Heads Up Hollywood

"Murder with a Borrowing Knife" is a movie with a good reputation and box office.

Produced by DreamWorks and directed by Michael Mann, the film starred Tom Cruise, who contributed the first big villain performance in his life and achieved good marketing results.

In the end, the film cost $65 million and grossed $217 million worldwide.

Really made a fortune for DreamWorks.

However, DreamWorks spent $1.5 million on this movie and invited the well-known screenwriter Stuart Beatty to keep only the core plot of Frank Darabont's original script and overthrow the rewritten effect.

The original script is in Tang En's hands, and it makes people feel sleepy!

The foreshadowing is too long, there are too many suggestive dialogues, the whole rhythm is slow, and there is no commercial atmosphere.

It's a typical Frank Darabont script.

Profound, philosophical, human reflection, tedious.

It must be filmed according to the original script, at least 3 hours long!

A crime, suspense, and thriller film that needs to be shot for 3 hours?

None of the studios would agree.

Frank Darabont is the director of the "The Walking Dead" series of American dramas, and Twain is also counting on him to make the first long-form, large-scale TV series in American history.

At this time, you can't just refuse.

Give him a good reason.

Tang En called Frank Darabont to the office, and said straight to the point: "The script of "Murder with a Borrowing Knife" lacks sufficient commercial temperament."

This script has been killed by all the major studios, and only DreamWorks agreed to take over the script and hire a new screenwriter to completely rewrite the script.

Predictably, Frank Darabont must have understood why.

Sure enough, he nodded calmly and said, "I know, this script... does not conform to the market trend in terms of rhythm, but isn't New Universal calling for the creation of 'new order, new model, new power, new Hollywood'? I I think New Universal should have a different understanding.”

Tang En's face darkened.

This guy, use his own words to block his mouth?

He did say in public that if he could come across such an excellent movie as "Fight Club", he would insist on making it even if he lost money.

However, would he really be willing to make such a bottomless pit donation?

There are so many excellent scripts in Hollywood!

Each of the six major studios still doesn't store 30,000 to 50,000 copies?

All filmmakers, writers, and screenwriters all over the world are frantically contributing to Hollywood.

But there are only a handful of scripts that can really conform to the market trend and can be valued by producers and marketing departments.

Seeing Tang En's displeasure, Frank Darabont hurriedly said, "That's right. I know that the script is similar to "The Shawshank Redemption" in terms of rhythm. However, "The Shawshank Redemption" just failed at the box office that year. After several years of videotape and DVD markets, the performance of this movie is no worse than any movie!"

Tang En shook his head, "The DVD market alone cannot save a movie with an investment of tens of millions of dollars."

Frank Darabont was still unconvinced, ""The Shawshank Redemption" has already made money for investors. In fact, this film has brought great fame to Castle Rock Pictures!"

"What's the use of being famous? Because of the serious losses of "The Shawshank Redemption", Castle Rock Pictures has become a subsidiary of Warner, and now there is only one label left, and even the skeleton is gone."

"But New Universal has this strength and confidence! Besides, didn't New Universal acquire the IMDb website? The ranking of "Shawshank Redemption" surpassed "The Godfather", firmly locked in the first position!"

Tang En said: "That's right, IMDb ranks first, this result is very important. But unfortunately, the current Internet is not popular enough. Wait for a few years... ten years, ten years later, a script similar to "Murder with a Borrowing Knife" will be fine. Knowing that I still won't make any gains in the box office market, I will invest without hesitation!"

"Ten years?" Frank Darabont couldn't understand and was a little confused. "Whether the popularity of the Internet has something to do with movies?"

"Yes! And it's huge! That may be the next era of cinema!"

Tang En said loudly.

"Can you be more specific?"

"stream media."

"stream media?"

Frank Darabont looked puzzled.

This is normal. 99.99% of filmmakers in the world don't know what the Internet is.

Tang En smiled, "Frank, you don't need to understand the specific reason. I read the script of "Murder with a Borrowing Knife", and it was very well written. But to be honest, I have the same opinion as other major film companies. The genre is not suitable for movie theaters. After all, there is no pause button in movie theaters, and audiences can’t pause, take a break, and gather courage like they do when they watch videotapes or DVDs.”

"So... you won't invest in this project either?" Frank Darabont was a little disappointed.

