Chapter 646 Abrams’ New Project

Although he won the Oscar for the best documentary short film and did a lot of preparatory work, Ronan is far from completely trusting Marianne Del Rio's ability.

This female director is neither in his memory, nor does she have any convincing works in the past.

Even though the investment requested by Marianne Del Rio was not high, Ronan remained cautious enough.

Of course, this kind of caution is not giving up, but sitting in this position, a necessary working attitude.

The kind of people who are shocked when they see the script, don't even consider the most basic market research and investment prospects, and don't care about the other party's resume or the response of previous works, and immediately decide to start it with their heads, should happen in a madhouse. rather than a normal person.

Anyone with a little basic knowledge of this industry knows that once the film and television project investment is successful, the returns are indeed good, especially long-term returns, but the risks are extremely high.

Risk control is a procedure that Hollywood can never bypass.

"The script is excellent, and I admire your professionalism." Ronan said directly: "I will transfer your project to Shahai Entertainment."

Marian Del Rio was overjoyed. Sandhai Entertainment has always been in charge of investment and production in the Relativity Entertainment Group.

How could Ronan let go of such a seriously underqualified director and an unfamiliar project? He also said: "I will notify Shahai Entertainment to sign a contract with you, allocate 300,000 US dollars, and you will be responsible for shooting a trial clip of about 15 minutes. How about the project, we will talk about it after you finish shooting the trial clip. .”

Hearing these words, Marianne Del Rio breathed a sigh of relief. Although she didn't directly approve the project, she believed in her own ability, which actually gave her an opportunity.

"May I ask, when will the signing be completed?" Marian Del Rio was still somewhat anxious: "When will the funds be in place?"

Ronan smiled and said: "If the negotiation goes well, the contract can be signed within a week. The funds will not be given to you directly, but will be supervised by a third party."

Marianne Del Rio is a director in Hollywood, said quickly: "I understand."

Ronan pressed the intercom, waited for Connie to come in, handed the document bag to Connie, and said, "Find someone, take Ms. Del Rio to Sand Sea Entertainment, and you send a D-level project notice to Sand Sea Entertainment."

Relativity Entertainment has its own division of film and television projects,

The division mechanism is somewhat similar to Cinema’s ratings for theater audiences, which are divided into A/B/C/D/E. Category E is the kind of project that is directly purchased from overseas and has average commercial value in North America, such as the Hong Kong version of "Infernal Affairs" and "Shaolin Soccer" by Stephen Chow.

Category D belongs to low-to-medium investment projects with certain value, and the risk is relatively high. The project person needs to provide materials such as trial clips.

Low-to-medium investment projects with less risk belong to Category C.

Both "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Iron Man" are classified as B category, and they invest heavily in first-line projects that have not been tested by the market.

As for the criteria of category A, it is very simple and clear. The two sequels of "Pirates of the Caribbean", the sequel of "Bourne Shadow", etc., all belong to category A.

To put it simply, it is a sequel to a hit movie.

This type of movie has the least risk, has a large fan base, and has a super high return on investment.

Connie first found an assistant, and led Marianne Del Rio, who was holding a file bag, to the production department of Sandsea Entertainment, then returned to her work station, and sent out a three-form letter to the production department of Sandsea Entertainment, George Clint and Ronan copies of internal work emails.

The preliminary process of this work on her side is considered to be over.

When Ronan saw the email, he remembered another thing and asked Connie to forward another copy of the email to Mark Randolph.

Netflix's streaming business will be launched in a few months. The TV series produced by Shahai Entertainment will not cooperate with other broadcast platforms for the time being, just like "Prison Break" and "Survival in the Wild" that have completed all productions. Fly is the most important playback platform.

The same goes for this TV series about the events of Chernobyl.

Marianne Del Rio's script actually has many controversies. This may not be a subjective addition, but comes from years of cognition and the formation of a personal worldview and other factors.

Is it any surprise that people who grew up in the Cold War environment and received the so-called "liberal and democratic" education in the United States discredited the old man?

Ronan wasn't surprised at all, and he didn't intend to correct it. It is estimated that most of the audience's thoughts and opinions after the filming of this series will not be much different from those of Marianne Del Rio.

This is not a documentary, nor is it a video material that reflects social reality, but a TV series.

The authenticity of the events it reflects is important, but also the business prospects are more important. Is there still a choice?

Hollywood has chosen the latter for decades, and Ronan is no exception.

