Hollywood Domination Chapter 191: Negotiation begins
With an investment of more than 500 million yuan, plus the follow-up investment in publicity and distribution, it may be possible to buy a large theater chain with a little more. Even if it takes a year or two to demonstrate the feasibility of such a project, it is not too much , but in Hollywood where time is money, "Avatar", which focuses on new 3D, imax and visual spectacle, can't afford to wait. Of course, Cameron himself is unwilling to wait. Therefore, after the global box office of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" exceeded 700 million, it has been completely confirmed that the box office will return to its original capital, and the follow-up will be profitable. Now, Fox finally made up his mind and signed an investment letter of intent with Cameron. Letters of intent mostly won't do much either -- in Hollywood, the law doesn't work that way a lot of the time, but it's a guarantee for both parties anyway. And they invited Jenny to witness this process, which also shows how confident Fox is in her box office ability. Of course, this is not the only reason why they decided to invest in "Avatar", but it must have played a lot in pushing them to make up their minds. Functional.
For Dameng who intends to invest in "Avatar", this is very good news. As small investors, they must be at a disadvantage in negotiations, but on the basis of Jenny's company, their negotiations The confidence is still relatively strong, the only thing that needs to be considered is what kind of negotiation attitude to adopt, coercion and temptation? Moving with sincerity? Show off your advantages? In addition, it is also very important to determine your own bottom line for negotiations. Of course, the most important thing is to adapt to the situation based on Cameron's patience, the mentality of Fox's management, and the long-term interests of the future, and find as much as possible for the 100 million yuan of the dream. A safe, fast, and profitable way to withdraw money.
As for the good thing of solving the problem in one negotiation, or using the mentality of a certain management in charge of the negotiation to solve the problem, Dameng has never thought about it, and the investment of more than 500 million yuan can be settled in one negotiation , then this idea is too naive. As for the latter, although Cesare often uses some tricks, such as using a simple follow-up offer strategy in the follow-up salary negotiations of "Pirates" to get Jenny Superman's salary, but that is actually It is also because "Pirate" is not a high-risk project for Disney. The producer Bruckheimer has the final say on how to distribute the remuneration. Disney doesn't care much at all. To put it bluntly, even if 50 million For Jenny, as long as Johnny has no objection, Disney won't say anything, anyway, the money is spent anyway.
Even when she and Fox collaborated on "prada", the investment in the project itself was too small, and the prospects were not very optimistic. It would be naive to think that 'my manager and I are the smartest in the world'. In "Avatar", which is a high-risk project with high attention, it can be said that it represents whether the entire company will go bankrupt. It is impossible to work, and we can only use great patience and Fox to grind slowly, and the bottom line cannot be set too high. What Jenny and Cesare want is to get half of the total income of the project. Some hidden and lucrative profit-making links are squeezed out, and don’t become an inferior settlement party because of low investment. They can quickly withdraw funds and invest in other projects. The best result in their minds is of course to take advantage of this opportunity Can develop the distribution department of Big Dream, try to establish its own distribution system overseas, or get some technology and resources from Fox, of course, the premise of the whole negotiation is that Fox agrees to bring capital into the game, but this One point shouldn't be a problem.
"Jennifer, we can finally work together again." Fox sent to coordinate this project is their senior production manager Kevin Riley. After visiting the studio and signing the investment letter of intent under the witness of Jenny, he turned to Jenny and shook hands with her warmly with his sunburnt hands again, "Fox is very happy to have you again—James has already Tell me about the remuneration terms that you agreed on before, and Fox has no intention of changing it, 20 million is 20 million—it’s time for you to enter the 20 million club, isn’t it? I’m very happy to make "Avatar" your first two-part movie. Ten million."
Indeed, although the filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" has not been finished theoretically, but because of the back-to-back filming, and it is different from the expectation, in the filming last year, Jenny has already completed most of the third film. Coupled with the changes in the relationship between Dameng and Disney, this made Cesare's fight for the right to re-bid a bit tasteless. In addition, her performance in "Pirate 2" was not well received, and she did not have much bargaining chips, so the salary of "Pirate 3" stayed at 18 million, which was always worse than Johnny, and Disney did not Give her permission to enter the third part of the red. After all, it is obvious that it is impossible for Jenny to say that the negotiation fails to withdraw from the third part, making a lot of materials in the third part invalid, and even directly leading to reshoots and increasing countless costs-that is tantamount to completely tearing apart with Disney. Then there is no need for Disney to give her the third part of the profit. This is probably a side effect of Disney's capital injection dream-although she is now Robert's favorite general, but Disney is not Robert's private dynasty, which does not hinder Disney. Try every means to reduce the cost of the third part.
