Chapter 074

Simon took less than five hours off and got up early at eight the next day.

In order to save time, he doesn't plan to drive back in person this time. The crew will hire a surrogate driver to send the SUV back to Los Angeles. Simply having breakfast and saying goodbye, Edward Feldman, the producer of blood dead night, drove him to Phoenix Airport.

Due to the time difference, when we arrived in Los Angeles, it was only nine o'clock in the morning.

Los Angeles International Airport.

Simon got off the plane and went all the way to the reception hall, looking around.

I called Janet to pick me up last night, but it was Owen Wright, Jonathan's assistant. Irving Wright soon found Simon, too. He hurried over and gave him a pair of sunglasses, saying, "Simon, you'd better wear these."

There were not many people in the reception hall during this period of time. Before Owen Wright continued to remind him, Simon had already seen seven or eight guys with cameras running towards this side. Some people even couldn't wait to hold up their cameras and press the shutter, and a series of flashing lights suddenly lit up around them.

With the movement of this side, many double eyes in the hall are projected at the same time.

Although it was the first time in his two lives that Simon met this situation, he was not flustered. He put on his sunglasses, picked up the suitcase that had been pulled behind him, and hurried out of the hall with Owen Wright.

The paparazzi saw Simon and Owen speeding up to leave and trotted to catch up with them again. They surrounded them tightly in front, back, left and right. They continued to take pictures and asked questions at the same time.

"Simon, can you stop and say something?" "Simon," Lola Run, "won last weekend's box office title. Let's talk about it." "Simon, I heard that you are looking for a partner for your new play, offering 10% of the North American box office share. Do you think that's possible?" "Simon..."

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

In the confusion of questions, Simon just bowed his head in silence, pushed the gap between the paparazzi and moved out slowly with Owen Wright, and did not dare to exert too much force. When he was in Arizona, he heard that Stallone had been "touched" by the paparazzi, but he didn't want to encounter such a mess when he just returned to Los Angeles.

They got into the parking lot with some difficulty. Simon was a little relieved when they drove into the highway around the airport. However, he soon found that all the paparazzi were following Owen Wright's car.

Owen in the front driver's seat looked up in the rearview mirror and said with a smile, "Simon, how does it feel to be famous?"

Simon said honestly, "a little bit of a hit."

"Oh, you'll get used to it in the future. There are few people like this. When you come back suddenly, it should be the reporter from Arizona who contacted you temporarily." Owen stepped on the gas and sped up some speed, then continued: "Miss Johnston originally intended to pick you up, but when she went out, she found that the door was surrounded, so she had to call Joe, and then I'm coming. "

Simon smell speech, immediately concern a way: "how to return a responsibility?"

Simon, who Owen leaned over to the back, made a slightly calm gesture and said, "didn't you tell the reporter last night that you had a girlfriend?"

Simon was surprised and said, "I didn't say Jennie's name. Besides, how did you know so soon?"

"There are thousands of newspapers in the whole Federation. How can they sell if they are not fast? But don't worry, those paparazzi are basically in line with the rules. As long as Miss Johnston doesn't go out, there won't be any problem. In a few days, the news about it will be almost fired, and the paparazzi in front of her house will be scattered, "Owen explained, and then asked," Simon, where are you going now? I suggest you don't go to miss Johnston. That will only bring more paparazzi

Simon thought, since Jennie is blocked at home, there must be someone outside her villa in Montana.

After thinking about it for a moment, Simon made a decision and said, "go to wma headquarters. It happens that I have something to talk about with Joe."

Owen nodded: "Joe really wants to talk to you as soon as possible. You left this month, especially in the last two weeks, seeking cooperation, asking for interviews, asking for information, all kinds of people, they can't find you, they can only contact us, Joe is going to be driven crazy, even I have to block dozens of calls about you every day. "

Although he had obviously felt the changes around him in Arizona, Simon listened to Owen and said with a smile, "it's not that exaggerated, is it?"

Owen looked at Simon again in the rearview mirror and then said, "obviously, you don't know where you are. Simon, "Lola Run" is very promising to win the North American box office this year. Think about Tom Cruise after last year's box office hit. Now, you too. "

Simon noticed that a paparazzi on a motorcycle outside the car window was very difficult to operate the camera with one hand. He took pictures of the car window in vain, nodded, stopped talking, and started thinking about the next things.

More than 20 minutes later, Owen parked his car in the parking lot in front of the wma headquarters. Before the paparazzi gathered around again, they rushed into the wma headquarters building.Just at the busy time of work, the wma headquarters building is full of people.

When Irving Wright came in with a young man, most of them were puzzled at first. As some people who recognized Simon eagerly took the initiative to say hello, everyone soon realized Simon's identity, so they either nodded or took the initiative to talk.

Outside Jonathan Friedman's office, the agent has come out.

"Simon, you're back at last."

After greeting, Jonathan hugged Simon and patted him on the shoulder. Then he walked into his office with the envious eyes of other wma employees and customers around him.

Entering the office, Jonathan motioned Simon to sit down on the sofa in the reception area, but he turned to his desk and took out a thick stack of files from the filing cabinet.

Simon watched the agent busy, but did not go to the reception area. He came to his desk, pointed to the landline on the desk and said, "Joe, I want to call Jennie first."

"Of course," Jonathan nodded understandably, put the folder on his desk, pressed it, and said, "you call first. I'm just going out. I just said in the mail room that I need to sign a document myself."

