Hollywood (我就是好莱坞) Part I

Chapter 99 - I'll build a piece of art for you

  Looking at the angry man in front of him, Eric had to get up, and pour him a gla.s.s of water, after waiting for Jeffrey to finish drinking, he said: " All right, Jeffrey, can't you see it, this is just a ploy so CAA don't lose face. If they keep insisting on twenty percent of the profits, then there's no need to keep talking about cooperation. But if you calm down and think about it, you'll find that CAA just want to drag on for a period of time?"

"Why do they want to delay the time?" Jeffrey obviously did not calm down, he poured himself another gla.s.s of water and asked.

"Because they want to save face, some time ago, the 'Premiere Magazine' produced a list of Hollywood power rankings, Michael Ovitz came first, Even Barry Diller and Michael Eisner at the helm of these film giants can only be ranked behind him. If you have just won this t.i.tle, and the two stars under your hand, started cooperating with the man you previously put a ban on, wouldn't you loose face as the most powerful man in Hollywood."

Jeffrey sighed in relief: "That's fine, I thought the other side really wanted to split the profits, this is too messy."

Eric said solemnly: "Jeffrey, Maybe you should start accepting the stars paychecks slowly raising, in addition to them getting a big part of the profits. Because after Tom Cruise tried this model in the movie 《Rain Man》 and succeeded, other Hollywood stars are likely to follow suit."

"Two people, getting 40% of the gross profit. Do they want to make more money than we do? We will only have 60% remaining, and we have to pay other expenses."

In fact, Eric also thought of this problem, he felt that perhaps this may be an opportunity, to help his own interests, he was destined to join the Hollywood film producers Union in the future, so he must stand on the opposite side of the actors.

Tom Cruise 《Rain Man》 is just an attempt to give the actors a new fee charging mode, 《Running Out of Time》 negotiations is likely to become the reference for many top Hollywood stars in the future. So, the lower their percentage of profits, the better.

If he can control this ratio between 5% and 10%, then once it becomes a standard, the acc.u.mulated expenses that will be saved in the future, would be an astronomical figure. Although Eric did not know whether this would succeed or not, he would have to give it a try.

"Jeffrey, don't worry about this matter, just talk to them slowly, don't let them think they can get 20%, and try to reduce the $6 million paycheck, and tell them if they want a cut of the profits they will have to reduce their fee, they can't eat their cake and have it, too."

Jeffrey was still not willing to reconcile: "Eric, why not bypa.s.s the brokers, and talk to Cruise and Hanks's alone, didn't you have a good time with them that day?"

Eric smiled and pulled out "Hollywood Reporter" newspaper, and shook it in front of Jeffrey, and said: "They are CAA's artists, I don't have a particularly good friendship with them now, they can promise to star in 《Running Out of Time》, but they won't make Michael Ovitz loose face. Besides, they won't object to CAA's efforts to get them more benefits, right?"

Instead of refuting, Jeffrey asked: "Eric, tell me exactly what you think I should do. It's the first time I've ever encountered this kind of thing, I can't drag things indefinitely, but as the boss, you're the one who will have to make the fin

al decision. So you'd better give me a baseline data reference, so when I start negotiating with them, I will have a sense of propriety."

Eric thought for a moment and said: "I heard that in 《Rain Man》 Tom Cruise in order to get the contract, he had to take the initiative to reduce his fee. As for the bottom line, as long as Cruise and Hanks fee doesn't exceed $5 million, and their cut of the profits is between 5% and 10%, then I'll accept. Remember absolutely no more than 10%."