In Los Angeles, as the center of Hollywood moves westward, more and more big names in the film and television entertainment circles tend to settle in the wealthy Brentwood area, which is closer to Malibu, instead of the once popular Beverly Hills.
Annika Settle, who has quickly established a foothold in Hollywood in recent years with the help of her best friend's connections, recently purchased a villa of her own in Brentwood.
Although it is not the most prime highland area, Annika can only be satisfied with herself after being able to build her own real estate in just a few years.
This is October 25th.
Wednesday.
Annika had already woken up as soon as the morning light came on, mainly because Lena Kane, who stayed here last night, started to get up first, which forced Annika, who wanted to sleep in, to sit up.
Even if the relationship between the two parties is very close, subconsciously, they are not willing to lose too much to Lina.
The two of them got dressed and washed before leaving the bedroom. In the villa, the Wei family maid who was responsible for their daily life had already started busy earlier.
Ignoring daily trivial matters such as breakfast, the two women came to the gym together. After a brief warm-up, they stepped on the treadmill.
After pressing the jog button, Annika noticed that Lina next to her unfolded a comic book that had been read many times before on the treadmill console, and began to multitask. After thinking about it, she did not follow the imitation, but just caught the topic: "This "Watchmen" was the first comic book to win the Hugo Award that year, and it does have enough content. However, I always feel that Zach's choice of this project is really unwise."
The famous "Watchmen" is a story produced by DC Comics in 1986. It is independent from the mainstream DC superhero universe. It roughly tells the story of a group of retired superheroes in the fictional Cold War background who are unable to enjoy a peaceful life and are in trouble again.
The comic explores a very heavy and eternal topic: How to stop war
The story gives several answers.
The final one is to establish a common and powerful enemy for all people on earth, so that the world will always face threats and be forced to unite together and no longer fight against each other.
However, in order to teach mankind a profound lesson, there is a price for such a game.
Then again.
Will humans really learn their lesson
Lena Kane was jogging while flipping through the comics in front of her. When she heard the voice of her best friend beside her, she said without turning her head: "This is a work that many comic fans are looking forward to seeing on the big screen. And The aura of the Hugo Award that year, and with the success of "Resident Evil" and "300", Zach has also accumulated enough experience, all of which are favorable conditions. As for whether it can succeed in the end, the movie is a gamble , who can guarantee success?"
Annika couldn't refute, paused, and asked: "Simon, what should I do?"
This time, it is obviously impossible for DC to transfer the copyright of "Watchmen" to Daenerys Entertainment, even if it is produced together. Therefore, after cooperating with Daenerys Entertainment on two projects, or in other words, after being popularized by Daenerys, Zack Snyder wanted to produce this project and could only cooperate with Warner.
In a way, this is a betrayal.
You know, Daenerys has three film contracts with Snyder, and only two were completed before. Therefore, Snyder simply can't go beyond Daenerys' agreement to work with other studios if they don't let up.
Lina still nodded without turning her head: "Simon has agreed."
Annika was surprised: "When?"
It would be too much to say that the two girls were inseparable, but because of the intimate relationship that a certain man had deliberately cultivated, they knew each other's every move quite well.
So, why didn’t she know that a certain man agreed to this
Lina finally glanced over, then looked back, but she could see a smile from the side of her face: "I sent him an email last night when you were taking a shower, but I didn't expect to get an immediate response, and we chatted online for a while."
Annika opened her mouth, and then her face, which was not yet sweating, became a little red.
Last night, after taking a shower, she was quite proactive.
At that time, I only remembered that Lena put the laptop aside on her lap, and then, of course, there was no time to talk about it.
After a while, Annika finally spoke again, with a hint of half-truth and half-joking jealousy: "Humph, you actually flirted with other men while I was taking a shower."
Lina turned over a page of the comic in front of her, and said with a smile: "This sentence is strange. It cannot be said to be 'other men', because you are not a man. Moreover, between the two of us, if we really want To make a distinction, you can only be a woman."
