I exploited a loophole to get my zero-budget horror film

我利用了一個漏洞，讓我的零預算恐怖片

to become the number one movie in the U.S. box office.

成為美國票房第一的電影。

This is that story.

這就是那個故事。

If you're thinking he kind of looks familiar.

如果你覺得他有點眼熟。

You're right.

你是對的

My name is Christian Nilsson and I used to work at Buzzfeed.

我叫克里斯蒂安-尼爾森，曾在Buzzfeed工作。

When I left Buzzfeed in 2019,

當我在2019年離開Buzzfeed時。

I decided to focus on a feature film I'd written

我決定把重點放在我寫的一部劇情片上。

and planned on directing this past September.

並計劃在去年9月執導。

But then COVID happened.

但後來發生了COVID。

Movie theaters across the country were shuttered,

全國各地的電影院都關門了。

our investors pulled out,

我們的投資者撤出了。

and seemingly overnight, a project I'd worked on

而似乎在一夜之間，我所做的一個項目

for about five years just fell apart.

五年左右的時間就這麼散了。

I was devastated.

我當時就崩潰了。

Enter this fool.

進入這個傻瓜。

You remember him?

你還記得他嗎？

Eric Tabach was the creator

埃裡克-塔巴赫是創造者

of some really high brow Buzzfeed content.

的一些真正高大上的Buzzfeed內容。

Like me, Eric left Buzzfeed a few months prior

和我一樣，埃裡克在幾個月前離開了Buzzfeed。

to the pandemic.

到大流行病。

He wanted to go start in his own YouTube series,

他想去開始在自己的YouTube系列。

but also like me, the investors pulled out

但也像我一樣，投資人撤出了

as soon as COVID hit.

只要COVID打。

I really felt for him.

我真的很同情他。

Here we are following our passions

我們在這裡追尋我們的激情

and for reasons completely out of our control,

而且原因完全不在我們的控制範圍內。

our dream opportunities seem to vanish.

我們的夢想機會似乎消失了。

On Thursday, May 7th, Eric gave me a call out of the blue.

5月7日星期四，埃裡克突然給我打了個電話。

He pointed out movies were only making 10 to $20,000 a day

他指出，電影每天只賺一兩萬塊錢。

at drive-ins and asked with movie theaters closed

在汽車旅館，並問與電影院關閉。

and nothing new being released,

而沒有新的消息發佈。

did I think we could make one of his YouTube videos

我想我們可以讓他的YouTube視頻之一。

go to number one in the box office.

去第一的票房。

Suddenly, I had an idea.

忽然，我有了一個想法。

I told him about four-walling,

我跟他說了四面牆的事。

a distribution method where a filmmaker rents out a theater

包場制

for a flat fee and then keeps all the ticket sales.

統一收費，然後保留所有的門票銷售。

I said that if we were able to find a closed theater,

我說，如果我們能夠找到一個封閉的劇院。

rent their space for near nothing,

白白地租用他們的空間。

we could literally purchase every ticket ourselves

我們可以自己買票

and the money would essentially flow

而這些錢基本上都會流向

right back into our own pockets.

恰恰回到了我們自己的口袋裡。

Theoretically, we wouldn't have to spend a dollar.

理論上，我們就不用花一元錢了。

He was in.

他是在。

Now, we could have filmed anything

現在，我們可以拍攝任何東西

and it could have become the number one movie in America.

並且可以成為美國第一的電影。

But I thought why not make it something good?

但我想為什麼不把它做成好東西呢？

Maybe this could lead to something else in the future.

也許這可以導致未來的其他事情。

That Saturday, in about 12 hours,

那個週六，大約12小時後。

I knocked out the script for "Unsubscribe,"

我把 "取消訂閱 "的劇本敲出來了。

a short horror film about five YouTubers

一部關於五個YouTubers的恐怖短片。

who join a Zoom call for their friend's birthday

壽星

only to learn they're being hunted by an internet troll.

卻得知自己被網絡巨魔追殺。

Despite writing it in only one sitting,

儘管只用一次就寫好了。

I was told it was pretty scary.

有人告訴我，這是非常可怕的。

The next day, Eric called a group of his friends,

第二天，埃裡克給他的一群朋友打電話。

including former Buzzfeeders Michelle Khare,

包括前Buzzfeeders Michelle Khare。

Zach Kornfeld from The Try Guys,

扎克-科恩菲爾德，來自 "試煉者"。

and somehow Charlie Tahan,

還有查理-塔漢

who you might recognize from "Ozark" and "I Am Legend."

你可能會從 "Ozark "和 "我是傳奇 "中認識到誰。

They were all down.

他們都倒下了。

And why not?

為什麼不呢？

They're all stuck at home bored

他們都呆在家裡無聊

and why pass up the opportunity

又何必錯過機會

to be in the number one movie in America.

要在美國的第一部電影。

On Monday May 11th, just a few days after Eric first called,

5月11日星期一，就在埃裡克第一次打電話的幾天後。

we started shooting.

我們開始拍攝。

We shot pretty much all of "Unsubscribed" virtually

我們拍攝了幾乎所有的 "未訂閱 "幾乎。

over Zoom in just four days.

