Hollywood Domination Chapter 51: The trap of literary films

Jenny has never been a high-minded person, and she also understands her own weight. Although she always challenges Cesare's dominance "over her own strength", she knows in her heart that only Cesare is like this. The agent can plan a path for her to reach the top. He has the ambition, the ability, and the IQ, and he pays enough attention to Jenny. If I hadn’t met Cesare, it’s likely that last year she started to play soy sauce in B-level productions and played the heroine of small productions. It will take at least two or three years of ups and downs, until these films are released, and one or two of them If you are lucky enough to get a good response, you can try to compete for the leading role in an A-level production or a supporting role with a heavy role-if you are unlucky, you can only climb up to the leading role in a B-level production step by step.

Although she is still very poor now, at least she has the qualifications to star in a hit Broadway musical. In Jenny's opinion, this will save her at least a year. Now with Cesare's ability , she can challenge the protagonist of a B-level production. She never thought that this first film would have anything to do with the A-level production of "Pirates of the Caribbean" - and as far as she remembered, the first film of "Pirates of the Caribbean" did not have any young supporting actresses who played important roles at all, so cut Sare wanted her to compete for the leading role.

She? heroine? Not that she's a bad actress, but isn't that a little too bizarre? Jenny knows that the only blockbuster movie that uses an unqualified newcomer as the heroine is "Transformers", and that's because in fact, the heroine of that movie probably plays the role of a vase. "Pirates of the Caribbean", the heroine Keira Knightley, although this is her first starring role in the film, but before that she not only starred in TV dramas, played soy sauce in several influential big productions, but also The second female lead who acted in a youth inspirational film, compared with Jenny, her resume is obviously much richer, and she is a typical third- and fourth-tier actress' qualifications.

But the most important thing now is not to ask why Cesare is so whimsical, Jenny asked, "He is from Agata—?"

"They are all the descendants of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Gore was the MV director before. Agata and he had overlapped at work, so they became very good friends." Cesare said, "But there is no work. Agata doesn't know my plan, she probably won't invest such a big favor in you like Rob did."

In this way, Agata can only serve as an introduction at best. Jenny pondered for a while, "I'll try again."

She held a wine glass and approached Ann with a clear goal, but she was inevitably delayed by many people who came to say hello on the way. When she walked to Ann, Agata was still there, but Gore was already there. No one was there.

Jenny did not give up, and chatted with An Pan, and at the same time kept searching for Gore in the room, and got some words from Ann by the way: Yes, Gore appreciates her singing and dancing, but she didn't mention anything about the audition, He just seemed to like her performance, and Ann didn't even know he had a big project in his hands, only that he was a friend of Agata's.

She saw Gore twice, but when she walked over there, Gore disappeared like a ghost, and finally Jenny gave up and walked back to Cesare, "If it weren't for my luck It’s really bad, or it’s a ridiculous guess—Gore is avoiding me.”

Cesare glanced at her meaningfully, and Jenny shrugged, "Well, I'm a bit self-aware. Not everything in this world is related to me."

Indeed, not everyone in this world will be conquered by her charm, otherwise she could directly rely on her acting skills to run for the President of the United States. It's entirely possible that Gore just watched a show, and then felt flat towards her, but admired Ann more, then walked over to say hello to her, and then went off to have fun, never thinking about her or her. Ann is considered as the protagonist.

"This is a good opportunity, but it's a little bit beyond my ability." Jenny and Cesare clinked glasses, and comforted him in turn, "Don't be so bitter, a person can't live forever What you want comes true. Besides, even if Gore likes me, the possibility of Disney agreeing to play the female lead is very slim.”

"Actually," Cesare changed a glass of wine, his tone slightly gloomy, "Among these 16 blockbuster films, "Pirates of the Caribbean" is actually the film with the best chance for you to win the starring role, but Gore It's beyond my expectation that I have no interest in you."

