Disney Studios, La La Land Studios.

Damien Chazelle sat at the long conference table, like a criminal about to go to court, anxiously awaiting the verdict of fate.

The door to the conference room opened, and four people walked in.

The first two, known to Damien Chazelle, are producer Louise Mayer, whom he met last time, and Hollywood superstar Martin Davis.

The two women in the back have never seen each other at all.

Louise gave introductions to Martin, Mia and Mandy Moore with Damien Chazelle.

Martin said directly: "Director Chazelle, I watched your short film of drummers, and it is a very thoughtful film. ”

Damien had been looking for investment and asked directly: "Mr. Davis, are you willing to invest in this project?" My original idea was to make a feature film, but I couldn't find the funds, so I had to make a short film and mail it to major companies and the festival organizing committee......"

He looked at Martin and knew it was a great opportunity: "$3 million, just $3 million, I can do this!" ”

Mia and Mandy Moore looked at Damien Chazelle curiously, they came here to interview for the director of "La La Land", why did they change to another film project?

Damien added: "I am willing to transfer the copyright of this project for $1......"

Martin raised his hand to interrupt him and asked, "Did you bring the script?" ”

Damien opened his bag and handed the script he was carrying to Martin: "The script has long been done. ”

Martin took the script and said to the three Louise: "You can talk to him about the rest, leave me alone, let's get started." ”

Louise talked about having Damien shoot a clip based on La La Land.

Martin's energy was entirely focused on the script, and the "Whiplash" written on the cover of the script literally translates to whiplash.

He watched the first third and went directly to the end to see the ending, the script was very complete, and the conflict of the story was mainly focused on the drummer, the student and the teacher.

After reading the script, Martin was completely sure that this was the "Burst Drummer".

When Louise had interviewed Damien Charrezer and agreed on the filming of the clip, Martin returned the script to him.

Damien looked at Martin expectantly: "Mr. Davis, can we work together on this project?" ”

Martin glanced at his watch: "You wait here, someone will come and talk to you about the transfer of the copyright of this project." ”

"Yes, I'll wait." Damien also did not forget the most crucial thing: "There is a premise for copyright transfer, I want to be a director." ”

He doesn't want to be a screenwriter with no status.

Martin nodded: "This is your story, of course you are the director." ”

Damien was relieved.

Davis' studio was diagonally across the street from Disney Studios, and it didn't take long for Jessica to arrive.

After waiting for a while, Damien's agent arrived.

The two sides officially began negotiations on the rights to the "Burst Drummer" project.

Martin, Louise and the others left the conference room and discussed briefly.

After interviewing Damien Chazelle, all three, including screenwriter Mia, decided that he was a perfect fit for the director of La La Land.

Mia said to Martin: "I have a wonderful feeling that the ideas of this young director are very in tune with my ideas, and the ideas he says about the filming, the ideas for the script and the song and dance design, are exactly what I wanted. ”

Martin nodded slightly: "We'll wait until he's done filming before making a decision." ”

Before noon, Jessica negotiated the transfer of the project with Damien's agent, buying the rights to the script for "Burst Drummer" for $50,000.

Although Damien Chazelle said it would only cost a nominal fee of $1, his agent naturally included a late cut in the negotiations.

Jessica, of course, disagreed, and the script ended up being traded for the rights as a one-time buyout.

At lunchtime, Martin and Harris met quietly.

Depp is in dire need of money and has completed the deal with Harris as quickly as possible for the Malibu waterfront villa, and the two sides are currently talking about the Columbia Tower penthouse.

"The main thing is the price, their hearts are too dark, and the asking price is too high." Harris said while eating: "The house with a market price of $18 million and a listing price of $16 million is not sold for $12 million, which is too much." ”

Martin asked, "What do you think is the minimum they can accept?" ”

Harris said: "According to the latest news, Depp has defaulted on the salaries of the staff around him, owed the legal fees of the contracted law firm, and he is about to face Amber Heard's divorce and domestic violence lawsuit, and needs a large amount of money to stabilize the people around him to respond to the lawsuit, and I am confident that the transaction price will be cut below $10 million." ”

This is the man who turned Martin's idea of selling stars into reality and earned full college tuition by selling the stars in the sky, and Martin believed in Harris's ability: "You can handle the specifics." ”

Harris smiled and said, "That two-masted antique yacht has been obtained, and we will now put it up for sale for cash?" ”

"Sell slowly, not in a hurry." Martin remembered the news he had read and said: "You sent someone to London, England, to meet JK Rowling, she was said to have had a strong interest in Depp's brig antique yacht before writing a new work last year, Depp had no idea of selling the yacht at that time, and finally it was gone." ”

Harris said: "I'm going to have people go on a trip to England when I go back. ”

Martin said: "This thing is mainly based on the edge, and in the eyes of those who like it, the price is not an issue." ”

It is said that with the super high income brought by the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling can rank among the top five richest women in the United Kingdom.

