"We need more funding. ”

Andre's gaze fell on Lan Li, and Andy and Matthew also cast their gaze towards Lan Li at the same time, and in an instant, Lan Li became the focus of attention.

Lan Li was holding up his red wine glass, enjoying his leisurely leisurely pace - just after throwing the explanation task to Matthew, he began to empty again, and now that he noticed the gaze, Lan Li still slowly picked up the red wine glass, and raised his gaze unhurriedly, "I'm not the one in charge of the checkbook, why are you all looking at me?

Andy was puzzled.

Andrei rolled his eyes.

Matthew was silent.

Lan Li raised his red wine glass and gestured, "Well, now is not the time for jokes. Of course I know that the chain of money is a crucial issue, but I think what is more important now is how big is the blueprint that we are planning now, how much is the first start-up capital? If you tell me that you need 10 billion, then I am afraid that I will have to summon Sir Alexander Hamilton to come on and ask him to make a special visit to Wall Street, which in my personal name is unattainable. ”

"Wall Street, Lan Li, are you sure?" said Matthew.

Lan Li stared at the tears in the red wine glass in front of her, and slowly slid down, "No, I'm not sure. Therefore, it is all the more necessary for us to define the blueprint for the whole development. If I can avoid Wall Street, I still hope that Sisyphus Pictures will not be involved in such a huge dispute of interests. ”

"Lan Li, do you know what you're talking about?" Andre complained directly, "You're planning a streaming platform, remember? It's you who have taken the situation of Sisyphus Pictures to a whole new level, otherwise, with our current financial situation, we can run very well." ”

In the face of the accusation, Lan Li chuckled lightly, "I didn't expect that we Lord Andre also have times when we are timid and afraid. I thought that's what you wanted. ”

Timid, scared?

Andre glared at Lan Li speechlessly, "Then you can mobilize five billion pounds to me now, and I will show you my heroic and bold and adventurous side." ”

"Andre, my suggestion is just a suggestion, and it is up to you, not me, to how far Sisyphus Pictures can develop. Lan Li's appearance of shaking his hands as a shopkeeper made Andre angry - but after so many years of friends, he already knew Lan Li's temper and character, didn't he?

Andrei said angrily, "Everyone says that I am a young master, and in my opinion, you are the real young master, okay?" Andre cast a glance at Matthew, "Only you can stand him." Then, he took his glass and poured all the wine down his throat in one fell swoop.

Matthew was silent for a moment, then said quietly, "You know that this way of drinking is very vulgar. ”

André almost choked on red wine.

……

Wall Street's money control 10 billion?

In fact, this is also the part that Lan Li is most worried about.

As we all know, when Wall Street capital controls large corporations, they must give priority to their interests, not only in the shopping mall, but also in the field of artistic creation. From Disney to Warner Bros. to Universal Pictures, all of their decisions are inevitably constrained by the capital from Wall Street – even the chess players, they have their own rules, and the so-called freedom is all relative.

Let's take DreamWorks as an example.

When Steven Spielberg teamed up with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen to create DreamWorks, they wanted to get rid of Wall Street's capital control and really create movies according to their own ideas.

Ten years later, in 2004, DreamWorks Animation spun off and in 2005, DreamWorks Films was acquired by Paramount. The original "dream factory" was not able to resist the crushing of Wall Street capital in the end, and unfortunately came to an end. This cannot be said to be a failure of DreamWorks, but a great challenge for DreamWorks.

Now Sisyphus Pictures is having such a problem in its infancy.

If they want to remain independent, especially with the Sundance Film Festival, and produce a large number of independent art films, then they need to get rid of the control of Wall Street capital, but if they want to build a streaming platform and build their own original film library, then they need a lot of capital support, and the consumption of the original accumulation stage will be very serious.

Is there a third option?

Yes. That's the case with Legendary Pictures.

Wall Street Capital chose to trust Thomas Toole and gave the funds to Tours to operate and manage, like a foundation, and then Tours cooperated with film companies to invest in the production and the film companies were responsible for the distribution and release, as Warner Bros. used to do and now Universal Pictures.

