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Hollywood What If Chapter 170
The group began their 'bidding'. The 25% fee went down to 22%.
They were very careful in this negotiation. Because everyone knows that 1% is already $1 or $2 million at the box office. They couldn't make a mistake.
Perhaps this negotiation was the most difficult they had ever experienced. Even though they had the approval of their companies to negotiate the box office fee with Kazir Grey, they could not afford to do it arbitrarily.
Gritting their teeth, they settled on a 22% box office distribution fee. In their opinion, this amount was already heartbreaking. It could lead to a loss of millions of dollars for them.
But the lure of the scripts in Kazir's hands was stronger. To be honest, they have the means to read his script and plagiarize it.
However, it would destroy their reputation and their association with Grey Pictures would be forever severed. They would never choose a short-term profit over a long-term one.
Besides, their plan was to buy the script along with the sequels. If they plagiarized the first movie and it was successful, the sequels might not get the same treatment.
It was better to negotiate with Kazir Grey than to be greedy. Besides, they would gain his trust and cooperation. This could lead to further cooperation. After all, Kazir Grey is a great director and his movies are profitable as always. Even John Wick made money in the videotape market.
In fact, Grey Pictures started producing DVD discs of Taken and John Wick. The profit from the DVD's got bigger and bigger as the year went on. Last month alone, the profit from DVD discs was $12 million. No joke, the influence of DVD players and DVD discs was getting stronger.
The DVD player was introduced in the U.S. in 1997, and more and more families were buying them.
Imagine if these movies went to the Big Six, it means more money in the bank!
Well, even the movies he wrote were already profitable. The Big Six were not petty and gave him some leeway, hoping to cooperate next time.
After hearing all their offers, Kazir decided to end the meeting. He said he would decide after three days. He had to think about it seriously, and the producers understood his reasoning.
After making promises, the producers left the building one by one. They do not intend to leave together. Appearing in public with a producer from another company would bring trouble.
Kazir took a deep breath and sighed. He leaned back in his chair and relaxed. It was very early in the morning, but he was already being harassed by 5 movie companies.
'Five producers... Now that I think about it, no one from Sony-Columbia was there. Maybe they are too late to react. Or maybe they are waiting for the right moment to contact Grey Pictures.'
His first negotiations with Sony-Columbia were unsuccessful. At the time, he was hoping that Sony-Columbia would distribute Taken, but the negotiations didn't go anywhere. In the end, Grey Pictures worked with Paramount instead.
Sony-Columbia wanted 35% of the box office as a distribution fee at that time, and that was too much for Grey Pictures.
'Sony-Columbia doesn't have a strong presence in Hollywood and is always being outbid by the other giants. What they need is a big movie that can produce sequels.'
Whenever he heard of Sony-Columbia, all Kazir could think of was Spider-Man. Other than that, Kazir had few movies to associate with Sony-Columbia.
Besides, the company rarely produced its own movies. They would only invest if the movie looked promising.
Most of the time, they make a profit by buying movies and distributing them, or distributing movies from studios that didn't have the ability to distribute their movies.
Having a distribution network was very difficult to achieve. It takes time, a very long time. Even buying a company that had a distribution network was very hard to find, because they would be bought by the Big Six as soon as possible.
Especially for international distribution, it was almost impossible to acquire one, because it was a valuable thing. The ability to distribute your products to many countries to reach the consumer is not that easy.
In a way, the Big Six have the right to demand a 30% share of the box office. Still, Kazir didn't give a damn.
'You want my scripts? Lower the distribution fee.'
He closed his eyes for a second and calmed his mind. There was no need to make a decision today. He had to think about it seriously.
Besides, he has to find Fremont Smith to ask him about the progress of Taken 2.
"Ah, I remember, it should be Director Smith now."
He chuckled. Fremont Smith signed up for membership in the Director's Guild. He needed recommendations from three directors to get approval. Salvatore Barlowe had enough connections to help Fremont Smith with that.
Unlike Kazir, who had experience in making big-budget films, Fremont Smith was afraid that his expenses might reach the limit, so he gladly agreed to sign a contract with the insurance company to make sure that the money provided would be enough for the film.
'In this aspect, maybe only someone like me can do it right.'
Once you become a famous director, it would be hard to stay within the budget. Sometimes they have to spend more just to shoot the scenes that the director wants.
On top of that, if the director is not satisfied with the footage, the shooting may be extended.
Perhaps the most famous director in this category was none other than James Cameron. He was known to be like this. His movie budget kept increasing as the filming went by.
'Well, this is Fremont's first movie, so I think he will not go over budget.'
Frankly, Grey Pictures was in a tight spot at the time.
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