Hollywood Director 1992

In reality, Michael Ovitz had sent him this script.

Starting last year, Michael Ovitz had been devising many ways to retaliate against Link and suppress Guess Who Productions.

These included smearing Link with scandals, poaching talent from Guess Who Productions, suppressing their publicity and distribution, and this 'poison pill' plan.

The poison pill plan was a clever trick Michael Ovitz discovered while reading the autobiography of Louis Mayer, the founder of MGM Studios and the 'King of Hollywood'. It involved creating a seemingly good script with significant underlying problems, secretly sending it to a rival company, investing in its production, and ultimately causing the rival company to lose money.

For example, the 'Cleopatra' project was a lavish commercial film produced by Twentieth Century Fox after MGM Studios successfully released the blockbuster 'Ben-Hur'. Its production cost was $44 million, but its global box office revenue was only $26 million, nearly bankrupting Twentieth Century Fox.

This plan seemed simple, but it was extremely difficult to execute. First, it required a script suitable for deceiving people, a script that looked good and had a high production cost. Second, it required successfully delivering the script to the rival company and ensuring that the film project was approved and filmed smoothly.

To this end, Michael Ovitz found more than a dozen top screenwriters and gold-medal producers, asking them to help review the commercial blockbuster scripts that had been eliminated by the Big Seven studios, and to find a script project that looked good, required a large investment, and would definitely lose money after being made into a movie.

After two or three months of hard work, the dozen or so top screenwriters and producers finally selected 'The Rock' from hundreds of scripts.

At first glance, this script seemed decent, but after review by many top producers, the script had many serious flaws, including a cliché plot, weak character development, and excessively high production costs, making it 90% likely to lose money if filmed.

After consulting with many people, Michael Ovitz decided to use this script to dig a pit for Guess Who Productions.

To convince Link that this project had investment value, Michael Ovitz invited Donald Simpson, a gold-medal producer, to lobby Link.

Donald Simpson had a good personal relationship with Michael and didn't refuse.

However, they repeatedly studied many strategies on how to persuade Link to fall into the trap, and ultimately chose to use 'sincerity' to move Link.

Before coming, he had prepared many lines, intending to use them to persuade Link after he finished reading the script, but after Link finished reading the script, he said it was good and had investment value.

This also led to many lines not being spoken until after the contract was signed.

The whole thing was completed exceptionally smoothly.

Thinking of Link's performance in this matter, Donald Simpson shook his head, very disappointed. Before meeting Link, he had heard how powerful and amazing Link was, that even the Big Seven studios working together couldn't beat him.

After meeting him, he found that Link was nothing more than that.

Ding-ling-ling!

The mobile phone rang.

Donald Simpson picked it up and looked at it, laughing, "Mike, what's up with the call?"

"Donald, stop pretending, tell me quickly, what's the result? Did you sign the contract?" Michael Ovitz asked excitedly.

"Everything went smoothly!"

"Success? You signed the contract, that's great, Donald, tell me everything, not a single word can be missed."

"Haha, don't worry, I'll tell you slowly."

Donald Simpson took a sip of soda and slowly began to tell the story of lobbying Link.

To show that he had made a great contribution to this matter, he deliberately exaggerated his performance, saying that when he met Link, he used many exquisite remarks to deeply move Link, making Link very admire him. Link listened very carefully when he spoke, not missing a word, and was very honored that he could come to Guess Who Productions to seek cooperation, hoping that the two sides would have more opportunities for cooperation.

"Haha, finally Link offered $2 million to hire me as the producer of this film. Including the $500,000 adaptation fee, Guess Who Productions has already spent $2.5 million before the project has even started."

"So this project has been taken over by Guess Who Productions and is planned to be made into a movie within three years?"

"That's right, according to Link, it should be put into production within this year."

"Great, great, Donald, thank you, you did a great job. The production cost of this project is $100 million, and it's impossible to make a profit no matter how it's filmed. He's doomed to lose money on this project, hahaha ~"

Michael Ovitz burst into wild laughter on the phone.

Donald Simpson also chuckled, "Mike, I think you guys overestimated Link too much. He's not as shrewd and capable as rumored. In my opinion, Guess Who Productions hasn't gone bankrupt because of Daniel DeVito and Michael Rison, not Link."

"Donald, don't underestimate Link, he's very difficult to deal with, especially in movies, he rarely makes mistakes."

Michael Ovitz said cautiously.

"Haha, Mike, do you know what I discovered the first time I met Link?

I saw half a lip print on Link's neck, the air was filled with the scent of women's perfume, and there was half a stocking in the folder.

This shows that before I went in to find him, he was having an affair with a woman in the office. What kind of shrewd and capable manager would a person who fools around during working hours be?

If he was really shrewd and wouldn't make mistakes, how could he have taken a fancy to this hopeless script?"

Donald Simpson said contemptuously.

"This guy plays with women in the office? Hehe, this guy is indeed a lecher, but Donald, don't be too careless. Before the movie is invested and approved, you should go to Guess Who Productions more often to let them invest as soon as possible.

Only when this project enters the filming stage can Link be considered to have jumped into the pit we dug. Now it's just signing the contract, we can't be considered victorious yet."

Michael Ovitz instructed.

"Don't worry, I guarantee that Link will make the movie according to what I say."

Donald Simpson said, patting his chest.

Michael Ovitz hung up the phone and smiled coldly, 'Link, even if you are a genius, this time you will fall into the trap I dug for you.'

In the past year or so, he had underestimated Link too much, and he had not gone all out every time, which led to Link gradually growing up in Hollywood, surpassing him in one fell swoop, and becoming the number one person on the 1994 Vanity Fair Power List.

Link stole the reputation that should have belonged to him.

His heart was full of regret.

He regretted not going all out to destroy Link when he was weak when he first dealt with Link.

As a result, Link was given too much time and resources to give him a chance to grow up.

Now that he knows Link's power, he will no longer underestimate Link.

This time he will take multiple measures to suppress Link severely and regain the honor of being the number one person on the Hollywood Power List.