Chapter 647 Advanced Business Warfare
Annapurna Pictures, in the CEO's office.
The female boss Megan Ellison is on the phone with the real boss.
"I just read the investment report you sent over." Larry Ellison on the other side of the phone asked: "Why do you suddenly need to mobilize more than 200 million US dollars?"
Meghan Ellison said: "I have taken a fancy to two film projects that require large investments. Annapurna Pictures has just been established. The market lacks confidence in us. It is not easy to raise funds from other channels."
Larry Ellison had a question: “More than $200 million invested in two projects?”
Meghan said: "The total production budget is actually US$300 million, and I still have more than US$100 million on hand."
Larry Ellison asked: "I remember that you wanted to take the route of small and medium-sized investment art films?"
“It was initially, but now the opportunity is rare, and these two projects are generally optimistic about the industry.” Megan briefly talked about "Seventh Son" and "Transcendental Hack", as well as the related situation of Martin Davis.
Larry Ellison was silent for a moment and reminded: "You should observe it for a while and be cautious about such a huge investment."
Meghan can listen to her father's words. Do you think she should be more cautious when investing?
She hung up the phone and suddenly heard rapid footsteps outside.
Drett took a Spanish newspaper and hurried through the corridor to the president's office, looking slightly panicked.
Megan Ellison looked up from behind the computer screen and said, "What happened? You need to stay calm in this company!"
Dreit also wanted to calm down, but the content in the newspaper made him unable to calm down. He quickly said: "President, those Mexicans are dead!"
He was in a state of despair: “They are all dead!”
Meghan, the domineering female boss, frowned: “What Mexican?”
"Those who provided us with information about the script." Drette put the newspaper on the desk: "They were shot randomly and all died in Tijuana."
Meghan looked at the newspaper. It was in Spanish. She couldn't quite understand it, but the picture in the newspaper was very clear. In the big picture, six bodies were lying in the blood, and bullet holes could still be seen on the wall.
In the six separate pictures, there are photos of the faces of six dead people.
Dreit really felt scared. Why were they shot to death randomly?
Meghan closed the newspaper and threw it aside.
Drett came from a good background and graduated from a prestigious university. He had never experienced such a thing before. His voice was trembling: "Martin Davis must have done it! Absolutely! President, what should we do?"
Isn't it a business war that we agreed on? Why don't they play according to the routine at all? How can you use a gun to engage in a business war?
“Yes, this must be related to Martin Davis.” The idea of a female domineering president is completely different from that of ordinary people. What Derrett saw was a threat to her personal safety, but Megan saw a business opportunity!
She thought about it and said: "Martin Davis only resorted to such cruel methods when he was angry. This shows one thing."
Dreit's legs couldn't help but tremble.
When facing those Mexicans, he had a superior calmness.
But after seeing the photos of Mexican corpses, I only felt the fear of breaking eggs.
Meghan's thoughts became clearer: "Martin Davis was very optimistic about the two scripts "The Seventh Son" and "The Transcendental", so he was so angry and used this method to take revenge."
Drett was stunned for a moment, but after thinking about it, it seemed that this was indeed the case.
He couldn't help but say: "This is a method of revenge that is only used after suffering huge losses."
Meghan nodded slightly, looked at Derrett again, and said, "Don't worry, this is Los Angeles, not Tijuana."
Drett felt a little more relieved.
Meghan thought for a while and said: "You continue to stare at Martin Davis. According to normal thinking, if he abandons these two projects, he will definitely actively look for new projects!"
A scene from the Oscar nominees luncheon flashed before her eyes: "The key to winning a project is funding! When we fight for money, who are we afraid of?"
Dreit quickly responded.
After her subordinates left, Megan thought about it carefully, dialed her father's phone number and explained the matter in general.
Larry Ellison has experienced real business wars, quarreled with Bill Gates, fought with Microsoft executives, sent business spies, and had security besiege hostile shareholders within Oracle.
He knew that the most high-end business wars are often presented with the most primitive means, and said: "I will send a team of bodyguards over and let them stay by your side 24 hours a day."
Meghan has been accustomed to life with bodyguards around her since she was a child. She did not refuse and asked: "Where is the investment?"
Larry Ellison didn't understand Hollywood, just like he did to David Ellison, he asked directly: “How sure are you?”
Meghan said: "Seventy percent."
Larry Ellison dares to fight and bet: "Don't say 70%, you can try 50%."
Meghan added: "I want to do the best I can. I plan to invest more. The total production budget for the two projects will increase to US$350 million."
This matter is finally settled.
