Heads Up Hollywood

In order to negotiate with the major labor unions, American film companies and TV companies have formed a film and television producer alliance, and the rights in it are mainly controlled by the communication team established by the six Hollywood giants.

Prior to this, the alliance and the screenwriters union signed a "basic agreement", which is a contract that needs to be renewed every three years.

The content of the "Basic Agreement" is very detailed, including the minimum wage standard for screenwriters, signature agreements, dispute arbitration procedures, rebroadcasts of film and television dramas and other income sharing, pensions and benefits, etc.

Now, three years have come again, and new negotiations have to be launched.

Tang En did not attend the specific meeting and negotiations, and sent Shirley Lansing and Amy Pascal as representatives.

The current situation is that New Universal is in full swing. In the film and television producer alliance, New Universal, Time Warner, and Disney are the three major giants, with the most important voice.

After the meeting was over, there was an extra meeting report on Tang En's desk.

The Screenwriters Guild has put forward many requirements for the renewal of the contract.

First, it is required to increase the income of screenwriters, especially those screenwriters whose salary has not reached the welfare line;

Second, demand a reasonable family leave policy;

Third, solve the long-standing low salary situation of screenwriters of comedy variety shows;

Fourth, the residual remuneration standard for high-budget video-on-demand services comparable to the industry level shall be increased by at least three percentage points;

Fifth, a solution to the problem of declining salaries experienced by screenwriters during relatively short television seasons;

Sixth, further solve the problem of screenwriters' script fees, and fully pay them the copyright fees for their works broadcast on cable TV, dvd, and the Internet;

Seventh, improve the status of screenwriters, cancel the eye-catching characters "This is a movie made by a certain director" that appears at the beginning of the movie, because this is a disregard for the screenwriter's work...

In addition, there are many types of requirements such as medical insurance and pensions.

In summary, the Labor Screenwriters Guild hopes to facilitate a welfare contract with a total value of up to 300 million U.S. dollars, while the producer will only offer a contract of 120 million U.S. dollars.

There is a huge divergence of $180 million!

This amount of money is really nothing to Tang En.

However, Tang En would not agree to any of these ridiculous conditions!

This is not a question of money, it is a question of principle!

It's like a lion opening its mouth!

The total value of the contract signed in 2001 was only US$1.1. This time, the producer took the initiative to increase the quotation by 10 million US dollars. As a result, the Screenwriters Association was really jealous and directly increased the quotation by 190 million US dollars!

Use Hollywood as a welfare home?

In the past few years, affected by the economic crisis and the "lipstick effect", the film and television entertainment market has developed very well, and the appetite of screenwriters has naturally increased.

In fact, the per capita annual salary in the Los Angeles area is only $54,000. However, the average annual salary of screenwriters is 200,000 US dollars, far exceeding the income of ordinary people.

Hollywood's remuneration for screenwriters is much higher than imagined.

The Writers Association has a total of 12,000 members. Even if a 3-year benefit contract of 300 million U.S. dollars is signed, the average annual welfare guarantee for each person is 8,500 U.S. dollars.

It can be seen that the main groups threatened by strikes are those low-level screenwriters who can't afford to eat. In order to increase the welfare guarantee of 5,000 US dollars per person per year, they will not hesitate to strike and cause billions of dollars in economic losses.

Anyway, they are already at the bottom, and no matter how much damage is caused, the impact on their living conditions will not be too great.

Therefore, Tang En was very resistant to this strike threat. This kind of behavior of flipping the table is tantamount to destroying the overall situation for one's own selfishness.

The fastest growing countries in the world today... are the ones where there are no unions, no strikes.

The economic slowdown in Europe and North America is largely due to the fact that trade unions have too much power, which makes it impossible to implement macro policies.

Tang En intends to improve the salary of screenwriters, but he is not interested in donating money to some lazy guys, even if he doesn't care about the little money.

"Jonathan, what do you think about this?"

Tang En called Jonathan Nolan to his office.

New Universal Group has a screenwriting department under it. Although the young Jonathan Nolan is not the chief screenwriter, with the development of films such as "Memento", "Daredevil", "Ghost Rider", and "Fatal Magic" With success, his prestige and fame grew.

"I don't want to go on strike. No one wants to go on strike. This is a very serious consequence, and all screenwriters must bear it." Jonathan Nolan shrugged, "The two strikes of the Screenwriters Guild in history have caused too much negative impact. gone."

