The Best Entertainment Era

In the hotel room, flipping through the business card in his hand, Billy Horford was on the phone with the owner of that number.

No more roadshows? Why? The film sold! Oh, director Malik, can I ask which company it sold to? Nothing, I'm just curious. Relativity Entertainment Group? The buyer was Ronan Anderson ?OK, thanks.

Hanging up the phone, a young face flashed in front of Billy Horford's eyes. I still remember that night, this person said several times to belittle this DV video that he didn't even know the title of. Why did he turn around and buy this movie? What?

Is it true what you feel when you watch the movie? This film has hidden value in a place he didn't expect?

But looking back, is there anything else besides the rough picture and the constant shaking of the camera?

Billy Horford shook his head, that Ronan Anderson probably bought it to enrich the movie library, right? After all, he had heard that Relativity Entertainment was a new company that had just been formed.

When leaving the hotel in the afternoon, Billy met Gray Enrique from Lionsgate Films, and shared the matter with Gray Enrique as a curiosity.

Just that selfie video that makes people dizzy? Gray Enrique was also a little confused: Ronan Anderson is a smart man, why buy this kind of film?

This made him quite puzzled.

Do smart people sometimes do stupid things?

Now that the copyright of the film has been bought, Billy Horford didn't have too many scruples to speak, and asked, Grey, you watched it that night, how did you feel?

There was no conflict with the work, and Greg Enrique said honestly: That's not even a movie, is it? I don't see any value.

Billy Horford was puzzled: I probably bought it to enrich the film library.

Gray Enrique shook his head: Probably not. When Ronan Anderson bought Embassy Pictures some time ago, because of insufficient funds, he only bought the distribution channels of Embassy Pictures, not even the film library.

Billy Horford heard about it, and the Embassy Pictures library ended up in the hands of Lionsgate.

Both of them couldn't figure it out, no matter how you look at it, Ronan Anderson wasn't an idiot.

Forget it, don't think about it. Billy Horford was the first to give up: It's just a shoddy DV video, it's not worth wasting time.

Greg Enrique and Billy Horford quickly put the matter aside and continued their search for valuable film assets at the Sun Denis Film Festival.

After Ronan returned to Los Angeles, he first paid attention to the two production crews that were being prepared. The current main work of these two production crews is to recruit actors. The audition has just started, and it is not yet time for him to intervene.

Other specific tasks such as prop production, venue selection, equipment rental, and scene setting are all in charge of specific tasks.

What Ronan, a producer, needs to do is to control the overall situation, rather than personally participate in the details of a certain aspect.

Knowing how to let professional people do professional things is the basic quality that producers who control the overall situation must possess.

And besides the handymen, Ronan hired people with relevant work experience for the crew.

He would rather use experienced people with higher salaries than rashly employ new people.

For the huge Hollywood, there is never a shortage of relevant film practitioners.

The current situation in Hollywood is that it is relatively difficult for the staff to find suitable jobs, but as long as the budget is relatively sufficient, the crew often has many suitable choices.

Of course, the preparations are definitely not smooth sailing.

For Death Comes, Ronan intends to attract star-level actors to participate, so when the casting director mentioned Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst's interest, he let the crew contact them.

In this era, the star effect is still relatively obvious, so there is no need to doubt the topicality and attractiveness that star-level actors can bring to the crew.

It's a pity that Ronan's salary is seriously insufficient.

Casting director Jason and associate producer Andrew had contacted the agents of Kirst Dunst and Tobey Maguire successively, and the pay gap between the two parties was too great.

Kirsten Dunst demanded a $1 million salary, and Tobey Maguire's agent insisted on a $2 million salary.

The acceptable limit for the crew is $500,000.

It went smoothly, and the talks between the two sides collapsed.

Death is Coming is a typical commercial film, and it is impossible to bring important academic awards to the actors. Without other benefits, star-level actors are naturally unwilling to cut their salaries.

It is a taboo for stars to lower their salary casually for starring in commercial movies.

Fortunately, the main characters of Death Comes have received thousands of application materials for actors, so they don't have to worry about finding suitable actors.

On the side of Kingsman, director Paul Greengrass made a preliminary shooting plan, but Ronan received an invitation, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority invited the crew to shoot in the UAE.

Go under the nose of the investment bureau to tamper with? Of course, Ronan would not do this, and declined the invitation of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority on the pretext that the relevant facilities in the UAE are not perfect.

It's also true that the UAE's homegrown film industry hasn't even gotten off the ground.

In addition, Paul Greengrass wanted to go to big cities such as Rio de Janeiro, London, New York and Tokyo for on-site shooting. Ronan persuaded him to give up this idea and try to find a suitable alternative location near California for shooting.

The real budget of this film is not at all the 25 million US dollars shown to the public. If it is really going to fly around the world to shoot, the crew will run out of funds soon.

Paul Greenglass is somewhat dissatisfied.

Ronan can only get along with him. Fortunately, Paul Greengrass is a very professional and highly focused director. He basically doesn't understand financial things, and he doesn't have to worry about the British director finding out the tricks.

Even if he found out, Ronan didn't care, and told him directly that the $25 million was not only the production budget, but also the budget for publicity and distribution.

Fully understand the operating rules of Hollywood, master the provisions of the Entertainment Act, as long as you actively and boldly think about it, there is always a way.

In this regard, Ronan has been watching and has never stopped researching. He even consulted Dinah Upton, a senior professional entertainment lawyer at Sheng Zhi Law Firm, several times.

Sheng Zhi Law Firm has officially signed a contract with Relativity Entertainment, and Dinah Upton is the direct person in charge.

Through the continuous preparation of these three films, Ronan deeply realized that the profits of the film are far more than the normal commercial income that the film itself can generate, and the process of operating the film can also benefit.

Rather, it is a legitimate gain that complies with industry regulations and legal provisions.

The opportunity is right in front of you, and you can't let it go for nothing.

Ronan is also further improving the A-San plan that he had initially conceived before.

According to the news he got, the Indians have contacted DreamWorks again, but generally speaking they are more cautious. Compared with the oil tycoons in the United Arab Emirates, it is estimated that it is a little more difficult for the rich Indians to get funds, and there is no such thing as the local tyrants. trench style.

Tony Koch has been with him all this time, understanding how Hollywood works on the ground.

Ronan is still very conscientious, with the relationship between Helen Hull and the old Mrs. Anderson, he will not cheat Tony Koch.

Moreover, Relativity Entertainment, as a commercial company engaged in a legitimate industry, also needs a trusted partner.

Tony Koch is generally more reliable, the only shortcoming is lack of experience.

These are things that can be resolved over time.

At the same time, Ronan simply finalized the framework of the new company. Mary was transferred from Sandsea Entertainment to Theory of Relativity, but for the time being, she had to supervise the finance of Sandsea Entertainment and the two projects, and the daily work of Sandsea Entertainment was handed over to George Ke Lindt is in charge.

The new company also conducted a recruitment and hired a few more employees. It is not easy for this shell company, which is temporarily used as a holding company, to really develop.

After finishing these tasks, the film copy and all shooting materials of The Blair Witch were also shipped to Los Angeles. Ronan first asked people to do a targeted market research, and then formulated a plan for the film with viral marketing as the core.

He also needed a visionary plan to convince his staff, especially the distributors at Embassy Pictures.

As the boss and absolute controlling shareholder, he can really push this project strongly, but this is the last option.