"Matt's last "Genius Prarell" was paid $5 million!"

In the office, Howard, the agent from William Morris, said quite seriously: "The Genius of Prairly has a budget of $40 million, and the North American box office is as high as $87 million! The film is very successful! Mr. Anderson, you offer a salary of $4 million, which is not in line with Hollywood conventions!"

Ronan retorted: "Mr. Matt Damon has never proven himself in commercial films in the past, he is starring in a new type of film, facing a new audience group, and the past films that are biased towards literature and art do not have much reference value!"

Howard emphasized, "Isn't 'The Genius Praley' a commercial movie? Isn't 'Saving Private Ryan' a commercial movie?"

Ronan knows very well that Matt Damon's last film paid $5 million, and "The Genius Praley" was a box office success, and $4 million is definitely not enough.

But Howard not only wants a salary of $7 million, but also a later share, which naturally has to be talked about.

After Matt Damon came to the crew to audition, it took three days to negotiate just the salary, and in just three days, Ronan talked to Howard four times.

This kind of negotiation is very necessary, all the stars are self-confident people, and they can ask for more than $10 million if they are paid.

The salary negotiation with Matt Damon also involves the next two sequels, once "Spy Shadow" is successful, a sequel will definitely be filmed later, the first part will be paid very well and the later part will be shared, what about the next two?

Like in the movie starring Tom Cruise, where one person takes a third of the profits?

Ronan has also tried to sign Matt Damon to a one-time directing contract for the trilogy, but Matt Damon is a second-tier star, or the kind that is rightfully popular, completely different from Paul Greengrass, and Howard doesn't even talk about this aspect.

After three days of talks, the two sides finally agreed on a salary, and Matt Damon was paid $6 million for starring in "Spy", which did not involve any post-production.

However, Matt Damon has some doubts about the first cooperation with Shahai Entertainment, and requires the salary to be paid by a third party.

This is the way many celebrity actors often pay when working with small companies or independent filmmakers, and Ronan is undoubtedly an independent producer in Hollywood.

The so-called third-party payment, that is, the star side requires the producer to deposit the full salary in a large bank in the United States, and then pay this remuneration to the actor according to the contract signed by the two parties.

This payment method can help the actor effectively avoid risks and provide better protection, because it ensures that the producer can afford to pay.

Although this will increase the cost of Shahai Entertainment somewhat, Ronan considered that the filming would be financed later, so he agreed to Matt Damon's request.

Shahai Entertainment opened a special account in Bank of America and borrowed $6 million from Relativity Entertainment, which was then deposited, and this fee was included in the cost of the film.

Ronan agreed to such a request, of course, there are corresponding conditions, requiring Matt Damon to join the crew of "Spy" after this year's Oscars and participate in action training before filming.

If you want to shoot effectively, training is a must.

There was not much disagreement between the two sides on this point, and Mada-Damon agreed to it.

After negotiating the most critical points such as salary, the remaining bits and pieces such as schedules, medical benefits, signatures, nudity and changing facilities were all handed over to an assistant producer.

He turned to Bob of the Firefighters Fund and submitted the prepared documents to the insurance company.

Having star actors join is also conducive to applying for a third-party completion guarantee.

Moreover, all the films planned by Shahai Entertainment in the past three years have been filmed, which is also a favorable condition.

The day after the crew signed the formal contract with Matt Damon, a team of professionals such as underwriters, claims adjusters and loss prevention representatives from the Firefighters Fund began to settle in the crew for review, and if the two parties signed a formal third-party completion guarantee contract, the team would also leave several capable personnel on the crew.

Don't expect to fool these people with a few tricks, the insurance company hires all veterans who have worked in production companies.

When the film insurance company decides to insure the film, it will activate its own "risk prevention" system, first of all, it will understand the physical condition of the director and star actors, and arrange periodic check-ups during the filming, and give special supervision to some stars with bad habits or poor physical condition.

For example, during the filming of "Sex Book Tycoon" in 1996, because the heroine Courtney Love had a history of drug abuse, the Firefighters Fund required Courtney Love to undergo weekly drug checks, otherwise insurance would not be provided.

The preliminary preparation was sufficient, Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass were in great health, and "Spy Shadow" successfully passed the firefighter fund review, and the two parties soon signed a third-party completion guarantee contract in addition to the general insurance contract.

