The next morning, the students of Zhang Ran's class flew back to China, but Zhang Ran did not leave, he still had a lot of things to do, the most important of which was to meet Rob Freman, CEO of Summit Entertainment. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Wu Ruide and they were busy for more than a month, and finally completed the acquisition of Summit Entertainment. Freman, on the other hand, is a very capable man, having previously served as Paramount's executive chairman, and he will remain with the company as CEO. As the boss, Zhang Ran definitely wants to meet him and exchange views for the development of the company.

In fact, the boss of Summit Entertainment does not want to sell the company, the founders of the company are all ambitious people, and the transformation of Summit from a publishing company to a production company last year is to hope to make a big move. But now the company has a $30 million debt due and the bank is restricting it to pay it back immediately.

Under normal circumstances, the bank can extend the repayment time, because Summit Entertainment's movie "Dance My Life" is about to be released, and if it is a box office hit, then the company will be able to repay the debt. But now the situation is different, the bank, with the mediation of Goldman Sachs, has joined forces with Zhang Ran, and resolutely does not agree to extend the repayment time.

If Summit Entertainment is a well-known company, it can pay off its debts by selling shares, but Summit Entertainment is a small company. Hollywood, the kind of company that dies every year, doesn't know how many deaths, and now it is in debt crisis, and no one is willing to take over the shares of Summit Entertainment.

In fact, as long as Summit Entertainment survives this hurdle, things will be simple after the box office success of "Dance Out of My Life". In the last life, Summit Entertainment was a big hit with "Dance Out of My Life", and in 2007 it completed a financing of up to $1 billion. It's a pity that the bank doesn't give them this time now, and more importantly, the media gave a bad evaluation after the test screening of "Dance Out of My Life", and the top executives are not very confident in the box office. If they knew that "Dance Out of My Life" would be a big hit, it would definitely be a mortgage property and would not sell the company, but the point is that they don't know.

With no other choice, Summit Entertainment's top brass agreed to sell the company.

After repeated negotiations, the two sides finally reached an agreement, Zhang Ran acquired Summit Entertainment for $1.1, owned 100% of the company's controlling stake, and at the same time assumed 120 million debts of Summit Entertainment, and the two sides also signed an agreement that the founder of Summit Entertainment shall not poach people in the company within three years after leaving Summit Entertainment to ensure the normal operation of the company.

The purchase price of 110 million, plus the debt of 120 million, the price is indeed a bit high, but Zhang Ran believes that it is worth it, because "Dance Out of My Life" will be released soon, and the "Dance Out of My Life" series alone can earn this money back.

Zhang Ran sat in a wheelchair, looked at Rob Freman, CEO of Summit Entertainment, and smiled: "Don't worry, I won't say that I can only shoot blockbuster films in the future." ”

Rob Freman was stunned, and then burst out laughing, Zhang Ran said a famous Hollywood joke, when Sony bought Colombia, it gave Colombia an order that it could only shoot blockbuster films in the future. This has become a classic joke in Hollywood, because anyone in this business knows that there are too many variables and accidents in whether a movie will be a blockbuster or not, and no one can guarantee it in advance.

After laughing, Freman also understood what Zhang Ran meant, that is, he wanted to tell himself that he was not a layman like Sony who didn't understand the rules of movies, and he wouldn't let everyone mess around. Of course, Fremenger knows that Zhang Ran is not the kind of layman who does not understand the Hollywood film industry, and the financing methods of "Time and Space Warrior" are not clever.

Zhang Ran said with a smile: "I don't like to talk nonsense, let's go straight to the point, I don't know what the positioning of Summit Entertainment was before? Summit Entertainment is an independent film company, and the movies it makes must have a direction." For example, Lionsgate focuses on horror movies, and the Harvey brothers focus on Austrian movies, I don't know which part Summit Entertainment mainly does?"

Freman knew that Zhang Ran wanted to set the tone for the company's future development direction and make an overall plan, which was really important for the company's development. Freman pondered for a moment, and after organizing the language, he said calmly: "Summit Entertainment doesn't have a clear direction, but I tend to make youth films." ”

Zhang Ran snapped his fingers and said with a smile: "Smart choice, Summit Entertainment is a small company, the most important thing is to survive, and then gradually gain a foothold." It's not wise to make big-budget high-concept films, at least not for us now. My opinion is that we do B-grade films and youth films that mainstream film companies can't see, of which B-grade films are mainly action movies, and in addition, we can make a small number of Olympic movies to open up word of mouth, but this is not our main direction. ”

Zhang Ran is self-aware, and his little money is nothing in Hollywood. More than two decades ago, Japanese business giants Sony and Panasonic bought Columbia and Universal, respectively, with the ambition of conquering Hollywood, but Panasonic withdrew after only five years of ownership of Universal because it was difficult to adapt to the rules of the game, and Sony only gained its foothold after paying more than $3 billion in tuition.

Not to mention these giants, it is Summit Entertainment, which also completed a financing of up to $1 billion in 2007, and in 2011, it completed another $750 million financing, and what was the final outcome?

Zhang Ran knows very well that now that he has entered this treacherous and cruel battlefield, the most important thing is to survive first.

