Chapter 189 of the main text volume is difficult to control

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In order to get the adaptation rights, it was not only Murphy who persuaded Frank Miller, but Bill Rothes also got in touch with Frank Miller's agent and lobbied from the side, and the object of lobbying was Frank Miller's comic book editor.

In addition, Murphy's new project was also submitted by Bill Rothes to the upper echelons of AA, and like all directors who have been successful on a back-to-back basis, the project was supported by AA with little effort.

AA is also in contact with Miramax and Dark Horse Comics, and as long as Frank Miller nods, he intends to make the deal happen.

After his first meeting with Frank Miller, Murphy then spoke to him again, this time with a planner to further prove to Frank Miller that he could turn the soul, the wonder, and the black-and-white phantom of the book into a movie.

The multi-pronged approach, especially Murphy's persuasive short film, prompted Frank Miller to gradually change his stubborn ideas, and a week after Murphy met him, Bill Rothes received good news from Frank Miller's agent, who agreed in principle to Murphy's adaptation of Sin City into a movie.

This is definitely good news for Murphy, but it doesn't mean that he can easily get the rights to adapt the comics.

Frank Miller nodded and agreed that it was a prerequisite for the transfer of copyright, but part of the copyright of the comics was in the hands of Dark Horse Comics, and if he wanted to get the copyright, he had to negotiate with Dark Horse Comics, and the negotiations also needed to bring in another party, that is, a company that could invest in Murphy's new project.

The adaptation rights of this comic must be expensive, and there is also the cost of production, according to Murphy's estimate, it is impossible to complete the film with a production cost of less than 30 million US dollars, he and Stanton Studios do not have so much money, and their qualifications are too shallow if they raise money, and it is bound to distract him as a director.

Another point, Murphy remembers that the film was extremely highly rated and did not seem to be bad at the box office, but I don't know how much it was.

No matter how you look at it, it is most appropriate to find a film company to invest, otherwise those financing and pre-sales alone will make him a director overwhelmed, where is there time to prepare the film.

Miramax, who had just successfully worked together, was the most suitable person to work with.

But if you want to impress people like Miramax and Harvey Weinstein, you can't just talk about it, you have to take action.

AA is still in contact with Miramax, and Murphy agrees that Bill Rothes will continue to operate the project as a one-stop-shop package.

He himself took refuge in the Stanton studio and began to work on a plan for the project.

During this time, Murphy and Harvey Weinstein were on the phone, and the other party, a veteran and expert in the film industry, knew that it would definitely take a lot of money to achieve such a strange comic book adaptation, and the most important concern was the budget.

Hollywood studios are far less than what they seem, and like all commercial companies, they want to make the most of their profits with the smallest investments.

Murphy's plan for Franco Miller promised that every picture of the future film could correspond to the original frame drawings in the comics, and the film wanted to use black and white like the comics, not as simple as creating a "nostalgic style", and there were some more complex and subtle treatments.

This requires a large and complex special effects technique.

Just like the short film he shot before, the pure black and white image is not easy to restore with a film lens, but with many other effects, it is almost impossible to restore the style of a comic with a conventional lens, and the latest digital video camera is a must.

The visual and lighting effects of Frank Miller's work could not be achieved in reality, and the actors had to stand against a green-screen background, frame them with state-of-the-art high-definition cameras, and then have the special effects department add computer-generated comic strips to the background.

All of this will drive up the budget of the film.

If you want Miramax to invest, and if you want them to pay real money to buy the film rights to Sin City from Dark Horse Comics and Frank Miller, and hand it over to shoot it yourself, Murphy needs to come up with a convincing plan and make a budget for a movie that can be approved.

The former has already been very specific in his plan and only needs to be slightly improved, but the latter is more important.

In Hollywood, there is still a saying that a director's film is not as good as the budget, although this is a bit exaggerated, but after a director has a script, and then has an excellent plan and budget, it will undoubtedly add a lot of persuasiveness to the film company.

If a director only takes a script to a film company and brags about how good his project is, 200% of it will be sent out directly.

