Hollywood starts with a broker

Aaron and Sophie Marceau stayed at the Sundance Film Festival for a few days before heading back to New York;

As a platform for independent films, the Sundance Film Festival, with its large number of works, rarely had any films that caught Aaron's eye.

For other independent distributors, Dawn's business heavily emphasized production, while other independent distributors mainly focused on distribution.

Buying some finished films for self-distribution, instead of funding the filming themselves, resulted in limited income, unlike Dawn, which started with production!

Long Island, in a villa in East Hampton.

Aaron sat on the sofa, talking on the phone with Jessica Parker, "'Sleepless in Seattle', 'Indecent Proposal', 'Schindler's List' can all be used as collateral to get a bank loan!"

Jessica Parker was the company's financial officer, and she was experienced in these matters.

After all, Aaron had just transferred another $3 million to his agent to buy shares in America Online, leaving Dawn with only $5 million in liquid funds after fixed expenses.

"Understood," after all, Dawn had a loan to repay soon, and $5 million wasn't enough.

The copyrights of these three films could secure a loan of at least $50 million, and 'Sleepless in Seattle' alone attracted a lot of attention, with banks and investment institutions willing to pay.

Last year's 'Ghost' had startled everyone!

After hanging up the phone, Aaron leaned back on the sofa and pinched his forehead, still holding 600,000 shares of Microsoft stock, which could be mortgaged at any time.

When the time came, the distribution of 'Indecent Proposal' and 'Scent of a Woman' would require cash investment, and new films such as 'Speed' would also need to be developed.

As the Golden Globe Awards were held in Los Angeles, Kathy Bates from Dawn's film 'Ghost' won Best Supporting Actress.

Jodie Foster won Best Actress in a Drama for 'The Silence of the Lambs!'

However, Aaron's attention to the Golden Globes was still low, after all, another project, 'Scent of a Woman', had officially started filming.

At the opening banquet of 'Scent of a Woman' at the Pierre Hotel in New York, Aaron unexpectedly ran into Mike Medavoy, the head of TriStar Pictures.

Because TriStar Pictures was the distributor of 'Sleepless in Seattle', and they had sold the script to Dawn Pictures, the two parties had already agreed that TriStar Pictures would collect a 12% box office distribution commission.

"Mr. Medavoy, welcome!"

Aaron really didn't know he would come.

Mike Medavoy smiled, "Congratulations, you have another movie starting production."

Aaron shook his head, "TriStar Pictures' 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' released last year grossed $510 million worldwide, and over $200 million in the North American market!"

"Heh, but 'Ghost' surpassed 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' with $220 million in North America;"

"And reached $500 million in global box office!"

Aaron's mouth twitched, wasn't 'Ghost' distributed by Columbia?

Wasn't it all distributed by Sony!

Mike Medavoy sighed, the investment and production companies for 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' and 'Ghost' were Carolco and Dawn respectively.

Sony indeed made money from distribution, but didn't participate in the investment, which was somewhat unsatisfactory.

However, Mike Medavoy was also satisfied. This year, Dawn's 'Sleepless in Seattle' and Carolco's 'Basic Instinct' were being released, hoping to achieve further glory!

"I came to you because a star wants to collaborate with you on a movie about 'Zorro!'"

Johnston McCulley's novel 'Zorro' created a masked hero who robbed the rich to help the poor.

"A movie about 'Zorro'?" Aaron frowned, "Do you have a script yet?"

Mike Medavoy shook his head, "It's just an idea. I want you to develop it. The movie will be a co-production between Dawn and TriStar."

"Dawn Pictures will be responsible for North American distribution, and TriStar Pictures will be responsible for international distribution!"

Aaron looked at him, could this be the prelude to the future 'The Mask of Zorro'?

"Well, you don't need to answer so quickly, after all, it's just an idea. I originally planned to have Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment develop it;"

"But I feel like you're more suitable!"

Aaron nodded, "Okay, let me think about the script first."

Anyway, last year, Aaron met Catherine Zeta-Jones in London and thought of 'The Mask of Zorro' at the time.

Now, Aaron can indeed develop it in advance.

Mike Medavoy's collaboration with Aaron Anderson was also for his own benefit. For films like 'Ghost', 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day', and this year's 'Basic Instinct' and 'Sleepless in Seattle', Sony was only responsible for distribution, and Dawn and Carolco funded the filming themselves, so Sony's investment was small.

Without exception, take a look!

And for 'Hook', which Spielberg collaborated on last year, TriStar spent $70 million on filming costs, not to mention having to divide 40% of the film's revenue among several main creators, so the input-output ratio was not cost-effective.

'Hook', which was released at the end of last year, currently has a North American box office of $90 million, and the word-of-mouth can only be said to be passable.

According to predictions, 'Hook' will definitely be profitable in the end, but the filming cost plus publicity expenses meant that TriStar Pictures' investment was too large, and the final income from the film was completely incomparable to the several main creators.

After Mike Medavoy left, Aaron didn't care why he was looking for him to cooperate, but Aaron was really interested in the 'Zorro' project.

Anyway, with TriStar Pictures backing him up, Aaron didn't have to worry about insufficient funds!

Aaron took a sip of wine and called his assistant Aislinn Beckett, "By the way, notify Winona Ryder on the set of 'Bram Stoker's Dracula';"

"The scenes for 'Scent of a Woman' in Manhattan, New York, will be filmed first. Next month, she and Al Pacino will be filming the tango scene, so let her prepare in advance!"

Aislinn Beckett nodded, indicating that she understood, "The 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' crew seems to be filming on location in France and will return to the UK at the end of the month."

"Is there anything wrong with Spielberg's 'Schindler's List' crew?"

Aaron asked again.

"There are no changes. The total budget of the film has increased to $22 million, which is enough for Spielberg to complete the film;"

"Moreover, Spielberg is now preparing Universal's blockbuster 'Jurassic Park', so 'Schindler's List' will not be delayed!"

After all, one is a black-and-white art film that everyone is not optimistic about, 'Schindler's List', and the other is a blockbuster adapted from a best-selling science fiction novel that everyone is looking forward to, 'Jurassic Park'.