Exploiting Hollywood 1980

The movie Roger Corman was talking about was a teen movie about high school students called "Heathers". After watching the first cut that had just been completed at New World Studios, Ronald felt that it was completely different from his debut work, "Fast and Furious Richmond High", which was also a teen movie.

In his own movies, although there were many common confusions among teenagers, some cruel aspects, and many sensitive themes, the overall tone was still positive, and in the end, the future of each protagonist was positive, bright, and full of hope.

This "Heathers" is completely different, with a dark tone from beginning to end. The heroine, black-haired Veronica, has always wanted to join the social female wasp group, the Heathers, in high school. These rich girls all put the word "Heather" before their names, which is considered a sign of joining the gang.

At this time, a very rebellious boy named Jason came to the school. He asked others to call him JD, and Veronica dated him. When the Heathers tested Veronica, the project was too difficult for Veronica to refuse. Finally, Chandler from the Sisterhood vowed to ruin Veronica's reputation.

At this time, JD came out and thought of many ways to help Veronica revenge. In an accident, Veronica gave Chandler a sewer cleaner, causing the latter's death. JD simulated the notes and faked Chandler's suicide.

After that, JD became more unscrupulous. He half-coerced Veronica to kill several Sisterhoods and the boys she dated in succession, and seemed to be preparing to fake Veronica's suicide. Veronica began to panic.

When Veronica was about to expose JD's true face, she found that JD brought a bomb to school. In the madness, JD blew himself up, and Veronica also said goodbye to the morbid social mentality of high school girls.

"This movie..." Ronald chose his words, and Sid Sisters gave him a very strange feeling, "It's like a teenage version of Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange"..."

"Well, if you are not satisfied, we can still talk about the price, or you can look at other movies?"

The distribution department of New World is now in a very low profile. The recession in Hollywood has implicated many companies. Now there is someone willing to buy the film distribution rights, and everything can be negotiated.

Because of the legal dispute between Roger Corman and the boss of New World, the joint venture to buy the film distribution rights was taken over by Ronald. He threw it to Michelle Cannold to do research. Soon Cannold came to Ronald with the information and said that the movie was worth buying.

In order to show his sincerity in buying it, Ronald also attended the film viewing meeting in person. Who knew that it was a very dark movie. Although it was a director's debut, the technical level of this movie was very good, and the black-haired girl was also very distinctive, and the audience could easily remember it.

These are all factors that help the movie sell well, but the biggest disadvantage is the content of this movie, which makes people wonder how to market it well.

Romance movie? It was too exaggerated to see the male protagonist carrying a bomb to school and blowing himself up. Horror movie? Are there any monsters that scare people from the beginning? This movie mainly targets the psychological factors of teenagers in school, gradually removing the normal school life and showing an alternative fear.

"Please give us some time, I need to discuss it with my deputy," Ronald politely asked the people of New World to discuss it with Cannold privately.

"Do you still think this movie has the potential to be a big hit?" Ronald asked Cannold.

"Yes, I still insist. This movie will sell well in the video market, but I am not sure about the box office in the cinema."

"Is that so? Why?" Ronald couldn't figure out the difference.

"Do you know why Hollywood had so many colorful genre films before the 1950s? Especially the 70-minute B-level films, many of which were the enlightenment and origin of the new Hollywood era later."

Cannold did not answer Ronald, but asked him a question instead, but he did not really want to test Ronald's knowledge of film history, but answered it quickly himself.

"Because at that time, going to the cinema was not an option, but a necessity on weekends or evenings. We decided which movie to watch when we got to the cinema. Men could watch westerns, women could watch comedies, young people could watch romances, and middle-aged people could watch ethics dramas. In short, everyone had their own preferences, and it was not too late to decide when we got there.

So the studios could tailor-make various movies to meet the needs of various audiences. As long as your movie has characteristics, there will always be a part of the audience who likes it, and low-cost production can also sell for money. So there are many second-tier studios that specialize in making a certain type of movie."

