Although Zhang Ran’s design is a copy of the Armani “Bamboo” series, he has never seen the real thing, so many things may not be accurate, and there are a lot of contents that need to be communicated with Guo Pei. ︾︾,

The two of them discussed everything from the piping, shoulders, to the patterns, to the fabrics, and after all, everything was finalized, and it was already ten o'clock in the evening.

Of course, design finalization does not mean that clothing can be made directly. Customized dresses need to be tested more than three times from white batches, semi-finished products, and finished products, and are constantly modified and improved. The number of high-end customization trials like Dior will be more frequent.

It was already eleven o'clock when Zhang Ran returned to his residence. He sat in the chair for two minutes and turned on the computer.

As soon as he opened msn, Neil sent a message: "Robin, I've finished reading your script!"

After receiving the notice from the Tokyo Film Festival, Zhang Ran sent the new script to Neil's email address. The next movie will be filmed in the United States. It is quite complicated to make movies in the United States. Final guarantee, insurance, agreements with various unions, etc. are all necessary processes. He needs someone to help him operate a lot of things in the United States, and Neil is undoubtedly the best candidate.

Zhang Ran replied: "It is based on a science fiction article. How about it? What do you think of this story?"

Neil replied quickly: "It's great. The world in the script is completely different from other parallel universes, but based on Planck's constant. This idea is so cool. In addition to the government conspiracy, superpowers, I love this story to death! Are you planning to shoot this story next?"

Zhang Ran replied: "Yes, what do you think?"

Neil pondered for a few seconds and said, "Stories are good stories, and they must be very exciting when filmed, but the scenes of the movie are relatively large and there are a lot of special effects. Without $890 million, it will definitely not be filmed!"

Zhang Ran nodded and said, "Yes, my estimate of the cost is 90 million!"

Neil knew that Zhang Ran would definitely not find six major cooperations. It would take too long to operate one project. Other independent film companies can operate $90 million projects: "Which company are you going to find to cooperate with, New Line, Miramax, or something else?"

Zhang Ran said: "No, I plan to do it myself!"

Now Germans are keen on investing in movies. In Hollywood's eyes, it is a representative of stupid people and a lot of money. Just like domestic filmmakers watching coal bosses. When Neil heard Zhang Ran prepare to come by himself, he thought of the Germans and laughed: "Come on your own? Are you trying to invest from the Germans?"

Zhang Ran smiled and said, "I plan to get some money from the Germans, but I don't plan to attract investment. I plan to operate this movie according to the capital operation of Tomb Raider."

The investment in Tomb Raider's promotion is $94 million, but in fact, Paramount did not spend a penny on production. The cost was zero, so Tomb Raider is hailed as a model of Hollywood capital operation.

This sounds incredible, but in fact, it can be achieved through a series of financial means.

First of all, according to the German tax law, film investors can get a tax refund in advance, and the money can be obtained before filming begins. It is not only effective for German movies, but also for foreign movies invested with Germans; more importantly, German law does not require movies to be filmed in Germany or to cooperate with German filmmakers. Instead, it is only required that German producers own the copyright and dividends of the film.

Before the filming of "Tomb Raider", Paramount sold the copyright of the film that had not yet started to be filmed to a German company for 94 million. Next, Paramount rented back the film for 83.8 million US dollars for 20 years, and Paramount immediately made $10.2 million. The German company nominally owned the copyright of the film. According to German tax laws, the company received a tax refund of about 10% of the future movie revenue, which is the benefit of the German company.

The British tax law also has similar provisions for tax refunds for film investment. The only difference from Germany is that British law requires that movies with tax refunds must be filmed in the UK, either partially filmed and produced in the UK, or hired British filmmakers; therefore, Paramount hired several British actors and technicians. In this way, Paramount sold the film's copyright to a British bank in the same way, making another $12 million from it.

Next, Paramount pre-selled the overseas distribution rights of the Tomb Raider to film distribution companies in Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, selling a total of US$65 million.

Through the above three tricks, Paramount received a total of 87.2 million US dollars, with less than 7 million US dollars remaining, and obtained the right to broadcast the film on paid TV stations in the United States. In this way, Paramount's budget was solved without spending a penny.

Of course, this operation method is only effective for large-scale commercial films, because expensive lawyer fees and agency fees are not affordable by ordinary low-cost movies. More importantly, the overseas distribution rights of general movies are all after the film is made. The film merchants will watch the sample films and think they can only buy them if they can sell them; the box office of small-cost art films is not guaranteed, and there is no way to raise money through this way. This is the real reason why the six major Hollywood film companies like to make blockbusters!

Neil knew that this way of operation was a bit crucial, and the reputation of the work was. "Tomb Raider" was adapted from the game. The "Tomb Raider" game has a very large influence around the world and has a huge fan base.

However, Zhang Ran's script is adapted from Chinese science fiction and has no influence overseas. Zhang Ran himself is also a new director and has no reputation overseas. It is extremely difficult to pre-sale.

