Chapter 375 Coleman's Secret

  Coleman was in the office opposite New World. Ronald and his agent Nisita walked to Millennium Films, found Coleman, and explained the situation to him.

   “Remy? Robert Remy? No way? He worked for me for three years, became a sales director, and then in 1978 he left for Embassy Pictures.

I heard that he did a good job in the embassy film industry. He produced a series of movies with good box office and increased his annual revenue from 20 million to 90 million. He was poached to Universal again. I don’t know why he joined the new The world, and it's hard for you. "

  Roger Coleman was a little surprised. He had a good impression of Remy. When he was in New World, he was always able to meet the schedule and quantity, and in many cases he overfulfilled sales tasks.

"That's right, Raimi was very against the release of Ronald's movie when he was at Universal, so after the 'fast pace' hit, he had a hard time at Universal and was under a lot of pressure. That's probably why he The reason for returning to the new world." Nisita interjected.

   "That's right," Ronald thought beside him. Remy had previously been in charge of sales in New World, coupled with his performance in embassy pictures, which had greatly increased revenue, and was finally gold-plated as the vice president of Universal.

  For the three lawyers who acquired New World, he knows distribution and production, and he has worked in a big company, so his resume is really perfect.

   "I'll give him a call, and their phone number probably hasn't changed yet." Roger Coleman picked up the phone, ready to call to ask about the situation.

"Mr. Coleman, with all due respect, now that Ronald's film project and distribution channels are blocked, the key lies in how the contract was signed between you and the new bosses of the new world, whether Ronald Can you get the guarantee of New World's distribution?"

   Coleman nodded to show that he knew, picked up the phone and dialed the switchboard of New World, "I'm looking for Robert Remy, this is Coleman..."

  His other hand searched the drawer for a long time, took out a contract and threw it to Nisita, and then explained:

  “My purpose is very simple. I want to retire and be with my family. If I want to make a movie with itchy hands, there is also a professional distribution agency to help distribute it. So I signed a two-year five-movie distribution contract with them.

  As long as it is a movie I produced, Shinsegae will unconditionally distribute it with 15% of the distribution fee of the box office. However, Ronald did not sign a production agreement with me personally, but with New World, so Remy would have a certain degree of autonomy. "

"Wait, the call is through." Roger Coleman motioned the two to be quiet, and then said into the phone, "Hello, Remy? I'm Coleman, Ronald is here, and he said you don't want to publish His movie?"

"Script anti-America?...Huh?...Too much nudity?...Smearing government agencies?...Tell me what you're going to do to release a Ronald movie, I promised the good boy. Revise the script until ...? What about his withdrawal? What do you want to do? ...I'll discuss this with your three bosses...Okay, that's it."

Roger Coleman hung up the phone, then looked at Ronald calmly, "He said you have to revise the script until he is satisfied, otherwise he won't give you the green light. There can't be too much nudity, and Make government-affiliated research institutes into big villains, how do you want to deal with it?"

"Mr. Coleman, I can't do that. Without some ice cream for the audience's eyes, this kind of small production really has no audience to watch. And the villain in the government research institution is an important reversal plot in the third act However, the savior whom everyone expected was actually a villain.

  I can't get rid of this plot, otherwise the third act will lack the turning point and the final climax...unless it is completely reinvented..."

   "Bullshxt, do you really want to change the script?" Coleman stood up in surprise. Originally, he meant to help Ronald withdraw the publishing agreement, but he didn't expect him to actually consider modifying it.

"I hate it in my life when people modify my script, modify my editing, ignore this bastard, you just change to another distributor, don't worry about my feelings. I have a clause in my agreement with them. I can't get involved in film distribution for five years. , otherwise I will personally help you with distribution.”

   "Mr. Coleman..." Ronald wanted to express his thanks.

   "You don't know why I developed my own publishing company." Coleman waved his hand, opened the door and asked the secretary to make a few cups of coffee.

