The Best Entertainment Era

? After the two parties reached a preliminary agreement in Cannes, Li An and Xu Ligong proposed to move to Los Angeles for formal negotiations. Ronan readily agreed, knowing that the two wanted to sign a formal contract in Los Angeles to obtain a more reliable legal system. Assure.

Ronan's goal is simple, to buy out all the North American copyrights of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at once. The more perfect the agreement is, the better it will be for him and the embassy film industry.

Since the most important buyout fee was negotiated, the negotiations generally went smoothly, but there were also differences.

For example, Embassy Pictures proposed that the main creative personnel of the crew, including Ang Lee, must cooperate with the North American publicity plan, and Zongheng International Pictures asked Embassy Pictures to bear all personnel expenses.

Ronan will try to promote this film to the awards season. Last year, he saw a lot of practical operations and analyzed many classic cases. Now that there is a suitable film, he also wants to give it a try.

The so-called Oscar promoters also came out step by step.

The most important publicity plan for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is actually the awards season promotion.

Fortunately, the honor of the Oscar is a huge temptation for everyone in the crew. Not to mention getting a statuette, there is a possibility of being nominated. It is estimated that many people are willing to let the creators of the crew pay for it out of their own pockets.

Besides, they were only asked to cooperate with Embassy Pictures.

This small disagreement did not pose much of an obstacle. After five days of see-saw negotiations, the two parties formally signed the licensing agreement.

Zongheng International Pictures transferred the North American copyrights of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to Embassy Pictures at a price of US$8 million, except for the sequel. Released in theaters, and the minimum screening scale will not be less than 500 theaters.

Other small details are basically in line with the various provisions of the copyright law and Hollywood industry regulations.

A director like Ang Lee who has worked hard in Hollywood for many years also understands some operating rules in the circle.

Ronan didn't even think about digging a hole, and it was enough to buy out the copyright of this movie at one time.

Buying out copyright is also a basic condition for large-scale investment in publicity.

When foreign films enter the North American market, agency distribution is a minority, and most of them buy out the copyright.

This martial arts movie,

It is different from martial arts films in Hong Kong.

In the conference room of the embassy film industry, a seminar on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was being held. Thomas, the director of theatrical distribution department, did not hide his worries, and said: Martial arts films are originally a small audience. This kind of subversive genre needs to be accepted. Degree is an issue.”

If Ronan hadn't urged the introduction of this film, Thomas would have thought that the person who made the decision had lost his head.

Terry, director of the offline distribution department, said: Ann Lee is also a typical niche director.

Garcia Rodriguez, who had just returned from Argentina, was not particularly aware of the situation and did not speak.

Alan Albert is new to the company and will not question the company boss.

David Villa, director of the publicity department, looked at Ronan and asked, Do you have any special ideas or plans for publicity and distribution?

As soon as these words came out, several other people immediately remembered that the bad movies like The Blair Witch were turned into magic in Ronan's hands...

The eyes of several people turned to Ronan in unison, as if they saw the income of hundreds of millions of dollars again.

Ronan said with a smile: I don't have any special ideas, but I think this film is very interesting. He simply said: The beautiful scenery in the film and the humanistic atmosphere full of oriental charm are actually superficial, and the content is complete. It's a Western story, I talked to Ann Lee about it, and it's an Eastern version of Sense and Sensibility.

I also have this feeling. Alan Albert said: Because of Danny's relationship, I understand some Eastern cultures. Apart from the form of expression, this film is full of Western ideas.

Everyone else was lost in thought.

Ronan added: North American audiences may understand and understand this film more easily than expected, and we can also properly use the concept of science fiction films in our promotion.

Promoted as a sci-fi movie? David Villa asked.

Ronan said: That's what it means, but it must be moderate, how to do it specifically, David, come up with a plan.

This is not because he was talking nonsense. After watching the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, he also recalled some news about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that he had seen in his previous life. Among them, the distributor was promoting it to ordinary American audiences. , with the concept of science fiction films for publicity.

And unlike the promotion of The Blair Witch, this did not cause any negative effects. In the eyes of many American audiences who are not familiar with martial arts films, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a super soft science fiction.

Okay. David Villa said unambiguously after experiencing the baptism of The Blair Witch propaganda: I will make corresponding plans as soon as possible.

