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Burbank is known as the media capital of the world, and Warner Group's conjoined buildings are an important part of it, and Warner Bros. Pictures, one of Hollywood's traditional giants, is located in the middle.

Like any other Hollywood company, Warner Bros. produces a large number of films every year, and has the same strict censorship system, and every project that is to be established will have a professional team to analyze and review the script, determine the potential risks and market commercial value, and these considerations include the film category, the target audience, the table of previous similar films, the actors who may appear in the film, and the director who may direct the film.

All of these factors may affect the film's final commercial revenue.

Perhaps this does not guarantee the success of the film, but it minimizes the risk of investment.

After this series of procedures, Duke's "Death Island" was finally placed at the Warner Bros. high-level meeting.

It's quiet in the conference room, Jeff? Robinoff is having his secretary distribute a copy of the paper to CEOs Kevin? In the hands of Trasuha and many other executives, this is the information carefully prepared by the preliminary research team.

Even now, as long as he remembers that he once passed by a film project with a North American box office of more than 100 million, he will have a faint remorse in his heart, if he could have given that young man ten more minutes, maybe the project "Life and Death" would belong to Warner.

So, when Nancy? After Josephson delivered Death Island to Warner Bros., Jeff? Robinoff is also pushing for the audit process, while having his subordinates investigate Duke? Rosenberg's most detailed information.

The information was quickly sent, and someone had already opened it, and the first page was the director's evaluation.

In Hollywood, there is a set of procedural and even rigid evaluation systems for directors and actors.

The criteria for evaluating directors are the three numbers of works made in the past five years - total box office and single screen, single weekly box office - film companies generally use color to distinguish the grade of directors, blue for first-line directors, and red for directors who are not very good.

Therefore, it doesn't matter how much box office a director has had in the first 10 years, just watch the last 3 films, as long as the single screen exceeds 10,000 in a single week, then he is a first-line director.

Obviously, Duke, who has only one work, is not in the ranks, and Warner Bros. has marked him with a green color that represents great potential.

In general, Hollywood is no different from other commercial companies in North America, and they all use the number jù and commercial results to speak.

"There's one more piece of information that hasn't been put on the profile." Jeff? Robinoff spoke slowly, "My people found out, Nancy?" Shortly after Josephson delivered "Into Death Island" to major production companies, Duke? Rosenberg has two brief scripts for a science fiction film codenamed "DAY" and a war film codenamed "D-Day" in the Writers Guild, and while these don't say anything, I think we should probably include him in Quentin? Tastino or Stephen? Soderbergh is one of the most promising directors. ”

"I'll warn you." Executive Vice President Robert? Solomon suddenly said, "Twentieth Century Fox has already fought with Duke? Rosenberg opened negotiations. ”

"I have exact news." Jeff? Robinov didn't go to see Robert at all? Solomon, calmly, said, "Duke? Rosenberg's negotiations with Twentieth Century Fox are at an impasse, and this is a good opportunity for us to step in. ”

"Don't forget, he only has one work!" Robert? And the man beside Solomon said,

"This one and only work grossed $130 million in North America!" Another person suddenly said, "The global box office has exceeded $200 million!" How many such directors can you find in today's Hollywood? ”

Nothing is more convincing than the number of jù and the business results that have just been created.

"Our "Batman Returns" has just been released, and it will take time to recoup the funds." Robert? Solomon doesn't talk about the director himself, the results of "Life and Death" and the script of "Brave Island" are really good, these cannot be sufficient reasons for opposition, "The huge investment of "The End of the World" and "The Dragon in the Sky" have not yet been completed, and we lack sufficient cash flow in our hands. ”

"I've heard about a situation." Jeff? The corners of Romanov's mouth were slightly hooked, "Duke? Rosenberg wanted to bring money to his films, which would solve some of our funding problems. In addition, the AUG Film Fund in Malibu is also said to be interested in this project, and we can raise money from them. ”

"And I have another idea." He added, "Warner Bros. lacks a close-knit director, and if this film is as successful as 'Life and Death,' then Duke? Rosenberg's commercial potential is immeasurable, his next two works are bound to be sought-after, we can sign a 1+2 contract with him, "Death Island" is successful, we have the right of first refusal to invest in his next two works, if the market is not ideal, then we will give him up. ”

At the same time as Warner Bros. was holding a meeting, Nancy? Josephson walked into Duke's apartment, and the news that negotiations with Twentieth Century Fox had reached an impasse were actually deliberately released by her, after all, Duke is not an unqualified director, and he can also attract the attention of some investors.