"Uh-huh, you're a man, okay?" Annika sped up the treadmill a little faster and sighed deliberately: "Oh my God, Simon Westeros actually likes men. This is really big gossip. "
Lina smiled, but did not continue to talk nonsense with Annika, but said: "Simon also said that he is looking forward to this project. I am not surprised at all. How could my man not have such a big heart?"
"Yeah, my man's man."
Lina still didn't mind Annika's shyness and petty mischief, and said in a serious tone: "Anyway, Daenerys's side is fine. Annie, do you want to try being a screenwriter?"
Speaking of business, Annika also restrained her expression. She had carefully read the "Watchmen" comic in advance. At this time, she shook her head and said: "I think the story of this comic itself has a high degree of completion and can be used directly as a template. It can be made into a film or TV show, but there is no room for screenwriting. Moreover, I am currently writing "Video of Death" and at the same time taking care of the new project of the Farrelly Brothers. Where can I find the time?"
Under the strategy finalized by Simon, the sequel development of multiple projects that Lena and Lena are responsible for, whether it is "Blair Witch" or "Resident Evil", have been temporarily shelved.
So I considered opening up a new IP.
At first, Simon gave Lina several pseudo-documentary ideas in her memory. After discussion, the two women chose "Death Video", which combines pseudo-documentary and zombie elements. The original version is a Spanish film. The reason why they made this choice is because I found that this story is also very suitable for development into a horror game.
The success of previous "Resident Evil" games is obvious to all.
Therefore, Annika started the construction of this series after the summer season ended, also referring to the "Resident Evil" series. Although the whole story starts from an apartment, the ins and outs related to this story, regardless of the timeline, , or all kinds of details, are planned to be filled in.
The two women plan to set up a separate game studio to develop the game independently while Settle Entertainment is cooperating with Daenerys to develop the movie.
Of course, there was no plan to go solo.
Whether it's a movie or a game, the production funds are intended to be obtained from Daenerys, and they just hope to get more revenue from it.
Daenerys is also happy to see this happen, and is not treating the two women specially because of their relationship with her boss.
This is something Simon understood very early on.
Complete self-production and self-marketing will ultimately only lead to rigidity within the company. Just like the television industry, which adopts a certain degree of 'separation of production and broadcasting', retains sufficient initiative internally, while constantly introducing fresh blood from the outside and stimulating competition at the same time. Only in this way can a company remain viable for a longer period of time.
So whether it's film, TV or games, Simon encourages collaboration with third parties.
Of course, the premise is that the absolute initiative and the largest share of profits must be on the side of the Westeros system.
Simon doesn't work for others.
Another project of the Farrelly brothers is another collaboration between the two parties after "Crazy About Mary".
Still a comedy.
However, unlike "Crazy About Mary" which tenaciously withstood the butterfly effect and reappeared, this time it is a brand new project called "The Trouble of Genius". Love, this time takes the route of a youth sex comedy, closer to the kind of "American Pie", but its characteristics are still the joke-like spoof of "Saturday Night Live".
The project is already filming and is initially scheduled to be released during Easter next year.
The two projects have taken up most of Annika's time. She doesn't have the energy to take on the screenwriting task of "Watchmen". However, the main reason is that she doesn't think there is much room for performance. Otherwise, she wouldn't mind working on it. Exercise on a new type.
Lina didn’t force herself when she heard what Annika said.
In fact, I am also worried about the adaptation of "Watchmen".
This story, since it can win the Hugo Award, has proved its excellence.
If "Watchmen" were a very long comic, it could be trimmed a bit, but unfortunately, this is a story that can basically be told in one movie. Therefore, there really isn’t much room for the writers to play.
However, if certain changes cannot be made to the story and the story is told as scripted, will the audience feel that this is just a visual repetition in the future
Until the end of the exercise, Lina couldn't make up her mind.
We can only discuss it with Warner and Zack Snyder. In fact, she has no decision-making power and can only give certain suggestions. Of course, because of her certain status and previous success, the other two parties would not ignore her suggestions.
The two women had breakfast and each began their day's work.