Tang En immediately shook his head, "No, the core story of "Murder with a Borrowed Knife" is very good. There are conflicts, contradictions, rich inner struggles, and a comprehensive social portrayal. Just find a few screenwriters, adapt the script, and you can shoot A very good movie."

"Same as DreamWorks?"

"That's right."

"Why."

Frank Darabont sighed, feeling resigned.

Tang En said with a smile: "You don't have to be discouraged. I told you, this story is very good, but the script...doesn't conform to the current market trend. After ten years, we can take this project out again and remake it. At that time, I will focus on your script."

"Really?" Frank Darabont's eyes lit up.

"certainly!"

Tang En answered without hesitation, and then spoke to the secretary through the walkie-talkie.

A minute later, Isla Fisher walked over panting with a half-meter-high script in her arms, exhausted.

"Put it here."

Tang En pointed to this tall stack of scripts, there were dozens of them, and said unhurriedly: "Not only your "Murder with a Borrowing Knife", there are also 56 scripts here, all of which I have passed through the screenwriting department and The art analysis department has chosen thousands of high-quality products. However, these scripts lack the box office market, and I plan to wait ten years before shooting them."

Why ten years later?

Because, at that time, it was the world of streaming media!

In the previous life, at its peak, Netflix had streaming rights to more than 14,000 movies. Later, streaming media intensified, and copyright prices soared exaggeratedly. Coupled with the collective suppression of the entire Hollywood, the number of film copyrights owned by Netflix plummeted.

In order to attract users, Netflix can only shoot movies and TV series independently.

It’s okay for TV series, but it’s a bit difficult for movies.

For filmmakers, Hollywood is the first choice!

When there is a good project, filmmakers usually approach the big studios first; Seek help from platter investment firms like Yeye.

In the end, after these companies all refused, they turned to streaming media companies for help.

With such an operation process, what good movies can Netflix make?

It's almost a good one, and a bad one!

For traditional large studios like Warner Bros. and Paramount, they have tens of thousands of scripts in their library. Even if there is a lack of external supply, they can fully dig internally and develop film projects.

But Netflix will not, they have no background, and they do not have a huge script library.

In this case, the movies made by Netflix have suffered a lot of setbacks and their development has been bumpy.

However, with Netflix in this life relying on the big tree of Twain, all problems will be easily solved.

Through streaming media, there is one biggest difference between watching movies in front of screens such as mobile phones and computers, and watching movies in cinemas, that is, audiences watch movies for the sake of watching movies!

Nothing to do with dating, picking up girls, family fun, entertainment, etc.

In this case, a word-of-mouth masterpiece with a wonderful plot has become the best choice.

Slow-paced films such as "The Shawshank Redemption", "This Killer Is Not So Cold", and "L.A. Confidential" will collapse if they are shown in a movie theater; but when watching in front of a computer, users have enough time to pause and rewind Only when we have the opportunity to think and think can we appreciate the taste.

Word of mouth is naturally rising!

New Universal has a screenwriting department, all of which are special talents that Tang En found through the sunglasses system.

The so-called special talent refers to the high ability of "screenwriting", but attributes such as "market judgment" and "art analysis" will be unevenly filled.

Just like Frank Darabont.

It is difficult for a screenwriter with such a serious partiality to get the attention of a major studio.

But Twain was able to give full play to his talents!

These more than 50 scripts are all summed up by the market analysis department and have no box office prospects; the summed up by the art analysis department will have a high reputation of the movie script.

Just like this original manuscript of "Borrowing a Knife" in the hands of Frank Darabont.

It is impossible to shoot now, but ten years later, Netflix can shoot it.

Exclusive premiere directly on the streaming platform without going to the cinema!

Frank Darabont was a little displeased when he heard this. He was conceited of his talent, so he was inevitably arrogant.

The screenwriting department of New Universal?

What level can it be?

Can a small screenwriter earn $50,000 a year?

Even though he has a lot of failed works, he is still the top screenwriter in Hollywood, and a script can sell for millions of dollars!

Not a class at all!

Frank Darabont felt that Tang En underestimated him too much, and even equated his own works with the scripts of these small screenwriters.

His face was gloomy and very ugly.

Tang En didn't point it out, and said with a smile: "Frank, if you are interested in these 56 scripts, you can read them slowly. I still have a meeting with me, see you later."

Two hours later.

Frank Darabont rubbed his slightly tired eyes, and walked out of the living room with a blushing and purple face, his lips were stiff and his face was stiff.

The shock in my heart was like a tsunami!