Freman nodded slightly, Zhang Ran was different from what he thought, he thought that a young man like Zhang Ran with a billion dollars in his hand would definitely be very arrogant, thinking that he could kill all sides, thinking that as long as he worked a little hard, he could be on an equal footing with the Big Six, but he didn't expect Zhang Ran to be so calm and would choose B-grade films and youth films as the main direction of attack.

Of course, if Zhang Ran is the kind of boss who wants to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in big productions, and wants to kill the Big Six and replace them, then he may resign, and that kind of hot-headed boss will not stay long in Hollywood.

In Freman's view, Zhang Ran is indeed very smart, because the annual box office in North America is about $9.4 billion, while the DVD sales revenue is about $20 billion, the DVD rental income is about $8 billion, and the revenue of the audio-visual market is three times that of the box office market.

Freman smiled: "Since Harry Potter in 2001, many teen films from major Hollywood companies have been dressed up as big productions, and it is a good choice to focus on small and medium-sized costs. As for B-grade movies, action movies are a good choice, action movies have a group of loyal fans, and the box office may not be very high, but the DVD market is very hot. But why not make horror films? Horror movies are cheaper, have a regular fan base, and are very popular in the DVD market!"

Zhang Ran put up two fingers: "First, there are too many companies that make horror films, and Lionsgate has already made a signboard for horror films, and when it comes to horror movies, Lionsgate will come to mind, and it is difficult for us to do Lionsgate; It may be difficult to enter China in the form of account-sharing films, but it is possible to enter China in the form of batch films. When the time comes, I will sell the film to my branch in China, although it is nominally a batch of films, and it is a buyout, but in the end I will divide the profit in half and return a part to the peak. Li Lianjie, and Jason Statham, their action movies are very popular in China. As long as it works well, in 4 or 5 years, it will be easy for a film to get $120 million in the Chinese market!"

Freman's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Can this work?" As far as I know, in China, only China Film can distribute foreign films. ”

China's film policy is extremely complicated, that is, many Chinese themselves do not understand, let alone foreigners. Zhang Ran explained with a smile: "That's not the case, you're talking about a blockbuster account-sharing." Our government's regulations on imported films are as follows: only China Film has the right to import imported films, and China Film and Huaxia have the right to distribute imported films. China can import 40 foreign films every year, of which 20 are blockbusters, and these 20 can only be distributed by China Film and Huaxia, and the remaining 20 are batch films. Since the two companies are focused on sharing the blockbuster and have no energy to take care of the batch of films, the two companies handed over the quota of some batches to other companies to assist in promotion, or the private company found China Film and Huaxia to cooperate to obtain the quota after purchasing the copyright. Nominally, it is distributed by China Film and Huaxia, but in fact, these companies are the real distributors, and China Film and Huaxia only charge a certain management fee and distribution fee. It's really not that hard for me to get a few quotas!"

The approval of the film is gambling in nature, because the film rights can only be sent for review after buying the film rights. If the film can't pass the review, it will lose money; in addition, the quality of the batch of films is often mediocre, the box office is low, and only a few people in China are doing it, and many people in the film industry do not know the doorway. The last life was in 2010, when a distribution company won the copyright of "The Expendables" for $500,000, and the box office exceeded 200 million, which attracted the attention of the industry.

Freman understands the joint, if Zhang Ran's method is followed, Zhang Ran's domestic branch can get 43% of the share, Zhongying takes 10%, and there is 33% left. Even if Zhang Ran's domestic branch gets 20%, Summit Entertainment can also get 13%, which is the proportion of Hollywood's blockbusters! He sincerely praised: "It's really a smart choice, let's make action movies!"

Zhang Ran smiled, isn't this kind of left-handed right-handed work the most popular in Hollywood, and said, "Continue the topic just now." We are a small company, and the cost of the film must be between $1 million and $30 million, and the cost must be minimized through overseas pre-sales and co-investment. Of course, we can't indulge in B-grade films, and we can release one or two major films a year. I've already chosen the key movie for next year, and it's "Twilight"!"

Zhang Ran saw Freman's bewildered face, knowing that he hadn't read the novel, and explained: "It was a bestseller last year, and in just a few weeks after it was released, it climbed to No. 5 on the New York Times bestseller list, and it has been on the list for 56 weeks, and the second one will be released this month!

After talking to Freman all afternoon, Zhang Ran leaned back in his wheelchair and exhaled heavily. He knows that the entry of batch films into China will squeeze the distribution space of small and medium-cost domestic films, and may even have a certain impact on the originality of Chinese films.

The acquisition of Summit Entertainment, in addition to obtaining distribution channels, can also allow more young filmmakers to enter Hollywood's industrial system, cultivate directors and producers with industrial management quality through Hollywood's industrial system, and then promote the industrialization of Chinese films.

In Zhang Ran's view, there is no way out for Chinese films without completing industrialization, and many problems in Chinese films, such as the relaxation of censorship and the classification system, can only be realized through market pressure after the completion of industrialization. In fact, many of the systems of American films were formed through market coercion.

Therefore, scold, scold, where the Tao is, although tens of millions of people go to it!