Made in Hollywood

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Burbank is known as the media capital of the world, and the conjoined building of the Warner Group is an important part of it, and one of Hollywood's traditional giants, Warner Bros. Pictures, is located in the middle.

Like other Hollywood companies, Warner Bros. produces a large number of movies every year, and it also has the same strict censorship system. For each project to be approved for production, a professional group will analyze and review the script, determine potential risks and market commercial value. , these considerations include factual elements such as the genre of the film, the target audience, the performance of previous similar films, the actors that may appear in the film, and the director who may direct the film.

These factors may affect the final performance of the film in terms of commercial revenue.

Perhaps this does not guarantee the success of the film, but it can minimize the risk of investment.

After this series of procedures, Duke's "Brave to the Dead Island" was finally placed at the high-level meeting of Warner Bros.

The conference room was very quiet. Jeff Robinoff was asking his secretary to distribute documents to many executives, including CEO Kevin Trasuha. This was carefully prepared by the preliminary research team. material.

Even now, as long as he remembers that he once passed by a movie project with a box office of over 100 million in North America, he will feel a touch of remorse in his heart. If he could have given the young man ten more minutes, maybe " The project "Speed ​​of Life" belongs to Warner.

So, when Nancy Josephson delivered "Brave Island" to Warner Bros., Jeff Robinoff was also pushing the review process, and at the same time asked his subordinates to investigate Duke Rosenberg's most detailed information.

The information was quickly posted, and someone had already opened it. The first page was the director's evaluation.

In Hollywood, there is a procedural or even rigid evaluation system for directors and actors.

The criteria for evaluating directors are 3 data of works in the past five years - total box office and single screen, single week box office - film companies generally use color to distinguish director grades, blue for first-line directors, and red for less good directors. .

Therefore, it doesn't matter how much box office a director has in the first 10 years. Just watch the last 3 films. As long as a single screen exceeds 10,000 in a single week, he is a first-line director.

Obviously, Duke, who has only one work, is not in this ranks, and Warner Bros. marked his name in green, which represents great potential.

In general, Hollywood is no different from other commercial companies in North America, and everything is based on data and business achievements.

"There is one more piece of information that has not been included in the documentation." Jeff Robinoff said slowly, "My people found out that Nancy Josephson delivered "Brave to the Dead Island" to major production companies Not long after that, Duke Rosenberg filed two brief scripts for a sci-fi film code-named "DAY" and a war film code-named "D-Day" at the Screenwriters Guild. Although these can't explain anything, I think we should probably Put him in Quentin Tastino or Stephen Soderbergh as the most promising director."

"Let me remind you." Executive Vice President Robert Solomon said suddenly, "Twentieth Century Fox has already started negotiations with Duke Rosenberg."

"I have definite news." Jeff Robinoff said calmly without looking at Robert Solomon at all, "The negotiations between Duke Rosenberg and Twentieth Century Fox have reached an impasse, and we intervened. good chance."

"Don't forget, he has only one work!" said the man beside Robert Solomon.

"This only work has a North American box office of 130 million US dollars!" Another person suddenly said, "The global box office exceeds 200 million US dollars! How many directors can you find in Hollywood today?"

Nothing is more convincing when there is no data and business results just created.

"Our "Batman Returns" has just been released, and it will take time to return the funds." Robert Solomon did not talk about the director himself. The results of "Speed ​​of Life" and the script of "Brave Island" are really good, and these cannot be objections. There are good reasons for it, "The huge investment of "Desperados" and "Crazy Dragon" have not been completed, and we lack sufficient cash flow in our hands."

"I heard about a situation." Jeff Romanoff raised his lips slightly, "Duke Rosenberg wants to bring funds to participate in his film, which can solve part of our funding problem. In addition, Malibu The AUG Film Fund is also said to be interested in the project and we can raise funds from them.”

"And I have another idea," he added. "Warner Bros. lacks a director who works closely with each other. If this movie is as successful as 'Life and Death,' then Duke Rosenberg's commercial potential is immeasurable. , his next two works will inevitably become popular, we can sign a 1+2 contract with him, "Brave to the Dead Island" is a success, we have the priority investment right of his last two works, if the market is not ideal , then we give him up."

At the same time that Warner Bros. held a meeting, Nancy Josephson walked into Duke's apartment. The news that the negotiations with 20th Century Fox had reached a deadlock was actually released on purpose. Duke was not an unqualified director after all. , can also attract the attention of some investors.

