"How much budget are you planning to invest in this movie?" Zhou Yan asked another question that he was more concerned about.
Chris blurted out, "At least 50 million U.S. dollars."
Terry Semel told him that it was at least 40 million U.S. dollars, and he directly increased the amount to at least 40 million U.S. dollars. Fifty million dollars.
After hearing that it was at least fifty million US dollars, Zhou Yan nodded. It would be good if he could really have this budget.
In Zhou Yan’s opinion, with a budget of US$30 to 40 million, this movie should be able to be made.
Of course, the higher the budget, the better.
Zhou Yan will not invest this time anyway, so the box office is not that important. As long as the movie can be made well, the risks will be borne by Warner anyway, and he will not lose money. A dime.
In Hollywood, although screenwriters can get a share, usually they can only sign a profit share.
However, under Hollywood's accounting mechanism, profit sharing is too controllable. No matter how high the box office is, a movie may have zero profit or even a loss.
So screenwriters usually pay more for screenwriting fees. As for the 5% profit share, they are all illusory things, and screenwriters don’t take it seriously.
After all, whether this thing exists or not depends purely on the conscience of the production company.
It is not very possible to expect these companies to take money out of their own pockets and share it with everyone.
Of course, there are some screenwriters who are more capable and can negotiate with the production company for a share of the box office.
Compared with profit sharing, box office sharing is more reliable. No matter whether the movie makes money or not, as long as there is a box office, you can get the money.
However, even if the box office share is signed, the production company will generally only agree to a stepped box office share. Only when a certain box office is reached, the share will be activated.
After taking over the job of "Titanic", the contract between Zhou Yan and Fox had relevant content, but the name was not a share, but a bonus.
There are three tiers in total. As long as the global box office of "Titanic" exceeds US$500 million, Zhou Yan's studio can receive a bonus of US$500,000. If it exceeds US$1 billion, the bonus will be increased to one One and a half million U.S. dollars, more than 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, and the bonus can reach three million U.S. dollars.
Fox signed this contract without any psychological burden at all, especially the box office of 1.5 billion US dollars, which they themselves had never thought about at all.
“The leaders of your company are quite courageous and have approved the budget so quickly.”
Chris smiled and said, “It’s because the leaders of the company pay more attention to you. As for actors, What do you think?”
"Kevin Costner, Tom Hanks, and Bruce Willis, I am more optimistic about these three actors for the male lead. As for the other actors, I don't have much idea." Zhou Yan said.
Hearing the three names mentioned by Zhou Yan, Chris nodded secretly. These three actors are indeed suitable for male protagonists, and all three of them have good acting positions and have good box office appeal.
The key is that Zhou Yan named three names. This way, they have a much wider choice. It is not difficult to invite one of the three of them.
What Chris is most afraid of is that Zhou Yan only wants one choice, and then they will be very passive. The schedules of these well-known actors are relatively full, and they may not be able to catch up.
"Don't worry, Mr. Zhou, as soon as the cooperation is confirmed, we will contact these three actors as soon as possible." Chris said.
Zhou Yan waved his hand, "No rush, let's confirm the director first. These candidates are just my ideas. It depends on what the director thinks. I don't want to interfere with the director's creation."
Not only did he not want to interfere with the director's creation, he also wanted to learn something from these well-known directors.
These famous directors all have some unique skills.
The directors Zhou Yan has worked with, whether they are Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Wang Junzheng, An Li, each of them has their own understanding of movies, and they all have different ways of making movies.
Every time he cooperated with them, Zhou Yan always thought about stealing some skills.
He has been able to progress so quickly because he has been working with excellent directors and excellent teams.
Looking back on the past few years, Zhou Yan has never worked with unknown directors, from Hou Xiaoxian and Zhang Yimou to Chen Kaige and Wang Junzheng, to Zhang Jianya, Tsui Hark, Zhou Xingchi, and later with An Li Working with Hollywood directors such as , Brest, and Cameron, everyone is a leader in the industry.
The only one who is less famous is Olivier, but Olivier's level is not bad at all. After the success of "The Flying Piano Boy", his career in France is also Thriving.
Although Olivier doesn't make many movies now, his documentaries are very famous in France.
It may be difficult to find another dreamy leveling path like this.
Moreover, Zhou Yan is a director himself, and he understands the directors' thoughts very well. No successful director would want others to interfere too much in his creation.
A director who can accept constant interference in his creation is destined to be unable to become a successful director.
