Hollywood legendary director

A coffee shop in Los Angeles.

Lyman and Barry Meyer sat at the table opposite, and Barry Meyer's assistant sat at the next table properly.

This cafe focuses on hand-made fresh grinding. It seems that Barry Meyer is still a frequent visitor here. When he came, the boss smiled and greeted him.

Lyman sat opposite him, not in a hurry.

He still doesn't know what it means to invite him.

After ordering coffee, Barry Meyer smiled and said, "Congratulations, Lehman. "Million Dollar Baby" took Palme d'Or, and the word of mouth came out. I think I can win the Oscar."

"Thanks to Warner's PR." Lehman said politely.

Purely in terms of the status of the film industry, Barry Meyer has naturally dumped Lehman several grades.

However, in terms of production alone, Lehman’s Firefly Pictures is not bad. He has the money to run the project and has a good relationship with Paramount. If you leave Warner, you don’t have to worry about distribution, and Warner will not be able to influence him.

So, in this respect, Barry Meyer wants him more.

"Million Dollar Baby" is the first collaboration between them, and it is only a literary type of work, and the explosive momentum is not small, even better than Barry Meyer's expectations at the beginning.

In this way, the plan in his heart inevitably became hot.

He also found that Lehman is indeed strong in directing, very thoughtful, and good in business and artistry.

After the two chatted for a while, Barry Meyer finally said his thoughts.

"I am running a project recently, and I want you to continue to be the director."

"What project?"

""Batman"."

Barry Meyer said softly.

Lehman on the side was taken aback.

He had thought about cooperation, but he never thought it would be Batman.

......

Since the beginning of the new millennium, the Hollywood film industry has become increasingly large-scale.

The maturity and perfection of the business system not only led to different rises and breakthroughs in the market, but also appeared in the top ten of the annual final list, each of which was able to exceed 100 million yuan.

Before this, it was not that there were no movies that could have a high box office, but most of them were able to have a boutique in a year, which is completely inferior to the current prosperity.

For Warner, under such a background, holding all the rights to adapt dc comics, it naturally wants to develop into a huge profit chain.

They did the same. Superman and Batman, the two former ace players, didn't know how much revenue they brought to Warner, from animation to movies, from toys to surroundings.dc hides a gold mine.

But later, they played off on their own, Superman and Batman were all in a deadlock, there was a big problem, and they had to be refrigerated to preserve their value.

Then in 2002, "Spider-Man" broke out.

Not only is it the first film in North American film history to break 100 million in three days, it also has a cumulative box office of 400 million in North America, which has brought a large enough dividend to Columbia.

Subsequently, the success of the X-Men and "Blade Warrior" also announced the strong return of another giant of Manga-Marvel Comics.

Seeing that comics have become a major subject in the market, Warner was also successfully stimulated.

You must know that in the 1980s and 1990s, it was the era of dc dominance. What Marvel did not have enough dc to fight with one hand.

But the fiasco of "Batman and Robin" is also constantly reminding Warner, making them extremely hesitant.

Barry Meyer is not the case, he is very skilled.

If not, he wouldn't be able to sit where he is now.

He also persuaded the board of directors in one fell swoop to restart the dc comic reform project.

This time, to be on the safe side, they chose Batman.

Because only Batman has enough charm to compete with the increasingly powerful little spiders and regain the flag-bearer of this banner.

Their ambitions.

Lehman couldn't help but feel excited.

Of course, he is not excited about directing such projects. In fact, Firefly Pictures has no shortage of projects.

As a director, he is still satisfied.

However, what he was thinking at this time was what he could get from such cooperation.If you also let your own Firefly Pictures participate.

Yes, such a large project will be a good bridge. In addition to further deepening the cooperative relationship between the two, it can also become the cornerstone of the further development of the company.

And, who said he must have promised to be the director?

Lehman listened and smiled: "What do you mean?"

Barry Meyer obviously planned for a long time, but he was confident, "You come to direct, and the budget is about 200 million yuan. If the actors are sure to meet, you can mention it in the past. We will give you 15 million. How about the basic remuneration, plus 3% of the North American box office and 5% of the offline revenue?"

Sounds great, but Lehman wants more.

"Change the way of cooperation."

"what?"

"What Warner wants is the success of the project. I think you can entrust the production part to Firefly Pictures, we shoot, your distribution and subsequent copyright secondary development, and we don't have a share of copyright."

