Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 785 Record-breaking videotape sales

"How popular is the Top Gun video?"

Ronald heard Tanin's plan, and contacted the two producers of "Top Gun" after returning home, and asked about the sales of the video tape.

"Let me tell you this, the share you get from the sales of the video tape may be more than your director's salary and bonus."

Jerry Bruckheimer on the phone, apparently drunk, laughed out loud at Ronald and asked him to come with him to their Orgy convention.

"How much did you drink?" Ronald felt that it was not easy.

Relatively speaking, Bruckheimer is the calmer of the producer duo.Even he talked about the Orgy conference on the phone without hesitation, and it seemed that he really sold a lot of videotapes.

"Come on, Ronald, there are a lot of chicks here, ah, hahaha..." Don Simpson grabbed the microphone, "Come on, all the chicks here want to see you. You make them happy too, and then we will talk about sharing Money, ah, hahaha..."

"Pa...", there was a crisp applause, followed by the teasing voices of several young girls.

"I have something to do tonight, and I'll see you tomorrow." Ronald felt that the other end of the phone had become a forest of wine and meat, and he had reservations about this indulgent lifestyle.A young body can bring endless joy, but Ronald likes to enjoy it in privacy.

"Then you don't come in the afternoon...or tomorrow night, we have to be happy until late."

The phone seemed to have been dropped on the ground, and no one picked it up. The laughter of men and women continued to come through the phone.

Ronald hung up the phone and called his agent, Nisita.

"How many tapes did that sell? I watched the producers of 'Top Gun' like they made millions."

"It's not on sale yet, right? I heard that Paramount will start rolling it out across the country in mid-March. Many people are staring at their new pricing strategy, so it's impossible to preemptively release it."

Nisita hung up the phone in doubt, then asked friends in the industry for a while, and called Ronald again half an hour later.

"Now we have just come to the pre-ordering stage of some video rental stores. Maybe Simpson and Bruckheimer have learned that the pre-order numbers are good, so they are celebrating. I asked a senior executive of Paramount, and he said that it will be sold in March. The plan is not in advance. Let me know if you have any new situation when you go tomorrow."

"No way?" Ronald felt that just the pre-sale numbers were good-looking, and it didn't seem to be enough for the two of them to be successful.

……

"Hahahaha... Ronald... Come here... You can drink some too, there are still a few bottles of champagne here."

Don Simpson was in the mansion in Beverly Hills. On the evening of the second day, with the help of the housekeeper, Ronald walked into the house and saw two producers.

Their faces still bear the marks of yesterday's all-night revelry.The two of them seemed to have not yet woken up from the mixed effects of alcohol and drugs. Their unwashed bodies emitted a stench of tobacco, alcohol, and carnal desire.

There were also some women's underwear falling on the ground in a mess, colorful, to set off the remnants left by the champagne.

"How much did it sell? I heard it won't be sold until March?"

Ronald asked Bruckheimer, who was the more stable of the two.It turned out that the number the two gave themselves was that they could sell eight times more, with a total of 40 copies sold.Now it seems far more than that.

"You have to learn to enjoy yourself, Ronald. We are in this business, and we are under so much pressure, isn't it for this moment?"

Don Simpson came up and hugged Ronald, "All those girls yesterday wanted to sleep with you, hahaha..."

"The pre-sale situation is very good. There are still three weeks before the official release. The number of pre-orders for 'Top Gun' is already close to the sales record of movie videos in Hollywood history."

Bruckheimer finally had some sense and answered Ronald's question.

"Break the record?" Ronald was very surprised, "What is the original record, I remember it seems to be the 'Lightning Dance' produced by the two of you, right?"

"Yeah, hahaha, you're our lucky star. Damn, when Paramount's Eisner and Katzenberg were around, we didn't get much money from the 'Lightning Dance' video. Now If they get out, our pricing power will be much higher. Hahaha..."

"Ouch", Simpson staggered, fell to the ground, and then held the wine bottle on the ground, snoring there.

"Butler," Ronald waved, telling the butler to bring his master a blanket so that Simpson wouldn't sleep too cold.

"Jerry, tell me, this pre-sale has broken the sales record, what's going on?" Ronald pulled Bruckheimer, bearing the unpleasant body odor, and pulled him onto the sofa. asked.

It turns out that in the American market, the sales record of the video tape is Jane Fonda's aerobics.The original version of aerobics in 59.95, priced at 100 videotapes, sold nearly [-] million copies that year (including other cheap LD disc formats).

Since then, she has released new aerobic exercise videos every year, and she can also reap hundreds of thousands of video sales.

However, the videotapes of movies are priced expensively, usually at 80-100 US dollars, so the sales volume is far behind.The record for the highest sales is still held by "Lightning Dance" produced by Bruckheimer and Simpson.

That's also because Paramount, in order to experiment with the impact of video tapes on the movie box office, started selling video tapes before the movie was offline.

