Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1201: How to jump in and release a movie during the award season?

"I feel that both of these films are very promising projects, and they are worthy of completing their distribution work no matter what."

Although Mike Medavoy has gone to TriStar Pictures, after all, he was responsible for the two movies, and he wanted to complete the two movies both emotionally and rationally.

So he still called the richest man, Mr. Kluge, and tried to make a last-ditch effort.

"Potential? Unrealized potential is not worth mentioning..." Kluge has been ridiculed enough by his friends. The smug pride he felt in acquiring Orion has long since disappeared, and he doesn't have a good attitude towards this old subordinate. .

"I have watched some clips of both movies. From what I watched, they both have the potential to win Oscars. Especially, these two movies are also watched by Ronald. His understanding of the director is No other producer in Hollywood can compare.

He knows best when to intervene directly and when to trust the director and starring actors. This ability can ensure the final artistic effect of the film.I have been working in the industry for decades, and I have never seen a young man handle this matter so perfectly. "

Mike Medavoy also wanted to try to convince Kluge that although he had left Orion, his name would still appear on the film as an executive producer, and fans would remember his name.

"I'm talking about box office potential, you..." Kluge exploded. He has invested in so many movies. Even if he gets an Oscar nomination, what use will it have to the box office?
Before he bought a large amount of Orion stock, the company released "Mozart" and "Platoon", which won multiple Oscars in a row, and the box office was passable because the box office increased after winning the award.

But since he became the big boss of Orion, he has not made any gains for four consecutive years.Nominate?Nominations and awards have far different effects on box office.

Not to mention Milos Forman, the director of "Mozart", who spent the past two years working slowly and meticulously on "Valmont" even lost his underwear.

He also wanted to invest in Orion to win the Oscar and to form synergy with his cable TV business, instead of constantly losing money and losing money...

"Okay, Mr. Kluge, if you don't want to continue distribution, then according to the contract, we can transfer the copyright of the film to Ronald and stop the loss appropriately..."

Mike Medavoy fulfilled his final obligation to the richest man, Klug.Then Kluge was persuaded to let Ronald take over the overall rights to the two films.

After that, whether these two movies won awards or box office, they had nothing to do with Orion.Although they still had to put the Orion Pictures title logo because of their application to the MPAA Film Association.

"Okay, let's start our plan in this way." Ronald is still sure of recovering his investment in the two movies.He immediately established two project companies and took over the ownership of the two films.

But while Ronald was confident, Columbia Pictures wasn't.In other words, their CEO Peter Gubel or Vice President Jon Peters lacked confidence in this.

They said that they had just purchased the overseas and TV package distribution rights from Orion, and for a while they did not have the remaining funds or schedule to take over the distribution work of two films that require a lot of public relations investment to compete for awards.

Anyway, the two of them were wearing the same pair of pants, and Ronald couldn't tell which one had the problem with him.

Guber may have factional issues with Ronald, a good friend of Ohga, because he was recruited by former chairman Akio Morita.Frank Price, whom Ronald recommended as president, posed a vague threat to him.There is also a small entity within the company, TriStar Pictures, which has its own team of people (Mike Medavoy has recently joined) to operate it.

Peters may have been unhappy because Price, whom Ronald recommended, replaced him as vice president.Or maybe Kim Basinger, whom he had been chasing so hard before, was picked off by Ronald, and was recommended to the "Batman" crew. Her meteoric rise was out of his control.

Anyway, no matter how they communicated, they both insisted that Colombia's film schedules were all arranged, especially the end of the year period when competing for awards, and Ronald's two new films could not be inserted.

In fact, this reason was very high-sounding, and Ronald was indeed speechless.This kind of blockbusters are all scheduled more than a year in advance at a screening in Las Vegas. The seven major studios have a coordination mechanism to try to prevent movies of the same subject matter and type from colliding.

In order to compete for next year's Oscars, Colombia plans to release two films that are expected to compete for important Oscar awards in the two months of November and December at the end of the year.

One is "Danger", a film directed by Ronald's friend Robert Reiner and adapted from Stephen King's novel of the same name. It is also a psychological thriller.The story is very interesting. The protagonist is a best-selling novelist who is tied up in his home by a female book fan.Written by Stephen King, it's very funny.

The other one is called "Speechless", directed by Penny Marshall, who is also Ronald's good friend and once directed Diane.This film is adapted from a true story, telling the story of Thayer, a New York doctor who used drugs to revive patients who suffered from epidemic encephalitis from 1917 to 1928, but soon returned to ankylosing.

These two movies have distinct characteristics. They are both adaptations of best-selling books or memoirs. The stories rely heavily on the performances of the director and actors, and have budgets of US$3000 to US$[-] million.Typical mid-range production, aiming for Oscars.

The biggest feature of this kind of movie is that it will be released at the end of the year.Because the 1991 Oscars were established to honor films released in [-].

The film that impressed the judges the most was undoubtedly the film released at the end of the year closest to the voting time.

Ever since Jane Fonda's movie "Homecoming" revealed this secret, the year-end schedule has become increasingly crowded with films competing for awards.

Ronald knew both directors well and knew it would be impossible to persuade them to give up their scarce schedules.With no other choice, he had to find his daydream distribution manager, Michelle Cannold, and public relations consultant Michael Gray to discuss whether he could handle the distribution of the two films himself.

"It's very difficult. As you know, all the slots at the end of the year are booked in advance. Orion was in turmoil before, and none of the slots they booked were locked in. Now they have been snatched away by the Seventh Group.

In particular, Scorsese's "Goodfellas" released by Warner Bros. and Miramax's "The Bet", both of which were released by new producer Miramax, have secured their positions early and have been allocated many late-year schedules. "

"This guy, Mr. Kluge, the richest man, wants to sell the company. Why don't you tell us earlier? Warner Bros. aside, we can't compete with Miramax. Their boss filmed me in Cannes a few years ago. His flattery..."

