At this time, it is past the hottest season in Los Angeles in July and August, and the weather is very pleasant, although the temperature difference between morning and evening is relatively large because of the proximity to the sea, but the temperature is still very comfortable. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Cheng Xiaoyu was wearing a simple white shirt and black ripped jeans on the way to "Universal", since he came to Los Angeles, he felt that not only his eyes, but also his organs were bright every day, not because of the colorful scenery, but the lingering sunshine every moment.

Everyone says that California has the best sunshine in the world, and when you really get here, you feel how much novelty the sun makes you, probably because of natural conditions and buildings, it is not over and over again, bunches and bunches, but overwhelming, completely shining on every inch of land, making the roads, mountains, water, plants and birds flying everywhere, all appear clean and bright.

There are no words like damp, dark and dirty, and the light is everywhere.

It's a pity that it's just as if....... At least Cheng Xiaoyu's mood is not happy at the moment, he has been to several companies these days and got the results that disappointed him, some companies felt that this film was too vulgar, and they gave up watching it after seeing half of it, and bluntly told Cheng Xiaoyu that this movie is a bit bad, and the plagiarism of the bridge is a bit crazy, and asked Cheng Xiaoyu to watch more Peter Kopla's movies, and increase the posture of shooting horror movies...... Let's make a movie again.

Hearing such an evaluation, Cheng Xiaoyu was simply a little speechless, and responded to a classic Chinese: "Hehe" to the other party, asked Winston to get a copy of the DVD, and then left dashingly.

It's a pity that Cheng Xiaoyu's "hehe" is a bit of a pity, because the Yankees can't understand the profundity and ruthless ridicule contained in this "hehe".

Of course, not all distribution companies are blind, some have expressed interest, for example, "Lionsgate" is very good at discovering this kind of independent films, but the manager of the film purchase department, as soon as he heard Cheng Xiaoyu say that the total revenue share plus copyright share words, and asked to become the First.Dollar.Gross (priority account splitter), he immediately changed his face, looked at Cheng Xiaoyu with a smile and said: "Mr. Cheng, are you joking with me?" Hollywood wants to release thousands of movies a year, and even if your movie is good, so what? You're just a rookie Asian-American director, don't think of yourself as a superstar...... Peter Koprah does not have the right to share the total income plus the copyright account...... Young people can't be ambitious......"

There is also a reason why the people of "Lionsgate" will be furious as soon as they hear Cheng Xiaoyu say that the total income and copyright accounts are divided, and the "account sharing" of Hollywood distribution companies is all "accounting" based on people's cooking: some contracts are written with accounting sharing, but they may not be able to be divided.

In the concept of contracts in the mountains of Hollywood, the concept of a splitter is as different as "income". Gross.Participant - The person who splits from gross or adjusted gross income. Net Profit Participant (Net.Participant) - The person who splits the net profit from the net profit.

It seems that they are all beneficiaries, everyone has money, in fact, the former and the latter are very different, Cheng Xiaoyu recently read a book called "The.Hollywood.Economist2.0" ("Hollywood Economics") bluntly said the truth, that is, the distribution company "has no net profit at all".

Because before reaching the end of the account-sharing income, the Hollywood distribution company has a magic trick in distribution, which will set up an independent project company for each film outside the body - the project financing will be invested in the project company, and the account sharing will also be attributed to the project company when the account is settled from the terminal to the distribution end.

Therefore, before the production company receives the gross income or gross income, the project company will complete two deductions - the distribution commission and the distribution fee because it undertakes the distribution work.

Why is this magic? Because a lot of times, it's just the time when the theater box office revenue is settled, and when you close the accounts here, there is already a deficit in the accounting statements -- a loss of money.

Of course, the distribution company not only didn't lose money, but also made money (distribution commissions), and the result that the production company and his production partners saw was a loss in box office revenue.

Too many films – including blockbusters like "Spider-Man" or "Iron Man" – don't see a net profit after the theatrical show, so the net profit split in the box office sense is usually a flash in the pan.

Of course, other people are not fools, and many superstar-level actors, directors or big producers, as the total income sharers, of course, can't last up and stare at the deficit, so if they set a "break-even" according to the performance of the film in addition to the fixed salary, they will agree on a "break-even" in the contract, and once the income is deducted from some necessary production and distribution expenses, they will start to calculate the remuneration.

At the heart of the negotiation is how much each splitter adds to the risky item, and for the most powerful participant, there is obviously a minimum break-even point, which means that he or she will be the first to start splitting the income.

At one end of the balance is the one who scores first, and the other end of the balance is the one who scores later, so the more the former gets, the higher the threshold for the latter - the more those who participate in the split, the higher the break-even point will be. As a result, the least powerful actors, such as screenwriters, may never get their share of the pay.

