Jenny has never been a tall person, she also knows her own weight, although she always 'can't do enough' to challenge Cesare's dominance, but she knows in her heart that only an agent like Cesare can plan a path to the top for her, he has this ambition, this ability, it seems that he also has this IQ, and he values Jeanne enough. If she hadn't met Cesare, it would have been possible that she would have started playing soy sauce in B-level productions last year, playing the heroine of a small production, and she would have had to go up and down for at least two or three years, and when all of these films were released, and one or two of them were lucky enough to get a good response, she could try to compete for the lead role of an A-level production or a supporting role in a heavy role - if she was unlucky, she would have to climb to the lead role of a B-level production step by step.

Although she is still very poor, she is at least qualified to star in a Broadway hit musical, which in Jenny's opinion will save her at least a year, and now with Cesare's ability, she can challenge for the lead role in a B-grade production. She didn't expect this first film to be anything to do with the A-list production of "Pirates of the Caribbean" - and as far as she can remember, the first film of "Pirates of the Caribbean" had no heavy young supporting actress at all, so Cesare wanted her to compete for the heroine position.

She? Heroine? It's not that she can't act, but isn't that a little too bizarre? Jenny knew that the only blockbuster that would use a newcomer with no qualifications as the heroine was "Transformers", and that was because in fact the heroine of that film probably played the role of a vase, just say that the "Pirates of the Caribbean" in her world, the heroine Kayla. Knightley, although this is also her first starring film, but before that, she not only starred in TV series, played soy sauce in several influential productions, but also played the second female lead in a youth inspirational film, compared with Jenny, her resume is obviously much richer, and she is a typical third- or fourth-tier actress.

But now the most important thing is not to ask Cesare why he was so whimsical, Jeanne asked, "Is he from Agata -?" ”

"They are all descendants of Eastern European immigrants, and before Gore was the music video director, Agata and he crossed paths at work, so they became very good friends." "But I don't have any work dealings, and Agata doesn't know what I'm going to do, so she's not going to invest that much in you like Rob did." ”

In this way, Agata can only serve as an introduction at best. Jenny muttered, "I'll try again." ”

With a glass in hand, she approached Ann with a clear goal, but was inevitably delayed by many people who came to greet her, and when she reached Ann's side, Agata was still there, but Gore was nowhere to be seen.

Jenny didn't give up, and talked to Ann Pan for a few words, while constantly searching for Gore in the room, and by the way, she said something from Ann's side: Yes, Gore admires her singing and dancing, but she didn't mention any auditions, she just seemed to like her performance, and Ann didn't even know that he had a big project in his hands, only that he was a friend of Agata.

She had seen Gore twice, but when she got there, Gore disappeared out of nowhere, and finally Jeanne gave up and walked back to Cesare, "Either my bad luck or the ridiculous conjecture that Gore is avoiding me." ”

Cesare gave her a meaningful look, and Jenny shrugged, "Well, I'm a bit self-conscious, not everything in this world is about me. ”

Indeed, not everyone in this world will be conquered by her charm, otherwise she could directly run for president of the United States with her acting skills. It's entirely possible that Gore just watched a show, and then felt flat about her, but admired Ann more, and then walked over to say hello to her and then flashed off to have fun, never thinking of including her or Ann as the main character.

"It's a good opportunity, but it's a little bit out of my reach." Jeanne and Cesare clinked glasses, and in turn comforted him, "Don't be bitter, you can't do what you want for a lifetime." Besides, even if Gore likes me, it's very unlikely that Disney will approve of me playing the lead role. ”

"Actually," Cesare said, changing a glass of wine, with a slight gloom in his tone, "Of the 16 blockbusters, 'Pirates of the Caribbean' is the one you have the best chance of winning the starring role, but Gore has no interest in you, which is really surprising." ”

"Are you kidding?" Jenny asked rhetorically, "Best chance?" This is Johnny. Starring Depp - "

Halfway through the words, she suddenly remembered that Cesare didn't know the amazing success of "Pirates of the Caribbean" at the box office, and it seems that the current Depp is not a super A-1ist actor in the future, although he starred in movies such as "Chocolate Love" and "Edward Scissorhands", but he does not have too strong box office appeal, and can only be regarded as a powerful actor.