Ronald is becoming more and more dissatisfied with the richest man. Although Orion's business is small, it can't be disposed of like this casually?You have nothing to do with me, can you just give me the person I want to fuck?

"Even if there are theaters willing to show our movies, I'm afraid the battle for public relations and marketing is not optimistic." Public relations consultant Gray also believes that the chances of winning are slim.

Like the schedule, public relations resources before the Oscar nomination battle are limited, and often these resources are tied to the seven major studios.For example, the two famous Chicago film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Sisco recommended a fixed number of movies in their weekly film review columns.In order to compete for prizes, the Big Seven often reserve film review slots for that time period in advance.Ronald could usually get in line by asking them to write film reviews, but during the most intense year-end period, it was not so easy.

Like theater resources, this is not a problem that can be solved purely by money, at least not in the short term.

For a while, the meeting reached a deadlock. Of course, Ronald could not release the film during the awards season at the end of the year. However, by doing so, not only would two films with great potential to compete for awards miss a good opportunity, but neither of the films would rely on stars. If a commercial film fails to enter the Oscar competition, it will have a profound impact on the box office.

Everyone discussed it for a long time, but there was no good solution.Maybe postponing it for a year and participating in the next Oscars is barely a solution.

But within a year, no one knows what will happen.The decision to postpone the release of "Valmont" for a year before was made, and the ending where nothing happened made Ronald feel risky.

"How about we take a break, watch a comedy, relax..." Cannold proposed the idea of ​​adjourning the meeting.Everyone is a little sleepy, and inspiration can only come when you need to relax.

Ronald nodded in agreement and pointed to the video tape cabinet in the corner of the office, where many video tapes were collected and used for reference.

"Watch something that requires no brain power..." Cannold didn't want to watch comedies that required brain power, he just wanted to relax.His hand reaches out for David Zucker's nonsensical masterpiece "All the Time."

"Don't watch this kind of vulgar movie. Is there a comedy with a more elegant style?" David Simkins is in charge of scripts and production. He doesn't like this kind of third-party style movie. He reaches for it. "My Fair Lady" by Sting Hoffman.

"It has to be stylish and effortless. I recommend you to watch this..." Michael Gray is also a movie lover, and he reached out to a South African movie from the early 80s.

"Is God Crazy?" This movie was not very popular when it was released in America. Cannold and Simkins had not yet entered Hollywood, so they had not watched it in full, so they sat down to watch it.

"I have also met the producers of this movie. When they came to America, it happened to be the time to impose sanctions on the white South African government, and they almost didn't show it here. It was released..."

Ronald smiled. He also recalled the time when the movie "God Is Crazy" wanted to be released in America, but no one was willing to show the movie, which was very embarrassing.

The film's investors, the South African film distributors, the Trosky family, have had a bumpy road to distribution in America...

"Eh..." Ronald suddenly thought. It was the same for them back then. The theaters were unwilling to show their movies due to certain political reasons. As a result, they relied on their own abilities and dealt with the theaters alone. It took them four years. Step by step, the film turned into a box office winner.

"What if we don't go through theaters and distribute it ourselves?" Ronald asked suddenly after waiting for the movie to finish screening.

"Publish it yourself? How is this possible? This is not the time when the MPAA had no classification..."

Michelle Cannold, who knows a lot about the publishing business, was not enthusiastic about the idea.In the early days, there were no unified standards for movie theaters in each state, so the film distribution business was fragmented. Each producer had to deal with movie theaters in each state and city individually.

The MPAA rating agency established later, the famous Hays Code, was established to unify the screening standards of various states.Later, there were nationwide theater chains, and there was no need to form your own distribution team to distribute movies and travel around the states with copies.

"There is no legal requirement that you have to go through a theater chain to sign a screening contract with a cinema, right?" Ronald asked.

"No, America is a free country. The reason why no one does this is because the cost is relatively high...eh..."

Michelle Cannold also suddenly figured out that the so-called high cost is compared with the mature distribution system of theaters. Now that the theaters have no time for the distribution of Ronald's two movies, they can organize it themselves. , but the cost is lower.

"If so, how much does marketing and PR cost?", Ronald asked consultant Gray.

"The cost is higher, but if you don't do simultaneous nationwide screenings, many materials can actually be reused."

Simultaneous nationwide release is also a required action due to the theater system and the gradual popularization of video tapes.Because most movies are released on a large scale, if they are not released simultaneously, viewers who watch the movie at a later time are likely to see pirated video tapes first.

But they are commercial films with stars. These two films also rely on Oscars to increase their popularity. There is not much concern in this regard.

"If it is slowly released in different states and at different times, we actually don't need to print so many copies, and we can save a lot of money." Suddenly, the ideas opened up, and everyone had new ideas.

"You guys do some research and come up with a feasibility report." Ronald gradually felt that this was feasible.

Everyone went to plan for the release of both films.Later, it was summarized to Ronald. Although he had a good idea, the cost still made him frown.

Releasing a movie is no joke.The cost of making the print, shipping it, marketing it to various locations, PR for the Oscars, and assembling a team to go to movie theaters in various states to promote it.

Even though Ronald had connections with Hollywood cinemas in several states on the east coast, and was friendly with the Palm Tree Cinemas invested by Saudi princes, the huge expenditure still easily exceeded [-] million US dollars, almost as much as the movie of production costs.

"No wonder the medium-sized studios that want to challenge the permanent distribution business have suffered heavy losses..." Ronald looked at the numbers at the bottom of the report and sighed.He finally understood why Orion lost a lot of money so easily.

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(End of this chapter)