Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 725 Forming a Release Team

   "My country is

   A land of sweet freedom

  I sing for you

   The land where my fathers died

   A place of pride for pilgrims”

A group of children, holding candles, sang "America (My Country, \'TisofThee under the Statue of Liberty. During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Martin Luther Dr. King once quoted the lyrics of the song in his speech.

  The Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by the hair country as a gift one hundred years ago. Today, after several years of fundraising and repairs led by the Girl Scouts, the renovated Statue of Liberty reopens.

  CBS conducted a live broadcast of the opening ceremony for four days, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony is now being broadcast live.

  President Mitterrand, together with the chief commander and his wife, delivered a speech on the symbol of French-American friendship. On the National Day, the Statue of Liberty was reopened to tourists and the public, and the leaders of the two countries joined hands to enter the Statue under the live broadcast of the TV station.

  The TV station did not go in to follow up, but after more than ten minutes, they captured the first lady Nancy in the hollow sightseeing hall inside the crown above the goddess' head. An important part of the renovations included the addition of a new elevator from the ground floor to the top floor.

  Nancy found herself captured by videographers in a helicopter circling outside, smiling and waving to the millions of viewers in front of the TV.

   "Pop..." Daydream's general manager, Eddie, turned off the TV Ronald was watching.

   "Hey, I'm still watching", which caused Ronald to pouted in dissatisfaction. He liked this statue very much. In high school, he often saw her when he took the ferry to Manhattan to see a doctor. Now that it has been repaired, he also wants to watch more special programs that introduce the history of the goddess.

   "Michelle Cannold is here."

   "Oh..." Ronald hurriedly got behind the desk on the other side and sorted out his T-shirt.

​​​​​​Because when purchasing the film, there was no potential problem with Jewish girls, and he argued with the boss, Steve Emperor.

After Ronald bought the production rights of "Dancing the Hot", Michelle Cannold was also snubbed, saying that he said behind his back that the boss gave up "Dancing the Hot", which may have been a big mistake . After being heard by Emperor Shi, he was sent to the audience videotape satisfaction survey department as a bench.

It happened that after Ronald got the cash to buy stocks, he set up a "Spicy Dance" project company "Spicy Dance Production", injected one million US dollars from the first stage, and made preparations for the "Spicy Dance" project. .

   Ronald is well-versed in production, but he's still a rookie when it comes to distribution. Look for talent in this area through some friendships.

It happened that Eleanor, the screenwriter of "Dancing Hot", told Ronald about what happened to Michelle Cannold, so I asked him to talk about whether it is possible to come to Daydream Pictures and be responsible for the distribution of Dancing Hot Work.

"Hello, Mr. Li", Michelle Cannold is very handsome, like a Hollywood star, a suit is not expensive but of good quality, and her hair is neatly combed back, which makes people have a kind of look. sense of trust.

With    Weston's headquarters in Chicago, Cannold found a reason to investigate the video rental business in New Jersey, then quietly drove to New York for an interview.

"Call me Ronald." Ronald shook hands with him, "You probably heard about the problems I encountered, and I'm going to release this film myself now, not through the seven distribution channels. If it's up to you If you come to take charge of this work, what are you going to do?"

"Thank you," Cannold took the coffee from the secretary and put it on the table after drinking it, "If it doesn't go through the distribution department of the Big Seven studios or other mid-sized studios, then we'll miss the easiest way. Sold out time slot - Las Vegas Film Festival.

Buyers of    cinemas hope that they can buy enough movies for next year’s screening at one time. We don't have the opportunity to develop the first batch of trade fairs, so we can only go to the owners of theater chains and movie theaters in 50 states to start the retail business. "

   "Please continue talking..." Ronald saw him coming up and pointed out the biggest problem of his own independent release of a movie, and also had a good idea of ​​Cannold's ability, reached out and asked him to continue to talk about his plan.

   "I think this movie, you should not invest a very large budget to shoot."

   "Yes, I intend to limit the budget to less than six million yuan." Ronald received a $3 million investment commitment from Douglas Jr., made a fortune in stocks, and had ample funds. According to a rough division, half of it is used for production, half is reserved for distribution, and another one million is reserved, plus the investment of my aunt, as a reserve.

   "Then, in fact, it's impossible to invite popular star actors to star in this movie, unless you can rely on relationships..."

   "Don't think about that..." Ronald shook his hand, the problem of the Jews was still there, it was just that they agreed not to interfere after Ronald lowered the intensity of the plot. If you want to find a popular movie star to star in your own face, it will definitely cause a new round of interference from the other party.

   "Then we will follow the path of a small-budget movie and distribute it. Will you direct it yourself?"

   "I'm still looking for a suitable candidate. If I don't find a more suitable person, I don't rule out directing myself..."

"It's best if you direct it yourself, because that's the only place this movie can attract the interest of those theater owners. Even if you're not a director, we must put your name on the top of the movie poster, in font. The biggest one." Cannold hurriedly interrupted Ronald's speech, if you don't rely on Ronald's fame and whether there are stars, then the release of this film is really very difficult to do.

"That's no problem, what else do we need to do?" Ronald is quite satisfied with Cannold's preparations. Although he has only done films that were not released in theaters and were directly recorded on video tapes, he is not interested in the distribution. The key to business is still well understood.

   "Next, we're going to build a distribution team. Start a telemarketing to about 4,000 movie theaters across the U.S.. Warm up their expectations for your new movie.

  Before the filming starts, the posters are made first, and after the actors are confirmed, the costume photos are also taken. That's when you can start sending them these outreach materials. For interested theater owners, we can start negotiations to determine the appropriate schedule and number of copies.

