"Mike, of course we'd love to work with Barry, but his new script is just too lacking in selling points. Moreover, we are unlikely to accept a budget of $25 million. ”

"I know what you're thinking, Sid, Paramount must be looking forward to getting a project or two from Daenerys Entertainment's 10 films, but because you snatched 'Rocket Expert' and 'Firebird Attack' from Simon Westeros in a disgraceful way, do you think he can still work with you?"

"You're wrong, Mike, it's because we know our situation very well that we have this meeting today, and I guess the other studios probably don't want to discuss this project with you anymore, right?"

“......”

Paramount Studios in Hollywood.

Paramount Pictures presidents Sidney Garnis and Michael Ovitz are discussing Barry Levinson's new screenplay, "Avalon," the legendary 'Land of Elysium' in European mythology and tells the story of the struggles of generations after the Klitschnski family, an Eastern European immigrant who immigrated to the United States at the turn of the century.

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

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

However, when Daenerys Entertainment suddenly announced a plan 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", firmly refused, leaving Paramount with the exception of Paramount.

These days, Michael Ovitz has secretly regretted more than once why he didn't stop Barry Levinson and others from trying to pass the buck, and now, the entire CAA is blacklisted by Daenerys Entertainment.

After a moment of silence, Michael Ovitz said, "Sid, in that case, let's talk about Paramount's conditions?"

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

Michael Ovitz was a little angry: "West Germany, $2 million, do you think it's possible?"

Barry Levinson was quickly promoted to first-line screenwriter and turned to director after his debut in the 70s, even if he didn't count "Rain Man", blockbuster films such as "Talent" and "Good Morning Vietnam" were enough to make him one of the first-line ranks of directors with a salary of $5 million.

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

Right now, after two consecutive "Good Morning Vietnam" and "Rain Man," Paramount is only willing to offer $2 million for a new film written and directed by Barry Levinson, which is nothing short of an insult.

Sidney Garnis ignored Michael Owitz's mocking questioning, raised his wrist and looked at his watch, and said, "I have a meeting soon, Mike, you can go back and think about it first, and call me when you decide." ”

Leaving Paramount Studios in a gloomy mood, Michael Ovitz pondered how to talk to his clients about it.

Paramount was clearly taking advantage of the fire, but Barry Levinson clearly had no other choice.

Or.

For the time being, let Barry put the project aside and start making a commercial film that sells better.

This idea was immediately dispelled by Ovitz.

Matthew Broderick, who had an entanglement with Simon Westeros, has been completely abolished, and now, although Daenerys Entertainment has not said anything publicly, there are not many studios in Hollywood that dare to take the risk of continuing to work with Barry Levinson.

Even, even within CAA, many celebrities are now deliberately avoiding Barry Levinson.

Back at CAA's headquarters in Century City, as soon as I sat down behind my desk, one of the company's agents, Richard Lovett, came over to report that Kurt Russell and Godie Han were leaving CAA.

Michael Ovitz couldn't help but frown.

This is another more serious problem facing CAA.

When Jonathan Friedman became president of MA, he became ambitious to regain the customers he had lost from MA. Kurt Russell and Goldie Han were both A-list stars that CAA poached when former MA president Stan Carmen died three years ago, and this time it was clearly MA's counterattack.

Picking up the microphone on the desk and making a few phone calls, Michael Ovitz quickly reached Kurt Russell. It's just that the invitation to make an appointment for dinner was directly refused, and although Kurt Russell was very polite, he said that the follow-up matters would be handled by the couple's lawyer.

There is clearly no room for maneuver.

Moreover, the Russell couple is no longer the first wave of stars to leave recently. Michael Ovitz is well aware that not only MA, but other Hollywood talent agencies have been swinging their hoes against CAA lately.

Michael Ovitz was once ambitious to hollow out the best of every other talent agency in Hollywood, relying on CAA's unique packaging mechanism to get more and more lucrative compensation for stars, and it went very well. However, in the last two years since Simon Westeros appeared, Michael Ovitz has found that everything is simply not going well, and many of the clients he once tried to recruit from CAA, such as Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner, Brian De Palma, etc., have all failed.

Now, as Daenerys's entertainment has become more popular, CAA has even begun to be poached in reverse.

Far from becoming obsolete, CAA's packaging strategy is becoming more popular, but Ovitz understands why this is happening.

In the final analysis, it is a matter of competition for resources in Hollywood.

A few years ago, because of the successful launch of a large number of very successful box office packaging projects such as "My Fair Lady" and "Out of Africa", CAA can be described as invincible in Hollywood. Not only has it successfully recruited a large number of A-list stars to join, but projects involving CAA can also obtain resources from the studio, such as schedules and screens.

However, the rise of Daenerys Entertainment caused CAA to quickly lose those advantages.

Because many non-CAA clients who have relied on Daenerys Entertainment's series of blockbuster films have attracted more attention from Hollywood studios, and with the popularity of more blockbuster films, stars such as Robert De Niro, Kevin Costner, and Sandra Bullock can also ask the studios for better resources.

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

Now, Daenerys Entertainment's 10-film project, once all excluding the participation of CAA stars, will undoubtedly widen the gap. After all, these 10 movies will definitely account for the best schedule, the most generous publicity and the most generous number of screens in the next two years. At the same time, no one will doubt that another batch of celebrities will greatly increase their coffee positions.

