Hollywood Domination Chapter 177: The richer the poorer
"So, don't tell me you just had a make-up and health checkup today." Jenny leaned against the bay window, checking her toenails and adjusting the angle of the phone. "They called you to the set so early, but they haven't let the director meet with you yet?"
"You will never believe how unreliable this crew is." Christopher's complaining voice came from the other end of the phone, "I did the styling, took pictures, and that's all, there is no director to watch, Then they made me take off my make-up for a check-up and I went with Jack and rented a nice house, over, and now I'm sitting in this poor bedroom and calling you- I hate actors work."
Jenny couldn't help laughing, "Chris, don't be kidding, you love acting, otherwise what drove you to leave Los Angeles in April and come to Ottawa, which is a world of ice and snow?"
"Well, actually, Ottawa is not so icy and snowy." Chris defended Canada instead. "Now they're in spring too - it's just obvious that the locals have a completely different definition of spring than we do, and spring in Ottawa is obviously colder than winter in Los Angeles, and Canadian TV shows? It's unimaginable boring."
Jenny laughed, "Oh, you sound so pathetic, honey, are you sure you don't want to go to the bar for a few drinks? I'm sure there are quite a few girls in the cast - and maybe boys too , willing to spend the long night with you."
Chris snorted noncommittally, "Forget it, I still prefer to call you, and hearing your wonderful voice is tantamount to a devotional to my tired and hungry soul. It makes me intoxicated, like drinking nectar. What do you think of this dialogue?"
"To be honest, your British accent still needs more practice." Jenny listened to the phone with another ear, held the computer and began to browse the news, "Oh, I saw a report related to you, did you see TMZ just posted it, it is said that you and Emma Watson just had dinner together, oh, TMZ didn't say anything good about you."
"This gossip website is more annoying than all the media in the world!" Christopher's tone became excited, "They really love to shoot videos, and they are everywhere, I mean, if one day I open the bathroom I wouldn’t be surprised to find them hanging out of the window to take pictures of me using the bathroom—of course, that doesn’t mean—"
"The big question is why do you open the window when you're using it?" Jenny had already caught him, and she laughed happily, "But seriously, Chris?"
"Huh?"
"Emma is still too young, she is only 16 years old-I advise you not to touch her." Jenny reminded, "Otherwise you will get yourself into trouble."
"Of course I didn't." Chris said angrily, "Aren't I calling you? - If you want to bring this up, I saw you and Leo going in and out of the same room this morning. The report of the building—”
"Yes, in fact it is a high-end hotel," Jenny said solemnly, "I went there with Leo to have fun—"
Amid Chris’ dissatisfied puffing, she turned the topic to business affairs, “Seriously, you shouldn’t have gone so early, Leo is getting more and more interested in this project now, I heard He has already applied to the firm and asked Chesa to represent me only in this project, and you know what that means. Objectively speaking, this will have a greater adverse effect on you."
"Oh." Chris's tone also dropped, "So it's not an old photo, Leo did go to caa these days...then I'll find a chance to come back in the next few days—James's Is the 3D modeling ready? Have you auditioned yet?"
"They finished mine, I'll be there tomorrow." Jenny said, "You and Leo haven't made it yet, if you're really interested, you'd better call them now, Dude, you have to know that if Leo really wants to act, he has a much bigger advantage than you in this project."
"I can't decide right now if I'm really, really interested." Chris said honestly, "I'd like to give me some feedback after you audition—from the most noteworthy producers. It's valuable, isn't it?"
Jenny laughed, "Oh, **** you—"
"What did you do today?" Chris asked.
Jenny let go of the computer and leaned back on the pillow. "Same as yesterday, go to class, go to class, go to his **** class, then go to dubbing, publicity, take pictures in the afternoon, come back and exercise for a while-"
Indeed, now is Jenny's rare "less busy" period. It seems that she has no other schedule except for the post-production and promotional work of "Pirate". However, this does not mean that she can relax and enjoy life in the Hollywood mansion. In fact, there are still mountains of things to do. After officially signing the cooperation contract with Disney, there are a lot of procedures to be performed. There's also a shakeup, including the distribution of "Old Friends With Money," "Lovely Love," rights negotiations with Stephanie Meyer, Summit Entertainment, and now the crew of "Marley & Me." Preparations, the advancement of the "Avatar" project... However, Jenny found that there was not much room for her to intervene in these matters.
