Glancing at this subordinate who had caused him a lot of trouble, Lou Weiss said: "Joe, as for you, Brian de Palma is still the director, and he will also serve as the producer of "The Butterfly Effect". Fox is offering $2 million in compensation, along with a 10% share of North American box office profits. ”

Jonathan Friedman nodded.

If it weren't for the two previous failed films, Brian De Palma's salary would have been around $3 million.

Now that Fox is offering $2 million plus a 10% share of North American box office profits, Jonathan Friedman has no complaints at all, and all he wanted to get for his clients was a simple fixed $2 million salary.

Of course, Jonathan Friedman also understands that Brian De Palma was able to get this relatively generous contract mainly because of the revelation of a series of harsh agreements that have triggered WMA infighting in recent days.

Both Fox and the WMA need to refute the relevant revelations in the media with 'facts'.

Thinking of this, Jonathan Friedman began to look forward to Fox's offer for Simon's script again, however, he did not take the initiative to speak, patiently waiting for Lou Weiss to continue.

After Lou Weiss finished talking about Brian de Palma, he looked at his memo again, looked up, and said: "Regarding the script, the price has been raised to $200,000, $160,000 is the remuneration for the script of "The Butterfly Effect", and $40,000 is reserved for the screenwriter's first refusal of the next two scripts. ”

Jonathan Friedman listened, paused, and asked, "Lu, is it still a buyout contract?"

Lou Weiss shook his head and said, "This is the basic remuneration, and the sharing terms follow industry practice. ”

Jonathan Friedman was relieved that if it was still a buyout agreement, he wasn't sure if Simon would agree to it, even if Fox doubled the base price.

Now, with just the addition of a script preference, Jonathan believes Simon must know what to choose.

Seeing that Jonathan did not object, Lou Weiss continued: "Joe, in addition to the arrangement of these three people, the original packaging plan has also been overturned. Fox has given a brand new budget of $10 million, and by that standard, you're going to put together a list of the main characters and give it to me tomorrow, is there a problem?"

Jonathan Friedman realizes that Lou Weiss now wants to sign a simplified package with Fox as soon as possible, and the current situation clearly does not allow for a second option for the WMA. So he nodded again and said, "No problem." ”

Hearing Jonathan's answer, Lou Weiss closed the memo in front of him, waved his hand at Jonathan, and said, "That's it, you can go to work now." ”

Jonathan Friedman stood up and saw that the other three were all sitting still, knowing that they would definitely have to discuss the revelations of the last few days.

With such a bad impact on internal leaks, the WMA must be investigated to the end.

However, Jonathan didn't think that the management could investigate anything at all, and the guy who broke the news to the media must be very aware of the serious consequences of doing such a thing, and he would definitely not act easily if he did not hide himself completely.

Leaving the conference room, Jonathan Friedman walked gently through the outer hallway, feeling the warm sunlight through the glass wall in the morning, and suddenly felt a sense of relaxation that he had never felt before.

Discussion in the media about the WMA incident continues.

Jonathan Friedman is well aware that although he has temporarily crossed the current threshold, it is almost impossible for him to go further in the WMA in the future due to this incident.

Even, once Lou Weiss, who is 75 years old this year, steps down from the chairmanship in the next few years and loses this support, he is likely to be kicked out of the company by Norman Broca completely.

However, letting go of the long-standing desire to climb up cautiously and not making mistakes, Jonathan felt that all the feelings of depression and resentment that had accumulated in his heart for so many years had dissipated.

Jonathan also found that he was actually very strong compared to many others in the industry.

Relying on more than 20 years of experience and connections, even after leaving the WMA, he can still live a good life, or even better.

Now, instead of having to think about trade-offs all the time, he just has to take responsibility for his customers wholeheartedly. Well, he believes that no matter what happens in the future, a large part of these people will follow him closely.

Unknowingly, Jonathan Friedman paused in his steps, and suddenly remembered the boy who prompted him to do all this, so he walked up to the outside assistant and said, "Owen, help me find Simon's contact address." ”

Jonathan Friedman has a total of 37 clients under his name, and Westerners really don't have a lot of creativity when it comes to names, and more than one of those clients happens to be named Simon.

However, Owen Wright immediately understood what Jonathan meant, and skillfully pulled out a sheet from the thick stack of contacts and handed it to his boss.

