Chapter 516 516 Picking a Script

Although Hugo has been rolling in Hollywood for nearly two years, in fact, the works he has come into contact with are only the tip of the iceberg, except for "Smell the Fragrance and Know a Woman", "The Sea of ​​Righteousness", "Sleepless in Seattle", "Sinde" In addition to the four works he has starred in, including "The End of the World", "Sugar-Coated Trap" and "Love in the Big River", most of the works that Hugo has had the opportunity to appear in are very good movies, but in fact Of the hundreds of films Hollywood makes every year, less than 30 percent of them are successful.

Until today, Hugo has seen a lot of bad scripts, including "Cutthroat Island" and "Future Water World" that made huge investments and failed miserably, as well as "Lightning. Jack", "Future Water World" "Airheads", which he had never seen or heard, was a real eye-opener for Hugo.

Hugo can clearly feel Joseph's emphasis on big productions, similar to "Cutthroat Island", "Future Water World", "Apollo 13 (Apollo. 13)", "Clear. And. Present." Danger)” such works that invested more than 60 million yuan accounted for a large proportion; there were also several works that had an investment scale of less than 50 million, but were willing to pay Hugo 10 million US dollars.

This annoyed Hugo a little.

Hugo knew Joseph's position. The two had mentioned it once when they quarreled before, but Hugo also had his own insistence and ideas, and he made it clear during the quarrel, but now Joseph not only ignored Hugo's ideas, but even If he is unwilling to communicate further, then Hugo must proceed according to his own ideas. Originally, it is reasonable to say that the agent plays the role of persuading the actor, trying his best to plan a career map for the actor, and then the actor decides. But now, Joseph directly omitted the step of "persuading", and Hugo naturally did not need to consider Joseph's so-called "territory".

In fact, among these big productions, there are also excellent works like "Apollo 13", but Hugo is not interested for the time being. After reading all the twenty-three scripts on the table, only one script, "Speed ​​of Life and Death" was left on the sofa to the right of Hugo.

Hugo found himself very difficult to serve. There were so many classic works in 1994, and as a result, only one "speed of life and death" was left behind. But this is only a small part of the hundreds of works in 1994 and 1995. There are still many works that he has not seen, such as "This Killer Is Not Too Cold", "Forrest Gump", "Geek in Disguise" ", "True Lies"... So it's not surprising that only one work is being picked out right now.

Hugo picked up the script of "Speed ​​of Life and Death" and handed it to Anna, "That's it."

Anna was dumbfounded. She originally thought that Hugo's selection today was just a rough selection. The remaining fifteen of the more than twenty scripts were in the normal range, but in the end, Hugo was stunned to choose from so many scripts. A script came, which made Anna completely unable to react, and subconsciously blurted out, "Didn't I make it clear?"

Anna was also taken aback by her own voice, and quickly explained, "I mean, today is just for you to make a preliminary selection, and then Joe will contact these crews separately for the second round of selection." After speaking, Anna Lifting the script of "Speed ​​of Life and Death" in his hand, the subtext is to say again: You have only one script left, is this a must?

Hugo pouted, "Yes, I know what you mean."

In fact, even if Hugo has already selected, if Joseph feels that there is still plasticity in the remaining script, he will still turn it out and recommend it to Hugo again.

The cooperative relationship between an agent and an actor is a tug-of-war process. After all, the agent is also for the sake of the actor and his own economic interests, and he definitely hopes that the selected works will be successful. But what works to be successful? This is the problem of vision. The vision of the agent and the actor is different, so the agent must use his professional knowledge to communicate with the actor to seek the best result.

However, Joseph now completes all communication through Anna, and Hugo feels that there is no need to continue the tug-of-war.

Anna was only an assistant after all. She still looked at Hugo with a gentle smile, but she faintly noticed Hugo's undeniable firmness, which made her shut her mouth.

Hugo noticed Anna's silence, and twitched the corners of his mouth slightly. He didn't say anything, but just asked, "So, is there anything else?"

Anna immediately woke up from her own thoughts, recalled it carefully, and confirmed that all the things Joseph explained today have been completed, and then suddenly remembered an important thing, "Please wait." Anna stood up and walked over to Joseph In front of his desk, he saw a document on the top. After picking it up, he turned around and handed it to Hugo, "This is what Joe said to be handed to you. Please read this document carefully."

Hugo took the document suspiciously. It was actually a movie contract. Hugo didn't remember that he had recently received a new script... But after reading it, Hugo was stunned.

