Chapter 294 Everything is ready, waiting for harvest
At the beginning of each year, America is hit by natural disasters.
This year, is no exception.
From January 1 to 6, 1999, in just five days, a severe snowstorm swept across the central and western regions of America.
Like Jaina zooming in, it's freezing.
Within the coverage area of the technology, traffic in various places was paralyzed, and traffic accidents continued; within 120 hours, a total of 102 people died in traffic accidents caused by extreme weather, and the flights to the disaster area were also affected by the accidents. Cancel.
All schools in Detroit, the hardest-hit city, announced the suspension of classes, and a total of 180,000 students in dozens of states stayed at home.
With lightning, thunder, and wind howling, not eleven states will stand up and say, We're going to the streets!
Looking at those people living in dire straits on the TV, Roland felt that his luck these years was really good.
Whenever a hurricane hits the East Coast—
Hey, he's on the West Coast.
Whenever the west coast floods and the tsunami hits—
Hey, he's on the east coast.
If the whole of America is covered by extreme weather—
Hey, he's either not working right now, or he's playing outside.
'You can't hit me! Can't hit me! Can't hit me! '
The little luck that passed by the disaster allows him to do what he wants to do to his heart's content.
After donating 2 million relief funds to the disaster area jointly with Kate, he went to Francis Coppola's house in person during his break to revisit the events of the year with him.
Received Roland who made a sudden visit and listened carefully to his thoughts. The bearded man smiled and said, "Are you going to directly invite DOD to do this project? Yes! Jerry (Bruckheimer) is about to be handed over by Simon West. It's annoying!"
"He wants to make "Black Hawk Down" so much?" Roland asked with a smile, "Why?"
"I don't know either." The bearded man shook his head.
Not entangled in this issue, Roland said directly: "But..."
“If I take over, this movie may still not be made by him in the end.”
Roland put the ugly words to the front, because of the movie "Black Hawk Down", he still hopes to let Ridley Scott intervene.
The bearded man didn't care about it, "Roland, let me tell you like this..."
"I don't care whether Simon West can be filmed or not."
"If it wasn't for Jerry who couldn't handle Simon, I wouldn't intervene in this matter."
"As the boss of a start-up company, Jerry can't say no to Simon, but you don't care..."
"Simon doesn't dare to pester you, let alone sell himself in front of DOD..."
'Really ruthless...'
Although he complained secretly in his heart, Roland still felt that the other party's thinking was correct.
Simon West is not on their side, but Jerry Bruckheimer is.
In this case, isn’t it obvious who to help?
"Okay, I'm relieved when you say that." Roland nodded and said, "Then... would you please help me get the copyright?"
"Yes." The bearded man responded very readily, "Is the copyright of "Black Hawk Down: A Modern Warfare Story" correct?"
"The author is from CNN, let me try to help you get the price to 500,000."
"At least three days and at most seven days, no one bids on such a sensitive topic."
"Okay, I'll wait for your news." Roland nodded in satisfaction.
Although the 'Black Hawk Incident' is a fact of existence, this project really cannot directly learn from history.
You must first buy the story, and then adapt and shoot.
This is actually the normal operation mode of Hollywood film and television projects. The so-called documentaries, historical films, and biopics are all adapted and filmed based on literati works. The purpose of doing this is to avoid market disputes during the announcement. Some people question that the creative team does not respect history, so they can hold high the banner of literary adaptation, and secondly, they can modify a piece of history, because we are shooting a story, and that story is originally half true and false. In this case, we can Hide some things as much as you want, add some private goods, anyway, it is a second creation of literary works, no one can find fault.
As for facing history?
The governor of Maryland just sprayed Chuan Jianguo, but he was branded a historical revisionist by the other party.
How could Hollywood do such a thankless thing?
But if it's based on literature...
This loophole, isn’t it coming?
The main body of the story is not real. Let’s change it. Is there any problem?
As far as the masses believe it's true...
What does that have to do with us?
As the main position to promote ideology, Hollywood has a lot of work!
After finalizing the filming copyright of "Black Hawk Down", Roland, who was filming in New York, received the belated Kevin Feige. According to the prior agreement, he should bring himself to write A good plan came to report, but in order to perfect his dream, he spent another half a month.
Slow work and careful work, this Roland can understand, and after seeing his new structure, the crazy increase in the number of movies made him nod secretly in his heart, "Your original plan was to shoot mutants first, and then pass the mutants. Leading up to the Avengers, and now, you've separated their connection a bit? Why?"
"Because it's too messy," Kevin Feige said, "and it's dangerous."
"Although mutants and the Avengers are both works launched by Marvel, the audiences are different. Compared with the Avengers, the theme of mutants will be slightly darker. Since this is the case, I put the idea of fusion , let it go for now."
