Hollywood Domination Chapter 189: New item

"Yes, he's on sick leave right now - doesn't it sound unreal, Cesare, sick?" Jenny jumped off the treadmill with her phone in her hand, "Just a cold... yeah, okay? I don’t know, Mary is taking care of him over there, I went to check yesterday, and he seemed to have a fever.”

Although the business of CAA can be handed over to other agents temporarily, and Jenny, who is the only agent in CAA, can wait, but after really letting Cesare's assistant transfer all the calls to Mary, Jenny is the one who knows how much Cesare's daily workload is—although Mary has received very few calls, judging from the number of inquiry calls Jenny received directly, there are at least 6 or 7 artists in the past two days Wanting to talk to Cesare, considering that he only has a dozen artists under him, and some of them are not familiar with Jenny after all, it can be said that although he is only a member of the management team, as long as the artists he brings are basically The last heart was always on his side.

Of course, there are some things inside the dream: Jenny suspects that Cesare's illness is because he has been busy recruiting staff for the distribution department and coordinating the distribution of "Unlucky Cupid", The cooperation between Dameng and Fox on "Unlucky God of Love" is somewhat inclined to Fox - Dameng got the domestic distribution rights of "Love God", and Fox is in charge of overseas. Of course, this also means that Dameng will rent some copy processing machines, and decide how many film copies to print in China, how many digital copies to make, and determine the publicity and distribution strategy. Since this is the first movie released by Dameng, and the new department has just been established and is still in the running-in stage, Cesare has a firm control over the details. Now that he is recuperating, Jenny boasted that "I will share the burden for you", so he asked the distribution department to copy the daily work report to Jenny. Jenny has no gold fingers in this regard, whether it is distribution or In personnel affairs, she has basically zero experience. This daily work report is expected to be for her to review, rather than for her to learn the specific details of the release.

Considering that she only handles part of the affairs on her behalf, there must be many things that have been diverted to other people by Cesare's two assistants. Jenny also has an intuitive understanding of Cesare's daily workload. All these things she has done have made her a little out of breath, and it's just that "Avatar" is still in the suspension stage, and things haven't come to her...

"Why didn't his family come to take care of him? How do I know." She was a little impatient, and said while opening the email, "Chris, just say what you want to say, I don't think you need to hesitate. "

Chris's tone was a little helpless and sullen, "I just think he should be taken care of by others, such as his family and lover. Didn't I see a very beautiful girl at Cesare's birthday party last time?" ? That's his girlfriend, isn't it?"

"Chris, are you jealous?" Jenny thought it was funny, "Are you jealous?"

There was no immediate answer from the other end of the phone, Jenny resisted the urge to laugh out loud, she put down the mouse she had just picked up, "Oh, it looks like someone is really jealous?"

Chris said sullenly, "I know that the whole open relationship is to put an end to the uneasiness of this long-distance state—"

He sighed, "Well, I have to admit, I think the relationship between you... Let me mind, we are in an open relationship, not a multi-person relationship, isn't it?"

Open relationship refers to *openness, but the emotional connection is still the only one. This is also an important feature that distinguishes this relationship from Pao.you. It is impossible for Jenny to understand Chris's hint, and she laughed even harder . "If you're telling me I can't make friends with the opposite sex—"

"You're blurring the focus—" Chris said, but Jenny's voice drowned out him, "Cheesa dug me up, Chris, he's my only manager, and I don't think you can I can't see that our cooperation is not just in this aspect..."

She pauses meaningfully, but doesn't say anything: it's already illegal after all. "If you think I'm gonna **** with my partner then Chris - do you even know me?"

Chris breathed a sigh of relief and did not speak, Jenny smiled triumphantly, "Don't think too much, my dear, if I am in London, and you even move to Chesa's house to take care of him, I will I don’t even think too much—”

"That's because we're both straight!" Chris protested.

"It's hard to say." Jenny laughed and said, "People say that in Hollywood, sexuality is like property. Before you come out, others will never know, right?"

Chris made a series of noises, but sounded less concerned about the whole Chesa affair, "Okay, then I guess this is the same thing for you—has there been any progress on Avatar lately? I I heard that Fox seems to be interested in taking over the plate, when can I go for an audition?"

