For a director who has directed a film with a public cost of $11 million and a North American box office exceeding $50 million, what is the average pay for directing a similar type of film?
In this era, it would start at least $3 million, potentially involving post-release profit sharing.
Michael Davenport leveraged James Wong's situation at the time to sign a two-film deal. Given the circumstances then, a $300,000 director's salary was quite fitting for James Wong. However, after the success of "The Purge," everything changed.
Success and failure are like heaven and hell in the business world.
So, when Edward approached Michael, Michael increased James Wong's salary by $300,000 on top of the original $300,000 with an additional North American box office bonus.
Whether Edward asked for a raise on behalf of James Wong as part of his duties as an agent or at Wong's behest was actually irrelevant.
No one wants to take a pay that doesn't match their value.
Michael didn't expect to be able to keep James Wong's salary at such an unbelievably low level for sequels to "The Purge" and "Final Destination."
If they could still collaborate, a salary increase was inevitable.
James Wong's commitment left Michael reasonably satisfied.
After discussing the upcoming shoot with James Wong, Michael went to the producer's office to patiently review the crew's recent progress.
By inspecting the crew's various tasks, one can make preliminary judgments about the executor's capabilities. People with poor abilities will naturally not collaborate again.
The location manager, Brian, left a strong impression on him.
Most of the crew's exterior shoots were set in small towns in Southern California, with meagre venue costs. They even secured more than a dozen private locations for free. The highest expenditure was the rental fees at Los Angeles International Airport.
The total cost of renting locations for exterior shots wouldn't exceed $200,000.
For a film with a lot of exterior scenes, this saved a significant amount of money.
A position like a location manager, who can find suitable filming locations while saving money, shows considerable ability.
Michael made a note of Brian's name.
Then there was Andrew.
Although Andrew had never managed such a large crew before, his extensive experience in the videotape film scene provided rich managerial skills. His fairly easy-going personality effectively resolved internal conflicts within the crew, sparing Michael and director James Wong from many worries.
A crew is like that; many small issues might seem insignificant but could severely disrupt operations once they explode.
James Wong, Glen Morgan, Brian, Andrew—these are all talents.
After reviewing the crew's work logs and financial reports, Michael particularly recalled these individuals, notably James Wong's Chinese name, Huang Yiyu, who had left an impression on him.
Michael's memories of Huang Yiyu were divided into two parts: the massive success of the "Final Destination" series and the catastrophic failure of the "Dragonball" movie.
The latter was disastrous to an extreme.
Michael roughly judged that James Wong seemed only suitable for directing horror films. He wasn't good at directing other types, especially action films.
As the owner of a film company, Michael quickly decided to extract as much value as possible from James Wong in the horror film genre.
As Michael left the crew, he encountered Glen Morgan, the screenwriter for "Final Destination."
"Hi, Glen," Michael called out to him, "You haven't taken any other jobs recently, have you?"
After finalizing the script, Glen Morgan had completed his screenwriting contract with the crew.
Glen Morgan smiled politely, saying, "No, my mind is fully on this project right now."
Walking with him out of the sound stage, Michael said, "I have great confidence in 'Final Destination.' The chances of success are very high."
"Hope so," Glen Morgan, although a writer, didn't share Michael's strong confidence.
Michael continued, "You and James have talent in the horror and thriller genres. I trust in that." He got straight to the point, "Glen, do you want to keep working together?"
In a surprise, Glen Morgan looked at Michael, "Aren't we already working together?"
"Not on 'Final Destination,'" Michael shook his head, "You were the script doctor for 'The Purge' and are familiar with the series. I'd like you to write the script for the sequel."
Glen Morgan thought for a moment and said, "Sure, talk to my agent. Also, I need some time. I'll be free in the second half of the year."
Michael nodded, "No rush, the sequel won't start until next year at the earliest."
"The Purge" had a successful start, and as long as the subsequent sequels didn't rashly change the settings and style, creating a profitable trilogy wouldn't be very difficult.
Glen Morgan, who had revised Michael's script, undoubtedly had the capability to write the sequel.
The next day, Michael went to see Glen Morgan's agent. After Glen Morgan gave the nod, both parties reached an agreement.
Screenwriters' pay was relatively cheap, and Glen Morgan wasn't a famous screenwriter. His fee was only $50,000.
Michael didn't haggle much, being busy at the moment.
Entering the sound stage where "Kingsman" was being filmed, he found the actors' training area and watched them practice action sequences, feeling like he had entered an international expo.
Arabs, Asians, Africans, Latinos, Eastern Europeans, traditional white people—people of all colours and races were present.
Director Paul Greengrass and production manager George Clint were scouting locations, and the crew was temporarily handed over to the assistant producer for daily operations.
"This was Mr. Clint's suggestion." The chubby assistant producer explained to Michael, "He believes the ideal audience for this film is the minority groups."
Michael nodded, "That's very astute."
It seemed George was gradually picking up some tricks.
"Make sure the principles of freedom and equality are upheld within the crew," Michael instructed, "Any form of racial discrimination is absolutely not allowed."
For a film whose main characters were from various minority groups, a racial discrimination scandal within the crew could be fatal. He emphasized, "Anyone involved in racial discrimination, regardless of who they are, should be removed from the crew."
The assistant producer agreed immediately.
Michael added, "I will have someone design targeted promotions, and the crew should appropriately engage with minority-focused media, building good relations. The main actors can also give more interviews to these media outlets."
To avoid a huge loss on this film, they needed to target minority audiences.
The original British version of the film had many large-scale action scenes, most of which Michael had cut while writing the script due to budget constraints.
Big scenes and big special effects inevitably lead to big costs.
Perhaps Paul Greengrass's unique style and the main actors' minority backgrounds could bring some surprises.
A loss wasn't too worrying; Embassy Pictures didn't have overseas distribution capabilities yet. Michael planned to bundle and sell the overseas rights of "Final Destination," "Kingsman," and several previous videotape films from Seashore Entertainment.
As long as "Final Destination" was a big success, selling the package wouldn't be a problem.
Michael watched the actors' action training for a while, vaguely sensing Paul Greengrass's style from his previous life. The action choreography was simple, fierce, practical, and lacked the flashy moves that came with the Kung Fu craze in Hollywood.
This action style, paired with Paul Greengrass's filming and editing, would be very engaging.
But definitely don't watch it in 3D, or you might vomit.
In mid-April, "Final Destination" started shooting on schedule. After attending the launch press conference, Michael temporarily handed the crew over to Andrew and focused mainly on "The Blair Witch Project."
Jessica Felton had completed the re-editing of this film.