Of course Chris was very happy to hear what Zhou Yan said. Too much interference from the screenwriter will indeed affect the director's performance. If it is an ordinary director, that's it. If it is Scorsese, then he is not a director. A master who can be dominated by others.
Even in the industrialized system of Hollywood, Scorsese is not easily disturbed.
“Okay, I’ll listen to you. We’ll wait until the director decides on the casting.”
The two chatted for a while. Chris looked at the time and said with a smile, "It's getting late. Let me treat you to a dinner. How about the restaurant that I told you about that makes good steaks at noon?" ?”
“Okay, let’s go try the steak you mentioned.”
“I promise you...”
The doorbell of the room clicked. It was pressed.
Zhou Yan stood up and asked, "Who?"
Catherine's voice sounded outside, "Y, it's us."
Hearing that it was Catherine, Zhou Yan ran to open the door.
Catherine and Kevin Costner stood outside the door. Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Kevin, Katherine, hello."
"Y, hello." Kevin smiled. .
This was the first time Kevin Costner met Zhou Yan in person. When Zhou Yan went to Columbia Company before, he was not there and the two did not meet.
"Hello, please come in."
After entering the room, the two of them saw Chris. Catherine smiled and said, "You have guests here."
Zhou Yan introduced with a smile , "This is Chris, Chris, this is Catherine and Kevin."
Chris enthusiastically went over to shake hands with Catherine and the others, "The performance of the two in "The Sixth Sense" Great, I’m a fan of both of you. I’m very happy to see you.”
Faced with the enthusiastic Chris, Kevin and Catherine were a little confused. They didn’t understand who Chris was. Why did he appear in Zhou Yan's room?
However, Zhou Yan did not give a detailed introduction, and they did not ask carefully.
After a few words of greeting, Zhou Yan asked, "Have you two eaten?"
"Not yet." Catherine smiled.
"That's just right. Chris said there is a restaurant nearby that serves delicious steaks. Let's go there together." Then Zhou Yan turned to Chris and asked, "Chris, do you mind if we go together?"< br>
“Of course I don’t mind.” Chris said immediately.
Chris also wanted to invite Catherine and the others to have dinner together, but he couldn't bring it up proactively. After all, Zhou Yan was taking the lead in today's dinner.
Now that Zhou Yan has taken the initiative, there is no reason why he should not agree.
I won’t talk about it Catherine, but Kevin Costner is one of the three candidates for the leading role in "Shutter Island". Of course, Chris wants to contact him in advance so that he can be contacted later when the role is determined. . Furthermore, Kevin Costner and Warner have collaborated quite a lot.
……
The restaurant Chris mentioned was indeed not far away, and the four of us walked there in about seven or eight minutes.
After placing the order, "Für Elise" that was playing in the restaurant ended, and suddenly familiar music sounded.
Besides Zhou Yan, Catherine was the first to react. She covered her mouth and said in surprise, "It's "Young and Beautiful"."
Hearing Catherine say, Kevin and Chris I heard it all too.
Chris smiled and said, "This song is very popular now and can be heard everywhere."
"Young and Beautiful" is suitable for many occasions. Whether it is a tune or a song, it is very popular. Shopping malls and other places prefer to play songs sung by Mariah Carey, while slightly higher-end restaurants like to play pure songs. music.
Some restaurants not only play it on the radio, but also have violin or piano players playing the song live.
“There’s also ‘People Like You’, which I often hear too.” Kevin said.
The popularity of "People Like You" is much lower than that of "Young and Beautiful". After all, there is no bonus of popular songs.
Speaking of "Someone Like You", Catherine remembered one thing, "I was watching TV before and said that many Mariah Carey fans were calling for her to sing "Like You". People like you". Some fans also made a banner for everyone to sign, and many people signed it."
"Oh, is there anything else like this?" Zhou Yan had never heard of this.
“Yes, it was during the period after the Oscars, but I haven’t heard of it recently.” Catherine said.
Chris nodded: "Yes, this happened, mainly because during the Oscars ceremony, Maria was interviewed and said that she hoped to sing "Someone Like You", so her fans were very interested. Excited. Is it possible that this song will be made into a song?”
“Yes, it’s possible, but I haven’t thought about who will sing it yet.”
Actually, Maria· Kelly did mention this matter, but Zhou Yan didn't take it to heart at the time because she felt that Mariah Carey might not be particularly suitable for this song.
Catherine smiled and said, "I hope it can be confirmed soon so that I can hear the new songs early. I haven't heard any new songs recently."
