Chapter 191 of the main text volume is embarrassed and opposed

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"Director's authorship?" Murphy asked puzzled, "Even if Frank Miller is signed, no one will think that he actually directed this film, especially the media and companies in the industry, this judgment must still be there, right?" ”

"None of this will affect you." Bill Rossis fully agreed with Murphy's words, and then brought up aspects that Murphy didn't even think about, "Don't forget, you're a member of the directors' guild!" ”

"Uh......" Murphy was even more puzzled, "does this have anything to do with whether I am a member of the Directors Guild?" ”

Bill Rothes nodded and said, "It's a very big deal. ”

He saw that Murphy didn't know at all, so he explained slowly, "The director's union has a rule, and the work directed by the guild director cannot sign the names of two people in the director's column at the same time!" ”

Murphy suddenly realized, "I see." ”

Frowning and thinking for a moment, he added, "This is indeed a problem. ”

Murphy doesn't know much about many of the rules of the directors' union, only that the directors' union can protect a lot of his legitimate rights and interests, but he doesn't know that there are still many restrictions.

If Frank Miller had done what he wanted, it would have been contrary to the rules of the directors' union, but if Frank Miller had been rejected, the negotiations might have fallen apart.

Murphy had no choice but to look at Bill Rothes, who undoubtedly had a lot more insight and experience than he did.

"There's no way to have it both ways, Bill?" He asked.

Bill Rothes thought for a while before saying, "It's not nothing, in fact, there are some things, the directors' union just has rules, but they don't care much, and many times they will turn a blind eye." ”

Murphy nodded slightly, what Bill Rothes said was not unreasonable, even in the land of North America, sometimes the rules are dead, but the people who enforce them are alive.

"Regulations such as the director's signature, the opening form, and the director's union are very unpopular, and no one usually notices them." If it weren't for Bill Rosith's reminder, Murphy wouldn't have thought of these at all, "Especially after George Lucas quit the directors' union because the Star Wars title did not meet the regulations, the union not only revised the title rules, but also stopped deliberately reviewing these cold rules, and usually turned a blind eye." ”

Murphy understood what Bill Rothes meant, "You're saying we don't have to worry about directors' guild rules. ”

"It's not that we don't care," added Bill Rothes, "we don't want to make a noise, we don't want to publicize it, and there's no need for the directors' guild to pursue it." ”

This is probably what it means that the people do not hold officials accountable.

"Isn't this going to be in trouble?" Murphy also doesn't care about Frank Miller's signed directorship, "Whether the future will affect filming." ”

Bill Rothes thought for a moment and said confidently, "You have AA support, what is there to worry about?" ”

He clearly has a strong belief in the brokerage behind him, which is also a common denominator of every AA broker.

From the very beginning of their careers as interns in the mailroom, they have been indoctrinated with the notion that too much AA is powerful.

Murphy thought about it, he is just a director who is not very conspicuous, this is not a Hollywood first-line system, and the possibility of being deliberately targeted by the directors' union is still very low, even if he is targeted, he will see the tricks when the time comes, and AA and Miramax, who are standing behind him, are not vegetarians.

"Bill," Murphy added, "you communicate with Miramax and Harvey Weinstein. ”

Bill Rothes nodded, "I'll leave this to me, don't worry." ”

After getting Frank Miller again, the negotiations between the two sides continued, although the negotiation process was still very difficult, but there were also breakthroughs, especially Frank Miller's survival, which was definitely the key to this negotiation.

Because of the original agreement with Dark Horse Comics, without Frank Miller's nod, D Comics would not have been able to sell the rights to Frank Miller's creations such as "The Three Hundred Warriors of Sparta" and "Sin City".

As we all know, comics themselves can generate limited revenue.

After arduous negotiations on number theory, coupled with AA's mediation coordination, Miramax finally reached an adaptation agreement with Dark Horse Comics.

In this agreement, Miramax needs to pay Dark Horse Comics a basic adaptation royalty of $6 million in three installments, and after the film officially enters the market, it will pay 15% of the annual profit share to Dark Horse Comics in the year of premiere, 10% of the annual profit share in the second year, and this proportion will be reduced to 5% in the third year, and all subsequent payments will be made according to this percentage.

How much of it is the personal dividends of Frank Miller, the original author, is a matter between him and Dark Horse Comics.

At the same time, at Frank Miller's insistence, the memorandum clause of the agreement also contains provisions about the director, in which Murphy must be the director of the project, and the producer must obtain the consent of Frank Miller if he wants to change the director.