All in all, "Lightning Dance" sold a sales record of 80 videotapes, a record that has not been broken by any film for several years.

The seven major studios, looking at the sales data of 10,000+ videotapes for each film, are not very concerned.It wasn't until recently that they found out that OEM companies such as Weston had made a lot of money and entered theatrical movies one after another, only to find out where the profits were.

Therefore, starting from "Top Gun", Paramount first lowered the price again, coupled with Pepsi's advertising subsidies, this time the price of 26.95 is a new attempt.

Who knew, this attempt...

What a success!

Starting last week, anyone watching TV has been repeatedly bombarded with the Pepsi Diet Coke ad that Ronald filmed.At the end of the ad, there will be another line reminding them that the "Top Gun" videotape will be released in both VHS and beta formats.

In less than a week, viewers at major video rental stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, etc. have discovered that they can pre-order the "Top Gun" video that will be released next month.

By the end of the week, the pre-order sales figures aggregated from all over the country had already broken the record for the highest sales of videotapes. "Top Gun" surpassed "Lightning Dance" and became the number one videotape sales in history.

No wonder the two producers, after seeing the sales figures, were so happy that they flew into the sky.

Ronald looked at the two staggering producers, who hadn't recovered from the carnival hangover, and walked out of the mansion silently.

"How much are they divided!

what! ”

Bruckheimer told Ronald that with the current pre-sale figures, as a director, Ronald can already get a share of more than 20 yuan.It is estimated that by the time it is officially released, this number can be doubled.

And total sales, Paramount's marketing experts predict, can exceed 200 million discs.In this way, Ronald can get more than 1 shares with a 60% share.

What if the two producers could get ten times their share, 10% of the sales?That is more than 600 million.

No, definitely more than that.

After Eisner left Disney, the two producers have become Paramount's remaining, one of the few producer combinations that can operate blockbuster movies.

With the shrewdness of the two of them, they will definitely earn a lot of money at the movie box office.

As for the income from video tapes, which was not valued before, the two of them must share more.

Or, going a step further, Simpson and Bruckheimer might even have the same control over videotape revenue that George Lucas had over Star Wars spin-off revenue.

At that time, the derivative toys of "Star Wars" belonged to Lucas.Because no one believed that this kind of derivative toy of the movie would be bought by anyone.

At that time, derivative toys were usually made of characters from TV dramas or comics.Because those works have a long release time, you can lock in a large group of fans to pay for it.Movies, on the other hand, have no chance to form a stable group of fans. By the time the toy is made, the audience has almost forgotten about the movie.

So Lucas got the ownership of the derivative toys at a very cheap price.Instead, Twentieth Century Fox wants to take a cut of the toys from Lucas.

Everyone knows the following story. Lucas became the richest director in Hollywood by relying on the character image of Star Wars.

In [-], videotapes, like the derivative toys of the [-] movie, were not taken seriously.

Ronald was terribly jealous.

Who can imagine this?
At that time, it would have been nice if they had asked for an extra 1% share, and they would have agreed, right?

A turbulent feeling kept churning in his chest.

So much money!
After working hard for so long, with the help of dreams, the money he earned directly from Hollywood is only about 300 to 1000 million.Fortunately, I made a fortune in stocks. Even so, it will exceed [-] million.

And these two producers know nothing, relying on the performances of Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis and others, their own directors, and the help of the Navy, they can actually make more money from the video tape than themselves Working hard for ten times more money in a few years.

"It is estimated that these two bastards can earn 3000 to [-] million." Ronald stopped the urge to hit someone, and parked the Ferrari on the side of the road.

A Blockbuster video rental store is just down the road.Ronald wanted to see with his own eyes who was buying the tapes and how they were selling so many at once.

A bust of Tom Cruise holding an aviation helmet stands just before the store's entrance.Next to it is a poster that reads, "Take home Top Gun for 26.95!"

"Give me a box." Ronald asked the clerk for a box, and counted out two 20-dollar bills to the other party.

"Please leave your address and name," the clerk took out a reservation form and began to fill it out.

"Bud, West Hollywood..." Ronald used the name of little Bud to register.

While waiting for the clerk to write the order and change the money, Ronald asked him, "This seems to be a good buy?"

"Yes, there are a lot of people pre-ordering, and Blockbuster has a priority agreement with the distributor, which is earlier than you can pick up the goods in supermarkets and 7-11 convenience stores.

Now our manager is still placing additional orders, so we have to pay the full amount to get the video tape as soon as possible. "

"It's so expensive, but it sells so well?"

$27 is still a lot of money for ordinary middle-class families.After all, renting a video at Blockbuster for three nights costs only $3.

"It's actually not expensive, sir." The clerk, a young man who looked like a high school student working here, said to Ronald.

"Our Blockbuster, the rent for the first three days is 3 US dollars, but from the fourth day onwards, an additional 3 US dollars is added every day. Many people are busy with work and forget to check after renting. It may already be the weekend when they return Yes, fines sometimes exceed $12.

