Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 827 Buying Videotape Copyright

"Help me get in touch with these people. I want to negotiate with them about the purchase of the videotape copyrights of these movies." Ronald called his secretary, Ms. Chen, and asked her to give "Street of Rage" respectively, " Night of the Comet," and "Breakdancing," the three-film producer's phone call.

"Okay, leave it to me. Ronald, you still have the videotape copyrights of several movies, do you want to contact them?" Ms. Chen is of Chinese descent. Do some secretarial work.

"The other films, the Longwei Kid series, Top Gun, including my first directorial work, the fast-paced Richmond High School, are all produced by the seven major film companies, and the box office is very high. The negotiation is very difficult. I I'll let the agent go and talk first. You just have to call the producers of these three small studio films..."

"boom!"

Before Ronald could finish speaking, the door of the office was opened, and a middle-aged man in a suit rushed in with a leather briefcase in his hand.

"Number one, Ronald, it's still number one. Dirty Dancing's original soundtrack album sales will still be number one in the new week."

Jimmy Reiner, the manager in charge of Ronald's record business, just came back from New York on Monday, and excitedly ran to Daydream Films, Ronald's office, took his hand out of his briefcase, took out A copy was left on Ronald's desk.

"Our single won Michael Jackson? Impossible?" Ronald was very surprised. He stood up from behind the desk, picked up the letter and looked at it.

Dirty Dancing's two original singles, the title track "Time of My Life," a duet by Bill Medley, lead singer of The Justice Brothers, and singer Jennifer Warnes, have just When it was on the list, it was overwhelmed by MJ's new song.

This kind of song that won the first place in the first song of MJ's new album and is stuck in the second place is unlikely to become popular.

Could it be the one that Patrick Schwyz composed and sang himself, "He's Like the Wind"?But with Schwyz's so-so voice, it's impossible to overwhelm MJ.

Ronald looked puzzled for a long time on the paper, single chart, pop chart, and even dance charts, but he couldn't find the titles of the two songs of "Dirty Dancing". The top of the list appears.

"It's not the singles list, it's the album sales list." Jimmy Reiner looked at Ronald's puzzled eyes, understood that the other party had misunderstood, and immediately pointed to a list in the middle and back for Ronald to see.

"Oh, it's my fault." Ronald looked at the list that Jimmy Reiner was referring to, which was America's weekly record sales list. The sales of "Dirty Dancing" ranked No.1 in front of MJ's new album "Bad".

"The statistics of this list are not necessarily accurate. They are based on reports from major record companies and samples from the retail market." Jimmy Reiner seemed to feel that he was too excited, and told Ronald about the list. origin.

"It doesn't matter. Our sales are about to break through the double-platinum line, 200 million?" Ronald shook the paper, and there were sales statistics at the bottom.

"I'm just number one or number two. In short, this sales figure has exceeded my best expectations by many times." Ronald patted Jimmy Reiner and asked Ms. Chen to make him the best cup of coffee .

"Originally, there was champagne for this matter, but I still have jet lag and haven't completely reversed it, so let's celebrate with this cup of top-notch Indonesian coffee that my agent gave me."

"Cheers," Jimmy Reiner laughed too.Touched the coffee cup with Ronald.He has transformed from a song copyright broker to Ronald's head of record business. It is a good sign that his first album has achieved such a great success.

"If the sales volume is very good, and if it remains the number one of the year, can I go to the Grammy Awards?" Ronald took a sip of coffee, looked at the copy again and again, wondering if there was something wrong with it. The opportunity to win a Grammy Award, so it is so happy to be placed at home alongside the Oscars.

"I have to be honest with you, Ronald. The sales volume is the sales volume, and the awards are mainly based on the commercial and artistic achievements of the single."

"I remember the Grammys have album of the year awards, right?" Ronald touched his nose.

"We only have two original songs on our soundtrack album, the rest are re-records of old songs..."

"Okay, okay," Ronald raised his hands, indicating that he had started unrealistic fantasies again.

"I just need the sales to bring us enough cash flow so I can start investing in next year's movies."

"That's not a big problem. RCA, like us, takes money from albums, and they don't have to pay artists more."

