Hollywood Director 1992

After a few days of struggling, Ben Affleck found Link again, saying he was ready and wanted to try a scene.

Standing in front of the camera again, Ben Affleck had changed a lot, with a cold expression and a calm and restrained temperament. Although his performance still had some problems, it was much better than his initial state.

After filming a scene, Link looked at Ben's footage and decided to keep it for now.

Ben Affleck was stunned for a few seconds when he heard Link shout 'Cut!', then lowered his head, clenched his fists tightly, and his body trembled slightly.

"Ben, are you okay?" Ryan asked.

Ben Affleck shook his head and turned away, saying with a cold expression, "I'm fine! I'm Batman, and I will never bow to evil forces."

Ryan was a little worried about his condition. Ben Affleck had changed too much in these few days. Before joining the crew, he was laughing and joking, sunny and cheerful, but in just a few days, he became cold, gloomy, and withdrawn, as if he had a mental illness.

However, he did not advise Ben to see a psychologist for adjustment, because his current state was perfect for playing Batman.

After Ben Affleck found his footing, the filming of the crew also became smoother, and the filming progress also accelerated. In more than a month, most of the plot was filmed.

During the filming process, everyone was very serious and focused. Link only left the crew twice in more than a month.

The first time was when 《Rumble in the Bronx》 was released at the end of February. He went to the Manhattan Film Forum Cinema to attend the premiere ceremony to show his support for the film.

《Rumble in the Bronx》 performed well at the box office, taking in $9.85 million in 1,736 theaters in its opening week. Because February is the off-season, this result allowed the film to reach the top of the North American weekly box office chart.

Because the film quality was good, Jackie Chan's performance in the film was wonderful, and Guess Pictures' publicity was very effective.

In its second week, 《Rumble in the Bronx》's box office continued to rise, taking in $13.19 million, with a cumulative box office of $23.04 million.

《Total Film》 magazine predicted that the film's North American box office would be around $50 million, making it the highest-grossing Chinese film in the United States after 《Enter the Dragon》.

The production cost of 《Rumble in the Bronx》 was only $7.5 million, and the expected box office revenue ratio will exceed 7 times.

Initially, Michael Ovitz and the Big Seven film companies saw that 《Rumble in the Bronx》 was a Chinese film and did not think that such a film could sell many tickets in North America, so they did not pay much attention to it.

By the second week, when the North American box office of 《Rumble in the Bronx》 exceeded $20 million, Michael Ovitz and the Big Seven film companies truly began to pay attention to this film.

In order to prevent Guess Pictures from earning more box office revenue, the media under the Big Seven media groups began to publish negative reviews of 《Rumble in the Bronx》, describing the film as a Chinese Kung Fu film with obvious logical loopholes, chaotic plot, and incomprehensible content.

This was to dampen the enthusiasm of North American audiences for watching the film.

Affected by negative reviews, the box office of 《Rumble in the Bronx》 clearly declined in its third week, with a revenue of $6.82 million, a drop of as much as 50%.

After the box office of 《Rumble in the Bronx》 fell sharply, the Big Seven media groups arranged for the media to continue to publish negative news about Guess Pictures.

They claimed that the two films released by Guess Pictures this year had failed to achieve outstanding results, which showed that Guess Pictures was on the decline, and that Link was still stubbornly defending the $1.5 billion valuation bottom line and was unwilling to lower the price. This approach would inevitably lead to the failure of Guess Pictures' second round of financing.

"Haha, Link, I heard that Guess Pictures' two consecutive films have not performed well at the box office, and the second round of financing is about to fail. This is really depressing news, hahaha ~"

Michael Ovitz laughed non-stop on the phone.

"Is there anything else? If you have something to say, say it quickly. I'm very busy."

Link sat on a folding chair in the director's area, talking on the phone while staring at the actors' rehearsal.

"Haha, Link, Guess Pictures' two consecutive films have box office revenues lower than expected, your plan has failed, and the second round of financing will inevitably fail. Are you still insisting on $1.5 billion now?"

"《The Man from Earth》 has a box office revenue ratio of more than 120 times, and 《Rumble in the Bronx》 has a box office revenue ratio of 4 times at present, and it will be more than 10 times after the release ends. The box office results of these two films are good, and the company is continuously profitable. Under these favorable circumstances, the company's market value will only rise, not fall."

"Hmph! Link, stop pretending. Who doesn't know what you're thinking? In order to increase the box office revenue of the films, you don't hesitate to spend millions or tens of millions on publicity. These two films are profitable on the surface, but the actual losses are huge. If you continue to do this, Guess Pictures will lose even more, which is very detrimental to you and Guess Pictures.

