The King of Directors 2000

Chapter 369 Warner Olive Branch

September in Los Angeles is very cool, and it can be regarded as a real autumn season. You can wear a thin coat in the morning and evening, and short sleeves at noon.

Li Shengyao likes this kind of weather.

The crew of "Taken" finished filming in France, and then came to the beautiful country.

Li Shengyao met Elizabeth Haoli who played the actor's ex-wife.

This once known as the rose of England is naturally very beautiful, no wonder Cheng Long would recommend her.

At six o'clock that night, Li Shengyao didn't see Cheng Long. At nine o'clock the next day, he saw the elder brother who was leaning against the wall and had dark circles under his eyes.

Fortunately, the plot in the beautiful country is only an action scene, and the rest are literary dramas.

Otherwise, in the state of big brother, I really don't know if he can adapt to high-intensity action scenes.

Li Shengyao was secretly envious.

Although the eldest brother's condition is a lot worse, he is in a much better mood, with constant smiles and very efficient filming.

Lee Sung Yew estimated that it would not take a month, they should be able to complete the filming in the beautiful country in 20 days.

However, the elder brother's good mood did not seem to last forever.

Ten days later, at ten o'clock in the evening, Amanda was wearing a nurse's uniform, and Li Shengyao pretended to twist his leg. The two were playing a nurse-patient game in the room.

Cheng Long came to knock on the door, his face was gloomy, "Director Li, have a few drinks with me."

Soon after, Cheng Long opened a private room in the hotel where they were staying, and the martial artists from the family-making class were also there, and the martial artists sat at the big table and drank together.

Cheng Long and Li Shengyao sat at another small table, drinking tea with some fruits on the table.

"Brother, what's the matter?"

Cheng Long sighed, hesitant to speak, he picked up the teacup, drank two cups of tea in a row, and then said: "What the hell, the countrymen look down on people."

He then picked up a piece of watermelon on the table and told what had happened while eating.

It turned out that just an hour ago, Cheng Long had a face-to-face contact with the senior management of New Line Film Company to negotiate the contract of "Rush Hour 3".

New Line Films is willing to pay 2000 million US dollars, but does not agree to a [-]% box office share.

Cheng Long and his agent argued hard, citing scriptures, saying that their throats were dry, but it was useless, and New Line Movies still didn't let go.

As a result, the negotiations between the two parties were unsuccessful and they broke up unhappy.

Cheng Long felt that it was the high-level executives of the New Line because he was Asian, so he underestimated him and felt angry.

Li Shengyao smiled slightly upon hearing this.

From the standpoint of the producer, he felt that the choice of New Line Films was correct.

But now he is with Cheng Long, of course he chooses to stabilize Cheng Long.

"Brother, don't worry. If they want to shoot "Rush Hour 3", they will definitely look for you. Just sit on the Diaoyutai. The "Rush Hour" series, you are the soul. If they want to shoot, they can't avoid you."

"Not to mention, New Line is now opening projects everywhere, they want performance, they have long wanted to shoot "Rush Hour 3"."

New Line Film Company was originally a small company. At the beginning, it focused on distribution, and later tried film production, mainly shooting youth films and horror films. These films were low-cost.

Later, Warner acquired New Line Films, and the company suddenly became rich, so it started to engage in big projects.

The "Rush Hour" series can only be regarded as a moderate investment in New Line.

They also invested in The Lord of the Rings, Blade, The Nativity, and more.

In Li Shengyao's previous life, Warner gave Xinlan a lot of money at the beginning, but there were performance requirements. The reason why Xinxian agreed to give Cheng Long [-]% of the global box office was also due to this consideration. After all, the previous two "Rush Hour" made money.

However, after 2007, many films led by New Line lost money.

The funds dropped a lot at once. After 08, New Line Films dropped a lot. From seven or eight films per year before, to one or two films per year later.

Cheng Long naturally knew that New Line was acquired by Warner, and he also knew very well that he didn't need to worry. He nodded, "You're right, I'll spend with them. If they don't give me a share of the global box office, I won't shoot."

He then looked at Li Shengyao, "Director Li, our movie must be a success, it must break [-] million US dollars, so that we won't be underestimated."

Li Shengyao raised his teacup and said with a smile, "It must be fine."

Seeing this, Cheng Long smiled, "It's still fun to make movies with my compatriots. Those white guys hate it when they see it."

As soon as the voice fell, Cheng Long's cell phone rang. He picked up the cell phone, answered the call, and took a picture of the cell phone on the table after a while.

