Registering a company does not mean that Zhang Ran wants to stay in Hollywood to develop, but a necessary step in financing. In fact, in the United States, no matter whether it is an independent film or a movie from the six major film companies, anyone who needs to borrow from a bank or receive government subsidies will set up a production company. This new company is generally a short-term company in 11 fiscal years, which means that after 11 years, the company no longer exists.

Because most movies involve an important part of pre-sale, take the movies of the six major film companies as an example. The important part of the launch of a movie project is pre-sale. Only when the pre-sale amount accounts for more than 30% of the total investment can the financing activities be continued, otherwise the project will not be launched. The pre-sale ratio of independent movies will be higher, because financing mainly relies on pre-sales.

What you get after the pre-sale of the movie is not cash, but a pre-sale contract. At this time, you have to use the pre-sale contract to apply for a loan from the bank that specializes in loaning to the film company. The bank will lend you a loan of 60% of the pre-sale contract amount. If the pre-sale payment is 50 million US dollars, the bank will lend you another 30 million and directly use your pre-sale contract to mortgage it.

However, a pre-sale contract cannot be borrowed from the bank, because the pre-sale contract must be completed before it can be fulfilled. If the budget for half of the movie is not enough, or the movie dies due to other reasons, the bank's money will not be collected. Therefore, a very important mechanism will be introduced at this time, called film-finishing guarantee. That is, the insurance company guarantees that the movie is completed within the construction period and budget and delivered to the distributor. Otherwise, the insurance company will bear the related losses. With the film-finishing guarantee, the bank's risk will be reduced, and the producer can borrow from the bank.

However, for insurance companies, in order to reduce their own risks, they often require the producer to mortgage the original copyright of the movie. At this time, the producer will register a company, and the entire assets of the company are the copyright of the movie, and the entire company is mortgaged to the insurance company. Once the movie is overspent or the movie dies due to other reasons, the insurance company will pay to finish the movie and compensate the investors. At the same time, your copyright as the developer will be gone. The copyright of the movie belongs to the insurance company.

Registering a company in the United States is not difficult, and the registration process is relatively simple, and documents that can be obtained in fifteen days after registration.

However, after that, Zhang Ran had signed countless agreements. He ran for a full week and signed all the trade unions and other agreements that could be signed.

That morning, Zhang Ran came to the crew's office. Whether it was an independent movie or a major movie, the office would be rented from the start of the crew's preparation, and the entire movie would be operated centered on the production office.

The office was rented by Neil. More than a month ago, after Zhang Ran received 20 million yuan from IDG, he transferred 500,000 yuan to Neil and asked him to organize the production office. He did a good job.

Neil pointed to a bloated aunt beside him with a smile and introduced: "Robin, this is Mary Fein Mary, this is director Robin."

Zhang Ran shook hands with Mary Fein enthusiastically: "Hello, Ms. Fein. I'm glad to work with you!"

The casting directors are basically women, and the casting director Neil found is naturally Mary Fein. She is an aunt over 60 years old. Her waist is thicker than Zhang Ran’s two films, and she looks very friendly with a smile.

Although Mary Fein seems to be unpretentious, she is famous in the casting director circle. She has castings such as "Batman Forever", "Terminator 2", "Titanic", and "The Matrix".

After a brief chat, Neil led Zhang Ran and Mary Fein into the conference room to discuss casting. One of the movies of the six major film companies is to finalize the protagonist for a long time before the protagonist is finalized, and they are only responsible for the selection of supporting roles. Independent films like Zhang Ran and others are different. They usually hire casting directors after the project is started. Casting directors can find actors with financing ability.

The relevant documents prepared by Mary Fein himself were distributed to Zhang Ran and Neil, explaining: "This is the biography of the characters I have compiled and the list of candidates for candidates. You can take a look first, and then we will discuss them one by one, and come up with a list of candidates for combinations so that I can contact the actors."

Zhang Ran picked up the file provided by Mary Fein and slowly opened it. The front was the character's biography.

The male protagonist, Jason, is about 30 years old, unmarried, a company employee, has a special physique and can see another time and space. He has always been troubled by his own unique abilities and is kind-hearted.

The male protagonist, Alexander, is about 35 years old, unmarried, a scientist, has the ability to travel through six different time and space, is the controller of the Free Heaven, and is the god in the mouths of countless believers, trying to dominate the six worlds.

...

After the casting director takes over the casting work, the first thing he does is to read the script and organize the character's biography. If he doesn't even know what kind of person the character is and what various characteristics are, he will definitely not be able to choose the ideal candidate.

At the same time, during the casting process, the casting director only has the protagonist, or only big stars, to read the script. The recruitment of other supporting roles, especially those who audition publicly, often only post biography. When the actors see the biography and feel that they are more in line with the characters' images, they will come to the audition. Otherwise, the director will recruit a sexy girl in his 20s and end up with a group of 60-year-old aunties, which is a waste of time.

