Picking out the right project from a huge mountain of scripts, Lan Li knew that it would not be an easy task, but the actual process was even more difficult than imagined, and to be precise, the things that need to be considered for the potential project for a film production company are obviously different from personal circumstances.

If it is Lan Li who chooses works for himself, personal orientation first is the only criterion, leaving aside the awards season and box office, just choose the works you like, such as "Love is Crazy", "Detachment", "Drunken Country Ballad" and other works, including "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Gravity" The box office explosion can also be said to be unexpected.

But now it's time to pick up the works for Sisyphus Films:

If you choose an Oscar-based work, then the binding between Sisyphus Pictures and Sony Classics will become deeper and deeper, and it must face the encirclement and suppression of Weinstein Pictures, even if these are aside, whether the fledgling Sisyphus Film has the ability to join the game of college public relations After all, the opponents are all old fritters, and if you are not careful, even if you win the nomination in the previous life, you may also be out of the game because of the operation of the file.

If you choose a box office work, then the investment cost will be the key issue, with Sisyphus Pictures' current ability, investing in a $100 million work is the limit, not a problem of capital flow, but a problem of follow-up risk-taking. Even if Lan Li can ensure that the project script and cast are on the right path, the filming process of a work has thousands of possibilities that go in the wrong direction, and this is not the part he can guarantee.

If they choose works from the art department, it is clear that the investment-to-income ratio will become a big problem for Sisyphus Films, and they can't expect the Sundance Film Festival to accept all the works, nor can they expect the streaming platform that has no shadow for the time being, and it will be difficult in the early operation process.

In fact, the core reason is that ambition and ability cannot be matched.

When Brad Pitt, George Clooney and others set up a film production company, they basically started around themselves, starred in or directed their own works, one or two, slowly and methodically produced, and then sought cooperation, so no matter what type and style of work, they don't have to worry, with their own fame and resources, follow-up distribution and publicity can find channels.

This is true for both the production of "Burst Drummer" and "Nightcrawler".

But now Sisyphus Pictures needs to go further, and things get tricky, and there are more things to consider, measure, and plan for.

However, in the end, Lan Li still found a relatively simple way, temporarily selecting those works with "potential", and then conducting the second and third rounds of screening, selecting works suitable for Sisyphus Films' production at this stage, what awards season and what streaming, etc., are all put aside, and even Sundance is not considered, purely from the position of Sisyphus Films.

At the end of the day, Sisyphus Pictures was founded to make great work, and that's what it was all about.

No wonder everyone says Vanity Fair is easy to get lost.

Rao is Lanli has gone through countless winds and waves, but when he really stands on the top of the pyramid, he still inevitably looks dazzled, and his ambition gradually swells up unconsciously, and he unconsciously forgets his original purpose, and his mind is full of things like "interests, awards, success, box office, honor, fame, popularity, and glory", and then he lost himself like this.

When I first read the script, Lan Li was also a little impetuous, because I thought too much and worried too much, but lost the original intention of appreciating the script, but I went to Berlin and immersed myself in the atmosphere of the film festival, although the cooperation was not honest, Lan Li gradually sobered down and calmed down.

This is also a windfall after regret.

After calming down, the action of screening the script gradually became clear and clear, and the speed and efficiency of the list were also significantly improved, which led to the list in Andrei's hand.

Undoubtedly, it is the easiest to choose the Oscar works, not because Lan Li has targeted the Oscars, but because the works that have won Oscar nominations and even awards in the previous life are always more impressive, so it is inevitable to pay more attention when browsing the script.

But even Oscar-based works can be divided into two kinds, one is "The King's Speech" and "The Artist", which are specially tailored for the Oscars, which are the case with many biographical films, and the other is works whose artistic value orientation is more suitable for mainstream ideas, such as equal rights for minorities, including women and races, etc., such as justice and inspirational life.

In addition, in addition to these two genres, there is another genre that cannot be considered a genre, that is, the type that is unintentionally inserted into the willows, "detachment", "drunken country ballad", "love is crazy", "burst drummer" and so on, all of which are not typical of the academy style, but they unexpectedly won praise after their release, and then under the effective operation of the academy's public relations, they all made it to the ranks of the awards season.