Jonathan Friedman took it and glanced at it a few times, then handed it back to his assistant and said, "I'll go out for a while and come back at noon." ”

Owen Witt nodded, watched Jonathan leave, and couldn't help but think to himself, it seems that he should have more contact with that boy named Simon Westeros in the future.

Leaving the WMA headquarters, Jonathan Friedman drove straight to the address of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Midtown Santa Monica.

For the new week, Simon re-rotated the morning shift.

It was 9:40 a.m.

At the convenience store when traffic was relatively low, Simon was doing a routine inventory of the shelves he was responsible for, and Courtney Cox, wearing a pink T-shirt and short hot pants, walked by casually.

Feeling the faint smell of perfume around him, Simon turned his head and smiled at Courtney, saw the girl holding a few things in her arms with her bare hands, and said, "Are you always so used to holding things when you buy things?"

Seeing that Simon took the initiative to talk to him, Courteney spoke, but still with a bit of habitual unkindness, and said, "Yes, you have an opinion?"

Simon immediately shook his head and said, "No, if they were all guests like you, the trolleys in our store would definitely last for many more years." ”

"Heh, I'll use the trolley next time," Courtney said, picking out a bottle of ketchup, still holding it in her arms, watching Simon turn his attention to the folder in his hand again, hesitated for a moment, and then said casually, "The one in the newspaper in the last few days, um, "The Butterfly Effect", was written by you?"

After all, there was no deep relationship, except for the chance to see "Lola Run", Courteney didn't know Simon's other scripts before, and she didn't have much interest in this matter originally.

Moreover, in the news these days, the whistleblower actually did not mention the personal information of the screenwriter of "Butterfly Effect", and the other party obviously had his own intentions in doing so.

If it is known to the outside world that Simon is just an 18-year-old rookie who has just debuted, the argument in the article that Fox's buyout contract is too harsh is likely to be questioned. After all, in this era when most ordinary people only earn $10,000 or $20,000 a year, many people are destined to feel that a young man can earn $100,000 just after turning 18, what is there not to be satisfied with?

Courteney actually finds it hard to believe that the screenwriter of "The Butterfly Effect", which caused such a big storm in Hollywood, would be Simon, an ordinary boy who doesn't see anything special at all. However, she happened to know that Jonathan Friedman obviously only had Simon as a screenwriter.

Simon glanced at the girl with an inquiring expression, nodded with a smile, and replied casually, "Yes." ”

Although it was generally confirmed, Courtney heard Simon's answer, her eyes widened, and she asked, "Really?"

This time, before Simon could respond, Roger Griffin's chubby body leaned over from the other side of the shelf and said, "Simon, someone is looking for you." ”

Simon answered, marking the folder before walking out.

Courtney paused, and followed Simon with a bunch of things.

As soon as he turned out of the shelves, Simon saw his agent, Jonathan Friedman, standing at the exit of the cash register and nodding to him.

Courtney also quickly spotted the agent's figure, and the surprised expression on her face that had not yet dissipated floated again.

You know, since signing the contract, she has never encountered a situation where the top agent of the WMA has come to look for her in person, and at first, she could only see Jonathan's assistant most of the time.

Simon walked through the cash register to Jonathan's side, the agent looked at Simon's clerk outfit, shook his hand with a gentle smile, patted Simon on the shoulder, and said, "I didn't expect you to be here, let me know earlier, I can help you find a better part-time job." ”

Simon joked, "It's not too late." ”

"Now, heh, not now," Jonathan smiled and shook his head, then turned to Courtney who came over, also reached out and shook the girl, and said, "Curt, I didn't expect you to be here, you and Simon know?"

Courtney obviously felt the difference in Jonathan's attitude towards herself and Simon, but nodded obediently and said, "Yes, I live nearby, and I often come over without anything, so I happen to know Simon." ”

"Oh, that's a coincidence," Jonathan replied, turning back to Simon, "Simon, can you take a few hours off?" ”

"Okay," Simon nodded, turned his head and glanced at Roger Griffin, who was probing his head this way, and came to the convenience store owner, "Roger, my agent is looking for me for something temporarily." ”

In addition to being very picky on the salary, the middle-aged fat man seemed to be very good at talking in other aspects, and once again glanced at the middle-aged man with an elegant temperament not far away, and nodded briskly: "No problem, come back before 12 o'clock, just count your absence from work for two hours." ”