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- "Weige, are you doing some awards season PR?" Tuer called Ye Wei and asked with a cheerful smile, "We Are All Marshall" suffered a huge loss.
?? 65 million production fees, not offset by much exaggeration and strategy, Legendary Pictures accounted for the majority, 36 million in three weeks. According to the estimate, it was lucky to be able to draw at 45 million, a large amount of money was just wasted. This makes no sense at all! The producer and director McG, who was hired with a lot of money, is the director of the "Charlie's Angels" series. The series he participated in the production of "Orange Boys" and "Supernatural" are also very popular among young audiences. Even if he can't win awards, he shouldn't be commercial. fail¡¡
"A movie is a movie," Tull began to understand this sentence, and he also realized the cruelty of the film industry.
In the week of January 5-11, "Night at the Museum" continued to be the North American weekly champion, and Ye Wei's two Bones, "The Lovely Bones" in the 9th week, received 781,659 in 418 theaters, with a total box office of 138, 928,817; in the fourth week, "Winter's Bone" received 1,603,910 in 60 theaters, with a total box office of 4,759,034, expanding to 105 this week.
"No, no, it's really Xiying, a real football journey." Ye Wei's laughter came from the mobile phone, "It's very interesting, right? Hahaha."
Who can understand Tuer¡¯s speechlessness and heartbreak? Because his ribs were cracked, he had a hard time during the past Christmas and New Year holidays. He happily invited: "When are we having dinner? I also want to talk to you about cooperation. Our company has many projects that need your talent, or invest in your projects"
"Brother Thomas, I have told others that I have no film projects now, but I want to tell you one more thing. I have some friends whose projects I can recommend to you. This is purely a friendly recommendation. I don't guarantee anything." Ye Wei said seriously, " As for my project, if anything happens, I won¡¯t forget you.¡±
"Of course that's good" Tour agreed happily, wanting to smash the football in his heart.
¡¡
The friends Ye Wei mentioned included Darum and the others.
After finishing "A Doggy Christmas", they continued to work together on new comedy projects. The plan has a track record of success. If they make another project of the same type and level, it will not be difficult to raise funds, but they have to do It is a screen release level and the budget is 3 million, which is more complicated.
He is not Bill Gates, and cannot provide funds like a nanny, but this incident really gave him inspiration. Thinking back to the difficulty he had in finding money, it is even more difficult for more people. There are many independent filmmakers who have spent several years in vain. .
Now the world is even worse, because Germany's golden goose has been killed.
In recent years, German companies have always been included in the list of producers of American films. This is not a coincidence. Germany allows investors in its film industry to receive tax breaks on their film investments, even if the films they invest in have not yet begun filming. If a German wants to postpone paying his tax bill to a more desirable date, investing in a future film would be a good idea.
??For the Hollywood and independent film industries, German law is like the most considerate lover, giving you nothing but beauty. Unlike other countries' tax laws, it does not require that films be shot locally or that local personnel be hired. It only requires that the film be produced by a German company that owns the rights to the film and shares in future profits.
As the saying goes, "Hollywood is just a group of lawyers and accountants." The lawyers easily found loopholes.
First, the Hollywood studio sold the film rights to a German company through a written plan, and then immediately rented the film back. At this time, the film seems to belong to the German company. The Germans then sign a "Production Services Agreement" and a "Distribution Services Agreement" with the studio. The studio will then use the right of first refusal to buy the film back. , ending the symbolic, short-lived German ownership.
What happened in the meantime? For this "ownership", the Germans paid the studio more than 10% more than what they finally received through leasing and right of first refusal. This was not free money, it was earned due to tax deductions. And this extra 10% is an instant profit for the studio, with no risks and no costs, except for some legal fees.
In previous years, mainstream studios like Paramount could make a windfall of US$70 million to US$90 million through this channel every year, which was enough to make a blockbuster movie. The independent film industry has also benefited. Blockbuster studios play the same way as major studios, and there are independents. The Weinstein brothers took 5.5 million jointly invested by more than 9,000 Germans and made "Life Together" as one of their masterpieces.
¡°Hollywood will not publicize the advantages it has taken. Firstly, it does not want the German government to change its policies, and secondly, it does not want movie fans to be disgusted. But in the end, the German government amended its tax laws, and since 2007 this road has been blocked, and Hollywood can start to say that it has been hurt.
Ye Wei originally thought about taking this path, but who was he four years ago? He didn't know many Germans.The intermediary turned back to the issue of pre-sales.
