Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Now I've appeared on the live broadcast, and now everyone knows that I'm Ronald Lee's girlfriend." Helen hugged Ronald at the airport check-in, and the two grabbed a meeting before the plane took off. A little time to keep warm.

"It was just a local TV broadcast. You really want to be famous, and you have to watch 'Supergirl' come out. Everyone knew you as Helen Slater by then." Ronald heard the hall broadcast being the last reminder to Denton. The plane hurriedly kissed Helen gently, and took her to the boarding gate with the suitcase.

"Sir, you can't send it in any more" 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 then devote himself to the production of "Night of the Comet". Once he had set his goals, he began to feel motivated again.

First of all, I want to meet the president of New World Productions and his own leader in the film industry, Roger Coleman. He promised to give half a million dollars to film "Night of the Comet". Co-producing, determining the proportion of distribution and investment, all need to get his approval first.

"Please wait a moment, Mr. Coleman told me that you will be the first to receive you as soon as you arrive. But he is talking with important guests now. Please Mr. Li sit in the lounge for a while."

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

Looking at the familiar interior decoration, Ronald revisited what he was going to say to Coleman at that time.

Half an hour later, Roger Coleman finally finished seeing the last group of guests, three middle-aged men in suits and leather shoes with meticulous hairstyles withdrew from the office.

"Mr. Coleman, we'll be back with a new proposal."

"It doesn't look like someone from the show business." Ronald, who heard the movement and slipped out of the lounge, thought to himself when he saw this scene.

"Ronald, welcome." Coleman found Ronald next to him and hugged him with open arms.

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

"Did Gail tell you what?" Ronald had a chat with Gail Hurd before coming to the new world, and had some preliminary understanding of co-production.

"That's a title given to me by the producers of Paramount's new 'Lightning Dance' to recognize my contribution to the filming. I heard that Paramount is more satisfied with the dailies, they may give me a joint Producer's title," Ronald replied.

"But I do want to be a producer. This is the main purpose of my meeting with you today." Ronald said about his intention to make "Night of the Comet" a multi-party co-production. The production model of "Lightning Dance" inspired him.

"Cameron and I carefully and carefully calculated the money needed for the shooting, and saved everything that could be saved. In the end, it was no less than 1.3 million. I also had to prepare some extra money to prevent Something unexpected happened while 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 give them back after the film is released."

"How to pay back? Does the box office share?"

"Is that what I planned?"

"Then what funds do you use to make up for the filming? Look for foreign bank investment, domestic bank loans, or fund investment, and what percentage of advance payment do you use?" Coleman suddenly raised many questions.

"Uh, I don't seem to understand the answers to these questions." Ronald was a little confused when asked by Coleman. He was beginning to realize that he seemed to be thinking hastily.

"Investors are optimistic about my movie, and they will give me a sum of money first, I will shoot it, and then after the movie is released, I will pay them back the interest, or divide it according to the proportion. Isn't that the case?"

"Hahaha... It's a good idea, and it's very simple, I can't say you think wrong, but it's not suitable for your movie." Roger Coleman took a sip of his coffee, "Let's put it this way. , Ronald, do you know why I promised to give you half a million to make a movie?"

"Because I have a successful track record in teen films, do you think I'll be able to finish the film on a budget and schedule?" Ronald replied after thinking for a while.

"Of course, that's why I'm optimistic about you. But I can only give you a maximum of 500,000 for this optimism." Coleman picked up his palm and made a five gesture in front of Ronald.

"I don't know."

"Because this is the most advance payment I can get for your film from distribution channels."

"Oh." Ronald understood a little, and continued to listen to Coleman giving him "Twenty Minutes for Filmmakers from Beginner to Mastery."

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

There are too many variables in the middle, and investors can't wait for such a long time. In addition, there are countless risks in the filming and release of the movie. After investing one or two million US dollars, after more than a year of filming and editing, and then selling tickets through the half-year release time, there may not only be no interest, but even the principal will be lost.

So now it's only possible to get prepaid shoot funding from publishers for small productions of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Because the shooting cycle of small productions is fast, the box office is relatively fixed, it is easy to estimate, and the risk is small.

Typically, Coleman's New World Company will charge the studio about 20 percent of the final box office gross as a distribution fee.

That is to say, Coleman is confident that his new film will generate at least 2.5 million at the box office after its release. Therefore, he is willing to invest 500,000 yuan in the production cost in advance, and he will not lose money under ideal conditions.

In the middle, there is Coleman's own profit, risk conversion, and some margin. In other words, Coleman gave a minimum estimate of 400 to 500 million at the box office for his 40 million director title, and backed it up and gave Ronald 500,000 production funds.

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

"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 right of the box office share, so as to ensure that their investment will not lose money, and will they be willing to Invest in movies.

If the box office sells more than expected, and everyone else can only get the capped revenue, the producer will get the most lucrative piece of the pie. If the box office sucks, then all the financial pressure will be on the producers.

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

"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 Gayle Hurd has been captured by Cameron and concentrated 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 good friend who is very rich, you can also ask him to pay."

That's unlikely, Ronald shook his head again.

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

"With my distribution ability, I can already get you about 30% of the shooting funds. In addition, we have to sign a distribution contract, so that the biggest problem in your financing process can be solved. How can other investors determine your film? It will be shown in theaters.”

Ronald said he understands that many movies are too poorly made to make it to theaters.

"Once you have a domestic distribution contract, you have several directions to try.

If you have overseas distribution channels, especially theater distribution channels in English-speaking countries, you can use this contract to get an overseas distribution contract. They usually sign a contract on the premise that your movie will be shown in America.

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

Ronald shook his head secretly again. I'm afraid he can't do it himself. The people he knows in the film circle are all in China.

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

It's a bit scary, and you have to deal with these people when you make a movie? Ronald shook his head again.

"Then there is only one way, that is, to attract more studios and more stars to participate in the show, so that there is a strong distribution ability, endorsement by stars, and you can get bank loans or Wall Street investment."

It's also unlikely, I just came to you because I couldn't find any big studio investment. Ronald felt that these three paths were hopeless.

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

"You don't invest your own money, do you? Ronald." Roger Coleman asked Ronald.

"I did have 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 the agent to accept contracts for various scripts, hoping to take part of these extra income, and if there are some gaps in the investment, it can be filled. "Ronald was honest with Coleman.

"I'm relieved to say that. It's not worth taking artistic risks with your own money. We have a better way to get there, don't we?"

"Thank you, I won't be 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'll 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 the newly earned money instead of his savings. It does not exceed the upper limit of two or three thousand dollars, and any more will affect his life and future plans.

"Looks like you've made a lot of money, Ronald," Coleman laughed. "What do you do with your money, do you invest it?"

"I bought stocks of some big 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 in investing is not to lose money. We made money from the camera with great difficulty, but don't be deceived by Wall Street."

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