[US Entertainment] Superstar

Chapter 382

Mark Johnson did not invest in "Little Miss Sunshine", but because he will play an important role in crew preparation, project operation, follow-up publicity and distribution, and even awards season public relations, his right to speak is not small.

After the news of Keanu's starring role spread out, the entire Hollywood film distribution companies, large and small, were in contact.

Some are with CAA, some are through Eternal Pictures, and some are through Mark Johnson. The quotations given by each company are very superior, far exceeding the level of other independent films.

With Eve and Keanu around, even if the investment is only 2000 to [-] million US dollars, no one will take its figures seriously. At least these two names are worth tens of millions of US dollars in publicity funds.

Universal's Focus Pictures has never cooperated with Eve. Although she has heard the name many times, she actually leans more towards Sony Classics in her heart.

Just like Focus Pictures, Sony Classics is a company under Sony Columbia Pictures that specializes in the distribution of documentaries, art films, and independent films. It has had a huge impact on the entire independent film industry. More than 30 films under its umbrella have won Oscars. , The famous "Howard End", "Midnight in Paris".

In addition to these European and American films, it is also the North American distributor of many Chinese-language films, such as "A Lawsuit by Qiu Ju", "Evil in the West", "One Cannot Be Less" and so on.

Last year, Eve saw the strong competitiveness of Sony Pictures. After it acquired Columbia Pictures, it won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and the Oscar for Best Picture directly.

There has been a good cooperative relationship before, and both parties are relatively familiar and have a tacit understanding. If the conditions are right, Eve is of course willing to cooperate with an acquaintance.

The garden on the roof was a bit cold at night, so she put on a thin coat for herself, and then saw an unexpected person.

The silver-haired Mark Johnson walked over with an Asian and a balding middle-aged white man. Among them, the Asian was the Chinese director Ang Lee who had met Eve several times.

Eve was at a loss as to how Ang Lee got involved with Mark Johnson and people from Focus Pictures, "Good evening, gentlemen."

"Good evening, Eve." Mark smiled and hugged Eve. He was already familiar with him as a year-end friend. He could see the girl's confusion, so he introduced, "Ann-Lee, you must know each other. The one next to you is Mr. James Shams, the CEO of Focus Features, flew here from Los Angeles to meet you."

Ang Lee has the reserved and shyness of an Asian. He didn't hug Eve, but just shook hands. He was afraid that the two people next to him would not understand, so he said in English: "Long time no see. I heard that you started to be a director. Come by and have a look."

"James is my friend for many years, and he has participated in the screenwriting and production work since the very beginning of "Pushing Hands"."

Eve suddenly realized that Ang Lee was here as a lobbyist.

"I'm sorry to come here suddenly, Miss Campbell." James Shams showed a shamed expression, "Angie was pulled here by me, I want to get to know you through him. Even if we can't cooperate this time, we will Can look forward to the next collaboration, because we have similar tastes in art films, and Focus Features also has the internal support of Universal Group to support us in the awards season."

In fact, these two people have somewhat similar personalities, which is why they changed from benefactors to Bole and friends.

After the purpose is stated openly, the attitudes of both parties will be much more relaxed.

Eve nodded. There is no harm in getting to know the CEO of a film company more, but it can be used to expand the network.

"I hope so. I still have decades of acting time in the future. It must be very good to cooperate with you."

Li An secretly heaved a sigh of relief. He is actually very thin-skinned, knowing that his relationship with Eve is not a particularly close friend, but a future partner.

Although Eve can speak Chinese, has some Chinese blood, and is considered the best Asian in Hollywood, only interests are the best combination.

The interest relationship between the two of them is just a "Brokeback Mountain" that has not yet been filmed, and Ang Lee is not sure that the other party will give him this face.

Mark Johnson on the side explained: "Originally James was the boss of Good Machine Films, but Universal Pictures felt that it needed to integrate its independent film labels to facilitate the optimal allocation of resources, so the three independent film companies merged. It became what is now Focus Features.”

"Focus Pictures does not currently have a suitable project in hand. It just so happens that they have read the script of "Little Miss Sunshine" and feel that our project has enough potential to be tapped."

In fact, before their introduction, Eve had already seen the information submitted by Mandy. The founder of Focus Pictures is not only a friend of Ang Lee, but also has a good relationship with other famous directors, such as the Coen Brothers, Wu Dee Allen and more.

Of course, these relationships have no direct relationship to whether Focus Pictures can get the distribution rights of the film, everything depends on the specific terms they give.

For independent films, the most convenient and trouble-free way is to package and sell all copyrights to the distribution company, and the investor can directly make a lot of money.

