Hollywood Director 1992

Soon, Michael Ovitz and the heads of the seven major studios received the news that Guess Entertainment was preparing to compete with them by increasing the marketing budget for "Seven" .

"Haha, Link is still too inexperienced."

Michael Ovitz laughed out loud after receiving the news, "Guess Entertainment is just one company, while we have more than ten. How can one possibly win against more than ten? He is bound to lose this gamble, and it is highly likely to be a crushing defeat."

Lang Meyer nodded, smoking his cigarette, "It is indeed reckless, but understandable. Link is young and can't stand being wronged. Seeing the seven major studios targeting his movie, he impulsively increased the stakes to fight them head-on. This approach is very unwise in business competition."

"Haha! This kid won against us last time and started to become arrogant and complacent, thinking he has no rivals in Hollywood. That's why he's acting so tough. This time, I will completely defeat him, destroy him, and make him spit out everything he's swallowed."

Michael Ovitz chuckled coldly and immediately called the executives of several major film companies, hoping they could take countermeasures to attack Link's movie and cause Guess Entertainment to lose even more money.

The executives of several major film companies agreed to suppress Link and Guess Entertainment in terms of public opinion and publicity, but CAA or Michael Ovitz personally had to show some action.

He was the initiator of the alliance. Now that everyone was taking action against Link, he couldn't just stand by and watch. He needed to contribute some practical actions, such as paying for some of the publicity expenses, arranging for some celebrities to support the movie, and using his connections to suppress the word-of-mouth for Link's new movie, and so on.

Michael Ovitz's heart trembled when he heard that he had to pay money. Last year, he bet more than ten million against Link and invested a lot of money and connections in publicity. Now he had to spend money again, which he was very reluctant to do.

"Michael, you have to understand that Link's movie won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and has good quality. It's not a small risk for us to compete with Link. If we lose and cause losses to the company, I won't be able to explain it to Murdoch and the board of directors," said Barry Diller, chairman of 20th Century Fox Film.

Michael Ovitz frowned, "If you win, the benefits are yours too."

"No, no, the benefits are ours. If we win, we can give priority to CAA's artists in film projects," said Sid Sheinberg, president of Universal Pictures.

Michael Ovitz thought for a while, "I will arrange for my artists to help promote the movie."

"Very good! Michael, if we join forces, Link will definitely have no chance of winning," said Mig Gos, president of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Ovitz nodded, which was also his view.

"Michael, I heard that Nicolas Cage, Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, and others from CAA have a good relationship with Link and have participated in their film projects. This is not good, and this kind of thing should be prohibited," said Sherry Lansing, president of Paramount Pictures.

"I understand!"

Michael Ovitz hung up the phone with a dark face and slammed his fist hard on the table.

When he picked up the phone, Michael Ovitz was elated, but when he hung up, his face was dark.

Lang Meyer shook his head and said, "You can't blame them. Although the major film companies are giants in the film industry, they have a board of directors above them, and all their work must be responsible to the shareholders."

Michael Ovitz also knew this, but he had to pay money to help with publicity and arrange for his artists to promote the movies of the major film companies for free. He couldn't help but think of the bet last year. In order to defeat Link at the box office, he spent money and manpower, and put in a lot of effort, but the result...

In addition, the last time he asked his artists to help promote "Sliver", it caused dissatisfaction among many artists. If he did it again, even more people would be dissatisfied.

If the artists are dissatisfied with the management and their loyalty declines, they will consider switching agencies. If many artists switch agencies, it will affect CAA's interests, and he will not be able to explain it to the CAA board of directors.

Michael Ovitz thought about it and regretted initiating this alliance against Link.

If Link wanted to stand out, let him stand out. If he wanted to make money, let him make money. There was no direct conflict of interest with his CAA. Even if Link was too high-profile, and it bothered him, he just needed to be patient and pretend that this bastard didn't exist.

Alas～

But the alliance had already been established, and the partners had successively launched actions against Guess Entertainment. At this time, if he, the leader, suddenly announced his withdrawal, how would the partners see him, and how would others view him, the number one on Hollywood's power list?

If he quit at this time, he shouldn't even think about gaining a foothold in Hollywood.

As things stood, he was in a dilemma.

Michael Ovitz picked up the phone on the table and called Jay Maloney, the head of the agency department, asking him to arrange for the artists to help promote the movies of the seven major film companies, using this method to exchange film and television resources from the production departments of the seven major film companies.

The more one did, the more resources one would get in the future.

At the same time, he also remembered Sherry Lansing's words that Nicolas Cage had a good relationship with Link, and Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Julianne Moore, and others had starred in Link's movies.

This matter gave him a headache.

He was the president of CAA, but he had no right to interfere in the private lives of the actors.

Michael Ovitz thought for a while and called the agents of several people, suggesting that Nicolas and others should not get too close to Link and should not participate in Guess Entertainment's film projects. The roles they lost, the company would compensate them with other roles.

Also, when promoting "Speed", Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock must be passive, not cooperating with Guess Entertainment's work. If there were any problems, CAA's legal department would be responsible.

Soon, he received a call from Nicolas Cage's agent.

Nicolas was very unhappy with his interference in the artist's private affairs. If there was another time, Nicolas would consider terminating the contract early.

Michael Ovitz was shocked and immediately called Nicolas Cage, persuading him not to do that and saying that he would not interfere in his private affairs.

After Robert Downey Jr., Richard Gere, and Dustin Hoffman were ruined, CAA was greatly affected. Nicolas Cage was one of CAA's most important clients and the company's signboard.

In terms of importance, Nicolas Cage was higher than Tom Cruise. Nicolas Cage's uncle was the great director Francis Ford Coppola, and Coppola was a key figure in the Italian mob in Hollywood.

Signing Nicolas Cage made it easier to get resources from the Italian mob.

After hanging up the phone, Michael Ovitz cursed Link as a bastard. If Link hadn't ruined Robert Downey Jr. and the other two, he wouldn't have been so nervous about Nicolas Cage's departure.

Just after hanging up the phone, Jay Maloney called, saying that Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, and Julianne Moore were dissatisfied with the company's arrangements and proposed to terminate their contracts.

"I don't agree! Stop them quickly."

Michael Ovitz was furious. It didn't matter much if Sandra Bullock and Julianne Moore switched agencies, but Keanu couldn't.

After River Phoenix's death, Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp, and Nicolas Cage were considered the four most powerful male actors in Hollywood at the time, with a great chance of becoming superstars.

Johnny Depp was originally an artist under CAA, but in 1992, he followed his agent and switched to UTA agency.

The remaining three were still in CAA. If Keanu Reeves switched to UTA again, that small company might get out of hand and threaten CAA's dominance in the entertainment industry.

He would never allow this to happen.

But Jay Maloney claimed that the three people's willingness to terminate their contracts early was very strong, and they expressed their willingness to pay the liquidated damages.

Michael Ovitz cursed and told Jay Maloney to tell the three that if they wanted to switch agencies, they shouldn't think about cooperating with CAA's directors and actors in the future, and there would be no place for them in Hollywood in the future.

Jay Maloney said he would personally persuade the three of them.

Michael Ovitz also called Keanu Reeves, wanting to persuade him to stay in person, but he couldn't get through.

Ovitz slammed the table and cursed, cursing very harshly, and even Link, who was not related, was not spared.