Kapitel 50: Movie

The flight from Los Angeles to New York is only five or six hours. But in this short period of time, the new script Bob got from Levi was enough to make him excited.

Bob has always thought of himself as a rather thoughtful person. He is not like Alexander, who only knows how to make money and does not care about art and the film industry at all. He is also different from Clark, who only recognizes art regardless of the objective situation and pursues art even if he is poor. He has always believed that he can think in many ways and that he is better than them all.

Therefore, when Levi's movie dream started to strike again, he gave Levi a more rigorous advice: think about making a movie if you have a good script, and don't think so much if you don't have a good script. As a screenwriter, he should have an attitude. However, he has also heard that some directors don't like to follow the script when filming, and even some top-notch directors dare to start preparations with a few lines as the script and write it when the filming starts. Such a director may have a really high level, and maybe he really has an artist's free and easy emotions, but Bob believes that it is better to make enough preparations than to believe in his own talent. Making a movie is a process of multi-person collaboration. A film can only showcase what must be shown with sufficient preparation and skill.

This time, Levi's preparation was good enough. Bob didn't know how long he had been preparing, but he knew that he had a good enough script. It was not appropriate to say that the script was just an idea; although there were shots and a synopsis of the story, the lines and language still needed to be polished, and to complete this idea, Bob needed to be involved.

"It's a very good idea. No one has ever written a script of this scope, and this script is thick enough and great enough. It's a rare idea——Nick, this is a good idea. How did you come up with it?"

His words made Levi smile reservedly. Bob thought that as his pride and gave him another thumbs up: writing such a script deserves any praise.

The heaviest themes in movies are naturally political films. It is very difficult to shoot real, heavy, soul-touching human nature to reflect the shadow of the times. It is even more difficult to achieve the purpose of reflecting on the times by photographing the lives of small people. Levi's conception solved all these difficulties, and Bob was naturally amazed.

Bob's ecstasy has already told Levi about his attitude. From the looks of it, he didn't have any opinion on the filming of this movie.

Such a reaction did not exceed Levi's expectations: he had enough confidence in the script. As one of the most outstanding films after the 21st century, this film can definitely conquer any picky screenwriter. Otherwise, why would Levi directly choose to make this European film?

Levi gestured to him, signaling him not to wake up the sleeping Clark and Michael. Of course, he had a reason for choosing this movie, and it's not too late to say it later, "Keep your voice down. I haven't told Clark and others yet. Wait until I tell them. We'll talk more about the idea of the movie after we've got them. Now I'm going to say that if you're satisfied with that, you must do me a favor. There's quite a lot of work to be done to get the script right. Without relevant information, writing the script well in Hollywood is impossible."

"I will go to Europe to look up information and do fieldwork." Bob replied immediately. Since the story happened in East Germany, then, if you want to write a script, you must go to East Germany to check the information. This matter, Bob still understands, "However, if I go to Europe, what about the TV drama shooting here?"

"You name one of the secondary screenwriters, and I will do the work for you. If you work for me, I can naturally do the things here." Levi answered immediately.

That being the case, Bob naturally had no objection; he nodded and immediately agreed.

"Well, in a few days, I'm leaving for Europe. How long do you want me to prepare this script?"

"No hurry, you write the script first, and I have to finish filming the TV series here first. While filming the TV series, I can ask Clark to find the actors and do the preliminary preparations. When the preliminary preparations are completed, our TV series will almost be finished filming the season, and only then will we have the money to shoot movies." As soon as Levi opened his mouth, he had already given him ample time.

In fact, there is another way to invest in making movies, which is to go to big companies to attract investment. Levi is now quite famous. If he wants to test the film market, getting some investment to shoot a movie is not difficult as long as he has a good script. There are a lot of people willing to give funds.

However, filming in this way is doomed not to have many rights: any place, under any system, some things remain the same: whoever has money is the master, the six major companies are indeed very rich, but if they invested, at least they have to send a producer over, and in Hollywood, the producer has always had the final say. In Hollywood, there are only a dozen or so directors who actually have the final editing rights, and obviously, Levi is indeed not among them.

