Hollywood Drawing

"Oh my god, a huge and exciting income, isn't it?"

As the assistant lady narrated, Wayne had to sigh. Compared with being a director and earning the top 20+20 salary in the industry, in terms of income, it is really not as good as investing in a blockbuster film as the boss of a film company. Coupled with Warner Bros.'s complete follow-up operation channels, it can directly squeeze out all the follow-up benefits of blockbuster movies.

Take "The Departed" for example. This film was influenced by the Oscar effect, and the subsequent video tapes have been selling very well. The film's R-rated attribute has also been relatively advantageous in the video tape rental and sales market, so even though it has been so long, this film has been selling very well. The film has never fallen out of the top ten in North American video sales rankings.

There is also the first part of "The Matrix". Because of the popularity of the second part of "The Matrix", the video tape market of this movie has also been boosted. For these two films, Wayne's studio is the main body, and they have to occupy the entire copyright rights. Fifty percent of income.

Not counting the previously shared revenue from these two films, Warner Bros. invested more than $125 million into Greenberg Studio this time. You know, this is not a one-time deal. Perhaps these subsequent incomes will slowly decline as time goes by, but this part of the income will still be able to create large profits for him every year even if it takes ten or twenty years.

"The Screen Actors Guild, the Screenwriters Guild, and even the Directors Guild all announce the average salary of their members every year." Nina was also impressed by the figures she said personally, especially since she knew better than anyone else that similar to these two films In terms of nature, many projects jointly invested and produced by Greenberg Studio and Warner Bros. will be launched in the next two to three years. "No wonder the Producers Guild never announces the producers' income personally. The subsequent benefits in this regard are too terrifying."

"You're wrong, Nina."

Holding out a finger, Wayne shook it at the assistant. "The only ones with terrible incomes are those members who are both producers and film company owners. For those producers who are not involved in film investment, their income is not as much as that of celebrities."

Almost anyone who knows a little bit about the operating rules of Hollywood knows that this circle is producer-centered. That is to say, in a crew, only the producer who represents the employer is the center of power, not the director or star.

"Treading on the Stars"

This is also the main reason why those A-list celebrities and top directors in the industry want to take a part-time job as a producer, because this title can effectively guarantee their rights and treatment within the crew.

But compared to the absolute power they have on behalf of the employer within the crew, the income of producers is much lower than that of celebrities and film directors. At least the income on the surface is much lower, and it is not even as good as some of the core teams behind the scenes. Supervisor compensation.

Only those well-known producers who are constantly successful and can take the initiative to initiate projects can sign a contract with the production company with a share of the box office. However, this part of the box office share is not much. Normally, it is only a few dollars. point, and their own basic salary is as low as only a million dollars. This income will not improve much even if it continues twenty years later.

But if you are like Wayne, who serves as a film investor as a project producer, then your income is on another level. After all, producers like this are basically the bosses of film companies. The subsequent income from a popular film can last for many, many years, but the recipient of this income is not the individual but the film company he owns.

"Colin Howard led the accounting team of PricewaterhouseCoopers and kept a close eye on the subsequent income of these two films." Nina obviously did not want to discuss the producer's income with her boss, so she brought the topic back to business. "I believe this part of the revenue is very low. Even if there are some minor tricks, they will only appear in overseas peripheral licensing."

Wayne nodded silently, feeling very satisfied that he could reach this point. Movie companies, especially left-handed movie giants like Warner Bros., want to hide some movie-related income. It is not easy. In fact, as long as it doesn't go too far, he won't raise any objections.

Just like Nina said, even if there are some minor tricks, they will only appear on the authorized numbers surrounding overseas movies. There is definitely a situation in this regard, but as long as there is a team of accountants led by Colin Howard keeping an eye on it, there won't be too much water involved.

Even though he is a shareholder of Warner Bros., there will be no difference in this regard. After all, it is Greenberg Studio that signed the contract with Warner Bros.

Compared with the statistics of the subsequent income of the two films, which are extremely messy, Wayne's income from "The Dark Knight" is much more transparent.

"The last part of the basic salary is US$6.9 million. Warner Bros. chose to settle it in advance this time." Nina looked at her work record book and continued to report the income that was settled this time. "According to the contract provisions of the director and producer, as well as the rules everyone in the industry abides by, the last part of the basic salary should be settled after the film is released, but this time it is estimated that Warner Bros. has sufficient liquidity and paid this part in advance money."

