Exploiting Hollywood 1980

At six o'clock on Saturday morning, at the home of CAA president Michael Ovitz, Ronald and three agents came here to resolve the conflict with Stallone.

"Ah...ah..." Ovitz was wearing a white Japanese karate uniform with a black belt around his waist. He was barefoot and practicing a form of martial arts that Ronald had never seen before with three sparring partners.

It was obvious that Ovitz had been practicing for a while, and sweat began to form on his forehead.

"Oh..."

The three sparring partners rushed towards Ovitz one after another. When they got closer, Ovitz took the initiative to grab his hands. Then Ovitz used the rotation of his body to make the sparring partner's center of gravity unstable, and finally used his strength to knock the sparring partners to the ground one after another.

Ronald recognized this force-generating technique, which was very similar to Stallone's bodyguard, except that Ovitz's sparring skills were more deliberate. He touched his chin and began to think about how to make the shots look better if he used this kind of martial arts to make a movie.

Ovitz looked very cool as he tossed his sparring partner around like a badminton ball. But humans are not badminton after all. He knocked down three consecutive attacks from his sparring partner and began to feel tired. He looked at the three agents standing next to the Japanese training ground and the client who had caused him trouble.

Richard Lovett was the youngest agent. He was frightened by his "magic skills" and his eyes were full of admiration.

Niceta, an Italian, and his office sweetheart, Paula Wagner, are relatively mature and understand their own tricks of scaring people, so there is nothing special about them.

The most irritating thing is Ronald. This guy actually started to study the weaknesses of his martial arts without saying a word. I heard that he is also a martial artist himself and participated in the design of the action scenes on the set of "The Dragon King". Maybe the rumors are not true. Fake.

"Hey, hey," Ovitz cleared his throat, bowed with the three sparring partners, and ended Saturday morning's morning practice.

"Hello," Ovitz walked towards the four of them, "This is a Japanese martial art called Aikido. It is a combination of dance movements, chess, and fighting will. I have been doing it since I was young. Start practicing."

"Very wonderful, very wonderful," Ronald applauded. This martial art is similar to Chinese Tai Chi. It seems that it has been simplified a lot for rich people to learn, but it still opened his eyes.

"We can spar when we have the chance, Mr. Ovitz." Ronald didn't expect that Ovitz was also a martial arts enthusiast. In Hollywood, there are very few senior people who can really fight twice.

"Hey, hey, there's a chance." Ovitz said haha. He usually used this trick to frighten his negotiating opponents. He had never seen anyone so eager to have a fight with him.

"Ronald, we are old friends. When you first signed with CAA, it was also the time when we entered the film market in a big way. I still remember helping you negotiate your first screenwriting remuneration, which was US$350,000."

Ovitz picked up the linen Japanese sweat towel and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"I'm forever grateful for that, Mr. Ovitz." Ovitz started talking about the past, and Ronald had no choice but to acknowledge his sympathy.

"When Meyer and I founded CAA, we established several principles. The first one is to always respond to clients as quickly as possible." Ovitz asked Ronald to sit down and glanced at his agents.

"So Sly came to me yesterday, hoping to mediate the issue between him and you. I will invite you over immediately, hoping that you can have a truce."

"You understand, Mr. Ovitz, I am a victim. I did not actively attack him." Ronald said that he was forced to fight back.

"But he told me he was just kidding you."

"Michael, you can't favor Sly like this..." Niceta stepped forward to retort. To put it mildly, the damage Stallone did to Ronald's reputation is an understatement.

Ovitz raised a hand, indicating to Niceta to wait until he finished.

The president bought out the shares of the two founders and now owns more than half of CAA's shares. In addition, this year he contributed to the hit movie "Ghostbusters", which earned his director client a salary of four million U.S. dollars. This is the time when he is high-spirited in the economic industry and keeps his promises.

"Rick, I remember when you came to CAA from William Morris, I told you that the second principle of our CAA is that if customers have conflicts, they must be resolved within the company's internal framework and not brought outside. . Inside the company, we can make a lot of noise, but when it comes to facing the outside, we all work together as a team, and we only have one name, CAA.”

"Mr. Ovitz, Sly didn't abide by this principle when he accused me of imitating his movies on the talk show. It seems that his agent doesn't take your principles seriously." Ronald saw Niceta Ovitz used his principles to suppress him, and he came forward to complain. It was Stallone who didn't follow the rules first.

"I know, but his agent Meyer is the veteran who founded the company with me, and sometimes I need to make certain compromises. And Stallone is the first real leading male star we signed, and we respect it very much. His choice at the time. Even though sometimes we have to work hard to deal with the troubles caused by them."

