Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 155 Preparing to Make a Blockbuster

Berman called Cao Yang again and asked him if he wanted to go to the United States to make some arrangements. Whether it was the Golden Globe Awards or the Oscars, nomination and winning were two different things, and both required arrangements.

Moreover, the Golden Globe Awards are easier to operate. It is organized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and the final result is determined by the votes of 96 journalists.

It's not as difficult as the Oscars.

The Oscar awards are nominally decided by votes from thousands of judges, most of whom don't even know what films they voted for, and they don't necessarily know the content of the films. If this doesn't work, name recognition will have an absolute advantage.

However, in an environment where everyone is operating, fame is of little use.

Cao Yang thought about the five nominations for the Golden Globe Awards. He estimated that the public relations focus of Columbia and Miramax would be on the Best Picture. They might also aim for the Best Director award, as these are all awards related to the movie box office.

Depp himself and his agency are definitely only eyeing the Best Actor award.

I just don't know if Anne Hathaway's agency will give her any advice for the Best Supporting Actress award.

Judging from Anne Hathaway's future path to fame and her courage to take off her clothes, her agency is likely to help her.

"How are the sales of my novel?"

Cao Yang asked. His "Cao Yang's Fantastic Journey" has already been published to the third volume, and each volume consists of about five novels.

Each novel is rewritten based on a wonderful Hollywood movie that will appear in the future. There are fifteen novels in total, which means that fifteen movies can be adapted into them.

"very good!"

Talking about this, Berman laughed.

"Especially the first volume, every chapter is brilliant and has laid a very good reputation and foundation for the next two volumes. So, my dear director, you are already a writer in the top 50 of the North American novel bestseller list!"

"Are there many people seeking adaptation?" Cao Yang asked.

"A lot. Not to mention some small companies and unknown producers, almost all the slightly larger film companies in Hollywood have contacted me."

Berman said excitedly: "Especially Columbia, when they knew that "Cao Yang's Fantastic Journey" was indeed written by you, they have contacted me many times, wanting to cooperate with you, saying that they want to bring all these novels to the big screen.

They even made a plan, saying that as long as you agree, there will be a special funding plan to create this series of movies. They value the first volume of the novel, but the initial plan is to choose a medium-cost production.

As long as you are willing to adapt, the first round of funding will be about 50 million yuan. Of course, there are still many details to discuss, it all depends on your willingness. "

A medium-budget production? Columbia seems to be a little worried.

Cao Yang thought about it for a while, and then said to Berman: "Berman, please tell Columbia that you can choose a medium-budget film from the novel to adapt, but it must be made into a co-production model. They should be very familiar with this.

We can discuss the specific cooperation method and the investment share. But there is one prerequisite: I don’t care what method Columbia uses. I want the best director award. It depends on whether Columbia is sincere. "

Berman hesitated for a while before he carefully explained.

"It may be a little difficult to win the Best Director Oscar. Warner Bros. has invested a lot of money in the operation since August. This time, they vowed to give Peter Jackson a Best Director award and bring The Lord of the Rings to a perfect end."

The Lord of the Rings was invested and distributed by New Line Cinema, which was acquired by Warner and merged into Time Warner Group as early as 93. "Which awards do Columbia and Miramax focus on?"

Cao Yang asked curiously.

“Best Film.”

“They’re more interested in Best Picture, which would bring more fame to Mean Milk,” Behrman said.

Although Warner is also working on the Best Director and Best Picture awards, they pay more attention to the Best Director award. The third Lord of the Rings movie no longer needs the Best Picture award to gain popularity.

It seems like Warner is determined to win.

"Berman, tell Columbia about my conditions first and see what they say. I want to see their sincerity, not excuses."

Even if the Oscar for Best Director is difficult, how can you show sincerity if it is not difficult? Besides, sincerity can also be in other aspects, it depends on how you exchange it.

"Okay, I'll tell Colombia about these conditions. Are you still coming to run the Golden Globe Awards?"

Bellman asked again.

"If Colombia is sincere, they will definitely be more anxious than me. Berman, you should understand what I mean. I will not go to the United States for the time being."

If Columbia feels that it has little chance of winning the Best Director Oscar, then in order to show its sincerity, the Golden Globe Award plus some other conditions will be the most likely choice.

They will definitely exchange views with Warner. No one is a fool. It is okay to operate awards under certain conditions, but for two major companies to desperately spend money to operate it is a lose-lose situation and it is unlikely to happen.

Among the seven major film companies in Hollywood, competition and cooperation coexist, and they also maintain a certain tacit understanding and communication. They are the real rulers of Hollywood.

In the next few days, Cao Yang continued to work on the post-production of the film and communicated with several familiar people.

Everyone originally thought that Cao Yang would put down what he was doing and rush to the United States. After all, the Golden Globe Award is also a very important award. How could he win the big prize without socializing and making arrangements?

Moreover, the Oscar nominations will be announced in one month. As a favorite for the Golden Globe Awards, shouldn't you rush to the United States and attend various events in order to get an Oscar nomination?
When many people heard that Cao Yang would not go to the United States before the Oscar nominations were announced, they were all shocked.

President Han even called and asked Cao Yang what he thought. This was such a good opportunity, why didn't you go there quickly?

Hou Keming was much more convenient. He found Cao Yang directly at the Qingying Studio and asked, "Cao Yang, what do you think? This is an Oscar. Your artistic achievements are already very high. The only thing missing is the more commercial Oscar. Why don't you go?"

In fact, Hou Keming is also very conflicted. As a Beijing Film Academy graduate, he does not attach much importance to the Oscars, not as much as the three major European film festivals.

But as a filmmaker, the value of the Oscar is enormous. Given its status in Hollywood today, it's hard not to take it seriously.

There is another point that everyone agrees on. Li An’s "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" received so many Oscar nominations, but he is Chinese after all.

As long as Cao Yang can get nominated for several Oscars, there will be domestic directors who can achieve a breakthrough in the Oscars, which will also boost national pride.

(End of this chapter)