Hollywood Lover

   A few hours later, the Golden Globe Awards ended smoothly, and the media hyped up the big event that Zhang Dongcheng received five nominations but got nothing, which made him come to the forefront again.

"Five nominations, nothing, this is Smith Zhang!" The rival Los Angeles News once again published a full-page introduction, making a big statement about Zhang Dongcheng's failure to win this Golden Globe Awards, and reported his story with enthusiasm. Difficulty, sprinkle another handful of salt on his wound.

"Great movie, five nominations, but nothing? Golden Globe Awards, what are you doing!" And Zhang Dongcheng's most staunch supporter, the Los Angeles Film News, once again spoke out in support of Zhang Dongcheng, and criticized the Golden Globe judges Fire violently.

   But Zhang Dongcheng, in his own home, thought carefully about the matter that disappointed him.

Although he was very confident when he went to the awards ceremony, and although he was modest, he thought that he would win all five nominations and be full of stars at the awards dinner, but the reality gave him a heavy blow hit.

Why is this? In Zhang Dongcheng's heart, Brokeback Mountain is comparable to the world of saving Private Ryan and Truman from any point of view. How could it end up like this?

  Calmly, Zhang Dongcheng lay on the sofa, looking carefully for the information he had harvested from the future TV.

  Future, gave him the answer.

   This is a hack from the future.

   Every year after March, after the Oscars end, it is also time for the studio to conclude. In fact, what they have to look back and reflect on is more to evaluate their own public relations strategy during the awards season. A careful study of the public relations strategies of various studios for their works, from the point of view of winning the votes of members of the American Academy of Film Science and Art, the process of "running for the Olympics" is not fundamentally different from the presidential election.

  This common strategy is nothing more than two aspects: elevating oneself and belittling opponents.

  The former is easy to understand, and it is nothing more than "Wang Po sells melons, sells melons, sells melons." But how to boast, through whom to boast, and where to boast, this is very particular.

   At the beginning of the decision to start shooting, the studio will generally make a long-term plan for its works. In short, each film is considered in two dimensions: box office potential and chances of winning. Although the situation may change after the film is finished and released to the market, experienced producers can make a more accurate positioning just by reading the script. If a work seems to have the potential to hit the awards, the studio will consider how to make an impact from the release strategy. The most common method is to test the film on a small scale first, accumulating media praise and audience reputation, and when those accumulations are enough to have an impact on award nominations, it will be expanded to a full-scale release. In this way, not only can the commercial benefits be maximized, but also the way of expanding the release can be used to promote the early praise again in a logical way.

  If the first-round release of the shortlisted film is too early, most of them will choose to re-release it during the awards season, so that the judges who missed it at the beginning can watch it again, or deepen their impression.

  Gravity, the biggest winner of the Oscars in 2014, adopted this strategy: it achieved a good box office in the first round of screenings in October 2013; after receiving 10 Oscar nominations, it returned to theaters at the end of January. Judging from the box office, the box office after the nomination contributes little to its total box office, but it is of great help to the momentum of winning the award. The same is true for "Hunting Bin Laden" in 2012. When it was released in late December of that year, only a dozen or so theaters were selected. On the day the film was nominated for five Oscars, it expanded to 3,000 theaters across the United States. By the time of the Oscars, the film has accumulated nearly 100 million US dollars at the box office, and it is always easier to convince the Oscar judges for a well-received and blockbuster film.

  Using theaters as a channel to build momentum, after all, the scope is too wide. For the award, the Oscar judges are the focus of public relations. Therefore, more shortlisted films have chosen to hold special screenings for members of the Academy. The academy members with a total number of more than 6,000 people live scattered in various places. In order to maximize public relations, the studios with rich family background usually hold many special screenings of this kind. If organizing a special screening is too much work, the studio will usually make a review DVD and send it to the judges along with other materials. When "Crash" launched its Olympic offensive, it sent out more than 13,000 copies of such DVDs. In addition to members of the academy, it also covered members of other relevant labor unions and associations in Hollywood. "Stance. In the end, the film won the best picture of the year.

  In order to increase exposure, the studio can't wait to squeeze every minute of the film's creative team. Directors and leading actors are busy during awards season, rushing to participate in various media activities arranged by the studio.

