Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 113 Do You Think I'm Easy to Bully?

Asking for movie dividends is tantamount to cutting flesh from the film company, which will definitely make them unhappy. If the movie makes money, they may try to manipulate it to pay as little as possible or even no money.

But Cao Yang only wants the European copyright. First of all, this is "invisible" money, expected profit. Only when the movie is well made, the European copyright will be valuable.

Who most hopes that Cao Yang can make a good movie? Without a doubt, it is the production studio that invested in his movie.

The bulk of Hollywood film profits still come from the US. It is undeniable that the US is currently the world's largest film market, accounting for about 45% of the global total share.

Only in the local market can one get the highest share of the film. If the film is shown abroad, no matter how high the box office is, the share he or she gets is only about 20% on average, and that is just the gross profit.

Cao Yang had another purpose for doing this, which was actually to tell the film company that I had finished filming the movie, I would be there in Europe, and I would be responsible for winning the awards.

As for the United States, the copyright is yours, and the box office will definitely be different if you win an award or not.

If you want to make money, make a lot of money, and anticipate winning a prize, then go for it. This is for your own good.

As long as the profits are big enough, there is no need to worry about the enthusiasm of Hollywood film companies.

Upon learning that Cao Yang was going to develop in Hollywood, many Hollywood talent agencies couldn't wait to contact him, all wanting to sign him.

Including the three largest agencies: CAA Creative Artists, WMA William Morris Agency, and ICM International Creative Management.

These three so-called 10% brokerage companies will charge their clients 10% commission, and they are the only ones who dare to charge 10%.

There are also two up-and-coming companies that have frequently contacted Cao Yang, showing great sincerity and even making some concessions.

UTA United Talent Agency was founded in 1991 and its current scale is second only to the Big Three.

Endeavor, founded in 1995, is a fast-growing agency second only to the Big Three.

If you want to develop in Hollywood, you must sign with an agency. There are many things that require the agency to negotiate.

CAA is good at taking the director as the center, forming a team with screenwriters, actors and other main creative personnel, and then pushing the entire team to the market as a whole.

This bundling method deprives the studios of a great deal of autonomy in selecting the creative team, allowing CAA to gain an advantageous position in negotiations and ensure that its clients receive higher pay and more benefits.

But Cao Yang is not in a hurry. He plans to wait until the movie is successful before negotiating a contract with the agency. He believes there will be a better result.

Otherwise, if I join an agency now, what if they want to package me? Then I won't be able to choose actors or anything else, and I can only use people from my own company.

It is better to wait until this movie is successful, then we will have infinitely greater autonomy in the negotiations.

What the agency values ​​most is always the big directors.

Not long after, the negotiations with Berman finally came to fruition.

To Cao Yang's surprise, Bellman brought in two film companies.

One is Miramax Films, whose owner is Harvey Weinstein. They specialize in producing and distributing niche films with high artistic value or less popular ones.

Harvey Weinstein, Cao Yang certainly knew this person. In later generations, this person could be said to be notorious, infamous, disgraced, and imprisoned.

Regardless of whether he deserved the punishment or was a scapegoat, it is undeniable that he is very good at winning awards and is the most famous behind-the-scenes promoter in Hollywood.

Miramax Films, under the name of an independent film studio, often produces low-budget "independent" films, which have achieved considerable success and remarkable results.

However, the company was acquired by Disney as early as 93, and almost all of their important works were shot after the acquisition, including several Oscar-winning films.

It's nice to take shelter under a big tree. Without the background of the Hollywood Big Seven, it's really difficult to win an Oscar.

The other is Sony Classics, who had confidence in Cao Yang and also participated in the investment. The two companies invested a total of 26 million US dollars in the film, which was named "Milk".

After negotiations, as the initiator and producer of the project, as well as the director and screenwriter, Cao Yang can receive a total of US$200 million in remuneration and will not participate in the subsequent film profits.

In terms of copyright, Cao Yang completely owns the film copyright in Europe, and the remaining copyrights in other places are shared by the two film companies.

Cao Yang didn’t know whether Berman had a share of the profits, but he probably did. However, his salary as a producer should not be too high.

Berman himself told Cao Yang that he was paid 300,000 yuan. Cao Yang estimated that as a novice producer, this was probably the price he received.

The investment in a movie does not arrive all at once, but is divided into several stages. At a certain stage, the film shooting is in line with the established plan and there are no problems in the review, before the second round of funds can be obtained.

The film will only be able to get the third instalment of funds for post-production if it is completed on time or ahead of schedule and meets expectations. Everything will be carried out strictly in accordance with the contract.

Once the first round of funding arrived, preparations for the film began, including recruiting staff, investigating locations, making props, and, if real-life shooting was not possible, building or renting a studio.

Everything is on track. The next step is to sign contracts with the main actors and then recruit other supporting actors.

Then, Cao Yang received a call from Tim Robbins.

The other party on the phone kept apologizing, saying that he didn't know his agent had concealed it from him and had already agreed with Eastwood to star in his new film.

He had no choice but to hope that they would have a chance to work together again next time.

Cao Yang put down the phone, took a deep breath, and thought, okay, they all think I'm a weakling, right?

Then, Bellman brought worse news.

After Harvey Weinstein learned that Tim Robbins would not be starring in the film, he threatened to withdraw his investment and demanded compensation for their losses. He also said that since the project had already started, the copyright should be fulfilled according to the previous contract.

In other words, he not only wants to withdraw his investment and compensation, but also the copyright.

Cao Yang was so angry that he laughed. Everyone thinks they are easy to bully, right?

"What does Harvey Weinstein want to do? What is his purpose?" Cao Yang said to himself.

“I definitely want to take over the project and be the person in charge,” Bellman replied.

"When you signed the investment contract with him, did you specify who the actor for the male lead would be?"

Cao Yang asked, he wanted to test whether Berman was colluding with others to deal with him.

Bellman shook his head. "No, Tim Robbins doesn't have much box office appeal nowadays, so it definitely won't be written into the contract."

"What are you afraid of? Talk to Harvey Weinstein about the contract and tell him that I allow him to withdraw his investment and waive his penalty."

Cao Yang stared at Berman, sneered, and said, "Haha, doesn't the United States value the spirit of contract? Since it's not written into the contract, I don't care what method you use to deal with him. I'll take care of the actors. If you can't, I'm not going to play anymore and will pack my bags and go home immediately!"

You still want compensation for the losses. Since it is not written in the contract, you can invest or not. If you don’t want to invest, just withdraw. I can even waive your penalty. I am much more generous than you.

Bellman gritted his teeth and said, "Don't worry, leave it to me, I will do it."

Afterwards, Cao Yang found the list that Berman had given him, looked at it for a while, and then pointed to a name and said, "Johnny Depp, help me make an appointment with him. I want to talk to him."

Damn it, no matter how the subsequent talks with Harvey Weinstein go, I’m going to sign Johnny Depp first.

Let me give you a little revenge first.

(End of this chapter)