Because of the system, in addition to a few well-known film companies in the United States, there are other large and small film companies, and it is estimated that even the department in charge of registration does not know the specific number, and Hollywood almost every day has film companies that go out of business, and new film companies are opened.

These film companies may be just a shell company, with only one boss inside and out, not even a camera, and Lei Weidong doesn't know what to do.

The bigger ones may be those studios run by stars or independent filmmakers, and there is no shooting equipment, except for the boss, there may be one or two waiters and operators, and the pure purpose of these studios is also very simple, that is, to serve the boss.

The main purpose of the main service is the boss's tax problem, in the United States, the personal income tax is very high, as far as celebrities are concerned, if they are filming and advertising in their personal names, then the money earned belongs to the income from labor remuneration, and according to the value of the star, they have to pay 40% of the individual income tax.

Half of the money earned by everyone's ability is handed over to the country in vain, and no one is willing to leave it on anyone!

That's where the role of the studio comes in!

Celebrities undertake advertising, filming and other businesses in the name of the studio, so that the personal "income from labor remuneration" is transformed into a unique "business income".

Just by converting, you will pay a lot less tax, and high-income groups in the entertainment industry are naturally willing to open private studios.

Companies that are a little bigger than the studio are those independent film companies, which are more formal, have fixed assets, and although they can't invest in big productions because of financial problems, they can still produce art films with small investments.

In Hollywood, there are the most such film companies, including Lei Weidong's MSI Film Company, which belongs to this type of company, and most of the hundreds or even thousands of Hollywood movies every year are produced by these companies.

Of course, because of the low investment, the quality must be a problem, and most of the films made can't enter the theaters, even if they can enter more than a dozen theaters, dozens of theaters for a few days, and then enter the video tape market.

In the larger film companies are the film companies with distribution capabilities, there are not many such film companies in Hollywood, they belong to the second and third tier of Hollywood film companies, because of their abundant funds, in addition to shooting independent films, they also have the ability to invest in big productions, among which the best is the later DreamWorks, which almost broke through the second tier to become a new generation of Hollywood giants, but unfortunately fell short in the end.

Giant Lion Film Company belongs to this category, it is a medium-sized film company that integrates shooting and distribution, of course, it cannot be compared with the later DreamWorks, Giant Lion Film Company is in Hollywood, in the lower third tier position.

Giant Lion Film Company has not been established for a long time, only more than two years.

It is said that the boss William was originally in the real estate business and was a famous real estate tycoon, and he had nothing to do with movies. However, in 1975, after watching a lot of movies "Jaws", William began to become interested in movies.

Mainly attracted by the high returns of "Jaws", it is said that the investment in "Jaws" is less than 10 million US dollars.

The global box office alone is close to 480 million US dollars, and if you count the videotapes and some peripheral products, it is enough to make dozens of times the profit.

In contrast, William himself worked hard to do real estate, and the maximum return a year was only tens of millions of dollars. This movie is equivalent to working on it for several years, and the investment is not very much, even if tens of millions of dollars are lost, it will have no impact on themselves.

So at the end of 75, William opened his own film company, because he was not bad for money and had status.

William positioned his film company very high at the beginning, directly invested more than 10 million US dollars to buy equipment, and in order to make the film good distribution, William also set up a distribution company when he established the film company, and used his connections to directly sign distribution agreements with several theaters and about 200 movie theaters.

It can be said that everything is ready and only owes Dongfeng, as long as the movie is made, it can be screened to make money.

It's a pity that the ideal is beautiful and the reality is cruel, with William's large investment, the movie was made quickly, but as soon as it was released, it rushed to my grandmother's house and lost a lot of money.

However, William's family has a big business, and this money is just a drizzle for him, so he should pay tuition, and after comforting the company's employees, William made persistent efforts to continue to invest money in making movies, not only making some small-budget movies, but also investing tens of millions of dollars to shoot blockbusters.

