Bright Star Road [Entertainment]

"World Coffee Newsletter" is not a popular magazine, but a conference magazine sponsored by the International Coffee Association, which is dedicated to serving coffee merchants and high-end coffee lovers.Liu Han's family happens to be one of several well-known international coffee agents in China, and Liu Han, who has been familiar with it since childhood, has also become a coffee tasting expert certified by the International Coffee Association.For Liu Han, movies and coffee are the two most important things in his life.Therefore, in addition to writing scripts to collect film shooting expenses, another interest of Liu Han is to write coffee tasting reports for the "World Coffee Newsletter".

Liu Han is not the kind of top tasting expert. It would be nice to have his own tasting report on the 12 issues of "World Coffee Newsletter" every year. At this time, Li Wei can share the coffee tasting report written by himself. , or he deliberately read after investigating himself, or he really loves coffee and has subscribed to the "World Coffee Report" for a long time.Regardless of the starting point, it proves that Li Wei values ​​​​himself.

Liu Han was quite surprised and said: "I didn't expect Director Li to take the time to read the relevant reports on the coffee industry."

"Since we are going to do it, we must do our homework well." Li Wei said meaningfully. "Director Liu, I think you have encountered a lot of obstacles recently. You know that it is very rare for foreign directors to get opportunities in China. If you just want to use domestic funds to shoot some niche literary films aimed at the overseas film copyright market, maybe There will still be opportunities. After all, domestic film funds and cultural and creative investment companies still have this kind of courage and vision. But if you want to shoot commercial films that are officially released, I think no one is willing to invest in you except our Li Wei studio. your film company, right?"

At this time, Liu Han's forehead was already sweating slightly, and Li Wei continued to say, "I can tell Director Liu that Li Wei's studio will be restructured into an independent production company within this year, and the goal of the new company It mainly shoots high-quality movies. What is a "boutique movie"? Either high box office or high reputation, that's all. Director Liu, I am very optimistic about your script. Although there is still a need for major changes, I am very satisfied with the prototype of the story But I think you also know that if there is no special production company to serve you, your movie will be just a popular horror movie after it comes out. Such a movie is nothing more than when the movie is off-season Go to the theater for a week, and then go to the second round of theaters as a bottom-of-the-box movie to earn long-term box office. If there is something new, maybe you can sell TV rights and DVD rights. But, Director Liu, is this the movie you want? ?”

When Liu Han was told by Li Wei, the turmoil in his heart became bigger and bigger.As long as you are a director, who doesn't want your movie to sell Changhong in theaters?After the theaters are sold out, the major TV networks or movie channels rush to buy them?The final DVD has also become a favorite among movie fans.But the bigger the dream, the bigger the disappointment.Liu Han is no longer a rookie director. When he was in Hollywood, he already had five years of experience as a commercial director and music video director. According to Hollywood's promotion rules for directors, he should have been a hit movie director by now. The assistant director or executive director of an American drama, but only because of his skin color.Hollywood, this is a place that pays attention to equal rights and equality all the time, but it is actually the place with the most serious discrimination in the United States.Liu Han just didn't want to make commercials and music videos anymore, so he returned to China with the script he had polished for three years.

"Director Li, we are all directors, and our dreams are all the same." Liu Han said, "I also hope to have trophies and box office like you, and become a giant in the film industry. However, the distance between dreams and reality, I'm still very clear."

"In fact, the distance between dream and reality is just an opportunity." Li Wei said with a smile, "Director Liu, to be honest, I am very interested in your script. The association bought your script, then changed it to what I needed, and finally found a director to shoot him. But this is not what you want, nor is it what I want. That's why I found you, I hope you can join the film company restructured by Li Wei's studio in the future. Of course, this film will be your nomination certificate. If you succeed, you will get our signing contract to ensure your annual directing rights. At the same time, I will also Guaranteed to develop this film of yours into a series."

Series films are probably the favorite type of movies for the bosses of major film companies, because series films have their own fan attributes, as long as they don't completely collapse, they can basically make money after two years of production.If it is a classic IP series like "Ace Agent", it should not be too easy to be shortlisted in the top ten of the annual box office list.Therefore, all first-line production companies more or less hold the copyrights of several series of films in their hands.

Li Wei also plans to do the same. In addition to the action series "Speed", he also has the copyright of several series such as horror films or comedy films.Horror and comedy flicks don't cost too much to produce, but they do take a big hit out of the film's off-season.Don’t you know how many small production companies in Donghai City and Yanjing City rely on one horror movie or comedy movie every year, but they also make a lot of money and everyone is happy.

