Exploiting Hollywood 1980

One is the contract that Columbia gave to Ronald, and the other is the industry standard contract. Looking at the two copies of the contract in his hand, Rick Niceta was very angry. A key clause was removed from Ronald Lee's contract, and he, as the highest-ranking of his three agents, was kept in the dark.

One of the reasons why he switched from WA to CAA was that there was a person like Ovitz as the president here, suppressing internal competition and not so much internal intrigue. Different agents can work together to recommend projects so that everyone's clients can share the benefits.

But the contract of a screenwriter client was actually taken advantage of by someone. Originally, it was thought that no one would dare to do anything about this project that was personally promoted by Ovitz, so no one paid much attention to it, but let the new agent Richard be responsible for tracking and handling it.

As a result, if Richard hadn't been smart, he would have almost signed this trap contract and been taken advantage of. In the future, he might have a reputation of being incompetent or that CAA bullied the weak. Ovitz would definitely not tolerate such a thing happening.

The reason why Nicita didn't pay attention to Ronald's contract was because his own big client had a problem and was busy dealing with it.

His biggest client, Sally Field, who won the Best Actress award for "Norma Rae", was very sad because her boyfriend Burt Reynolds cheated on her and almost made an accident that hurt herself.

The curse of the Oscar-winning actress is not only in her career.

Reynolds is a very masculine actor and also owns his own NASCAR team "Mach-1".

After Sally was crowned as the Best Actress, the movie scripts and pay she received were obviously higher than Reynolds, so she could only hang around in TV series. This kind of thing is a big blow to Reynolds's masculine image. Reynolds then cheated on Loni Anderson, a blonde beauty who starred in a TV series with him.

It was not easy to get Sally back to normal and reconcile with Reynolds, but this kind of contract accident happened here again.

"So who did it? Ovitz personally watched the project, and dared to use such a small trick?" Nicita asked.

Paula Wagner sat next to Niceta, looking over the contract over and over again.

She has been very busy recently. Tom Cruise is very motivated, but his reading level is really very poor. He can't understand many scripts. He can only ask others to read them to him.

Unlike ordinary people, who can distinguish words at a glance, Tom has to look at them letter by letter. And he can't read words with irregular pronunciation.

Paula is contacting a doctor to check him to see if he has dyslexia. I heard that there are some behavioral therapies that can treat it.

"Who is it?" Paula also raised her head and asked Richard Lovett.

"It's Lapke." Richard sat stiffly. If this contract problem is not handled properly, it may affect his career. Then he added the reason, "He is pursuing Bridges, the director designated by Jane Fonda."

"This bastard." Niceta and Paula cursed at the same time.

The agent business is not a court. It doesn't talk about evidence, but only about who is the party that benefits. Because good people who talk about morality and stupid people who leave evidence will be eliminated soon.

"Jack Rapke is famous for not following the rules when he was in WA," Nicita commented, "So what does Ronald think? Does he want to take the full $350,000 and leave, or get the first refusal right to make changes?"

"He's a young man and wants to gain experience," Richard said.

"Tsk, that's difficult. Even if he gets the right to make changes, Bridges is still the director. If he's not satisfied with the script, he can send it back again and again to torture him until the movie and Ronald are dragged into planning hell." Paula Wagner interjected.

Planning hell is the jargon of the film industry. After the studio buys the script and confirms the actors, there are many cases where the film cannot pass the planning stage and the filming is abandoned due to artistic differences, different understandings of the market, and even personal grudges. People in the industry call it "planning hell."

Once the script falls into planning hell, it is difficult to climb out.

"Richard, please ask Ronald to come in and let's talk. This is not the time to be angry. $350,000 is a huge sum of money for someone of his age. Planning hell will not help him gain experience."

"That's the thing, Ronald. After Jane Fonda joined the project, she became the center of power. Now she doesn't have enough scenes, and your script will always have to be modified to highlight her performance..." Nicita explained to Ronald.

"But I'm ready." Ronald took out his big notebook, which contained various text records. They were all kinds of inspirations he wrote down at different times and places during his rest time. He was ready to do a major operation on the main line of the script to highlight Jane Fonda's status.

"At this point, Bridges will definitely make a big change to your script as a director, and with this grudge, he won't let your changes pass easily. There are many movies that fall into an endless cycle of revisions between stars and screenwriters until they are abandoned." Nicita advised.

