September in Los Angeles is very cool, and it can be considered a real autumn high, so wear a light jacket in the morning and evening, and short sleeves in the afternoon.

Lee loves the weather.

The crew of "Hurricane Rescue" completed the filming in France, and then came to the beautiful country.

Lee Shengyao met Elizabeth, who played the actor's ex-wife. Holly.

This was once known as the English Rose, and she is naturally very beautiful, no wonder Cheng Long would recommend her.

At six o'clock that night, Li Shengyao didn't see Cheng Long, and at nine o'clock the next day, he saw the eldest brother who was leaning against the wall and had dark circles under his eyes.

Fortunately, the plot in the beautiful country is only an action scene, and the others are literary dramas.

Otherwise, in such a state as the eldest brother, I really don't know if I can adapt to high-intensity action scenes.

Li Shengyao was secretly envious.

Although the eldest brother's state has deteriorated a lot, his mood is much better, his smile is constant, and the filming efficiency is very high.

Lee Shengyao expects that it will not take a month, and they should be able to complete the filming in the beautiful country in 20 days.

However, the good mood of the eldest brother does not seem to be able to last forever.

Ten days later, at 10 p.m., Amanda wore a nurse's uniform, and Lee Shengyao pretended to twist his leg, and the two were playing a nurse-patient game in the room.

Cheng Long came to knock on the door, his face was gloomy, "Director Li, accompany me for a few drinks." ”

Not long after, in the hotel where they were, Cheng Long opened a private room, and the martial artists of the family class were also there, and the martial artists sat at the big table and drank wine.

Cheng Long and Li Shengyao sat at another small table, the two of them drank tea, and there was some fruit on the table.

"Big brother, what's wrong?"

Cheng Long sighed, he stopped talking, he picked up the teacup, drank two cups of tea in a row, and then said: "What the hell, the magnesium country looks down on people." ”

He then picked up a slice of watermelon on the table and ate it as he told the story.

It turned out that just an hour ago, Cheng Long had face-to-face contact with the senior management of New Line Film Company to negotiate the contract for "Rush Hour 3".

The new line film company is willing to pay 20 million US dollars, but does not agree to a 10% box office share.

Cheng Long and his agent argued with reason, quoted scriptures, and said that they had dried their throats, but it was useless, and the new line film still did not let go.

So the negotiation between the two sides was unsuccessful and broke up unhappily.

Cheng Long felt that he was a senior executive of the new line, because he was Asian, and he looked down on him, and he was angry.

Li Shengyao smiled slightly when he heard this.

From the producer's point of view, he feels that the choice of the new line film is correct.

But now that he is with Cheng Long, of course he chooses to stabilize Cheng Long.

"Big brother, don't worry, they want to shoot "Rush Hour 3", they must be looking for you, you just sit firmly on the Diaoyutai, "Rush Hour" series, you are the soul, if they want to shoot, they can't get around it."

"Not to mention, the new line is now opening projects everywhere, they want performance, and they have long wanted to shoot "Rush Hour 3"."

New Line Film Company was originally a small company, which was mainly distributed at first, and later tried film production, mainly shooting youth films, horror films, and these films had a small cost.

Later, Warner bought New Line Films, and the company suddenly became rich, so it began to work on big projects.

The "Rush Hour" series can only be considered a medium investment in the new line.

They also invested in The Lord of the Rings, Blade, Nativity, and many more.

In Li Shengyao's previous life, Warner gave a lot of money to the new line at the beginning, but there were performance requirements, and the reason why the new line agreed to give Cheng Long 10% of the global box office was also considered in this regard, after all, the first two "Rush Hour" made money.

However, after 2007, many films dominated by the new line lost money.

This fund has decreased a lot, and after 08 years, the new line of films has been reduced, from seven or eight movies a year before, to one or two a year later.

Cheng Long naturally knew that the new line had been acquired by Warner, and he knew very well that he didn't need to be in a hurry, he nodded, "You're right, I'll spend it with them, and if you don't give me a share of the global box office, I won't shoot." ”

He then looked at Li Shengyao, "Director Li, our film must be successful, and we must break 200 million US dollars, so that we will not be underestimated." ”

Li Shengyao raised the teacup and said with a smile: "There must be no problem." ”

Seeing this, Cheng Long smiled, "It's still refreshing to make movies with my compatriots, those white guys, I hate them when I see them." ”

As soon as the words fell, Cheng Long's mobile phone rang, he picked up the phone, answered the phone, and slapped the phone on the table a moment later.

