Chapter 3: Startup capital

　　 Including Ronan, Sand Sea Entertainment has only four employees left.

Mary temporarily manages the company's daily and financial affairs.

Robert Lee in the marketing department and George Clint in the propaganda department have nothing to do.

Ronan's next plan requires manpower

At least to stabilize these three people, the salary must be paid on time and show them that the company can make money

　　 Nonsense like "I will create a broad development platform for you" can only be used to fool students who have just graduated not the veterans

　　Besides the salary, there must be some hope.

　　 To be precise, it is to make them busy because it is easy to think randomly when people are idle.

　　 "George, you have worked in the media industry and you are also an expert in propaganda and have a lot of connections in the media"

　　 In the office, Roger held a company-wide employee meeting and said, "We need the help of these connections and we need to use the media in the next step"

　　George Clint is in his thirties, but he looks old with a natural frown and his face is full of folds like a fifty-year-old man

He replied to Ronan, "Mr. Anderson..."

　　 "Ronan! Just call me Ronan", Ronan seemed very friendly.

　　 "Are we going to start a new movie project?" George Clint asked.

　　 Mary and Robert Lee also looked over with concern.

Ronan nodded: "Yes, We will initiate a new project to help ourselves to solve our troubles"

The three people's faces were all surprised.

When someone wanted to ask questions, Ronan said first, "I will solve the funding. Starting in February, your salary will be increased by 10%, and I promise to pay it on time"

These words worked, and the three of them felt a little relieved.

Ronan then turned to the forty-year-old man with curly hair and said, "Robert, do you know about Abu Dhabi Investment Authority?"

　　 "They just set up an office in Los Angeles, mainly responsible for investigating investment projects." The curly-haired man replied.

"Is it just an investigation?" Ronan muttered when he saw the curly-haired man Robert nod.

Then he thought about it, and said, "You go to their office to get in touch with the people in their office and get their impressions of Hollywood.

Also collect some information about Abu Dhabi, such as investment and the humanistic environment"

　　 Robert-Lee thought for a while and said, "I have a friend who often does business with Arabs, I can get in touch with him."

He seemed to have guessed Ronan's thoughts and asked, "Are you going to find Arabs for investment?"

Ronan nodded: "I have a classmate from Abu Dhabi in USC. I have communicated with him in the past two days.

The Arab oil tycoons are very rich and are waving checks all over the world looking for investments"

　　 George Clint interjected, "Can you attract Arabs to invest in the company? In terms of film investment... Ronan, we just messed up a project."

　　 Ronan shook his head, "No, by directly letting Arab funds invest in the company, we may face great pressure, I just need them to invest in movies"

The three people immediately understood the meaning of these words.

Hollywood has an extremely powerful force that is incompatible with the Arabs. (explained below)

Ronan continued: "We give priority to ensuring film projects. A single film project is not that sensitive"

This plan requires manpower. He still needs to fool the three people to get on the thief ship,

"You three are the veterans of Sand Sea Entertainment, even if you want to give up our company and please don't give up on me, I am still grateful for all your hard work these years", he said emotionally

"No need to do this, Ronan." Mary answered quickly, "It is what we should do"

Ronan is well aware of the importance of team cohesion.

After talking about the feelings and discussing the actual situation, he vowed to them, "If we can get the investment this time, I will give you each 1% of the total as a reward."

The plan behind this needs to be executed by them and these three are veterans in the industry, so he needs their help

Robert Lee and George Clint glanced at each other, and the latter asked, "Ronan, how much do you plan to raise?"

"If everything goes according to my plan"...Ronan pretended to be relaxed and continued, "It is not a big problem to raise several million dollars."

These three people have been able to stay in the company even when it was in such a condition, which shows that they still have feelings for the company and now coupled with the financial stimulation, their spirits were somewhat refreshed.

As soon as the impromptu meeting ended, Ronan took Mary to the Los Angeles branch of Blockbuster.

In the office, Robert Lee said to George Clint, "It feels like Ronan has changed."

"Hmm" George Clint sighed, "He had experienced painful failures, and having such changes which are normal."

"I hope it won't be screwed up this time." Robert Lee still lacks confidence in Ronan.

George Clint said, "Hollywood is created from many failures, Ronan is talented, and what he lacks is experience."

There were still some things that he did not tell Robert.

He was also considering resigning and leaving, but now, he decided to wait and look at the situation.

What if Ronan can get an investment? Those Arabs who rely on oil to make their fortunes were said to never take money seriously.

Ronan took Mary to the Los Angeles branch of Blockbuster in Century City and met copyright buyer Anthony in a reception room.

