After the party, Ronald returned his energy to the marketing of the movie.

Two things required his immediate attention. While he and Helen were attending two parties, Daydream's colleagues had already started ringing the phone of Ronald's agent.

This is the disadvantage of being an artist and a businessman at the same time. Directors and producers are one thing, but being a distributor is another. Artists often focus on the preparation and filming of a project day and night for several months.

After editing, you can finally finish it. Then you can rest, recharge, or wander around to absorb inspiration.

Businessmen, on the other hand, have to pay attention to the details of business every day, and then make decisions, big and small, without any time for rest. In English, business and busy are cognate words (Business), which makes sense.

Ronald now felt the attack on himself due to the incompatibility between the two ways of thinking and the way of allocating energy and time.

However, Daydream is still a small company, and before the distribution and production teams can be developed, Ronald still has to be deeply involved in both.

I really don’t know how Roger Corman, who can produce more than 10 movies in parallel and is responsible for the distribution of New World Pictures, does all this?

Moreover, Coleman also opposed hierarchical management and business meetings in enterprises. He decided everything by himself and then ordered his subordinates to do it.

Ronald felt that he could not be like Roger Coleman. If all the energy and time were put into daily management, he would not have time to learn and improve, and he might end up where he is now in his whole life.

level.

In the final analysis, he still prefers to be a director rather than a businessman. It is very simple for him to choose one of the two. If the right person is available, he will throw away the distribution business. It is more comfortable for him to be a producer and director.

There are two things that I am worried about. The first one sounds more troublesome, but it is actually easier to solve.

Just as the box office exploded, there was also the record sales of the movie soundtrack "Dirty Dancing." Because the film's release was delayed for a month, no one cared about the record. After its premiere, the inventory was depleted at a super high speed.

Especially for those record stores located within one mile of the cinema, the new records arriving almost every day are snapped up by the audience who have just left the cinema.

The record stores that had not stocked the goods at the beginning were also calling the record company's distribution department day and night to urge shipments. These phone calls were concentrated, and Jimmy Lehner jumped anxiously when he looked at the empty record warehouse.

The day after the premiere, he contacted the record company to discuss reprinting.

But it turned out that Columbia Records refused to continue producing Ronald's original album. Their production capacity was all occupied by Michael Jackson's new album. Since the release of "Thriller" in 1982, MJ has become the highest-selling album in history.

The pop singer's second album "Bad" will also be released in America at the end of the month.

Therefore, Columbia's record factories are working hard to stock up, and there is no spare production capacity for the production of "Dirty Dancing".

Jimmy Lehner urgently contacted other record companies and learned about the popularity of "Dirty Dancing" in the United States and the phenomenon of audiences turning around to buy records after leaving the theater. These companies were very willing to take over the remaining records.

Production and distribution.

The conditions given by two of them can meet the requirements for rapid production and distribution.

One is David Geffen's Geffen Records, which is willing to take over the "Dirty Dancing" record. All marketing, distribution, production, etc. will be taken care of. Ronald's film company only needs to wait for the release to collect the profits.

.

The other company is the old record company RCA. They don’t want to take over the record, but they are willing to provide production and distribution cooperation. The two parties also use a share method to settle the settlement, but since their investment is not much, the share amount they ask for is also higher than that of Geffen.

of low.

"Who do you think has better conditions?" Ronald asked Jimmy Lehner on the phone.

"I think RCA is still reliable. Originally, this record relied heavily on movies for marketing. Most customers wanted to buy it because they watched the movie or saw the theme song on MTV.

of.

So the conditions proposed by Geffen actually won’t have much effect on us. The share he asked for is also too high, although it can be negotiated.”

"Negotiation..." Ronald thought of David Geffen's previous style of doing things, and had little hope that Jimmy Lehner could negotiate with him to take advantage.

This record company boss signed former Beatles member John Lennon. Before the release of Lennon's album, he was shot dead by a crazy admirer.

Geffen also dated Cher, the heroine of Ronald's next movie "Moonlight". A man who was interested in men openly fell in love with Cher, a beautiful woman, and finally broke up with her.

Get back all the jewelry given to her.

Whether it's luck or shrewdness, Ronald doubts that he is no match for the opponent.

"We don't have much room for negotiation, Jimmy. What matters now is to produce a large number of records as quickly as possible and then distribute them to the national market. If the audience can't buy the records, wait for the hot trend of this movie

In the past, we may have lost more."

"If you think so, Ronald, I will contact RCA again to see if we can negotiate better terms." Jimmy Lehner still thinks like a broker. In his view, every deal is

Allowing employers to get the best terms and brokering deals is a matter of professional ethics.

"Stop talking, just agree to their conditions and sign the contract as soon as possible. I happen to be in New York, you ask their people to come see me."

"Okay, boss. I'll tell you right away."

…

"Director Li, this is our RCA headquarters. Our company invented the 33-rpm LP record in 1931, which can hold more songs than the 78-rpm record that was common at the time."

Jimmy Lehner acted quickly. Early the next morning, Ronald came to RCA's headquarters in New York. A distribution manager took Ronald to visit RCA's historical honor room.

This factory, established in 1929, is a giant in the American record industry. After entering the 1980s, with the support of financial market financing, they acquired 50% of the shares of Bertelsmann's Allista Records, and entered into cooperation with Bertelsmann.