Tang En believed that this was his sincere words.

Jonathan Nolan's income in New Universal, including the basic annual salary and dividends, exceeds 4 million US dollars, which is more than many executives.

Capable people don't need to fight for their rights by turning the tables.

Tang En held a pen in his hand, "In your opinion, in what ways should the rights and interests of screenwriters be protected? Don't look at the proposals of the Screenwriters Association, those are too ridiculous."

Jonathan Nolan glanced at Tang En, hesitantly said: "The screenwriting industry... mainly has too many overlord clauses."

Tang En smiled and said, "Don't forget, I'm also a screenwriter, so just tell me, I'll understand the situation."

Jonathan Nolan said: "The screenwriter basically has no right to speak, and is at the mercy of the producer and director. The script revision must meet the standards required by the investor. You know, the screenwriter is the group of people who know the script best, but they don't The right to speak. In choosing actors, you can only follow the arrangements of the producers and directors, and you have no right to speak."

Tang En pondered for a while, and said: "It is true that the screenwriter knows the script best, but the screenwriter may not understand the market and the tastes of the audience. Giving the right to speak to producers and directors is the core of the Hollywood business system. In the controversial "Pirate Alliance 2: Dead Man's Chest", many filmmakers criticized the film's poor story and poor screenwriting. But what happened? The market responded very well."

For this reason, Jonathan Nolan was convinced.

This year, he has two films as a screenwriter, Zack Snyder's Ghost Rider and his brother Christopher Nolan's The Prestige.

Both films have achieved very good reputation, and the stories are wonderfully written.

Jonathan Nolan also became a well-known screenwriter within the New Universal Group because of these two films, and his basic annual salary also increased from $300,000 to $650,000.

However, the box office results are far from being comparable to "Pirate Alliance 2: Dead Soul's Chest" with "bad story" and "poor film language".

"Ghost Rider" grossed $600 million worldwide.

"The Prestige" cost 40 million U.S. dollars, gathered stars such as Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, etc., and the global box office was only 110 million U.S. dollars .

Compared with "Pirate Alliance 2: Dead Man's Chest", which raked in $1.08 billion at the box office, there is a big gap.

Jonathan Nolan said: "When filming "Daredevil 2" some time ago, there were three Korean filmmakers who came to study in the crew, and I had exchanges with them. , The status is also very high! Even above the director! The director cannot modify the script of the screenwriter without authorization, and the actor's modification of the lines is also disrespectful to the writer."

Tang En smiled, "I understand the situation in South Korea. It is true. However, it is only a temporary situation. As the cooperation with Hollywood deepens, Korean films will definitely learn from Hollywood's production model, and the status of screenwriters will become lower and lower. However, what you said did remind me that TV dramas and movies should be treated differently."

Driven by the core system of screenwriting, Korean films are still not qualified, the story is good, and the film language, special effects production, and market judgment are not enough. But the TV drama market has already dominated Asia.

"Dae Jang Geum", which aired last year, has become the most popular phenomenon-level TV series in Asia's history. Not to mention the mass markets like Japan and China, even Iran, which is a closed country, has introduced broadcasts, and it has also formed a shocking scene where thousands of people empty their streets.

Movies, especially commercial movies, must constantly hit the audience's eyeballs within a limited time, and through wave after wave of promotion, firmly grasp the audience's heart.

Here, there are many methods that can be used, such as wonderful stories, amazing special effects, large-scale shots, close-ups of big stars, superb acting skills, interesting visual composition...

TV dramas are different. TV dramas last longer and can express more content. Due to the hardware limitations of TV sets and the atmosphere of family viewing conditions, it is difficult for TV dramas to continuously secrete hormones from the audience like movies.

This gives the screenwriters enough living environment and room for development. They don't need to rack their brains to explore the audience's ideas like filmmakers, but only need to focus all their energy on their own stories.

As long as there is a good story, generally speaking, TV dramas will have a very good result.

The three popular American dramas "Six Feet Under", "The Walking Dead" and "Veep" on Starz TV are typical examples.

Tang En wrote down something, and said seriously: "Let's not mention the film market, but in the TV drama market, it is indeed necessary to improve the status of screenwriters. The behavior of tampering with scripts should be controlled."

Jonathan Nolan was surprised.

Although the current New Universal is not the company that produces the most TV programs, it is definitely the company with the highest quality and the highest income!

