Hollywood Hunter

Simon rested for less than five hours, and got up early at eight o'clock the next day.

In order to save time, he does not plan to drive back in person this time. The crew will hire a driver to send the SUV back to Los Angeles. After a brief breakfast, and bid farewell to everyone, Edward Feldman, the producer of "Blood Corpse Night", drove him to Phoenix Airport.

Due to the time difference, when I arrived in Los Angeles, the time here was only nine o'clock in the morning.

Los Angeles International Airport.

Simon got off the plane and went all the way to the reception hall, looking around.

I called Janet to pick herself up last night, but it was Jonathan’s assistant Owen Wright who appeared at this time. Owen Wright also quickly found Simon, and he hurried over. Before greeting, he handed him a pair of sunglasses and said, "Simon, you'd better wear this."

There were not many people in the pick-up hall during this period. Before Irving Wright continued to remind, Simon had seen seven or eight guys holding cameras trotting over here. Some people even raised the camera and pressed When I lowered the shutter, a series of flashes suddenly lit up around me.

With the movement here, many eyes in the hall were projected at the same time.

Although it was the first time in two lifetimes that he encountered this situation, Simon didn't panic, put on his sunglasses, lifted the suitcase that was originally pulled behind him, and hurried out of the hall with Owen Wright.

The paparazzi saw Simon and Owen speeding up and planning to leave, trotting again and chasing them up, surrounded them closely, and continued to take pictures while rushing to ask questions.

"Simon, can you stop and say a few words?" "Simon, "Lola Run" won last weekend's box office championship. Let me talk about your feelings." "Simon, I heard that you are looking for a partner for your new script , Offer 10% of the North American box office share, do you think this is possible?" "Simon..."

Buzzing, buzzing.

In the messy questions, Simon just bowed his head in silence, and squeezed the gap between the paparazzi with Irving Wright and slowly moved out without daring to use too much. He heard Stallone being touched by the paparazzi in Arizona. "Porcelain" news, I don't want to encounter this kind of mess when I first returned to Los Angeles.

Coming to the parking lot with some difficulty, the two got into the car until they entered the highway around the airport, Simon was a little relieved, but soon found that the group of paparazzi were all behind Owen Wright’s car. .

Irving in the front driver's seat looked up in the rearview mirror and smiled and said, "Simon, how does it feel to be famous?"

Simon told the truth: "I want to hit someone."

"Oh, you will get used to it in the future. The number of people like this is actually very small. You suddenly came back. It should be a temporary contact by a reporter from Arizona." Irving stepped on the accelerator and increased the speed a little before continuing: "Miss Johnston originally planned to come to pick you up, but when she left the house, she found out that the door was surrounded, so she could only call Joe, and then I came."

Simon heard this and immediately asked with concern: "What's the matter?"

Simon Owen leaned over in the back row and made a gesture of peace and tranquility, and said, "Didn't you tell the reporter last night, did you have a girlfriend?"

Simon was surprised: "I didn't say Jenny's name, and, how come you know it so fast?"

"There are thousands of newspapers in the entire Federation. How can there be sales? But don't worry, those paparazzi are basically abiding. As long as Miss Johnston doesn't go out, there will be no problems. I'll have a few days to talk about this. "The news of "I was almost fired, and the paparazzi stuck in front of her house disappeared," Owen explained, and then asked: "Simon, where are you going now? I suggest you better not go to Johnston. Miss, that will only bring more paparazzi over."

Simon thought for a while, since Jenny was blocked at home, there must be someone squatting outside her villa in the Montana district.

After thinking about it for a moment, Simon made a decision and said, "Go to the WMA headquarters. It just so happens that I also have something to talk to Joe."

Irving nodded and said: "Joe actually wants to talk to you as soon as possible. You are away this month, especially the last two weeks. Those who seek cooperation, ask for interviews, ask for information, all kinds, they can’t You can only contact us here, Joe is going crazy, even I have to block dozens of calls about you every day."

Although he has clearly felt the changes around him in Arizona, Simon heard Owen's words and smiled and said, "It's not that exaggerated, right?"

Owen glanced at Simon through the rearview mirror again, and then said: "It seems that you obviously don't know where you are now. Simon, "Lola Run" is very hopeful to win this year's North American box office championship. Think about it. How successful Tom Cruise was after the box office sales of "Top Rising Clouds" last year. Now, so are you."

Simon noticed that a paparazzi riding a motorcycle outside the car window was very difficult to operate the camera with one hand to take pictures of the car window glass in vain, nodded, stopped talking, and restarted to calculate the next things.

Twenty minutes later, Owen parked his car in the parking lot in front of the WMA headquarters. Before the paparazzi came round again, the two hurried into the WMA headquarters building.

During the busy time when I just started working, there are people coming and going in the WMA headquarters building.

When I noticed that Owen Wright came in with a young man, most of them were confused at first. As some people who recognized Simon eagerly stepped forward to say hello, everyone quickly realized Simon's identity, so they either nodded. Compliment, or take the initiative to talk.

After coming to Jonathan Friedman's office so lively, the agent has already greeted him.

"Simon, you finally came back."

Saying hello, Jonathan stepped forward and hugged Simon, and patted him on the shoulder after releasing it. This led him into his office in the enviable eyes of other WMA employees and customers.

Entering the office, Jonathan motioned to Simon to sit down on the sofa in the reception area, but he turned to the desk and took out a thick stack of folders from the filing cabinet.

Simon saw that the agent was busy, but did not go to the reception area. He came to his desk and pointed to the landline on the desk. He said, "Joe, I want to call Jenny first."

"Of course," Jonathan nodded in understanding, put the stack of folders on the desk, and pressed it casually, and said: "You call it first, I happen to be going out. The mailroom just said there is a document that needs me. Sign for it in person."

