Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"My country is

a sweet land of freedom

i sing for you

The land where my fathers died

A place of pride for pilgrims”

A group of children, holding candles in hand, sang "America (my try, "tis of thee)" under the base of the Statue of Liberty. During the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Martin Dr. Luther King once quoted the lyrics of this song in a speech.

The Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by China as a gift a hundred years ago. Today, after several years of fundraising, repairs and reconstruction led by the Girl Scouts, the renovated Statue of Liberty reopened.

CBS has conducted live broadcasts for the opening ceremony for four days, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony is being broadcast live now.

President Mitterrand, together with the Grand Commander and his wife, delivered a speech as a symbol of French-American friendship. On National Day, the Statue of Liberty was reopened to tourists and the public. Under the live broadcast of the TV station, the leaders of the two countries entered the Statue of Liberty hand in hand.

The TV station did not go in to follow the shooting, but after more than ten minutes, they captured First Lady Nancy in the hollow observation hall inside the crown of the goddess's head. An important part of the renovation included the construction of a new elevator that goes directly from the ground floor to the top.

Nancy found herself captured by a videographer on a hovering helicopter, smiling and waving to millions of people watching on television.

"Bang..." Daydream's general manager Eddie turned off the TV that Ronald was watching.

"Hey, I'm still watching." This caused Ronald to curl his lips in dissatisfaction. He likes this statue very much. When he was in high school, he often saw her when he took the ferry to Manhattan to see a doctor. Now that it has been restored, he also wants to watch more special programs introducing the history of the goddess.

"Michelle Cannold is here."

"Oh..." Ronald stood up quickly, went behind the desk on the other side, and straightened his T-shirt.

Michelle Cannold turned out to be a production manager at Weston Pictures, which bought the distribution rights to "Dirty Dancing." Because when purchasing this film, no potential problems with Jewish girls were discovered, and they argued with the boss Steve Tisch.

After Ronald bought the production rights to "Dirty Dancing,"

Michelle Cannold was also reported to have been told behind his back that his boss might have made a big mistake by abandoning "Dirty Dancing." After Tishi heard this, he was sent to the Audience Video Satisfaction Survey Department and was put on the bench.

It just so happened that after Ronald got the cash to buy stocks, he established a "Dirty Dancing" project company "Dirty Dancing Production" and injected the first phase of one million US dollars to prepare for the Dirty Dancing project. .

Ronald was well versed in production, but he was still a newcomer when it came to distribution. Find talents in this area through some friendships.

It happened that Eleanor, the screenwriter of "Dirty Dancing", told Ronald what happened to Michelle Cannold, so she asked him to talk about the possibility of coming to Daydream Pictures to be responsible for the distribution of "Dirty Dancing" Work.

"Hello, Mr. Li." Michelle Cannold is very handsome, like a Hollywood star. Although the suit is not expensive, it is of good quality. Her hair is neatly combed back. At first glance, it makes people feel like sense of trust.

Weston was based in Chicago, and Cannold found a reason to investigate the video rental business in New Jersey, then quietly drove to New York for an interview.

"Call me Ronald." Ronald shook hands with him. "You may have heard about the problems I encountered. I am now planning to distribute this movie myself, not through the Seven Big Distribution Channels. If it is up to you If you take charge of this job, what are you going to do?"

"Thank you." Cannold took the coffee from the secretary and put it on the table after drinking. "If we don't go through the distribution department of the seven major studios or other medium-sized studios, then we will miss the easiest way. Sold out time slot - Las Vegas Movie Show.

What cinema buyers hope most is to be able to buy enough movies at one time to be shown next year. We no longer have the opportunity to go to wholesale sales fairs, so we have to go to theater chains and movie theater owners in 50 states to start retail business. "

"Please continue..." When Ronald saw him coming up, he pointed out the biggest problem of independently releasing a movie. He also had a firm understanding of Cannold's ability and reached out to ask him to continue talking about his plan.

"I don't think you would have to invest a very big budget into this movie."

"Yes, I plan to limit the budget to less than six million yuan." Ronald received an investment commitment of three million U.S. dollars from Douglas Jr., made a fortune in stocks, and had ample funds. According to a rough division, half will be used for production, half will be reserved for distribution, and another one million, plus the investment from my aunt, will be used as reserve funds.

"Then, it's actually impossible to hire a popular star actor to star in this movie, unless you can rely on your connections..."

"Don't consider that..." Ronald shook his hand. The problem of the Jews was still there, but they just promised Ronald not to interfere after he tone down the intensity of the plot. If he wants to find a popular movie star to star based on his reputation, it will definitely cause a new round of interference from the other party.

"Then we will distribute it according to the method of a small-budget film. Will you direct it yourself?"

"I'm still looking for the right person. If I don't find a more suitable person, I won't rule out directing myself..."

"It's best if you direct it yourself, because this is the only thing that can attract the interest of theater owners. Even if you don't direct, we must have your name at the top of the movie poster, in font The biggest kind." Cannold quickly interrupted Ronald. If it didn't rely on Ronald's fame and stars, it would be very difficult to distribute this movie.

"That's no problem. What else do we need to do?" Ronald was quite satisfied with Cannold's preparations. Although he had only done film distribution before that was not released in theaters and was recorded directly to video tapes, he was very interested in the distribution. The key points in business are still understood relatively clearly.

"Next, we will form a distribution team. We will start making sales calls to about 4,000 movie theaters in the United States. First, warm up their expectations for your new movie.

Before the movie starts shooting, posters are made first, and after the actors are confirmed, costume photos are taken. At this time, you can start sending these promotional materials to them. For theater owners who are interested, we can start negotiations to determine the appropriate schedule and number of copies.

