Exploiting Hollywood 1980

“How popular is the Top Gun video?”

Ronald heard about Tanin's plan. After returning, he contacted the two producers of "Top Gun" and asked about the sales of the video tape.

"Let me tell you this, the share you get from the sales of the video tape may be more than your director's salary and bonus."

Jerry Bruckheimer on the phone seemed to have had too much to drink. He laughed loudly at Ronald and then invited him to come to their Y conference.

"How much did you drink?" Ronald felt it was not simple.

Bruckheimer is, relatively speaking, the calmer of the producing duo. He even talked about the Y conference without hesitation on the phone. It seemed that he really sold a lot of video tapes.

"Come on, Ronald, there are a lot of chicks here, ah, hahaha..." Don Simpson grabbed the microphone, "Come on, all the chicks here want to see you. You also make them happy, and then we can talk about it. Money, ah, hahaha..."

"Pa...", a crisp slap, followed by the teasing voices of several young girls.

"I have something to do tonight, so I'll see you tomorrow." Ronald felt that the other end of the phone had become a place of wine and meat, and he had reservations about this indulgent lifestyle. A young body can bring endless pleasure, but Ronald likes to enjoy it in private places.

"Then if you don't come in the afternoon... tomorrow night, we will have to have fun until very late."

The phone seemed to have fallen on the ground, and no one picked it up. The sounds of men and women laughing continued to come through the phone.

Ronald hung up the phone and called his agent Niceta.

"How many video tapes have been sold? I watched the producers of 'Top Gun' and they were so happy that they felt like they had made millions."

"It's not on sale yet, right? I heard that Paramount will start rolling it out across the country in mid-March. Many people are focused on their new pricing strategy, so it's impossible to get it on sale first."

Niceta hung up the phone in confusion, and then made inquiries with friends in the industry. Half an hour later, she called Ronald again.

"Right now, we've just gone through the pre-sale ordering process at some video rental stores. Maybe Simpson and Bruckheimer know that the pre-order numbers are good, so they're celebrating. I asked a senior executive at Paramount, and he said it will go on sale in March. The plan has not been advanced. Let me know if you have any new information when you go tomorrow."

"No way?" Ronald thought it was just the pre-sale numbers that looked good.

It seems that it is not enough for two people to be successful like this.

…

"Hahahaha...Ronald...come on...you should drink some too, there are several large bottles of champagne here."

Don Simpson was in a mansion in Beverly Hills. On the evening of the next day, Ronald, with the help of the housekeeper, walked into the house and saw two producers.

Their faces still bore the traces of yesterday's all-night party. It seemed that the two of them had not yet woken up from the mixed effects of alcohol and drugs. Their bodies, which had not been bathed, emitted waves of stench mixed with tobacco, alcohol, and sensuality.

There were also some women's underwear scattered on the ground, colorful, setting off the remnants of the champagne.

"How many have been sold? I heard that it won't go on sale until March?"

Ronald asked Bruckheimer, the more stable of the two. It turns out that the number the two gave themselves was that they could sell eight times more, totaling 400,000 copies. Now it seems far more than that.

"You have to learn to have fun, Ronald. Isn't it just for this moment that we in this industry bear so much pressure?"

Don Simpson came up and hugged Ronald, "Every one of those girls yesterday wanted to sleep with you, hahaha..."

"The pre-sales situation is very good. There are still three weeks before the official release. The pre-order volume of 'Top Gun' is already close to the sales record of movie video tapes in Hollywood history."

Bruckheimer finally had some sense and answered Ronald's question.

"Breaked the record?" Ronald was shocked. "What was the original record? I remember it was 'Flashdance' produced by you two, right?"

"Yes, yes, hahaha, you are our lucky star. Damn it, when Eisner and Katzenberg from Paramount were there, we didn't get much of the revenue from the 'Flashdance' video. Now. If they get out, our pricing power will be much higher. Hahaha..."

"Ouch", Simpson stumbled and fell to the ground, then hugged the bottle on the ground and snored there.

"Butler", Ronald waved and asked the butler to bring his master a blanket so that Simpson would not sleep too cold.

"Jerry, tell me, this pre-sale broke the sales record. What happened?" Ronald pulled Bruckheimer over and pulled him to the sofa despite the unpleasant body odor. Details asked.

It turns out that the sales record for video tapes in the American market was Jane Fonda's Aerobics. The original Aerobics video tape in 1982, priced at 59.95, sold nearly one million copies that year (including other cheap LD disc formats).

From then on, she released a new aerobics video every year and was able to earn hundreds of thousands in video sales.

As for movie videotapes, they are expensive, generally priced at US$80-100, so sales are far lower. The record for the highest sales is still held by "Flashdance" produced by Bruckheimer and Simpson.

That's also because Paramount began selling videotapes before the movie was released in order to experiment with the impact of videotapes on the movie's box office.

