The next day, the "Hollywood Reporter" used four full pages to publish the full text of "CAA Apocalypse: How the Brokerage Giant Was Formed". A false name, and more importantly, he could not explain the source of the detailed information in this article, so he posted it to the newspaper anonymously.
The publication of this article immediately caused a huge wave in the Hollywood circle, almost overshadowing the 61st Academy Awards to be held in a few days.
If most of the forces were still immersed in the pleasure of smearing CAA before, they suddenly calmed down now and focused on this "Apocalypse of CAA". In the next few days, the media throughout the United States boiled over, reprinting this highly professional article one after another, and even following the trend, a large number of papers on this article appeared.
After reading this article, the executives of other Hollywood agencies realized why they couldn't stop the rise of CAA. The majority of film companies also fully understand why their production costs will rise again and again, and they are completely unable to reject this trend. Michael Ovitz saw this article almost at the same time as the newspaper published it. He frowned and spent half an hour reading the article. The discussion of the radius almost coincides with his recent ideas, and it is a little ahead of him. It is precisely because of this idea that he tried to participate in the acquisition of Sony and Columbia some time ago.
But after filming the crime, Ovitz immediately became so angry that he couldn't add more, and even had the idea of killing someone. Because this article is tantamount to putting the business strategy that CAA relies on directly in front of all competitors. Previously, CAA's opponents could only imitate CAA's bundling strategy speciously, and they were not clear about the complicated operation process involved. And with this article as a reference, as long as those competitors are a little bit self-motivated, they will definitely make a series of reforms to themselves, even if they can't completely imitate the CAA model, but they will no longer be helpless in the face of CAA's expansion force.
It is a pity that although the "Hollywood Reporter" deliberately issued a statement in a prominent position on the front page to find the author of the article, it did not receive any response.
Two days after the article was published, the CEO of WMA stated in public that if the author of this article is willing, WMA can pay 5% of the shares in exchange for the other party to join WMA as the vice president. Although the scale of wma is now surpassed by caa, the other party is an old brokerage company with a history of 100 years. The scale is not too different from caa, and the value of 5% of the shares is tens of millions of dollars. On the same day, someone brought the 'manuscript' of "caa Apocalypse" to wma, and what followed was a farce.
Under this kind of turmoil, another accident happened to CAA. After Tom Cruise and several other A-level stars left, Tom Hanks chose to change jobs again, and the object of the other party's job-hopping this time was neither wma nor Those large brokerage companies of icm, but UTA (United Elite Brokerage Company), which is privately held by Eric.
Moreover, Hanks didn't leave alone. He didn't know what method he used to persuade a golden broker in CAA who had been in charge of his brokerage affairs to jump ship with him.
This has led to various speculations in the industry. It is not so easy to be a CAA gold broker. Most of them start from the most basic mailer and climb up step by step. In more than ten years, he had to prove his strength and accumulate enough qualifications to become a gold broker with an annual salary of one million. And once Hanks' agent leaves, he will give up all his previous qualifications. Even if he returns to CAA in the future, even if he has the strength no less than any gold medal agent, he can only start from the bottom agent again. Climb up step by step.
Witnessed by Kapoor, Hanks himself, Hanks' agent Simon Wilson and the staff of a well-known notary agency in Los Angeles, Eric and Hanks secretly signed the contract that Eric promised. Of course, Hanks kindly didn't ask Eric to set up a $100 million betting fund. For Hanks' job-hopping.
The only thing CAA can do is to ask Hanks for a small amount of liquidated damages, as well as a cut of the salary of "Dark War". After Hanks signed an actor contract with Firefly, Cruise learned of Hanks' remuneration conditions, and as Eric expected, he made a big concession on the share, and finally the day before the Oscar ceremony , the two parties quickly signed a contract and joined "Dark War" with a salary of 5 million US dollars and 5% of North American profit sharing. This condition fully met Eric's expectations. "Dark War" has finally confirmed that April 5th is the exact launch date.
On March 29, after more than a month of preparations, the 61st Oscar Awards Ceremony was officially held at the Holy Citizen Auditorium in Los Angeles.
And Eric will also serve as the award presenter for Best Supporting Actress this year. It is said that the organizer originally planned to invite the newlyweds Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. Although Don Johnson is not very famous, But Melanie Griffith rose directly to the position of a first-line actress this year with "Working Girl". Unfortunately, Melanie Griffith is destined to be unable to compete with Eric. After Columbia contacted the Oscar organizer, the other party quickly gave up on Melanie Griffith and his wife, and chose the more famous Eric.
