Chapter 167 of the main text volume

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When Harvey Weinstein walked into the warehouse set, the crew was filming, Murphy just looked over there and went on with his work, filming was underway, and he couldn't have put down what he was doing to say hello.

In front of the camera, Jessica Chastain is wearing a short skirt and bust, and the lower half of her right leg is wrapped in a green curtain, swaying and dancing.

She is dressed sexily, her body is hot, she twists her hips and chest, she has a different style, but her dancing posture is crooked, as if she only has one leg, which looks extremely funny.

This scene looks hilarious, but the crew is filming, and no one dares to laugh out loud.

Standing next to Harvey Weinstein, Quentin Tarantino looked at the woman dancing on the set and immediately remembered the script he had read, in which it was a one-legged woman dancing, and it was a striptease.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but turn to look at the young man behind the director's monitor, the script couldn't explain too much, but he could also see that the other party had a very good idea, and the idea was very special.

At the beginning, he was also a young man who liked to be whimsical.

Not long ago, after reading the script and plan, Quentin became interested in this project, especially the absurd setting, which is so much in line with his appetite that if it weren't for the unfinished project himself, he would like to grab it and direct it himself.

When he heard that the crew was back in Los Angeles for filming, he came over to see if this interesting project would turn into an interesting movie.

In the middle of the afternoon, standing on the periphery of the set, Quentin watched the crew shoot five or six shots one after another, whether it was a concise and powerful hand-to-hand combat, or the heroine used a prosthetic leg to shoot eggs and prop guns, or the lines of dialogue, not only full of strong ult style, but also seemed to incorporate some of the comedy style of the Rotten Gang film, which was extremely interesting.

At the end of the afternoon's shooting, Murphy handed over the task of cleaning up the set to Paul Wilson and walked over to Harvey Weinstein's side.

"Murphy, I'll introduce you." Harvey Weinstein introduced the two, "This is Quentin. Quentin, this is Murphy. ”

"Hello." The two shook hands.

Murphydo glanced at Quentin Tarantino, the geek director, who looks even stranger than the image in the media.

There was some chaos on set, and Murphy took the two to his director's office.

After the three of them chatted for a few words, the topic turned to the filmed movie, Quentin was obviously interested, "A beautiful woman with a broken leg can use M4A1 as a prosthetic leg, and she can also kill zombies, this idea is very good." ”

Probably because of his personality, he said directly to Murphy, "If it weren't for the fact that you had already started filming, I would have robbed you of the director's position." ”

Murphy didn't answer him, "I heard that you're going to make a kung fu movie?" ”

Quentin Tarantino nodded, and Murphy added, "If you grab it, we can change it and shoot it." ”

Hearing this, Quentin Tarantino seemed to be inspired and said, "Otherwise, Murphy, I'll direct you a few shots, and my film is about to start, so how about you go to my crew and shoot a few shots?" ”

Opposite is the famous Quentin Tarantino, a guy who is rumored to not even be a bird of the Big Six, and it is impossible to show such enthusiasm unless he encounters something very interesting.

"Okay!" Murphy didn't even think about it, "I can't ask for it." ”

He thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I still want to add a few trailers before the start of the feature film of "Horror Planet" like I did in the seventies and eighties, real or fake. ”

Murphy glanced at Harvey Weinstein, "Harvey is also very supportive of my idea, but I didn't find a suitable trailer, Quentin, why don't you shoot a fake trailer and put it in." ”

"What do you want to fake?" Quentin Tarantino grinned, "Aren't you going to the Cannes Film Festival?" By then, I'd already start filming, so I'll shoot a trailer for Kill Bill and put it right in front of Planet Terror. ”

Harvey Weinstein looked at Quentin and smiled, nodding slightly.

Just a few geeks can't be a qualified director at all, Quentin also knows how to borrow, Murphy Stanton's previous film was a big hit, and if this film is also successful, the trailer added will be an excellent advertisement, if it fails......

He shook his head, how could the film he operated fail?

Not to mention the North American market, which has no real revenue now, "Planet Terror" has already been pre-sold by Miramax for overseas screening rights in nine countries, and in addition to raising follow-up production funds, he has also earned back the two million dollars that have been invested.

He doesn't expect "Terror Planet" to be as amazing as "Chainsaw", as long as there is a certain quality, with Miramax's distribution and operation ability, it should not be difficult to achieve profitability.