"We can't bet on the chance that Jane Fonda will choose between Bridges and you. You also want your script to be made into a movie and your name to appear in the opening credits, right?" Paula also carefully chimed in.

Sighing, Ronald asked, "Who changed the terms of my contract and removed the priority of modification?"

"I will definitely investigate this matter and give you an explanation."

Seeing that Ronald's attitude had softened, Niceta and Paula quickly took Ronald with them to complain to Ovitz.

"My client's interests have been harmed, and the terms of the contract cannot be modified without the agent's consent." Niceta put Ronald's contract and the standard contract on Ovitz's desk, with the missing parts Mark it with a marker.

"Ask Jack Lapke to come into my office," Ovitz said to the secretary handling his call.

Jack Rapke has a typically Jewish nose. His mother is a buyer for movie theaters. She has been taken with her to buy movies from studios since she was a child, and she knows many things about the film industry.

After being called into the president's office, Ovitz asked him if he knew how the two contracts had been swapped.

Lapke tilted his mouth, chewed gum, and said very aggressively, "I don't know, he is not my client. If he were my client, he would definitely not make such a low-level mistake."

"I strive for the best interests of my clients. But I really don't know. You should check other people. The contract may not be a problem at CAA." Rapke did not admit that he had done anything.

Ovitz stood up and raised his hand to stop Lapke from continuing.

"Ronald, I will handle this matter personally. I will communicate with you and Frank Price tomorrow. Make sure that those who modify your contract without authorization are punished."

"As for the issue of screenwriters, I will compensate you. CAA will not let its clients be treated unfairly.

In this matter, CAA will complete the promotion of you as a talented screenwriter as agreed. I personally guarantee that your name will appear in the New York Times report, but there is no way to guarantee the front page this time.

But within the scope of Hollywood, including The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, and Variety Weekend Edition, we will all promote that your debut script sold for a sky-high price. "

Ovitz raised his hand and asked Ronald to walk out of the office with him.

"Is there no way for me to participate in the pre-production of the movie?" Ronald didn't want to give up yet.

"I won't lie to my clients, Ronald. There's really no point in you continuing. If you're willing to just settle this, I owe you once and I'll make amends. Sign your directing contract as well." At CAA, I will personally recommend your new script to major studios."

The two walked out of the office, and Ovitz closed the door.

"Richard made a mistake. If you have other ideas, I can change you to a prime agent."

"No, I hope the main agent can spend most of his time on me, and Richard did not disappoint me." Ronald declined.

"Okay, Mary." Ovitz called his schedule secretary, "Please take Ronald to the lounge to rest for a while. I will discuss some work arrangements with them, and then I will ask Richard to accompany you back."

Ovitz and Ronald hugged each other goodbye, "Do you have any other requests?"

"I guess... forget it, she's not your client."

"Pfeiffer, right? My relationship with Wa's Limato is not that bad. When we don't involve celebrity clients, we usually communicate with each other. I will call him."

Ovitz comforted Ronald and quickly returned to the office. Close the door gently.

"Jack." Niceta was still quarreling with Rapke, "CAA treats all customers equally, and you cannot harm the interests of another customer just because you win the heart of one customer."

"Besides, Bridges is not your client yet." Paula added.

"I agree with your values ​​very much, but there is another one of CAA's values, which is to maximize the interests of customers." Rapke retorted.

Ovitz returned to his seat and glanced at both sides.

Both sides stopped blaming the other.

"What's wrong with you? Who asked you to pass the responsibility to the studio in front of your clients?" Ovitz said to Lapke.

"And you guys, why is it that Richard is the only one who accompanies Ronald to sign a contract in Colombia? If you are not willing to represent him, bring it up as early as possible and I can personally take your place. The writer-first strategy is the foundation of CAA in the film industry. Book."

"So at all times, we must be united externally. No one can be exempted. All competitions remain within the company. Externally, we are not Ovitz, Nicita, or Lapke. We only have one name, caa broker."

Ovitz pointed his finger at both sides and repeated the company's creed again.

"So you mean a big family, like the Corleone family? Ovitz thinks he is the old godfather Vito?" Niceta and Paula walked out of the president's office and returned to their own offices. Suddenly Niceta complained.

"Then who are you? Sonny?" Paula Wagner glanced at the door to make sure it was closed, then sat in Niceta's arms and straightened his tie.