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As a director and screenwriter, Murphy naturally has two salaries, but the total investment of the film is $8 million, so his salary can''t be too high. Moreover, in order to avoid excessive investment, Miramax will only pay his basic film salary for the time being. The director''s salary is $900000, while the screenwriter''s salary is much lower, only $100000.
This is also the normal price in line with the law of the market. Because of the consideration of risk aversion, Miramax pressed part of Murphy''s film remuneration into the North American box office share.
According to the director''s contract agreement, if the film''s North American box office exceeds $10 million, Murphy will automatically get a basic incentive of $100000, which is one percent of the North American box office.
Similar to the contract signed by James Wen and Lion Gate, this is a step-by-step reward agreement. For every $10 million increase in the box office in North America, Murphy''s bonus will also increase by 1%. That is to say, if the box office in North America reaches $20 million, he will get a 2% bonus.
But the agreement also has a supplementary clause, the maximum reward will not exceed 5% of the North American box office.
In Hollywood, in order to avoid the risk of excessive investment in the early stage, and to stimulate the creative enthusiasm of the main creators, many Hollywood companies will use this strategy.
In this way, the director and the project can be firmly tied together, and the more money the project will get.
For now, it''s also the most common pay agreement in Hollywood.
As for his other role as a screenwriter, there is no similar agreement except for the proportion of small dividends rigidly stipulated by the writers'' Union.
Looking at Hollywood as a whole, screenwriters who can get production companies to sign real share agreements can count them with one hand.
For small independent projects like this, it''s a good thing to say that Hollywood''s big production projects are mostly the collaborative products of an entire screenwriter team, and creativity and risk are almost equal. Mainstream commercial masterpieces rarely use the so-called genius creativity.
The producers of the project are the Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein brothers, but Erika Steinberg, who is in charge of the production team, forms the film''s production team.
In addition, since Miramax will only invest about US $2 million, most of the production funds come from financing or pre-sale, the project introduces an insurance company as a guarantee for the completion of the film, which is also a guarantee for those who are willing to pay for the film.
Miramax will insure the project with the insurance company. If the film can''t be completed on time, the insurance company will compensate or find a new team to complete the project.
This is also the Convention of Hollywood film production, and even an important part of Hollywood film financing.
Completion guarantee first appeared in Hollywood studios in the early 1950s, and now it has been very mature in the global operation.
Its main function is to guarantee that a film or television production can be completed according to the script''s predetermined time limit and budget, and sent to the distributor. As a "completion guarantee" organization, it should be very familiar with the film and television production process, and be able to understand the script quality, fund raising, the ability and quality of the film''s main creators, the control ability of the producer, and the distribution income after the completion of the film All aspects of the evaluation, the film production process monitoring, timely supervision and control of financial situation.
In many movie shooting scenes in Hollywood, people from non production teams can often be seen holding various budget tables, schedules and production lists, communicating with on-site producers and art directors for a while. It''s not that this can be saved, that is to say, we need to speed up our progress today.
Don''t be surprised, these are the people who are sent by the completion guarantee company to supervise the budget and progress of the film.
Similarly, as an insurance company, it will send several representatives to the crew, which will limit Murphy as a director to a certain extent. However, this is not aimed at a certain director, but the mature system of Hollywood. Even directors such as Steven Spielberg and James Cameron have to work under this system.
Completion guarantee can not guarantee the profitability of a film, the biggest role is to guarantee that a film can be completed within the budget.
In addition, it is also very troublesome to deal with the investment from financial institutions and private equity funds, but these are the work of Miramax, and Murphy does not need to be involved in them.
He just has to be responsible for the crew.
With Murphy signing the director agreement, CAA has also settled the contracts with Miramax. Seth Logan, James Franco, Jonah hill and Kerry Mulligan, who are Murphy''s team members, will all play important roles in it. Robert Downey Jr. has some troubles. First, his film pay is relatively high; second, Harvey Weinstein has doubts about his drug addiction Worry.
However, after Robert Downey Jr. switched to CAA, Harvey Weinstein finally nodded after the coordination of Murphy and bill rosis.
