Ranli knew it was not easy to choose a suitable project from a huge mountain of scripts, but the actual operation process was even more difficult than expected. To be precise, the things that need to be considered for selecting potential projects for film production companies are obviously different from personal situations.

If Lan Li chooses works for herself, the only criterion for personal orientation is the only criterion. Putting aside the awards season and box office, just selecting the works you like. The same is true for works such as "Love Crazy", "Descendant", "Drunk Country Folk Song" and other works. The box office outbreaks, including "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Gravity" can also be said to be unexpected.

But now it is to select works for Sisyphus Pictures:

If you choose Oscar works, then the bond between Sisyphus Pictures and Sony Classics will become deeper and deeper, and you must face the encirclement of Weinstein Pictures. Even if you put aside these things, whether the fledgling Sisyphus Pictures has the ability to join the academy's public relations game. After all, their opponents are all old foxes. If you are not careful, even the works that won the nomination in the previous life may be eliminated due to operational revisions.

If you choose a box office work, then the investment cost will be a key issue. With Sisyphus Pictures' current capabilities, investing a work of $100 million is the limit, not a problem of capital flow, but a problem of subsequent risk taking. Even if Lanli can ensure that the project script and cast are on the right path, the shooting process of a work has the potential to go in the wrong direction, which is not a part he can guarantee.

If you choose art works, it is obvious that the investment and return ratio will become a long-term problem for Sisyphus Pictures. They cannot expect the Sundance Film Festival to accept all the works in a wide range of ways, nor can they expect the streaming media platform that has no shadow yet. They will inevitably have difficulty in the early operation process.

In fact, the most core reason is that ambition and ability cannot match.

When Brad Pitt, George Clooney and others set up film production companies, they basically started around themselves, starring themselves or directed by themselves, one or two works, and slowly produced them in an orderly manner, and then seek cooperation. No matter what type of work it is, they don’t have to worry about it. They can find channels with their fame and resources, subsequent distribution and promotion.

The same is true for both "Explosion Drummer" and "Night Walker".

But now Sisyphus Pictures needs to go further, so things become tricky, needing consideration, measuring, and planning gradually more.

However, in the end, Renly found a relatively simple way to temporarily select the works with "potentiality", and then conduct the second and third rounds of screening, select works suitable for Sisyphus Pictures to be invested in production at this stage, putting them aside from the awards season and streaming media, and even Sundance was not included in the scope of consideration. It was purely considered from Sisyphus Pictures' standpoint.

In the final analysis, Sisyphus Films was established to produce excellent works, and this is the original intention.

No wonder everyone says that fame and fortune are easy to make people lose.

Even though Lan Li has experienced countless storms, she is still confused when she is truly standing at the top of the pyramid. Her ambitions gradually expand without realizing it. She forgets her original purpose without knowing it, and her mind is full of things like "profits, awards, success, box office, honor, fame, popularity, and glory", and then she loses herself like this.

When he first read the script, Renli couldn't help but feel impetuous. Because he thought too much, he had too many concerns, and instead lost his original intention of appreciating the script. However, when he went to Berlin and immersed in the atmosphere of the film festival, although his cooperation was not honest, Renli gradually became sober and calmed down.

This is also a regrettable unexpected gain.

After calming down, the action of screening the script gradually became clear and clear, and the speed and efficiency of listing were significantly improved, which led to the list in Andrei's hand.

Undoubtedly, it is the easiest to choose Oscar-based works, not because Renly targeted the Oscars, but because he won the Oscar nomination or even the award-winning works in his previous life, he always had a deeper impression, so he was inevitably paying more attention when browsing the script.

But even Oscar-based works can be divided into two types. One is "The King's Speech", "Artist" and many biographical films are like this; the other is works whose artistic value orientation is more suitable for mainstream ideas, such as equal rights for minorities, including women and race, etc., such as upholding justice and inspiring life.

In addition, in addition to these two types, there is another type that cannot be regarded as a type, that is, the type that is unintentionally planted willows, "detachment", "drunk folk songs", "love crazy", "explosive drummer", etc. They are all the same. They are not typical college styles, but unexpectedly won praise after they were released. Then, under the effective college public relations operation, they entered the ranks of awards season.

