Chapter 67: Super Bowl Trailer
Chapter 67: Super Bowl Trailer
After that day’s veiled rejection, Julia seemed to put the feelings she had developed for Eric behind her and began devoting herself entirely to filming. Whether in public or private, the way Julia addressed Eric changed to “Director Williams.”
Of course, Eric had no time to feel disappointed by the woman’s distance. As the accumulated footage increased, the film’s post-production editing also began at the same time. Eric had to work with the editor until late almost every day. Sometimes, because work ended too late, Eric slept directly in the office to save rest time.
Jeffrey had also worried about Eric’s way of working. Most films only began post-production editing after filming wrapped. Although Eric’s previous film, Home Alone, had a very short production cycle, it still followed this standard process. But now, Eric had completely disrupted that order.
However, after watching the clips Eric had edited, Jeffrey completely relaxed. He merely reminded Eric to pay attention to his health and not overwork himself.
It was not as if Jeffrey had never asked why Eric worked so hard. With his current achievements, the foundation laid by Home Alone alone would be enough for him to live comfortably for ten years.
Eric only smiled and did not explain. He continued burying himself in work. How could Jeffrey know the ambition in his heart? When he first walked into Fox’s audition room, the tender sprout that had begun growing inside him had now taken deep root. The string of successes that followed only made that sprout grow stronger.
Eric simply wanted to see how far he could go.
After three days of adjustment, the Pretty Woman crew’s filming speed suddenly increased. At the same time, they officially moved into the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and began filming some of the most important scenes.
“Cut.” Eric looked up from behind the monitor. This scene was the breakfast scene between Vivian and Edward the next morning after their one-night stand.
“You there… make Julia’s lip gloss lighter, but not too light.”
It was only a small adjustment, so Julia did not need to avoid everyone’s line of sight. The makeup artist stepped forward and adjusted Julia’s lip color.
After a while, the makeup artist turned back and asked Eric, “Director, is this all right?”
Eric glanced at Julia and shook his head. “Too light. Make it slightly darker.”
The makeup artist worked on it a little more before Eric nodded in satisfaction. At the same time, he said to the assistant beside him, Allen Fissman, “Allen, write this down and remind me later.” Eric thought for a moment, then said, “As the story progresses, Julia’s lip color should gradually change from bright red to pink, then from pink to pale red. After the scene where Philip Stuckey almost rapes her, Julia should no longer wear lip gloss afterward. Keep her natural lip color.”
Although Allen Fissman felt puzzled, he still quickly wrote Eric’s words in the memo.
Eric did not explain anything to the others. This was an unobtrusive detail change he personally wanted to make to the film. He only wanted to use this method to slowly imply the transformation of the female lead Vivian. Meanwhile, Vivian’s friend Kit Luca would have that vulgar bright-red lip color from beginning to end.
At noon, Jeffrey hurried to the set.
“Eric, I talked with Carta Hunt all morning. Fox still hasn’t agreed to your plan to air a trailer during the Super Bowl broadcast.”
Eric put down his boxed lunch, wiped his hands with a tissue, and asked, “What did they say?”
“A sixty-second trailer during the Super Bowl will cost about 1.2 million dollars in advertising fees. Fox thinks that’s a waste. They believe that a concentrated promotional campaign two weeks before release is already enough for your film,” Jeffrey replied. “In the end, they still don’t have enough confidence in your new film. Everyone knows why they signed a three-film distribution deal with you. It was only for Home Alone 2.”
Eric kneaded the napkin in his hand and thought for a while. “Keep talking to Fox. Getting them to pay even a little is better than nothing. What matters is securing the sixty-second advertising slot from NBC first. If Fox really refuses to pay in the end, I’ll personally cover the money.”
“Eric, our film budget is only seven million. If you insist on airing a trailer during the Super Bowl, I think thirty seconds is enough.”