However, because the third film is almost completely completed, only a few more weeks of reshoots are needed. Disney has promised that the two parties will pay the full film salary within ten days after signing the new contract, instead of the same as before. The deposit is paid first, and the remuneration is paid in installments. It is even possible to pay the balance after the film is released and the funds are returned. Jenny's Xiaomeng Studio will earn more than 10 million yuan in the near future, which will be very helpful for her to save more than 70 million yuan in equity capital—if it is not because of the need to save equity capital, the balance in her account It is also enough for her to find a tens of millions of manors in Malibu.
"I'm also very honored." Jenny showed a happy business smile, and shook hands with Kevin, "Let's work together to make "Avatar" a new classic handed down—but, Kevin Wen, about the salary issue, I may still have to ask my agent to discuss with you."
Kevin's smile dimmed for a moment - Jennifer just starred in a billion-level legendary blockbuster, and the previous 20 million was the asking price before "Pirates 2". Continue to up your offer after the box office miracle?
Based on the attitude shown by Fox, Jennifer is very confident now, and it is hard to say that she may raise the offer, but for Fox, 20 million is already a very generous number, and it is impossible to raise the price again. No matter how much it has been raised, Kevin can't even believe that Jenny will continue to increase the quotation. After all, it is rare for an actress to enter the 20 million club, and it would be shocking to raise it to 2500.
"Of course." However, Kevin did not lose his demeanor. He nodded politely, turned his head and greeted Cesare familiarly, and gestured to Jon Landau on the side—Cameron old partner, gold medal producer, "Let's go next door and talk about this, shall we?"
The chubby Jon nodded kindly, "The sooner you sign the show contract, the better - Cesare, why doesn't CAA offer a package contract? It will make everything a lot easier - give me two minutes, and then Let's start talking about pay."
The fact that Jenny intentionally asked for a salary increase did not surprise Jon, after all, it is common for actors to raise prices after another blockbuster film is released. But Cameron, who has a strong desire for control, doesn't think so. Taking the time when Kevin was pouring coffee for himself, he turned to Jenny with some dissatisfaction, "Jennifer, 20 million is a very good price. , if my news is correct, you can get 18 million in "Pirates 3", right?"
One sentence immediately showed the lofty status of the old man's great director: Jenny has just reached an agreement with Disney on this matter, and the contract has not been signed yet, so it is an absolute commercial secret. James could only have asked it directly from Disney executives. ——James' tone was also a little dissatisfied. After all, Jenny was able to get the 20 million figure only with his support, and because of this change, the project had another twists and turns in the end, and Universal finally fell apart. Although the responsibility is not on Jenny, if she wants to increase the price now, James will be angry if he doesn't.
"I can get 20 million in this one, and I'm already very satisfied." Jenny smiled quickly to calm James' emotions, and Cesare also naturally walked towards the coffee machine, chatting with Kevin in front of the coffee machine I got up, "I know what you mean, James-in order to maintain the attraction of Leo and Chris, my pay is directional."
Among the two leading actors in the same position, it is common for the male star to be paid more than the female star, but the reverse is very rare. Given that both Leo and Chris have much more seniority than Jenny, Jenny Take 25 million and they take 20 million, Chris or Leo can't make it through? So Jenny asked for an extra 5 million, which means a 10 million budget increase, which is almost unbearable pain for "Avatar" whose budget has almost expanded to the limit.
James' expression softened a little. He glanced at Jenny suspiciously, and moaned preemptively, "Oh, don't mention dividends to me—don't mention dividends to me. Jennifer, this is Worse news than a pay raise - don't tell me you want to mention this to me."
"Oh, you guessed right, James." Jenny winked at Cameron, but she didn't dare to make the king of the world want to, so she just made a little joke and wanted to explain, but , At this time, Kevin Riley had already exclaimed just right by the coffee machine, saving her the workload of explanation.
"100 million?" Kevin even threw half of the coffee he just poured. He raised his head in surprise, as if he couldn't believe his ears, and stared at Cesare, "100 million?"
Cesare picked up the coffee cup and took a sip, then nodded calmly, without speaking. Kevin blinked desperately, as if to stop his dizziness, he turned to Jenny again, "100 million?"
Jenny nodded with a smile, and explained to James, who was also surprised, "Yes, 100 million-co-production, James, what do you think of this idea?"
"Ok." Jon Landau walked into the conference room refreshed while wiping his hands, "Let's get started—"
He noticed the strange atmosphere in the room, looked back and forth at the faces of his old partners James and Kevin Riley, and asked with a smile, "What happened? Did an angel pass by the room just now?—— Well, judging from your expressions, it must be an ugly angel."