However, the reason why it is said to be "non-type types" is that such works are hard to come by and can't be found. They are difficult to find a stable rule or template, they cannot be mass-produced, and they cannot be produced in assembly lines. This also makes major film companies less interested and unwilling to take risks.

For Sisyphus Pictures, works outside the third type are actually opportunities.

Whether it is the first or second type, most scripts are already controlled by mainstream film production companies. In addition to the six major Hollywood stars, Weinstein Pictures, Lionsgate Pictures, Roadside Landscape Pictures, etc., they have formed their own mature production systems, and they must mass-produce some types of works for the sake of Oscars every year. These script projects cannot escape the scope of biography, equal rights, inspiration, etc., and occasionally attempts to go astray are limited.

But the third type of script is like "Drunk Country Songs" and "Explosive Drummer". All major brands have more or less handled it once or twice, but in the end they still lack the courage to invest in production, and now it has become an opportunity for Sisyphus Pictures.

In addition to "Carol" and "Brooklyn" mentioned by Renly and Rooney, he also selected eight works.

"Nocturne", directed by Tom Ford, starring Jack Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams, nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the Oscar.

"Border Killer", directed by Dennis Villeneuve, starring Emily Blunt, and three Oscar nominations.

"Manchester by the Sea", starring Cassie Affleck, has six Oscar nominations and won Best Actor.

"Focus", directed by Tom McCarthy, nominated for six Oscars and won Best Picture.

"The Room", starring Brie-larson, has four Oscar nominations and won Best Actress.

"Big Short", directed by Adam McKay, starring Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling and others, and has five Oscar nominations.

"The Revenant" directed by Arisandro Gonzalez Inaritu, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, twelve Oscar nominations and won Best Director and Best Actor.

"45th Anniversary", directed by Andrew Haigh, nominated for Best Actress in the Oscar.

The above eight works have one thing in common: none of them are typical academic works, but they are in line with the overall trend of the academy's value orientation. Relying on excellent reputation and strong public relations, they finally successfully won a place at the Oscars and made a bloody road from the awards season.

Adding to "Carol" and "Brooklyn", there are a total of ten works.

Sisyphus Pictures should not be greedy. They only need to produce two to three works, up to four, which is enough to allow them to quickly gain a foothold in the next two years. Putting aside the little golden man, at least they can build their own reputation, just like Renli, winning a place in the industry with its excellent and high-quality brand image.

In fact, there were still some small surprises among the ten projects.

"Big Short" is a Paramount project, adapted from a non-fiction work by Michael Lewis. After his previous works "Weaknesses" and "Punishment Got Gold" were adapted into a movie, they both entered the Oscar nomination stage. It can be said to be a hot awards season project, which can be seen from the strong cast.

According to the trajectory of his previous life, this work was produced by Brad Pitt, and his production company B, which he owns, participated in the production; but Paramount still has not approved the filming, and even came to Sisyphus Pictures, which is quite interesting.

Lanley's confusion found the answer to Andy: Paramount believed that the work was too risky and revealed the truth about the 2008 subprime mortgage financial crisis in the United States in a playful and ridiculous way. This may hurt Wall Street's pride and eventually led to a crushing defeat in the work. So they refused to let it go easily and asked director Adam McKay to agree to film the sequel to "Ace Announcer" before he was willing to give the green light.

Adam McKay, who was filming comedy, is trying to complete the transformation through a "big short seller", but now he is forced to return to the habitual routine by Paramount. To be honest, he is not very happy; and the previous work of "Ace announcer" is a work from ten years ago, and now restarting the sequel sounds like a bad idea

Like Universal Pictures, Paramount has been in troughs in recent years, and the constraints of the capital chain have formed a vicious cycle, which has led to their market share declining all the way. They can only helplessly explore more possibilities from previous works.

Now, Adam McKay and Paramount are in a stalemate, and at the same time, the "big short" project has begun to change hands among other film companies, and no company has stepped forward to take over yet.

In addition, the emergence of the two projects "Focus" and "Wild Revenant" is also a surprise.
Chapter completed!