"Your red wine." Jeanne poured Cesare a glass of cheap red wine that Claudia had bought for cooking. "Enjoy."

"Looks like you're going to take 'Sally the Fifth.'" Cesare raised an eyebrow, "But I still have to point out that this is a childish revenge." ”

At five o'clock in the evening, Cesare arrived on time, Josh, Mary and Claudia returned, Jeanne put the three children in the house to play, and she and Cesare enjoyed the Los Angeles sunset on the terrace, the cheap red wine was just a joke, and she also prepared extra Cohiba cigars and cognac, but Cesare did not take them, "It's for relaxation, I prefer to be more attentive when talking about work." ”

Jenny is just doing her best, and now that she has decided to take over "The Fifth Sally", it is imperative to discuss the salary, schedule, director, and actor candidates with Cesare. What price did Kennedy offer? ”

"2 million, that's all they can come up with." Cesare said, "You know, the script is a bit stuffy after all, and Lionsgate, which is currently interested in investing in it, is not optimistic about the film's profit prospects, and there are not many successful cases in history to refer to, and Charlie has been a product for many years." If it weren't for you, but Scarlett, Lionsgate would only open to 500,000 at most. According to Catherine, after the 2 million is given to you, they can only find a more average actor to play Roger, so I suggest that you don't open to 2 million to leave room for other actors, which is not without your reputation. ”

Although Jenny is not rich now, she doesn't care about hundreds of thousands of dollars in the award film. Even if she doesn't collect money, she hopes to ensure the best possible team, after all, she is the one who is brilliant in this play, and she is the one who wants to win the award. "In terms of salary, it would be good to receive a symbolic amount, the important thing is the director, cameraman, doctor, and police actors."

"It looks like you're really smitten by the script." Cesare smiled slightly.

Jenny glared at him incredulously, "Are you being proud?" ”

"If I said I was, would you throw me peanut shells?" Cesare asked rhetorically, "Anyway, you only have time from January to June in '05, and there are not many locations in this film, so the shooting period should not be too long." Do you have any thoughts about the male lead? ”

The most important male character in this film is the psychiatrist Roger, who must be the male protagonist, followed by the police, the district attorney and the psychiatrist experts found by the police, Sally's defense lawyer, etc., among which the most demanding acting skills should be Roger, this is a psychiatrist who can't help but fall in love with Sally, love at first sight, because of the psychiatrist's rule that the psychiatrist can't have a relationship with the patient, he denies his feelings for Sally duplicitously, and struggles to know whether to believe that Sally is really suffering from schizophrenia, Or is it just using him to get away with it - he wants Sally to lie to him, and he hopes Sally didn't lie to him. This delicate state of mind definitely requires delicate acting skills, but Jenny thought about it for a while, and she really couldn't think of any too good candidates - without a golden finger lead, her accumulation was not enough for her to pick a suitable partner in the vast sea of actors.

"Of course, the higher the acting skills, the better, middle-aged people? I don't know, let Catherine arrange it, what does she think? She asked, blankly.

"Catherine invited Christopher to star." Cesare hesitated, but still told the truth, "But don't get your hopes up, Christopher thinks about directors very much, and his schedule may not be suitable." ”

Christopher. Hanks is a star that Jenny has not heard of in his previous life, he should be twenty □□ this year, it is the best golden age for Hollywood male stars, and he has starred in top action movies, comedies, and has also been nominated for Best Actor. He was also one of Cesare's most important male clients, and Cesare accompanied Leonardo or him abroad for events or vacations every year. However, both of them are jointly responsible for Cesare and others, unlike Jeanne, although they are now on the A-list shortlist, but Cesare is still the only agent in the film industry.

"Interesting, judging from the script, Sally is not very old, if Roger is also young, will the idol meaning of this film be a little heavy?" Jenny doesn't have much hope that Christopher will be able to participate, but she does mind the difference between her and Catherine's understanding of the script. "I thought Roger would be middle-aged, so that his relationship with Sally would be more delicate and of course more dramatic."