"I lost his mother."

It was rare for the eldest brother to swear a bad word, and it was not easy for Li Shengyao to ask.

Cheng Long himself went on to say: "This guy Stark called and asked me why I didn't agree to shoot "Rush Hour 3". Didn't he ask knowingly? He has raised the price, so I can't raise it."

"When I was filming on Hong Kong Island, I even invited him to play in Xijiao City for half a month. This kid is not righteous at all."

"Director Li, you must keep in mind in the future that foreigners are not kind at all, they don't know what morality is."

Li Shengyao nodded, "Don't worry, brother, I will definitely stay vigilant."

Cheng Long went on to say: "Our "Taken" must be filmed well, and Stark can't be laughed at."

Before Stark cooperated with Cheng Long, his resources were not bad. He won the MTV Movie Best Newcomer, but the second year after winning the award, he acted in two movies, both of which were very bad, so he was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award.

In the beautiful country, this is a very serious matter, which means that the audience does not recognize him.

At this time, his acting career was considered to have fallen to the bottom, and then he acted in "Rush Hour" with Cheng Long. He was a Golden Raspberry Award actor, so he skyrocketed, and "Rush Hour 3" received 500 million US dollars.

But everyone knew that he was the actor brought up by Cheng Long.

In Li Shengyao's previous life, "Rush Hour 3" failed at the box office, Cheng Long left Hollywood, and Stark only acted in two movies after that, both of which were supporting roles.

Hollywood producers didn't like him at all.

Without Cheng Long, he was almost unemployed.

Later, Stark often posted photos with Cheng Long, just like the sixth brother repeated that he was about to shoot the big movie "Journey to the West". He declared that "Rush Hour 4" would be made soon, but after talking for more than ten years, it was still useless.

Li Shengyao curled his lips, "He is relying on you to get the position, so he has no right to laugh at you."

"No, you can't let him underestimate anyway."

……

That is, on the third day after the negotiations between Cheng Long and the high-level executives of New Line broke down, Li Shengyao met a Hollywood bigwig in the hotel.

This person is Warner executive Toby Emmerich.

Toby is 43 years old this year. He was a producer in the early days and was very capable. He soon entered Warner and became one of the top executives of Warner.

He is still one of the best producers in Hollywood.

In Lee Seung Yew's previous life, "A Star Is Born" and "Joker" were all promoted by him.

Probably because he uses his brain more. Although he looks very strong and should exercise regularly, his beard and hair are all gray.

At this moment, the two sat opposite each other, Li Shengyao asked someone to pour Toby a cup of coffee, and he drank water himself.

"Li, you are so young. I have read your profile, and I still can't believe it. You are only 26 years old, and you have already directed a movie worth 2000 million dollars."

Spielberg became a director at the age of 28, and his first film cost $300 million, which is already a Hollywood legend.

Lee Sung Yew is so young, it is indeed very rare to direct a movie worth 2000 million US dollars.

Li Shengyao clasped his hands together, "You see, this is the truth."

You don't need to be modest when talking to Lao Mei, you must have self-confidence as you exaggerate.

Later, Ah San became CEOs of so many big companies in the beautiful country, isn't it just bragging?
In this regard, the Chinese are too modest, and the score of [-] points is only [-] points.

Ah San's words can be blown out of ten to one hundred.

No matter what the project is, a PPT can blow flowers.

Toby smiled, "Your accent is very good, it's hard to believe that you haven't lived in the beautiful country."

Li Shengyao didn't answer this time.

"Li, you must like the beautiful country very much, otherwise how could your accent be so good."

Li Shengyao shook his head this time, "Toby, I have a good language talent, and I can learn any language very well."

"Okay, Lee, let's get down to business."

Toby paused, and then slowly said: "Warner wants to represent "Taken" in the beautiful country, how about it?"

Before "Taken" was filmed, people from Warner Bros. had already contacted Li Shengyao, wanting to help the film to be distributed globally, with 20.00% of the distribution fee.

It was rejected by Lee Sheng Yew.

This time Toby Emmerich came over in person, and he was talking about helping "Taken" to be promoted in the beautiful country.

Li Shengyao nodded the table, shook his head with a chuckle, "Toby, forget it, I've already promised Jiang Zhiqiang, let him take charge."

Whether it's Hollywood, or the mainland, or the peninsula, France.

Film and television production companies or distribution companies must be extra careful when they say "publicity and distribution". This "publicity and distribution" means "publicity plus distribution".

