Hollywood Hunter

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"Mike, of course we'd love to work with Barry, but his new script is just so lackluster. Also, we're not going to accept a $25 million budget."

"I see what you're thinking, Syd, Paramount must be expecting a project or two from Daenerys Entertainment's 10 films, but because you've used unsavory means from Simon Westeros He stole "Rocketman" and "Firebird Attack" in his hands, do you think there is still a possibility for him to cooperate with you?"

"Mike, it is precisely because we are very aware of our situation that we have this meeting with you today. I guess other studios probably don't want to discuss this project with you anymore?"

"..."

Paramount Studios Hollywood.

Paramount Pictures presidents Sidney Garnis and Michael Ovitz are discussing Barry Levinson's new script for 'Avalon' The Land', a story about the struggles of the generations after the Kritzynski family immigrated to the United States at the turn of the century.

In the "Rain Man" project, although Dustin Hoffman still won his second Oscar statuette, which saved some face, in fact, Barry Levinson and other main creators are quite embarrassed.

Barry Levinson has been focusing on writing his new script "Avalon" for the first half of the year, hoping to make a dent with this project. At the beginning of July, Levinson finally completed the script of "Avalon", and several Hollywood studios also expressed interest in "Avalon", and all parties began to approach.

However, when Daenerys Entertainment suddenly announced plans for 10 foreign film collaborations, things began to take a turn for the worse.

Disney, Columbia and Warner Bros., who were originally interested in "Avalon", have firmly expressed their rejection, and only Paramount has not spoken.

These days, Michael Ovitz has more than once secretly regretted why he didn't stop Barry Levinson and others from trying to shirk responsibility. Now, the entire caa has been blacklisted by Daenerys Entertainment.

After a moment of silence, Michael Ovitz said, "West Germany, let's be frank and talk about Paramount's conditions, shall we?"

"Barry's new script is supposed to hit the Oscars, and the box office has little potential. Therefore, Paramount can only give a budget of $12 million at most, of which $2 million is Barry's salary. Of course, we can add a net 10% profit sharing clause.”

Michael Ovitz got annoyed: "West Germany, $2 million, do you think it's possible?"

After his debut in the 1970s, Barry Levinson was quickly promoted to the first-tier screenwriter and turned director. Even if it is not "Rain Man", "Good Morning Vietnam" and other blockbuster films are enough to make him a first-line director with a salary of $5 million. ranks.

What's more, no one can completely deny Barry Levinson's contribution to "Rain Man".

Right now, after two consecutive "Good Morning Vietnam" and "Rain Man," Paramount is only willing to ask $2 million for a new film written and directed by Barry Levinson, which is an insult.

Sidney Garnis ignored Michael Ovitz's sarcastic question, raised his wrist and looked at his watch, saying, "I have a meeting right now, Mike, you can go back and think about it first, and call after you decide. I."

Leaving Paramount Studios in a somber mood, Michael Ovitz has been thinking about how to talk to his client about it.

Paramount is clearly taking advantage of the situation, but Barry Levinson doesn't have many options.

or.

Let Barry drop the project for the time being and start shooting a commercial that sells better.

This idea was immediately dismissed by Ovitz.

Matthew Broderick, who had an affair with Simon Westeros at the beginning, has been completely abolished. Now, although Daenerys Entertainment has not said anything publicly, Hollywood dares to continue to cooperate with Barry Levinson. There are not many movie companies at all.

Even, even inside caa, many stars are now deliberately avoiding Barry Levinson.

Back at the caa headquarters in Century City, and just sat down behind the desk, one of the company's agents, Richard Lovett, came to report that Kurt Russell and Goldie Han were planning to leave caa.

Michael Ovitz frowned.

This is another more serious problem faced by caa.

Jonathan Friedman serves as a lost client to regain. Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn were both A-list stars that CAA took advantage of when former WMA president Stan Carmen passed away three years ago, and this time it was obviously WMA's counterattack.

Picking up the microphone on the desk and making a few calls, Michael Ovitz quickly reached Kurt Russell. It's just that the invitation to have a dinner appointment was rejected. Kurt Russell, although very polite, said that the couple's lawyers would be responsible for the follow-up matters.

There is clearly no room for change in this matter.