Commissioned shooting is a relatively common way of cooperation in the industry.

However, this kind of cooperation is mostly due to the relationship between the parent company and the subsidiary, or the two film companies have their own difficulties.

For example, the former Disney and Miramax.Disney did not involve the production of live-action images before, but this aspect was indispensable, so it acquired Miramax. As long as there is related live-action business, it is handed over to Miramax for production and then distributed through Disney's channels.

But later, Harvey broke up with Disney.

Then there was the collaboration between Twentieth Century Fox and Searchlight Pictures.

Searchlight is also a sub-label of Fox, which specializes in comedy and low-cost genre films.But Fox specializes in medium or first-line large-scale productions.The division of labor is clear.

But the relationship between Warner and Firefly Pictures does not seem to be as good as that.

Barry Meyer frowned, thinking that Lyman was asking for him in favor of Warner, and the Lion opened his mouth.

Not happy: "But why do we do this?"

Lehman smiled, "You leave the project to us and don't care about the rest. When it's over, this work will be released by Warner. What do you think?"

"You don't want funds?" Barry Meyer was surprised.He originally thought that Lehman wanted to go from a mere employment relationship to an investor-producer and get more benefits, but he did not expect that he would take the risk actively.What a good person.

Why do you say that?

Although Warner agreed with Batman's project, the management and board of directors still had many doubts, for fear that one would be careless and failed.

If you fail, you will not only lose money, cause the company’s financial report data to be ugly, and not give investors confidence, but it is also related to the image of Batman-they can't put Bruce Wayne on the shelf again and wait more than ten years before releasing it again. Right.

At that time, the Mangai market has been eaten up by Marvel.

Then, it was Barry Meyer who was under pressure to promote Warner's project.

The funds themselves are also in short supply, and they plan to introduce a batch of external filming funds.

In the previous life, it was exactly the same that Legendary Pictures would intervene in Warner's production department and sign a five-year cooperation contract in one fell swoop.They provide funding, Warner is responsible for production and distribution, and then, in accordance with the signed cooperation terms, let the profits to Legendary Pictures.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to get on Warner's ship with a pure investment bank like Legend Pictures, which has no production department at all.

However, in this life, it is Lehman who wants to do this "Legendary Pictures".

He is rich and capable of production, why can't he take up this opportunity?

Barry Meyer is still considering that if you don't have to bear the production risk and the copyright is still in Warner's hands, it will basically be a stable fortune.

So he opened his mouth and said: "You provide funds, but how is the project cooperation divided?"

"I promised that the shooting budget should not be less than 150 million yuan. The announcement will be borne by your company. We will inform Warner of the detailed shooting plan in advance. In terms of production, Warner can directly participate in the project, accounting for 30%. There is no need to pay, and accordingly, Warner cannot ask for the remaining investment share."

What does that mean.

That is to say, Warner directly intervenes in the production side by virtue of the ownership of the Batman project, accounting for 30 shares, which means that they have nothing to do, even if they have invested no less than 45 million in the shooting, At that time, in addition to the distribution share, Warner can also participate in the division of interests in production.

In order to get this project, Lehman took the initiative to give up the profit-there is no way if it is not allowed. The previous life Legendary Pictures cooperated with them, which was also such a harsh condition, otherwise the senior Warners would not allow outsiders to enter.

Fortunately, Firefly Pictures still has production capabilities, not as ruthless as Legendary Pictures.

Barry Meyer nodded, admiring Lyman's wit.

With such preconditions, he is also willing to talk to the board of directors.

"anything else?"

"We don't want a cent for offline revenue, but Warner only accounts for 30% of the money spent on advertising sponsorship and film sales."

Still making profit.

Logically speaking, the producer has the right to intervene in copyright operations.

But if you want to come to an ace like Batman, Warner will never let go. Lehman also actively threw this part to Warner, taking the opportunity to take the extra project bonus into his hands.

You know, once a sign like Batman is released, advertising sponsorship will definitely not be lacking. This part of the money can also ease the pressure on production funding.

"Advertising sponsorship must be approved by Warner." Barry Meyer added.

"no problem."

"Well, I want to ask, are you fighting for so much initiative for better shooting?"

It's not that Barry Meyer has never dealt with Lehman. He probably knows that he is a director who likes shooting on set and has enough freedom. Unfortunately, he guessed wrong again.