The Best Entertainment Era

Chapter 48: All Black

The production company is still a small production company with no capital in theatrical movies, so it is naturally at a disadvantage when facing distribution companies.

This is determined by the industry chain and industry ecology, and the advantages of foresight cannot be offset.

Ronan thought for a while and said, Can you explain it carefully?

Navas roughly said: Only counting the distribution fee, 40% of the total income will be taken. In the latter case, 25% of the income will be taken. The film's promotional fees, distribution fees, copying fees, management fees , transportation and insurance costs are calculated separately.”

Ronan sighed secretly: Sure enough, everyone is equally black.

The production company has black investors, and the distribution company has black production companies.

The price offered by Navas is basically the same as that of Sony Entertainment.

Of course, Navas is not like Sony Entertainment, who directly accepts or has nothing to talk about.

Negotiations, there is always something to talk about before we can go on.

Ronan did not choose, but directly pointed to the weakness of Lionsgate: Mr. Navas, as far as I know, Lionsgate does not have overseas distribution capabilities.

There's no denying that, Navas admitted: Yes, Lionsgate is building an overseas distribution channel. He added: I was talking about the North American market.

Ronan seized on the opponent's weakness and chased after him: My goal is to distribute globally. If I distribute in North America alone, it means that I will have to find overseas publishers later, and I will have to do a lot of work and even pay a bigger bargaining chip. .”

He never thought of selling overseas distribution rights directly, but his real thoughts in the negotiations are always covered behind false language, and the disadvantages can also be subtly transformed into advantages in the negotiations: This does not meet my needs.

Navas looked at Ronan, trying to draw something from the change in his expression.

Ronan cleverly turned the unfavorable facts into his own negotiating capital: I talked to Mr. Chris from Sony Entertainment two days ago, and Sony Entertainment offered only 30% of the North American distribution fee for this film. And Sony Entertainment is also responsible for promoting the film overseas.

This is also telling Navas that the Human Purge Project is not uninterested.

Navas did not get flustered because of these, but said: Lionsgate's strategy is to focus on horror films, and now the entire company's resources are tilted towards horror films. He smiled confidently: When it comes to distribution channels, Lionsgate Gate Films is not as good as Sony Entertainment, but Mr. Anderson, how many films does Sony Entertainment release in a year? They don't invest much resources in your film at all.

Before Ronan could open his mouth, Navas continued: Lionsgate only released one Lolita last year, and today it only plans to release two or three films. The company's investment in each film, those big Small projects issued by companies are incomparable.

Ronan said nonsense: Sony Entertainment promised to push The Purge into theaters this year, so that Shahai Entertainment can recover the funds as soon as possible.

Of course, the sooner the invested capital is recovered, the better, and time is also a high cost.

Navas was very aware of this, and said directly: Lionsgate has no films to release recently. The Human Purge has been completed, and there are still nearly three months before Halloween. If we reach an agreement quickly, Lionsgate can do its best. Pushing this film to release in time for Halloween.

This is almost tempting Ronan, so hurry up and follow me.

It may take more than half a year to operate a large-scale production with a large investment, from the completion of post-production to publicity and release, and then to the release, but for a film like Human Purge, two or three months are enough.

Of course, the speed at which Hollywood operates movies is far worse than that of Hong Kong movies back then.

Ronan spread his hands: In the North American market alone, 40% of the distribution fee is too high, and there is no overseas distribution!

Navas could hear that Ronan had chosen the former condition, and said, Lionsgate is very sincere.

Is this sincerity just talking with your mouth? Ronan complained in his heart.

He chose to use income as a distribution commission alone. The latter option seems good, and it is also the choice of some people or companies who have just entered Hollywood. However, since he came to Los Angeles, he has been researching the situation inside and outside the circle, and checked some As a case, we know that under the current accounting calculation rules in Hollywood, there are too many places where reasonable and legal manipulations can be done with the seemingly generous method of commission plus deduction.

If you don't have enough power or backing, it's best not to touch it.

Don't expect the issuer to restrain itself with conscience and morality.