The top and most priority participants will start to share the account from the first penny of gross income (First.Dollar.Gross), which is more priority than the producer's share order - in Hollywood, such superstars can be said to be a handful, these people are the top of the pyramid, although the number is small, but enough to make any production company, investors scratch their heads, but they must invite these big names - Hollywood bigwigs are probably also choppers.

Cheng Xiaoyu's request is obviously over-the-top, a rookie director directly asks for superstar treatment, although Lionsgate's film purchase manager is not black, but after listening to Cheng Xiaoyu's request, it is also a black question mark face, excuse.me?

And Cheng Xiaoyu's second request for copyright sharing is a bit rampant, and it is unimaginable for a rookie director to share the account within the box office revenue, not to mention the copyright account.

Even for the Big Eight Hollywood, production companies often face losses after box office sharing, and their main income comes from non-box office revenue at the back end of the theater, including "home entertainment" sales revenue represented by DVDs (royalty income is shared with the account sharer), TV sales (pay TV, cable TV, public TV), movie derivatives/licensed goods and other royalty-based distribution income.

This is where Hollywood's profits come from, how can it be so easy to involve a little-known new director?

Cheng Xiaoyu clearly knows that he has no advantage in IQ, except for those precious memory treasures and a fairly good piano with one hand, he is just an ordinary person, so he has done his homework for the Hollywood film industry these days, so he proposed the most profitable contract method.

He is also helpless, if time permits, he will shoot one or two movies first to accumulate fame, and gradually ask for more, but time waits for no one, he can only adopt the strategy of exchanging money for time.

So he smiled and said, "Mr. Thomas, I know that such a request is somewhat unreasonable, but I am willing to share the cost of publicity, or pay the cost of issuance in full, there is no problem, so that your company does not need to take risks......... Do you think my request is reasonable......."

Thomas, the manager of the purchasing department of "Lionsgate", heard Cheng Xiaoyu's generous gesture, but still rejected Cheng Xiaoyu, he looked at Cheng Xiaoyu arrogantly and said: "Mr. Cheng, I know you are very rich, to be honest, it is already good luck that a film like yours can be released, on the price, we can pay a little more, you can't ask for more....... you only have this one choice to 'buy out the copyright'...... No matter which issuing company you go to, you will not be able to grant such a request...... Be realistic......"

Cheng Xiaoyu didn't expect that such a right to share accounts would not be exchanged, and the other party didn't even have the willingness to talk, so he stood up and said, "Then it's impossible?"

Thomas shrugged his shoulders unmoved and said, "We can pay you a share of the box office, but that's just the number set by the directors' guild." "According to the agreement signed between the directors' union and the producers' alliance representing major Hollywood companies, directors who are members of the union can get a share of the box office and videotapes of the films they direct, which is a clear rule of the game.

Hearing the words "Directors Guild", Cheng Xiaoyu smiled contemptuously and said, "I am not a member of the Directors Guild. He also tried to join the Directors Guild of America to get better resources, but was ruthlessly rejected, Cheng Xiaoyu of course thought that the reason was that Peter Kopla was one of the directors of the Directors Guild.....

"That's a pity..... Thomas also stood up and said, although the movie is very much to his liking, there are many uncertainties about this movie, and the price is right, it can be bought out, maybe it will sell well.

Cheng Xiaoyu had to let go of some reserve, and he asked a little unwillingly: "Mr. Thomas, can I ask why my payment for publicity is not enough for you to sign the contract?"

Of course, Thomas felt that Cheng Xiaoyu's idea was too naïve, and when he saw Cheng Xiaoyu's sincere gaze, he decided to break the other party's unrealistic illusions, "Director Cheng, although you are willing to pay for publicity and distribution, which reduces our risk, simply put, we just signed a distribution contract with you and let us work for you, but you ignore the time cost we pay, you must know that the goal of any distribution company is to make money, according to your account sharing requirements, only by selling our company can we make money....... That's the risk for us...... A company like ours is different from Hollywood's Big 8, and any mistake is fatal..... Time is also one of the costs we can't afford......"

In fact, there is another point that Thomas did not say, the complexity of publicity, unless Cheng Xiaoyu formulates a complete publicity plan and gets the approval of "Lionsgate", the cooperation between the two can continue, otherwise there are too many things in it, which will greatly affect the work efficiency, so it is better not to sign a contract.

Cheng Xiaoyu nodded and said, "I understand...... So what if I'm not only willing to pay for publicity, but also willing to sign a VAM agreement? If the box office doesn't reach a certain amount, I won't participate in the account sharing ........"

Thomas felt that Cheng Xiaoyu was crazy, looked at Cheng Xiaoyu with a shocked face and said, "If you really have the courage to do this....... Then we can sit down and talk........" (To be continued.) )