"At that time, I shot and edited America's first psychedelic-themed movie 'The Trip'. At the end, I arranged for the actor Peter Fonda to tell the audience honestly about psychedelia for himself. , and will not try again in the future.

But Samuel Arkov, that **** at AIF, the genius who invented the Arkov formula, took the liberty of recutting the end of my movie and gave Peter Fonda a Broken Mirror The special effects are fixed in the state of the protagonist's spirit being torn apart.

  In a fit of rage, I broke off the cooperation with them, and then built a distribution network from scratch. As a film director, if you don't even have the courage to insist on your own creativity, then you should quit this job as soon as possible. "

   "Mr. Coleman... I wonder if your financing amount is available?" Nisita interrupted Roger Coleman, wanting to discuss Ronald's financing with him.

Coleman picked up the coffee and drank it down, "I understand that the issuing company generally wants to take the lead, so unless you can get more than one million investment from the issuing company, they will not allow other investors to invest half a million yuan." of the amount.

  I have negotiated with Remy, and he will allow you to withdraw the distribution contract and return the 500,000 investment, and the two will be irrelevant from now on. Also, I am bullish on your films, so I will continue to invest as long as you need them, within the limits of new distributor licenses. "

   "Thank you, Roger." Ronald was very moved. At this critical moment, Roger Coleman treated himself not as a businessman who cared about everything, but as a film director and artist.

  If Coleman hadn't suppressed Remy, he would have withdrawn the publishing contract. In the end, if Remy got stuck in his own contract, then "Night of the Comet" would be stuck in the middle, and he would definitely feel very uncomfortable.

  Directing with heart was blocked by Remy for release, and he might be caught by Remy to slander himself if he directs casually.

"Can I borrow your phone? Mr. Coleman, I'll call the Atlantic Company right now. They have made it clear to Ronald that they are willing to release his movie." Seeing that Coleman made a clear statement, Nisita offered to borrow it contacting via phone.

   "Just use my phone, I'll make a cup of coffee, this time is really sleepy." Coleman gave up the office to Ronald and Nisita, so that they can easily contact.

   After a while, Ronald opened the office and invited Coleman in again.

"The Atlantic expressed their willingness to take over. They will contribute another 400,000 yuan, and when they get together a 500,000 yuan investment, as our publisher in America, they will be able to sign the contract immediately. So you can only reserve an investment quota of 100,000 US dollars here." Nisita In other words, it means that Coleman and Atlantic have exchanged investment quotas.

"No problem, after you sign the contract, come and get the check at any time." Coleman patted Ronald on the shoulder, "There will always be such and such problems in film preparation, don't be discouraged. Filming is like this, not here, Maybe there it will do.”

   "Thank you, Roger. It's just that the funds in the Atlantic are preparing for the release of "Valley Girl" filmed last year. They won't be able to find the funds to invest in the release of my film until it is released in April."

  The scale of Atlantic Company is very small, and all the funds can only guarantee the production and distribution of a small-cost film. Ronald also went to see this "Valley Girl" on the spot. It was Gail's good friend, the female director Martha Coolidge, and the starring role was Nicolas Cage.

   "I haven't talked to you about this, Ronald. Are you too obsessed with special effects? In fact, your script can be shot very well with 500,000 to 800,000 yuan, and you don't have to worry about sales."

  Coleman thinks that Ronald is making a fuss over a molehill. Can't you make a sci-fi movie with $800,000? As long as the method is appropriate, 300,000 yuan can also be shot.

   "I pulled Jim Cameron and carefully calculated the required cost. The cost of the two major scenes cannot be reduced. The first is the scene of the comet destroying the earth, which is a big visual chocolate for the audience.

  The second is the empty city, which is a kind of lonely temperament that the movie must have. Without these two points, this movie is kind of, kind of..." Ronald didn't know how to put it.

   "It's a bit like a cheap sci-fi movie I made?" Coleman laughed.

