The preferred target for Down Pictures was Paramount.

Because long before the movie was closed, Lady Sally had already helped to contact it.

At the end of May, Jerry took three days off from director Curtis, and brought James Sr., Gray and Paul Sr. with him, and he personally visited Paramount's chief operating officer, that is, his "godmother" Shirley Lansing.

The godmother is Shirley's self-styled mother, Jerry never admits it, and his mother, Lady Sally, does not approve of it, so Jerry has always called her "Aunt Shirley".

There were no gifts for this visit, as Jerry was going to Paramount headquarters, and the meeting place was in the reception room next to the president's office.

"Hello Aunt Shirley, long time no see, you are getting younger and prettier. ”

Because there was an appointment in advance, Jerry and his entourage were directly led to the president's reception room by the front desk clerk, and in less than five minutes, a familiar figure appeared in front of Jerry's eyes.

A tailor-made handmade professional suit, highlighting Shirley Lansing's distinctive taste in dress, tall, slightly thin, a pair of gold-wire glasses on the bridge of the nose, fair and flawless cheeks still retain the eight-point style of youth, sharp eyes, clear and capable, outstanding, walking has a convincing and powerful aura, showing the leadership style of a female Hollywood leader.

"You have a girlfriend, right? You weren't that good at talking before, and you especially didn't like to flatter people, young and old. Hehehe!"

As soon as he came up, he grabbed Jerry's hand, and Shirley naturally hugged him, just like a mother hugging her child, pure and unadulterated true feelings.

Jerry was stunned for a moment, and let Shirley hug his arm like a wooden stake, and it was strange that he had the same feeling as his mother, Lady Sally, when he hugged him, and really felt Shirley's love for him, and the maternal brilliance that naturally emanated from her.

What a weird feeling!

However, this kind of sincere love from the inside out instantly melted Jerry Donn's hard heart.

In the face of people who really care about him, he is really ruthless, so at this moment, all the negotiation rhetoric he prepared before is nullified.

The moment he left Shirley's embrace, Jerry glanced at Paul Sr., which meant that he had handed over the lead to the negotiations, with Paul Sr. and Brad Gray in charge of the business partnership.

Jerry himself withdrew from the negotiations and only caught up with Aunt Shirley today.

Shirley pulled him to sit down, very close, a pair of sharp eyes like a falcon looked at him with interest, and said with a smile: "I haven't seen you for almost five years, I didn't expect you to grow more and more handsome, no wonder your stingy old mother always doesn't let me go to see you, and keeps telling me, 'You have a child yourself, don't worry about my son'." Now that I see you, I finally understand, dare to love her and worry that I will rob her son with her. Giggles!"

Seeing that Aunt Shirley was not angry with herself at all and regarded her as her own, Jerry squinted at the ceiling helplessly, and then pretended to be a good child, and then said: "My mother mentioned to me that you have only gotten married in recent years and have a happy family. I'm sorry, Aunt Shirley, I didn't know when you got married, and I hope you'll forgive me for my faux pas. ”

"Forgive what? When I got married, no one was notified, not even your mother knew about it, and the wedding was very simple, and the guests were the relatives of both parties, less than ten people in total. ”

Shirley smiled, but Jerry saw a trace of sadness in her eyes, and it was clear that she hadn't completely forgotten her father, who had been dead for more than ten years.

Love with a whole heart hurts the most.

Jerry himself once loved once, but his heart was so broken that he did not touch his true feelings for the next twenty years, and although he had a bed partner during this period, he was still alone until the end of his life.

Now, Jerry distinguishes between love and the relationship between men and women, using time as the only criterion to measure whether the relationship is strong, and the woman who can withstand all kinds of temptations and follow her without abandoning is the woman who is worthy of her own cherishing and protection.

The extraordinary experience of dying and living has forged Jerry Towne's rational thinking about feelings, compared to the unpredictable love, the real career and the relatives who gave birth to me and raised me are the most cherished by me.

At least for now, he is very rational about his feelings, and he easily does not dare to touch "true love".

