Best Actor

    Although Vladimir just said a word, Sean immediately understood, and then grinned, this is indeed a troublesome thing.

    Remember the Hollywood ledger I mentioned earlier? And what Vladimir asked for, actually giving Miramax a 20% distribution commission, but writing 40% on the book? If the North American box office can finally have 150 million, and they can get 60% of the box office at present, then it is 90 million, and then 36 million is deducted from the distribution commission. Miramax only has 18 million, and the remaining 18 million is naturally Sean, Vladimir, and the financial director who did the accounting split.

      In short, before the net profit comes out, try to divide it into your own pocket as much as possible, and then try to make a balance of payments on the book.

    But the problem is that the profit this time is too much. Even if the above are deducted one by one, and the book cost of 5 million is written as 10 million, there is still a box office of more than 40 million, then, What will you do next? Copy printing? Insurance, shipping, local taxes? Or customs clearance, parking fees, check cashing?

    Well, even if you can barely make the 40 million account, what about the overseas box office? Sean's original estimate was 100 million. Even if the lowest 30% share, it would be 30 million, right? Well, maybe we will continue to write the distribution commission as 40% of the account, and deduct various publicity costs and various taxes, but there is still some leftovers, right?

    Okay, take a step back, even if the previous profit has been successfully accounted for, but what if the box office continues to rise? After all, what Sean doesn't know is that in the previous life, the film had a box office of $240 million in North America. If it is said that under such amazing results, compared with the cost of 5 million, the actors still can't share the money. , the production company is still only just breaking even... when everyone is a fool?

    If there is such a day, don't worry, these actors and directors will join forces to take Samsara Pictures and Sean to court. This is not impossible. In the previous life, the company responsible for publishing "My Big Greek Wedding" played it like this, and it played even harder. Not only did it break even, but it also lost 20 million. This is simply contempt. Everyone's IQ, so Hanks led the production team and fought a lawsuit with the other party. In the end, although the settlement was settled out of court, there is no need to say more about the result.

    The original version of "My Big Greek Wedding" had almost three or four companies involved in the production, although some of them were leather bag companies, but it was relatively easy to make accounts. But now it is Sean's sole investment, and it is produced by a company of Samsara Films.

    So, it's really depressing, just about a year ago, Sean and Vladimir were discussing in this office, there is no net profit, the movie that can generate net profit, in Hollywood is less than 5% every year, and I didn't expect that my own film has become a minority among that 5%.

    When did the high box office become a problem?

    "Is it difficult to make a ledger?" Sean asked casually.

    "If you want to do it, you can do it." Vladimir gave such an answer.

    Sean laughed dryly, and after a while, he let out a long breath: "Give me a plan to control the net profit to around 20 million."

    After all, he is not a standard capitalist, and he does not have much background and strength in Hollywood. If it is a big studio, or even a medium-sized company, the choice made is very simple , These actors are not famous, even if they do sue, they won't have too many waves first, and it will be a protracted lawsuit.

    Like the previous life, if it wasn't for Tom Hanks, one of the producers, his interests were also damaged, Nia Vardals alone, would they be able to successfully sue the distribution company? ?

    However, Sean still has a bottom line to some extent, and he has not been able to smooth out some edges and corners, otherwise he would not have simply left home more than two years ago. So, since you have already earned enough profit, it is not a problem to share it out, and you can still shape your own image, right?

    So, he quickly added: "Of course, if necessary, I will personally take out some profits to make up for their dividends."

    "As you wish." Vladimir originally frowned, but he relaxed a little after hearing this.

    "What's next?" Sean asked immediately.

    "Regarding the release of DVD, although the movie has not yet been released, someone has come to contact us." Vladimir said, "Weinstein also asked us."

    "What's your opinion?" Sean looked at him.

    "If you can inject more money, we can distribute it ourselves," Vladimir explained, "If a popular movie is to be released on DVD, various channels will come together and produce Fang generally can only get 20% of the royalties of DVD revenue, and most of the remaining 80% is the profit of the distributor, and it is still a long-term income, so we do not need to find another company."

