Miton Johnson thought for a moment and instructed the female assistant, "Call Jamie Winster." ”

A few minutes after the female assistant called, a middle-aged man in his thirties walked into the office and sat down across from Miton Johnson, who waved his hand to the female assistant, and the female assistant walked out of the office and closed the door.

"Is there any progress in the negotiations with Stanton Studios?" Miton Johnson asked directly.

"Not yet." Jamie Winster shook his head, "We've had a couple of phone calls with Murphy Stanton, and he's not very sincere in working together and wants a bit too much. ”

A shell company with a rookie director and a regular employee who only has three people together wants to open its mouth to Lionsgate because of some selling points of a movie? Does he have the confidence and qualifications?

He also admitted that the film can indeed bring a certain impact to people, but this cannot hide the fact that it is a rough small production zuò, and the risks of such a production are not to be ignored when it is promoted to the theater market.

Fingers habitually tapped on the desk table, and Mitton-Johnson's brow furrowed slightly, "What about the CAA?" ”

Jamie Winster quickly came to his senses and replied, "I called Bill Rothes, and these agents at CAA are insatiable guys. ”

One party wants to get a high return through the film, and the other party wants to lower the price to get the maximum possible profit, and if the two parties do not make certain concessions, the cooperation will not be reached.

Negotiation is often a process of mutual compromise.

Miton Johnson is well aware of this but is not prepared to compromise.

He tapped on the table faster, "Jamie, you've seen that film, and the editorial staff is also participating in the audition meeting, how long will it take for them to write a similar script?" ”

"Hmm...... The script is easy to say. Jamie Winster understood what he meant, "Two to three weeks is enough time for teamwork. ”

What is there to say about this kind of script? The film is great more because of the shooting and production.

Milton Johnson silently calculated in his heart for a while, and his slightly old eyes flashed with a fine light, "What about the shooting system?" ”

Jamie Winster thought about it for a moment, "If it is made by a mature team that works with the company regularly, I think it will take about a month and a half from preparation to production. ”

Obviously, from the very beginning of the audition to the editorial department, Miton Johnson has been preparing or planning something.

He asked, "What about the things I asked you to investigate?" ”

"After the release of Hard Fruit Candy, Murphy Stanton joined the Writers' Guild, the Directors Guild and the Cinematographers' Guild."

These have long been checked by Jamie Winster, and he quickly said, ""Chainsaw has been filed with the Writers Guild and the Directors Guild, and it is a union registration project. ”

Mitton-Johnson slowed down his tapping on the table, "It's a bit of a problem. ”

Older and slightly more conservative-minded, Jamie Winster appears to be more radical, although this backup plan was first proposed by Milton Johnson.

"It's going to cause some trouble." He nodded first, but then said, "Stanton Studios is just a small company at the bottom of Hollywood, and director Murphy Stanton, except for his agent and CAA, is just very close to a few young actors who are not in the stream, and there is no network worth mentioning, even if the union makes trouble for us, it is a routine ......."

He raised his voice slightly, "And we can't imitate his films, there will definitely be certain changes, Hollywood's mainstream commercial blockbuster themes and content crashes happen from time to time, not to mention the plasma horror films that are completely routine in the production model?" ”

Lionsgate will copy each other's films unless they are stupid, and based on that film, they can make it even better.

This sophistication also has the advantage that as long as it can be released first, the relatively crude film is more like a clumsy imitation.

Miton Johnson nodded slightly, and the speed of tapping on the table increased again, "I will mention this project at a high-level meeting, and if we can't get Chainsaw, we will enter the project review stage as much as possible, and let the editorial department prepare a script outline." ”

Jamie Winster answered, stood up and prepared to leave, and Milton Johnson admonished, "Say hello to the people in the legal department in advance." ”

If this project really appears, the other party's biggest counterattack is undoubtedly to sue the law, which is the means that they don't care about the most, not to mention the countless Hollywood crash projects, among which the entanglements are difficult to explain, even if the court accepts it, Lionsgate can drag it on, it doesn't matter if it is a year or even two years, can a small company like the other party stand it?

Even, they can find any random person to come out and sue Stanton Studios for plagiarizing his ideas.

This kind of thing is definitely not a lot in Hollywood, think about the people who can't wait to trouble James Cameron after the big hit of "Titanic......

