Chapter 741

Schmidt Lawley looked at Lu Yan He with surprise.

He didn't know why Lu Yan He had such great confidence, feeling that he could handle an Oscar-nominated actor who was just in the trend during the awards season.

For a "quasi-A-list" actor like Uber Clark, taking on a project requires considering many factors.

Does Lu Yan He think that "Red Eye," a commercial thriller film that looks like it has no fate with awards, can achieve very good box office performance?

Schmidt Lawley asked: "Lu, what kind of box office do you think 'Red Eye' can achieve?"

Lu Yan He: "I don't know about North America, but the film box office in Asia should be able to get at least over 50 million US dollars."

Schmidt Lawley widened his eyes in surprise and looked at Lu Yan He.

This number from Lu Yan He wasn't just casually blurted out.

Now Linghe has a department specifically for market box office analysis. These projects of Lu Yan He will be regularly researched and predicted by them, used to compare with the subsequent results, so as to correct where their grasp of the market is still insufficient.

Lu Yan He likes some of the analysis reports submitted by this department very much and often feels surprised by them.

The film market has high risks; this is well-known and indisputable. High film quality is everything, but it is also too broad and has no value at the operational level.

Especially if you don't understand the market well enough, it is easy to have problems in the marketing direction.

This is like some serious dramas frantically promoting that their word-of-mouth is good—the things promoted are all correct, true, but useless.

So many companies making serious dramas, why did only Zhengwu's make it?

Because they didn't open the situation by promoting that their dramas were "well-known."

The so-called "brand effect" is something that happens after the situation is made.

In fact, the brand Zhengwu was made in the public sense because several dramas of different subjects and different audience groups, "The Disguiser," "Nirvana in Fire," and "Ode to Joy," exploded one after another, and then there was widespread recognition—and these three dramas, if you say they are serious dramas, I guess there will be a lot of controversy.

But if you say they are idol dramas, their quality is too different from the idol dramas in everyone's cognition.

To be precise, this is a group of people who can film serious dramas and have extremely high levels, using such a level to film several "mass-market goods" (not derogatory, just compared to the serious dramas these directors filmed before, they are more inclined to commerciality between commerciality and seriousness), and then, in that period when traffic was king and shoddy production was constantly spicy to the eyes, it was refreshing.

I don't know how many people remember what was popular when "The Disguiser" was hot? In fact, when it was hot, there were quite a few people scolding it. Not to mention that female lead, the classic scene where Hu Ge and Song Yi pulled guns in the corridor was also scolded as a "divine drama" at the time, but later because the overall level of the play was high, coupled with the fact that almost two or three months later, "Nirvana in Fire" by the same team exploded, and the "hot broadcast" period had solid ratings, the word-of-mouth also reversed.

And "Nirvana in Fire," although the word-of-mouth was indeed good at the time, and some people even went to analyze how awesome its production was from a technical level (even analyzing the ratio of every frame), but in fact, when it started broadcasting, the ratings were very bad.

It was really a group of drama fans who made all kinds of publicity on the internet every day, and then, by relying on the CP of Mei Changsu and Jing Wang to open the female audience market, and finding a precise publicity point like "real power struggle drama" to open the male audience market, it didn't end up as a boutique drama with average results, but exploded in the middle and late stages of the first round of hot broadcast.

Lu Yan He feels that Zhengwu has walked out of a production model most worthy of reference by all companies.

The lead actor must be a combination of popularity and acting skills, neither of which can be missing. Looking at their projects, none is not like this. There will absolutely not be a cast with superb acting skills but small fame, or a situation where the traffic is very large but the acting skills are terrible.

Script, the degree of attention, will never be taken lightly because the family is big and the business is big. In the few years when IP exploded, many film and television companies actually bought an IP and then changed it beyond recognition. Zhengwu truly achieved following the original work as much as possible, and invited the original author to be the screenwriter as much as possible.

From the content said by the author of "Reset," Qidaojun, one can discover the degree of attention Zhengwu pays to screenwriters. Excellent creative environment, hand-in-hand script writing guidance, discussions and modifications with a clear target one after another. Compared with the situation of domestic drama screenwriters said by other screenwriters, the screenwriters who cooperate with Zhengwu describe it as if they are not in the same country.