This golden goose is actually occupied by major film studios and big names, such as Bruce Willis. One of the reasons for his success is that the Germans shared part of the risk for him. Now that the German golden goose is gone, he has been losing money again and again. , Cheyenne businesses have closed their doors.
Speaking of this, Ye Wei sighed a little, and could not forget how to promote LMS and himself in the conference room of the Cheyenne headquarters, not even asking for a penny.
Brian and the others have been unable to persuade him recently and directly used money to lure him into making commercial films. The media said the salary was 20-30 million, but in fact Paramount offered more.
As long as he nods, he can produce and direct a project with 50 million before tax and a budget of 100 million. With the project document of "viy's first commercial blockbuster", Paramount has the means to recover costs and make money before the project starts filming through government subsidies, tax-free transactions, product placement, etc.
2001's "Tomb Raider" is a model. Paramount's official budget announced to the media was $115 million, its decrypted cost was $94 million, and the studio's expenditure was only $8.5 million. What's going on? First, he pre-sold the copyrights in Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Japan to a German company for 65 million; then he arranged for a few scenes to be filmed in the UK, and made a profit of 12 million by switching to a British company with the help of the UK's tax reduction policy; and then from The German Golden Goose made another 10.2 million.
?? 87.2 million has been collected before filming has even started, and 1.7 million has been given to agents, lawyers, etc. How much short of the budget is 85.5 million? 8.5 million.
Another example is Peter Jackson who was very angry when he was looking for money with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy planning book, but when New Line took over, Germany + UK + New Zealand + pre-sales, it was almost zero cost to launch. Overseas publishers who bought pre-sales at that time may eventually cry, but New Line will not.
This is especially true for the "viy's first commercial blockbuster" project. Various copyright pre-sales will be sold at a high rate, and various product placement ads will come in competition. Paramount will definitely make a profit without losing money. The biggest boss in Hollywood is talent. The core of this whole plan lies with him. His 50 million is what he deserves, if he agrees.
However, the German golden goose was gone, so Brian used this as a threat: "Wei, now is your hottest and most valuable time. You will be different when you come back after playing football for two years.", "This opportunity is not to be missed, Wei! Now You can only make this 50 million when the market is good, but it will be gone in two years.¡± ¡°If you have gold, grab it!¡±
This makes sense, but not necessarily. Hollywood can always find other ways to make money, such as the increasingly powerful Chinese market. Who knows what will happen in the next ten or eight years?
In this money game, it is sometimes difficult to know whether a Hollywood blockbuster has lost money or not, and who has lost money if it has. In addition to company profit reports, declassifications, media revelations, etc., the sequel is a good practical reflection, and those who have sequels will definitely not lose money.
"The death of Germany's golden goose has been hardest hit by the financing of independent films. Many projects that still want to recruit Germans have to find another way out.
The key to "Life Together" lies in tax incentives and crowdfunding. 5.5 million is a lot for one investor, but for more than 9,000 investors, the average is just over 600 yuan.
On the evening of Saturday the 13th, Ye Wei called Lev and Chen Nuo to hold a website entrepreneurship meeting in the garage of his residence in Pacific Palisades.
Among the five core members of the Dream Chaser Alliance, Bud and Kerwin are out of town and unable to come, and their ambitions are not in this area, but cooking and photography. Regardless of the big nose and glasses, he is a geek and a nerd. No matter what he looks like, he is a top student at Harvard-Westlake. Chen Nuo is applying for the computer science major at Stanford.
"As you know, many wealthy people want to invest in movies, but there is no way. They don't live in Los Angeles or New York, but in places like Minneapolis and Cleveland. They don't even have the opportunity to be fooled by filmmakers; many movie fans also If they want to invest in movies but don¡¯t have that much money, it¡¯s okay to get a thousand or two thousand dollars, but they can¡¯t afford more, but they don¡¯t have the opportunity to become a movie investor with just a few thousand dollars.¡±
The garage is very simple. Lamborghinis and Hummers have all been driven away. This has the atmosphere of Silicon Valley. In the future, we can promote that "our website was born in a small garage."
The light was bright. Ye Wei stood in front of a mobile whiteboard and wrote "i Female Estment Opportunity" with a whiteboard marker while talking. Lev and Chen Nuo sat in front of them on two shabby wooden chairs bought from the flea market. , drinking tea with a thoughtful look on his face.
This is not November 2003. They are all 18 or 19 years old. When it comes to making a career, it is no longer just for fun. They are neither too old nor particularly young in Silicon Valley. If you want to make some cool websites and things, you'd better start today.
