Century City CAA Headquarters.
Richard Lovett, the president of CAA, completely lost his composure in the past. Ignoring the surprised eyes of other employees in the company, he almost trotted into the company's office building with two assistants, but he was still talking on the phone: " Peel, calm down, calm down, things are far from as bad as you imagined, I'm already downstairs, yes, right now."
Having said that, he rushed all the way to the elevator entrance, remembering that there was no mobile phone signal in the elevator, Richard Lovett walked towards the stairwell without hesitation, and at the same time took another mobile phone that was already connected from the assistant behind him: "This is Richard Lovett, hi, Kevin... I know, something happened, there must be some misunderstanding... Don't worry, I am responsible for you, don't you still trust me... OK, OK, that’s it, I’ll treat you to dinner when I’m free.”
After answering several phone calls along the way, Richard Lovett found himself habitually running to the floor where his own office was located, cursed loudly, glared at the two assistants behind him who forgot to remind him, and turned back upstairs. run down.
Richard Lovett was at Warner headquarters in Burbank this morning, negotiating a packaged movie project with the other party, and suddenly heard the news that MGM would abandon Brosnan and re-select 007. He even thought it was someone else joking with him, With the global box office of "Casino Royale" going straight to 1 billion US dollars, there will definitely be some twists and turns in the salary negotiations between MGM and Brosnan, but it is estimated that the entire Hollywood will not believe that the two parties will break up.
Richard Lovett didn't believe it was true until his assistant brought him a copy of the Yahoo Portal article. But then another piece of news came, causing him to jump up from his chair in Warner's office and rush out.
It turned out that Pierce Brosnan himself did not know about MGM’s abandonment of Brosnan’s re-selection of 007. This matter was entirely made by Brosnan’s agent Rick Kotzman, and he did not even know about it at all. In the case of Brosnan, he privately rejected the remuneration contract offered by MGM, and it was a contract worth up to 100 million US dollars.
Oh my god, a hundred million dollars!
The total remuneration that CAA obtains for thousands of clients under the company each year is only about 1 billion US dollars. Rick Kozman is equal to one person messing up nearly 10% of CAA's annual income.
Moreover, although it would be a pity to just lose this contract, the situation would not be too bad.
The worst part of this matter is that Rick Cozman made a private decision to reject this sky-high contract without consulting his client at all.
If this incident gets out, it will definitely seriously damage the reputation of CAA in the eyes of customers. In the brokerage industry, if a brokerage company loses the trust of customers and causes a large number of customer losses, then it is not far from closing down and going bankrupt. .
However, the fact is that this matter has spread almost all over Hollywood. On the way back to the company headquarters from Burbank, Richard Lovett has received seven or eight calls from important customers inquiring about this matter. If this crisis cannot be handled well, it is conceivable that CAA's competitors will never let go of this good opportunity to poach the wall. When Michael Ovitz left three years ago, CAA had already experienced a turmoil and was seriously injured. In the past two years, the company has just re-established itself, and it will definitely not be able to withstand any more major shocks.
Climbing up to the twelfth floor and rushing down again, Richard Lovett wiped the sweat from his brow, and finally came to the ninth floor where Brosnan's agent, Rick Kotzman, walked through the office area. At a glance, Chad Lovett saw Rick Kotzman walking towards him with a tissue covering the corner of his eye, but there was no sign of Brosnan.
Seeing Richard Lovett, Rick Cozman also quickened his pace, walked over and apologized: "Richard, I'm so sorry, I didn't expect something..."
Before he finished speaking, Rick Cozman felt himself dragged to the glass wall by Richard Lovett stretching out his hand and strangling his neck.
Rick Cozman is a head taller than Richard Lovett, but he also knows how much trouble he has caused. At this time, facing the boss's rude behavior, he did not dare to resist at all, as if accepting his fate Like a little chick was dragged past. The other employees of CAA in the office area were even more silent, they all consciously withdrew their gazes and avoided them.
"Rick, I don't want to hear you say sorry right now," Richard Lovett continued to push Rick Cozman's head to his face when he came to the glass wall, leaning into his ear and whispering Quickly said, "Listen, I know what you did last time in the Coca-Cola advertising contract negotiation, and I also know that you got a $100,000 kickback for introducing the spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson, and you just bought it in Beverly Hills. A mansion with a $3 million loan to repay. So, what you have to do now is find me a random place to hide yourself tightly. For the next month, if I hear anything about you , or you take the initiative to contact the media, believe me, I will ruin you and send you to jail, and your wife who worked as a model in "Sports Illustrated" and your daughter who is going to Stanford soon, no They're nothing without your financial backing. I'm going to try and sell them all to be whores in the filthiest brothels in Latin America, get it... ok, now, get the hell out of here."
Richard Lovett gritted his teeth with a ferocious face, and then pushed Rick Cozman away, then suddenly thought of something, and grabbed him back: "One more thing, Mr. Cozman, you are fired gone."
Instructing his assistant to call security to drag Rick Cozman out with a gray face, Richard Lovett raised his hand and rubbed his stiff face a few times while walking, and put his palm down. The ferocious expression had been replaced by a friendly smiling face, and he glanced at the glass wall not far away. Richard Lovett exhaled, and pushed away the room in Rick Cozman's office. door, and went in.
Although it has been tidied up briefly, the office still looks a little messy. The receiver of the landline on the desk flew to nowhere, and an oil painting on the wall has no glass frame, and there are still some broken glass on the floor. A large piece of the shutter blocking the external office area has also been torn off, and it is drooping casually.
Another important partner of the company, David O'Connor, sat at the desk with Pierce Brosnan to appease each other, and Pierce Brosnan's public relations manager Sarah Lindelt was standing by the window and talking on the phone.