Then, don't look down on the market, don't engage in the artist mentality of being high and out of touch. Some people say that Zhengwu can film any subject, and can film it well. Hou Hongliang directly said, no, our idol drama piece is a short board, always wanted to do it well, but never did it well.

Moreover, they are really exploring idol dramas with heart. "The Story of Minglan" is good, "Reset" is good, actually these two IPs are biased towards this category, but they were filmed by them with high-quality texture, and no one classified them into idol dramas.

Look at them, and look at those other big shots. When mentioning idol dramas, their eyebrows droop, their corners of the mouth twitch, full of disdain: "We are artists."

After Schmidt Lawley finished talking with Lu Yan He about the film "Red Eye," he asked about other projects in Lu Yan He's hands.

Lu Yan He said: "Other projects in my hands, except for a youth romance film, all have cooperative companies for the time being. However, there are a few films that I am not the screenwriter and lead actor of. If you are interested, you can take a look."

Schmidt Lawley was originally not interested.

However, thinking of Lu Yan He's achievements over the years, he hesitated and nodded.

"Oh, by the way, that youth romance film is starred by Li Zhibai." Lu Yan He said, "If Green Valley wants to do North American distribution, it's the same, at least it needs to have a window period of two weeks in 500 theaters."

Schmidt Lawley: "..."

Lu Yan He smiled and said: "Schmidt, whether it is 'Road to Glory' or 'Love Letter,' they have actually made you earn a lot. If you can provide better conditions, the distribution of films produced by our Linghe in North America in the future will of course always prioritize Green Valley, just like 'Home Alone.' Up to now, films produced by our Linghe shouldn't have made you lose money, right?"

Schmidt Lawley had nothing to say.

In the evening, Lu Yan He had dinner with Li Zhibai and Jiang Yuqian, and Wang Jiaqi, a Chinese-American actress who cooperated with Lu Yan He on "The Mist 2," was also together.

Last November, Li Zhibai and Jiang Yuqian filmed an independent Hollywood film, a film telling the story of Chinese Americans, and Wang Jiaqi was also one of the leads, so they knew each other.

Lu Yan He curiously asked them who was doing this film, and then heard from them an independent film company, Farat, that he had never heard of.

Jiang Yuqian said: "Our film also seems to be planning to send it to the Sundance Film Festival early next year."

Lu Yan He nodded.

For American films, the status of the Sundance Film Festival is no lower than the four major international film festivals, and even higher than the other three except for the Xitu'er Film Festival.

Jiang Yuqian filmed this independent film with a very simple purpose, which was to brush up her resume, used to explain to the film circle that she still wanted to be a good actor, not just filming those big commercial films.

This is of course also very important.

This belongs to the impression score.

As for Li Zhibai... Lu Yan He also didn't expect Li Zhibai to suddenly take such a film.

Of course, for this film, this is a good thing. Because Li Zhibai hadn't been two months after filming this film when he was known by many people because of "Buried." Perhaps they would pick up an actor who opened up fame in North America for nothing.

In fact, from Lu Yan He's perspective, this film is definitely not in the category of B-movies in North America. After all, the lead actors Li Zhibai, Jiang Yuqian, and Wang Jiaqi all have a certain degree of fame globally, especially the former two in Asia.

As long as the film side is not stupid and doesn't sell the film cheaply, the Asian region alone is enough for them to earn back the cost.

"I am going to Asia next month. 'Death Stranding' is going to be filmed in several places in Southeast Asia." Wang Jiaqi said, "If there is time, I want to go to China. Can I find you then?"

"Sure." Lu Yan He nodded, "I will be there next month."

Wang Jiaqi can also be considered to have struggled in Hollywood for a long time.

She is not a very popular actress in the United States. Being able to take down the project "Death Stranding" relies on her qualifications (acting experience).

What surprised Lu Yan He a bit was that she, who had been wondering why Lu Yan He wouldn't shift the focus of his acting career to Hollywood, had been intentionally or unintentionally asking about the situation of the domestic entertainment industry tonight.

She seemed to be a bit tempted by the domestic entertainment industry.

