In Los Angeles, as the Hollywood Center moves westward, more and more big names in the film and television entertainment circles tend to settle in the wealthy Brentwood area closer to Malibu, rather than the once hot Beverly Hills.

Annika Settle, who has quickly gained a foothold in Hollywood in recent years, has recently purchased a villa that belongs entirely to her own, located in Brentwood.

Although it is not the golden highland area, Annika is only satisfied with herself if she can make a fortune in just a few years.

This is October 25th.

Wednesday.

The morning light in the early morning light had just lit up, and Annika woke up, mainly because Lena Kane, who stayed here last night, started to get up first, which forced Annika, who wanted to sleep in, to sit up.

Even if the two parties have a very close relationship, they are subconsciously unwilling to lose too much to Lena.

After the two of them were dressed, they left the bedroom. In the villa, the waitress in the Wei family who was responsible for their daily routine had already started to be busy earlier.

Ignoring the daily trivialities of breakfast, the two women came to the gym together, and after a simple warm-up, they stepped onto the treadmill.

Pressing the jogging button, Annika noticed that Lina spread a comic that she had already turned over many times on the treadmill operating table, and began to use it with all her heart. She thought that she did not imitate it anymore, but just caught this topic: "This "Watcher", the first comic to win the Hugo Award, was indeed enough. However, I always felt that it was a bit unwise for Zach to choose this project."

The famous "Watchman" is a story produced by D Comics in 1986. It is independent of D's mainstream superhero universe, and it roughly tells the story of a group of retired superheroes who cannot enjoy a peaceful life and the storm resurrected in the background of the absurd Cold War.

The comic explores a heavy and eternal topic: How to stop war?

The story gives several answers.

The ultimate one is to establish a common and powerful enemy for all the people on earth, so that the world can always face threats, be forced to unite and no longer fight against each other.

However, in order to give mankind a profound lesson, doing such a situation comes at a cost.

Then again.

Will humans really learn from their lessons?

While jogging, Lena Kane flipped through the comics in front of her. He heard the voice of her best friend around her and said, "This is a work that many comic fans are looking forward to bringing to the big screen, and the halo of the Hugo Awards that year. In addition, with the success of "Resident Evil" and "Spartan 300 Warriors", Zach has also accumulated enough experience, all of which are favorable conditions. As for whether it can succeed in the end, the movie is gambling. Who can guarantee that it will succeed?"

Annika couldn't refute, paused and asked, "What should I do with Simon?"

This time, the copyright of "Watchman" is obviously impossible to transfer to Daenerys Entertainment, even if it is produced together, it is impossible. Therefore, after cooperating with Daenerys Entertainment two projects, or after being made famous by Daenerys, Zach Schneider had to cooperate with Warner if he wanted to produce this project.

To some extent, this is simply betrayal.

You know, Daenerys has a contract for Schneider's three movies, and he only completed two of them before. Therefore, if he didn't let go, Schneider could not cross Daenerys' agreement to cooperate with other studios.

Lina still nodded without turning her head: "Simon has agreed."

Annika unexpectedly: "When?"

The two girls said that they were inseparable, but because of the intimate relationship between them, they knew each other very well.

So, why didn't she know that a man agreed to this?

Lina finally glanced over and then withdrew her gaze. She could only see some smiles from her side: "I sent him an email when you were taking a shower last night, but I didn't expect to get a response immediately. She also chatted online for a while."

Annika opened her mouth, and then her face, which was not sweating, had a little more blush.

Last night, after taking a shower, she was quite proactive.

At that time, I only remember that Lina put the laptop on her lap aside, and of course she didn't have time to talk about it.

After a while, Annika finally spoke again, with a jealous joke of being half true and half false: "Hmph, you actually flirted with other men while I was taking a shower."

Lina turned the page of the comic in front of her, and said with a smile, "This sentence is strange. You can't say it's 'other man', because you are not a man, and, if we really want to make some difference, you can only be a woman."

