Hollywood Road

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In fact, calculating the actual cost of a film is very troublesome. The production costs displayed by major Hollywood studios are often mixed with a lot of water, which does not match the reality, and different situations will also cause cost changes.

For example, after the production of Murphy's film is completed, if the film company wants to participate in the film festival, the cost will definitely increase.

For example, to participate in a film festival in the United States, to complete the most basic relevant material preparation, it will cost almost another 100,000 US dollars.

There are also online costs, which are more difficult to control.

Online costs include screenwriters, directors, producers, actor directors, script copyrights, administrative management, labor benefits, and other contractual costs that can only be fixed after the actual negotiation is over.

For the next week or so, Murphy was basically busy in the studio, revising the first draft of the script, adjusting the project proposal according to the needs of the script, and at the same time predicting the difficulties that may be encountered in future preparation, shooting and production.

This project is much more difficult than "Chain Saw". "Chain Saw" is all invested by Stanton Studios, and Murphy is alone, but this situation cannot continue. New projects need to invest more funds. From other film companies, this requires him to do more preparations.

Unpredictable situations are always going to happen in filmmaking, but there are always things to be prepared for.

The most typical one is money.

Murphy also thought about it, what should I do if the filming encounters unexpected difficulties and the investor's budget is really not enough?

If there is still no result after running around for a long time to raise money, should he spend more time trying to raise money, and then he is still stuck in place due to cost constraints? Or should we come up with something innovative and make the film anyway?

There is no doubt that his director should be the latter.

This is the time to rummage through the back of the closet to find that "anemic budget" that was secretly hidden, instead of thinking about spending $250,000 to rent a private jet and meet potential donors who haven't made up their minds yet.

The more money you have, the more you have to think of ways.

There is also the issue of actors. Directors like Murphy, who are in their infancy, also want to cooperate with big-name actors. Big-name actors not only bring attention, but also have a real box office appeal.

But want big-name actors to cooperate with him,

It is very difficult.

In Hollywood, in some cases, if a director's project is attractive enough, it is not impossible to attract big-name actors to join him, especially those big-name actors who have starred in independent films.

For these actors, they knew that independent films would provide opportunities that commercial Hollywood films would never provide, and they were able to use these opportunities to fully demonstrate their outstanding acting skills.

However, Murphy is self-aware that the new project does not have opportunities for actors to show their acting skills, and big-name stars will not be interested in such a noir film.

So he considered more realistically. James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Carey Mulligan, and Robert Downey Jr., who is about to be released from prison, are more suitable for this project.

The most important heroine can also try to send an invitation to the San Fernando Valley. The other party does not yet have the status of a queen in the future. If she wants to come to a formal movie invitation, the possibility of being rejected is not very high.

In terms of behind-the-scenes production staff, Murphy has also communicated with Bill Rossis. The main staff of the last cooperation are basically from CAA. They are also the beneficiaries of the big sales of "Chain Saw" and hope to continue working with Murphy. Cooperation.

These can be discussed after the establishment of the project. Murphy is not in a hurry. The most important thing to consider is the issue of funding.

Movies are a very high art, but the development of this art requires a lot of money to realize it.

He himself does not intend to invest in this film, and Stanton Studio does not have enough funds to invest. After all, there will be a sequel to "Chain Saw" in cooperation with Fox Searchlight, which will require a lot of money, even if the director is changed. , The investment risk of this kind of sequel is also lower.

The film did not come from his own investment. Murphy had to adjust his psychology. First, the power would inevitably decrease, and second, the capital control would be stricter.

Fortunately, the former, as a director with a fairly formal education, Murphy knows that the producer is responsible for the system here, while the latter is a bit troublesome.

But it is not without a solution, which requires the director to be poor.

It's not a big deal, as a director you should be as transparent as possible and you must always tell the truth, but the reality is that you are passionate, the crew is full of energy, and you have very little money.

A successful director should also use words, actions, and plans to build confidence in the investment before the film is completed-as long as the investment is greater, the film will be better and the future market return will be higher.

Convincing donors to invest money has never been an easy task.

