Chapter 104

There was no suspense. The next morning, the newspaper was full of headlines like "Simon westero's new love affair exposed.".

In the apartment of century building.

Simon wakes up with the phone ringing, and then almost all the way with the microphone until breakfast.

Jonathan Friedman and pat Kingsley called the first time to ask what happened to Simon and Sandra, and what to do with the media. Simon's answer was just to make them vague. Sandra took the initiative to kiss herself last night. If he immediately declared that they had nothing to do with each other the next day, it would be very embarrassing for the girl.

Janet naturally called, complaining bitterly about Simon, playboy, little jerk and so on, and then went off to the profound question of kissing skills. Simon patiently accompanies the woman to ramble about. Finally, he tries to find out if they can start dating again after they have been "separated" for two weeks. He is rejected again because of the serious face problem.

In a series of phone calls, Dennis O'Brien, the director of handicrafts film, also called.

Handicraft pictures has agreed to participate in the production of when Harry meets Sally, and Dennis O'Brien wants to discuss the details of the contract with Simon. This kind of thing would have been more suitable for Amy. However, Amy had to go to New York, and Simon didn't have any important problems at the weekend, so he took them personally.

After two days of intensive negotiations, danelis pictures and handicraft pictures signed a formal cooperation agreement on Monday. After returning from New York, Amy Pascal began to discuss distribution cooperation with several major film companies.

Then, the strong monopoly of Hollywood film distribution channels by big film companies and the weakness of danilisi film industry's shallow foundation revealed again.

Denise pictures headquarters.

Simon and Amy sit together on the sofa in the reception area of his office, discussing in a low voice the results of Amy's recent contact with several major film companies, but the atmosphere is inevitably heavy.

Due to the continuous success of "Lola Run" and "Butterfly Effect", the studio was originally interested in investing in "when Harry meets Sally".

However, when Denise pictures decided to make it on its own and was only willing to cooperate with the big seven in terms of local cinema distribution, the attitudes of all parties immediately changed significantly.

In the Seventh National Congress of the CPC, paramount and universal directly rejected the cooperation invitation of danielis pictures on the ground that the film layout plan was full.

There are five left.

Since Denise pictures only wanted to license its North American cinema distribution, Colombia asked to buy it out, but the price offered was only $3 million.

If it is divided into distribution, Hollywood independent producers usually get about 20% of the box office share from distributors. According to this ratio, Colombia's offer of $3 million is only equivalent to an estimate of $15 million for the North American box office of when Harry meets Sally.

The $15 million box office is not too bad in this era. A film with the same production cost of 15 million US dollars can get such a box office in North America, and it can basically be recovered through subsequent distribution channels.

However, this figure is far lower than the box office of "when Harry meets Sally" in Simon's memory, so he can't agree.

The other four are willing to issue shares.

However, both MGM and Disney offer a 15% commission on the issue, and the publicity expenses are naturally calculated separately. What's more, the two companies not only asked Simon to sign a director's and screenwriter's contract, but also failed to give a satisfactory number of screens and film schedule.

Next up are fox and Warner.

Fox is willing to give the Easter schedule at the end of March next year, guarantee a minimum of 1000 open screen, and issue 12% commission. However, fox asked to take away the distribution rights of when Harry meets Sally from other channels in North America.

The schedule given by Warner is the best among the seven. Next November, the Thanksgiving schedule will guarantee a minimum of 1000 pictures on the screen, with a commission of 10%. The additional condition is that when Harry meets Sally, it has the right to distribute through all channels except the North American cinema.

The biggest difference between agency issuance and buyout is the date of payment collection.

If daenerys film retains the distribution rights of other channels, after when Harry meets Sally is released, if the market reaction is good, it will soon be able to sell out the distribution rights of other channels and recover the funds quickly, just like Lola Run.

But if you choose agent distribution, you need to wait for the film company to complete the distribution of various channels before settling accounts.

Let's take the recent release of the video with theaters. After a movie is released, it takes three months for the video to go on sale. Then even if it is settled quarterly, it will have to wait at least three months.

Therefore, even if we choose to issue as an agent, even if we can recover more profits in the end, the payback cycle of several years can't be borne by a small company like Denise pictures.

All in all, the conditions given by the five major parties to agree to cooperate are basically not what Simon wants to see.

However, five of the seven major film companies are willing to cooperate with Denise pictures, which is actually the result of Simon's two hot movies in a row. For an independent film, Simon wants to hold more distribution rights in his hands. Obviously, it is impossible for the big seven to give too good conditions. For example, summer season is such a hot time, so don't even think about it.In fact, when Harry meets Sally, it is a true portrayal of what Hollywood independent producers generally encounter.