"Are you still trying to dig information from Chesa?" Jenny asked amusedly. It's the one who has feelings for Chesa——it turns out! I know why you were angry just now, Chris—"

"Oh, you cunning, cunning woman." Chris laughed lightly and burst out with several swear words, "Well, what I want to ask is whether Leo has done anything to this character, But I guess you don't know the answer, are you still in the bureau? They didn't kick you out, did they?"

"To be honest, I don't know if I'm still in the game." Jenny said frankly, "It's true that I haven't heard from them for a while, but I don't think the possibility of me being out is not It's very big, so let's think that the negotiation is still in the early stages of preparation. Since we haven't even found a funder, it's even more difficult to choose between you and Leo. If I had to guess, Cameron might want to By procrastinating to naturally eliminate one, it will be more acceptable to everyone.”

"Yeah," Chris smiled wryly, "we can only think so—"

In Hollywood, as long as you are not the one who holds the core copyright, you may be kicked out at any time. Before the contract is signed, even if everything has been negotiated, you'd better not take it too seriously , Even the investor is the same (such as the sad global), even Chris and Leo can't get rid of this worry. Jenny was lucky that she didn't go through that terrible long negotiation. Although the progress of "Avatar" is not smooth, it has nothing to do with the role. When it comes to the female lead, no one in Hollywood can compete with her.

——In fact, the audition period is very difficult for most actors, especially for this kind of big production. I know, what months are the schedule, and how long it will last, I don't know. For now, Chris and Leo will be out of work after finishing their filming, how long can they wait? have no idea. But maybe after you lose patience and take over the new project, the negotiation starts, and it is finally settled, and the shooting schedule of the two films conflicts, and this 500 million project does not belong to you. But if you wait all the time, it is also possible that another person was selected for the final project. You spent a lot of time waiting for nothing in the end. You can only find another one in the waiting project in a hurry and enter The competition is already fierce enough to squeeze out another group of actors who are younger than you.

This kind of competitive cycle determines that Hollywood is a world soaked in changes from the top of the mountain to the seaside. Since you want to work in such an industry, the only thing you can do is to adjust your mentality, otherwise you will easily suffer from various stresses. Sexual disorders. Jenny also understands Chris' feelings - it's really not good to be dragged by someone, but who let that person be Cameron?

"By the way, have you decided on a hotel yet?" She changed the subject, "There is still time, I think if Cesare can recover, I can still spare a week..."

From a certain point of view, Chris is a very easy-to-please lover - if their relationship can be regarded as a relationship, there may be some truth in the saying 'he who falls in love first loses', Jenny felt more in control of the relationship, which made her feel more secure and more sympathetic to Chris' insecurities. She has no intention of playing with him in the way of intimidating love, or being arrogant, capricious, and moody. Jenny knows these tricks, but at that time she was at a disadvantage in love, and it could be regarded as taking the initiative for herself. Doing so feels like emotional abuse.

She will regulate some of Chris's behaviors that cross the line, and "set the rules" for him, but she will not make him feel hot about everything, and she will not neglect when it is time to call to report safety and sweet talk. ——Well, I have to admit that Chris, who was so softly coaxed by her, can even be said to be so cute.

After agreeing on the details of the vacation, Jenny called back some of the missed calls during the conversation between the two of them one by one - most of them were because they heard that Cesare had taken sick leave and called to inquire about internal information, Carme Ron Diaz even thought that Cesare had been diagnosed with cancer, otherwise 'I can't imagine he would call in sick'. By the time she finishes talking on the phone and reading her work emails for the day, the day is coming to an end. Jenny wasn't at home for dinner—Mary was at Cesare's, and Jim might be, sitting alone in front of the TV eating a salad that seemed pathetic even to her.

#

Unexpectedly, it was not Marie who opened the door for her—Jenny took a step back, and looked at Cesare with some surprise, "You seem to be completely fine—how about Marie?"

Indeed, Cesare appears to have fully recovered, in his (still ironed) casual polo shirt, with damp hair and even a healthy blush on his face: it looks It's like coming out of the shower after a workout. He stared at her silently for two seconds, then stepped aside to let Jenny enter the room.

"I asked her to go on a date with her boyfriend." He said, his tone seemed to have completely returned to normal, "Don't blame her, Jinnis came this afternoon, and he said that I have fully recovered."