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

Michael Ovitz can't help but think of Sony's recent acquisition of Colombia, as the mediator of this merger and acquisition, Sony has also previously expressed his intention to make him the leader of Sony's film entertainment business. Now, the dust has basically settled on the merger and acquisition case, but Sony no longer mentions it.

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

Seeing Simon Westeros, Michael Eisner, Barry Diller and others thriving in the production industry, gaining fame and fortune, Ovitz certainly has similar thoughts.

As a result, it's because of Simon Westeros.

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

The phone answered, but Westeros was not in the office.

Michael Ovitz chatted with the other side, and the other party only said that he would relay it, but did not mean to help him transfer the call.

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

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

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

, Westeros (esteros).

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

Westeros apparently completely ignored Matthew Broderick, who had previously moved under the CAA banner and is now completely abolished.

Drawing a clear line is obviously to terminate the contract with these four people.

It's just that.

Can CAA do that?

Not to mention that these four people are all top first-line celebrities in Hollywood, if they terminate their contracts with these four stars for self-protection, what will other customers under CAA think?

However, after a brief moment of anger, Ovitz suddenly realized that perhaps the other customers of the company did not mind him doing this, and might even expect him to do so.

After all, if Barry Levinson leaves CAA, other large talent agencies will obviously not accept it easily, and small agencies will probably not dare to provoke Daenerys Entertainment, they can only go it alone.

It's not for nothing that Hollywood has gone it alone.

Jack Nicholson has been outside several major talent agencies over the years, and he is still thriving. Before joining MA, Robert De Niro had been working alone.

However, if these four people, who have been suppressed by Daenerys Entertainment, go it alone and lose the resources and connections of a large talent agency like CAA, and Hollywood studios dare not easily cooperate with them, the result can only be described as uncertain.

People are selfish.

The fall 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 the CAA.

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

In a bad mood, the outside assistant knocked on the door, and Ovitz looked up to see one of CAA's screenwriting clients appear at the door.

This is Joe Ezerthas, who is currently one of the most expensive screenwriters in CAA's portfolio due to the success of films such as "Lightning Dance" and "Edge of the Blood Web", with the highest price tags for his previous scripts reaching $1.25 million.

Remembering that this was a meeting scheduled for the afternoon, Ovitz temporarily put away his resentment, got up with a smile, went up to shake Ezerthas's hand, and said, "Joe, come in and sit." ”

Joe Ezerthaas looked somewhat unnatural and sat down with Ovitz in the reception area. After chatting a few words and taking a sip of the coffee that the secretary had just brought in, Ezet Haas said, "Mike, that's right, do you remember my original agent, Guy McAyr Wyin?"

Ovitz nodded and said, "Didn't he go to Colombia to work as a producer, but he hasn't seen him for a long time." ”

"You know," Ezert Haas continued, "Sony is about to buy Columbia, and Guy finds himself not a good fit to be a producer, and he wants to get back into the agency business. ”

Ovitz recalled Guy McElwyne's information, and quickly nodded briskly: "Guy is still very capable in this regard, in this case, it is okay to let him come back directly, and we will make an appointment to talk." ”

"No, it's not like that," Ezerthas shook his head, his face a little more embarrassed, "Guy has confirmed that he will go to ICM, I am this time, actually, you know, I have a very good relationship with Guy, and I want to continue to have him as my agent." ”

Ovitz retracted his expression: "Joe, you want to leave CAA?"

Joe Ezethas nodded, "Yes, Mike, I hope you understand. ”

Today's series of events have made Michael Ovitz's mood extremely bad, hearing that the customer that CAA has been sparing no effort to support over the years is leaving, his bad mood suddenly broke through a certain critical point, shook his head without hesitation, and said coldly: "Joe, I won't let you go." ”

Joe Ezethas didn't expect Ovitz to be so resolute, 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 will not agree to your departure." ”

Joe Ezethas complained: "I'm not an asset to the CAA, I'm a person. ”

"Well, you're alone, you can't leave anyway, at least, you don't want to leave CAA until your contract is over. ”

"Mike, I just heard that Kurt Russell and Godie Han 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've put into you, all in all, you want to terminate your contract early, it's impossible. ”

Feeling Ovitz's unreasonable and resolute tone, Joe Ezerthas was also annoyed.

The voices of the two men grew louder and louder, and soon turned into an argument, and Ovitz's roar was heard in the hallway.

“...... Don't forget, it was the CAA that gave you $1.25 million...... Without CAA, you are nothing...... Don't even think about it, I'll pester you with a lawsuit bombardment, so that you can't get a single step to the typewriter, and make you completely scrapped...... If I make you eat, you have to eat...... See those people outside, you want to run away, the infantry fighters of the CAA will find you out of anywhere and smash your head...... I don't care what the outside world thinks, all those guys want is to write a script for Robert Redford......"

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

However, it didn't end there.

The next day, Joe Ezerthas published the details of the meeting in the Hollywood Reporter in the form of an open letter, accusing Ovitz of his atrocity of physically threatening him.

Michael Ovitz's image in Hollywood has always been low-key, mysterious and omnipotent, and both Hollywood studio executives and A-list stars have been in awe of Ovitz in recent years. As soon as Joe Ezeerthas's open letter was released, both inside and outside Hollywood, there was an uproar.

Michael Ovitz's personal image that has been carefully cultivated for many years has collapsed, and Daenerys Entertainment has consciously or unintentionally suppressed it, and the situation of CAA has become even worse.