"In my newly written plan, the Avengers group is actually more inclined to popcorn movies."
“Light, cheerful, and makes people laugh.”
"The mutants, on the other hand, continue the comic style, because they are a tragedy to fight against humans. If they are modified rashly to make the tone of the movie lighter, it will be quite inconsistent. After all, the meaning of their existence is to fight. They What is being fought for is everyone's equal right to life. In this case, to make them happy forcibly requires not only taking the unknown risk of attracting new fans, but also facing the criticism of old fans. Therefore, the mutant's starting movie can be safely Lord..."
"As for forcing the mix..."
"The mutants on the left are bitter and bitter, and the Avengers on the right are laughing and joking. The sense of division is too strong..."
Looking at the eloquent Kevin Fitch, Roland was filled with emotion.
It is indeed a power generation party with love that has come out of two long-lived soap opera families!
Unlike those rich three generations who don't know the heights of the heavens and the earth, this bald man will never talk about his dreams in front of investors, but only talk about innovations in stable revenue-in his newly submitted shooting ideas, mutants and Avengers The alliance was simply divided by him. The mutant trilogy and the derived single-player movies are still a tragic history of walking in darkness. After the trilogy, they longed for freedom and chose to live in seclusion. Therefore, the Avengers The single-player movie will continue, and the upgraded popcorn mode for fighting monsters can make people spend two hours in laughter.
In the words of the bald head, the suffering of mutants is a means to maintain comic fans.
Following the characters of the comics, but not copying the **** content, shooting movies with heart can encourage fans who like comics to enter the theater, and can also make passers-by who have never read comics feel friendly.
And launching several movies in a row on this basis can stably maintain old fans and attract new fans.
To put it bluntly, it is actually a brand.
After the brand was launched, the Avengers, who changed their painting style afterwards, was the root of the crazy money.
Because the connotation of mutants is so little, as a specific product produced in a special era, they can only talk about the connotation, but the connotation cannot be deeply explored. In this way, it is a matter of course to wrong them to become a stepping stone for brand promotion things.
As for the Avengers —
As the brand of the same company, they are not cheap...
What's more, linkage movies can still be done.
"Okay, you go to Universal with the script of "X-Men" and let them formally establish a project and set up a team."
After listening to Kevin Fitch's explanation, Roland smiled and said, "You are the producer with a budget of 100 million."
"Since you are a producer for the first time, I will give you a certain amount of time. The film is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2001, and you have two full years to create it, so... I don't want to see a film that is rushed, OK ?”
"Okay! Okay!" Kevin Fitch nodded excitedly, and hurriedly said, "Thank you! Thank you!"
"Need not."
Roland waved his hand, "If you do something good, I'll separate Marvel Pictures from Marvel, and it's up to you."
"With an investment of 100 million yuan and a box office of 300 million yuan, isn't that too much?"
"As long as the box office of the first film reaches 300 million, you will be the director of the film project of Marvel Pictures."
Having received this promise, Kevin Feige, who was sitting opposite Roland, fell into ecstasy, "Good Boss! I'm going to California today!"
For those who love to generate electricity, what they seek is recognition and respect...
And Roland's decentralization is everything they desire!
After finalizing the "X-Men" project, the three major series of Warcraft Film and Television have all entered the production state.
The "Lord of the Rings" series taken over by Peter Jackson will officially start filming this year, and the first part is expected to be released at the end of 2001.
The "Sorcerer's Stone", which the old man took over, has already started casting in the UK, and the first part is expected to be released at the end of 2001.
Plus the just finalized "X-Men"...
Warcraft Movies and TV will complete the massacre in 2001!
After that—
"Every year when I get up, people will feel the fear that surrounds me..."
"It is true that I will stop filming, but you still have to send me money..."
The corners of Roland's mouth curled up, and he was in a good mood with his legs crossed.
The filming of "Spider-Man 2 and 3" started in August 1998. By the end of January 1999, all the scenes in New York had been filmed, so everyone flew back to Los Angeles to shoot all the scenes in Sony's studio. fighting scenes.
Of course, for Roland, jumping around in front of the green screen in tights is not the focus of attention at all. Investing in Gilead is what he needs to focus on, and when he gets home, ask David about this. When it happened—
A top-notch efficient guy who has already gotten things done.
Gilead has a funding gap of 300 million yuan, and Watch Ventures also invested 300 million yuan.
However, these 300 million are all convertible bonds.
To put it bluntly, Henry Rumsfeld welcomes the entry of funds very much, but at the same time, he does not want the company's shareholding structure to undergo major changes before the acquisition, so while he readily accepts Roland's generosity, he also shows himself The capital is a pie, and Roland, who wants to get shares, is waiting, waiting, waiting.
Wait until the dust settles on the acquisition, then make the switch, so...