All in all, "Flashdance" sold 800,000 video tapes, a sales record that no movie could break several years later.

The seven major studios, looking at the video sales data of hundreds of thousands per movie, actually don't care much. It wasn't until recently that they discovered that OEM companies such as Weston were making a lot of money and were entering theater movies one after another, that they discovered where the profits lie.

Therefore, starting from "Top Gun", Paramount first lowered the price, coupled with Pepsi's advertising subsidies, this time the price of 26.95 is a new attempt.

Who knows, this attempt...

What a success!

Since last week, anyone watching TV has been bombarded with Ronald's shot of the Pepsi Diet Coke commercial. At the end of the ad, there will be another line of text reminding them that the video tape of "Top Gun" will be on sale in both VHS and Beta formats.

In less than a week, viewers at major video rental stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, etc. have discovered that they can pre-order the "Top Gun" video that will be released next month.

By the weekend, pre-order sales figures compiled from across the country had broken the record for movie video sales, with "Top Gun" surpassing "Flashdance" to become the number one video sales record in history.

No wonder the two producers were as happy as flying into the sky after seeing the sales figures.

Ronald looked at the two producers, who were staggering and had not yet woken up from the carnival hangover, walking out of the mansion silently.

“How fucking much did they share!

ah! "

Bruckheimer told Ronald that based on the current pre-sales figures, as a director, Ronald can already receive a share of more than 200,000. It is estimated that this number will double by the time it is officially released.

The total sales, Paramount marketing experts predict, can exceed 2 million units. In this way, Ronald can get a share of more than 600,000 with a 1% share.

What if the two producers could get ten times, 10% of their sales? That’s more than 6 million.

No, definitely more than that.

After Eisner left Disney, the two producers became one of the few remaining producers at Paramount who could handle blockbuster movies.

With the shrewdness of the two of them, they will definitely get a big share of the movie box office share.

As for the video tape income that was not taken seriously before, the two of them will definitely share more.

Or, even further, Simpson and Bruckheimer might even have the same control over video revenue that George Lucas had over "Star Wars" spin-off revenue.

At that time, the ownership of the "Star Wars" derivative toys belonged to Lucas. Because no one believes that anyone will buy toys derived from this kind of movie.

At that time, derivative toys were usually made of characters from TV series or comics. Because those works are released for a long time, they can lock in a large number of fans to pay for them. Movies, on the other hand, have no chance to form a stable fan base. By the time the toys are produced, the audience has almost forgotten about the movie.

So Lucas got the rights to the derivative toys at a very cheap price. Instead, 20th Century Fox wanted to take a cut of the toys from Lucas.

Everyone knows the rest of the story. Lucas became the richest director in Hollywood by relying on his Star Wars characters.

The video tapes of 1987 were like toys derived from the 1977 movie, and were not taken seriously.

Ronald was extremely jealous.

Who could have imagined this?

It would have been nice if I had asked for an additional 1% share, and they would have agreed, right?

A turbulent feeling kept churning in his chest.

So much money!

After working hard for so long, and with the help of dreams, the money I earned directly from Hollywood was only two to three million. If you are lucky enough to make a fortune in stocks, even so, it will be more than 10 million.

And these two producers, who knew nothing, relied on the performances of Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis and others, their own directors, and the help of the Navy, and they were able to make more money than themselves from the video tapes. A few years of hard work will make you ten times more money.

"I estimate I can earn thirty to forty million." Ronald stopped the urge to hit someone and parked the Ferrari on the side of the road.

A Blockbuster video rental store just down the road. Ronald wanted to see with his own eyes who was buying the video tapes and why so many were sold at once.

Devour

A bust of Tom Cruise wearing an oxygen mask stands at the entrance to the store. Next to it is a poster that says, "Bring Top Gun home for only 26.95!"

"Bring me a box." Ronald asked the clerk for a box and counted out two 20-dollar bills to the clerk.

"Please leave your address and name." The clerk took out a reservation form and started filling it out.

"Bud, West Hollywood..." Ronald registered under little Bud's name.

While waiting for the clerk to write the reservation order and give him change, Ronald asked him, "This seems like a great purchase?"

"Yes, there are a lot of people pre-ordering. We at Blockbuster have priority agreements with distributors, so we can get the goods earlier than you can in supermarkets and 7-11 convenience stores.

Now our manager is still placing additional orders, so we have to pay the full price to get the videotape as soon as possible. "

"It's so expensive, but it sells so well?"

US$27 is still a lot of money for an ordinary middle-class family. After all, renting a video from Blockbuster for three nights only costs $3.

"It's actually not expensive, sir." The clerk, a young man who looked like a high school student working here, said to Ronald.

"At Blockbuster, the rental fee for the first three days is $3, but starting from the fourth day, an additional $3 is added every day. Many people are busy with work and forget to check it out after renting. By the time they return, it may already be the weekend. Yes, the fine sometimes exceeds $12.

