Jonathan Friedman watched Matthew Broderick walk away rudely, frowned slightly, motioned for Simon to enter his office, and asked: "Simon, do you and Matthew know each other?"
Simon didn't hide anything and simply explained a few things about the airship bar last time.
"Oh, it's a small matter," Jonathan smiled casually, sat down behind his desk, and said, "I'll make an appointment with Matthew when I have time to have a meal together and shake hands. It'll be fine. You young people shouldn't have anything to do with each other. Is there any unsolvable conflict?"
Simon nodded, and he didn't take what happened last time too seriously. Feeling that Jonathan was obviously a little distracted when he spoke today, and his expression looked a little tired, so he asked: "Qiao, you haven't had any rest recently, okay?"
"It's nothing, I'm just a little busy these days."
Listening to the concerned tone of the young man opposite, Jonathan, who was rummaging through several documents on the table, hesitated for a moment, suddenly not wanting to take out the draft contract.
After such hesitation, Jonathan finally handed a blue folder to Simon, making up his mind to make up for the boy as much as possible in the future. He said in a gentle tone: "Simon, the script matter has come to an end. However, the studio I checked your information on WGA in advance and found out that you are a newcomer, so the price is not too high. Moreover, they also want another script from you. I also saw the synopsis of the story at Paramount yesterday. It is very exciting. . In this case, you should take a look at the contract first."
Simon felt that there was obvious reservation in Jonathan's words, and he probably had a premonition of something, but he still opened the contract in his hand and read it carefully.
Looking at Simon who was reading the contract carefully, Jonathan actually wanted to hide out.
He knew very well that Simon was definitely not the kind of rookie who would be happy as long as he could sell the script in his hands. Therefore, he really didn't want to face this young man's reaction after reading the contract.
God seemed to hear Jonathan's thoughts. Suddenly there was a knock on the office door, and Owen Wright poked his head in and said, "Mr. Friedman, Mr. Broca is here."
As soon as the assistant finished speaking, Norman Broca, who was standing outside the door, just glanced at Simon and waved to Jonathan: "Qiao, can you come out for a moment? I have something to talk to you about."
Although he didn't want to have any communication with Norman Brocka these days, Jonathan was even more unbearable to face Simon at this time. He stood up nonchalantly and introduced to Simon, who was also standing up with him on the opposite side: "Simon, this is our president of WMA, Mr. Norman Brocka. You continue to read the contract, and Norman and I will have a few chats." return."
Simon looked at the old man outside the door who had no intention of coming in. He was wearing a black suit, had gray hair, was slightly short, and had a standard Jewish big nose.
Nodding to the other party, Simon waited for Jonathan to leave the office before sitting down again and focusing on the contract in front of him again.
Then, as the reading progressed, Simon's brows became more and more frowned.
To be fair, Simon doesn't care too much about the $100,000 basic remuneration involved in this contract.
As a newcomer, this price is actually very good.
100,000 US dollars is probably enough to complete "Lola Run" by myself.
However, this is a complete buyout contract.
US$80,000 was used to buy out all the copyrights to "The Butterfly Effect" and US$20,000 was used as a deposit to buy the first option rights to "Death is Coming" for the next three years. Moreover, as long as Fox plans to invest in "Death Comes" in the next three years, when the price is renegotiated, it will still be a full copyright buyout contract.
After probably looking over the contract in his hand, Simon even didn't believe that Jonathan could give him such a harsh agreement.
In Hollywood, screenwriting is also a very unstable profession. Even WGA union members are basically unemployed most of the year, and many people have to rely on finding other jobs to make ends meet.
Therefore, in order to fight for more rights and interests, Hollywood screenwriters are also the group that strikes most frequently in the industry.
After decades of confrontation with studios, the Screenwriters Guild has gradually reached a "Basic Agreement" with the Hollywood Producers Alliance to protect Hollywood film and television screenwriters in basic benefits, minimum wages, medical insurance, and pension plans. rights and interests.
For film screenwriters, the most important clause involved in the "Basic Agreement" is not actually the minimum script remuneration stipulated in it, but the sharing agreement that can bring long-term income to the screenwriters.
According to the latest version of the "Basic Agreement" signed by the Screenwriters Guild and the Producers Union in 1985, in addition to the two levels of minimum basic remuneration stipulated according to the division of film production costs, film screenwriters can also benefit from the subsequent video tapes and television broadcast rights of the film. Receive a corresponding share of the income.
Among them, the video tape share ratio is 0.3% of sales revenue within 1 million boxes, and 0.36% of sales revenue after 1 million boxes.
