Chapter 175： Successful failure movie

Ronan will not be involved in huge investment in film projects for the time being, but for the current situation of Shahai Entertainment, such a type of film as "Fatal Bend" can still allocate funds and manpower to operate it.

The first is to find a suitable director.

Ronan has contacted William Morris, which has cooperated several times, and also greeted other brokerage companies in the circle. Now Shahai Entertainment is no longer an unknown small company, and new projects can also attract these brokers. The company's attention.

In many cases, it is not easy to find a suitable director for low-cost films.

There is always a paradox in this respect. New directors dare not use it casually, and directors with qualifications are paid high prices.

You can't make a film with an investment of several million dollars, and more than half of the funds are used to pay the director's salary.

Ronan can only use his memory to find names that he can remember from the list of directors provided by various agencies, and also suitable for horror movies.

Relativity Entertainment’s first year of income was high, but some of the revenues have reached the time for settlement with others.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Bureau let Samir of the Los Angeles branch as its plenipotentiary representative to settle the investment revenue of "Ace Agent" with Shahai Entertainment.

"How about Mr. Minister?" Ronan seemed to be an old friend of Abu Dhabi, and said to Semir: "I am very sorry that I cannot go to Abu Dhabi to meet Mr. Minister."

Semir does not seem to give up: "We should continue to cooperate."

Ronan immediately said: "Yes, I also think we should continue to cooperate, I have a new movie in my hands..."

If the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is willing to continue to invest in Shahai Entertainment's films, he welcomes it with raised hands.

But the words of the two parties were obviously not on the same channel. Semir said: "I will talk about this later. I need to ask Mr. Minister for advice."

Ronan asked: "Is Mr. Minister busy with work lately?"

Semir replied: "Very busy, the minister is in Manchester, England."

In fact, it doesn’t need to be said that Ronan knows what Mansour is up to. Recently, there have been reports in newspapers and media that Mansour’s Abu Dhabi consortium and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation are increasingly competing for the Premier League Manchester United team. White-hot, both sides want to become the new owners of this European giant.

The biggest shareholders of Manchester United are the three horse racing tycoons. They really wanted to sell their shares, but they were strongly opposed by the Manchester United fans. The entire United Kingdom was extremely dissatisfied with the Arabs and News Corporation’s acquisitions. The British media and the entire European media criticized it.

Even some extreme fans of Manchester United have established a new Manchester United club, preparing to participate in the English regional league, claiming that they are the representatives of the spirit of Manchester United.

In this era, the iron-blooded football spirit is gradually dissipating, and business is invading every corner of professional football.

The resistance of the British from the official to the media to the fans may eventually lead to the failure of this acquisition, but Ronan knows very well that the Abu Dhabi consortium has achieved its goal, and their names have been spread all over the world with Manchester United.

It is a pity that Ronan has plenty of heart but lacks enough energy, otherwise he can buy a professional team to play.

If nothing else, the publicity effect is very good.

Ronan remembers clearly that Rupert Murdoch’s acquisition of Manchester United at the turn of the century ended in failure, and Manchester United fell into the hands of the Glazer family a few years later.

I don't know if the variable of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will change.

If a few more years pass, Ronan thinks he might also have the time and energy to play this game.

Ronan tentatively asked: "Has the acquisition of Manchester United by Mr. Minister go well?"

There are frequent reports in the media, and Semir has no need to hide it, saying: "Manchester United fans are too troublesome and too stubborn."

Ronan said: "The British thought they were an empire that never sets."

"This makes sense." Semir always feels weird. It is clear that Ronan's many views and ideas are consistent with them, why can't he cooperate? He didn't understand, but didn't mention this aspect again, saying: "It's nothing more than money."

Ronan felt that this was not just a question of money. It seemed that the longest crown prince in history was also the chairman of the FA. If the FA intervened, it might not be impossible to stop the deal.

But he did not remind Semir that since the two sides can no longer cooperate, it is good to maintain the current relationship.

"The revenue statistics of "Ace Agent" have been settled." Ronan turned to the topic: "I am very grateful for the investment of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and I want to settle with you as soon as possible."

Semir asked: "Did "Ace Agent" fail?"

Of course Ronan has to admit: "Yes, it was a very tragic failure from a commercial point of view. However, we basically achieved our goal of getting the film to be shown all over the world."

There have been successes and failures in business investment. These are all normal. In the past few years, there have been many cases of investment failure in Abu Dhabi. The failure of a movie will not touch the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority much.

