After Adjani and Washington both expressed their willingness to shoot Levy's film, the third person in Levy's film was finally selected at this time.

To Levy's surprise, after Clark was selected, the actor he chose turned out to be Mark, who had just finished filming Levy's movie. Ruffalo.

"In the movie, this person is required not to be too handsome, and he must have some weak scientist temperament. Ruffalo's image and temperament are very suitable, and I think he is the right fit. ”

Clark also put forward his own opinion on this character. And his opinion, Levy also believes that it is basically correct.

It's just that this casting can be said to be a lot worse than the other two well-known protagonists. Needless to say, Washington is the new actor, Adjani is also a figure who has been famous for many years, a French national treasure-level actor, and compared with them, Ruffalo's reputation is much worse.

"I hope the audience doesn't think that our movies are about saving money."

In this regard, Levy also laughed with Clark, and in this regard, Clark only smiled, "Our movies are not short of money, what kind of money can we save?" ”

This is not true at all: before the film started, Levy thought it was very likely that he would be short of money. He specially prepared that if the funds for the film were not in place, then he would pay for the film at his own expense.

However, what surprised Levy was that he originally thought that it would cost a lot of money to shoot such a blockbuster, but in the process of preparation, he found that the production of this movie cost much less than he imagined.

In other words, what he didn't expect was that when this movie was filmed, it basically didn't cost money.

The reason for this is because of the money for filming the movie. Relying on tax refunds, pre-sale of distribution rights, and advertising placement, the cost can already be recovered, and not only the cost can be recovered, but even a slight surplus.

"Our film went through the usual process, with German investors and British actors, and the filming location was in Canada. So we can enjoy tax refunds in three countries at the same time. With the tax rebates from these three countries, we can already recover half of our expenses. ”

When Alexander was at Levy's place, when he took out the basic income situation, Levy also felt a little surprised. He used to know that tax rebates were one of the important sources of income for films, but he didn't expect such a big gap.

Many countries are able to enjoy tax rebates when filming films, which Levy is very clear. Germany, for example, requires that it be invested in its own country. The United Kingdom can use its own actors, while countries such as Canada can only film in their own country. These requirements are set by these countries in order to promote the development of their own films - South Korea, for example, their tax rebate is as high as 30%. It's to promote the development of films.

But in practice, these methods often allow the film industry in other countries to find opportunities to make money. For example, because there is no tax rebate here for Chinese films. Therefore, in order to enjoy the tax rebate subsidy of the Korean government, many Chinese films do seek cooperation from Koreans. It seems that Korean cinema has developed all of a sudden. has conquered China's film market, but in fact, it is equivalent to the government paying money to help the development of the film industry.

And when Chinese films do this, it's not just in South Korea. In Levy's memory, many Chinese films have to be involved in foreign countries, go abroad to film, either Europe or the United States to go around, this approach, some people seem to be playing with the mood, but in fact, they are all very realistic, in order to enjoy tax refunds.

And it's not just China that's doing this, it's the United States as well. Compared with other countries, the tax refund policy in the United States is not very good now. In 2002, there were only 5 states in the United States that had tax refund bills, which is too small compared to the 44 states in Levy's memory that they enacted corresponding bills in the future. The film industry in the United States is too developed, which makes them lack a sense of competition, and the tax rebates are not as large as those given by other countries. And this has also prompted many American movies to be shot abroad.

It's the same with Levy's films: he chose Vancouver as the main location he chose to shoot, largely for tax refunds. Canada's own film subsidy is already as high as 16%, and British Columbia itself has its own subsidy, making the tax rebate here as high as 55%, saving a lot of film costs.

Moreover, Vancouver also knows that this advantage can attract foreigners to make movies, and they also have a very good film shooting environment here, with a variety of studios and facilities, which is one of the reasons why Levy chose this place.

At the same time, of course, the film was filmed in England, some actors were found, and at the same time an investment company was found in Germany - in fact, it was a leather bag company, and the legal process was gone through - after these means, the investment in the film can be said to have come back halfway.

