Made in Hollywood

"Give it to me, Emma."

Taking the silver jug ​​from the housekeeper, Tina Fey walked across the garden to the sea side, came to a thick palm tree, sat on one side of the oak table, and took Duke's teacup across from it. , filled it up for him, and pushed it back.

"thanks."

With his eyes slightly off the laptop screen, Duke nodded to the female assistant, "When did you come here?"

"just."

The sea breeze was a bit strong, Tina Fei rolled up her long hair and tied it behind her head, "After the first week, Sony Columbia has significantly reduced the resources it put on "Godzilla", and "The Matrix" has suffered much less criticism. The studio can also be a little easier.”

She looked at Duke, hesitated, and finally couldn't help but say, "You've just recovered and started working again."

"Anything in the world can be squandered because there is always a chance to start over."

Raising his head, Duke saved the script he had just typed, picked up the teacup, and said before drinking, "There is only time, and if it is wasted, it will never be found again."

"Following a boss like you." Tina Fey joked with Duke, "I really don't know if it's luck or sadness."

Seeing Duke smiling and shaking his head, Tina Fey changed the subject, pointed to the notebook and asked curiously, "New script?"

"Well, new script." Duke nodded.

"I remember that you filed several scripts with the Screenwriters Guild."

After Duke turned the notebook over to her, Tina Fey was polite, opened the document, and said, "Those aren't finished yet, any new ideas?"

"It's an experimental piece." Duke took a new teacup. Helped Tina Fei pour a cup of black tea and said, "It's based on an incident you experienced."

"Thank you." Tina Fey scratched her face, "I can tell, no wonder you asked me about so many shooting incidents, and asked me to collect information from the Los Angeles police. It turned out to be preparations."

Duke was somewhat regretful, "It would be better if I could get the video shot by ABC TV."

"They refused?" Tina Fey asked, looking up. "Didn't you try Robert Egger?"

"Unless I accept their investment." Duke shook his head directly. "Walt Disney wouldn't offer it, so I gave up."

He turned his head to look at the sea, "This is just an adaptation with a small investment. The content will not be completely consistent with the shooting in North Hollywood. I just want to practice with a small production of multi-line narrative."

"Training?" Tina Fei said naturally. "With your current ability, do you still need to practice?"

"Honey, don't overestimate my abilities." Duke's mind was always clear. "I can't tell when I'm going to fail. But I don't want to fail on a big-budget production like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and according to my plan, the latter two parts of the series will have a lot more Line storytelling. My storytelling ability has always been a weakness, I know it well. So I have to be prepared enough..."

Speaking of which, Duke suddenly asked, "Tina, are you interested in playing yourself in this film?"

"Me?" Tina Fey was just stunned for a moment. He shook his head, "I don't want to be an actor, I like to engage in commercial work."

When she first entered Hollywood, she also had a dream of becoming famous, but after seeing the face of this circle more clearly and the fierce competition, she gave up this idea, she also knew that her talent was average, if there was Duke It is not too difficult to become a second-rate actress in the future, but which is more important, the second-rate actress and the executives of Duke Studio, she is very clear.

She has won Duke's trust and respect with her performance. Anyone in Hollywood knows how much she speaks in front of Duke, even Naomi Watts and Charlize Theron. Purple actress, you also need to show enough respect when you meet her.

To be a little star who looks up to people's nose? She's not that stupid.

Of course Duke didn't want to let his right-hand man leave, but he just said this, asked a question casually, and then forgot the idea.

After discussing a few more sentences about the unfinished script, the topic of the two gradually shifted to the next stage of work.

"Tina, notify the team in advance." Duke said to the female assistant, "return to New Zealand to assemble in mid-August."

After all, people are not machines. Shortly after the release of "The Matrix", Duke took a long vacation for the staff who had been busy in New Zealand for nearly a year, with the exception of a few guards who were on vacation. The vacation lasted nearly three months.

Turning off the laptop, Duke thought for a while, then said, "Contact the real estate agent to find a suitable home in Wellington, where we will be staying for the next few years."

"What about this project?" Tina Fey pointed to the notebook. "Also working on it in New Zealand?"

"Bank of America won't let us shoot a shootout in front of the door."

Picking up the notebook, Duke walked towards the villa and waited for Tina Fey to follow with a silver pot and cup, and added, "Find a suitable street in Wellington, and set up a set for shooting on set."