"Of course, I think so too, but if Chris plays the role, Lionsgate and Catherine are willing to adjust Roger's age for him." Cesare again emphasized, "Chris only has a certain interest in the script, and to be honest, as his agent, I would not necessarily recommend him to play 'The Fifth Sally', this drama has too obvious traces of the heroine, it suits you, but it may not be suitable for him to rush to the Olympics." ”

Jenny groaned and nodded, "What about the director?" Catherine should have a preliminary candidate in mind, right? ”

"Two Davids, not Davids. Lynch, that is, David. Finch, but Catherine wasn't too sure. Cesare replied, "Lynch has been working on his next script for some time and may not be distracted, while Finch has just finished filming 'Trembling Space' and may not be willing to repeat the heroine thriller in the short term." However, now that you are on board, they will at least take a hard look at the script - the director is not too much of a problem, there are many good directors in Hollywood, the price is not too expensive, their unemployment rate is higher than that of actors, after all, a movie needs many actors, but only one director. ”

"Okay." Jenny grimaced, "Call Catherine, I'm going on vacation for a few days in January, anyway, and you'll take care of that." ”

When Cesare picked up the phone and spoke to his 'Aunt Catherine', Jenny kept thinking about the next conversation strategy, until the sun was setting and Cesare handed her the phone, and she armed herself, exchanged pleasantries with Catherine, and set a date for dinner together tomorrow.

"Catherine will contact Lions Gate tonight," Cesare picked up the bottle, "is there still some time until dinner?" ”

"Hmm." Jenny still hadn't figured out what to say, she said casually, "I asked the cook to come to the house in the evening to cook, not Claudia cook, so you don't have to eat too many cookies." ”

Cesare touched the snack's hand and paused, "OK." ”

The two were silent for a moment, and then Cesare said, "You seem to have something on your mind?" ”

"I'm worried about my emotional problems." Jeanne told the truth, "I can't get out of Prada a little bit......"

She recounted her conversation with Meryl and Cesare in general terms, "I'm going to pick up 'The Fifth Sally' again, it's a relatively negative character, and I'm a little apprehensive about the prospects." ”

"Is there anything I can do to help you?" Cesare did not laugh at her, but asked with great importance and concern, "If you need a psychiatrist, I have a few numbers here." ”

"Do you have a few phone calls for what I need, and a few relevant people can introduce?" Jenny couldn't laugh or cry, "I don't need it for the time being, I'm just ...... I just feel like I need to find a way out to be my anchor, you know what I mean - how do you deal with this emotional slump, Cesare? As far as I can understand you, you're at work almost all the time, and we've known each other for three years, and I haven't seen you much to spend time off for personal purposes. ”

"Maybe it's because I rarely have a need for it." Although it was a somewhat personal question, Cesare replied spontaneously, "When you ask me if I am tired, of course I am, but usually I know clearly that this road will lead to success, to another step in my career, and when I taste success, the exhaustion will disappear." ”

Jenny was silent, she was a little ashamed of herself - in front of Cesare, Meryl and even Mary, she always felt a little powerless sometimes, when she used to be a wealthy young woman, reading novels always felt that with a golden finger, it was easy to dominate, and now that she is the protagonist, she realizes the naivety of this idea. At first, I felt that she had a golden finger, motivation, and consciousness, although the process of climbing to the top would take a lot, but it would not be too difficult, but now that she is getting further and further, she realizes that her golden finger only makes up for her talent, insight and energy to a limited extent, so that she is qualified to compete with the elite of this industry, and really wants to reach the top of the actor industry, if there is no heartfelt love for the performance industry, love enough to draw energy from work, then sooner or later, she will let go and fall in the process of climbing- It's not that others want to engage her, but to climb up at this height, in addition to professionalism, the test is also the 'heart', the mentality is not pure, not strong, no external force, you will collapse.