"This is Johnny. An A-grade production starring Depp - it's always an A-grade production anyway! She changed her tone, "I believe that in a film like this, even if it is a supporting role, there will be many people fighting for it, and you say as if as long as Gore wants me to play, the heroine will be at your fingertips." ”

Cesare shook his head, obviously not continuing the topic, but now Jenny didn't let him go, she followed in his footsteps, "Don't worry about it frustrating me, I never thought I would be able to climb the heroine of this film, but can you explain your train of thought?" I mean, I thought you'd pick out some literary films for me—"

During her pestering Cesare, the two of them had circled the venue, but had not found Gore, who either had left or had gone for fun. The afterparty of this kind of theater company does not provide contraband, but sexually, it is often the effect of threading the needle, after all, this is Broadway, full of artists who don't take 419 seriously, and Jenny doesn't go to the bathroom or the locker room at such times - these places are high-risk areas at such times.

Until Cesare walked out of the theater, Jeanne kept asking him to share his thoughts, "Of course I know, you're the designer of j.j.j, and I'm just the main product, but the reason I don't hire managers is to maintain a certain level of engagement, so you really don't have to worry about me being lost, or you don't feel the need to share with me - Cesare, just tell me what you think, okay?" ”

Cesare did seem to be in a bad mood tonight, and although his mask was not cracked, Jeanne noticed that not only had he drunk a lot in the troupe, but also that small gestures such as human sighs had begun to appear frequently. If he was at his best, maybe her entanglement wouldn't work, but now Cesare, like all the men in the world, couldn't stand the pleading nagging of women.

“ok。” When Jeanne went back and forth for the hundredth time to analyze her strength and right to know, Cesare finally raised his hand in surrender, and he twisted his eyebrows, "It seems that you won't give up until I explain it." ”

Jenny smiled triumphantly, in fact it wasn't useless for her to inquire about Cesare's ideas, but she couldn't draw conclusions until she affirmed his ideas. "Looking for a place to have another drink?"

"Judy shouldn't have gotten off work yet," Cesare looked at his watch, "we'll go straight back to the apartment for a meeting, and I'll explain to you on the way - in fact, I still have a lot of questions about how Gore did tonight." ”

"Please, why are you so sure that Gore will be obsessed with me?" Jeanne couldn't stand Cesare's confidence in herself anymore, so she called Mary, found a landmark, and pulled Cesare to the side of the road to wait for the bus.

"First of all," Cesare did not immediately reply to Jeanne, "in your mind, what should the course of development I have planned?" Start from small productions and literary films, give full play to the advantages of your good acting skills, and then transform into commercial productions, while not relaxing small production literary films, and make money while winning awards? ”

"Yes, I guess it's a pretty orthodox route." Before tonight, Jenny did think so, she felt that Cesare took over "Chicago" for her, and it took so much effort to let her play the heroine, just to show her acting skills and make investors, including directors, believe that she has the strength to play the leading role in a small literary production. Even so, she felt that the protagonist of a small production should be a level that she needed to strive for, and she didn't even think about it when she invested in a production starring with such an investment scale as "Pirates of the Caribbean". "And you don't think so?"

"It's a very time-wasting route and one with a very high failure rate." Cesare folded his hands around his chest and leaned back against the edge of the phone booth, a rare gaffe for him. He asserted, "It's a loser route. ”

"But—" Jenny argued. "Most of the actresses—"

"Of course, the underdog's route can also get out of the winner, and there will always be a winner in each lotto draw, but this can't hide the fact that most people's money is wasted." "Of course, maybe for some people, this route is a personal one, a shortcut to the sky, but statistically speaking, the failure rate of this route is almost 1oo." ”

Jenny narrowed at him suspiciously.

