Hollywood Domination Chapter 424: Fantasy start
"4 million dollars per episode, 24 episodes scheduled for one season, the lead of "The Big Bang Theory", the schedule is fixed for one season..." Flipping through the price list, Jenny couldn't help but whistle, "Wow, Nancy It seems that he is determined to win "The Right and the Right", isn't it? This quotation is also top-notch in comedy."
Although the selling price of an episode of "Empire of Hip-Hop" reached nearly 6 million US dollars, most of these actors are movie stars, and the production costs of large-scale TV dramas with complex plots and luxurious scenes are also high, with an average of three episodes per episode. One million or four million is not uncommon, and it is not uncommon for American dramas to cost more than 10 million for the first episode, so Fox's quotation cannot be said to be very high, and the profit of Big Dream TV in it cannot be said to be appalling— — Their profits will be distributed to jay-z, which is signed in the contract. Jay-z does not charge upfront fees, but will be shared in the drama revenue, and enjoys all the copyrights of the songs. The crew only owns The right to use, if the "Hip-Hop Empire" tour is to be carried out, Fox, jay-z, and Dream TV will be divided among the three parties.
——In comedies, especially new comedies, the production cost is still relatively low. With limited scenes and low actor costs, it is not difficult to control the cost of an episode at 1.2 million, and some are more economical Comedy, it is normal for an episode to cost around 1 million. If you are tighter, you can shoot hundreds of thousands. Of course, the number of actors will be small and the salary will not be high, but if the producer is proficient in cost control, the audience will basically I can't see anything wrong with it, so the price of 4 million episodes is already very generous for the first season. With cbs' current ratings ace "Big Bang" as a prelude to the season, and one season is booked at once, This means that Big Dream hardly needs to take any risks, and it can transfer tens of millions of dollars, and this is only the first sum - after the end of the first season, the dvd, broadcasting rights and other copyright fees will be a large sum Income, I have to say, for the film studio, compared with making movies, the money for making TV series is indeed much more profitable, and with the current model of Big Dream, the production company has almost no risk at all, even if the ratings skyrocket Death, the contract is there, not to mention the money earned, they still have a whole season to come back to life, which is equivalent to giving the series a second life, compared with the long payback cycle and huge market risk of the movie, Jenny I couldn't help feeling, "TV dramas are really making money!"
"This is because we are consuming the ratings bonus of "Empire of Hip-Hop", and of course we also have the reputation accumulated by Big Dream Movies over the years." Cesare looked up from the document, "Otherwise, if the general model is followed, the production company will Taking almost all the risks, if half of the new dramas developed each year fail, it should be difficult for them to make a profit—it has to be said that the good fortune of "Empire of Hip-Hop" has indeed provided Big Dream TV with an excellent start."
"Are you praising yourself in disguise?" Jenny asked with a smile, she sighed again, and complained happily, "I knew we would have set up a separate TV production company-who knew that this step would be so far It's going well, there is no need for a big dream movie to cover the whole story?"
"The current model is still more beneficial." Cesare said, "After all, you have to consider the situation in the next few years. TV studios are likely to need cash transfusions for movies-this year's five If two new dramas die prematurely, it will be difficult for the new drama developed next year to get such a generous contract, after all, the bonus cannot be eaten for a lifetime."
The current cash flow of Dameng TV is still very healthy. The 100 million funds from the parent company allow him to produce six TV series at the same time with reasonable debts. Anyway, the contracts for each TV series have been signed. One year later There will definitely be cash back. Even if the current treatment cannot continue, such an opening has greatly exceeded Jenny and Cesare's expectations. This is why Dameng decided to launch five new dramas—to be honest, even they There is no certainty when the crazy ratings of "Empire" will end. When Cesare made this new drama, he didn't even have much hope. The best expectation was to break the 2 rating. They didn't expect that the ratings would go all the way to 4... So, take advantage of the bonus Of course, it became the best choice, and relying on the miracle confidence of Dameng Movie, it won a contract of nearly 500 million yuan. This is what Jenny did not expect beforehand—she thought that the TV station would not accept this kind of bidding method. There will be conflicts, and the bidding may not go smoothly.
"Isn't it right for CBS to give this "Wrong Way" to CBS?" She said in a negotiating tone, "The proposal given by CBS is the most suitable for "Wrong Way" in terms of temperament, and it will be better than crime drama It’s better to be the leading role, what do you think? ——To be honest, I think that if you can choose this condition, these five new dramas may all survive the first season of Death Royale, and maybe the ratings The rate will be really good."
