Jonathan Friedman looked at Matthew Broderick very rudely, frowned slightly, motioned for Simon to enter his office, and asked, "Simon, do you know Matthew?"

Simon didn't hide it either, and briefly explained a few words about the last airship bar.

"Oh, it's a small thing," Jonathan said with a casual smile, sitting down behind his desk, "I'll make an appointment with Matthew, have a meal together, shake hands, and we'll be fine." There should be no unsolvable contradictions between you young people. ”

Simon nodded, he didn't take the last time too seriously. Feeling that Jonathan was obviously a little absent-minded when he spoke today, and his expression was a little tired, so he asked, "Joe, haven't you rested lately?"

"Nothing, just a little busy these days. ”

Listening to the concerned tone of the young man opposite, Jonathan, who was rummaging through a few documents on the desktop, hesitated, and suddenly didn't want to take out the draft contract.

After such hesitation, Jonathan still handed a blue folder to Simon, made up his mind to compensate the boy as much as possible in the future, and said softly: "Simon, the matter of the script has come to an end." However, the studio checked your information in advance with the WGA and knew that you were a newcomer, so the price was not too high. Also, they want another script from you, and I saw the outline at Paramount yesterday, and it's wonderful. So, let's take a look at the contract first. ”

Simon felt that Jonathan's words were clearly reserved, and he probably had a premonition of something, but he still opened the contract in his hand and read it carefully.

Looking at Simon, who was carefully reading the contract, Jonathan actually wanted to hide.

He knows very well that Simon is definitely not the kind of rookie who breaks into Hollywood without knowing anything and will cheer as long as he can sell the script in his hand. Therefore, I don't want to face the teenager's reaction after reading the contract.

God seemed to hear Jonathan's heart, and there was a knock on the office door, and Owen Wright came in, saying, "Mr. Friedman, Mr. Broka is here." ”

As soon as the assistant finished speaking, Norman Broca, who was standing outside the door, just glanced at Simon and beckoned to Jonathan, "Joe, can you come out for a while? I have something to talk to you about." ”

Although he didn't want to have any communication with Norman Broca these days, Jonathan was even more uncomfortable facing Simon at this time. Standing up casually, he introduced Simon, who was also standing up with him, "Simon, this is the president of our WMA, Mr. Norman Broca. You go ahead and look at the contract, I'll be back after a few chats with Norman. ”

Simon looked out the door at the old man who didn't mean to come in, dressed in a black suit, with gray hair, a slightly short stature, and, a standard Jewish nose.

Nodding to the other party, Simon waited for Jonathan to leave the office before sitting back down, once again focusing on the contract in front of him.

Then, as the reading deepened, Simon's brow furrowed more and more.

To be sure, Simon didn't care too much about the $100,000 basic remuneration involved in this contract.

As a newcomer, such an offer is actually very good.

$100,000, which is probably enough to complete "Lola Run" by himself.

It's just that it's a complete buyout contract.

$80,000 to buy out the entire copyright of "The Butterfly Effect", and $20,000 as a deposit to buy the right of first refusal for "The Grim Reaper" for the next three years. Moreover, as long as Fox intends to shoot "The Grim Reaper" in the next three years, when the price is renegotiated, it will still be a full rights buyout contract.

Simon was even a little incredulous about how Jonathan could possibly give himself such a harsh contract.

In Hollywood, screenwriting is likewise a very precarious profession. Even union members of the WGA are largely unemployed for most of the year, and many have to find other jobs to make ends meet.

Therefore, in order to win more rights and interests, Hollywood screenwriters are also one of the most frequent strikes in the industry.

After decades of battling with studios, the Writers Guild and the Hollywood Producers Alliance have reached a "Foundation Agreement" to protect the rights and interests of Hollywood screenwriters in terms of basic benefits, minimum wage, health insurance, pension plans, etc.

For film screenwriters, the most important clause involved in the "Basic Agreement" is not actually the minimum script remuneration stipulated in it, but the sharing agreement that can bring long-term income to the screenwriters.

According to the latest version of the Basic Agreement signed between the Writers Guild and the Producers Union in 1985, in addition to the two minimum basic remuneration levels stipulated according to the division of film production costs, film screenwriters can also receive a corresponding share of the film's subsequent videotape and television broadcast rights revenue.

Among them, the share ratio of video tapes is 0.3% of the sales revenue within 1 million boxes, and 0.36% of the sales revenue after 1 million boxes.

