In the large conference room of the hotel, all the windows were all blocked tightly by black curtains, so that no light could penetrate in, and on the wide wall at the very front of the conference room, there was a small silver screen hanging, and Murphy was sitting behind a projector across from the screen, personally controlling this screening of Fruity Hard Candy.
In front of him, Bill Rossis accompanied Jones Butler and three of her associates as they sat and watched the movie intently.
Every deal involving large sums of money in this business world is relatively discreet, and Hollywood is no exception; Jones-Butler didn't rush out and instead brought along several other professional watchers from Miramax to evaluate the film.
Murphy deliberately rented this meeting room, fortunately, it is now during the film festival, things like this often happen, most of the hotels are prepared, as long as the payment of sufficient fees, venues and screening equipment are not a problem.
The screening gradually approached the end, when Haley hanged Jeff left, Murphy did not continue to play the back credits, turned off the projector, sitting near the door Paul Wilson first turn on the lights, the conference room back to light.
Gathering up the copies, Murphy went to the window and opened the curtains, and the sealed conference room was reconnected to the outside world.
"Jones ..." Bill Rossis was about to speak when Jones Butler interrupted him with a raised hand, "May we be allowed to confer alone?"
"No problem." Murphy walked over and gestured to Bill Rossis, "Let's go out first."
Whether or not it could impress the other party, the first and foremost thing was still the movie, as long as these people thought that Fruity Hard Candy had a certain market prospect, the two sides would be able to enter the substantive negotiation stage, otherwise it was useless to say more.
Miramax Studios was a commercial company, not a charity organization.
Leaving the conference room, Murphy's trio waited in the corridor outside.
"Jones Butler brought over a viewing group from Miramax," Bill Rossis looked very uptight, "That means they're very interested in Fruity Hard Candy, and there's a possibility that we can work out a deal."
As long as the deal is made, according to the agency contract between him and Murphy, he can also get a cut from it, the production cost of the movie is $300,000, and it is thought that Miramax's opening price cannot be lower than that, so the cut will be at least five figures.
Hollywood's top brokers can earn hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars a year, but this is the group standing at the top of the pyramid, like him, the bottom of the pyramid of entertainment brokers, the annual income of even 100,000 U.S. dollars are not, five figures is also a considerable income.
Murphy certainly knows where Bill Rossis' motivation lies, idealists like Paul Wilson are relatively rare in this world, and wanting a fast-mixing entertainment agent to do his bidding for him must surely make him see the benefits.
Outside the conference room, the three Murphys formed a small circle to discuss the preliminary negotiations that might be next.
Inside the conference room, Jones Butler and the other three men also formed a circle, exchanging their thoughts on the movie with each other.
"It has some commercial value."
The first to speak was a man with short chestnut-colored hair, "But the audience is narrow, even in B-movies, it's a niche genre."
His opinion was supported by another man, "I think so too. There's nothing more appealing about this movie than an underage girl killing a pedophile . Pedophile, it's a great gimmick that will attract a crowd in a specific audience."
"The movie has some merit."
The man who spoke last held up his glasses, "I think the director's handling is very good, the camera language, light and color level are all comfortable to watch, especially the cinematography, it doesn't use the handheld cinematography that's popular in B-movies nowadays, the lens is no longer shaking around, from this point alone, it meets the current market's needs."
Closing his notebook, Jones-Butler looked at the three men, "So we're all on the same page."
"There's one more thing." The man with the glasses spoke up and reminded, "Jones, Moore's words make sense, this movie can only be a niche within a niche, you have to keep the buyout price down."
"I know." Jones Butler nodded, "Don't forget, I don't have the authority to make decisions if the price is high."
When the three of Murphy returned to the conference room, the long conference table that had been placed to the side before had been moved back to the center, and a few of Jones-Butler's people were seated in a row on the left hand side, and he followed Bill Rossis and sat on the right hand side of the conference table.
Jones Butler did not look at Bill Rossis, her eyes were almost entirely on Murphy's, perhaps it was because of her previous subconscious neglect of small people, until now she did not realize that the other party's age was so young.
At most, it could not be more than twenty-three years old! She formed her own judgment that such a young man would be extremely lacking in terms of social experience even if he was incredibly talented, plus she had previously learned that he was able to invest his entire fortune inside the production of a movie, so he should be somewhat idealistic.
Such a person is not difficult to deal with ... Thinking of this, she turned her eyes to look at Bill Rossis, this is an old fox.
However, Jones Butler didn't really put Bill Rossis in his eyes, he was from CAA right, but was one of the many agents at the bottom of CAA.
What's more, her Miramax is a well-known independent film distributor in the industry, facing these rookie director-producers and small film studios, naturally has an absolute advantage.
Getting her favorite works at the lowest price was always her rule.
Jones-Butler's eyes turned back to Murphy, perhaps Miramax could publicly distribute his films and such an idealist would be overjoyed?
Murphy appeared quiet, the negotiating position between the two sides was completely unequal, his film needed a distributor to show value to recoup his investment, but Fruit Loops was not a necessity for Miramax.
He knew that the Weinstein brothers had created a company that searched the world for suitable low-budget independent films, bought them up, packaged them for theatrical release, or pushed them directly to the video market.
Although he thought that the film "Hard Candy" exceeded his expectations, Murphy knows very well that the entire St. Dennis Film Festival, this level of film is not to say that everywhere, I am afraid that it is not difficult to find a few out.
How to be in Miramax's strong position, to fight for their own maximum interests, this is Murphy considered the most.
Looking at the opposite row of people, Murphy knows that Jones Butler is the main person, he will not be belittled because the other party is a black man, but more importance, who all know that the film circle on the exclusion of people of color is quite serious, can mix the status of the black man is definitely not simple goods.