Chris joked, "Maybe you can wait for "Titanic". This time Y will score them, and maybe they will release some more popular songs."
"Well, I heard that Y was going to score "Titanic", and I was very much looking forward to this movie. As for the soundtrack. In fact, I think the soundtrack of "The Sixth Sense" is also very good, but it is not suitable for listening to alone."
Kevin laughed, "Indeed, The Sixth Sense. The music is a bit darker, and it’s a good match for the movie, but it’s not suitable for daily listening.”
“Then you can wait for the soundtrack of “The Spring of the Cowherd”. The music in this movie is very suitable for daily listening. , and there are also human voices. The voices of those children are like the sounds of nature, very beautiful.”
"Actually, I have already watched the movie, and it is indeed very good." Catherine smiled.
Kevin said in surprise, "Has "Springtime of the Cowherd" been released in the United States? Didn't it say it won't be released for a while?"
"I watched it in the UK. , this movie has just been released in the UK, and I was in London two days ago. The movie is very popular in the UK, and the attendance rate is very high."
Zhou Yan smiled, and Catherine's words were purely complimentary. The performance of "Cowherder's Spring" at the British box office was quite average.
Originally there are not many films scheduled, and the attendance rate can only be said to be okay. It is estimated that it will not be released for too long before it is cancelled.
Of course, neither Tomson nor Zhou Yan have any expectations for the box office of "The Spring of the Cowherd" in the UK. They will be satisfied if it can earn hundreds of thousands of pounds at the box office.
“The film did very well in France,” says Chris.
After all, they originally wanted to buy the rights to remake "The Spring of the Cowherd", so Chris paid more attention to the box office of this movie.
"I've heard that too. I heard that there are more than one million moviegoers?"
Zhou Yan nodded, "Well, it is indeed more than one million."
"It's really great. "Spring of the Cowherd" deserves to be seen by more people. It is really the best movie I have seen recently."
Faced with Catherine's compliment, Zhou Yan smiled and said , "Thank you for your support."
Then he changed the subject and asked, "Do you two have any work recently?"
"I have a new movie that I am currently talking about, but it is not available yet. Finalized,” Catherine said.
Actually, she is talking about many movies, but one of the most reliable is "The Mask of Zorro" directed by Martin Campbell.
Kevin Costner laughed, "I'm busy making my own movie."
"Is it "The Postman"?" Chris asked.
Kevin looked at Chris in surprise, "How do you know?"
"Because our company participated in the production."
Hearing this, Kevin Narrowing his eyes, "Are you from...Warner?"
"Pattern Postman" is a collaboration between Kevin Costner's own company and Warner, so when Chris said this, he naturally guessed that Chris was from Warner.
Chris nodded and said, "Well, I'm from Warner."
Kevin and Catherine were a little surprised. They didn't expect Chris to be from Warner.
It seems that Y has some other moves, so he contacted Warner people.
Although they were a little surprised, neither of them thought much about it. Which company Zhou Yan cooperated with was not their concern.
After hearing Kevin talking about his new movie, Zhou Yan remembered that this guy was actually a director, and he was the kind of director who became famous in one shot.
"Dances with Wolves", Kevin's first film as director and producer, was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and eventually won seven awards, including the Academy Award for Best Best Director Award.
The key point is that this movie not only won awards but also performed very well at the box office, with a global box office of more than 400 million US dollars.
It is said that Zhou Yan's debut film performed very well, but if compared with Kevin Costner, it pales into insignificance.
It only took Kevin one movie to reach a peak that countless directors could not reach in their lifetime.
Most infuriatingly, his second film was equally strong.
After several years, he directed his second film "Waterworld", which was also directed and acted by himself. It also caused a huge response, although the awards and box office were not as good as "Dances with Wolves" 》, but the global box office also has more than 200 million US dollars.
The box office of the two movies is close to 700 million US dollars.
With only these two films, Kevin Costner has made himself a first-tier director.
The "Postman" he is currently preparing to shoot is also his third directorial film. Warner attaches great importance to it and gave it a high budget.
Zhou Yan suddenly remembered what An Li said before. The director's third film is very important, as it determines whether a director's career can last for a long time.
Even if Kevin Costner’s first two films achieved fantastic results, his third film is still very important. If it does not perform well, it will have a huge impact on his career as a director. .
The performance of "The Postman" was not good. Perhaps Kevin Costner's lack of well-known works later was related to the poor performance of this movie. (End of this chapter)