Hollywood Hunter

Chapter 123: Fat sheep

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After Simon came up with the "Basic Instinct" script, Jonathan and Amy have been busy working on the project in the past week.

The original "Basic Instinct" was produced in 1992 with a production cost of US$49 million and grossed more than US$350 million at the global box office. The success of this film mainly relies on the strong controversy caused by the film's subject matter and its almost NC-17 scale. The shot of Sharon Stone with her legs exposed is still deeply remembered by many viewers many years later. .

In fact, the box office success of "Basic Instinct" also led to the trend of thriller erotic films in the 1990s that used femme fatales as a gimmick.

The original director of "Basic Instinct" is Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, who has directed films such as "Total Recall" and "Starship Troopers". However, after Simon completed the script outline, he passed the story directly to Brian De Palma.

Compared to Paul Verhoeven, Brian De Palma, who prefers voyeuristic themes, is obviously more suitable to direct this film.

Although Simon made it clear during the communication with Brian De Palma that this movie will be like "The Butterfly Effect", the media reputation in the future will still not be very good, and it may also cause great controversy. Brian De Palma Erma quickly nodded in agreement.

For the next leading actor, Simon still prefers Michael Douglas.

Michael Douglas happened to be a client of WMA. The unexpected success of "Fatal Attraction" allowed this middle-aged actor from a film family to take his career to a higher level. After several contacts, the other party quickly agreed to participate.

After securing the two main creators, Jonathan and Amy officially started negotiations with Fox Pictures. Now that enough capital has been accumulated and the business prospects of "Basic Instinct" are very secure, Simon decisively chose to participate in the investment this time.

Simon initially hoped to have Daenerys Films finance the film entirely and then distribute it to Fox, while also closing the contract for the first three scripts.

However, after the success of the three movies "Run Lola Run", "Butterfly Effect" and "Death Comes to Me", although the story Simon came up with still deviated from the mainstream, it has the three stars of Simon, De Palma and Douglas. With box office big names involved, Fox is naturally unwilling to let go.

After a week of negotiations, Fox and Daenerys Pictures officially reached an agreement on the production plan.

After "The Butterfly Effect" and "Fatal Attraction", the salary quotations of Brian De Palma and Michael Douglas rose to US$6 million. Simon's script was still priced at a symbolic US$1, and the film's budget was initially determined to be $20 million.

With a production budget of US$20 million, Fox Pictures and Daenerys Pictures will each bear US$10 million. Daenerys Pictures will be solely responsible for the production of the film, and Fox will ensure distribution and directly determine the schedule for July 15 next year. The guaranteed number of screens has been increased to 1,500.

Benefit distribution.

After several rounds of back and forth, it was finally determined that the income from all channels of the film would be settled based on a 50/50 split of the investment ratio. To put it simply, the publicity budget invested by Fox will no longer participate in the distribution of profits as film investment costs. This also allows Daenerys Pictures to avoid the most watery area in the 'Hollywood ledger'.

The publicity and distribution costs of Hollywood movies usually amount to about half of the production costs.

The production budget of "Basic Instinct" is US$20 million, and the theoretical promotion budget will reach US$10 million. According to the investment ratio, it is split 50-50 with Daenerys Pictures. It seems that Fox Pictures has suffered a big loss, but in fact it is not the case.

Daenerys Pictures did not invest a penny in the "Death Comes" project, and the revenue is expected to reach 10 million US dollars.

This time, if Simon does not participate in investment, Simon will at least be able to get the same share terms as "Death Comes" for the "Basic Instinct" project. Now, Daenerys Pictures has given up this additional income. At the same time, Fox Film has also given up the income it deserves from the publicity budget. The investment of both parties is still equal.

Moreover, the contract between the two parties includes a series of clauses that specify how long the TV trailer needs to be played, which can also ensure that Fox invests sufficient publicity resources.

Fox Studios.

The time is already Tuesday, November 10th.

In a conference room in the studio's executive building, Ronald Goldberg, Amy Pascal, Jonathan Friedman and other executives from Fox Pictures, Daenerys Pictures and WMA, Stars, agents and others have officially signed several investment and actor contracts related to the "Basic Instinct" project.

However, Simon was not present today.

After the formal press conference, at the subsequent dinner arranged by Fox Studios, although he had received Simon's call in advance, Ronald Goldberg still approached Amy Pascal and asked about Simon's recent movements. .

Since the middle of last month, many people around Simon have noticed that he is obviously absent-minded during this period. Orion Pictures President Norman Broca can't help complaining about the slow post-production progress of "Pulp Fiction", which has been completed for a month. For many months, the rough cut of the film has not been completed.

Amy Pascal heard Ronald Goldberg's inquiry and recalled Simon's recent uncertainty. She could only shake her head in her heart, but on the surface she still wanted to speak for her boss and said: "Rona De, you know, Simon has been busy for a whole year since last year, and it shouldn’t be a big deal to relax a little now.”

Ronald Goldberg didn't believe Amy's excuse. He held the red wine with one hand in his pocket and hesitated for a moment. He lowered his voice slightly and said: "Amy, tell me the truth. Did Simon bring him back?" The money earned in "Run Lola Run" was invested in the stock market and then lost?"

Amy immediately thought of Simon not coming to the company for a week after the North American stock market crashed last month.

During this period, although the North American stock market has stabilized, the Dow Jones Index is still hovering around 2,000 points, far lower than the highest level of 2,700 points in August. In the past six months, Simon has successively made more than 100 million US dollars in revenue with "Lola Run". When the stock market was still booming, there was no guarantee that he would not want to make another fortune.

"This, Ronald, I really don't know." Although she had already guessed, Amy shook her head for the first time, thought for a while and added: "But, Ronald, you can rest assured, no matter what, this will be all right." It will not affect Daenerys Films’ investment in Basic Instinct.”