Yes, she is still the second largest shareholder of Dameng (tied with Cesare). In fact, both she and Cesare are the talkers of Dameng, and she also has a great say. With Me, Twilight, and Avatar are all projects selected by her on the basis of intuition, and Cesare will operate them after approval. These three projects will actually occupy almost all of Dameng's projects. Cash flow, so Jenny does have a strong control over Dameng. However, these "intuitions" are time-sensitive. If she has not developed her own judgment and operation ability in these years, then ten years later, if she does not want to destroy the big dream without intuition , it seems that the only way is to give up the power to Cesare, and she will live on her own dividends, and then continue to be marginalized...
Just like the previous negotiations between Cesare and Disney, she didn't want to participate, but she couldn't participate at all, because she didn't have any business negotiation experience at all. If you participate in the negotiation process, it will definitely be regarded as a weakness, which will hinder the progress of Cesare's negotiations. Therefore, the entire exhausting and very important detailed negotiations can only be completed by Cesare, and she can only be in Waiting for news at home: Although the general outline has been finalized, the implementation of specific details can often determine who can get the most benefits in the cooperation, such as their priority rights, when talking with Iger, Just talk about the word rights option. However, it is more important to specify in the contract how to realize the preferential rights. If Disney requires them to raise enough funds within three working days to honor the preferential rights, maybe Jenny will really agree. ——She doesn't know what the general business practice is like, and if Cesare grinds it out, it will grind out the result of "equity cashing out in batches within one year", that is to say, in the next few years, if If Disney expands its shares, or executives release their expired equity, then Jenny and Cesare can raise funds within a year to eat up this batch of equity. ——This is of course a beneficial result for the two of you. Even if you just deposit 150 million in cash in the bank, you can still earn a lot of interest in a year.
After spending so much effort to bring the big dream to today's situation, Jenny certainly doesn't want to end up with the result that she can't even participate in the negotiation, or even be able to attend the negotiation, at least in the next "Avatar" capital injection negotiation , she wants to get the qualification to be an auditor, so she can only continue to study to enrich herself-during this time, she did not participate in the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business courses that are purely for businessmen to build connections and create opportunities for gold nuggets. Instead, I hired a private teacher to start with business etiquette, business practices, and even how to look at the most common book, prepare to lay a solid foundation first, make up for the weak points bit by bit, and then slowly start to get in touch with some aspects of the film industry. exclusive rules.
As for the release strategies of "Old Friends Are Rich" and "Unlucky Eros", she has no good suggestions, and can only leave it to Cesare to take the lead. The project progress of "Avatar" is still in the process of modeling The entanglement is still unclear, and we have to wait until the male and female protagonists are settled before discussing the next step. So Jenny has recently been concentrating on her classes other than dubbing. When she has free time, she will make a few phone calls to Christopher—the film he went to London to shoot has entered the post-production stage. The dubbing was done, and within a few days after returning to Hollywood, they rushed to Ottawa to shoot the next movie: a small-budget literary film about the ancient British court, so the two of them had no chance to meet other than talking on the phone.
The actor industry is like this. If both parties are devoted to their careers, they can only find time to get together between filming. Jenny is also not sure whether she will go to other places to film after Chris returns from Ottawa, especially since they are rumored stars, so at least for Jenny and Chris, an open relationship is still good Instead, it will have a little more trust than traditional relationships. Just like tmz's report, Jenny was just teasing Chris, and she knew it wasn't true-if there was such a thing, Chris could tell her directly.
If it's a traditional relationship, when the two are separated, every news comes out and every news has to be guessed, and every scandal she has has to be explained to Chris, the pressure is overwhelming to think about. People are restless. On the contrary, Jenny feels very comfortable now. In fact, she feels that this relationship is no different from the previous relationship. If there is any change, it is that the two of them will make an appointment to talk on the phone and talk about some topics that can't be talked about with friends. , Chris occasionally expresses his miss-this is something that he was embarrassed to do when he was a gun.friend, because it is a bit too much for a gun.friend. It seems uncool to connect sex.love with feelings .
Of course, so far, none of them have had anything to do with others, so Jenny is not sure how long this relationship will last. In the past, she could only say yes to whether Chris had a relationship with others. I care a little bit, like being bitten by a mosquito, the itching will pass after a while, but now, if this happens, can she still really not care, will she develop anything with others, even Jenny herself didn't know, so she could only watch while walking.
"Okay, go to bed early, bye." She rushed to the phone and said, "—Okay, okay, I will remember to see the house, you don't need to remind me again."