Annika is going to the set of "The Trouble with Genius". The project is filmed in Santa Monica and she will stay there all day.
Lina has more things to do. After all, she is still working as an agent. She has more than 20 clients under her name unknowingly. All kinds of trivial matters. If it were not for the training of several assistants at the same time, as well as the unsuccessful internal affairs of WMA, It has only been promoting economic system reforms similar to the CAA, and it may be too busy.
When I arrived at the WMA headquarters in Century City, the first thing I paid attention to was the "Terror Cruise" that was being screened.
Because the story structure was too complicated, New World Pictures was still not very optimistic about the performance of "Terror Cruise" in the theater market, even if Beckinsale was the heroine. In the end, Lena fought hard and got the 7 million. Publicity expenses, and using the characteristics of the film itself, launched a small-scale viral marketing on the Internet platform with a relatively small marketing cost. The core is 'Who is the murderer? ! '
To be honest, this marketing is not as successful as the original "Blair Witch". After all, if you want to spark public discussion, you must reveal enough information, but this movie reveals too much, especially a certain final secret, then it will be lost. The biggest suspense of the film.
After all, it attracted some attention.
As the film is released, marketing continues. The special story structure and the final truth have triggered more discussions than before the filming started.
The current result is that around 14 million in the first week is definitely no problem.
However, compared to the domestic box office prediction of 30 million US dollars, Lina is more optimistic. Perhaps, this project has the hope of hitting the local box office of 40 million US dollars. When it reaches 40 million, the total cost of production and promotion will be fully recovered, and all subsequent work will be profitable. Moreover, as long as the reputation is big enough, this project will obviously have greater potential in subsequent home entertainment channels.
Therefore, after roughly understanding the latest box office data and market feedback, Lina contacted New World Pictures, hoping that they could add some additional publicity expenditures to make this project more popular.
It is confirmed that this project will make money. New World Pictures is also very generous and plans to invest an additional 3 million US dollars to collect 10 million in publicity investment.
However, Danny Morris, the president of New World Pictures, who personally discussed with Lena on the phone, could not help but joke that the announcement would invest more and extend the payback cycle, which would definitely affect the time of sharing of this project.
Due to conflicts of interest, agents are not allowed to get involved in film and television production.
However, the rules were destroyed by CAA's packaging strategy as early as the 1980s. Although she does not directly hold shares in Settle Entertainment, which her best friend temporarily holds a full share of, Lina can still benefit from the various projects that the two parties have cooperated with. Get a share of the profits.
Lina wasn't in a hurry about it either.
After all, everyone has a consensus that the majority of the revenue from this project must come from peripheral channels. What's more, the world's largest video rental chain is owned by Daenerys Entertainment.
After finishing this matter and dealing with some other daily tasks, before noon, Lena drove to Burbank's Warner Bros. Studios on the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains.
At noon, there was a dinner meeting with Warner Bros. Pictures President Alan Horn. Zack Snyder also attended. After getting the approval of a certain man, at noon, everyone's cooperation on "Watchmen" was officially finalized.
The dinner conversation lasted an hour.
Things are basically finalized.
It is a pity that this project cannot be packaged again, but it is just a pity. After all, it is such a super blockbuster with an estimated investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention it is a superhero comic book movie that Warner is very interested in. It is impossible. Let a small workshop like Settle Entertainment take over it alone.
Another satisfactory thing is that Warner gave Schneider a director's salary of US$10 million, plus 10% of the global box office gross profit share.
This kind of Double Ten agreement is actually quite generous for a director who has only made two movies, even if both movies are very successful. After all, even if the total investment in production and promotion is 150 million, as long as the global box office can reach 500 million, the director is expected to receive at least another 5 million US dollars in share, which is equivalent to the industry's maximum salary of 15 million US dollars.
If it exceeds 500 million, it will be as successful as other DC comic-book movies, and the total revenue will not be a problem between 20 and 30 million US dollars.
A single project income level of 20 to 30 million US dollars is already the treatment of a super first-line director.