Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Now I have appeared on the live broadcast, and now everyone knows that I am Ronald Lee's girlfriend." Helen hugged Ronald at the check-in area of ​​the airport, and the two of them were holding a moment before the plane took off. A little time to preserve.

"It was just a live broadcast on a local TV station. If you really want to become famous, you have to watch 'Supergirl' come out. By then everyone knows you as Helen Slater." Ronald heard the last announcement from the hall to remind people to log in. He quickly kissed Helen gently and carried her suitcase to the departure gate.

"Sir, you can't send it in any further." The airline stewardess stopped him.

"Bye! I'll go to New York to see you at Christmas." Ronald blew a kiss.

"bye!"

After sending Helen away, Ronald will devote himself wholeheartedly to the production of "Night of the Comet". After setting his goal, he began to feel motivated again.

First, I want to meet with Roger Corman, the president of New World Productions and his leader in the film industry. He promised to invest half a million to film "Night of the Comet". Co-production, distribution, and investment ratios all require his approval first.

"Please wait a moment. Mr. Coleman has told you that he will be the first to receive you as soon as you arrive. However, he is currently meeting with important guests. Please ask Mr. Li to sit in the lounge for a while."

The new assistant to the president took Ronald to the lounge.

Looking at the familiar interior decoration, Ronald reviewed what he was going to say to Coleman then.

Half an hour later, Roger Coleman finally finished seeing the last group of guests. Three middle-aged men in suits and ties with meticulous hairstyles left the office.

"Mr. Coleman, we will come back with a new proposal."

"You don't look like someone from the entertainment industry." Ronald, who slipped out of the lounge after hearing the commotion, thought to himself when he saw this scene.

"Ronald, welcome." Coleman noticed Ronald appearing next to him and opened his arms to hug him.

"I heard you became a producer?" Coleman asked.

"Did Gale tell you that?" Before Ronald came to New World, he first chatted with Gale Hurd and had some preliminary understanding of co-production.

"That was the title of associate producer given to me by the producer of Paramount's new film 'Flashdance', recognizing my contribution to the filming. I heard that Paramount was quite satisfied with the sample footage.

They might give me a co-producer title. "Ronald replied.

"But I do want to be a producer. This is the main reason why I came to see you today." Ronald said that he wanted to make "Night of the Comet" a multi-party co-production. The "Flashdance" production model inspired him.

"Cameron and I carefully calculated the money needed for the filming and saved everything we could. Finally, we concluded that it should not be less than 1.3 million. I also need to prepare some extra money to prevent Something unexpected happened during filming, so I made a budget of 1.5 million."

Ronald handed over his production budget list, "I hope to use New World's distribution capabilities to find more investors, and then return them to them after the film is released."

"How to repay? A share of the box office?"

"Is this what I planned?"

"Then what kind of funds will you use to make up for the filming of the movie? Find foreign bank investment, domestic bank loan, or fund investment, and what proportion of advance payment will you use?" Coleman asked a lot of questions at once.

"Well, I don't seem to understand the answers to these questions very well." Ronald was a little confused when Coleman asked him. He began to realize that he seemed to have thought hastily.

"Investors are optimistic about my movie, and they will give me a sum of money first, and I will shoot it, and then after the movie is released, I will pay them back with interest, or share it in proportion. Isn't it like this?"

"Hahaha... This is a very good idea and very simple. I can't say that you are wrong, but it is not suitable for your movie." Roger Corman took a sip of coffee and said, "Let's put it this way , Ronald, do you know why I agreed to give you half a million dollars to make a movie?"

"Because I have a successful resume of teen movies, do you think I can complete the movie according to the budget and schedule?" Ronald thought for a while and replied.

"Of course, this is the reason why I am optimistic about you. But for this optimism, I can only give you up to half a million." Coleman picked up his palm and made a five sign in front of Ronald.

"I do not understand."

"Because this is the biggest advance I can get from a distribution channel for your movie."

"Oh." Ronald understood a little bit and continued to listen to Coleman teach him "Filmmaker from Beginner to Master in Twenty Minutes."

The film industry is in recession, and all investors are not fools. Not many people are willing to invest in a movie first, then wait for filming, editing, and release, and finally collect the interest on their investment from the box office revenue, or pay dividends.

There are too many variables in the process, and investors cannot afford to wait for such a long time. Moreover, there are countless risks between film shooting and release. After investing one or two million US dollars, it will take more than a year to shoot and edit, and then it will take half a year to sell tickets. In the end, not only will there be no interest, but the principal will be lost.

