Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 358 Chapter 309 Introduction to Producers

"Now I've appeared on the live broadcast, and now everyone knows that I'm Ronald Lee's girlfriend." Helen hugged Ronald at the airport check-in, and the two grabbed a meeting before the plane took off. A little time to keep warm.

"It was just a local TV broadcast. You really want to be famous, and you have to watch 'Supergirl' come out. Everyone knew you as Helen Slater by then." Ronald heard the hall broadcast being the last reminder to Denton. The plane hurriedly kissed Helen gently, and took her to the boarding gate with the suitcase.

   "Sir, you can't send it in any more" The airline stewardess stopped him.

   "Bye! I'll go to New York for Christmas to see you." Ronald blew a kiss.

"bye!"

   sent Helen away, and Ronald will devote himself to the production of "Night of the Comet". Once he had set his goals, he began to feel motivated again.

   First of all, I want to meet the president of New World Productions and his own leader in the film industry, Roger Coleman. He promised to give half a million dollars to film "Night of the Comet". Co-producing, determining the proportion of distribution and investment, all need to get his approval first.

   "Please wait a moment, Mr. Coleman told me that you will be the first to receive you as soon as you arrive. But he is talking with important guests now. Please Mr. Li sit in the lounge for a while."

   The new assistant to the president brought Ronald into the lounge.

   Looking at the familiar interior decoration, Ronald revisited what he was going to say to Coleman at that time.

   After half an hour, Roger Coleman finally finished seeing the last group of guests, three middle-aged men in suits and leather shoes with meticulous hairstyles withdrew from the office.

   "Mr. Coleman, we'll be back with a new proposal."

   "It doesn't look like someone from the entertainment industry." Ronald, who heard the movement and slipped out of the lounge, thought to himself when he saw this scene.

   "Ronald, welcome." Coleman found Ronald next to him and hugged him with open arms.

   "I heard you started a producer?" Coleman asked.

   "Did Gail tell you what?" Ronald had a chat with Gail Hurd before coming to the new world, and had some preliminary understanding of co-production.

"That's a title given to me by the producers of Paramount's new 'Lightning Dance' to recognize my contribution to the filming. I heard that Paramount is more satisfied with the dailies, they may give me a joint Producer's title," Ronald replied.

   "But I do want to be a producer, and this is the main purpose of my meeting with you today." Ronald said about his intention to make "Night of the Comet" a multi-party co-production. The production model of "Lightning Dance" inspired him.

"Cameron and I carefully and carefully calculated the money needed for the shooting, and saved everything that could be saved. In the end, it was no less than 1.3 million. I also had to prepare some extra money to prevent Something unexpected happened while filming, so I made a budget of 1.5 million."

   Ronald handed over his production budget list, "I hope to use the distribution capabilities of New World to find more investors, and then give them back after the film is released."

   "How to repay? Box office share?"

   "I was planning this way?"

   "Then what funds do you use to make up for the filming? Look for foreign bank investment, domestic bank loans, or fund investment, and what percentage of advance payment do you use?" Coleman suddenly raised a lot of questions.

   "Uh, I don't seem to understand the answers to these questions." Ronald was a little confused when asked by Coleman. He was beginning to realize that he seemed to be thinking hastily.

   "Investors are optimistic about my movie, they give me a sum of money first, I shoot it, and then after the movie is released, I will pay them back the interest, or share it proportionally. Isn't that the case?"

"Hahaha... It's a good idea, and it's simple, I can't say you're wrong, but it's not suitable for your movie." Roger Coleman took a sip of his coffee, "Let's put it this way. , Ronald, do you know why I promised to give you half a million to make a movie?"

   "Because I have a successful track record in teen films, do you think I can finish the film according to the budget and schedule?" Ronald replied after thinking for a while.

   "Of course, this is the reason why I am optimistic about you. But I can only give you a maximum of 500,000 for this optimism." Coleman picked up his palm and made a five gesture in front of Ronald.

"I don't know."

   "Because this is the most advance payment I can get for your film from distribution channels."

   "Oh." Ronald understood a little, and continued to listen to Coleman giving him "Twenty Minutes for Filmmakers from Beginner to Mastery".

  The film industry is in a downturn, and all investors are not fools. Not many people are willing to invest in a film first, then wait for the filming, editing, and release, and finally receive interest or dividends from their investment from the box office revenue.

   There are too many variables in the middle, and investors cannot afford to wait so long. In addition, there are countless risks in the filming and release of the film. After investing one or two million US dollars, after more than a year of filming and editing, and then selling tickets through the half-year release time, in the end, not only may there be no interest, but even the principal may be lost.