Ronan said to Thomas again: You communicate with the theater company well, and when the film is released, the first batch of theaters should be close to the Chinese community.

Of course Thomas knew that this was the safest way to release the film, and said, I understand.

Garcia then asked, When will it be released?

December! Ronan gave the answer: The goal of this film is the awards season.

Alan Albert asked, Oscar?

Ronan said: Let's give it a try. Getting a few Oscar nominations will also mean huge benefits. Now the North American copyrights of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are all in our hands. If possible, we must maximize the benefits.

Garcia asked again: Is it the best foreign language film?

Ronan nodded: Priority is to ensure the best foreign language film. Garcia, you will start looking for a professional awards season PR company next week to formulate future related strategies. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has already premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and it is impossible to do it again. Go to competition at the Berlin Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival.”

To participate in the competition unit of the three major European film festivals, the film must premiere at the current film festival.

Let's do this. Ronan thought for a while and said, Try to apply for the competition unit of the Toronto Film Festival, and sign up for the outpost awards during the awards season as much as possible.

Okay, Garcia said.

It's only May now, and it's still early for the awards season to start at the end of November and early December, but a film that impacts the awards season often starts at the Cannes Film Festival, or even earlier at the Saint Denis Film Festival.

Ronan plans to spend most of the film's publicity investment on the Oscars. The film will be released in December, which does not conflict with publicity such as expanding the film's popularity.

As for whether you can get an Oscar nomination or even an award, it depends not only on operation, but also on luck.

Such as competitors, and the input of competitors.

Fortunately, the best foreign language films are all films from outside North America. Most of the producers have little influence in North America, and it is impossible for the distributors to invest huge sums of money.

The oriental version of Sense and Sensibility is also a gimmick. It is estimated that many proud and arrogant white old men will be satisfied: You see, I wear oriental clothes on the outside, but I am all Western in my heart...

Don't underestimate these psychological effects. Oscar's political correctness is the epitome of Hollywood.

In a few years, the quality of films will play a less important role in the selection of Oscars, and some shabby films will be nominated and even awarded gold medals just because they are politically correct.

A black movie with an LGBTQ cloak is simply an existence that turns on the invincible mode.

Ronan is also observing the social situation. As long as the time is right, this kind of good opportunity to earn both fame and income must not be missed.

What's more, after having cooperated with Ang Lee once, maybe we can cooperate for a second time in the future.

Don't worry too much about Ang Lee, this great Chinese director has spent his entire career in ups and downs, and the next fall will be worse than Riding with the Devil. Get some favors.

Five days later, Ronan and Garcia met with the head of a Hollywood agency specializing in Oscar public relations, and initially reached a cooperation intention. The other party is also a very powerful public relations company. 's Oscar business, helped American Beauty win the three heavyweight awards of Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture.

For a business like Oscar PR, it is difficult for newcomers to open up the market, and the more successful people are, the easier it is for them to succeed.

Oscar PR may sound high and powerful, but in fact, simply speaking, it is a process of elevating yourself, belittling your competitors, and at the same time making most of the judges have a good impression of you.

In this highly materialistic society, if you want to make a good impression on some strangers, you must invest a lot.

However, once the Oscars are successful, most of the money invested in the films will be able to earn back steadily, and even rely on the Oscar halo to become a big winner in the offline home entertainment market.

Entering June, the stock market is still plummeting. Ronan returns to the crew of Purge 2 and The Bourne Shadow. The former has started filming at Warner Studios, and the latter has also ended key actor training. Rindt and Paul Greengrass took the team to Europe, doing final preparations on location in Europe.

Ronan also went to Europe for a tour. The crew was operating relatively normally, and the problems encountered were basically within the controllable range. Although the addition of third-party guarantees allowed the crew to be supervised in all aspects, but in the future, the production of large-scale projects will be difficult. It will become the norm, and it can be regarded as an early adaptation.

In addition, the crew of Fatal Turns has also formally signed contracts with several actors from CAA. The crew is currently applying for tax rebates in Louisiana. If they can get a tax rebate, all the locations of Fatal Turns will be in Louisiana shoot.

In mid-June, Ronan just returned from Europe, and a movie related to him is about to be released.

DreamWorks presents The Blair Witch 2.