Chapter 102: The Shark's Mouth
"I said, we should have negotiated the contract earlier." Agent Piero couldn't help but sigh after receiving the news of this year's Oscar nomination.
"Who knew they could be so troublesome?" Alain Delon said sullenly.
It is certainly good to have more honors for those who I will be working with in the future. On the one hand, it proves their ability, and on the other hand, it can also serve as a promotion point for the new play.
But it just so happened that these honors suddenly appeared when they had not yet negotiated the contract - this way, the other party had more bargaining chips in their hands, and seeing that they were so difficult to talk to before, they might want to add some conditions.
"Mary Sue and Ovitz are well-known for their ability to work hard. The fact that she was able to win a Best Supporting Actress award at the Oscars last year despite being in such a state is enough to prove how strong their ability to work hard is." Piero had already memorized Su Yun's information and was amazed as he memorized it.
Last year, in order to compete for the Oscars, Su Yun spent a huge amount of money and made all kinds of outrageous moves, and finally succeeded in getting what she wanted; this year's Oscars, they received more nominations, and the money and effort behind it must be no less than last year.
However, it is estimated that Su Yun is just trying hard to get the nomination: Jane Fonda, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress, has already won the Best Actress award. The competition for the remaining two nominations, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing, is too fierce. With Su Yun and Spielberg's current qualifications, it is difficult for them to beat those typical more traditional academic films and win awards.
Oh, it's so frustrating to compare yourself to others. Agents are all managing artists, but why is it that Ovitz got an obedient and dedicated little cutie, while I got Alan, such a troublemaker?
Say he is a playboy, but when his ex-fiancee was photographed by paparazzi and her current boyfriend came to him for help, he immediately hired someone to smash the camera and tear up the film to get rid of the paparazzi and help his ex-fiancee out of trouble; but say he is loyal, he has an ex-fiancee, an ex-wife, countless girlfriends with scandals, and even some things he has to say about his affairs with major directors (all male)...
If it weren't for his overly narcissistic personality, which only attracts his attention to beautiful people or those who look like him, this guy, who was brought up by him and labeled a playboy and philanderer by the media, would probably have more romantic and philandering deeds.
But it was quite annoying to have to deal with this guy in the middle of the night when he got into a fight with the paparazzi after being photographed by them at a nightclub. It was such an unpleasant experience that I couldn't describe it...
You are already an "old man" in your early thirties, can you be as mature as the eleven-year-old girl in Ovitz's hands!
"As long as the additional conditions are not too excessive, just agree to it and sign the contract as soon as possible." Alain Delon certainly didn't know why the agent he had worked with for many years disliked him after the comparison and hurt, but he also thought about the possibility that Su Yun might continue to raise the price and add conditions, so he hesitated for a moment and made a decision quickly.
Unexpectedly, when both of them went to Su Yun's house again with the intention of being extorted, they were quite surprised to find that Su Yun and Ovitz did not modify any details of the original draft that they had orally agreed on. Instead, they asked the lawyer to directly draft a contract document according to the original negotiation results.
Seeing the two people across from him holding the contract documents with their heads almost buried in them, Su Yun couldn't help but tap the table lightly as a reminder: "Don't look at it anymore, there really isn't any change."
"We Chinese are very honest in doing business. What we say is what we do. Unless something extremely unexpected happens, we will not go back on our word." Su Yun straightened his chest, looking very proud.
"But the Chinese are very good at business, and they are also very famous." Piero whispered, and finally, after confirming that there was really no problem with the contract, he leaned close to Alain Delon and whispered, "I think we can sign it."
The pair of lake-blue eyes silently scrutinized Su Yun for a moment, then lowered their gaze along with their owner, following the movement of the pen tip.
Seeing Alain Delon quickly signing his name, Su Yun also signed her name according to the instructions, and then extended her hand: "I wish us a pleasant cooperation in advance."
Alain Delon raised an eyebrow and held out his hand to shake it back - but couldn't.
This is a desk that is large enough for two adults to negotiate, and its size is naturally made according to the average height of adults.