So I advise you to be smart and accept the $600 million offer from the investment companies to finance 50% of the shares. If you don't do this, I dare to bet that Guess Pictures will go bankrupt and close down before next year, turning into a wave on the sea, and so will you."

"Bet? How much do you want to bet? Are you willing to play for $100 million?"

Link asked indifferently.

"You! Who wants to bet with you, Link? I'm kindly reminding you that this is your last chance to save Guess Pictures. Don't be obsessed."

"You're not even willing to bet $100 million. Are you worthy of being my opponent?"

"You—"

Before Michael Ovitz could burst into abuse, Link hung up the phone in advance and continued to instruct the actors to rehearse.

After being despised by him, Michael Ovitz frantically suppressed 《Rumble in the Bronx》 through the media. In its fourth week of release, the film's North American box office was only $2.37 million, with a cumulative box office of $32.23 million. The estimated North American box office was around $40 million, lower than the expected $50 million, causing Guess Pictures to lose millions of dollars.

However, when the Big Seven media groups suppressed the box office of 《Rumble in the Bronx》, they also wasted a lot of media resources. If they continue to suppress it, the Big Seven media groups will lose even more, causing obvious losses to the shareholders and arousing the dissatisfaction of the shareholders.

The suppression by the Big Seven film companies will not last too long.

This is also why Link is not afraid of Michael Ovitz's threats.

In mid-March, Link took a second leave of absence from the crew and returned to Los Angeles to attend the 67th Academy Awards.

After a three-hour awards ceremony, the films released by Guess Pictures won six awards.

《Se7en》 won Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing.

《Good Will Hunting》 won Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.

《Speed》 won Best Sound Effects and Best Sound Editing.

Guess Pictures had 6 films nominated this year, receiving 22 nominations and ultimately winning 6 awards.

Although this result is not as good as Paramount Pictures, the distributor of 《Forrest Gump》, it is more than the number of awards won by other major film companies.

Link also won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for 《Se7en》.

As he stepped down from the stage, Quentin stared at him with envy. This bastard was only 23 years old and had already won an Oscar, one step ahead of him again.

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't win the Best Screenplay award either."

Originally, the two had bet on who could win the screenplay award, but the Best Original Screenplay went to 《Good Will Hunting》, and the Best Adapted Screenplay went to 《Forrest Gump》.

Neither of them won.

Quentin snorted softly and turned to ask Harvey, "Why didn't 《Pulp Fiction》 win an award?"

《Pulp Fiction》 received 8 nominations, but now that the awards ceremony is about to end, it has not won a single award.

Quentin was very dissatisfied with this.

Harvey Weinstein also frowned. Originally, according to his operation, this film should have won at least one award, but it got 0 out of 8 nominations.

"Quentin, originally 《Pulp Fiction》 could have won the Best Original Screenplay award, but it encountered 《Good Will Hunting》. This script is more inspirational and conforms to mainstream values. That's probably why the judges voted for this film."

"Then what about the other awards? None at all?"

"Don't worry, maybe there will be."

But in the end, 《Pulp Fiction》 failed to win an award.

However, 《Bullets Over Broadway》, released by Miramax Films, won the Best Supporting Actress award, and 《The Madness of King George》 won the Best Art Direction award.

2 out of 18 nominations is not bad.

But Harvey, like Quentin, was very dissatisfied with this result.

During the awards campaign, he spent more than $2 million on the four nominated films, more than the Big Seven film companies, but in the end, he only won two trophies, and the revenue was far less than the expenditure.

Harvey called acquaintances on the Academy Awards committee to inquire about the situation.

After inquiring around, he realized that the reason why Miramax's films did not win more awards was because of Guess Pictures.

In order to win awards, Guess Pictures spared no expense in doing public relations and publicity, investing seven or eight million dollars one after another.

Under the strong public relations of Guess Pictures, many judges voted for Guess Pictures' films in several evenly matched awards.

This is also the reason why Guess Pictures was able to win 6 awards this year.

"8 million!"

Harvey Weinstein shook his head. Spending 8 million to buy a few unimportant technical awards is not a worthwhile deal.

Only a rich and powerful person like Link in Hollywood would do this.

But no matter what, Guess Pictures' award-winning also affected Miramax's interests. Harvey did not intend to let this matter go easily. He called Michael Ovitz and told him this inside story.

After the 67th Academy Awards ended, the media reported on the award-winning situation of this year's Oscars.

The film 《Forrest Gump》 won 6 awards out of 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, becoming the biggest winner at this year's Oscars.

