etc. for advance sales, or publicly raise part of the financial support For shooting, a third-party guarantee is essential.

"Duke..." Nancy asked tentatively, "Are you not going to invest?"

"My dear, I want to repay my mother's loan, and it will take a few months for the share of "Brave to Death Island" to arrive."

Spreading his hands, Duke was rather helpless. He would not overestimate the consciousness of Warner Bros. The agreement between the two parties was paid in half a year, and the other party might not stick to it until the end. "I only have 1 million dollars in my hand. A loan from the bank is too little for the huge investment in the film."

Speaking of this, the corners of Duke's mouth turned up slightly, "Believe that I have the capital to make conditions with the producers now?"

"Of course!" Nancy nodded without hesitation.

Replaced by any director, two consecutive films with a box office of over 100 million in North America and over 300 million in the world, all have the capital of the lion.

"Nancy, I want you to help me get a 1+2 salary contract!"

Duke had just finished speaking, and Nancy asked intentionally, "US$10 million in basic remuneration plus 20% of the film revenue?"

"No, I don't want to share the net income." Duke shook his head, and said, "I want an early box office share!"

In order to stimulate the creative desire of directors or actors, Hollywood allows big-name directors and popular actors to share the box office and copyright revenue. Today, the maximum share ratio can reach 25%, and the director’s income and share are directly related to it. The box office of the last three movies is related.

And this part is divided into two major items: online and offline.

Online is mainly the box office share of the film, which is directly divided into a percentage share of the box office and net box office revenue after deducting all costs. Nowadays, movies can still benefit from the box office. If you push back a dozen In years, the latter is a pit.

Offline is all peripheral income including copyrights. This area has always been a restricted area for distributors and production companies. In Hollywood, only a handful of directors and actors can participate.

For example, Spielberg, if "Jurassic Park", which is still maintaining a hot momentum, can sell as big as before, he may get at least 200 million US dollars from all the income of the film!

Duke has always been sober-minded, he is now eligible to call for online revenue sharing, even offline.

Of course, this is definitely not the case when negotiating. Nancy Josephson is experienced and should know how to deal with it.

This is not just based on the consideration of own capital. There is another level of reason. In this era of relatively unsmooth information, the global revenue of films is far from being as easy to monitor as box office statistics.

Let’s talk about the current partner Warner Bros. Duke once read a related report. Although the movie "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" has made a total of more than 700 million US dollars in total revenue in North America, the book It lost nearly 200 million U.S. dollars!

The reason is that Warner Bros. Pictures deducted up to $200 million in 3D copy and distribution costs-this is the expense paid to itself, and the $140 million in advertising costs-mostly Warner Bros. paid to itself Yes, there is another $77 million in interest, which is the cost of Warner Bros.’s left hand borrowing the right hand.

Warner Bros. alone has reaped at least US$400 million in revenue from these items, but after deductions as expenses, another US$200 million in production costs and other expenses were deducted, resulting in a huge loss from an accounting perspective. .

Calculated in this way, the main creators who have signed a net revenue sharing agreement with the film party will not get much money.

Most importantly, from a financial and legal perspective, Warner Bros. does not violate regulations.

Therefore, considering all aspects, what Duke wants is a proportional share of the total box office, not an unreliable net income share. Even in the future, he will not sign an inexplicable net income share with the Hollywood company!

If it is not for the lack of capital now, Duke even wants to directly call out the full income share of the film.

In the future, there will be more Hollywood filmmakers who still count on the big studios to conscientiously discover that they can get a share of the "profit".

In fact, capital will never have the day when its conscience is discovered.

After talking with Nancy Josephson, Duke returned to work. Not only did Sophia Coppola quickly return to the assistant job position, he also summoned Zach Schneider and John Schwartz who had just finished their vacation. Team members such as Ziman, Robin Grande and Jos Williams made formal preparations for the upcoming "Independence Day" project.

Later, Nancy heard the news that Paramount Pictures intends to join the investment, but it was rejected by both Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox. The two companies almost completed the final review at the fastest speed allowed in the program, etc. In September, when Duke’s team led a rough list of scripts, "Independence Day" was finally ready.

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