"Hahaha…"

  Roger Coleman also laughed, but he quickly recovered his seriousness and said to Ronald, "Let me tell you two stories, which may inspire you."

   "I have both ears listening."

  “One is Peter Bogdanovich, who was originally a film critic and later became an assistant director in my "The Wild Angels". After the shooting was over, he told me that he could make a movie.

   I gave him some extra film, a set that hadn’t been broken, and then an actor Boris Karloff owed me two days to shoot.

As a result, he let Karloff sit there, put on the costume of the previous movie, and start telling the story. The scene that would have cost a lot of money to shoot turned into a few old friends chatting, through the third person Oral stories.

  That saved a lot of money, and the movie wouldn't have been as good if it hadn't been for an old horror actor telling the story to lead off. "

   Ronald nodded and noted that he knew that Coleman's implication was to use script adjustments to avoid expensive shooting scenes.

"The second story is about a racing movie I shot. I went to the sports car sales center to borrow a car to shoot a movie. The seller agreed to lend me his sports car to shoot, but asked me to sign an agreement to ensure that there would be no problems with the car. Otherwise, I would have to take pictures. price compensation.

  I know that the most accident-prone thing in car shooting is the front windshield, so I removed the front windshield of all the cars, and then used the method of down-scaling to shoot the high-speed chase scene. "

   "This is to allow me to be creative, to think of ways that others can't think of to save costs, so that the final effect of the film exceeds the cost." Ronald wrote down the revelation of the second story.

   "Remember, Ronald, there's nothing that a screwdriver and a roll of duct tape can't fix in a film. If it doesn't work, tear up the script."

"I'm afraid it won't work," Ronald thought to himself. "When Coleman made movies, audiences could tolerate such crude shooting methods, but now with Lucas and Spielberg's sci-fi blockbusters, audiences His taste has been cultivated.

   Again, this kind of third-party storytelling avoids big scenes, and I am afraid that the audience will throw garbage on the spot. "

  However, this kind of thinking can be used for reference. Ronald nodded and asked, "Even if I use the side profile method to shoot the scene where the earth is destroyed by a comet, the empty city is the key environment of the movie plot.

   Without the deserted effect of this modern city, I am afraid that the temperament of a lonely survivor portrayed in the movie will be discounted by more than half. No matter if I use the location to shoot, or apply to stop the traffic in Los Angeles for a few days, the cost will not be reduced. "

   "Why must the police help? Have you forgotten the original method of filming in the new century? Guerrilla tactics?"

   "This is also a way." Ronald echoed, disapproving in his heart. This important scene will take at least two full days to shoot. With so many related shots, if you learn Coleman's method and tear up the scenes in the script before you can shoot, I'm afraid you won't be able to get the atmosphere shots required by the script.

  Besides, with so many shots, it is impossible to play hide-and-seek with LAPD.

unless…

   Unless shooting at night when LAPD power fades.

   But this is not appropriate, "Night of the Comet" is a zombie movie with a lively atmosphere, not the kind of horror movie that focuses on dark night scenes.

   Horror isn't what this movie is about, it's actually a zombie movie with a romantic comedy undertone. Two valley girls, looking for their own romance in the lonely post-apocalypse, to some extent can be regarded as the combination of comedy and horror that CAA has always advocated.

  In addition, in many scenes, the sky is covered by red comet dust. How to shoot this kind of scene at night? I only heard that there is a method of shooting night scenes during the day - "day makes night". I have never heard of shooting day scenes at night, and there are no such high-power lamps to achieve the illuminance of sunlight.

   But these are details. Ronald still has two immediate problems to solve.

   The first is to revise the contract with Minahan’s Cannon Films. The original American distributor has changed, and the guarantee terms have to be re-drafted.

  The second is to discuss the schedule with Nicolas Cage. Now the movie is obviously going to be postponed, and there will be conflicts with his new movie. If the schedule can't be met, a new leading actor has to be found.

  (end of this chapter)