Chapter 59: expected

The executives of 20th Century Fox were obviously not satisfied with this negotiation. The new CEO Tom Rothman glanced at everyone and spoke slowly.

"A budget of 35 million US dollars, half of the investment ratio, and relatively equal income, plus the final decision of the actors and the final editing of the film, such conditions can only be opened by that woman."

"What do you think about this!"

"Cooperate, or refuse?"

In fact, he himself is very optimistic about the script "The Truman Show" written by Ryan. The reason why he is not hiding it is that apart from the harsh conditions proposed by Helen, the film's investment of up to 35 million US dollars is the key.

No matter what kind of achievements Ryan has achieved, it cannot change the fact that he is just a newcomer director or a horror director. He has made two films, one of which is operated by propaganda, and the other is horror movie.

Far from qualified to helm a film with a budget of up to 35 million US dollars.

Of course, if the budget can be reduced to less than 10 million U.S. dollars, he can take this risk and agree, but an investment of up to 35 million U.S. dollars is too much.

He prefers that Ryan's next work is a low-budget horror film rather than a creative drama with a budget of up to 35 million US dollars.

Such a script is by no means something a rookie director can produce. If he fails to do it well, it will become a useless literary film.

Yes, in Tom Rothman's eyes, literary films are almost useless.

Colette-Singer hesitated, and said: "This script is completely different from Ryan's previous scripts. It is full of creativity, humanities, and social life. In a sense, it is a very good script. .”

"But with his age and experience, I doubt whether he has the ability to make such a film."

"The most important point..." There was a trace of firmness in his eyes, and he said, "The conditions proposed by his agent are too harsh. If all of them are agreed to, it will threaten the authority of the producer."

If the director is the soul of a film, then the producer is the investor and the representative of the crew.

"Of course, if the conditions can be relaxed and the budget is controlled within 10 million US dollars, it can still be considered."

"However, my opinion is that it is better to buy the script, even if you pay a reasonable price for it."

His meaning was very clear, he wanted to bypass Ryan and buy the script directly.

"Okay, do as you said, if he still disagrees, then refuse this cooperation."

"Colette, remember not to make any small moves. After all, the next "Saw" still needs to continue to cooperate." Tom Rothman's tone was a little harsh.

For the estimation of "Chain Saw 2", professionals from Twentieth Century Fox gave a commercial value of A+.

The North American box office may exceed the first one, exceeding 60 million U.S. dollars, while the investment of the film is only 4 million U.S. dollars.

It is conceivable that the "Saw" series is a great treasure. As the CEO of 20th Century Fox, Tom Rothman not only wants to continue to cooperate on this series, but even wants to occupy more investment proportion.

So he didn't want to have conflicts with Ryan because of a cooperation.

Right now, 20th Century Fox has only signed a cooperation with the other party in "The Chainsaw". Whether the cooperation can continue in the future depends on Ryan's intentions.

At the same time, Ryan left Monica Bellucci's apartment and came to Xingkong Brokerage Company. He just saw Helen, and immediately couldn't help asking: "What's the result!"

Before Helen could answer, he continued, "Let me guess, 20th Century Fox will definitely not agree to such harsh conditions."

It would be **** if 20th Century Fox could easily agree to something so obvious.

"Congratulations, you guessed it right."

"However, there is no reward."

Helen glanced at Ryan helplessly, and then said very seriously: "With an investment of up to 35 million US dollars, and half of the film's revenue, plus the several conditions you proposed, 20th Century Fox will obviously not agree. "

"We're going to have a negotiation that's about to break down."

Ryan was not overly worried, and said: "Don't stop negotiating with 20th Century Fox, and contact other film companies at the same time, you can always find a suitable investor."

"If it doesn't work, I can continue to invest in myself."

The investment of up to 35 million U.S. dollars may be scary, but as long as the second "Chain Saw" is successful, he may not be unable to come up with 35 million U.S. dollars.

However, in this way, another problem will be faced, which is to choose a distribution company.

No need to think about it, it is clear that 20th Century Fox will definitely formulate harsh distribution conditions by then, and even the newly established Fox Searchlight Pictures will be affected by 20th Century Fox.

"Just to remind you, it's best not to plan to invest alone."

