Agencies and production companies are collaborators, but they are also competitors. It can be simply understood that they need to cooperate to tap the box office potential of the market, but they must wrestle in the profit dividend.

In the past 30 years, the agency has made three efforts, the first was in the late 80s, led by Harrison Ford, the agency won more remuneration for the actors, no longer the vassal of the production company, and the "box office appeal" of the actors also appeared in front of people for the first time.

The second time was in the mid-90s, led by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kim Kelly, and Tom Cruise, the agency successfully created the "20 Million Club", and the actor also really occupied a place in the top of the power in the film production industry chain, completely changing the status quo of Hollywood.

The third time was ten years ago, led by Johnny Depp, the agency further carried forward the box office dividends, and used it as a lever to leverage the fundamental interests of the production company, not only the sky-high salary, but also the actors began to enter the producer-level management level.

It's easy to describe, but difficult to operate. For agencies, they need one or more top actors who can disrupt the balance of power and the structure of interests, and then the entire industry will work together to do so, so that they can gain a slight advantage over the Hollywood production class controlled by Wall Street.

By the way, in the previous three turns, innovative artist agencies were the absolute main force. Especially for the first time, it was completely promoted by an innovative artist agency on its own.

Now, all eyes were on Lan Li.

Because Lan Li is the only actor who has the possibility of breaking the balance. Not only is he the youngest EGOT winner in history, but the cumulative box office in North America has exceeded $1.2 billion, and the global box office has reached $2.5 billion.

Although "Fast and Exciting / Love 5" is a sequel movie, Lan Li only starred in one and did not "continue".

In other words, all the current box office results do not have a sequel bonus, and they all rely on the market appeal of Lanli, which is so strong that it makes people speechless.

If any actor can break the current shackles and win a salary of "30 million plus box office dividends", Lan Li is the only possibility. Robert Downey Jr. can't do it, Johnny Depp can't do it, and the other superheroes of Marvel movies and DC movies can't do it all, only Lan Li.

It is no exaggeration to say that after EGOT, Lan Li's every move is under the watchful eye of the entire industry, even the production company is no exception-

Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, and Legendary Pictures have all been fighting whales lately, but the "Jurassic Park" and "Fast & Thrill" projects have attracted a lot of attention, and Thomas Toole and Ron Meyer are doing their best to suppress Lan Li's pay, which in some ways is what other studios like to see:

On the one hand, they are eager to cooperate with Lan Li, and on the other hand, they want to suppress Lan Li's salary. It's a tricky situation, and if Universal Pictures can come and be the "villain", and then other studios take advantage of the situation, lower the pay and preemptively reach a cooperation, it's perfect.

Therefore, Lan Li's little shrimp really attracted a lot of attention in this stormy whale fight. Perhaps, at some point, he will also become a key pawn in changing the entire market, after all, the name "Lanli-Hall" has taken on its own extraordinary.

Emma Thomas can't say that she knows everything about this situation, but she knows it. Therefore, when Christopher said that Lan Li asked for a salary, Emma said that it was impossible not to panic, but now, when she heard Lan Li's salary conditions, Emma's first reaction was-

Dumbfounding.

Things are not as complicated as imagined, and you can do a simple math problem according to the remuneration of the two works "Gravity" and "Interstellar".

The former is a 10% box office dividend, while the latter is estimated by the production company to be 20 million base salary plus 3 percent box office dividends, while Lan Li proposes a base salary of 20 million plus 5 percent box office dividends.

Then, for the time being, regardless of the tax situation, the calculation is based on the North American box office.

If the final North American box office is $100 million, the former is 10 million, the latter is 23 million, or 25 million.

If it's 200 million, the former is 20 million, and the latter is 26 million, or 30 million.

If it's 300 million, the former is 30 million, and the latter is 29 million, or 35 million.

If it's 400 million, the former is 40 million, and the latter is 32 million, or 40 million.

A simple and straightforward side-by-side comparison, all the data suddenly becomes clear at a glance.