However, the reason why it is said to be "not a genre of type" is because such works can be encountered but not sought, it is difficult for them to find a stable law or template, they cannot be mass-produced, and they cannot be produced on an assembly line, which also makes major film companies reluctant to take risks.

For Sisyphus Films, works outside the third genre are opportunities.

Whether it is the first or the second, most of the scripts have been controlled by mainstream film production companies, in addition to the Hollywood Big Four, Weinstein Pictures, Lionsgate, Roadside Scenery Pictures, etc., they have all formed their own mature production system, and every year they will inevitably mass produce some genre works for the Oscars, these script projects can not escape the scope of biography, equality, inspiration, etc., and occasionally the attempt to go sideways is limited.

But the third type of script, just like "Drunken Country Ballad" and "Burst Drummer", has been handled more or less once or twice by major labels, but after all, they still lack the courage to put into production, and now it has become an opportunity for Sisyphus Films.

In addition to "Carol" and "Brooklyn" mentioned by Lan Li and Rooney, he also picked out eight works.

"Nocturnal Animals", directed by Tom Ford and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

"Border Killer", directed by Denise Villeneuve and starring Emily Blunt, has three Oscar nominations for technology.

"Manchester by the Sea", starring Cassie Affleck, was nominated for six Oscars and won Best Actor.

"Spotlight", directed by Tom McCarthy, was nominated for six Oscars and won Best Picture.

"The Room", starring Brie-Larson, was nominated for four Oscars and won Best Actress.

"The Big Short", directed by Adam McKay and starring Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling and more, has five Oscar nominations.

"The Revenant", directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was nominated for twelve Oscars and won Best Director and Best Actor.

"45th Anniversary", directed by Andrew-Haigh, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

All eight of the above works have one thing in common: they are not typical academic works, but they are also in line with the overall trend of the academy's value orientation, relying on excellent word-of-mouth and strong public relations, and finally managed to win a place above the Oscars, and fought their way out of the awards season.

With the addition of "Carol" and "Brooklyn", there are a total of ten works.

Sisyphus Pictures should not be greedy, they only need to produce two or three of these works, at most four, which is enough for them to quickly gain a foothold in the next two years, leaving aside the little golden figures, at least they can establish their own reputation, just like Lanli, with a sophisticated and high-quality brand image to win a place in the industry.

In fact, among the ten projects, there were still small surprises.

"The Big Short" is a Paramount project, based on the non-fiction work of Michael Lewis, whose previous works "Weakness" and "Moneyball" have been nominated for Oscars after being adapted into films, which can be described as a hot awards season project, as can be seen from the strong cast

According to the trajectory of the previous life, this work was produced by Brad Pitt, and his production company B Project participated in the production, but at present, Paramount still has not approved the shooting, and even came to Sisyphus Pictures, which is quite interesting.

The answer to Lan Li's confusion is found in Andy: Paramount thinks that the work is too risky and exposes the truth about the 2008 subprime mortgage financial crisis in the United States in a playful and mocking way, which may sting Wall Street's pride and eventually lead to the fiasco of the work, so they refuse to let go easily, demanding that director Adam McKay must agree to shoot a sequel to "The Ace Announcer" before he is willing to give the green light.

Adam McKay, who was a comedy player, is trying to complete the transformation with the "Big Short", and now he is being forced back to his habit by Paramount again, and to be honest, he is not very happy, and the previous work of "Ace Announcer" is already a decade ago, and now a reboot of the sequel sounds like a bad idea

Paramount, like Universal Pictures, has been in a trough in recent years, and the shackles of the capital chain have formed a vicious circle, which has led to their market share declining all the way, and they can only helplessly dig out more possibilities from the previous old works.

Now, Adam McKay and Paramount are in a stalemate, and at the same time, the "Big Short" project is starting to change hands between other studios, and no company has stepped forward to take over for the time being.

In addition, the appearance of the two projects "Focus" and "The Revenant" is also a surprise.