"Hello, this is Renly Hall, I think I missed your call, please leave a message."
The voice of the tape recorder came from the phone, and Andy Rogers didn't leave a message, he hung up the phone and looked at Rodrigo Cortez, who was sitting in front of him, "He went out for a walk, it's another whole day today. Work, need a little time to rest and adjust.”
For three consecutive days of interviews, the interviewed media have left and come again, and Renly has been interviewed by more than 120 media. Naturally, this number cannot be compared with popular works such as "Black Swan" and "Robbers in the City", but it is far ahead and unrivaled among independent films. Such a situation was far from what Rodrigo and Andy had expected.
Rodrigue didn't mind at all, and nodded, "I understand. I only had a half-day interview today, and I started to have a headache." He still has lingering fears now, "I heard people say that interviews are very tired, but I still have a headache. I don't understand, but now I finally understand that interviewing is a physical task."
From the outsider’s point of view, an interview is just sitting on the sofa asking and answering questions, but after experiencing it in person, you will know that interviewing requires not only mental strength, but also physical strength. In the second half of the interview, the feeling of dizziness in the brain is really foggy.
"He should be back soon, is there any urgency for you to come here?" Andy always had a warm smile on his face, but his style of conduct was vigorous and resolute, and he quickly cut into the theme.
The Toronto Film Festival is just over a day away, and while it's nearly impossible for "Buried Alive" to win the People's Choice Awards, the point isn't the awards, it's that Toronto is part of the landscape of awards season. Therefore, he still has a lot of groundwork to complete.
Rodrigo and Andy have also been in touch several times. After sweeping away the Spaniard's lazy style, he immediately said, "Actually, I'm here to ask your opinion. So far, I have received a total of four offers for distribution, each with Pros and cons, I really don’t know much about the issue of distribution, and I was a little dizzy for a while, I need some reference opinions that can calm me down.”
"Four servings?" Andy felt a little surprised, because the number was still less than expected.
This is Toronto, not Sundance or Venice. Toronto itself is a huge issuance and trading market, and it is also the last large trading market in the whole year. After missing here, there are still a few sparse ones after this The film festival, but after the big waves washed the sand, there were no distributors left, and the quality was bound to be unsatisfactory. Therefore, almost all publishers are looking for and Taobao here.
According to the development momentum and trajectory of the past few days, whether it is the topic effect or the audience's word of mouth, "Buried Alive" is on a rising curve, and the distribution company should be more optimistic about this work. Although the gimmick of "Buried Alive" itself is not enough, even the Renly bonus is still limited, but it also means that the transaction amount of publishing copyrights will not be too high, and even some small distribution companies can join the competition.
But now there are only four? This is not a positive sign.
"Yes, four." Rodrigo did not hear the doubts in Andy's words, and a bright smile appeared on his face, "One is Focus Pictures, and the other is Fox Searchlight."
Andy's eyebrows raised slightly, and there was a hint of clarity in his eyes.
These are the two largest independent labels in the North American industry at present. The competition strength of the awards season is no different from that of Weinstein Pictures. All are well-deserved leaders. "Buried Alive" can be recognized by these two distribution labels, which is a happy thing in itself. As long as the wind is released, other distribution companies that are watching will be willing to join the competition.
The invitation of two issuing companies is even worth twenty companies.
"And then there are two other companies, Lionsgate and Roadside Attraction." Rodrigo recalled seriously before he said, "I haven't heard their names, so I'm not sure if I'm right. "
Andy nodded to show that he understood that these two companies were not as famous as the previous two, but they were definitely not unknown.
Lionsgate is a little more famous. This Canadian company started out as a distribution company and then took into account production. It is based on thriller, horror and suspense genres such as "Chainsaw", "American Psycho" and "Requiem for Dreams". The film started, and in recent years, it has gradually ranked in the forefront of the second-tier distribution companies.
The roadside attraction may be a little less popular, but this company is more focused and only does distribution. After years of precipitation and development lag, it ushered in a full-scale rise last year, with two works "Dolphin Bay" and "I Love You Morris" In the awards season, the former won the Oscar for Best Documentary Golden Man in one fell swoop.
The strength of these four distribution companies is absolutely not inferior, which far exceeded Andy's expectations.
As he expected, the strong topicality and word-of-mouth rising curve of "Buried Alive" in recent days will undoubtedly have huge appeal to distribution companies, not to mention the prospects of the awards season, at least it can attract enough box office when it is released; In addition, the distribution rights of this work will not be too expensive, and many distribution companies are willing to take action.
