Lans looked at Harvey's instant stiff face calmly, with a calm expression, as if he had no idea of ​​the deep meaning hidden under Harvey's expression, just like when Harvey was playing with Lance.

Harvey frowned slightly, and looked at the calm Lance in front of him carefully, as if he had only truly known the person in front of him at this moment. The anger in his heart caused a storm. With his current status in Hollywood - even if he could not compete with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and others, he was definitely one of the best. No one dared to play with him at all, but now Lance, the "nameless man", is so bold. Harvey's emotions are indeed a bit out of control.

But the stuffy air in my chest was quickly vomited out, and all the anger was suppressed and it quickly calmed down.

It is true that Harvey can now turn around and leave, give up the issuance rights of "City of God", and even use his connections to make Lance suffer a little more in Sundance. However, this approach is too short-sighted. Harvey sees the overall situation and the future.

The work "City of God" has received rave reviews in Sundance, with profound themes and far-reaching reflections. It is indeed a rare masterpiece. Since this is a Portuguese work, it restricts its distribution path in North America, but its disadvantages can also be converted into advantages, such as the Oscar-the best foreign language film - as Lance said at the last meeting - which makes the advantages of "City of God" unique.

It was first released on Sundance, and was invested and produced by the American producer. The cast was all from foreign languages, but the production lineup was of American descent. This gave "City of God" a unique publicity advantage in the United States, and the college's public relations had a "home court advantage". If "City of God" can be released simultaneously in Brazil and the United States, and then the media's evaluation continued Sundance's momentum, the awards season at the end of the year is indeed worth looking forward to.

Harvey is a hero and will never make short-sighted mistakes. If necessary, bowing to his enemies can only be said to be a piece of cake. What's more, he and Lance are not enemies either.

Harvey lit his chin and a smile appeared again on the corner of his mouth, "Lance, you know, you are indeed a very arrogant man." This sentence was full of sarcastic words, but it only made Lance tilt his head and express his apology. There was no more reactions other than that, and Harvey didn't care, "So, do you really think that 'City of God' can achieve good results in the box office of the movie?"

Generally speaking, there are two ways to issue rights, one is to buy out at a price, and the other is to pay the copyright fee plus box office dividends.

For art films, especially independent films that are listed at Sundance Film Festival, buying out is a more cost-effective and direct transaction. After selling the distribution rights, there will be no worries. There is no need to worry about publicity, box office, or loss.

The second method means that the cost of the movie must be recycled by box office dividends. They not only need to deal with distribution companies, but also with theaters. The most important thing is that the pressure of the box office will force them to carry out more publicity - publicity that is difficult to proportional to the efforts and returns. Therefore, this is a big gamble, and 99% of them will lose a crushing defeat.

Currently, there are only six foreign language films with box office of over 20 million US dollars in the entire North American market, which shows the poor attractiveness of non-English works in this market. This also makes the distribution of box office dividends more like suicide. Lance knows this clearly, and Harvey understands it even more.

Faced with Harvey's doubts, Lance did not retreat, "No one can easily draw conclusions before the movie is released, right?"

This is the truth. Harvey had no way to refute it, nor did he intend to refute it. He chuckled twice, "The copyright fee of $1.5 million, and then the box office dividend is 15% if the box office can exceed $3 million."

Lance was directly amused, "Harvey, you're really humorous." Fifteen percent of the box office dividend was almost an insult to Lance's IQ, but Lance was not angry, but instead said seriously, "You should try harder. Believe me, you can do better." After that, Lance smiled and pointed his chin, then bypassed Harvey and left.

This time, Harvey did not stop Lance.

Harvey knew that the offer he gave was too low, but he didn't plan to raise the price further - at least not for now. He had already shown his bottom line to Lance, and next he could ask Lance to negotiate with others and see their offer from Paramount Pictures. Lance knew it, and he would also know it.

The battle for issuance rights of the "City of God" has just begun.

Harvey showed a kind smile on his face. Looking at Lance's back, it seemed as if an elder was admiring his juniors. He whispered softly, "Lancelot-Stralo, be careful not to burn yourself."

The confrontation with Harvey was only five minutes before and after, but it was full of sparks and the atmosphere was tense. Lance knew clearly what he was doing, and he also knew that he and Harvey were both businessmen, and the two were playing games. The first round of the fight was just a test, and everyone was trying to maximize their interests. Obviously, even in the end, Harvey was still lowering the price.