Eric patiently explained, “Jeffrey, if this were a special-effects blockbuster like Star Wars, thirty seconds would indeed be enough. We would only need to cut together a few shocking shots. But Pretty Woman is a drama. I also plan to add our company’s opening logo. In that case, thirty seconds won’t be enough to express anything.”
“All right, if you insist.” Jeffrey did not say much. It seemed that once Eric decided something, he had never been able to persuade him to change his mind. However, many times, Eric had proven to be right. This time, he could only choose to trust Eric again.
In this era, Hollywood film marketing was still relatively conservative. Large-scale placement of movie trailers during the Super Bowl was something that would only happen more than ten years later, and even then, only the Big Six studios could afford to play that game.
The Super Bowl was known as America’s Spring Festival Gala. Since its birth, it had always been the highest-rated major event in North America, with viewership generally exceeding one hundred million. The Super Bowl was broadcast by several major American television networks in rotation, and this year happened to be NBC’s turn.
Eric had only seen the Super Bowl promo on NBC a few days earlier while watching Aniston’s television drama. At the same time, he came up with the idea of airing the Pretty Woman trailer during the Super Bowl.
In the years before his rebirth, the concept of the Super Bowl trailer had already become deeply ingrained. Almost every year, the Big Six Hollywood film companies would send trailers for their main films of the year onto the Super Bowl broadcast.
However, in the current era, Eric’s idea was rather ahead of its time. Under normal circumstances, Hollywood blockbusters now only aired trailers on television about a month in advance.
Although the month after the Super Bowl was also a decent Easter release window, major productions in this era obviously would not choose that window. Instead, they crowded into the summer or Christmas seasons. Therefore, no film company would air an advertisement during the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl’s advertising fees were still extremely expensive. Eric had asked around earlier, and this year’s Super Bowl advertising fee had already reached the high price of 670,000 dollars for thirty seconds. That 670,000 dollars might not seem like much, but it could buy half a month of continuous prime-time ads on mainstream networks like NBC. During the Super Bowl, it could only buy a fleeting thirty seconds.
Even so, Eric quickly decided to air a sixty-second Pretty Woman trailer during the Super Bowl. This was the second film he directed, and its box office performance was critically important to him.
Although Eric had always been confident that Pretty Woman could achieve very good box office results, deep down, concerns about the butterfly effect still existed at all times.
Therefore, he would not let this excellent promotional opportunity slip away. Based on the information he had gathered, if everything went smoothly, Pretty Woman would become the first movie trailer to appear during the Super Bowl.
More than one hundred million viewers, along with the gimmick of being the first Super Bowl movie trailer, could bring Pretty Woman enormous topicality. By comparison, the 1.2 million dollar price was completely acceptable.
Moreover, Eric believed that after the media hyped this topic, it would easily last until the film’s release twenty days later.
After deciding this matter, Eric remembered something else. “Jeffrey, how is our company’s opening logo coming along?”
After establishing Firefly Films, Eric and Jeffrey had discussed it and come up with several ideas for the opening logo. In the end, they chose a 3D version.
After Pretty Woman began filming, Eric handed the matter entirely to Jeffrey to handle.
“I’ve urged Pixar several times. They said they’ll definitely finish it this week. It definitely won’t delay the trailer. Don’t worry.”
Eric was just about to nod when his mouth suddenly opened wide. “You mean… Pixar?”
Jeffrey did not understand why Eric was suddenly so surprised. “Yes. Is there a problem?”
“Steve Jobs’s Pixar?”
Jeffrey nodded. “That’s right. Jobs’s Pixar.” As Jeffrey spoke, a gloating smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Speaking of it, Jobs has really been unlucky these past few years. First, he was kicked out of Apple. Then he ambitiously bought Pixar, originally planning to make specialized graphic design computers. Unfortunately, after the product launched, sales were average. Now they’ve fallen to the point where they can only take on some animated ads to keep the company running. But Pixar’s animation technology really is excellent. I watched their short film Luxo Jr., and that’s why I decided to hand the logo over to them.”