In terms of distribution, the international practice is there, plus there are theater statistics, and most countries have anti-monopoly laws. Normally, distribution and theaters are not the same company, and there are not many places for manipulation.

But publicity is hard to say.

The production cost of "Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban" was 9 million US dollars, and the global box office was more than [-] million US dollars. After some operation for Warner, it even lost money.

According to Warner, when they carried out global publicity, they spent so much money that the cost gradually increased, and after the final split, there was no profit.

According to Hollywood's blockbuster account sharing method, Warner can get at least 9 million US dollars for the global box office of more than [-] million US dollars.

In other words, they spent at least 5000 million on global publicity.

It's just nonsense.

Later, for Disney’s superhero films, the general publicity budget was 6000 to [-] million dollars. Even so, some media still broke the news, and the splash was so huge that it was embezzled by insiders.

The cost of publicizing this matter is really hard to say.

Lee Sheng Yew's films, no matter whether they are domestic or foreign, he will not allow others to promote them.

He didn't really believe in the effect of publicity, so he honestly asked the trolls to hype it up on the Internet, and then set up a few big posters in the movie theater, and nothing else.

He thinks it is enough to let the audience know when the movie will be screened, and the follow-up depends on the word of mouth of passers-by.

Word of mouth is good, and there is naturally running water to help speak.

Word of mouth is not good, like "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains", cheating fans of money is meaningless except to consume popularity.

Toby Emmerich heard the words, but he didn't continue to persuade him. He raised his coffee and took a sip, "You Chinese people are indeed very trustworthy, just like Yao, very remarkable."

Dayao played for the Rockets for a few years, with mediocre results.

The Lakers have always been fond of Yao, and Kobe wanted to join forces with him. The whole of Los Angeles knew it, but Yao was grateful for the Rockets for bringing him into the NBA, and he never left the Rockets.

Li Shengyao smiled, "I'm different from Dayao. He's an honest man, but I'm not. If you distribute my next movie and you only need 17.00% of the share, maybe I will consider it."

Toby thought for a while, but still shook his head, "Lee, let's talk about other things, and I have one more thing to tell you."

He paused, and then said: "Prison Break and Breaking Bad are scripts written by you. We think they are very good. Do you have similar scripts?"

Warner's ambitions are very broad. They not only make movies, but also TV series. They bought HBO TV station.

Later, when the audience in Southeast Asia has money, HBO will join Disney and Netflix to enter Southeast Asia and compete with Ayouteng.

How much is the script worth? Even if they want to sell it, Li Shengyao has to shoot it first, and then give them the copyright for the remake.

Li Shengyao said bluntly, "No more."

Toby looked at Li Shengyao through the thick lenses, "Lee, I know that people from Fox have approached you, but we at Warner definitely have better sincerity. If you have a script, we can shoot it for you. You will be the director, you will be the editor, and we can give you a share."

Beautiful Country is the producer system. Spielberg and Cameron have the right to edit because they are both directors and producers.

Otherwise, it is better than Mr. Ridley Scott, who does not have the right to edit.

Warner is willing to give Li Shengyao the right to edit and give him a share, which is indeed very generous.

Li Shengyao was a little moved.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Suddenly there was a knocking sound outside the window, as if someone was beating something with a stick.

Li Shengyao suddenly thought of Bangzi more than ten years later, because of the invasion of Netflix, the entire film and television industry was about to collapse.

Netflix gave money and resources to the platform at the time, which made Bangzi very happy.

They thought they were going to take off.

But the painstaking efforts of the sticks no longer belong to them, but to Netflix.

The copyrights of those excellent TV series are all on Netflix.

Netflix does not sell to local TV stations at all, so that the ratings of the three major TV stations of Al Jazeera are completely exaggerated.

Everyone goes to Netflix, and local TV stations can't even find the money to make TV dramas.

The most important thing about a play is naturally the copyright.

Filming for Warner, will Warner share the copyright with him?

Li Shengyao came back to his senses, shook his head and said, "I told you in Huaxia that I don't make TV series anymore, I only make movies."

When Toby heard this, he looked disappointed, "Well, Li, Warner's door is always open to you. If you want to cooperate, you can find me at any time."

"Okay, I understand."

Li Shengyao didn't want to make movies and TV series for Warner, but Warner has some resources, maybe he can use them in the future, as long as Warner doesn't target him, he won't turn against Warner.

(End of this chapter)