Disaster Artist

"Qiyang Media, one of the top film production companies in the industry." Su Ziyi answered Lu Qian's mindless question as a matter of course.

Lu Qian nodded in affirmation, "Then the top film companies in the industry, do you think they really love movies, because they love 'unfriending' to the point where they can't help themselves, so they want to cooperate with us, or because of other things?"

Su Zi opened her mouth, and the words that poured into her mouth finally stopped.

Lu Qian waited for a while, gave Su Ziyi time to speak, and after he didn't get an answer, he continued, "Then Qiyang Media is willing to invest 30 million to shoot the sequel, you think they will really generously give us enough Creative space, let us scribble on white paper?"

Su Ziyi: ...

If it is another film company, the hope is slim, but there is still a ray of possibility, but Qiyang Media? The probability is approaching zero.

It's not that Qiyang Media likes to interfere with the work of the crew. Among the seven major film companies, the most powerful and domineering interference in the director's creation is actually Liuguang Film; it's just that Qiyang Media is stingy.

They have invested 30 million generously, and naturally hope to make a lot of money, and they will definitely be demanding a lot from the crew at that time.

Su Ziyi is not an idiot, he immediately wanted to understand the twists and turns behind him, but...

"That's the price of working with a big movie company, isn't it?"

"Don't say that you are only shooting one movie now, even those top directors in the industry also need to face the interference and constraints of producers and production companies. This is the norm in the industry."

"Could it be because of this that we miss opportunities like this? And then we won't cooperate with big companies in the future?"

Lu Qian knew that Su Ziyi was right.

That's what Zack-Snyder's collaboration with Warner Bros. is like, in a time and space he's familiar with.

Warner Bros. was going to build the entire DC universe. After going around, they decided to hand over the entire creative director position to Zach, filming "Man of Steel" first, then "Justice League", and promised not to interfere in the creation, giving Zack Full creative power.

So, Zach rolled up his sleeves and worked hard.

However, the box office and word of mouth of "Man of Steel" were both lower than expected, which made Warner Bros. worried that "Justice League" might follow suit, so they began to interfere with the production of "Justice League".

Under the circumstance that the script has been completed and the film has started shooting, the script completed by Zack as the backbone was overturned and revised four times. In the end, the script has nothing to do with Zack. At the same time, Warner Brothers and The conflict of Zack's creative ideas was also completely detonated, and Zack's filming work was severely interfered.

One of the twists and turns was a bad debt. In the end, Zach quit the film creation on the excuse of the accidental death of his daughter, and the title of "Creative Director" was lost. Then Warner Bros. took advantage of the opportunity to invite "Avengers" director Joss - Joss-Whedon takes over the guide.

However, Jos also failed to save the "Justice League".

The funniest thing is that "Justice League" failed at the box office. Four years later, under the appeal of countless fans, "Zack Snyder's version of Justice League" reappeared. Fanatic fans celebrated and cheered like a carnival, but to be honest , Zach's director's cut version of "Justice League" is nowhere near it.

But that's not the point.

The point is, even a director in such a position as Zach is still constrained when facing top film companies——

Producers and directors are both collaborators and competitors for the initiative. The two sides restrict and cooperate with each other, which is always the main theme of film shooting.

Obviously, the situation of Zack and Warner Bros. is not a special case; moreover, after changing a time and space, the relationship between capital and creators has not changed.

However, the focus of Lu Qian and Su Ziyi is fundamentally different.

"Aichi, do you really think this is an opportunity?"

Su Ziyi didn't understand Lu Qian's words, so he frowned slightly, showing a confused expression.

Lu Qian went on to say something.

"Do you know where the two directors of 'Finding the Goat' are now?"

"And, what about the director of 'Recording Ghosts'?"

In Lu Qian's time and space, portable cameras shoot a wave of pseudo-documentary style, originating from the 1999 horror movie "Blair the Witch".

At that time, the production cost of this film was only US$60,000. After its release, it successfully detonated the box office and swept US$248 million worldwide. It is undoubtedly one of the most profitable films in film history, and inspired a series of The debut of fake documentaries, including the "Smart: Ghost Recording" series, which also created box office miracles.

However, from 1999's "Blair Witch" to 2009's "Smart: Ghost Recording", there was a full ten-year gap in between.

Why?

The film form of pseudo-documentary is very limited. Freshness is the biggest factor to attract audiences. Once audiences are familiar with this narrative method, they are reluctant to buy it. They just rely on the advantages of the subject matter and want to let the audience go for the second time. Getting into the cinema is obviously not that easy.

Just look at "Blair Witch 2", which was released in 2000. It was a fiasco at the box office, and it didn't even talk about it at all.

The same is true of desktop narrative movies.

In the same way, the first time was interesting, but the second and third time, the audience gradually began to be picky~www.novelmt.com~ Especially when "Unfriending" was such a great success, the sequel wanted to To meet the expectations of the audience and play tricks, the difficulty factor has also increased exponentially.

Moreover, Lu Qian is a rookie director, he still needs to continue to prove himself, try to avoid being stereotyped as much as possible, and the road ahead needs to proceed cautiously.

After all, there are many lessons learned.

Thanks to the explosive success of "Blair Witch," the two directors, Daniel-Myrick and Eduardo-Sanchez, became an overnight hit, appearing in Time Magazine's magazine together. On the cover, everyone thinks that their future is bright.

However, the reality is cruel.

In the three years after the success of the film, the two directors were suing the film company for the copyright of the sequel, because no one was interested in "Blair Witch" at the time, and the two directors finally found a company willing to distribute, so All copyrights are packaged and sold to the other party.

The Blair Witch 2, released in 2000, had nothing to do with the two directors.

The two directors spent three years fighting for their creative rights. The lawsuit was won, but time was wasted. When they were ready to shoot the film, the world was already a different look.

They wanted to make comedies, but the companies they were willing to invest in insisted that they continue to make horror movies. After several cooperation talks all collapsed, the two directors parted ways and started their own careers, but none of their subsequent films attracted any attention. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the bustling Vanity Fair.

The scenery that appeared on the cover of "Time Magazine" back then was only fleeting, like a dream.