For Harry, he can remember the scene at this banquet for quite some time. And for Levy, this high-minded talk has brought some benefits to himself.

His comments at the banquet had quickly reached the ears of others. The next day, Alexander brought him the news: ABC had allocated $200,000 for Levy to write a script for an episode to turn in.

This is of course Adam's help, but it is also inseparable from Levy's own efforts: being able to directly get him to write the episode script instead of the outline, ABC, obviously trusts Levy. The production method of TV dramas in the United States is very cumbersome: the production of a TV series is divided into multiple steps, and Levy also knows some of these things.

When a person has an idea, he can submit his idea to the production company, and if the production company can approve it, it will allocate about $10,000 and ask for an outline. This outline is about five pages, once the money is taken and the manuscript is submitted, it is equivalent to signing a contract, and this outline is considered to be a finalized contract, theoretically the idea is not allowed to be given to others. Generally speaking, the four major TV networks can receive tens of thousands of ideas from various production companies a year, and about one-tenth of these ideas are required to write an outline, and the rest have no meaning in writing an outline, and are directly eliminated and brushed off. For those 9,000 copies, their creativity can't be exchanged for a penny at all.

And every year, TV networks start screening TV dramas for next year long before the broadcast season arrives. Generally speaking, 10,000 creatives, the production company will screen it first, and the TV company will receive about 1,000 outline drafts from each production company, and then the TV network will screen it again, and screen about 100 usable ones, and then ask the production company to write detailed episode scripts of these drafts. And the remaining 900 copies, the income of those authors, that is, the 10,000 dollars of the outline, and the next income will be gone.

At this time, the production company will make some additional investment in the script of their choice, and ask the original author to provide an episode script. Generally, it doesn't take too much, just a few episodes. For this script, the producer will give a fee of about 100,000 US dollars, which is the second income. Then, these episode scripts are written and submitted to the TV company, which screens out about 30 of the 100 episode scripts that they think are well written, and places an order for a preview episode. And the remaining seventy servings, that's it. These scripts may be treasured by the TV company and used when it is convenient to take them out, but in general, there are too few who have that kind of luck. For the 70 scripts that were brushed off this time, 100,000 US dollars is their income.

It was only at this point that a TV series really began to be produced. It is adopted by the TV company and the order is placed, and the producer will pay some money to produce the TV series. Of course, this money is not necessarily much, it is generally between 2 million and 4 million, if it is a 20-minute sitcom, it is only about 1 million, and if it is a well-made TV series on a pay desk, then give a little more. This money is already very small in the production of TV dramas, and the production costs of many American dramas are extremely high, for example, the production cost of the emergency room story reached $13 million per episode in the later stage, and in the later stage, the salary of the leading actors in an episode alone is 1 million for each leading actor, and the production fee of 2 million to 4 million is the cost of the new drama.

However, fortunately, American dramas have the characteristics of American dramas, most American dramas are only willing to use newcomers, and rarely use actors who are popular at the beginning, and there are not many actors who are very expensive from the beginning of filming, so a lot of good films can be shot with an investment of 2 million.

Then, after the first episode is filmed, it will be piloted on a TV company. After the internal trial broadcast, the TV network will see if it meets its own needs, and also let the advertisers see if they are willing to insert advertisements when such a TV series is broadcast. According to the requirements of TV networks and advertisers, only about 10 of the 30 pilot movies can pass and complete this level, then the TV company will order half a year's TV series for half a quarter, and start broadcasting until November. And the remaining 20 are equivalent to working in vain. If the producer has a good way, he can also try to find someone else to buy these TV series and continue filming. However, it is difficult to find someone else willing to take over, and if no one takes over, then the TV series will not be able to continue filming. Many actors will mention in their resumes that they have filmed such and such a TV series, but unfortunately it was not released, which refers to this situation.

At this point, it is a big blow to both the TV series producers and the actors. Some companies have been in a slump since then, and some actors have been considered the main reason for the failure of the series because of their bad movies, and their acting careers have been greatly affected since then - after all, it is already 2 million funds, which will already affect many people's lives.

And even the ten films that are successfully screened are unlikely to have a good fate. These ten films are only booked for half a season, and after half a season, they will have to look at the market research report in November, and if the ratings are not successful, they will be cut on the spot. If the ratings are successful, the whole season of orders will arrive. And after the end of the first season, whether there will be a next season depends on how the ratings of the whole season are. The ratings are good, renew for another season, and if they are not good, cut them on the spot.

10,000 copies of creativity seems like a lot, but in the end, the TV series that can really be released and stay and successfully continue to the second season is actually a year, and there are not two or three TV stations in total. Some people think that the quality of American TV dramas is high, but they don't know that the quality is high because they are all picked out one by one. This one-in-a-million approach is very harsh, behind a successful American drama, there are countless people who fall on it, and such a mechanism makes American dramas have many high-quality dramas.

