28 October 1998.

After more than ten days of hard work, Yi Feiyang's Dream Pictures Company finally completed the filming of "Buried Alive", "Horror Cruise", and "Ghost Record" within the limited time.

In the past ten days, the person who has paid the most attention to the progress of these three dramas is Mr. Gusta, the president of Lionsgate.

As a former "good friend", Gusta has been keeping an eye on the new trends of Dream Pictures.

Three dramas were filmed in more than half a month, and this task, which was considered impossible by many professionals, was easily solved by Yi Feiyang.

Needless to say, Yi Feiyang taught the guys who like to sneer at him another lesson, telling them what a "miracle" is.

Gusta was also stunned by the efficiency of the monster Yi Feiyang.

Touching his beautiful mustache and thinking about it for a while, Gusta made a decision.

"Go, call China Yi, and say, I have something to talk to him." Boss Gusta commanded.

……

Lionsgate.

Inside the office of President Gusta.

Yi Feiyang looked at the newly renovated surroundings.

"It's pretty good, especially this oil painting, which depicts Napoleon, and it's very powerful on horseback!" Yi Feiyang commented.

"Yes, Napoleon. He is my hero and my idol. In any case, I think he is the most legendary emperor in France and Europe! Gusta poured a glass of wine, handed it to Yi Feiyang and said.

"It's a pity that he lost at the end, and he lost at Waterloo." Yi Feiyang said.

"That's right, that's because he's too careless, just like me now, and I'm too careless with you." Gusta did not hide his emotions in the slightest.

"Yi, I underestimated you, really. I didn't expect you to come up with a novel haunted house story. It is undeniable that Americans like this tune, the more bizarre and terrifying, the better. Even, in a sense, the 3 million publicity money I threw away is not as real as your little story. ”

"In other words, I've recognized my mistakes, so I'm ready to make amend......s," Gusta paused, "I can work with your new Dream Studios, if you want, to help you release three films, Buried Alive, Horror Cruise, and Ghost Record." Yes, as long as you are willing to nod your head in agreement, then we are still friends! ”

"Friends?" Yi Feiyang took a sip of his wine glass, "Then can I ask, if we work together again, then, on Halloween, how will you help me arrange the film?" Is it to push back "The Witch" or to push back my three plays? ”

Gusta smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "Yi, you are embarrassed for me, you also know that even if we really have to sign a contract, we will only push your drama to the back of Halloween, after all, "The Witch" is our main film." ”

This has been made clear.

Yi Feiyang's Dream Pictures, whose movies can only be the "second wife" of the Halloween schedule, and Gusta will not dedicate the amount of films to him for him.

Faced with Gusta's answer, Yi Feiyang smiled.

"I'm sorry, I can't accept your decision. Yes, it's a bit far from what I know...... My film has to be released on Halloween, and I love it! ”

"Hahaha," Gusta laughed, "dear Yi, it's too hard for me to say that!" But then again......" Gusta stroked his pretty mustache, "Now that the Halloween file has arrived, who else can help you release those three plays besides me?" ”

This is no longer a negotiation, it is a threat!

Naked ~ Naked Threat!

yes, who else can help you release three shows on Halloween besides our Lionsgate?!

I have to say that Gusta is very proud of this, as a new generation of Hollywood studios, he is fully aware of the rules of the game in this circle.

Especially a rookie like Yi Feiyang, he doesn't understand how important the proportion of film distribution in the entire circle is.

Do you really think that if you make public opinion hot and hype your own movie, you will be able to win in the schedule? Mistake! Buddy! Big mistake!

In addition to the production, the film also has publicity and distribution.

Undoubtedly, as a rookie, Yi Feiyang has done a very good job, at least to the extreme in production and publicity...... Make the best use of things, with the ultimate in small and broad.

But what about distribution?

Man, you still haven't figured it out, have you?

As long as the movie can't be released, then everything you have done will be in vain!

