Chapter 1765： Among the production

In Hollywood, the producer is undoubtedly the person with the most say in the whole project. When the film enters the production stage, even the bigwigs such as Barry Meyer, Kevin Pence, and Mark Canton will not be easy to talk about the film. Do dictate, but give the producer full responsibility. The producer not only maintains the bond between the production company and the crew, but also the person who owns the life and death of the entire crew. He controls the economic lifeline of the crew and the direction of production.

If you encounter a bad producer and interfere in every aspect of the production of the work-the point is that the layman does not know how to pretend to understand, then this is a disaster, and it is no wonder that the investment of 100 million US dollars can be easily ruined. "Future Water World" is obviously the most representative case.

This is also the reason why many top directors will shoulder the responsibilities of producers of their own works. Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, George Lucas, etc., their works are generally produced by themselves. of. Of course, ensuring quality and creative freedom is one reason, and producers can participate in dividends, which is another reason.

In a crew, those eligible to participate in the profit distribution include the director, screenwriter, and producer, as well as top actors, such as Hugo. However, Hugo’s dividends obviously cannot compete with directors and producers. They take the bulk. In situations like Steven, James, and George, they can get a part of the dividend as a director, and then a part of the dividend as a producer, so the dividend is often as high as 20%.

In Hollywood twenty years later, it is not uncommon for top actors to act as producers of their own works, control the quality of their works, and participate in dividends. The main reason is that after the birth of the 20 million club, Hollywood put forward a theory that actors with super high salaries must also bear more risks. Therefore, in fact, many top actors later became the producers of their own works, sharing the risks of the works by dividends. Of course, after the works were successful, the income was doubled, far more than just taking 20 million US dollars in remuneration. Much more.

Since "Mission Impossible 2", Tom Cruise has been a producer in almost every starring work of his own, and he has worked hard to carry all the risks of his own business on his shoulders; Brad-Pitt co-produced " "Twelve Years of Being a Slave", "Selma", "Fury", "Penalty Kick" and other works have continuously hit the Oscars and achieved very good results; Natalie- After Portman became the producer of his own work, he has strict requirements on the quality of his works, and he has repeatedly broken out conflicts with co-actors and co-directors, and even led to temporary changes of actors, screenwriters temporarily rewriting scripts, and arguing with the director.

It can even be said that it is a normal state and a transformation for top actors to become producers.

However, in 1996, few actors were willing to do so. Because the producer often means dealing with the production company and crew, and it also means a huge box office risk. Also, few film companies are willing to do this, because it means that they delegate power to the actors, let the actors override the directors, and challenge the authority of the director. For directors like James, this is almost a no-brainer for the crew. Time bomb, not to mention, it also means that the film company needs to give more benefits to the actors.

Of course, the most important thing is that, so far, no actor has such a strong appeal, so that the film company can give the trust, put the heavy responsibility of the producer and the pressure of the box office on the actor-even if it is an independent film, although occasionally This happens, but it is not common. Because an actor is an actor, in the current perception, an actor cannot bear the risks of a producer.

Barry Meyer is not the first person to eat crabs. Paramount made such an attempt for the first time last year. When Tom Cruise starred in "Mission Impossible", he not only played the lead role, but also shouldered the responsibility of the production. Filmmaker's responsibilities. Even Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks and others have not tried before, this is undoubtedly a huge breakthrough.

The results are clear at a glance. The success of "Mission Impossible" has given Hollywood bigwigs their own abacus. However, it is obviously not an easy task for an actor to become a producer, not only because Hugo and Kim Carey’s 20 million remunerations have led to different results, it is far more complicated than the "20 million club". , Because this is the link that allows actors to truly enter the core of power and the production industry, which has an immeasurable impact on role positioning, power distribution, and profit distribution.

But there is no doubt that if there is a production company that wants to make further attempts, Hugo is undoubtedly the best choice. In the entire Hollywood, if Hugo is unable to do it, then all other current actors will also be incapable of doing it-even Tom Cruise, except for "Mission Impossible", Paramount has no other courage to dare Let him try.

Someone once analyzed that Hugo is currently at the pinnacle of actors, from awards to box office, Hugo has everything, not to mention his peak appeal. For Hugo, there are actually not too many challenges. Above the pinnacle of power, Hugo has no room to rise-unless Hugo picks up the guide tube like his friend Tim Robbins, Hugo once wrote Past the "before sunrise" script, so this is not impossible.