"I've got freshly brewed coffee here."

Letting Nancy onto the couch in the living room, Duke stepped aside and took the coffee pot, "Want to try it?" ”

"Thank you." Nancy nodded.

Helping the guests fill their coffee, Duke turned his head to look at Sophia, who was flipping through the text? Coppola, "What about you?" ”

"No milk, no sugar." Sophia was also polite, "Thank you." ”

After the three of them drank half a cup of coffee, Duke sat across from Nancy and asked directly, "Let's talk about the negotiations." ”

"Twentieth Century Fox took this project more seriously than we expected." Nancy put down her coffee cup and took out a work-related attitude, "They agreed that you would be one of the producers at the same time, and that they would pay you a total of $5 million for your three positions as director, screenwriter and producer, and they also agreed that you would participate in the investment." ”

"Isn't that a good thing?" Duke asked curiously.

"But they have strings attached." Nancy's face was not good-looking, and it was obvious that Fox's offer annoyed her a little, "Fox intends to use their tax refund quota on this project, and the tax refund will not be counted in the film revenue, which means we can't share the millions of dollars." ”

Frowning slightly, Duke made a gesture of continuation, this condition is not uncommon in Hollywood, and it is certainly not a reason for Nancy to be annoyed.

"Fox wants to discount the publicity and distribution costs into the cost of the film......"

Publicity and distribution expenses are generally not included in the cost of the film, and if Fox counts this part of the distributor's advance expenses into the cost, it will definitely increase their investment ratio, thus diluting the earnings on Duke's side.

But that's not all, "Fox doesn't agree with our team of accountants getting involved in the film's future overseas distribution......"

"What do they want to do?"

Hearing this, Duke subconsciously asked, "Kick us out?" ”

If there is no special team of accountants to participate in the whole process, Twentieth Century Fox will overreport twice as little, and there has been a baptism of information explosion in the previous life, Duke knows very well that the discount cost of publicity is a means for Hollywood companies to deal with foreign investors.

Even in the future age of online information, Hollywood is notoriously opaque in auditing, using many methods such as concealing income, delaying payments, exaggerating costs, and obstructing audits to deceive foreign investors.

Yes, Twentieth Century Fox would not necessarily do this on this project, maybe they thought too much, but no one can pin this kind of thing on the conscience of capital.

You know, Hollywood even dares to cheat Wall Street's funds!

Nancy's words also reminded Duke of another Hollywood-related news he had seen, the most famous is Paramount's 'Melrose Platter Plan', which includes the investment of Wall Street giants such as Merrill Lynch, Allianz, and JPMorgan Chase, which were fooled by Paramount Tongguò with many means, and the two sides also went to court for this, but because of the complicated income of the film industry, the inability to accurately calculate the income from overseas publicity and distribution, and many other reasons, the lawsuit lasted for six years, and Wall Street could not get the desired result.

Can this group of people who even vampires dare to deceive, can they be expected to have a conscience?

If his team of accountants does not supervise the whole process, Duke is absolutely confident that after the end of this project, the accounts of Twentieth Century Fox will inevitably lose money!

But Duke also finds it strange that Hollywood often uses this trick against outside investors, but rarely targets the industry, especially Fox negotiates with senior industry insiders like Nancy.

"Fox didn't mean to kick you out, and don't forget, you didn't sign any deal with them." Nancy quickly cleared up his doubts, "Fox is bullish on the project's profitable prospects, and they don't want you to join the pie split. ”

"So, they increased my personal compensation." Duke immediately understood, "And then let me retreat in this way?" ”

"That's how it should be."

Seeing Nancy nodding, Duke thought for a moment and asked, "Townsend?" What about Rothman? What did he say? ”

"This is Townsend? Rothman himself spoke to me of the conditions. ”

Nancy's words also shattered Duke's only remaining illusion about Twentieth-Century Fox. Rothman admired him and supported "Life and Death" because it was in his and Fox's interests, and when he wanted to touch their interests, Townsend? Rothman immediately took sides.

"They're not worried about me giving up on cooperation?" Duke asked again.

"Why worry? None of the other companies have come out with news that they want to set up a project, and they have no competitors for the time being. Nancy looked at Duke and said lightly, "Don't forget, you're not an A-list director, and they're Twentieth Century Fox!" ”