Cesare further explained, "If you quantify the abilities of all the people, then the odds of success can actually be calculated as a rough result, for example, if I were to measure the competitive situation in your Hollywood right now, then I would collect data, and in the whole of Hollywood, there are about 10,000 beautiful actresses, and the number of actresses with beginner acting skills has been reduced to 5,000, and the number of actresses who have good acting skills has been reduced to 1,000, and there are only about 100 people who have top-notch acting skills, and there are only about 15 people who are blonde like youProbably half of them weren't tapped for some reason, so in fact you only have seven competitors right now. All I'm going to do is find you the best fit for the role you play before I have six agents left, so that your odds of winning are actually over 7o%. ”

"And you think the heroine of Pirates of the Caribbean is the most suitable role for me?" Jenny felt like she was getting the hang of Cesare's thoughts. "Or is 'Pirates of the Caribbean' the most influential of all the projects that I'm going to be in, so you're trying to market me to this project?"

"Every year, there are about more than 2,000 movies prepared by Hollywood, and in the end, there are about 600 films that can be invested and invested, of which there will be no more than 5o movies with an investment of more than 5 million, and the vast majority of movies cannot find a chance to be released, so they can only enter the DVD rental market." Cesare said, "And the investment of more than 100 million A-level productions will definitely not exceed 15, even if only one of these 15 is successful, when you star in an A-level production, the probability of box office profitability is 1 in 15, that is, O.O6, this probability is still far higher than the profit probability of you starring in literary films, you must know that when you star in a low-budget film, you are turning in the turntable of 55o films, and the box office profit may almost approach O." And according to the Matthew effect, you will find that the probability of box office profitability of A-grade productions is greater than that of non-A-grade productions, so in a mathematical sense, when you go to act in a literary film, you have almost given up the hope of box office profitability, and what you are counting on is that insiders will provide you with the opportunity to perform in a big-budget film after watching your performance, and the possibility of using your performance in a literary film in exchange for winning an award. ”

He rolled up his sleeves, "But, you have to know that performance awards are also a cost-intensive industry, and the annual Oscars are a carnival of PR companies, first of all, in order to make the film you perform in be nominated, the film company needs to invest in pre-publicity for enough people to see, and secondly, after being nominated, compared with large productions, small productions need to pay more costs to ensure that all judges have seen the film, the Oscar jury has as many as 5,000 people, and "Lobbying Law" stipulates that a PR cannot lobby more than two people at a time, PR lobbying costs five thousand dollars a time – you can imagine how much money an Oscar-level PR would cost. If the filmmaker doesn't invest, your small production won't even be eligible to be nominated. Hollywood is very limited in the production companies that are qualified to invest in the awards, aside from those companies that produce awards because of luck, there may only be 1o to 2o companies that have the strength to invest in the awards, and they choose one or two films from the dozens of awards they produce every year to promote the awards, and the rest of the films can only be abandoned. ”

"Every film is produced with a clear purpose, big productions have to rush to the box office, small productions have to win awards, if you are an investor, you will evenly distribute the resources in your hands, choose one of the as many small production outputs as possible to win awards, almost every film will give a configuration of possible awards, so, when you choose a film, you are indeed choosing a film that has the possibility of winning awards, but you can't be sure how much budget this film can get in the end to promote and win awards." Cesare's expression when talking about the data was the closest to fanaticism Jeanne had ever seen, and he even raised his hand to use gestures to help explain, "Mathematically, when an actor is not famous in the early stage of her acting career, if she only aims to make a small literary film, then she has chosen a path with a success rate close to O, and all she can count on is that her film is one of the better of the 55o films, and she is very lucky to be affirmed by the filmmaker, and will spend money on it for the award." If she's not lucky, then the film won't do anything other than add to the resume - even if she's lucky enough to have a chance to win an award and even get a nomination, but unfortunately, there is another very cruel odd here: in the last 20 years, almost no actress has won an Oscar in the first five years of her career. If you expect to make an Olympic film from a young age, then you have to perform at least three films in five years that have a chance to win the Olympics, how low are the chances? As low as 1ooo of actresses who are beautiful and have passable acting skills, 99o will be eliminated in such a chance, and you can only count on the odds to make you the remaining 1o, and I call this kind of person who counts on odds a loser. ”

