It took a full five days for Ronan to finalize the negotiations with James Wong, and the two parties officially signed the director’s employment agreement.
James Wong would serve as the director of the purge, with a fee of $300,000, not including backend points.
This point had long been agreed upon and didn’t take time; what really caused the haggling and took time were the minor details.
For example, during the production period, the director must be provided with a dedicated car service; the director must have an independent office or lounge on the soundstage, and a corresponding trailer when on location; under equal conditions, the crew must prioritize hiring behind-the-scenes staff recommended by the director; the director has priority in choosing equipment within the production’s budget framework.
Just on these points, Ronan haggled with Edward for two days, and in the end, seventeen clauses were noted in the contract.
This wasn’t an exaggeration; in the Hollywood environment, James Wong and Edward’s demands weren’t excessive.
For A-list or B-list directors, such clauses could number as many as forty, fifty, or even a hundred.
Some demanding ones even have specific regulations for food, drinking water, and the bed sheets and covers used in hotels.
In his previous life, Ronan had been a small producer, so he didn’t care much about these trivial details, as long as they weren’t excessive.
What he truly cared about was the actual power within the crew.
Regarding these, he talked with Edward for three days, and on the basis of appropriate compromise, he kept the final decision-making power in his own hands.
For example, James Wong had the right to suggest actors, but the decision-making power remained with the producer; the director could participate in post-production, but the final cut rights still belonged to the producer; the producer could not interfere with the director’s normal shooting, but had veto power over the shots the director filmed.
This is a producer-centric industry; unless one reaches the level of James Cameron and Spielberg, directors are subject to the producer’s control.
At the same time, the two parties also signed another contract.
Sand Sea Entertainment bought out all copyrights for the script of final destination from James Wong and Glen Morgan for $5,000, including sequel rights and merchandising rights.
James Wong and Glen Morgan were both members of the Writers Guild.
Currently, the minimum buyout price for a script stipulated by the Writers Guild is between $4,500 and $50,000, and this price range is directly proportional to the project’s investment.
After the 2008 writers’ strike, the Writers Guild’s minimum buyout price would rise to between $30,000 and $90,000.
In the iron triangle of the crew consisting of screenwriters, actors, and directors, whether in the past, present, or future, the screenwriter is always the most miserable one.
The Writers Guild was never the only union in Hollywood to launch strikes against the Producers Alliance, but as soon as actors’ or directors’ union strikes appeared, the Producers Alliance would quickly negotiate and resolve them, whereas the strike intentions of the Writers Guild always turned into real, major strikes.
In the 1988 Writers Guild strike, a new twenty-year agreement was signed with the Producers Alliance.
As a result, twenty years later, when the writers wanted to fight for more, they were flatly rejected by the Producers Alliance and had no choice but to strike again.
This contract stipulated that James Wong would personally direct this project and serve as a co-producer; in addition to being the screenwriter, Glen Morgan would also serve as an executive producer.
No one is a fool.
James Wong and Glen Morgan agreed to the low-price script buyout in order to gain more power, so they would have more say in the filming and production of final destination.
For any other project, Ronan might have done everything possible to suppress James Wong’s power, but this project gave James Wong power far exceeding that of the purge.
In fact, as long as he held onto the final cut rights and veto power, James Wong couldn’t turn the tables.
Ronan would absolutely not relax his supervision of James Wong just because he was a Chinese director, let alone hand out money and power. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
What would be the difference between that and being a fool?
Business is business.
The contract stipulated that the minimum budget for final destination would be no less than $6 million, and preparation would begin after the release of the purge.
There was no other way; Ronan had no money on hand.
According to James Wong’s preliminary plan, for a simple film like the purge, three to four months from preparation to completion of filming was enough, or even shorter.
Ronan couldn’t touch the money in the stock market.
Therefore, his gaze turned back to Abu Dhabi.
As long as the purge could be released smoothly and the Arab characters in it were portrayed positively, presumably the big shots in Abu Dhabi would be quite satisfied.
As an old friend of the people of the UAE, he could go to Abu Dhabi to meet friends then.
Everyone is a good friend, after all; one must get together from time to time to chat about feelings and catch up on old times.
But going to seek financing again before the purge was released would be a bit stupid.
Just like the first time he went, he always had to bring something convincing.
Having settled the director, Ronan still didn’t relax at all.
There were many things to do regarding work, and he couldn’t relax his studies either.
He bought a dozen more books for the second time and returned to the USC School of Cinematic Arts to consult his former mentor, Professor Johnson, on some production-related issues.
Professor Johnson was nearly sixty, had worked in Hollywood for many years, and later turned to teaching at USC.
The number of behind-the-scenes staff in Hollywood who had a teacher-student relationship with him was quite large.
This network of relationships, which had been abandoned by young Anderson, was not only picked up by Ronan but was also being carefully maintained.
Sand Sea Entertainment needed talent.
Fortunately, he wasn’t fighting alone; he had helpers now.
After recruitment, Sand Sea Entertainment had expanded to ten employees, all of whom had more than three years of experience in the industry.
All of these people would join the crew.
Of course, everyone’s salary and even expenses were all included in the film’s production costs.
Marie was responsible for financial work; creating a clean set of books was of paramount importance.
Robert Lee had secured the location; he had negotiated a house in a suburban town north of the San Fernando Valley.
This house was often used by companies in the San Fernando Valley to shoot all sorts of messy films, and both the interior and exterior were renovated quite beautifully.
Robert Lee had negotiated the lease for the third week of May so the crew could use it for location shooting.
Studio, leasing it from mid-April to mid-July.
With the director and venue secured, the recruitment of other behind-the-scenes staff could be launched on a large scale.
Ronan appropriately respected James Wong’s opinions, and when the salary was similar, he hired the candidates he recommended on a large scale.
James Wong had been in Hollywood for over a decade and had worked in three TV crews for a long time, getting to know numerous relevant industry personnel.
Familiar hands working together were also conducive to filming.
Since he wanted to make the purge, Ronan naturally wanted a successful and excellent film.
In the Warner Bros.
Studio soundstage, Ronan walked out while talking to James Wong.
“I have already inspected the location; the conditions are good,” James Wong said.
“I am currently formulating the relevant shooting plan, and I will submit the full version of the proposal by this Friday at the latest.”
Ronan nodded slightly: “That’s fine.”
James Wong asked: “Have you seen the storyboard?”
“I have,” Ronan said directly.
“Set it up according to your vision.”
In fact, most of the scene setup for the crew’s pre-production was left to James Wong to handle.
Ronan saw it very clearly; even though James Wong hadn’t been a film director, in terms of actual ability on set, he was much better than him.
Moreover, the producer coordinates the overall situation, rather than wasting energy on a specific detailed work project.
Approaching the door of the soundstage, Ronan asked: “Have you selected the camera equipment? Once you’ve selected it, just tell Marie, and she will handle the negotiations.”
James Wong said: “I will submit the detailed list to her tomorrow.”
The two walked out of the small soundstage and suddenly heard a rumbling sound coming from a large soundstage next door; the sound was very loud and clearly audible.
“Which crew is next door?” James Wong asked, frowning.
“A TV crew called Roswell,” Ronan said, having done some research.
“They are shooting action scenes recently. Don’t worry, I specifically asked; they will finish shooting action scenes in early May and switch to location shooting, so there won’t be any impact.”
He thought for a moment and then said: “Once you’ve finished the plan, we’ll start recruiting actors.”
After saying a few more words to James Wong, Ronan walked toward the crew parking lot.
Just as he reached his car, his phone rang; it was actually a call from Carmen Kass.