Neil asked: "The budget for the movie is 90 million. If you take away the 20 million from the UK and Germany, you have to pre-sale 70 million. It is neither a sequel nor a masterpiece adaptation. You are not famous and pre-sale is very difficult, not to mention that pre-sale 70 million is simply impossible."

Zhang Ran nodded and said, "Yes, this movie must be a big star, and it must be a very popular star, so I plan to find Keanu Reeves. His temperament is close to the image of the character, and he has a strong appeal overseas. It will be much easier to pre-sale with him."

Neil thought about it and Keanu Reeves was indeed a very suitable candidate. The sequel to "The Matrix" has been filmed and will be released soon. It can be pre-sale with the east wind of "The Matrix".

However, Neil still thinks the problem is big: "The budget for the movie is 90 million. If the 20 million in the UK and Germany are removed, you have to pre-sale 70 million. Even if the protagonist is Keanu Reeves, it is not realistic to pre-sale this number."

The pre-sale price of the movie is made by the buyer based on his expectations for the movie. Simply put, if the French distribution rights are pre-sale, then the French buyer will have a prediction of the movie's revenue. If he thinks that he can sell 100 million, then the pre-sale price is 30 million. If he wants to pre-sale $70 million, it will take a lot of 210 million for overseas companies to make a profit, which is too difficult.

Zhang Ran also knows this: "My goal is to solve 50 million yuan in funds through pre-sales. Of course, it is difficult to solve the 50 million yuan by Keanu Reeves alone. Therefore, I plan to find a famous producer to use his reputation as Keanu Reeves to pre-sale. At the same time, I need him to help me with capital operation, and now I have a good candidate."

"who?"

"Lucbesson. He is the chairman of the jury of this Tokyo Film Festival. After the festival closes, I will talk to him with a script and detailed plan. I believe that he has watched my movies, seen my grasp of the rhythm, and after dealing with the camera, he should believe in my commercial film abilities!"

"It's because of this that you attended the Tokyo Film Festival?"

"No, when I signed up, the festival had not yet confirmed the list of chairmen. My initial idea was to sign up for the Sundance Film Festival after the Tokyo Film Festival. Then I took the project to find collaborators, but now with Luc Besson, things are much simpler!"

Lucbesson is nothing in North America, but has a great influence in Europe. He himself is the boss of Europa Film Company and has a huge distribution channel. If he can be hired as a producer, coupled with Keanu Reeves' reputation, pre-sales in Europe will be easy. Neil asked: "Can you tell Lucbesson?"

"The possibility is very high. He only needs to help us with financing and distribution in Europe, and his return is the distribution rights of the entire movie in France. Take Keanu Reeves' "The Devil's Spokesperson" as an example. The box office in France was $20 million, plus DVD and TV broadcast rights. The income exceeded 30 million. For Luc Besson, he should agree to obtain ownership of a Hollywood blockbuster in France with very little effort. If he doesn't agree, then I'll go find Joe Sifer!"

"Even if you can tell Lucbesson, he can help you solve 50 million yuan in funds, how do you plan to solve the remaining 20 million yuan?"

"This is why I came to you. I hope you can join this project. I hope you can do the executive production. Next, there is an important thing you need to do. Go to New Zealand to check it out with Toronto and talk to the local government departments. If our movie is filmed locally, how much money can we get refunded. Our goal is 15 million, the higher the better!"

Many countries, including many states in the United States, have tax laws that provide tax reductions for film production. For example, in New York State, all goods and services directly used for film and television production can receive a tax discount of up to 15% of the production costs. Simply put, if you shoot a movie in New York State, the New York State government will refund and subsidize you. If your movie costs $100 million, New York can get a maximum refund of 15 million. Peter Jackson shot the Hobbit, and New Zealand gave Warner Bros. a $67 million refund.

However, different policies of different countries and regions are different, and the tax refund amount is also different, with the highest amount reaching 30%. Therefore, it often takes some effort to choose where to shoot Hollywood movies.

Being able to participate in the A-level production throughout the whole process is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Neil. He has no reason to refuse: "No problem, but how do you plan to solve the remaining 5 million?"

Zhang Ran smiled and said, "Don't worry, this part is the easiest to solve. I will prepare 15 million in two months, so the budget for the movie is 90 million and 10 million in motorized funds. When I get the money, I will come to the United States and start to officially operate this project!"

Neil was completely relieved when he heard Zhang Ran say this. He was about to reply to "OK", but suddenly he thought of a question: "October is coming soon, and the same-city war is about to begin. Will you come to participate?"

Zhang Ran shook his head and said, "I don't have time, I have to go to raise funds, and I have to prepare detailed plans. Just taking the script may not convince Lucbesson."

Neil said: "That's a pity. Many people are waiting for you to kill Nancao!"

Zhang Ran replied with a smile: "How boring the students of Nanjia University are so boring, so you still have the chance to kill the directors of Nanjia University!"

When Neil heard this, he burst into laughter. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!