Chapter 314: Coordination with the listing and script

In fact, the strength of your production capabilities mainly depends on whether you have sufficient funds, or how much funds you can attract.

Lionsgate Entertainment is backed by a banking consortium from the Maple Leaf Country, so funding has never been a problem for them.

This is also the fundamental reason why Lionsgate Entertainment still dares to spend huge sums of money to develop overseas distribution channels despite the suppression of the Big Seven Hollywood studios.

So for Lionsgate, what limits the number of films they can produce is never money, but good scripts and enough talent.

But for Summit Entertainment, they don’t have many channels to raise funds, so most of the time they can only rely on their own funds to make movies.

Dingfeng Entertainment is a bit like Tangren in the mainland. Both can only start one project at a time, and have to wait until the funds of the previous project are settled before starting the next project.

It was precisely Tangren’s conservative business strategy that caused them to miss the fastest decade of development in mainland film and television.

Although Tangren is very famous, their market share is very small.

By the second decade of the new century, when Tangren finally reacted, it was already too late, as the market structure had already been roughly determined.

It’s similar for Summit Entertainment, but the only good thing about Summit Entertainment is that it has the ability to issue and can recover funds more quickly.

Moreover, in Hollywood, the degree of commercialization is very high. Not only actors and directors, but also screenwriters, editors, photographers, lighting technicians, prop masters, etc. all have agents.

Therefore, Hollywood companies generally do not have any contracted actors or behind-the-scenes members.

This is not only illegal in Hollywood, but also completely unnecessary. As long as you have money, you can hire enough people.

For Hollywood film companies, the most important thing is the producer.

The producer-centered system is implemented here. A good producer can stand on his own and support most of a company's production business.

Of course, the most successful producers usually work on their own, like Jerry Bruckheimer, who usually brings his own projects and can be a guest of honor at the Big Seven Hollywood studios.

The "Pirates of the Caribbean" series was first initiated by Jerry Bruckheimer, who then found Disney to invest.

Previously, Summit Entertainment’s main producer was the head of the production department and one of the founders of Summit Entertainment.

Now that he's taken the money and left, the only one left standing is his former deputy.

At this time, Liu Zhou became the new boss of Summit Entertainment and was bound to expand the scale of production. However, due to the current financial crisis, the number of Hollywood productions has decreased a lot, so it is still quite easy to recruit people.

After understanding the main business of Summit Entertainment, Liu Zhou also began to understand the situation of other departments.

As a boss, Liu Zhou must at least have a clear understanding of the situation of the entire company.

Two days later, Anthony Edwards knocked on Liu Zhou's office door again.

The two have been in Summit Entertainment these past two days, trying to understand how to take over the company and prevent any turmoil in the company.

However, it seems that Liu Zhou's previous decision not to lay off employees has been very effective. Almost no one has made any trouble and they have been cooperating with Liu Zhou's team to take over the company.

Looking at the bloodshot in Anthony Edwards' eyes, Liu Zhou couldn't help but say:

"Anthony, don't be too anxious. You can take your time with the work."

"I understand, but I want to get Summit Entertainment back up and running as soon as possible. Most of the Hollywood film companies are having a hard time right now, so it's a good time for us to expand."

"Okay, but even if it's a good time, I may not be able to inject too much money into the company for the time being."

"Boss, you can rest assured. You don't need to invest any more money in the company. I've been in Hollywood for so many years and I know some film investment funds.

We can ask them to invest in new films, and we only need to approve the project and put some money into it.”

“Is there any money left in the company account?”

Anthony Edwards shook his head and said:
"Not much, but Patrick Watzberg still has some conscience and left the company with one month's employee salary and basic operating funds."

Liu Zhou pondered for a while and said:

"I can ask Golden Harvest headquarters to inject another 20 million US dollars into Summit Entertainment, but I will not invest any more money in the next one or two years. Everything depends on you."

“Twenty million dollars is enough, and Summit Entertainment has two films that have been completed but not yet released.

I have watched both movies carefully, and they are both of very good quality. "The Hurt Locker" is very suitable for awards, and anti-war has always been the mainstream in Hollywood.

As for "Twilight", although it is covered with a magical coat, it is essentially a youth romance movie with a group of handsome men and beautiful women, and the story is not bad either.

Plus, the Twilight novels are starting to sell well, so I think this movie will do well at the box office.”

Liu Zhou couldn't help but look at Anthony Edwards in surprise. His analysis of the two films was exactly the same.

Although he always knew that he was capable, Liu Zhou now felt that he had underestimated him.

"Are you confident that The Hurt Locker will win awards?"