After realizing that the first handshake ceremony failed due to one party's age and height, Su Yun and Alain Delon almost subconsciously leaned forward and stretched their arms, and then grabbed each other's hands at the same time.
Very good, they are all people who are very sincere about the upcoming filming plans.
Seeing the other side's eager gesture of goodwill, Su Yun and Alain Delon once again thought of this at the same time, and then smiled at each other with satisfaction.
After all the grudges were forgotten, what needed to be discussed were more details.
Since it is basically equivalent to the leading actors on both sides paying for the filming themselves, the issue of pay has simply become a tacit rule that everyone in the entertainment industry has tacitly accepted in recent years: let the artist serve as the producer and leading actor of the film. In this way, in addition to quoting a friendly price for the pay, these pay can also become part of the producer's investment in the film, thereby "reducing" the production cost of the film.
"I'll let Ovitz and you guys discuss the other details. In the near future, I have to try to recruit director Steven." In the recent industry preview, industry insiders who watched "Jaws" all felt that the film was profitable, so they planned to make a large investment in publicity and promotion.
However, due to the hostility of the film industry towards the television industry, the film marketing methods of this era are different from those that Su Yun was familiar with in later generations, so the method of using television to make GG has not actually become popular now.
Nowadays, box office success is generally guaranteed by accumulating good reviews and audience reputation through various previews.
The reason why Universal decided to invest a huge amount of money in publicity and promotion was that Columbia Pictures had recently carried out extensive publicity and promotion for one of their movies on national television networks, and finally reaped a huge amount of box office revenue.
This precedent of miraculous box office success made the world excited and they also wanted to follow suit, so they prepared to spend money to put the GG trailer of "Jaws" on ABC, CBS, NBC and other TV networks for promotion.
After Su Yun arrived at the Los Angeles studio, the first thing she did was to watch the GG trailer that Spielberg had cut to promote "Jaws".
Sure enough, it is still the familiar formula and familiar taste. The extremely disturbing but irresistible sense of mystery and the gripping plot will surely bring an excellent viewing experience to those viewers who are not good at horror movies but love to watch them after the release...
"I think we can add a promotional slogan at the end - please watch this film before swimming in the sea." When Su Yun is not behaving like a human, he is really like a dog.
Spielberg thought about it for a moment, then immediately continued working with a satisfied look on his face.
After a while of busy work, Su Yun, who had left the Los Angeles studio and had agreed to start filming "Leon: The Professional" in mid-July after communicating with Spielberg and Alain Delon, also took the opportunity to visit Tom's home from her hotel in Manhattan to see her friends.
Comparing yourself to others can easily make you angry. Because the United States places special emphasis on summer vacation, students have the longest summer vacation in the world according to the vacation schedule of their respective regional schools. In the east and north, it is generally from early June to early September, and in the south and west, it is from late May to late August. In short, no matter when it starts, it is inevitable that it will last about three months.
Look, it’s only a little over May now, and Tom’s family has already started preparing for a summer trip to the beach.
As for the poor control group, Su Yun had to hurry back to Hong Kong to cram for the primary school to high school entrance examination before the summer vacation.
This primary school entrance examination is also known as the Primary School Certificate of Education Examination. It tests three subjects: Chinese, English and Mathematics. The results of the examination are used as the basis for promotion to secondary school. However, this examination will only be available for a few years. After the nine-year free education policy is introduced, the primary school entrance examination will be cancelled and the school place allocation method will be used instead to allocate the first-year secondary school places.
Although the new policy had not yet been officially implemented, a warning had already been given: three years later in 1978, the primary school entrance examination would be officially cancelled, so Su Yun was considered to be one of the last batches of students to undergo the school system reform.
Can it be considered as witnessing a piece of history?
Su Yun comforted herself and gave Tom's family a stack of movie tickets she had prepared. She also made an appointment with Tom to make a guest appearance in Manhattan if he was free after the end of July.
There are many instances of child actors being used in the new movie, and they have been left alone for too long, so they need to be re-warmed up.
"Okay, I should be free when I get back from my beach trip." Tom held the movie ticket in his hand and raised his head a little proudly.
Seeing his expression of missing her but pretending not to care, Su Yun smiled and said, "You will definitely be free."