This is an actor contract for "Pulp Fiction," produced by Miramax, directed by Quentin Tarantino, and produced by the Weinstein Brothers. The contract is $200,000, two percent Ten Dividends invited Hugo to star in "Pulp Fiction".

The last time Hugo and Quentin talked about "Pulp Fiction" was when they were recording an album in New York. Later, a heated argument broke out with Joseph because of this incident. After that, more than half a month has passed. , but all the news seems to have disappeared. Even Quentin didn't call again. Hugo thought that the "Pulp Fiction" thing was over, and Quentin also gave up. It appeared, and it appeared directly in the form of an actor contract, which was really beyond Hugo's expectations.

If Hugo remembers correctly, the salary of $300,000 is Quentin's limit, and the 15% dividend is the preliminary data given by Quentin. Now these two values ​​have changed, and Joseph has lowered it. The cash remuneration directly received, but the dividend ratio has been increased, and the dividend has also set a box office bottom line of $8 million - in fact, this is the book cost of "pulp fiction", and setting this minimum standard is that the Weinstein brothers asked for one It's just psychological comfort. If the movie box office really only has this level, they will lose money.

It can be guessed that the Weinstein brothers must have noticed the recent rapid rise of Hugo, and Hugo did not directly refuse to appear as they expected, but showed great interest, so they Thinking of giving some dividends to put Hugo into the crew, this is definitely a good deal for the "Pulp Fiction" crew. Anyway, dividends are something that can be seen after the box office comes out.

But what Hugo is curious about is not these details, but that Joseph has already negotiated the contract, which is really strange. On the one hand, Joseph agreed to Hugo's request and talked about the script of "Pulp Fiction"; on the other hand, Joseph sent a lot of large-scale scripts today. Is Joseph seeking a balance, hoping that Hugo will see the "Pulp Fiction" script. On the face of "Pulp Fiction", seek balance with another high-paying work?

Anna seemed to sense Hugo's doubts and explained, "This contract was sent yesterday, I'm still very surprised, Qiao Mingming has rejected them before, and he hasn't talked about this project recently, but the other party directly I sent the contract here. I was going to throw it away, but Joe thought about it and let me hand it over to you, saying it's up to you to decide." - Or she didn't see Hugo's doubts, just Just express your doubts.

Hugo raised his head and saw Anna's puzzlement.

It seems that this is the correct solution. Joseph is still dissatisfied with the script of "Pulp Fiction". He always believes that Hugo should not take up this project, but Quentin is always reluctant to give up. After increasing the proportion of box office dividends, he directly sent the contract over, using this method Express his sincerity and hope Joseph will agree - but why didn't Quentin just call Hugo?

Thinking about it carefully, it is estimated that these things are operated by the Weinstein brothers. They are still habitually looking for an agent. When the agent is really unable to work, they plan to find Hugo. Then all this is explained.

Joseph didn't want Hugo to take the "Pulp Fiction" script, but since there was no communication between the two after the big quarrel, if they discussed "Pulp Fiction" again, it would only make things more rigid, and Joseph knew that rain Guo is a very stubborn person, so he simply gave up and persuaded Hugo, and left it to Hugo to make the decision.

After thinking about it, Hugo shook his head slightly, speechless at Joseph's childish and irresponsible behavior.

Seeing Hugo shaking his head with a wry smile, Anna thought that Hugo didn't want to take "Pulp Fiction", which made her doubts dissipated immediately. Originally, Hugo has achieved such high achievements by relying on the past four films. How could it be possible to take on a film with an investment of 8 million and a salary of 200,000? The expression, Anna nodded secretly in her heart, then smiled and said thoughtfully, "If you don't think it's appropriate, just stay, I will be responsible for communicating with them."

But who knows, Hugo chuckled, "Why?" Then he raised his head to look at Anna who was puzzled, and watched Anna's smile gradually stiffen on his cheek, "I want to sign this contract. , has the company's legal department seen the contract details?"

Anna didn't seem to be able to react, which forced Hugo to wave the contract in his hand, "Have the legal department read the details of the contract?"

"Oh, no." Only then did Anna react and said in a panic, "No, not yet. I, I will send it to them to see." She originally threw this contract in the trash, how could she have sent it there Check with the legal department.

Hugo didn't care about Anna's panic at all, he laughed, "That's good, after the review, I'll come over to sign the contract."