Chapter 171： Crooked

Both parties are interested in cooperating, and the subsequent negotiations will undoubtedly go smoother. From the second day after the meeting, Ronan, on behalf of Shahai Pictures, formally started cooperation negotiations with Paul Anderson and Samuel Hadida, and quickly reached an agreement. Series preliminary agreement.

Shahai Entertainment invested 25 million US dollars to produce the "Resident Evil" game adaptation film, Samuel Hadida as the second producer, and Paul Anderson as the screenwriter, producer and director.

Ronan serves as the first producer and owns the final editing rights of the film.

As the most important investor, Tony Koch will also put the name of a co-producer on the crew.

According to the rules of the Hollywood industry, the copyright of the movie "Resident Evil" belongs to Shahai Entertainment. Because Ronan has a series of plans next, it is impossible to invest a large amount of money from Relativity Entertainment on this project. Koch Pictures 20 million US dollars The direct investment is undoubtedly the best choice.

Another $5 million was raised by Shahai Entertainment.

The project will also be handed over to Tony Koch to run the tax rebate. Although it may not be successful, as long as it is possible to bring in millions of dollars in income, it must be pursued.

Before signing a formal investment agreement, Ronan specifically talked with Tony Koch.

After all, the two parties are not a simple business partnership. Tony Koch does not understand some things in Hollywood, and some things must be said before.

"Tony, I must first tell you about the future operation of this film." Ronan didn't want to have conflicts at the end: "The friendship between us belongs to friendship, but business cooperation must follow Hollywood industry rules."

As the boss of a film company, Tony Koch is also very serious and said, "You can say it."

Ronan bluntly said: "This film is produced by Shahai Entertainment, and your Koch Pictures is only an investor. There is no objection to this, right?"

This is what the two sides have negotiated a long time ago, Tony Koch said: "No."

Ronan continued: "Future films will definitely be released by Embassy Pictures. Embassy Pictures will draw a distribution commission from the total revenue of the film, which is about 30% of the North American box office and 4% of the overseas box office. 10. There are other peripheral copyright revenues ranging from 15% to 40%."

"I've heard of these." Tony Koch also knew about Hollywood: "We will let the following people talk about the specific proportion?"

Ronan agreed: "You send people to Los Angeles to negotiate with Shahai Entertainment and Embassy Pictures."

The people below will not affect his relationship with Tony Koch too much.

Tony Koch sighed: "No wonder the issuer occupies the upper reaches of the Hollywood industry chain."

Ronan smiled: "I spent so much effort to establish distribution channels belonging to North America and overseas for this. Without distribution channels, Shahai Entertainment will always accept exploitation by the publisher."

Tony Koch said: "This percentage is too high."

"The cost of distribution and publicity is the responsibility of the issuer. This is also an investment." Ronan said directly: "That is to cooperate with you. If you change to another company, the commission will not include the cost of publicity, and I will calculate it separately."

Tony Koch was convinced: "You are really black! Fortunately, I didn't want to invest in movies from other Hollywood studios in the past."

"I haven't finished yet." Ronan said calmly: "Shahai Entertainment is the producer. After the film's income is drawn by the distributor, the producer will give priority to 15% of it as operating and management expenses. Draw 20% of the late box office share, but also exclude the crew members and Capcom’s late share, and the remaining part will be distributed according to the investment ratio."

"I understand." Tony Koch was almost speechless: "Hollywood is a group of vampires, and Wall Street is not as dark as you guys."

Ronan shook his head: "We have a lot more conscience than Wall Street."

Tony Koch asked: "Can investors make a profit?"

"Definitely." Ronan said directly: "Foreign funds to invest in Hollywood, the profit rate averages about 15%."

If there is no profit at all, it is just a pit, how can Hollywood continue to absorb foreign funds?

But the biggest income of a movie is undoubtedly intercepted by film companies by legal means. Smart companies will give investors a certain return as Ronan did in the "Human Removal Project" to attract subsequent investment. .

Of course, if the investors don’t want to cooperate anymore, that’s another calculation method.

"What is the investment profit rate this time?" Tony Koch asked again.

Ronan shook his head: "I can't guarantee success. A movie is a high-risk investment. No one can guarantee that a movie will be 100% successful. I would say that the best estimate is that the profit margin is about 20%."

Tony Koch laughed: "That's a lot."

Ronan said: "In normal business investment, it is very rare to make 20% profit a year." He reminded: "Tony, don't forget, you also belong to borrowing other people's chickens and laying your own eggs. You. Think of a way, you should be able to withdraw the handling fee from it."

Tony Koch has been distorted by Ronan: "I'll ask a professional for advice."

