Hollywood Domination Chapter 105: Break the jar and smash
"Your red wine." Jenny poured a glass of the cheap red wine Claudia bought for cooking for Cesare. "Enjoy yourself."
"It seems that you plan to take over "The Fifth Sally." Cesare raised his eyebrows, "But I still have to point out that this is childish revenge."
At five o'clock in the evening, Cesare arrived on time, and Josh, Mary and Claudia also returned one after another. Jenny put the three children in the house to play, and she and Cesare enjoyed the sunset of Los Angeles on the terrace , This glass of cheap red wine is just a joke, she also prepared extra Cohiba cigars and cognac, but Cesare did not take it, "This is for relaxation, I prefer to concentrate when talking about work."
Jenny is just doing her best. Now that she has decided to take over "The Fifth Sally", it is imperative to discuss with Cesare the salary, schedule, director, and male lead candidates, "Katherine Kennedy opened What's the price?"
"2 million, that's all they can come up with." Cesare said, "You know, the script is a bit boring after all, and Lionsgate, which is currently interested in investing, is not optimistic about the profit prospects of this film. , There are not many successful cases in history for reference. "Charlie" is already a product many years ago. If it were not you, but Scarlett, Lionsgate would only open to 500,000 at most. According to Catherine , after the 2 million is given to you, they can only find a relatively average actor to play Roger, so I suggest you not to open it to 2 million to leave room for other actors, which is not bad for your reputation .”
Although Jenny can't say that she is well-off now, she doesn't care about hundreds of thousands of dollars in award-winning films. Even if she doesn't collect money herself, she still hopes to guarantee the best team possible. After all, she is the one who made the show outstanding, and she is the one who wants to win the award. "In terms of remuneration, it would be nice to have a little symbolic salary, the most important ones are directors, cameramen, doctors, and police actors."
"It seems that you are indeed fascinated by the script." A slight smile appeared on the corner of Cesare's lips.
Jenny stared at him incredulously, "Are you complacent?"
"If I say I am, will you throw me peanut shells?" Cesare asked back, "Anyway, you only have time from January to June in 2005, and the location part of this film is not There are a lot, and the shooting cycle should not be too long. Do you have any thoughts about the male lead?"
The most important male role in this film is the psychiatrist Roger, he must be the leading actor, followed by the police, the district attorney and the psychiatric expert found by the police, Sally's defense lawyer, etc. The most demanding one should be Roger. This is a psychiatrist who can't help but fall in love with Sally at first sight. Due to the stipulation that psychiatrists cannot have romantic relationships with patients, he duplicity denies his feelings for Sally, struggling to know whether he should or not. Believe that Sally is really suffering from schizophrenia, or just use him to get away with it-he hopes that Sally lied to him, and he hopes that Sally didn't lie to him. Such a delicate state of mind definitely requires delicate acting skills, but after thinking about it for a while, Jenny really couldn't think of any good candidates—without the golden finger leading her, her accumulation is not enough for her Pick the right one from the vast sea of actors.
"Of course the higher the acting skills, the better, middle-aged man? I don't know, let Catherine arrange it. What's her idea?" She asked blankly.
"Catherine invited Christopher to play the role." Cesare hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth, "But don't have too much hope, Christopher likes the director, and his schedule may not be suitable."
Christopher Hanks is a star that Jenny has never heard of in her previous life. He should be 20 this year, which is the best golden age for Hollywood actors. His previous starring films include top action movies, Comedy, also won the nomination of the best actor, can be regarded as a representative of Hollywood's powerful faction, in terms of high status Josh - it should be said that Josh, who holds two series of films, is now going to be Christopher's back then old road. He is also one of the most important male clients of Cesare, and Cesare will accompany Leonardo or him to participate in activities or vacations abroad every year. However, Cesare and others are jointly responsible for these two people, unlike Jenny, although she is also on the A-list candidate list, Cesare is still the only agent in the film business.
