Made in Hollywood

Ask for a recommendation! Ask for collection!

After the preview, the people in the theater were quickly divided into two groups. People from Fox’s publicity department took the film critics and media reporters to a nearby hotel, while some people from the distribution department stayed in the theater and took back the feedback survey from the audience. questionnaire.

After the film was completely over, people from the distribution department, including Harry Dunn and other observers, quickly returned to the Fox Building in Century City to sort out and summarize the content of the questionnaire.

For an industry that releases new works every day, it is extremely important to accurately grasp the pulse of the market, and the diversity and variability of the film industry determine that film distribution companies must collect a large amount of data and apply the analysis results to Marketing of the work.

Pre-screening research is not only concerned with the audience's level of interest in the film, but also by analyzing the data to obtain information from different audience groups, so as to formulate targeted publicity plans.

In short, the announcement is definitely not simpler than the production, and it is often much more complicated.

"Mr. Rothman..."

In a huge studio, Dunn was speaking to the head of distribution, Townsend Bousman, about the latest roundup of questionnaires, "This questionnaire is very representative . . . A high-speed bus was hijacked on a high-speed subway. The feeling of tension and excitement never disappeared from the beginning to the end. Although the whole story seems a bit simple, the thrilling action scenes made me very happy to watch, especially a few of them. The explosion scene, I think, completely surpasses the acclaimed explosion scene in Terminator 2."

Sitting on the spacious chair, Townsend Rothman rubbed his chin with one hand, and the audience who had seen it one after another gave it a good review, as well as Dunn's description of some audience members walking backwards to the bathroom in order to try not to miss the film, which further adds to the Greatly he paid attention to the film.

"The statistics are in."

The staff of the statistical questionnaire came over, Rosman raised his head slightly, and the data would not lie.

"We distributed 265 audience questionnaires and returned 263."

The staff member said as concisely as possible, "There are 205 A+, 44 A, 7 B+, and 7 below C+..."

The studio quieted down in an instant, which can be said to have a high audience reputation. Twentieth Century Fox obviously wants to give more confidence in "Speed ​​of Life".

At the same time, in the banquet hall of the Four Seasons Hotel, Duke is socializing with professional film critics under the introduction of Robin Grande, although there are no familiar ones, even 90% of the names have never been heard of. , but when it's time to laugh, Duke will never be stingy with his smile.

After all, he has no capital now, and "Speed ​​of Life and Death" also needs this group of parasites in the film industry to cheer.

As for the evaluation of "Speed ​​of Life" in the conversation of this group of people, Duke didn't care at all. Since they came to this party, they would definitely accept the gifts from Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox. Whether it is good or bad, we must try our best to arouse the audience's curiosity about "Speed ​​of Life and Death".

Taking money to do things is the most basic rule, whether it is a filmmaker or a film critic.

Everyone knows that film critics are only 'relatively' impartial, and 'relatively' can be interpreted in many ways.

Let’s just say this time, excluding the round-trip travel expenses and the accommodation and catering expenses at the Four Seasons Hotel, 20th Century Fox also prepared corresponding gifts or checks according to the different positions of film critics in the industry, even the least well-known among them. , and a souvenir worth nearly five hundred dollars, Fox budgeted more than $50,000 for the group in total.

Similarly, the film reviews written by these people must be sent to Fox's publicity department for review before they are published. If they express criticism without Fox's consent, they will be banned by Fox and will not be enjoyed for a long time. Free admission to movies owned by Fox and its partners.

This is the default rule of the film critics and the film industry, no one will break it at will, and the distributor will not let them issue that kind of disgusting praise, even criticism is acceptable, but the premise is that the criticized film review must be able to arouse the audience. interest in films.

For example, in "Speed ​​of Life and Death", if the other party writes that "except for countless explosions, fights, and car chases, the film is useless", then Fox will accept it, because mainstream audiences like these, and film critics also directly write the film's selling point, which will definitely attract audience.

These are not secrets in the Hollywood circle at all. Since the establishment of the world's first film critics association, the New York Film Critics Association in the 1930s, the relationship between Hollywood and the film critics has been both cooperative and antagonistic. The film industry needs film critics. Waving the flag and shouting, film critics also need to lie down and suck blood on the bigger and better film industry.