Simon smiled and watched the agent leave the office, then picked up the microphone and dialed Janet's number.

After getting along for so long, Simon also found that Janet was a person who hated answering the phone, and it was a long time before someone picked it up and hummed lazily.

Simon smiled at the corner of his mouth and said, "Jenny, it's me."

Hearing Simon's voice, Janet on the other side of the phone became energetic, but immediately began to condemn Simon for bringing her a lot of paparazzi.

After chatting for a long time, under the entanglement of the woman, although he knew that rushing to Malibu would definitely lead more paparazzi, Simon finally promised Janet to rush over as soon as he finished talking with Jonathan.

After hanging up the phone, Jonathan, who had obviously been waiting outside for a while, opened the door and walked in.

The two came to the reception area and sat down together, and Owen Wright brought in two more cups of coffee. After Irving left, Jonathan introduced the stack of folders to Simon one by one, saying: "Simon, here are some documents and memos related to you in the last few weeks, from the media, from the studio, From other filmmakers, I’ve talked to you on the phone. But you’d better watch it yourself."

Simon nodded in response, opened a folder and glanced at it.

Jonathan waited for Simon to turn over a few pages of the document, then handed over two scripts, and said: "Also, the screenwriter named Nora Efron you asked me to find out happened to have two scripts under her name. A crime comedy called "The Ghost Horse Father and Daughter", I think it's not bad, but it has been bought by Warner Bros. Another romantic comedy, called "When Harry Meets Sally", has a very special plot. The structure, however, may be too deviated from the mainstream that no studio has taken a fancy to this story."

Simon took the two scripts and flipped through them casually, still smiling.

Jonathan looked at Simon’s expression before handing over the last folder and saying: "Finally, after you let me release the news about "Death is Coming", in recent days, Warner, MGM, Columbia and Second-tier companies such as Canon and Xinxian have inquired about this matter. Although they did not give a definitive response, the person in charge of these companies expressed their hope that they could talk to you in person.

Simon took the last folder and opened it, but it was Jonathan's assessment of the possibility of cooperation between Warner and other companies on the "Death is Coming" project.

After a brief glance, Simon put the document in front of him, then looked at Jonathan, and said, "Joe, I think, let's talk about the new contract first."

Simon and Jonathan originally signed a simple script agency contract for three years.

But now, with Simon’s rapid rise in Hollywood with "Lola Run", if the two want to continue to cooperate, the original contract is definitely no longer suitable.

At this time, Jonathan piled this large stack of script memos in front of Simon, not only to show that he had invested enough energy for him, but also to remind Simon that the two needed to renegotiate the contract.

Therefore, Jonathan listened to Simon's initiative, just smiled and nodded, waiting for him to continue.

Simon is not a stingy person, and naturally won't let Jonathan take the commission of the script agent to do the job of a full agent. However, considering his development plans for the next few years, Simon can no longer sign a sharing contract with Jonathan.

After reorganizing his thoughts, Simon said: "Joe, I thought about it before I came back. Next, I hope we can sign a fixed salary contract for three years and $500,000. What do you think?"

When Jonathan heard Simon's offer, some disappointment flashed in his eyes, but he did not speak for a while.

Simon noticed the change in Jonathan’s expression and realized that there was ambiguity in his words just now, and quickly explained: “You misunderstood, Joe, it’s 500,000 dollars a year, not 500,000 dollars for three years.

Jonathan still has some understanding of Simon's upcoming benefits from "Lola Run".

Judging from the details he knows, Simon's personal future income from the distribution of "Lola Run" through various channels will definitely not be less than 20 million US dollars. With such a huge sum of money, he is not willing to sign a sharing agency agreement with himself, which is understandable.

However, I initially thought that Simon would only give him a fixed salary of US$500,000 for three years. Although this offer is not too low strictly speaking, if Simon insists, in order to be able to maintain cooperation with the boy in front of him and win opportunities for his other customers, Jonathan would also agree, but the disappointment in Simon must be inevitable.

Now, with half a million dollars a year, Jonathan Friedman has no dissatisfaction.

In this era, only a few first-line superstars can earn a salary of 5 million US dollars, and these people often take a lead in a movie in one or two years. Therefore, on average, the annual rake they bring to brokers must be less than $500,000.

Simon's offer is tantamount to directly placing himself in the position of a top-line superstar who averages a fully paid movie per year. Although I foresee that this young man's future annual income will definitely not stop there, as an agent, Jonathan also understands that he cannot ask for more.

With a smile on his face, Jonathan happily stretched out his hand towards Simon and said, "Then, happy cooperation."

Simon also reached out to the agent and said, "Happy cooperation."

Naturally, there was no hurry to change the contract, and Jonathan immediately began to explain the series of documents to Simon in detail. However, after less than half an hour of talking, the phone on Jonathan's desk rang.

Making a gesture to Simon for a while, Jonathan walked over to pick up the phone and talked with the other person. Then he covered the microphone and quickly whispered ‘Goldberg’ to Simon before continuing to talk to him.

Simon did not get up either, just quietly listening to the conversation between Jonathan and Fox Pictures President Ronald Goldberg.

After a while, after hanging up the phone, Jonathan said to Simon, who had a general understanding of the situation: "Goldberg would like to invite you to dinner at noon. Moreover, after listening to what he just said, Fox should agree to your terms."

As Jonathan said so, there was obviously some disbelief in his expression.

10% of North American box office share, 5% of video tape sales.

It was incredible that Fox had to agree to the harsh conditions that even Spielberg would not rashly put forward.

Although he did his best to communicate with the film company for Simon and the film company, Jonathan originally thought that after some bargaining, it would be very rare for Simon to get half of the conditions he offered.