Although it seems that the cost is not small, in fact, the loss of the TV company is not large. Hollywood's big companies, even mostly, like to throw money into TV series production rather than small-budget film production. The reason is also very simple, with the support of the TV network behind it, a TV series that costs tens of millions of dollars to produce will not lose money, but a low-cost movie of the same level may be difficult to recover its cost.

For a TV network like NBC, in a year, the advertising cost alone is as much as 20 billion. ABC is the same thing, it seems that in order to expand the new drama, they lost tens of millions at once, as if they were going to lose money, but among these 10,000 ideas, as long as there is a TV series at the level of "Law and Order" and "Emergency Room Story", then they can make a lot of money. On the one hand, they are indeed gambling on their eyesight, but on the other hand, they dare to gamble because the huge difference between income and expenditure can be said to be disproportionate. Lose more than 10 million a year, but it is possible to successfully get a good drama and return to the cost, why not bet? In fact, 60% of the annual income of the four major TV networks through TV dramas is used to produce new dramas, and they are quite concerned about the production of TV dramas.

After all, the American television network has been in business for many years, and Americans already have their own experience in how to make money and how to operate. From the beginning of a script, they have all kinds of analyses, all kinds of market assessments. Whether a TV series is good or bad, everything is pursued with the highest ratings, such a detailed planning and arrangement, which can ensure that the income of the TV station is maximized, is the product of years of experience.

In his previous life, Levy had learned more or less about this. At that time, he compared the TV dramas of the two countries: unlike the United States, the domestic film and television industry, the investment in the production of new TV series only accounted for 10% of the total income of TV dramas. Many people complain that domestic TV dramas are not good-looking and boring, saying that the Chinese people are not as good as the United States -- in fact, it is not the talent that is exhausted, but the money.

Compared with China, the United States has greater benefits and greater competitive pressure, and it is not easy to stand out from 10,000 ideas. But fortunately, Levy is a second-generation person, and he still has some privileges.

With Adam's concerns and a family background that has been mixed up in Hollywood for generations, he doesn't have to think about starting from scratch. ABC asked him to write the episode script directly, which was equivalent to telling him that he didn't need to think about the previous creative review and outline issues, and wrote the episode script directly, and ABC guaranteed that someone would buy it and guarantee that it would be sold for money.

Skipping the first two steps, Levy is not surprised: the first step of reviewing ideas is nothing more than brushing off those whimsical, self-conscious outsiders, and there are some things that are impossible to shoot at all. The second step is to review the outline to see if the story is worth investing in and whether there is a need to shoot, to put it bluntly, these two levels are stuck in the layman's game. Since Levy is an acting family, then, he will not be unclear about the way of script production, since he is not a layman, then he can start directly from the third level.

There are also many cases of producing American dramas in this way, generally speaking, it is the privilege of those who have connections, in his previous life, Levy could only sigh that he did not have enough power to let himself have this privilege, and he was also disgusted by this privilege, but now, he ...... Who is disgusted by their own privileges?

Relying on the support of his own connections, Adam directly helped him win the qualification to write an episode script for review. Having a good father is not without benefits, and after years of hard work, in exchange for his change from one in 10,000 contributors to one percent of contributors, the probability of passing has greatly improved.

Although the allocation of 200,000 yuan is just a small amount of money for a TV company, it is really a lot for people who live in Hollywood. What's more, there is a bigger opportunity behind this, if the review is passed, what you can get is millions of fees for the filming of the first episode, and more, it may make him famous in one fell swoop.

And whether he can become famous or not depends on his own performance.

However, performance has never been a concern for Levy. When Alexander came to the door with money and a few friends, Levy already had a rough outline of how to shoot the TV series.

"Nick, 200,000 -- we have 200,000 now." As soon as he entered the door, Alexander shouted loudly with great excitement, "This is the largest revenue since the establishment of our company!" ”

"This is our first income, right? Even a dollar is the biggest income...... Moreover, this is not what we earned, Disney is just stupid, and it will not offend a senior member less than a month before the Oscars. Clark glanced at Alexander, with a slight disdain, "200,000 is cheaper than buying a page to write a movie review, which is not a great thing." ”

"Clark, don't say that, 200,000 is nothing, but if you put it in our hands, it's different." Levy opened his mouth to stop their arguing, "200,000 is not much, but it's enough for us to write a script, right?" With this start-up capital, we have the capital for development, and ABC gives us an opportunity, how can money measure such an opportunity? ”

Unlike his peers, Levi knows the value of opportunity. In my previous life, I always complained that I didn't have enough opportunities. In this life, I have enough opportunities for anyone to look at him. Such a good opportunity, coupled with his own talent and knowledge, on this big stage in 1996, he had room to play.

"So, let's get started - it's time to perform!"