Located just north of Los Angeles International Airport, Santa Monica is California's most attractive coastal city. Lionsgate, the famous independent film company, is www.biquge.info headquarters here, and Summit Entertainment is just two blocks away from Lionsgate.

On Monday morning, in the Summit Entertainment conference room, CEO Freman was announcing the company's next growth policy. Zhang Ran also attended the meeting as the boss, and he sat in the middle.

After talking about the company's development direction of action and youth films, Freman announced the next task: "Mr. Zhang will inject $100 million into the company for film shooting, and strive to have 5 to 6 films a year for the next two years to get the opportunity to be released on a large scale." ”

Of course, the large-scale release that Freman said is not more than 3,000 screens, but more than 1,000 screens, and the peak does not have the ability to lay more than 3,000 screens, and the theater chain will not talk to the peak at all.

Everyone present was a little excited when they heard that there would be 5 or 6 movies released on a large scale next year. Their income is directly linked to the movie, and the more movies they release, the more they earn.

After announcing the policy, Freman glanced at the audience and said: "In addition to announcing the company's development policy at today's meeting, the rest of the time is to review the script. ”

Hollywood, whether large or small, has a green light system, the green light system of large companies is quite complex, and every company is different, the most complex and mysterious of which is Disney's green light system. However, the general process of the green light system for these companies is similar, and each film needs to pass at least four meetings before it is green-lighted, and the executives of the company's marketing, distribution, international, production and other departments, as well as the company's leadership, will discuss together, and each department will be in charge of examining the film from different angles before it can be released.

The green light system for small companies is much more simplified, if the project manager thinks the script is good, he will submit it to the company, and the company will hold a meeting to discuss whether the script is novel and whether it has commercial value, if everyone thinks the script is good, then they will ask a professional research company to do market research, if the result of the market research is that the film is successful, then the film will be approved.

Simon Reynolds, the company's project manager, lifted his glasses, looked at Zhang Ran, and said: "My project is "Fatal Bend 2", which is the sequel to "Fatal Bend" released in 03. The cost of "Fatal Bend" is 12 million, the box office is 13 million, plus DVDs and other income, and finally earns more than 1 million. Our sequel is going to go directly to the disc market, with a cost of about 4 million, which is more profitable according to data analysis. Saying that, Simon Reynolds handed a report to Zhang Ran: "This is an analysis report, please take a look!"

Zhang Ran doesn't like horror movies very much and hasn't watched "Fatal Bend", but as the owner of a former pirated video site, he remembers that "Fatal Bend" has had several sequels. Since there are several sequels, it should be to make money.

The report in Zhang Ran's hand was not made by Summit Entertainment itself, but also a project evaluation done by a research company, and the cost of doing this kind of research was about 50,000 to 100,000 yuan. Although it costs a lot of money, the data provided by the research company is very important to assess the commercial value of a film project, and can avoid many potential risks.

Domestic film companies do not have a green light system, nor do they have a special research company, so film investment is often decided by the boss, and Huayi and Century Summit are more professional. Huayi's projects will be demonstrated, and the market will be predicted, and Century Summit has market-specific research, but the degree of professionalism is far from Hollywood.

Zhang Ran carefully flipped through the report in his hand, and it was indeed very professional, and analyzed in detail what the commercial value of the film was, who was the target audience, whether there was a fixed fan base, whether the film had the possibility of product placement, how many films of the same type had been released or were in preparation in the past and the next 18 months, how well had they performed, and what was the return on investment, etc., each of which had detailed data.

Simon Reynolds was a little worried, in the past, the company had no center of gravity, and any theme could be, but now the company's focus is on action movies and teen themes, so the horror film theme is not in line with the company's development direction, and he is worried that Zhang Ran will turn on the red light. If Zhang Ran denied it, then his hard work on this project would be in vain.

In fact, it is very normal for projects in Hollywood not to get the green light, and for every ten projects developed by Hollywood companies, nine out of ten projects do not get the green light. The project manager will only have income if the script passes the green light system, and the film will start shooting, so the project manager will take various methods such as buying out and buying rights to grasp as many stories as possible in his hands, and the more scripts in his hands, the greater the chance of getting the green light.

Zhang Ran noticed Simon Reynolds's uneasiness and said with a smile: "Whether it's sci-fi, horror, or something else, as long as the script is good enough and can make money, you can do it." Since "Fatal Bend 2" can make money, it is natural for filming to start. Do you have any better scripts? If you have them, you can come up with them, and if they are particularly good, maybe I'll give you the green light!"

Simon Reynolds and another manager, Bill Barnavin, were blinded and rushed to distribute the script to the crowd.

Although most Hollywood films have to pass the green light system before they can be approved, the president of a company often has the right to make decisions. "Gravity" was only established with the support of Warner Pictures President Jeff Robinoff, and "Avatar" was directly filmed by News Corp. President Pete Chernin. Zhang Ran, as the boss of the company, as long as he makes the decision, the market research and data analysis can be omitted, and the film can be directly established.