   Once the movie starts shooting, we can cut a trailer and send or visit more theater owners. Strive to be able to sign more theaters under a certain schedule when filming, packaging, and post-production.

   After the first cut copy is completed, we have a third and last chance to sign more theaters. At this time, it turned out that some of the movies they ordered at this year's Las Vegas Film Festival will have problems or postpone the schedule, so if we are lucky, we can get more movie theaters to release. "

   "How many teams do you need to do these?"

   "If it is a veteran who is familiar with the publishing business, I need five. Then at the beginning, I will add ten to fifteen newbies to do the initial contact work.

   After the filming, post-production, release and other time points, I still need to recruit more teams, responsible for promotion, verification, public relations, etc., or hire professional companies. "

   "I can recruit five people, but I'm not very skilled, you can choose from the new graduates.

  It is useless for me to find veterans, most of them just sell movies to those cinema buyers at the exhibition relying on the accumulation of large institutions. If they really want to sell movies from scratch, in fact, they may not be more efficient, and their personal relationship with those theater owners may not be good.

"Telemarketing or something, you can recruit college students part-time, I can only give you these early resources, if you think it's suitable, then come to me to work. In terms of salary, I will give you the corresponding treatment in Weston, specific You can talk to general manager Eddie."

  Film distribution is a very expensive business. Even a prolific producer of low-cost exploitative films like Roger Coleman, with a peak production of more than 20 films a year, can only keep the distribution team at a loss.

   Ronald doesn't want any project that hires permanent employees and increases fixed expenses. In fact, he, a long-term employee, hated having to ask for it.

   Now the distribution department of Daydream is just releasing a movie. If he makes money and can release other movies, he can turn temporary workers into regular workers and take the opportunity to expand the number. But you can't just follow the configuration of the third-tier studio, and get a bunch of industry veterans to sit in the office first.

   "Are you a deal?"

   Ronald held out his hand to see if Cannold agreed to his terms.

"make a deal!"

  Michelle Cannold knew that in Weston, she would not have the opportunity to control important departments. Anyway, she was optimistic about the movie. She bought half of the production rights and all the distribution rights.

   is to prove his vision, to have the opportunity to prove himself right in front of the rich second-generation boss Steve Emperor, and it is also worth taking this job.

   Besides, in Ronald's company now, as long as he can successfully operate the release of "Spicy Body Dance", he is the oldest veteran.

"It's not impossible, but I'm going to recruit a skilled person." Michelle Cannold thought about it and understood Ronald's idea. He proposed to find an experienced and enthusiastic old man in the industry to help set up team, and training new people.

   "Okay, deal. You can go to the Columbia publishing department to recruit, they are about to merge with Samsung's publishing department, and they are about to lay off redundant staff."

   "Ronald, after you sign, I can submit the establishment documents of 'Spicy Dance Production' Co., Ltd. to the government agency in Delaware."

   "Here, here, and here..." Personal lawyer Lindsay Dole came over with the company's establishment documents for Ronald to sign.

   "Mr. Hansen, you sign the shareholder column here." The lawyer then asked little Douglas who came specially to sign it.

   "And Donna Parker, your cousin. When is she coming to sign?"

   "Right now, I'll ask Bud to pick her up." Ronald looked at his watch.

   At the end of 1984, Chinese Wu Xianbiao was elected Lieutenant Governor of Delaware. His ancestral home is Yuyao, and he went to study in the United States in five or six years. He is the first Chinese born outside America to achieve the high position of lieutenant governor.

   Delaware is resource-poor and has a small population. It has only three counties under its jurisdiction, which is the smallest state in America.

   After Wu Xianbiao became the deputy governor, he gave full play to his ancestral expertise and proposed a way to make money. He passed legislation in the state legislature allowing citizens of America to start a limited company in Delaware and enjoy tax benefits.

   Even better, they allow the shareholders of the limited company to remain anonymous. In this way, it is equivalent to opening an offshore tax avoidance company registration place in America for those wealthy companies who still want to enjoy federal protection.

   For the purpose of filming tax avoidance, registering a limited liability company for "Dancing" movies in Delaware can enjoy a low tax rate. In addition, by registering a limited liability company (LLC), you can also enjoy tax penetration. Shareholders only need to pay income tax once for dividends, avoiding double taxation of companies and individuals.

  In this way, all profits will be transferred from the project company to the limited company, and outsiders do not know who the shareholders are.

   "Ronnie, here I come. Where do you sign?" Donna appeared in Ronald's office in a red T-shirt, white shorts, tennis shoes, and a ponytail.

   "Just ask Lawyer Lindsay." Ronald pointed. I am still reading the distribution business plan written by Cannold.

   "Hey, are you going to make a sales call?" Donna finished signing and came back to see Ronald's release plan.

   "Yeah, like selling life insurance."

   "Can I take a summer job with you? Just give me the salary I deserve." Donna suddenly said to Ronald.

   "You're going to be a physicist in the future, don't you want to sign up for an internship at an observatory affiliated to NASA during the summer? Why do you do this kind of telemarketing work?" Ronald asked curiously.

"This is America! Even if you are a physicist, you have to sell projects, not sponsor companies. Besides, I don't have to be a physicist. Now that the era of great physical discoveries has passed, I don't think being a physicist is a good idea. I can definitely contribute something, so I want to try jobs in various industries and find what I like the most.”

"It's good, but you don't have to work for too long, it's very hard work." Ronald agrees with Donna's choice. Before graduating, he can try different career options as much as possible to find his own interests and skills. where is important.

   It's just that this kind of telemarketing work is very hard, not to mention that people often hang up. Ronald actually doesn't want Donna to do it for a long time. Try it and know the hardships in the world.

   (end of this chapter)