Sisyphus Pictures can follow this model and cooperate with Sony Classics and Sony Columbia.

But the problem is objective: first, Toole was able to win the complete trust of Wall Street capital and carry out work with almost no involvement of Wall Street, which is a bond of trust that has been established over a long period of time; second, the bond of trust has not been broken, and the fundamental reason is that Toole can make money, and most of the projects invested by Legendary Pictures are commercial films, which is contrary to the original intention of Sisyphus Pictures.

In other words, Wall Street capital is like a sword hanging around the neck, and they can attack at any time, even legendary pictures. This is the fundamental reason why DreamWorks rejected the injection of Wall Street capital in the first place - the balance between art and business is never simply "one plus one equals two".

This is the status quo of entrepreneurship, where they need to face countless difficulties and countless challenges, and even if they overcome them all, they may not be able to succeed.

In fact, the best option for Sisyphus Films is to maintain the status quo: invest in niche independent productions like "Burst Drummer" and "Nightcrawler", but without much ambition, without partnering with Sundance, without building a streaming platform, releasing three to five films a year, and sticking on the path of artistic creation.

But is it really the best choice to be conservative and safely content with this?

For Lan Li, he still sincerely hopes that the Don Quixote in the field of artistic creation can realize their dreams, and the Sisyphus in the field of independent production can persevere to the end, although this is an unrealistic luxury, Robert Redford was able to create the Sundance Film Festival by himself, why can't they gather their own strength to break into the sky?

For Andre, the original intention of creating Sisyphus Pictures and entering Hollywood was not to make money, but to exercise himself, broaden his horizons, and enjoy life.

Do you remember Andre and Lan Li's reunion after many years? Lan Li is a man who dares to take risks, and so is Andre.

Recently, flipping through the script project, Lan Li's blood began to boil again. If when he came up with those grand blueprints in Park City before, Lan Li was just touching on the same and naturally diverging his thoughts in the brainstorming, then now he gradually determined his own ideas.

He didn't want to be a hero or a great man, but deep down, he was always a Don Quixote – an unrealistic idealist. Dreams have given him a second life, so he is willing to burn his life for the sake of his dreams.

The little joke ended, and Lan Li's gaze fell on Andre, "I'm serious. What is the current negotiation of the streaming platform? What is the attitude of Sony Colombia? I need to know, what is the final blueprint of our final plan, and what exactly do we want to reach in the first phase?"

"Andrey, although the idea came from me, I don't have much concept of business management and company structure, which is not my strong point. I need to understand your thoughts. Lan Li's words were still relaxed, at least compared to Andrei.

Usually, it should be Andre who is careless and cynical, and Lan Li is dedicated and serious, but now the positions of the two seem to have been reversed. Or rather, when it's time to focus on work, they're all the same.

Andre spread his hands, "No matter what the idea is, if we need to build a streaming platform, then we need a lot of financial support, and Wall Street capital is the most convenient and direct way." "That's the big truth," but for now, our first phase of the plan is not too big, and it is still within our control. ”

"That's the main reason why I came here today, but I didn't expect to see an unexpected surprise. Andre pointed to the list of items in his hand - because the number of items that Lan Li needed to read was so large, he thought that he would have to wait a little longer, at least after the Oscars, but he didn't expect Lan Li to be so efficient.

Without a pause, Andre continued to cut to the chase, "I hooked up with Sony's parent company, had a couple of conference calls, and then had a face-to-face formal meeting. They really don't have much interest in streaming platforms, I suspect they don't even remember having one under their own umbrella, but surprisingly, their streaming platform subscribers are very loyal, and the number of subscriptions is not high, if I'm not mistaken, it should be 430,000, but none of them are easy to unsubscribe. ”

Lan Li nodded lightly, not surprised: "Sony Dafa" can be said to be famous, among the truly loyal fans, the user stickiness is actually comparable to Apple's.

It's just ...... "Four hundred and thirty thousand?" Andy couldn't help but ask in surprise, "This is also ...... It's too low, isn't it? Is it a streaming platform? Isn't that a loss every year?"