Her apartment has been rented for two years, and the lease is about to expire. Chris has been lobbying her to buy a Malibu mansion and move to Malibu. First of all, Malibu has fewer paparazzi and is relatively quieter. Second, the distance between the two is also close, making it easier and more low-key to communicate. ——Although Jenny has regained her freedom now, she doesn't need to be afraid of rumors with Chris, but it doesn't mean that they like their love life to be photographed by paparazzi and become the talk of the public.
After hanging up the phone, Jenny considered Chris's proposal for a while, and couldn't help but grimaced at the phone with a wry smile—it has to be said that Chris's proposal is very helpful for those who have been harassed by paparazzi. For Jenny, it is very attractive, but the biggest problem is...she has no money.
For businessmen, as their business gets bigger and bigger, in addition to the necessary expenses to support their appearance, their money becomes more and more tight. This is actually a very common phenomenon. Chen Zhen was no stranger to this point in her previous life, but she did not expect that she would also enter this vicious circle of 'the richer the poorer' now. Although "The Fifth Sally" has already started to make money, the performance remuneration for the second part of "Pirate" has also arrived in the account, and the remuneration for the third part will also be paid shortly after the second part is released. There is no shortage of money for investment, and there is no need to increase capital for the time being... But with the 150 million priority rights, she still feels that she is still very poor. Even if Cesare is asked to solve the 75 million, she only needs to take out 75 million Fifteen million in cash, that's not a small amount of money to her. Now the idea of buying another 20 million house in Malibu is really unrealistic.
Of course, the tens of millions will not be taken out immediately. After all, a big company like Disney will not expand its shares if there is no major event, and executives may not transfer the expired equity. Transfer, they also have a year to raise funds. According to Cesare's estimate, it may take four to five years for them to fully cash in the 150 million priority rights. During this period, the funds of Big Dream may have been rolled in the market several times, and the cash can be returned to Jenny and Cesare through continuous dividends. In theory, they still have plenty of time. But Jenny has always kept the Eastern style of prudence in finances, and still wants to keep as much cash as possible in her hands, even if it is used for some one-year investments, it is better than buying a house. After all, like a 20 million-level mansion, it may not be sold within a year or two. When it comes time to spend money, there will be a big gap.
However...
Opened the window, looked out, and found that the car at the door hadn't left. Jenny shook her head: For her, the biggest advantage of Malibu is that it can stay away from the paparazzi. If it was before, at this hour, after knowing that she would not go out, most of the paparazzi would withdraw to follow more promising stars. Jenny could still go for a walk in the middle of the night, and since she won the Oscar, even if it is late at night , there will also be paparazzi who are unwilling to give up at the door, waiting for the opportunity to capture her. It is of course best if they can ask answers to some sensitive questions-for her, continuing to live in Beverly is also It means that personal space continues to be compressed to a minimum.
Let's focus on "Avatar" first. Jenny shook her head and closed the window again. She found a comfortable position, immersed herself in Goldfinger with a thought, and clicked on it again. "Avatar", watching the grotesque and breathtakingly beautiful scenery...
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"Good morning, Glenn." Jenny greeted Glenn Darry from James Studio spiritedly, crossing the coffee tray in her hand, "Coffee?"
"Inquiry from the Oscar queen? Of course," Glenn took a cup of coffee, Jenny smiled and handed the tray to Mary, and Mary and Jim handed out the coffee Jenny bought around, in order to 'Buying people's hearts', Glenn took Jenny to the computer table, "Look, this is your Na'vi model. By the way, we finally decided to call this race the Na'vi - isn't she cute?"
Jenny stared intently at the "self" in the computer, or her "avatar", she had a very novel feeling: the final visual effect of "Avatar" was certainly no stranger to her, she had already watched I have watched this film several times, but this is the first time to see her Na'vi. Indeed, this Na'vi has many similarities with her in appearance. Of course, the bones are somewhat different, the nose is wider, the eyes are bigger, and it is more like a cat, but other than that, the similarity with Jenny is beyond doubt. Seeing it smile and wink under the control of the computer gave her a sense of discomfort and novelty that 'herself' was being manipulated - even though she knew it was not a real person, it was difficult for her to treat it emotionally. model look.
"She is beautiful." She said sincerely that the art work of "Avatar" is indeed at its peak. Although the Na'vi are aliens, they have successfully bypassed the uncanny valley. Find a good balance between "similar", "Let's try to see what step she can do."
"No problem." Glenn rubbed his hands excitedly, "Let's try it out."