"I'll lose his mother."

The eldest brother rarely scolded a dirty word, and Li Shengyao was not good at asking.

Cheng Long himself continued: "This guy Stark called and asked me why I didn't agree to shoot "Rush Hour 3", didn't he ask knowingly, he has increased the price, can't I go up." ”

"When I was filming on Hong Kong Island, I also invited him to play in the foot-washing city for half a month, and this kid was not righteous at all."

"Director Li, you must remember in the future that foreigners are not kind at all, they don't know what morality is."

Li Shengyao nodded, "Don't worry, big brother, I will definitely remain vigilant." ”

Cheng Long continued: "Our "Hurricane Rescue" must be filmed well, and we can't let Stark laugh at it. ”

Before Stark cooperated with Cheng Long, the resources were actually not bad, he won the MTV Movie Best Newcomer, but in the second year after winning the award, he acted in two movies, both of which were very bad, so he was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award.

In the beautiful country, this is a very serious matter, which means that the audience does not recognize him.

At this time, his acting career fell to the bottom, and then he acted in "Rush Hour" with Cheng Long, and he soared as a Golden Raspberry Award actor, and "Rush Hour 3" got 15 million US dollars.

But everyone knows that he is the actor brought up by Cheng Long.

In Li Shengyao's previous life, "Rush Hour 3" failed at the box office, Cheng Long left Hollywood, and Stark only acted in two movies later, both of which were supporting roles.

Hollywood producers don't look down on him at all.

Without Cheng Long, he was almost unemployed.

Later, Stark often posted photos with Cheng Long, just like the sixth brother repeating the upcoming "Journey to the West" movie, he announced that he was about to make "Rush Hour 4", but after more than ten years, it was still useless.

Li Shengyao pursed his lips, "He just relied on you to get on top, where is he qualified to laugh at you." ”

"No, you can't let him underestimate it anyway."

……

That is, on the third day after the breakdown of negotiations between Cheng Long and the senior management of the new line, Li Shengyao met a Hollywood bigwig at the hotel.

That person is Warner executive Toby. Emmerich.

Toby, who was forty-three years old and a producer in his early days, was very powerful, and soon joined Warner and became one of Warner's top executives.

He is still one of Hollywood's best producers.

Li Shengyao's previous life, "The Birth of a Star", and "Joker" were all promoted by him.

Probably because he uses his brain a lot, although he looks very strong and should exercise regularly, his beard and hair are gray.

At this time, the two sat opposite each other, and Lee Shengyao asked Toby to pour a cup of coffee, and he drank water himself.

"Li, you are so young, I have read your information, and I still can't believe that you are only twenty-six years old, and you have already directed a movie with 20 million US dollars."

Spielberg became a director at the age of 28, and his first film cost $3 million, which is already a Hollywood legend.

Li Shengyao is so young and directs a movie with 20 million US dollars, which is indeed very rare.

Li Shengyao put his hands together, "You see, this is the truth." ”

You don't have to be modest when talking to Lao Mei, how to exaggerate and come, you must be confident.

Later, Ah San became the CEO of so many large companies in the beautiful country, can't he just blow it?

The Chinese are too modest in this regard, and the score of 100 points is only 60 points.

Ah San's words can be blown into 100 points.

No matter what the project is, a PPT can blow flowers.

Toby smiled, "You have a good accent, it's hard to believe that you haven't lived in a beautiful country." ”

Li Shengyao did not answer this time.

"Li, you must like the beautiful country very much, otherwise how could your accent be so good."

Li Shengyao shook his head this time, "Toby, I have a good talent for languages, and I am very good at learning any language." ”

"Okay, Lee, let's get down to business."

Toby paused, and then said slowly: "Warner wants to act as an agent for the promotion of "Hurricane Rescue" in the beautiful country, how about it?" ”

Before "Hurricane Rescue" was filmed, people from Warner had already contacted Lee Shengyao and wanted to help the film be distributed globally, with a 20% distribution fee.

To Li Shengyao refused.

This time Toby. Emmerich came over in person and said that he was helping "Hurricane Rescue" be released in the beautiful country.

Li Shengyao nodded at the table, shook his head with a chuckle, "Toby, forget it, I've already promised Jiang Zhiqiang, then let him be responsible." ”

Whether it's Hollywood, or the mainland, or the peninsula, France.

When a film and television production company or a distribution company says "publicity", you must be extra careful, this "publicity" is "publicity plus distribution".

