Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 725 Forming a Release Team
"My country is
a sweet land of freedom
我 为 你 歌唱

the land where my fathers died

A place of pride for pilgrims”

A group of children, holding candles, sang "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)" under the base of the Statue of Liberty. During the civil rights movement in the 60s, Martin Luther Dr. King once quoted the lyrics of this song in a speech.

The Statue of Liberty was presented to the United States by China 100 years ago as a gift.Today, the newly restored Statue of Liberty reopens after years of fundraising and restoration led by the Girl Scouts.

CBS broadcast the opening ceremony for four days, and now it is live broadcasting the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Chinese President Mitterrand, together with the Grand Commander and his wife, delivered a speech for the symbol of French-American friendship.On the National Day, the Statue of Liberty was reopened to tourists and the public. Under the live broadcast of the TV station, the leaders of the two countries entered the Statue of Liberty hand in hand.

The TV station did not go in to follow up the filming, but after more than ten minutes, they captured the first lady Nancy in the hollow sightseeing hall inside the crown of the goddess's head.An important part of the renovation is to build a new elevator from the ground floor to the top floor.

Nancy found herself captured by the videographer in the helicopter hovering on the outside, smiling and waving to the millions watching in front of the TV.

"Crack..." Eddie, the general manager of Daydream, turned off the TV that Ronald was watching.

"Hey, I'm still watching," which caused Ronald to curl his lips in dissatisfaction.He likes this statue very much. When he was in high school, he often saw her when he took the ferry to Manhattan to see a doctor. Now that it has been renovated, he also wants to watch the special program introducing the history of the goddess for a while.

"Michelle Cannold is here."

"Oh..." Ronald got up quickly, went behind the desk on the other side, and tidied his T-shirt.

Michelle Cannold turned out to be the production manager at Weston Pictures, which bought the distribution rights to Dirty Dancing.Because when the film was purchased, the potential problems of Jewish girls were not found, and they argued with the boss Steve Tisch.

Michelle Cannold was also tipped off after Ronald bought the production rights to Dirty Dancing, saying behind his back that his boss was giving up on Dirty Dancing and that it might have been a big mistake .After Tishi heard this, he was assigned to the audience videotape satisfaction survey department as a cold bench.

It happened that after Ronald got the cash to buy stocks, he established a "dirty dance" project company "dirty dance production" and injected $100 million in the first phase to prepare for the dirty dance project.

Ronald is well-versed in production, but he's still a newcomer in distribution.Look for talent in this area through some friendships.

It happened that Eleanor, the screenwriter of "Dirty Dancing", told Ronald what happened to Michelle Cannold, so I asked him to talk about whether it is possible to come to Daydream Films and be responsible for the distribution of Dirty Dancing Work.

"Hello, Mr. Li." Michelle Cannold is very handsome, like a Hollywood star. Although she is wearing a suit that is not expensive, it is of good quality, and her hair is neatly combed back. sense of trust.

Weston was based in Chicago, and Cannold found reasons to investigate the New Jersey video rental business, then quietly drove to New York for an interview.

"Call me Ronald." Ronald shook hands with him, "You probably have heard about the problems I encountered, and now I am going to distribute this movie myself, not through the seven major distribution channels. If you If you were to take charge of this job, what would you do?"

"Thank you", Cannold took the coffee from the secretary, drank it and put it on the table, "If we don't go through the distribution departments of the seven major studios or other medium-sized studios, then we will miss the easiest Time Slots Sold - Las Vegas Film Show.

Buyers of movie theaters most hope to be able to buy enough movies for next year's screenings at one time.We didn't have the opportunity to go to the last batch of sales fairs, so we had to find theater chains and movie theater owners in fifty states to start retail business. "

"Please continue..." When Ronald saw him come up, he pointed out the biggest problem with his independent release of a film, and he had a solid understanding of Cannold's ability, so he reached out and asked him to continue talking about his plan.

"I think for this movie, you shouldn't have a very big budget to shoot it."

"Yes, I plan to limit the budget to less than 600 million yuan." Ronald received the investment commitment of 300 million US dollars from Douglas Jr., made a fortune in stocks, and had ample funds.According to a rough division, half is used for production, half is reserved for distribution, and another 100 million, plus the investment of my aunt, is used as a reserve fund.

"So, in fact, it is impossible to invite popular star actors to star in this movie, unless you can rely on your relationship..."

"Don't think about that..." Ronald shook his hand. The problem with the Jews was still there, but they promised Ronald not to interfere after reducing the intensity of the plot.If I want to find a popular movie star to lead the role based on my face, it will definitely cause a new round of interference from the other party.

"Then we will distribute it in the same way as a small-budget movie. Will you direct it yourself?"

"I'm still looking for a suitable candidate. If I don't find a more suitable person, I don't rule out directing myself..."

"It's best for you to direct yourself, because this is the only thing that can attract the interest of the bosses of those theaters. Even if you don't act as a director, we must make your name appear on the top of the movie poster. The biggest one." Kannold quickly interrupted Ronald, if he didn't rely on Ronald's fame and whether he had any stars, then the release of this movie would be really difficult.

"That's no problem. What else do we need to do?" Ronald was quite satisfied with Cannold's preparations. The key to business is still relatively clear.

"The next thing we're going to do is put together a distribution team. Start calling about 4000 movie theaters across the US. Warm up their anticipation for your new movie.

Before the filming started, the posters were made first, and after the casting was confirmed, the costume photos were also taken.That's when you can start sending them these promotional materials.For theater owners who are interested, we can start negotiations to determine the appropriate schedule and number of copies.