"That's good." Jenny breathed a sigh of relief, "You don't know how helpless I am - James from the distribution department asked me how many movie posters we were going to print, and I didn't know anything about it, How much do people generally print and distribute? Just as Robert sent me an email, I asked him by the way, do you know what Robert said?"

Cesare made a single tone to indicate that he was listening, and Jenny continued, "He said I don't need to care about any of this, as long as the department spends within budget. Then I thought—yeah, I think it's because You don't know the details either, do you? Sure, Disney was a big company when you took over, and all you had to worry about was overfunding and a **** balance sheet—did I spell that right? But big Meng is still very young, this is the first job in the publishing department, I can't let the children below feel that the manager doesn't know anything..."

"You didn't reply to Robert like that, did you?" Cesare led her into the kitchen, "Tell me you didn't."

"I don't," said Jenny, leaning against the stove, watching Cesare examine a piece of beef that had been salted and seasoned, "You're really relieved to get rid of the chicken broth, aren't you? ——Of course I didn’t, but I asked Virginia, and she told me that the budget for movie posters for domestic distribution is generally controlled at about 300,000 U.S. dollars—if we are frugal, and if we want some big posters, 500,000 U.S. dollars Ten thousand dollars is a reasonable number, what do you think?"

"This is a very good piece of beef." Cesare said, "It is already aging, and it should be eaten in time. Do you want a piece?"

Jennie gave him a suspicious look, shook her head, Cesare rolled up her sleeves, and asked, "Salad?"

"Of course." Jenny watched Cesare open the refrigerator and skillfully unpack the package, she couldn't help saying, "I didn't know you could cook."

"Occasionally, my cooking skills are only average." Cesare said, and he turned on the tap. "Half a million dollars is indeed too much. It's just printing and shipping. Inside the line, 500,000 can print more posters, after all, the more copies, the lower the unit price, but this also means more posting costs. Have you replied to James?"

"No." Jenny shrugged, "I'm going to ask you, after all, you are responsible for this matter-you know, I haven't always been a 'bad girl'."

She held **** next to her ear, imitating double quotation marks—Cesare choked, and he gave Jenny a warning look.

"I'm glad to know this. You can reply to him. Three hundred thousand dollars is an acceptable figure, but you need to make a scale table and list the corresponding advertising cost estimates." Cesare put the washed Give the salad bowls to Jenny.

Jenny looked back at him blankly holding the bowl.

"Will you dehydrate the salad?" Cesare twisted the bridge of his nose and asked patiently. He demonstrated to her, "How many times do you rotate like this, using centrifugal force?"

"Oh—oh!" Jenny suddenly realized, her attention was still on business, "Of course, I will—I've seen others do it many times."

Cesare glanced at her meaningfully, and Jenny defended herself, "What! Before I became famous, eating finished products was cheaper than cooking by myself. This is called social division of labor, understand?"

She started to turn the salad bowl, "The poster fee is just a small expense, and the advertising fee is the big one, right? Are you going to post on the subway billboard? Oh, yes, James also said, several trailers The production company has already refunded the quotation, and we will split the money in half with Fox, right?"

"Yes, the advertising fee is the big one." Cesare said, "And how much is the quotation for the trailer-what do you know? Forget it, I will check the mail later."

"There are also movie quotes coming out. AMC seems to offer a bit higher than the others. Is this normal?" Jenny separated the salad bowls and poured out the water in the big bowl. Shake it again.

"amc's theaters are relatively new, what you see is the average offer that amc gives you, and finally fixed to each theater to sign the contract, the price will be high or low, they just renovated a few in nyc and los angeles The main reason is that these companies have raised the price, but we can get 70% of the share, so the specific difference is not big." Cesare replied. "The market seems to have good expectations for "Unlucky Venus". Is there any theater that wants to watch the film first?"

"Oh, I remember, the guarantee share, most of the theaters give a guarantee of 65% for the first week—yes," Jenny said, "James wants to hold a theater screening next week, But we don't seem to have the final cut version of the soundtrack."

"It should come out in the next few days. People from Fox and we will watch it first. Do you want to participate?"

"Of course—what do you think of the 65% guarantee in the first week? Cesare, isn't it a little too low?"

