When the cost of any film reaches a certain level, the production company’s review and investment will become extremely cautious. Although James Cameron’s two masterpieces have truly opened up the era of Hollywood’s billion-dollar production, but like Such a huge investment that Duke called out 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, let alone a project like "Independence Day", the birth of each tens of millions of dollars of film projects is an extremely cumbersome process.

In Hollywood, the process from a script concept to being approved by the studio and deciding to shoot is called "green light" (GREEN.LIGHT). In addition to the necessary review committee review, there are many preliminary investigation processes.

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

Second, the script has to go through the systematic review of the production department, which will analyze whether the script is novel, whether it has commercial value, and whether it conforms to the product structure of the production company.If approved, the production department will estimate the production cost of the film, tax costs, etc.

Third, this project will be reviewed by the distribution department, and they will cooperate with the distributors to investigate many issues - what is the commercial value of this film?Who is its target audience?Is it adapted from a novel, and does it have a fixed fan base?Will the film fit into the studio's global distribution system?Can you get support in terms of cooperative TV stations and video tape partners?The type and release date of the film?Is there any possibility of placing advertisements in the video?Is there any possibility of the film hitting the awards?In the past and the next 18 months, how many films of the same type have been released or are in the pipeline?How are they performing?What about ROI?

Fourth, establish a production team. For "Independence Day", this is a relatively simple issue.

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

Sixth, the budget, shooting, location, and production team were finally approved, and finally got the "green light".

In fact, this is only a rough process, which does not explain the completeness and delicacy of the business laws in Hollywood film production, but some data may illustrate this point.

For example, Hollywood studios receive more than 15000 scripts every year, and only about 300 films enter the production stage in the end, and it is unknown how many of them are scripts that have been pressed for several years.

Even if Duke has the success of "Speed" and "The Brave Island" as capital, companies such as Warner Bros. only have more confidence in him, and will give priority to his projects, but will not take them casually. Just give the green light, after all, this will eventually involve an investment of more than 1 million US dollars.

"Warner Bros. and [-]th Century Fox have done the initial review."

In the Duke's studio, Nancy Josephson sat opposite Duke, tapping the simple desk in front of her with one hand, "Their production department, distribution department, and marketing department have all given the project an A-level evaluation for the time being. , of course, the premise is that after the film is shot, it can achieve the effect described in the script."

"As long as the funds are sufficient, I don't think it will be difficult for me." Duke said.

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

"Have the three-party talks been held?" Duke asked again.

"I've had three conversations with the management of Warner Bros. and [-]th Century Fox."

While speaking, Nancy gently rubbed her forehead, her face seemed to be tired, and she probably consumed a lot of energy, "Basically reached the intention of co-shooting, if the project can finally pass the review of the two companies, they will each Responsible for half of the investment, and a consensus has been reached on distribution, Warner is responsible for overseas distribution, and [-]th Century Fox is responsible for North American distribution."

Inviting other companies to cooperate in filming is the most common way to reduce investment risk in large productions. Warner Bros. and [-]th Century Fox competed fiercely for the summer file. Now they can sit together and negotiate, which is enough to prove the survival of major Hollywood companies. Normalcy, competition and cooperation are eternal themes.

To put it bluntly, no commercial conflict is irreconcilable before profits.

"Nancy, Warner and Fox..."

Now that it has passed the preliminary review, the general possibility of project approval is extremely high. Duke asked the broker opposite, "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 on the high-back chair, "to discuss the possibility of placing advertisements in the film."

This kind of commercial film with an investment of hundreds of millions and a theme of modern society is impossible without placing advertisements. Duke does not reject this. Be 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 presence of third parties, which means more wrangling and censorship.

However, Hollywood has a mature film system, and the completion guarantee system is the biggest guarantee for the interests of investors. The production company wants to attract global distributors, video partners, TV stations, etc. to sell in advance, or publicly raise part of the funds for support Shooting, third-party guarantee is essential.

"Duke..." Nancy asked tentatively, "Aren't you going to invest?"

"Honey, I have to repay my mother's loan, and the share of "Into the Deadly Island" will take a few months to arrive at the earliest."

Spreading his hands, Duke felt a little helpless. He would not overestimate the awareness of Warner Bros. The agreement between the two parties is to pay in half a year, and the other party may not stick to it until the end. "I only have 100 million US dollars in my hand now. Even if the bank lends some money, it is too little for the huge investment in the film."

Speaking of this, the corners of Duke's mouth turned up slightly, "I believe that now I have the capital to make a deal with the producer, right?"

"Of course!" Nancy nodded without hesitation.

For any director, two consecutive films with a box office of over 3 million in North America and over [-] million worldwide have the capital to open their mouths.

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

As soon as Duke finished speaking, Nancy asked with satisfaction, "The basic remuneration of 1000 million US dollars plus [-]% of the film's revenue share?"

"No, I don't want a share of the net proceeds." Duke shook his head and said, "I want a share of the early box office!"

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 sharing ratio can reach 20.00%. related to the box office of the movie.

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

Online is mainly the box office share of the film, which is divided into a percentage share of the full box office directly and a share of the net box office revenue after deducting all costs. In this era, films can still benefit from the box office. If you push back more than a dozen Years, the latter is completely a pit.

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

For example, Spielberg, if "Jurassic Park", which is still hot, can sell as well as it once did, he may get at least 2 million US dollars from all the income of the film!

Duke has always been very clear-headed. He is now eligible to claim online revenue sharing, but offline is fine.

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

This is not only based on the consideration of its own capital, but also another level of reason. In this era when information is relatively not smooth, the global revenue of the film is far from being as easy to monitor as box office statistics.

Let’s talk about Warner Bros., the current partner. Duke once read a related report. Although the movie “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” has achieved a total revenue of more than 7 million US dollars in North America, the book But it lost nearly 2 million U.S. dollars!

The reason is that Warner Bros. Pictures deducted as much as $2 million in 3D printing and distribution costs-this is paid for by itself, and $1 million in advertising costs-mostly paid by Warner Bros. Yes, there is another $4000 million in interest, which is the cost of Warner Bros.'s left hand and right hand.

Warner Bros. has earned at least US$4 million in income from these items alone, but after deducting them as expenses, and then deducting US$2 million in production costs and other expenses, it has produced a huge loss from an accounting point of view. .

In this way, those main creators who have signed a net revenue sharing agreement with the film studio will not get much money.

Most importantly, from a financial and legal perspective, Warner Bros. did not violate the rules.

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

If it weren't for the lack of capital now, Duke would even want to directly call out the full revenue share of the film.

In the future, there will be more Hollywood filmmakers, still counting on the big studios to find out with conscience, so that they can get a share of the "profit".

In fact, capital will never have the day of conscience discovery.

After speaking with Nancy Josephson, Duke returned to work. Not only did Sofia Coppola quickly return to his assistant job, but he also called up Zack Snyder, John Schwarz, who had just returned from vacation. Team members including Zeman, Robin Grande, and Joss Williams, making official preparations for the upcoming "Independence Day" project.

Later, Nancy heard that Paramount Pictures was interested in joining the investment, but was rejected by both Warner Bros. and [-]th Century Fox. The two companies almost completed the final review at the fastest speed allowed in the program. When the time entered September and the team led by Duke had drawn up a rough script list, the "Independence Day" project could finally be approved.

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