Liu Han knows that directors can be divided into three types: one is the so-called freelance directors, who are affiliated with the directors union.If there is a suitable shooting contract sent to the directors' union through the film company, then the directors' union will recommend a suitable director.This kind of director seems to be the most free, but often cannot make a film for many years.The reason is very simple. Most of the film companies have their own contracted directors, and the film companies naturally give priority to their own directors.The so-called signed director is the second type. This kind of director either signs a first contract with a film company and agrees on how many films to cooperate with; or signs an agency contract with a brokerage company, and the brokerage company will match the director with suitable actors or Crew members pack and sign contracts with film companies.This kind of director can be regarded as the mainstream in the director circle, and basically all first-, second- and third-tier directors are among them.The last type is the so-called top-tier directors or super-tier-one directors. They often set up their own production companies, not only participating in the production of their own films, but also investing in some films they fancy.The production companies set up by such directors are basically small and medium-sized production companies, and they can be regarded as the group of directors who have done well.

Liu Han knows that he is still far away from his plan to open his own production company, so finding a film company or agency to sign a director contract is the best choice.Now that Li Wei's studio has offered him an olive branch, Liu Han feels that if he refuses to accept it in general, he probably won't have a place in the entire Chinese film industry.

Thinking of this, Liu Han said with a smile: "Since Director Li values ​​it so much, what else can I refuse?"

Now that Liu Han agreed, Li Wei signed a director contract with Liu Han first.If Liu Han can make "Saw" well, then Li Wei Studio will sign a three-year contract with Liu Han to shoot five films in the future, three of which will be follow-ups or prequels of the "Saw" series.Liu Han was unfamiliar with the name "Chain Saw" at first, but when he got the script, he realized that the story seemed familiar.This story was born out of my own chainsaw massacre horror film, but it is much more savvy.Judging from the script description alone, this movie is not only a plasma horror movie, but also a suspense thriller, even mixed with elements of psychological movies and human nature criticism.It can be said that if this film is successfully shot, it will not only be a successful horror genre film, but also have a chance to win awards in some B- and even A-category film festivals.

The so-called B-category film festivals refer to competitive film festivals with special types of films. For example, the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in Spain is a competitive film festival with fantasy films, horror films and thriller films as its special types.This film festival is considered the highest award for horror films.Category A film festivals are competitive film festivals regardless of genre.As for categories C and D, they are non-competitive film festivals and documentaries and short film festivals.Although it is classified as A, B, C, and D, there is no difference between the four categories.However, in terms of popularity, it is true that the latter category is not as good as the former category.

After signing the contract with Liu Han, Li Wei began to lead Liu Han to form a crew as a producer.The biggest difference between independent production companies and major studio companies is that independent production companies have very few employees, and most of the crew members are recruited through major labor unions or brokerage companies.The advantages and disadvantages of this method are obvious. The advantage is that team members can be selected from the best, and if they are not capable, they can be dismissed immediately; but the disadvantage is that the degree of running-in of this temporary team is definitely not as good as that of a team that has been together for a long time. No matter how professional these people are, people are always emotional animals, aren't they?

Li Wei's side combines the advantages of both sides, the special effects team, the photography team and the lighting team, which have very high professional requirements, and Li Wei turns them into his own royal team by forming an affiliated company. Other members are still recruited through relevant labor unions or brokerage companies.However, after Liu Han met with these, he still had to follow the rules to let his script go through the green light system.

He first discussed with the studio's screenwriting team how to overhaul his own script based on Li Wei's script, while keeping the foreshadowing for the future development of the series.After the screenwriting team comes up with the first version of the script, after the revision of the script doctor and the revision opinions of the high-level, the operation of the final version of the script will be carried out.After the final version of the script is confirmed, the crew formation work can officially start.

Before the crew was formed, the scouting team also set off to find a suitable shooting location.Although there is a possibility that the script will not pass, the information from the scouting can be entered into the database. If there is a similar script next time, it can be directly taken out for confirmation.

After going through these processes with Li Wei, Liu Han had to admire Li Wei's thorough understanding of the film industry process.The current process of Li Wei Studio not only retains the essence of the modern film industry process, but also simplifies some redundant links in the process, and also reduces the investment risk of the entire output product.

When Li Wei took Liu Han to familiarize himself with the office process and environment of the studio, Li Wei's secretary Amanda found Li Wei with a fax.

"Director Li, this is a fax from the Film Association, saying that there is a 'National Brand' movie that needs you to participate in the production discussion. They are sending the invitation letter by express, and we will probably receive it tomorrow."