Chapter 40: Former British agent

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"The new work is still a hot and exciting action movie. As for the specific content? You have to wait for the movie to go to the theater to watch it yourself."
In the face of many reporters, Duke still had a calm expression and answered their questions in the most appropriate way, "Why choose Warner Bros.? Because Warner Bros. is my favorite film company. They have a long history and mature. The concept and rigorous system are the partners that every film director dreams of..."
This is the signing ceremony between Duke and Warner Bros. It is completely different from the situation of "Life and Death". Warner held a press conference for this purpose. More than 50 reporters were present, named Duke Rosenberg. , Is no stranger to these reporters who specialize in running entertainment.
Of course, this is to promote the movie!
Since the initialing of the agreement by Duke, Warner Bros.’s propaganda work has taken the lead. Warner Group’s newspapers and magazines have successively appeared in news about "Break in Death Island", and many national tabloids also It has been hyped that Keanu Reeves will continue to play the role of the film’s male protagonist, and the heroine has locked in candidates such as Julia Roberts and Judy Foster...
As long as those who are concerned about entertainment and movies can notice that a movie called "Courage to Death Island" is about to start shooting, the purpose of early publicity is achieved.
As for the protagonist and heroine of the film, they must have nothing to do with the people hyped by the media. Besides, there is no heroine in this film.
"How does it feel to be followed by the media?"
Just walking into the back lounge, Duke heard Sophia’s iconic voice, shrugged, and said, "I would rather sit behind the monitor..."
The preparations for the crew have already begun. Duke did not stay in the hotel where the signing ceremony was held for too long and rushed directly to Warner Bros. headquarters.
Today is more for publicity, and the formal contract was actually signed yesterday.
As Duke hoped, he got one-fifth of the film’s investment of 10 million U.S. dollars, and served as director, screenwriter, and executive producer. The total personal salary was 3.5 million U.S. dollars. Sophia Coppola, Zach Schneider, Mike Dawson, Robin Grand and John Schwarzman, who also passed the relevant assessments of Warner Bros., will serve as assistant director, first deputy director, editor, and second system respectively. Film manager and director of photography.
These are actually the first things to be finalized in the negotiation. After all, their personal abilities are not a problem, and the longest time-consuming negotiation is naturally the investment income of Duke's Duke Studio.
The film mainly has three-party investment, Warner Bros. Financing, Duke Studios and Malibu’s aug film fund. In addition, there are some small investors. In order to ensure that it can be completed and released, Warner Bros. also insures the American International Assurance Company and introduces them as the film. The third party completion guarantee.
Frankly speaking, Duke does not like to introduce third parties, because many things need to be reviewed by the other party when shooting, but this is the most common film production system in Hollywood, which cannot be confronted by individuals.
The investment structure of Hollywood movies is very complicated and often involves pre-sales. If there is no third-party insurance company as a guarantee, investors including overseas distributors for prepaid expenses, why should they believe that the film can be released? If the film is abandoned halfway, Isn't their investment in vain?
Such examples are by no means rare, so the third-party insurance system came into being.
Investors and prepayers will not directly hand over the funds to the film company or the film crew, but are supervised by a third-party insurance company. Each expenditure of the film crew will be strictly reviewed. If the project ends up incomplete, it will be the third party’s The guarantee company must find a way to complete the project or pay for the related losses.
In short, this is a very complex and complete system and an important guarantee for the normal operation of the Hollywood film system.
Even so, in the past, present and future, it is not uncommon for Hollywood production companies to cheat investors' funds with the crew.
For the director, it would not be particularly comfortable to have a third-party review card on it, but let alone the current Duke, even Spielberg and James Cameron in the future will also be involved in this Operate your own movies under the system.
According to Duke’s information, there are more than a dozen small investors who invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in "Break in Death Island". This can also reflect from the side that after the success of "Life and Death", the investment market has As a director, he still has some confidence.
As for how Warner Bros. divides it with them, that's a trade secret, and Duke doesn't care. He only needs to pay attention to the benefits he can get.
The Duke’s studio occupies one-fifth of the film’s investment and deserves to enjoy one-fifth of the film’s revenue share. From the surface of the signed sharing agreement, this is true.
One-fifth of the film’s global box office net proceeds and one-fifth of the cost of TV and video tape copyright transfers. This is the income that the Duke’s studio can obtain. As Nancy said, these are all short-term income. The contract stipulates that Warner Bros. must pay in the next six months of the film.
