CBS contacted the distributor at this time, and Levy was not surprised: it was almost May, the TV series was due to renew the contract, and Leslie was also courting - and even Levi suspected that this guy had already made all the preparations and deliberately waited until now to say it. And being able to find a large company like Universal to issue it, Levy is also quite satisfied.

Levy has always wanted to find a larger distribution company because the film is a political film. The classification of political films is always difficult to define. Such a movie, although there are no violent and pornographic scenes, is not suitable for children to watch, so how should it be rated? Theoretically, in the movie Eavesdropping Storm, there are no such things as sex, drugs, and violence. There is no swear word in the whole article, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the G rating, but the United States is also quite sensitive to some elements, and it is impossible for such a subject to be unregulated, and the flexibility of the review is very large, so the publisher is very important, and finding a good distribution company may be able to get PG-13, and it is not impossible to find a poor distribution company, NC-17.

Although Levy doesn't care much about the box office, as a director, he certainly wants his films to be watched by more people. If an NC-17 is set, then the movie is estimated to be released on a small scale, and the moviegoers will become a small group of people. Levy, of course, could not accept it. Only by finding a big distribution company can you make your film have a better situation, this Levy knows very well.

In addition, Universal said that the cost of the promotion and distribution of the movie is 5 million. It's a bit low, but your movie isn't going for the box office, so it's about the same. ”

The publicity and distribution cost of a movie is generally about half of the film production cost, and for Levy's movie, Universal only gave 5 million publicity and distribution costs, which is indeed a bit small.

However, Universal is relatively well prepared.

"When you go to Germany to film, there will be a special film crew with you, shoot all kinds of tidbits, interview you, and at the same time, they will release enough news that can arouse interest and arouse the audience's interest according to the script. Of course, you also need to edit some good clips for them in the early stage, and they will arrange for professional magazines to watch your films, and the magazines will give you reviews...... You know what that means, right? ”

"A large audience." Levy shrugged, how could he not know this? That's what his family did.

"The five million propaganda expenses are used for this. Dedicated reporters follow the shooting, ready to break the news you need to break the news, promote your filmmaking process, and contact the media at the same time, five months in advance for monthly magazines, six weeks in advance for weekly magazines, and ten days in advance for daily magazines - all of which cost a lot of money. And that's only part of the story. After the film is made, you have to think about how to hold a test screening, how to do publicity, arrange for the actors to go on a talk show, arrange various activities, and after the film is released, you also have to think about which film festival the film should participate in, and which award is likely to be won - all these things require considerable effort. Leslie and Levy said, "Universal has arranged the most thoughtful publicity system for your film, and it will definitely meet the needs." ”

It should be possible, Levy nodded, admiring in his heart. Universal is a big company, and it does a really good job in this regard. How to promote a movie, Levy is not particularly adept. He only knew that the celebrities did the propaganda and the publicity part of the magazine, but he didn't know that behind this, there were so many hands and feet. The publicity and distribution of the film is not post-production, and the publicity and distribution of the film begins to follow from the beginning of the shooting - the box office of the big-budget film is high, because the publicity intensity is completely different.

In fact, what Levy doesn't know is that this is still a small scale of his own film shooting, if the scale is larger, and Levy's fame is enough, then, maybe there will be a start-up ceremony, find a few people to cheer, and after the shooting, you will also invite some top directors to watch, create public opinion, and make the film strong, during the filming process, the publicity agency will also contact the placement of advertising, the film screening stage, and also promote in the paper media, TV media, and network media. Coupled with the connection of spin-offs after the end of the movie, these are all publicity and distribution work - however, this movie was not made by Universal Investment, and Universal itself does not think that this movie has any derivative products to speak of, so they do not attach importance to this aspect.

Levy had seen too little of these means and measures before: in his previous life, he had only made commercials in China, and had never made real movies. Moreover, the domestic publicity and distribution market is not doing well. After all, the domestic propaganda and distribution is recognized as appearing from Director Feng in 1998, with a total of less than 20 years of development, and the gap in experience is too big. For this kind of meticulous and thoughtful arrangement, Levy can only admire.

Levy was already very satisfied with these, he nodded, and then remembered something and asked, "Online publicity, has it been launched together?" ”

"Online publicity? On some of the most visited websites, we also advertise. However, I hope you don't have too much hope for this, to attract audiences, you still have to rely on paper media and television networks, and the publicity of the Internet is much worse. ”

Levy froze for a moment, then nodded. Also, it's only 1997, there is no Facebook, no Google, no Rotten Tomatoes, not even MSN, Yahoo is newly established, this time period, network marketing, is indeed unrealistic. In contrast, the paper media has its own readers, and there are still people who are willing to buy tickets to watch movies according to the comments of some media.

And mentioning this, Levy also thought about the review site that he and Bruce had talked about, and I don't know why, and there has been no movement until now. I'm too busy making movies now, and after a while, I have to talk to him.

And now...... Now that everything is ready, the rest is to turn it on.

And the propaganda agency was launched from this time.

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When May comes, the annual TV drama season has come to an end.

In this year, people's biggest harvest is naturally CSI. The professional case-solving methods of this TV series, the shooting method of multiple clues going hand in hand, coupled with realistic props and well-documented crime methods, have attracted a lot of audiences, which makes this TV series one of the highest-rated TV series this year.

And the last episode of this TV series is undoubtedly very satisfying: Quentin, who has always been obsessed with heavy tastes, personally supervised the filming of the last two episodes.

However, at this time, a news came out: CSI will be adjusted from the next season, the original TV series producer Nicholas Levi will leave CSI, and the producer will be replaced by screenwriter Robert Richmond.

As soon as this news came out, it immediately caused an uproar.

"Why change producers for a hit TV series? Isn't that a very strange thing? "In the media, there was soon some discussion - generally speaking, if a TV series becomes a hit drama, the producer can sit still and make money every day, as long as he is not stupid, who has no reason to give up this income. CSI has only been doing it for one season, and the income is at its highest, so what did the producer remember and suddenly quit?

Is the production company under pressure from CBS? I heard that they are a small company, it seems very likely!

The commotion between the companies, regardless of the audience's business. However, changing the producer often means that the overall idea of the TV series has changed. CSI has just started to change producers, does it mean that this TV series will change its taste?

"Whatever the reason, this decision sucks."

The audience interviewed directly made this evaluation: CSI is so popular now, many TV companies are thinking about producing the same type of psychological crime analysis, bone analysis, micro-expression analysis and other TV series, as the first TV series of this kind, CSI suddenly announced a replacement, which is simply unacceptable. Fans of the show kept calling and asking the reason for this, and for a while, CBS was a lot busier.

And at this time, a new news came out.

"Mr. Levy is going to make a movie with Oscar winner Kevin Spacey." According to a person inside the CBS, the news quickly spread, "Mr. Levy has already received the appreciation and friendship of director Quentin when he was filming CSI, and he is also shooting TV As for his own conception of the movie, the film is very good, Spacey is willing to take a pay cut to star, and in order to make a better film, in order to pursue art, Mr. Levy decided to quit his job as a producer at CSI." ”

This news surprised many people: will this producer still direct? also got Oscar's salary cut to join? And he gave up the opportunity to make money in order to pursue art? What kind of movie can be so important? What is the name of this movie?

"It's called Eavesdropping Storm -- and now, the film is already being filmed."