Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"My country is

A sweet land of freedom

I sing of you

The land where my fathers died

The land of the pilgrims' pride"

A group of children, holding candles, sang "For thee, my country (arica (ytry, tis of thee)" at the base of the Statue of Liberty. During the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King once quoted the lyrics of this song in his speech.

The Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by the British as a gift a hundred years ago. Today, after years of fundraising and repairs led by the Girl Scouts, the newly renovated Statue of Liberty reopened.

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

French President Mitterrand and the President's wife The two leaders, together with their wives, gave a speech for the symbol of Franco-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 hand in hand.

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

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

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

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

"Michelle Cannold is here."

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

Michelle Cannold was the production manager of Weston Pictures, which bought the distribution rights of "Dirty Dancing". Because when purchasing this movie, he did not find the potential problem of Jewish girls, and argued with his boss Steve Tisch.

After Ronald bought the production rights of "Dirty Dancing", Michelle Cannold was also reported by someone, saying that he said behind his boss's back that giving up "Dirty Dancing" might be a big mistake. After Tisch heard this, he sent him to the audience The videotape satisfaction survey department was left out.

It just so happened that after Ronald got the cash for buying stocks, he set up a "Dirty Dancing" project company "Dirty Dancing Production" and injected one million US dollars in the first phase to prepare for the Dirty Dancing project.

Ronald was familiar with production, but he was still a newcomer in distribution. He looked for talents in this area through some friends.

It just so happened that Eleanor, the screenwriter of "Dirty Dancing", told Ronald about Michelle Cannold's experience, so he asked him to talk about whether it was possible to come to Daydream Pictures to be responsible for the distribution of Dirty Dancing.

"Hello, Mr. Li", Michelle Cannold was very handsome, like a Hollywood star, his suit was not expensive but of good quality, and his hair was combed back neatly, which made people feel trustworthy at first glance.

Weston's headquarters was in Chicago. Cannold found a reason to investigate the videotape rental business in New Jersey, and then quietly drove to New York for an interview.

"Call me Ronald." Ronald shook his hand. "You probably heard about the problems I encountered. I am going to distribute this movie myself, not through the distribution channels of the Big Seven. If you are in charge of this job, what do you plan to do?"

"Thank you," Cannold took the coffee handed by the secretary, drank it and put it on the table, "If we don't go through the distribution departments of the Big Seven studios or other medium-sized studios, then we will miss the easiest time to sell - the Las Vegas Film Festival.

Buyers in movie theaters hope to buy enough movies to be shown next year at one time. We don't have the opportunity to go to the last batch of development and sales conferences, so we can only find theaters and movie theater owners in 50 states to start retail business."

"Please continue..." Ronald saw that he pointed out the biggest problem of independently distributing a movie right away, and he also had a good understanding of Cannold's ability, so he stretched out his hand and asked him to continue talking about his plan.

"I don't think you will invest a very large budget in this movie."

"Yes, I plan to limit the budget to less than 6 million yuan." Ronald got Douglas Jr.'s 3 million US dollar investment commitment, made a fortune on stocks, and had ample funds. According to a rough division, half will be used for production, half for distribution, and another one million will be kept, plus the investment from my aunt, as a reserve fund.

"Then, in fact, it is impossible to invite a popular star actor to star in this movie, unless you can use your connections..."

"Don't consider that..." Ronald shook his head. The Jewish problem is still there, but they promised Ronald not to interfere after lowering the intensity of the plot. If he wants to find a popular movie star to star in the movie for the sake of face, it will definitely cause a new round of interference from the other party.

"Then we will distribute it according to the way of a low-cost movie. Will you direct it yourself?"

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

"It's best if you direct it yourself, because this is the only thing that can attract the interest of theater owners. Even if you don't direct, we must have your name at the top of the movie poster, in font The biggest kind." Cannold quickly interrupted Ronald. If it didn't rely on Ronald's fame and stars, it would be really difficult to distribute this movie.

"That's no problem. What else do we need to do?" Ronald was quite satisfied with Cannold's preparations. Although he had only done film distribution before that was not released in theaters and was recorded directly to video tapes, he was very interested in the distribution. The key points in business are still understood relatively clearly.

"Next, we will form a distribution team. We will start making sales calls to about 4,000 movie theaters in the United States. First, warm up their expectations for your new movie.