A copyright fee of 1.5 million plus a 15% box office dividend is almost a joke. Lance knows this, and Harvey knows it too.

Generally speaking, movie revenue can be divided into two parts: box office revenue and peripheral revenue. The latter includes videotape rental, peripheral products, theme parks and other many other names. The former is the box office of the movie that people are familiar with.

After a movie gets box office, it will fall into the pockets of three parties: theaters, publishers, and producers.

The theater company will formulate two ways to obtain dividends. One is to agree on a guaranteed reserve price. For example, the work will be paid 100,000 US dollars for four weeks after it is released on several screens. This is a fixed one. The producer earns more and earns less. However, in North America, the second method is used to share the share.

The structure of the share is very simple. The current practice between the issuer and the theater company is that the issuer gets 90% of the box office in the first three weeks, and the theater company gets 10%; or choose to guarantee a minimum of 70%.

Simply put, for example, if a movie has a box office of 10,000 US dollars, and after deducting fixed expenses, the number obtained is 9,100 US dollars, which is the first option; and the guaranteed 70% is the second option, which is multiplied by 70% without deducting expenses. This number will be 7,000 US dollars. The issuer will see, which number is larger, and choose the larger number as income.

Starting from the fourth week, the ratio is six to four, the sixth week is five to five, the seventh week is four to six, and the eighth week is three to seven. In other words, the longer the playback time, the higher the commission ratio of theaters. This is also to encourage movie theaters to screen longer. Of course, this number is just a convention. Depending on the work, there will be some changes, such as the duration of the nine to one dividend for large-scale production movies will be relatively longer.

Among them, the so-called "fixed expenses" are actually not fixed. They will change according to the number of screens played within the theater and the size of the broadcasting hall. This is also the reason why the first and second options will have each other.

After deducting the up and down of the numbers, overall, the theater party can take away an average of 40% of the movie box office. The remaining 60% will be divided by the publisher and the producer. Generally, the dividend ratio of the publisher floats between 15 and 20%, while the producer takes the remaining 40 to 45%.

Among them, the producer's dividends need to be divided into two parts, one for the production company itself, and the other for the crew members including directors, actors, screenwriters, and producers. Under normal circumstances, the production company leaves 15 to 20% and the rest is obtained by the crew.

For example, if "City of God" gets 10 million US dollars in North America, the theaters will take away four million, the publishers will take away one million, the producers will take away one million, and the crew will share the remaining three million.

If it is a large film company, which has both distribution and production, such as Paramount Pictures, then they will earn three million US dollars; if it is an independent art film, the producers and crew members are not distinguished from each other, or the crew members are not qualified to distribute dividends, such as "City of God", then Chaos Pictures can earn 4.5 million US dollars.

Of course, these percentages can only be said to be roughly level, and the specific percentages will still change according to the different situations of each work. Especially for the crew members, if a big brand like Tom Cruise is used, the dividend ratio will naturally be higher. If a big director like Steven Spielberg is added, the dividends for the crew alone may be as high as 40%, or even 50%. In this way, the income of the other three parties must naturally be adjusted accordingly.

From this we can see that production companies do not make money at all, because their dividends also require deductions for promotional expenses, production costs, etc., not only do not make money, but even pay for money. So people generally say that if a movie wants to make money for a production company by relying on box office, the box office must be twice or even more than three times the production cost. This is possible. For example, "City of God" costs three million. If it gets seven million box office, Chaos Pictures can get 3.15 million, which will be basically the same after deducting the promotional expenses.

The real part of the production company's money is the peripheral income, but this is another completely different system.

Just now, Harvey proposed a dividend condition of 1.5 million plus fifteen percent for "City of God". When Chaos Pictures can get at least 40% of the box office dividend, anyone knows it is a loss-making deal. In fact, it also implies Harvey's attitude. He does not think that "City of God" can win the box office. This movie should be a work that hits the awards.

Lance must admit that Harvey's considerations are correct, because judging from the development trajectory of the previous life, the box office of "City of God" is indeed not very good. However, Lance has been planning since the filming of the movie and finally created the situation today. Perhaps "City of God" cannot become another "crouching tiger, hidden dragon", but it can at least impact the box office of 10 million US dollars.
Chapter completed!