Hollywood Hunter

Simon looked at the situation in front of him, wondering why the first production meeting of "Butterfly Effect" fell into such an awkward situation.

However, considering the verbal attitudes of David Giller and Brian de Palma, Simon is not too worried about the progress of the matter. These two Hollywood celebrities who also do not lack the right to speak clearly have the same opinions as himself. position.

After confirming this, Simon was relieved and could not help but secretly analyze the situation in front of him.

Hollywood also has a very complicated power structure. But under normal circumstances, it is actually very simple to determine the authority of a person in Hollywood. It only needs to look at his affiliation, that is, to which class of Hollywood the person is responsible.

From the words of David Giller just now, Simon realized that the other party should be directly responsible to Ronald Goldberg, the president of Fox Pictures, and not under the control of Peter Sanders, the vice president of Fox. Those can be described as equal.

Even from the momentum of the exchange between the two, Simon also noticed that David Giller clearly had the upper hand.

Since he wants to cooperate on the "Butterfly Effect" project, Simon has naturally done some homework in advance.

This year, David Giller, who is in his fifties, is the producer of "Alien 2" currently being screened by Fox. Simon knows this very well. So, combined with the deliberate comparison in the words of David Giller just now, Simon realized that Peter Sanders was probably related to Fox's "Space Station" project that failed at the box office in the summer.

With a budget of 18 million U.S. dollars, the highest quality schedule at the beginning of June, but the box office was only a little over 9 million. This somersault is not that big.

It was as expected by Simon.

Following David Giller’s last words, Peter Sanders’ face suddenly looked a little ugly, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. Then he said: “David, I’m just doing this for the company’s 10 million U.S. dollar investment is responsible, and it doesn’t mean to target anyone."

David Giller felt that Peter Sanders’ momentum had softened, and he stopped chasing after him, saying: “Of course, this is your responsibility. But, Peter, all you need to make sure is that the investment in the movie The right place, instead of pointing fingers at the content of the movie, this is my job with Brian."

Peter Sanders felt the bargaining strength of David Giller's tone, hesitated for a moment, and shrugged: "Okay, I hope you don't mess up this movie."

The seizure of power failed.

Simon secretly came to such a conclusion in his heart, glanced at Peter Sanders again, and realized that this is a guy who is very good at bullying others and being afraid of others.

Peter Sanders' intention to seize the lead in the creation of "Butterfly Effect" was blocked by David Giller, and the subsequent meeting was obviously much more normal.

However, even so, David Giller and Brian de Palma still made a lot of comments on the revision of the script.

David Giller’s opinion mainly focused on the movie’s title and the ending of the story, which is similar to the content in the memo just now.

As a producer who needs to consider the future commercial prospects of the film, David Giller also hopes that the film can have a more popular name. At the same time, David also hoped that Simon could rewrite a more gentle ending, instead of ending with the actor strangling himself in the mother's womb.

This is undoubtedly back to the original ending.

Brian de Palma’s opinion is that he hopes to reduce the protagonist’s childhood scenes to less than 20 minutes, and avoid this part of being too long.

Compared to the initial memo that was almost chaotic, both of them had very professional opinions at this time. Although Simon could not fully agree, he also dealt with it very seriously.

The three main creators were discussing with no one else, but Peter Sanders, who was left aside, did not leave, still lying in the meeting room, occasionally interjecting a few words. So until lunch, Peter Sanders got up to leave, and said that he had other work in the afternoon and would not come over again.

In the in-house restaurant of Fox Studios, after several contacts, David Giller and Brian de Palma have a good impression of Simon, a promising young man. After ordering lunch, David Giller took the initiative Revealed some inside stories that were not secret to Simon.

It turned out that "Space Station", which suffered a fiasco in the summer box office, was the matchmaking project of Peter Sanders. Fox not only gave the film a high-standard production budget of 18 million US dollars, but also the best film schedule. Ronald, President of Fox Pictures Goldberg also named the executive producer himself.

All of this is due to the heroine of "Space Station" named Kate Capshaw, Steven Spielberg's fiancee.

Hearing this, Simon also immediately understood what Fox was doing.

In original time and space, it is no exaggeration to say that in the last three decades of the 20th century, Hollywood was almost Spielberg's world.

With the great success of "Jaws", "Alien ET", "Indiana Jones", "Jurassic Park" and other films, Spielberg is a complete Hollywood star. Although Spielberg belongs to the direct line of directors of Warner, Universal and Paramount, all other than these three are also trying every possible way to establish a relationship with Spielberg.

In addition to the "Space Station" just now, Simon also recently seen on the "Hollywood Reporter" that Disney has just approved an animated live-action combined movie with Spielberg’s Amberlin Pictures, called "Who Framed" Roger Rabbit.

In order to become a member of the ‘Spielberg camp’, Disney’s budget for this movie is as high as 45 million US dollars. You know, in the 1980s, the budget cost of Hollywood's major productions was generally controlled within US$20 million. Only movies related to Spielberg can easily break through this heavy budget limit, and even increase the average budget cost several times.

In the restaurant, noticing the faint envy and desire on Simon's face, the two middle-aged men, both in their 40s and 50s, smiled at each other.

Every year in Hollywood, there are countless young people dreaming of becoming the second Spielberg, but few can achieve anything in the end.

But the young people in front of them, less than two months after entering Hollywood, have attracted a lot of attention, coupled with the unquestionable talents shown by Simon, David Giller and Brian de Palma All realize that Simon will definitely be able to make a breakthrough in Hollywood in the future.

Therefore, at this time, the two Hollywood celebrities who have reached their middle-aged fame, don't mind pushing the young man handily.