Moreover, Murphy Stanton's "Chainsaw" is extremely popular in many overseas markets, and the current director is also coming to the forefront, and he also has a certain popularity, which is very beneficial to "Horror Planet".

Harvey Weinstein is thinking about how the market works, and Murphy and Quentin Tarantino are both film noir lovers who can find quite a bit of a common language, and it is too exaggerated to say that it is obvious at first sight, but they are cheerful.

"Quentin, you can direct some action scenes for me tomorrow." As a result of Harvey Weinstein's acquiescence, Murphy and Quentin quickly agreed, "But there's one thing you have to be aware of. ”

"Don't worry." Quentin Tarantino was in high spirits, "Like you told me, I'm not going to go over the top. ”

He just mentioned yì, after Jessica Chastain performed the one-legged dance, adding a scene where the zombie officer wanted to grab it, and it was also a zombie officer who was rotten underneath.

It's okay for this kind of plot to appear in a videotape, but it's definitely not okay to put it in a movie.

"Don't just blow people's balls!" Murphy solemnly advised, "In the footage that has been filmed, there have been a lot of egg-popping scenes. ”

As we all know, Quentin Tarantino is very fond of blowing up villains or protagonists in movies, and even has a tendency to become addicted to bombs.

"Let's talk about the Cannes Film Festival and overseas distributions." Harvey Weinstein pulls the topic of deflection back.

However, for the rest of the time, most of the time he was saying, Murphy was listening, Miramax was the producer and distributor of the film, and Harvey Weinstein came over, that is, he was optimistic about Murphy's future and made a routine notice.

In particular, Murphy was told that after filming was completed and before post-production began, the personnel who would accompany Miramax would meet with the film sales agent from the Festival de Cannes.

The Cannes Film Festival is famous, and Murphy certainly knows it, but he doesn't know much about how a film is sold.

Ninety-nine percent of the films participating in film festivals like Cannes have the most direct purpose of selling for a good price.

There are two types of film festivals in the world, commercial film festivals and audience film festivals.

Most of the well-known film festivals are commercial in nature and have a large film market, such as Cannes is the most typical commercial film festival, especially the screening link, which is to show distribution companies from all over the world.

After listening to Harvey Weinstein's introduction, Murphy learned that in the entire film festival distribution and venture capital system, the most important role is called film sales agent.

They are the ones who help exhibiting companies sell their films externally, especially internationally.

The film sales agent receives some authority from the production company to recommend projects to international distributors, draft contracts, mail and send entities and video materials, and finally collect fees and return payments to film companies.

Companies like Miramax use international sales brokers, who are long-term partners, as it can take years to promote a project globally, and who help Miramax develop marketing materials and a plan for the festival.

Just as Harvey Weinstein asked Murphy to meet with the sales agent with him before the post-production, and he may not be able to go to the sales after the film is completed, now Mira's path to recoup part of the cost of the international pre-sale is done by them.

Murphy then understands that finding the right sales agent is crucial for the companies participating in the festival, they will help a company's film squeeze into the A-list film festival, and if a long-term partnership is established, the film company can also find a film similar to the sale project, and then sell it as a result.

Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and participating in film festivals is a lofty artistic act, but it must be based on a huge amount of money.

The fees for the sales brokerage at the Festival de Cannes are between 10 and 15 percent, and a relatively strong company like Miramax can reduce the sales profit to about 6 percent.

Harvey Weinstein asked Murphy to meet these people, and in addition to asking him to cheer for his film, he also had to prepare a series of materials.

These are part of the Miramax marketing budget, and they will sign an agreement with the sales agent that includes the time of cooperation, the location of authorization, etc., and they need to agree on a sales budget.

This budget includes the cost of screening at the festival, even if you want to show it at the festival in the name of art, you have to pay money! There are also trade advertisements, promotional materials such as posters, travel expenses, and other expenses.

In this regard, the Cannes Film Festival is quite expensive, and it is definitely not comparable to the amount of money Murphy spent on attending the St. Denis Film Festival.

Participation in such international film festivals often means a high expense.

At the minimum, about $50,000 can get some international sales agents to take a film and his director to one or two B-movie festivals for a few screenings and some basic publicity; But A-level film festivals like Cannes typically cost between $100,000 and $250,000, and they don't pay for screenings, they have to pay for all screenings.

Hearing these routine notices from Harvey Weinstein, Murphy learned that attending a film festival is far from being as simple as it seems, and money is the most basic stepping stone to these film festivals that hold high the banner of art. (To be continued.) )