Simon Reynolds and Bill Barnarvin looked at Zhang Ran expectantly, hoping to get the green light straight from him.

Zhang Ran flipped through the script submitted by Simon Reynolds, the name is "Garage Horror", and it is a horror film, the story is very simple, that is, a female lawyer is attacked by bad guys in the underground parking lot at night, and she watches a game of chasing and being hunted in the underground parking lot. The story is quite boring, and more importantly, Zhang Ran has not heard it at all, so he unceremoniously turned on the red light.

Bill Barnavin submitted a screenplay called "Never Back Down," an action movie about Jack, who has just moved to Orlando with his family and has been trying to fit in in a completely new environment. Unfortunately, the good-natured Jack had the misfortune to clash with the famous villain McCarthy at a party, and was not only defeated, but also disgraced.

In order to be ashamed, Jack began to learn martial arts with his coach Roca under the introduction of his classmates. In the course of his studies, Jack's aggressive personality slowly changed, he began to learn patience and control his emotions, and his original intention of learning martial arts to seek revenge on Ryan has also changed.

Zhang Ran was a little disappointed, although "Never Back Out" is better than "Garage Horror", but it's also good, the story is quite cliché. Zhang Ran also knows that the scripts that can fall into the hands of the top are often selected by large companies, and most of them are not of good quality. No way, that's the sadness of small companies.

But after thinking about it, Summit Entertainment wants to make B-grade films and youth films, although the story of "Never Back Down" is cliché, but it is full of youth and blood, which is quite in line with the company's positioning.

Zhang Ran saw that everyone was looking at him, and muttered: "Let the research company do the research, and then give a conclusion after the data comes out!" He hadn't heard of this movie, he was not sure about the box office, and he didn't give the green light to let it go.

Bill Barnarvin was a little disappointed, but immediately laughed again, at least his own project moved forward, much better than being rejected directly.

At this time, Zhang Ran took out the novel of "Twilight" and shook it, and said with a smile: "Now it's my turn to submit the project, I believe everyone knows that the company's key project next year is this "Twilight", if we want to gain a foothold in Hollywood, this project is very crucial!"

Everyone present smiled and nodded, and the day before yesterday they received a notice from Freman asking everyone to read the novel, and they had already read it.

George Clark, the company's vice president, flashed a trace of worry on his face, and then said: "Mr. Zhang, the vampire theme is relatively old, and almost all vampire-themed movies have failed in recent years, and this novel is very boring, I fell asleep when I read it." I don't think it's wise to pin the company's future on this movie!"

In fact, it's not just George Clark who thinks this way, the manuscript of the "Twilight" novel in the last life once stayed on the desk of Paramount for 6 months, but it was not looked at, and they all felt that the vampire theme was old-fashioned, and the story was mentally retarded, and it was a rotten project, and no one wanted to do it. If someone from the Big Six is interested in "Twilight", where will it be the turn to get the pinnacle entertainment film.

Zhang Ran has the right to make decisions directly, and he can directly set up the project, but he doesn't want to give his subordinates the impression of being arbitrary, so he spread his hands and said: "To be honest, I almost fell asleep when I was reading the novel." ”

Hearing this, many people present laughed. Zhang Ran continued: "But novels are originally written for women, especially young girls, to satisfy the fantasies in their hearts. The first novel of "Twilight" has sold 10 million copies so far, and the second part is about to be published, and countless girls are looking forward to it. The other day, I was chatting with Anna Wintour's daughter, and she knew that I knew Stephanie Mayer and asked me to watch the second part of Twilight in advance. Think about it, Anna Wintour's daughters are crazy about the novel, how crazy will the other girls be?"

Freman expressed his support: "Although the vampire theme is indeed old-fashioned, "Twilight" is different from previous vampire novels, it is about the love of pure boys and girls, and the vampire theme plus pure love satisfies the fantasies of many young girls, which is why it is so successful." Just like the pirate genre is outdated, but Pirates of the Caribbean, which combines pirates and magic, has exploded, and I think Twilight is a project with great potential!"

Zhang Ran saw that Clark also nodded, so he said: "The budget of "Twilight" is about 40 million, this is our signature work, and the production should be better. ”

In my memory, "Twilight" seems to have only cost 37 million, and this time the special effects are in charge of Tiangong Chongcai, and the cost should be lower, 40 million is enough to make it more sophisticated.

However, Zhang Ran forgot who the screenwriter and director of the movie was, and remembered that it was two women; he remembered two female directors in Hollywood, Catherine Bigelow and Sophia Coppola, both of whom were cattle, and would definitely not accept a script like "Twilight"; as for the female screenwriter, he didn't know any of them.

Zhang Ran tapped the novel in his hand and said, "Now there is a very important problem, we need screenwriters and directors, preferably women." The fans of "Twilight" are mainly women, and female writers and directors should have an appetite for them even more. Gentlemen, do you have the right person?"