Hollywood Road

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To get the right to adapt, it was not only Murphy who persuaded Frank Miller, but Bill Rossis also contacted Frank Miller’s agent and lobbied from the side. The object of lobbying was also Frank Miller’s. Comic editor.

In addition, Murphy's new project was also submitted to the top of CAA by Bill Rossis. Like all successively successful directors, the project was supported by CAA without much effort.

CAA is also in contact with Miramax and Dark Horse Comics. As long as Frank Miller nods, he intends to promote this cooperation.

After meeting Frank Miller for the first time, Murphy then talked to him again. This time he brought a planning book to prove to Frank Miller that he could combine the soul, beauty and black and white phantom of the original book with him. Become a movie.

The multi-pronged approach, especially Murphy’s convincing short film, prompted Frank Miller to gradually change his original stubborn idea. A week after Murphy met him, Bill Rossis moved from Frank M. Le’s agent received good news, and Frank Miller agreed in principle to Murphy’s adaptation of "Sin City" into a movie.

This is definitely good news for Murphy, but it doesn't mean that he can easily get the right to adapt the comics.

Frank Miller nodded and agreed is a prerequisite for copyright transfer, but part of the copyright of the comics is held in the hands of Dark Horse Comics. If you want to get the copyright, you have to negotiate with Dark Horse Comics, and the negotiation also needs to involve the other party. It is the company that can invest in Murphy's new project.

The selling price of the adaptation rights of this comic is definitely not cheap, and there are also production costs. According to Murphy’s estimation, it is impossible to complete the film with a production cost of less than 30 million U.S. dollars. Neither he nor Stanton Studios have so much money. Financing If they have too little qualifications, they will inevitably distract him as a director.

Another point, Murphy remembers that the film was highly rated and the box office seemed not bad, but I don’t know how much it was.

No matter how you look at it, it is most appropriate to find a film company to invest in. Otherwise, the financing and pre-sales alone will cause him as a director to be overwhelmed. There is no time to prepare the film.

Miramax, who has just successfully cooperated, is the most suitable partner.

But if you want to impress people like Miramax and Harvey Weinstein, you must take concrete actions.

CAA is still in contact with Miramax, and Murphy also agreed that Bill Rossis will continue to operate this project in the form of a one-stop packaged service.

He himself hid in Stanton's studio and began to develop a plan for this project.

During the period, Murphy and Harvey Weinstein made several phone calls. The other party was a veteran and expert in the film industry. They knew that it would take a lot of money to realize such a peculiar comic adaptation, and the biggest concern was the budget.

Hollywood film companies are far less comprehensive than what they have seen and imagined from outside. Like all commercial companies, they also want to use the smallest investment in exchange for the largest profit.

Murphy’s planning book to Franco Miller promised that every picture in the future movie can correspond to the original picture in the comic. The movie wants to use black and white as a comic, not It is so simple to create a "nostalgic style", and there are some more complicated and subtle treatments.

This requires huge and complex special effects technology.

Just like the short film he shot before, the simple black and white image is not easy to restore with film lens, but after adding many other effects, it is almost impossible to restore the style of comics with conventional lens. , The latest model of digital camera is a must choice.

In reality, the visual and light effects in Frank Miller’s works cannot be achieved. When shooting, the actors must stand against a green screen, use the most advanced high-definition camera to view the scene, and then let the special effects department add computer-generated comic patterns. Into the background.

These will push up the budget of the film.

If you want Miramax to invest, if you want them to spend real money to buy the movie rights of "Sin City" from Dark Horse Comics and Frank Miller, and hand it over to your own shooting, Murphy needs Come up with a convincing plan to produce an approved movie budget.

For the former, his planning book has been very specific and only needs to be improved slightly, but the latter is more important.

In Hollywood, there is still a saying that a director who makes a good movie is not as good as a budget. Although this is a bit exaggerated, after a director has a script, he has an excellent plan and budget. At the film company. It will undoubtedly increase a lot of persuasive power.

If a director only took a script and went to the film company to bluff about his project, 200% would be sent directly.

Murphy knows that Harvey Weinstein must know that this project will not be able to play without tens of millions of dollars. Investing several million dollars and investing tens of millions of dollars are definitely two concepts. The former will at most allow Miramax to produce. Some losses, the latter can make them hurt their muscles and bones.

