Chapter 66: UTA is founded
The end of the Oscar Film Festival did not diminish everyone's enthusiasm, and the next day about the Oscar-winning films and star directors were widely reported by major times.
In addition to the biggest winners of "Mozart's Biography", Lester and Michael Douglas, who were upset at the Oscars, were called dark horses by reporters, and the two highest award winners were PK.
With the help of major Times reports, Bird Pictures and Universal Pictures officially let "Back to the Future" be released in North American theaters on the weekend of March 30.
"Back to the Future" is known as a sci-fi time-travel film, and from the start of filming to the present, the two companies have been promoting, even during the awards season.
On the trial day on March 5th, the comedy and special effects in it made "Back to the Future" win the warm cheers of the audience, and won unanimous praise from the media and film critics.
It was simultaneously released in 1,200 theaters in North America, and after only a week, "Back to the Future" topped the weekend box office, and it was firmly in the box office champion position for several weeks.
……
Lester, who received the good news of "Back to the Future", wore black sunglasses and drove a Lamborghini to the city of Beverly Hills west of Los Angeles.
It's a beautiful place with the famous Wille Boulevard, Bel Air and Santa Monica SX to the north of Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Caltal and Fairfax in Los Angeles on the side, and Beverly Woods on the south side.
It is surrounded by several cities in Los Angeles, and is bordered by West Hollywood across Darcini Avenue to the northeast, and the famous "Sunset Street" of West Hollywood also includes the "Sunset Boulevard" of Beverly Hills. ”
Driving to Beverly Hills, Leicester followed the designated location and came to the outside of a newly built three-storey building.
Pulling into a parking space, opening the door and getting out of the car, Leicester looked up and saw that the roof of the building marked the UTA United Elite Agency.
The day before yesterday, Lester received a call from Marty Bauer informing him that the agency was opening today.
As one of the founders of UTA, Leicester needed the day when the brokerage would open.
"Mr. Marty Bauer, how could he suddenly want to open a brokerage company with someone else. ”
Lester approached the UTA agency, and the reporter's question came from inside.
When I walked in, I saw Marty Bauer, Jim Burkus, and Gary Cousse being interviewed by reporters.
Today, when the UTA agency was first established, in order to let Hollywood know that there is such a agency, Marty Power specially paid for a reporter from the medium-sized Times company to interview him.
"Haha, Lester, you're here. ”
Looking at Lester who walked in, Marty Power's eyes flashed, and in front of the reporters who were still interviewing him, he waved and smiled;
"Leicester, Leicester who was on Time magazine. When several reporters heard this, they turned around and saw Lester, who was wearing casual clothes and sunglasses, walking over, and his eyes flashed with a bright light.
Several reporters gave up interviewing Marty Bauer, Jim Burkus, and Gary Coussey, and scrambled to hold the microphone and stretched out to Lester and said: "I don't know why Mr. Leicester is here, are you the fifth founder they say, are you going to enter the brokerage industry?"
Lester saw Marty Bauer turn the reporter to him, his forehead was a little bruised, and he was unhappy Marty Bauer wanted to use his popularity to achieve publicity, but he was also one of the founders, and gave Marty Bauer a look you are waiting for.
In the face of several reporters, Lester said: "I am indeed one of the five founders to be here, the leader of the new agency is Mr. Marty Power, you have to figure out why I am the founder of the agency, you can ask Marty Bauer, he knows how to answer you." ”
Lester didn't lose anything at all, and turned the conversation back to Marty Power, and several reporters heard that Lester didn't want to say anything, and turned around to continue interviewing Marty Power and others.
Lester walked to the second floor under Marty Bauer's helpless eyes, and when he came to the conference room on the second floor, he saw Peter Bennydyk signing contracts for 26 agents, and did not give interviews to reporters with Marty Bauer and the leading artists below.
The 26 brokers are all brokers recruited by Mattie Bauer and others, and the company needs to rely on the operation of these brokers when the company is just starting out.
"Hello everyone. ”
Leicester greeted the 26 agents and Peter Bennedike and took a seat in the front.
The 26 agents knew that Leicester was also one of their bosses, and each hugged Leicester and went down to work.
Taking off his sunglasses and hanging them in his breast pocket, Lester sat down in his seat and chatted with Peter Benedek as he watched him draw up the papers.
A few moments later, Marty Bauer, Jim Burkus, and Gary Cousse walked into the conference room.
"The journalist is gone. Peter Bennedek put aside the prepared documents and looked at the trio who came over;
"The interview is over. Marty Bauer went to the main seat and sat down, and when he saw Lester sitting leisurely in his seat, he complained: "You really don't lose at all." ”
"No, no, I don't want to be interviewed by them at all. Lester waved his hand and shot back;
Marty Bauer disagreed with Lester's point of view, and said in a deep voice: "You should know that you are a star or something like that, the company was just established, as one of the founders, you should rely on your popularity to enhance the company's reputation, and you have also been reported on your own film and television company." ”
Lester was a little disgusted with Marty Bauer's self-assertion for a while, and was just about to open his mouth to fight back, when he suddenly thought of something, swallowed the words of the counterattack into his stomach, and blurted out: "As long as I can build my own brokerage team, I promise to rely on my current fame to help the company become famous, and I can also bring benefits to the company by building my own brokerage team." ”
There are brokerage teams in every brokerage company, even CAA brokerage has its own team, which led to the internal leadership struggle after Michael Ovitz left.
Lester looked at Marty Bauer quietly. In fact, Lester also had considerations when he said this, and talked to Marty Power the day before yesterday, and he wanted to inject money to increase his shares and sit on an equal footing with them, but Marty Power refused.
Seeing that the two had an urge to quarrel, Peter Benedek, Jim Burkus, and Gary Cousse hurriedly stopped them.
Hearing Lester's words, Marty Bauer looked at Lester suspiciously, and seeing that he didn't mean anything else, he agreed: "Yes, as long as it can make a name for the company and attract profits." ”
Peter Bannydek was relieved to see that the two had reached an agreement, afraid that the company had just been created, and the two of them would make a fuss out of control because of this, so he looked at everyone and said, "Then have a meeting and talk about how to start the plan." ”
The five began to discuss the future of the company, and at the end of the 30-minute conversation, Jim Burkus and Gary Cousse went out to inform the 26 agents.
"I'll go first. Lester said goodbye to the two, walked out of the UCT agency, got into a Lamborghini, and instead of driving immediately, he took out his Motorola big brother phone and dialed Emmanuel Road.
"Didi!"
The other side quickly connected, and Lester asked, "How's it going?" ”
Emmanuel's happy voice came over the phone, "I've helped Mr. Spielberg get the rights to the film adaptation of The Color Purple, and the person you want me to contact has agreed to meet with you." ”