在短短四天內就超過了Zoom。

If you can give me a full-on scream of-

如果你能給我一個完整的尖叫的 -

- Like full-on scream.

- 像完全的尖叫。

- Yeah.

- 是啊。

- Snake. (screams)

- 蛇。（尖叫聲）

- Total budget: $0.

- 預算總額：0元。

I started editing and Eric worked to find us a theater.

我開始編輯，埃裡克努力為我們找到了一個劇院。

And that's when we hit our first major problem.

這時我們遇到了第一個大問題。

Cinemas were closed.

電影院都關門了。

Every cinema Eric called went straight to voicemail

埃裡克打給每個電影院的電話都直接轉到語音信箱了

and the few drive-ins that were open

和少數幾個開著的汽車旅館

didn't care to screen our short film.

沒有在意放映我們的短片。

So I called the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center,

於是我給西漢普頓海灘表演藝術中心打電話。

a small venue near my hometown that I used to work at

在我家鄉附近的一個小場地，我曾經在那裡工作。

when I was in high school.

當我在高中。

Despite being closed,

儘管被關。

they agreed to open their doors for one day only.

他們同意只開一天的門。

The rental fee?

租賃費？

Literally $1 because they were closed.

從字面上看，1美元，因為他們被關閉。

So on Wednesday, June 10th, in front of a sold out audience

所以在6月10日週三，在一個售罄的聽眾面前。

consisting solely of Eric and I, we premiered "Unsubscribe."

僅由埃裡克和我組成，我們首演了 "取消訂閱"。

We'd screen the film five times,

我們會放映五次電影。

buying out every seat for each showing,

買斷每場演出的每一個座位。

knowing the money would funnel right back to us.

明知錢會迴流到我們這裡來的

We spent $25,488

我們花了25,488美元

and raked in $25,488,

並收穫了25,488元。

minus tax.

減去稅收。

I reported the box office numbers that night

我報告了當晚的票房數據

to Box Office Mojo and The Numbers.

票房Mojo和數字。

And we waited.

我們就等著。

Eric and I nearly had a panic attack.

埃裡克和我差點驚慌失措。

What if another movie made more than us?

如果另一部電影賺的比我們多呢？

What if they didn't accept our submission?

如果他們不接受我們的意見呢？

What if we just wasted all of our time?

如果我們只是浪費了所有的時間呢？

The following day, we went online

第二天，我們上網

and saw "Unsubscribe" was the number one movie in America.

並看到《退訂》是美國第一部電影。

And overnight, our lives didn't change,

而一夜之間，我們的生活並沒有改變。

at least not at first.

至少一開始沒有。

It wasn't until about a week later when a local news site

直到大約一週後，當地一家新聞網站

picked up a Facebook post that I'd written

撿到了我在Facebook上寫的一篇文章。

that people started to notice in a big way.

人們開始大肆注意到的。

We woke up to find out we were trending on Twitter.

我們醒來後發現自己在微博上的話題。

We were in the Washington Post, New York Magazine,

我們上了《華盛頓郵報》《紐約雜誌》。

NBC, the BBC, NPR, the Irish Times,

NBC，BBC，NPR，愛爾蘭時報。

Australian Radio, the AV Club.

澳洲電臺，AV俱樂部。

Most people thought the stunt was brilliant,

大多數人都認為這個特技很精彩。

but we did have our critics.

但我們確實有我們的批評家。

There were some people on Film Twitter that said

電影微博上有人說

that we ruined the sanctity of the box office,

我們破壞了票房的神聖性。

as if that's really a thing.

彷彿那真的是一件事。

But you know what?

但你知道嗎？

It worked.

它的工作。

Not only did Eric and I etch our names

我和埃裡克不僅刻下了自己的名字

in the annals of box office history,

在票房史上。

but we also got the film industry's attention.

但我們也得到了電影界的關注。

A group of producers watched our film on Vimeo on Demand

一群製片人在Vimeo點播上觀看了我們的電影。

and approached us to make a feature film.

並找我們拍一部劇情片。

And we did.

而我們做到了。

Eric and I just wrapped production

埃裡克和我剛剛完成了製作

on a psychological thriller called "Dash Cam,"

在心理驚悚片 "Dash Cam"，

which is gonna be released next year.

這是要去明年發佈。

And perhaps even crazier,

而且可能更瘋狂。

the other month Eric and I screened "Unsubscribe"

上個月，Eric和我放映了 "取消訂閱"。

for seven consecutive days in Chicago's Music Box Theater,

連續七天在芝加哥的音樂盒劇院。

qualifying us for the Oscars.

讓我們有資格參加奧斯卡獎。

I mean hey, if barely any short films screen in the U.S.

我的意思是，嘿，如果幾乎沒有任何短片在美國放映。

in 2020, our chances of getting an Oscar nomination

在2020年，我們獲得奧斯卡提名的機會

only increase, right?

只會增加，對吧？

So maybe what started as two guys

所以，也許一開始是兩個人

losing their dream opportunities

錯失良機

might just turn into an Oscar.

可能只是變成了奧斯卡獎。

Now, that'd be a story.

現在，這將是一個故事。

(dramatic instrumental music)

咍