David Giller aroused Simon’s ambitions a bit, and Brian de Palma, who was sitting opposite Simon, also asked: "Simon, I heard Jonathan said that you plan to make an experimental movie. Tell me? Maybe David and I can give you some advice."

Simon didn't realize that the two middle-aged people in front of him were supporting his mind intentionally or unintentionally. Even if he knew it, he would only appreciate the other's kindness. In his previous life, he wandered in a similar circle for more than ten years, and Simon knew the importance of networking in this circle.

"Actually, I wanted to talk about this at the morning meeting." Simon heard the question from Brian de Palma and took out the script and sub-shots of "Lola Run" from the backpack placed on the chair next to him. The sketches were handed to David Giller and Brian de Palma respectively, saying: "David, and Brian, I don't think we need to modify the movie name of "Butterfly Effect." Some time ago. In the matter, due to many media reports, many people have actually noticed the term'butterfly effect'. Moreover, the experimental film I intend to make called "Rola Run" can also be explained very vividly.' The concept of the'butterfly effect'. At that time, if Fox can provide some media resources to support, the concept of the'butterfly effect' will be spread more widely through this movie. In the end, even if some people do not understand the meaning of this term, As long as the overall popularity of the movie is operated, this set of vocabulary can also become a suspense that attracts audiences to the theater."

Although he realized that Simon wanted to use Fox to help promote his film's careful thoughts, Simon's remarks about film marketing with his unique personal insights still made David Giller, who had just opened the script of "Lola Run," nod slightly. . Next to David Giller, Brian de Palma was attracted by Simon's highly professional shots.

Seeing that both of them were interested, Simon naturally shifted the topic to "Run Lola Run" and continued: "About "Run Lola Run", this is an experimental movie with a parallel three-stage structure. The story is very simple. , Lola’s boyfriend Manny accidentally lost $100,000. In order to prevent her boyfriend from being killed by her boss, Lola must raise $100,000 within 20 minutes and rush to Manny’s location. However, I want to use video games According to the video game’s retracement setting, Laura made three different attempts under the same scene in order to raise $100,000 and rush to her boyfriend. The results of these three attempts were different. At the same time, every time Laura runs, it also has a very subtle impact on the lives of some people who come across on the road. These effects continue to be amplified and eventually lead to completely different life trends for these people. This is the butterfly effect."

The script of "Lola Run" is not long. Listening to Simon's commentary, David Giller has quickly flipped through the plot of Lola hitting a woman pushing a stroller at the first intersection. Brian de Palma was attracted by Simon's shots and did not ignore Simon's explanation. At this time, he raised his head and asked: "Simon, how do you plan to express this'butterfly effect'?"

"Photo montage," Simon replied simply: "Every time Laura meets clues, she can insert a quick photo montage to show these people's subsequent lives."

Hearing Simon's explanation, Brian de Palma thought for a moment, his face gradually showed an expression of admiration, he couldn't help but raised his hand and tapped it on the table, saying: "A stunning idea."

Although he had seen this form of expression in the script in advance, David Giller still nodded in agreement at this time, and praised without hesitation: "Very awesome."

Both David Giller and Brian de Palma have been immersed in Hollywood for decades. The longer they get together, the more they can realize how difficult it is to innovate in this circle. .

As Simon continued to explain, the two even faintly felt that, if Simon's film is done, it will definitely become the object of learning and imitation for many Hollywood filmmakers in the future.

The waiter in the restaurant had already brought lunch, but the three of them had no intention of dining.

After talking carefully for more than half an hour, David Giller said, "So, Simon, you mean, you plan to use your own "Butterfly Effect" to complete this movie?"

Simon nodded and said, "Yes."

David Giller thought for a while and said, "Your contract remuneration is 200,000 US dollars. Excluding the broker’s commission and reserved taxes, there is only 150,000 US dollars left. If you are shooting with a 16MM camera, maybe Enough, but it would be a waste of your script. Why not make a standard 35mm film movie?"

Simon paused and said, "David, I originally planned to use 35MM film to shoot."

David Giller also paused this time, saying: "You mean, $150,000, 35MM film shooting? Simon, you have to understand that although it seems that there are only two shooting modes with different specifications, 16MM film and 35MM movies are definitely two completely different production specifications. Your movie also involves a large number of location scenes. Without the support of a complete professional crew, it is very difficult to implement shooting. So, 150,000 US dollars, It’s impossible to finish this movie."

Hearing David Giller, a well-known Hollywood producer with decades of production experience, said this, Simon finally confirmed a certain doubt that had been lingering in his mind for this period of time.

The original version of "Lola Run", the production level in all aspects, whether it is the picture, the soundtrack, the lighting, the setting, or even the editing, there is no sign of too many low-cost movies. Simon had always thought that this might be due to the genius of director Tom Tykway. The production cost of the film industry has always been very flexible.

Moreover, Simon did not know much about the general specifications of German film production.

The 350,000 German mark in my memory, converted into US dollars, is about 180,000. Converted into RMB, that is almost 1.5 million. 1.5 million RMB, in 1998, it was more than enough to make a movie.

However, with the in-depth development of all aspects of "Lola Run" in these days, Simon also feels more and more that the funds he has to complete the film seem a little stretched, and Simon even began to subconsciously simplify the shooting specifications of some scenes.

Now, with David Giller’s point-breaking, Simon finally confirmed that he probably remembered the budget size of "Lola Run" incorrectly.

Perhaps, in the original time and space, the production cost of "Lola Run" is not 350,000 German marks at all. I should be, and I missed a zero!