So now only those small productions with hundreds of thousands of dollars can get advance filming funds from distributors. Because the shooting cycle of small productions is fast, the box office is relatively fixed, easy to estimate, and the risk is low.

Generally speaking, Coleman's New World Company will charge about 20% of the final box office total from the studio as a distribution fee.

In other words, Coleman is confident that his new film will generate at least 2.5 million in box office upon release. Therefore, he is willing to invest 500,000 yuan upfront for production costs, and under ideal conditions he will not lose money.

There is also Coleman's own profit, risk reduction, and some margin. In other words, Corman gave a minimum estimate of a box office of 400 to 5 million for his 40 million director's name, and worked backwards to give Ronald 500,000 in production funds.

Beyond that number, the risk becomes too great and Coleman won't invest any more, leaving Ronald to find his own funds to fill the gap.

"Yes, the producer is the one who takes the final risk. Other investors only want to get a fixed income return, or the priority settlement rights of the box office share, so as to ensure that their investment will not lose money, so they are willing Invest in movies.

If the box office exceeds expectations and everyone else can only get a capped income, then the producer will get the most generous piece of the pie. If the box office fails, all the financial pressure will be on the producers.

This is why few directors in Hollywood invest their own money in movies. Producer is actually a very professional job, and few directors are proficient in it. "

"So what kind of investors should I find to fill this gap?" Ronald asked Coleman humbly.

"The best way is to find a capable producer to work with."

It's a pity that Gale Hurd has been captured by Cameron and is focusing on finding money for his "Terminator". Ronald shook his head.

"Secondly," Roger Coleman continued, seeing that Ronald was still listening to his answer, "if you have a very rich good friend, then you can also ask him to pay."

This was also unlikely, Ronald shook his head again.

"The rest are conventional options." Coleman pointed out several financing directions to Ronald.

"With my distribution capabilities, I can already get you about 30% of the filming funds. In addition, we have to sign a distribution contract. This will solve the biggest problem in your financing process. How will other investors determine your film?" It will be released theatrically.”

Ronald said he understood that many movies were too poorly made to be released in theaters.

“After you get a domestic distribution contract, you have several directions you can try hard.

If you have overseas distribution channels, especially theatrical distribution channels in English-speaking countries, you can use this contract to get an overseas distribution contract. The prerequisite for them to sign a contract is that your movie will be released in America.

With this contract, you can go to the bank and try out a mortgage and get some of your money. "

Ronald secretly shook his head again. I'm afraid he can't do this either. All the people he knows in the film industry are in China.

"Another way is to invest directly from overseas banks. Many European banks will invest in the film industry. If you have connections in this area, you can try it. But there are many scammers and mafia here, so you have to be yourself. For protection, it’s best not to deal with them directly.”

It’s a bit scary. You have to deal with these people to make a movie? Ronald shook his head again.

"Then there is only one way, which is to bring in big studios and big stars to participate. This way, with strong distribution capabilities and celebrity endorsement, we can get loans from banks or investment from Wall Street."

This is unlikely. I just couldn’t find a big studio to invest, so I came to you. Ronald felt that all three options were hopeless.

"I'll think of other ways, Mr. Coleman." Ronald planned to go back to find an agent and try other small and medium-sized producers to see if anyone is willing to believe in himself and take risks.

"You're not going to invest your own money, are you? Ronald." Roger Coleman asked Ronald.

"I have had this idea, but my cousin is still in high school, and I have to plan for the future myself, and it is impossible to put all my wealth into risk.

Now I am asking my agent to accept contracts for various scripts. I hope to use some of these extra income to make up for any gaps in investment. ” Ronald told Coleman the truth.

"That puts me at ease. It's not worth taking artistic risks with your own money. We have better ways to achieve our goals, don't we?"

"Thank you, I won't do anything reckless."

"That's good. You and Jim both came out of the New World. I don't want to see you go bankrupt."

"No, at most I will just make up for the small gap in investment." Ronald had already made up his mind that even if he wanted to invest, he had to use his newly earned money and not his savings. It should not exceed the upper limit of two to three hundred thousand US dollars. Any more will affect your life and future plans.

"It seems you have made a lot of money, Ronald," Coleman smiled. "What do you do with your money? Do you invest it?"

"I bought stocks of some large companies, hoping to use stock dividends to make up for the loss of inflation. Now I don't know what assets to buy to preserve their value."

"Very good, your investment philosophy is very good. The most important thing about investing is not to lose money. The money we finally earned from the camera must not be deceived by Wall Street."

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