Hollywood Hunter

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

As soon as Michael Ovitz got off the car in the parking lot, Jennifer Leibold greeted him and said politely, "Mr. Ovitz, the boss is already waiting for you, please come with me."

Ovitz was somewhat unhappy when he didn't see Simon greet him, but he nodded in a graceful manner in front of the beauty, and followed Jennifer into a large factory building in the park. The factory building was full of various types of vehicle assemblies. Parts, Simon is discussing something in a low voice with a middle-aged white man around a peculiarly shaped 'motorcycle'.

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

Ovitz shook hands with Adam Locklett again before looking at the 'motorcycle' in front of him again.

The reason why it can be called a 'motorcycle' is simply because the car has only two wheels, two wide wheels that are obviously only used in racing cars. But in addition, the exaggerated shape of the whole car with a sense of technology is completely out of the category of 'motorcycle'.

Because he has been paying attention to Simon's movements intentionally or unintentionally, 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 was not interested in the completely pragmatic Batmobile in Nolan's "Batman" version, and designed the Batmobile in addition to the shape, but kept the idea of ​​this Batmobile. Confirmed to shoot "Batman", he began to let people start designing the car.

Simon nodded when he heard Ovitz's question: "Yeah, what do you think?"

Ovitz stepped forward and carefully looked at the bat motorcycle in front of him and said, "The shape is very novel, but I don't seem to have seen the power system. Can it run?"

Adam Locklett, who was standing beside the two, took the initiative to explain: "Mr. Ovitz, this motorcycle uses in-wheel motor technology, and its power system, transmission system and braking system are all integrated into the wheel hub. , and is powered by electricity, so it can run."

Ovitz has always been a very curious person. Hearing this, he became a little more interested and asked carefully about the details of the car. The three of them chatted like this, and Ovitz finally tried it out himself. Drive a short distance in the factory.

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

After getting off the bat motorcycle, Ovitz remembered the advantages of a series of in-wheel motor technologies just introduced by Adam Locklett, and praised: "It's really surprising, I didn't expect such advanced technology in this world, maybe it won't take many years. , we are about to usher in a new revolution in the automotive industry."

Adam Lockleet carefully pushed the Batmobile back to the center of the factory building and said with a smile: "Mr. Ovitz, the in-wheel motor technology is not at all advanced. It has almost as long a history as the internal combustion engine. As early as 1900, Porsche The founder of the company, Fernand Porsche, designed the first electric vehicle with in-wheel motor technology. It is only this century that our automotive industry has been focusing on the research and development of internal combustion engines, and in-wheel motors and electric drive vehicles have not been able to. spread."

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

Simon couldn't help but sigh: "I always feel that we have missed too many things because of fundamental interests rather than the pure pursuit of science. The Apollo program has already sent humans to the moon in the 1960s. , but in recent years, aerospace technology has not only not continued to develop, but has been going backwards."

Ovitz said: "I think the Apollo program was a bit labor-intensive."

"Before the era of great voyages began, some countries on this planet had too many opportunities to dominate the world, but in the end, it was the United Kingdom, which had a population of only a few million at that time, and achieved the empire on which the sun never sets. Above our heads is only the starry sky that humans can touch. Thousands of times bigger than the sea, who knows what it can bring us?"

After chatting casually for a while, Simon and Ovitz sat down at a workbench in the factory building, and Adam Locklett took the initiative to leave.

Picking up a wrench from the workbench and playing with it, Simon asked Ovitz in a relaxed tone, "How's your talk with Sony?"

Ovitz was a little surprised. Although he did not hide his trip to Japan, absolutely not many people knew that he went 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 just happens to expand its 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, before entering the topic: "Now that you're back, Michael, I think it's time for this recent farce to end. Levinson They've all achieved their goals, so I hope they all shut up next."

Ovitz just now became serious with a smile on his face, and said, "Simon, you shouldn't fire Barry if you don't agree."

Simon looked at Ovitz and said, "Michael, everyone is smart. They all think that "Rain Man" can't be successful, and Levinson doesn't want to be promoted to the front line with "Good Morning Vietnam". Hoffman was also worried about repeating the box office fiasco of last year's "Isda", so several people put the blame on me. Now that they have all done their thing, this should end here."