Put on a motion capture suit and special shooting equipment, Jenny appeared in the shooting space unpretentiously, which is now an open space without ups and downs. But in the computer screen, it was a forest glade covered by flowers and plants. Glenn gave some instructions to Jenny in the microphone, "Now there is a breeze blowing...I hope you can smell the smell in the wind."
It's a bit like taking an acting class, but more discreetly than that: every minute the equipment is running means a cost. Jenny quickly adjusted to the performance state, sniffing the aroma of coffee blowing from the hair dryer intoxicatedly, and then made a few expressions under Glenn's guidance.
"Very good." Glenn said with satisfaction, and greeted Jenny to watch the replay video: In the computer screen, the slightly rough Na'vi also showed an intoxicated expression in a gust of wind, from the comparison of the original video Look, her facial muscle movements are almost the same as Jenny's. Although the environment picture is still relatively rough, you can clearly see the traces of CG, but her movements are not stiff, so to speak, they are lifelike, even light The action of sniffing was conveyed vividly, without the stiffness and roughness unique to CG characters.
Jenny stared intently at the Na'vi on the screen, trying to figure out her emotions from her performance, "Glenn, can you tell me what's going on in her heart? What are you thinking?"
Although she will star in "Avatar" no matter what, Jenny still attaches great importance to the performance - Universal wants to hire her because she can guarantee the box office, so Jenny has to treat those who go to the cinema because of her People are responsible. What they are eager to see may not be her face, but it must be her performance. If they finally walk into the movie theater and see a Na'vi who has no trace of Jennifer in the rest of the performance except for some similarities in the face , these audiences may enjoy the movie, but they will definitely be disappointed in herself-and this is one of the reasons why both Leo and Chris are hesitant about this project. They may not care about this form of performance. After all, it is similar to special effects makeup. When Chris played "The Fifth Sally", he also had to put prostheses on his face, but the point is whether this form of performance can be conveyed Emotions, expressive acting.
If it is possible, even if a CG portrait appears on the screen most of the time, these big stars may be willing to play the role. After all, this world is different from her original world. With her leading the way, Jenny believes that this project will become more attractive to both Chris and Leo. The success of Jennifer Jefferson already has a strong appeal to people in the industry.
"Well, I'm not very good at deciphering subtext." Glenn said a little uncertainly, "Let me see, think about it, um—she seems a little hungry? Then her mood changed , is it sad?"
Maybe because he felt that his interpretation was ridiculous, his tone became weaker and weaker, almost a little frustrated. But Jenny's eyes lit up instead, and she called a few more staff members to try to guess the emotions of the Na'vi - and Glenby, they haven't seen the original version of the video, so they have even less information .
"It feels like she was a little hungry at first, she was swallowing her saliva." Everyone said, "Well, she seems to be depressed again now-why, because she can't eat lunch?"
Jenny couldn't help laughing, "Yes, because she can't eat lunch--"
She pointed at a chubby little young man in the corner, "Were you eating a burger just now? God, the wind completely blew the taste of it in my face, and it made me so hungry - mayonnaise Smell! It makes me sad to think how much heat it represents."
A group of young staff members were amused by Jenny's explanation, and Glenn was even happy-he knew what Jenny's words meant, not just her joining and Investing also means——
"I'm in the game." Jenny met Glenn's eyes, nodded affirmatively, and the smile on her lips slowly widened, "This technology has great prospects—now, let's call James , Pull more people into the water."
While speaking, she turned on the phone and found the list of recent calls. ——After hovering over the phone numbers of Leonardo and Christopher for a while, Jenny still chose to call Cesare: These two male stars are very interested in Avatar and are waiting for her feedback. However, when such a positive result is reported back, the two male stars may choose to compete for this role, and even within CAA alone, there will be a **** fight to decide who to push into the game. It can be said that as One of the potential main investors, her inclination will largely determine the final ownership of the role - the details of who she calls first, at such a sensitive moment, may be interpreted by many people many different information.
Although she had no intention of influencing the candidate, she decided to stay out of the matter and not to cause trouble. But at such a moment, Jenny still felt a novel and exhilarating feeling: 100 million investment, to participate in the game of James, Leonardo, Christopher and Universal... Although she has already done " prada" and even bought the distribution rights of several movies, but at this moment, Jenny still really tasted the sweetness of power-although she is not yet a big player, and even has so much power. Half of her body is on the side of the 'chess piece', but, indeed, the other half of her body has really found her seat in the Hollywood poker game...