"Are you kidding?" Jenny asked back, "The best chance? This is starring Johnny Depp——"

In the middle of speaking, she suddenly remembered that Cesare did not know the amazing success of "Pirates of the Caribbean" at the box office, and it seems that Depp now is not a super A-list actor in the future. Movies like "Chocolate" and "Edward Scissorhands" do not have a strong box office appeal, so they can only be regarded as powerful actors.

"This is an A-level production starring Johnny Depp—after all, it is always an A-level production!" She changed her tone, "I believe that in such a film, even a supporting role will have A lot of people are fighting for it, but you make it sound like as long as Gore wants me to play, the heroine is at your fingertips."

Cesare shook his head, obviously not intending to continue this topic, but now Jenny does not let him go, she followed his footsteps, "Don't worry about this will make me depressed, I never thought Can climb the heroine of this film, but can you explain your train of thought? I mean, I thought you would pick some literary films for me-"

During the time she pestered Cesare, the two of them had already circled the venue, but they couldn't find Gore. It seemed that he had either left or gone to have fun. Although the AfterParty of this kind of troupe will not provide contraband, in terms of sex, it often has the effect of threading the needle. After all, this is Broadway, full of artists who don’t take 419 seriously. Jenny doesn’t Going to the bathroom or the locker room—those are high-risk areas at a time like this.

Until Cesare walked out of the theater, Jenny kept asking him to share his ideas, "Of course I know, you are the designer of J.J.J, and I'm just the main production force, but the reason why I don't hire a manager is that In order to maintain a certain degree of participation, so you really don’t have to worry that I will get lost, or you don’t feel the need to share with me—Cesare, just tell me what you think, okay?”

Cesare seemed to be in a bad mood tonight. Although there were no cracks on his mask, Jenny noticed that not only did he drink a lot in the troupe just now, but also some humane sighs and other small movements began to appear frequently. If it was when he was at his best, maybe her pestering would not be effective, but now Cesare, like all men in the world, can't stand women's pleading nagging.

"OK." When Jenny repeatedly analyzed her strength and right to know for the hundredth time, Cesare finally raised his hand and surrendered. He frowned, "It seems that you won't give up until I explain clearly. Already."

Jenny suddenly smiled triumphantly. In fact, it was not useless for her to inquire about Cesare's design ideas for her, but it was difficult for her to draw conclusions before affirming his ideas. "Want to find a place to have another drink?"

"Judy shouldn't be off work now," Cesare looked at his watch, "We'll go straight back to the apartment for a meeting, and I'll explain to you on the way—in fact, I also There are still many questions."

"Please, why are you so sure that Gore will fall in love with me?" Jenny couldn't stand Cesare's confidence in herself now, so she called Mary and found a landmark building They pulled Cesare and stood on the side of the road to wait for the bus.

"First of all," Cesare did not immediately answer Jenny's words, "In your mind, what should the development route I plan be like? Start with small productions and performances in literary and artistic films, take advantage of your good acting skills, and then move forward Transformation into large commercial productions, and at the same time not to relax small productions of literary films, earning money while winning prizes?"

"Yes, I think this is a very orthodox route." Before tonight, Jenny really thought so. She played the heroine to show off her acting skills, so that investors, including the director, believed that she had the ability to play the leading role in small literary productions. Even so, she still felt that the leading role in a small production should be a level that she needed to strive for. She had never even thought about the leading role in a production with such an investment scale as "Pirates of the Caribbean". "And you don't think so?"

"This is a very time-consuming route, and it is also a route with a very high failure rate." Cesare folded his arms around his chest and leaned against the edge of the phone booth, which was considered rare for him gaffe. He asserted, "This is a Loser route."

"But—" Jenny wanted to argue. "Most actresses—"

"Of course the losers can lead to winners, and there will always be a winner in each lottery, but this cannot hide the fact that most people's money is wasted." Cesare said, "Of course, for some people, this route may be suitable for their personal situation, and it is a shortcut for them to break out of the cocoon, but from a statistical point of view, the failure rate of this route can reach almost 100%. .”

Jenny narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.