Moreover, the Russells are not the first wave of stars to leave recently. Michael Ovitz is well aware that not just wma, but other Hollywood talent agencies are wielding hoes on caa recently.

Michael Ovitz once ambitiously wanted to hollow out the 'essence' of all other Hollywood talent agencies, relying on caa's unique packaging mechanism to win more and more generous remuneration for stars, this matter was originally very smooth.

However, after Simon Westeros appeared, in the past two years, Michael Ovitz found that everything was going wrong. Naruto, Brian De Palma, etc., all without success.

Now, as Daenerys' entertainment becomes more and more popular, caa is even starting to be poached in reverse.

The caa packaging strategy is not outdated, but more popular, but Ovitz also understands why this happens.

In the final analysis, it is still a problem of resource competition in Hollywood.

A few years ago, because of the successful launch of a large number of box-office package projects such as "My Fair Lady" and "Out of Africa", caa can be said to be unfavorable in Hollywood. Not only has it successfully attracted a large number of first-line stars to join, but projects involving caa can also get resources from the studio, such as schedule screens and other aspects.

However, the rise of Daenerys Entertainment made caa quickly lose these advantages.

Because many non-caa customers who rely on Daenerys Entertainment's series of blockbuster films have attracted more attention from Hollywood studios, with the popularity of more blockbuster films, Robert De Niro, Kevin Coase Stars like Turner and Sandra Bullock can also ask the studio for better resources.

In comparison, the commercial performance of its stars is obviously not as good as that of Daenerys Entertainment's films, and caa has gradually fallen into a disadvantage in this regard.

Now, Daenerys Entertainment's 10-film plan, once all caa stars are excluded, will undoubtedly widen the gap even further. After all, these 10 films will definitely take up the best quality schedule, the most generous distribution and the most generous number of screens in the next two years.

At the same time, no one doubts that another batch of stars will increase their popularity significantly.

Some of CAA's first-tier stars are likely to be squeezed into the second-tier in a year or two.

Michael Ovitz couldn't help but think of the recent Sony acquisition of Colombia. As the coordinator of this merger, Sony had previously expressed its intention to make him the head of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Now, the merger is basically settled, and Sony has stopped talking about it.

Talent agency companies do not have any fixed assets and are destined to be difficult to grow.

Seeing Simon Westeros, Michael Eisner, Barry Diller and others making their mark in the production industry, Ovitz certainly had a similar idea.

In the end, it was because of Simon Westeros.

After weighing and thinking for a long time, Michael Ovitz picked up the phone again and dialed a number skillfully without consulting the address book.

The call is connected, but Westeros is not at the company.

Michael Ovitz chatted a few times with the other party, but the other party only said that he would relay it, but he did not intend to help him transfer the phone.

Putting down the microphone, Ovitz was thinking about what to do with the matter when the fax machine in his office rang.

Pulling out a page from the fax machine, there were only four names on it: Barry Levinson, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan.

There is also a handwritten 'w' logo in the lower right corner of the page.

w, Westeros.

After being stunned for a while, Ovitz immediately understood that Simon Westeros meant that caa had to draw a clear line with these four people before the entanglement between the two sides could be resolved.

Simon Westeros apparently completely ignored Matthew Broderick, who had been transferred to caa and has now been completely abolished.

To draw a clear line, it must be to terminate the contract with these four people.

only.

Can caa do this?

Not to mention that these four are the top first-line celebrities in Hollywood. If they terminate their contracts with these four stars in order to protect themselves, what will other customers of caa think?

After a brief moment of anger, however, Ovitz suddenly realized that, perhaps, the company's other clients didn't mind him doing it, and might even expect him to.

After all, the four of Barry Levinson left caa, obviously other large talent agency companies would not accept it easily, and small agency companies probably wouldn’t dare to provoke Daenerys Entertainment, they could only do it alone.

Hollywood stars alone are not without them.

Jack Nicholson has been away from several major talent agency companies all these years, and he is still prosperous. Before joining wma, Robert De Niro has also been on his own.

However, if these four people who were already suppressed by Daenerys Entertainment went it alone and lost the resources and contacts of a large talent agency such as caa, and Hollywood studios did not dare to cooperate with them easily, the result would only be It can be described as an uncertain future.

People are selfish.

The drop of these four first-line filmmakers actually means opportunities for others.

and.