However, now Barry has given a perfect answer: the producer, even the position above the director, allows Hugo to participate in the production of the film.

Regardless of whether Hugo will write the script again, or whether Hugo is interested in the directorship, becoming a producer is undoubtedly a huge breakthrough in his career. Imagine that one day in the future, Hugo may stand on the stage of the best film award as a producer, or Hugo may create a second "Independence Day" as a producer to sweep the North American box office... just like Hugo's achievements on the Grammys are average. This is definitely a brand new stage.

Faced with such a proposal, it can be seen that Barry’s efforts behind the scenes are indeed difficult for Rick to refuse.

However, everything is just rumors at the moment. Rick heard the rumors and didn’t talk directly with Barry, so everything is still in the rumor stage. But judging from the situation today, it is gradually taking shape.

As the screenwriter and director of "L.A. Confidential", Curtis is also one of the producers. His appearance is far more convincing than Barry. His appearance today is to express sincerity to Rick and Joseph. The most important thing is Let Joseph convey this sincerity to Hugo.

At the same time, once the "L.A. Confidential" project is implemented, it means that Hugo can form a crew of his own-although he needs to discuss with Curtis, he currently looks at the entire Hollywood, except Outside of the top four directors in the 1980s, no one dared to challenge Hugo directly. Therefore, Curtis will definitely not antagonize Hugo.

So, this also means that "L.A. Confidential" will have a lot of demand for actors, and most importantly, this is a three-protagonist movie that is moving in the direction of "Stealing the Wire" and "Seven Deadly Sins". Although "Independence Day" has become the first bundled and packaged movie produced by Endeavour Elite's agency, "L.A. Confidential" is different. Endeavour's elite agency currently has limited resources for top actors, and they are likely to cooperate with other agencies. The cooperation of actors under the company is like the "seven deadly sins"-Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are all from different agencies.

There are many possibilities for the emergence of Thomas. Perhaps 20th Century Fox is preparing for a new project. Since it is impossible to cooperate with Hugo, it would be a good choice to cooperate with an innovative artist agency; perhaps Thomas came here specially Report to Joseph and expect the actors they like to be able to enter the "L.A. Confidential" crew; maybe 20th Century Fox hopes to step in at the last moment and let the muddy water continue to become muddy, maybe they will see it Appropriate proposal, like "Booji Ye", turned out to be the last moment... it's hard to guess.

But the appearance of Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer seems to have a clear purpose. It seems that they hope to appear in the cast of "L.A. Confidential", plus the turbulence that Rick himself felt. That's why he thought that Barry's bargaining chip was almost certain.

Even if Barry is willing to make Hugo the producer of "L.A. Confidential", and Hugo nodded in agreement, there are still many details that need to be discussed, such as how to calculate Hugo's remuneration and box office dividend ratio? For example, how should the selection of actors work? For example, how should the budget and shooting plan be adjusted? And so on.

That’s why Rick said, it depends on how much interest Barry Meyer is willing to allocate. Now they can fully ask for the price to pay back on the spot This is the most significant thing brought about by Hugo's strong momentum. One of the additional benefits is that no one in Hollywood can match Hugo at all. Unless, like Disney and MGM, they don’t plan to work with Hugo at all—there are countless other actors in Hollywood. Otherwise, it depends on their negotiation skills.

Now, Rick and Joseph have also become hot figures in Hollywood-this is the second additional benefit that Hugo brings. Even if it is just a breakfast, some people ask Rick’s assistants, including Samora, also become a concern. focus.

"What about him, do you have a general idea?" Rick was in a very good mood, and Hugo's career ushered in a breakthrough, which he had never thought of. Accompanyingly, Endeavour Elite Brokerage Company will also have more room for development. Recently, the international innovation management company can be said to be very anxious. Marvin Josephson obviously did not expect that a "Hugo" can actually exert such an effect, bringing a series of chain effects, forcing the international innovation management company to panic.

This he obviously refers to Hugo.

Joseph shrugged, "He said the day before yesterday that he would re-read the script, but he didn't give me any reply yesterday, so I think he needs to think about it again."