In the face of Gusta's disguised "coercion" posture, Yi Feiyang smiled, and then he said, "Thank you for your concern, dear friend, in fact, I have found a partner!" ”

"It can't be!" Gusta blurted out, "Who would work with a new company like yours?" ”

Looking at Gusta's look of surprise, Yi Feiyang said simply, "Paramount! ”

Immediately, Gusta was stunned.

Paramount?

How come?!

……

Yes, how could it be?

How could Paramount work with Dream Pictures?!

Not only did Gusta himself not expect it, but in fact, after Yi Feiyang received the news, he was also a little stunned.

In fact, it is very appropriate to use the mountain as a metaphor for Paramount's position in the film industry, and in the first 30 years of its existence, the company has been sitting on the throne of Hollywood with many stars, high-quality films and theater chains all over the United States. The classic films he produced, such as "The Godfather", "Weekend Night Mania", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Transformers", were both acclaimed and acclaimed, and were hailed as "the undesirable giant peak".

Of course, every big company has its development with big ups and downs, and Paramount is no different.

If Paramount's film development has reached the peak of its career, then it is precisely because it is so powerful that in recent years, Paramount has been targeted by the antitrust department of the US government, so much so that the Federal Supreme Court issued a Paramount precedent prohibiting major Hollywood companies from vertically producing, distributing and showing films. Paramount had no choice but to sell a number of movie theaters, and the long-established company was demoralized.

To add insult to injury, Merkdor, a "media tycoon" from Australia, stabbed Paramount in the back and poached Barry Diller, Paramount's most bullish executive, to become his fourth TV network; Subsequently, Michael? Eisner and Jeffrey? Katzenberg was also poached by Disney. Some time after that, Paramount officially entered a low ebb period.

There is a saying in the past life, what is the most important thing in the 21st century? Talent!

Yes, now Paramount, a snowy mountain that was originally a mountain to look up to, now has an avalanche, an avalanche in terms of talent!

Paramount, which has no talent, is like a giant ship that has lost its helmsman, lost in the vast sea.

During this time, Paramount's films were rarely blockbuster-level, and due to the lack of talent, none of the films produced by their own company were particularly good.

It just so happened that at this time, its old friend Twenty-first Century Fox came running over and said, "Hey, man, do you want us to work together and have a big game?!" ”

Mr. Raymond, the boss of Paramount, who is worried about having no goal, no direction, and is very confused about investment, was attracted after listening to Fox's plan, to be precise, by the huge investment plan, and the director of this play, this play will invest 100 million US dollars, and the director is the famous Hollywood director "James Cameron", as for the name of this play, it is called ---Titanic"!

Mr. Raymond, who has just taken over Paramount, is excited, and finally has a film project to show his ability. If it happens, who will say that I have nothing to do in the future, and the corpse is a vegetarian meal?!

What's more, there is a big director like James Cameron to escort him, and his golden sign is very good.

As a result, the new Paramount executive finalized a cooperation agreement with the Fox boss to invest in the magnificent masterpiece "Titanic" together.

The investment plan began......

A year has passed, and 10 million have been invested......

Two years have passed, and 20 million have been invested......

Three years have passed, and 30 million have been invested......

But what about the great ship that has ever been built?

It's not even finished!

……

Shit, this is too hard!

As the director of this play, the first thing Mr. Cameron talked about when he met him was no longer to report the filming progress, but "Do you have money?" ”

At this time, Mr. Raymond of Paramount realized that he was not riding the wind and sailing the ocean, but accidentally got on the thief ship!

Fox didn't have a good heart from the beginning, where is this "pulling brothers", it is completely "pit you don't negotiate", five years to create a blockbuster, the investment amount has increased from 100 million US dollars to 200 million US dollars, breaking the record of the largest film investment in history.

Mr. Raymond of Paramount began to vomit blood.

A $200 million investment, what kind of concept is that?!