Michael Ovitz also has to admit that this is undoubtedly the most beneficial way to deal with caa.

However, Ovitz had a hard time convincing himself to give in to Simon Westeros.

When I was in a bad mood, the assistant outside knocked on the door. Ovitz looked up and saw a screenwriter client under caa appeared at the door.

This is Joe Ezette Haas, because of the success of "Lightning Dance", "Border of the Blood" and other films, Ezette Haas is currently one of the most valuable screenwriters under caa, and he has the highest turnover of several previous scripts. The price is as high as $1.25 million.

Remembering that this was a confirmed meeting in the afternoon, Ovitz temporarily put away his resentment and smiled.

He got up, went up to him and shook hands with Ezet Haas, and said, "Joe, come in and sit."

Joe Ezette Haas, with a somewhat unnatural expression, sat down with Ovitz in the reception area. After chatting for a while, taking a sip of the coffee that the secretary had just brought in, Ezette Haas said, "Mike, it's like this, my former agent, Guy McElwine, do you remember ?"

Ovitz nodded and said, "Didn't he go to Columbia to be a producer? It's been a long time since he was there."

"You know," Ezette Haas continued, "Sony is about to buy Columbia, and Guy finds he's not a good producer and wants to get back into the agency business."

Ovitz recalled the information on Guy McElwyin and nodded cheerfully: "Guy is still very capable in this regard. In this case, let him come back directly. Let's make an appointment to talk about it. talk."

"No, it's not like this," Ezet Haas shook his head, his face became more embarrassed, and said: "Guy has confirmed that he will go to icm, this time, in fact, you know, me and Gay's The relationship is very good, and I want to continue to have him as my agent."

Ovitz restrained his expression: "Joe, do you want to leave caa?"

Joe Ezette Haas nodded. "Yes, Mike, I hope you understand."

A series of events today have made Michael Ovitz's mood extremely bad. Hearing that the customer who caa has spared no effort to support all these years is leaving, his bad mood suddenly broke through a certain threshold, he shook his head without hesitation, and said coldly: "Joe, I won't let you go."

Joe Ezette Haas didn't expect Ovitz's tone to be so blunt and resolute, he was stunned, and said, "Mike, I can pay the liquidated damages."

"No," Ovitz shook his head again and said, "Joe, you are caa's most precious asset, and I won't agree with you to leave."

Joe Ezette Haas said dissatisfied: "I am not an asset of caa, I am a person."

"Well, you are alone, you can't leave anyway, at least, you don't want to leave caa until your contract ends."

"Mike, I just heard that Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have left. Why are you embarrassing me?"

"Why, Joe, do you know how much resources caa has invested in you over the years, do you know how much thought I have put into you. All in all, you want to terminate the contract early, which is impossible."

Feeling Ovitz's unreasonable and determined tone, Joe Ezette Haas also became angry.

The voices of the two couldn't help getting louder, and soon turned into a quarrel, and Ovitz's roar spread into the corridor.

"...don't forget, caa gave you $1.25 million...you're nothing without caa...don't even think about it, I'll bombard you with lawsuits and make you unable to take a single step. Get close to the typewriter and make you totally crippled...I make you eat shit, you gotta eat shit...see those people outside, you wanna run away, caa's infantry fighters will find you anywhere, and then Smash your head...I don't care what the outside world thinks, all those guys want is a script for Robert Redford..."

The quarrel between the two became more and more intense, until several of Ovitz's assistants rushed into the office feeling that something was wrong, and only stopped a physical conflict in time.

However, things didn't end there.

The next day, Joe Ezette Haas published the details of the meeting in the form of an open letter in The Hollywood Reporter, accusing Ovitz of tyranny with physical threats against him.

Michael Ovitz's image in Hollywood has always been low-key, mysterious and omnipotent. Whether it is a Hollywood studio executive or a first-line star, he has been in awe of Ovitz in recent years. Once Joe Ezette Haas's open letter was released, there was an uproar in both Hollywood and the outside media.

The personal image that Michael Ovitz has carefully built over the years collapsed for a while, and under the conscious or unintentional suppression of Daenerys Entertainment, caa's situation has become even more bad.

ps: Real events, even Ovitz's foul language is true. The stalk of 'caa infantry warrior' has been circulating in Hollywood for many years. Joe Ezette Haas is the screenwriter of Instinct.

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