Heads Up Hollywood

In the United States, there are very strict restrictions on the working hours of employees. Working 8 hours a day is not only deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but also strictly enforced by law.

However, high-level talents with real pursuit and goals are not bound by such conditions at all.

For example, Elon Musk, the head of paypal, is a workaholic, working more than 18 hours a day! Sleeping in the office every night, throwing a sleeping bag on the ground, kicking the employee to wake him up after work the next day, and then continuing to work;

For example, Jobs, the person in charge of Apple, is a vegetarian, but he insists on getting up at 4 o'clock every day, exercising, checking emails, and starting a day's work. In many cases, he has to work overtime until late at night;

For example, the president of Dunn Films, Bill McNick, works more than 14 hours a day, especially after the company has added the STA TV network business, his work is even busier, and he has to make a phone call when he takes a shower Meeting;

Even Disney's Michael Eisner, who has no private life at all, puts all his energy into work, except sleep, and then work...

The more successful people are, the harder they work. Such people work not for overtime pay, but for an obsession and a pursuit in their hearts.

But Tang En was an exception. His daily working hours were strictly limited to 8 hours, and during these 8 hours, he often did some mindless things.

For example, send an ambiguous email to a certain female star, make an intimate phone call to a certain beautiful girl, or even call a certain beauty to the office directly, to be gentle...

Tang En is nominally the CEO of the company, but in fact, he is more like the chairman of Tang En Pictures, and is only responsible for some general directions at the strategic level.

Of course, it also includes some of Tang En's core business - content production.

Whether it's a movie or an American TV show, the final hurdle of content production is the big boss Tang En who makes the final decision.

Recently, the starring role of "Ghost Rider" has finally been confirmed. It is the British actor Clive Owen. The image of the "spiritual knight".

Nicolas Cage certainly has a bit of "evil spirit", but in terms of physical condition, Clive Owen is better.

The original version of "Ghost Rider" was produced by Sony Pictures. The only selling point was Nicolas Cage's demon transformation, but the budget was too low, resulting in insufficient plot and exquisite screen production, which was criticized by film critics.

Even so, "Ghost Rider 1" also won a global box office of 230 million US dollars.

Of course, "Ghost Rider" produced by Twain can't repeat the old pattern. The budget is sufficient, reaching 150 million US dollars.

The production of the script is even more exciting!

In order to write this script, Tang En specially set up a "Project Management Committee", which was in charge of the experienced producer Frank Marshall. Many departments, such as the screenwriting department of Weiying Films, brainstormed and created classics!

The screenwriters selected by Tang En through the "Sunglasses System" all have incredible screenwriting abilities. The problem is that the content they write may not necessarily conform to the market trend. Classics do not mean they are liked by movie fans.

This requires the coordination and unification of the production department, market analysis department and many other departments.

Just yesterday, Frank Marshall directly rejected a version of the script of "Ghost Rider", and then, with the approval of Twain, invited a big screenwriter to join in and assist him in leading the "Project Management Committee". The name is Frank Darabont.

Who is Frank Darabont?

He is the producer, director and screenwriter of "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile"!

Tang En was highly concerned about this, so he wrote a special note and handed it to the project management committee, telling them that the core concept of the script can be referred to Buddhist philosophy, and summed up in one sentence: "If I don't go to hell, who will go to hell?"

For entertainment-style movies such as "Spider-Man" and "Ant-Man", the script is very simple, and a simple adaptation of the comics is enough, mainly adding some humorous elements;

Serious and dark-style scripts like "Daredevil" and "Ghost Rider" are very difficult to be popular in the market and have sufficient depth of thought and philosophical thinking.

The script of "Daredevil" was written by the Nolan brothers, and Twain had great confidence in them.

The script for "Ghost Rider" was much more difficult.

But what worried Tang En even more was not the script of "Ghost Rider", but a hit American drama that could make STA TV network continue to climb!

"Band of Brothers" brought STA great fame and became the most famous professional cable TV network in the United States!

But after the broadcast of "Band of Brothers", the audience of STA seemed to have something to say all of a sudden.

Compared with "Band of Brothers", other American dramas... are always a little bit less tasteful.

Of course Tang En knew this truth, but the question was what kind of theme should the film be based on, a hit TV series?