Ronald nodded happily.The film box office and remittances from the sale of video tapes are relatively slow, but the record income, which was not very optimistic before, became the largest cash income of Daydream in 1987.

……

"Mr Coleman..."

Ronald was the first to negotiate the copyright of the video tape with Tom Coleman, the president of Atlantic Productions, the producer of his sci-fi film "Night of the Comet".

"To be honest, I don't recommend that you re-release the videotape of this movie." Tom Coleman knew the purpose of Ronald's visit, but it was a more sincere suggestion.

Atlantic Productions, after making a fortune with Ronald's "Night of the Comet," has been churning out low-budget productions.Of the films produced and released each year, there is probably only one film that wins the lottery, and the rest struggle to make it to the break-even line.

In 1985 they released Michael J. Fox's "Wolf," a teenage basketball team in which members of a teenage basketball team suddenly find themselves transformed into werewolves and go on a rampage.

Although under the light of "Back to the Future", this film did not become the top five of the year, but the production cost of more than 100 million won a commercial success of 8000 million at the box office, which also allowed Atlantic Company to survive to this day, and can still shoot ten movies a year. Come to the movies.

They also have a sequel to The Wolf to be released this year. In addition, Ronald also heard that their distribution department is preparing to release "The Wife" which won the Best Actress Award at the Tokyo Film Festival in America.

Among the small Hollywood companies, Atlantic is relatively healthy, and its shareholders have made a lot of money from dividends.

"Why do you say that?" Ronald was a little strange, wondering if the other party was unwilling to sell the copyright of the video tape to him.

"That's right, Ronald. We released the film on video in 1985, the year after Night of the Comet. There were three releases, VHS, Betamax, and CED on analog disc, and we barely managed to break even. It's just been two years and you're about to republish the videotape...

I know you're a successful commercial director now, and it's quite understandable to want to get back the video rights to your past work.But this movie doesn't seem to be suitable for videotape distribution, and our selling price will not be lowered.

Business is business. ’ Finally Tom Coleman added a favorite line of American businessmen.

"You are right, business is business, but I still want to put all the films I have directed under my own name. These films are like my children..."

"Well, since you insist, I will ask our distribution manager to talk to your people and try to give you a favorable price."

Tom Coleman felt a little contemptuous of an upstart director like Ronald.These guys always think about business issues from an artist's point of view.A few good movies were made, and when I got some money, I started to spend it randomly.

Forget it, I have seen too many directors who are up and down like this in this industry. A year or two ago, I was shooting big productions of the seven major studios. After a year or two, I have been reduced to no film. Well, some of them can let go of their faces, and they can go back to make low-cost exploitation films and start over.

"I will remember your care for me." Ronald got up and shook hands with Tom Coleman to say goodbye.

He also despises such an idiot who guards the golden mountain and doesn't know how to mine it.

In the video tape market, only the VHS format is suitable for movies. Both Betamax and analog disc CED can only be recorded for one hour.In this era when movies are generally 90 minutes to two hours long, it is really frustrating to see halfway through the operation of getting up to change the video tape.

The funniest thing is that Sony's Beta format is actually not incapable of recording more than 2 hours, but their engineers want to protect the clarity of the video tape and are unwilling to record movies at a lower resolution, which is what it is now , Buy a movie video tape, but also two video tapes.

On the other hand, the NFL, the most popular professional sports in America, has an average game time of about 4 hours.The Beta format videotape, which has a lower quality videotape, has a total duration of only 3 hours.

VHS tapes, which also use low-quality video, can record up to 9 hours of TV programs.

I really don’t know what these Sony engineers think. When watching movies at home, the TVs in most American families are no more than 21 inches, so you can’t see the quality no matter how high it is?And many people record the game because they have something to do that day and automatically record it for tomorrow.

In this way, when the fourth quarter is the most critical time, the dementia operation of changing another video tape is not known who came up with it.

Also from the VHS camp of EGL, they have a much deeper understanding of the American market.More and more movies are now using the VHS system as the main means of distribution.The larger the quantity, the lower the unit price can be achieved.

Coupled with the difference in the number of boxes, the cost of VHS video tapes of movies is almost half that of Sony Beta format.This paved the way for a videotape to drop from $90 to $40.

