South of Venice Beach, in a two-acre office park near Los Angeles' famous Mariander Del Bay.

As soon as Michael Ovitz got out of the parking lot, Jennifer Raybould greeted him and said politely: "Mr. Ovitz, the boss is already waiting for you, please come with me." ”

Owitz was a little displeased not to see Simon greet him, but he still nodded gracefully in front of the beauty, and followed Jennifer into a large factory in the park, which was full of various types of vehicle assembly parts, and Simon was whispering something with a middle-aged white man around a strangely 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, a former engineer at General Motors who now runs his own studio." ”

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

It's called a 'motorcycle' simply because it 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 had been paying attention to Simon's dynamics, consciously or unconsciously, Ovitz quickly understood the purpose of this 'motorcycle', and tentatively asked: "Simon, is this the prop you designed for Batman?"

The 'motorcycle' in front of you is actually the super stylish batmobile in the original "Dark Knight" series.

Simon was not interested in the completely utilitarian Batmobile in Nolan's version of Batman, and additionally designed the Batmobile styling, but kept the idea of the Batmobile. After confirming the filming of "Batman", he began to let people start designing the car.

Simon heard Ovitz's question and nodded, "yes, what do you think?"

Ovitz stepped forward and carefully looked at the batmobile in front of him, and said, "The shape is very novel, but I don't seem to see the powertrain, can it run?"

Adam Locklett, who was standing next to the two of them, took the initiative to explain at this time: "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 driven by electricity, so it can run. ”

Ovitz has always been a very curious person, and when he heard this, he suddenly became a little more interested, and carefully asked about the various details of the car, and the three of them chatted like this, and Ovitz finally tried to drive a short distance in the factory himself.

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

Getting off the batmotor, Ovitz remembered the advantages of a series of in-wheel motor technologies that Adam Locklett had just introduced, and exclaimed: "It's really surprising, I can't imagine that there is such an advanced technology in this world, and maybe it won't be many years before we are about to usher in a new revolution in the automotive industry." ”

Adam Locklett carefully pushed the batbike back to the center of the factory and said with a smile: "Mr. Ovitz, in-wheel motor technology is not advanced at all, it has almost as long a history as the internal combustion engine, as early as 1900, Fernande Porsche, the founder of Porsche, designed the first electric car with in-wheel motor technology, but in this century, our automobile industry has been focusing on the research and development of internal combustion engines, in-wheel motors and electric drive cars have not been popularized." ”

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

Simon couldn't help but sigh: "I've always felt that we have missed out on too much because of fundamental interests rather than the pure pursuit of science." The Apollo program had already sent humans to the moon in the sixties, but over the years, space technology has not only not continued to develop, but has been regressing. ”

"I think the Apollo program was a bit of a drain," Ovitz said. ”

"Before the Age of Discovery, some countries on this planet had too many opportunities to dominate the world, but in the end, it was Britain, with a population of only a few million at the time, who made the empire on which the sun never sets. The starry sky above our heads, which is only within the reach of human beings, is a thousand times more vast than the sea, and who knows what it can bring us?"

After a casual chat, Simon and Ovitz sat down at a workbench in the factory, and Adam Locklitt took the initiative to leave.

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

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

However, since Simon has pointed it out, he did not deny it, saying: "Sony wants to buy a big Hollywood studio, and CAA happens to expand its own business." Speaking of which, Simon, the Japanese are very interested in you, and they even asked about Daenerys Films. ”

"I'm not interested in the Japanese," Simon said, without commenting too much, and got to the point, "Now that you're back, Michael, I think it's time for this recent farce to be over." Levinson: They've all achieved their goal, so I want them all to shut up for the rest of the day. ”

Ovitz's expression with a smile just now became serious, and he said, "Simon, you shouldn't fire Barry if you don't agree. ”

Simon looked at Ovitz and said, "Michael, everyone is smart. Several of them all thought that "Rain Man" would not succeed, Levinson didn't want his new promotion to the top line with "Good Morning Vietnam" to be damaged, and Hoffman was worried about repeating the box office fiasco of "Ishda" last year, so several of them put the blame on me. Now that they've got their wish, it's time for this to end. ”

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

He didn't want to be a fool.

"I'll talk to Barry about them," after a moment of silence, Ovitz nodded in agreement, and added, "What are you going to do next, Simon?"

"I remember you loved the script, Michael, and so did I. Next, I'll take over the post-production of this project myself until it makes it to theaters," Simon shrugged and added, "Since none of the three of them want to have anything to do with Rain Man anymore, then this project has nothing to do with them." Daenerys Films will pay the balance of their contract, all they have to do is shut up. And, at least now the whole Federation knows that there is such a movie as "Rain Man", which is actually a good thing. Film marketing, whether it's marketing in a good direction or a bad direction, as long as it can get the audience to pay attention to the movie, then its marketing is successful. ”

Instead of expressing any righteous indignation at Simon's contempt for his client, Ovitz said, "That's the tactic you used in Instinct?"

