That's a bit of a bad question. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

When Matt Gilson heard Eric's rhetorical question, his expression suddenly became a little scornful.

Everything was still up in the air, and Eric didn't mean to talk too much with the three of them, so he simply made his own terms and sent them away.

Looking at the figure of the three leaving, Bruckheimer said: "Eric, many people here have seen that you have seen the three of them, and it may be more lively in the future, you are sure that they are willing to sell the script for $1 million, but Warner has already offered a price of $3 million." ”

"If you're an actor who just debuted and didn't have any fame, would you be willing to accept $1 million for my film, or would you be willing to invest $3 million in a movie directed by an unknown guy?"

Bruckheimer laughed: "Of course it's yours, but the screenwriter and the actor are still a little different." ”

"It's all the same," Eric continued, taking a cup of coffee from Fernanda Tavares as he walked back, "and I'm giving them more of a chance than money, a chance to become a gold medal screenwriter." Everyone knows that in Hollywood, opportunity is the most important thing. ”

……

On the other side, leaving the street blocked by the crew of "Enemy of the Nation", the three of them got into a car in silence and fastened their seat belts on the co-pilot, before Terry Rucio finally spoke: "$1 million, that's a bit low." ”

Ted Elliott started the car and said, "If Eric Williams really wants to make this script into a blockbuster series, $1 million is still very good." After all, a week ago, we didn't even think we'd be able to sell the script. ”

Matt Gilson, who was sitting in the back seat, was thinking about how to get the news of the meeting between the three of them and Eric Williams out as soon as possible, and said at this time: "Didn't Eric Williams just say that if we auction this script, Fireflies will also bid. ”

Ted Elliott said: "But if that's the case, we won't be able to participate in the development of this project. ”

Terry Rucio clutched the seat belt fastened in front of him, and said as he pondered, "I think, according to Eric Williams, Firefly should have been determined to get this script. As long as this project is successful, we're still going to be the most famous screenwriter in Hollywood, aren't we? Now Warner's offer is $3 million, and if it's auctioned, maybe we'll get $5 million. Even if Firefly makes Pirates of the Caribbean into a trilogy, we shouldn't be able to get much more than that. Anyway, we had fame and couldn't participate in the subsequent project development, so we were able to focus on writing other scripts. ”

Ted Elliott and Matt Gilson were silent when they heard this, and after a while, Matt Gilson spoke again: "Well, I'll get the news out and see how the other major studios react." ”

……

The news of Eric's meeting with the three writers of "Pirates of the Caribbean" quickly spread in Hollywood, and of course, the three of them chose to hide the fact that Eric had a detailed plan for the project and would make significant changes to the script.

However, it was only because Eric himself said that he wanted to make Pirates of the Caribbean a series, and the reaction to this news was much greater than expected.

All of Hollywood, with the exception of Firefly, other major studios, including MGM and Fox, are hoping to develop more big-budget franchises.

After all, a big-budget franchise, once successful, is basically enough for a big studio to maintain a high level of profitability for several years. Of course, Hollywood has no shortage of big-budget movie scripts, and what is lacking is a keen eye for identifying these projects, because of the extreme uncertainty of the film industry, no matter how big-name directors and producers are, they dare not package tickets for a project, and over the years, Eric Williams has clearly broken this rule.

So, almost immediately, the major film companies that received the news contacted Ted Elliott and raised their offers.

……

After the failure of "Godzilla" last year, Sony's situation this year is becoming more and more difficult.

"The Patriot" released by Sony Pictures this summer , The North American box office is now only barely over 100 million, because it is a relatively niche American war theme, the film's overseas box office is even worse than North America, and finally the world can recover 200 million US dollars, which is good, but the production cost of this film has reached 110 million US dollars, although Sony will control the publicity cost at 40 million US dollars, but the global 200 million, Sony Pictures will still bear a loss of about 60 million US dollars at the box office, and can only expect the follow-up videotape and TV rights income to make up for the loss.

Lessons learned by Peter Cooper and Jon Peters, Sony headquarters' control of Sony Pictures in recent years has been almost overkill.

Sony Pictures' slightly more expensive film projects almost all had to be approved by Sony headquarters, which inevitably led to a situation where the layman commanded the insider. Therefore, in addition to "The Patriot", the box office prospects of several other big productions that Sony is developing are very uncertain.

When Sony bought Columbia Pictures, it was originally under the idea of promoting its own video recorders. With the rapid popularity of DVDs, it is natural that the previous plans cannot be mentioned, and some directors of Sony have even given birth to plans to abandon the film business.

Sunday morning, Sony Pictures headquarters in Culver City.

Howard Stringer looked at the script of "Pirates of the Caribbean" in his hand, and Bill Michanick across from him was introducing the current situation: "Yesterday Williams personally contacted the writer of this script and confirmed that he really values the script The news that in the afternoon, Warner Bros. is said to have raised the offer for this script to $4 million, and several others have also increased their own increases, and now there is a clear trend of bidding wars." ”

Howard Stringer didn't look up and asked, "What about Men in Black?"

Will Smith is filming Firefly's "Enemy of the Heart," and the situation hasn't changed, and Firefly doesn't intend to make any concessions as long as he and Tommy Lee Jones don't give up the $20 million plus share of the film. ”

Howard Stringer paused as he turned the page, frowning slightly. As CEO of Sony USA, he has most of his responsibilities for Sony's film and record businesses.