Koch Pictures' investment is not its own funds after all, but financing.

Ronan talked with Tony Koch about other aspects of operations, and the two also reached an agreement on the investment and distribution plan.

Afterwards, Ronan called George Clint again and asked him to take a trip to Japan after he had dealt with the matter with the Indian Mountain Foundation to see if he could take down the rights to the film that followed "Resident Evil" .

Once this "Resident Evil" is successful, the cooperation with Paul Anderson and Samuel Hadida will not be so simple. If Samuel Hadida gets the follow-up copyright first, Shahai Entertainment will be passive. Up.

In addition to "Resident Evil", Ronan also thought of another dazzling wife and crazy demon from Paul Anderson. It seems that the "Underworld" series is also very promising.

These two series may not be considered particularly popular at the box office, but they are big winners in the home entertainment market, and offline disc rentals and sales have done a lot.

Thinking of "Underworld", the crew was messy enough, with a dazzling wife, crazy demon and heroine wife, and the heroine's ex-husband...

Hollywood, this emotional relationship is really messy.

Perhaps thinking of the relationship between this series, Ronan also remembered some related memories. It seems that this series has had infringement lawsuits, and the crew as the defendant finally had to reach an out-of-court settlement with the plaintiff.

Inferring according to Hollywood studios' cheek-faced handling methods, it is estimated that plagiarism or copyright infringement is really involved.

When people look back for related works, the copyright of such unpopular works should be less expensive.

After nearly a week of negotiations, Ronan and Samuel Hadida formally signed an investment copyright agreement, and the film copyright of "Resident Evil" belongs to Shahai Entertainment.

Of course, this is after the production is complete.

Ronan also talked with Paul Anderson's agent who rushed to Berlin, and the two sides also reached an agreement on the pay.

Paul Anderson is not a new director. He has considerable qualifications. He has been an official director since 1994. He has directed films such as "Crazy Pursuit", "King of Fighting", "Black Hole Surface", "The King of Soldiers", and one The "Magic House Phantom" that the Ministry completed at the end of last year will be released this year.

Such a director, of course, can't be spent with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Paul Anderson has three positions of screenwriter, director, and producer, for a total salary of 3 million US dollars.

The most critical remuneration and production concepts reached a consensus. Ronan and Paul Anderson initially signed a contract. The specific director contract will not be signed until after returning to Los Angeles. The people of Shahai Entertainment and Paul Anderson negotiate other conditions. .

For Samuel Hadida, the production fee is 1.5 million U.S. dollars, but similar to the situation where the producer takes the project and cooperates with the production company, the production company needs to pay the project start-up bonus and the subsequent share. This is a Hollywood industry. Convention.

Ronan will not break the conventions formed in the industry for decades, otherwise, in the future, a producer will bring a project to cooperate with Shahai Entertainment, which will definitely be affected.

This is different from the one-shot deal in Blair the Witch, and it will have a long-term impact.

Sandsea Entertainment will give Samuel Hadida a $1 million project bonus and a 2.5% net profit share as a later reward.

In addition, the film copyright agreement between Samuel Hadida and Capcom has a post-sharing clause. If Shahai Entertainment wants to obtain the film copyright, it must abide by this agreement. Capcom has 5% Net profit sharing.

For such a film, all aspects are divided and added, and the profits left to the producer are not high, but Hollywood has an advantage. Later, the peripheral copyright share accumulated over time can be separated out without being included in the net profit share.

Ronan is able to obtain the copyright of "Resident Evil" on the one hand, and on the other hand, the film will be distributed by Embassy Pictures.

The profit margin of distribution is much higher than that of production.

At the same time, Ronan and Koch Pictures signed another agreement. Shahai Entertainment bought back the copyrights of "Reaper is Coming" and "Ace Agent" for $1.

The preliminary negotiation of "Resident Evil" The Bourne Shadows" tax refund application has also been approved. A total of 7 million US dollars of tax refund will be paid soon, of which 10% belong to Koch Pictures Handling fee.

The remaining US$6.3 million has become Shahai Entertainment’s legal tax rebate income, which is not included in the revenue of "The Bourne".

Ronan is also making people contact Luc Besson's ex-wife, the actor in the role of Alice, of course she is the first choice.

The act of depriving the dazzling wife of the mad devil to show off his wife is really cruel.

If I remember correctly, these two got married because of the shooting of "Resident Evil".

If the two get married together, it would actually be good. Ronan thought of an eye-catching propaganda method.

At that time, we will order a T-shirt for Paul Anderson, with the image of Alice on the left, write "fe", and the image of a general woman such as the restroom and ladies on the right, and then write "fe".

It must be very topical.