King of Hollywood

"No, no, Mr. Adrian, we think the conditions are just right," Berrant was obviously prepared, he looked at Adrian seriously and sincerely, "You are very talented, Adrian. Mr. An, no one will deny this. But it also cannot be denied that you are still a newcomer in this industry, and we must act according to the rules."

"Oh?" Adrian raised his eyebrows noncommittally and folded his hands together.

"Even if the movie has an excellent box office after it is released, it is impossible for us to give you a higher price on the script," Bertrand gestured, still maintaining seriousness and sincerity, "because the current prices of these two scripts For a rookie screenwriter, it’s already quite generous. As for the deadline, I don’t think there’s anything to discuss, right?”

"I want to remind you, Mr. Berrant, that the price of the script was not set by me." Adrian smiled and spread his hands.

After he threw out these two scripts, the four companies immediately launched a fierce competition. Because of the previous four valuable scripts, they no longer had the idea of ​​lowering prices and sharing them, and the prices they offered were naturally rising.

Warner was the first to give up, because the script in their hands was "Bodyguard". According to their professional judgment, although "Scream" and "American Pie" both have a lot of highlights, the benefits they bring are not great. It must be much higher than "Bodyguard"; then Fox gave up, they thought that Adrian's script was good, but Universal and Disney raised the price a little bit higher; Disney insisted to the end, although they were all producing family-friendly genres It also has a Touchstone Film Company that specializes in producing G-rated movies and above, but it still has not competed with Universal.

"Excuse my offense, Mr. Berrant, you obviously haven't seen my potential," Adrian continued, "I think when you think about how to get these two scripts, and I never thought I would buy a small film company and become a director now."

"It's a different matter, Mr. Adrian," Berrant said noncommittally.

"No no no, I mean," Adrian Shishiran shook his head, "I still have a choice. I believe that Disney or Fox and Warner will be willing to make concessions on this, if they If you want, you can just invest and let me produce it, after all, no one knows their script better than me.”

"It doesn't seem appropriate to do this, Mr. Cowell." Berrant's expression didn't change, but his dissatisfaction and disapproval could be seen from the fact that he changed his name.

"Indeed." To his surprise, Adrian did not deny it.

"Why don't we do this," Adrian continued after taking a sip of coffee, "Universal can have the sole ownership of the sequel's script, but the exact price should be negotiated after the first movie is released. If it really can't be negotiated, Universal can Get someone else to write the script for the sequel—of course, the definition of disagreement has to be negotiated. What do you think, Mr. Bertrand?"

Berrant was a little dazed. He never thought that Adrian would put forward such a condition. Even if he had the sole ownership, he actually handed over the writing rights of the sequel to himself! Although the specific definition still needs to be discussed, it is very simple for Universal if it really wants to go back and find another screenwriter to write the script.

"I think -- this is an acceptable condition." No matter what, agree to it first, and say that I am not at a loss on my side. Anyway, I have to discuss it in detail, so I don't need to worry about any problems. That's Berrant's idea.

"You can rest in London for a few days, and Wilson's lawyer will come to discuss the details with you soon." Adrian didn't talk nonsense, and after reaching an agreement, he sent Berrant away.

It seems that Universal is taking a big advantage, but Adrian himself doesn't think so. He is very clear that although he is buying a film company and being a director, in Universal's eyes he is still just a rich kid with some talents who wants to play in the film industry-they must have an understanding of what they have done in the past. . In addition, Adrian is still a newcomer, so they will want to buy the script of the sequel first at the same price. It is human nature to maximize the benefits.

In this case, Adrian simply gave them a bigger cake. Anyway, the money made by the script in his plan was only a small profit, and the main role was to establish good relations with several major film companies. Besides, he had a good relationship with the sequel Not interested in writing either. The hardest scripts to write in Hollywood are neither originals nor adaptations, and the hardest to write are sequels to hit movies.

The script of the sequel should not only consider the selling point of the movie, but also the connection with the previous episode. Once there is a major flaw in logic, even if it attracts the audience with visual effects, it will still be criticized. More importantly, the sequel movie can easily cause aesthetic fatigue and reduce its selling point. For example, the third part of "Scream" is still at an upper-middle level in terms of script, but the audience already knows that it is nothing more than a different mask killer. The trouble of coming out to find Cindy, plus the screenwriter's inability to completely jump out of the initial frame, is naturally not as good as the first one.

The same is true of "American Pie". Although there are 6 or 7 volumes, it has basically been reduced to various erotica and discussion of pornography as a selling point. Therefore, the sequel script can not be touched, and in Adrian's plan, it is also very important to maintain a talented image.