In addition, the revenue share of TV broadcasting rights is divided according to different platform types such as public television networks, basic cable stations, paid cable stations, pay-per-view on-demand stations, and even overseas TV stations, and the overall agreement income for screenwriters is no less than that of video tapes.

Since the 80s, with the explosion of the videotape market and the continuous development of the television network, the revenue of Hollywood films in these two areas has been increasing, and has now reached the level of one-third of the revenue of the theater chain.

So, for even a film that grosses only $30 million at the global box office, it can probably earn that number from videotapes.

Based on the average selling price of about $30 for home videotapes, $30 million in sales revenue is exactly equivalent to the sales of 1 million videotapes. Based on this figure, the film's screenwriter will be able to receive about $90,000 from the sale of the 1 million videotapes.

The subsequent revenue share of TV broadcasting rights will basically be equivalent to the share of video cassette sales.

Combined, it's almost $200,000.

This is obviously much higher than the average price of a Hollywood script in the 80s, and it is usually several times the basic remuneration agreed between the screenwriter and the studio.

Moreover, the sales share of these two aspects is still a long-term continuous income, which means that even if the film writer cannot find a job at all in the next few years, the sales share he receives at regular intervals can ensure his life.

For "The Butterfly Effect" and "The Grim Reaper is Coming", which was picked up in advance by the studio, Simon has full confidence.

According to the usual consumption habits of mass movie fans, as very classic horror films, these two films are likely to perform better in the videotape market in the future than in the theatrical stage, and the sales will even far exceed 1 million boxes.

Therefore, if he can get a share agreement, counting the same scale of TV broadcast rights income, Simon will definitely get hundreds of thousands of dollars of follow-up income from these two scripts in the future, far from the basic remuneration of $80,000 at this time.

Simon is not a member of the WGA, and that's not wrong.

In fact, Simon has no plans to join the WGA in the future, so he does not enjoy the protection of the WGA's well-established Base Agreement.

However, in Hollywood, where the film industry system is quite perfect, the screenwriter's sharing clause is actually an industry practice.

As long as the screenwriter can find a reliable agent, or even if he knows a little more, the partner is a regular Hollywood film company. Then, both parties can basically sign the terms of the sharing agreement.

But now, a vice president of Hollywood's largest talent agency has only 'wrought' a buyout deal for himself that completely fools him.

At one point, Simon really felt the urge to jump up and slam the contract in his hand on the agent's face.

However, remembering some of the details that Jonathan had just shown, Simon calmed down, turned his head to look at the office door, and waited patiently for the agent to return.

At the same time, Norman Broca's office, which has been heartwarming since yesterday afternoon, Jonathan Friedman heard the request of his immediate boss, and could no longer help but raise his voice, waving his arms and saying, "Don't like it? Just because you don't like it, Matthew is going to kick Simon out? Norman, do you know how embarrassed I was when I just handed the contract to that kid, and I was a WMA VP who gave my client a stupid deal that even a third-rate agency agent wouldn't necessarily be able to handle. Now, you're telling me that he's been kicked out and that he's never going to have anything to do with the project again, how can you let me say it?"

Norman Broca looked at Jonathan, who was almost losing his usual gentle posture, concealed the disdain in his heart, and said in a stern tone: "Joe, you must know that you are now the vice president of WMA, and as a manager, you must consider the interests of the entire company." What's more, it's just a hairy kid who doesn't know anything, if you can't even cope with this kind of thing, where can you afford your current position?"

It has to be in your own interest, right?

The thought crossed Jonathan's mind, and he listened to Norman Broka's words, which had begun to threaten his position, and his tone was a little more peaceful, but he still argued: "Simon is already reading that contract." The total remuneration for "The Butterfly Effect" was originally only $80,000, $50,000 for the first edition, $20,000 for revision according to the studio's requirements, and $10,000 for follow-up editing. Even if he agrees to withdraw, how will this money be calculated, can I tell him that there will only be $50,000 left?"

"Of course, there is only $50,000 left, and in the entire federation, how many people can earn $50,000 at the age of 18, what is he not satisfied with. ”

Norman Broca saw Jonathan's attitude soften, so he became even more aggressive.

Before pitching the script to the studio last week, Norman Broca had wanted to rework the script to add Matthew Broderick's role, but Jonathan rejected it on the grounds that the script was already complete enough.

Now, taking advantage of this opportunity to kick Simon out, he can just let his cronies screenwriter do it.