Hollywood legendary director

The 75th Oscars came to an end, and the Oscar night hosted by Vanity Fair also ended in the courtesy of everyone.

The media did rush to report on the grand occasion of the awards, and for a while, Oscars became a hot topic among the people.

But I really want to say that the little golden man who won the Oscar for best foreign language film has a big impact on Lyman's life, not at all.

He can say responsibly that the impact is really small.

After all, life will continue, and life will not stand still because of a so-called award.

Lehman celebrated for two days in the United States, and also thanked the people of CAA and Paramount, and furthered the relationship.

Then, they returned to France with Ryan, Thomas and George, ready to take a break or start a new movie project.

Shooting new works has always been something he is very happy with, and this is hidden in his bones.

In a blink of an eye, the time came to March, and "Furious" was drawn in all markets around the world, and the work of this film has entered the final stage, waiting for the movie theaters to transfer the film’s box office revenue to the publisher Europa Pictures When the account is on, the money-sharing conference can also begin.

On March 3, Lehmann took Ryan from Cannes to Paris, intending to settle a portion of their studio's income.

The box office share in North America was clearly calculated by Paramount Pictures under the supervision of all parties, and the division was completed, but it is not easy to get the income from overseas.

It is also because of this that it has been delayed until now.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the two came directly to Luc Besson's office, exchanged a few words with each other, and got into the topic.

"This is your income statement. You can check it first. If it is correct, wait until the Finance Department signs a letter, and the money will be credited to your studio's account."

"Thank you Mr. Luc Besson."

The two took it, and with the help of a professional accounting team hired by the side, they checked the various benefits.

Speaking of it, the details of the overseas box office this year are really difficult to track. Even if the team hired by Lehman is involved in the whole process, I dare not say that this part of the income is completely real. I can only say that they have tried their best, which is considered control. In an atmosphere where the access is not too big.

The accounts in hand are very detailed, and even people like Lehman who don't know much about finances can roughly understand it.

The global box office of "Furious" was US$542.3 million. In accordance with the distribution agreements signed by various regions and the deduction of tax and other fixed expenses by local theaters, Europa Pictures received a total of US$285.2 million in box office shares.

Although Europa Pictures used the tax rebate quota on "Furious" and cashed out a total of 3.5 million US dollars in tax rebate in Australia, one of the main filming locations, according to the agreement, this part of the money is not included in the film's income that can be divided.

In this way, Europa Pictures will take out the corresponding distribution commission and deduct a total of 33 million U.S. dollars for the revenue of the film’s box office market. This part of the fund still has 165.3 million U.S. dollars.

Among them, the remaining salaries of part of the cast and crew and other industry association expenses have to be paid, with a balance of 152 million US dollars.

Because the production funds include the 6 million U.S. dollars from the Mann Studio to which Lehmann belongs, the 20 million U.S. dollars from CAA and Paramount Pictures, and the rest is from Europa Pictures, all three parties can follow their respective The proportion of capital investment shall enjoy its due share.

According to the agreement, Mann Studio can get nearly 18.24 million U.S. dollars from this box office revenue.

Although I still have to pay income tax and other messy taxes, I think there will be a profit of more than 15 million US dollars.

In addition, after the film "Furious" was released from France and the United States, Europa Pictures joined with Paramount Pictures to discuss the basic transfer fees of video tape copyrights and the rental and sales share with Blockbuster, the largest video tape chain in the entire Americas. .

The former is cash money, the latter is long-term income, so the latter part of the channel sales basically has little to do with Mann Studios, and there are not many that can be obtained. After their negotiations, the former is in the 8 million US dollars. The figures are agreed.

Then there are peripheral applications such as TV broadcast copyright and secondary development of film copyright. This is where Mann Studios as an investor can enjoy the share. The total basic license fee of 9 million US dollars is also in line with the value of the film.

These two aspects combined, Mann Studio received 2 million US dollars.

Adding up all the proceeds, the book value that Mann Studios can get in this half year is more than 16 million US dollars, which has been deducted from the employment fees of those professional accountants that need to be paid to PricewaterhouseCoopers and the broker Johnson The service in it is commissioned.

As for the remaining long-term benefits, some will wait. If I think about it, I will never see them in a year or two.