Seeing Richard Cozman walk in, Brosnan got up immediately, without his usual gentlemanly demeanor, and said loudly, "Richard, you have to give me an explanation. I was fired from the Bond crew. It's ridiculous I don't even know anything."
"I know, Peele, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry," Richard Lovett put his arm around Brosnan's shoulders, and said, "I've called Amy Pascal at MGM, it's just a Misunderstanding, really, they just want to lower your salary, you know, film companies like to play these low-level tricks. Trust me, I will definitely win your Bond contract, nah, Now, can you come to my office and we can discuss what to do next?"
Brosnan shook Richard Lovett's arm away impatiently, and said: "I don't want to listen to your perfunctory words anymore. If you can't solve this matter as soon as possible, I will contact the next brokerage company immediately."
"Of course, I swear, from now on, I will be responsible for all your affairs." Richard Lovett, who was thrown away by Brosnan, was not angry at all, but still had a smile on his face, and came forward without any discouragement. Said: "Go to my office first, Peel, I'll show you something, after reading it, you will know that MGM will never dare to throw you away."
"Okay," Brosnan reluctantly nodded, and immediately said: "And, from now on, I must be present in all negotiations, and you must never make any decisions behind my back."
"I promise, I will never hide anything from you. Even if you want to know the color of my wife's panties, I can tell you that they are white, and I wear them secretly," Seeing Brosnan's tone loosen, he reasoned Chad Lovett heaved a sigh of relief, continued to utter naughty jokes, eagerly opened the office door, and bowed dog-leggedly to make a please gesture.
When Brosnan left the office, Richard Lovett pointed to Sarah Lindlett, gave David O'Connor a quick wink, and followed him out.
The two had just talked on the phone, and David O'Connor naturally understood what Richard Lovett was thinking. In fact, he was eager to coax Brosnan out just to create an opportunity for him to get in touch with Sarah Lindelt. .
Sarah Lindert was also a very shrewd woman, and she didn't rush out with her. She just hung up the phone, stood there smiling and looked at David O'Connor.
While Brosnan was in a rage and was unlikely to notice that his PR manager was lagging behind, David O'Connor didn't waste time and got right to the point: "Sarah, you've got to help us this time."
Sarah Lindelt shook her head and said, "David, what you guys did this time is really too much. I'm afraid I can't help you much. Peel will fire me too."
"Two clients of the same magnitude as Pierce," David O'Connor ignored Sarah Lindellt's words, and directly offered his price, saying, "You just need to guarantee Pierce's remuneration to MGM." As long as the news that the quotation is completely unaware of is not leaked, there is no need to do anything else.”
The most critical part of this turmoil is that Rick Kozman concealed the remuneration conditions offered by MGM to Brosnan. Sarah Lindert also knew that if this matter spread, it would have a very bad impact on CAA. She didn't speak, but just waved her four fingers.
David O'Connor didn't hesitate: "Deal."
Sarah Lindert didn't stop, and said, "How can I be sure that you will keep your promise after this incident is over?"
"You know we will do what we say," David O'Connor gritted his teeth, knowing that the situation was urgent and he couldn't procrastinate because of this trivial matter, he hesitated a little, and said, "You can find a recording pen, and I will put the Say it again."
"Then it's settled," Sarah Lindert nodded with a smile. She didn't look for any recording pen, but just shook the latest Motorola mobile phone that she had been holding in her hand. Obviously, she had just made a recording .
David O'Connor scolded Bichi secretly in his heart, with the same smile on his face, he said, "Then, let's go up now."
Sarah Lindelt didn't mind what David O'Connor thought about herself, and walked out of the office with him with a smile, saying: "You will definitely shut up Rick Cozman, right? , but what about Peel?"
David O'Connor said: "Richard will convince him."
In the office of the president of CAA.
Richard Lovett is showing Pierce Brosnan a stock chart on the computer monitor: "Peel, look, the opening price of MGM Pictures today is 28.37 US dollars, but here, it is from MGM Claiming to replace the Bond candidate started, it took a turn for the worse, and now MGM’s stock price has fallen to 27.49 US dollars, a drop of 3.1%, which is equivalent to MGM’s market value falling from 12.34 billion US dollars at the opening today to 11.958 billion US dollars , in just one hour, MGM's market capitalization increased by $400 million, all because of the announcement that they were going to replace you. And, I'm sure if MGM doesn't make some remedies Measures, this afternoon, the company's stock will fall by at least another 3%, and the market value will evaporate 800 million US dollars a day. MGM shareholders will absolutely not allow this situation to continue. The only way they can stop the stock price from What I did was invite you back again."
After hearing Richard Lovett's speech, Brosnan also breathed a sigh of relief, but he still said, "So, what should we do now, just wait for the news?"
"Of course not, I will continue to keep in touch with Amy Pascal of MGM. Of course, I will tell you the result of any communication as soon as possible," Richard Lovett said, his eyes flashing, his tone He said more easily: "However, Peel, during this time, I need you to cooperate with me as much as possible to keep silent, to MGM, to the media, and everyone else, so that I can fight for your interests as much as possible. Well, Especially the fact that Rick is hiding from you, this bastard, I have already fired him, and I want you to promise that he will never appear in the agent business again. However, this matter must not be spread , because it puts us all on the back foot, you understand?"
Pierce Brosnan originally thought that if he had to, he would reveal the news that he had no knowledge of the price of Mi High School, so that it might be possible to restore the 007 film contract. However, being surrounded by Richard Lovett, although he felt that there was something wrong, he still felt that perhaps he really shouldn't spread the news that made him passive, so he nodded cooperatively.
"Very good," Richard Lovett breathed a sigh of relief, nodded with a friendly smile, and said, "Then, drink your coffee first, and then I'll talk to Amy Pascal on the phone." (unfinished to be continued.)