Hollywood Road

"Everyone, be quiet."

In the large conference room of Stanton's studio, Murphy stood at the front of the long conference table and clapped his hands vigorously. The people in the conference room who had been arguing before immediately fell silent.

Murphy's eyes swept across the faces of the people sitting on both sides of the conference table. On the left were Phil Raschel, Michelle Williams, Helena Espora, David Robbie, Joe Hey Griffith, Gal Gadot and other behind-the-scenes directors, and on the right are actors such as James Franco, Margot Robbie, Henry Cavill and Jonah Hill. In the seat, Bill Rossis, the agent from CAA who provided the package service, was also seated.

These people form the basic framework of Murphy's new project production and shooting team.

"Last week, 20th Century Fox officially approved the budget for the "Dark City" project." Murphy didn't talk nonsense, and immediately got to the point at the beginning of the meeting, "The film's production budget is 200 million U.S. dollars, and the publicity cost is 100 million U.S. dollars. 30 million US dollars, 20th Century Fox will raise through pre-sales, advertisements and financing means. It has been transferred to the account of the guarantor."

The rest of the people are basically listening, and they can communicate with Murphy later if they have any questions.

The preparatory work for the project "City of Darkness" started after the Oscar awards ceremony. Other aspects need to be prepared after the crew is established. However, regarding the salaries of everyone present, CAA has already completed the agreement with 20th Century Fox. Negotiations, Murphy, the main member of the team, once again signed a contract with 20th Century Fox.

In terms of salary, Murphy is still the highest in the entire crew, and now he has the best director of the Oscar, with a basic salary of 20 million US dollars and a 25% share of the film's total revenue. Top pay.

In terms of actors, the highest salary is James Franco’s 12 million US dollars. Henry Cavill’s actor’s salary is not high, and he doesn’t have any works that can be sold except "City of Chaos" .

In general, the total remuneration of the crew of "City of Darkness" will not exceed 35% of the industry's average production cost. This is Murphy's bottom line, otherwise it will affect filming and production costs. production costs.

"Fili, the photography style is similar to "City of Chaos", but on the basis of darkness, it needs to be more realistic. I am still communicating with Kara Firth and 20th Century Fox. If possible, let the two Tenth Century Fox will invest another 20 million to 30 million U.S. dollars so that we can achieve more than 60% of the lens imax, you have to be prepared!"

At the meeting, Murphy simply explained the most basic work issues. Seeing Philip Raschel nodded, he said to Michelle Williams, "Misha, you continue to be the casting director, I want a lot of actors who are good enough to play the gangster type, and a lot of good-looking models, you know my standard."

"I understand." Michelle Williams wrote it down.

Murphy turned to look at Helena Espora, "Helen, I will shoot all the scenes in the film on location. After the script is completed, you will go to New York to investigate and design a preliminary plan."

Helena Espora asks, "New York City Hall agrees to shoot?"

"Basically there is no problem." Murphy glanced at Gal Gadot, "Gal has already communicated, and now there are not many people left to occupy Wall Street, and the heat of the incident has basically dissipated."

"David!" Murphy urged emphatically, "Prepare skilled and adequate hard lighting facilities."

"No problem." David Robbie nodded.

Murphy saw Josh Griffel, who hadn't participated in "Diego Rose" because of family reasons, and said, "Study more about Michael Mann's "Heavy Wire\

,"That clip of the old school shootout. "

"A realistic shootout?" Josh Griffith thought for a moment and said, "I see."

Then, Murphy turned to the row of actors and said, "Henry, you are getting fatter now."

Henry Cavill smiled embarrassedly, "I've eaten a lot of barbecue recently."

"The crew will hire professional fitness and fighting coaches for you." Murphy said directly, "By the end of July at the latest, restore your figure from the last filming."

"I'll do it." Henry Cavill promised.

Then, Murphy said to Margot Robbie, "The character script has been given to you. The psychological changes of the characters must be expressed in place. This is the aspect you need to focus on preparing."

Margot Robbie smiled slightly, "I have no problem."

Afterwards, Murphy's eyes fell on James Franco, "In some ways, this film is a bit similar to the type of two-hero confrontation in "Heavy Wire", where your villain is directly related to As for the final effect of the film, if you have time, you can watch Alex in "A Clockwork Orange", um...some of the character traits of the rock star Sid Vicious can also be used for reference."