There is even a special title for this kind of film critic's screening venue - Junket. Whore, which means free travel prostitutes. Prostitutes.

Those who came to participate in the preview of "Speed ​​of Life" can only be said to be cabinet girls or senior candidates in the red light district. The budget offered by 20th Century Fox simply cannot attract those senior socialists looking back.

As for who is a high-level communicator, it is naturally the top group of film critics in North America, such as Richard Criss of Time, Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times, and Todd of The Hollywood Reporter · McCarthy, and the famous Roger Albert and so on.

They are far more impartial than the film critics who are here today, but behind their impartiality there are also a lot of deals. Let alone Roger Albert, he and Siskel hosted the "Roger Albert" Watching Movies with Siskel" is one of the most highly commercial commentary shows in North America, and it's not hard to guess what kind of changes the commentary will bring.

Even a film critic of Roger Ebert's level will participate in Junket. Whore, and they are all the top ones.

For example, Roger Ebert once gave a thumbs up to last year's "Terminator 2". Everyone knows that James Cameron's film definitely deserves such an evaluation, but how many people know that as a distributor The PR behind 20th Century Fox?

According to Duke, Roger Ebert, who came to Los Angeles during the "Terminator 2" preview week, asked to play golf at a top private club in Malibu every day, and 20th Century Fox would of course meet him. As for whether the two parties have any other inside information in private, it is not something that Duke's position can know.

As someone who has experienced the Internet age, Duke naturally understands how to deal with professional film critics. They can neither be underestimated nor overemphasized. They are just tools for him to borrow on the way forward!

After entertaining the film critics, Duke went to another venue to be interviewed by media reporters together with other actors.

Like film critics, 20th Century Fox only invited reporters from middle and low-level media, except for its own media, and their eyes were also focused on Keanu Reeves and Uzbekistan, the most famous actors and crew members. In Ma Thurman, Duke, a director, is basically uninterested. Even Naomi Watts, relying on her outstanding appearance and the support of her agent, has gained far more attention than Duke.

This is also related to the promotion strategy of 20th Century Fox. The directors in the early 1990s were still standing behind the scenes. Unless they were already well-known directors, it would be difficult to attract the attention of fans and the media. unfolds with the actor.

When a reporter asked, Duke also said a few words, most of which were clichés such as "confidence in the film" and "the hero and heroine are very good".

If the media reports after the interview can make the film a big hit, Duke said it doesn't matter if he is rude, but for him now, even boasting the film to the sky won't help.

After tossing for most of the day, it was approaching the evening. The preview finally came to an end. Duke left the venue, entered the lounge next to him, packed his things, and when he was about to leave, he saw Naomi Watts in the Accompanied by a woman in her thirties, she also entered the lounge.

"Hi, Duke," she greeted proactively.

Her face was a little ugly, as if she had encountered some kind of difficulty, and she was still struggling.

"Hi Nami." Duke smiled back.

Although the other person in his memory has climbed to the front line of Hollywood, Duke has grown up in a circle that intersects with Hollywood since he was a child. I don't know how many future stars I have seen, and they have long been accustomed to it.

In his impression, Naomi Watts is like many young women who come to Hollywood to find their dreams, with some dreams, some scheming, some means, some appearance, some acting skills, and of course some luck, at least more than him Much better luck in memory.

"Why don't you introduce me, Nami?"

The woman following her suddenly spoke up, and Naomi Watts reacted immediately and took her to Duke, "Nancy, this is Duke Rosenberg, the director of the film."

"Duke, this is Nancy, Nancy Josephson, my agent."

"Josephson?"

Repeating it in his mind, Duke frowned slightly, as if he had heard this surname somewhere.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Josephson." He reached out his hand, and the other person shook it. "Just call me Nancy. Can I call you Duke? Thank you."

The two sides simply said a few polite words. After receiving a call, Nancy Josephson whispered something to Naomi Watts and left the lounge first.

"Nancy is from ICM, an international innovation management brokerage."

Naomi Watts was very attentive and explained a few words, "She is the daughter of Marvin Josephson, the founder of ICM."