Megan called Wilson again: "You are well-informed in Hollywood, pay more attention to the situation of Martin Davis." Wilson understood the meaning of her words and responded: "Yes."
An office building adjacent to the Disney Studios Building at Disney Studios is completely occupied by the crew of "The Martian."
Preparations have begun for a new film directed by Louise Meyer and directed by Ridley Scott, starring Martin.
They are also the three giants of this crew.
The production budget of the new film totals US$120 million, making it the highest investment project since the establishment of Davis Studio.
Pacific Pictures, Disney Pictures and Gray Pictures all participated in the production investment.
During the just-concluded negotiations for the leading role, Thomas got Martin a lucrative acting contract.
"Gone Girl" has basically ended its North American screenings, with a total North American box office of 228 million US dollars.
Overseas screenings are continuing, and the global box office currently exceeds US$450 million.
Coupled with the huge success of "Inception", last year's two films allowed Martin, who had just entered the 20 million club, to firmly establish himself.
The contract Martin signed with the crew of "The Martian" has a basic salary of up to US$20 million, plus a tiered share of the North American box office.
The sharing line is US$120 million of the production cost. If the North American box office reaches US$120 million, Martin will receive a 2% share. For every additional US$30 million, the share will automatically increase by one percentage point, with a maximum cap of 100% of the North American box office. out of ten.
It is also commonly known as the 20+10 contract.
There is also a 5% share of offline gross profits including DVD, online on-demand and TV copyrights.
This is definitely a single-protagonist movie, and the second highest-paid actor is Mene.
However, the salary of supporting actors in Hollywood is far different from that of leading actors. Mene only received US$3 million plus corresponding post-production royalties.
This is already a high price among supporting actors in Hollywood.
The total salary of other supporting actors combined is not as high as that of Mene alone.
Jessica Chastain had already auditioned in makeup, and Louise and Ridley unanimously decided to cast her as the female commander of the spaceship.
Other roles are also being auditioned one after another.
"Several of my assistants have already gone to the Middle East and Australia to look for suitable locations." Compared with David Fincher, Ridley Scott is a serious director who pays special attention to efficiency in his work. In recent years, , regardless of the size of the investment, it basically maintains a production rate of one movie per year.
He looked at Martin: "I hope you will spend the next two months fully preparing for your role. The role you are about to play is an astronaut living on Mars, and you must undergo a series of intensive physical training."
Martin said: "I will."
Louis said: "Since I met Martin, he has maintained a large amount of exercise training, including running, fighting, strength training, firearm use, etc."
Ridley, an old-school director, suddenly changed his mind and said: "As people get older, sometimes their memory is not good. I almost forgot that you are the most athletic actor in Hollywood."
His voice changed: "One more thing, you can find a farm or a planting company and learn how to grow potatoes."
This is one of the key plots and selling points in the movie. Martin responded: "I have already made preparations for this."
He has not learned from anyone, and growing potatoes is an ability he had in his previous life.
Martin, who was also born in the early 1980s, came from the countryside. It was common for children of that era to help their families with farm work. They used farmyard manure to grow potatoes, vegetables, sweet potatoes, and the like. I don't know how many times they did this.
To be honest, he has more experience in using farmyard manure than many professional farmers in the United States.
The three of them discussed the shooting and production of the project and many other issues for most of the day. The entire crew was controlled by Louise. Ridley Scott is a super expert at shooting science fiction films, even if he never thinks so.
The crew's preparation efficiency is astonishingly high. According to Ridley's plan, the early preparations must be fully prepared, so that the filming will start in mid-to-late May, be completed in two months, and complete all post-production by the end of October, so that the film can be released in November.
Then, he took a month off and went to work with 20th Century Fox. The new project has been finalized, a new movie of "Alien".
At the end of the three-person meeting, Ridley suddenly asked Martin and Louise: "Do you have a suitable epic film project in hand? We can continue to cooperate."
Sure enough, epic films are true love, but Martin didn't want to jump into this pit. He said: “I just encountered some changes here, and there is nothing suitable for the time being.”
Ridley heard something and said nothing more.
Coming out of the small conference room, Martin chatted with Louise for a few words and left the crew studio.
Bruce came over from the other side and said: "Annapurna Pictures issued an announcement this morning. They will increase investment in the two projects of "Seventh Son" and "Transcendence". The production budget of the former will be increased to 180 million. US dollars, the latter increased to US$170 million.”
Martin was somewhat surprised: “Interesting, the overbearing female CEO actually invested additional money.”
(End of this chapter)
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