Miramax showed a relatively cautious attitude in its contact with CAA, which is also a normal reaction of a company.

This time the investment scale is larger, Miramax is more cautious internally, Murphy also needs to come up with a convincing plan, and it also requires stronger professional capabilities.

Under the coordination of Bill Rossis, CAA hired two temporary assistant producers for Murphy to assist him in completing this project.

Just like star actors, successful directors also have the support of a whole team.

Of all the plans, a movie budget that allows Miramax to see where the money invested in the future might be spent is crucial.

Anyone who wants to let others invest in you must tell the investor where the money invested will be spent and whether it is worth it.

This is the simplest truth.

Moreover, the film budget is the basis and important reference basis for film investment, as well as the prerequisite for film management and market operation. A high-quality film budget is a guarantee for the smooth progress of film shooting, production, and distribution, as well as a guarantee for the interests of investors.

It includes film script fee, film prop cost, film shooting cost, film participant salary, film post-production cost, film marketing cost, and additional other costs, etc.

It took nearly ten days for Murphy to complete the budget formulation with the assistance of two sufficiently professional people.

His budget for the production of "Sin City" is divided into four main categories.

The first is online expenses. Online expenses mainly include the expenses for acquiring the copyright of the script or writing the script, the salary of the production department and director, and the salary and additional remuneration of the actors. These expenses are also collectively referred to as "creative element" expenses. .

This part is very flexible. In addition to being able to confirm that James Franco, Seth Logan, Jonah Hill, Robert Downey Jr. and Sienna Miller will perform, all other actors are required. Recruiting after the project is approved, the salary of the main creative team cannot be determined, and the possible interval span is also very large.

For example, if you want to find Bruce Willis, you may have to pay 5 million to 10 million US dollars more than using ordinary actors.

The second is offline expenses, mainly for technical expenses, which are also expenses incurred by every film.

In the budget of "Sin City", offline expenses include salary paid to staff, the cost of using rental equipment, scenery, props, clothing, makeup, transportation, food, sound effects, and editing expenses.

The third is the recurring expenses, which includes some other aspects of rent and water, electricity and gas expenses. Murphy deliberately planned 10% of the total online and offline budgets as recurring expenses. This money can cover some of the expenses. Issues that are easy to be overlooked, but will seriously affect the overall production progress.

The last item is buffer and emergency funds. If the project finally takes place, this will be the first time he has directed a production with an investment of tens of millions of dollars. Although he has enough confidence, Murphy knows that he lacks experience in this area, so he must be shooting. There will be unforeseen circumstances, this money may save the entire project at a critical moment.

Although this is an uncertain budget, Murphy still took 120,000 points seriously, because if the budget is approved, Miramax will use it as a basis to formulate the final budget. The aspects he overlooked may finally be It will become a big pit for yourself.

In addition to these, Murphy also listed a series of factors that will affect the budget.

The first is the weather. A few shots of the film will be shot outdoors. Climate and seasonal factors need to be taken into consideration. It may involve the suspension or cancellation of the shooting plan due to sudden changes in climate, which will more or less affect the details of all aspects of expenditure.

On the other hand, it is children. When Nancy was a child, he had to use underage actors in filming, and children are famously difficult to control filming elements.

It is difficult for most children to maintain concentration for a long time. It is possible that in a relatively short period of time, they lose interest in shooting or become irritable due to loss of patience, which slows down the overall production progress and leads to costs. Additional consumption and increased budget.

Similar to the sentence on the other side of the Pacific, preparing to shoot a movie must also go ahead without any effort. A reasonable budget must be an important guarantee for the shooting, production, and distribution of a movie.

After completing these thoroughly, Murphy asked CAA to submit it to Miramax as soon as possible. He himself frequently contacted Harvey Weinstein by telephone. After CAA and Miramax had formal contact before, Mi Lamax is also assessing the risks and benefits of this project. After receiving Murphy's plan and budget, they immediately pushed it into the review process.

Murphy waited patiently, and finally waited for the unexpected good news. Miramax was sure to invest in this project.

In this way, Murphy, CAA and Miramax can sit down and start formal negotiations with Dark Horse Comics on copyright.