Professional Knockoff Movies

Wald Pictures.

As soon as Zucker entered the company lobby, he was met with a warm welcome from the employees of Wald Pictures.

It wasn't just because Zucker was the boss, but because of the success of Run Lola Run.

Since its release on April 5th, twenty days had passed, and Run Lola Run had performed quite well at the box office—at least, that was the case for a company like Wald. Having just received the box office report from yesterday morning, Run Lola Run had already grossed $13.7 million in North America. Compared to its production cost of only $800,000 and the fact that it was Wald Pictures' first theatrical release, it could be described as nothing short of brilliant.

"$13.7 million at the box office?"

"And that's just the beginning. Once I raise the funds and shoot Spider-Man 1, that nearly $1 billion box office haul will scare the hell out of you all!"

Although Zucker was happy, he didn't feel any major fluctuations in his mood.

Having transmigrated nearly a year ago, he had seen enough big scenes that he no longer jumped around with excitement like he did at the beginning.

He walked into the office of CEO Victor.

Zucker got straight to the point and tossed four scripts onto his desk: "Victor, these are the results of my recent hard work—four scripts."

Hearing this, Victor took them and began to browse through them.

Not long after, Victor exclaimed: "Boss, did you write these scripts in the last ten days?"

"That's right!" Zucker nodded with a hint of pride.

I'm awesome, aren't I!

Well, even if it was technically cheating.

"Boss, I won't say much else, but The Sixth Sense is truly brilliant. Especially the twist at the end—it's a god-tier twist. Once it's filmed, it will most likely make a fortune."

"Of course, we can't film it right now; the cost is too high."

"However, the other three scripts are also good, at least in terms of low costs. Especially the Wrong Turn series. Without saying too much, if we shoot one a year, it can provide the company with a stable profit of at least $2 million annually."

Victor continued to critique the scripts one by one.

Zucker nodded in agreement.

The two chatted for a while, and without further ado, they immediately summoned the company's screenwriters to begin supplementing and revising the content of the four scripts.

Zucker had no objections to this.

I only have these few tricks up my sleeve. If I don't have professional screenwriters revise them and just film them as they are, things might go wrong, Zucker thought to himself.

What was the company paying these screenwriters for, anyway?

Isn't that exactly what they are for?!

Hollywood is known by later generations as a cinematic assembly line, and this is perfectly reflected in the screenwriting process. Usually, a single script is completed by several people.

If you are good at emotional scenes, then good, you are responsible for the emotional writing;

If you are good at action scenes, you are responsible for the fight choreography;

If you are good at story content, you are responsible for the dialogue and narrative;

In short, everyone is a member of the assembly line, working together to create a relatively perfect product.

"Victor, keep a close eye on this. I'm going to head out now; I need to go home and get some sleep."

Just as Zucker was about to leave, Martha, the head of the company's legal and accounting departments, stopped him: "Boss, should the screenwriting fees for Run Lola Run also be deposited into your salary account?"

Zucker thought for a moment and mused: "Hold off on that. I'll give you a new account number in a few days. From now on, deposit all producer fees, screenwriting fees, and copyright payments into the new card."

"Understood, boss."

Martha left.

That's right, as the boss, Zucker received a salary every week and every month.

That is how Hollywood works, or rather, how the entire United States works.

Wald Pictures was a company wholly owned by Zucker, yes, but Zucker still had to draw a salary. Not only that, but since Zucker directed the film Run Lola Run, he also had to receive his director's fee, including the payment for the script transfer.

Business and personal matters must be kept separate!

Transparent!

Individuals and companies must be accounted for separately.

There is a popular saying in the United States: "The company is yours, but it also belongs to everyone!"

This means: You are the boss of the company, and you have the right to decide anything, but your use of funds must go through professional auditing to ensure the interests of everyone in the company.

For example, with Run Lola Run, Zucker's director fee was $30,000, the script transfer fee was $20,000, and he also received a 3% share of the box office profits for serving as the producer.

This money goes into Zucker's personal account, not the company's account.

For the four films Wrong Turn, The Sixth Sense, Juno, and Hard Candy, Zucker would also collect script fees.

Back home, after a good night's sleep, Zucker lay in bed and began to think about the future.

The production costs for the two films, Hard Candy and Wrong Turn, were low; they could be completed for a combined total of $3 million. However, in the short term, only shooting two films would be a bit too slow for Zucker's development.

"Is there really no such thing as a low-cost, short-production-time movie that can guarantee a profit?"

"Sigh~! What am I thinking? How could such a thing exist?!"

"Huh?"

"Wait, it actually might!"

As he pondered, a sudden flash of inspiration struck Zucker; there really was a movie business that was a guaranteed win.

--Mockbusters!

Zucker thought of a Hollywood story he had learned about in his past life.

100 Million BC, Transmorphers, The Da Vinci Treasure, Atlantic Rim, 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea... When you hear these titles, is your first reaction that they sound familiar, yet something feels off?

That's right, they are both familiar and strange!

All of the above films were produced by a movie company called The Asylum, which churned out "hype-riding" and "IP-trolling" works based on the annual Hollywood blockbusters.

Ever since they first knocked off Spielberg's War of the Worlds and sold 100,000 copies, they had adhered to the philosophy of "high concept" (brilliant ideas) and "low cost" (cheap special effects), focusing entirely on the business of making mockbusters.

When 10,000 BC became a hit, they filmed 100 Million BC;

When Transformers became a hit, they filmed Transmorphers;

When Pacific Rim became a hit, they filmed Atlantic Rim;

In short, whatever was popular, they would make a movie about it.

Because the costs were so low, as long as they put a little effort into riding the hype, it was absolutely a business that could not lose money.

Not only that, taking the original Hollywood blockbuster Battleship as an example, the main production ended up failing at the box office with a loss of $200 million, while the mockbuster-focused company The Asylum saw their film American Warships not only recoup its costs but also earn a 50% profit—$250,000...

Interestingly, most of the company's "mockbusters" were completed and ready for release even before the original films hit theaters.

Of course, producing so many mockbusters would inevitably lead to lawsuits.

But, don't be afraid!

They had plenty of tricks up their sleeves!

For example: in 2012, The Asylum released Age of the Hobbits on November 11th, selling DVDs three days before the official The Hobbit was released in North America.

The producers of The Hobbit took The Asylum to court. However, the company argued that the hobbits in their film were not the hobbits from Tolkien's books, but were instead based on a real human subspecies (Homo floresiensis, discovered in Indonesia in 2003), a species referred to as "hobbits" in the scientific community.

In the end, they were ruled to be legal!

"This is fantastic. If they can do it, why can't I? If The Asylum can make mockbusters in the future, then I can do it right now!"

Zucker couldn't help but think of this year's box office champion, Independence Day.

If you call yourself Independence Day, then my mockbuster will be called Not Independence Day.

Who doesn't know how to ride a wave of hype!

Well, if this happened to an average person, they really wouldn't be able to do it; it's just too shameless!

But then again, Zucker's "bottom line" was low to begin with!