Isn't the conscience of the largest capital all about obtaining the maximum benefit?

Ronan smiled: Mr. Navas, I'm new to Hollywood, but I also know that the highest commission rate commonly used in the industry is 30% in North America and 40% overseas.

Facing such a difficult person, unless he gave up the film, he must make some concessions. Navas quickly made a decision: North American thirty-five percent.

Ronan remained calm and said directly, 30% of the box office in North America.

Impossible. Navas shook his head without hesitation: I'm talking about 30% of the total income in North America.

Mr. Navas, what Sandsea Entertainment is looking for is a long-term cooperative publishing company. Ronan turned and said, The Human Purge Project is just the beginning, and then we will produce a movie with an investment of tens of millions of dollars. With Reaper, and I had financing from the Middle East, production money wasn't an issue at all.

Reaper? Navas was a little curious.

Ronan opened the briefcase, took out the script, and handed it over: The director is still James Huang. You have watched The Human Purge Project, and you must know the director's accomplishments in horror and thrillers.

Navas didn't speak. He took the script and flipped through it, raising his eyebrows slightly. The setting of this script is a bit interesting, much better than Human Purge Project.

Ronan said at the right time: This is just a part of Sandsea Entertainment's huge production plan.

Navas immediately asked: Anything else?

Sorry. Ronan directly opened the invincibility plus immunity: The rest are temporarily kept secret.

Navas nodded, knowing that many production companies are worried about unnecessary competition. Before a certain project is put on the agenda, they often keep commercial secrets. Some projects even do not reveal their real names during the shooting stage for the sake of confidentiality. collectively named.

You have sufficient funds? he asked.

Even with Lionsgate backed by a major Canadian bank, production money was tight.

Rhona was quite confident: Of course. He said truthfully: Mr. Navas must have heard that the oil tycoons are particularly generous.

This remark made Navas think of the Arab character in The Purge of Mankind, and suddenly realized, no wonder the Arab character finally acted as the savior, and it turned out to be like this.

Shahai Entertainment may become a long-term and stable film source provider?

Navas quickly considered that the risks of financing, production and debt are all borne by the producer, but the distributor can absorb most of the profits from it...

He closed the script and asked, Is this going to be made?

Ronan vowed: I have no shortage of funds. No matter what the box office of The Purge of Mankind is, it will not affect Reaper. Under the circumstances, Shahai Entertainment must give priority to Lionsgate.”

Navas nodded subconsciously, and then shook his head again. Obviously, the publishing party was the one with the absolute advantage. Why did he suddenly follow the rhythm of Ronan Anderson?

This young man is not simple.

Navas no longer cares about Reaper and long-term film sources, which will make him slip further to the disadvantaged side, and immediately turn to the topic: Tell me about your conditions.

Ronan won't relax just because he won a little initiative, and immediately said: Twenty percent of the box office, Lionsgate's investment in publicity is no less than 800,000 US dollars, and other copyright income is calculated separately.

He thought for a while and added: For publicity considerations, the public cost of the film is $11 million.

The rest is nothing more than bargaining.

What followed was a five-day tug-of-war negotiation. Navas added two negotiators, and Ronan brought Robert and George Clint over to form a team.

After countless rounds of bargaining, the two parties finally signed a formal North American full copyright distribution contract on August 20th.

Lionsgate Films charges 28% of the total box office revenue for the distribution of The Purge in North American theaters, and all expenses incurred during the distribution are included in it, and Lionsgate Films promises to invest no less than The $500,000 fund was used to promote the film in North America.

In terms of peripheral copyrights, Lionsgate takes 20% of the film's videotapes, discs, new media and TV copyrights, 50% of the total revenue from film derivatives, and so on.

It is a normal level in the industry for the distribution company to take 50% of the income from a movie derivative product.

In addition, Shahai Entertainment shall bear the audit fees incurred by the capital exchange between the two companies.

Ronan tried his best to solve the problem, but he still couldn't change the situation where the issuer had an absolute advantage.

However, what made him a little more relaxed was that the Human Purge Project had thus entered the stage of publicity and release.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like