China Entertainment started from cutting off the Hu in 1995

Wu Yuchen walked to the entrance of the plane, nodded to the two flight attendants who smiled brightly at him, and looked at the family of three blocking the way in front of him:

Lele, you will become an ugly Chinese from now on! Are you unhappy?

Happy! The child also had a big smile.

Behind Wu Yuchen, there were also a few people who had not yet gotten off the plane, and they began to say:

“The air in America is fresher than in China!”

Thank you for the invitation. I am in the United States. I just got off the plane and I am surrounded by a group of shepherds...

In fact, Wu Yuchen is used to it. This kind of thing is normal these days. 10 years ago, there was an incident where an entire performance group from Tiger Mountain was stranded in the United States and never returned. It was not an isolated case, so it's okay not to mention it.

Sony is headquartered in New York, but Columbia Pictures is based in Los Angeles.

Not long after Wu Yuchen waited in the reception room of Columbia Pictures, he saw a white man with gray hair wearing a POLO shirt pushing open the door. He looked in his forties, burly, and very enthusiastic. He took the initiative to extend his hand. :

Wu, welcome to Hollywood!

Mr. Franklin, nice to meet you!

Wu Yuchen shook his hand and smiled. He was in a pretty good mood, at least it didn't look like it was difficult to communicate.

Call me Jeff from now on. You know what? You really surprised me. Even in Hollywood, I rarely see a director as young as you. Younger than I thought, even Spielberg. Even at your age, I’m far inferior to you!”

Jeff, thank you for your compliment. Actually, I think so too~ Wu Yuchen said in a joking tone.

Jeff was stunned for a moment, then laughed:

Wu, you are really different from the Chinese people I have come into contact with. I like this interesting guy like you!

Wu Yuchen had already talked to Jeff on the phone several times before coming here, but this was the first official meeting. After a few words of greeting, the two talked about the preparation of the film.

I have found three suitable shooting locations based on your requirements, and you still need to go see them. As well as the specific sets, I need you to give detailed requirements here. The announcement of the open audition has also been sent out. Auditions have now begun.”

Jeff paused and then asked:

Wu, according to your script, the father in the 1960s should be about 30 years old, but here you require an actor who is at least 40 years old?

Wu Yuchen nodded and then explained:

Jeff, although according to the script, the father in the 1960s is indeed 30 years old, we can't really find a 30-year-old actor.

This movie incorporates many elements, including the relationship between father and son. The audience must be able to distinguish the father and son. Letting a 30-year-old man play the father of another actor in his twenties and thirties will not help solidify the label of the father's role. .

When Jeff heard what Wu Yuchen said, he immediately understood: What you said makes sense!

Then Jeff's eyes lit up and he said to Wu Yuchen: Wu, do you want to increase the success rate of our movie?

Of course, there is no director who doesn't think so. Wu Yuchen didn't know why Jeff asked this.

There are many real big-name actors among actors over 40 years old, and I want to try to invite them. You have to know that in Hollywood, the best way to increase the success rate of a movie is to find stars with guaranteed box office!

Jeff, our budget is only 25 million, how can we invite big-name stars? Even if we invite big-name stars, we don't have enough funding for filming.

Oh no, no, Wu, you don't know much about the operations of Hollywood. Although the committee initially only gave us 25 million, if we can invite A-level celebrities and use this to negotiate with the committee, there is a high probability that it will be given to us. Increase the budget, after all we are still in the preparatory stage!”

After hearing this, Wu Yuchen couldn't help but understand that filming funds are not so tight. If you can get big-name stars yourself, the company will also be willing to give you more money.

I want to invite Tom Hanks, can that be okay? Wu Yuchen joked.

After Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks has basically become a god. His acting skills are of course impeccable, and his age is also appropriate. What director wouldn't want to work with him?

Of course! I'll send him the script right now, not just Tom Hanks, but also Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Pierce Brosnan. I want to give them a try!

Wu Yuchen opened his mouth and looked at Jeff's slightly excited look. He didn't realize that this guy was so ambitious.

Mel Gibson's Braveheart had a global box office of 210 million the year before last, and also has the Lethal Weapon series;

Bruce Willis' Die Hard series, 12 Monkeys in the past two years and The Fifth Element will be released soon;

Needless to say, Pierce Brosnan is the leading actor in the 007 series.

The people he mentioned were all top-notch male stars currently popular in Hollywood, and they were all in their forties, so they were of the right age.

Jeff, it's up to you! Wu Yuchen said with a smile. If he can really attract big stars, he would be happy to see it happen. Any one of these people who can succeed can greatly bring about box office appeal.