His strength seemed to have passed, Cesare straightened up, lowered his sleeves, "You know, we have a lot of actresses in CAA, and some of them have come all the way from literary films, and an agent will find out when he studies their resumes, ah, they have all acted in literary films, so they came to the conclusion that if you don't act in literary films, you can't win an Oscar." But what they don't know is that along the way they came, how many actors who starred in literary films every year are forgotten, and they can no longer find the next opportunity to act. This is the trap of literary films, the failure of most A-level productions is always vigorous and alarming, but the failure of most literary films is silent and will not even be remembered, so when you take a cursory look at the past, you will get the illusion that literary films are more likely to succeed than commercial films. 9o% of agents in this industry are victims of this illusion, when they get a beautiful girl with acting skills, they think: let her act in literary films, first rush out of the fame of acting, it is better to get a few nominations, and then transfer to commercial films...... And then we'll never hear the girl's name again, and that's what it's like in this line. ”

"But when you give preference to commercial films, even if there are no awards, it is not profitable." Jenny said tentatively. "You've at least been exposed, too."

"You've at least been exposed, and that's the most basic fame." Cesare nodded, he straightened up, as if he had come out of his loss, finding a hint of psychological comfort in the gushing data, "Ah, your car is here - so yes, in my case, in the early stages of my career, commercial films are better than literary films." If you can act in a big-budget commercial film, don't hesitate. Unlike literary films, commercial films pursue the audience to watch the film, so even if you are just a vase, the director will at least make you beautiful - and there will be enough people to appreciate your vase. When you're popular enough, the options are a lot wider. When you go back to act in literary films, good resources will also be tilted towards you, and you will have the capital to bargain with the filmmakers to ensure their inclination of film PR resources and publicity resources. ”

Jeanne must admit that although Cesare's thinking is very deviant, it is even difficult for her to accept it - both she and Jeanne instinctively accept the idea of acting in literary films first to hone their acting skills and accumulate popularity, and after getting one or two award nominations, they will act in commercial films to make money, and then come back to play the drama films and literary films of big directors to win awards. But on closer thought, she couldn't find many logical errors, Cesare didn't go into detail in the numbers, but she had already grasped the basic spirit, and she only found one flaw. "I can't help but admit it, you're right, but I believe it's not that there is no second person who thinks like you, God knows how many people in Hollywood are waiting to become famous, as long as they have the opportunity, they won't care about business or literature, but the reason that hinders most people from starring in big productions is precisely that if you don't have the popularity and acting skills accumulated by starring in literary films, how can you make the filmmakers believe that you have the ability to provoke the backbone of A-level production? We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, and if I'm an investor, even if I've seen J.J.J's full performance and admit that she has acting skills and is beautiful, I wouldn't have made a big investment in her starring role until I saw a movie starring her. You know that when investing to this extent, risk aversion is more important than anything else. ”

"You're right." Cesare opened the car door for her, and they sat in the back seat together. "So a proper commercial production is a low-probability event that can be met but not sought, I only look at A-level productions as a jackpot, and when I arrange for you to come to New York, I think of a vase heroine with a multi-million level investment, and even then, it's a tough battle, because B-level productions usually tend to spend a lot of money on the actors, cutting the cost of special effects and sets, and they pay more attention to the fame of the actors. - But every aspect of Pirates of the Caribbean is perfect for you, first of all, it's a big production, second, it's not favored by most people, you know Disney made it just to sell the project of the same name in Disneyland, and third, its budget is relatively limited because of this original intention, especially since it's a special effects intensive movie, so the cast budget is not high, in order to hire Johnny. Depp, they spent most of the cast budget, and fourth, I've seen the script of it, the heroine Elizabeth is a vase character who doesn't need much acting skills, just looks beautiful enough, and I know they're getting a newcomer to play the role, and you happen to be beautiful and acting enough to handle the script. ”

He glanced at Mary through the rearview mirror, and Mary jerked and looked ahead again, and Jenny noticed that Mary, like herself, had unconsciously listened attentively, and she even turned her head to look at Cesare at the red light.