After the film, the TV and video sales rake, as well as other peripheral income, has nothing to do with the Duke Studio.
In addition, once the share is received, the Duke Studio must automatically give up the corresponding copyright brought by the investment, and Warner Bros. will own the complete copyright of the film including the sequel copyright.
Foreign investors do not obtain copyright. This is Hollywood’s default rule. Of course Duke can oppose it, but this touches the bottom line of Warner Bros. Not only Warner Bros., but Hollywood’s second and third-tier film companies will not let pure investors. Share the copyright of the video.
You should know that for some movies, watching the box office or peripheral income at that time was completely losing money, but as long as the copyright is in hand, the film company can obtain long-term income. After Star Wars, the most significant change in Hollywood is that the income of the movie The reliance on the box office has been drastically reduced, and the income brought by related copyrights has increased significantly, and the trend of increase in recent years has been increasing.
The traditional six or seven giants are Hollywood giants not only because they have complete distribution channels, but also because they own thousands of film copyrights.
Copyright can be shared among the six major companies, even with second-tier film companies, but the newly established Duke’s studio is fine.
Duke originally didn't intend to put a foot in the copyright. What he wanted was the box office and the sharing of TV and video tape copyright. If the film can get the expected revenue, this is enough for the Duke's studio to make a beautiful account.
Of course, Duke will not overestimate the credibility of Warner Bros. Naturally, in the agreement, the accountant team he hired is naturally involved in the preparation, shooting, production, publicity and payment of the film.
In fact, it is not easy to grab this piece of income from Warner. Not only did Duke take the initiative to compress his salary, he also signed a 1+2 agreement with Warner, which means that Warner Bros. owns his last two films. Priority investment and distribution rights.
When he arrived at Warner Bros., Duke went straight to a large conference room, where the current crew initialing the agreement was temporarily concentrated here and discussing the next work.
The film’s producer is Jeff Robinoff himself, the first production manager is Charles Rowan, a representative of Warner Bros., the second production manager is Robin Grand, plus the director Duke He is also the executive producer and the financial supervisor assigned by the insurance company to the crew, which constitutes the first floor of the crew of "Break into the Dead Island".
The meeting is between them. After listening to a bunch of dizzy figures from a third-party representative, they need to determine the art direction, sound design, sound effect guidance, Key positions such as action coaching, fireworks and explosions.
Unlike "Life and Death", which was completely decided by George Lucas, Duke needed to participate in the whole process and had to find people whose ideas were similar to him, especially the fireworks explosion. The team skills last time were really average.
Once a good player in this area, he naturally knows the names of the top teams in Hollywood, but unfortunately most of them still don't know where they are, and there is no related name on the list.
"The pyrotechnics team first put it aside." Duke suggested, "I need a top pyrotechnician, and I want to talk to the applicant personally."
Others have no opinion. Every job selection requires a process.
"Do you have any suitable audition recommendations for actors for several main roles?"
The topic turned to the other side. As the production manager, Charles Rowan first said, "Tom Cruise is very interested in Goosby, but his agent requested that this role must be modified..."
He looked up at the crowd, "Well, even though he has a box office appeal, it's better to exclude him."
"Let me suggest some candidates for audition."
A gesture to Sofia, Duke asked her to send the information prepared in advance to everyone, "Stanley Gusby, I propose Nicholas Cage, General Hanmer, I think Ed Harris fits my mind well. Image."
Nicholas Cage and Ed Harris have both worked hard in Hollywood for many years, starring in many films, and there is definitely no problem with acting, and Duke is not worried about this.
He did not say about another candidate. After the project was approved, Nancy proposed to let Naomi Watts play Gusby's fiancée. For this irrelevant role of the vase, the choice of actors is not important, and Duke has no objection to this.
"You forgot an important role..." Robin Grand looked at Duke, "John Mason's candidate."
"Former British agent." Duke spread his hands and said, looking at the people who were laughing, "Is there a more suitable candidate?"
"Sean Connery, no one is more suitable than him!"
"But Sean Connery is grumpy, impulsive, and addicted to alcohol and drugs. It is notoriously difficult to deal with!" Some people worry.
"Let's get in touch first." Charles Rowan said, "After the meeting, I will send an official invitation to caa."
caa?
Duke found out that he had overlooked a problem. Sean Connery was not only a contracted actor of caa, but also the most qualified one! (My novel "Hollywood Production" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be a 100% lucky draw gift for everyone! Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign at the top right "add friend", search Pay attention to the official account "qdread", hurry up!)