"We can watch the movie first before making a decision. After all, Big Dream is a new company." Cesare had already prepared the salad mix, and he motioned to Jenny to put the vegetable leaves into the bowl, "Start mixing—or You can let me go."

"I feel like you're belittling my ability to do housework." Jenny rolled her eyes, but quickly admitted weakness in Cesare's obvious eyes. I can still make a salad. Do you think we can get some good movie distribution rights from Robert? Like "Alice"? Or convince Fox to co-release "Avatar" with us? Should this be included in the investment In the agreement. After all, 65% is indeed not a high guaranteed percentage."

In the agreement signed between the theater chain and the distribution company, generally speaking, a guaranteed base share is adopted. The first week is the total box office income-fixed expenses. The distribution company takes 90%, and the guaranteed minimum box office income is 60%-70%. After that, the share taken by the distribution company will drop by 10% every two weeks. In the end, it will roughly ensure that the distribution company gets about 50% of the income. Sign a framework agreement with theaters, and most films can get 55% of the box office revenue. But for a small company like Dameng, the first week is guaranteed, and the theaters will directly open 65% of the box office. Here, they will only get 5% of the box office. It is very likely that they will only get 50% of the box office in the end. There are even some weaker companies that can only get back 40%, and strong companies can get back 60%, which is all possible. ——If Big Dream hadn’t been backed by Disney, Fox wouldn’t have given up the distribution rights in North America. As investors, they must ensure the income. The distribution company gets back 40% of the box office, which is likely to change a project from profit to profit. Back to loss. Of course, this is also very detrimental to Dameng itself, so in the joint development project, it is not so easy for them to ask for the distribution rights.

Of course, Hollywood is not a hall of charity. Within the scope permitted by law, all companies will do everything possible to fight against competitors and set up barriers for rising stars. The theater chains are indeed acting on the basis of the wind, and they have no qualifications to bully Dameng, but you can’t call Robert because of this and ask him to put pressure on the theater chains. What Jenny wants is to get the distribution rights of some blockbuster movies. Strive for the same treatment as the Big Six—only if they can get 55% in theaters, can they really master the North American distribution. Before that, the distribution department of Big Dream will be their weakness.

With a 'sizzling' sound, Cesare put the steak into the cast iron pot, and an alluring aroma immediately filled the kitchen. He replied while frying the steak, "This is all for the future. A movie can only be judged by its quality. If your quality is enough to convince the theaters, then maybe we can hint at these projects and get a good price, but if the quality cannot satisfy the theaters, I’m afraid we can only get 65%—— That's not a bad number, Jefferson, if you're in it, then 70% in the first week is definitely not a problem, but Rachel and Chris are both newcomers, and it's not a big production, so you don't need to go too far Impatient."

"Okay." Jenny was a little frustrated, "But in this case, will it affect our negotiation with Fox about "Avatar"? If it's Fox, they can definitely get 5% more--"

"Personally, I don't think so." Cesare said, "But it's hard to say that Fox will give up the distribution rights. After "Titanic", few companies will make such a stupid mistake."

He was silent for a while, shoveled out the steak, paused a few times on a plate, let the blood flow out, and poured the sauce again. Jenny poured herself a glass of water and walked back to the table with him, advising, "You better not drink - half a day ago, you were a sick man - by the way, Chris just called to ask about Avatar progress, I told him we haven't heard anything yet."

"Yes." Cesare said simply.

For a while, they didn't talk, but concentrated on eating dinner, and Jeanne generously gave Cesare some salad—she thought Cesare should eat more greens.

"I've seen the folder you left behind." Cesare said, taking a sip from the water glass. "So, have you read the script?"

Jennie nodded before finishing her salad, struggling to swallow a piece of sweet and crunchy lettuce.

"I've seen it." She wiped her lips, "It's a good script, I'm interested—but let's not talk about it, it's just a supporting role after all. What we need is a convincing protagonist—— Have you read the information I collected?"

"I saw it." Cesare put his hands in a tower shape - this is his thinking posture, "but there is no script on the market - this is not a completed project."

"Yes," said Jenny, leaning forward, "but we can make it ourselves, instead of just picking off-the-shelf projects like before, after all, we have our own film company, don't we ? Cesare, and she is a very suitable role for me—”

Her tone gradually became excited. "After all, she is a radiant legend of the times—Marilyn Monroe..."