Heads Up Hollywood

The Oscars are more than just an awards ceremony.

In February, after the announcement of the Golden Globes, the Oscars season officially entered.

On February 5, the Oscar jury announced the nomination list at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Sam Mendes' "American Beauty" became the biggest winner with 8 nominations.

The "Wedding Crashers" produced by Tang En Pictures was completely wiped out, and the "Star Wars Prequel" directed by Tang En only received a few technical award nominations.

Another Oscar, and Twain missed it.

As soon as the nominations were announced, "Wedding Crashers" missed the Oscars and was officially released from North America. The North American box office was fixed at 210 million US dollars. It has not yet been released in overseas markets. It is estimated to be only 90 million US dollars, with a total box office of 300 million US dollars.

On February 15th, Oscar nominees luncheon; on February 25th, the Oscar Science and Technology Awards Ceremony; on March 12th, the final voting officially began; on March 19th, the final voting deadline; on March 20th, the Oscar Concert ; March 26, the 72nd Oscar Awards Ceremony.

Twain went to the UK to continue the post-production of "Spider-Man".

For the first time, Bill McNick, as the president of Dunn Pictures, started distribution negotiations with Universal Pictures, not just a "Spider-Man", but a strategic cooperation for the next three years.

Bill McNick had a good relationship with Universal, and Brian Lord was the matchmaker. The whole negotiation went very smoothly. On February 10th, Twain returned to Los Angeles with the first cut of "Spider-Man" and the post-production team.

"How are the negotiations?"

Seeing the new look of the studio, Tang En secretly admired in his heart, it still needs professional people to do professional things. Bill McNick's ability to manage the company is indeed better than him.

Bill McNick sat in Tang En's office, lit a cigar, and said with an indescribably indifferent expression, "It's a trivial matter."

He hasn't dealt with such a "little thing" for many years.

Tang En smiled wryly, "How about the specific conditions?"

Bill McNick said: "After three years of cooperation, Universal is responsible for distributing all the films produced by Tang En Pictures, and the distribution fee is 10% of all channels."

"That's not bad!" Tang En's eyes lit up. He had cooperated with Fox in the past, and the publishing commission had reached 15%.

Bill McNick waved his hand, "It's not worth mentioning. However, there are still some details. For the A-level productions produced by Tang En Pictures, the distributor is responsible for all distribution, transportation, labor and other related expenses, and the publicity expenses will be borne by the box office first; For feature films or small investments produced by the industry, the producer bears all publicity and distribution costs, and the distribution strategy must be global."

Tang En nodded, expressing his approval.

A-level big productions have high returns, especially the films produced by Tang En Pictures have always had a high box office. The 10% rake is already a huge sum of money, so it is only natural to bear the expenses related to distribution.

As for some small-investment or feature films, the market risk is high, and the distributors are definitely unwilling to bear the distribution costs of tens of millions of dollars. If Tang En Pictures wants to release it on a large scale, it needs to pay for it out of pocket.

Tang En was very relieved about Bill McNick, "When will you sign the contract?"

"Next Monday, you need to come forward at that time." Bill McNick's work was indeed organized and handled properly.

Tang En tapped his fingers on the table rhythmically, "By the way, I see that the company has a lot of new employees. Is it your team?"

Bill McNick sighed and rubbed his forehead with some headaches, "There are 22 people in total, but there are some departments that Tang En Pictures is temporarily absent, and the work is not very easy to arrange."

Tang En waved his hand, "If there are any gaps in the department, then make up for it! Tang En Pictures has great ambitions and cannot be satisfied with a small studio. By the way, do we need to build our own office building?"

"ah?"

Bill McNick froze for a moment and opened his mouth wide.

Tang En said lightly: "If you need it, you can mention it. As I said, you are in charge of the management, and I will handle the financial aspect! If you need to build the office building of Tang En Pictures, you should start preparing for this work."

"I'm afraid this is not a small expense." Bill McNick reminded sternly.

Tang En said: "As I said, in terms of funds, I will find a way. By the way, don't be too stingy with the budget for the office building. You must leave enough space. The future size of the company... will definitely be very large. This is our headquarters , must be built magnificently.”

"A site in Hollywood? I mean...do we need to build our own studio?"

Bill McNick was very thoughtful. If it was just to build a building, no matter how spectacular and luxurious, 100 million US dollars would be enough, but if he wanted to start Dunn's film studio, the expenditure would be too much.

The area occupied by dozens of studios alone cannot be paid without 100 million US dollars.

The land price in Hollywood now is very different from when it was first established. At the beginning, MGM was able to buy half of Hollywood, but now the result is that Warner Bros. has moved out of Hollywood. (Hollywood is an industrial park. With the development of the times, Hollywood has become synonymous with American movies and even entertainment.)