Cesare further explained, "If you quantify everyone's abilities, then the probability of success can actually be calculated roughly. For example, if I want to measure your current Hollywood competition, then I will Collecting data, in Hollywood, there are about 10,000 beautiful actresses, and the number of actresses with entry-level acting skills is reduced to 5,000, and those with decent acting skills are reduced to 1,000, and there are only about 100 actresses with top-notch acting skills. There are only fifteen people who are blonde and blue-eyed like you, and maybe half of them have not been excavated for various reasons, so in fact your current competitors are only seven people. What I have to do is Find the most suitable role for you before the remaining six agents, so that your chances of being selected will actually be as high as 70%.”

"And you think the heroine of "Pirates of the Caribbean" is the most suitable role for me?" Jenny felt that she had probably grasped Cesare's thinking. "Or, "Pirates of the Caribbean" is the one with the greatest influence among all the projects suitable for me, so you try to market me to this project?"

"There are more than 2,000 films planned and produced in Hollywood every year, and about 600 films can be invested and shot in the end. Among them, no more than 50 films have an investment of more than 5 million, and most of them cannot be found. When it comes time to release, you can only enter the DVD rental market.” Cesare said, “Among them, A-level productions with an investment of more than 100 million will never exceed 15, even if only one of these 15 works is successful, when you star in one When producing A-level productions, the probability of making a profit at the box office is 1 in 15, which is 0.06. Turning the reel of 550 films, the possibility of box office profit is almost close to 0. And according to the Matthew effect, you will find that the box office profit probability of A-level productions is higher than that of non-A-level productions, so In a mathematical sense, when you act in a literary film, you have almost given up the hope of making a profit at the box office. What you are counting on is that people in the industry will provide you with the opportunity to perform in a big-budget film after watching your performance. And the possibility of exchanging your performance in a literary film for an award."

He rolled up his sleeves, "However, what you need to know is that performance awards are also a cost-intensive industry, and the annual Oscars are a carnival for PR companies. Propaganda to allow enough people to see it, and secondly, after being nominated, compared with big productions, small productions need to pay more to ensure that all the judges have seen this film. There are as many as 5,000 people on the Oscar jury. The Statement stipulates that a PR cannot lobby more than two people at a time, and the PR lobbying fee is 5,000 US dollars per lobby—you can imagine how much money is needed for an Oscar-level PR. If the film studio does not invest, your small production will not even be eligible to be nominated. However, there are very limited production companies in Hollywood that are eligible to invest in award-winning films. Leaving aside those companies that produce award-winning films due to luck, there may only be 10 to 20 companies that have the strength to invest in award-winning films. Among the dozens of award-winning films, one or two films are selected for public relations, and the rest of the films can only be discarded.”

"Every film is produced with a clear purpose. Big productions aim for the box office, and small productions aim for awards. If you are an investor, you will distribute the resources in your hands equally and produce as many small productions as possible. Choose one of them to go for an award, almost every movie will give a possible award-winning configuration, so when you choose a movie, you are indeed choosing a movie that has the possibility of winning an award, but you can’t be sure about this movie In the end, how much budget can be obtained for publicity and awards.” Cesare’s expression when talking about the data was the closest to fanaticism Jenny had ever seen, and he even raised his hand to help explain, “Mathematically, When an actor is not well-known in the early stage of her acting career, if she only aims to make small literary films, then she has chosen a path with a success rate close to 0. All she can count on is that her film is this 550 One of the better ones in the department, and very lucky to be affirmed by the film crew, she will spend money on awards for it. If she is not lucky, then this film will have no effect other than adding a fortune to her resume—— Even if she's lucky enough to have a shot at an award, or even a nomination, sadly, there's another very cruel odds: In nearly 20 years, almost no actress has won an Oscar in the first 5 years of her career. If you expect to make an Olympic film from a young age, then you have to act in at least three films that have a chance to win the Olympic Games within five years. How low is this probability? As low as 990 out of 1,000 actresses who are beautiful and have decent acting skills All of them will be eliminated in such a chance, you can only count on the chance to make you the remaining 10, and I call the person who counts on the chance a Loser.”

