"'Independence Day' is your award-winning work, don't you know?" Barry said solemnly, with a sincere glint in his eyes.

With a North American box office of $500 million, this is indeed equivalent to Hollywood's Nobel Prize, which is far more attractive than the Oscar statuette. Of course, if "only" is so, Hugo is not enough to really enter the pinnacle of power, even the success of many films such as "The Heroes of the Righteous Sea", "Sleepless in Seattle", "Schindler's List", "Speed of Life and Death", "Vulgar", "Seven Deadly Sins" and many other films is still not enough for Hugo to knock on the door of the top class, because Hugo is an actor, he is just an actor, not a director, not a producer. At best, the strength of these works has put Hugo on an equal footing with top directors such as James Cameron, Mike Nichols, and Robert Zemeckis.

However, the influence of "Storm" on the entire music market has become the key key. What Hollywood bigwigs see is not album sales, let alone musical power, but Hugo's deep influence on music fans hidden behind sales, which can almost be said to have relied on the power of rock and roll to the top.

This allows Hugo to be on an equal footing with Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, George Lucas, and other bigwigs, the biggest difference between these bigwigs and the appellate directors is that they have their own powers, Steven and David formed the Dream Factory, and George is the leader of Industrial Light & Magic. Now, Hugo, who is single-handed, has such a status - Endeavour elite agency can be regarded as barely among the top players in Hollywood.

"'Independence Day'? Wow, that's an unexpected surprise. Hugo laughed and walked over to the couch, "If that's the case, I don't know if it's too late for me to open champagne tonight?" As he spoke, Hugo looked at Joseph, and then saw Joseph tapping his chin slightly, and Hugo immediately received the message.

It seems that today's meeting between Rick and Barry has come to an end. However, Barry actually came to Long Beach on the same day, which is too impatient, right? This is not unlike his composure in Berlin.

Barry is indeed very urgent, in fact, he deliberately behaves so urgently, showing Hugo, so that Hugo knows that they value and respect him; It also shows other competitors, making them mistakenly believe that this time Warner Bros. was forced to make a decision on the edge of a cliff, but in fact the final agreement still did not exceed Barry's bottom line, and everything was still under Barry's control - all he needed was for the other people at the helm to make wrong judgments and buy Warner Bros. more time to develop.

Therefore, at this time, Barry did not "hide" his urgency, "I made a special trip today because Curtis has urged me several times, and the work "L.A. Confidential" must enter the casting stage, so I want to come over and say hello to you." Barry seemed to be calm on the surface, but as soon as everyone sat down, he immediately cut to the topic, and his attitude couldn't be more obvious.

"Hehe, Rick is already busy, and he will call you personally by tomorrow at the latest." Joseph, who had not spoken up all along, suddenly spoke at this time, which disrupted Barry's plan at once, and at the same time revealed a lot of information to Hugo.

Joseph's timing was subtle, and his speech was very skillful, but it was enough for Hugo to understand. Barry couldn't help but pause in the momentum he created, but Barry was not surprised, and continued with Joseph's words, "I think not only Rick, but many people will start trying to contact you. ”

With that, Barry curled the corners of his mouth and smiled brightly. The subtext is that the works in which Hugo participated are bound to become the target of everyone's participation. This invisibly pursued Hugo again.

Joseph's words just now are actually implying that there are no more problems with the production rights of "Los Angeles Secrets", and Hugo will take over the work of filmmaker for the first time as expected; But Barry is reluctant to compromise on the details of the production rights, for example, on the issue of casting, it seems that Barry did not agree to bundle the "L.A. Confidential" by Endeavor Elite Agency.

It can be guessed that Barry sacrificed so much power this time, and the goal must be to maximize profits, and there are many places to make a fuss in the casting stage. Therefore, the negotiations between Barry and Rick did not reach a crucial breakthrough. Presumably, this is one of the reasons why Rick is willing to come to Barry to meet Hugo, after all, the real voice is still with Hugo - only Hugo's autograph can make the contract valid.

"That's bad, my phone just broke and I'm recuperating now." Although Hugo didn't know the details of Rick and Barry's negotiations, Joseph's reminder just now was enough, so he gave Barry a nail without being soft or hard.