If you don't want to be suppressed layer by layer by film companies, then the best way is to be an investor yourself. If you are an investor yourself, you have the greatest flexibility in the scope of shooting and the content of shooting, and you can follow your own pleasure. The only trouble with doing this is: if the film fails, the one who loses money is himself.

Enigma is a small company with not much capital. It can be said that the assets earned by CSI are all their assets. In case the film is poorly shot, a few of them will return from successful people to poor overnight.

"I have thought that the film we will shoot will not be a large-scale film. This is my first official film, and I am just trying and the investment will not be too large. I have estimated that it is almost enough if there are 10-20 million. If we prepare for half a year, we might get 20 million spare money, and by that time, we can invest in our own movies."

Regarding Levi's words, Bob was silent for a while and then smiled wryly, "Our company is considered very successful. Why does it still look so poor? Just making a movie can ruin the family; we are still not rich enough."

That's right, it's just an investment of 20 million dollars, and he doesn't even have this little money - Levi is also a little helpless about this.

"Okay, since you said so, then I'm not in a hurry. I can prepare the movie script slowly. Don't worry; I'll check the information and do my best. But, an investment of 20 million, is it really enough?"

An investment of 20 million dollars is enough, in Levi's opinion. He didn't want to shoot a movie with a particularly big scene-he knew he would try his best, but if the scene was too big, he was worried that he would not be able to control it. If the movie does not pursue big scenes and action, an investment of 20 million is enough.

With 20 million, he can build a studio, use any photography method, use the best team to take care of peripheral work such as dubbing, and, with the extra money, he can invite some really good actors. It is not a commercial production, so a considerable part of the money for inviting actors can be left over, and good actors can also be hired. Bob also understood these points, and after thinking about it, he also agreed with Levi.

It's just that Bob is also a little emotional about this situation.

"If we lose, our work will be for nothing this year." Bob replied.

Levi shrugged. He couldn't refute this: he didn't guarantee that he would be 100% successful.

"We have enjoyed a top-notch life this year, and our reputation has grown. Even if our company has no money, we can still make money. At least it is much better than when we were dawdling in Hollywood." Bob suddenly changed the subject, "We made a right bet once in the summer, and now we have money. Then, why don't we gamble again? If we win the bet, maybe we will make more money. What's more, even if we lose the bet, we just did it for nothing this year—with CSI, we can live on our laurels for ten years. Is it worse than before?"

Bob was so reasonable, which surprised Levi, he turned his head to look at Bob, but Bob just smiled, "Nick, I'm not a person with great ability, but that doesn't stop me from daydreaming. I know that your thoughts are much bigger than mine. If you shoot TV dramas every day, you must not be able to bear it. You will return to the film industry sooner or later. I can advise you, but I just hope that the tragedy of the last time will not happen again. Everything about money is easy to talk about, and I can afford it no matter how much I lose. The key is you; you have to withstand the blow. What happened after the last failure is a nightmare."

Bob's words made Levi silent for a moment. He originally thought that after having money, Bob would start to be unmotivated, but he didn't expect that what Bob was worried about was not money but his friend's psychological endurance.

Levi was silent for a while and then nodded, "Don't worry, I can withstand any blow."

"Even so, it's better not to have any blows." Bob smiled and said, "Actually, I can also see that you have grown a lot now than before, but I, as a person, may be born to think more. "

"It's a good thing to think too much; it's better than a single-minded person. I'm worried that if Clark doesn't like my idea, how can I persuade him to follow me to film a new drama."

"It's very easy. Our next stop is the Victoria's Secret party. You can pour him two more glasses at the party, help him find a beautiful girl, and ensure that his thinking ability plummets. He can pass whatever you say."

"I'm afraid I'll get myself drunk before he does at the party." Levi also laughed, "Enjoy this evening first and then talk about other things—let's have a good time first tonight."

*****

Thanks and kudos for my patreons Cherif Doghri and Abdishakur Hasan.

You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.