As long as Ronald abandons the expensive and low-selling Beta video tapes and CED disc formats, and only releases VHS video tapes, he can make a reasonable profit through the sharp increase in sales brought about by low prices.

No matter what, I still have something to earn.

After telling each other that the other was a fool, the two initially signed a cooperation agreement, and Ronald bought back the copyright of the video tape.In the next ten years, you can release videotapes of your own movies.

Atlantic's Tom Coleman got a transfer fee, and he has nothing to do with the share of the video tapes for the next ten years. Regardless of whether Ronald earns or stays with him, he can get a stable copyright transfer fee.

……

"Breakdance is the most profitable movie we have ever made for Cannon. It is impossible for us to sell the video rights to Ronald at such a cheap price."

Now the owner of the cannon is Minahan's younger brother, Yoram Gobros.He saw Ronald's proposal brought by Minahan, and frowned and rejected Ronald's image.

"How could you do this? The two of us were wandering on the streets of New York back then, and we almost had no money to go back to Israel. If Ronald hadn't filmed this 'Breakdance' that brought us back to life, and then raised funds to acquire Hair Country and The British cinemas, all of that in Cannes, it's just not possible."

Minahan's neck became thicker, he stuck his neck and slapped his cousin on the table.The desk made of cheap plywood was thumped by him, as if it was about to fall apart.

"Minahan, our current cash flow is very problematic. You agreed to greenlight too many projects. We made more than 40 movies last year. Even the most investment-intensive 'Superman 4', because of these redundant projects, there is no Got enough late-stage funding and failed. Now we need more money, less boutique projects”

Yoram adjusted his glasses. The last big production that Minahan was in charge of, Superman 4, also failed shamefully because there was not enough money to invest in post-production special effects.The flying footage of Superman is not as good as the first Superman film ten years ago, lack of funds, Superman and the villain Atomman fly, like people made of paper, it looks fake.

Because of this public failure, Minahan was stripped of the production rights of the project by EMI, the joint venture partner of Hair Country.Originally, I was the follower who always followed Minahan, but now I was appreciated by EMI because of my excellent negotiation skills, and I have taken over the decision-making power of all operations of Cannon.

"Excellent, excellent, before the box office comes out, no one knows if it is a boutique." Minahan refused to give in, "Think about it, Yoram, what we need now is to cooperate with senior talents like Ronald, We invest in whatever he wants to shoot. As long as he is willing to direct or is optimistic about a certain project, we will use our overseas distribution capabilities to work with him. This is the correct strategy to bring Cannon out of the quagmire. "

Minahan had nothing to do for a while, so he watched all the movies he made after Cannon was bought over and over again.He finally understood that in Hollywood, if you want to make money, you have to find capable people to cooperate with.My own vision has long been outdated. Taking advantage of Cannon's distribution capabilities in Europe and Britain compared to the top seven in Hollywood, more cooperation is the right way.

"Now I'm the one who makes the decision, Minahan." Yoram pushed his glasses. This cousin is really lacking in business, and he doesn't understand many things.Videotapes will become the next big thing in Hollywood, and it's better to have such a cash cow in your hands.

"If you do this, I will break my promise in front of Ronald." Minahan was furious, hammered on the table, and left angrily.

"Pa..." He used too much force, a crack appeared on the plywood, and the flat tabletop seemed to be split into two.

"Rosa, book me a new desk." Yoram touched the crack, called the secretary, and simply changed a desk.

"Ronald, I'm sorry for you. I didn't do what I promised you. This guy Yoram, now with the support of the Chinese people, doesn't listen to me more and more in the company. I really don't know, how could he It would turn out that we were able to take off because of your little sub-$100 million production 'Breakdance'".Minahan did not fulfill Ronald's entrustment, so he had to come back to Ronald to plead guilty.

"It's okay, Minahan. I understand his decision, business is business. Not this time, I'll just ask him next time."

Ronald comforts Minahan in turn.This strong man in Israel is now gradually losing control of the company he founded. It is indeed the greatest sorrow for a movie lover who has an artist temperament rather than a businessman temperament, and has no right to make movies.

Moreover, Yoram is in a high position now. Unlike Minahan, he has the mentality and time to reflect on the gains and losses in the past few years. Maybe in his eyes, the breakdance is still his credit.