And this movie is very exciting, I went to the cinema to watch it several times.Some of my classmates went to the Navy to join the army.Each movie ticket costs four or five dollars, and you can watch it every day after you buy it back.

Also, when your friends come to your house for a party, you have to show them a good movie, right? What's more exciting than 'Top Gun'?

There are fighter duels, falling in love with a beautiful teacher, and the episodes are also very good. Just buying the single record of the Berlin band is quite expensive, costing more than 10 dollars.

Moreover, if you buy this videotape and play it hundreds of times, there is no problem.After all, isn't it cheap? "

"You said it, it's really cheap." Hearing what the clerk said, Ronald immediately felt that the price was not expensive.

"Haha, let me just say that." The clerk was very happy, "Is your video recorder VHS or Beta? VHS? Okay, let me write it down for you. Here is your change and the order receipt. When the time comes, use this receipt Come to receive the goods."

"Thank you," Ronald put the receipt in his wallet.

"Actually, you can also watch more. There is a video recorder at home. When relatives and friends come to your house as guests, there must be some good movie entertainment, right? In fact, you can prepare three or five video tapes, so that if a child comes to your house as a guest, you will They're the best Uncle ever."

"You're right, but other videotapes are too expensive, and the cheapest one costs seventy or eighty dollars." Ronald looked around and looked at the oversize label.

"So the director of Top Gun is a good guy. Such a good-looking movie is sold so cheaply. Look over there, those old movies by Stallone ten years ago also sell for seventy dollars a box. After I watch it, their It’s hard to sell, there are 26 ones, who would buy 70 ones, you’re right.”

Parting from the talkative clerk, the "good guy" Ronald seems to have found the infinite motivation to move forward.

Jumping in the car, the first thing Ronald did when he drove home was to give a message to the manager of Weston Films, who was in charge of distributing video tapes, and now the manager of Daydream Films, who is in charge of the distribution of "Dirty Dancing". Cher Cannold on the phone.

"Michelle, when you were in Weston, who did you find to make the video tape? How much did it cost? Are the sales channels still there?"

"What I'm looking for is the videotape factory in New Jersey. I still have contacts for videotape rental companies across the country. Why, do you want to make videotapes?"

"Yes, Top Gun broke the video sales record in a week. After the price was reduced to 30 dollars, the market is much bigger than it used to be. We also want to make a video for Dirty Dancing, and use 30 dollars like them Priced to sell."

"It turned out that I was in Weston, and the sales of a movie are generally between 20 and 30. Occasionally, if it exceeds 30, it is considered a big hit. At the price of 50 US dollars, unless the sales can exceed [-], otherwise it will not make money. .”

"It must have broken one million. The pre-sale is close for a week. I think a total of 200 million boxes can be sold."

"Boss, of course I want you to be able to make a video business, I have a lot of resources here. But I have to remind you that 'Top Gun' was last year's box office champion, which is the key to their success.

If Dirty Dancing doesn't make the top 30 at the box office all year, we add in the marketing costs and that makes the $[-] price point unprofitable. "

"Hi, I know..." Ronald calmed down a little, "You should contact the factory first to see how low the cost can be. Also, this time the video tapes are available in department stores, supermarkets, in addition to traditional channels. Convenience stores sell it, you can also help me test it out and make a plan.

If we could sell half, no, a third of the sales of Top Gun, we could make a fortune too.You take the lead. "

"Haha, I'm going to make a plan now", Michelle Cannold also felt the smell of money, a lot of money.

"In short, it is still necessary to succeed at the box office first, and then let the market decide."

Ronald called his agent, Nisita, again, "Rick, fuck, they're probably going to sell 200 million boxes, and the two producers, the sons of a bitch, are making a lot of money."

"How much?" Nisita got up from the bed suddenly, "So much?"

"I think this achievement will shock the industry. I see that the studios will remake video tapes of your old films and sell them. I will see how much video tape income you can share in the contract you signed with them at the time.

I remember the last time the Directors Association and Screenwriters Association went on strike, and the right to share videotapes had been written into the union agreement.

Doing this is equivalent to creating a rich source of income for the director and the star. "

"Okay, hurry up."

Ronald immediately felt better. If there was a trade union agreement, at least the basic remaining dividends would not be less.In other words, how did you sign the movie contract you directed before, and how did you sign the dividends for the video tape?

"What's the matter? Are you going out so late?" Paula Wagner woke up in bed and asked her husband.

"Yeah, Ronald's movie Top Gun, the tape sold out, I have to go to the office and check all his directing deals."

"Sold out? How much?" Paula also cheered up.

"Probably more than 200 million boxes."

"How much? Two million?" Paula also jumped up.

"Be careful, don't be so excited when you're pregnant." Nisita felt that she was looking for clothes for his wife.

"I'll go to the office with you to find a contract, and Tom gets one too."

(End of this chapter)