At the same time, Giant Lion Film Company also used its own company's distribution ability to distribute some films to earn distribution fees.

It's a pity that I don't know if it's luck or vision, the low-budget films made by Lionsgate can only guarantee the capital and make no money, and when the blockbuster that invested tens of millions of dollars was released last year, it was unfortunate to fight with "Star Wars".

What kind of film is "Star Wars", its status can be compared with "Big Ship", and when it is exchanged with such a film, it will naturally become the life of cannon fodder, and even one-fifth of the cost will not be returned.

And more importantly, because he wanted to release his own film, William was dismissive of "Star Wars" at that time and directly rejected the cooperation agreement proposed by Fox.

As a result, during the Star Wars period, not only did his own movies hit the streets, but even several films released at that time also became cannon fodder, and finally waited for the Star Wars to pass, and then ran into "The Third Kind of Contact" and hit the streets a few more films.

It can be said that the theater chain is full of complaints about William, and it can be said that if it weren't for the agreement, the theater company would have rebelled a long time ago.

Although it is nothing to William to say that he has lost tens of millions of dollars in two years, the key is to destroy William's confidence in making movies, and after thinking about it for a long time, William decided to go back to his old profession, and the film industry is not something that a novice like himself can play.

However, when it came time to sell the film company, William ran into trouble again, mainly because no one bought his own film company.

Strictly speaking, William's price is not high, the company's total assets exceed 15 million, and there are three-year distribution rights signed with more than 200 theaters.

All of this adds up, and William's asking price of $8 million is not high.

But the key is that the Hollywood market is sluggish now, and there are not too many film companies like Lionsgate that are facing bankruptcy, and of course it is difficult to sell when everyone wants to sell.

And even more important is the damn guild in America.

You must know that once you buy a company in the United States, unless it goes out of business, you must be responsible for the workers of the company, and if the workers do not make any mistakes, they cannot casually lay off employees on a large scale.

This is not like the continent of later generations, where workers could be fired casually.

In the United States, the guild is not an ornament, and its rights are a headache for some capitalists.

During the economic crisis in the later generations, mainland enterprises went overseas to buy the bottom industry, and only after buying it did they find that what they bought was a big burden, not only did they not make money, but they also had to put money into it every year.

It is because everyone does not understand the labor laws of European and American countries, and after buying them, they find that those workers are just a burden, and they cannot be dismissed, and the salary is still high.

It's a big deal, and the guild is not a decoration, it will come forward to negotiate with you directly, and it will strike at every turn. Compared with domestic workers, the employment environment is completely different.

Although Lionsgate Film Company is not big, but because the stall is too big, it is that there are more than 100 employees, and if you buy Lionsgate Film Company, you must take over this burden.

So now William finally ran into Lei Weidong, the unjust boss, to buy the film company, of course agreed!

Not only that, in order to sell it as soon as possible, William also took the initiative to reduce the price by one million dollars, and in the end, Lei Weidong bought Lionsgate for only 700,000 US dollars.

Lei Weidong is very satisfied with this price, because Lionsgate Film Company has only been established for two years, and it can be said that it is a relatively new company, and there is no stable interest group formed within the kilometer, which is convenient for Lei Weidong to transform.

And the employees in it have been in the film industry for two years, so it can be said that they are more familiar with this part, these people can't create value in William's hands, but it's different in Lei Weidong's hands.

Not to mention anything else, it is the department in charge of distribution, others don't know what movies have a high box office and what movies have the lowest box office, Lei Weidong knows it, and when the time comes, the distribution of these movies will be taken down at a low price, but the money is rolling.

It's like the eight major Hollywood companies now, because of their strong distribution capabilities, they can earn hundreds of millions of dollars in distribution fees every year, which is much more stable than making movies.

Of course, after buying Lionsgate, Lei Weidong will merge the two companies, and the name will be the original MSI Films America, Inc.