Exploiting Hollywood 1980

In the blink of an eye, more than two months later, Ronald completed the filming of the film and returned to Los Angeles.

The filming of "Ultra World" has ended. I followed Coppola on the set, and I benefited a lot from watching his series of methods for directing actors.

Coppola can be said to have turned directing into an art, from the beginning of casting, to rehearsal, to the last word with the actor before directing, every move in the whole process is presented on the film for the final actor image is ready.

His bag seems to be full of normal and abnormal tricks, each of which makes the actor's performance even better.

Ronald re-rented a clean motel in Los Angeles, and began to sort out what he had learned over the past two months. From now on, when he was a director, he could learn from the master's experience.

But he doesn't have much time to organize his notes, and the release time of "Fast-Paced Richmond High School" is coming soon.

Six weeks in advance, Universal's distribution department began to find producers Lin Sen, Azov, and director Ronald, as well as several leading actors, to discuss the timing of the film's marketing.

"That's about it, there's not a lot of marketing budget we can put into it. In addition to intensive interviews with newspapers in Los Angeles, and New York, there is a focus on Dallas, Texas.

There's Barbie Wygant's interview with the star on NBC Five, one of the few movie-related TV shows to be syndicated across the country. Our three leading actors will be interviewed by her. "

A director of Universal Distribution is presenting the distribution plans to the two producers and Ronald.

"We've had a couple of major regional distributors look at the prints, and they've had mixed reviews for the quality of the film, with buyers on the west coast preferring it, and the east coast and south-central have some nudity for nudity, but it's more of a box office hit. optimistic.

They are all willing to release 'Fast Pace' on July 16, five weeks after Universal's 'ET Alien'. In this way, our marketing work will generally start in mid-June, with various TV programs, newspaper media interviews, and exclusive interviews with professional magazines.

I heard that you yourself contacted David Letterman's The Late Show to have guest Brooke Shields on the show to talk about the 'fast-paced' movie, which is also very good news for our film.

In short, this is our marketing arrangement in advance. Just waiting for the national box office results in the first weekend, the average first weekend multiplier of a youth romantic comedy is about four times, and if the audience likes it, it may rush to six times. "

"What is the first weekend multiplier?" Ronald sat in a chair, and when he heard a term he didn't understand, he secretly asked producer Lin Sen.

"Our director is directing a theatrical feature film for the first time. This is his debut. Can you help explain the opening weekend box office multiplier and some basic knowledge about distribution?" Lin Sen raised his hand to speak and asked about the distribution director.

"My question. Didn't expect this to be the first film directed by Ronald Lee, and I want to congratulate you.

The opening weekend multiplier is a measure we use to estimate the box office of a movie. It is a number obtained by dividing the total box office of the movie by the box office of the first weekend of release.

In this way, when we get the box office numbers for the first weekend, we can roughly estimate the box office performance of the entire movie.

It is convenient to adjust the follow-up screening plan and the release time of other movies.

You know, since last year's 'Heaven's Gate' tragedy, the print media and TV media have been very keen to compare weekly box office numbers.

Audiences are also starting to choose which movies they go to see in theaters based on their weekly box office rankings. This makes our opening weekend multiplier even more important. "

"Uh, thank you. Could you please elaborate a little more, why the first weekend multiplier becomes important, I'm a complete layman in film distribution." Ronald knew that he didn't understand, and he wasn't afraid to show his timidity, so he simply asked in more detail. .

"Very good question. You know, there is a cost for not showing a movie in the cinema? So what is the cost?"

"I think it should be electricity bills, copy rental fees, cleaners, admission ticket inspectors, right?"

"It can be seen that Director Ronald is a frequent moviegoer, but in addition to these, the more important thing is the box office of other movies.

For example, if there are two movies, let's compare 'Annie', which is currently in theaters, with 'Grease 2'.

Grease 2' was released on a large scale last weekend, with a box office of 4.6 million in the first weekend, and "Annie"'s large-scale release this week has a strong momentum. How do movie theaters decide which movies should be given more release time? "

"I think I'll compare the box office results of the two films to decide?" Ronald replied.

"Bingo! This is the concept of opportunity cost in economics. Grease 2's average single-house box office this week is less than 2,000 US dollars. Since Annie's release, the average single-house box office has been more than 4,500 US dollars, so the cinema will increase 'Annie' 'The show, put more prime time to 'Annie'.

Our distributor will give a multiplier based on the genre of the film, the ratings of film critics, and the evaluation of live audiences to estimate the box office performance of the entire film.