Although Hollywood has never been short of second - and third tier film companies that can independently distribute films, it is absolutely not empty talk that the seven major film studios monopolize the film distribution channels. Only those who are in it can understand how terrible this strong monopoly is.

Take new line pictures, whose founder, Robert Shea, founded the company in 1967. But until 1984, when new line pictures launched its first independently produced "ghost Street", it could only get 165 open screens for the film, and it was still a popular time on November 9.

Even the latest "ghost Street 3", although the number of screens has finally expanded to more than 1000, the schedule is even more unpopular, February 27. For big studios, this kind of schedule is basically like a movie graveyard. Only the films that are not very promising will be left in this kind of unpopular schedule.

So, why don't new line pictures choose the hot season of summer or Christmas?

Because I can't get in.

Even after the paramount act, which forced the separation of the terminal cinema and the film company, the intertwined interest relationship between the big film companies and the North American cinema line has not been broken.

What's more, in recent years, with the continuous deregulation of the media industry by the local government, the paramount act has survived in name.

At present, the total number of movie screens in North America is about 22000, of which 7500 are in the core prosperous area, accounting for 80% of the North American box office every year.

After the failure of paramount act, Warner, universal, Columbia and other companies have re intervened in cinema projection business in recent years, and now they have once again controlled nearly half of the core 7500 screens.

With the direct control of 40% of the total box office share in North America, coupled with the close interest relationship with other cinemas, it's OK for the second and third tier film companies to make small fights, but basically they can't threaten the monopoly position of the seven major film companies.

Because of his attention to all aspects of Hollywood, Simon is clear about these things, but he still has a strong sense of unwillingness.

Looking back at the memorandum that records the terms of cooperation of several major film companies, Simon looked up at Amy Pascal and asked, "Amy, what do you think is the possibility that we will make the film ourselves?"

Amy Pascal shook her head and said, "Simon, it's too risky. It's $15 million, not $1.8 million from ghost street. Local box office data is the most important basis for subsequent channel distributors to quote. It's not impossible for us to do the distribution in person, but we may not even get half of the box office that the big seven have done. This will have a serious impact on the revenue of all subsequent channels, and it's not worth the loss. "

Simon could not help but silence when he heard Amy say that. Naturally, he understood these reasons.

Once again, he set his eyes on the memo in front of him, and Simon quickly weighed the cooperation plan in front of him.

Colombia's $3 million buyout will certainly not be considered.

Fox and Warner, even when Harry meets Sally, the box office in North America can still reach $90 million, and Denise pictures may not get more than $20 million from the box office.

Like "Lola Run", Simon pays more attention to the income of subsequent distribution channels.

The two are also excluded.

In the end, MGM and Disney are the only ones left.

However, the schedules given by MGM and Disney are at the beginning of October and the end of February, all of which are at the cemetery level.

Moreover, Simon really doesn't want to sign a director's appointment.

Today is already Thursday.

Simon gave Jonathan the story script of "the lion king" on Monday. Although he wanted to cooperate with Disney, he had to pass fox first. Because the original contract, "Butterfly Effect" and "death is coming," he still owes fox a script.

Although fox does not make animated films now, it took lawyers from both sides a whole day to sign a formal understanding agreement before Jonathan was able to introduce the project to Disney.

So thinking, secretly sighed, Simon knew that he still had to face the reality.

At present, the only signboard that can make a big film company excited by Denise film is himself. If he wants to reach a cooperation, he can only sign another option contract with MGM or Disney.

When he drew a circle on the names of MGM and Disney, Simon handed the memo to Amy and said, "keep in touch with these two families. The Easter schedule in March and the $1000 guaranteed screen are our bottom line. We can talk about everything else."

Amy nodded. She was actually more inclined to these two families.

As for Simon to sign the option contract again, in Amy's view, it's no big deal.

The reason why Spielberg can only direct universal, Warner and paramount films these years is also due to contract restrictions.After the success of jaws, universal changed Spielberg's seven-year contract of sale into a four-part contract. Until now, Spielberg still owes two. Therefore, although he publicly said he didn't like Frank price, President of Universal Pictures, and angrily wrote the terms of no business with the other party in his contract, Spielberg still had to continue to work for Universal Pictures.

After confirming the matter, they chatted a few more words, and the door of the office was knocked.

After Simon agreed, Susan opened the door and said, "Mr. westrow, Miss Kidman's hair is dyed."

Susan said as a tall, fair skinned girl with black hair came in. It was Nicole Kidman, who was just 20 years old.

Nicole Kidman with black hair.