His alcoholism seems to have passed, Cesare straightened up and put down his sleeves, "You know, at CAA we have a lot of best and best actresses, some of them have come all the way from literary films, an agent When you look at their bios, ah, they've all been in literary films, so they come to the conclusion that if you don't do literary films, you can't get an Oscar. But what they don't know is that along the way Every year, how many actors who also starred in literary films are forgotten, and they can never find another opportunity to star in them. This is the trap of literary films. Most of the failures of A-level productions are always very vigorous. As a warning, but most of the failures of literary films are silent and not even remembered, so when you look at the past roughly, you will get the illusion that literary films are more likely to succeed than commercial films. There are 90% of this industry % of the agents are victims of this illusion. When they get a beautiful girl with acting skills, they think: Let her act in a literary film, first get famous for her acting skills, it is best to get a few nominations, and then transfer Take commercials...then we never hear the girl's name again, that's what the business is about."

"But when you give priority to commercial films, even if there are no awards, they are not profitable." Jenny said tentatively. "You also at least get exposure."

"You have at least been exposed, which means the most basic fame." Cesare nodded, he stood up straight, and seemed to have come out of his disappointment, and found a trace in the endless data. Psychological comfort, "Ah, your car is coming - so yes, in my case, commercial films are better than literary films in the early stage of career. If you can act in a big-budget commercial film, definitely don't hesitate. Unlike literary films, commercial films pursue The goal is to let the audience watch the film, so even if you are just a vase, the director will at least make you look beautiful - and there will be enough people to appreciate your vase. When you have enough popularity , our choices will be much wider. When you go back to acting in literary films, good resources will also be tilted towards you, and you will have the capital to bargain with the film studios to ensure their preference for film PR resources and publicity resources. "

Jenny has to admit that although Cesare's thinking is very deviant, it is even difficult for her to accept it under rough listening—both she and Jenny instinctively accept acting in literary films first to hone their acting skills and accumulate popularity. After getting nominated for one or two awards, I went to act in commercial films to make money, and then came back to act in feature films and literary films of great directors to win awards. But after thinking about it carefully, she couldn't find many logical errors. Cesare didn't explain the data in detail, but she had already understood the basic spirit, and she only found one flaw. "I have to admit that you are right, but I believe that there is no second person who has the same idea as you. God knows how many people in Hollywood are waiting to be famous. As long as they have the opportunity, they will not care about business. It's still literary, but the reason that prevents most people from appearing in big productions is that if you don't have the popularity and acting skills accumulated in literary films, how can you convince the film studio that you have the ability to provoke A-level productions? We are talking about Hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, if I were an investor, even if I saw J.J.J’s full performance and admitted that she has acting skills and is very beautiful, I would not be relieved until I saw a movie starring her Let her star in my big investment. You know that when the investment reaches this level, risk aversion is more important than anything else."

"You're right." Cesare opened the car door for her, and they sat in the back seat together. "So a suitable big commercial production is a low-probability event that can be encountered but not sought after. I only regard A-level productions as the first prize. When I arranged for you to come to New York, I thought of tens of millions of investment Vase heroine, even so, it's an uphill battle, because B-grade productions usually tend to spend heavily on actors, cutting special effects and set costs, and they pay more attention to actor fame.—But "Pirates of the Caribbean" is everything It's perfect for you, first, it's a big production, second, it's not well received by most people, you know Disney made it just to promote the Disneyland project of the same name, third, its budget is limited because of this original intention It’s relatively limited, especially since it’s a special-effects-intensive movie, so the actors’ budget is not high. In order to invite Johnny Depp, they spent most of the actors’ budget, and fourth, I have read its script, the heroine Elizabeth It’s a vase role, you don’t need much acting skills, you just need to look beautiful enough, I know they are preparing to invite newcomers to play this role, and you happen to be very beautiful, and your acting skills are good enough for this script.”

He glanced at Mary through the rearview mirror, and Mary suddenly had a quick wit and looked forward again. Only then did Jenny notice that Mary, like herself, had been listening attentively before she knew it. At the red light, she even turned her head to look at Cesare.