James Franco was not polite to Murphy either, and said, "If you have any questions, I will communicate with you."

"In addition, let me emphasize one point." Murphy said to everyone, "Even if 20th Century Fox does not invest in a large number of imax shots, I will shoot all the action scenes in this film with imax cameras. Make relevant preparations."

In the current plan, Murphy intends to use imax to shoot 4 sets of main action scenes in the film, as well as many static dramatic moments, so that even without 3D effects, the audience's visual system can definitely be enjoyed at the highest end.

After explaining this, Murphy said, "The film will be co-produced by Kara Firth and Gale from Fox, and Gale will be in charge of the daily affairs of the crew."

Murphy looked at Bill Rossis opposite, "Bill, you have seen the script and character settings. There are no suitable actors for those roles. You draw up a suitable list and give it to Gail and Misha."

He then said to Gal Gadot and Michelle Williams, "The specific auditions are up to you."

As the meeting drew to a close, Murphy thought of another thing, "Weta Studios will be responsible for the special effects of the film."

This is something that has been determined long ago. Since he took Weta Studio, the two parties have kept in touch.

The special effects of "City of Darkness" are different from "City of Chaos". Murphy has more ideas for this film, so he is not going to use green screen shooting, but to shoot in real scenes as much as possible, and some pursuits are not easy to achieve. The car and explosion scenes were also shot on scaled-down models.

There is no doubt that Industrial Light and Magic and Weta Studios are the two best options, but the former is more expensive, and Murphy intends to use the latter.

At the end of the crew preparatory meeting, Murphy finally said, "The crew will start formal preparations from now on."

It is already mid-March, and the film will be released in time for the summer vacation in early May next year, so there is not much time to waste.

"We have five months of preparation time, three months of shooting time and four months of post-production time." Murphy emphasized, "by mid-April next year at the latest, this film must complete all production !"

"Is there any problem now?" Murphy asked, seeing that no one responded, he said, "I'm here today, if you have any questions, please communicate with me in time."

With the official establishment of the "Dark City" project, a series of preparatory work has been launched one after another.

Although Twentieth Century Fox has already provided a third-party guarantee company with an initial start-up capital of 40 million U.S. dollars, this part of the money is a lot more than a little bit. For such a huge film, it will soon At the bottom, Murphy has always been in touch with Kara Firth, urging 20th Century Fox to raise the remaining funds as soon as possible, and to pass his plan to shoot with IMAX cameras as much as possible.

For a film with such a dark tone, Murphy would never use 3D technology, and imax would be more beneficial to the film.

On the third day after the project preparatory meeting, 20th Century Fox brought a series of advertisers involved in the film, including manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and Hewlett-Packard, as well as Internet companies such as Twitter, who may become sponsors of the film.

Specifically, we have to wait for the negotiations between 20th Century Fox and them.

In addition, the overseas pre-sale of the film has also started. Distributors in many regions, including Europe and Latin America, have also sent relevant negotiators to Los Angeles to prepare for pre-sale negotiations with 20th Century Fox.

These are all important sources of funding for the film. Even a company like Twentieth Century Fox, with a total investment of more than 300 million US dollars, will overwhelm them, and once the film fails, it may even cause the entire capital chain to break .

Murphy also cooperated with 20th Century Fox and met these people. Although these overseas manufacturers basically come from small markets that 20th Century Fox cannot touch, they are not fools. They will not easily take out without sufficient guarantee or approval. A stroke of real money.

The guarantee of the insurance company and the reputation of Twentieth Century Fox are one aspect, and the appeal that Murphy has built up through these years of hard work is the other aspect of their reason for prepaying a large amount of expenses.

Through advertising sponsorship and pre-sale funds, 20th Century Fox plans to solve the financial pressure of 40 million to 50 million US dollars, and the rest will be financed by financial institutions in addition to its own funding. Hollywood has a mature operating mechanism in this regard. Murphy needn't have worried.

Moreover, he also reached an agreement with 20th Century Fox, and will bring at least 50 million US dollars into the group, which means that Stanton Studio will occupy a quarter of the film's production cost and enjoy the same proportion of revenue sharing. (To be continued..) u For more exciting novels, welcome to visit our Reading Academy