Then the two started chatting about several other roles. There was no need to find any big stars, just normal public auditions.

…

When he first arrived in the United States, Wu Yuchen had a lot of things to deal with. After he separated from the producer Jeff, he came to a coffee shop not far away. After seeing Wu Yuchen, a man in his thirties stood up and greeted him. Came over:

I think you must be Wu, the best director in Berlin. I welcome you to Hollywood! You will definitely achieve more brilliant achievements here! I am Carl Murphy from CAA. You can tell me all your requests in the future. I will do my best to help you complete it!

It is impossible to get along in Hollywood without an agent. Even if you are just a small artist doing a side job, you must have an agent.

CAA is naturally very welcoming to Justin Wu, a director who won Berlin's Best Director and already has a good film record like Run Lola Run.

Wu Yuchen shook hands with him and sat down:

Karl, can I contact you for all services?

Of course, anything! We at CAA will fully protect the privacy of our customers, so you don't have to worry about it at all. Carl Murphy explained.

Wu Yuchen nodded and asked him to help him find a reliable financial broker first. He planned to open a new account.

Last year, he bought a total of more than 3 million Yahoo shares, and now the market value has risen to 7 million. He now has nearly 30 million in hand, and plans to use another 10 million to buy Yahoo, and the other 15 million to buy other technology stocks in a new account, such as Cisco, Microsoft, etc. The remaining 5 million is temporarily set aside as a reserve fund.

Then Wu Yuchen chatted with Carl about Black Hole Frequency. After all, he had just entered Hollywood, and he did have a lot of information that he wanted to learn more about from Carl.

When Carl heard that Wu Yuchen said that Jeff was going to invite big-name stars, he didn't show much joy. He thought about it and said:

Wu, if we can invite a big-name star, it will certainly be a good thing for Black Hole Frequency, but it may not be good for you.

Huh? What do you say? Wu Yuchen asked in surprise.

Karl did not answer directly, but asked: Wu, do you know that there are a small number of directors who have been hanging around the independent film industry and are unwilling to enter commercial films?

Wu Yuchen nodded. There is indeed a group of people who are only willing to make art films, or make the films they want to make.

“There are some directors who are capable of making mainstream commercial films, but they enjoy the feeling of being in control of independent films, where most producers serve the director.

But if you are cooperating with Bada to make a mainstream commercial film, you have to listen to the company's instructions, and you have to be controlled by the producer. If there are big-name actors on the crew, you have to coax them, and you may even be oppressed by the big-name actors.

When Wu Yuchen heard this, he understood what the other party meant.

What Carl means is that if a big-name actor is hired, the situation of the crew will be reversed, and the biggest say will most likely become the actor rather than the creator. Even if someone asks you to change the play or the plot, the production company will default to the big-name actor. one side.

Karl, keep talking. Wu Yuchen frowned.

Wu, you have to understand that you and Jeff are different. Jeff is the representative of the producer and his status is guaranteed. It is beneficial to him to invite big stars. But it is different for you. You are The power of the crew will be greatly reduced.

If you can accept it, then naturally it is best to find big stars. The appeal of big stars is unparalleled at the box office. As long as the box office can be successful and everyone is happy, your first shot in Hollywood can also be successful.

The situation that I am most worried about is that a difficult big name comes and you, a newcomer in Hollywood, have a conflict with him and are kicked out of the crew. This is not without precedent.

Obviously, in Karl's view, Wu Yuchen came from the Berlin Film Festival and was considered a literary film director. He might have such a rebellious and unwilling to be controlled character, so he naturally warned him first. After all, Hollywood is different from other places.

Wu Yuchen had really subconsciously ignored this issue before. After all, when he was filming the movie, the whole crew was surrounding him. He told the crew everything. But now after Karl mentioned it, he realized that this was indeed the case. There are no great directors in Hollywood. statement.

This reminded him of Wu Baige's experience.

Wu Baige's peak moment was when his director Mission: Impossible 2 reached a global box office of US$500 million. But as we all know, the Mission: Impossible series is Tom Cruise's project, and he talks about it in detail.

Wu Baige had a dispute with Tom Cruise during filming. At that time, Wu Baige brought some of his own people into the crew, including the photographer. Then there was a certain scene where the photographer took a bad shot of Liangtang. After watching the scene, Tom directly asked Wu Baige to fire him.

Naturally, Wu Baige didn't want to. This was his person after all, and Wu Baige had always acted like a big brother who took the lead. He wanted to protect his younger brother, so he stayed away from Tom.