For example, 'Grease 2', Roger Ebert only gave it a two-star rating, the audience rating is B-, and it is a movie sequel, so we can only estimate a multiplier of 3.5.

And the song and dance drama "Annie", which is also a Broadway adaptation, has much higher ratings from critics and audiences than "Grease 2", and we can safely give a multiplier of more than 6. "

Ronald nodded, signaling that he understood. The first weekend box office multiplier is actually an empirical formula for the distribution department to estimate the final box office, which is roughly judged by film critics, audience ratings, film types, and experience.

The higher the multiplier, the longer the movie will run and the theaters will be willing to show it, so that the final total will be more.

Of course, after ten weeks, after moving to long-running screenings, the movie theater's share will be much higher than in the first few weeks. Except for the surprise of the total box office figures, it is actually of little significance to the studio's income.

Did "Grease 2" fare so badly at the box office? Ronald knew that Paramount had invested $6 million in "Grease 2," plus $6 million from record label owner Robert Sterwood's own pocket. The total cost of production was $12 million, plus marketing expenses.

If the opening weekend box office is 4.6 million times the multiplier of 3.5, the box office may not even be able to match the total cost. In that case, Michelle Pfeiffer's big-screen debut was a failure.

Ronald picked up the Chicago Sun on the table, where Albert sneered at the plot and actor of "Grease 2" in a column, but said a few good things about Michelle Pfeiffer. Maybe her agent Limato handled it.

Ronald put aside the thought of worrying about others for a while, and now is the time to worry about his own debut, "Fast-Paced Richmond High."

"Then what is the first weekend multiplier for our movie?" Producer Lin Sen asked Ronald the most concerned question.

"Our movie was released in mid-July, when the momentum of 'Annie' and 'ET Alien' should have diminished a little, and the fast-paced audience test score was B+ again, so we conservatively gave it a 4.5-6 multiplier between."

"If you can get a box office of more than 4.5 million like Grease 2 in the first weekend, multiplied by the lowest 4.5, you can also break through the 20 million box office. I think that the production cost of the movie is only less than 3.5 million. , such an achievement, in any case, can give Hollywood a good impression."

Ronald let out a sigh of relief, in this case, he would definitely be able to get a second film contract from the studio.

The director of the distribution department saw his nervousness and raised his hand to signal to him, "Judging from experience, this movie will be a great success."

"How was the premiere arranged?"

"Fast-paced is not a big production, we will not hold premieres in large theaters. But we will hold small premieres in Los Angeles and New York. At that time, some newspapers and media will also be invited to interview, and the two heroines Jennifer Jason Lee, and Phoebe Cates both agreed to attend.

Sean Penn is a favorite with theater buyers, and he'll be there too. And then it's to see if you can invite Brooke Shields, who is a guest star, and David Letterman to attend, if you can, it will create a news topic for the media, which will be a great benefit to our first weekend box office. "

"Give me the time and place of the event, and I'll invite you. In addition, leave me some tickets in New York, and I'll invite my family and friends to see it. The same goes for Los Angeles." Ronald thought of his family and friends in New York. Friends, this is a moment to remember.

"Okay, no problem. I'll leave you at least ten tickets for the premiere."

Ronald went back and prepared to go to several big cities to run marketing campaigns, and relaxed his nervous mood a little. He paid attention to the situation of the competitors. The box office of "Grease 2" fell sharply in the second week, and it was about to be released around the corner.

Next week is the release date of the also Universal's "ET Alien". I heard from the director of distribution that this Spielberg film has been absolutely praised by the test audience, and has received a very rare A+ test evaluation that only comes out once a year or two.

This gave "ET Alien" five weeks of release time, and "Fast Pace" just happened to be released on July 16, which is in a good position for the summer.

And Disney's Kinneyman, who's looking for Matt Dillon and Meg Tilly's "Texas," is two weeks behind his own "Fast Pace," which opens at the end of July. My own movie has a two-week advantage. Even if the quality of the other party is comparable to my own, it is a better time for me to occupy the summer season.

And the follower of the two Israelis, "The Last American Virgin", will also be released at the end of July, which will further divide the box office of "Texas", which is also a teenage theme.

No matter how you look at it, you are in a very advantageous position.

Universal Pictures is worthy of being a big studio, and it is still very powerful to grab the schedule, leaving Disney, which makes animation, far behind.

Just when Ronald was waiting for a reunion with several leading actors and flying to various places to market the movie, an unexpected incident suddenly occurred.

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