Shahai Entertainment will definitely prepare more episodes and movies for Netflix. Jeff Abrams, who is preparing for "Taken 2", talked with Ronan about a TV drama project some time ago, which seemed interesting.

Ronan simply went downstairs to the temporary office floor of the crew, and met Jeff Abrams in the preparatory office of "Taken 2".

"How is it going?" Ronan asked, "Jerry Fu, is the preparation going well?"

Seeing Ronan and hearing this question, Jeff Abrams couldn't help complaining: "Ronan, you took my hero to shoot "Batman" and my heroine to me. Going to shoot a youth idol movie, will I be able to go well? If not, the shooting of "Taken 2" has already started."

Ronan could only comfort him: "They will return to the crew soon. I guarantee that the film will start shooting in two months, and it will be released on time next year."

The heroine really blames him, Amanda Seyfried, after the release of "Taken", first went to film "Mean Girls", and now she is filming "Mamma Mia", which are all film projects he personally initiated.

Thinking of Amanda Seyfried, Ronan suddenly realized that it seemed that Amanda called several times, and the phone was with Connie, so she didn't receive it, and she probably would be complained again.

As for Liam Neeson's schedule, it has little to do with Ronan. The filming of "Batman Begins" was finished last year and will be released this month. Liam Neeson has also made two films recently, namely "Kinsey Professor of Sexology" and 20th Century Fox's epic "Kingdom of Heaven".

With such a tight schedule, several aspects must be coordinated.

"Taken 2" can only be postponed for the time being, but fortunately there is enough time in the future, and it will definitely be released on time in 2005.

Ronan also confessed to the production department of Shahai Entertainment that according to the model of "Taken", he tailored a "rescue" type film for Liam Neeson. He did not directly give the script and story outline, but asked the screenwriters to use planes, trains, etc. and ships and other means of transportation as the background to create rescue stories.

In short, we must let Uncle Neeson save the world and save the air.

Ronan chatted with Jeff Abrams about the tension in the preparations for "Taken 2", and then asked: "The last time I heard you mentioned, you have an idea for a TV series? "

Jeff Abrams nodded and said: "It was there before the filming of "Taken", but during the filming of "Taken", this idea became clearer. Before preparing for the sequel, I specially sorted out the ideas, the background of the story and the main line. The plot has already been written, and even a few characters have been designed.”

He looked at Ronan: "Are you interested?"

"I heard you mention it last time, so I didn't have time to listen carefully." Ronan said directly: "Can you explain it carefully?"

Jeff Abrams' life path, because of Ronan's relationship, has undergone tremendous changes from before. He became a film director earlier and enjoyed the bonus of success and fame, but some ideas can only be delay.

As far as cooperation is concerned, he and Relativity Entertainment belong to the type of cooperation that is very pleasant.

As long as the director and the film company cooperate successfully, there will always be inertia, just like the development of Hollywood movies, and they will continue to develop along the successful model.

Therefore, Jeff Abrams has no objection to continuing to cooperate with Relativity Entertainment, and Ronan's good reputation basically makes him have no worries.

"You should have seen "Cast Away" starring Tom Hanks?" Jerry Abrams asked.

Ronan nodded slightly: "I've seen it more than once. It's a very impressive movie."

Jeff Abrams said bluntly: "My idea of ​​the TV series originally came from "The Rest of the Desert Island", and later I was inspired by the reality show "Survivor", and then I was in Sand Sea Entertainment. Meeting Bear Grylls who came back from filming 'Into the Wild' overseas, and talking to him for a long time, really made sure that my idea would work."

He smiled: "Actually, if I hadn't met Bear Grylls, this idea might still only exist in my mind."

Ronan did not expect that the cooperation between Sandsea Entertainment and Bear Grylls would inspire Jeff Abrams' new project.

Jeff Abrams added: "I have basically determined the background of the story, and I will bring it to you later."

Ronan said again: "Let's talk about it first."

"That's good." Jeff Abrams organized his language a little bit, and said as simply as possible: "The main line of the story is roughly like this. It mainly tells that a passenger plane crashed on an isolated island in the Pacific Ocean. Survived. Faced with such a deserted and inhabited island, how can they survive?"

He further said: "The survivors are of all kinds, with different nationalities, races, cultural backgrounds, and personalities. There are fathers, sons, friends, and enemies. They have to overcome the harsh weather and search for food in the wild tropical jungle. , the source of water, and a mysterious creature that screams at night that makes everyone tremble; what is more difficult is that they must overcome their personal desires, overcome barriers and divisions, and work together in the same boat to survive..."