Chapter 2068: 2068 Super High Cost

"But, is it really necessary to postpone the project you mentioned? According to your description, this should be an independent work with a very low investment cost?" Hugo vaguely remembered that the investment of "American Beauty" was 1,000 10,000 or 20 million, and the final box office performance was not bad, it should be more than 130 million US dollars. For such a black reality work, it can definitely be called a huge victory.

Steven nodded in agreement, "Of course, the current cost budget is 15 million US dollars, a very small investment. But the important point is that our company currently does not have enough resources to open so many at the same time. Project, temporarily delaying 'American Beauty', freeing up resources to shoot another work, this is very necessary."

Hugo opened his mouth. He didn't know whether it was good or bad that "A Beautiful Mind" was produced earlier; he also didn't know whether "American Beauty" could still be brilliant if the production was postponed... This made Hugo feel a little bit uncomfortable. Sure.

However, before Hugo could speak, Steven raised his hand to stop him, "This is the result of my discussion with David and Jeffrey. We all think that we need to make some decisions from the standpoint of the company. Some changes need to be made, too." Steven paused for a moment, "However, it better be good enough."

The last sentence refers to Hugo's script, because Hugo has not yet completed the adaptation of the script, so the quality of the final product is unpredictable. Although everyone is full of confidence in Hugo, no one can always succeed. Even Steven himself has shot bad works, which no one can avoid-it's just that the whole Hollywood has a lot of confidence in Hugo. burst.

Hugo smiled and spread his hands, "The media has put enough pressure on me, you don't need to join their ranks."

"Do you care?" Steven said the nonsense of those media - Hugo has long been used to it, and he doesn't care at all, and he can't refute it. Steven raised his eyebrows, "So, it better be worth it."

Postponing "American Beauty" and bringing forward "A Beautiful Mind." God only knows, even Hugo himself is praying: he better devote himself to the adaptation of the script, because if it goes wrong, or the quality is not as good as it should be, the worst result is that Hugo ruins two movies at the same time. Works - two classic masterpieces, his shoulders alone cannot bear the weight.

So, it better be worth it. Hugo himself hoped so.

"But, are you sure? I think the budget for John Nash's biography is estimated to exceed 50 million." Hugo said carefully. Although the adaptation of his script has not yet fully started, as a producer, Hugo has already I started to conceive the movie, and now I have a rough framework.

Steven looked over in surprise, "This is a biography, right? It's not a sci-fi movie." A biographical movie, and it's a modern biography, there is no requirement for court or aristocratic costumes, and the shooting location can be chosen in real life Where there is, obviously the cost budget will not be so high.

Hugo pursed his lips and laughed, but still explained seriously, "Have you read the biography of John Nash?" Steven shook his head, "John's schizophrenia is getting worse as time goes by, Therefore, in order to enhance the realism and emotional rendering of the whole work, I hope to shoot in chronological order."

Steven understood in an instant.

Generally speaking, the main story of a movie will take place in many different places. In order to save costs, all the scenes that happen in one place are often shot together. For example, if the story takes place in Steven's house now, then all the stories that happened here in the whole movie will be shot in one go, and maybe all the scenes of this scene can be completed in one week from the beginning to the end. Prices will drop drastically.

But if, as Hugo said, you want to shoot according to the timeline, then there will be a situation like this: one day of shooting at Steven's house today, two weeks later, another three days of shooting at Steven's house; After a one-day interval, another half-day of shooting here is required. The timeline of the entire work will become extremely trivial.

Firstly, it will become very difficult to rent the venue, requiring constant coordination, and there is no way to lower the price; secondly, if the venue is used too frequently, and it is still a popular shooting location, then there is no way to rent it day by day. It is necessary to rent for a whole month at one go, just to use this site for seven scattered days within this month; thirdly, related links such as crew movement, make-up, costumes, scene layout, etc. need to be put into use repeatedly, and the cost control is natural Corresponding adjustments are required.

However, shooting strictly according to the timeline is a good thing for actors. As Hugo said, it can help actors enter the state from shallow to deep, and let the audience's emotions fluctuate according to the plot. This is a good thing for the overall quality of the work. However, this also means that the cost of shooting has increased significantly, or even doubled.