Once the movie starts shooting, we will be able to cut a trailer and send it to or visit more theater owners. We strive to be able to sign more theaters within a certain schedule during the filming and post-production process.

When the first-cut copy is completed, we have the third and final opportunity to sign more theaters. At this time, it turns out that some of the movies they have scheduled for this year's Las Vegas Film Show will have problems or be postponed, so if we are lucky, we can get more theaters to show them. "

“How many people do you need as a team to do this?”

"If it is a veteran who is familiar with the distribution business, I need five. Then in the early stage, I will add ten to fifteen novices to do the initial contact work.

When the time comes for film shooting, post-production, and release, I still need to recruit more teams to be responsible for promotion, verification, public relations, and other services, or hire a professional company. "

"I can recruit five people, but I don't have any experienced people. You can choose from the new graduates.

It's useless for me to find experienced people. Most of them just rely on the accumulation of large institutions to sell movies to theater buyers at exhibitions. If they really want to sell movies from scratch, they may not be more efficient, and their personal relationship with the theater chain owners may not be good.

"For telemarketing, you can recruit college students to work part-time. I can only give you these upfront resources. If you think it's suitable, then come and work with me. In terms of salary, I will give you the same treatment as in Weston. Specifically, You can talk to General Manager Eddie."

Film distribution is a very expensive business. Even a prolific producer of low-budget exploitation films like Roger Corman, who produced more than 20 films per year at his peak, could only maintain his distribution team without losing money.

Ronald didn't want any project that would hire permanent employees and increase fixed expenses. In fact, he, a long-term employee, wished he had it.

Now Daydream’s distribution department only distributes one movie. If he makes money and can distribute other movies, he can convert temporary workers into regular workers and take the opportunity to expand the number of people. But we must not just follow the configuration of a third-tier studio and get a bunch of industry veterans to sit in the office.

"Deal?"

Ronald extended his hand to see if Cannold would agree to his terms.

"make a deal!"

Michelle Cannold knew that he would not have the chance to control important departments in Weston. Anyway, he was optimistic about the film, and he even made the decision to buy half of the production rights and all the distribution rights.

Just to prove his vision and have the opportunity to prove in front of the rich second-generation boss Steve Tisch that he is right and worthy of taking this job.

Moreover, in Ronald's company now, as long as he can successfully manage the release of "Dirty Dancing", he will be the oldest veteran.

"This is not impossible, but I need to recruit a veteran." Michelle Cannold thought for a while and understood Ronald's idea. He proposed to find an experienced and enthusiastic industry veteran to help set up Team, and training new people.

"Okay, deal. You can go to the Columbia Publishing Department to recruit. They are about to merge with the Samsung Publishing Department and are about to lay off redundant staff."

"Ronald, if you sign, I can submit the founding documents of Dirty Dancing Productions, Inc. to the Delaware government agency."

"Here, here, and here..." Private lawyer Lindsay Dole came over with the company's establishment documents for Ronald to sign.

"Mr. Hansen, you sign the shareholder column here." The lawyer then asked Douglas, who came here specially, to sign.

"And Donna Parker, your cousin. When is she coming to sign?"

"Right now, I'll ask little Bud to pick her up." Ronald looked at his watch.

At the end of 1984, Chinese Wu Xianbiao was elected lieutenant governor of Delaware. His ancestral home is Yuyao, and he went to the United States to study in 1956. He is the first Chinese born outside America to reach the high position of deputy governor.

Delaware has poor resources and a small population. It has only three counties, making it the state with the fewest counties in America.

After Wu Xianbiao became the deputy governor, he gave full play to his ancestral expertise and proposed a way to make money. He passed legislation in the state Legislature to allow American citizens to set up limited companies in Delaware and enjoy tax benefits.

Even better, they allow shareholders of a limited company to remain anonymous. In this way, it is equivalent to opening an offshore tax avoidance company registration place in America for those corporate wealthy who still want to enjoy federal protection.

For the purpose of tax avoidance when filming a movie, if you register a limited liability company in Delaware for the "Dirty Dancing" movie, you can enjoy a low tax rate. In addition, registering a limited liability company (llc) can also enjoy tax penetration. Shareholders only need to pay dividends and pay income tax once, avoiding double taxation of companies and individuals.

In this way, all profits from the project company will be attributed to the limited company, and outsiders will not know who the shareholders are.

"Ronnie, I'm here. Where can I sign?" Donna appeared in Ronald's office wearing a red T-shirt, white shorts, a pair of tennis shoes, and her hair in a ponytail.

"Just ask lawyer Lindsay." Ronald pointed out. I am still reading the distribution business plan written by Cannold.

"Hey, do you want to make a sales call?" Donna finished signing and came back to see Ronald's release plan.

"Yeah, like selling life insurance."

"Can I get a summer job with you? Just give me the salary I deserve." Donna suddenly said to Ronald.

"You are going to be a physicist in the future. Don't you have to sign up for an internship at a NASA-affiliated observatory during the summer? Why do you want to do this kind of telemarketing job?" Ronald asked curiously.

"This is America! Even if you are a physicist, you still have to promote the project, not find a sponsoring company. Besides, I don't necessarily want to be a physicist. Now that the era of great discoveries in physics has passed, I don't think I can be a physicist. I will definitely be able to make some contribution, so I want to try jobs in various industries and find the one I like best.”

"This is good, but you don't have to work for too long. This work is very hard." Ronald agreed with Donna's choice. Before graduation, he could try different career options as much as possible to find his own interests and strengths. is very important.

It's just that this kind of telemarketing job is very hard, and people often hang up on her. Ronald actually doesn't want Donna to do it for a long time. It would be nice to give it a try and understand the suffering in the world.

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