Barry obviously didn't expect Hugo's answer, but he didn't deliberately hide it, his eyes widened to show his surprise, but the words he said meant something else, "No wonder Joe said just now, I can't contact you now." I didn't think of a reason for that. Barry smiled, then took the initiative to look at Joseph, "So, in this way, you still don't know the details of the 'L.A. Confidential' cooperation?" This was to ask Joseph for his opinion, so that Joseph took the initiative to explain it to Hugo.

No, Joseph got this opportunity, but he gave in and said with a smile, "Then please explain it yourself, because I have other jobs recently, my understanding of this project is very limited." ”

Barry immediately thought of "Unruly Night" and "Murder of Green Toe" from Joseph's words, and while he didn't know how "Murder Green Toe" was going, he was sure that Mark Canton would definitely not give up easily, but he knew that Paul Thomas Anderson and Hugo had made an appointment to meet - and for Warner Bros., the inside information of New Line Pictures was clearly not ironclad.

Barry looked at Joseph deeply, he knew that Joseph was putting pressure on him, but he couldn't help it, because Hugo had to pass this level. But Rick isn't here and Joseph doesn't have any intention of opening up, which means he has plenty of time and space to play to his abilities, which is his strength, and he has enough confidence.

"Here's the thing, I've heard from Rick that you're very happy with the script for 'L.A. Confidential,' and you've discussed it with Curtis a few times." Barry looked at him because he knew how much Hugo valued the script.

"Twice." Hugo didn't deny it, and said with a smile, "But I haven't had a chance to discuss further with Curtis recently, and I haven't decided which role to play yet." After all, it is still necessary to ask the director's opinion. "L.A. Confidential" is a three-character model, and although there is a slight difference in the weight of the three protagonists, the difference is not big. It's okay to report any character as the main character.

"Of course, but I'm sure it won't be a problem for you, no matter what the role is." Barry said politely, there is no need for more compliments about Hugo's acting skills, "It's who plays against you, that's what matters more." "So, we will do our best to find more suitable actors to form a strong cast, and the Screen Actors Guild has more than 100,000 actors, and we have inexhaustible resources." ”

Barry deliberately bypassed the agency and told the story in the unit of the Screen Actors Guild, in fact, he didn't want to package the actors to the Endeavor elite agency.

Listening to the strings, Hugo finally understood, and looked at Joseph slightly, and got a positive answer. However, without waiting for Hugo to react, Barry continued, "Regarding the remuneration part, I discussed it with Rick, and I think it is best to pay it in the form of box office dividends, mainly because of the budget of the film, Curtis doesn't think too many visual effects are needed. ”

There was a lot of information in Barry's words, and the huge amount of information came in, which made Hugo a little overwhelmed, but he was not too anxious, and first followed Barry's words and said, "When I got the script before, I didn't know much about the cost part, and I don't know what the project budget is this time?" ”

"Three million dollars." Barry didn't beat the bush, "but if you choose to pay in cash instead of box office dividends, then the budget can be $50 million." ”

The cost is already high, and apparently, Barry's estimated salary for Hugo is still $20 million.

This was Hugo's first exposure to the scope of filmmaking, and in the past it was enough to only think about the salary, but now, he is not only an actor, but also a producer, and how to control costs and make more money is one of Hugo's tasks. Obviously, all this is very unfamiliar to Hugo, and a series of numbers are thrown directly, which is easy to confuse.

Not to mention Hugo, even a veteran agent like Rick wants to get started as a producer, which is not an easy task. There is a specialization in the art industry. As a producer, Hugo should control the quality of the work, with his keen sense of script and performance, control the quality of the finished product of "L.A. Confidential", and the cost control will be responsible for professionals.

Barry wouldn't have been unaware of all this, but he took the initiative to mention it in front of Hugo, obviously prepared. Hugo did not answer immediately, but listened attentively.

Barry paused, didn't wait for Hugo's answer, and continued, "Of course, if you're willing to choose box office dividends, then the maximum is twenty percent, and we can use twenty percent of the North American box office to pay you - as an actor and as a producer. ”

Twenty percent, this is almost the highest dividend that a producer can get in the Hollywood circle at present!