Jonathan Friedman had clearly explained all the entanglements involved in the entire project to Simon, and by rejecting the contract, Simon had a premonition that he would have a very difficult road ahead.
After screwing up the first project that WMA tried to transform, how could this largest talent agency in Hollywood let itself go? With WMA's terrifying legacy of having been operating in Hollywood for hundreds of years, if the other party wanted to deal with him, perhaps just one phone call would be enough to make it difficult for him, a newly minted screenwriter, to make it in Hollywood.
However, Simon has no regrets about the decision he made.
He had already experienced too much in his previous life, and Simon didn't want to settle for perfection in this period of his life from the beginning.
Back in Santa Monica, Simon continued his pace of life step by step.
These days, Simon has begun to try to plan the specific shooting details of "Run Lola Run", and he did not change his plan because of the changes in the morning.
Simon spent an afternoon visiting several film equipment rental companies in downtown Santa Monica. He inquired in detail about the rental prices of various types of filming equipment needed for the filming of "Lola Run" and took careful notes.
At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Simon returned to the motel, ate, took a shower, and slept. At 10:50 in the middle of the night, I arrived at Griffin Supermarket on time and started the all-night shift.
The next morning, Simon called Jonathan's office again, hoping to make an appointment for the next meeting.
To Simon's surprise, no one answered the phone.
After calling several times to no avail, Simon planned to go to WMA again, but Jonathan's assistant Owen Wright drove over in person.
A hurried-looking Owen Wright told Simon that Jonathan had completely given up on the "Butterfly Effect" packaging project and had flown to the WMA headquarters in New York yesterday afternoon. He also hoped that Simon could wait patiently for a few days and that Jonathan still hoped to continue to be his agent.
Owen Wright, who was obviously going to visit other clients, briefly chatted with Simon for a few words before leaving. Although Simon felt a sense of joy and surprise in his heart, he was not too surprised by Jonathan's decision.
The agent who was in an extremely depressed state yesterday was obviously like a spring that had been suppressed to the extreme. Simon didn't know how much Jonathan's rebound was related to him, but as long as the agent didn't completely lose his 'tenacity', it would be a matter of time before he broke out.
…
WMA was first established in New York and later developed to Los Angeles.
Since the 1950s, with the rapid rise of the American television industry and the silence of Hollywood movies for more than two decades, WMA's focus has always been on the East Coast. Even now, although the Hollywood film industry has begun to recover and the focus of the American media industry has once again moved westward, WMA's core executives still stick to New York.
In Manhattan, in a building on 25th Street adjacent to Madison Square Garden, WMA's headquarters is located here.
When Simon and Owen Wright met, it was almost noon in New York on the East Coast.
At this time, in a conference room at the WMA headquarters, the quarrel that had lasted all morning was still going on.
After Jonathan Friedman made up his mind yesterday, he prepared a way out for himself and hurriedly flew to New York. In any case, he did not want to give up everything he had accumulated after more than 20 years of hard work in the WMA, so he decided to take the initiative and seek support from the top management of the WMA.
Norman Brocka's various biased behaviors in handling the "Butterfly Effect" project also gave him enough reasons to do so.
Norman Brocka almost flew into a rage when he suddenly heard that Jonathan Friedman was planning to give up "The Butterfly Effect" completely. The entire WMA management had reached a tacit understanding on this matter, and it was impossible for Jonathan to not know about this package. What consequences would a failed attempt have on the WMA, and how dare he do it!
After calling back to no avail, Norman Broca rushed to Jonathan's office in person, only to learn that the other party had left the company.
Frustrated, Norman Broca simply asked security to seal off Jonathan's office and even kicked Owen Wright out of the company.
Since you left like this, don't come back again.
Until the evening, Norman Broca, whose anger had not dissipated at all, suddenly received a call from New York and learned that Jonathan Friedman had flown to the East Coast. Quickly figuring out what the other party was going to do, Norman Broca chased him to New York overnight without any hesitation.
When we arrived in Manhattan, it was already 2 o'clock in the morning on the East Coast.
The two executives at the West Coast headquarters had such a high-profile conflict that naturally the entire WMA management was quickly alerted.
So, this morning, WMA Chairman Lou Weiss, company CEO Lee Stevens and other board members all rushed to the company headquarters.
What followed was a whole morning of quarreling.
Although Jonathan Friedman always looks gentle and gentle when facing customers, he also does not lack a strong side.
Facing the big bosses of the company, Jonathan mercilessly accused Norman Broca of being weak and compromising after only a little pressure from the studio. He also criticized the other party for only considering himself in the details of subsequent cooperation. selfish interests.
Norman Brocka naturally fought back, claiming that he would truly consider WMA by implementing the company's first packaging project as soon as possible.
As for favoring his clients on contracts, Norman Broca doesn't feel there is anything wrong with his decision.
Counting "War Games", which ranked fifth at the North American box office in 1983, and "The Genius", which is also expected to earn more than 70 million US dollars in box office this year and enter the annual list, Matthew Broderick only debuted four years ago. Already has two top ten movies in the North American box office rankings.
With such a rising movie star who is expected to become the next Tom Cruise, there is nothing wrong with the company making any inclination in resources.
Norman Broca has been involved in the company since he was 15 years old with the help of his uncle, who is the vice president of WMA. After decades of accumulation of contacts, most members of the company's board of directors are almost on his side.
However, Jonathan Friedman’s backer happens to be Lou Weiss, the chairman of WMA, and his strength cannot be underestimated.
Although he is very dissatisfied with Jonathan's behavior of taking the initiative to intensify the conflict, as things have developed now, Lou Weiss has to stand firmly on the side of his direct lineage, otherwise, Jonathan Friedman will be suppressed, and Lou Weiss Weiss himself is also likely to be implicated.
The two of them quarreled all morning. During lunch, Lou Weiss took the initiative to mediate and discuss solutions to the matter with several other board members.
Jonathan has not made his decision to abandon the "Butterfly Effect" packaging project public yet, so there is room for maneuver.
After lunch, the other board members all left, and Lou Weiss also announced the results of their preliminary discussions to the two of them.
Regardless, the Butterfly Effect packaging project must continue. However, Lou Weiss himself will take over the project personally and re-discuss cooperation options with the film company. Furthermore, both Norman Brocka and Jonathan Friedman need to completely let go and stop having anything to do with the matter. All subsequent arrangements for the project are directly decided by the headquarters.
Things have developed to this point, and Norman Brocka knows that continuing to make trouble will not do him any good. Jonathan Friedman also managed to get rid of the hot potato while retaining his job.
So, although they both appeared very reluctant, they both agreed.
However, there are always too many unexpected changes in this world.
Early the next morning, before Norman Broca and Jonathan Friedman had time to rush back to Los Angeles, they almost simultaneously saw a piece of news from the latest issue of "The Hollywood Reporter" that caught everyone off guard. .
The "Hollywood Reporter" got the news from somewhere and suddenly revealed the entire recent incident.
"The failure of the packaging project led to internal strife in the company, and the old agency giant encountered difficulties in its transformation"
The ongoing turmoil in the first half of the year has not completely dissipated. The sudden revelation by "The Hollywood Reporter" immediately plunged WMA into chaos again.