Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 371 Difficulty changing nature

   Two days later, Ronald, Gail Heard, and Jim Cameron visited Roger Coleman, who had sold New World Productions and was about to retire.

  Colman had several large cardboard boxes in the president's office that didn't belong to him right away. They were all photos, recording the many memories he had accumulated during the twelve years in the new world.

   In addition to some of his family’s photos, there are photos of him with many directors and actors, and some posters of his director and film production.

   "Is this Stallone?" Ronald asked when he saw a group photo. Stallone in the photo is still very young, with a crooked mouth looking cool and holding a submachine gun. Next to it is a blond actor.

   "Ah yes, next to David Carradine, this is when they filmed 'Death on the Run 2000'," Coleman replied.

   "This is when Ron Howard was filming Grand Theft Auto?" Gale took another photo. Above is the famous actor and director Ron Howard, who had a lot of hair back then.

   "Ah, yes, when Mr. Coleman went to CBS in New York to sell copyrights, I was the one who drove him." Ronald remembered Coleman's hearty laughter when he was on the phone with Ron Howard in his apartment.

"These movies are all good-looking, do the new buyers really want them?" Ronald felt that the movies in the library were all well made, and there were also some early works of famous actors who are now worth a little money. Don't know why the buyer doesn't want it. .

"Hey, if it weren't for these good memories, I wouldn't want them either." Roger Coleman said, "Although the climate in California is good, but the humidity is high, the negatives are not well preserved, and it is easy to mold and deteriorate. I rent it. A film library with constant temperature and humidity is used to store them, and a lot of money is paid every year.”

   "You don't know that film film is easy to spontaneously ignite. When the film was in recession a few years ago, Warners once destroyed the film in the early years on a large scale to recover the silver ions in the film." Cameron knows more about technology.

   "Come on, help me move these photos into my new office." Roger Coleman directed the trio out of the New World building holding his baby.

   "I'm going to pick up the car." Ronald said to everyone standing at the door of the office.

   "No, let's walk." Roger Coleman took everyone through the street at the door to a newly built office area next to the theater named after the late actor Henry Fonda.

   "Dangdang, welcome to my new office." Roger Coleman opened the door of an office, which was a large room with second-hand office furniture, and his secretary had already cleaned and prepared it.

   "Mr. Coleman, is your office ready?" Ronald looked at the former boss.

   "Help me put these pictures here..." Coleman directed three former subordinates to set up his office.

   "Mr. Coleman, when did you find a good office and register a new company?" After putting the photos, Ronald looked around. It was more spacious than the original New World office, except that there was no small screening room.

"Hahaha, after you left that day, I took that check and had a good time in the office. But when I got up the next day, I finished the breakfast prepared by Julie and went to drive. Julie asked me what I was going for. I realized I was unemployed.

   I stayed at home all morning and found that I couldn't stop working, and that morning of doing nothing was more uncomfortable than the money-losing movie "Invaders" I made.

  So I found a lawyer in the afternoon and set up a production company. Anyway, the distribution business can be left to the new owner of the new world. I will focus on production in the future, and maybe I can get my director's passion back. "

   "What's the new company called, boss?" Cameron asked.

   "called the millennium".

   "What?" Ronald didn't catch.

   "Millennium means the millennium after the birth of Christ." Coleman explained, and then asked the secretary to serve coffee, "Tell me, what is it that you came to me?"

   "I'm the producer of Jim's new film, and now I have found Orion's investment and distribution commitment, and I'm still three to three-and-a-half million shooting funds."

  Gail Hurd began to take out the plan and introduce it to former boss Coleman. Cameron unfolded the characters and storyboards for Coleman to see.

   "Where's your TV broadcast rights?" Coleman asked directly after listening to the introduction.

   "It's in Orion's hands now, it's not for sale yet."

"Gail, I'm afraid I can't invest. You know, all my movie projects are based on pre-sales from distributors and pre-payments from TV stations. If I invest in movies and wait for the final box office split, I'm afraid It's already bankrupt."

   "But this is..." Gale wanted to fight.

   "Your script is really good and fits the low-budget approach, but I can't go against my business principles, sorry Gail, Jim."

   "Nature is hard to change." Gale complained in a low voice.

   "Mr. Coleman, why do you say that the box office will go bankrupt if it is split?" Ronald didn't quite understand this sentence. The movies he shot for Universal still got split accounts.