  Traditional channels are still valued. Every awards season, Hollywood studios will launch a batch of "for your reference" posters, aiming at the possible nominations of their works, and carefully selecting the corresponding media praise to strengthen the audience's impression. To put it bluntly, this is the print media version of "seeking attention". In order to promote themselves, some studios do not hesitate to take some excessive moves, and the results are often controversial. For example, this year's "The Ballad of Drunken Country" advertised itself as "the best movie of the year" in the "New York Times" on a full page; "It's Time" is also considered to have hijacked the judges' sense of morality to some extent.

  It is also a propaganda offensive, which is more cost-effective and more cost-effective to directly target members of the academy who have the right to vote. For this reason, the producers spared no expense for this "concentrated bombing". In addition to filling the judges' mailboxes with relevant graphic materials introducing the works, the film crew also did not let go of the judges' daily activities. In the fierce stage of the "Olympic competition" last year, even the commercial venues near the college became the frontier of the election: a restaurant named Kate Mantilini, the wallpaper was replaced with various posters to ensure that the judges who dined nearby, even the meal time are surrounded.

  In order to ensure the fairness, openness, and transparency of the "Olympic Games" process, the academy expressly stipulates that no election bribery is allowed, that is, gifts are not provided to academy members in exchange for votes. However, this kind of thing has always been "you have a policy, I have a countermeasure", and the cunning and wealthy producers can always find ways to avoid this ban. For example, "Lincoln", one of the 2013 Oscar's seed contestants, in the review materials sent to the Academy members, in addition to the DVD, the following items are also included: four large-format picture books (introducing all aspects of the film), written by Spielberg himself Signed letter, and even a very practical plate for roasting a turkey.

  The most common trick used by cartoons is to send toys related to the movie. Last year’s Oscar judges received plastic fists from “Wreck-It Ralph” and model bows and arrows from “Brave”.

   These things are basically on the edge of "gift" and "gift", which will undoubtedly increase the favor of the judges. "Les Miserables" also sent the judges an iPod Shuffle worth $49, with a built-in movie soundtrack; once someone inquires, it can be argued that it is a tool for understanding movie-related information, and the rules are not broken.

  Whether it is a gift or a gift, although the value of a single one is not high, it is not a small expense to "batch" thousands of judges. Coupled with the media campaign funds, the cost of "self-promotion" for the Oscar seeded contestants is actually quite high. There have been statistics in the past: During the awards season, independent films may spend 250,000 US dollars on public relations, while the average major studios spend an average of 2 million US dollars per film. In the case of fierce competition and determined to win, the producers sometimes spend a lot of money on publicity.

  For example, in order to put "Shakespeare in Love" on the Oscar throne, Miramax is said to have spent 5 million US dollars. No wonder some people say that Hollywood and the political circle are essentially the same, both are money games. Last year, Weinstein Films even directly hired the deputy manager of the Obama campaign team to help promote "Silver Lining Behind the Dark Clouds", which can be said to have directly connected entertainment and politics.

  In the political elections in the United States, directly defaming opponents is a strategy that is tacitly tolerated. In this regard, Hollywood seems to have to save face and will not be as desperate as ambitious politicians do. But there are exceptions. In 2010, the producer of "Bomb Disposaler" also wrote to some film academy members, expressly asking them not to vote for the rival "Avatar". After the incident was revealed, the producer was banned from attending the Oscars that year.

   If the attack or defamation is from a third party, that's a different story. The "Hunting Bin Laden" mentioned above, although very popular in the early stage, suffered bad luck in the later stage. First, a member of the academy who is enthusiastic about politics publicly stated that he did not like the film and would not vote for it. Later, even members of Congress and the CIA got involved, not only issued a statement accusing the film of misrepresentation, but also launched an investigation on "whether there is a leak". In the end, the film was so popular in the early stage that it only received one technical award when it was presented. But the day after the Oscars, Congress dropped its investigation into the film.

  Many people suspect that politicians are collaborating with Hollywood, and some people suspect that Harvey Weinstein, the boss of Weinstein Films, is the conspiracy behind the scenes.

   In fact, Weinstein has been known as "the most unscrupulous pusher" in the Oscar game for nearly two decades. It can be said that since he joined, the Oscar selection process has become full of blood.

  The "Shakespeare in Love" mentioned above is Weinstein's most classic achievement, and it is also his most notorious "black public relations". At that time, "Saving Private Ryan" was the most popular in the "Olympiad". But at the critical moment when the award was about to be presented, there was a lot of negative news about the latter, such as the British veterans of World War II who questioned the inaccurate depiction of the Omaha Beach scene at the beginning of the film. In the end, "Shakespeare in Love", also known as "Shakespeare in Love", won the best picture upset, but became the object of ridicule in the test of time.