"Interesting. Judging from the script, Sally is not very old. If Roger is also young, will this film have a bit of an idol?" Jenny is not worried about whether Christopher can participate. I have too much hope, but I really mind the difference in my and Catherine's understanding of the script. "I thought Roger would be middle-aged, so that his relationship with Sally would be more delicate, and of course it would be more dramatic."
"Of course, I think so too, but if Chris plays the role, both Lionsgate and Catherine are willing to adjust Roger's age for him." Cesare emphasized again, "Chris is just interested in the script. , and to be honest, as his manager, I might not suggest him to play "The Fifth Sally", the traces of favoring the heroine in this drama are too obvious, it is suitable for you, but it may not be suitable for him to go to the Olympic Games."
Jenny nodded thoughtfully, "Where's the director? Catherine should have a preliminary candidate in mind, right?"
"There are two Davids, either David Lynch or David Fincher, but Catherine is not too sure." Cesare replied, "Lynch is planning his next script and already has It's been a while, so it may not be a distraction, and Fincher has just finished filming "Trembling Room", so he may not be willing to repeat the female lead thriller in the short term. However, now that you are on board, they will at least read the script seriously-the director will not be Too big a problem, there are many good directors in Hollywood, their prices are not too expensive, their unemployment rate is higher than that of actors, after all, a movie needs many actors, but only one director.”
"Okay." Jenny grimaced, "Call Catherine, no matter what, I will definitely be going on vacation for a few days in January, and I will leave these matters to you."
When Cesare picked up the phone and talked with his 'Aunt Catherine', Jenny kept thinking about the strategy for the next conversation, until the sunset gradually turned red, Cesare handed her the phone, She just armed herself, exchanged pleasantries with Catherine, and made a date to have dinner together tomorrow.
"Catherine will contact Lionsgate tonight," Cesare picked up the bottle, "Is there still some time before dinner?"
"Well." Jenny still didn't know what to say, she said casually, "I invited a chef to cook at home tonight, not Claudia, so you don't have to eat too many cookies."
Cesare paused while touching the snack, "OK."
The two were silent for a while, and then Cesare said, "You seem to have something on your mind?"
"I'm worried about my emotional problems." Jenny told the truth, "I can't get out of "Prada"..."
She roughly recounted the conversation between herself and Meryl and Cesare, "I'm going to take on "The Fifth Sally" soon. This is another relatively negative character, and I'm a little worried about the prospect."
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Cesare didn't laugh at her, but asked with great concern and concern, "If you need a psychiatrist, I have a few phone numbers here."
"Do you have a few phone calls for anything I need, and a few related people who can introduce you?" Jenny was a little dumbfounded, "I don't need it for now, I just... I just think I need to find a way out to be my anchor Sure, if you get my point—how do you deal with these low moods, Cesare? As far as I understand you, you're on the job almost all the time. We've known each other for three years, and I'm I don't see you going on vacation for personal purposes."
"Maybe it's because I rarely have such needs." Although this is a somewhat personal question, Cesare answered naturally, "When you ask me if I am tired, of course I do. But usually I know exactly that this path will lead to success, to another level in my career, and when I taste success, the fatigue will disappear.”
Jenny kept silent, she was a little ashamed of herself - in front of Cesare, Meryl and even Marie, she sometimes felt a little powerless, when she was a young mistress of a wealthy family, she always felt weak when reading novels Goldfinger, it is very easy to control a hegemony, but now that she has become the protagonist, she realizes the naivety of this idea. At the beginning, she felt that she had golden fingers, motivation, and awareness. Although the process of climbing to the top required a lot of effort, it was not too difficult. Now that she was getting ahead, she realized that her golden fingers only made up for her to a limited extent. Talent, insight and energy make her qualified to compete with the elites in this industry, and if she really wants to reach the pinnacle of the actor industry, if she doesn't have a heartfelt love for the acting industry, enough to draw energy from her work, then Sooner or later, she will let go and fall in the process of climbing—it’s not that other people want to mess with her, but that she has to climb up at this height. In addition to professionalism, the test is also the "heart", the mentality is impure If you are not strong, you will collapse without external force.
