Chapter 93： business operation

"Priority purchase?" Alan Shane didn't look good: "Why?"

Ronan is very clear that when negotiating, you can't put forward all the conditions in one mind, it will break the other party's psychological bottom line, but to push the other party's psychological bottom line back a little bit.

Frankly speaking, with the budget for three projects, 1.5 million US dollars is not a small figure for him.

Splitting the 1.5 million US dollars, the pressure is much less.

Ronan smiled and said: "One is that I am still investigating this project, and the other is that the funds on hand cannot be turned around for a while. Trading with the right of first refusal is beneficial to both of us."

This is also a common pattern in Hollywood.

Producers or production companies discover novels, scripts or other valuable literary materials. Compared with one-time purchases of heavy money, pre-payment of a small amount of pre-emption transactions can effectively relieve financial pressure and increase the enterprise The turnaround.

Probably the previous bargaining has lowered the psychological bottom line, or perhaps this type of transaction is more common. Alan Shane did not refuse in one word, and asked: "Your terms?"

"We signed a preemptive purchase agreement." Ronan said: "I will pay your company 10% of the selling fee, which is a prepaid fee of $150,000."

The right of first refusal is exclusive and irrevocable, which means that during the contract period, other people can no longer obtain the item booked by him.

In this way, it only cost 150,000 US dollars, but for a period of time in the future, he controlled the copyright of "Bourne's Identity".

Alan Shane was thinking, and Ronan added: "In the next 18 months, this work is officially approved and I will pay the remaining 90%."

Seeing Alan Shane not speaking, Ronan continued: "This is a win-win transaction method. If the 18-month film cannot be approved, the $150,000 advance payment is yours, and you can continue to retain the copyright."

Alan Shane thought for a while, and retorted: "18 months is too long, up to 12 months. In addition, the $150,000 is only a deposit and not included in future buyout costs."

Ronan had the final say in his mind, and said: "12 months is no problem, but I request the right to extend the authorization period. If the 12 months expire, if the project has not been approved, I will pay another $150,000 for an extension of 6 months. "

This is also to prevent any accidents. He refuted the latter condition: "US$150,000 shall be included in the US$1.5 million buyout cost."

When negotiating the right of first refusal, it is necessary to negotiate the future price of the buyout transaction, otherwise the copyright party will raise the price temporarily and it will have to cry.

Alan Shane is also a veteran in the industry. He did not entangle on this, and slightly changed the conditions that he did not say before: "I want a project bonus and a box office share." He said loudly, "The film project is approved, and you need to pay me 200,000 US dollars for the project bonus. . In the future, when movies are released, I want a 5% box office share."

Hearing this, Ronan could roughly guess that this is probably the so-called condition mentioned by Alan Shane before.

Ronan shook his head firmly: "You are not the original author, it is impossible to enjoy the project bonus and box office share."

"But the copyright is in my hands." Alan Shane said.

Ronan sighed: "If this is the case, please keep it in your hands. Anyway, you have been in it for 13 years."

Alan Shane couldn't find any rebuttals for a while. After being exposed, a copyright that had been in his hands for 13 years did not give him enough confidence.

"We each give in." Ronan gave the sweetness in a timely manner: "150,000 US dollars as an advance payment, when the project is established, you will pay you 1.5 million US dollars for copyright buyout."

Alan Shane's condition was originally for bargaining, frowning and thinking.

Ronan showed impatience in a timely manner.

Alan Shane Production Company spent $300,000 in 1986 to buy the 20-year film and television copyright of "Bourne's Identity". Ronan didn't know much about the depreciation of the U.S. dollar. It was estimated that the other party should make a profit at around $1.5 million.

Just like he is not stupid enough to negotiate a box office sharing contract with Alan Shane, no one wants to make a loss-making business.

Seeing that Ronan was impatient and thinking that the copyright had been under pressure for 13 years, Alan-Shane made the decision: "US$150,000 is used as an advance payment, and the project is set up to pay a copyright buyout fee of US$1.5 million. In addition, you have 6 A month’s authorization extension, but requires an additional payment of $150,000."

Ronan stretched out his hand: "A word is definite."

Alan Shane shook his hand: "Happy cooperation."

The two heads of the company negotiated the most critical copyright fee, and the following people naturally discussed the next little things. Only three days later, the two parties signed a formal agreement and filed copyright changes in the Copyright Bureau.

Various copyright changes in Hollywood must be filed accordingly, and the Copyright Office is the only institution recognized by law.

For example, a script. A script is only filed with the screenwriters union. Once plagiarism or other infringement is involved, the screenwriters union's filing has only industry utility, and cannot be used as legal evidence.

Shahai Entertainment, as the copyright purchaser, borrowed US$150,000 from Relativity Entertainment in the form of a loan, and paid the advance payment on the day the contract was signed.

Of course, Shahai Entertainment must also raise funds in the form of loans for the later buyout costs.

As for the loan interest rate, it is not too high, it is only a fixed interest rate of 15%.

This is also the common loan interest rate adopted by big Hollywood companies left-handedly.

is very conscientious compared to nine out of thirteen.

Unfortunately, both Shahai Entertainment and Relativity Group have limited scale capabilities at this stage, and some things can only be used by overseas investors.

Therefore, Ronan’s plan is to settle the funds for this project from overseas.

The copyright of "Bourne's Identity" has just been acquired, and the project is still far away. Mary has already started accounting with the newly expanded financial department staff.

Three financially independent companies are in hand, and the operating space is further expanded.

After the copyright was taken, the project was temporarily included in the copyright library, waiting to operate afterwards.

George Clint’s reminder is right. Ronan himself also has a clear understanding. Now the resources under his hand are almost used to the limit. It is impossible to run a big project like "The Bourne Shadow" at the same time Luo Nan’s main energy is devoted to the two projects of "Blair the Witch" and "Reaper is Coming". The destined "Ace Agent", which is destined to hit the street, has invested less energy, and more is given to George K. Lint and Paul Greengrass are in charge.

This is also an intention to train George Clint, the company will grow bigger in the future, he can not be a producer for every project.

The time soon arrived in March. After the 1999 Oscars, public opinion in the United States was in an uproar, unanimously criticizing the Oscars for the best film and best actress in the past ten years.

As an industry insider, Ronan saw a classic business operation case from behind the chaos.

The success of "Shakespeare in Love" and Gwyneth Paltrow has nothing to do with film art, but a very successful commercial operation.

The success of this operation is enough to bring tens of millions of dollars in profits to the producer.

Ronan plans that if he has the ability in the future, he can also join the Oscar game to play. Maybe he can make a lot of money while also holding a few best actresses.

There is also news circulating secretly. In order to impress Harvey Weinstein, Best Supporting Actress Judy Dench directly tattooed the Jewish fat man's name on his ass. It is said that he took off his pants in the private room and told Harvey- Weinstein checked it out for himself.

In contrast, he strictly controls the audition, and abruptly refuses bad temptations. He is really a decent person.

But Ronan doesn't know how long this kind of decent person's style can be maintained, but he is very clear that when a person is not tempted, the temptation is often not enough.

Just as Ronan was rushing to work, an official from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority's Los Angeles governing office came to his door.