Registering a company does not mean that Zhang Ran wants to stay in Hollywood for development, but it is a necessary step for financing. In fact, in the United States, whether it is an independent film or a film of the six major film companies, any production company that needs to take a loan from a bank or receive government subsidies will set up a production company, and this new company is generally a short-term company for 11 fiscal years, which means that after 11 years, the company will no longer exist.

Because most movies will involve an important link - pre-sale, take the films of the six major film companies as an example, an important part of the launch of the film project is the pre-sale. Only if the pre-sale amount accounts for more than 30% of the total investment can the financing activities be continued, otherwise the project will not be launched. The proportion of pre-sales for independent films will be higher, because independent film financing is mainly based on pre-sales.

After the pre-sale of the movie, what you get is not cash, but the pre-sale contract, at this time, you have to take the pre-sale contract to the bank that specializes in lending to the film company to apply for a loan, and the bank will lend you a loan of 60% of the pre-sale contract amount. If the pre-sale price is 50 million US dollars, the bank will lend you another 30 million and directly use your pre-sale contract as collateral.

However, it is impossible to get a loan from the bank with a pre-sale contract alone, because the pre-sale contract cannot be cashed out until the film is filmed, and if the budget for half of the film is not enough, or the film dies in the middle of the film for other reasons, the bank will not be able to collect the money. Therefore, at this time, a very important mechanism will be introduced, which is called the completion guarantee. That is, the insurance company guarantees that the film will be completed within the schedule and budget, and delivered to the distributor. Otherwise, the insurance company will be liable for the loss. With the guarantee of the completion of the film. The risk of the bank is reduced, and the producer can borrow money from the bank.

Just for insurance companies. In order to mitigate their own risks, the producer is often required to pledge the original copyright of the film. At this point, the producer registers a company. The entire asset of this company is the copyright to the film, and the entire company is mortgaged to the insurance company. If the film is overspent or the movie dies for other reasons, the insurance company will pay to finish the film or compensate the investor. At the same time, your copyright as a developer and producer is gone, and the film copyright is owned by the insurance company.

Registering a company in the U.S. is not a difficult task, and the registration process is relatively simple, and you can get the documents within 15 days after registration.

However, after that, there were countless agreements to be signed. He ran for a week. I signed all the unions and all the other agreements that could be signed.

This morning, Zhang Ran came to the crew's office. Whether it is an independent film or a Big Six film, the office will be rented from the beginning of the crew's preparation, and the entire film will be operated around the production office.

The office was rented by Neil, and more than a month ago, after Zhang Ran got 20 million funds from IDG, he transferred 500,000 to Neil. Ask him to organize the production office, and he's doing a good job.

Neil smiled and pointed to a bloated aunt next to him and introduced, "Robin, this is Mary-Finn, Mary. This is the director Robin. ”

Zhang Ran warmly shook hands with Mary Finn: "Hello, Ms. Finn, it's a pleasure to work with you!"

The casting directors are basically women. Naturally, so did Mary Finn, the casting director Neil was looking for. She is an aunt over sixty years old, and her waist is thicker than Zhang Ran's two. With a smile on his face, he looks very relatable.

Although Mary Finn doesn't look good-looking. But in the circle of casting directors, she is well-known, and well-known films such as "Batman Forever", "Terminator 2", "Titanic", and "The Matrix" are all cast by her.

After a brief chat, Neil led Zhang Ran and Mary Fein into the conference room to discuss the casting work. One of the films of the six major film companies is to finalize the protagonist first and then then cast mediocre directors for a long time, and they are only responsible for the selection of supporting roles. Zhang Ran: Unlike independent films, they usually hire casting directors after the project starts, and the casting directors can find actors who have the ability to raise funds.

Mary Fein herself prepared the relevant documents and distributed them to Zhang Ran and Neil, explaining: "This is a short biography of the characters I have put together, as well as a list of candidate actors. You guys take a look at it first, and then we discuss it one by one and come up with a list of candidates for the combination, so that I can get in touch with the actors. ”

Zhang Ran picked up the document provided by Mary Fein and slowly flipped through it, and at the front was the character's biography.

The actor No. 1, Jason, is about 30 years old, unmarried, a company employee, and has a special physique and is able to see people in another time and space. He has always been troubled by his characteristic abilities, and he is kinder at heart.

The second actor, Alexander, is about 35 years old, unmarried, a scientist, with the ability to travel through six different time and space, is the master of the free heaven, and is the god in the mouth of countless believers, trying to dominate the six worlds.

……

When the casting director takes over the casting work, the first thing he does is read the script and put together a biography of the character. If you don't even know what kind of person the character is and what the various characteristics are, then you will definitely not be able to choose the ideal candidate.

At the same time, in the casting process of the casting director, only the protagonist, or only the big star, will read the script. Recruitment of other supporting roles, especially roles with open auditions, often only sends character biographies. When the actor sees the character's biography and feels that he is more in line with the character's image, he will come to the audition. Otherwise, if the director wants to recruit a twenty-year-old sexy girl, and a group of sixty-year-old aunts will come in, it will be a waste of time.