"Is there any problem?" After sending Berrant back, Adrian saw Catherine standing at the small table that was negotiating just now, staring at him curiously.

"It's nothing, it's just... a little accident." Catherine made an inexplicable gesture, "I didn't expect you to be a screenwriter in addition to being a director."

"There's a lot more that you don't know, Miss Bechenza," Adrian smiled. "I think you didn't notice the screenwriter's name when you read the script -- so sometimes don't jump to conclusions."

"Unfortunately, the script you gave me did not indicate who the screenwriter was." Catherine snorted and turned around and left.

Looking at her back, Adrian shrugged his shoulders dumbly, remembering that Joseph said that she was only 17 years old, and a girl with a bit of a saucy personality was indeed more attractive. For some reason, he always thought she looked familiar, which was one of the reasons why he was interested in her. But Adrian didn't go to recall carefully, it was too much time and energy.

Don't think too much about it, talk about it when you get it. Adrian squeezed his fingers lightly.

There was a knock on the door, and Adrian, who was busy in front of the typewriter, said "wait a moment" without raising his head, and then after knocking for a while, he stood up and walked quickly to the door.

"What's the matter, Miss Bechenza?" Adrie looked surprised.

"Your assistant, Mr. Haggis, because I have something to do, please let me bring you tomorrow's arrangements and some other things. I hope you will take it after you have read it and made comments." Catherine raised the document in her hand, She was wearing a loose t-shirt and skinny jeans, and even in the slightly dim light, she couldn't resist the youthful vibe. .

"Okay, please come in." Adrian made a gesture of invitation, "Want something to drink?"

"No, thank you." Catherine's smile was a little reluctant, and her eyes were obviously saying: Help, if there is nothing that needs to be revised, let me take it, I still have something to do.

"Okay, please sit for a while." Adrian didn't say much, picked up the document beside the lamp and read it.

Catherine, who sat down opposite, looked around boredly, seeing that Adrian had invested in the document without any special expression, and her attention shifted to the manuscripts on the typewriter.

After reading a few lines carefully, her expression became surprised, and she naturally picked up the manuscript on the table. The content of the manuscript is all fragments of novels, or two different novels, but Catherine is still attracted.

********************************

"What is the Matrix? Control! The Matrix is ​​a computer-controlled dream world. It was built to control humans. In order to turn humans into something like this!" Morpheus said, holding up a battery, his voice carrying A metallic coldness easily pierced Andrew's heart.

"No, I don't believe it, it's impossible!" Andrew shouted while holding his head.

"Yes, it's not very understandable, Neo, but that's what it is." Morpheus said mercilessly.

"Stop talking, let me out, let me out!" Neo shouted frantically.

In just a moment, all the surrounding scenery disappeared, and Andrew appeared in the small cabin again. He jerked up from the chair, stumbled into the corner shouting "Don't come here", and then knelt on the ground and almost vomited.

********************************

"How do you feel?" Adrian's voice sounded, Catherine jumped, and quickly put the manuscript on the table.

"Don't be nervous," Adrian couldn't help but smile when she saw her childish behavior, "I just want to know your opinion."

Catherine carefully observed him for a few seconds, thinking it was not a joke before coughing: "Well...is this your novel?"

"Yes, these are two science fiction novels." Adrian nodded, seeing that she was still a little puzzled, and simply took the manuscript and explained: "This is a novel about zombies, probably about a biological company. A virus test was conducted in a town in the western United States. After the virus leaked, normal people were infected into zombies. The city government sent a special tactical team to investigate, and then caused a series of accidents. The popular novel; and although this one is the same, it is a little serious in comparison. It tells that in the future, people will become the batteries of AI designed by themselves, immersed in the virtual world all day, unknown, but there will always be people who will Doubt all of this, and then struggle out of the virtual world to uncover the truth of the world step by step!"

(Suddenly I found out that a friend gave a reward, and I am grateful. It is just that the reward before the release is meaningless to the author. It is better to cast a few evaluation votes. In addition, if possible, ask for a few high-grossing films before 1995 or A movie with a high reputation is better suited for young women. But it’s not enough for a well-known work such as “Geek in Disguise” or “Sleepless in Seattle”. Also, I hope the book review area can be more active. I checked this book. A lot of information, I will try to write as well and as true as possible, and at the same time I want to touch the dark side of Hollywood. Of course, what should be collected still has to be collected. That’s it.)