After checking the film's income, Lehman relaxed, Ryan didn't wait too much, and simply left and went to the finance department of Europa Pictures to go through the formalities.

Watching Ryan leave, Lyman smiled, and then thought about the business again, "Mr. Luc Besson, I have a general idea about the new movie, the script is also being improved, and the shooting plan report is also starting to work. Done."

Hearing this, Luc Besson's eyes lit up.

Winners are always successful. This is what he has always believed in. Besides, he saw Lyman step by step, so he was naturally very interested in his new film.

"What theme?"

"It should be a crime-oriented movie."

This......

Crime theme.

Lehman really has a variety of styles, and each one has a relatively large span.

However, Luc Besson didn't care. He was used to the way that Lehmann was not limited to one or two subjects. He became more interested when he heard that, "How much investment?"

"I like live shooting very much. Presumably, Mr. Luc Besson should know this."

Luc Besson nodded. Three consecutive movies are in similar situations. Even the tank scenes are tried to be real, instead of just building models. This kind of directing method must be his own style.

"So, this drama will involve many scenes, and there will be a lot of extras, which will be a lot of expense."

"Can you roughly tell me a figure for the production cost?" Luc Besson was not deterred, and his continuous success made him very optimistic about Lehmann.

"At least one hundred million dollars." Lehman said slowly.

It seemed that the number he was talking about was really just a number, very calm, but there was tremendous confidence in that calm.

"To achieve the effect I want, basically this number is the same." Lehman added.

Luc Besson on the opposite side fell silent. Don’t look at Europa Films’ investment in similar large-scale productions, but most of the funds are not burdened by them, but looking for financing. Even if there is a risk of losing money, it’s not them. Take most of the pressure.

To put it bluntly, even if the project fails, the money will be pitted from investors and overseas issuers. For them, it will have little impact and may still be profitable.

But now, when Lehmann said this number, even if Luc Besson predicted that the investment in the new film would not be too small, the large sum of 100 million US dollars still made him doubtful.

Investment or financing of this scale requires careful measurement by Europa Pictures.

"You can make the relevant plan reports first, and I will let the company's market analysis department approve the project for review." Luc Besson thought for a while and said this.

In any case, let Lehman's new film come in first, and then think about the rest.

After a few more chats, the two officially confirmed the "Bad Guy" project, which currently only has a code name.

Then Ryan returned to the office and signaled to Lehman that the payment procedures were completed.

Thinking that his studio is just an empty shell, Lehman said again: "Mr. Luc Besson, I want to buy some filming equipment. Is it convenient?"

It’s not like renting equipment to make movies all the time. Even if the two of them don’t care about the studio, they should try to be better.

What's more, the two had already planned in this regard, and it happened that they had the money to buy while the proceeds of "Furious" arrived.

"Does Lehmann plan to buy the equipment by himself?" Luc Besson asked.

"Well, I didn't have a lot of money before, and I have been borrowing equipment from your company. Now the funding situation is better, and I want to make the studio's business more formal.

"This is a good thing." Luc Besson doesn't care. Their company has contacts with major European equipment manufacturers all the year round. It is also common to purchase similar shooting supplies.

Getting goods from him is not only convenient but also saves money.

They are all regular customers. They make a discount or give a discount, but it's very simple, and naturally they can understand Lehman's thoughts.

Luc Besson said nothing, because if you have money, buying equipment is not one or two more cost-effective than renting equipment.

"Do you have a list? Or what needs?"

Lehman was prepared for this and took out a small book from his pocket, which contained a dense collection of shooting equipment.

Luc Besson made a phone call, and then a staff member of the logistics department took it to account.

Before long, the corresponding quotation has been released.

Lehman took the order and looked at it carefully. If you use Europa Pictures' channels, the cost will be close to 2.3 million US dollars.

It's really expensive, but there are reasons why it is expensive. These are all made by first-tier manufacturers, and maintenance is guaranteed.

"That's fine, just click here to help me purchase, thank you, Mr. Luc Besson."

"Don't be so polite." It's just a small matter, and it's not worth mentioning compared to the new film project.

"I hope to come up with the project plan as soon as possible. Our company needs to promote the review." Luc Besson continued.

"I will......"