Pushing open the office door in front of him, Lance found that there seemed to be a lot more people in the room than expected, which made Lance's footsteps pause slightly, not hiding the doubt and surprise in his eyes.

Brad Gray greeted him with a smile on his face, "You're still as punctual as ever. Brad expertly gave Lance a hug, then turned to look at the three people behind him, "We have a few distinguished guests at our meeting today to join us in the discussion. With Brad's words, the three people who were originally sitting on the sofa peacefully and indifferently all stood up one after another, with a decent smile on their faces, and their eyes met Lance.

"This is Wade-Russell, Tom's agent." Wade was a man in his mid-forties, with dark brown hair coated with a lot of hairspray, meticulously combed back, and a polite smile on his face, as if every angle had been carefully designed, showing off five teeth like a mask.

Standing next to him was a sturdy old man, gray-haired but still full of energy, with a kind smile on his face, which was very easy to make people feel good, "This is Peter-Giuliano, the producer, who will take over my work and work with you on the set to complete the film." ”

The wrinkles in the corners of Peter's eyes and forehead piled up with a big smile, and his hoarse voice had the magnetism of years of cigarette smoke, "Haha, I can't wait to get to work." When Shirley first mentioned the project to me, I read the script and turned it down, and the previous version of the script was really disappointing. ”

"Peter only nodded his head after reading your script and agreed to go out again." The woman standing in the innermost took the initiative to walk out, concisely stretched out her right hand, and a black suit fully showed her neatness and ability, there was no clear smile on her face, but there was a sassy and heroic posture, but it was just a step by step stretch out her hand and a speech action, but it directly made people feel the charm of her heroine. This is the man at the helm of Paramount Pictures. Shirley Lansing. "Obviously, Peter and I both agree that your script is really eye-catching."

In just two sentences, Shirley took the initiative.

Peter is a veteran producer who has worked in Hollywood for two decades. He has launched works such as "Ghostbusters", "400 Years of Vampire Zombie Horror", "Four Brothers of Pride", and has good friendships with Francis Ford Coppola, Barry-Levinson, Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman and others. However, since 1998's "Deep Sea Doubt", he has not produced any works for six years.

It can be said that a producer like Peter. With enough qualifications, enough experience, and enough connections, he is definitely a difficult opponent. As soon as Shirley came up, she praised Lance in the name of Peter, and the subtext was undoubtedly to show their initiative.

Such a battle, such a meeting, such a start, Langston felt a huge pressure when he was in the first place.

Today's meeting is to discuss the script for the final version of "Killing with a Knife". If there are no accidents, you can then devote yourself to the preparation of the crew, the selection of actors, and the arrangement of filming locations. Lance originally thought that only Brad and the appearance of the other three people was already an accident, but now the posture of the three people is so mysterious that people can't figure out the situation.

In recent times, Lance is more or less aware of the ripple effects of the huge success of the "day after tomorrow". But even so, Lance didn't think that the project of "killing people with a knife" was worth Shirley's own initiative...... Even with Tom on board, it's just a project with a budget of 60 million. So. What was it that brought Shirley to this meeting?

Lance looked up at Brad, who had a calm expression on his face, as if this qiē was normal, and he couldn't see any information at all. Brad sensed Lance's gaze. Turning his head to look over, he smiled politely and motioned for Lance to be seated. However, this ordinary gaze allowed Lance to catch a hint of anomalousness: Brad's eyes flashed slightly, as if to give him another hint. But there was no further content, and in the blink of an eye, Brad turned around and motioned for everyone to take their seats.

It was only a fleeting moment, but Lance was pretty sure he wasn't dazzled.

Lance suddenly remembered one thing: Paramount was in an eventful time at this time.

This year, when the eight major film companies discussed the warm-up cannon fodder in the first week of the summer file, Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Pictures can be said to be brothers and sisters, Paramount has not had a work to enter the top ten of the North American year-end box office list for three consecutive years, in the past three years, Paramount's highest-grossing work is the "Tomb Raider" launched in 2001, and the investment of 80 million has only been exchanged for 130 million North American box office, and the decline is obviously equivalent to standing on the edge of the cliff.