Correspondingly, it is an extremely strict contract for Robert Downey Jr. before the completion of the film, Robert Downey Jr. can only get one-fifth of the film''s remuneration. After the completion of the film, he will get another one-fifth, and the last three fifths will be paid after the film is released from North America.There is also a memorandum clause in the contract, if Robert Downey Jr. breaks out a drug scandal during this period, it will be regarded as giving up the remaining reward automatically.
Despite Murphy''s own observation that Robert Downey Jr. really seems to have given up his addiction, such a limited contract is good for the whole project.
As for the staff behind the scenes, they are basically those who have cooperated with Murphy.
Assistant director and casting director are Paul Wilson, photography director Philip Raschel, art director Helena espora, lighting designer David Robbie, makeup artist Jack Watson
These people have contracts with the crew.
However, the propman is no longer Beck klebert. The other party is not CAA''s client. Bill rosis recommends a middle-aged man named Jedi Hutson for Murphy, who is better in ability and qualifications than Beck klebert.
The editor is no longer Jodie Griffith. Although Murphy will participate in the whole post production and editing, he has no final editing right. The editor will come from Miramax.
In fact, all the directors in Hollywood who have the final editing rights can be counted in one slap.
Not to mention the current him, even today''s Redley Scott, David Finch and Quentin Tarantino directors have no final editing rights.
With the help of CAA, the whole process of operation seems to be quite difficult, but it does not happen as expected.
In an office of Burbank Miramax, Murphy, Bill rosis and Harvey Weinstein frown slightly. They are the three most important directors of the project. Erica Steinberg, who is actually in charge of the production of the crew, has just received bad news from the San Fernando Valley.
"Eight hundred thousand dollars!"
That''s a lot more than Murphy expected. "Are they crazy? How much can she get for a movie? "
"Remember, Jenna Jameson just changed her agency," bill Rossi said, looking even worse. "William Morris signed a brokerage contract with her to push her to the top of the industry."
Harvey Weinstein put his fingers on the armrest of the chair without saying a word.
Murphy nods. From Erica Steinberg''s message, it''s not hard to tell that someone has analyzed Jenna Jameson''s real purpose of inviting her to play.
No matter Murphy and CAA, or Miramax, they don''t mean to bring Jenna Jameson into Hollywood. They just want to use her identity and popularity to create topics.
Maybe Jenna Jameson had some illusions before. Once she was reminded of her position and practical value, she would naturally open her mouth and ask for a high salary.
This is what Murphy didn''t think of before. In his expectation, an invitation will be sent to the stars who are wandering in the San Fernando Valley. They can''t wait to post it. It''s true that things started to develop, but they won''t be foolishly used when they find their own value.
Just like Jenna Jameson, her new agent paid a million dollars for the movie, and after a while, she didn''t give up on 800000 dollars.
In the words of that agent, cooperation is good for both sides. Without cooperation, Jenna Jameson has no loss. She can''t enter Hollywood and change her identity.
The negotiations were in a stalemate.
"What do you think, Murphy?"
Although Harvey Weinstein is a real decision-maker, he is old-fashioned and pays attention to the way he works, "about the heroine."
Most of the time, the idea is always good, but there is a deviation in the realization. This matter has been out of the track of Murphy''s expectation. He has no hesitation. "Since the other party doesn''t let go in terms of film payment, we can change people."
The other party''s biting pay is twice what he expected. Even if he cut down some more, it will exceed the budget, which is bound to reduce other expenses.
Bill rosis also nodded. He didn''t want to use a client from William Morris as the heroine in his own project.
Harvey Weinstein is very magnanimous, "Murphy, you are the director, the heroine or to your opinion."
Everything will not be smooth. Knowing the simplest answer, Murphy immediately gave up the previous plan. After a little thought, she said, "hold an audition. It''s not hard to find a suitable actress."
"I think so." Bill rossis agrees.
Harvey Weinstein also nodded, "let''s have an audition. Murphy, it''s up to you. "
"No problem." Murphy knows that the director''s opinions will affect the final choice, but it''s Miramax who makes the final decision. (to be continued). )