Ronald Goldberg continued to ask a few more questions, but failed to get anything out of Amy and had to turn around and leave.

Amy Pascal watched Ronald Goldberg walk away, but her brows furrowed. I couldn't help but think of the discussion between Simon and myself about investing in "Instinct" some time ago.

Although she didn't think it was a good choice to invest her own money in movies, Amy originally thought that Simon would use the money she earned from "Run Lola Run" to participate in this investment. Simon's decision deviated from Amy's prediction. He hoped that Amy would take the "Death Is Coming" contract to the bank as a mortgage and use the loan to invest in "Instinct".

A large part of the production funds for Hollywood movies comes from bank loans.

During the original financing process of "When Harry Met Sally", Daenerys Pictures did not have enough foundation to obtain production funds from banks. Now that Simon has made three successful movies in a row, and "Basic Instinct" was a script written by Simon himself, it is no longer too difficult to obtain a loan from a bank.

However, in connection with this matter and the fact that Simon suddenly rushed to New York again without any explanation yesterday morning after the end of October, he even missed today's signing ceremony. If you connect this series of clues together, it is obvious that your little boss and his girlfriend must have really lost a lot of money in the stock market crash.

It's more than 100 million US dollars, and I don't know how much it has lost.

Thinking about the tragedy of the stock market crash on October 19, Amy couldn't help but shake her head. After all, she was still a young person.

only.

I wonder if Little Boss will encounter such a waterloo in the next movie.

You know, the income from "Death is Coming" should be 5% of hers if calculated carefully. For "Basic Instinct", or most Hollywood films that use loans to produce, usually you should apply for a loan from the bank with the pre-sale contract of the film, but neither Fox nor Simon agrees with pre-sale, but the film production funds are definitely Needing a mortgage, Daenerys Pictures can only use the revenue contract from "Death Comes" as a bargaining chip.

If Basic Instinct fails.

If "When Harry Met Sally" failed too.

Even, if Pulp Fiction fails.

Then I will have been busy for more than a year in vain, and may have to find a new job.

These thoughts flashed through Amy Pascal's mind, and the more she thought about it, the more worried she became. After the dinner, as soon as she returned to her residence in Palisades, Amy couldn't help but pick up the phone, thinking that it was already early morning on the East Coast. That's why he didn't call rashly.

I drank wine last night, fell asleep with worries, and had a nightmare of myself pathetically begging Ronald Goldberg to let me return to Fox after Daenerys Pictures went bankrupt, when I got a harsh phone call. Awakened by the ringing of the bell, Amy Pascal looked at her watch and saw that it was just past four o'clock in the morning.

Oh my god.

It's four o'clock. What's the emergency now

Are aliens attacking Earth

Is everyone going to flee

After complaining like this, Amy still touched the phone.

The call came from Jonathan Friedman. The agent didn't waste any more words and asked Amy to receive the fax.

A moment later, Amy Pascal pulled out a page of newspaper clippings from the fax machine. She just glanced at it, and her eyes widened immediately, and the sleepiness she had felt just now was completely swept away.

"Simon Westeros creates another miracle, Hollywood boy makes $1.6 billion"

this.

It must be a joke, right

It's not just that aliens have invaded Los Angeles. I can drive to Mexico to hide. I also want to take a rest recently.

The fax machine did not stop after receiving one page of newspaper clippings, and then several more clippings were sent over.

"From US$75 million to US$1.62 billion, the youngest billionaire is born"

"Westeros is being questioned by the Federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission on suspicion of insider trading"

"Quantum Fund sues Lehman Brothers, implicating Simon Westeros"

"Simon Westeros invests $1.1 billion in tech stocks"

《…》

After reading several newspaper clippings in a row, Amy Pascal finally confirmed that although it seemed a bit untrue, it was really not a joke.

My little boss has become a billionaire out of nowhere.

wrong.

$1.6 billion.

Oh my god, how did he do it.

At the same time that Amy received the fax from Jonathan Friedman, in Los Angeles, where the sky had not yet lit up, countless people's phone and fax calls began to work frantically. When the rising sun in the winter in Los Angeles slowly peeked out of the horizon, the whole of Hollywood remained silent. A certain explosive news was obtained and repeatedly confirmed.

In just a few months, Simon Westeros made a crazy profit of more than 1.6 billion US dollars through the operation of the stock index futures market.

Although many people subconsciously think of taxes, no matter what, suddenly, a guy who has just emerged in this circle has become one of the richest people in Hollywood, with a personal net worth of more than seven Behind the scenes most of the people control the net worth.

How on earth did he do it

what's going on

Is this a big joke that the 'unscrupulous media' on the East Coast collectively played on Hollywood

but.

The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and other newspapers obviously would not make such a crude joke. Today is not April Fools' Day.

However, the news broke out almost on the same day, and many people still sensed a different meaning.

Something big will definitely happen next.

After confirming the news, Amy Pascal, Jonathan Friedman, George Norman and other people related to Simon all flew to New York. No matter what, it is a very happy thing when your employer or client suddenly becomes a billionaire.

East Coast.

In the presidential suite of the Plaza Hotel, Simon stood on the terrace and looked at the road in front of the hotel. Looking at the dense crowd of one or two hundred reporters, he also felt his scalp numb.

Last week, Simon had received a notice from the Federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, requiring Simon to submit all Westeros' trading records for S&P 500 futures during this period. Simon knew that trouble was coming.

However, he still followed the other party's request and carefully sent all documents to Washington without reservation.

However, today's incident once again made Simon realize that this incident may have just begun, and he may have already become a fat sheep in the eyes of many people. However, today's incident once again made Simon realize that this incident may have just begun, and he may have already become a fat sheep in the eyes of many people.