This is actually a loss for Roland!
For example, if you invest 300 million yuan now, you can get 25% of it, but if you take convertible bonds, after the company completes the acquisition, due to the adjustment of the share capital, the 300 million yuan may only be 10% How many.
Although investing now, 25% will still be diluted after a stock exchange acquisition, but even so, the concept is completely different, because investing now, there is still a chance to participate in the acquisition, and then transfer it later...
Sorry, he can't get involved in this round of acquisitions!
Although Roland didn't want to intervene, Henry Rumsfeld's 'refusal' in such an aboveboard manner really put the word tough on the table - I want money!
But I just want money, not power!
If he didn't know that this old man could scream nine kills at Afghanistan in front of the world, showing the face of destroying the country to the fullest, then Roland would have thought he was a lunatic who wanted to challenge the capital!
But precisely because he knew all this, Roland didn't care about it.
As a member of the military-industrial complex, this hawk does have the capital to let him, a junior who engages in entertainment, not point fingers.
And when we met—
This guy is not polite either.
"I heard from Arnold that you want to make "Black Hawk Down"?"
The old man wearing glasses stared at Roland with deep eyes, and the gaze under the lens was even more scrutinizing.
"Ah...well... more often than not, I would call it an accident." Roland smiled and said, "Because this is not a project I actively sought out, but someone else wanted to shoot it, but..."
However, before Roland could finish speaking, the old man said bluntly: "Those Italians didn't have the guts to shoot it!"
"Is Jerry Bruckheimer right?"
“Even if his father has a good relationship with Robert De Niro, they dare not support him to make this kind of movie!”
'Hold the grass! Is it really okay for you to expose other people's old background? ’ Roland was a little embarrassed.
But the old man didn't care, and said to himself: "According to normal circumstances, you shouldn't touch this movie."
"After all, we are all watching the effects of "The Shawshank Redemption"..."
"Aren't you from Zipperton? How could you film the embarrassing things during his tenure?"
In fact, when he decided to come to Henry Rumsfeld, Roland had already guessed that the other party would ask this question.
Although he has never met Zipperton, after playing with Ronald Perelman for a long time, he has long been drawn to the camp of the Donkey Party, but now he is looking for the boss of the Elephant Party If these guys are not suspicious about doing things, then there is something wrong.
But doubts are nothing but doubts, and things still have to be done. Since Roland dared to come, he naturally thought about the direction of explanation.
Not denying or not being sure, showing the style of capital to the fullest, "I invested in Apple while cooperating with Microsoft, but the two sides didn't fight because of it..."
"I communicated with Carl Icahn and Warren Buffett at the same time, and they didn't say No to me..."
"Besides, I don't think the Black Hawk incident was a tragedy caused by a single person's mistake. I personally think that the root cause of the Black Hawk's fall is a problem with the current combat system..."
"If Tier II had been enacted and implemented in 1984, I think the Black Hawk incident might not have happened."
Roland's words did not win Henry Rumsfeld's response. Sitting there, he looked at Roland calmly, as if he wanted to dissect the kid in front of him with his eyes.
As the two of them kept silent, the scene fell into a strange silence. After five minutes, the old man nodded and said, "It seems that you have done a lot of homework."
"very good."
"You want me and Dick to serve as consultants for "Black Hawk Down," don't you?"
"You go back and prepare the script now, and give it to me directly when you're done."
"We will tell you what can be filmed and what cannot be filmed."
"As for the Rangers, Deltas, Seals that will appear in the movie..."
"When it should be, it will happen naturally."
Listening to the promise that was not a promise, Roland laughed and nodded, "Okay."
Because it was the first time they met, the two sides were not familiar with each other, so after talking about the business, the old man walked away.
Although it was really arrogant to do so, and completely ignored the future major shareholders of Gilead, Roland didn't care.
Because, he has seen—
Sony was trembling in the corner surrounded by Rangers, Delta, and Seals...
"The world's largest violent institution has entered, next..."
"Just wait."
Note: ①'TierII' is the U.S. Air Force's mid-to-high-range long-range UAV program. This list was won by GM. The MQ-9 finally developed is called the Reaper UAV. ②The reason why "Tier II" was mentioned in front of Henry Rumsfeld is because he was the one who created the crazy UAV plan in the United States. He directly mentioned the 3 billion budget of 91-99 to the 10 billion of 2003-10. At that time, the American media criticized him for soliciting orders for his old club GM, and the words he gave were large-scale deployment of unmanned vehicles. Humans can avoid the tragedy of "Black Hawk Down". ③Not to mention that the U.S. special forces cannot show up. The group performances of "Black Hawk Down" are all members of the 160th Special Flight Regiment, and the U.S. Department of Defense even sent a platoon of rangers to shoot.
(end of this chapter)