Arizona.

The small town of Coolidge south of Phoenix.

The time is February 3rd.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Kathryn Bigelow stood in front of the hotel where the crew was staying, and saw a black Chevrolet SUV coming from the end of the street.

Simon pushed the door and got out of the car, looked at Catherine, who was wearing a close-fitting black cardigan and jeans in front of him, and then opened his arms and hugged the woman, saying, "You look more tasteful in black." ”

Catherine glared at Simon with a slight look of disgust, and then said, "I heard the news in The Hollywood Reporter yesterday, is it really okay for you to run over like this?"

"Of course not, things are basically done, and then we are waiting for the release. Also, I feel like I should be away for a while, some things are still too much. ”

Catherine nodded understandingly, gestured behind her, and said, "I've prepared the room for you, besides, have you had lunch?"

Simon shook his head and said with a smile: "Not yet, I thought I would hurry up and come over and let you have a treat." ”

Catherine gave him another blank look, looked around, and pointed to a short distance diagonally across the road: "Let's go over there, there's a restaurant there." ”

The two crossed the wide asphalt road in the small city, Simon looked at the street where there were almost no people, remembered the endless Gobi Desert on both sides of the intercontinental highway when he came all the way, and said with some emotion: "There is a vacuum here." ”

"There are about six thousand people in Coolidge City, which is already a lot," Catherine said, walking beside Simon, and added, "Didn't you originally plan to work with Fox Films, why did you become Orion again?"

"I can't talk about it," Simon said in a somewhat helpless tone, "Orion is easier to communicate." ”

Catherine nodded in understanding, and then asked, "What conditions did Orion give?"

Coming to the outside of the restaurant, Simon casually helped the woman open the door and said, "For the time being, they will only take away the distribution rights of the North American theater chain, and other channels will retain priority, and the share ratio on our side is 15%." ”

Catherine walked into the restaurant and was a little surprised to hear Simon say: "15%, that's good." ”

Hollywood's film companies that have channels for publicity and distribution are very strong. When it comes to distributing a film, they usually have to take more than 30% of the box office share of a film after spending on publicity, distribution and commissions.

On the other hand, due to attendance and other reasons, the share of non-mainstream art films from cinema operators is generally low, and some films can only get back less than 30% of the box office from theaters.

The combination of the two, Simon's ability to win a 15% box office share for a low-budget film like "Lola Run" still surprised Catherine a little.

The two sat down at the table, Simon ordered a lunch, and asked the waiter to bring a pot of coffee, before explaining: "It's not as good as you think, it's conditional, and the cost of copying must be paid for by us." Moreover, I also signed a screenwriter and director package contract with Orion. ”

Simon and Mike Medois spent the whole day on Saturday in order to secure the 15 percent share of the contract, almost pushing one place behind the decimal point.

Even if it is the two conditions attached, it is very seesawing.

Mike Meadows argued that since Simon was willing to bear the cost of copying, he should pay for it first. Simon couldn't come up with the money at all now, so naturally it was impossible to agree, and in the end, Orion Pictures paid in advance.

As for the packaging contract, Mike Medois first took a fancy to "The Grim Reaper" and wanted to sign it for $500,000.

Of that amount, $300,000 is Simon's director's salary, and $200,000 is used as the script fee for "The Grim Reaper." Of course, although he is not a member of the two major union members of the director and screenwriter, according to industry practice, Simon can still enjoy similar sharing terms as union members.

"The Grim Reaper is Coming" has actually been favored by Fox, but the other party is still waiting for the response of "Butterfly Effect" and has not made an offer. Of course, according to the exception clause in Simon's contract with Fox, if he is willing to direct, it is really fine to hand over "Death is Coming" to Orion.

It's just that Simon has no interest in directing the film himself, and only hopes to sign a blank contract that does not involve any details for the time being, and wait for him to have a script that interests him, and then talk about specific cooperation.

Naturally, Mike Meadow could not have agreed.

In the end, both sides made some compromises, and Simon signed a blank contract with a base salary of $500,000, but reserved the right to renegotiate the terms of the split.

In the restaurant, Catherine held a cup of coffee, listened to Simon explain the details of her 'battle of wits' with Mike Medowa, and said with a smile: "$500,000, what are you not satisfied with, I only have $150,000." ”

Simon withdrew his arm on the table, asked the waiter to put down his lunch, picked up the cutlery, tasted the pasta, and said, "When I have money, I will give you a blank contract, how much investment you want, how much you pay, fill it yourself." ”

Catherine dodged Simon's gaze and said, "I don't need your money." ”

"Then I'll help you get investment in the future. ”

"I will do it myself. ”

Simon nodded hurriedly: "Oh, yes." ”

Catherine looked at Simon and began to eat with her head down, pursed her lips, and said, "You, do you think I can't make a good movie?"