     "No problem, I have received more than 5 million in the account so far, and I just invested in the company's expansion." Sean did not hesitate, and Vladimir's brows stretched a little again.

    "Is there anything else?" Sean asked again after making the decision. Intuition told him that the other party must have something else to say.

    "Yes, a very important thing," Vladimir sat up straight, his eyes were sharper, as if now was the real topic, the past half a day was a waste of time, "Arrived Now, I believe no one will deny the success of "My Big Greek Wedding", this is a very good start for Samsara Pictures, so what are you going to do next?"

     Sean raised his eyebrows in anticipation. He didn't give an answer immediately. He knew what the other party was asking, so he was quite embarrassed. There is no doubt that Vladimir is a fairly competent general manager, always doing things well and giving his opinions appropriately. And once the boss's request and his own opinions turn to the left, after persuading the boss, if the boss is not moved, he will not insist.

    Of course, he does not rule out the idea of ​​"whatever you do, this is your company anyway", but in general, he has done a very good job. Therefore, if Sean really wants to grow his production company, it is necessary to keep him. The most important thing in the 21st century is talent.

    So, if you can't give the other party a satisfactory answer, it's not so easy to keep him.

    "If I want to expand my business, what should I do?" After thinking for a few minutes, Sean asked directly. This is one of his good qualities. To act like I know everything, but just don't say anything, would only make me look superficial—except, of course, my father.

    So, being frank at this time can win the favor of the other party. Sean is not the kind of person who controls everything in his hands.

    A look of admiration flashed in Vladimir's eyes: "How far?"

    “You don’t need to think about the level of the eight major Hollywood companies, but the film companies of New Line, Miramax and Lions Gate still have the opportunity to do it.” Sean recalled Said after going down.

    "Lions Gate?" Vladimir was slightly surprised.

    "Is there a problem?" Sean was puzzled.

    Although he knew about the Lionsgate film company in his previous life, and vaguely knew that the film company was developing well, he didn't know that Lionsgate at this moment was nothing at all. In May, he acquired a Trimark holding company by way of stock exchange, and obtained a library of 650 films owned by the company. I am afraid that it is not even a film company at the end of the second line, let alone with the new line, Miramax compared.

    "It's just that I know something about Lionsgate, so let me briefly introduce their development process." Vladimir didn't say anything more because of this, but talked about The current state of development of Lionsgate.

    Since it is a simple introduction, it will not take too much time, and the development process of Lions Gate is also not complicated. It can be summed up in one word: financing!

    Lionsgate was established in 1997 and officially established itself in Hollywood with "American Psycho", but the development after that was not very smooth, and several films invested in it failed, even in the summer of 1999 It was listed for sale, but because there was too much debt and no one wanted it, founder Frank Gusta had to find a way to raise funds to fight the risk and continue to grow.

    Gusta is a Canadian banker with a wide network of contacts, so after a lot of work, he finally got the funds of many famous investors, which was raised in the form of preferred shares in December 1999. Among the $33 million in funding are Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, SBS Broadcasting Corporation and Fidelity Investments.

    Then, after a lapse of one year, he once again obtained a loan of 200 million US dollars from investment institutions such as JP Morgan and National Bank of Canada, and successfully acquired Turley with this capital. Mark Holdings has a large film library.

    Don't underestimate the role of the film library. The size of a film company's film library can sometimes determine the rise and fall of the company. After all, making a movie is a gamble after all. Maybe film companies can avoid losses in many ways, and even make money back before shooting, but compared with the movies produced in Hollywood, they are only a few.

    So, if you encounter huge losses and the investment of hundreds of millions is only 20 to 30 million at the box office, then there will be no accounting, and the film company will inevitably be shaken. The simplest example, if two years If the former "Titanic" did not sell well, 20th Century Fox may be going into bankruptcy proceedings.

      It is not 100% insurance, but a film company with a sufficient film library must have a greater ability to resist risks.

    "Therefore, if a film company wants to develop, it must have a more complete department, more film library, and better talents, and to do this, it needs more funds, So financing is very necessary for the development of the company." Vladimir finally said.