Blockbuster is the largest videotape chain company in the United States.

It is mainly engaged in the production, sale, and leasing of videotapes.

It was acquired by Viacom under the leadership of Sumner Redstone in the early 1990s and has a vague monopoly in the videotape market.

Anthony, who hosted Ronan, was just an ordinary copyright buyer, but he didn't take Sand Sea Entertainment seriously at all

Small production companies like Sand Sea are numerous in Hollywood.

"It's impossible to pay 200,000 dollars in copyright fees!"

Anthony's voice was very calm, but his tone was vaguely arrogant, "The box office of "The Knight" is not worth the price"

Of course, Ronan knew that he had overcharged, and he still tried to fight for it as much as possible

" "The Knight" is an action movie with a unique style that incorporates the bloody elements of B-level films.

This type of film has always been the darling of the videotape market.

Moreover, there are many precedents for films that have failed at the box office to succeed in the videotape market, such as "Shawshank's Redemption", which responded very well in the videotape rental market in recent years."

Anthony said with a slight disdain, "Your film has not even recovered its cost yet. It may be profitable in five years. Is it still worth the cost?"

Ronan asked directly, "How much do you bid?"

Anthony said coldly, "Eighty thousand dollars."

"It's impossible!" Ronan put on an unbelievable appearance, "The production cost of "The Knight" is as high as six million dollars!"

This is a normal bid. In most cases, the basic license fee for a film is 10-20% of the North American box office.

The more popular the box office of the movie, the higher the copyright transfer fee, and the sale or rental share.

Sand Sea Entertainment is an old customer of Anthony, but in the face of commercial interests, feelings are useless.

Especially Sand Sea Entertainment is about to go bankrupt.

Anthony shrugged and said with a tone of disdain again, "I still have to remind you that the North American box office of "The Knight" is only 800,000 US dollars"

Such a bad film that completely failed at the box office can't give Ronan any confidence.

But 80,000 dollars is too little.

Ronan also made a compromise and added, "Except for the standards rigidly stipulated by the industry association, Sand Sea Entertainment does not need any shares during later stages"

Anthony frowned and thought, just as B-level films are an important category in the videotape industry, bloody action films also have a certain market in video tape rental.

"One-time sale!" he raised his eyebrows and said, "Including TV rights."

Ronan gritted his teeth deliberately and said, "I want 300,000 US dollars!"

Anthony laughed, and his smile was full of mockery, "Young man, Sand Sea Entertainment is about to go bankrupt. You can't go to any other companies to charge this high price."

"Sand Sea Entertainment hasn't gone bankrupt yet", Ronan replied nonchalantly.

Anthony shrugged, as if listening to a joke, and said directly, "$150,000! Videotape and TV rights are bought out at one time! Don't waste my time, this is my final offer"

Ronan groaned slightly, and said slowly: "Well, $150,000 it is," and then he emphasized, "But you need to pay in full when you sign the copyright transfer contract."

Anthony didn't care and replied yes

After the negotiation was over, the two parties initiated an agreement and signed a formal contract after the approval of Blockbuster.

According to Mary, there won't be any accidents in this kind of small business of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars is naturally a small business for a behemoth such as Blockbuster.

After leaving the Blockbuster branch, Ronan looked back at the nameplate.

The attitude of the Blockbuster buyer made him feel angry, but he could not vent it.

Not to mention that Sand Sea Entertainment was facing bankruptcy now, even at its peak it was not regarded seriously by the people of Blockbuster.

The wealth and status of the two parties are not equal at all.

Ronan further strengthened his determination to instigate his plans.

Mary asked at this time, "Is this money used as start-up capital?"

Ronan smiled and said, "Without funding for the project, how can we attract investment?"

Mary suddenly reminded him, "According to the contract we signed with the distributors, New Line Pictures enjoys 15% of the copyright transfer fee"

Ronan had already looked at the contract and naturally knew about this.

He thought about it and said, "Take the formal procedures to notify the New Line pictures, and delay the payment of the share as much as possible."

Mary nodded, "It shouldn't be a problem to delay for at least two months."

Ronan sighed, the distribution is at the top of the food chain in Hollywood.

The distribution companies not only take a cut from the box office but also generally takes a cut from peripheral copyright income, ranging from 10% to 40%.

"Are you ready with the script?" Mary asked with a slight concern.

Ronan nodded, "It is ready"

Now that he has the start-up funds, he needs to come up with a convincing project. The basis of the project is the script

(What they were mentioning is that, if his company gets a direct investment from the Arabs and takes equity in his company, then it will attract the attention of the White House, but if it is just a movie, they won't care... And remember this is the late 90s)