Hollywood Hunter

South of Venice Beach, in a two-acre office park near Los Angeles’s famous Marina del Rey.

Just as Michael Ovitz got off the car in the parking lot, Jennifer Rebald greeted him and said politely: "Mr. Ovitz, the boss is already waiting for you, please follow me."

Not seeing Simon greet him, Ovitz was somewhat displeased, but he nodded his head gracefully in front of the beauty, and followed Jennifer into a large factory in the park, where various types of vehicle assembly were everywhere. For the parts, Simon and a middle-aged white man are whispering around a strangely shaped'motorcycle'.

"Good afternoon, Michael," Simon stopped talking and walked over, shook hands with Ovitz, and introduced another middle-aged humanity: "This is Adam Locklett. He used to be an engineer at General Motors and now runs Own studio."

Ovitz shook hands with Adam Locklet again before looking at the ‘motorcycle’ in front of him again.

The reason why it can be called a ‘motorcycle’ is simply because this car has only two wheels, two wide wheels that are obviously only used in racing cars. But other than that, the exaggerated shape of the whole car is completely out of the category of ‘motorcycle’.

Because he had been paying attention to Simon's dynamics intentionally or unconsciously, Ovitz quickly understood the purpose of this ‘motorcycle’ and tentatively said: "Simon, is this the prop you designed for Batman?"

The ‘motorcycle’ in front of me is actually the super cool bat motorcycle in the original "Dark Knight" series.

Simon is not interested in the completely pragmatic Batmobile in Nolan's "Batman" version. He also designed the shape of the Batmobile, but kept the idea of ​​the Batmobile. After confirming the shooting of "Batman", he began to let people start designing this car.

Simon heard Ovitz’s question and nodded: "Yeah, what do you think?"

Ovitz stepped forward and took a close look at the bat bike in front of him, and said: "The shape is very novel, but I don't seem to see the power system. Can it run?"

Adam Locklet, who was standing next to the two of them, actively explained at this time: "Mr. Ovitz, this motorcycle uses hub motor technology, and its power system, transmission system and braking system are all integrated in the hub. , And driven by electricity, so you can run."

Ovitz has always been a very curious person, he became more interested when he heard the words, and asked about the details of this car carefully. The three of them chatted like this, and Ovitz personally tried Drive a short distance in the factory.

Because many details are still being perfected, although it can run, the speed of the Batmobile is still very slow at this time. Simon's expectation is only to reach a speed of about 30 kilometers per hour during the shooting process.

After getting off the Bat Motors, Ovitz remembered the advantages of the series of in-wheel motor technologies that Adam Locklet had just introduced, and exclaimed: "It's really surprising. I don't think there is such an advanced technology in the world. Maybe it will not take many years. , We are about to usher in a new revolution in the automotive industry."

Adam Locklet carefully pushed the Batmobile back to the center of the factory, and said with a smile: "Mr. Ovitz, the in-wheel motor technology is actually not advanced at all. It has almost the same history as the internal combustion engine. As early as 1900, Porsche The company’s founder Fernand Porsche designed the first electric car using in-wheel motor technology. It’s just that our automotive industry has been focusing on the research and development of internal combustion engines over the past century. In-wheel motors and electric-powered cars have failed. Popularize."

Ovitz suddenly said, "This is really a pity."

Simon couldn’t help but sighed: “I’ve always felt that we have missed too many things because of fundamental interests rather than pure pursuit of science. The Apollo project had already sent humans to the moon in the 1960s. However, in recent years, aerospace technology has not continued to develop, but has been retrogressing."

Ovitz said: "I think the Apollo plan is a bit laborious."

"Before the opening of the great nautical era, some countries on this planet had too many opportunities to dominate the world. In the end, it was the United Kingdom, which had only a few million people at the time, that made the sun never set. Above us is the starry sky that humans can reach. Thousands of times as vast as the sea, who knows what it can bring us?"

After chatting for a while, Simon and Ovitz sat down at a workbench in the factory, and Adam Locklet enthusiastically left.

Picking up a wrench from the workbench and playing with it, Simon still asked Ovitz in a relaxed tone: "How about talking with Sony?"

Ovitz was a little surprised. Although he did not hide his trip to Japan, not many people knew that he was rushing to Tokyo to discuss the acquisition of Hollywood studios with Sony Group.

However, since Simon has already pointed it out, he did not deny it, saying: "Sony wants to acquire a major Hollywood film company, and CAA happens to expand its own business. Speaking of which, Simon, the Japanese are very interested in you. , They also specifically asked about Daenerys Pictures."

"I'm not interested in the Japanese," Simon said, without commenting too much, and then went to the topic: "Since you are back, Michael, I think this recent farce should be over. Levinson They have all achieved their goals, so I hope they all shut up next."

Ovitz just became serious with a smile on his face, and said: "Simon, you shouldn't get rid of Barry if you make a difference."

Simon looked at Ovitz and said, "Michael, everyone is smart. They all think that "Rain Man" is impossible to succeed. Levinson doesn't want to be promoted to the first-line cafe by virtue of "Good Morning Vietnam". Hoffman is also worried about repeating the fiasco of last year's "Isda" box office failure, so several people have put the blame on me. Now, they have achieved their wishes, and this should stop here."

Ovitz originally wanted to get some benefits from Simon for several of his clients. Simon broke the inside story, and he couldn't speak any more. He always felt that he and Simon were of the same kind, two smart people, if he deliberately messed up, it would make him look very stupid.

He doesn't want to be an idiot.

"I'll talk to Barry and the others." After a moment of silence, Ovitz nodded in agreement, and said, "Next, Simon, what are you going to do?"