Formed a joint venture to distribute each other's hit records in Europe and America.

After the second term of office, they used signing fees that far exceeded the market price to sign two famous singers, Kenny Rogers and Diana Ross. They tried to capture more of the American record industry.

Big territory.

However, luck was not on RCA's side. Two big stars who were popular in the 1970s and early 1980s, last year, the two stars quickly became popular under the fresh music style. RCA had no choice but to withdraw 25 million worth of money.

Records that can't be sold in record stores.

This year has made things even worse. The album sales of its singers have been sluggish, and they have encountered a superstar like MJ. They have begun to release their second album in five years, which is highly anticipated by music fans.

The fixed budget that music fans spend on records is only so much in a year. And MJ only releases an album every five years, which puts many other companies' new records at a disadvantage.

In the first half of the year, RCA is expected to lose close to 40 million yuan, and the full-year loss may exceed 60 million yuan. Therefore, forced by the situation, RCA's current policy is not to invest huge sums of money in releasing records that require a lot of publicity and marketing.

Ronald's "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack album fits their needs perfectly. They can not only use the effect of the movie to avoid marketing expenses, but also absorb the production capacity vacated by the weak record sales of the two superstars.

Therefore, everyone at RCA respected Ronald. A vice president specifically discussed the details of cooperation with Ronald after he visited the record company's history.

"We at RCA also have many distribution channels in Europe. Will your movie be distributed in Europe?"

"Of course, I have signed distribution intentions with many distributors at the Cannes Film Festival. Now the box office of the movie has exceeded expectations. I think we will have many fans in Europe, and they also want to buy a record.

Learn the mambo.”

Ronald was very confident that he could sell copies all over the world and kept telling the good news in front of the vice president of RCA.

After all, the greater the volume of records released, the cheaper RCA's production costs would be, and they would be more willing to give up a certain amount of profits to Ronald's daydream.

"If, I mean, by that time, when Dirty Dancing becomes a box office success in Europe, we can distribute the goods through channels there. At that time, our share can be reduced by 10% on the original basis."

The vice president did the math and found that with the current momentum, it would be easy to surpass the platinum record. In the long run, there would even be several platinum sales. By then, the average cost of each record would be so low that it would make the company's financial director laugh out loud.

Come on, the most important thing now is to win this guaranteed profit without losing money.

"make a deal!"

When Ronald heard that there was such a good thing, he immediately stretched out his hand to shake hands with the other party.

Now another factory as big as RCA has taken the initiative to extend an olive branch. All the production capacity is ready, and it can quickly produce and distribute goods to all towns in America within a week. What better partner could there be?

Moreover, they have a joint venture with Bertelsmann, Europe's largest publishing group, and have ready-made overseas sales channels. "Dirty Dancing" will make both RCA and Daydream money-making.

"Mr. Mickey Kanter's team will be fully responsible for our contract issues. He will come over tomorrow to discuss the signing with you. Jimmy Lehner, as my plenipotentiary representative, will sign a contract with you as soon as possible."

"Very good, we can actually start preparing for production in advance. After signing the contract tomorrow, the production line can be started." The vice president was very satisfied. It is really hard to find such a cheerful person.

…

By evening, Ronald and Cynthia Rhodes were on a plane bound for Nashville, Tennessee.

They both sat together in the business class cabin. As soon as Ronald got on the plane, he took out a pen and notebook and started writing something.

"Are you writing your next work?" Cynthia Rhodes had just taken off her shoes and was resting comfortably while reading the wine list. Ronald had just achieved great success at the box office, and it was surprising that he was still so diligent.

She felt that this person was destined to succeed.

"No, I'm analyzing the reasons why our movie is particularly successful in the southern region." Ronald showed the notebook to Cynthia.

"The box office here, based on the standard of an average single theater, is actually higher than that in New York, which is really surprising. I think this issue needs to be figured out before I can decide whether to increase marketing investment in the southern region, or even more

Hold some fan meetings."

"I don't understand, but the story of this movie really makes the girls in my hometown like it. They have called me many times and they all said that I acted well." Cynthia Rhodes was not interested in these, and

I'm talking about my own experience.

"This is what I don't understand. Your hometown is a small town. Why do girls there like this movie? The story takes place in New York in 1963. A rich girl falls in love with a poor boy. What do you think?

It’s not in line with the conservative style of the South.”

Ronald closed his notebook. This question had troubled him for several days. If he couldn't come up with a reasonable answer, it would be a bit risky to rashly invest more money.

Although the box office of "Dirty Dancing" is expected to be very good, it will take a long time to settle the payment. Ronald does not have much money to invest in marketing now, so he can only choose a breakthrough point and concentrate resources. Sprinkle a little everywhere.

Money, firstly, may not be effective, and secondly, it is not enough to spend.

"The city of Nashville is actually not conservative. There are many record companies in the town, and it is also the mecca of rock music. It cannot be conservative. But outside of the center where many record companies gather, the rest of the place is still very conservative."

Cynthia Rhodes gave Ronald a brief introduction to Nashville's style. In the southern state of Tennessee, it is considered open-minded, but compared to New York and Los Angeles, it is much more conservative.

…
To be continued...