Rebirth in America

After Alex decided to make the movie "The Sound of Music", he would be ready to do everything as soon as possible. For example, the funds and personnel for filming, as well as songs and scripts.

Especially the songs. He didn't know when the songs in the original "Sound of Music" were produced. At the beginning, I was a little worried, fearing that something would go wrong in the copycat. When Li Gui met Li Kui, he would be happy.

He knew that long before the movie "The Sound of Music" was made, there was already a musical called "The Sound of Music." The movie is adapted from this musical, and Maria's autobiography only provides the background of the story.

He also thought about directly using songs from later generations, but after searching around, he found that changing any song would destroy the integrity of the movie's story. The songs in the movie "The Sound of Music" are inherently narrative in nature and are closely connected to the story. Once they change, the entire story must change accordingly.

He wanted to rewrite the songs in it, but found that he was not that capable after all. If a lot of the songs in this were replaced, it would be no different than making a new movie. Besides, the shot may not necessarily be better than the original.

When Alex got angry, he simply took over all the original songs and used them. It can't be said that it was moved over intact, but almost everything was copied.

In fact, he was too cautious. In 1954, the musical and movie "The Sound of Music" had not yet been born. Before them, there was a movie also adapted from Maria's book.

Without his history, in 1956, Maria was approached by a German film producer who wanted to buy the rights to the book for $10,000.

Maria asked her lawyer, who told her she should take a cut instead of selling it all at once. However, the German producer told Maria that German law did not allow German companies to pay commissions to foreigners, and at that time, Maria was already an American citizen. Maria believed him, so she sold the rights to the book "The Von Trapp Singers."

The German producer not only deceived her with non-existent laws, but also deceived Maria when she needed money the most. He said that if Maria would accept nine thousand dollars, he could give her the money immediately. Maria had no choice but to agree.

This movie was released in 1956 and was called "Maria's Story - The Von Trapp Family Story". It was so successful that in 1958, a sequel was produced in Germany.

The name of the second movie is "Die Trapp Family in America" ​​(Die Trapp Family in America). These two films became Germany's most successful films after World War II.

In 1956, Hollywood's Paramount Pictures bought the U.S. film rights to "Maria's Story - The Von Trapp Family Story".

A Broadway producer saw the movie and felt that the story could be made into an excellent musical, so he also signed a contract with the German producer, and he took the initiative to ask for a 0.006% commission for Maria. This was something Maria didn't expect and she happily accepted it.

The Broadway producer was Richard Halladay, whose wife was Mary Martin, who first played Maria on Broadway.

They originally planned to use the songs sung by the von Trapps, but wanted to add a solo by Maria, so they found the best actors in the American musical theater industry at the time, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hann. Murstein II.

However, Rodgers and Hammerstein felt that the Austrian folk songs sung by the von Trapps did not fit their style, and they preferred to serve as associate producers and then proceed to write all the songs.

It wasn't until 1959 that "The Sound of Music" musical was performed for the first time in New York. It took several years before it was made into a movie. In other words, as of now in 1954, none of these songs have appeared. Alex worries for nothing.

One effect of using the original songs directly is that people admire Alex's creative talent even more.

Pike said to him more than once: "Alex, I now realize that you are really a genius!"

At this time, Morris would be beside him, touching his nose and saying: "I have long been numb to his amazing actions."

After Bergman and Hepburn slowly learned something, the way they looked at Alex changed. Women always like to be with smart men, even if the man is too young to be their partner. This may be the natural instinct of women to want to be with the smartest and strongest members of the opposite sex.

During the filming, Alex also had to take time out to attend to some company matters. Before he left, he handed over the company to others to take care of it, but there were still some things that he had to make decisions about. Originally, he planned to let Bart or Angel manage it temporarily, but they were also very busy and couldn't spare the time to help.

When he asked Bart, he said: "My current research work is at a critical juncture. Even my meals are eaten in the laboratory. How can I still have time to manage another company? Especially a film company. This This is completely an area I’m not familiar with. You’d better find someone else to help take care of it.”

So he went to find Angel. Before he could finish speaking, Angel interrupted him: "Alex, do you know that the stocks and futures your family invested in have fallen again? I have to keep an eye on the fluctuations of the stock market every day. How can I still have time to take care of the company's affairs?"

"Ah? It fell again? How much did you lose?" Alex was a little surprised. After all, he had advised his parents on which stocks to buy. If he lost his family's money because of what he said, he would be ashamed to death.

Angel immediately said repeatedly: "Bah, bah, bah! Really, with me watching, how could it be possible to lose? It's just that I didn't make as much as I expected. Don't worry, the family's money will not be lost."

"That's good, then I'd better find someone else to help."

