At first, I just wanted to make money

Chapter 479 Find friends

"...I think everyone is a bit too much. I acted in "Carol", and many people cared about my sexuality. Then I acted in martial arts movies. Why don't you care if I can fly?"

"Still quite speechless. As an actor, when I saw a good role, I acted in it. I thought I could perform well. Why do you care about my sexuality?"

At the airport, Gong Li was stopped by a group of media, and the questions she asked made her quite helpless...

"In acting, the most important thing is to find resonance with the characters. I did check a lot of information and did research. Sandy Powell, the costume designer of our crew, knows these things very well and helped me a lot, but acting is, after all, Showing other people's experience is not my true color..."

"I'd love to play roles that go beyond my experience..."

"Thanks to Xudong, Hollywood thinks that the audience will not be interested in a female-led small and medium-budget film, which means that there will be no market for the film "Carol". He persuaded Christine to make it together. "Carol"..."

"Director Todd Haynes was not interested in "Carol" at the beginning. He felt that these stories often could not be completed because there were various external forces that broke up the love... But "Carol" written by Xudong, he made the story Regarding love itself, Todd likes this genre very much...From the beginning, we hope that this is a movie suitable for everyone to watch, and audiences regardless of age, gender, or sexual orientation can be touched."

"Domestic screening...it should not be easy, the rating is R level..."

"It depends on how they do it..."

"The next plan? Continue to make movies, "Golden Armor" is not finished yet!"

After saying this, under the protection of the staff, Gong Li got into the car and left the airport...

By the way, Shen Xudong did not return to China, he went to the United States!

Want to find a partner.

……

Nowadays, domestic producers are generally from XXX film studios or their parents and grandparents were from the film industry. They have rich contacts and sophisticated production. They are basically both producers and producers.

For the time being, the producer-centered system is unlikely!
Our film system has caused the director himself to be very famous due to historical reasons.

Investors are more willing to choose to trust a director rather than a producer.

Actors are more willing to work with directors than producers.

Screenwriters prefer to communicate with directors rather than producers.

At this time, if we deliberately imitate the Hollywood system and blindly pursue the so-called producer-centered system before there is a clear purpose, then the system will often fail to be established, but it will increase the friction, and even lead to the result of laymen guiding experts.

Shen Xudong also knew about this situation.

Therefore, even if "Carol" wins the award, the insiders may admire his vision, while the outside world will think that he is just lucky!

After all, he is just a screenwriter and producer. It is generally believed that the success of a movie depends on the director and actors.

Shen Xudong wants to speak loudly in the circle, unless he is willing to be a director...

Gong Li also suggested to him that day, 'You can be a director'...

Shen Xudong didn't want to...

He wants to be a big producer!
The so-called big producers in China are mostly fanciers, at most they are people who pay money, such as Zhang Weiping and Huang Zhongjun, who vote for a movie every year or two, and they regard themselves as big producers, and they will compete with Hollywood. It's time to build a Chinese film carrier...

Pointless!

Is the producer-centric system perfect?
Certainly not, after the success of "Superman", Warner's producers and directors had a big disagreement, and then directly changed the director, and changed it to a more obedient one, and the result was all the way from 2 to 4.

After Tim Burton's two Batman films achieved good box office reputation, the producers disliked his work style and replaced him directly, and then the super-English movie "Batman and Robin" was born .

Shen Xudong doesn't need to worry about this, he has cheats!
His idea is: Since "Carol" is not enough, let's make some more!

Juno, The Fault in Our Stars, The Twilight Saga…

Why are they all American films?

Nonsense, only by earning a dollar can you become famous in China...

……

As the relationship between independent films and Oscars is getting closer, major Hollywood studios have also begun to set their sights on independent films.

In 2003, Warner established its own independent film company; in 2005, Sony acquired United Artists Pictures, an independent film label;

At present, there are several truly independent film companies in North America, including Lionsgate Films, Focus Films, Overture Films, Magnolia Films, Lake Shore Films, and of course Weinstein Films.

Except for Focus and Weinstein Films, they are basically famous for their R-rated horror films.

It's normal, because independent film companies want to develop, they can only do some subjects that big companies disdain.

Horror movies are the best option…

Shen Xudong first met the head of Lionsgate, Michael Burns...

To be honest, it was quite surprising that Michael Burns, who is in charge of Lionsgate Films, actually met a Chinese?

Little did he know that the story of "Little Miss Sunshine" had already spread throughout Hollywood...

Harvey Bai picked up a blockbuster project and paid only $180 million!
However, Michael Burns is clearly not interested in "Juno".

It’s normal, not to mention that Lionsgate rarely does other genres, even if they are willing to do it, “Juno” is neither a cult nor a literary film, it is difficult to find a fixed audience...

Generally few companies are willing to do it!
The genre of North American movies is very mature. The most important thing before a production company makes a movie is to classify and predict the box office of the genre...

"Juno" belongs to the typical positioning is not obvious...

