Made in Hollywood

In mid-February, Duke assembled his post-production team, and hired the editor Mike Dawson, who was working with him for the third time in a row, to officially start the post-production of "Independence Day". It won't be completed until early June, and Duke has set out a full four-month plan for the later stages of the film.

In fact, if there is no tedious computer CGI special effects synthesis, Duke is confident that all post-production work will be completed in May. Unfortunately, the special effects cannot save time and effort. The special effects team of ILM started special effects production in October last year. After completing the special effects scenes in the Super Bowl commercials, other special effects pictures are the prototype.

All the air combat scenes in the film required special effects synthesis, and Duke also needed to edit the actors into the special effects shots, even while filming, the modeling department produced 3978 F-18 fighters, 52278 fragments, and 3931 aliens for the film. With fighter planes, 1549 missiles and 22014 light balls, the CGI special effects shots required by "Independence Day" are still close to 4000, which is a huge project.

Because of the need to cooperate with the special effects department, Duke's post-production work can only be described as turtle speed, and he always has a feeling of being powerful and useless when it comes to special effects production.

Computer special effects are quite tedious and professional work. Duke can put forward his own requirements, and he can also dictate the scenes produced, but to let him go into battle in person is completely beyond the scope of his ability.

In this way, after completing the work every day, Duke also has enough time to exchange the soundtrack with the composer. Originally, according to his idea, he wanted to continue to hire Hans Zimmer as the soundtrack for "Independence Day", but the German was in "The Brave". After "Into the Dead Island", he signed a contract with Walt Disney and served as the soundtrack for "The Lion King".

Without Hans Zimmer, Duke would have no regrets. He found Skywalker sound effects who were good at opera-style soundtracks, and handed over the soundtrack of "Independence Day" to his former partner.

During the post-production, Duke still kept safety in mind, and fire prevention was the top priority. The benefits of cooperating with Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox at the same time were also obvious. Almost no one used unconventional means to cooperate with the "Independence Day" crew. Competition, after all, there are very few people who are impulsive enough to provoke the two giants at the same time, especially the project involves hundreds of millions of dollars of investment. If the means that violate the bottom line are used, they will face the anger of Time Warner and News Corporation.

Compared with so many bad things that happened in "Brave the Dead Island", "Independence Day" from preparation to shooting to today's post-production is relatively smooth.

The reasons are also more complicated.

The first is the cooperation between the two giants, which is enough to escort the film.

Secondly, Duke has fully proved himself in the past two summer seasons, proving that his films have strong competitiveness in the summer seasons, and now he is coming with a huge production cost of 100 million US dollars, making many such as "Forrest Gump". Its competitors voluntarily backed down. Although there are basically heavyweight movies released every weekend in the summer season, it is more cost-effective to touch other films than to touch masterpieces like "Independence Day".

Last but not least, Duke's biggest competitor is now entering a period of turmoil.

Since October last year, rumors have been circulating in Hollywood circles that Michael Ovitz, the helm of CAA, is going to transfer up to 28% of CAA's shares, leaving the brokerage industry that he has worked hard for 20 years, and instead invest in The large media conglomerate accepted an invitation from childhood friend Michael Eisner to be the new CEO of Walt Disney.

Although Michael Ovitz has not officially resigned, CAA inevitably began to turmoil, and many people fought openly and secretly around Ovitz's shares and position. Even with Michael Ovitz's prestige, it is impossible to be so In the face of huge interests, the internal disputes within the company are suppressed.

Perhaps Michael Ovitz also has no intention of suppressing it, and wants to enter a platform far beyond CAA and realize his greater ambitions.

In fact, it is not difficult to see from the choice of Michael Ovitz people to go higher, that CAA, which has been rumored and mythical in the future, is far inferior to the six major Hollywood companies in terms of strength and influence, otherwise Ovitz will not Make one of the most risky and unsuccessful transitions of your career.

When the opportunity arose, both Ron Mayer and Michael Ovitz, the founders of CAA, couldn't wait to jump ship to the film company, which is enough to say a lot.

Duke remembers well, however, that Ron Mayer was relatively successful at Universal, and Michael Ovitz was a total failure at Walt Disney.

Perhaps Michael Ovitz is indeed a super genius and a unique giant in terms of brokers. However, ruthless facts have proved that those who can control CAA may not be able to control a film company. According to the analysis of countless people, Ovitz There is only one reason for failure - lack of ability, or lack of ability to control a behemoth like Disney!