In terms of distribution, the international practice is there, plus there are theater statistics, and most countries have anti-monopoly laws, so distribution and theaters are not normally the same company, and there are not many places to do tricks.

But propaganda is not easy to say.

The production cost of "Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban" is 150 million US dollars, and the global box office is more than 900 million US dollars.

According to Warner, it was when they did global propaganda that they spent so much that the cost went up, and in the end, they didn't make a profit.

According to Hollywood's blockbuster account sharing method, Warner can get at least 300 million US dollars at the global box office of more than 900 million.

In other words, they spent at least more than 150 million on global publicity.

It's.

Later, Disney's superhero films generally spent 50 or 60 million US dollars on publicity, but even so, there were still media outlets, which made a huge splash and were embezzled by insiders.

It's really hard to say how much it costs to publicize this.

Li Shengyao's films, whether they are domestic or foreign, he will not let others promote them.

He doesn't really believe in the propaganda effect, so he honestly asks the water army to hype it up on the Internet, and then sets up a few big posters in the cinema, and the rest is forgotten.

He thinks it's enough to let the audience know when this movie will be released, and the follow-up will depend on the word of mouth of passers-by.

The reputation is good, and naturally there is tap water to help speak.

The reputation is not good, like "Fuchun Mountain Residence", cheating fans of money, except for consuming popularity, it is not interesting.

Toby. When Emmerich heard this, he didn't continue to persuade, he raised his coffee and took a sip, "You Chinese people are indeed very reputable, just like Yao, which is very remarkable. ”

Da Yao has been playing in the Rockets for a few years, and his results are average.

The Lakers have always been very concerned about Da Yao, and Kobe Bryant also wants to join forces with him, and the whole of Los Angeles knows it, but Da Yao is grateful to the Rockets for bringing him into the NBA and has never left the Rockets.

Li Shengyao smiled, "I'm different from Da Yao, he is an honest person, I'm not, if I release my next movie, you only need 17% of the share, maybe I will consider it." ”

Toby thought about it, but still shook his head, "Lee, let's talk about other things, I have one more thing to tell you." ”

He paused for a moment, then said: """Breaking Bad" and "Breaking Bad" are all scripts written by you, we think they are very good, do you have any similar scripts?" ”

Warners had big ambitions, they didn't just make movies, they made TV series, they bought HBO.

Later, when Southeast Asian audiences got rich, HBO would enter Southeast Asia with Disney and Netflix to compete with Aiyouteng.

The script is worth a few dollars, even if it is to be sold, it has to be filmed by Lee Shengyao first, and then give them the copyright to remake it.

Li Shengyao said briskly: "No." ”

Toby looked at Lee through thick lenses, "Lee, I know the folks at Fox have approached you, but we at Warner definitely have better sincerity, if you have a script, we can shoot for you, you will be the director, you will edit, and we can give you a share." ”

On the side of the beautiful country, there is the producer system, Spielberg, Cameron, they have the editing rights, and that is because they are directors and producers at the same time.

Otherwise, it is as good as Ridley Scott, and he doesn't have the right to edit.

Warner is willing to give Lee Shengyao the editing rights and is willing to give him a share, which is indeed very generous.

Li Shengyao was a little moved.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! ”

Suddenly there was a knocking sound outside the window, as if someone was hammering something with a stick.

Li Shengyao suddenly thought of the stick more than ten years later, because of the invasion of Netflix, the entire film and television industry is about to collapse.

Netflix gave money and resources to the platform at that time, which made the stick very happy.

They thought they were going to take off.

But the hard work of the sticks racking their brains no longer belongs to them, but to Netflix.

The copyrights of those excellent TV series are all on Netflix.

Netflix doesn't sell to local TV stations at all, so much so that the ratings of the three major TV stations in the Peninsula are completely exaggerated.

Everyone went to watch Netflix dramas, and local TV stations couldn't even find the funds to shoot TV dramas.

What is the most important thing about a drama is, naturally, copyright.

Filming a drama for Warner, will Warner share the copyright with him?

Li Shengyao came back to his senses, shook his head and said: "I said in Huaxia that I don't make TV series anymore, I only make movies." ”

When Toby heard this, he looked disappointed, "Okay, Lee, Warner's side will always be open to you, if you want to cooperate, you can always come to me." ”

"Okay, I see."

Lee Shengyao doesn't want to make movies and TV series for Warner, but Warner has some resources, maybe he can use them in the future, as long as Warner doesn't target him, he won't turn his face with Warner.

(End of chapter)