Generally speaking, there are several situations where the crew is willing to shoot according to the timeline. One is that the story takes place within a fixed space, such as "The Truman Show". The filming was completed on the island; one is that the film moved into the studio, and all scenes will be completed in the studio, such as "Schindler's List", the whole crew was pulled to Poland for on-site shooting, but the story line and shooting line They are all filmed in a fixed place according to the timeline; one is an independent production film, which lacks the burden of a huge crew, the actors work hard, and the shooting location does not need to be rented, just random life scenes.

Of course, like Hugo, there are many works that want to strictly abide by the timeline for the sake of film quality. The corresponding price is rising costs. The decisive factor depends on whether investors are willing to pay for it.

"Is it really necessary?" Steven didn't get too entangled with Hugo on the details, but just asked about it seriously. For a modern biographical film in the 1950s, an investment of more than 50 million US dollars is indeed unbelievable-almost comparable to the 200 million cost of "Titanic", and anyone needs to think twice, let alone It is DreamWorks, which is currently not well funded.

Hugo nodded vigorously. The story development between John and Alicia is filmed according to the timeline, which will undoubtedly increase the impact and appeal, which is crucial to the quality of the whole movie. The deterioration and transformation of John's condition can even be considered as the whole The core idea of ​​the film.

Steven temporarily postponed the filming of "American Beauty". The investment budget of this work is only 15 million, and the cost of "A Beautiful Mind" is now three times that of "American Beauty". Four times, this is a major burden for DreamWorks.

"What kind of conditions did Warner and Columbia give?" Steven pondered for a while, and asked directly without any cover.

Hugo didn't hide Steven's plan, and said succinctly, "Barry said that 80 million is the upper limit, and Mark directly agreed to a budget of 100 million."

Steven's eyes widened, and he was annoyed for a while, "These psychopaths, a biographical movie only throws away so much money, so why didn't I see them being so generous when I was filming 'Schindler's List'?" Really People are more popular than people, and a biographical movie can actually get a budget of 100 million US dollars, and even when the adapted script has not yet been released, it is imagining the scene where Hollywood bigwigs are waving checks and begging Hugo to accept it. It really upset Steven.

Seeing Steven's angry expression, Hugo inexplicably felt a sense of joy, and couldn't help laughing.

Steven looked at Hugo's heartless smile, and became even more annoyed. He gritted his teeth and said bitterly, "If it were me, I would also choose those who have been taken advantage of." After thinking about it carefully, "The most we can do is Come up with a budget of 60 million, and you can look back."

Of course Steven hoped that Hugo would choose DreamWorks, but he also knew that business is business. Hugo has a better choice, and DreamWorks is indeed not the first choice. Even Steven himself is currently cooperating with Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox to develop projects, which cannot conflict with DreamWorks' own work.

Therefore, even if Steven hopes that Hugo can launch a work on behalf of DreamWorks, he will really tie Hugo to the chariot of DreamWorks and brand the "DreamWorks". However, Steven has neither the right nor the qualification to ask Hugo to do this.

Hugo was also amused by Steven's words, he said with a smile, "Of course I would like to hand it over to our company." This time, Hugo used the word "our company" accurately, and other People are different. Hugo always regards the word "love" as extremely important, so he is willing to choose the latter between Warner Bros. and Sony Columbia Pictures, and he is willing to choose the former between DreamWorks and others. As Hugo himself said, this is his weakness as well as his strength.

Steven knew what Hugo's fluffy words meant. It not only meant that he gave up the investment budget of 100 million US dollars, but also meant that he agreed to the next development plan of DreamWorks. It can be said that it is of great significance to the entire Hollywood film industry. Whether DreamWorks has the capital to shake Hollywood, perhaps "A Beautiful Mind" is a pathfinder.

Although Steven always knew that Hugo valued friendship very much, he was definitely lying when he said that he was not moved at this moment. Guo Guo's personality is definitely not just talking about it.

Steven let out a breath and smiled, "I can already imagine Barry Meyer's exasperated expression."