hollywood draw

Sitting in the corner to the right of the back row, Wayne patiently observed and waited for the start of the screening. This was a small screening room on the sixth floor of Fox Building. He and Luke Jimmy and his group arrived here at 8 o'clock in the morning.

Terry led them to this screening room with only a dozen seats and asked them to wait quietly for a while. The test film was arranged at 9:00 in the morning.

Wayne raised his left hand and looked at the time. Nine o'clock was already here, but now no one came in the room except himself, Luke Jimmy, and a film-screening staff.

He tried hard to suppress his expectation and irritability, and now he could not do anything except sit quietly behind and wait. It can be seen that Luke was even more nervous than Wayne, and his fingers kept tapping on the box containing the copy.

Just as he was trying to talk to Jimmy, the door was pushed open by Terry. The first one came in was a middle-aged Latino beauty with chocolate skin and a women's professional outfit.

Then an obviously Jewish executive walked straight to the front row, sat next to the Latino beauty, and whispered something. Terry stopped Jimmy and the others from saying hello, and closed the door and signaled that it could be screened directly.

Luke saw Wayne nodding, handed the box to the staff, and helped him copy the movie onto the projector. As the lights went out, the movie began to show in silence.

Wayne observed the middle-aged Jewish people sitting in the front row, and he was very sure that he would decide on the distribution treatment of "Happy Day" and whether Fox releases or asks him to get out with a copy, it was all within his mind.

Yuliana Affitiva, who was sitting in front of Townsend, tried hard to suppress her impatience. This impatience was not aimed at Townsend Roseman, but at the upcoming film.

Before Yuliana entered the door, she knew that this was a favor test. She asked Terry about it and felt that this was a waste of her time. She would never have any hope for a 20-year-old director's work. Such a novice director's work is not worthy of the top experts like her in the industry.

Although he looked at the curtain, Yulianna was thinking about Townsend beside her, guessing who could ask Townsend to help. But a few minutes after the film opened, this situation immediately changed.

At the beginning of the movie, the slut girl woke up and forgot the name of the man who stayed overnight. Then she was sharp and sarcastic. She met a classmate who had made an appointment with her on the way and was unabashedly sarcastic. If it were just these, it would not attract her attention.

After the fast-paced narrative, the heroine was stabbed to death by blood, which made her eyes lit up, and then she was resurrected seamlessly, giving her a huge surprise. Yulianna began to take out the notebook and stared at the screen.

“There is potential?”

Townsend's whisper came to his ears, Yuliana nodded and said softly: "Some potential, this is not a traditional horror movie, watch it first."

In this silent atmosphere, more than ninety minutes passed slowly. In these ninety minutes, Wayne obviously saw that the two people in the front row were attracted by their own films.

After the screening, Luke packed up his copy, and Wayne looked at the two people in front of him discussing something. They spoke very lightly, and he was embarrassed to say hello now.

After packing up the copy, Terry walked over and took the three of them out of the room. "Wayne, you can go and have a rest first. You can talk about the issue of distribution after lunch. We need some time to discuss it."

"Of course, we're in the lounge area downstairs." Jimmy took the conversation. "You can go downstairs to find us anytime."

Terry nodded, and when he returned to the office of the distribution department head, Yuliana Affideva was talking about the film like Townsend.

"Of course, I think you can see the other selling points of the film. The core wrapped in the black style of this film gave me a very surprising feeling. I can tell you how I felt after watching this movie.

First of all, the theme of this film goes the opposite way. He does not praise Jessica's series of bad behaviors, but instead believes that these invisible "evil" factors are destined to bring "evil" results. Only those who really want to change from the heart can "good" break through the mystery and gain the qualification to tomorrow. After all, the world is light that can defeat darkness. As long as people are willing to work hard, they will always look back.

It's a very old-fashioned core, right? But such old-fashioned things have always been the thing that impresses the audience the most. The director is very immature, such as funny dramas about easing emotions. It can be clearly seen that he is not good at these, but these will not affect the story."

"Yulianna, you gave him a very high evaluation. OK, I understand, you go and do it first." Townsend nodded after hearing her words. He said to Terry who had just entered: "Promotional promotion and promotion are introduced according to C-type films."

"Okay, Mr. Rossman." Terry agreed and asked again: "What kind of issuance contract do we sign with him? Buy out or?"

