Chapter 63

Arizona.

Coolidge town in the south of Phoenix.

It's February 3.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Catherine Bigelow was standing in front of the hotel where the crew was staying. She saw the black Chevrolet SUV coming from the far side of the street. When the car stopped, she subconsciously stepped forward.

Simon pushed the door to get out of the car, looked at Catherine in front of her in a close fitting black sweater and jeans, then opened his arms and hugged the woman, and said, "you look more delicious in black."

Katherine gave Simon a slightly angry look and then said, "I heard the news from the Hollywood Reporter yesterday. Is it really OK for you to come here like this?"

"Of course not. It's almost done. We'll wait for the show. What's more, I think I should leave for a while. Some things are too much for me. "

Catherine nodded vaguely, motioned behind her and said, "I've prepared your room for you. Besides, have you had lunch?"

Simon shook his head and said with a smile, "not yet. I'd like to come and treat you as soon as possible."

Catherine glanced at him again and pointed to the side of the road. "Let's go over there. There's a restaurant there."

When they passed through the wide asphalt road of the small town, Simon looked at the street where few people were seen. He thought of the boundless Gobi desert on both sides of the intercontinental highway when he came all the way. He said with some emotion, "it's a vacuum here."

"There are about 6000 people in Coolidge, already a lot of them," Catherine said as she walked beside Simon, adding, "you didn't intend to cooperate with Fox pictures, how did you become Orion again?"

"I can't get along with you," Simon said helplessly. "Orion is easier to communicate."

Katherine nodded understandably and asked, "what are the conditions given by Orion?"

Outside the restaurant, Simon helped the woman to open the door, and then said, "they only take the distribution rights of North American cinema lines for the time being, and other channels will be given priority. Our share is 15%."

Katherine walked into the restaurant and was surprised to hear Simon say, "15% is very good."

Hollywood film companies with publicity channels are very strong. They usually take more than 30% of the box office share of a film when they pay for publicity, distribution and commission.

On the other hand, due to the low attendance rate, non mainstream art films generally get a low share from the cinema operators, and some films can only get less than 30% of the box office from the cinema.

Combined, Simon was able to win 15% of the box office share for a low-cost film like "Lola Run", which surprised Katherine a little.

They sat down at the table. Simon ordered a lunch and asked the waiter to bring a pot of coffee. Then he explained, "it's not as good as you think. It's conditional. We have to pay for the copy. Besides, I signed a package contract with Orion for screenwriter and director

Simon and Mike medova spent the whole day last Saturday fighting for the 15% share, almost pushing one more decimal point.

Even if there are two additional conditions, it's also a tug of war.

Michael medova believes that since Simon is willing to bear the cost of copying, he should pay for it first. Simon can't get the money now, so he can't agree. In the end, Orion will pay in advance and deduct it from the box office share in the future.

As for the package contract, Michael medova was the first to see "death is coming" and wanted to sign it for $500000.

Among them, 300000 dollars is Simon's director's remuneration and 200000 dollars is for the script of "death is coming". Of course, although he is not a member of the two major trade unions, director and screenwriter, according to the industry practice, Simon can still enjoy the share terms similar to those of trade union members.

"Death is coming" has been favored by Fox, but the other side is still waiting for the response of "Butterfly Effect" and has not made an offer. Of course, according to the exception clause in Simon's contract with Fox, if he is willing to direct, it's no problem for him to hand over death to Orion.

However, Simon has no interest in directing the film in person. He only hopes to sign a blank contract that does not involve any details for the time being. When he has a script that he is interested in, he can talk about specific cooperation.

Mike medova, of course, could not agree.

In the end, both sides made some compromises. Simon signed a blank contract with a basic salary of $500000, but reserved the right to renegotiate the sharing terms.

In the restaurant, Katherine holds a cup of coffee and listens to Simon explain the details of his "battle of wits and braves" with Mike medova. She says with a smile, "half a million dollars. What else can you not be satisfied with? I only have 150000 dollars."

Simon took back his arm on the table, asked the waiter to put down his lunch, picked up the tableware, tasted the spaghetti, and said, "when I have money, I will give you a blank contract, how much investment I want, how much pay I will fill in."Catherine dodged Simon's eyes and said, "I don't need your money."

"I'll help you invest in the future."

"I can do it myself."

