Chapter 60: buy the script

After a few days, the negotiation process is still at an impasse with 20th Century Fox.

Almost at the same time, the news spread throughout Hollywood.

As for whether someone deliberately released the news, I am afraid that only God knows.

In the office building of Touchstone Films, Carter-Eisner's office welcomed an unexpected person, Don Simpson, a well-known gold medal producer in Hollywood, who once made Tom famous in "Top Gun" cruise.

He doesn't have many cooperations with Touchstone, but recently it seems that he wants to prepare a large-scale commercial action film with Disney, and the investment will be as high as 70 million US dollars, a very astonishing figure.

Don Simpson was the producer of "Into the Deadly Island", which made Nicholas Cage truly a first-line star in Hollywood in his previous life.

"Hey, Carter, did you hear that!"

"It seems that the negotiations between 20th Century Fox and Ryan Gosling are not going well. It seems that 20th Century Fox is unwilling to pay up to 35 million US dollars in investment." Don Simpson greeted and went straight to the point.

Carter-Eisner ordered the secretary to bring over a cup of coffee, and asked with some puzzlement: "Don, what, are you interested in that script?"

"You know, that is an investment of up to 35 million U.S. dollars. Even Disney needs to conduct a strict review before finally determining the risk and commercial value of the script."

In fact, the script of "The Truman Show" has been placed in front of Disney executives for many days. Carter-Eisner has also read it once. It is indeed a very creative script.

However, a sitcom like this requires very high requirements for the director. Disney executives don't think that a director who can only shoot horror films can take charge of such a large project.

Disney and 20th Century Fox have very similar views, and neither believes that Ryan is capable of making such a film.

"A very interesting script, and I'm naturally intrigued."

"We can buy the script and shoot with another director."

Don Simpson picked up the coffee in front of him, took a sip, and said confidently: "I can personally promote this project. This is definitely a very good film."

As a gold medal producer in Hollywood, although Don Simpson is good at commercial action films, it doesn't mean he can't see the quality of a script.

In his eyes, "The Truman Show" can be described as amazing, as long as it is a director who is good at shooting sitcoms, it must be a film that surprises people.

In terms of artistry, it is completely comparable to "Fang Fang" released this year, but it is more commercialized.

If "Fang Fang" is suitable for French fans, then "The Truman Show" is suitable for North American fans.

buy it!

Carter-Eisner shook his head regretfully, and said, "I'm sorry, Disney's plan to buy the script has already been flatly rejected by the other party. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."

"However, Don, if you can convince Ryan Gosling to sell the script, I can apply to Disney executives for investment."

As far as he knows, Ryan Gosling is not short of funds at present, even if there is no investment from the film company, he will not sell the script, and it is very likely that he will continue to invest in the name of the studio.

A director who keeps investing in himself is somewhat speechless. If he doesn't make a movie at the box office, he will end up with nothing, and even have to face bankruptcy.

Of course, if Don Simpson can really buy the script, he can make people re-analyze the commercial value of "The Truman Show".

"All right."

"I can try to get in touch." Don Simpson could only shrug his shoulders, indicating that he could try.

Maybe it was just to try, but he didn't want to give up easily, he wanted to try something, even if he didn't succeed in the end, it would be no loss for him.

After all, he is promoting another big project.

Looking at the figure of Don Simpson leaving, Carter-Eisner was contemplative. The most surprising thing this summer seems to be related to Ryan Gosling. Nearly $300 million, making Twentieth Century Fox a fortune.

Just a few months later, Ryan Gosling once again created an astonishing horror film, and "Saw" once again surpassed 100 million US dollars at the global box office.

Let 20th Century Fox's newly established independent film distribution company, Fox Searchlight Pictures, make a perfect debut.

In less than half a year, 20th Century Fox seemed to have dug up a gold mine in Ryan Gosling.

"The two works have exceeded 100 million in succession, how many directors can Hollywood find?"

Carter Eisner talked to himself, as if trying to convince himself, and said, "In this way, among the new generation of directors, Ryan Gosling is currently the one with the most potential."

"Perhaps "The Truman Show" is a good opportunity."

For Twentieth Century Fox, Ryan's plan to occupy half of the investment is difficult to accept.

But for Touchstone, it is not difficult to accept.

It is difficult for the Touchstone family to invest tens of millions of dollars at a time unless they get the support of the parent company Disney.

However, Disney's situation is not as good as it looks. On the one hand, it needs to prepare a large amount of funds for the acquisition plan, and on the other hand, it also needs to invest in Pixar Animation Studios and prepare for the production of the next hand-painted animation feature film. It will take a certain amount of time to return the funds.

Therefore, Touchstone can fully agree with Ryan's capital ratio.

Whether it is the same level as 20th Century Fox, the seven major Hollywood film companies, or second-tier film companies like Touchstone, they all showed interest in the script of "The Truman Show".

At the same time, he doubted Ryan's directing ability, and hoped to buy the script and shoot with another director.

After a few days, Ryan faced almost all similar requests, and even Twentieth Century Fox~www.wuxiaspot.com~, who had the longest cooperation, also expressed the same idea.

At the same time, Ryan is still in frequent contact with Marvel Comics, trying to buy the copyrights of a number of superhero characters.

Ronald Perelman, the head of Marvel Comics, does not refuse to sell the copyright of superhero characters, or that he doesn't care what he sells as long as he can make money.

The first contact went well.

The only difficulty is that Ryan asked to permanently buy the copyrights of these superhero characters, including the characters in the derivative comics, and even the copyrights of the characters sold by Marvel Comics.

In this way, it will give Marvel Comics or Ronald Perelman, the lion, a chance to speak.

These days, Swift leads a negotiating team that practically lives in Marvel Comics.

In fact, Ronald Perelman didn't really want to sell the last legacy of Marvel Comics. Since 1993, the sales of Marvel Comics have dropped by 70%, and the company's stock price has plummeted.

In desperation, Ronald Perelman wanted to enter the film and television industry, but he encountered great resistance. Almost all the shareholders of the company resolutely resisted, thinking that entering the film and television industry rashly would only empty out the original company. more cash flow.

At this time, Ryan suddenly extended an olive branch, wanting to buy the copyright of the superhero characters of Marvel Comics.

For a time, whether it was Ronald Perelman who wanted to increase the stock price, or a group of company shareholders who lacked funds, they were more than happy to sell the copyrights of these superhero characters in exchange for more funds.

Only in terms of price, the two are very consistent, asking a high price, trying to squeeze out the most valuable asset of Marvel Comics.