"What will happen when we provide them with such an opportunity?" Ye Wei asked.
"Brother Wei, are you talking about setting up a crowdfunding website?" Chen Nuo's glasses seemed to be reflecting light, and he had already realized how great this idea was.
¡°This is it!"Ye Wei burst out laughing, wrote "crowdfunding" on the whiteboard, and drew a row of ten stick figures. While drawing, he said: "This is the era of the Internet! We can see that people are beginning to be willing to use the Internet for other consumption besides shopping, and even investment! People regard the Internet as a vast platform full of opportunities. But are there any crowdfunding websites now? I'm a movie fan. I have two thousand dollars to spare. I want to invest in a movie project that looks great. This is a cool thing, so what can I do? "
Lev was also excited as he thought about it, "It seems there is no such website." He looked at Chen Nuo uncertainly, and Chen Nuo nodded: "No."
"Gentlemen." Ye Wei spread his hands, hugged Guang Guang, and said like a speech: "Think about it! There are too many potential investors like me. If there is a website that can accommodate them, it can also accommodate those financiers! A financier sets up his crowdfunding project and sets the financing target, financing period, rate of return, return method, return period, etc. Of course, it must be professional, reliable, and legal, which requires them to provide a business plan and a completion guarantee contract. , or even short videos, etc., to allow the website to pass the review and attract investors.
An investor is looking for his favorite project. He has taken a fancy to a crowdfunding project worth 1 million. Within the range of the lower investment limit of 1,000 US dollars and the upper limit of 10,000 US dollars, he can invest as much as he likes. This project has successfully raised 1 million yuan during its financing period. By the way, the upper limit of the financing period cannot be too long, one month? Two months? When it does not complete the crowdfunding, the money goes back to the investors, and the financiers can re-launch the crowdfunding. When it is finally completed, that is the next step. The financiers use the money to make the movie, and when it is completed, they sell it for money. , and then send the returns to investors through the website, complete. "
Lev stood up in excitement, his big nose twitching, "Brother Wei, that website is our website!"
"Cheer and roar!" Ye Wei raised his fist, "If we set up such a crowdfunding network, it will change the world. Man, the new financing method for independent films is just one of them. We can gradually make it bigger, including music, Games, art, technology all these creative projects, great ideas but no money, I need money! Lev, you want to crowdfund ten thousand dollars to visit a brothel in Nevada, okay, Noah! If you want to raise 10,000 yuan to buy comic books, you can do anything, as long as there are investors who care about you.¡±
"Wow!" Lev cheered, and Chen Nuo thought of a key point: "Then how do we make money? Do we charge handling fees?"
"Yes." Ye Wei had already thought about it, "We only charge some fees from the financiers who successfully crowdfunded, and deducted them as a percentage from the funds raised. Like a broker, we charge 3%, maybe 5%? No way. But charging should be implemented when the time is right. Not only will we not charge any fees at the beginning, we must also find ways to support some particularly good projects so that their success can make a name for the new model of online crowdfunding.¡±
Chen Nuo has already done some mental calculations, "5% should be suitable."
"I don't know, man, I'm not as good as you in this regard." Ye Wei smiled, "You know it would be interesting to let me build a website just to pick up girls. Otherwise, you might as well kill me. So let's partner up, I have Money and fame, Noah you have skills and brains, Lev you have connections anda big nose.¡±
"Actually, I still have a worry." Lev didn't want to look like an idler. "Will this model be hindered by Hollywood?"
"No, this is just an online crowdfunding model for independent films." Ye Wei also said seriously, "Not only will it not hinder it, but Hollywood will support it."
He told the two of them some commonplaces. Movies are a very high-risk thing. During the production stage, everyone is worried about how the film will turn out. A perfect project can turn into a bad movie. However, after finally making it, it looks like a good movie. A good movie that makes money, but you invest a lot of money in distribution, but you may end up losing money.
Not to mention that this is not a hindrance, the production model of Hollywood studios has long been to work with independent filmmakers or filmmakers on projects, such as Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, but Legendary is only one of its partners. This is all to spread the risk. Who would refuse to skip the risk of an entire stage and watch the finished film directly to consider whether to buy it? How happy this is for publishers big and small!
No matter how you independent filmmakers get the money or how you return it to investors, if it seems like a good movie that can make money, buy it. If it doesn¡¯t seem to work, get away with it as far as you can. Online crowdfunding only increases financing channels and does not change the rules of the distribution game. Hollywood is eager to put as many and better independent films out there as possible for them to choose from.