Paramount Pictures, the film's distributor, was also the film company that gained the most.

Ranking second was Guess Pictures, with 6 out of 22 nominations.

However, after the awards ceremony, 《Entertainment Weekly》 revealed that it had received inside information that Guess Pictures had spared no effort in doing public relations during the second round of voting for the Oscars, through sending emails, holding film screenings, star parties, and other means, and ultimately won 6 awards.

According to insiders, Guess Pictures spent over $10 million on these six awards, essentially buying them.

The exposure of this news caused considerable attention and discussion in the entertainment industry.

Some media outlets calculated Guess Pictures' expenses, questioning whether spending $10 million to acquire five technical awards and one Best Supporting Actor award was worthwhile.

The conclusion was that it wasn't cost-effective, as these six minor awards wouldn't significantly boost the film's box office, perhaps only by a few million.

It would be difficult for Guess Pictures to recoup this investment in the box office market.

Some media also analyzed that Guess Pictures was doing this to boost performance, enhance the company's image and recognition, attract investors' attention, and complete the second round of financing.

The media believed Guess Pictures' approach was correct, but the effect wouldn't be great because Link's asking price was too high.

In addition to these, many media outlets accused Link and Guess Pictures of spending heavily to bribe judges during the Oscar voting period.

This severely interfered with the fairness and impartiality of the Oscar selection process.

The Academy Awards should revoke all awards received by Guess Pictures and impose penalties.

For example, Guess Pictures' films should be banned from participating in award selections for five years.

However, with Guess Pictures' strong public relations efforts, these negative reports didn't cause much of a stir.

The reason was that all three films had the strength to win awards. "Seven" was the highest-grossing film of the year in North America, achieving both critical and commercial success. Its 8 nominations resulting in only 2 awards, and those being technical awards, wasn't excessive.

"Good Will Hunting" also received extremely positive reviews. Before the Academy Awards, some media claimed that if "Forrest Gump" hadn't existed, "Good Will Hunting" would have had a chance to win Best Picture. Now, only winning Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor was reasonable.

When "Speed" was released, many media outlets praised the film's sound effects, calling it very exciting and intense. Winning Best Sound and Best Sound Effects was well-deserved.

Some media even spoke up for Link, saying that "Seven" was no worse than "Forrest Gump." This film didn't win Best Picture due to its subject matter, but based on the film's quality and artistic level, it was fully qualified to win Best Director.

The Academy Awards committee didn't award Link Best Director because he was too young and lacked experience, not because he lacked ability.

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Some film critics also believed that "Good Will Hunting" was a classic and should have received more awards.

Under the clash of these two opinions, Michael Ovitz and others' plan to use this opportunity to attack Guess Pictures and Link's public image failed.

At the same time, due to media publicity and the boost from the Academy Awards, the box office of "Seven," "Good Will Hunting," and "Speed" all experienced varying degrees of increase.

Among them, "Seven" had the largest increase. In the two days after the Academy Awards ceremony, it accumulated $3.35 million in the North American region, and it is estimated that this wave of box office increases will not be less than $6 million. Including overseas regions, the increase will not be less than $12 million.

Including the box office increases of "Good Will Hunting" and "Speed," Guess Pictures has a great chance of recouping this investment.

"Damn it, why is that bastard always so lucky!"

Michael Ovitz couldn't help but curse when he saw "Seven" re-entering the top 15 of the week's box office charts in the newspaper.

"Michael, besides reporting negative news about Link and creating public pressure on him, do you have any other means to deal with him?"

Harvey Weinstein asked.

In his opinion, the reason why Michael Ovitz and the Big Seven film companies have repeatedly joined forces to deal with Guess Pictures but have been unable to destroy it is that their methods are too gentle.

He hoped that Michael Ovitz would have more incisive methods.

And the reason why he wanted to deal with Link was not only because he was suppressed by Link at the Academy Awards, but also because Miramax's profits last year were far below expectations. The main reason was that Guess Pictures performed too well, taking too much box office share, causing Miramax Pictures to not get enough.

If Miramax wants to develop and grow and earn more money, it must grab box office from the Big Seven film companies and Guess Pictures.

Since the Big Seven film companies are too powerful, Guess Pictures has become the best target.

"Harvey, don't worry, the summer season is coming soon. This time, I have made careful arrangements with the Big Seven film companies. We will comprehensively snipe Guess Pictures' films. No film from Guess Pictures will be allowed to be a big hit."

"Are you confident?"

"Don't worry, I'm 100% confident."

Michael squinted his eyes and smiled confidently.