Lu Yan He thought for a while and decided to tell Chen Ziyan this news.

Having contacted Wang Jiaqi so many times, except for some differences in living habits and views on things, Lu Yan He can still reach a consensus with her on some principled issues, which is also the reason why they are sitting here having dinner tonight.

Since Wang Jiaqi is interested, of course "fat water doesn't flow to outsiders' fields."

Jiang Yuqian is going back to the country next to film a movie for Ruyi Pictures.

Li Zhibai is going to stay here. Besides cooperating with some promotions for the film "Buried," he also took a guest role in a relatively popular American sitcom arranged by his agent here, which will start filming in March.

Everyone's career is moving forward in full swing.

So good.

And besides meeting and having dinner with them, Lu Yan He basically used his time this day to reply to messages and return calls.

Too many people sent congratulatory messages.

They were all people he had cooperated with, knew, and had friendships with.

Lu Yan He doesn't add friends who have only met once. In his address book, those who can contact him generally definitely have serious friendships.

The next day, Lu Yan He chatted with the people from D19 about follow-up cooperation.

The people from D19 were still thinking about it, wanting to develop a third part.

Especially Lu Yan He, this lead actor, is now even more sought after.

Lu Yan He said: "Actually, for the script of the second part, I was already not very satisfied. It's not that I don't want to film the third part, but I don't want to see the situation of the second part again—signing a contract, setting a release date, and reversing the production process. Clearly, the script is not very satisfactory, but there is no time to make modifications, so I can only bite the bullet and film."

The people from D19 heard Lu Yan He say this and breathed a sigh of relief instead.

At least Lu Yan He didn't say that the "The Mist" series wouldn't be filmed in the future.

From what he said, he was mainly dissatisfied with the script.

This is easy to talk about, so just continue to develop the script.

The people from D19 said: "If we bring out a script that satisfies you, are you still willing to return to 'The Mist' series?"

"As long as the script is good enough, of course." Lu Yan He nodded.

The people from D19 breathed a sigh of relief.

Besides "The Mist" series, D19 also probed Lu Yan He to see if he had any scripts in his hands that they could cooperate on.

"Home Alone" made everyone in film companies tempted by the scripts in Lu Yan He's hands.

Especially the script for the film "Buried," which Lu Yan He had sent to D19 before.

But D19 missed it.

As a result—

It exploded at Sundance.

Regarding D19's attitude, Lu Yan He was not surprised.

The heads, producers, and directors of film companies in Hollywood, whether they had cooperated or not, sent him emails one after another, or called him. Among these people, there were no fewer than ten whose industry status and influence were no lower than Mukan Zorge's.

Lu Yan He said: "The scripts I have on hand already have cooperative companies, and there are no vacancies for the time being."

The people from D19 heard this and showed some disappointment, but still said enthusiastically: "Hope you can prioritize us for your new script. Although our D19 is an independent film company, you can also see that our development is fast, and the box office of the films we distribute is no weaker than big-name companies like Parameter, and we will definitely give more favorable conditions."

Lu Yan He smiled slightly.

"Of course."

In fact, in Hollywood, there is no shortage of companies like the original Arctic Light Video, taking out a huge sum of money to smash Lu Yan He, similar to the cooperation terms of producing 2 films for them within the next five years.

Lu Yan He has actually seen such cooperation terms, such as Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the screenwriter of "Fleabag" and "Killing Eve," who signed a three-year contract with Amazon in 2019, with a total income of nearly 60 million US dollars, but during the three years, she didn't produce any content for Amazon. As a result, after the contract ended, Amazon even renewed the contract with her...

Now Lu Yan He hasn't received such terms, but it's not bad either.

For example, Parameter proposed to sign a five-year non-exclusive agreement with Lu Yan He. Within five years, Lu Yan He would create 2 film scripts for Parameter and could get a remuneration of 15 million US dollars. This is only the film script's remuneration. At the same time, Lu Yan He's remuneration as a producer or lead actor is calculated separately. Moreover, as a screenwriter, Lu Yan He can also enjoy a 1% share of the global box office of the films filmed from these two scripts.

Lu Yan He refused.