In the end, of course, he bowed his head and the photographer was fired, and he became a puppet on the set. It is said that there were two times during which Wu Baige wanted to give up his career, and then Zhang Jiazhen came over to comfort him: It's a victory after the filming!

One can imagine how unsatisfactory Wu Baige was during the filming. Later, when he returned to China for an interview, he talked about the Hollywood celebrities he had contacted, and complained about Tom Cruise who had the most troubles.

At that time, Wu Baige had already filmed Face/Off and had already entered the ranks of first-line directors in Hollywood. He was also manipulated by Tom Cruise. So Wu Yuchen, a newcomer in Hollywood, would have to suffer even more. ?

Of course, Wu Baige's hardships were not in vain in the end, and he was led by Tom Cruise, a great director with a global box office of 500 million.

At this time, Wu Yuchen was thinking about what he would do if he encountered something like being bullied by an actor in Black Hole Frequency?

It’s not like he doesn’t know how to compromise when it’s time to compromise, but if it really gets to the point where you have to constantly change the script, and the story is changed beyond recognition in order to highlight the individual actors, then there will definitely be a falling out.

Then Wu Yuchen said: Karl, I signed an agreement with the producer. The director must be me, and they can't replace me.

If you really fall out with the producer, it's very simple. Just change the director to take over the filming, and then just put your name on it.

Of course, this is just a worst-case scenario. Not all big-name celebrities are difficult to deal with. And big names are not so easy to hire. Karl shrugged after speaking.

Wu Yuchen also smiled after hearing this: Yes, some worries are unfounded. These people may not be interested in this small project of mine.

However, from this conversation, Wu Yuchen also realized that Hollywood is not that simple, and there are various ways and means.

And after saying that, he really didn't expect any big-name stars to come. As long as you follow the script and shoot it well, there is a high probability that it will be a box office success. Not to mention the box office exceeding 100 million, but doubling 50 million is not a big problem. But if a big star comes, a lot of variables will arise out of thin air.

Wu Yuchen was thinking in his heart, but he had a good impression of his new agent. At least he really thought about himself, unlike some who would encourage you as soon as they heard about the opportunity to cooperate with a big name.

Wu Yuchen's heart moved and he said: Karl, if you have suitable actors, you can recommend Black Hole Frequency. I will consider it as appropriate. But it must be suitable. This is my first Hollywood movie.

Karl's face lit up when he heard this: Of course, I know the severity!

…

I want to build two identical room scenes, but the placement and furnishing details should be different. One is from the 1960s and the other is from the 1990s. Do you understand?

Wu Yuchen was constantly explaining to the staff on the set, when Jeff and the assistant director came over.

Director, the audition can start tomorrow.

This assistant director is actually the casting director of the crew. He is a role in the crew that is envied by many netizens because he can influence the fate of many young actors.

The working process of a casting director is to list various conditions according to the director's requirements, and then send them to the Screen Actors Guild and major agencies.

The Screen Actors Guild will routinely issue announcements asking actors to sign up.

The major brokerage companies, mainly CAA, UTA and WME, will actively recommend qualified actors within the company to sign up.

The casting director will then compile a list based on this, noting each person's outstanding characteristics.

For the main roles and important supporting roles, the casting director actually has no decision-making power and can only provide the list to the director and producer. But for some small roles, most directors will not participate at all. This is where the power of casting directors lies. They can use this power to make deals with many unknown and beautiful actresses.

Wu Yuchen nodded after hearing this, and then asked the producer Jeff:

Jeff, how did your contact go?

Jeff, who has always had a good attitude towards this person and was like a good old guy, now Wu Yuchen is also wary. People may not necessarily stand with him at critical times.

Jeff shook his head:

Tom Hanks is preparing for Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, Bruce Willis will join the cast of Michael Bay's The Last Days next month, and Pierce has also joined the cast of 007: Tomorrow Never Dies. ”, Mel Gibson asked for a salary of 20 million yuan at the request, what an arrogant maniac!”

Oh, that's such a pity! Wu Yuchen sighed inconsistently. He actually felt that it would be best for the crew to be under their own control without so many variables.

Haha, Wu, this is the norm in Hollywood. Every popular A-star star has dozens of invitations. It's normal not to be invited. We can't stop our preparations. We just follow the audition process.

Jeff was very tolerant and actually gave Wu Yuchen some advice.

Wu Yuchen nodded, and then asked: Jeff, how are the applications from the police department and fire brigade?

The police station has approved our filming application. The fire brigade still needs to negotiate with us about our filming location and process. We will cooperate only if it meets their requirements, but there should be no problem. Don't worry, we have experience in these.