"Eric, take a look for me again. Is there any problem?" In the Lincoln sedan slowly driving towards the red carpet of the Oscars, Virginia turned to Eric nervously. The girl never dreamed that she could Walking on the Oscar red carpet so quickly, her cheeks were slightly flushed with excitement.
Eric patted Virginia's little hand: "Okay, you're beautiful, Vicky, relax a bit."
The girl was still not confident, she stretched out her hand to gently touch the finished hair, then remembered another thing, and asked, "Well... Eric, if "The Tin Soldier" wins the award, do you really want me to go up and replace it?" Anyone else accept the award?"
"Of course," Eric nodded, "I don't want the first award I received on stage to be the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film."
John Lasseter, who was supposed to come to the awards ceremony, is now completely in a workaholic state because of Eric's investment and decentralization. He can't wait to live in Pixar's office, if the invitation letter from Oscar has not been sent to Richmond , John Lasseter almost forgot about the short film Oscar nomination. But after getting the invitation letter, John Lasay called directly, saying that he was too busy to leave, and if he won the award, he asked Eric to help him get it.
Eric didn't persuade too much. In the future, Pixar animation will almost dominate the Oscar animation awards, and it's not bad this time. The reason why Pixar declared this award at the beginning was mainly to hope that by winning the Oscar, it would bring more business to Pixar. At the same time, Eric didn't want his first trophy on the Oscar podium to be the Best Animated Short Film Oscar, so he gave up the opportunity to show his face to the girl around him.
Just as he was talking, Lincoln stopped at the entrance of the Oscars red carpet, and he could already hear the fans calling from a distance.
Eric got out of the car first, turned to the other side of the car, stretched out his arm in a gentlemanly manner, let the girl hold him, and walked slowly towards the red carpet under the prompt of the staff.
Perhaps actresses are born red carpet creatures. Virginia, who was still very nervous in the car, walked on the red carpet, and soon relaxed, gently holding Eric's arm, following him step by step, from time to time He gently waved at the crowd and showed a charming smile.
Seven or eight meters away from the fan area, someone spotted Eric, and then shouts rang out, mixed with a few girls' courtship sounds like "Eric, I love you". Most of the stars on the red carpet are over 30 years old. Eric's youth and handsomeness undoubtedly have a huge advantage.
In addition, "Returning to Seventeen" in which he participated was released not long ago, but it also has a large number of fans among young people. If there were no staff to maintain order, maybe someone would rush to the red carpet directly. This kind of thing has not happened before. Eric slowed down, nodded to the fan group with a decent smile on his face, and then another female voice screamed.
Before I knew it, I had a movie fan. Eric felt a little emotional in his heart, and walked forward with Virginia on his arm. The girl beside him was a little disappointed, because no one called her name, and she even noticed The hostility in the eyes of many female movie fans in the auditorium was restrained in the media area in front of them.
"Eric, look here!"
"Here, here."
"Eric, Virginia, can you get closer?"
Compared with fans who only pay attention to their favorite stars, the reporters in the media area easily recognized Virginia. They had already heard that Virginia was about to participate in Firefly Investment, and Eric was in charge of writing the screenplay. of a movie.
Hollywood has developed to this day, and many things in the circle have been clearly ruled. If an unknown beautiful actress or even a handsome actor suddenly gets an important role in a movie, then many people will subconsciously ask: she (he) ) with whom? These beautiful actresses or handsome men get a chance for no reason, and they must pay a price, and for them, they can't give anything except their bodies. And most people don't look down on these men and women, they just envy their opportunities.
The eyes of the reporters were full of gossip, and while urging Eric and Virginia to be as close as possible, they frantically pressed the shutter.
Finally passed through the media area, while the abc reporter caught Michelle Pfeiffer for an interview, Eric took the girl directly to the star waiting rest area.
"Hi, Mr. Williams, I'm Robert Downey Jr."
"Hello, Mr. Downey," Eric smiled and shook hands with the other party. He was just about to praise the other party's works, but found that he didn't remember any representative works of this young star who became famous and had a rough road to stardom in his early years, so he had to point out He glanced at the girl next to him: "This is Virginia Madsen."
Robert Downey Jr. shook hands with Virginia politely, and the other party just came to get acquainted, and hoped to have opportunities to cooperate in the future, so he didn't get too entangled, and chatted with Eric for a few more words. leave soon. Eric also took the initiative to say hello to the others.
Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Melanie Griffith, Patrick Swayze, Geena Davis, Bruce Willis and wife Day Mi Moore, Cher, Jane Fonda, Jodie Foster, Sigourney Weaver…
Walking through the crowd as if in a lifetime, chatting with these still young stars, a few minutes later, after being reminded by the staff, the crowd began to enter the arena.
I don't know what the organizers of this year's Oscars thought, but they didn't arrange a host.
After stepping into the auditorium and finding the location of the "Home Alone" crew, Eric left his seat and walked backstage. Because he was awarded Best Supporting Actress as a guest was placed first. There are no strict rules for the awarding order of the Oscar awards. In many cases, in order to attract the attention of the audience, the organizers will take the lead in awarding the more important Best Supporting Actor or Best Supporting Actress.
"Hello, Eric, I'm Tom Celik." Stepping into the backstage, a tall and strong middle-aged man approached him: "I will guide you to the stage later."
Eric stretched out his hand and shook the other party: "Thank you, Mr. Celic, I like your "Three Dads and One Baby" very much. I heard that this movie will have a sequel?"
"Three Dads and One Baby" was the annual box office champion in 1987. This warm comedy won the box office champion, mostly because of luck. Because there were no famous movies throughout the year of 1987.
As for Tom Celik, Eric has only watched "Three Dads and One Baby", and he is more deeply impressed by the image of Monica's boyfriend in "Friends" who is in his twenties.
After Eric intends to finish "Dark War", the TV series for Fox will be "Friends". Although I have a deep memory of the image of Tom Celik as Monica's boyfriend, Eric knows that he must choose a newcomer. Now Tom Celik's career is still in full swing. If he asks him to act in a TV series, he won't be spit The face is strange.
Hearing Eric mentioning his favorite work, Tom Celik laughed and said, "Of course, but it won't be released until next year. Seriously, I don't want to bump into your movie."
After the opening song and dance for about ten minutes, Eric took the award list envelope handed over by the staff, and walked onto the podium under the guidance of Tom Celik.
The lines of all the guests were written by the previous screenwriters. Therefore, the audience saw the witty remarks of those stars on TV, but they could not actually show their own speech ability.
"Wow," walked to the center of the stage, Eric held the microphone, and sighed: "Actually, after I received the invitation, I asked Alan Carr, why, why do other people have female companions when they present awards on stage? It's not fair to be alone! Allen stared at me for a long time before saying: because you are too young!"
When Eric said this, he blinked at the audience present as if he was cute, and made an innocent look on his face.
The auditorium was silent for a second, and immediately burst into laughter, followed by applause. In the past six months, although Eric has achieved a series of amazing achievements in Hollywood, there will always be someone who takes Eric's name from time to time. Age is a matter of fact, achieving such a great achievement at the age of eighteen seems to have become a "stain" in Eric's life. When people praise geniuses, they will always involuntarily reject geniuses.
After saying a few more witty words and making the audience laugh, Eric brought the topic back: "In any movie, when the leading actors and actresses show off their acting skills, there are always supporting roles. And a good supporting role will make a movie more brilliant, so let us see which movies have been nominated for Best Supporting Actress."
After Eric finished speaking, he made a gesture, and the film clips nominated for Best Supporting Actress appeared on the big screen one after another, namely Sigourney Weaver and Joan Cusack in "Working Girl", "Dangerous Liaisons" Michelle Pfeiffer, Geena Davis of The Accidental Tourist and Frances McDormand of Mississippi Burning.
As far as Eric is concerned, he is least optimistic about Sigourney Weaver. The other party won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for "Working Girl" before. Eric prefers Michelle Pfeiffer and Geena Davis, and he also thinks the winner should be one of these two.
After all the nominated films were introduced, Eric opened the envelope slowly, glanced at the names, and it was as expected.
"Best Supporting Actress goes to The Accidental Tourist, Geena Davis."
Amid the applause, a red-haired girl with a height of more than 1.8 meters covered her mouth excitedly and stood up. After hugging the others one by one, she walked onto the stage. The girl was not in a hurry to pick up the statuette, but excitedly hugged Eric, who could only smile and pat the girl on the back. Geena Davis was originally over 1.8 meters tall, and she was still wearing high heels, taller than Eric. When the two embraced, Eric looked really 'small'. This scene couldn't help but arouse There was a chuckle from the audience.
"Hey, Ms. Davis, can you let me go? Why do I feel like you're eating my tofu." Eric patted a few times, and seeing that the other party was still hugging him, he could only whisper something in the girl's ear.
"Impatient little guy," Geena Davis said softly, quickly let go of Eric, got the trophy, and started her speech.