"The most important thing is the fifth," Cesare showed a slightly irritated expression, "all the girlfriends Gore had before they got married were blonde, his wife was blonde, and several of his fixed □□ were blonde, and you completely fit his aesthetic, and even in my opinion, you are the condensation and synthesis of his aesthetic." ”

For the first time, Jeanne discovered that Cesare also had a childish side, like a child in trouble, his eyebrows furrowed, and even some innocent doubts, "And I don't know why he turned a blind eye to you, it's completely illogical." ”

"Now that it's happened, there's no need to dwell on it." Jeanne couldn't help but admit that Cesare's analysis had given her a sense of loss, and that she had never thought she was so close to the heroine of Pirates of the Caribbean – at least the actress audition, in theory, "Now that we've lost Gore's favor, can you consider recommending me to the producer, or an investor?" At least let me get an audition, and even though it's a British role, I can also speak London-"

She suddenly thought of the classes she had taken last year: accent classes, horseback riding classes, sword fighting classes. "Ah, you've been aiming for this film since last year, right?"

"Yes, and I was measured and ended up going Gore's route." Cesare's brow furrowed again, but soon, the knot loosened, "So you should know that there's nothing to be hoped for in the producer's route, but even then, we'll have to give it a try, but we can't get our hopes up." ”

Reluctantly, Mary parked the car downstairs at Cesare's house, apparently not enough of his words, and Jeanne followed Cesare into the foyer, "What about the meeting with Judy now?" ”

"Of these 16 films, there are only three that you really have a chance to fight for the heroine, and after "Pirates of the Caribbean" is gone, the remaining two B-grade productions are the best opportunities you can get this year." Cesare rubbed the bridge of his nose, "But in order to win those two films, we need to change our PR strategy." ”

"What are those two films?" Jeanne trotted to keep up with Cesare.

"Girl Squad." Cesare glanced at Jenny, "Spicy Baby." ”

Seeing Jenny's expression change, he smiled slightly, "Yes, it still sounds more appealing to Pirates of the Caribbean, right?" But there is no way, in this line you have to learn to deal with failure. If you can't accept it and can't wake up and forget about everything, then don't get to the bottom of it later. ”

Jenny still has a vague impression of these two films, these two films seem to be popcorn films starring blonde and blue-eyed girls, the box office may be good, but it is definitely not to the point of phenomenon, the female lead of those two films is not a famous person, waiting for the elevator, she looked in the acting space, and affirmed her opinion: of course, this is definitely not as good as "Pirates of the Caribbean".

In this case, there is nothing to hesitate, after listening to Cesare's explanation, Jeanne is sure that there is no big problem with her thinking - Cesare's opinion cannot be said to be wrong, in fact it may be quite advanced, but that is because he cannot prejudge the box office, and it is impossible to find the ones that will inevitably succeed in the vast number of literary films every year, so from his standpoint, the probability of failure in choosing literary films is very high.

But Jenny is different, although her golden finger is not omnipotent, but the identity of the person who travels through gives her a lot of initiative in the selection of films, for example, only she knows, among the small productions of literary films released in 2oo3, there are "Love You the Most", "Lost in Translation" and "The Girl with a Pearl Earring", for her, the success rate of literary films is much higher than that of her peers, and it can even be said that she has taken the lead. With Cesare's ability and her current status as the female lead of a Broadway musical, as long as Cesareken is agent, not to mention that all three films will be won (and it is impossible to win all of them), but at least one can be the leading actress, right?

With a ding, the elevator door opened, and Cesare pressed the door button, motioning for her to go out first, but Jenny looked at his handsome face and was a little distracted.

-- If you think about it, the biggest difficulty in this whole thing must have been to convince Cesare......

How do you convince Cesare to approve of her film selection without revealing her golden finger?

Jenny couldn't find the answer at all.