Since "Spy Shadow" is an action movie, there are many action scenes, according to Hollywood practice, the third-party guarantee for the completion of the film is four percent of the budget, that is, $2 million, and if the post-production budget increases, the insurance cost will also increase accordingly.

The biggest effect of this guarantee is that once there is a problem with the producer and crew, the insurance company can take over the crew to ensure that the film can be completed.

If it cannot be completed, a total of $60 million will be paid to all investors.

The biggest use of this insurance contract is to give confidence to potential investors, so as to attract investment for the crew.

Completion guarantee is a very important system in Hollywood film production, and many investment funds will require these projects to obtain a completion guarantee when they invest in film projects or banks provide loans for film projects.

Of course, this can also ensure that those who invest in the crew cannot withdraw their funds casually.

The completion guarantor will set up a third-party account for the crew, and all investors need to inject the promised investment into this account according to the deadline, and no one can withdraw the money without the signature of the completion guarantor during the validity period.

With the huge reputation and influence of Allianz Group and its firefighter fund in the insurance industry, Ronan is not ready to play tricks in the budget, so as to strengthen the confidence of potential investors and let them rest assured to boldly invest in this project of Shahai Entertainment.

With insurance company guarantees, and successive successful film projects from Sand Sea Entertainment and Relativity Entertainment, Ronan doesn't need to be cheated like he did on his first trip to Abu Dhabi.

It is no exaggeration to say that the guarantee of the completion of the film is the key to Hollywood's external financing.

Of course, there are pros and cons.

The insurance company will fully intervene in the crew's work, such as analyzing every shot in the script in advance to see if there are any potential risks, once the shooting begins, it will also send a sharp-eyed loss prevention representative to the shooting site to ensure that the shooting is carried out in a safe manner, and if a shot is found to be a threat to the main actor, the loss prevention representative will prevent the main actor from participating in the performance, etc.

There is nothing in this world that only takes benefits and does not need to give.

Large-scale Hollywood crews, it is not an exaggeration to say that they spend money like water, and there may be various falsifications in the production costs announced by major companies, but the real cost will not be very different.

The third-party guarantee fee for the completion of the film and other general insurance costs for the crew of "Spy Shadow" have cost nearly $2.5 million, and the crew still has a large number of personnel and equipment that are not in place, and the total insurance cost is expected to be about $3 million.

Insurance must be bought, the director's union and the actors' union have hard and fast rules, Shahai Entertainment has developed to the present, with the investment scale of "Spy Shadow", if you don't go to the union to register and file, people who are looking for trouble in the back can queue up.

And there is no harm in buying insurance in the film industry, the probability of accidents on the set of the film is too high.

With a third-party insurance contract and a star actor like Matt Damon joining, Ronan has also increased his confidence in financing, and all kinds of preparations have been accelerated.

Company information, relevant film materials, and certificates from various associations, a large number of materials have been prepared, and three large suitcases have been packed.

A little less than the first trip to Abu Dhabi.

Because of this targeted target, Robert approached the Falchi Foundation in Mumbai, India, and the Mountain Foundation, the former of which has not said anything for the time being, and the latter has become interested in investing in Hollywood's big-budget films.

As long as you're interested.

On this trip to India, Ronan assembled a small team, Mary was going to stay in Los Angeles to handle a series of financial tasks, temporarily launching the financing team, George Clint was definitely going to accompany him as the production manager of the crew, Garcia Rodriguez as the distributor's representative, and three ordinary employees who were good at outreach.

One of them, Connie, a graduate of the University of California's School of Business, temporarily serves as Ronan's assistant.

There were also two bodyguards.

After the preliminary work was prepared, Ronan held two more internal meetings, focusing on the internal structure of the two foundations, as well as the information of the relevant responsible persons sent by Robert, so that he could have a target when he arrived in Mumbai.

Ronan had never been to India, which was called an open country in his previous life, and also had the impression that the status of women was particularly low, and there were endless incidents of violence and strength......

But now the actual survey shows that some Indians, although not as entrenched as the Arab oil tycoons, are also waving cheques and buying all over the world.

Perhaps, countries with soaring national strength will go through such a stage.

In mid-February 2000, Ronan embarked on a trip to India with his investment promotion team.

The A-3 plan has officially entered the implementation stage.