"Buy out the North American copyright of the video, and you go to negotiate. Arrange the rating of the video as soon as possible, skip the media trial, and arrange the preview of the video directly."

"Okay, no problem, I'll inform them later."

Terry closed the door, left the supervisor's office, walked downstairs to notify Wayne that he could start negotiations on the release of the video.

The three of them were relieved when they heard this. While going upstairs, Luke was still muttering in a low voice: "There shouldn't be an accident this time!"

It was still the conference room of yesterday, and the three of them sat opposite Terry.

"Director Greenberg, first of all, if you want Fox to release a film, buying out the North American copyright is the premise." Terry looked at this young director and found it incredible. It is too rare for directors of this age to make a theater movie.

Wayne didn't hesitate at all: "Of course, I agree to buy out the issuance, as long as the price is right."

"It seems that it's easy for us to reach a consensus, Director Greenberg. So let's talk about the price, believe me, Fox has a dedicated market evaluation department, and the Lion's big talk can't solve the problem."

"The purchase of North America for $4 million includes the distribution, peripherals, and videotapes. I believe this price is not high. "Happy Day" will definitely bring more revenue to Fox." This is Wayne's psychological price, and it is not much compared to the value the film can create.

Terry heard the offer from the director opposite and thought silently for a while. He knew some of the things behind the release of the film, so he didn't lower the price: "Yes, just buy out the North American copyright for $4 million. You can call your lawyer to discuss the specific terms tomorrow."

"Okay, that's it today. I'll go back and prepare. I'll bring the lawyer here tomorrow." Wayne suppressed the excitement in his heart and said goodbye to Terry in a calm voice.

From Fox Building to the parking lot, three people looked at each other along the way, and the atmosphere was strange and silence. It was not until after getting in the car that Luke opened his mouth:

"It's done just that simple? Damn it, the negotiation is done just that simple!!!"

Wayne didn't restrain his excitement, patted Luke on the shoulder and replied loudly: "Yes! Luke, yes! We succeeded, and we will send this damn movie to the theater soon. Immediately!"

After hearing his words, Luke also patted Wayne on the shoulder hard and shouted excitedly: "No shit is going to destroy us now, ha, we will succeed soon."

Within a week, Wayne signed an issuance contract with Fox with the help of his lawyer.

Twentieth Century Fox bought out all copyrights of "Happy Day" in North America for US$4 million, including distribution, videotape, peripherals, and television rights. Greenberg Studio retains the subsequent creation rights and overseas distribution rights of the video, and Twentieth Century Fox has priority refusal for subsequent creations and overseas copyrights.

The main actors of the crew, Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Naomi Watts, including director Wayne, must cooperate with all promotional activities of the 20th Century Fox during the release of the film.

Just one day after Wayne signed with Fox on behalf of Greenberg Studio, the release schedule for the film was given to Wayne.

Fox chose the safest way to publish. In the past two days, Wayne had fantasized that the film could be opened in North America in a large scale with one thousand or two thousand theaters. Only after getting the plan, did he realize that it was just an unrealistic fantasy.

It is impossible for Fox to invest a lot of money in publicity and marketing before seeing the response of the film. Even the cost of copying in this era is a considerable expense.

The two copies that Luke went to print were priced at about US$800 each. Large film and television companies like this should have cooperation with factories, so it is not much cheaper. The average cost per copy is about US$600.

It is now 1991, and every copy of 35mm film is $600. If the film is released in 2,000 theaters, it will be more than one million. Before the film market prospects are unclear, Fox will never spend this fee.

Big companies in Hollywood are all traitors, but they are absolutely impossible to be charitable organizations. Unless the film shows market prospects in the early stage, Fox will definitely not spend more than a cent.

The film begins with twenty theaters around Los Angeles and New York, and begins to be painted in preview mode. Fox will send observers to observe the market and audience reactions.

If the audience has a good reputation and the box office of the single-stage restaurant is excellent, with the 20th Century Fox's reaction ability, you can contact the factory to print thousands of copies in a short time, and the screening scale can be rapidly expanded.

This method is often used by distribution companies when distributing low-cost movies. The final result is: if the screening is expanded, Fox can share the high box office; if the film fails, Fox will almost lose any advance investment.

This is the rule of this circle. Even if the Fox video screening fails, you can easily recover costs and even make profits by relying on videotapes and TV copyrights.