After Jamie Winster left, Miton Johnson was still thinking about it, and as a veteran of running horror films, he was really optimistic about the project.

Helplessly, Lionsgate's conditions were unacceptable to the other party, and the other party's considerable appetite was also unacceptable.

An obscure little person, why does the lion open his mouth? Just because you have a selling movie in your hand? Without the right channels, such a film can only have zero value.

Miton Johnson called in the female assistant again and told her to keep an eye on the project and keep him informed of the latest developments so that he could adjust her strategy at any time.

Similarly, he did not completely give up the idea of winning "Chainsaw", the previous plan was just a backup plan, if the other party hit a wall in Hollywood one after another, there may be a possibility of negotiation and cooperation between the two parties.

At the end of the day, Mitton-Johnson never believed that Stanton Studios was eligible to work with Lionsgate on an equal footing.

Whether it is a manufacturing company or a issuing company, it is a commercial company, and commercial companies naturally pursue profits, and whenever possible, they also want to maximize profits.

Lionsgate is not the only distribution company that is optimistic about "Saw", and Murphy has not met one that can meet psychological expectations, and even Miramax, who is currently the most generous, is also thinking about how to get this film that seems to sell a lot at the lowest price.

The minimum cost can also reduce the risks that come with the investment.

Harvey Weinstein stood by the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the view of Burbank and asked Jones Butler behind him, "Murphy Stanton hasn't answered yet?" ”

Jones Butler took a slight step forward, "Not yet. ”

The big fat man's face is not very good-looking, and the other party inevitably thinks too highly of himself, and he wants to get rid of a geek like Quentin Tarantino in the first place, but it is just a matter of a little money and a few promises.

People who can be appreciated by him today can be used as capital in the industry.

What about Murphy Stanton, the little director? Instead of giving him any reply, he took the film to different distribution companies, hoping to sell the film for a high price with the little money brought by Bill Rothes's small agent and the little capital brought by "Hard Candy".

This is just wishful thinking, and Hollywood distribution companies are like him and Miramax, eating people and never spitting out bones.

However, Harvey Weinstein can't guarantee that all distribution companies will maintain that wordless tacit understanding with small production companies, after all, the selling point of "Chainsaw" is still very clear, as long as it is properly operated and does not make low-level mistakes, profitability should not be a problem.

Based on his years of experience and understanding of the market, he judged that the probability of failure of "Saw Horror" is very low, as long as the invested funds are controlled, it is nothing more than a matter of how much profit is made.

Harvey Weinstein is most worried about the fact that some companies are rashly prescribing excessive conditions despite tacit understanding.

"It's time to put some pressure on him." He nodded slightly.

Harvey Weinstein turned around, glanced at Jones Butler, strode back to the back of his desk, sat down in his chair, and said without any emotion, "You go find someone to put out the news." ”

Jones Butler looked over there and pricked up his ears.

"Miramax is working on a new project," Harvey Weinstein said unhurriedly about the fake project, "the film is a plasma horror film, with some suspenseful touches, and the script has already been written, and it is going to be directed by Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Tarantino." ”

He thought for a moment and then said, "Call Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino and ask them to give a media interview in the near future and mention this in passing." ”

Hearing these words, Jones Butler just nodded, not feeling any surprise, his own boss has always been very clever, otherwise he would not have created a bloody case like "Shakespeare in Love", let alone an actor of Gwyneth Paltrow's level to win the Oscar for Best Actress.

Although this may be the most watery actress in Oscar history, it's also a real actress, isn't it?

"Go ahead." Harvey Weinstein waved his hand at Jones Butler.

Jones Butler left the office and started running these things, without Harvey Weinstein's orders, she also knew what scale this thing had to be maintained, and it couldn't be too big, but it had to get to Murphy Stanton.

This kind of work is not difficult for her at all.

In any business activity, there is always a torrent of light or darkness, some things you can see, and some things you can't see.

Just like Murphy now, after the Fox Searchlight testing session, he could tell that Tony Guzman and the two Fox Searchlight executives he was with were interested in the film, but he couldn't guess the price they could offer for the film.

These need to be negotiated to decide.

Fox Searchlight was the last company, and Murphy made careful preparations for it, and made a special phone call to Carla Fez, who was studying in New York, to learn some about the company through her connections. (To be continued.) )