Chapter 287： Basic Quality

In Shahai Entertainment's office, Ronan looked at the script of "Grey Intern" seriously. Sanda Remus sat on a sofa and waited patiently for Ronan to finish reading the script.

This is just the first draft of the script. It is relatively rough and there is a lot of room for improvement, but the overall framework of the story has been built.

Ronan flipped through the script and occasionally made notes in the notebook next to him, jot down the points of concern.

There are twelve episodes in the script. Because it is the first draft, the following episodes only have a summary of the story, and the specific content has not been written yet.

Sanda Remus drank coffee and looked at Ronan from time to time. Although the two parties have signed a cooperation agreement, if the producer is not satisfied with the script, she can call back and ask her to rewrite it.

Ronan jotted the last stroke in his notebook and closed the script.

"The script is very good." Ronan looked at Sanda Remus and said, "It has not been easy these months? Sanda, you have lost a lot of weight."

Compared with the last time I met, Sanda Remus has lost more than one lap. The hospital life experience for more than half a year is obviously very hard.

Sanda Remus said with a smile: "I didn't expect that work would help lose weight."

Ronan also laughed: "You will have more work soon."

Upon hearing this, Sanda Remus instantly understood that there should be no problem if the script passed Ronan's review.

She also breathed a sigh of relief. As a black woman without sufficient qualifications, it is really not easy to get the support of producers and production companies.

Fortunately, I met Ronan, a producer who does not discriminate against blacks and women.

Sanda Remus was in a good mood and muttered to herself: So, I am very lucky.

Black and female, these two make most of the production companies include her in the list of non-collaborators.

In Hollywood, there are too few producers like Ronan who can treat blacks and women fairly.

Ronan asked at this time: "As you can see from the script, you can learn a lot from the experience of life in the hospital."

"Yes." Sanda Remus said with emotion: "If you don't spend enough time on the front line of the hospital, it is difficult for you to understand the operating system of the hospital and the work of the doctors. These are not just based on imagination. If it can be solved, if the professional level is not reflected in the play, the whole story will have no skeleton, and it will appear amateurish and ridiculous."

Ronan timely complimented: "Sanda, you did a good job."

Sanda Remus instead smiled modestly and said, "This is the basic quality of a screenwriter."

Ronan nodded slightly, just like star actors need physical training before shooting action movies, and shooting military roles need military training, Sanda Remus' behavior is actually nothing, it is the most basic profession in Hollywood. Literacy.

Although there are all kinds of disrespect in Hollywood, and there are super unreliable star actors like Johnny Depp, the extremely fierce competition and public opinion environment are enough to ensure that most people will not be too much.

This kind of direct cutout is simply unimaginable in Hollywood shooting.

Many actresses, after the filming of the crew, took advantage of their free time to get pregnant and create people. As a result, they made a temporary make-up at the back of the crew. Even if they were pregnant, they would not choose to cut out pictures, and would rather wrap their abdomen with a green screen for shooting.

I really can't move, if you have brothers and sisters, you can ask them to do it for you.

Ronan retracted his divergent thinking and asked, "When will the script be completed?"

Sanda Remus told the truth: "It will take one and a half months at the earliest."

Ronan nodded slightly: "Yes. We strive to start preparations in the second half of this year, and your agency CAA will provide a full range of services for this drama."

Previously, he had reached an agreement with Brian Lord, CAA provided one-stop packaged services for "Grey Intern", withdrawing 5% of the profit as a service commission.

Shahai Entertainment does not have any experience in TV drama production. There is definitely a lack in this aspect. Using CAA's packaged service is the best choice at this stage.

Moreover, the most successful and mature operation of CAA one-stop package service is actually a TV drama project.

"Mr. Lord talked to me once." Sanda Remus said: "CAA will provide the greatest support for this project."

Having said that, she glanced at Ronan again, knowing that if Ronan hadn't taken a fancy to her and "Grey Intern", CAA wouldn't look at this project at all, at least not in two or three years. .

Getting the support of a successful producer is a completely different situation than rushing around with a sullen head.

Sanda Remus had a deep understanding of this and asked, "Ronan, do you have any suggestions for the script?"

Actually, there is no need to ask Sanda Remus, Ronan will say it later.

"The rhythm of the story is more compact. The emotional drama ends in the first season." Ronan didn't go around in circles, and said directly: "Some emotional dramas that have nothing to do with the main line are moved to the second season. If we can still shoot and produce the second season if."