In the history of the Oscars, similar "black public relations" affecting the results of the awards can be traced back to 1941: the then media tycoon Hester, annoyed by the allusion to himself in "Citizen Kane", not only mobilized all his propaganda machines to block the film , after throwing money at the studio in an attempt to destroy the film, he even took a personal attack on the director Orson Welles, and even arranged underage **** girls in the latter's hotel room in an attempt to ruin the director's reputation. Thanks to the good-hearted police who informed him in advance, Wells was able to escape unscathed. However, "Citizen Kane" eventually hated the Oscars of the year.

   In all fairness, Weinstein's public relations strategy is not as extreme as that of Hester. The most common trick he uses is to disclose the opponent's black material to the media, and use the media's mouth to drag the opponent's hind legs. For example, in 2003, Weinstein's own "Chicago" competed with the powerful "The Pianist". In the awards season, many media began to hype the personal history of Polanski, the director of "The Pianist", and finally "Chicago" won the best picture.

  What people criticize Weinstein the most is that he used everything when he "hacked" "A Beautiful Mind". At one time, he said that the film deliberately concealed the homosexuality of the protagonist Nash, and at another time he said that Nash was "anti-Semitic". Considering the strong influence of the Jews in Hollywood and even the entire United States, the latter's "distortion of facts" can be said to be particularly vicious. However, "A Beautiful Mind" withstood the test and ended up winning Best Picture. Weinstein had to call to apologize to Universal Pictures, the producer of "A Beautiful Mind." This also became the only confirmed "black public relations" of Weinstein.

  Later, Hollywood studios, including Weinstein, learned a lesson from the "A Beautiful Mind" incident, and became more cautious about "black". It is generally difficult to see who is behind the scenes. For example, among the 9 works nominated for best picture this year, "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "Blue Jasmine" received the most criticism. The former is because of the content, and the latter is because of the director's conduct. After carefully tracking the sources of information from all parties, it is difficult to judge whether this is aimed at the "black public relations" of the film, and it is even more difficult to determine the mastermind behind the scenes. In this regard, Hollywood is not as "courageous" as its political "teacher".

  The problem is that the public relations behind the Oscars have been around for a long time. It is no longer a secret to the American media or the public. Why is it allowed to exist? This is also the same as political campaigns. "Public relations" represents the will to campaign and the spirit of winning. Although there may be deviations in the application process, the lack of public relations shows that there is not even the most basic competitive posture; this will be regarded as an unqualified competitor in the United States, which advocates free competition. In the foreseeable future, the public relations behind the Oscars will continue to provide gossip for ordinary people after dinner, just like the presidential and congressional campaigns.

  Zhang Dongcheng carefully read the future information, then slapped his forehead suddenly, and smiled bitterly. Isn't this last paragraph a complete portrayal of himself now?

  From the very first five nominations to nothing, the media didn’t show much sympathy or righteous indignation other than hyping up their own bad luck.

  Indeed, thinking that making the best movie is strength and being able to overwhelm other movies, such a thing only exists in dreams.

  Lack of public relations, not even the most basic competitive attitude, not even the desire to win, so what about five nominations, if you say no, you won’t give it!

   If this continues, the nine nominations at the Oscars at the end of March will once again make Zhang Dongcheng feel ashamed!

   Can't go on like this!

   Moreover, a short story about Harvey Weinstein, the boss of Weinstein Films, happened just this year!

"Shakespeare in Love" can be an upset, overturning super blockbusters such as Saving Private Ryan, and throwing Truman's world into nowhere. Then my "Broken Arm Mountain", from box office reputation to actors Acting skills, role connotation, which point is inferior to others?

   That guy Harvey can create a big upset, and my Brokeback Mountain is even better, what is impossible!

  Zhang Dongcheng's eyes became more and more determined, sharper and sharper like a blade. This time, he was in the dark while others were in the light.

  Then, let this guy Harvey's battle of fame become his super slider. My Brokeback Mountain will complete the counterattack at this year's Oscars!

  Excited Zhang Dongcheng even slowed down the filming of The Lord of the Rings. He must fight this battle well and not let Quan Mei see his jokes, let alone let those insidious villains succeed!

  I can only lose to myself, no one can tell me to bow my head!