…………

It was a pleasure to catch up with Aunt Shirley, because she was very talkative and could always find a topic that Jerry was interested in, so that he could express his heart and talk endlessly.

Not to mention, when he met a knowledgeable intellectual woman, Jerry talked about sex very much, and many words squeezed in his heart were taken out by Shirley.

It wasn't until he got off work at noon that Jerry suddenly realized that he had left the reception room at some point, followed her into the president's office, and chatted with her for more than two hours.

It wasn't until Brad Gray had reached an agreement with Paramount's distribution manager and came to him to sign the release contract that had been drafted by both parties, that Jerry came to his senses.

After receiving the issuance contract, Jerry shook his head, closed his eyes to calm himself, and then slowly flipped through the contract, checking item by item.

Paramount's co-release terms are very generous, and it should be said that they are beyond imagination, especially in terms of box office share and distribution commission, all of which are within Jerry's acceptable range.

After reading it carefully, Jerry became more and more confused the more he looked at it, where did the legendary Overlord clause go?

In this contract, Paramount Distribution directly pointed out that the box office share ratio of long-term screenings signed between Paramount and theatrical projectors is 55:45, that is, theatrical projectors account for 45% of the total box office.

In addition, the fixed cost fee paid to the cinema chain is 8% of the production cost, which can be paid in advance or deducted at a later settlement.

According to Jerry's information from his company's distribution department, the highest box office share of films released by independent film companies is 52%, that is, theaters account for 48% of the total box office.

Of course, this is the ideal screening contract.

Normally, independent companies and cinemas are divided by 55, and even the cinema chain will occupy a larger share ratio, and it is also common to split the account by 4 or 6.

In the face of independent film companies, the cinema side undoubtedly dominates, so that many small film companies finally make a good movie, but when they negotiate with the cinema chain, they can only get a pitiful 30% to 40% of the box office revenue, and most of the revenue is grabbed by the theater chain.

For this alone, the issuance contract is very lucrative and meets Jerry's expectations.

Further down, Paramount is responsible for the first and overseas distribution rights for the Maguire film in North America, and Down Pictures owns the rights to the second and third rounds of distribution and the rights to the film.

This is where Paramount's favorable conditions are revealed.

This means that Towne Pictures owns the rights to broadcast the film and distribute the DVD discs, as well as the rights to shoot the sequel.

In the terms of the film distribution commission, Paramount will charge 10% of the total box office as distribution expenses (including film copies and theatrical fixed costs) and 5% of the publicity fee.

This is the end of the terms of the distribution share, which means that Paramount Pictures will take a 15% percentage of the total box office for distribution and promotional expenses.

The theatrical exhibitor's cut plus Paramount's distribution share accounts for 60% of the total box office, and Down Pictures can get 40% of the box office revenue, that is, after the first round of distribution rights are handed over to Paramount, Don Pictures does not need to pay any more costs, and all expenses are borne by Paramount.

This means that Jerry's $7 million for the film can be retained, reducing the film's production cost from $25 million to $18 million.

Overall, the issuance contract is quite generous and meets Tang's expectations.

But the 15% distribution commission is really not low, and it doesn't seem like much now, after all, the production cost is only 18 million, but after the total box office in North America comes out, this commission is a lot.

No one else knew if the film would be profitable, so the deal looked good, but Jerry was confident in the film he produced and starred in.

Therefore, the bottom line of his heart is to get at least 42% of the box office revenue, and the remaining 58% of the profit depends on how much the distribution company can get from the cinema exhibitor, after all, if his company distributes independently, he can get 50% of the box office revenue.

……

After holding the issuance contract for a long time, Jerry looked up at Shirley Lansing and said, "The contract is quite good, is this a clause that you and my mother have negotiated in advance?"

Shirley had been watching Jerry's expression change carefully, and keenly felt that he was not very happy with the contract, and to her surprise, Jerry, who had always been outspoken, did not directly refuse.