And this movie is very exciting. I went to the cinema to watch it several times. Some students also went to join the navy. Each movie ticket costs four or five dollars, and you can buy it and watch it every day.

Also, if your friends come to your house for a party, you have to show them some good movies, right? What could be more exciting than 'Top Gun'?

There are fighter jets dueling, falling in love with a beautiful teacher, and the interludes are also very good. Just buying the Berlin band's single is quite expensive.

Moreover, if you buy this videotape and play it hundreds of times, there will be no problem. Based on this calculation, isn’t it very cheap? "

"When you tell me, it's really cheap." Ronald heard the clerk say this and immediately felt that the price was not expensive.

"Haha, let me put it this way." The clerk was very happy, "Is your video recorder VHS or Beta? VHS? Okay, I'll write it down for you. Here is your change, as well as the reservation receipt. You can present this receipt when the time comes. Come and receive the goods.”

"Thank you," Ronald put the receipt into his wallet.

"Actually, you can also watch more. If you have a video recorder at home, and relatives and friends come to your home as guests, you have to have some good movies to entertain, right. In fact, you can prepare three or five video tapes, so that if your children come to your home as guests, you will Their best uncle."

"You're right, but other video tapes are too expensive. The cheapest one costs seventy or eighty dollars." Ronald looked around and looked at the extra code label.

"So the director of Top Gun is a good person, and he sells such a good-looking movie at such a cheap price. Look over there, those old movies made by Stallone ten years ago cost 70 yuan. I think it will be difficult to sell their movies in the future. , if there is a 26, who would buy a 70, you are right.”

Unlike the chatty movies, "good guy" Ronald seems to have found endless motivation to move forward.

The first thing Ronald did when he jumped in the car and drove home was to call Mi, who was the manager responsible for the distribution of video tapes at Weston Pictures and is now the manager of Daydream Pictures and is responsible for the distribution business of "Dirty Dancing". Sher Cannold called.

"Michelle, who did you find to make the video tape when you were in Weston? How much did it cost? Are the sales channels still there?"

"What I'm looking for is the video tape factory in New Jersey. I still have the contacts of video tape rental vendors across the country. What, do you want to make video tapes?"

"Yes, Top Gun broke the sales record for video tapes in one week. After the price was reduced to 30 dollars, the market was much larger than before. We also want to make a video tape for Dirty Dancing, which costs 30 yuan like them. Price to sell.”

"It turns out that when I was in Weston, the sales of a movie were generally between 100,000 and 200,000. Occasionally, if it exceeded 400,000, it would be considered a big hit. At the price of 30, unless the sales can exceed one million, it will not make money. "

"It must have exceeded one million. Pre-sale for one week is already close. I think a total of two million boxes can be sold."

"Boss, of course I hope you can produce video tapes. I have a lot of resources here. But I have to remind you that 'Top Gun' was the box office champion last year. This is the key to their success.

If Dirty Dancing wasn't in the top ten at the box office for the year, our marketing expenses would make the $30 price unprofitable. "

"Hi, I know..." Ronald calmed down a little, "You should contact the factory first and see how low the cost can be. Also, this time the video tapes are not only available through traditional channels, but also in department stores and supermarkets. Convenience stores sell it, please help me test it out and make a plan.

If our video could sell half, no, one-third of the sales of Top Gun, we would make a fortune. You take the lead. "

"Haha, I'm going to make a plan right away." Michelle Cannold also felt the smell of money, a lot of money.

"In short, we still need to succeed at the box office first, and let the market decide what happens next."

Ronald called his agent Niceta again, "Rick, damn it, they're probably going to sell two million boxes, and the two sons of bitches, the producers, are going to make a fortune."

"How much?" Niceta jumped up from the bed. "So much?"

"I think this result will shock the industry. I see that the studios of your old films will remake them on video tapes and sell them. I will look at the contract you signed with them at the time to see how much of the video revenue you can share.

I remember that the last time the Directors Guild and the Writers Guild went on strike, the rights to divide video tapes had been written into the union agreement.

Doing this will create another huge source of wealth for directors and stars. "

"Okay, hurry up."

Ronald immediately felt very good. If there was a union agreement, at least the basic residual dividend would not be less. By the way, in the movie contract you directed before, how did you sign the dividends from the video tape?

"What's wrong? Are you going out so late?" Paula Wagner woke up in bed and asked her husband.

"Yeah, Ronald's movie Top Gun, the video sold out, and I had to go into the office and check all his director's deals."

"Sold out? How much?" Paula also became energetic.

"Probably over two million boxes."

"How much? Two million?" Paula also jumped up.

"Be careful, don't be so excited when you're pregnant." Niceta felt like finding clothes for her wife to put on.

"I'll go to the office with you to find a contract, and Tom will get one too."

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :