Hollywood Drawing

In the blink of an eye, it was one day before the closing time of the film festival. There was not much that Wayne could do but to screen the film with Luke.

Their cinema has become a feature of the film festival, with an attendance rate of over 50% at every show, which is a striking spotlight on this street.

Sadly, even so, they still couldn't find any publishing company. After playing the last scene, Luke packed up the film copies, turned around and handed the keys to the staff. The three of them would leave Utah and return to Los Angeles tomorrow.

"I just called the moviegoers at Harbor Entertainment." Jimmy stood next to Wayne and said to him helplessly: "They said they are not interested in our film."

In the past few days, Jimmy's legs have almost broken. He has contacted several companies, big and small, and visited two of them. The results were no different. None of these companies wanted to take a look.

"What about New Line? Jimmy. I remember the first New Line moviegoers saw our screenings."

Luke walked up to them and asked Jimmy expectantly.

"Similarly, the first person I contacted was New Line, but they also refused and were not even willing to talk."

Jimmy shook his head. These past few days had left him mentally and physically exhausted. Physical fatigue was not a problem, but mental decadence was the most devastating.

Wayne helped Luke carry a suitcase, and they walked to the hotel together. He said, "It seems that among the small and medium-sized companies attending the film festival, only Miramax is willing to distribute our film. I don't understand. Oh, how can Harvey be so sure that I will go find him in the end? He must know something."

"It's useless, Wayne." Jimmy waved his hand helplessly. "You can't get a truth out of that fat pig's mouth, unless he is willing to tell you. The current situation is beneficial to him, and he will not tell you unless you are willing to sign a contract with him. The blood was sucked by him."

"Let's go back to Los Angeles first, and then see if there is any other way. If it doesn't work, I will go to the distribution companies one by one and show them. I don't believe that everyone is making money. This is not like what happens in Hollywood."

The three of them fell silent, not knowing how to solve the problem. In fact, they had no idea where the problem was, and they couldn't find any news at all.

On January 28, 1991, Wayne returned to his long-lost apartment. He looked at the room where nothing had changed and was still as messy as before he left in a hurry.

Ten days ago, he never expected that the result would be like this. He thought that the most difficult beginning was over, and he optimistically misjudged the difficulty of the release.

Shaking his head, he put down his luggage, took out a large garbage bag, and began to clean the room and tidy up his living environment. The fact that the film cannot be released for the time being is not the end of the world. Wayne believes that as long as he can overcome this problem, he will achieve good results in the future.

"Dang, Dang."

Hearing a knock on the door, he dropped the T-shirt he was cleaning the table and turned around to open the door.

"Hi, Naomi, I didn't expect you to be at home. I was cleaning, and the apartment was a mess." Seeing Naomi standing pretty at the door, Wayne turned around and made way for her to come in.

"I heard the noise and came over to take a look. After listening to your suggestion, I signed up for an actor training class a few days ago. The effect was pretty good, except that the price was more expensive." Naomi helped him put the garbage at the door and closed the door. Came to the door and sat on the sofa.

Wayne's mood was not very high. When he saw the long white legs sitting on the sofa and casually draped on the coffee table, he finally got some energy and took a good look at Naomi. The pink long-sleeved shirt is paired with a hip-hugging skirt, and the figure is slim and curvy.

Her long, slender legs were folded on the coffee table. Two obvious bulges could be seen in her not-thick top, which made him want to move.

Feeling his impulse, Wayne smiled bitterly in his heart. Could it be that he was really under too much pressure during this period? Taking advantage of the opportunity to get her coffee, Wayne tried hard to suppress his impulse before sitting back on the sofa with the cup in hand.

"Don't ask me about the movie!" Seeing what Naomi was about to say, he interrupted her first. "I'm in a bad mood right now and don't want to talk about this. Anyway, this trip to Utah didn't go well."

"Okay, boy, relax, you're putting too much pressure on yourself. Is there anything in the refrigerator? I can make you some food." Naomi saw that he didn't want to talk about that, so she didn't force it, although in her heart Also very anxious.

Wayne shook his head, stood up, picked up the car keys, and prepared to go out to buy something to eat. "I don't have anything here, the refrigerator is empty. Do you want to come together? Let's go out to eat."

Just as they were about to go out, the phone rang. Putting down the car keys, Wayne returned to the sofa and picked up the phone:

"Hello, this is Wayne Greenberg."

"Director Greenberg, this is Tully from Miramax. I called the hotel where you were staying today and they said you were checking out early in the morning."

"Yes, we only rented the theater for nine days. What can I do? Ms. Tully."

"How are you thinking about it? Mr. Harvey asked me to tell you that if you are willing, his conditions remain unchanged and he will buy out your film for 800,000 yuan."

Wayne raised his head and motioned for Naomi to sit down and maybe chat for a while. Then he said into the microphone: "Of course the cooperation method of buying out all the copyrights is possible, but Miramax needs to sign an agreement with Greenberg Studio."

Wayne continued to talk about his unreliable idea: "We have negotiated and agreed on a number. If the North American box office of "Happy Holidays" exceeds this number, as a director and producer, I have the right to enjoy a share of the box office."

There was an obvious silence on the other side, and then the voice changed to Harvey's: "I can pay you a share of the box office, Director Greenberg." Harvey seemed to have become stupid, and his next words seemed greedy enough. "But only the numbers dictated by the Directors Guild."

Generally speaking, the Directors Guild has agreements with the Producers Union of major Hollywood studios. All directors who are members of the union can get a portion of the share of the films and videos they direct. This is the rule of the Hollywood game. Of course, this proportion in the agreement is very low.

"Mr. Weinstein, I haven't joined the Directors Guild yet. I'm still studying at the University of Southern California, and I plan to apply to join after I graduate." He didn't like the conditions offered by the other party at all. He was simply a wolf with nothing. .

"Then I can only say I'm sorry." Harvey's voice was not apologetic at all, and his voice continued to come from the microphone:

"Director Greenberg, believe me, the plan you mentioned will not be accepted by any distribution company. Let me remind you that the "Happy Holiday" you shot is a small-budget independent film, not a mainstream film with an investment of tens of millions. Commercial production.

Now you are faced with a situation where you have no choice. No one will distribute your film except Miramax. And if I push your film to the theater market, I will definitely need some publicity in the early stage, as well as film copies, which alone will cost tens or millions of dollars.

You said it yourself, what guarantee do you have that Miramax can recoup these investments, and why should we believe that your film can be profitable? You are just a novice director with no success stories. If you think about it again, your choice can only be Miramax. "

After hearing the other party hang up the phone, Wayne leaned on the sofa and lit a cigarette as a habit and thought. He was thinking about another thing, whether it was true as Harvey said that no one wanted to release his own film.

We must find out what happened. Even if we are forced to cooperate with Miramax in the end, we must know in advance why Harvey is so sure.

Thinking of this, he turned to Naomi and said, "Nami, I can't eat with you anymore. I thought of something and I have to go now. I'll come back to treat you to dinner in the evening."

"Okay, I'll be right across the way. Call me when you get back." Seeing that he was in a hurry to go out, Naomi got up and walked back to the room opposite.

Wayne went downstairs, got in his car and went straight to Burbank. Parked the car under the two-story building and walked to the door of the manager's office without any hesitation.

Yes, it suddenly occurred to him that others might not be willing to tell him, but Jennings must know something. After all, he almost signed a contract with Castle Rock in the first place because of the reason introduced by Jennings.

After knocking on the door twice and hearing an answer from someone inside, he opened the door and walked directly to Jennings' desk and sat on the chair.

"Wayne, I knew you would come to me." Jennings seemed to know that he would come and was not surprised at all. "Tell me what you want to know. I don't know much about it. Originally, I was very optimistic about the film and recommended it to the company, otherwise they wouldn't explain it to me."

Wayne breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he knew where the problem was, finding the problem would solve the problem. "Jennings, what happened to make Edward abandon my film before signing the contract?"

"Well, it's because Edward received a call from the company's top management, asking him to give up cooperating with you. To be precise, not only our company, but all the moviegoers from several companies at the Saint-Denis Film Festival, They all received calls from their companies and refused to cooperate with you.

Don't worry, just listen to me. Whatever I'm going to say next, I won't admit it outside of this room. Do you know Universal Pictures? It was a call from Universal Pictures. Among all small and medium-sized companies, no one was willing or dared not to sell face to this giant. "

Wayne was a little surprised when he heard what he said, but it all made sense immediately. The only ones that could make all small and medium-sized companies reject him were those giants, but Miramax was backed by Disney, so it really didn’t need to give Universal a In terms of film industry face, Harvey is not a stickler for rules.

Everything makes sense and this is the right thing to do.

"Jennings, who called you first? This is very important to me. I need to know who it is to understand what the other party wants." Wayne looked directly at him and asked the question he wanted to know most. "I swear, no matter what I hear, I will forget it once I leave this office."

"It's the manager of Universal Pictures' film and television production department, Phelan Goodman!"