Zhang Ran nodded, worthy of being a character who has been engaged in casting work for decades, with rich experience, and his analysis of the character is quite accurate, and the characteristics of the character are outlined in just a few sentences. Immediately afterward, he continued to flip back and found the list of actors provided by Mary Finn.

She only listed four names for the role of the actor Jason, Keanu Reeves, Hugh Jackman, Brad Pitt, and the unexpected Will Smith. The other three are understandable, Will Smith really surprised Zhang Ran, but thinking that "The Matrix" was ready to be played by Will Smith, it was relieved.

The role of Alexander, the second male villain, except for Gary Oldman. There is also a list of names such as Kevin Bakken, John Malkovich, and many more, which are dazzling. These guys are all very good at acting. And they have all portrayed many classic bad guys, such as the bad cop portrayed by Gary Oldman in "This Killer Is Not Too Cold". The villain portrayed by John Malkovich in "Prison in the Air".

The same goes for the other characters, as long as they have lines, each followed by a long list. The casting director is responsible for the casting of characters with lines other than extras.

Zhang Ran looked at the list in his hand, his fingers lightly tapped on the table, and muttered: "There are two problems, our film will be filmed in Vancouver, involving the issue of tax refund, except for a few leading actors. It is better to recruit actors from Canada, or even Vancouver. ”

Mary Fein nodded, "No problem, I'll redraw the list." What's the other question?"

Zhang Ran said solemnly: It's best for us to choose the kind of actors who don't have too clear political tendencies, and those who have clear political tendencies should be eliminated!"

It was the first time that Mary Finn had encountered such a request, and she was puzzled and asked, "Why, is it important?"

Zhang Ran nodded and said: "Very important, I don't want my film to be involved in a boring political turmoil, so that this movie can't be released in my own country." ”

The simplest example, the domestic premiere of "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling". Bell went to China to publicize, but went to see a blind man, which led to a political storm. Fortunately, Lao Mouzi's 2008 Olympic Games can be regarded as a contribution to the country, and "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" is a movie about the massacre. Therefore, it was only asked to drastically reduce the publicity of "Thirteen Hairpins".

If you change the director and change the movie, you might be banned. That's for the producers. I'm afraid there is no better option than jumping off the building. Zhang Ran would never dare to joke about this kind of thing, and would rather not use it. Don't dare to risk it.

Mary Fein nodded, "Okay, I see!"

Next. Zhang Ran, Neil, and Mary Fein began discussions about a specific list of actors. The casting of the supporting characters can be placed later, but the casting of the main character must be carried out as soon as possible, which involves the pre-sale of the film.

The choice of the actor is very important, and Keanu Reeves is the number one candidate in Zhang Ran's heart. Marie Fein also felt that Keanu Reeves was the best choice, she had worked with Keanu Reeves, and was a little worried: "Robin, our script is wonderful, I believe it will be an excellent movie." However, in terms of characters, the male protagonist Alexander is relatively close to Neo in "The Matrix", and I am afraid that Keanu will refuse!"

Zhang Ran nodded, Keanu Reeves is an outlier in Hollywood, he has always done his own thing, only doing what he likes, and is known as Keanuism. As far as the characters are concerned, the characters do have a place close to each other, and with Keanu Reeves' personality, there is a real possibility of rejection.

However, Zhang Ran is confident to convince Keanu Reeves that no matter how personality he is, he is also an actor, and if he is an actor, he has the pursuit of an actor: "If he refuses, don't rush to contact other people first, I will find a way to meet him and talk to him face to face, if not, we are contacting the next actor!"

Everyone has different opinions on the selection of the second male villain, Zhang Ran wants to ask Adrien Brody to play, but Mary Fein disagrees. She explains: "Brody is a pretty good actor with great acting skills. But he's too melancholy, he's thinner, and he's the kind of positive character that doesn't match the character!"

Zhang Ran didn't explain, picked up the script and flipped to one of the paragraphs, and read: "You won't understand." From an early age, a person is forced to witness countless strange shadows that come from an unknown source, and they are flying before your eyes all the time. I didn't dare tell anyone what I had seen, I was afraid that they would put me in an insane asylum, I was terrified! I was a miserable man, and Brody's melancholy temperament was exactly what I wanted!"

Neil and Mary Fein flipped to the script, to the page that Zhang Ran was reading, and read it carefully. Soon Mary Finn raised her head: "You're right, Brody may not be too consistent in terms of image, but his temperament is very consistent!"

Towards eleven o'clock, the final list of candidates was finalized. Each role has three alternatives, so if the first candidate rejects, the second candidate may be contacted as soon as possible.

Hollywood shows the script to a big star, and a role can only be shown to one actor. Take Zhang Ran's actor in this play as an example, Mary Fein showed the script to Keanu Reeves, but she couldn't show it to Hugh Jackman. Only after Keanu Reeves finished reading it and he turned down the role could the script be shown to the next actor, so the casting process for Hollywood movies is generally relatively long.

Zhang Ran doesn't know when he will be able to really finalize the starring lineup, and the decision is not in his hands. However, Zhang Ran didn't have time to wait, and got on the plane to New York directly in the afternoon, and there was an important person in New York who needed to be seen. (To be continued.) )