However, as she gradually realized this point, another contradiction followed: after all, she walked on this road in order to go back. If she really indulges herself in acting and enjoys the fun and bitterness brought by this identity, then wouldn't she really lose the motivation to embark on this path?
Can she really let it go?
Jennie came back to her senses, coughed a few times, and adjusted her emotions, "Okay, it's obviously my mistake to ask you. Then let's go straight to the next question - the proposal to join the big dream , how do you think about it?"
She would ask questions at this time, more or less for the purpose of taking advantage of Cesare's good mood and bargaining. However, judging from Cesare's unsurprised performance, her words clearly It was also in his expectation. Jenny couldn't help but feel a little frustrated, but she continued to push forward the conversation, "I originally planned to ask you to go on vacation with me and take a few more classes by the way, but now with the "Fifth Sally" Arrival, this plan has obviously failed, the budget of this movie is so low, it is impossible to shoot in Hollywood, and I can only spend one month in Los Angeles this year - Cesare, if you don't join, Big Dream will Missed a lot of good investment opportunities.”
For actors who have been filming outside all the year round, unless they only produce the projects they participated in, the production company must have a person in charge who is resident in Hollywood, and this person in charge must have a strong relationship with the actor's boss Trust relationship, otherwise, for example, when Jenny is on location in the Caribbean, her mobile phone often has no signal, the company's senior executives ran away with money, and internally and externally emptied the company's assets. She couldn't handle things in time, even before returning to Hollywood. Most likely will not know. Furthermore, it is impossible for her to exhaust her heart and soul, and at the same time find time to make connections and desperately intervene in the investment circle of a certain project. ——A good project is not something that you can invest in just by investing in it. Many projects that may be very profitable are regarded as taboo by major production companies, without certain personal connections and status in the world, or even a bargaining chip that can be exchanged for profit. What do you say? If you want to invest, people may not pay attention to you.
Even if she has such energy, she is also useless. She filmed "The Fifth Sally" from February to May in 2005. After going out to film "Pirates of the Caribbean" in June, she will not come back until 2006. It is almost impossible to attend classes during this year and a half, and if you continue to take plays during this period...
According to her busyness, if Cesare would not join until she passed the test, then Jenny had only three choices: 1, send Mary out to discuss these tens of millions of big projects, 2, only Make a movie that she starred in, 3, recruit a strange executive with a high salary, quickly hand over the power to him, and then pray that he is trustworthy, and at the same time lose the opportunity to cooperate with Cesare—no matter which choice she chooses, she can’t accept it, so today She had to persuade Cesare to join, and the three months occupied by "The Fifth Sally" became her bargaining chip.
"What if I still say no to you?" Cesare did not give an answer immediately, but asked in a tone like a test question, "What will you do?"
Jenny thought for a while, and said regretfully, "Then I can only give up the plan to recruit you. I really can't afford to delay for two years. And you can definitely budget for this. If you reach this point If you still refuse to join, I think the possibility of you joining will be so small that it is not worth my continued efforts—of course, I am still willing to continue the class."
"Actually, I've been thinking about it recently." Cesare didn't annoy her too much, or continue to make things difficult for her, but readily admitted, "After all, it's the same for me. This is not a small choice, if I want to intervene in the big dream, my energy must be scattered, you know what this means to an agent."
Jennie nodded, and she also admitted that this is a risk for Cesare, "You may lose one or two heavyweight customers-but I promise, you will get ten times, a hundred times in the big dream compensation."
"Shouldn't get to the point of losing in a short period of time, but being marginalized among Chris and Leo's brokerage group is a foreseeable consequence." Cesare paused, and then negotiated He said in a tone, "Well, you know, the new line is still in arrears with your share, and "The Devil Wears Prada" has not been released, in fact, the cash flow that Dameng can use now is almost zero—"
Jennie couldn't help but blush a little, but Cesare didn't mean to laugh at her, "——I will tell you my decision after "Prada" is released, no matter whether the film will make money or lose money, big dream There will definitely be some cash back in the account, and that is the time for the whole company to really start. At that time, even if I reject you, I will introduce you to a suitable CEO, what do you think?"
