Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 737 Music Copyright

   "Ronald, come take some pictures?"

"immediately!"

  Ronald brought the main cast members to the hot spring to rest this time. He also arranged for a cameraman to shoot behind-the-scenes and stills, and also arranged for an assistant cameraman to shoot some videotapes.

   These can be used as promotional materials after the filming is completed. If you have the opportunity, put on a talk show and show some great clips. If there is no chance, you can also crop and modify the photo to make a poster.

   "Please stay close, okay, the two male and female protagonists are in the middle, very good...Cheese! Another one."

  The photographer pressed the shutter continuously and took a few group photos for everyone. Just as he was about to leave, Ronald stopped him, "Let me and all the dancers take a group photo alone. Patrick, Cynthia, and Jennifer come as well."

   dragged those few back dancers who looked crooked and cracked. They either alone or in pairs, and took individual photos with the main creators shoulder to shoulder. The plump female dancer with excellent shoulder movements also took Patrick Swayze to a solo one.

   "Write down their names and addresses, print them out, enlarge them, and send them separately with the negatives."

  Ronald instructed the photographer, and asked Bud Jr. to write down the photographer's phone number and check it at that time.

This is the experience gained from "Longwei Boy". The action director and stuntman Daryl Vidal, who was recruited by Ronald, relied on the group photo with Master Miyagi and Master Daniel, the business of the Karate Club. hot.

  In his clubhouse, when he entered the door, he wore a wig and put on the unique trick "Crane Kick", and hung his wings on the white crane with Morita Noriyuki, who played the role of Master Miyagi.

There were news reports and TV reports in the back of the front desk, including Ronald Miyagi's words that he was the real crane kick. It was placed in an incomparably large size, making all the children who came to the clubhouse excited. Parents are required to sign up to learn real karate with a real "Master Miyagi".

  The budget for this "Spicy Dance" is limited. In fact, all the dancers who are invited are because of their poor appearance and can only be dance coaches in the industry. They usually earn living expenses by teaching some dance lovers to dance.

   They can take a photo with the protagonist and director in a movie that is shown in the cinema, and when it comes time to recruit students, they can also raise some of their own fees.

   They train hard, and compared to their outstanding dancing skills, the minimum wage of the Actors Guild is considered a bargain. Ronald wants to try to make up for them later.

   After the rest at the resort, the actors went back to continue their rehearsal.

   Ronald himself secretly went to MGM's office and made an appointment with Weintraub.

   "Do you want to find a broker for copyright purchases?" Weintraub was very busy, and MGM's heart was fluctuating. No one was working seriously for more than half a year. Now many things have to be cleaned up from scratch.

   But he still took the time to meet Ronald, the biggest contributor to his leadership in Hollywood.

"Yes, my current music director seems to be doing a lot of work. I don't want to wait for the filming to be completed, and suddenly find that there is no money to buy music during post-production." Ronald put his small production needs a lot of fifty I talked about the copyright of the songs of the era, and then asked Weintraub to recommend a good candidate.

   "Is it from the 1950s and 1960s? That's very convenient, I happen to have someone here. It was the copyright management manager of the original RCA record company. I had a lot of dealings with him when I started the record company.

  After Columbia Records acquired RCA, his copyright department merged and was laid off. Now he is buying music copyrights for movies and TV series, and he is a full-time copyright broker. "

   "Tear..." a sound.

   Weintraub wrote the contact information on a sticky note, tore it off and handed it to Ronald. "You better hurry up and finish your little production, we are going to start the preparations for the lunar sultry."

   Ronald took the note with Jimmy Reiner's name and phone number on it.

   "Thanks, you are busy."

  Ronald took his leave, called the broker named Reiner, and asked him to negotiate.

   "So, your movie needs about fifteen to twenty old fifties songs for background music and interludes, right? What's the budget?"

"The overall budget for the movie is 4.5 million. I have left about 400,000 for the music copyright. Can you buy all the songs?" Ronald handed over the music list made by the screenwriter Eleanor. other side.

"It's a piece of cake. If I don't mention your name, even half the price is enough. I watched most of these songs, and most of them were on some small labels of swing dance songs in Nashville and Detroit. Records in recent years There are many mergers and acquisitions in the industry, and most of the copyrights should be in a few companies such as RCA.

Except for the two top three songs on the list that year, and these two famous bands, such as this song by the Four Seasons and this song by the Raspberry Band, which requires a licensing fee of $20,000, the other five thousand to ten thousand can be bought. Down. "

  Jimmy Reiner sketched on the list, then added the total, and the final total was less than $200,000.

   "Very well, how much time do you need?" Ronald was very satisfied with the brokers introduced by Weintraub. Independent brokers like to close deals as soon as possible so that they can make the next order.

   "How much time do you need to buy all the copyright licenses?"

   "As little as three days, as much as a week." Jimmy Reiner was very succinct.

   "But my movie already has a music director on file with the union. Your name cannot appear in the subtitles as a music director."

  Jimmy Reiner waved his hand to show he didn't care, then picked up the efficiency note and began to plan the time and object of the next negotiation.

   "By the way, do you want the full copyright authorization, so that you can release the original soundtrack." Jimmy Reiner asked Ronald a question while writing. It's like the grocery store owner who has sold your bottle of wine, while looking for wine, asks if you want an upgraded version of the aged wine.

   "Oh? How much will that cost me?"