The plot is just one sentence: what should a 16-year-old girl do if she gets pregnant unexpectedly?
If the scale is relatively large, Lionsgate may have done it-they have done "Irreversible", "Fahrenheit 911/[-]"...

Shen Xudong doesn't care, if they don't do it, they won't do it!

Not without any gains, Shen Xudong negotiated with Lionsgate on the production, distribution and profit sharing of "Human Purge Project"...

After just one look at the screenplay concept, Lionsgate decided to make…

"Human Purge Project" is a typical setting movie-"Killing Night: Within 3 hours from 21:19 on March 22 to 7:12 on March [-] every year, any illegal behavior, including murder, is allowed in the United States: through the annual fixed Killing Night, unleash the violent desire of the people in exchange for a year of stability."

This kind of setting is enough to attract a large number of audiences to watch movies in theaters!
Yes, the story is retarded, but who cares?
Put the story together in a small setting, and a few million dollars can do it.

Definitely a movie with commercial prospects, Lionsgate directly won...

Before leaving, Michael Burns suggested that Shen Xudong go find Joseph Drake...

……

Joseph Drake, a famous Hollywood producer.

He was on good terms with Michael Burns.

Lionsgate was established in 97. At first, it was not favored by others. There were no films to shoot, and it made a living by manufacturing shooting equipment.

Since then, he has participated in "Buffalo 66", "Suffering", "Gods and Beasts", etc., and each of them lost money.It wasn't until "American Psycho" in 2000 that it made a small profit.

American Psycho producer Joseph Drake.

Later, I also made a trilogy of "The Grudge" in the US version, but the production company was changed to Columbia...

Most of the old American producers have regular cooperation companies and co-directors, such as Katherine Kennedy and Frank Marshall, both of whom are senior executives of Lucasfilm, and have a good relationship with Spielberg and Lucas , so, there’s the Star Wars, Indiana Jones series…

Will Shen Xudong listen to Michael Burns?
Besides, he was going to meet Roger Birnbaum and Scott Rudin...

Well, he changed his mind - no longer looking for a production company, but directly looking for a visionary producer to work with!
Roger Birnbaum, Jackie Chan's nobleman, Jackie Chan starred in 9 Hollywood movies in the United States as a Chinese, among which "Rush Hour" made him a member of the $2000 million club.And Roger Birnbaum is responsible for 5 films, namely "Rush Hour", "Rush Hour 2", "Rush Hour 3", "Shanghai Noon 2: Shanghai Knights", and "Shanghai Noon".

Additionally, Roger Birnbaum is also a producer on Memoirs of a Geisha!
Scott Rudin is also famous.

Shen Xudong knows that he has done "The Truman Show", "The Social Network", "The Grand Budapest Hotel", "No Country for Old Men", "There Will Be Blood", "The Hours"...

That's right, Rudin is also a producer who took the Olympic route!

So, his relationship with the Weinstein brothers is self-evident!

In fact, the grievances between Rudin and the Weinstein brothers have begun since the last century. Rudin is a gold medal producer under Paramount, and the Weinstein brothers are relying on their creation of Mira- Max calls the shots in Hollywood.

The two parties have worked together, but finally because of the Oscar award...

In 2005, the Harvey brothers left Mira Max, which they founded, to form Weinstein Pictures, which is named after their surname.

Rudin, on the other hand, turned around and defected to Disney because of the resignation of his benefactors Durgen and Lansing at Paramount for many years.Coincidentally, his new role at Disney is the head of Miramax.

"The King's Speech" produced by the Weinstein Brothers relied on its strong public relations ability, beating Rudin's legendary Facebook blog "Social Net Wars" to win the Oscar for best film.

The confrontation between the two parties about the ownership and control of the movies "The Hours" and "The Reader" has attracted the attention of the world because of the reports of the gossip media.

In Hollywood, there are only a handful of producers who dare to confront the Weinstein brothers, and Rudin is undoubtedly the most eye-catching.

Shen Xudong visited one by one...

Of course there are gains. The reason why New Line spent a huge sum of money to buy "Taken" is precisely Roger Birnbaum's opinion. He plans to follow the example of the year and release "Red Fan District" and "Tom Yum Goong", which will be released in September. …

"Red Fan District" North American box office of 3239 million US dollars, "Tom Yum Kung" 1204 million US dollars...

He felt that "Taken" also had such potential!

Knowing that Shen Xudong is going to make "Taken 2", he wants to invest in...

Of course, Shen Xudong did not directly agree - Xudong is also looking forward to the North American box office of "Taken"...

The specific investment ratio, profit sharing, etc., will be discussed after "Taken" is released!

Scott Rudin's meeting was a bit difficult. He was quite optimistic about "Juno", but...he wanted to spend money to buy out the script...

It is impossible for Shen Xudong to agree!
Would have liked to meet Joseph Drake, but no time...

It's already mid-June—"Crazy Stone" is about to be released, and he has to go back to China to support the show.

(End of this chapter)