However, this method is very difficult. Few movies are so lucky, and few film and television companies are willing to spend money to buy full copyright.

Many times, people will hear from the news that the North American distribution rights or overseas distribution rights of a certain movie have been won by a certain company.

Usually this kind of news will be that some big stars go down to earth and star in art films with reduced pay. From the moment they join independent films, basically there will be no shortage of distributors.

Actors in Hollywood know very well that they act in independent films because they are fighting for word of mouth and awards, and they don't want to make money in this kind of art film at all.

Instead, they show their acting skills to the top studios and audiences in this way, and when they get the best actor or queen, their value soars and they go to commercial blockbusters to make money.

Several large studios in Hollywood have independent film companies to undertake the corresponding production and distribution business, such as Focus Pictures under Universal, Columbia Classics under Sony, New Line Pictures under Warner Bros., and Mira Films under Disney. Max, [-]th Century Fox has Fox Searchlight, and Paramount has Paramount Classics.

Everyone is tacitly making commercial blockbusters and independent productions on both feet. Only companies like Lionsgate and Legendary Pictures are the real grassroots.

In fact, "Little Miss Sunshine" is a superstar in the independent film industry. It itself is a masterpiece on the script blacklist and has attracted much attention in the industry.

At the same time, it has the halo of Eve's first directorship. The leading actors also have a long history, with many Oscar nominees, international superstars and daughters of country kings, etc.

Of course, there are no buyers for this kind of film, and there are many buyers like Focus.Those independent films without big stars and not well-known directors can only increase publicity by participating in film festivals.

Every year, the three major European film festivals have not only the main competition unit, but also various screening units. The most important thing is that each film festival has a large trading market.

Ordinary audiences have no access to this market at all. Regardless of whether they are shortlisted for the Cannes, Berlin, or Venice Film Festival, the copyright owner can bring the film to the film festival to sell distribution rights.

In addition to the three major ones, the most famous one may be the Sundance Film Festival, which is a film festival dedicated to independent films, and is attended by many Hollywood stars and major Hollywood companies every year.

Dark horses appear frequently, and almost every year there will be eye-catching movies, which will be spotted by distribution companies, and then come to movie theaters and awards season.

Tribeca Film Festival, Gotham Independent Film Festival, New York Film Festival and other platforms have given the works enough space to show themselves.

"The Blair Witch" and "Ghost Story", which earned more than US$1 in North American box office, both came from independent film festivals.

"Of course we will not use the method of copyright buyout, but want to use the method of copyright sharing."

"Little Miss Sunshine" is so popular now, it is obviously impossible for Eternal Pictures to sell it to someone else for a mere $1000 million or $2000 million.

Focus Pictures, represented by James, knows very well. The other party is not a newcomer to the industry. With the giant CAA behind him and a veteran like Mark Johnson leading the way, he will hardly fall into the trap and can only behave in a well-behaved manner. talk.

Eve was business-like, and responded, "Then what's the ratio you gave?"

"This is the condition we have prepared, starting from the three screening stages. The first round will be screened in more than 2000 theaters, and the box office share ratio will be 15% and 85%. Among them, both of us will jointly bear the promotion expenses, including but not limited to entities. Commercials, TV commercials, media PR fees, etc.”

"After the theater is finished, we will continue to promote it in the home theater market. After deducting the channel business and other income from this part of the income, Focus will account for 30%, and your Eternal Pictures will account for 70%."

"The last is TV channels, such as premium channels such as HBO, Showtime, as well as regular TV channels."

"We entrust Universal to find designers and producers for the peripherals of the movie, and 40% of the profits will be generated. As for distribution in overseas markets, you need to find other distributors."

Don't look at the contract as 40% or 50% at every turn, but in fact the number is far from that big, just because the rest of the participants are not calculated at all, and the income from other channels is deducted before calculation.

For example, in terms of box office in North America, assuming that a movie sells 1 million US dollars at the box office, almost 55% of it belongs to the producer and distributor, and the remaining 45% belongs to the theater chain.

In other words, Focus and Eternal Pictures are sharing the 5500 million US dollars. According to the above contract of 15% distribution agency fee, Eternal Pictures can share 4675 million US dollars.

From this point of view, Eternal Pictures must be making a lot of money, because it has invested 2000 million US dollars, and North America alone has doubled its profit. .

But here we need to subtract Eve and Keanu's bonus pay. Keanu's actors' pay is calculated based on box office dividends. At the same time, he has to pay taxes and share the cost of publicity and promotion with Focus.