According to the contract signed by Wayne and Warner Bros., his main salary is based on the position of director, and his basic salary is the so-called $20 million. For this part of the money, before the film started shooting and after the film's post-production was completed, Warner Bros. had already paid 13.1 million US dollars into his account twice in accordance with the rules, so this was also the last payment.

"The theater company has divided the North American box office of this film twice for Warner Bros., the distributor of "The Dark Knight", each of which is 200 million U.S. dollars, so this time Warner Bros. will pay you a personal share of the box office , which is also based on this part of the North American box office.”

The voice of the assistant lady continued. After all, this movie is currently the highest-grossing movie in history. From this point of view, the income that Wayne can earn is also terrifying. "Including this part of the revenue, "The Dark Knight" will be divided into a total of 86.9 million U.S. dollars this time. As for the overseas box office share, I'm afraid we have to wait. The team led by Colin Howard is now mainly urging this division income."

It has reached the end of 1997. Although the Internet has initially become popular in North America, and with the rise of Internet companies, the number of personal computers has grown rapidly in this land, but globally, the Internet is still far from being able to be used for movie ticketing. above.

Faced with different theater market environments in various places, even a film company with global distribution capabilities like Warner Bros. will need a lot of time to extract this part of the box office revenue one by one. Moreover, the theater market in various countries and regions is different from Hollywood. There are still differences in the shares signed by film companies. It is due to these various reasons that the timeline for overseas box office recovery has been lengthened.

"So, this time, Warner Bros.'s financial department transferred a total of US$211.9 million to Greenberg Studio's account, right? Ha, I just don't know if there will be internal disputes among Warner Bros. shareholders this time because of an incident. After Xing paid this sky-high price, there were some discordant voices."

With his legs crossed, a cigarette in his mouth, and his upper body leaning on his office chair, Wayne's voice was filled with joy and ridicule. Similar things have happened more than once, and almost every time Warner Bros. pays his box office share, there will be sporadic discordant voices internally.

"Even if there are some, so what? Jeff will suppress it by himself anyway." Nina habitually stretched out her hand to push down the glasses on her face, curled her lips and didn't take it seriously.

"No, no, no." Wayne stretched out a finger, shook it at the assistant, and sighed: "This is a lot of money, and there will always be people who are jealous. Nina, let me tell you, these capitalists are What’s the psychology? In their eyes, it’s not important that they have more money, it’s more important that you don’t have any money.”

"What?"

Maybe it was because of the different angles and positions she was standing in. For a moment, the assistant lady didn't understand the meaning of her boss's words.

"Oh, because you have no money, they can buy your time, labor, your talent, and even your dignity at will."

Wayne can be sure, at least from the perspective of the big bosses behind the scenes at Warner Bros., this is definitely the view. The more capital he has, the more cautious Warner Bros. will have to be in cooperating with him, which is inevitable.

The reason for this emotion is purely because Wayne himself has the same mentality, the same views, and the same rules of conduct. This is basically a capitalist's self-cultivation...

So, don’t think that the shareholders of Warner Bros. are stupid, and there are some discordant voices. Faced with such sky-high income, these shareholders have definitely thought countless times about how to get rid of Wayne, and Warner Bros. alone Controlling the DC series is just something they dare not and cannot do for various reasons.

Just like when Warner Bros. is doing its movie revenue accounts, it has nothing to do with whether Wayne is a shareholder of Warner Bros., or to what extent his relationship with the company is good. From the standpoint of both labor and management, the two sides are naturally at odds. The interests are in conflict.

"There's something strange about it, and I haven't figured it out yet."

Raising his wrist to glance at the time, Wayne took off his suit jacket from the back of the chair and put it on while waving to the assistant to pack his personal belongings and prepare to go home from get off work. "It stands to reason that this is not the final payment deadline for the share. Why is Warner Bros. so proactive this time?"

Putting his director's notebook, pencils, cigarette lighter and other things into his briefcase, Nina stretched out her hands and stood on tiptoe to help him straighten the back collar of his suit jacket.

Hearing Wayne's doubts, she smiled and shrugged, picked up her briefcase and prepared to leave. "I haven't finished yet. Warner Bros. has passed the review of "Lord of the Rings" and has agreed to jointly produce this project with Greenberg Studio."

"Sure enough, I said that Warner Bros. does not run a welfare home..."