Before the movie starts shooting, posters are made first, and after the actors are confirmed, costume photos are taken. At this time, you can start sending these promotional materials to them. 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 will be able to cut a trailer and send it to or visit more theater owners. We strive to be able to sign more theaters within a certain schedule during the filming and post-production process.

When the first-cut copy is completed, we have a third and final opportunity to sign more theaters. At this time, it turns out that some of the movies they have scheduled for this year's Las Vegas Film Show will have problems or be postponed, so if we are lucky, we can get more theaters to show them. "

“How many people do you need as a team 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 add ten to fifteen novices to do the initial contact work.

When the time comes for film shooting, post-production, release, etc., I still need to recruit more teams to be responsible for promotion, verification, public relations, and other services, or hire a professional company. "

"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 experienced people. Most of them just rely on the accumulation of large institutions to sell movies to theater buyers at exhibitions. If they really want to sell movies from scratch, they may not be more efficient, and their personal relationships with theater chain owners may not be good.

"For telemarketing and other things, you can recruit college students to work part-time. I can only give you these upfront resources. If you think it's suitable, then come and work with me. In terms of salary, I will give you the same treatment as in Weston. Specifically, You can talk to the general manager Eddie.”

Film distribution is a very expensive business. Even a prolific producer of low-budget exploitation films like Roger Corman, who produced more than 20 films per year at his peak, could only maintain his distribution team without losing money.

Ronald didn't want any project that would hire permanent employees and increase fixed expenses. In fact, one of his long-term employees wanted it.

Now Daydream’s distribution department only distributes one movie. If he makes money and can distribute other movies, he can convert temporary workers into regular workers and take the opportunity to expand the number of people. But we must not just follow the configuration of a third-tier studio and get a bunch of industry veterans to sit in the office.

"Deal?"

Ronald extended his hand to see if Cannold would agree to his terms.

"make a deal!"

Michelle Cannold knew that he would not have the chance to control important departments in Weston. Anyway, he was optimistic about the film, and he even made the decision to buy half of the production rights and all the distribution rights.

Just to prove his vision and have the opportunity to prove to the rich second-generation boss Steve Tisch that he is right and worthy of taking this job.

Moreover, in Ronald's company now, as long as he can successfully manage the distribution of "Dirty Dancing", he will be the oldest veteran.

"This is not impossible, but I need to recruit a veteran." Michelle Cannold thought for a while and understood Ronald's idea. He proposed to find an experienced and enthusiastic industry veteran to help set up Team, and training new people.

"Okay, deal. You can go to the Columbia Publishing Department to recruit. They are about to merge with the Samsung Publishing Department and are about to lay off redundant staff."

"Ronald, if you sign, I can submit the founding documents of Dirty Dancing Productions, Inc. 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 then asked Douglas, who came here specially, to sign.

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

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

At the end of 1984, Chinese Wu Xianbiao was elected lieutenant governor of Delaware. His ancestral home is Yuyao, and he went to the United States to study in 1956. He is the first Chinese born outside America to reach the high position of deputy governor.

Delaware has poor resources and a small population. It has only three counties, making it 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 in the state assembly allowing American citizens to set up limited companies in Delaware and enjoy tax benefits.

Even better, they allow shareholders of limited companies to remain anonymous. This is equivalent to opening an offshore tax haven company registration place in the United States for those wealthy corporate owners who still want to enjoy federal protection.

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

In this way, all profits will be transferred from the project company to the limited company, and outsiders do not know who the shareholders are.

"Ronnie, I'm here. Where do you 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 Lindsay, the lawyer." Ronald pointed out. He was still reading the distribution business plan written by Cannold.

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

"Yes, just like selling life insurance."

"Can I do a summer job here? Just give me the salary I deserve." Donna suddenly said to Ronald.

"You are going to be a physicist in the future. Don't you have to apply for an internship at an observatory affiliated with NASA during the summer? Why do you want to do this kind of telemarketing work?" Ronald asked curiously.

"This is America! Even if you are a physicist, you have to sell projects and find sponsoring companies. Besides, I don't necessarily want to be a physicist. Now the era of great discoveries in physics has passed. I don't think being a physicist will necessarily make any contribution, so I want to try jobs in various industries and find the one I like the most."

"That's good, but you shouldn't do it for too long. This job is very hard." Ronald agreed with Donna's choice. It is important to try different career options as much as possible before graduation and find your own interests and strengths.

This kind of telemarketing work is not only very hard, but people often hang up on you. Ronald actually doesn't want Donna to do it for a long time. Just try it and know the sufferings of the world.

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