Chapter 18: Free traveler

Seeking recommendation! Seeking collection!
After the trial screening, the people in the theater were quickly divided into two groups. People from the Fox publicity department rushed to the nearby hotel with film critics and media reporters. Some people from the distribution department stayed in the theater to collect feedback from the audience. Questionnaire.
After the film was completely over, the distribution department, including Harry Dunn and other observers, quickly returned to the Fox Tower in Century City to sort out the contents of the questionnaire.
For an industry that launches new works every day, it is extremely important to accurately grasp the pulse of the market. Moreover, the diversity and variability of the film industry determines that film distribution companies must collect a large amount of data and apply the analysis results to The works are in marketing.
Pre-screening research not only cares about the audience's level of interest in the film, but also analyzes the data to obtain feedback from different audience groups to formulate targeted publicity plans.
In short, publicity is definitely not simpler than production, and it is often much more complicated.
"Mr. Rothman..."
In a huge studio, Dunn is talking to Townsend Bowsman, the director of the distribution department, about the latest questionnaire summary,
This questionnaire is very representative... I’m like taking a high-altitude elevator. I took a high-speed bus and was hijacked on a high-speed subway. The excitement never disappeared from beginning to end. Although the whole story seems a bit simple, the thrilling action scenes made me feel refreshed, especially among them. A few explosion scenes, I think they completely surpassed the praised explosion scenes of "Terminator 2"."
Sitting on a spacious chair, Townsend Rothman rubbed his chin with one hand. The audience who watched him praised him in succession, as well as Dunn’s description of some audiences walking backwards to the bathroom in order not to miss the film. He attached great importance to this film.
"The statistics are out."
The staff of the statistical questionnaire came over, and Rothman raised his head slightly. The data will not lie. After all, the audience's reputation in this trial screening still depends on the data.
"We distributed 265 audience questionnaires and received 263."
The staff member tried to use concise words as much as possible, "There are 205 sheets evaluated as a+, 44 sheets for a, 7 sheets for b+7, 7 sheets below c+..."
The studio quieted down in an instant. This can be said to be a super high reputation. Twentieth Century Fox obviously wants to give more confidence in "Life and Death".
At the same time, in the banquet hall of the Four Seasons Hotel, Duke is talking to professional film critics under the introduction of Robin Grand, although there are no familiar ones, and even 90% of the names have not been heard. , But Duke will never be stingy with his smile when it's time to smile.
After all, he has no capital now, and "Life and Death" also needs this group of parasites in the film industry to wave their flags.
As for the evaluation of "Life and Death" in this group of people’s conversations, Duke didn’t care at all. Since they came to this party, they would inevitably accept gifts from Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox. Whether it’s good or bad, you must try to arouse the audience’s curiosity about "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 just ‘relative’ and fair, and ‘relative’ can be interpreted in many ways.
Let’s just say this time. Excluding the round-trip travel expenses and accommodation and dining expenses at the Four Seasons Hotel, 20th Century Fox also prepared corresponding gifts or checks according to the different status of film critics in the industry, even the least well-known ones , There is also a souvenir worth nearly five hundred dollars. Fox has set a budget of more than fifty thousand dollars for this group of people.
Similarly, the film reviews written by these people must be passed to Fox’s propaganda department for review before being published. If you make a random criticism without Fox’s consent, it will be blocked by Fox and will not be enjoyed for a long time. Free tickets 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 send out that kind of disgusting praise. Even critics are acceptable, but the premise is that the critics must be able to trigger the audience. Interest in the film.
For example, "Life and Death", if the other party writes that the film is useless except for countless explosions, fights, and car chases, then Fox will accept it, because mainstream audiences like these, and the film critics directly write the selling points of the film, which will definitely attract Audience.
These are no secrets in the Hollywood circle. Since the establishment of the world’s first film critics association-the New York Film Critics Association in the 1930s, Hollywood and the film critics have been in a cooperative and opposed relationship. The film industry needs film critics. To wave the flag and shout, film critics also need to lie down on the bigger the film industry to blood.
Even this kind of film critic’s screening venue has a special title—that is, the meaning of a prostitute who travels free of charge.
