Although Vladimir was just a sentence, Sean immediately understood, and then grinned, this is indeed a troublesome thing.

Remember the Hollywood-style ledger mentioned earlier? And what Vladimir asked for at the beginning, actually giving Miramax 20% of the issuance commission, but should 40% of the matter be written on the books? If you count the North American box office, Zuihou can have 1. 500 million, at present, they can get 60% of the box office, then it is 90 million, and then deduct 36 million distribution commissions from it, Miramax only has 18 million, and the remaining 18 million is naturally divided by Sean, Vladimir and the financial director who does the accounting.

In addition, the same is true of the 10 million publicity expenses on the books, deducting the actual 2.5 million expenses - even if 3 million is actually spent, there is still 7 million to share. In short, before the net profit comes out, divide it into your own pocket as much as possible, and then try to make a balance on the books.

But the problem is that there are too many profits this time, even if the above is deducted one by one, and then the book cost of 5 million is written as 10 million, there is still a box office of more than 40 million, so what should I do next? Copy Processing? Insurance, shipping, local taxes? Or customs clearance, parking fees, cheque cashing?

Well, even if you barely make the 40 million account, what about the overseas box office? Sean originally expected 100 million, even if the lowest 30% share, that is 30 million, isn't it? Well, maybe we have to continue to write the issuance commission as a 40% account, as well as deducting various publicity costs and taxes, but there is still a leftover, right?

Well, take a step back, even if the previous profits have been successfully made into accounts, what if the box office continues to rise? After all, what Sean didn't know was that in his previous life, this movie got 2 in North America. With a box office of 400 million US dollars, if it is said that under such amazing results, compared with the cost of 5 million, the actors still can't share the money, and the production company can still only break even...... When everyone is stupid?

If there really is such a day, don't worry, these actors and directors will definitely join forces to sue Samsara Pictures and Sean in court. This is not impossible, in the previous life, the company responsible for the distribution of "My Grand Greek Wedding" played like this, and played even harder, not only breaking even, but also losing 20 million, which is simply despising everyone's IQ, so Hanks led the production team and fought a lawsuit with the other party, although Zuihou settled out of court, but the result is needless to say.

The original "My Grand Greek Wedding" was produced by about three or four companies, and although some were leather bag companies, it was relatively easy to get started. But now it is Sean funded alone, produced by a company of Reincarnation Pictures, and if you want to do this, you will definitely be looking for death.

So, it's really depressing, just a year ago, Sean and Vladimir were discussing in this office that there is no net profit, and the movies that can generate net profits are less than 5% a year in Hollywood, but I didn't expect that now my film has become a minority in the 5%.

When did the box office become a bother?

"Is ledger hard to do?" Sean asked casually.

"If you want to do it, you can do it." Vladimir gave such an answer.

Sean suddenly laughed dryly, and after a while, he sighed: "Give me a plan to control the net profit at about 20 million." ”

He is not a standard capitalist after all, and he doesn't have much background and strength in Hollywood at present, if he wants to change to a big studio, or even just a medium-sized company, the choice he makes is very simple, these actors are not famous, even if they really sue, they won't have too many waves, and this will be a protracted lawsuit.

Like in a previous life, if not one of the producers was Tom? Hanks, his interests have also been harmed, just Nia? Will they be able to sue the distribution company successfully?

However, Sean still has a bottom line, and he has not been able to smooth out some of the edges and corners of his two lives, otherwise he would not have simply run away from home more than two years ago. So, since you've earned enough benefits, it's not a problem to take it out and share it, and you can also shape your own image, isn't it?

So, he quickly added: "Of course, if necessary, I will personally take out some profits to make up for their dividends." ”

"As you wish." Vladimir originally frowned, but after hearing this, he stretched a little.

"What's next?" Sean then asked again.

"Regarding the release of the DVD, although the movie has not yet been released, people have already come to contact us." Vladimir said, "Weinstein also asked us. ”

"What about your opinion?" Sean looked at him.

"If you can inject more money, we can distribute it ourselves," Vladimir explained, "and if a popular movie is to be released on DVD, the various channels will make it up on their own, and the producer usually only gets 20% of the royalty from the DVD revenue, and the remaining 80% is mostly the distributor's profit, and it is a long-term income, so we don't need to find another company." ”

"No problem, at present, I have received more than 5 million shares, which is just time to invest in the company for expansion." Sean didn't hesitate at all, and Vladimir's brow stretched a little again.