Zhang Dongcheng just thought bitterly, and then released all his energy from Lord of the Rings, focusing on the trip to Oscar on Brokeback Mountain, and the most urgent task is to find a public relations company to completely eliminate this unfavorable situation. Turn around.

  Hill & Knowlton, founded in 1927 by John Wiley Hill in Cleveland, Ohio, is the earliest public relations company in the world. Its Chinese name means Weijibenda. Weida PR is affiliated to one of the world's largest communication agencies - WPP Group (NASDAQ: WPPGY), which has the world's largest network of international offices. The company is headquartered in New York, USA. At present, Weida has 31 offices in 37 countries on five continents, with more than 1,000 customers

  Many, Weida Public Relations has cooperated with the International Olympic Committee for 6 years. In 1997, Weida assisted Athens in successfully bidding for the 2004 Olympic Games, and assisted London in successfully bidding for the 2012 Olympic Games.

  Communication consultant for World Expo 2010. In 1984, Weller PR established an office in Beijing, becoming the first multinational public relations agency to enter the Chinese market. In 1991, the company was hired by the Chinese government to lobby in the U.S. Congress for the most-favored-nation status granted to China by the U.S., thus becoming the first foreign public relations organization hired by the Chinese government.

   In the last year, that is, in 1998, the total revenue of Weida Public Relations Consulting Co., Ltd. was 206 million US dollars, ranking second in the world. Among the 500 largest companies in the United States selected by "Fortune" magazine, 35% are the past and present customers of Weida.

  The fifty-two-year-old Shi Deli is the general manager of Weida PR's US branch. On this day, he brought his capable men and secretly met Zhang Dongcheng in his mansion.

   "Haha, super director Smith Zhang, I finally meet you!" When Shi Deli saw Zhang Dongcheng, he reached out his hand excitedly and shook him tightly.

"Hehe, don't call me a super director, I'm an unlucky guy who has nothing in the newspaper!" Zhang Dongcheng smiled and said with self-deprecation, and then called Shi Deli and his subordinates to sit down in the living room .

   "Mr. Smith called us here this time, probably because of the Oscar ceremony two months later, right? I heard that you have nine nominations this time." Sdeley touched his gray hair and smiled heartily.

"You're right, Mr. Sdeley. It's enough to have the name of the top five in this life. I hope to throw this broken hat to someone else at the Oscars in two months. I want Show my competitive attitude and make a 100% effort. So, I invite you and your team to come here." Zhang Dongcheng didn't talk nonsense, and directly threw out his request.

"That's no problem. Your Brokeback Mountain is worthy of any Oscar award. This is definitely not a compliment. Although we in Weida PR are doing public relations, we are not gods. It is impossible to promote a bad movie to the altar. But the most important thing is, I don't know which awards you want to win in the end? This is related to our plan." Shidley lowered his voice and chatted with Zhang Dongcheng.

   Zhang Dongcheng thought about it for a while, then secretly talked with Shi Deli.

  After discussing carefully for a long time, Shi Deli's professional quality quickly reassured Zhang Dongcheng. With their help in the Oscar's public relations work, I believe that this time it will not be empty again.

"Oh, very good. I believe this plan can make us successful. However, you have to be careful of one person, Harvey Weinstein, the boss of Weinstein Pictures." Zhang Dongcheng nodded with satisfaction, agreeing with Shidley's plan, but At the end, he reminded Shidley not to suffer the loss of the final winner.

"Harvey Weinstein, the boss of Weinstein Films? You mean his "Shakespeare in Love"? Haha, it's impossible, my friend, Shakespeare in Love can't beat Saving Private Ryan!" Shidley smiled slightly. He was stunned, and then he laughed out loud. In his opinion, the biggest opponents are Saving Private Ryan and Spielberg, and they have to step aside for breaking Sharon's love history.

  Zhang Dongcheng shook his head helplessly. If the future information hadn’t told him this fact, he would have been the same as Shi Deli.

"What we have to do is to defeat Private Ryan. There is nothing impossible in this world." Zhang Dongcheng paused, and then said: "Soon, there will be British veterans from World War II standing up and saying that Private Ryan The battle on the beach in the movie is not that good at all, that guy Spielberg is messing around. If you don't believe me, watch it in a few days!"

   This sentence finally made Shi Deli pay attention to it. He nodded to Zhang Dongcheng, solemnly agreed, and then returned to the company with the team to make the final detailed steps and rules for the outline plan.

  But on the second day, Zhang Dongcheng's prophecy came true, making Shidley completely look like he saw a ghost.