On this day, J.J. Abrams came to visit and expressed his willingness to cooperate with Tang En Pictures to make a big-budget TV series.

In other words, he gave up the TV project "Lost" with ABC.

Tang En was in a good mood. It weakened Disney's strength on the one hand, and more importantly, he brought in Abrams, a sci-fi genius with unlimited potential.

Sure enough, when Abrams heard that Twain hadn't decided what type of big-budget American TV series he wanted to make, he immediately said, "I heard that Twain Films bought the copy of Stephen King's classic novel "The Dark Tower". TV drama copyright, is it true?"

Tang En couldn't help laughing, and nodded, "It's true, but... I don't think "The Dark Tower" has the potential to be adapted, at least not for now."

"The Dark Tower is very famous. Stephen King has hundreds of millions of book fans, which is very consistent with the added film value in the hit theory you mentioned." Abrams looked confused.

Tang En said: "Indeed, "The Dark Tower" has some added value, but it's not enough! Especially what is the most popular theme at the moment? It's an epic fantasy drama! The screenwriting direction of "Ghost Rider" is also moving closer to this direction... …Forget it, let’s not talk about that. I mean that with the popularity of "The Chronicles of Narnia", "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter", the genre of magic and fantasy will become the biggest hit at the moment."

"Harry Potter?"

Abrams was slightly taken aback.

Tang En smiled, "The first movie "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" will be released this year on Christmas, and it will definitely hit the box office."

Abrams nodded. Movies produced by Twain, box office... have never been a problem.

It's just that what he is best at is science fiction, not fantasy, which makes him somewhat embarrassed.

What kind of idea should you be looking for?

Being creative is not enough. According to Tang En’s theory, if you want to create a blockbuster, you must have additional film value, that is to say, it is adapted from related novels, real events, historical stories, games, and toys (that is, IP attributes ).

Abrams raised his brows, "I watched a movie a few days ago. By the way, the producer is still you. It is "Resident Evil" directed by Zack Snyder. I think it is very interesting and very interesting. Adaptation value. Last year's "Tomb Raider" and this year's "Resident Evil", I think game adaptations are also a major direction."

Tang En nodded and said: "Yes, "Resident Evil" is indeed a very good subject matter, without genre, there is a lot of room for expansion."

In fact, Twain has also thought about it these past few days. He wants to shoot "The Walking Dead" and focus on creating it.

This is the leading work of the AMC TV network, and its influence in North America is no less than that of "Game of Thrones". The director happens to be Frank Darabont!

But think about it carefully, no.

The "Walking Dead" filmed by the AMC television network is actually based on the comic book of the same name in 2003. This series of comics was popular in the United States for 7 years before it was remade into a TV series.

In other words, the success of "The Walking Dead" is also a product of IP adaptation.

In 2002, this was an original theme, and it was difficult to generate a hit effect like the previous life.

But Twain also made up his mind that "The Walking Dead" should be filmed as soon as possible, and when Frank Darabont finishes writing "Ghost Rider", he will be invited to direct "The Walking Dead"!

This is a connotation drama full of doomsday feelings and full of human torture. The focus of the series is not to create suspense and stimulate the senses, but to shape and excavate human nature. It is thoughtful and in-depth, which will help STA TV network to build its brand.

But "The Walking Dead" is just an auxiliary American drama, and STA TV network needs a real trump card!

Tang En said: "Actually, my original plan was to adapt "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" into TV series, but the movie "Lord of the Rings" is currently being released, and the timeline is wrong."

Abrams seems to be still immersed in the topic just now, "Fantasy epics are popular, and game adaptations are also popular. If the two can be combined, maybe there will be a chemical reaction."

"What?"

Tang En suddenly changed, and his eyes opened wide.

Abrams was a little dazed, "What's wrong? I said... I said chemical reaction, this is a metaphor..."

"No! The previous sentence!" Tang En's emotions suddenly became agitated, and his eyes burned.

Abrams said: "The previous sentence...I said that fantasy epics and game adaptations can be combined."

"That's right, that's the sentence!"

Tang En slapped his thigh excitedly.

Abrams also understood something, and was a little excited, "Mr. Walker, you... have you thought of something?"

"Haha." Dunn laughed a few times, "Jeff, have you ever played a game?"

"what game?"

"Warcraft"