Sanda Remus smiled confidently: "There will be a second season!"

Ronan nodded gently and continued: "To compress the plot of the first season to less than ten episodes, we need to have a compact plot and appropriate budget control. After all, this is the first season."

Just like a series of movies, the first risk of creating a series is the biggest, and no one can guarantee that it will succeed.

Sanda Remus has encountered too many setbacks before, knowing that it is not easy to win Ronan's support, and without any objections, said: "I will revise the script."

Ronan glanced at the notebook and said, "The protagonist's settings, ethnicity, what do you think?"

Sanda Remus smiled and said, "The five protagonists are white and black."

This did not exceed Ronan's expectations. Perhaps in the black world, there are only whites and blacks, and no one else exists.

Ronan said directly: "Whites, blacks, Latinos, and Asians. Among the five protagonists, these four major ethnic groups must be included."

Sanda Remus is not stupid at all. Instead, she is a rare wise man among black women. He immediately understood Ronan's intention: "Expand the audience as much as possible?"

"Yes." Ronan didn't need to deny this: "These are the four largest audience groups in North America."

These are actually nothing. After a few years, it will become common and even necessary to have permanent LGBT characters in TV dramas.

Many popular TV series, for the sake of this Hollywood-style political correctness, do not hesitate to break some of the normal characters in the drama.

Those actors who are unclear about their situation and attack the LGBT community indiscriminately, the screenwriter dares to write their roles to death.

These similar situations will become routine operations in the future.

Sanda Remus just thought about it for a moment, and said: "I will make changes to the character background settings to make them more in line with the requirements."

Afterwards, Ronan talked about other matters.

For example, "Grey Intern" will complete all filming and production in the first half of next year, and land on TV or other broadcast channels in the fall.

Only after seeing the actual ratings can we decide whether to continue filming and production for the second season.

If the ratings are poor, even if the ratings are high, they can only be cut off.

Nowadays, ratings are almost the only measure of TV series.

In the next three days, Ronan asked Sanda Remus to start more specific project negotiations. Since Sanda Remus was not demanding, the negotiation between the two parties went very smoothly.

It can be said that Sanda Remus is very clear about her current position and knows that without capital requirements, a successful TV drama project can change her career.

The negotiation is mainly about Sanda Remus' rights and compensation in the project.

In terms of remuneration, Sanda Remus is mainly divided into three parts.

The first is the screenwriter. As the sole creator of the screenplay, Sanda Remus enjoys the exclusive cost of buying out the script of Shahai Entertainment. However, it is similar to the movie circle. The scripts of ordinary screenwriters cannot be sold. The screenwriter paid for each episode of the season is only $5,800.

Sanda Remus is a member of the screenwriters' union. The current minimum pay for a TV series script set by the screenwriters' union is US$3,800 per episode. After 2008, this figure will rise to US$38,000.

Next is the producer. The first producer of "Grey Intern" is Ronan, but Sanda Remus is actually responsible for all tasks. She will serve as an associate producer. The total salary is 25. Ten thousand U.S. dollars.

Finally, the project initiator and the person in charge. According to the prevailing Hollywood rules, Sanda Entertainment will pay Sanda Remus a one-time payment of 500,000 US dollars as the project initiation bonus, and Sanda Remus is the screenwriter and actually responsible People, will be divided into the later period of the project, the first quarter's share ratio is 2.5% of the net profit.

In addition, there are some other terms.

For example, Shahai Entertainment owns the copyright of the follow-up creation of "Grey Intern" This can ensure that even if Sanda Remus quits, the project can continue.

For example, Sanda Remus’s work is exclusive, and she is not allowed to participate in other companies’ film and television projects while working for Shahai Entertainment.

Of course, Sanda Remus also has a lot of power, such as the decision-making power of actors outside the main actor group.

While negotiating with Sanda Remus, Ronan also negotiated with CAA and formally signed a one-stop package service agreement for "Grey Interns" with CAA.

CAA will be responsible for providing all the crew from the cast to behind-the-scenes staff for the "Grey Intern" crew, and will assist Shahai Entertainment in contacting the TV series distribution platform.

Correspondingly, five percent of the net profit of the "Grey Interns" project is the service cost of CAA.

Ronan also finalized the budget for the project after communicating with Sanda Remus several times. The first season totaled nine episodes, and the production budget was 3 million US dollars.