Sofia Coppola looked at Ryan, and said in a reminding tone: "Someone must not forget that there is a special effects studio that has just been bought, which needs at least 30 million US dollars of follow-up funds before the end of next year. That’s not counting the studio’s daily operating expenses.”

"By the way, it seems that someone's expenses have increased significantly recently, and he often goes to various luxury stores. I don't need to talk about the specific bills!"

Ryan rolled his eyes when he heard it. Someone was talking about him. As for the luxury stores, he almost always went there with Monica Bellucci, buying more or less expensive gifts.

For the partners around him, even if it is just a transaction, Ryan will be very generous, and he will not be stingy with money.

"I need to remind you, too."

Helen interjected from the side and said, "Once the cooperation with 20th Century Fox is broken, then we must prepare in advance, even plan for the worst."

"Even if "Saw 2" is released at the box office, as the distributor of the film, 20th Century Fox still has many ways to renege on its debt."

"A delay of one or two years is a very common thing for issuing companies."

"So like Sophia said, you'd better not have the intention of continuing to invest alone."

Ryan suddenly turned into a bitter face. They were right. Once the cooperation broke down, 20th Century Fox would most likely renege on it.

Of course, this is only a possibility. After all, generally speaking, 20th Century Fox is not the case for people in the circle and people with sufficient interests.

But as Helen said, you must prepare early.

This is not what worries him the most. The funds can still be settled with the bank. As long as "Saw 2" sells well at the box office, the bank will rush to deliver it to your door.

On the contrary, what worries him the most is that due to the lack of funds, the blue sky studio has changed.

"Okay, I'll pay attention."

Ryan could only prepare for the worst, saying: "It's really not possible, there are other film companies, such as Touchstone."

Speaking of this, he changed his voice: "While discussing the investment in "The Truman Show", we can test whether 20th Century Fox is willing to sell the copyright of the X-Men."

"It would be nice to buy the rights to the X-Men."

The inside and outside of the words revealed the intention of exchanging benefits.

Marvel Comics has long started selling the copyrights of various superhero characters, including the permanent copyright of the X-Men just bought by Twentieth Century Fox, and can expand any X-Men comic characters. Character copyright.

This isn't the first superhero rights that Marvel has sold, and it won't be the last.

Back in 1985, the rights to Spider-Man were sold to Cannon Pictures.

In 1989, Cannon Films was in poor management and was acquired by the French EMI Film Company. Menahem, the chairman of Cannon Films, went to 21st Century Films with the copyright of Spider-Man.

At 21st Century Films, it sold the adaptation of Spider-Man's script to Columbia Pictures for James Cameron to shoot, and Arnold Schwarzenegger will play Doctor Octopus.

It can be said that the copyright of Spider-Man is a mess now.

In 1990, Universal Pictures bought the rights to the superhero characters of Iron Man, Hulk and Namor.

In 1986, Constantine Films bought the copyright of the Fantastic Four superhero characters In addition, there were some scattered copyrights of superhero characters, which were sold by Marvel Comics.

During this period of time, Helen has been sorting out the whereabouts of these copyrights. It is definitely not an easy task to buy the copyrights of most of the superhero characters in Marvel comics.

"You can try it." Helen paused, and said, "I still hope you can think about it, is it worth it?"

"The X-Men copyright may have investment value, but 20th Century Fox may not agree to sell it, and even if it agrees, it will put forward very harsh conditions!"

"At the same time, I would like to remind you again that the remaining superhero copyrights of Marvel Comics are mostly second-tier or third-tier superhero characters, which have almost no value at all."

As a veteran of Hollywood, Helen naturally understands the essence of the copyrights of Marvel comics, but the copyrights of the most well-known superhero characters have already been sold out, so she said these words.

"As long as Marvel Comics agrees to sell, even if it is the copyright of second- and third-tier superheroes, it must be bought. It is best to have a permanent copyright. I don't want to cause trouble in the future." The copyright of the heroes was bought.

Big deal, as a long-term investment plan, anyway, within six or seven years at least, it is impossible to start Marvel Dafa.

"As you wish, I will try to contact Marvel Comics and the company that holds the copyright of superhero characters." Since Ryan insisted, Helen could only agree.

At least buying the copyrights of these Marvel superhero characters is better than investing in a special effects studio.