Martin was leaving the restaurant when he received a call from Saoirse Ronan.

"Teacher, do you have time for the evening?" She knew that Elizabeth Olsen was not in Los Angeles, and said directly: "You didn't come to my eighteenth birthday party, so I can only invite you alone." ”

Martin said: "When you have time, where to go? ”

"I'll send you the location later." Saoirse hung up.

It didn't take long for Martin to receive a screenshot of an electronic map and discover that it wasn't a restaurant, but a small cottage area on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.

He messaged back: "I'll be there around half-past six." ”

Bruce, who was driving, saw Martin hang up the phone and said: "When you were having dinner just now, I got news that several companies that were originally interested in cooperating with Depp on film projects have dismissed this idea." ”

Martin said: "This is normal, if it is just domestic violence and divorce, Depp will still have a crew that will use it, but he messed up two films in a row, and the box office is still outrageously low, except for film companies with holes in their heads, who would want to use Depp." ”

Bruce said: "Depp can't get out of the current economic crisis with his income from his salary. ”

Martin laughs, "That's good news, too. ”

The more assets Depp sells, the more money he loses.

…………

Santa Monica, Lionsgate headquarters.

McCormick, the company's business president, glanced at his deputy Andrew, and said to director David Cap: "You strongly recommended Johnny Depp to play the leading actor before, and as far as the current situation stands, this is not a good candidate." ”

Lionsgate has launched a comedy project called "The Noble Thief," and David Cape will be the director of the project.

Now Hollywood's crew that is a little bit of a pursuit, who is willing to use Johnny Depp as the leading role?

David Cap not only didn't feel unhappy at all, but felt lucky enough, before the crew really contacted Depp, Depp broke out these bad things.

He said: "If I insist on using Depp as the leading actor, don't I let the film take the initiative to hit the thunder?" ”

McCormick said: "In the future, Lionsgate will not use Depp for any film project. ”

Andrew answered: "Head, you made a wise decision!" ”

"Transcendental Hacker" has been released from North American theaters this week, with a total of $21.54 million at the North American box office.

"The Lone Ranger" had a poor start, and the box office trend was even worse, the box office of $30 million seemed to be close at hand, and the gap of several million dollars seemed to be within reach, but in fact it was far away, and it could not cross this threshold when it came to North America.

…………

Burbank, Warner Pictures.

Faced with the project "Black Mass" submitted by the famous producer Brian Oliver, Jon Berg, who is always full of genius and creativity, finally became an ordinary person.

That genius brain did not let go of itself when faced with Depp's name.

Jon Berg glanced at the names of the four candidates behind the actor, including Guy Pearce, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Bale and Johnny Depp, and directly crossed Depp and said to everyone in the conference room: "In the future, all Warner Pictures projects are not allowed to cooperate with Johnny Depp, not even supporting roles." ”

Assistant MacDonald immediately wrote it down.

Brian Oliver asked tentatively, "Does this actor use Christian Bale?" ”

"Bell?" Jon Berg doesn't have a bad impression of Bell either, the guy screwed up Pharaoh and the Gods.

However, under the persuasion of Brian Oliver, Jon Berg agreed to let Bell audition for the actor in "Black Mass".

In the afternoon of the same day, various branches within Warner Bros., including Warner Pictures, Legendary Pictures, New Line Pictures, etc., agreed that they would not work with Johnny Depp again.

Companies such as Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Sony Columbia have reached the same tacit agreement.

An actor who is riddled with scandals, is not treated well by the public and the media, and has no commercial appeal in his own right, the results waiting for him can be imagined.

The news flew out of various Hollywood studios, into the ears of media reporters, and into Johnny Depp's home.

Hollywood has not banned this statement, but this is tantamount to banning Depp in disguise.

Johnny Depp's collection of multiple acoustic guitars was smashed into pieces of wood on this night.

It is said that Johnny Depp, who drank alcohol and overdosed on drugs, was also rushed to the hospital by bodyguards.

But there are few sympathizers, and the loser Depp is not a fighter in the media and public eyes against alcohol addiction and drugs.

It's drunkards and poisonous insects.

(End of chapter)