Zhang Ran nodded. He is worthy of being a character who has been engaged in casting for decades. He has rich experience and has a very accurate analysis of the character. He outlined the character's characteristics in just a few words. Then, he continued to look back and found the list of actors provided by Mary Fein.

She only listed four names for the male lead Jason, Keanu Reeves, Hugh Jackman, Brad Pitt, and the unexpected Will Smith. The other three are understandable. Will Smith is really a bit surprised Zhang Ran, but thinking about the fact that "The Matrix" was about to find Will Smith to play, I felt relieved.

The role of the second male villain Alexander, in addition to Gary Oldman, there are also a series of names such as Kevin Becken and John Markovic, which are dazzling. These people have excellent acting skills and have created many classic bad guys, such as the bad policeman created by Gary Oldman in "This Killer Not Too Cold" and the villain created by John Markovic in "The Air Prison".

The same is true for other characters. As long as they are characters with lines, each one is followed by a long list. The casting director is responsible for casting roles other than temporary actors.

Zhang Ran looked at the list in his hand and tapped the table with his fingers. He pondered: "There are two problems. Our movie will be filmed in Vancouver, which involves tax refunds. In addition to a few starring actors, it is best to recruit Canadian and even Vancouver actors."

Mary Fein nodded and said, "No problem, I'll re-program the list. What's the other problem?"

Zhang Ran said seriously: We'd better choose an actor who doesn't have a clear political tendency. Those with clear political tendencies should be eliminated!"

This was the first time Mary Fein encountered such a request and asked in confusion: "Why, is this important?"

Zhang Ran nodded and said, "It's very important. I don't want my movie to be involved in boring political storms, which makes this movie impossible to be released in my own country."

The simplest example is that "The Flowers of War" was premiered in China. Bale came to the country to promote it, but went to see a blind man, which led to a political storm. Fortunately, Lao Mouzi made contributions to the country in the 2008 Olympics. In addition, "The Flowers of War" is a movie about the massacre, so he was only asked to significantly reduce the publicity of "The Flowers of War".

If you change to another director or another movie, you might be banned. For the producers, there might be no better choice except jumping off the building. Zhang Ran would never dare to joke about such things. He would rather not use it than take risks.

Mary Fein nodded and said, "Okay, I understand!"

Next, Zhang Ran, Neil and Mary Fein began to discuss the specific list of actors. The casting of supporting roles can be placed behind, but the casting of the protagonist must be carried out as soon as possible, which involves the pre-sale of the movie.

The choice of the male lead is crucial. Keanu Reeves is the number one candidate in Zhang Ran's heart. Mary Fein also thinks Keanu Reeves is the best choice. She has worked with Keanu Reeves and is a little worried: "Robin. Our script is very exciting, and I believe it will be an excellent movie. But in terms of the role, the male lead Alexander is closer to Neo in "The Matrix", and I am worried that Keanu will refuse!"

Zhang Ran nodded. Keanu Reeves is an alien in Hollywood. He has always done his own things and only did what he likes. He is known as Keanuism. As for the role, the characters do have close connections. With Keanu Reeves' personality, it is really possible to be rejected.

However, Zhang Ran was confident to convince Keanu Reeves that no matter how personal he had, he was also an actor. If he was an actor, he had the pursuit of an actor: "If he refused, don't rush to contact others first. I will find a way to meet him and talk to him in person. If it doesn't work, we are contacting the next actor!"

Everyone had different opinions on the candidate for the second villain of the male lead. Zhang Ran wanted to invite Adrian Braudy to play, but Mary Fein had objections to this. She explained: "Blaudy is a very good actor with excellent acting skills. But he is too melancholy and thin. He is a very positive character and does not match the role!"

Zhang Ran did not explain, picked up the script and flipped into one of the paragraphs, and read: "You won't understand. A person has been forced to witness countless strange shadows that cannot be explained since he was a child, and they are flying in front of your eyes all the time. I dare not tell anyone what I saw with my own eyes. I am afraid that they will put me in a mad asylum. I am very scared! He is a person who lives a very painful life, and Braudy's melancholy temperament is exactly what I want!"

Neil and Mary Fein turned to the script, turned to the page that Zhang Ran read, and read carefully. Soon Mary Fein raised his head: "You are right. Braudy may not be very consistent in his image, but his temperament is very consistent!"

When it is almost eleven o'clock, the final candidate list is finalized. Each character has three alternatives, so that when the first person refuses, you may contact the second person as soon as possible.

Hollywood shows scripts for big stars, and one role can only be shown to one actor. Take Zhang Ran and others for example. Mary Fein gives the script to Keanu Reeves, but he can't show it to Hugh Jackman. Only after Keanu Reeves finishes reading and he refuses this role can the script be shown to the next actor. Therefore, the process of casting in Hollywood movies is generally longer.

Zhang Ran didn't know when he would be able to really finalize the starring lineup, and the decision was not in his hands. However, Zhang Ran had no time to wait, so he took the plane to New York in the afternoon. There was an important person in New York that needed to meet. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!