"Anything else?" Sean asked again after the clapping, and his intuition told him that the other party must have something else to say.

"Yes, a very important thing," Vladimir sat up straight, his eyes sharper, as if now was the main topic, and the past half of the day was a waste of time, "Until now, I believe no one will deny the success of "My Grand Greek Wedding", which is a very good start for Samsara Pictures, so, what are you going to do next?" ”

Sean, who was expected, raised his eyebrows and did not give an answer at the first time, he knew what the other party was asking, so he was quite embarrassed. There is no doubt that Vladimir is a very competent general manager, who always handles the things assigned to him and gives his opinion appropriately. And once the boss's request and his own opinion are to the left, after persuasion, if the boss is unmoved, he will not insist.

Of course, it is not excluded that he has the idea of "whatever you want, this is your company anyway", but overall, he is still doing a good job. Therefore, if Sean really wants to develop his production company, then it is necessary to keep him, and the most important thing in the 21st century is talent.

Therefore, if you can't give a satisfactory answer to the other party, it is not so easy to keep him.

"What if I want to expand?" After thinking about it for a few minutes, Sean asked directly, this is one of his good qualities, if he doesn't understand, he asks, and he doesn't necessarily put on a look that I know everything, but I just don't say it, that will only make him look very shallow - except, of course, my father.

Therefore, being honest at this time can gain the favor of the other party, and Sean is not the kind of person who has to control everything in his hands.

A look of appreciation flashed in Vladimir's eyes: "To what extent?" ”

"You don't have to think about the level of the eight major Hollywood companies, but the film companies of New Line, Miramax and Lionsgate still have the opportunity to do it." Sean thought for a moment and said.

"Lionsgate?" Vladimir was slightly surprised.

"Any questions?" Sean was a little puzzled.

Although he knew that there was a Lionsgate film company in his previous life, and he vaguely knew that this film company was developing well, he didn't know that Lionsgate was nothing at the moment, if it wasn't for the acquisition of a Telmark holding company by way of share exchange in October last year, and got the company's library of 650 films, I'm afraid it wouldn't even be a film company at the end of the second line, let alone compared with New Line and Miramax.

"As it happens, I know a little bit about the situation at Lionsgate, so I'll give you a brief introduction to their development process." Vladimir didn't say anything more about this, but told about the current development of Lionsgate.

Since it is a simple introduction, it naturally does not take much time, and the development process of Lionsgate is also not complicated, which can be summed up in one word: financing!

Lionsgate was founded in '97 and officially established itself in Hollywood with "American Psycho", but the development after that was not very smooth, and several films that were invested in failed and even put up for sale in the summer of '99, but because there were too many debts, no one wanted them, so the founder Frank? Gusta had to find a way to raise money to combat the risks and continue to grow.

Gusta is a Canadian banker with a wide range of connections, so after a lot of effort, he finally attracted a lot of funds from famous investors, and among the $33 million raised in the form of preferred stock in December '99, there was one of the founders of Microsoft, Paul? Allen, SBS Broadcasting, and Fidelity Investments.

Then, a year later, he again obtained a loan of $200 million from JP Morgan, National Bank of Canada and other investment institutions, and with this funding, he successfully acquired Trimark Holdings, and owned a large film library.

Don't underestimate the role of the film library, the size of a film company's film library can sometimes determine the rise and fall of the company. After all, making a movie is a gamble after all, and maybe the film company can use many methods to avoid losses, and even make money back before filming starts, but that is only a minority compared to the movies produced by Hollywood as a whole.

Therefore, if once you encounter a huge loss, the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars is only 20 or 30 million box office, then there will be no more accounting, and the film company will inevitably be crumbling, the simplest example, if "Titanic" did not sell well two years ago, 20th Century Fox may be going into bankruptcy proceedings.

But if there is a rich enough film library, the film library will generate profits every year, as long as the videotapes and DVDs are still bought, and if necessary, they can also be mortgaged to the bank in exchange for the necessary loans, maybe not 100% insurance, but the film company with a large enough film library will inevitably have a greater ability to resist risks.

"Therefore, if a film company wants to develop, it must have a more complete department, more film library, and better talents, and if you want to do this, you need more funds, so financing is very necessary for the development of the company." Vladimir Zuihou said.