A director who has previously helmed a film with a publicized budget of $11 million and a North American box office exceeding $50 million, when directing another similar type of film, would typically receive a normal fee starting at $3 million in this era, with potential additional backend profit shares.
Taking advantage of James Huang's situation at the time, Ronan signed him for two film contracts. Under those circumstances, a director's fee of $300,000 seemed suitable for James Huang. However, everything changed after the success of "The Purge." Success and failure are indeed heaven and hell in the business world.
So, when Edward approached Ronan, he added a $300,000 bonus to James Huang's base fee of $300,000, based on the North American box office performance.
Whether it was the duty of the agent or James Huang's decision when Edward approached Ronan to request a raise for James Huang, it didn't matter much. No one wants to accept a fee that doesn't match their worth.
Ronan didn't expect to be able to lower James Huang's fee to such an incredible extent again for sequels to "The Purge" and "Final Destination" after their successes.
If they were to collaborate again, a significant increase in fees was inevitable.
James Huang gave such a promise, and Ronan was basically satisfied.
Ronan then had a chat with James Huang about the upcoming shoot before going to the producer's office to patiently review the recent progress of the film crew.
By inspecting various aspects of the film crew's work, he could also preliminarily judge the abilities of the individuals involved. Those with poorer abilities would naturally not be considered for future collaborations.
The location manager, Brian, left a deep impression on him. Most of the exterior shots of the film were set in some small towns in Southern California, with minimal location costs. They even secured over a dozen private locations for free filming, with the highest expense being the rental fee for Los Angeles International Airport. The total expenditure for location rentals would not exceed $200,000.
For a film with a significant amount of exterior shots like this one, such savings represented a considerable amount of money.
Brian's ability to find suitable filming locations while also saving money made him quite commendable. Ronan made sure to remember Brian's name.
Then there was Andrew. Although he had never managed such a large film crew before, his experience from working on videotape movie sets in the past, along with his easy-going personality, made him effective in resolving internal conflicts within the crew, relieving Ronan and director James Huang of worries.
These are the kinds of people who, while seemingly inconspicuous, could severely impact normal operations if issues arose.
James Huang, Glenn Morgan, Brian, Andrew, and others were undoubtedly talented individuals.
After reviewing the film crew's work logs and financial reports, Ronan specifically recalled these individuals, including James Huang's Chinese name, Huang Yiyu, whom he remembered from before.
Ronan's memories of Huang Yiyu were divided into two parts: the enormous success of the "Final Destination" series and the disastrous failure of the "Dragon Ball" movie.
The latter reached a certain level of badness.
Ronan had a rough judgment that James Huang seemed to only be suitable for directing horror films. Directing other genres, especially action films, didn't seem to suit him very well.
As the boss of the film company, Ronan quickly made a decision to try to squeeze out as much value as possible from James Huang in the horror genre.
When Ronan left the film crew, he met Glenn Morgan, the screenwriter for "Final Destination."
"Hi, Glenn," Ronan called out to him, "Have you taken on any other jobs recently?"
After finalizing the script, Glenn Morgan had completed his contract with the film crew.
Glenn Morgan politely smiled and said, "No, my focus is currently on this project."
As they walked outside the studio together, Ronan said, "I have a lot of confidence in this project, 'Final Destination.' The chances of success are very high."
"I hope so," Glenn Morgan, though the screenwriter, clearly didn't share Ronan's strong confidence.
Ronan continued, "Your talent with James in the horror thriller genre is trustworthy." Without beating around the bush, he directly said, "Glenn, would you like to continue working together?"
Glenn Morgan looked at Ronan in surprise. "Aren't we already working together?"
"Not on this project, 'Final Destination,'" Ronan waved his hand, saying, "As a script doctor, you've revised the script I wrote for 'The Purge.' You're familiar with this series, so I'd like you to write the script for the sequel."
Glenn Morgan thought for a moment and said, "Sure, you can talk to my agent. Also, you'll have to wait a while; I won't be available until the second half of the year."
Ronan nodded. "No rush. The sequel won't be greenlit until next year at the earliest."
With the successful start of "The Purge," as long as the series didn't abruptly change its settings and style, making a profitable trilogy shouldn't be a problem.
Glenn Morgan, who had revised Ronan's script, undoubtedly had the ability to write a sequel script.
The next day, Ronan spoke with Glenn Morgan's agent and, after getting approval from Glenn Morgan, they reached a basic agreement for collaboration.
The screenwriter's fee was quite cheap, and Glenn Morgan wasn't a well-known screenwriter, so the fee was set at just $50,000.
Ronan didn't press further, as he was quite busy at the moment.
Entering the studio where "King's Agent" was being filmed, Ronan found the actors' training area. After observing the actors' action training, Ronan felt like he had entered a United Nations conference.
Arabs, Asians, Africans, Latinos, Eastern Europeans, traditional white people, and more—there was a diverse array of people.
Director Paul Greengrass and production manager George Clint had gone to inspect exterior locations, leaving the temporary oversight of the film crew to the assistant producer.
"This is a suggestion from Mr. Clint," the chubby assistant producer said, explaining, "He believes that the ideal audience for this film is ethnic minorities."
Ronan nodded. "That's a very correct idea."
It seemed that George was gradually grasping some insights.
"Ensure that the concept of freedom and equality is upheld within the film crew," Ronan instructed. "Racial discrimination is absolutely not allowed within the crew."
For a film like this, with a primary cast consisting of various ethnicities, any scandal involving racial discrimination within the crew would be fatal. He emphasized, "Anyone involved in racial discrimination will be immediately removed from the crew."
The assistant producer readily agreed.
Ronan continued, "I'll have targeted publicity campaigns prepared, and the crew will also reach out to media outlets catering to ethnic minorities for set visits. Building good relationships with them and having the main actors participate in interviews with these media outlets can help."
For a film like this, they didn't want to suffer heavy losses, so they had to find ways to appeal to ethnic minority audiences.
In the previous life, many large-scale action scenes from the British film had been canceled almost entirely when Ronan was writing the script, mainly due to budget constraints.
Large-scale scenes with special effects inevitably required significant investment.
Perhaps, Paul Greengrass's unique style and the ethnic minority status of the main actors would bring some surprises.
He wasn't afraid of losing money. Embassy Pictures didn't have overseas distribution capabilities, nor did they currently have the ability to expand overseas. Ronan would eventually sell the overseas rights to "The Purge," "King's Agent," and several previous videotape films from Sahara Entertainment as a package. As long as "The Purge" was a massive success, he wouldn't have trouble selling the package.
After watching the actors' action training, Ronan could faintly perceive Paul Greengrass's style—the action instructions were simple, sharp, and practical, without the flashy elements that had flooded Hollywood after the wave of martial arts films.
This kind of action style, paired with Paul Greengrass's filming and editing, was highly entertaining.
But, under no circumstances should you watch it in 3D, or you'll end up vomiting.
In mid-April, "The Purge" started filming on schedule. After attending the kick-off press conference, Ronan temporarily handed over the film crew to Andrew and shifted his focus to "Blair the Witch."
Jessica Felton had completed the re-editing of this film.