Simon immediately shook his head: "Of course not, you will definitely become the first Oscar for Best Female Director." ”

Catherine still stared at Simon, completely disbelieving his words, and insisted: "You just think I can't make a good movie." ”

Simon didn't expect the woman's intuition to be so sharp, and he really wanted to swallow back the words he had just spoken.

Raising his head again, Simon looked at Catherine seriously and said, "No one can walk when they are born, so even if you can't shoot well now, you will definitely be able to shoot well in the future." ”

Catherine made eye contact with Simon again, and suddenly felt like a little girl who had just been angry.

Oh my God, I'm crazy.

Picking up the coffee cup, she lowered her eyes and took a sip lightly, and the afterglow secretly swept over, and she was relieved when Simon started eating again.

After a moment of silence, he found a new topic and whispered: "That, how many screens can Orion give to "Lola Run"?"

Simon also seemed to have forgotten the conversation just now, and said casually: "About 200 yuan, you can only pull so much in two weeks, and this is because it is the off-season." Moreover, these screens are also mainly concentrated on the West Coast, and only New York will have some screenings on the East Coast for the time being. ”

The media industry in the 80s was nowhere near as developed as it was later. The current discussion about Simon and "Lola Run" has basically focused on a few West Coast states and counties that the Los Angeles Times can radiate.

Therefore, Orion has also chosen to concentrate its publicity resources on the West Coast for the time being.

The 200 opening screens have actually exceeded Simon's expectations.

In this era when "Star Wars" only has 1,000 open screens, Simon naturally can't ask for too much, even if they cooperate with the Seven, they will only give about three or four hundred screens, but Simon will definitely not get a 15% share, and it is impossible to temporarily retain the distribution rights of other channels.

After a simple lunch, Simon and Catherine left the restaurant together before asking about "Night of the Bloody Corpses": "How is the shooting plan arranged on your side?"

"For the next month, it was a night shoot, starting at 6 p.m. and ending at 2 a.m. Catherine said as the two crossed the asphalt road and returned to the other side, and after a pause, the woman suddenly said, "You, don't talk to me again?"

Simon pretended to be stupid: "What?"

Catherine didn't look at Simon, and threatened slightly, "Otherwise, I'll tell Jenny." ”

Simon immediately raised a hand: "Okay, I promise." ”

Listening to Simon's insincere tone, Catherine just glared at him with disgust.

Back at the hotel, Catherine first took Simon to settle in and introduced him to some of the other main crew members of "Night of the Bloody Corpse".

The male protagonist of "Night of the Blood Corpse" is named Adrian Pastar, and coincidentally, the other party also happens to be a client under the name of Jonathan Friedman. The heroine, Jenny Wright, is a baby-faced short-haired girl who is very beautiful, but her temperament is on the pure side, lacking the coldness and charm that a vampire should have.

Simon then met the film's producer, Edward Feldman, a middle-aged man in his fifties. The other party obviously heard about some recent things in Hollywood, and when he saw Simon, he was very polite, and did not show any dissatisfaction with his entry into the group halfway, and personally signed an employment contract with him.

After getting acquainted with each other, Simon quickly integrated into the work of the crew from the evening.

Simon's position is an assistant to the director, and since he is a regular crew, the salary is not bad, $500 a week. Of course, Simon was originally here to help, so naturally he didn't care about the money.

When Simon began to work day and night in Arizona, the promotion of "Lola Run" was also rapidly advancing in Los Angeles.

Regarding Simon's sudden departure at this point in time, Orion did not ask him to return, although he had some opinions.

Because I don't need it.

Simon had already finished the posters and trailers that might be needed before leaving, and the film had no plans to hold a premiere.

Orion's job was basically to reach out to theaters, roll out posters, and drop the trailer for "Lola Run" to local TV stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and other cities a week before the release.

These seem simple, but without experience and connections, a fledgling film company will definitely not be able to do it.

Moreover, Orion easily invested $800,000 in all the publicity and distribution budgets in just two weeks of release, which still counts the cost of copying "Lola Run" on Simon's side.

You must know that the total cost of about 200 copies of "Lola Run" also reached about $150,000.

This shows how expensive the cost of film distribution was in the film era, which is why many low-budget films basically cannot land in theaters and will only flow directly into the videotape channel.

Due to the tight schedule of "Lola Run" and Orion Pictures' appropriate publicity and distribution methods, the relevant media discussion has remained very active from the rise of Simon in the media to the release of the film.

And so on until Friday, February 13th.

"Lola Run" was finally officially released on 207 screens in major cities on the West Coast and in theaters such as New York on the East Coast.