It was against this backdrop that Brad entered Paramount, and if Lance remembers correctly, Paramount's management completed the transition of power later this year - Brad replaced Shirley as Paramount's new CEO. The decision caused an uproar, not only because Brad was only forty-five years old, which was too young, but also because he had no previous experience in managing large companies.

Then, Shirley's appearance here, the meaning is worth pondering. On the one hand, Shirley is clearly unwilling to surrender lightly, so she must effectively contain Brad without harming Paramount's interests; On the other hand, Shirley must also prevent Brad from continuing to expand his network, and the "Kill by Knife" project maintains two important people, one is Tom Cruise and the other is Lance.

Tom naturally doesn't need to go into details, from the current point of view, Tom's agent Wade seems to be on Shirley's side. As for Lance, he is a potential stock, representing the future, and has the potential to become an emerging force growing up with Brad. Shirley wouldn't want to see Lance and Brad get too close.

If Lance's idea is correct, then it is obvious that today's meeting will definitely not be so easy.

The chaotic thoughts were fleeting, Lance calmly walked to the reception table, looked at everyone's position, Shirley and Peter sat side by side on a three-person sofa, Wade sat alone on the single sofa opposite, Brad had not yet sat down, he stood next to a two-seater sofa on the right-hand side, but his eyes fell on Lance - on the surface, as the host, he naturally needed to wait for the guests to sit down, but Lance knew that things were not so simple.

Lance's head was turning, but he didn't pause in his footsteps, he walked to the side, dragged the boss's chair next to him, and sat down in the open space near the door. With Shirley and Peter on his left, Wade and him sitting across the coffee table facing each other, and Brad on his right.

"Kill with a knife" will be a collaboration between Chaos Pictures and Paramount Pictures, but Lance doesn't think he should be involved in Paramount's internal power struggle, or more accurately, Lance doesn't think he has the qualifications to do so - maybe in the future, but not now. Now he is just a small director who has shot two films, and his cooperation with large companies has always been to survive in the cracks, and he is involved in power struggles to make himself more wolf.

This is not self-indulgence, but self-knowledge, and accurate judgment is also one of the necessary conditions for success. Rather than a power struggle, Lance's attention must be focused on the work "Murder with a Knife".

Lance's seemingly unremarkable seat fell in everyone's eyes, and everyone was thoughtful.

Brad's eyes flickered slightly, and the corners of his mouth loosened invisibly - in the eyes of many, in the confrontation between him and Shirley, the choice of Shirley did not need to be thought through, after all, Shirley is now the head of Paramount's family, but Lance's decision is intriguing. Brad quickly concealed his inner feelings, sat down himself, and took the initiative to speak, "Lance, we have all read your script, this is a huge surprise, it is far from the original version, you have basically revised the entire script. ”

"Killing with a knife" was always the main purpose of the day, and Brad's words immediately captured everyone's attention.

Lance confidently curled the corners of his mouth and shook his head slightly, "No, you can't say that. The reason why you feel like the whole script has been changed is just because I redesigned the dialogue according to the character's personality, and that's it. But in fact, the framework structure of the whole story has been retained. ”

"Oh? It's a new way of saying it, and I've always thought that a script is made up of dialogue, isn't it? It was Peter, who spoke, and he looked curious, as if he were seriously discussing it with Lance. But those wise eyes locked on Lance motionlessly, and the gentle smile invisibly broke people's defenses.

But Lance remained calm, and even in the face of such a battle and such pressure, he still showed a smile, elegant and gentlemanly, and said unhurriedly, "Monsieur Giulliano, you must be joking with me. After saying that, Lance also laughed lowly, and then looked at Shirley, Wade, and Brad, "The real script, the dialogue can only be said to be flesh and blood, but there is no body, no skeleton, no soul, this can't be considered a script, can it?" ”

Everyone chuckled, and the whole office seemed peaceful and harmonious.

Lance curled the corners of his mouth slightly, and then elaborated, "However, I did reset and modify the characters' personalities, and made changes to the structure of the second half of the script. The script of "Killing with a Knife", Lance has been busy for several months and has poured countless efforts, which is also a source of his confidence.

No matter what Shirley and Brad are competing for, Lance can be sure that he has absolute confidence in his script! (To be continued.) )

PS: Today's first update, begging for a guaranteed monthly pass! Thank you!