"You should know about your mother, Sally's character, and she never asks about specific things. ”

Shirley smiled, and then her face changed slightly, as if she was angry: "But she threatened me on the phone and said, 'If I dare to bully her son, she will settle accounts with me and make me look good'."

She often threatens me like this, and it has caused me a psychological shadow, or you will sign this contract to make me angry. ”

Jerry smiled: "I can sign it, just for Aunt Shirley's love, I have no reason to refuse."

Although there are many clauses in this contract that are helping me save money, Aunt Shirley should know that I am not short of money. So, this contract is actually not very generous for me, 15% of the issuance fee, I think the vast majority of companies are willing to take this share ratio, not to mention taking care of it. ”

After a pause, Jerry took out the pen and said with a meaningful smile: "You have also seen the finished film, the quality of the film and the box office prediction, I believe that your company has also done an investigation and analysis, and signed this contract, I'm afraid we can only cooperate this time, and ...... in the future." Hehehe!"

"Wait!"

At the same time as Jerry put down the pen, Shirley reached out and grabbed his arm, and said with a smile on her face: "You kid has the same temper as your dead ghost father, and there is no humor at all, whoever follows you in the future will be unlucky." ”

As she spoke, she casually took out a contract from the drawer and threw it to Jerry, "Look, this is a contract I specially prepared for you, the approximate terms are the same as the one in your hand, the difference is that I will reduce the share ratio to 12%, the distribution fee is 7%, and the publicity fee is 5%, so you should be satisfied, ......right? You'll have to increase your publicity costs. ”

Sticking out her index finger and thumb, Shirley Lansing and Jerry were not polite at all, and directly offered $8 million in publicity money.

Seeing that Shirley was playing a game of bargaining with herself, Jerry rolled his eyes, stretched out two fingers, and hesitated to add another one.

Shirley gave him an angry look and thought for a moment...... Eight to six.

Jerry's gesture remained the same, and Shirley didn't back down, the two palms facing each other, looking at each other, their eyes were big.

It's a stalemate.

After a while, Jerry shrugged his shoulders: "Forget it, for the sake of your elders, let's reconcile, add the two by the average and I'll add another $4.5 million in publicity expenses." Okay？”

"Bingo!" Shirley snapped her fingers and grinned, "Ok! ”

Jerry carefully flipped through the new contract, confirmed that it was correct, and signed.

In this way, after playing a game with Shirley Lansing, the two sides reached a consensus, and the movie "Maguire" officially settled in Paramount.

The contract was finalized, and Brad Gray took Jerry's pre-planned plan to discuss the details with Paramount Pictures' distribution and publicity department.

At noon, Jerry accompanies Shirley to dinner.

After Shirley, who was close to 50 years old, left the office, she turned into a cheerful and lively woman, holding Jerry's arm, and exposing Jerry's mother, Lady Sally, and his father.

Back in the office, Shirley was back to herself, openly explaining to Jerry that there had been a secret competition between the seven major film companies and theatrical exhibitors.

Of course, it is inevitable to complain to Jerry, and tell Jerry unmistakably that although she is the president and chief operating officer of Paramount, her authority is actually not as great as the outside world thinks, and the Viacom Group behind it is the real boss at the helm.

Jerry really couldn't stand Aunt Shirley's chatter, so when he left Paramount, he promised her that under the same conditions, he would give priority to continuing to cooperate with Paramount, so Shirley sent him downstairs with a smile.

Until he got into the van, Jerry was still puzzled, why did Shirley Lansing value himself so much?

At the moment, she has not yet become famous and has little commercial value, is it just because they are world friends, or are she and Lady Sally best friends who have known each other for many years?

After thinking about it for a long time, Jerry finally attributed it to Shirley that she must have consulted the script catalog she had left in the Writers Guild, so she paid special attention to her future business cooperation.

But the reason is too far-fetched, and Jerry himself doesn't believe it.

The seven major film companies have no shortage of scripts at all, and painting cakes to satisfy hunger does not work for successful businessmen like Shirley Lansing, it is completely unattractive, they are interested in tangible benefits.

………… (To be continued)