"Link, the newspaper said you spent over $10 million on Oscar public relations, is that true?"

Courteney Cox, wearing pajamas, asked while flipping through the newspaper at the dining table in Jennifer's New York apartment.

"No, about six million."

Link said while eating breakfast.

"That's a lot of money. Can't you win an Oscar without spending money on public relations?"

Jennifer Aniston, wearing a suspender top, leaned on his shoulder.

"You can, it's just that doing so increases the probability of winning an award."

"Spending money on Oscar public relations is also a form of film promotion."

Lisa Kudrow, 'Phoebe,' said, "After winning an Oscar, the film's box office and video sales will increase. The newspaper said that after 'Seven' won the award, the box office increased by more than five million, and it is expected to increase by ten million globally. The box office of the other two films will also increase. This shows that the money spent on Oscar public relations is worth it."

"Using a 6 million public relations budget to exchange for 10 to 20 million in box office is like gambling," Courteney Cox said.

"It's a bit risky, but these three films have made money, and we have enough funds for publicity. Also, compared to films released by the Big Seven film companies, independent film companies have fewer film promotion resources. The Academy Awards have high ratings and are a top publicity platform. This is also why independent film companies are more enthusiastic about Oscar public relations than the Big Seven film companies."

Link said.

The three women nodded.

In fact, there is another reason why Link spends money on publicity at all costs. In the system's box office subsidy, the box office subsidy will be higher after the film wins an award.

The box office subsidy given at the end of the "Seven" screening was 2.6 times.

After a lot of publicity and the push from the Simpson murder case, as well as the film winning the Golden Palm Award and the Academy Award, the box office subsidy has now increased to 2.8 times.

The probability of recouping this investment is extremely high, which is why he is not afraid to spend money.

Secondly, Oscar public relations have existed since the creation of the Academy Awards, but the Academy Awards have never prohibited it. The reason is that film companies spend money on public relations to show that they value the Academy Awards. The more they spend, the more they value it, which raises the status of the Academy Awards in the film industry.

The Academy Awards are also happy to see this happen.

Therefore, Link will continue to do Oscar public relations within the scope of the rules in the future and win more awards.

Ding-ling-ling!

The doorbell rang.

Jennifer Aniston put on her coat and went to open the door, and saw Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer walking in with their arms around each other's shoulders.

"Why are you here?"

"Hey, Jennifer, don't be like that. We contacted you on the phone. We're here to talk about the script today. Have you forgotten?"

Matthew Perry waved the script in his hand.

"I haven't forgotten, I just didn't expect you to come so early."

"Are you eating breakfast? That's good, we haven't eaten either, let's eat together."

Matthew Perry and the other two followed her to the restaurant and suddenly saw Link sitting at the head of the table, with Jennifer, Courteney, and Lisa on either side, like a family of four.

The three looked at each other, winking and giggling.

"Hi~ Link, good morning!"

Matthew Perry greeted with a hippie smile, and the other two followed suit.

Link smiled and greeted them as well.

After the first season of "Friends" aired, all six of them became stars. Jennifer Aniston was a top-tier star, and the other five were also second-tier stars, but compared to Link, they were far behind in terms of fame and status.

Link asked about the filming of the second season of "Friends."

After eating breakfast, Link said goodbye to them and returned to the "Batman" crew to film.

After he left, Matthew Perry looked at the three women with a look of disappointment, "It's been a year, why are you still messing around with Link?"

"What do you mean by messing around? Don't talk nonsense, we're in a normal relationship."

Jennifer Aniston said dissatisfied.

Courteney and Lisa nodded in agreement.

"My God! The three of you are in a relationship with Link alone, can that even be considered a normal relationship?"

Matthew Perry asked with wide eyes.

"I also think this is not good."

David Schwimmer secretly glanced at Jennifer. He didn't understand one thing very well.

Jennifer is so beautiful, 25 years old this year. After the first season of "Friends" aired, she has become America's sweetheart, a top-tier star in the entertainment industry. She doesn't lack fame or money. There's no need for her to continue messing around with Link, this playboy.

"This is our private matter, don't worry about it."

Jennifer Aniston said impatiently.

"Yes, I know you're saying this out of kindness, but we have a very good relationship with Link. We are happy to do this, so don't worry, okay?"

Courteney Cox smiled.

"I have never regretted being with Link, especially with our three good friends together. There is nothing better than this."

Lisa Kudrow smiled, holding Jennifer and Courteney's hands.

The three looked at each other, smiling knowingly, everything was understood without words.

Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc also looked at each other, their eyes full of disbelief and incredulity, as well as a strong sense of envy and jealousy.