Chapter 40: Planning
After confirming the matter of the TV series, they did not stay in the company anymore. They went directly to the Lynn bar opposite the company, ordered a few glasses of wine, and celebrated.
During the celebration, they were also chatting about some plans for the future. With such a large amount of money received in one breath, they naturally thought about how to spend it.
"Nick, you must have some ideas, right? The TV series will take four months to air. Are you not going to do anything for the summer? Now that we have some money, you don't want to think about the movies?" Regarding the future, what Clark thinks most is the movies.
"Clark, you're too impatient." Levi gestured to Clark, "Let's not talk about our money now. Let's talk about movies first. Do you have any good ideas for making movies?"
"Don't you?" Clark asked back.
"Do you think creativity is the beer in a bar, and you can order as much as you want?" Levi asked, "And the TV series will be aired in September. Let's assume that we will start writing the movie script in July, and we will start filming in August. There is only a two-month break, starting from writing the script, finding actors, finishing filming a film, post-production, finding a distributor, releasing it, and promoting it. Do you really think we can finish a movie in two months? This is not St. Fernando; movies can't be so nonsense."
There are many ways to shoot a movie, and it's not impossible to make it faster—by not creating sets but relying on the director's lens to shoot real scenes without famous actors. Amateur actors are fully engaged, and without equipment, the photographer is forced to carry an 80-pound camera. Post-production and editing are all done with a computer. In terms of sound effects, there is no one at all or a few off-the-shelf. In one sentence: everything is just improvised; just shoot it out.
It's not like Levi can't make such a movie. After all, he was used to this type of shooting in his previous life, and he still knows a little about the filming methods in Hong Kong back then. But the movies that are filmed in this way, no matter what, are worth a lot of money. Short-term, low-cost things make money quickly but consume the entire industry's future. Hong Kong people shoot a movie in a few days, and they can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars when it is released immediately after shooting. It is very profitable, but the result of their doing so is to destroy the entire Hong Kong film industry. Hong Kong people don't understand this truth, and even if they do, they don't bother to care about it because those people only care about making money for themselves, and they don't have the vision to think about such things in the long run.
Of course, Levi doesn't care about over-drafting the future of American cinema. However, what's the point of making such a money-making movie? As a director, if the film he shoots cannot express his thoughts, what kind of film is it?
"This summer, we are mainly going to rest. I think the main thing to do is prepare the script for the movie we will shoot. You also consider whether you have any good ideas. Moreover, if any good novels on the market are suitable for changing into scripts, you can also recommend them to me. Or, as far as I know, many screenwriters in Hollywood are promoting their writing. If you come across a good script, you can bring it to me—money is not a problem. We got this loan and won't be spending most of it anyway. To make a movie, you must first have a script. If there is no suitable script, what can we shoot?"
There are four months from May to September when the TV series starts broadcasting. In Levi's opinion, finding a suitable script was considered pretty good in such a short period.
Movie scripts are not TV drama scripts. TV drama scripts are more straightforward because TV drama scripts can be loosely structured, easy to understand, and exaggerated. After all, one of the essential requirements of TV dramas is that people can quickly understand no matter which episode they start from and want to follow up on it; if it is too deep, the audience of the TV series will criticize. The movie script is different; its structure needs to be refined, the shooting techniques and camera transitions are more demanding, and the actors' acting skills, lighting, music, and other aspects must have detailed requirements. Every shot has to be written, and though a movie is only about two hours, writing the script is much more complicated than the script of a TV series.
If a TV drama script is just a cup of boiled water to quench your thirst, then a movie script has to be a cup of tea, and how much flavor can be tasted from it is the meaning of this cup of tea. Since Levi wants to make movies his main direction of attack, it is not an exaggeration to spend more time on the movie script. To make a movie with just a few flysheets is not enough respect for one's ideals.
And how to have a good script? This is also a very worrying thing.