However, as she gradually realizes this, another contradiction arises: after all, she is going back to this road. If she really indulges herself in performance and enjoys the fun and bitterness of this identity, then won't she really lose the motivation to embark on this path?

Can she really put it down?

Jenny came back to her senses, coughed lightly, and adjusted her emotions, "Well, it was obviously my mistake to ask you. So let's move on to the next question - how did you think about the proposal to join Big Dream? ”

She would ask questions at this time, more or less to take advantage of Cesare's good mood and bargain, but judging from Cesare's unsurprised performance, her words were obviously expected by him. Jenny couldn't help but feel a little frustrated, but continued to move the conversation forward, "Originally, I was going to ask you to go on vacation with me and take a few more classes by the way, but now with the arrival of "The Fifth Sally", this plan has obviously failed, this drama is so low that it is impossible to shoot in Hollywood, and I will probably only be able to spend a month in Los Angeles this year - Cesare, if you don't join, Big Dream will miss out on a lot of good investment opportunities." ”

For actors who have been filming outside all the year round, unless they only produce their own projects, the production company must have a permanent person in charge in Hollywood, and this person in charge must have a strong relationship of trust with the actor boss, otherwise, such as Jenny is on location in the Caribbean, her mobile phone often has no signal, and the company's senior management runs away with the money, and she can't handle things like the company's assets in a timely manner, and she probably won't even know about it before she returns to Hollywood. Moreover, it is impossible for her to exhaust her hard work, and at the same time, she has to find time to make relationships and desperately intervene in the investment circle of a certain project. -- A good project is not something that can be invested in, and many projects that may be very profitable are regarded as forbidden by the major production companies, and do not have a certain amount of personal connections and status, and even can be exchanged for bargaining chips.

Even if she has such energy, she is also □□ without skills, in 2005, she filmed "The Fifth Sally" from February to May, and after going out to shoot "Pirates of the Caribbean" in June, she will not come back until 2006, and it is almost impossible to attend classes for a year and a half, and if she continues to take on dramas during this period......

According to her busyness, if Cesare had to wait until she passed the test to join, Jeanne had only three options: 1, send Mary out to talk about these million-dollar projects, 2) only make movies that she starred in, 3) hire a strange senior with a high salary, quickly hand over the power to him, and then pray that he could be trusted, and at the same time lose the opportunity to work with Cesare - either option she could not accept, so today she had to convince Cesare to join, "The Fifth Sally" The three months occupied became her bargaining chips.

"What if I still say no to you?" Cesare didn't answer right away, but asked rhetorically in a test-like tone, "What would you do?" ”

Jenny thought for a moment and said regretfully, "Then I can only give up the plan to recruit you, I really can't afford to delay it for two years." And you're sure to be able to budget for that, and if you don't join at this point, I think the chances of you joining are so small that it's not worth my continued effort - of course, I'm willing to continue the lesson. ”

"Actually, I've been thinking about it lately." Cesare didn't bother her too much, or continued to deliberately make things difficult, but readily confessed, "It's a big choice for me after all, if I want to get involved in the big dream, my energy is bound to be scattered, you know what that means for an agent." ”

Jenny nodded, acknowledging that it was risky for Cesare, "You could lose one or two more heavyweights – but I promise you'll be compensated tenfold, a hundredfold in Big Dreams." ”

"It shouldn't be enough to lose it in the short term, but being marginalized in Chris's and Leo's agent group is a predictable consequence." Cesare paused, then said in a negotiating tone, "Well, you know, the new line is still in arrears on your share, plus "The Devil Wears Prada" has not been released, and in fact, the cash flow that Big Dream can use now is almost zero-"

Jeanne couldn't help blushing a little, but Cesare didn't mean to laugh at her, "- I'll tell you my decision after the release of Prada, whether the film is a profit or a loss, and there will definitely be some cash in the big dream account, and that's when the whole company really kicks off." At that time, even if I reject you, I will introduce you to a suitable CEO, what do you think? ”

"Absolutely." Jeanne shouted—the last one Cesare never revealed.