"Of course I am confident. I have managed some films at Lionsgate to compete for Oscars, so I have experience. But it just costs some money."

"It doesn't matter if you spend money, as long as you can win the prize, you can earn back the money you spend."

"Ok, then I will personally manage the Oscar campaign for The Hurt Locker. However, next year's Oscars are a bit too rushed. I think it would be better to campaign for the Oscars the year after."

"Okay, you can arrange it yourself." "Boss, as for Twilight, I want to release the movie as soon as possible so that I can get the funds back."

However, Liu Zhou shook his head after hearing his idea:

"Don't be so anxious. Postpone the release of Twilight until March or April next year."

"why?"

Liu Zhou thought that Anthony Edwards was also a member of the Jiahe Group, so he paused and said to him:

“Anthony, you may not know that my Huaxia Film and Television Group Company, which is the entity that acquired Summit Entertainment, plans to go public next year.

So after arranging things here, I have to go back and prepare for the company's listing. Probably at the beginning of next year, new shareholders will be introduced to carry out share restructuring.

I also watched the movie "Twilight" carefully, and I think the box office performance of this movie will be very good.

So I hope to release "Twilight" in March or April next year. If the box office of the movie is really a big hit, it will also greatly increase the valuation of Golden Harvest Group.

So I need you to cooperate with the group company's listing plan."

After hearing Liu Zhou's words, Anthony Edwards suddenly realized:

"I understand Boss. Then I will postpone the release of Twilight to March or April next year."

"Anthony, when Twilight is released next year, you need to make plans to make sure the movie is a big hit at the box office. Don't rush around when the time comes."

"Boss, are you really that optimistic about this movie?"

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't use it as a bargaining chip to increase the company's valuation."

Seeing that Liu Zhou attached so much importance to it, Anthony Edwards also couldn't help but pay much more attention to the matter.

Not only because Liu Zhou is the boss, but also because he is a very good director. When I was with Liu Zhou before, I had a deep understanding of his excellent vision.

Since he thinks Twilight has the potential to be a big hit, there's a good chance that this movie will be a box office hit.

"Okay, Boss." Anthony Edwards continued with a smile, "Boss, can I buy the company's internal stock?"

"Of course you can, but you can't buy too much. After all, you have just joined the company not long ago. There are certain limits on the amount of internal stock that employees can buy."

The company's internal stock is much cheaper than when the stock is issued, which is also an opportunity for Liu Zhou and his employees to make a fortune together.

But whether they can seize this opportunity depends on whether they have the vision.

Because some people don't believe in stocks, Liu Zhou can't force them to buy.

"No problem, just buy as much as you can when the time comes."

"Anthony, are you so confident that this listing will be successful?"

"I don't know much about the group, so I can't say whether I believe it or not, but I trust you. I don't think you will fail, Boss."

"Haha, since you trust me so much, I will definitely not let you down."

Anthony Edwards also smiled and said:

"Boss, since we have already taken over Summit Entertainment, will you also make a movie for your own company?"

"I may not have time. I just told you that I have to focus on preparing for the company's listing. I also have a movie to prepare in mainland China."

This movie is exactly the second science fiction film that Liu Zhou is going to shoot in the mainland. However, it will only be the preliminary preparation stage and the official shooting will have to wait until Golden Harvest goes public.

Anyway, the preparation time for a large-scale science fiction production is not short, so it is a good opportunity to prepare first, and be more fully prepared, so that you can start shooting directly when you have time.

"Well, I was thinking of getting you to make a movie for Summit Entertainment and get it off to a good start."

"Don't worry, Twilight will do well at the box office and will be a big hit at the start."

“But this is the achievement of the previous term after all.”

"In that case, although I can't be the director, I have a script that I wrote myself. You can find a director to film it."

Hearing Liu Zhou's words, Anthony Edwards, who was originally a little disappointed, couldn't help but brighten his eyes and said:

"Boss, did you bring the script?"

"Not yet, but I can have someone send the script over from China in a couple of days."

In fact, the real situation is that Liu Zhou did not write any new script at all. It was just that when the topic came to this point, he decided to make a script for Dingfeng Entertainment on the spur of the moment.

Anyway, I will be staying here for a few more days, so I can use this time to write the script.

Liu Zhou does have a ready-made script for "The Hunger Games", but this movie is not suitable for filming and production right now.

At least we have to wait until Liu Zhou completely controls Summit Entertainment. Otherwise, holding two best-selling series, "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games", isn't this like a child holding a gold brick and waiting for others to snatch it away?
When Liu Zhou's foothold was not yet stable, they had plenty of means to deal with an outsider like him.

(End of this chapter)