Once the movie starts shooting, we can cut a trailer and send or visit more theater owners.Strive to be able to sign more theaters under a certain schedule when filming is packaged and post-production.

Once the first cut prints are done, we have a third and last chance to sign more theaters.At this time, it turns out that some of the films they ordered at this year's Las Vegas Film Festival will have problems or be postponed. If we are lucky, we will be able to get more theaters. "

"How many people do you need to do this?"

"If it is a veteran who is familiar with the distribution business, I need five. Then in the early stage, I will match ten to fifteen novices to do the initial contact work.

When it comes time for filming, post-production, release, etc., I still need to recruit more teams, responsible for promotion, verification, public relations, and other businesses, or hire professional companies. "

"I can recruit five people, but I don't have any experienced people. You can choose from the new graduates.

It's useless for me to find veterans, most of them just sell movies to theater buyers at exhibitions relying on the accumulation of large institutions.If they really want to sell movies from scratch, they may not be more efficient, and their personal relationship with those theater owners may not be good.

"Telemarketing or something, you can recruit college students as a part-time job, I can only give you these preliminary resources, if you think it is suitable, then come to me to do it. In terms of salary, I will give you the same treatment as in Weston, specifically You can chat with general manager Eddie."

Film distribution is a very expensive business.Even a high-prolific low-cost exploitation film producer like Roger Coleman, with an annual production of more than 20 films during the peak period, can only maintain the distribution team without losing money.

Ronald does not want any project that hires permanent permanent staff and increases fixed expenses.In fact, he is a long-term employee who wants to have it.

Now Daydream's distribution department is only releasing a movie.If he makes money and can release other movies, he can turn temporary workers into regular workers and take the opportunity to expand the number of people.But we must not just follow the configuration of the third-tier studios, and first get a bunch of industry veterans to sit in the office.

"A deal?"

Ronald held out his hand to see if Cannold agreed to his terms.

"make a deal!"

Michelle Cannold knew that he had no chance to control important departments in Weston. Anyway, he was also optimistic about this movie, and he bought half of the production rights and all the distribution rights at the beginning.

It is to prove my vision, to have the opportunity to prove that I am right in front of the rich second-generation boss Steve Tishi, and it is worth taking this job.

Besides, in Ronald's company, as long as he can successfully operate the release of "Dirty Dancing", he is the oldest veteran.

"It's not impossible, but I want to recruit a familiar hand." Michelle Cannold thought for a while, and understood Ronald's thoughts. He proposed to find an experienced and enthusiastic industry veteran to help form the team, and training newcomers.

"Okay, it's a deal. You can go to Columbia Publishing Department to recruit. They are going to merge with Samsung Publishing Department soon, and they are going to lay off redundant staff."

"Ronald, after you sign it, I can submit the establishment documents of Dirty Dancing Productions Co., Ltd. to the Delaware government agency."

"Here, here, and here..." Private lawyer Lindsay Dole came over with the company's establishment documents for Ronald to sign.

"Mr. Hansen, you sign the shareholder column here", the lawyer lady then asked Douglas Jr. who came here to sign.

"And Donna Parker, your cousin. When is she going to sign?"

"Right now, I'll ask Bud to pick her up." Ronald looked at his watch.

At the end of [-], Wu Xianbiao, a Chinese, was elected Lieutenant Governor of Delaware.His ancestral home is Yuyao, and he went to study in the United States in [-]. He was the first Chinese born outside of America to hold the high position of deputy governor.

Delaware is poor in resources and has a small population. It has only three counties under its jurisdiction, which is the state with the fewest counties in America.

After Wu Xianbiao became the deputy governor, he gave full play to his ancestral expertise and proposed a way to make money.He passed legislation through the state legislature to allow American citizens to open limited companies in Delaware and enjoy tax benefits.

Even better, they allow limited company shareholders to remain anonymous.In this way, it is equivalent to opening an offshore tax haven company registration in America for those rich companies who still want to enjoy federal protection.

For the purpose of filming tax avoidance, registering a limited liability company for the "Dirty Dancing" movie in Delaware can enjoy a low tax rate.In addition, registering a limited liability company (LLC) can also enjoy tax penetration. Shareholders only need to pay dividends and pay income tax once, avoiding double taxation of companies and individuals.

In this way, all the profits will be transferred from the project company to the name of this limited company, and outsiders don't know who the shareholders are.

"Ronnie, I'm here. Where can I sign?" Donna appeared in Ronald's office wearing a red T-shirt, white shorts, a pair of tennis shoes on her feet, and her hair in a ponytail.

"Just ask Lawyer Lindsay." Ronald pointed out.I am still reading the distribution business plan written by Kannold.

"Hey, are you going to make a sales call?" Donna finished signing and came back to see his release plan from Ronald's side.

"Yeah, like selling life insurance."

"Can I have a summer job with you? Just give me the salary I deserve." Donna suddenly said to Ronald.

"You will be a physicist in the future. Don't you still have to sign up for an internship at an observatory affiliated to NASA during the summer vacation? Why do you want to do this kind of telemarketing job?" Ronald wondered.

"This is America! Even if you are a physicist, you have to sell your project, not to find a sponsoring company. Besides, I don't have to be a physicist. Now that the era of great physical discoveries has passed, I don't think being a physicist is enough." I will definitely be able to make some contribution, so I want to try jobs in various industries and find what I like the most.”

"It's good, but you don't have to work for too long, it's hard work." Ronald agrees with Donna's choice. Before graduation, he can try different career options as much as possible to find his own interests and strengths. The location is very important.

It's just that this kind of telemarketing work is very hard, and people often hang up. Ronald actually doesn't want Donna to do it for a long time. Try it and know the suffering in the world.

(End of this chapter)