In addition, the income sharing of TV broadcast rights is divided into detailed proportions according to different platform types such as public television networks, basic cable stations, paid cable stations, pay-per-view on-demand stations and even overseas TV stations. Overall, the agreement income brought to screenwriters is not the same at all. Less than a videotape.
Since the 1980s, with the explosion of the videotape market and the continued development of television networks, Hollywood film revenue from these two aspects has continued to increase, and has now reached a level where each accounts for one-third of theater revenue.
Therefore, for a movie that only made $30 million at the global box office, its video revenue would probably reach that figure.
Based on the average selling price of home video tapes of about US$30, sales revenue of US$30 million is exactly equivalent to the sales of 1 million video tapes. Based on this figure, the screenwriter of the film can gradually get a share of approximately US$90,000 from the sales revenue of these 1 million video tapes.
The subsequent revenue share from TV broadcast rights will basically be equal to the video sales share.
The total of the two items is almost US$200,000.
This is far higher than the average transaction price of Hollywood scripts in the 1980s, and is usually several times the basic royalties agreed between screenwriters and film companies.
Moreover, the sales share from these two aspects is also a long-term sustainable income, which means that even if the film screenwriter cannot find a job at all in the next few years, the sales share received from time to time can ensure his life.
Simon has full confidence in "The Butterfly Effect" and "Death is Coming" which was picked up in advance by the studio.
According to the usual consumption habits of mass movie fans, as very classic horror films, these two films are likely to perform even better in the video tape market than in the theatrical release stage, and the sales volume may even exceed 1 million boxes.
Therefore, if the sharing agreement can be obtained, including the TV broadcast rights income of the same scale, Simon will definitely receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in follow-up income from these two scripts in the future, which is far from the basic $80,000 at this time. The remuneration is comparable.
Simon is not a WGA member, and there is nothing wrong with that.
In fact, Simon has no plans to join the WGA in the future, so he cannot enjoy the WGA's complete "Basic Agreement" protection.
However, in Hollywood, where the film industry system is already quite complete, the screenwriter's share clause is actually an industry practice.
As long as the screenwriter can find a reliable agent, or even if he is a little knowledgeable, the partner is a regular Hollywood film company. Then, both parties can basically sign the terms of the share-sharing agreement.
But now, a vice president of Hollywood's largest talent agency has only 'bought' himself a buyout deal that makes him look like a fool.
At a certain moment, Simon really had the urge to jump up and throw the contract in his hand at the agent's face.
However, remembering some details in Jonathan's expression just now, Simon calmed down, turned to look at the office door, and waited patiently for the agent to return.
At the same time, in Norman Broca's office, Jonathan Friedman, who had been caring since yesterday afternoon, heard his immediate boss's request and could no longer help raising his voice and waving his arms: "Don't like it? Just because he doesn't like it, he wants to kick Simon out? This is so unreasonable. Norman, do you know how embarrassed I was when I just handed the contract to the kid? I am the vice president of WMA, But he gave his client a stupid agreement that even a third-rate agency agent might not be able to handle. Now, you ask me to tell him that he was kicked off and will never have anything to do with this movie again. It doesn’t matter, how can you let me say it?”
Norman Brocka looked at Jonathan, who had almost lost his usual gentle demeanor. He concealed his disdain in his heart, and his tone became stern, saying: "Qiao, you have to know that you are now the vice president of WMA. As a management, you You must consider the interests of the entire company. What's more, he is just a young boy who doesn't understand anything. If you can't even handle this kind of thing, how can you still hold your current position? "
You must consider your interests, right
This thought flashed through Jonathan's mind. Hearing that Norman Broca had begun to threaten his position in his words, his tone was slightly calmer, but he still argued: "Simon is already reading the contract. "The Butterfly Effect" "The total remuneration was originally only US$80,000, including US$50,000 for the first edition, US$20,000 for modifications required by the studio, and US$10,000 for subsequent polishing. These terms were clearly written. Even if he agreed to quit , how to calculate this money? Do I just go back and tell him that there is only 50,000 US dollars left? "
"Of course there is only $50,000 left. In the entire federation, how many people can earn $50,000 at the age of 18? What else would he be dissatisfied with?"
Norman Broca saw that Jonathan's attitude had softened, so he became more forceful.
Before pitching the script to the studio last week, Norman Broca originally wanted to revise the script to add Matthew Broderick's role, but Jonathan rejected it because the script was already complete enough.
Now, taking advantage of Matthew's dislike of Simon to kick him out, he can just let his trusted screenwriter do it.