"The most important thing is the fifth," Cesare showed a slightly irritated expression, "all the girlfriends Gore had before he got married were blond, his wife was blond, and several of his The regular **** friend is blonde, and you completely fit his aesthetics, even in my opinion, you are the condensation and synthesis of his aesthetics."

For the first time, Jenny discovered that Cesare also has a childish side, just like a child who has encountered a problem, his brows were frowned, and he was even a little innocently puzzled, "And I don't know why he turned a blind eye to you. Totally illogical."

"Since the matter has already happened, there is no need to worry about it." Jenny had to admit that Cesare's analysis made her feel a little bit disappointed. The heroine of Pirates - at least the heroine audition, is so close in theory, "Now the conclusion is that we have lost the favor of Gore, so can you consider recommending me to the producer, or the investor ?At least got me an audition, and even though it was a British role, I could speak a Cockney-"

She suddenly thought of the classes she took last year: accent class, horse riding class, fencing class. "Ah, you've been aiming for this movie since last year, right?"

"Yes, and after weighing, I finally took Gore's route." Cesare frowned again, but soon, the knot was loosened, "So you should know, Producer There is no hope for the route, but even so, we have to give it a try, but we can't hold out too much hope."

Reluctantly, Mary parked the car downstairs at Cesare's house. Obviously, she hadn't heard enough of his good words. Jenny followed Cesare into the hall, "Then what's the meeting with Judy now?"

"Among these 16 films, you only have three real chances to win the leading role. After "Pirates of the Caribbean" is gone, the remaining two B-level productions are the best opportunities you can get this year." Cesare rubbed Rubbing the bridge of his nose, "But in order to win those two films, we need to change our PR strategy."

"What are those two films?" Jenny trotted to keep up with Cesare.

"Girls Secret Service." Cesare glanced at Jenny, "Spicy Baby."

Seeing the change in Jenny's expression, he smiled slightly, "Yes, it still sounds like "Pirates of the Caribbean" is more attractive, right? But there is no way, in this business, you have to learn to deal with failure. If you can't Accept it, if you can’t wake up and put everything behind you, then don’t go to the bottom of it in the future.”

Jenny still has a vague impression of these two films. These two films seem to be popcorn films starring beautiful girls with blonde hair and blue eyes. The box office may be good, but they are definitely not phenomenal. The leading actress of this film is not a well-known person. While waiting for the elevator, she searched in the performing arts space and confirmed her opinion: Of course, this is definitely not as good as "Pirates of the Caribbean".

Since this is the case, there is nothing to hesitate. After listening to Cesare’s explanation, Jenny is sure that there is not much problem with her thinking——Cesare’s view cannot be said to be wrong, in fact, it may be quite Advanced, but that's because he can't pre-determine the box office, and it's impossible to find the ones that are bound to succeed in the vast sea of ​​literary films every year, so from his standpoint, the probability of failure in choosing literary films is very high.

But Jenny is different. Although her golden finger is not omnipotent, her identity as a time traveler gives her a lot of initiative in choosing films. Among the small productions of literary and artistic films, there are several masterpieces such as "Love You", "Lost in Translation" and "Girl with a Pearl Earring". For her, the success rate of choosing literary and artistic films is much higher than that of her peers, and she can even Said to have taken the lead. With Cesare's ability and her current status as the lead actress in Broadway musicals, as long as Cesare is able to manage, not to mention all three films will be won (it is impossible to win all), but at least one can be obtained. Do you want to be a leading actress?

With a ding sound, the elevator door opened. Cesare pressed the door open button and signaled her to go out first, but Jenny looked at his handsome face, but she was a little distracted.

——If you think about it carefully, the biggest difficulty in this whole matter should be convincing Cesare...

How to convince Cesare to approve of her film selection vision without revealing her gold finger?

Jenny can't find the answer at all.

The author has something to say: Note: 1 It is true that the Oscars are a public relations carnival, and the lobbying statement is also true.

2 It is true that the annual output in 2002 was about 600, but other data have not been verified in great detail.

3 Cesare's statement is his personal opinion and does not represent the author's opinion

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Sorry, I have something to do tonight, I'm late...