Chapter 091 (1/2)
Los Angeles.
Next to Beverly Hills, the bellelle community is on Saturday night.
Yesterday, after signing the overseas distribution contract of ”Lola Run” with Warner, Simon received an invitation from Warner Bros. CEO Terry Semel to attend a party held by him tonight.
”This is a very smart romantic comedy called when Harry meets Sally. It tells the emotional process of the hero and heroine Harry and Sally from knowing each other, hating each other, getting along with each other, getting to know each other and finally falling in love. The story is similar to Woody Allen's Anne hall, but it's not as neurotic as Woody Allen's, which makes it more warm and interesting. ”
at the party scene in the courtyard of the hillside mansion, Terry Semel, holding a cocktail, listened to Simon with a smile, but shook his head and said, ”Simon, for Anne hall, what the audience likes is just Woody Allen's little intellectual neuroticism. According to your description, ”when Harry meets Sally” is a love sketch that relies on dialogue and emotional change to promote the plot. This type of film, without the support of Woody Allen's skills, or without the participation of famous actors, is difficult for the audience to generate much interest. ”
Simon, also holding a cocktail, stood opposite Terry Semel, still smiling and said, ”Terry, maybe you should read the script first. If Warner is interested in this film, I can even make a sample film first. This is definitely a film worth investing in.”
”Simon, if you pay a little attention, you will find that Hollywood has not had a hot love movie for ten years, let alone a plain love sketch.” Still shaking his head, Terry Semel said, ”Simon, you're a very talented screenwriter. So why don't you try to write some police and bandit action movie scripts like detective Beverly and lethal weapon? This is the popular trend in Hollywood in recent years. If you have any ideas in this field, you can contact me at any time. ”
Detective Beverly was the North American box office winner of Paramount Pictures in 1984.
”Lethal weapon” belongs to Warner. It was released a month ago.
When Warner bought the script for the movie for 250000 dollars, it caused a little stir in Hollywood. Although ”Lola Run” has been firmly suppressed since its release, ”lethal weapon” has now won nearly $40 million in North American box office, and the total box office in North America is expected to exceed $60 million.
Warner also made a lot of money relative to the $15 million production cost.
Now that he has reached a cooperation with Warner, Simon also took the opportunity to get to know one of the seven largest film companies.
As a result, Warner Bros., which is supposed to be very powerful, has been even worse off than fox in recent years. For example, last year, Warner's highest box office movie, starring Sylvester Stallone, grossed just over $49 million in North America.
Knowing this, Simon no longer wonders why Warner won the overseas distribution right of ”Lola Run” at a relatively high price.
In this era, the overseas distribution of films is usually delayed by three months to more than half a year.
Warner undoubtedly has a perfect global film distribution network, but at present, the film company has no films worthy of global distribution. It is obviously a great waste of resources to support so many overseas branches, but there is no film to release.
So, ”Lola Run” has become a very good choice.
The box office of ”Lola Run” in North America is expected to exceed 200 million US dollars, and there is no risk of loss in overseas distribution. As long as it works properly, the overseas box office of the film will get at least $100 million. Although the operation cycle of video and TV broadcasting is a little longer, it can certainly bring huge profits.
With all this in mind, Simon could only nod to Terry Semel and say, ”if I had a similar idea, I would.”
”Well, for the time being,” Terry Semel said, looking back at Janet next to Simon and saying, ”Miss Johnston, you're really impressive in the negotiations these days. Are you interested in working in Warner?”
Janet shook her head with a smile and said, ”Terry, are you going to give up your place to me?”
”Well, it's not up to me to decide,” Terry Semel said, smiling, gently raising his glass to the two and again, ”have a good time.”
Terry Semel said and turned away.
Simon watched as Terry Semel left, noticed Janet's eyes flickering and said with a smile, ”you should know Frank price, President of Universal Pictures, these days when you're in touch with the studio?”
Janet didn't know, so she nodded.
Simon said: ”when Spielberg wanted to shoot et, Frank price was not optimistic about this project. He thought that Spielberg's idea of shooting children's films was crazy. In the end, it was Sid simberg, CEO of Universal's parent company, who made the decision himself before the project was passed.”Janet turned her mouth. ”And then what?”