Of course, Levi can directly try to recall the movies he has seen before and then copy them. This idea is okay, but the problem is that Levi needs to remember which films he has seen are adapted from novels and which are original works. Moreover, having been in the entertainment industry for a long time, he also knows that some scripts have been accumulated for many years during the writing process, and those authors have many revised versions of the original manuscripts. If he were to copy it, he would most likely be sued in court.
What to do, then? Do you insist that your ideas coincide with others, or do you claim to pay tribute and compensation? Levi didn't want to do either of these two things. Plagiarism is enough to be embarrassed; if you still insist on it being your own after plagiarism, that would be too shameless. Therefore, even if it is plagiarism, you must consider it: Which movie can be sure that the author has not written before you can copy it? Who said plagiarism is not a technical job?
Of course, Levi didn't just think about plagiarism: if plagiarism is the only way out, then this life is too boring. In his heart, he still wanted to use other methods to collect good scripts. As a time traveler, he has an impression of many novels that will be filmed in the future. If he can carefully collect novels, scripts, stories, etc., circulating in the market, he can also have several good scripts he can't finish filming in ten years. And what about ten years from now? At that time, he will already be famous enough to be confident that many a good script will be delivered to him.
The most impressive thing about the traverser is vision and insight—even without a system that automatically copies countless scripts, Levi can still find his way out.
"In addition, I also want to make some other investments. Filming will be our main business in the future, but filming may not make money every time. I want to set aside part of the money and make some other investments. If the investment goes well, we can have a good retreat in the future."
Levi's decision made Michael laugh, "When it comes to money, I can only remember you're a Jew."
Levi shrugged. Levi has wanted to do this in the past few months: on the one hand, he wants to collect materials to see how he will be in the future, shooting movies. On the other hand, he also had to find a way to make money.
It costs money to make a movie—a blockbuster movie requires an investment of at least tens of millions, which is not a small figure. Whether it is in Levi's memory or this life, Levi knows that many movies originally had a good plan, but because of insufficient funds, they have become castrated versions. It was difficult for Levi to accept that situation. If he wanted to make a movie, he had better have enough funds. If he couldn't get the investment, he could do it alone.
As for money, there were plenty of options for him. As a time traveler, everything is money when looking around. Not to mention anything else, it is now 1996; if he were to buy some Yahoo stocks, then by the end of 1998, the price of these stocks would increase by more than ten times. And Google and many other popular websites have yet to be established. It is easy if you want to seize the opportunity to invest. As part of an equity fund, Google sold 10% of its equity for 25 million dollars. If he can be part of this funding, he can get returns in billions.
He doesn't have much energy and experience to do these things. He may be cheated like in "Social Network," but he is not afraid. He can be sure to have a good income if he hires a private equity manager, determine the general direction, and leave things to him to do. Even if he is cheated, he can still get many benefits. In particular, Levi has no dream of becoming the wealthiest man in the world, a business elite; all he wants is a little money, which he can use for his mischief in the future.
When do you have to make money by making movies? Moreover, to make money, what kind of director is he if he shoots movies he doesn't like or even shoots something that makes him sick?
Take out a small amount of money at any time and throw it into the booming online market, which is enough to ensure that you will have money in the future.
"Besides..." Levi pondered for a while, thought hard, and then said, "Alexander, do you see if our company can develop other departments in the future? For example, a special effects company or something. I don't know as much about these business matters as you do, but I think that there will definitely be a great development in this area in the future, and it's worth our investment."
"You've said so much, and most of it is work; the real rest is pitifully small." Clark couldn't help laughing when he heard Levi's arrangement.
"Who said I don't want to rest? It's just that your way of having parties and finding women is unsuitable for me."
"Then how do you want to rest?"
"I haven't thought about it. There are too many things to do, and if you don't actively do them, you will never have the opportunity to do them in the future. I may travel abroad to see the Seven Wonders. I may go to Atlanta to see the Olympics or other sports. Jordan, Tyson, and Ronaldo have not retired yet, right? Otherwise, it is visiting people I admire, such as Kubrick. I know how to use my vacation better than you—because I know which scenery is more worth admiring."
*****
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