In essence, this is to let investors invest in an idea in their minds.

Ideas are very vague and conceptual. In order to attract investment, some directors or producers often shoot a short film first, and use the short film to attract financial backers.

But this also has disadvantages. If the short film is not amazing enough, it will be difficult to attract investment.

Care must be taken when doing this, there is a clear line between presenting a project to potential investors and making a promise of a potential financial return, after all this is a game within the purview of the law Be careful not to intentionally misrepresent the facts when reporting, or you risk being targeted by the judicial system for alleged fraud.

Of course, Murphy didn't intend to shoot a short film, nor did it suit him.

From the end of September to the beginning of October, Murphy spent a lot of time and energy, and finally finished the script and the more important project business plan for CAA to operate the film.

Even now, Murphy hopes that someone appreciates his script, and then the other party swipes a fortune and writes a check that is enough to shoot the film. This is the common fantasy of all directors.

This is difficult to achieve, and the key to becoming a reality lies in the business plan handed over to potential investors and clients, a strategic plan that is well-conceived and carefully investigated on how to prepare, cast, shoot and produce a film.

After completing the plan, Murphy asked Bill Rosses to submit it to CAA. Not to mention that the film company would not start a movie project rashly, even CAA, the operator, would conduct a preliminary review of the project itself. .

Although he was not the person in charge of Murphy, but as a high-level executive in charge of the film and television business of CAA, a copy of the script and proposal was also sent to Brian Lauder.

Although this is not the sequel to "Chain Saw" as expected, Brian Lauder nodded in satisfaction after carefully reading the proposal, not to mention the creativity of the project, the young director's rigorous attitude With careful planning, you will first leave an excellent impression on people.

Moreover, this project is his black style, even if it is absurd, it is still very interesting.

Moreover, there are many gimmicks in the script and plan. For the film industry, without gimmicks, there will be no selling points, and without selling points, there will be no box office.

The script is the foundation, but an excellent business plan is the key to impressing the film company.

Originally, Brian Lauder didn't have much hope for this plan. After all, Murphy is a director rather than a professional producer. He planned to wait for the script and plan to be submitted to CAA, so that more professional people from the company could work on it. Based on this processing, in order to be able to attract funds.

Even the projects thrown by CAA are sometimes rejected.

This is a very normal situation in business investment.

Compared with the script that he had read once, Brian Lauder focused more on the plan.

The proposal is not particularly thick, and it does not have any specific regulations on the content and number of pages. The key lies in whether the content shows professionalism, whether the expression is easy to understand, and contains all the necessary information without procrastination.

And in this plan, almost every film has everything it should have, from project approval to post-production, and the planning is clear and clear, which makes the whole project exceptionally good.

Brian Lauder looked at them one by one.

"A summary of the goals and overall goals of the film's business plan, a brief introduction to the script and production content, a copy of the script's copyright certificate, industry trends and development trends, the film's market outlook and potential audience groups, box office comparisons of films of the same type and budget... "

These are all clear, people will feel that this is a reliable project after reading it, not those unreliable things that talk about the sky, but only have one script, and don't even formulate the simplest plan.

And these are just a part, there will be more detailed content later.

For example, the production team of a film has a specific list, from the leading role to the director to the photographer to the producer. For the positions that have been confirmed, the resumes are attached to the proposal; to a shortlist of seven, along with the strengths of each.

There are also projected production details, locations and production standards; cash flow statement, possible weekly base expenses; filming and on-shooting management strategies; a timeline with dates for the various stages of preparation, filming and production of the film; all acquired rights Copies of agreements and union filings; artwork related to the project, such as a sticky poster with a one-legged beauty sitting on a motorcycle...

Although there are bound to be small flaws in some places, no matter how you look at it, this is an excellent plan, and it gives people a feeling that it is worth investing in.

After flipping through the proposal three times in a row, Brian Lauder marked the key points and deficiencies in it with pens of different colors, and called his assistant to send it back to the review department to finish the rest of the work as soon as possible, and then pass the project to To the right several film companies. (To be continued.)