"If Sly wants to reconcile, then he should show sincerity first." Niceta started bargaining with Ovitz again.

"Yes, I know the third principle you set for CAA, which is to always put the interests of customers first. I am also a client of CAA, right?" Ronald chimed in to fight for his own interests.

"Of course, of course. So I also hope that all disputes will be resolved within the company." Ovitz took the glasses on the table and put them on, "I hope you can agree to Sly's conditions. He is willing to pay the corresponding price for this."

On behalf of Ronald, Niceta negotiated the price with Ovitz, and Ronald agreed not to continue attacking Stallone.

Stallone was willing to be interviewed again, praising Ronald's "King of the Dragon" and admitting that the previous accusation of "imitation" was a joke with his young friend Ronald.

In order to compensate Ronald for the favors he spent and the resources of Niceta's team. Ovitz also decided to open the first-class scripts obtained by CAA to Ronald to assist in the negotiation of his next movie.

In addition, Ovitz also arranged an opportunity for Ronald to be interviewed by print media, and officially promoted him to the public eye as a representative of the younger generation of directors.

"The first-rate script, is it the one based on the autobiography of a Danish female writer, 'Out of Africa'?" Ronald asked Nicita, who conveyed the conditions to him. Ronald has been in the circle for a long time, and he has heard that some scripts are specially designed to impact the Oscars.

"That's impossible, this script is prepared for Sydney Pollack, they are all..." Nicita touched her nose, suggesting that it was a game within the Jewish circle.

"Ovitz said there is a movie script about black people, and he is ready to contact CAA. It is also adapted, and the original author is Alice Walker, named 'The Color Purple'." Paula Wagner said, but it's a pity that the protagonists are all black, and Tom Cruise can't get a share.

"So black themes can't compete for Oscars, right?" Ronald thought to himself, he was still a little far away from the top resources, and could only play this kind of movie with people of color. The last movie with all people of color as the protagonists was the black version of Alice in Wonderland starring MJ and Diana Ross. It didn't win any Oscars. "

"Now the power of this script is in the hands of Peter Gubel..." Richard introduced the situation to Ronald.

Ronald remembered the former president of PolyGram Pictures. It was he who chose Brooke Shields to star in "Endless Love".

"Is PolyGram also your client?"

"No, Gubel sold his shares and power to PolyGram last year, and founded Gubel Peterson Pictures with his partner John Peterson, and went it alone."

"If you agree, then I will confirm with Sly, and he will also be interviewed to praise your talent and ability." Ovitz saw that Ronald had discussed with several agents, and came over to shake hands with Ronald.

As long as he shook hands, with his status in the industry, both parties would have no room for regrets.

"I always feel that I have suffered a loss in negotiating with you." Ronald teased.

"Then you should feel honored. I am rarely willing to make concessions. "Ovitz said with a smile.

He turned around and took an envelope from the table next to him and handed it to Ronald, "These are the opening ceremony tickets given to me by the Olympic Committee. As compensation, I give them to you."

Ronald took it and saw that in addition to two opening ceremony tickets, there were also many tickets for individual events. It seemed that Ovitz gave himself the package of tickets given to the "top star".

"Well, thank you, Mr. Ovitz." Ronald stretched out his hand and shook Ovitz's hand vigorously.

...

"I was joking. As George Lucas said, movie directors can't imitate others. I am a director myself and know it very well." Stallone changed his words and made a 180-degree turn during the interview.

"Ah... I like Ronald very much. He once wrote the script for Rambo 2 for me. Later, due to time constraints, he was busy with "The Karate Kid". Otherwise, we might have cooperated. Yes, I admire him very much. He is a talented director with artistic feelings.

Ah... Cooperation? Ah... If there is a chance. "

Syllone hurriedly pushed the reporter away and ended the interview that made him extremely uncomfortable.

Several bodyguards stopped the reporters who wanted to ask more questions and escorted Stallone into the car.

"Sly, I think..." The tall bodyguard with a bun closed the door of the luxury car. After the car started, he sat next to Stallone and submitted his resignation to Stallone.

"Why, you want to leave me?" Stallone asked.

"Yes, Aikido is beginning to rise in Hollywood. In addition to being an action coach for Sean Connery, I also want to open my own dojo. My apprentice has already found a place, in Burbank. "

"Well, good luck, Steve." Stallone glanced at the bodyguard. This guy accompanied him to Mike Ovitz's house yesterday to negotiate. Maybe he saw Ovitz practicing Aikido and got the idea.