Dameng’s five new dramas this year are of different genres. There is "The Right and the Right", a comedy about the life of the black upper class, and a light comedy about Silicon Valley entrepreneurship inspired by "Social Network". Drama series about political struggles, traditional white comedies focusing on the family line, and crime dramas based on the US military’s overseas combat experience. Among them, except for "The Right and the Left", the rest of the genres are not without competitors, and i.t comedy is even more so. There is "The Big Bang Theory", an excellent comedy endorsed by geeks, as a competitor, so they don't have a big advantage in terms of subject matter, and whether they can survive depends on the details. A unique business like "Empire of Hip Hop" is not Everything needs to be done—and the feedback from the TV station also reflects their evaluation of various themes. An offer of 6 million yuan for one episode is clearly optimistic about this blank area, and the highest offer for a traditional family comedy is abc, 3.5 million an episode, abc's award-winning drama "Modern Family" is the lead, which is actually not bad ——If this schedule does not belong to "Empire of Hip-Hop", but the new season of "Empire of Hip-Hop" also only has 13 episodes, so the conflict is not too intense, and it is hard to say whether the ratings of "Empire of Hip-Hop" will be able to maintain it this fall Such strength, from this point of view, abc is not very optimistic about its long-term ratings.
"Don't be blindly optimistic about the ratings." Cesare reminded, "Still maintain the original strategy - if the ratings continue to drop, take the initiative to cut or shift the file, so as to establish a long-term relationship... We've given Netflix the light comedy of Silicon Valley, haven't we?"
"Yes, the price is 5 million per episode, it's really rich and powerful," Jenny clicked her tongue: Netflix is a powerful Internet tycoon, and this outsider has been working as a service provider, and now he also wants to do it across the board The content provider has almost always played the role of a spoiler. A comedy dares to offer 5 million episodes, and the prepaid condition of 24 episodes in a season is clearly to use money to smash people-even promised a relative The lower renewal conditions, in this drama, the other TV stations have almost no conditions to fight against, and they are all far behind. "This is an uncontroversial choice-we were originally a tailor-made TV series for Netflix."
"Then give the wasp comedy to ABC," Cesare decided, "give the crime drama to NBC, which is their traditional strength."
"What about political dramas?" Jenny asked, "HBO is very interested, but their asking price is not high, 3 million episodes, 13 episodes a season——"
"Then let it pass." Cesare thought about it, "This subject may not be very suitable for HBO—it may win a lot of awards, but it may not make money, and their asking price will at best be flat all the time, after all , the profit pressure will be great.”
"Maybe it can be postponed until Netflix sees the ratings in Silicon Valley before discussing. I have a feeling that this subject can be done well." Jenny said with some uncertainty, because she really didn't know "House of Cards" "How much income did it bring to netflix-there is no ratings points for this drama, only the topicality can be used for reference. "The main thing is to find out what Netflix needs. If what they want is attention and a brand name, this drama may be suitable for them. We can use the model of "Hip-Hop Empire" to do it and get some big names to participate."
"Is this your intuition?" Cesare asked, he glanced at Jenny meaningfully, and Jenny shrugged, "I don't have an intuition, and I'm doing very well—"
Seeing Cesare's face, she laughed, "It's just a feeling, you can give it a try, if it doesn't work, just drop it. There are not many political dramas that can make money."
"And I taught you this point two days ago." Cesare said in a flat tone, and only acquaintances could hear the meaning of complaints.
Jenny glared at him angrily, while Cesare put down the bid, "Then, that's the preliminary decision—I hope everything goes as smoothly as you said, and these four new dramas can gain a firm foothold, at least The ratings of the two new dramas are 3, so next year, Dream TV will almost be on the right track.”
Turning over his hands to check the time, he stood up and turned on the TV, "Watching the Oscars together?"
"Oh! I forgot!" Jenny bounced up, almost startled by the word, hesitated, and shrugged, "Of course, why not?—Seriously, this is For the first time in years I'm not involved?"
"Absent for the first time in six years?" Cesare said tentatively, "It seems that since "The Devil Wears Prada" was released, you have been going to the Oscars every year--"
He opened the refrigerator, threw a bottle of water for Jenny, poured it into the sofa in a relaxed manner, tugged at his tie, and said with a relaxed tone, "It's the first time you weren't invited to participate, how do you feel?"
"How do you feel about eating a hamburger for six years?" Jenny asked back, she unscrewed the water bottle and took a sip, and put her foot on the coffee table, "This reminds me of the joke about Roosevelt being re-elected as president—— Guess, which one will be awarded the best film this year..."