"Of course no problem," Jenny shouted—the last sentence Cesare never revealed.
She couldn't help but smile, "Cesare, does this mean that you have recognized my stress resistance and plasticity? Huh? Discovered my talent or something?"
Cesare really rolled his eyes at her this time - this is not infinitely close to rolling his eyes, absolutely, absolutely, literally, rolling his eyes, "It seems that you really have confidence in yourself, Jeff Ms. Sen."
"I always do." Jenny joked cheekily, pouring wine for the two of them, "Let's toast to "Prada"—hope it will do well next month!"
Cesare's wine glass has a meal, "Have you officially decided to move up?"
"Well, we decided it when we were in Paris, you know the editor was already doing post-editing, and it was going well, and Fox was going to grab the Valentine's Day weekend, February 11-14, and they were in There were no strong films of the same type released in February." Jenny replied, "The few films in the same period did not pose much threat to us, so Wendy decided to simply use explosive bombing propaganda, taking advantage of the fact that the original novel is not popular, this way After all, this film is aimed at fashion-sensitive people, and two months of publicity is enough for them to know about this film, and it will be released just before they forget it.”
"February..." Cesare frowned, "Time is a bit tight, so it seems that it will be difficult for you to achieve your vacation wish in January."
"Oh, don't curse me like that." Jenny shouted, "I still want to go to Hawaii for at least half a month..."
It was getting late, the lights were turned on in the house, and the smell of food was also heard. Cesare and Jenny walked into the house while talking, "Shouldn't it be time to send the lawyer's letter to the new line?"
"Now they should be doing year-end settlement. I will talk to their department heads in a few days. After all, if you want to go to court, you will have to wait at least one or two years to get the 10 million... February 11 If it's released, wouldn't it be impossible to arrange a warm-up premiere? After all, editing and post-production will take one to two months..."
Unfortunately for Cesare, the final cut of "The Devil Wears Prada" was not completed until the beginning of February, because Jenny was preparing for "The Fifth Sally" at the time, and she was receiving expert guidance at the University of Minnesota to study schizophrenia Therefore, she did not watch the finale of "The Devil Wears Prada" with film critics and premiere guests until February 10, a dozen hours before the midnight screening of "The Devil Wears Prada". Version.
——Judging from the clips I have seen before, the version of "Prada" and the parallel world is no longer a movie. As for what kind of response and box office this movie will achieve, Jenny is already a Don't worry about it anymore, I was worried too much before, but now I feel a bit broken, what's the matter with love, anyway, "Lian Lian Notebook" is the bottom line, even if the ten million is lost, she doesn't feel bad...
The author has something to say:
Note: 1 David Fincher and David Lynch don't need popular science! They are all famous directors, David Fincher's Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Zodiac, Fight Club... Lynch's Mulholland Drive are all famous, definitely famous directors. Christopher Hanks is my fiction. You can just look at him as a more mainstream Keanu Reeves. I won’t talk about the movies he made, because the blockbuster movies in the 90s are all my favorite boys. Acted by actors, I am reluctant to rob their films for the background setting of supporting roles... (He (the name of this other person has appeared before, hehe, can you answer which chapter it is?
I guess some readers didn’t see it in the comments before 2. By the way, I will fill in the background knowledge of the agent. Almost all the founders of CAA have jumped to major studios to be producers, executives or production supervisors. Okay. It is very common for brokers to change jobs to become CEOs and executives. According to Cesare's current qualifications, he is qualified to be an executive of the production department of a large studio like Disney, and the commission, allotment, bonus and annual salary will definitely not be less.
3 Please pay attention, "The Devil Wears Prada" has been greatly adapted, and there are many differences from the original version, so don't take it as the original version.
4 By the way, the English equivalent of eye-rolling in this article is eye-rolling. English novels like to use this action to express disapproval. Roll your eyes...
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Updated
Tomorrow should be a single update of a big chapter~