Murphy knew that Harvey Weinstein must know that this project would not work without tens of millions of dollars, and investing millions of dollars and investing tens of millions of dollars are definitely two different concepts, the former will make Miramax lose some money at most, and the latter can make them break their bones, and if they don't get it right, there is a possibility that the capital chain will break.

Miramax's approach to AA was relatively cautious, which is also a normal reaction of a company.

This time the investment is larger, Miramax is more cautious internally, and Murphy needs to come up with a convincing plan, which also requires more professional ability.

Coordinated by Bill Rothes, AA found two temporary assistant producers for Murphy to assist him with the project.

Just like a star actor, a successful director also has the support of a whole team behind him.

Of all the plans, a budget for a film that allows Miramax to see where the money for future investments might go.

Anyone who wants others to invest in you must tell the investor where the money is going to be spent and whether it is worth it.

This is the simplest truth.

Moreover, the film budget is the basis and important reference basis for film investment, and it is also the premise of film management and market-oriented operation.

It includes the script fee, the cost of film props, the cost of film shooting, the salary of film participants, the cost of film post-production, the cost of film marketing, and other additional costs.

It took nearly ten days for Murphy to complete the budget with the assistance of two sufficiently professional people.

The budget for Sin City that he developed was divided into four main categories.

The first is online fees, which mainly include the expenses of obtaining the copyright of the script or writing the script, the salary of the production department and the director, and the salary and additional remuneration of the actors. These expenditure items are also collectively referred to as "creative elements" expenditures.

This part is very flexible, in addition to Murphy can confirm the participation of James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Robert Downey Jr. and Sienna Miller, other actors need to wait for the project to be established before recruiting, the salary of the main creative team cannot be determined, and the range span that may be generated is also very large.

For example, if you want to find Bruce Willis, you may have to pay $5 million to $10 million more than if you use an average-level actor.

The second is the offline cost, which is mainly spent on technology, which is also the cost that every film will incur.

Sin City's budget includes the cost of paying the crew, using rental equipment, sets, props, costumes, makeup, transportation, food, sound effects and editing, among other things.

The third is recurring expenses, which include some other aspects of rent, utilities and gas expenditures, and Murphy has deliberately planned 10% of the total online and offline budget as recurring expenses, which can be used to deal with some things that are easily overlooked but will seriously affect the overall progress of the system.

The last item is a buffer and emergency funding, if the project finally goes through, it will be his first time directing a multi-million dollar production zuò, although there is enough confidence, Murphy knows that he lacks experience in this area, and there will definitely be unforeseen situations when shooting, and this money may save the whole project at a critical moment.

Although this is an uncertain budget, Murphy still takes 120,000 points seriously, because if the budget is clear, Miramax will make the final budget based on it, and the aspects he ignores may end up being a big hole for himself.

In addition to these, Murphy listed a number of factors that can affect the budget.

The first is the weather, a small number of shots in the film will be shot outdoors, which needs to take into account the climate and seasonal factors, which may involve the suspension or cancellation of the filming plan such as sudden climate changes, which will more or less affect the details of the expenditure in all aspects.

On the other hand, there are children, and when Nancy was a child, she had to use underage actors, and children are notoriously uncontrollable shooting elements.

Most children have difficulty maintaining their attention for a long time, and it is likely that in a short period of time, they will lose interest in the shooting or become irritable due to impatience, which will slow down the overall production schedule and lead to additional cost losses and budget increases.

Similar to the saying on the other side of the Pacific, when preparing to shoot a movie, you must also go ahead before you move the food and grass, and a reasonable budget must be an important guarantee for the shooting, production, and distribution of a movie.

After completing these thoroughly, Murphy immediately asked the AA side to submit it to Miramax, and he himself frequently contacted Harvey Weinstein on the phone, and after the AA officially contacted Miramax, Miramax was also evaluating the risks and benefits of the project, and received Murphy's plan and budget, which was immediately pushed into the review process.

Murphy waited patiently, and finally waited for the unsurprising good news that Miramax was sure to invest in the project.

In this way, Murphy, AA, and Miramax can sit down and start formal negotiations with Dark Horse Comics about the rights. (To be continued.) )