”As we all know, the production cost of ET was only 10.5 million, but the global box office exceeded 700 million dollars.”
Janet is getting to know a lot about Hollywood these days, and she can't help saying, ”10.5 million dollars, that's interesting.”
The project budget of big Hollywood film companies is usually a relatively loose integer, US $10.5 million, which shows how harsh universal was on the project of et at that time.
”It's true, so after the success of ET, Spielberg made a public announcement to Hollywood that he would never cooperate with Frank price again. Later, he worked as executive producer on several projects of back to the future, and Spielberg even wrote this one into his contract
Janet took Simon's arm with a smile and said, ”in the future, we will also include those who have rejected you in the contract.”
”I'm not going to do such a boring thing,” Simon said, shaking his head. ”Speaking of this, I just want to tell you that in Hollywood, anyone will be rejected, and anyone should get used to being rejected.”
Terry Semel invited Simon tonight just to have a relationship with him, a potential young Hollywood filmmaker. But when the outside world is still bombarding the butterfly effect, Terry Semel will not rush to reach any cooperation with Simon. What's more, ”when Harry meets Sally” is not written by Simon.
They stayed at Terry Semel's party until about 9:30 and left.
Back at the palisade mansion, the telephone message light in the living room of the villa is still flashing. Janet ran upstairs to change her clothes. Simon heard the message from Amy Pascal and called back.
Janet didn't know when she had come downstairs again. Wearing a loose white T-shirt and jeans, she ran to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. When she came back, she was lying on the sofa like a kitten to watch Simon call.
Simon and Amy talked on the phone for half an hour before they put down the phone.
She came over and picked up Janet's coffee and leaned relaxed on the sofa.
Janet had just been listening to the news. She leaned over and said, ”New World Pictures has refused, too?”
Simon nodded.
It was last year that new world pictures acquired Marvel Entertainment's film company, which was initially founded by Roger Coman, the king of Hollywood B-class films. In recent years, it has also been in a state of rapid expansion. Although there are no such hot films as Orion, because the company inherits Roger Coman's prudent business philosophy, the operation of new world pictures is better than Orion and canon Second tier film companies are much better.
These days, Simon and Amy are separately looking for investors for when Harry meets Sally. New world pictures is also one of the potential partners.
Now, obviously, it has failed again.
Hearing Simon's confirmation, Janet frowned again and said, ”what's next?”
”It's not a good time to find a partner for when Harry meets Sally. I've asked Amy to stop for a while,” Simon said, not bothered by Janet's tone. ”Next week, watch the first week's box office and the second week's decline of the butterfly effect. If the situation turns better, Amy and I will contact those independent film investment funds, as long as we get enough money It's easy to invest and find the issuer. In the end, if it's really not possible, we'll invest on our own. Only in this way, we'll definitely have to wait until the end of the year to start shooting, and it's not easy to do the follow-up issue. ”
Janet twirled the fabric on Simon's shirt shoulder, listening to him say so clearly and softly: ”Goldberg seems to be cooking himself these two days, and David and Brian, they are also very anxious. Simon, don't you really care about the bad reviews? I dare not look at it. It's too much. ”
Simon felt some of Janet's tone, took the woman's little hand and said, ”do you want to see me pretend to be worried?”
Janet's eyes flashed and she shook her head. ”I don't want to.”
Simon put the coffee cup back on the coffee table in front of him. With a little force on her hand, Janet lay down with her head on the man's lap.
Looking at the woman with bright eyes in her arms, Simon helped her dial the blonde hair that covered her neck, looked down at the woman and said seriously: ”including the doubts of some time ago, and the bad comments from the media now, to tell you the truth, I don't feel much at all. Because I clearly know what kind of person I am, what abilities I have, and what I can do in the future. Those people's small movements, may delay my steps, may let me feel some trouble, but in any case, they can't stop me to continue. To use a slightly arrogant metaphor, how could a lion care about the bite of an ant? ”