It's the end of October, and in a villa in northeastern California, the movie Home Alone is being filmed.

After the crew started filming, although Xu Zhi often left for other official business, he still stayed on the set part of the time, but he has been trying to reduce his sense of presence and maintain Terry's authority as a director in normal filming.

Xu Zhi himself is still self-aware, he doesn't know how to shoot, not to mention that this is Hollywood, the culture is completely different, even if there is too much gap with some small plots in later generations, he will discuss it with Terry separately and then solve it together.

Professional people do professional things, and unprofessional people invest in professional people, which is Xu Zhi's principle of doing things.

Moreover, the main things on the set are still under his control, and the big financial expenses require his signature, and as for the small aspects, it is basically the director who lets himself go.

The plot of the movie Home Alone is simple, the main scene is the shooting of the interior of the house and the surroundings, after more than half a month of shooting, more than half of the movie has been filmed, and the first half of the film has been cut out.

According to Terry's estimates, by the beginning of November, the film will be completed, and Xu Zhi must also start preparing another extremely important work for the film, which is related to the success of the film, and can only be discussed by his boss himself.

What is the most important thing after the film is made?

"Release !!"

Without distribution, without channels, no theaters will know about this movie, and they will not arrange for the release of the movie, then the entire investment will be in vain!

If it is an old film company, as long as it was not so popular before, then when the film starts to be established, some distribution companies will come to discuss cooperation, and Xu Zhi's company is a rookie newcomer, so he can only run over to find a cooperative distributor by himself!

In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the Paramount monopoly case established, and the impact on Hollywood was that film companies had to divest theatrical chains.

In the three industries of production, distribution, and cinema, a company can participate in production and distribution, but it cannot participate in theaters, and vice versa.

It wasn't until Reagan came to power in the '80s that the crack slowly loosened.

At the moment, companies including Paramount actually have distribution channels, but these basically only serve their own companies, and many times, because of the need for risk and cost sharing, even the major film giants often outsource distribution to other companies.

The second-tier production companies have no distribution channels and generally rely on other professional distribution companies.

The cost of distribution is very high, under normal circumstances, the distribution company needs to take 20%-35% from the box office, don't feel very high, this risk is also big, the publicity and distribution of the entire film, contact the theater schedule, press conference, premiere, etc., in person In this era, there is also a large investment in the film copy plate, many distribution companies misjudge the results of the film, and copy a large number of plastic plates, so bankruptcies abound.

……

Xu Zhi drove around Hollywood, he had already met with several distribution companies, and after watching half of the movies he brought, they were also very interested, but the negotiations were not smooth, either because the requirements were too high or because of the lack of distribution capacity, and there were too few screens to provide.

Even Paramount's distribution company went to a trip, but although he knew a few Paramount middle-level people, they were basically people from the production department, and in this kind of large company, there was not much intersection between the two departments, not to mention that the interests involved in distribution were too great, and his relationship was simply not enough.

Paramount's distribution department is also optimistic about this movie, and directly asked for a buyout at the beginning, that is, to pay a sum of money, and the future will have nothing to do with the producer, of course Xu Zhi will not agree, and then the other party proposed a high distribution fee ratio, and also put forward various requirements for overseas, peripheral, and future sequels.

It's not that Paramount is very optimistic about this movie, and the policy of large companies is to cast a wide net, and most of the producers he works with will always have some popular movies, which is also for the real trickle.

Xu Zhi did not refuse directly, but withdrew first on the grounds that he wanted to consider it.

According to the introduction of the agency, he came to the last company he needed to visit today: Columbia Pictures.

Columbia Pictures has disappeared since then, and three years later, in 1981, Coca-Cola would buy the company, and in 1989, Japan's Sony would take over at a high price, and Columbia Pictures would become Sony Entertainment.

However, at this moment, Columbia is one of the eight giants in the United States, although it is the weakest one, but it is only because of the serious losses in the production in the past ten years, but the distribution ability is a first-level player, which is much stronger than some of the following.

Xu Zhi was received by David Crane, head of distribution at Columbia Pictures.

After watching half of the movie and follow-up materials brought by Xu Zhi, David Klein asked curiously, "Mr. Xu, can I ask a question?"

Xu Zhi smiled: "Of course you can, just ask?"

David Klein immediately asked, "Mr. Xu, you are a Chinese, and you don't live in the United States, how could you come up with such a movie story with American culture." ”

Xu Zhi didn't think about it, and said: "Actually, the main plot of this story can be filmed in any culture, but for the sake of American audiences, I deliberately watched a lot of American comedy movies and added some cultures that Americans understand, so such a movie was formed." ”

"I see, although I haven't seen the full version of this movie yet, but in terms of this half of the plot and the subsequent plot introduction, it is indeed somewhat attractive, so if this film is handed over to us for distribution, what conditions do you need?" asked David Crane.

Xu Zhi said: "Mr. Klein, you also know the content of this movie, so you should also understand that this movie is actually the main Christmas file, and the story and style in it are also in line with Christmas, so I hope that this movie can be released on Christmas Day, so that the box office potential of the movie can be completely released, so that whether it is your distribution company or me, the producer, you can get the best benefits!"

David Klein nodded and said: "Mr. Xu, what you said is very right, in fact, when you see this movie, anyone can see that this should be a Christmas movie, but the Christmas period is also a time for all producers and distributors to compete for the slot, I can tell you that all the Christmas files are full now!"