"I remember you liked this script very much, Michael, in fact, I am the same. Next, I will personally take over the post-production work of this project until it enters the theater," Simon shrugged and said: "Since none of them are three Hope to get involved with "Rain Man" again, then this project has nothing to do with them. Daenerys Pictures will pay all the balance of their contract as much as they want, and all they have to do is shut up. And, at least for now The entire federation knows that there is a movie like "Rain Man", which is actually a good thing. Film marketing, whether it is marketing in a good direction or a bad direction, as long as the audience can notice this movie, then it Marketing is successful."

Ovitz did not express any indignation for the contempt of his client in Simon's words. Instead, he realized something: "This is the strategy you use in Instinct?"

"Yes, this should be regarded as controversial marketing, very easy to use, you can try it when you are in charge of a film company in the future."

Ovitz shook his head subconsciously and said, "Simon, I have no plans to take charge of the film company."

"If you have an opportunity but are not sure, it will only be your loss. After all, the CAA structure is too small, and you should be tired of it yourself? Otherwise, you would not try to do consulting work for Sony." Simon remembered Ovitz’s personal professional experience casually added: “However, if you run a film company but fail to gain absolute control, your losses will be even greater.”

Ovitz couldn't help thinking of the invitation that Sony executives wanted to take over after the acquisition of a major Hollywood studio during his trip to Japan.

CAA's influence in Hollywood seems to be growing, but due to the limitations of the industry, it can only be regarded as a small plate after all. The company’s more than 600 customers can actually only bring a total of US$1.2 billion in total revenue to the company each year. This sum of money can be used to pay all the company’s more than 100 brokers’ salaries and dividends, which can fall into Ovitz’s hands Not much.

In comparison, even the now shabby MGM has an annual income of more than one or two billion US dollars. The Universal Pictures parent company MCA (Music-Corporation-of-America), which he recommended to Sony for the acquisition this time, is even more of a behemoth. .

Both parties are not idlers. Now that the matter has been negotiated, Ovitz quickly left. Simon continued to discuss some details of the Batmobile design with Adam Locklet, and rushed back to Daenerys in Santa Monica. Film headquarters.

Just sitting down in the office, Amy knocked on the door with a document and walked in.

Passing the folder in her hand to Simon, Amy explained: "This is a new contract just provided by the Producers League to WGA."

Simon opened it casually. There were two proposals in the folder, one is today's new contract, and the other is the one that was voted down by the WGA in mid-June.

After a brief glance, Simon found that the Producers Union had been ruthless this time.

In the new plan, compared with the previous three-year contract, the producer alliance directly requested that the contract be extended to four years.

In addition, for the syndicate income of the one-hour-long TV program of the TV network at the core of the strike dispute, the Producers Union completely rejected WGA’s request for a share based on the number of rebroadcasts. The share of the company is only 1.2%, far below the 2% generally expected by the industry.

In contrast, the June contract stipulated a payment ceiling, but the Producers Alliance provided a compromise clause that screenwriters could choose between a fixed share and a proportional share.

As for WGA’s other film share ratios, minimum salary standards, and even more creative control in this strike, the Producers Alliance also compressed it to varying degrees on the basis of the June contract. After all calculations, the value of this contract is 50 million US dollars lower than the plan in June, which is equivalent to the average loss of at least one month's salary for each of the more than 10,000 WGA members.

Moreover, the Producers Alliance also strongly demanded that WGA must give a reply within a week. If the new contract cannot be passed, the negotiation between the two parties will be postponed again for another month.

Today is August 5th.

At the end of last month, it officially signed a contract with Daenerys Pictures, and ABC quickly relaunched the "Who Will Be a Millionaire" program. Although there are only two issues per week, this has not stopped the audience from pursuing the reality show. Compared with the initial pilot episode, the total viewership even rushed to 20 million.

In addition to ABC, the two major television networks NBC and FOX have also begun to publicize the other two reality shows that they have just received from Daenerys Pictures. Although CBS failed to cooperate with Daenerys Pictures, it also produced a reality show of the game breakthrough type by itself, which also started publicity.

The four major television networks have also publicly stated in recent days that they will develop more interesting reality shows, and they also announced that they will promote more cooperation in TV drama projects for non-union members.

This is obviously pressure.

Simon turned through the information in his hand and looked at Amy and said, "Do you think WGA will agree to this contract?"

"WGA doesn't have many options," Amy nodded, and said again: "I'm just worried that our TV drama project may be affected."

After completing the acquisition of New World Entertainment, Simon's first request to the senior management of New World Entertainment is to restart the TV drama project that has been stalled as soon as possible. Now, although those projects are no longer short of funds, but Daenerys Pictures’ reality show project caused WGA to fail in this strike, and the company’s TV series are obviously very likely to be boycotted by the screenwriters.

TV shows are more dependent on screenwriters than movies.

Frowning for a while, Simon said: "It depends on the situation. Everyone is doing their job. I don't believe that screenwriters have the courage to refuse the current job after losing their income for six months. If they really are like this, we will invite non-workers. Union member or overseas screenwriter."

Amy knew that this could only be the case for the time being, so she changed the subject and asked, "How was your meeting with Ovitz?"

"It's settled," Simon nodded, and said, "CAA has no plans to completely fall out with us."

Amy is also a little worried. Barry Levinson will definitely not be involved in this project again, but she doesn’t think it’s a good choice for Simon to personally take charge of the later stage of "Rain Man": "You really have to personally supervise the "Rain Man". People" to re-edit?"

"Otherwise, apart from Barry Levinson, I'm probably the only one in Hollywood familiar with this project."

"Perhaps, we can invite the editor from Rain Man."

"I checked," Simon said: "Stu Lind, he is a long-term partner of Barry Levinson, so forget it, I don't plan to let this project have anything to do with Barry Levinson. ."