Simon nodded: "Oh, yes."

Catherine looked at Simon and began to eat. She pursed her lips and said, "you, you don't think I can make a good movie?"

Simon immediately shook his head: "of course not, I'm sure you will become the first best female director Oscar."

Catherine still stares at Simon and doesn't believe him. She insists, "you just don't think I can make a good movie."

Simon didn't expect that the woman's intuition was so sharp that he really wanted to swallow his words back.

Looking up again, Simon looked at Katherine seriously and said, "no one is born to walk, so even if you can't do it now, you can do it in the future."

Katherine and Simon eye contact again, suddenly feel just like a little girl.

God, I'm crazy.

I picked up the coffee cup, dropped my eyes and took a sip. Yu Guang swept it secretly. When Simon started eating again, she was relieved.

After a moment's silence, Catherine found a new topic and whispered, "well, how many screens can Orion draw for Lola Run?"

Simon also seems to have forgotten the conversation just now and said as if nothing had happened: "about 200 yuan, we can only get so much in two weeks, because it's off-season now. Moreover, these screens are mainly concentrated on the west coast, and only New York will have some spots on the east coast for the time being. "

The media industry in the 1980s was far less developed than later. The current discussion about Simon and Lola Run is basically focused on several West Coast states and counties that the Los Angeles Times can reach.

Therefore, Orion also temporarily chose to focus its publicity resources on the west coast.

The opening screen of 200 yuan has actually exceeded Simon's expectation.

In this era when Star Wars has only 1000 screens, Simon naturally can't expect too much. Even if he cooperates with the big seven, they will only give about 300 or 400 screens at most. However, Simon can't get 15% of the share and can't temporarily reserve the distribution rights of other channels.

After a simple lunch, Simon and Katherine left the restaurant together, and then asked about "blood corpse night": "what's your shooting plan?"

"The next month was all night shooting, starting at 6 p.m. until 2 a.m.," Katherine said. They crossed the tarmac road and went back to the other side. After a pause, the woman suddenly said, "you, don't talk to me that again?"

Simon pretended: "what?"

Katherine didn't look at Simon and threatened, "otherwise, I'll tell Jennie."

Simon immediately raised a hand: "OK, I promise."

Listening to Simon's insincere tone, Catherine just glared at him.

Back at the hotel, Katherine takes Simon to his room and introduces him to some of the other major members of the cast.

The hero of blood dead night is Adrian pasta, who happens to be a client of Jonathan Friedman. The heroine, Jeanne Wright, is a short haired girl with a baby face. She is very beautiful, but her temperament tends to be pure, lacking a kind of coldness and enchantment that a vampire should have.

Simon then met the film's producer, Edward Feldman, a middle-aged man in his fifties. Obviously, the other party also heard about some recent events in Hollywood. Seeing Simon, he was very polite and didn't show any dissatisfaction with his entering the group. He also signed an employment contract with him in person.

After getting familiar with each other, Simon quickly integrated into the work of the crew from the evening.

Simon's position is director assistant, because is the regular crew, salary is not bad, 500 dollars a week. Of course, Simon had come to help, and naturally he would not care about the money.

When Simon began to rise at night in Arizona, the promotion of "Lola Run" was also rapidly promoted in Los Angeles.

Although Orion has some opinions on Simon's sudden departure at this time point, it does not ask him to return.

Because it doesn't work.

Simon had already finished the posters and trailers he might need before he left, and the film had no plans to hold a premiere.

Basically, Orion's job is to contact theaters, spread out posters, and release the trailer of "Lola Run" to local TV stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and other cities one week before its release.

These seem simple, but lack of experience and contacts, a start-up film company is certainly not able to do.

In addition, Orion's total publicity budget has easily reached $500000 in the short two-week release process, which is based on Simon's copy cost of "Lola Run".

You know, about 200 copies of "Lola Run" cost about 150000 dollars.This shows how expensive the cost of film distribution is in the film age, which is also the reason why many low-cost films are basically unable to land in the cinema, and only directly flow into the video channel.

Due to the tight schedule of "Lola Run" and the appropriate publicity means of Orion film industry, the media discussion has been kept in a very active state from the rise of Simon topic in the media to the release of the film.

So it goes on until Friday, February 13.

"Lola Run" was finally released on 207 screens in major cities on the west coast and New York on the east coast.