"That's right, it's kind of controversy marketing, it's very useful, and you can try it when you're in charge of a film company in the future. ”

Ovitz subconsciously shook his head and said, "Simon, I don't plan to take charge of the film company. ”

"If you don't take advantage of the opportunity, it's only a loss for you. The CAA landscape is so small that you are probably tired of it, or you wouldn't have tried to do consulting work for Sony. Simon remembered Ovitz's personal career experience and added nonchalantly: "However, if you are in charge of a film company and you don't get absolute control, your losses will be even greater." ”

Ovitz couldn't help but think of the invitation of Sony's top management to buy a major Hollywood studio during his trip to Japan, and then he would take the helm.

CAA's influence in Hollywood seems to be getting bigger and bigger, but because of the limitations of the industry itself, it can only be regarded as a small plate after all. In fact, its more than 600 customers can only bring a total income of one or two hundred million dollars to the company every year, and this money can pay the salaries and dividends of all the company's more than 100 brokers, and it is not much that can fall into the hands of Ovitz himself.

In comparison, even the now dilapidated MGM has an annual income of more than one or two hundred million US dollars, and the MCA (Music-Corporation-of-America), the parent company of Universal Pictures that he recommended to Sony for acquisition, is even more of a behemoth.

Neither side was idle, and now that things had been settled, Ovitz quickly took his leave and left, Simon continued to discuss some design details of the Batmobile with Adam Locklett and rushed back to Daenerys Pictures headquarters in Santa Monica.

As soon as she was seated in the office, Amy knocked on the door with a document and walked in.

Handing Simon the folder, Amy explained, "This is a new contract that the Producers Alliance has just offered to the WGA. ”

Simon flipped through the folder and found two proposals, one for today's new contract and the other for the WGA that was voted down by the WGA in mid-June.

After a brief glance, Simon found that the Producers League was completely ruthless this time.

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

In addition, the Producers League completely rejected the WGA's request for a share based on the number of reruns of the syndicated revenue of the one-hour TV program on the television network, which was at the heart of the strike dispute, and insisted on giving the writers a share according to the proportion of revenue from the replays, and the share ratio given was only 1.2%, far lower than the 2% that the industry generally expected.

By contrast, the June contract, which set a cap on payments, offered a compromise between a fixed share and a pro-rata share option for writers.

As for the WGA's demands for a share of other films in this strike, minimum pay standards and even more creative control, the Producers Alliance has also compressed the contract in June to varying degrees. All things considered, the contract is worth $50 million less than the June plan, which equates to an average loss of at least a month's salary for each of the WGA's more than 10,000 members.

Moreover, the Producers Alliance has also taken a strong stance this time demanding that the WGA must give a reply within a week, and if the new contract cannot be approved, the negotiations between the two sides will be delayed for another month.

Today is August 5th.

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

In addition to ABC, the two major television networks, NBC and FOX, have also begun to promote two other reality shows that they have just acquired from Daenerys Films. Although CBS failed to cooperate with Daenerys Pictures, it also made up a game-breaking type reality show on its own, which also started promotion.

The big four television networks have also publicly stated in recent days that they will develop more interesting reality shows, while also announcing that they will promote more cooperation with non-union members in TV drama projects.

This is clearly a very obvious pressure.

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

"The WGA doesn't have a lot of options," Amy nodded, adding, "I'm just worried that our TV program might be affected." ”

Completing the acquisition of New World Entertainment, Simon's first requirement for New World Entertainment's top management was to rebuild the TV series project that had been stalled as soon as possible. Now, while those projects are no longer short of funding, Daenerys Films' reality show project has caused the WGA to lose in this strike, and it is clear that the company's TV series will be boycotted by the writers.

TV dramas are much more dependent on screenwriters than movies.

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 still has the courage to refuse the job in front of him after losing his income for half a year." If they do, we invite non-union members or overseas screenwriters. ”

Amy knew that this was the only way to do it for the time being, so she changed the subject and asked, "How was your meeting with Ovitz?"

"It's settled," Simon nodded, "CAA has no intention of falling out with us completely." ”

Amy was a little worried that Barry Levinson would definitely not be involved in the project again, but she didn't think it would be too good for Simon to personally take charge of the post-production of "Rain Man": "You really want to personally oversee the re-editing of "Rain Man"?"

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

"Maybe we can bring in the editor from Rain Man. ”

"I've checked," Simon said, "Stu Lind, he's a long-time partner of Barry Levinson, so forget it, I'm not going to let this project have anything to do with Barry Levinson." ”