"I'm sorry for you, Ronald. But I won't let it go. Sooner or later, sooner or later, I will return the copyright of the breakdance video to you in its entirety."

"Hey, we two brothers don't need to talk about this. Let me tell you a funny thing, in Huaguo, now all of them are doing break dancing. You know their original intention of introducing this movie is that the movie reflects the race of America Discrimination and class disparity?"

"Hahaha, do they really think so?" Minahan talked about the movie, and quickly forgot the unhappiness with his cousin.

"That's right, let me tell you, the people of Huaguo are very meticulous in their work. They also found suitable people to dub each role. Lucinda Dicky's mouth shape can be matched with Chinese. Look at their version, just like Lucinda speaks Chinese again."

"That's really interesting. I've never seen other countries that have such a fine-tuned dubbing operation. The idiots of the Suwei League just let a person read the narration by the side, the Russian narration and the original English soundtrack, Just looking at it gives me a headache."

"Lucinda has been making movies for Cannon, right?" Ronald also began to recall the past. At that time, Minahan seemed to have promised Lucinda Dicky to be the leading actress of Cannon.

"Hey, she found a businessman boyfriend and got married. Actresses are like this. The prime time is very short. If you have love, you will get married, and then you will have children. If you are unlucky, you will get divorced... It will be like this for the rest of your life. .”

"Tsk..." Ronald recalled that on the beach in Los Angeles, he and Rodriguez, a disabled person nicknamed "Hand Man", rushed to shoot street dance scenes, and then they were received by the leader and his wife together. It's wrong.Looking forward to next year, the two terms of the Grand Commander are approaching.

……

Finally, there is Diane Lane's "Streets of Rage," which has been a hit in East Asia.Dongying people have always liked it, and the theme song has always been requested on the radio.

Ronald finally found the film's producer, Joel Silver, through his agent.

"Aha, Ronald, long time no see. I didn't expect you to come to me. When your manager Nisita called me, my heart skipped a beat."

Among the producers of the three films, the one who did the best job was this guy with a big head and a thick neck.

In his mansion in Beverly Hills, he was hugging a blonde beauty, picking up a bottle of Bordeaux red wine and drinking directly.

"I'm here to ask you to buy the copyright of the video on Streets of Rage. I like Diane's appearance in that movie very much, and I want to buy it as a gift for her." Ronald knew that these producers were all good people, So straight to the point.

"That's a small problem, a small problem, I have no problem selling it to you." Joel Silver was satisfied.After he finished filming "Street of Rage", he declined for several years.

It wasn't until last year that Mel Gibson was hired to play a detective who retired from the Vietnam War, a neurotic detective.Together with his partner, a black detective, he solved a difficult case.

The popular action star, coupled with the number of comedy partners, has been tried and tested this year.His "deadly weapon" also allowed him to re-enter the ranks of Hollywood's top producers.

He had just finished "Lethal Weapon," a detective story about a neurotic detective with a Vietnam veteran and a black man with a gift for comedy.

The gangster film produced by Silver's own company did well at the box office after it was released, raking in more than 6000 million US dollars in America, and sold a total of more than 1 million at the box office worldwide.

Joel Silver, the company's boss, has shaken off the bad luck that "Streets of Rage" brought him, and now he's shaking again, living the typical life of a successful producer, with lavish parties one night after another. Night.

"Thank you, you are the most cheerful of the producers I have come into contact with." Ronald stepped forward and hugged Joel Silver.

"I said, Ronald. I'm preparing another gangster film now. Are you interested in directing it?"

"A gangster movie? I feel that the old-fashioned way of heroes defeating gangsters is almost out of date. Besides, I have never made a gangster movie." Ronald remembered the "Last Crazy" he watched in Huaguo.The tastes of audiences around the world seem to be shifting.

"Oh, the hero has the same opinion. I also think some comedy elements should be added. As for whether you have made a police film or not, it is not a problem for you. You have not made an air combat film before, nor have you made a musical film."

"Hahaha..." The two laughed loudly.

Opening up the other party's train of thought, still stuck in the way of action plus comedy, Ronald didn't think so.

(End of this chapter)