"Well, you're a man, okay?" Annika accelerated the treadmill a little and deliberately sighed: "Oh my God, Simon Westeros actually likes men. This is such a big gossip."

Lina smiled, but did not continue to talk to Annika, but said, "Simon also said he was looking forward to this project. I am not surprised at all. How could my man not have this mind?"

"Yeah, my man's man."

Lina still didn't mind Annika's shame and the little tricks under the taste, and said seriously: "Anyway, there's no problem with Daenerys. Annie, do you want to try being a screenwriter?"

Speaking of the serious matter, Annika also restrained her expression and had read the comic "Watcher" carefully in advance. At this time, she shook her head and said, "I think the story of this comic itself has a high degree of completion. It can be used as a template for film and television. There is no room for screenwriters to play. Moreover, while I am writing "Death Video", I also have to take into account the new project of the Fareley brothers. Where can I still have time?"

Under Simon's strategy, the development of the sequel was temporarily shelved by Lena and the other projects, whether it is "Blair the Witch" or "Resident Evil".

So I considered opening a new IP.

When Simon gave Lina several pseudo-documentary ideas in her memory, the two women discussed it and chose "Death Video", which combines pseudo-documentary and zombie elements. The original version is a Spanish movie. The reason for making this choice is because it was discovered that this story is also very suitable for development into a horror game.

The success of the previous "Resident Evil" game is obvious to all.

Therefore, Annika started the construction of this series after the summer season was concluded, referring to the "Resident Evil" series. Although the whole story starts with an apartment, the timeline and various details related to this story are all planned to be filled.

The two women plan to collaborate with Daenerys to develop the movie while setting up a game studio alone to develop the game independently.

Of course, I didn't plan to go solo.

Whether it is a movie or a game, the production funds are planned to be obtained from Daenerys, and they just hope to get more profits from it.

Daenerys is also happy to see this, not because of the relationship between the two women and their own boss.

It was something Simon understood very early on.

Complete production and sales will eventually only lead to rigidity within the company. Just like the TV industry, a certain degree of "production and broadcast separation" is adopted, and sufficient initiative is retained internally, and fresh blood is constantly introduced outside, which can stimulate competition. This will allow a company to remain vibrant for a longer time.

Therefore, whether it is movies, TV or games, Simon encourages cooperation with third parties.

Of course, the premise is that absolute initiative and the maximum share of returns must be on the Westeros system.

Simon doesn't help others work.

Another project of the Fareley brothers is another collaboration between the two parties after "I'm crazy for Mary".

Or comedy.

However, unlike "I'm Crazy for Mary" which reappeared with the butterfly effect, this time it is a brand new project called "The Troubles of Genius". Unlike the middle-aged man who found love for "I'm Crazy for Mary", this time he took the youthful comedy route and was closer to "American Pi", but his characteristics are still joke-like spoofs like "Saturday Night Live".

The project is under shooting and is initially planned to be released during the Easter schedule next year.

Two projects have occupied most of Annika's time, and she doesn't have the energy to take on the screenwriter task of "Watchmen", but the main reason is that she doesn't feel that there is too much room for performance, otherwise, she doesn't mind exercising on a brand new type.

Lena didn't force herself to hear Annika say this.

In fact, I am also worried about the adaptation of "Watchmen".

Since this story has won the Hugo Award, it has proved its excellence.

If "Watchmen" is a super long comic that can be edited and trimmed, it is a story that can basically be told in one movie. Therefore, there is really no room for the screenwriter to play.

However, if the story cannot be changed to a certain extent and the script is written, will the audience feel that this is just a visual repetition in the future?

Until the end of the exercise, Lina was unable to confirm her thoughts.

I can only talk about it after discussing with Warner and Zach Schneider. In fact, she has no right to make decisions and can only give certain suggestions. Of course, because of a certain identity and previous success, neither of the other parties will ignore her suggestions.