No matter how the outside world is, if New Universal can take the lead and promote the status of screenwriters from the production of TV dramas, then the influence of New Universal can gradually spread out.

This is a good thing!

"Also, there is the issue of treatment."

"Welfare guarantee?"

The corner of Tang En's mouth curled up, a little sarcasm, "The company should provide benefits such as medical insurance and pension insurance to its employees, but how many of those screenwriters from the Screenwriters Association work in film companies? Just because they participated in several films Or the writing of TV dramas, just want to get huge benefits from the film company, which is unrealistic. The target of the benefits is the Screenwriters Association, not the film company."

Jonathan Nolan shook his head and said, "Only those screenwriters who don't have a job will fight for benefits regardless of the consequences. I'm talking about normal screenwriter remuneration."

"Oh? Tell me!"

"A project, whether it is a movie or a TV series. If the filming does not start, the screenwriter will not be paid after-tax remuneration, which is tantamount to arrears of remuneration in disguise."

Tang En raised his eyebrows, "Don't you pay a third in advance?"

Jonathan Nolan shook his head, "No!"

Tang En frowned deeply.

It is indeed wrong to do so!

Installment payment is a major way for Hollywood to avoid risks.

For example, the basic salaries of producers, directors, and actors are distributed in three installments.

Sign the contract and issue the first one-third of the remuneration;

The film starts, and the second one-third of the reward is issued;

The film is finished, and the remaining remuneration is settled.

If there is an accident during the project approval or shooting process of the film, which leads to the abortion of the film, the distribution of the remaining remuneration can be terminated to reduce the loss of the producer.

However, the status of screenwriters is too low, without the treatment of producers, directors and actors.

Jonathan Nolan continued: "If it's a TV series, the screenwriter's salary is calculated by episode, and 10 episodes must be signed exclusively. If a series lasts for several months, then the screenwriter has to be bound to the series for several months. , which resulted in a 60% drop in the salary of screenwriters. If the TV series is cut during the broadcast, it will lose 70%-80% of the salary.”

Tang En is a professional, and he understands it as soon as he hears it.

In order to avoid risks, many TV dramas are filmed and broadcast at the same time. If the effect is good, they will continue to shoot, and if the effect is not good, they will be cut off.

In order for the screenwriters to devote themselves to creation better, the producer will sign an exclusive agreement with the screenwriter, requiring the screenwriter not to sign contracts with other producers to create new scripts during the production of this TV series.

This delay is several months. The screenwriter can't take on other jobs, and can only wait for the TV series to be filmed, which is a waste of time.

If the TV show does not perform well and is cut by the TV station or the producer, then the screenwriter cannot get full salary. How many episodes are filmed counts how many episodes, and the income is even less.

Tang En said in a deep voice: "This situation is too much, and it must be changed! In the cost of a film and television production, the screenwriter's expenditure only accounts for about 6%, which is not high. You can't squeeze too much just because the screenwriter is behind the scenes. The payment method of remuneration... Movies should be paid according to the payment method of actors, and TV dramas should be settled in one go! Regardless of whether the TV drama is canceled or not, as long as the script written by the screenwriter is an approved finished product, it must be paid according to the standard of the finished product Pay for the manuscript."

Jonathan Nolan said happily: "If that's the case, that's great! I'm also a member of the Screenwriters Guild, and I have many screenwriting friends. If I promote this plan, the negotiation will definitely go smoothly. I'm afraid of other film companies..."

"Leave them alone!"

Tang En waved his big hand, and said lightly: "If you can't promise his dignity, you must promise him money. Otherwise, something will happen sooner or later! Other production companies have opinions, and I will discuss them. I want to see how many short-sighted people are there. generation."

In the previous life, the negotiations in 2004 did not lead to a strike, but the grievances accumulated deep.

It was not until 2007 that it finally led to a catastrophe and set off a huge wave of strikes, which lasted until the spring of 2008. Even the Golden Globe Awards were forced to be cancelled, and the Oscars almost closed.

The economic loss directly caused reached 3 billion US dollars.

Under the circumstances of the economic crisis at that time, the whole of Hollywood fell into a crisis, and a large number of companies went bankrupt, including the platter copyrights of commercial blockbusters such as "Transformers 2", "Special Forces", and "Alice in Wonderland". Non-stop reselling.

Now that Tang En appeared in Hollywood in this life, he must take the overall situation into consideration and make some changes. ()

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