"Hey, my new world...it's not mine anymore, it's not a big company. The managers of those theaters can always delay, and in all likelihood, they will delay you for a year. It's not that they have no money. Give it to me, I just like to procrastinate.

   I threatened to sue them several times, and they always gave me the check a few days before the court session. My lawyer always says to me, Mr. Coleman, you should be supporting the movie business.

  Those movie theater operators have a hard time. With a year's interest on the money, they can refurbish the seats and upgrade the popcorn machine.

   But I always want myself to get the interest. The big production of 6 million is actually quite risky, and I will not play this kind of game. A small company like me can't take the risk without an advance payment guarantee. "

   "But you've always made movies, did you get paid in advance?" Ronald asked.

"It's a long story. When I used to make films for American International Films, I got a fixed income. I gave the film idea, and American International Films gave a price, such as 50,000 yuan. If I can If you shoot it at a cost of 30,000, you can make a net profit of 20,000.

   This way I have a quick turnaround and I get the money to buy film and rent equipment and pay actors and photographers. Then the distributors make money and order the movies from me.

   It takes a year to pay back the investment of those big studios, and I can get the money before shooting, so in the time they make one movie, I can make twelve.

   Later, American International Pictures didn’t tell me and edited my films indiscriminately, and I set up a new world to do the distribution work by myself. All I'm looking for are drive-in theaters and lesser facilities, and I can pre-charge their copy rentals the old-fashioned way. This money is also much faster to turn around than the account method. "Coleman described his business model.

   "But Mr. Coleman, your method is outdated. For blockbuster films now, theaters must rely on box office revenue, otherwise they will not be able to pay expensive copy rental fees before showing.

  ET There are many theaters that cannot afford to rent copies, so they can only secretly release pirated copies, or wait until a year later to rent second-round copies released by others. "Gail retorted when he heard this.

"You're right Gal. But I'm investing my own money, unlike those big studio executives who use other people's money. So I can't take too much risk. Medium production on average Hollywood At $8 million, I only have three chances to fail."

  Colman said here, holding up three fingers, "And there were fewer than 20 movies that managed to gross over 30 million last year."

   "Hey, this nature is hard to change, and it's all a limitation of the downturn in the film market." Ronald sighed in his heart, big productions have difficulties with big productions. Although small productions don't make much money, they are more secure.

  Roger Coleman was able to accumulate so much wealth by never taking risks and accumulating slowly. It is unlikely that he would change course and suddenly start taking a risk on a big production.

  …

   "What? Is the news accurate?"

   in the New World office opposite. The three new bosses sat in the conference room, got a startling news, and began to discuss countermeasures.

   "Does Coleman know something about this old slicker?" a lawyer asked.

"Impossible, I know in advance that Justice John Paul Stevens' minority opinion is written in the tone of the majority opinion. It seems that these liberals have already expected that someone will The betrayal is over."

  The other lawyer untied his tie with force and tapped **** the table.

   “How much chance do we have legally to cancel this ratio? $17 million is not a small number.”

"The check has been given to Coleman, he's already booked. It's a long time to sue for voiding the contract, and you think those people in Hollywood know we regret it? Then we're even less likely to sell. Have to operate with confidence. After a period of time, when the financial situation improves, there will be an opportunity to sell.”

   "Then what should we do? Now the operators of those theaters are not having a good time. They often deduct the box office share, just to renovate the seats to earn some interest."

"It seems that the original plan did not take this accident into account, and the operation of the cinema will definitely become more and more difficult. We have to find a master who not only knows how to make movies that meet the market taste, but also knows how to manage the cinema chain. to manage the company."

   "Then we have to find an executive from the seven major studios. The original candidates not only understand production, but also only understand theatrical distribution."

  The three lawyers seem to have regrets about borrowing money to buy Coleman's New World Company. But it was done, and they had to find an executive with experience in cost control of production and distribution to serve as CEO.

"Find a headhunter to send an invitation to the executives who were dismissed by Universal and Twentieth Century Fox. We must finish this matter as soon as possible, and the media will report our good news, otherwise the new Supreme Court decision will come out. , the capital market lacks confidence in the film industry, and our interest rate will be in big trouble."

   "Colman, you are really a lucky person." The lawyer who finally made the decision, looked at the portrait of Roger Coleman on the public relations draft of the acquisition of New World by the three of them, and let out a sigh.

   (end of this chapter)