Ronald nodded, he knew all this. After the advent of television, the cinema is no longer an everyday entertainment venue. The audience has to know that there is a movie before they will consider going out to the cinema. This also makes the role of stars particularly star-like. When the audience hears the name of the star, they will want to go to the cinema, so they are so expensive.

"Now the video rental stores are very large, with various types of videotapes in different areas, and each area has hundreds of movies to choose from..." Michelle Cannold's next words revealed his thoughts.

"Is that so?" Ronald thought about his visit to Blockbuster. Indeed, the popularity of videotapes in American households continued to increase year by year. Recently, more and more Blockbuster chain stores have been opened, which in turn has led to a continuous increase in the sales of video recorders.

According to the latest statistics, the number of video recorders in the United States has exceeded 57 million. The annual sales volume has also begun to exceed 10 million. Audiences have also developed the habit of going to Blockbuster to see what new movies can be rented when they go home from work.

This is very similar to the habit of going to the cinema to see what movies were available in the 1930s and 1940s.

Ronald decided to test the videotape market with this "Sisters". This kind of low-cost, specific type of film is much easier to shoot than a blockbuster. If the sales are good, a large-scale shooting assembly line can be formed. Wouldn't the business be booming?

"We can buy the distribution rights and video copyright of this film, as well as all subsequent derivative rights, but I have a request. The director must re-edit it and add more comedy style to make the overall look less dark."

"The price should still be based on our offer?" The manager of New World smiled, and the film was finally going to be sold.

"You can talk to Mr. Cannold, he will discuss the details of the purchase with you."

Ronald smiled and threw the technical details to Michel Cannold. New World is in a big trouble now, and it depends on Cannold's ability to take advantage of the fire to cut down how much. Anyway, he will mostly handle this matter in the future.

"The three million dollars you mentioned is the shooting cost on paper. We are all in the industry, and we cannot accept this price. We offer one and a half million..."

Michel Cannold cut half of it right away. Ronald watched the other manager's smile quickly disappear, and then slowly discussed the details on the budget sheet with Cannold, comparing them one by one.

New World Pictures, which was once run by Roger Corman for more than ten years, abandoned Corman's cautious style after being acquired by a group of lawyers. It began to use the company's high-quality assets and package it for listing on Wall Street.

After listing, although no big productions were made, it was still sought after on Wall Street like a cannon. Just last year, they also acquired several companies with different businesses in the film industry.

First, a pharmaceutical company called "Rhythm Industries" declared bankruptcy, and New World acquired part of the assets of this company whose main business was buying Spider-Man chewable vitamin tablets. That is, Marvel Entertainment, which belongs to the Spider-Man comic that Menahan Golan wanted to shoot.

Then they integrated this part of the assets and obtained a higher stock price and stock index. Taking advantage of the high stock market value, they spent more than 4 million to acquire a studio of Canadian film company Lionsgate.

Then they bought a producer of educational films, the Learning Company. It seems that a large giant that includes production, distribution, and various films is about to take shape.

The last piece of the puzzle is the derivative of the movie - the toy company. Last year, they also thought about acquiring Mattel and Kenner, the two largest toy manufacturers in the United States.

But the sudden stock market crash shattered this dream that was about to take shape. New World's stock price fell below one dollar and gradually slid into penny stocks. The huge interest brought by the use of financial leverage in large-scale acquisitions has brought the company to the brink of bankruptcy.

This "Sisters of Heeds" saw that New World could not even take out the funds for issuance. Instead of being sued for breach of contract, it would be better to take advantage of the situation where someone is interested and get some funds.

This continuous use of leveraged mergers and acquisitions is like a snowball. Acquiring an asset, then hyping it up, letting the investment market accept the new asset will bring a synergy to the company as a whole, driving up the stock price, and then using the new high valuation to acquire other companies.

In the era of low interest rates, this tacit game has been played again and again on Wall Street, using a tool of junk bonds. Raising funds in the investment market with high-interest bonds.

But this game encountered last year's stock market crash, and the cycle of continuous acquisitions was suddenly punctured. Once it stops, the interest alone can bankrupt the company.

New World died suddenly like this. Now its assets are available for anyone to choose from. It is simply a large-scale garage sale.