Ovitz originally wanted to get some more benefits for several of his clients from Simon, but Simon had revealed the inside story, and he couldn't speak any more. He has always felt that he and Simon are the same kind, two smart people, if he deliberately messes around, it will make him look very stupid.

He didn't want to be a fool.

"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 the script, Michael, and so do I. Next, I'll personally take over the post-production work on this project until it hits theaters," Simon shrugged and added: "Since none of the three of them are 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, all they have to do is shut up. And, at least for now The whole federation knows that there is a movie like "Rain Man", which is actually a good thing. Movie marketing, whether it is marketing in a good direction or a bad direction, as long as it can make the audience pay attention to the movie, then it will be a good thing. marketing is successful.”

Instead of expressing indignation at Simon's disdain for his client, Ovitz said, "Is this the tactic you used on Instinct?"

"Yes, this should be considered controversial marketing. It's 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'm not planning to run the film company."

"If you have the opportunity but don't grasp it, it will only be your loss. After all, the layout of caa is too small, you should be tired of it yourself? Otherwise, you will not try to do consulting work for Sony." Simon remembered Ovitz's personal professional experience, and casually added: "However, if you are in charge of a film company and you don't get absolute control, you will lose more."

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

The influence of caa in Hollywood seems to be growing, but because of the limitations of the industry itself, it can only be regarded as a small plate. Its more than 600 clients can actually only bring in total revenue of one or two billion dollars to the company each year. After paying the salary and dividends of all the more than 100 brokers in the company, this money can fall into the hands of Ovitz himself. Not much.

In comparison, even the now broken MGM has an annual income of more than one or two billion dollars. The Universal Pictures parent company mca (music-corporation-of-america), which he recommended to Sony for acquisition this time, is even more of a behemoth. .

Neither side was idle. Now that things were settled, Ovitz quickly said goodbye and left. Simon continued to discuss some Batmobile design details with Adam Locklett, and also rushed back to Daenerys in Santa Monica. Film headquarters.

Just after 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 that the Producers Union has just offered to wga."

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

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

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

In addition, for the syndicated income of the one-hour TV program of the TV network at the core of the strike dispute, the Producers Union completely rejected the request of the WGA to divide the revenue according to the number of replays, insisting on giving the screenwriters a share according to the income ratio of the replays, and giving The share of the company is only 1.2%, which is far lower than the 2% that the industry generally expects.

In contrast, the June contract, although there was a pay cap, provided the producer union with a compromise clause that allowed writers to choose between a fixed share or a prorated share.

As for WGA's demands for other film share ratios, minimum wages and even more creative control in this strike, the Producers Union has also compressed to varying degrees on the basis of the contract in June. After all, the value of this contract is reduced by $50 million compared with the plan in June, which is equivalent to at least one month's salary loss for each of the more than 10,000 WGA members on average.

Moreover, the Producers Union also demanded that the WGA must give a reply within a week. If the new contract cannot be passed, the negotiations between the two parties will be postponed 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 episodes left per week, this did not stop the audience from pursuing this reality show. Compared with the original pilot episode, the total number of viewers even rushed to 20 million.

In addition to abc, the two major TV networks, nbc and fox, have also begun to promote the other two reality shows just acquired from Daenerys Pictures. Although cbs failed to cooperate with Daenerys Pictures, it also made a game by itself.

The type of reality show also started publicity.

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

This is obviously the most obvious pressure.

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

"Wga doesn't have many options anymore," Amy nodded, and added: "I'm just worried that our TV series projects may be affected."

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

TV dramas are more dependent on screenwriters than movies.

After frowning and thinking about it, Simon said: "It depends on the situation, everyone is for their own jobs, I don't believe that the screenwriter has the courage to refuse the job in front of him after losing his income for six months in a row. If they really do, we will invite non-professionals. Union members or overseas screenwriters.”

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

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

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

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

"Perhaps, we can invite the editor of "Rain Man" over."

"I checked," Simon said. "Stu Lind, he's a longtime collaborator of Barry Levinson, so forget it, I'm not going to let this project have anything to do with Barry Levinson anymore. ."

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