   So now it’s only possible to get prepaid shooting funds from publishers for small productions of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Because the shooting cycle of small productions is fast and the box office is relatively fixed, it is easy to estimate and the risk is small.

   Generally speaking, Coleman's New World Company will take about 20 percent of the studio's final box office gross as a distribution fee.

   That is to say, Coleman is confident that his new film will generate at least 2.5 million at the box office after its release. Therefore, he is willing to invest 500,000 yuan in the production cost in advance, and he will not lose money under ideal conditions.

   There is also Coleman's own profit in the middle, risk conversion, and then put some margin. In other words, Coleman gave a minimum estimate of 400 to 500 million at the box office for his 40 million director title, and backed it up and gave Ronald 500,000 production funds.

   Beyond this number, the risk becomes too great, and Coleman will not invest any more, and Ronald will have to find funds to fill the vacancy.

"Yes, the producer is the one who takes the final risk. Other investors only want to get a fixed income return, or the priority settlement right of the box office share, so as to ensure that their investment will not lose money, and will they be willing to Invest in movies.

  If the box office exceeds the expected big sales, everyone else can only get the capped income, then the producer will get the most lucrative piece of the cake. If the box office sucks, then all the financial pressure will be on the producers.

   This is why very few directors in Hollywood invest their own money in movies. Producers are actually a very professional job, and few directors are proficient. "

   "So what kind of investors should I find to fill this gap?" Ronald asked Coleman humbly.

   "The best way is to find a capable producer to work with."

  Unfortunately, Gail Hurd has been captured by Cameron and concentrated on finding money for his "Terminator". Ronald shook his head.

  "Secondly", seeing that Ronald was still listening to his answer, Roger Coleman continued, "If you have a very rich good friend who is willing to invest in film art..."

  This is unlikely, Ronald shook his head again.

   "The rest are conventional options." Coleman pointed Ronald to several financing directions.

"With my distribution ability, I can already get you about 30% of the shooting funds. In addition, we have to sign a distribution contract, so that the biggest problem in your financing process can be solved. How can other investors determine your film? It will be shown in theaters.”

   Ronald said that he understands that many movies are too poorly shot to make it to theaters.

   "Once you have a domestic distribution contract, you have several directions to try.

  If you have overseas distribution channels, especially theater distribution channels in English-speaking countries, you can use this contract to get an overseas distribution contract. They usually sign a contract on the premise that your movie will be shown in America.

  With this contract, you can go to the bank to try out a mortgage loan, so that you can get some of the money. "

   Ronald shook his head secretly again. I'm afraid he can't do this either. The people he knows in the film industry are all in China.

"Another way is to invest directly from overseas banks. Many European banks will invest in the film industry. If you have this connection, you can try it. But there are many liars and mafia shadows here, you have to be yourself It’s best not to deal with them directly.”

  This is a bit scary, you have to deal with these people in a movie? Ronald shook his head again.

   "Then there is only one way, that is to attract more studios and more stars to participate in the show, so that you have strong distribution capabilities, endorsement by stars, and you can get bank loans or Wall Street investment."

   This is also unlikely, I just came to you because I couldn't find any big studio investment. Ronald felt that these three paths were hopeless.

   "I'll think of other ways, Mr. Coleman." Ronald plans to go back to his agent and try other small and medium producers to see if anyone is willing to believe in himself and take risks.

   "You wouldn't invest your own money would you? Ronald." Roger Coleman asked Ronald.

   "I did have this idea, but my cousin is still in high school, and I have to plan for the future myself, and it is impossible to put all my wealth into risk.

   Now I am asking the agent to accept contracts for various scripts, hoping to take part of these extra income, and if there are some gaps in the investment, it can be filled. "Ronald was honest with Coleman.

   "I'm relieved to say that. It's not worth taking an artistic risk with your own money. We have a better way to get there, don't we?"

   "Thank you, I won't be reckless."

   "That's good. You and Jim both came out of the new world. I don't want to see you go bankrupt."

   "No, at most I'll just make up for the small gap in investment." Ronald had already made up his mind that even if he wanted to invest, he had to use the newly earned money instead of his savings. It does not exceed the upper limit of two or three thousand dollars, and any more will affect his life and future plans.

   "It looks like you've made a lot of money, Ronald," Coleman laughed. "What do you do with your money, do you invest it?"

   "I bought stocks of some big companies, hoping to use stock dividends to make up for the loss of inflation. Now I don't know what assets to buy to preserve their value."

   "Very good, your investment philosophy is very good. The most important thing in investing is not to lose money. We made money from the camera with great difficulty, but don't be deceived by Wall Street."

   (end of this chapter)