Frank Miller has been trying to prevent the adapted film from deviating from the comic-book style from beginning to end.

It was AA's turn to negotiate with Miramax for the adaptation rights, the most important of which was the remuneration of the production personnel behind a series of packaging services.

Because "Terror Planet" has brought a lot of money to Miramax, the film has accumulated more than 55 million dollars at the global box office by the end of September, just like all Hollywood studios, Miramax also believes in the business principles that successful people can continue to succeed, and fully agrees with the plan in Murphy's plan, and continues to use Robert Downey Jr., James Franco, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill and others in front of the screen, but has doubts about Sienna Miller, However, it is also a small problem that can be resolved through negotiation.

Behind the scenes, Fili Raschel, Paul Wilson, Helena Espora, David Robbie and Jack Watson have no objections.

They are also aware of the importance of a mature and tacit production team to make a film.

So, once again, Miramax had Erica Steinberg as the producer of the project.

However, not all of them will be so smooth.

There have been some troubles with Bill Rothes' deal with Erica Steinberg over the pay of Murphy and others.

According to Murphy's budget and Miramax's estimates, the production investment of this project could not be less than 30 million US dollars, and even a film company of Miramax's level felt the pressure to invest such a large amount.

In particular, they have invested heavily in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill", but the film has been delayed again and again due to various relationships, and it has not yet been released, and the entire company's funding chain has been a little tight.

Even if it is possible to solve the partial system of funds through guò financing and pre-sale, Miramax also needs to invest a certain amount of start-up capital, and they inevitably have to reduce the upfront investment to reduce investment risks and financial pressure.

As a result, Miramax didn't want to pay Murphy, the director, and other actors an exorbitant base salary.

Especially Murphy, two consecutive films have grossed more than $50 million at the global box office, which can already make Bill Rothes shout to Miramax for a $5 million director's salary.

Such a salary will undoubtedly further push up the production cost of the film, which is a situation that Miramax does not want to see for Miramax, who has a tight financial chain, who needs to reduce the pressure and share the risk with the production team.

In Hollywood, the best way is to push this part of the cost into the post-production share, the film is not profitable, and the creative team does not get much paid.

Miramax only offered a base salary of $2 million, and Murphy had no objection to this, but told Bill Rothes to try his best to get the later share.

After two rounds of negotiations, the two sides quickly reached an agreement.

Murphy can get a base reward of $1 million each before and after the start of filming and after the film, and if the North American box office of Sin City exceeds the established cost line of $35 million in the future, he will receive a base reward of $1.5 million, and if the North American box office reaches $50 million, he will receive a $3 million share reward, $80 million is $4.5 million, and $100 million is $6 million.

This is only part of the sharing agreement, and with Bill Rothes's negotiations, Murphy will also participate in the film's peripheral dividends for the first time.

Under the agreement, Murphy will receive one percent of Sin City's North American television and videotape rights revenue, in addition to the union's mandatory percentage.

This proportion does not seem high, for example, if the first round of TV broadcast rights of the film is sold for millions of dollars, he can only get tens of thousands of dollars, but this is a long-term meal ticket, the film will not only be broadcast on the TV station for one round, the DVD is to count the rental and sales in it, that is to say, as long as the film is still alive, it may bring him income.

To exaggerate, even if he goes bankrupt and has no money one day, it will not even be a problem to eat.

As for the overseas box office, which Hollywood films are increasingly relying on these days, Murphy is not eligible to participate in the share for the time being.

Indeed, in order to reduce financial pressure and reduce risks, many crews will sign sharing agreements with even little-known actors and directors, but the parties to the agreement are not qualified enough, so they want to get a high proportion of shares, which can only be said to be a fool's dream.

Murphy knows very well that his road to Hollywood, which is constantly climbing, is step by step, not delusional.

After these negotiations, the crew was officially established, and Frank Miller also came to Los Angeles from New York to join the crew, but he is also a nominal director, and almost all the important positions of the crew are Murphy's long-term partners, even if he wants to do something, without Murphy's nod and agreement, he can't do it at all.

Of course, Murphy's film is based on a comic book style, and there is no conflict between the two sides.

And Frank Miller is not the kind of person who is more flamboyant than create contradictions.

In contrast, it was Harvey Weinstein's request for an actor that made Murphy more embarrassed and opposed. (To be continued.) )