"On the German side, the tax rebate brought to us is about 10 million, and the British tax refund is more, that is, more than 10 million. And in Canada, we enjoy a 55% tax refund, so if we spend 100 yuan here, they will refund us 55 yuan - with this money, our funds are basically no longer to worry. ”

With a simple calculation, you can get the investment problem of the film. From Germany and the United Kingdom, this film can already get back more than 20 million funds, and shooting in Canada can directly save half of the money, so to speak, the investment in this film is basically not much.

And, that's not all.

When a movie is being filmed, if it is a literary film, it is always troublesome to find someone to release it. One of the Weinstein brothers' business around the world is to buy other people's copyrights at a low price and then distribute them through their own channels, thus making a fortune.

Literary films are not very profitable, and those distribution companies are not very willing to distribute these films. Although art is a good thing, people still set up companies to make money.

Because people have such a need, when a blockbuster movie is filmed, it's completely different.

"Now, our film has been pre-sold to Japan, the United Kingdom, and France. Companies in Germany, Italy, Spain and other places, they gave us a total of 65 million dollars, and with this money, we don't have to worry too much about the cost of our films. ”

As a commercial film with a large investment and production, there is no need to worry about distribution. Naturally, they can contact publishers in the U.S., but all over the world. They also don't have to worry about distribution. Blockbusters are not worried about the box office, which also makes distributors around the world scramble to buy the distribution rights of the film.

Of course, such a result is also that the mystery company has made more than one blockbuster. They have enough experience and enough ability to make good films, which is what people believe that people will compete for the distribution rights of their films. If it's a film company that has never only made a blockbuster, you want to get funding like this. But it's impossible.

It can be said that the seeds that were planted before have now sprouted.

And with these channels for profit, in this way. The movie hasn't been made yet, but the money has all been returned. And from then on, both at the box office, around. Or CDs, it's all extra income.

And some of these aspects can be seen now: for example. At the pay TV station, some people have already expressed their willingness to spend 7 million to buy the right to broadcast Levy's movies on the pay station.

For a blockbuster, no matter how much the investment is, it is only about 100 million. And through these means, the movie can already recover its cost, and even some exceed. With the advent of the blockbuster era, in addition to the fact that movies are well-made and can earn more box office, these ways of earning money are undoubtedly also an important aspect.

In the 90s, the box office accounted for 30% of commercial film revenue, but in the 21st century, this proportion has dropped to 10% or even 5%, relying on this kind of additional income.

And that's just the normal income of the festival, and if you are willing to sell some of it, then the income may be better - for example, crazy advertising in movies, which is one of the methods that many people use to make money.

At the time of the filming of this movie, many people also sent cooperation intentions, hoping to use some of their products in the movie. These sponsorship contracts also earn a lot of money, and if they all agree to it, then it is also a lot of money.

Of course, it's unlikely that they'll all agree to it: after all, these sponsorships are very conflicting in their own right, but by agreeing to some of them, they can bring some revenue to the film.

It's just that only Alexander was happy about this, and Levy expressed some opinion about it.

"Alex, don't just think about collecting money, we have to think about the quality of the movie. Some things can be added to the movie, some can't. When making a movie, you always have to think about the identity of the characters, what kind of objects they should use, and the overall composition and color. ”

For shoehorning advertisements into movies, Levy is still quite disgusted. He didn't reject them all, but he was still very cautious when choosing.

What he wants to shoot is, after all, a movie, not a sensationalism. He doesn't care about anything in order to make money, and he can't do it yet. Showing off fashionable clothes, luxury cars, and famous watches in the movie, he thinks these things are too much to ruin the plot. And adding too many things that don't fit the characters in the movie, he can't allow it.

After all, his movie is not a movie like 007-007, you can add all kinds of advertisements, beautiful women, famous watches and suits, all of which are necessary for 007, but Levy is filming a scientist who plays games, a policeman who solves crimes, and an old woman who recalls the past.

He didn't want to shoot the virtue of being a Transformer, which made the audience complain.

What he wants is a movie with good word-of-mouth and box office. (To be continued......)