Simon smiles as the agent leaves the office, picks up the phone and dials Janet's number.

After getting along for such a long time, Simon also found that Janet was a person who hated to answer the phone. It took a long time for someone to answer the phone and hum lazily.

Simon grinned and said, "Jennie, it's me."

Hearing Simon's voice, Janet, on the other side of the phone, got up in spirits, but immediately began to blame Simon for bringing her a lot of paparazzi.

After chatting for a long time, under the obsession of women, although he knew that he would lead more paparazzi to Malibu, Simon finally promised Janet that he would go as soon as possible after talking with Jonathan.

Hang up the phone, obviously has been waiting outside for a while Jonathan just pushed the door into.

They went to the reception area to sit down, and Owen Wright brought in two more cups of coffee. When Owen left, Jonathan introduced the folder to Simon one by one and said, "Simon, here are some documents and memos related to you in recent weeks, from the media, from the studio, from other filmmakers. I told you something on the phone. But you'd better see for yourself. "

Simon nodded and opened a folder for a few glances.

Jonathan waited for Simon to turn through a few pages of documents, handed over two more scripts, and said, "and the screenwriter you asked me to inquire about, Nora Efron, happens to have two scripts in her name. It's a crime comedy called ghost horse father and daughter. I think it's not bad, but it's been bought by Warner Brothers. Another romantic comedy, when Harry meets Sally, has a very special plot structure. However, it may be too far away from the mainstream, and no studio has taken a fancy to this story

Simon took over the two plays and flipped through them with a smile on his face.

Jonathan looked at Simon's expression, then handed over the last folder and said, "finally, after you asked me to release the news about death, Warner, MGM, Columbia, Canon and new line have all inquired about it to me in recent days. Although no definite reply has been given, the heads of these companies have indicated that they hope to talk to you in person. "

Simon took over the last folder and opened it, but it was Jonathan's assessment of the possibility of cooperation between Warner and other companies on the "death is coming" project.

After a few simple glances, Simon put the document in front of him. Then he looked at Jonathan and said, "Joe, I think we'd better talk about the new contract first."

Simon and Jonathan signed a pure script agency contract with a term of three years.

But now, Simon is rising rapidly in Hollywood with "Lola Run". If the two people want to continue to cooperate, the original contract will not be suitable.

Jonathan piles up this pile of script documents and memos in front of Simon, which not only shows that he has invested enough energy for him, but also reminds Simon that they need to renegotiate the contract.

So Jonathan listens to Simon's voice, just smiles and nods, waiting for him to go on.

Simon is not a stingy person, so naturally he will not let Jonathan take the percentage of script agent to do the job of overall agent. However, considering his development plan in the next few years, Simon is unlikely to sign a sharing contract with Jonathan.

After a second thought, Simon said, "Joe, I thought about it before I came back. Next, I hope we can sign a fixed salary contract, three years, 500000 dollars. What do you think?"

When Jonathan heard Simon's offer, some disappointment flashed in his eyes, but he didn't speak for a moment.

Simon noticed the change of Jonathan's expression, then realized that his words were ambiguous, and quickly explained: "you misunderstood, Joe, it's 500000 dollars a year, not 500000 dollars for three years."Jonathan knows something about Simon's upcoming revenue from "Lola Run.".

Judging from the details he knows, Simon will definitely get no less than $20 million from the distribution of "Lola Run" in various channels in the future. With such a huge sum of money, he is not willing to sign a sharing agency agreement with himself, which is understandable.

However, at first, he thought that Simon would only give him a fixed salary of $500000 for three years. Although the offer is not too low strictly, if Simon insisted that in order to maintain cooperation with the boy in front of him and fight for opportunities for other clients, Jonathan would agree, but his disappointment with Simon is inevitable.

Now, with half a million dollars a year, Jonathan Friedman has no complaints.

In this era, only a small number of first-line stars can earn US $5 million, and they often receive a leading film in a year or two. As a result, on average, the annual commission they bring to brokers is definitely less than $500000.

Simon's offer is equal to putting himself directly in the position of a first-line star with an average annual full pay film. Although he has a hunch that the young man's annual income will definitely be more than that, as an agent, Jonathan knows he can't ask for more.

With a smile on his face, Jonathan reached out to Simon and said, "well, good cooperation."

Simon also extended his hand to his agent and said, "happy cooperation."

Naturally, there was no hurry to change the contract. Jonathan immediately began to explain the series of documents to Simon in detail. But within half an hour, the phone rang from Jonathan's desk.

With a wait sign to Simon, Jonathan goes to pick up the phone and talk to the other person. Then he covers the phone and whispers "Goldberg" to Simon quickly before continuing to talk.

Simon didn't get up either, just quietly listening in on Jonathan's conversation with Fox President Ronald Goldberg.

A moment later, when he hung up, Jonathan said to Simon, who had a general idea of the situation: "Goldberg would like to invite you to dinner at noon. Besides, listen to what he just said, fox should agree to your terms. "

Jonathan said so, with some disbelief in his face.

10% of the North American box office and 5% of the video sales.

Even if Spielberg would not rashly put forward harsh conditions, fox should agree to come down, this is really incredible.

Although he tried his best to communicate with the film company for Simon, Jonathan just thought that it would be very difficult for Simon to get half of his offer after some bargaining.