An independent film is produced, and all the copyrights are bought by a large company and an ideal return amount is obtained. Not every movie is that lucky, and not every movie has that kind of potential. Even if there are ten good movies, there will still be those who will be eliminated, because the studio buys them for distribution, and distribution requires money, and spending money involves risks soTo distribute independent films, we need to find suitable channels, such as film festivals, overseas sales, video on demand
But this is the business of the producers, not the crowdfunding website.
Ye Wei smiled again: "Maybe in the future, but now you are unlikely to crowdfund 100 million US dollars to make a blockbuster. Our service targets are small projects, ranging from a few thousand to several million. You don't have to start from scratch. Crowdfunding is only possible. During the development stage, pre-production stage, filming stage, post-production stage, and release stage, anytime you need money, you can go to crowdfunding. This is not illegal.
Guys, it¡¯s really a blessing for independent filmmakers to have such an outlet! For investors, they love opportunities like this. Among those projects, maybe one of them is "Napoleon", "Half Nelson", or "Winter's Bone". Thank you for crowdfunding and digital shooting. "
"I'm joining!" Lev also became happy, "This can work!"
Chen Nuo also became more and more surprised the more he thought about it, "Online crowdfunding for creative projects has great development prospects! It can become a part of ordinary people's lives."
"You think I can only make movies?" Ye Wei asked. Lev laughed and scolded: "Brother Wei, you can still fuck." Ye Wei threw the whiteboard marker at him and also laughed and scolded: "You son of a bitch. I didn't go out to fuck tonight just because of this." , This is not to say that we should shut down, we must quickly launch the website, and register a company in the next few days. "
"What domain name should the website have? Cha-se-dream-league?" Chen Nuo had already started.
"It's too long and too formal" Ye Wei thought as he said it, and suddenly he had a flash of inspiration and laughed: "Spotpass! That's what it's called."
Lev and Chen Nuo both cheered when they heard it, what a great name! It's easy to remember, friendly to the people, and interesting.
Pass means to pass or approve, and spot can mean spot or spot, which vividly describes the target crowdfunding projects. They are not big, just small dots. Spot-pass is also a football term, which means passing the ball in place, which is suitable for investment and financing.
Ye Wei took another whiteboard pen and wrote a big "" on the whiteboard. He turned around and encouraged them: "Gentlemen, four years ago, a group of us accomplished an amazing crowdfunding project and it became a textbook example." A classic that has been said over and over again! Now it¡¯s time to move on, our slogan is, crowdfund your dreams!¡±
Both Lev and Chen Nuo stood up, smiled and raised their teacups. A cool website and financing investment method was about to be born, online crowdfunding!
Crowdfunding-to-achieve-dreams!
¡¡
On the afternoon of Sunday the 14th, the sun was shining brightly in Los Angeles. Ye Wei drove to the West End Splash training ground in sportswear. The two boys and Lawyer Salton were handling the website matter. He would do whatever he had to do. After parking the car, he was about to walk into the training ground, but he saw a group of paparazzi guarding him. They all came up to him as soon as they saw him.
¡°Some people were taking pictures, and some were taking pictures with cameras and mobile phones. He said hello and strode towards the entrance of the training ground.
"Viy, can we talk about it? Why do you want to go play football?" asked a paparazzi, handing over the phone to record, "Tell me about it?"
"This is similar to you going for a run while spying on other people's privacy." Ye Wei said as he walked, "But I am a professional player."
Seeing that he was willing to speak, the paparazzi were excited, and questions rang out again: "Will you attend the Golden Globe Awards dinner tomorrow?" Ye Wei smiled and said, "Of course, although there is no big gift package this year, I still I'll go." The paparazzi all laughed, and someone immediately asked, "Will Lily go with you?"
"You'll know tomorrow." Pushing open the barbed wire door, Ye Wei stepped onto the grass. Lily didn't intend to go as his girlfriend. He understood her and she had her pride.
"Which future girl will your female companion be?", "Will it be Elizabeth Olsen?" paparazzi asked, and some venue security personnel stopped them.
Ye Weiyi smiled, tomorrow there will be four future girls stepping on the red carpet of the Golden Globe Awards, none of them are his female companions, he will appear alone.
"Weige! Did you stop acting because your creativity ran out?" Another paparazzi asked, "Can't you make a movie?"
Ye Wei stopped and turned around to look at the paparazzi reporters behind the barbed wire fence, "What did you say?" - Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report
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