Annecy

The original shooting schedule for "Effervescent" was supposed to begin at the end of July, with the aim of completing the filming by the end of August.

One month of shooting time should have been sufficient in theory, as the film didn't involve any major scenes. Most of the scenes were set in two or three locations, avoiding frequent transitions.

It was slightly more challenging than "Buried", which had finished shooting in three weeks.

But ideals were beautiful, and the gap between them and reality was hard to bear.

Lyman and René hadn't been involved in the pre-production of the crew. Thomas had been running around frantically on his own and couldn't prepare everything quickly.

Now it was already mid-August, and Lyman finally remembered his work.

In the afternoon, the three of them arrived at Paris International Airport smoothly. The flight was delayed by about half an hour, but that was still considered normal.

Once they passed through the ticket gate, Lyman quickly made a call to the people from EuropaCorp.

"How is it?" Eva asked when she saw Lyman hang up the phone.

"They're waiting at the gate. I told them not to come over to greet us and that they'll take us directly to the set."

...

To be honest, the weather in Paris was not as good as in Los Angeles. It was already August, and the heat was still quite noticeable.

The three of them were wearing long sleeves, and before long, they started feeling hot.

Each of them carried their own suitcases and followed the crowd outside.

Just as they left the terminal, they immediately spotted the people who came to pick them up.

There was no way to miss them.

The sign with "Effervescent" on it already attracted a lot of attention.

And the person holding the sign was even more conspicuous, as if afraid Lyman and the others wouldn't notice, he held it up high.

Lyman quickly went over to talk to him.

The man smiled happily upon hearing Lyman's words, then led them out to find a car.

The cars were parked across the road from the airport exit, two Peugeots. Yes, Peugeot was a subsidiary of the French Citroën Group, a relatively mainstream car brand in France.

One of the cars still had a person inside. Perhaps noticing them, the person opened the door and greeted them.

"Here you are, get in the car."

This person was none other than George, who they hadn't seen in a while. He was still the intermediary responsible for Lyman's directing projects at EuropaCorp.

"Thanks for coming. You've helped us a lot," Lyman said with a smile, patting his shoulder.

"No problem. I happened to be free today. Besides, transferring is a bit complicated. The road to that place isn't easy, there's a section under repair due to a collapse. Taking the train might have been confusing for you."

The group got into the car and slowly left the airport. They bypassed the city center of Paris and headed southeast.

George had the schedule and arrangement plans with him, giving a copy to both René and Lyman. He also provided a brief update on the preparations. "We're currently working on the castle estate in Annecy. The project is quite extensive, and Thomas is in charge over there."

"As for the actors, Sophie Marceau came by once, but since she didn't find you, she left. She said she'd call before shooting. What about the male actors? What are your thoughts?" George asked.

"Heath Ledger is one of them. As for the other supporting male role, I'm still searching. There's no rush now, and there's time."

"Alright," George didn't object.

With Lyman's current status, he had the right to be a bit capricious.

"But still, try to manage your time a bit better. We're set to start shooting by the end of August at the latest. Otherwise, we might not get the shooting budget approved," George reminded.

"Don't worry, there's still over half a month. We'll be fine."

...

For films like "Effervescent", the initial budget was set at $10M.

Even though Lyman had enough strength and capital, he couldn't monopolize the project unilaterally. That would send a bad signal. Despite his amicable cooperation with EuropaCorp and Paramount Pictures, it was built on him bringing profits to them. If he showed any intention of monopolizing the project, the currently friendly relationship might crumble. Luc Besson appreciated Lyman, but he was also the president of a production company. He needed to be responsible for his company.

Furthermore, the entertainment industry disliked monopolies the most.

Disney, Warner Bros., Universal... even those with channels and control had to introduce Wall Street capital or allow profit sharing from other forces. Why?

It was due to the intertwined circle of interests and personal relationships that required careful considerations here and there.

Besides, a person's resources were limited. If everything depended solely on him, the risks would be too high and the benefits not substantial.

The most common approach was to share the costs with a few more partners.

This time, they still followed the previous cooperation model of the three companies jointly contributing to the project.

The only difference was that Lyman's Mann Studio's investment ratio slightly increased to 35%, and that wasn't even accounting for his personal baseline salary of $2M, plus a 15% box office profit from North America and France combined.

For this reason, the board and management of EuropaCorp had some reservations about Luc Besson's agreement.

Unfortunately, Luc Besson saw farther than anyone else and understood that to maintain their relationship, he couldn't always act high and mighty. The management believed that EuropaCorp had contributed greatly to Lyman's current status. He should show some gratitude.

Haha, it's quite amusing to listen to.

Didn't Lyman achieve his current position step by step through accomplishments?

From selling "Buried" for $2M with no share of profits to gaining an 8% box office share in "3 Idiots" to having an investment stake in "Fury"...

Who wasn't speaking with their abilities?

If he didn't have that level of qualification, Paramount wouldn't have agreed to such conditions.

However, some people always intentionally ignored these facts.

Regarding distribution, EuropaCorp was responsible for international distribution, while Paramount handled the United States and Canada.

This way, not only was distribution guaranteed, but there were also numerous benefits. For example, the castle estate was a relatively large development area. Without EuropaCorp's assistance, they wouldn't have obtained the permission to shoot there so quickly.

From the airport to the train station in Lyon, it took about two hours.

Then they transferred trains twice in a row until around 5 PM, finally arriving in Annecy.

The journey wasn't long, but it was quite troublesome.

Not to mention that there were several nearby towns without airports, and taking the train was also difficult. Train schedules were limited, and France's railway system wasn't extensive. In such remote areas, it was even worse.

In any case, the journey was quite a hassle.