Tang En pondered for a moment, "Bill, does Universal have a studio?"

"certainly!"

"Then we don't need to waste too many resources, we can rent them from them."

Bill McNick thought about it and shook his head, "It may be possible in a short time, but if Tang En Pictures really develops as you expected in the future and produces dozens of movies every year, Universal Studios may not be able to line up. "

"Then let's talk about it later. We can set up studios in other cities, and the preferential conditions may be better."

"This... Twain, now the executive departments of Warner, Universal, and Disney have all moved out of Hollywood and went to Burbank or New York, but the studio must be in Hollywood. This is the consensus in the circle, the studio is The sign of Hollywood." Bill McNick glanced at Tang En, "People in Hollywood must protect the interests of Hollywood, this is the rule."

Tang En smiled, hesitated for a moment, and suddenly changed the subject, "I heard... Universal's parent company, Seagram, suffered a huge loss?"

Bill McNick nodded, "During this negotiation, I also talked about this matter with Universal. At the beginning, Seagram Group sold the shares of DuPont Chemical Company, and then borrowed money to buy Universal. However, the film industry is like this. It was over for a while. It is said that Seagram Group lost 13 billion US dollars last year, and in the first two months of this year, it lost another 2.8 billion US dollars, and it is looking for mergers and acquisitions."

"Ah? You mean...the Seagram Group is looking for a merger?"

"Yeah, with such a serious loss, unless there is a large group company to take over, it can only go bankrupt."

"Do you have a goal?"

"I heard...it seems to be the French Vivendi Group."

Tang En opened his mouth wide and froze for a moment.

Bill McNick looked at him in surprise, "Twain, what's wrong?"

Tang En said in a daze: "If this is the case...Bill, do you think I missed the opportunity to acquire Universal?"

"What?" Bill McNick thought he heard it wrong, "You want to buy Universal? Where did you get so much money?"

Tang En waved his hand, "Don't worry about how much money I have, I just want to know if it's possible for me to cut off my beard now? Oh, no, my funds won't be credited until April at least."

Bill McNick was dazed by Tang En, frowned and said: "Tang En, I don't know what secret you have, but at present, it is impossible for Tang En Pictures to acquire Universal Pictures!"

"Why?"

"First of all, the status of Tang En Pictures is not enough. Even if you have enough funds, with your current achievements, you will not give the management of Universal Pictures confidence. Once Tang En Pictures completes the acquisition, the management of Universal Pictures will definitely leave in large numbers. .”

"Second, Universal Pictures is the core asset of the Seagram Group. The reason why Vivendi is attracted to Seagram is not because of their ability to brew red wine, but because of Seagram's Universal Pictures and Universal Music. This is a prerequisite for cooperation between the two companies. Unless your price is high enough to allow Seagram Group to make up for a huge loss of more than 10 billion US dollars, it is impossible to change the determination of the board of directors.”

"Third, Universal Pictures is different from Marvel Entertainment. It is a symbol of Hollywood and has incorporated the efforts of a large number of filmmakers. If you are an outsider, it doesn't matter to acquire Universal, because everything in Hollywood has nothing to do with you. But you are Filmmaker, if you complete the acquisition with insufficient qualifications, status, and influence, it will definitely cause dissatisfaction among a large number of people in the industry."

Tang En was stunned and speechless.

He thought that he could manage Hollywood after making a lot of money in the bubble crisis.

But I didn't expect that there are so many mysteries behind this, so many sayings.

After all, Twain is a newcomer. Let him step on a large number of filmmakers who have worked hard in Hollywood for decades to become the master of Hollywood, which will definitely cause controversy.

At that time, big-name producers and directors will avoid Universal with their projects and look for cooperation with other film companies. It is impossible to rely on Twain alone to support Universal, right?

Qualifications, status, influence!

"How can I improve at the fastest speed?"

This was the biggest problem hanging in Twain's mind, and Bill McNick gave a standard answer - Oscar.

"Oscar's more than 5,000 judges come from all over the world, but most of them are Hollywood filmmakers. If you can win an Oscar, it means that you have been recognized by them. At that time, there will be no envy caused by qualifications. Instead, they will praise you as a genius in Hollywood."

Bill McNick paused for a moment, and then said: "Oscar also represents influence, which is completely different from the box office sales of movies. The old guys in Hollywood are conservative, and they care more about the artistry of movies. If you can Satisfying them in this regard will lead to wider support.”

Tang En suddenly realized.

This is the same as flattering.

If you do what you like, you will naturally get their favor.

With their favor, the acquisition of Universal Pictures is no longer an obstacle.