He knew that Parameter's conditions were very favorable, but he also knew that his scripts had higher value and there was no need to be bought out for 15 million US dollars and 1% of the global box office.

To put it bluntly, for the film "Home Alone," just the global theatrical box office, plus the remuneration and share he enjoyed as a screenwriter, plus the income he got from Linghe, this production company, as Linghe's boss, and his personal income as an investor, all added up, it was at least 100 million US dollars.

Not to mention the derivative income of this film afterward.

With a box office of over 500 million US dollars globally, roughly calculated, the production side can't get 200 million in income, and Lu Yan He can occupy half of it... This is still in the case where Lu Yan He didn't star.

However, Lu Yan He took this money with peace of mind. He didn't raise funds from outside to produce this film. Linghe paid a part of the production budget for this film, and he paid a part.

Therefore, those cooperation conditions might make many people tempted, but they are not enough to make Lu Yan He tempted.

Before leaving the United States, Lu Yan He finally made an appointment with Uber Clark.

He was there to give the script of "Red Eye" to Uber Clark.

"Uber, this is a film script I wrote. Green Valley is developing it. The female lead is Jiang Yuqian, the female lead of 'Squid Game'." Lu Yan He explained the situation to Uber Clark straight to the point, "This is not a film that can chase the Oscars, but it will definitely reflect your acting skills. Simply put, this is a thriller genre film, but it's not the traditional thriller that leans towards horror. The entire film is almost all a two-person play between you and Jiang Yuqian."

Uber Clark looked at Lu Yan He with some surprise, stunned for a moment.

He never expected that Lu Yan He would really send him a script.

However, from the information Lu Yan He said, even if Lu Yan He, as a screenwriter, brought out a box office blockbuster like "Home Alone," this script was not attractive enough to him.

Actually, Lu Yan He himself knew that the project "Red Eye" had shortcomings.

The shortcoming is that this film is a pure genre film, the upper limit is not high enough, and there is no famous director, no other big-name actors joining. It can be said that if Uber Clark participates, the only big name in this film is him.

Lu Yan He naturally had other cards to play in his heart.

"This film will be released in at least 3,000 theaters in North America by Green Valley." Lu Yan He threw out this number.

Sure enough, after this theater number was said, Uber Clark was a bit tempted.

This number shows that Green Valley will conduct large-scale distribution for this film.

This also indirectly shows Green Valley's confidence in this film.

Lu Yan He continued: "Similarly, the reason why this film needs to use Jiang Yuqian as the female lead is because this film is going to be released on a large scale globally. The box office target of this film is to break 100 million globally."

Uber Clark heard this, and the temptation increased a bit more.

The production budget of this film, as Lu Yan He introduced just now, does not exceed 20 million US dollars. If so, this film is another box office blockbuster.

In Hollywood, the concept of a box office blockbuster, besides absolute value, also has relative value. For a film with a production cost of only 1 million US dollars, a box office of 10 million US dollars is also a blockbuster.

And this point, in Hollywood, for an actor, has great significance.

Uber Clark has been filming mainly biographies or dramas in recent years to chase awards, and hasn't filmed many commercial types of films, so he hasn't had a film with a global box office of over 100 million for several years.

And for the film "Red Eye," he is the lead actor.

This box office performance will definitely feed back to him.

Lu Yan He continued: "And this role, Uber, after you go back and read it carefully, you will definitely understand what I am going to say next—"

Uber Clark was stunned.

"This is a film that will make many academy members have a new understanding of your acting skills." Lu Yan He said, "There are few actors who can play this role well. If you play it well, the critical circle will definitely stand up for you. This year, Huang Feng dropped a lot in the pre-awards in the Best Actor category at the Oscars, but at the last moment, because the box office of 'Home Alone' exploded, his performance in the film was very popular, so the situation changed."

Lu Yan He smiled slightly at Uber Clark.

"The role in 'Red Eye' has the same effect."

Uber Clark was truly tempted at this moment.

Lu Yan He thought to himself, he is really getting better and better at drawing cakes.

He is too lazy to eat the cakes drawn by others for him, but he keeps drawing cakes for others.

Tsk, destined to be with cakes. (End of chapter)