Laurier Valley Boulevard is one of the financial centers of the Greater Los Angeles area. The bank robbery at the Los Angeles branch of Bank of America was not a few years old. Shooting a shootout in front of their door would make Bank of America go crazy.

This multi-line narrative project has not even completed the script. Duke intends to start preparations after he arrives in New Zealand, and will not spend too much time on filming and production. This will only be a small-cost experiment with an investment of less than 10 million US dollars. piece.

Back in the eye-shaped villa, Duke sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the sea in the distance, and continued to think about the script just now. Now that "The Matrix" is going smoothly, and Warner Bros. is pushing behind it, he doesn't need to spend too much thought. , and the content of the new project should be carefully considered.

Unlike the past, except for some materials, this project has nothing to learn from memory. It can be said to be an original work. According to his plan, the investment is at most 8 million US dollars to 10 million US dollars. The type is Realistic shootout.

But after sitting here and thinking about it for a while, Duke found that there was a problem with the script he wrote. Now the classic gunfight has disappeared, and the film is based on real events. It also decided that it could not be a game like "The Matrix" in the end. , or a romantic shootout, realism is a must.

Realism also means falling behind in this era, and the future income of the film...

Thinking of this, Duke suddenly patted his head. As the owner of a film studio, profit is an instinctive consideration, but such an experimental film seems to be able to let go of the pressure of profit and completely follow his ideas. Shooting, even if the film loses money in the end, is nothing to him.

And he has enough market appeal, and an investment of $8 million to $10 million may not necessarily lose much.

Taking the coffee from Emma, ​​Duke sniffed the aroma of the coffee and recalled the profiles of several people he wanted to set as the main characters, especially the two criminals Larry Eugene Phillips and Emile Decbar Matasalinu.

Like most criminals, these two are not born criminals. It can be said that there are many reasons for committing such a serious crime, and the unfortunate family is an important part of them.

Family... A complete and happy family has a huge impact on a person's growth and even influence.

Family is also the most recognized mainstream value in North America. Why did "Saving Private Ryan" resonate so much with multimedia? Why has such a huge impact? In addition to the humanistic care in it, maintaining the integrity of the family is also an extremely important reason.

Any movie has to address a theme, even the most commercial ones.

Family is undoubtedly a very suitable subject.

Gradually, Duke's thoughts became clear, broken families caused tragedy, happy families...

Thinking of this, after drinking the remaining coffee in the cup, Duke picked up the notebook on the coffee table in the living room, went upstairs into the study, and prepared to overhaul some of the completed scripts based on the collected materials.

Duke is working on scripts for new projects, and The Matrix continues to make big money in the market.

Like last weekend, the biggest opponent of "The Matrix" is still "Godzilla" by Sony Columbia Pictures, and the rapidly declining audience reputation has exposed "Godzilla"'s lack of stamina. Weekdays have just started, and the box office has plummeted in a single day.

Compared with the $8.25 million last Sunday, "Godzilla" fell by as much as 37% at the box office on Monday, taking in $5.2 million in a single day.

"The Matrix" continued its steady trend, with a decline of less than 20% on Monday, and a gain of $8.21 million.

In the next three working days, the single-day box office of "Godzilla" showed a downward trend, with $5.12 million on Tuesday, $4.95 million on Wednesday, and $4.66 million on Thursday.

In the past three days, the box office of "The Matrix" has also declined, but it has always been firmly overshadowed by "Godzilla", which respectively reported $8.01 million, $7.85 million, and $7.52 million in the same period.

"The Matrix" had grossed $182.45 million at the North American box office ahead of Memorial Day weekend, and "Godzilla," which ran for a week in the evening, took in $46.72 million.

The single-day box office of "Clash of Heaven", which was released a week earlier than "The Matrix", has fallen to less than 2 million US dollars. It is only managed to maintain the screening in about 1,000 theaters, and the North American box office has reached the figure of 65.12 million US dollars.

The single-house box office and the number of theaters of this film are shrinking rapidly, and the remaining show time in the North American market will not be too long.

Among the strangulations of the three major productions before and after, "The Matrix" has come to the fore, and this new weekend is Michael Bay's "Peerless Catastrophe." (To be continued ~^~)

PS:  We are still outside, this is an automatic update, ask for tickets~~