"It doesn't cost much, your music is mostly old songs from the 1950s. At that time, many singers gave up their performance rights in copyright and sold them to the company. So as long as you are willing to bid, the record company is very willing to sell more. a little.

   is the song of these famous bands, which requires separate authorization from the songwriter and performer. "

  It turns out that the use of interludes in a movie involves two copyrights.

  One is the right to use the song itself after it has been recorded into an album. This part of the right can be rented to the producer, who can record and mix the soundtrack of the original album into the original soundtrack of the movie.

   And songwriters and singers can receive a portion of the remaining dividends at the box office of movies that use their music.

   This part of the money, after Ronald has filed with the musicians union, will be allocated to the two major union organizations ASCAP and BMI according to the agreement, and then the union will be responsible for distribution.

   Another copyright, the right to reproduce and publish, is also known as a full copyright.

   You can use this copyright to re-record the album and publish it as a collection. You can also give priority to inviting the original singer to re-sing a new performance version for the movie, and the copyright of this version will stay with the production company, not the original record company.

   Even if they don't re-record, in order to get the right to publish the original soundtrack, the production company has to pay a one-time transfer fee of about $20,000 to the star singer. Lesser known singers decrease.

"I suggest that you still buy the full copyright, old songs are not expensive. Then you can also have the opportunity to release an acoustic record, I see no problem with the original. We can sign a five-year or ten-year license period, during which time You don’t get a one-time transfer fee for reprints, you just pay them royalties every six months.”

  Ronald counted his own money, and almost all of the money allocated to music in the budget was used up. Many of the best-selling movies now have pop music on the charts to help market the movie.

  I don't have the money to hire pop singers or bands to compose new songs for the movie, and I want to re-release old classics, and I can make a little bit of momentum.

   "Yes, just follow your recommendation."

   It only took Jimmy Reiner three days to get all the music rights assigned by Eleanor. Ronald called his personal lawyer from New York to review all the contracts in Los Angeles.

   "No problem, there are no major problems with these contracts. You can sign them." Miss Attorney Lindsay Dole stretched and pushed all the contracts in front of Ronald.

"There are still these blank music copyright purchase agreements. After you find a suitable newly created theme song, you can use this template to sign contracts with songwriters and singers, and then fax the contract over, saving me from running trip."

   "Okay", Ronald gestured to the lawyer with his eyes, he understood.

   He was also on the phone with art director Ryan Weaver. When he reviewed the photos and storyboards of all the scenes in the script again, he found a lot of problems.

   "So how do they solve the problem of set continuity?"

   "The location was split into two locations in different states, but the movie is actually one place where there's a lot of tedious work to do.

   David Chapman, the location designer, thought of many ways. For example, the scene where the protagonist Baby descends from the ballroom to the cabin where Johnny lives, the first half of the scene was filmed at Mountain Lake Villa in Virginia, and the second half was filmed at the Boy Scouts camp in North Carolina.

   We need to add some people to ensure that all the scenes are in order and all in sync. As far as possible there are no flaws in the film.

  For example, on the way down the mountain, there are many lampposts on both sides. You have to hire one or two more props personnel. Here in North Carolina, make the same props streetlights as the Virginia Mountain Lake Villa.

The    agency has asked David Chapman to list all the props that could be worn, and then we cross-check. The record of this film is also unprecedentedly heavy work. The two locations require a lot of meticulous work, and I suggest you find a few more to flesh out the on-set team. "

   "You make a list, I'll let Richard LeWitt look at it, and then I'll go recruit."

   Ronald hung up the phone and added a sum of money to the budget bill.

   "Spending money is like running water...Aha." The lawyer lady saw Ronald's face and began to joke.

   "Yeah, what I'm most afraid of now is hearing about additional staff and additional money.

  Fortunately, there is no bad news that I am most afraid of, 'a certain work time is not enough, and the overall shooting will be postponed. That waste of money is terrible, and it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars every day. "

   "Okay, anyway, you don't have to worry about not having money. If you don't have money to direct a new film, you will earn it back." The lawyer yawned again.

   "You are so boring here, I'll go and watch a movie."

   "I'll ask Bud to take you there." Ronald didn't look up.

   "What are some good movies to watch now?" The lawyer picked up "The Hollywood Reporter" on the coffee table and turned to the box office column.

   "Standbyme seems pretty good. It won the box office championship for four weeks in a row. You have directed a lot in the top ten. Top Gun and Dragon Power 2 are all yours, right?"

   "Yes, and I also produced the villainous husband."

   "I've already seen that one, Helen's acting is so funny." The lawyer giggled non-stop.

   "No, this is last week's box office, what about this week's new newspaper?" Lindsay Dole read it for a long time and found that the date was wrong. He wanted to see what new films were released this week.

   "There was a fun movie I found over the weekend. It's from Australia. It's called 'Crocodile Dundee'. The new newspaper seems to be at the door."

   "Oh, I'll take a look." Lindsay went out and brought in some new papers.

   "Oh, God..." Lindsay turned to the latest box office report, screamed in fright, walked over quickly, and pointed it to Ronald.

   "Your Top Gun is No. 1 at the box office again."

   "Huh?" Ronald was also shocked and took a look.

In the 19th week of its release, the North American box office is close to breaking through 160 million. The smash hit "Top Gun", with its weekend box office data of 3.5 million, stands at the No. 1 box office chart. one.

   (end of this chapter)