In the first half of the year, Sony Records' revenue and profits plummeted due to the impact of pirated music on the Internet. Now, Sony Pictures is also in a quagmire, and there are even rumors from the headquarters that they want to sell the studio, which makes Howard Stringer's position within Sony very unstable, and if it continues, let alone compete for the position of Sony's first non-Japanese CEO in the future, it is still unknown whether he can keep his current position.

Due to the proliferation of pirated music on the Internet, it is difficult for Sony Records' business to turn around in the short term, and Howard Stringer can only hope to boost the film business.

It's just that Sony Pictures is currently the only one that can get its hands on the "Men in Black" series that can greatly improve the performance of the film company in the short term, but the initiative is in the hands of the Firefly Group.

The Firefly Group is thriving, even in this summer file, which many people originally thought would have a short trough period, on the basis of the box office success of "The Day After Tomorrow", there are box office dark horses such as "Midnight Bell", which makes Firefly's total North American box office so far once again dominate.

Eric Williams' new film, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Enemy of the Nation, Guillotine Valley......

Not to mention Pixar Studios and Disney Animation Studios, as well as New Line Pictures, which produce more large-scale and low-budget films such as "Midnight Bell", just think about the series of live-action blockbusters that Firefly Group is producing, Howard Stringer is envious and a little frustrated at the same time.

Compared with the Firefly Group, the gap between Sony Pictures and Sony Pictures is too big.

Carefully read the script in his hand, although he was not interested in pirate films at all, Howard Stringer thought about it for a moment, but quickly made up his mind, and said to Bill Michanick: "Bill, we have to take this script down at all costs, so that you contact the other party immediately, and we will pay 5 million dollars." ”

Bill Michanick was slightly surprised when he heard Howard Stringer's command. Compared to the more distracted Howard Stringer, who has been working in Hollywood since he joined the company, he also knows the current state of the Hollywood script market and knows what it means to buy a script for $5 million.

In recent years, as more and more international speculative hot money has flowed into the film industry, the price of scripts for Hollywood's gold medal screenwriters has also risen.

In terms of the value of the screenwriter alone, there is no doubt that Eric Williams is definitely the highest, but the other party's situation is relatively special, it is completely priceless and marketless, and it is impossible for other film companies outside the Firefly system to get Eric Williams' script.

Next is the other first-line gold screenwriters, although the average script price in Hollywood is still around $100,000, but these gold screenwriters in recent years have frequently sold more than one million dollars in scripts, three years ago "Lethal Weapon" series screenwriter Shane Black's "Agent Crazy Flower" broke through the $4 million mark, becoming the most expensive original script in Hollywood history.

Now, Howard Stringer's offer is tantamount to setting a new record for the highest price of a Hollywood script.

However, while the $5 million price tag is already a record, Bill Michanick is still truthful: "Howard, seriously, we don't necessarily get the script for $5 million. Warners are now offering $4 million, but that shouldn't have reached their limit, and perhaps, the opponent's hole card should also be $5 million. I think $5 million is probably the maximum cap, and it's just a script after all. The next thing everyone should compete for should be other conditions, such as the scale of investment, director candidates, actor casts, and even follow-up publicity, which can affect the final results of the film, and we have no advantage in this regard. ”

Howard Stringer was silent for a moment, then quickly made up his mind again, "That's $7 million." ”

Bill Michanick gasped.

$7 million, which is already 70 times the average script price in Hollywood, is enough for those small companies to make a good low-budget solo movie, Hollywood A-list superstars, starring in non-sequel A-grade productions, most of the salary is about $7 million.

"Howard, the price is already a bit ...... It's too much," Bill Michanik was about to say something outrageous, but when it came to his lips, he changed to a milder word, and continued: "And, will the headquarters agree?"

"Wait until you get the script and then notify the headquarters, I still have this permission. ”

Howard Stringer was a little hesitant about the offer, but he quickly made up his mind not to waver.

If he can't reverse the decline of Sony Pictures, maybe he won't even be able to sit in his position. In short, it is necessary to take a risk to continue to develop a blockbuster, and the success rate is definitely much higher to grab a script that has been approved by Eric Williams.

"But," said Bill Michanick after a pause, "this script is favored by Eric Williams, and if we bid too high, the Fireflies may be very dissatisfied." ”

"Everyone competes fairly, and the fireflies themselves are not willing to pay for it, so they can't complain that our price is too high. Howard Stringer thought of Firefly's refusal to start the sequel to "Men in Black" for salary reasons, and his attitude was more resolute, pressing the script in his hand in front of him, looking at Bill Michanik, who was hesitant, and said in an accentuated tone: "Bill, you must know that if the situation on the film company's side continues to be unstable, both of us may lose our jobs." ”

Due to the strict control of the studio by Sony headquarters, and the frequent criticism of Howard Stringer, the current boss, Bill Michanick feels that he is definitely the top seven leaders in Hollywood, and if it were not for Sony's lucrative salary contract, Bill Michanik himself would not be willing to continue to stay in this position.

In all fairness, he really doesn't care about losing his job now, and it is impossible for Sony executives to blame him for the current dismal operation of Sony Pictures.

Therefore, he should have reminded him, and since Howard Stringer was resolute, Bill Michanik nodded and said, "Okay, I'll contact Ted Elliott and the two." ”