Even if the film is released now, it is impossible to return to its roots immediately!

What's more, Cameron, the money-burning director, hasn't finished filming yet!

God, I greet your mother!

Someone shouted.

His mood at this moment, in a very popular term in his previous life...... What a cheat!

Due to the excessive investment in "Titanic", the high-level executives who saw the color were too violent, so that their pockets were weak, and they had no extra funds to invest in other film projects, so they could only hunt outside, buy some movies produced and filmed by small companies, and use their own theaters to release them...... Anyway, my own theater is idle, and I can earn a little.

It just so happened that Halloween arrived.

It just so happens that Yi Feiyang's "ghost story" to promote "Ghost Shadow" is beautiful enough.

And the new Mr. Paramount Raymond is a complete "ghost story fan" who likes to listen to some novel stories the most.

So, naturally, Paramount, who was worried about the release of the show, found Dream Pictures, which is called "bitch meets a prostitute" and hits it off. To put it nicely, heroes cherish heroes and help each other.

On behalf of Dream Pictures, Yi Feiyang signed a cooperation agreement with representatives of Paramount Pictures, the content of which is very simple, mainly to determine how the box office should be divided in the future.

In fact, in Hollywood, there are three modes of box office sharing between film producers and theatrical distributors.

The first is the traditional fixed account sharing model.

For the traditional model of "one-time" determination of the proportion of four or six accounts at the box office of a movie, the Hollywood industry presents two attitudes, one is that only some small and micro investment films and small films that do not have much industry influence will give up the opportunity to adjust the proportion of film accounts, and these filmmakers are already very satisfied with the opportunity for films to enter the theaters, and will not take the initiative to ask for floating or changing the proportion of account sharing; The other believes that this method is more stable and will still be accepted by most filmmakers.

The second is the box office echelon account sharing model.

This model is actually suitable for some high-investment, high-quality films, and high audience expectations and filmmaker confidence.

For example, when the box office of the film is within 200 million yuan, the distributor's share will be maintained at 43%, the part exceeding 200 million yuan will be divided according to 45%, and the part exceeding 500 million yuan will be divided by 47%.

"Box office performance is the only standard for measuring whether a film makes money in the United States, and only films with high box office strength have the strongest box office dominance. A movie giant's words.

The third is the decreasing account sharing model.

The cascade account sharing model of release time can not only extend the release time for the filmmaker, but also give the exhibitor a part of the box office share, so it has always been considered by the industry to be the most likely to achieve a win-win situation for the filmmaker and the exhibitor.

At present, most blockbusters in Hollywood in the United States are popular to adjust the revenue sharing ratio in this way, the box office share between the distribution company and the theater chain is 7:3 in the first week, 6:4 in the second week, and so on, the longer the film is shown, the higher the proportion of the theater chain.

However, when Yi Feiyang and Paramount Cinema representatives signed the account sharing agreement, they did not choose the above three models, but adopted a more novel or "bizarre" account sharing model, that is, 25% in the first week, 35% in the second week, 45% in the third week, and 55% in the fourth week......

Seeing this sharing proposal, Paramount's representative smiled, isn't this looking for his own death, you must know that after a new drama is released, the box office is mostly concentrated in the first two weeks, and the longer the release time, the box office will gradually decline, even if you divide more, it is useless if the box office is not good. What's more, the traditional account sharing model is also a minimum of four or six shares, that is, 40%, and this China Yi actually took the initiative to propose that the first two weeks are divided into 25% and 35%...... Ha Luha, isn't this that I have a lot of money?!

So, without waiting for Yi Feiyang, a Chinese fool, to understand, the Paramount representative hurriedly signed a sharing agreement with him.

After signing, the Paramount representative shook hands with Yi Feiyang cordially and said secretly: "You fool!" ”

Yi Feiyang also shook hands with him cordially, and said secretly: "You stupid fork!" ”