Menahan's Cannon Pictures was almost trapped. Fortunately, he also bought a lot of theaters, so the valuation of these assets did not depreciate too much. In addition, the capital injection from EMI in the United States has supported it until now.

Cannold successfully negotiated the price to less than two million US dollars. Ronald felt that at least it was not a loss. The quality of the film itself was good. If he found someone to promote it to TV stations for broadcast, he would probably be able to make a profit.

"They also asked me if I was interested in other assets of Daydream New World, such as Marvel Comics and Learning Group?" Michelle Cannold brought a new inquiry from New World.

"I need to ask someone about this and do some research." Ronald knew that the copyrights of such old-fashioned creative institutions were extremely complicated. I don't know how many times they have been sold in history. The legal terms in the middle cannot be figured out without hiring the top Hollywood lawyers. There are countless traps in it. One term may lead to millions of dollars in profits or losses.

...

After getting the distribution contract back, Ronald went to see Roger Corman.

"Great, I like this movie very much. As long as it gets good reviews when it is released in theaters, it is estimated that the cost can be recovered in the pre-sale market of TV stations." Coleman is very familiar with selling copyrights. He knows roughly how much it can sell after seeing it.

"I plan to ask the director to modify the tone of the film and add comedy elements. After all, the audience of this kind of youth movie likes horror and comedy, but not heavy." Ronald told Coleman his idea.

"I agree. I will talk to director Michael Lehman." Coleman thought about it and agreed with Ronald's opinion. This movie that reflects the cruelty of youth should be made lighter. Treat it as a game. At least it will not cause trouble like A Clockwork Orange and cause negative social perceptions.

"By the way, New World is now in bankruptcy liquidation. Do you plan to go to the supermarket to have a look?" Ronald remembered the invitation and asked Coleman.

"All the important things I had in New World, including the copyright of the movie, I took it away when I sold it. It only had emotional value to me, and I was not obsessed with the name. For the sake of box office, I could decide to change the name of the movie in two seconds."

"Hehe..." Ronald thought to himself, it would be a good idea to see what new movie copyrights New World would make and buy after Coleman sold it. He gave this idea to his private lawyer Lindsay and asked her to contact Gray Eyes Mickey Kanter in Los Angeles to make a research report.

"Besides their office building, what else is New World selling? I know they have bought a lot of assets in the past few years." Roger Corman sued the new boss of New World and won the lawsuit, and received hundreds of thousands of compensation from him. He stopped dealing with them afterwards.

"An educational film company, a Canadian studio, and a comic company. Are you interested? We can make a joint bid."

"Don't be ridiculous. I can't afford those things. Do you want me to make science and education films? Or run a studio in Vancouver? Assets like comic companies are also difficult to operate."

"Ha, if you are not interested, I will see if there are any new movies you make after selling the company. Videotapes are a good business."

"Well, it is true that videotapes have gradually replaced drive-in theaters and become the primary source of income for my company." Roger Corman lamented that the videotape business is now divided after sales, unlike drive-in theaters, which have fixed advance payments, making his current filming business cycle too slow, and he can't start 20 to 30 films a year like before.

"When you were young, when there was no TV, what was it like to watch movies at that time? I heard that on weekends and evenings, people would go to the cinema to have nothing to do. There were many choices, and you could go to see what you liked?"

"Ha, when I was young, television had actually begun to gradually enter families. When I was a child, I went to the kind of cinema you mentioned." Roger Corman recalled the grand occasion of going to the cinema when he was a child.

There was no TV at that time, so when people were bored, they would call their friends to go to the cinema. At that time, movies were not divided into showtimes. You could go in and watch them after buying a ticket. You would often watch half of the movie, and then continue watching after it was over. The plot was considered complete when you came in.

And there was no limit on how long you could watch a movie with a ticket. If you wanted, you could sit in and watch several movies. It was indeed the best time for the movie business.

"It seems that it is really like what Cannold said, videotapes are the new movies, the new Hollywood." Ronald has greater confidence in the business of selling videotapes.