"I have freshly brewed coffee here."

Leaving Nancy on the sofa in the living room, Duke stepped aside and grabbed the coffee pot, "Want to try it?"

"Thank you." Nancy nodded.

Filling up the coffee for the guests, Duke turned to look at Sofia Coppola, who was flipping through the documents, "How about you?"

"No milk, no sugar." Sophia was also polite, "Thank you."

After the three of them drank half a cup of coffee, Duke sat opposite Nancy and asked directly, "Tell me about the negotiation."

"Twentieth Century Fox takes this project more seriously than we expected." Nancy put down her coffee cup and took up her work attitude, "They agreed that you will be one of the producers, and that you will direct, write and produce for you. The three positions of the filmmaker offered a total salary of 5 million US dollars, and also agreed to your participation in the investment."

"Isn't this a good thing?" Duke asked strangely.

"But they have additional conditions." Nancy's face was not very good-looking, and it was obvious that Fox's conditions made her a little annoyed, "Fox intends to use their tax refund quota on this project, and the tax refund is not included in the film income, that is, we There's no way to share those millions."

Frowning slightly, Duke made a continuing gesture. This condition is not uncommon in Hollywood, and it is certainly not the reason for Nancy's annoyance.

"Fox will discount the cost of publicity and distribution into the cost of the film..."

Announcement expenses are generally not included in the cost of the film. If Fox includes the expenses paid by this part of the distributor into the cost, it will definitely increase their investment ratio, thereby diluting the income of Duke's side.

But it's not over yet, "Fox disagrees with our accountant team being involved in the film's future overseas distribution..."

"What do they want to do?"

Hearing this, Duke asked subconsciously, "Kick us out?"

The cost of overseas publicity is very difficult to grasp the specific number of funds. If there is no dedicated accountant team to participate in the whole process, Twentieth Century Fox will be less than double the amount of the report. After the baptism of the information explosion in the previous life, Duke is very clear. Announcement discounted costs are a special way for Hollywood companies to deal with foreign investors.

Even in the future Internet information age, Hollywood is notoriously opaque in auditing, defrauding the interests of foreign investors by concealing income, delaying payments, exaggerating costs, and hindering auditing.

Yes, 20th Century Fox will not necessarily do this on this project, maybe they think too much, but no one can pin this kind of thing on the conscience of capital.

You know, Hollywood even dares to deceive Wall Street's funds!

Nancy's words also reminded Duke of another Hollywood-related news he had read, the most famous being Paramount's 'Melrose Platter Project', which included Merrill Lynch, Allianz, and JPMorgan Chase. When the investment of Wall Street giants was fooled by Paramount through many means, the two sides even went to court for this. However, due to the complicated income of the film industry and the inability to accurately calculate the income of overseas publicity, the lawsuit continued for six years. Wall Street couldn't get the results it wanted.

This group of people who dare to deceive even vampires can expect them to have a conscience?

If his accountant team does not supervise the whole process, Duke absolutely believes that after the project ends, the accounts of 20th Century Fox will inevitably lose money!

But Duke also found it strange that Hollywood often uses this trick to deal with foreign investors, but rarely targets the industry, especially Fox's negotiating object is a senior industry insider like Nancy.

"Fox didn't want to kick you out, don't forget, you didn't sign any agreement with them." Nancy quickly cleared his doubts for him, "Fox is optimistic about the profit prospects of this project, and they don't want you to join the pie. in the ranks.”

"So, they increased my personal compensation." Duke understood immediately, "and then made me quit in this way?"

"That's how it should be."

Seeing Nancy nodding, Duke thought about it and asked, "Where's Townsend Rothman? What did he say?"

"These are the terms Townsend Rothman himself told me."

Nancy's words also shattered Duke's remaining illusions about 20th Century Fox. After thinking about it from a different angle, he immediately realized that Townsend Rothman admired him and supported "Speed ​​of Life", because it was in line with his relationship with him. Fox's interests demanded, and when he wanted to touch their interests, Townsend Rothman immediately took the opposite side.

"They're not worried about me giving up?" Duke asked again.

"Why should you worry? No other company has reported that they want to set up a project, and they have no competitors for the time being." Nancy looked at Duke and said lightly, "Don't forget, you are not a first-line director, and they are 20 Century Fox!"