Now it seems that the four companies that have been shot are all well-known in the industry, which is really a surprise.
"What's your opinion?" Andy didn't come to a conclusion immediately. He was just Renly's manager, not the producer of "Buried Alive". He couldn't make decisions for Rodrigo over and over again, so he still needed a strategy when discussing.
Rodrigo showed a bright smile, a little simple and honest, but did not hide his excitement, "If it is for me to choose, I must choose the famous one. Isn't it true that the greater the fame, the more resources?"
Andy was amused by such a frank and simple answer, "Yes, but again, the more famous they are, the more cards they have in their hands. Like Fox Searchlight."
Because of Natalie, Andy conducted a lot of investigation behind the scenes, and learned a lot about "Black Swan" and Fox Searchlight, not to target them, but to prevent them from using Renly again - Renly is now Being in a completely passive rookie position, if you are not fully prepared, the situation can easily get into a disadvantageous situation.
"They have now confirmed the distribution rights they have won, including 'Black Swan', '127 Hours', and 'Don't Let Me Go'. All three works have one thing in common: the protagonist's performance has been unanimously affirmed. Their propaganda resources are limited, what position do you think 'buried alive' can be placed in when allocating and utilizing?"
Andy's words made Rodrigo look astonished, "'127 Hours' is also theirs? Then why are they coming to contact us? Isn't the momentum of '127 Hours' far better than ours?"
Faced with Rodrigo's question, Andy didn't have an accurate answer. He had several guesses. For example, for the "Black Swan" awards season, Fox Searchlight could buy the distribution rights of "Buried Alive", and then demanded Renly and Natalie cooperated in the promotion. It was a win-win situation, and Andy knew that he would not refuse; for another example, they could wait for the price to see the follow-up trend of "127 Hours" and "Buried Alive" , play the role of double insurance, and after entering January, abandon the weak and ensure their overall strength this year.
"It's not important. What's important is, do you have the confidence to occupy an advantageous position in the competition?" Andy pointed directly at the point, which made Rodrigo stunned for a while, then shook his head, looking a little lonely, he asked back. , "Should we choose the other two small distribution companies?"
"The advantage of small publishers is that they have limited resources, so they will put all the resources at hand on one work to ensure that this work can win." Andy explained, which gave Rodrigo renewed hope , "But the roadside attraction is out of play this year. They have won 'Winter's Bone' at the Sundance Film Festival and then 'Beautiful Mistake' in Europe. Their capabilities have reached their limit."
What Andy didn't say is that it is very likely that one of these two works will be sacrificed, and if nothing else is "beautiful mistake" - because it is a foreign language film, the Oscar's best foreign language film selection system is independent , the way PR works is also different.
In other words, no matter what the prospects for Winter's Bone awards season, curb appeal is now saturated. The tentative offer to "Buried Alive" is probably just an inquiry in their strategic sense. After all, the distribution rights of "Buried Alive" are not expected to be too expensive.
Rodrigo's shoulders drooped visibly, as if he had been hit. Independent films are indeed struggling.
Andy showed a smile, "What I said just now is only for the awards season. If you just want your work to be released in theaters, just choose one, I believe you will not be disappointed. The distribution capabilities of these four companies All are worthy of recognition, you only need to choose a price in your mind, as well as package services, and after confirming that you are satisfied, you can directly sign the contract.”
Rodrigo sighed deeply, "I know I'm still greedy. But..."
Before the Toronto Film Festival, he just thought that finding a distributor would be the perfect result. Once he missed Toronto, the next few film festivals would be even more hopeless. However, after the film landed in Toronto, it has received so much acclaim, and at the same time it has caused such a craze. The past few days have been like a dream, and he has inevitably grown up ambition: if "Buried Alive" can go further in awards season, if He could win an awards show nomination, if the movie can still be the high-profile work of awards season...
The mentality of worrying about gains and losses is really difficult to balance.
Looking at Rodrigo's expression, Andy knew that the emotions he wanted to brew were almost done, so he said again, "Do you want to hear my opinion?"
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Rodrigo immediately raised his head, and there was a glimmer of hope in the confusion in his eyes, "Of course, this is the purpose of my visit today! Do you have any comments?"
Before Andy could speak, the door of the room was opened, and Andy and Rodrigo looked over at the same time.
It's Renly.