The two girls had breakfast and started their work for the whole day.

Annika is going to the crew of "The Troubles of Genius", and the project is filmed in Santa Monica, and she will stay there for the day today.

Lina has a lot of things to do. After all, she is still an agent and has unknowingly owned more than 20 clients, all kinds of trivial things. If she had not trained several assistants at the same time, and although she was not successful within W, she had been promoting similar economic system reforms, she might have been too busy.

When you arrive at W's headquarters in Century City, the first thing you pay attention to is the currently being released "Horror Cruise".

Because the story structure is too complicated, even if Beckinsale is the heroine, New World Pictures is still not optimistic about the performance of "Horror Cruise" in the theater market. In the end, Lina argued and received 7 million yuan in publicity and distribution expenses. Moreover, using the characteristics of the film itself, a small-scale viral marketing was launched on the Internet platform at a not-so-large marketing cost. The core is 'Who is the murderer?'

To be honest, this marketing is not as successful as "Blair the Witch". After all, if you want to start a public discussion, you must disclose enough information, but this movie reveals too much, especially a final secret, which will lose the biggest suspense of the film.

It attracted some attention after all.

With the release of the film, marketing continues. The special story structure and the final truth have sparked more discussion than before the painting.

The result is that there is definitely no problem with around 14 million in the first week.

However, compared with the local box office forecast of 30 million yuan for all parties, Lina is more optimistic. Perhaps, this project has the hope to hit 40 million yuan in local areas. At 40 million, the total cost of production and promotion will be recovered, and subsequent money will be made. Moreover, as long as the reputation is large enough, the project has greater potential, obviously in the subsequent family entertainment channels.

Therefore, after roughly understanding the latest box office data and market feedback, Lina contacted New World Pictures, hoping that some more promotional and distribution expenses can be added there to make this project hotter.

It is certain that this project makes money. New World Pictures is also very proud of its face and plans to add another $3 million to raise 10 million in publicity and development investment.

However, Danny Morris, president of New World Pictures who personally discussed with Lena on the phone, would inevitably joke that more investment in publicity and promotion and extension of this cycle will definitely affect the sharing time of this project.

Considering conflicts of interest, agents cannot get involved in film and television production.

However, the rules were destroyed by the packaging strategy as early as the 1980s. Although they did not directly hold shares in the company of Settle Entertainment, which was temporarily held by their best friend, Lina could still get share income from various projects that the two parties cooperated with.

Lina is not anxious about this.

After all, everyone has a consensus that the majority of the revenue of this project must be in the surrounding channels. What's more, the world's largest video rental chain is under Daenerys Entertainment.

Having done this, I dealt with some other daily routines. As noon approached, Lena drove to Burbank Warner Bros. Cinema on the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Noon was a dinner with Warner Bros. Pictures president Alan Horn, and Zach Schneider also attended. After receiving the approval of a man, this noon was officially finalized for everyone's cooperation on "Watchmen".

The meal lasted for an hour.

Things are basically finalized.

What’s more regretful is that I was unable to package this project again, but it’s just a pity. After all, such a super bombshell that is expected to invest hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention that it is a superhero comic-adapted movie that Warner likes very much. It is impossible for a small workshop like Settle Entertainment to take on it alone.

Another thing that is more satisfactory is that Warner gave Schneider a director's salary of $10 million, plus a 10% global box office gross profit share.

This Double Ten Agreement is actually quite generous for a director who only shoots two movies, even if both movies are very successful. After all, even based on the total investment in production and promotion and promotion, as long as the global box office can reach 500 million, the director is expected to receive a share of at least $5 million, which is equivalent to the industry's maximum salary of $15 million.

If it exceeds 500 million, it will be as successful as other comic-adapted movies, and the total revenue of 20 to 30 million US dollars will not be a problem.

The income level of a single project worth $20 to 30 million is already the treatment of a top-tier director.
Chapter completed!