"That's not necessarily true. I've been busy with various activities recently." Isn't it said that you can grow taller if you exercise more? Why is he still the same height as Su Yun? !
Su Yun had no idea what was going on in Tom's mind. She just felt that he was still making a fuss so she didn't bother to care. She quickly finished the small cake prepared by Tom's family and then hurriedly boarded the plane back to Hong Kong.
The days after returning to Hong Kong are not exactly leisurely, but there is less rush to work and more busyness to memorize.
Of course, in addition to Chinese, which requires a lot of memorization, you also need to take time to study Mathematics and English.
Sitting in the small garden, enjoying the cool while reading, Su Yun had the illusion that he had stolen a half day of leisure from his busy life.
"Come, come, there's sweet soup." Today, because they had to wait for the people from the law firm to send over some legal documents, Grandma Su didn't take a nap for a rare time. She sat next to Su Yun and cut strips of cloth. When she was free, she asked her maid Jennifer to cook a pot of sweet soup.
Just as Su Yun dared to scoop the sugar water into the bowl, she heard a knock on the door: "It must be someone from the law firm. Jennifer, go open the door - oh, is that you?"
"Long time no see." Although he was wearing a dull dark suit, it still couldn't conceal the young man's lively temperament.
However, when he saw Su Yun and thought about those years, he was quite emotional: "I didn't expect you really didn't lie to me back then."
"Why did you end up working in a law firm? Didn't you major in textile?" Su Yun asked after taking the document.
"Don't mention it - my father had a stroke and passed away last year, so he won't let me go back to England." Zhang Querong sighed, "Now tailor-made clothes are not popular anymore. I can't follow in my father's footsteps, so I might as well try working part-time to see which job suits me better."
"Have you ever considered entering the entertainment industry?" Su Yun asked again.
Zhang Querong smiled upon hearing this: "Are you kidding me? I can't act or sing, so what can I do in the entertainment industry? Besides, my dad never likes these things. If I dare to mention them, he might get up from his wheelchair and beat me up..."
Su Yun silently watched his serious explanation, then took decisive action and secretly used the system to record this extremely rare black history slapping material.
Watching Zhang Querong hurried away after delivering the documents, Jennifer approached curiously and asked, "Miss, do you think this handsome guy has a future?"
"He will have a bright future." Su Yun nodded while continuing to adjust the color of the footage in secret: No wonder he has no bright future now. I don't know where Hong Kong has learned this. Everyone likes healthy skin tones. Fortunately, the photos were taken during the day, otherwise she would be afraid that the advanced high-tech night vision camera would not be able to capture the person...
This is truly dark history.
Skipping this little episode, Su Yun immersed herself in preparing for the exam again.
The hot summer of June was gradually coming to an end. On the day when Su Yun finished her exam, a week had passed since the release of "Great White Shark".
After the film premiered in more than 400 theaters worldwide and then expanded to nearly 700 theaters, "Jaws" has already grossed 9 million US dollars in its first week!
Who would have thought that this shark, which is loved and feared by the audience, could catch such a huge number in its first battle... If it continues to develop in this trend, and with its unrivaled performance during the summer season, I'm afraid that this summer, Universal Studios will only have to count money.
Su Yun was delighted to hear the news: when she participated in the post-production of "Jaws", she did not want the agreed fixed salary of 100,000 US dollars, but asked for 1% of the box office share despite people's pessimistic eyes. Wasn't she waiting for this moment?
The domestic box office of "Jaws" directly exceeded 260 million, and the global box office was more than 470 million!
Not only that, "Jaws" has also spawned a series of peripheral products, ranging from traditional classic peripheral T-shirts to imaginative shark toilet lids, and even gave birth to a subtype of horror films with sharks as the protagonists... These are also big pieces of meat.
Of course, some are happy while others are sad. While "Jaws" made American audiences spend a sweaty summer and made a lot of money, an industry that was relatively dependent on it stood up angrily because of its backstab:
"That damn thing you filmed almost ruined beach tourism this summer!"
“The beach that was once packed with people is now empty!”
"You need to come out quickly and explain clearly, tell them that the sea is safe!"