With "gravity" as the standard of the existing market value of Lanli, if the North American box office is less than 300 million, the salary proposed by Lanli is more advantageous now, reducing the burden of Lanli's so-called actors, and if the North American box office is higher than 300 million, Lanli's advantage will almost be eroded, and the production company can also win more profit margins.

If you just say this, it seems that Lan Li has taken advantage, because if the box office fails, he doesn't need to take too much responsibility, and he can still take the basic salary plus dividends, but the premise is that Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr.'s salaries have far exceeded this benchmark.

Johnny Depp starred in "Pirates of the Caribbean 4", with a salary of 55 million, according to the above standards of Blue Ceremony, Disney can only be cost-effective when the North American box office exceeds 550 million, and the final North American box office of the movie is 240 million.

Robert Downey Jr. starred in "Iron Man 3", the salary is 50 million, according to the standard proposed by Lan Li, the North American box office must exceed 500 million US dollars, Disney's deal will not lose money, and the final North American box office of the movie is 400 million.

Of course, the particularity of "Pirates of the Caribbean 4" and "Iron Man 3" is:

Disney theme parks and peripheral products can also create a steady stream of value, these two series of movies are filmed, in fact, the income of the periphery is much higher than the profit of the movie box office itself, Disney is still not a loss, so that when the follow-up continues to invite two actors to play the same role, Disney is still not soft.

But back to the actors' salaries and film production, Lan Li's cost performance is far more than Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr.'s, not to mention, now the major brokerage companies are actually watching, looking forward to Lan Li can further push the basic salary of the salary, 25 million or 30 million, raise the lower limit of all actors' salaries, and earn more benefits for actors.

The principle is very simple.

Originally, the 20 million club is the limit now - although the salaries of Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr. are the basic salary, they are converted into salaries based on the estimated box office dividends, and they cannot be generalized; if the 20 million club now becomes a 30 million club, then it means that the original 15 million actors can chase 20 million, and the original 10 million actors can chase 15 million, increasing layer by layer.

In the end, the beneficiaries may be all the actors in Hollywood, even the actors, stuntmen and extras will be able to fight for more benefits.

Of course, the agency is not fighting for such a ceiling, not for public welfare, nor for the actor's career to flourish, but for their own interests in the final analysis.

Now, Lan Li is not greedy, nor does he claim to be a hero, the lion opened his mouth to open a sky-high number, but infinitely close to the psychological bottom line of the film production company, and put forward a reasonable figure, which is impossible to refuse; more importantly, if Lan Li creates a precedent of "20 million club plus box office dividends", this can also improve the treatment of actors, but it does not touch the core interests of the production company.

It can be understood in this way that Lanli has taken an important step forward, which can satisfy the brokerage company without breaking the absolute bottom line of the production company.

This is like boiling a frog in warm water, eating away at the production company's bottom line step by step, if this time Lan Li's salary request is reached, the production company will not jump on its feet; then, after the release of "Gravity" and "Interstellar", once the box office is a huge success, and then Lan Li further raises the salary, the production company will once again fall into a "have to agree" dilemma.

Of course, the most important premise is that "Gravity" and "Interstellar" can be successful at the box office.

can be compared horizontally, when Johnny Depp starred in "Pirates of the Caribbean 5", the industry rumored salary was 95 million, and when Robert Downey Jr. starred in "Avengers 3", the industry rumored salary was 100 million. In fact, none of these numbers have been officially recognized, and the specific detailed figures, neither Disney nor the actor have made public, but it is certain that they are bound to be higher than during the "Pirates of the Caribbean 4" and "Iron Man 3" periods.

This is the wrestling between a seller's market and a buyer's market.

But what Lan Li is really great about is that he doesn't need to rely on any series or role, but can rely on his strong appeal to slowly increase the salary step by step - the agency likes to see it, and the production company ...... The mood is mixed, half bitter and half sweet. But at the end of the day, the production company will still agree.

Cunning!

Such a decision is too cunning. is just right, right in the heart, but the production company can't refuse strongly. Don't underestimate a set of numbers, this is precisely the art of negotiation.

The first reaction in Emma Thomas's mind was: Is this the number set by Andy Rogers, or the number set by Blue Rite?