Those who came to participate in the trial screening of "Life and Death" can only be said to be cabinet girls in the red light district or high-level applications. The budget set by 20th Century Fox can not attract those high-level communication flowers.
As for who is a high-level communicative flower, naturally it is the top group of film critics in North America, such as Richard Chris of Time, Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times, Todd of The Hollywood Reporter · McCarthy, and the famous Roger Albert, etc.
They are far fairer than the film critics present today, but their fairness also hides a lot of transactions. Let alone Roger Albert, he and Siskell’s "Roger Albert" "Watching Movies with Siskell" is one of the most highly commercialized reviews in North America, and it is not difficult to guess what changes will be brought about by highly commercialized reviews.
Even film critics of Roger Albert's level will participate, and they are all the top ones.
For example, Roger Albert once gave a thumbs up for last year’s "Terminator 2". Everyone knows that James Cameron’s film definitely deserves such a comment, but how many people know it as a distributor The public relations behind Fox in the 20th century?
According to Duke’s information, Roger Albert, who came to Los Angeles during the preview week of "Terminator 2", asked to go to a top private club in Malibu every day to play golf. Of course, 20th Century Fox would satisfy him. As for whether there are any other inside stories in private between the two parties, that is not what Duke's status can know.
As a person who has experienced the Internet age, Duke naturally understands how to deal with professional film critics. They should not be underestimated, and they do not need to be taken too seriously. They are just tools for him to use on the road!
After socializing with the film critics, Duke went to another venue and was interviewed by media reporters with other actors.
Like film critics, apart from their own media, 20th Century Fox only invited reporters from the middle and low-level media. Their eyes were also on Keanu Reeves and Wu, who are the most famous among the cast and crew. Regarding Mar Thurman, Duke, the director, is basically of little interest. Even Naomi Watts, relying on his outstanding appearance and the support of his agent, has attracted much more attention than Duke.
This is also related to the propaganda strategy of Twentieth Century Fox. The directors in the early 1990s were still behind the scenes. Unless they were already well-known directors, it would be difficult to attract the attention of fans and the media. Unfolding as an actor.
When a reporter asked, Duke also said a few words. Most of them are idioms such as ‘have confidence in the film’ and ‘the hero and the hero are excellent’. The reporter lacks the perseverance for in-depth exploration, and Duke lacks interest in media interviews.
If the media reports after the interview can make the movie go viral, Duke said it doesn't matter if he breaks his mouth, but for him now, even if he exaggerates the movie to the sky, it won't help.
I’ve been tossing for most of the day. It’s close to the evening. The trial screening finally came to an end. Duke left the venue, entered the lounge next to him, packed his own things, and when he was about to leave, I saw Naomi Watts in Accompanied by a woman in her thirties, she also walked into this lounge.
"Hi, Duke." She greeted her actively.
Her face was a little ugly, she seemed to have encountered some problems, and she was still struggling.
"Hi, Nami." Duke smiled back.
Although the other party in my memory has climbed to the front line of Hollywood, Duke has grown up in a circle with Hollywood since he was a child. The future star does not know how many he has seen, and he has long been used to it.
In his impression, Naomi Watts is like many young women who come to Hollywood to find their dreams. They have some dreams, some scheming, some means, some looks, some acting skills, and of course some luck, at least better than him. Luck in memory is much better.
"Don't you introduce me, Nami."
The woman next to her suddenly spoke. Naomi Watts reacted immediately and brought her to Duke. "Nancy, this is Duke Rosenberg, the director of the film."
"Duke, this is Nancy, Nancy Josephson, my agent."
"Josephson?"
Repeatedly in his heart, Duke frowned slightly, as if he had heard of this surname somewhere.
"It's nice to meet you, Miss Josephson." He took the initiative to stretch out his hand, and the other party shook it. "Just call me Nancy. May I call you Duke? Thank you."
The two parties briefly said a few words of courtesy. After Nancy Josephson answered a phone call, she whispered something with Naomi Watts and left the lounge first.
"Nancy is from the international innovation management brokerage company icm."
Naomi Watts was very mindful and explained a few words specifically, "She is the daughter of Marvin Josephson, the founder of icm."