She couldn't help but smile, "Cesare, does this mean that you have recognized my resistance to stress and plasticity?" Well? Found out my talent or something? ”

Cesare did roll his eyes at her this time—not infinitely close, absolutely yes, literally, rollinghiseyes," Looks like you really have confidence in yourself, Ms. Jefferson. ”

"I've always been." Jenny cheekily made a joke and offered to pour a drink for the two of them, "Let's toast to Prada - hopefully it will do well next month!" ”

Cesare's glass paused, "It's been officially decided to be raised?" ”

"Well, we decided when we were in Paris, and you know the editors were already doing post-editing, and it was going well, and Fox was ready to grab the Valentine's Day weekend of February 11-14, and they didn't have a strong film of the same type in February." Jenny replied, "Several films in the same period are not much of a threat to us, so Wendy decided to simply use explosive bombing propaganda, taking advantage of the fact that the original novel is not cold, such a round of hot publicity, anyway, this film is aimed at fashion-sensitive people, and two months of publicity is enough for them to know about this film, just when they haven't forgotten it." ”

"February......" Cesare's brow furrowed, "time is a bit tight, so it seems that you will not be able to fulfill your holiday wishes in January." ”

"Oh, don't curse me like that." Jenny exclaimed, "I want to go to Hawaii for at least half a month......

It was getting late, the lights were on, and the smell of food was coming from the room, and Cesare and Jenny walked into the house as they talked, "Isn't it time to send a lawyer's letter to the new line?" ”

"Now they should be doing the year-end settlement, and I will talk to their department head in a few days, after all, if you want to go to litigation, the 10 million will have to wait at least a year or two to get it...... If it is released on February 11, won't it be possible to arrange a warm-up premiere? After all, editing and post-production take one to two months......"

Cesare's unfortunate remark that the final cut of "The Devil Wears Prada" was not completed until early February, because Jenny was preparing for "The Fifth Sally" and was being taught about schizophrenia at the University of Minnesota, so she did not watch the final version of "The Devil Wears Prada" with film critics and premiere guests until February 10, a dozen hours before the midnight screening of "The Devil Wears Prada".

- Judging from the clips I saw before, the version of "Prada" and the parallel world is no longer a movie, and Jenny doesn't care about what kind of response and box office this film will achieve, she has worried too much before, and now it's a bit of a broken jar, what's the matter with love, anyway, with "Love Notebook", even if the 10 million is lost, she doesn't feel distressed......

The author has something to say:

Note: 1 David Fincher and David Lynch don't need popular science! are all famous directors, David Fincher's social networks, dragon tattoo girls, zodiac signs, fight clubs...... Lynch's Mulholland Drive is a famous name, and he is definitely a famous director. Christopher. Hanks is my fiction, and everyone thinks of him as a more mainstream Keanu. It's good for Levi to come and see it, and I won't talk about the films he has made, because the blockbusters of the 90s are all played by the actors I like, and I am reluctant to grab their films for the background setting of the supporting characters...... (Ho (In addition, this person's name appeared before, hehe, can you answer the chapter of the chapter?)

2 I guess some readers didn't see it in the comments before, by the way, to make up the background knowledge of the agent, the founder of CAA almost all jumped to the big studio to be a producer, executive or production director, and it is very common for a good agent to jump ship to be a CEO or executive. According to Cesare's current qualifications, he is qualified to be a production executive on a big studio like Disney, and the commission, allotment, bonus and annual salary he will definitely not be less.

3Please note that "The Devil Wears Prada" has a huge adaptation, and there are many differences from the original version, so don't treat it as the original version.

4 By the way, the rolling of the eyes in this article corresponds to the English eye-rolling, and English novels like to use this action very much to express the mood of disapproval, unisex, please don't understand it as Chinese kind of white eyes that are a little delicate......

Updated

Tomorrow should be a single update of a big chapter~