Chapter 100: Copying and Lending

This kind of film, to achieve the desired effect, Rónán calculated, would probably be very tight with an $8 million advertising budget, plus the expenses needed for distribution, the total investment in promotion would need to be at least $15 million or more.

Buying the rights for $80,000 and spending $15 million on promotion is really crazy.

The film industry is a high-risk investment industry. If the first step doesn't go well, he was prepared mentally to stop and cut losses.

But the data feedback from the first phase of the plan gave Rónán enough confidence.

Rónán continued, "Robert, the temporary actors you found last time for 'The Human Eradication Plan' test screening, they were good. Can you still contact them?"

"It should be possible, I'll try," Robert replied.

Rónán continued to tell Robert, "Find some temporary actors to impersonate the relatives and friends of the missing university students, record interview videos, and put them on the website. If possible, distribute them to local TV stations as well."

García added, "Yes, distribute to more local TV stations; they are more lenient in terms of news verification."

Robert smiled and said, "Don't worry, leave it to me."

"Another thing," Rónán said to Robert, "you should find a manufacturer to produce a batch of cultural shirts, hire people from the service company to act as volunteers in major cities across the United States, distribute the cultural shirts and information about the missing individuals on the streets. It would be best to establish a volunteer organization to search for missing persons, the bigger the momentum, the better."

Robert agreed, "No problem, as long as we have the money, manpower is easy to find."

At this point, David Biléa interjected, "The next step of the plan is to expand, but first, we need to solve the funding issue."

Embassy Pictures itself didn't have much capital. Even the funds used for the first step of the plan were borrowed from Relativity Entertainment.

Rónán nodded and said, "I'll take care of the funding issue. We'll have $8 million in the account within a week at the latest."

During the trip to Germany, Rónán had not touched the $10 million from Koch Films, which had always served as reserve funds in the accounts of Relativity Entertainment, as a contingency measure.

Of course, Rónán's first choice was not to use this fund. This could be considered one of his trump cards. In case there were problems with the funding chain, there would still be a buffer.

Borrowing a chicken to lay eggs was still the best solution.

The group discussed some issues regarding offline viral transmission, and then the topic turned to distribution, especially the crucial issue of copies.

"We need to contact the printing factory now," García suggested. "Prepare the copies."

Rónán asked, "How many copies would be appropriate for the initial preparation?"

After some consideration, García said, "I've been in contact with many independent cinemas recently and can ensure that the film will open on about 100 screens. As for commercial chain cinemas, we haven't held test screenings yet. Even if the test screening results are relatively ideal, they won't invest too many resources in such a film from the beginning. Having 100 screens available in the first week is the most optimistic estimate."

Rónán nodded slightly. Solely based on the quality of the film itself...forget it, there was simply no convincing argument there based solely on the quality of the film.

"If the opening week goes well, we'll expand the screening in the second week, to over 2,000 cinemas," Rónán asked carefully, "How long do we need to prepare the copies?"

García smiled, "Printing copies isn't a difficult task, and there are many printing factories we can choose from. We can select a few large-scale ones and make preparations in advance. If Lady Luck really favors us, about five days should be enough time."

He added, "For delivering the copies, we can use FedEx channels, which guarantee both speed and security."

Robert chimed in, "Let's start with printing 300 copies first. This will also help reduce risks and financial pressure."

Rónán agreed, "Okay, let's start with printing 300 copies."

Even for 300 copies, it would require an investment of nearly $500,000.

If 2,500 cinemas were showing the film, we would need at least 3,000 copies. In case there were problems with the first-week box office, the losses from copies alone could reach around $5 million.

Since printing copies and delivery were not problems, they could wait until the first-day box office results were released before making preparations.

This would minimize the risk.

Risk was always an unavoidable factor in business operations.

The meeting ended, and everyone immediately immersed themselves in their respective tasks. García moved quickly, thanks to the program on Discovery Channel and the viral sources created by missing persons ads on the internet, he quickly contacted several local TV stations and mailed video files to them.

Rónán left Embassy Pictures and made a call to Judith from the bank, then went straight to her office to apply for a loan.

"Please sit down, Mr. Anderson," Judith personally went to the coffee machine to fetch Rónán a cup of coffee and said, "I heard you're preparing for two big movie projects?"

Sitting across from Rónán, Judith didn't waste a moment. He was one of the bank's top clients, even though he hadn't been to the bank recently, she had never taken her eyes off him.

This young Hollywood producer, after the huge success of "The Human Eradication Plan," didn't stop there. He immediately started preparing for two projects totaling $40 million in investment, and without borrowing from any bank, he managed to raise the funds.

Moreover, it was said that he spent over $20 million to acquire a company.

As his career grew, so did his wealth, making him the bank's most favored client.

Judith sighed inwardly, realizing her mistake in underestimating this young man.

His past adversity was just a small stumbling block on his road to success.

Judith had previously evaluated Rónán's projects with the bank, especially his new projects, and believed that a continuation of the successful genre of "The Human Eradication Plan" with "The Coming of Death" had a very high chance of success.

"Hello, Judith," Rónán was very polite, smiling and said, "I've come this time to apply for a loan from your bank."

Judith smiled back, "We've been cooperating all along, and the bank is willing to support the career of successful people like you."

Rónán also smiled and said, "Thank you."

Although there was still a $3 million loan outstanding, the repayment date was far away, and banks always liked to give big loans to successful people first.

Judith tentatively asked, "May I know how much funding Mr. Anderson needs? If it's below $3 million, I can assist you with the procedures right away."

Rónán had already done his calculations and said, "I need a loan of $10 million."

"What? $10 million?" Judith was quite surprised, "That's a lot?"

"Is there a problem?" Rónán asked directly.

Judith admitted, " $10 million is too much, I... "She thought of Rónán's flourishing career and continued, "If it's below $3 million, we just need to process the paperwork, no collateral is required. But $10 million is too much, and it requires corresponding collateral."

Banks also had their regulations.

Rónán knew that it wasn't possible to just ask the bank for $10 million with just words. He said directly, "Collateral is not a problem. I have a film project in hand, currently in preparation, and it will enter the filming stage next month. It is expected to be released in the spring of next year. I will use the future income from this film as collateral."

Judith smiled and asked, "Is it the horror film 'The Coming of Death'?"

"No, horror films have limited income." Rónán was also testing, "Action films are the mainstream now. I will use the future income from the action film 'Ace Agent' as collateral."

Judith had previously learned about these two projects and immediately said, "Mr. Anderson, I suggest using the future income from 'The Coming of Death' as collateral."

Rónán was just testing and didn't really expect to trick the savvy bank with "Ace Agent." Thinking about the operational space that using "The Coming of Death" as collateral might offer, he nodded and said, "Okay, I agree."

"It may take about five days to go through the procedures," Judith said, "I will assist you throughout the process."