"Ronan, you are still alone." Semir said again.

Ronan smiled and said, "No one can guarantee 100% success in business investment." He did not want to entangle with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in this regard, and motioned to the assistant Connie standing behind: "Send the settlement report to Semir. Mr."

Connie immediately sent a thick pile of lists, and the accountant who Semir had brought took the initiative.

Semir quickly left. Although the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority does not care much about the profit or failure of the investment, the necessary review procedures must be taken.

The Los Angeles branch even hired professional accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers and entertainment lawyers from a law firm to conduct audits.

Three days later, Semir took the initiative to come to Shahai Entertainment to sign for the investment share of "Ace Agent".

During the review by lawyers and accountants, Shahai Entertainment did not have any problems with the revenue data of this film, which was in full compliance with legal regulations and Hollywood industry regulations.

Less than 30% of the US$25 million invested by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in the "Ace Agent" project has recovered.

"Ace Agent" North American box office of 10.6 million US dollars, the issuer Embassy Pictures received 5.6 million US dollars of box office shares from the theater chain side, deducting 30% of the distribution costs and the corresponding North American distribution loan interest, to Shahai Pictures There is only 2 million dollars in hand.

Shahai Entertainment legally deducted 15% of operating and management fees and various taxes and fees, including union fees, from this figure, leaving 1.2 million US dollars remaining.

Due to the overall loss of the film, Shahai Entertainment did not take another 20% profit share.

In terms of North American offline and peripheral revenue, Embassy Pictures as the issuer has withheld US$500,000 as distribution revenue, Shahai Entertainment has US$300,000 in operating expenses, and the remaining US$500,000.

The overseas copyright of this film was sold for a total of 10 million US dollars. According to the distribution contract signed with Shahai Entertainment, Embassy Pictures, as the agent distributor, will extract 40% of it as an intermediate fee, and Shahai Entertainment’s operation and management fees and Various taxes and fees, including union fees, are withheld US$1 million and the remaining US$5 million.

In the end, the settlement between Shahai Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority was US$6.7 million.

From the perspective of revenue, Shahai Entertainment has undoubtedly produced a movie that is extremely commercially unsuccessful, and even the $25 million public cost cannot be recovered.

But for the entire Relativity Entertainment, "Ace Agent" is another extremely successful movie.

Relativity Entertainment itself did not invest much money, but got 10 million US dollars in revenue from this film.

As for the personnel, office and equipment expenses of Shahai Entertainment affiliated to the crew during the operation of the "Ace Agent" crew, it is difficult for outsiders to calculate.

For the two newly leased offices of Shahai Entertainment, the costs from rent to additional office equipment to personnel expenses are all calculated in the two crews invested by Abu Dhabi, including the loss of film and consumables for filming. In this respect, let alone people outside the circle, even if you find a senior professional in the circle and don't follow the crew during the whole process, you can't find it clearly.

A film crew wasted and inexplicably wasted too much money in filming.

It's like a larger-scale play, with NG several times, it may cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The film failed, but the production company and distribution company were the winners. This is Hollywood.

Because of the official background of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Ronan did not do anything in the subsequent income. He did everything in accordance with the law and regulations, and even gave up 20% of Shahai Entertainment's profit share.

He considers himself to be a conscientious producer.

Ronan has an account in mind. Counting the expenses of Shahai Entertainment's affiliate, the sum of all the benefits of Relativity Entertainment in "Ace Agent" is about 15 million US dollars.

This has not yet calculated German tax rebates.

Borrowing chicken-and-egg-style shooting can be said to have many benefits. If investors pay the bill, the production and distribution companies can get huge income from it.

The risky non-sequel movie is undoubtedly the most appropriate way to raise funds for shooting.

Even the accountants and lawyers engaged in the entertainment business fully approve of the settlement of Shahai Entertainment, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority did not raise any objections.

The two parties settled the accounts, and Ronan's cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority can be regarded as an end.

Afterwards, Ronan sent people to notify Abu Dhabi's private investors to come to Los Angeles for settlement, and most of them would come to Los Angeles in person after a while.

Ronan has prepared two solutions. For these private individuals, he does not have as many concerns about the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Ronan will continue to work with them if they want to continue to invest in Shahai Entertainment's movies.

Shahai Entertainment will also have movie projects in the future, such as "Deadly Bend", which all need to raise funds.

But the local tyrants in Abu Dhabi have not yet come to Los Angeles, someone specifically found Ronan and wanted to continue to cooperate.