Among them is the reason why Michael Eisner is too strong, but don't forget that when you enter the top level of the power structure of any large company, you will inevitably face complicated personnel struggles. Even if the loser has a thousand reasons, in the end it is question of ability.

In any case, CAA is in trouble now, and the internal giants are fighting for power. According to Duke's analysis, they should have no time to care about him in the past six months.

When Michael Ovitz went to Disney, CAA re-arranged its internal relations, and "Independence Day" has been screened in North America for a while at least. If the film's journey to the theater goes well, then Duke will have it as its capital. , will no longer be the director of the past, and he may step into the ranks of Hollywood's first tier of commercial directors.

At that time, he would be a partner that major companies actively strive for, far from being suppressed by CAA at will.

In fact, in recent months Universal and Walt Disney have not broken their ties with Nancy Josephson, "Independence Day" is no hope of investment, but Duke has another script on file with the Writers Guild .

This is inseparable from the global box office of "Brave to the Dead Island", which is moving step by step towards 400 million US dollars. Whether it is an independent director or a commercial director, in Hollywood, after all, it depends on commercial achievements. If the directed films continue to bring benefits, investment It will never be a problem. If the film directed is just a good deal - such as some Oscar-level directors - it usually takes several years or even longer to win a chance to direct the director.

Despite being one of Hollywood's hottest up-and-coming directors today, Duke has kept his head clear, knowing that Universal and Walt Disney and Nancy are just in touch, watching and waiting. , they are waiting to see the box office results of "Independence Day", as long as the film fails, these people will inevitably turn away, cooperation or something is just a joke.

"There is good news."

After finishing the afternoon's work, Duke had just returned to the office, Sophia, who was looking through the documents, raised her head and said, "Your personal accountant David has just sent a financial report, your second part of your salary on "Independence Day" $2 million has arrived."

This is indeed good news. According to Hollywood practice, the basic remuneration of the cast and crew is paid in three installments. Duke had already received $2 million of the total $5 million in basic remuneration when the film started shooting. Another $2 million will be made upon completion, and the final $1 million will have to wait until the film is released in North America.

"Any more?"

Pulling over a chair, Duke sat across from Sophia's desk, "Has the remaining overseas share of "Brave Island" not arrived yet?"

"The statistics are out." Sophia handed Duke the financial statement directly. "I just called and asked Warner, and the money won't arrive until October at the earliest."

"October?"

Duke sighed, the management of Warner Bros. really picks the time, which forced him to put all his efforts into "Independence Day".

However, this is not beyond the scope of the contract, and Duke can't say anything, and his eyes are on the numbers in the financial statement.

Today, "Brave to the Dead Island" has been downgraded from all overseas markets that have signed a sharing agreement. Except for the box office share of the last settlement, Duke Studio can still receive 2.1 million US dollars from overseas box office, and another income. The bulk of the video and television rights, Duke Studios also shared a total of $500 in revenue.

The revenue share of "Breaking the Dead Island" has come to an end. Duke used an investment of 10 million US dollars to exchange for more than 27 million US dollars of income. Even if it is placed in the whole of Hollywood, the investment income ratio is very high. level up.

Even though only part of the $27 million is his own, it's still a lot more than a mere paycheck.

"Has the rights negotiations progressed?" Duke hasn't forgotten the rights to the film he wants to buy.

"Nancy is still talking." Sophia shook her head, "It's not going well."

Many problems, in fact, are all about the price, but now there is plenty of time, Duke does not want to pay too high a price, and according to the feedback from Nancy and the private detective he hired, there is no competitor now. We talked slowly.

Afterwards, Duke hung up the accountant David and his mother respectively. For the time being, he was not short of money. He planned to repay his mother's $10 million loan first. After all, the loan was seriously overdue, and the interest would have to wait until Warner and Duke's studio were settled. Time for all payments.

Then there is the share of Nancy Josephson, accountants and lawyers, as well as Sofia Coppola's personal assistant salary. Although Duke has inherited the fine tradition of Hollywood, he will never settle with them all at once, but also Paying part of it temporarily, you want people to work, but you don’t want to pay enough, and in the end you only have bad consequences for yourself.

"Mom, do you have a stockbroker you are familiar with?"

Finally, Duke called his mother again. Now that he is an adult, he doesn't have to be like before the age of 21. Whenever a large amount of money is involved, a guardian's signature is required, and he has enough power to control his income. "Yes Yeah, Mom, the dollar is going down, and I just got part of my paycheck to put it in the stock market."

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