At this time, Alex felt that no one under him could help him. Originally, I wanted to find Chuck, but this guy didn't know anything about these things. How could he hand it over with confidence? After thinking about it, I found my good friend Little Richard. As a result, Little Richard was very popular in the music scene at this time, and his records were selling like crazy. He was too embarrassed to ask the other party to delay his career to help him.

In desperation, he could only let the people below hold on for the time being. He only needed to wait until he finished filming the movie before he could come back to deal with the matter.

Alex scratched his head and asked the nanny and director beside him: "Maurice, what are you going to do after you help me shoot this movie?"

Morris shrugged his shoulders and said: "It depends, maybe I will go to Europe to shoot a few independently produced films. The young people in France are really very creative, you should go and take a look. Their talents are not as good as You are poor, you just lack opportunities."

Alex didn't believe it in his heart. He thought to himself: "I am a time traveler with complete memory and future knowledge. How can I be at the same level as those French youths you mentioned? If I were a few years older, maybe one People can knock those people down."

Although he didn't think so, he was still intrigued by Morris' words. He asked, "What powerful people are there over there?"

Morris thought for a while and said: "There are too many powerful young people, but the most powerful ones should be Rivette, Godard, Chabrol, Truffaut and Mière. Their ideas are unconstrained and strange. Wonderful ideas. The filming period was very flexible and there was a lot of humor in it.”

Under Morris's constant persuasion, Alex agreed: "Okay, I will definitely go to France with you if I have the chance. But, haven't you ever thought about managing a film company?"

"Movie company?" Morris was a little surprised. He really had never thought about working in a film company. After all, being an independent producer gave you freedom and you could travel everywhere.

"Yeah, how about letting you take care of my dream factory?" Alex finally revealed his purpose.

"DreamWorks? Didn't you fight for this from Bart? Why did you want someone else to manage it so quickly?"

Morris knew the Carpenters' affairs very well, and he also knew why Bart gave Alex so much freedom. He also believed that DreamWorks was a tool for Alex to try to realize his ideals.

“I found that being too involved in corporate affairs prevented me from realizing my own creative desires.”

Alex's words were completely deceiving. He was actually trying to be lazy. I feel that it is too boring to manage a company by myself. It is best to leave it to someone I trust. In this way, he has more time to do what he wants to do, and he can hang out and play even if he has nothing to do.

After hearing this, Morris felt that this was normal. If a person spent time on the daily work of the company every day, how could he still have time to engage in his own creation. He admired Alex's creative talent very much. He sometimes wondered if Alex was an alien. However, he was relieved when he learned that Alex's IQ was as high as 220. After all, he has an IQ as high as Leonardo da Vinci, so it is natural for him to be so powerful.

"Well, when you have free time when you manage the company, you can also engage in independent film production or something. As long as the annual cost does not exceed 100,000 US dollars, you can do whatever you want." Alex threw out the bait, trying to get the other party to take the bait. .

Originally, he could promote people in the company or find people from outside. However, he believes that the current people in the company are not capable enough, otherwise the company would not be in such a bad state. As for the talents outside, he didn't know much about the film talents of this time period. Many of them were introduced to him by Morris.

The Carpenters and Morris are family friends. They know each other well. They have worked together for such a long time and understand each other's abilities. Morris’s filmmaking talent is indeed unquestionable, UU Reading www.uukanshu． There is also a set of rules for net management. Alex left the film company to him, which was the best choice.

"$100,000 is not enough, at least $500,000 per year is enough." Once Morris makes up his mind, he will state the request directly. He continued: "I also want 5% of DreamWorks shares!"

Alex almost jumped up when he heard that, 5% of the shares, this is a lot. Especially after the release of "The Sound of Music", the box office alone can reach hundreds of millions, not to mention that he will make some high-grossing movies in the future. He wanted to develop DreamWorks into a big company like Paramount.

"5% of the shares are fine, but they will be given to you in the form of options. However, you can't ask for 500,000 US dollars after you take the shares." Alex finally said. Of course, he would not hand over the shares as soon as he came up. He became a big fool.

Morris knew about the stock option system implemented by the Carpenter family company, and it was Alex who suggested Bart do this. They were the first company to engage in options, and they used this method to attract and bind many talented people to work for them. He knew it would be good for the company and himself, so he quickly replied: "Okay! I promise you!"

Alex smiled and said, "Then join DreamWorks as soon as possible. I still have a lot of things waiting for you to deal with here."

With someone like Morris on board, Alex can rest easy. As long as he grasps the general direction of the company's development, Morris will handle the tedious details. In this way, he firmly believes that DreamWorks will be able to stand alongside the other five major film companies in less than 10 years.