Chapter 867 Epic Is About Death

In the director's office, Martin looked at Robert Eggers curiously.

If I remember correctly, this bearded assistant director is Natasha's client.

However, when the crew was filming, Martin had a good impression of him and felt that he was capable.

In the assistant director team, besides Steve Downton, Robert Eggers is the best.

Robert Eggers said tentatively: "Martin, I wrote a script myself. Can you help me take a look?"

Martin nodded: "Of course."

Robert Eggers opened the briefcase he brought, handed over the bound script, and said: "I... shot an experimental film before, and looked up a lot of information about witches in New England, and then I came up with this script."

Martin took the script and looked through it carefully. The script was very complete and was obviously a revised version. The content was roughly about the story of the "Mayflower" carrying a group of people to New England that year, one family settled in the deserted wilderness and then suffered a curse.

It involves the most common element of Western horror thrillers-witch!

Robert Eggers saw Martin finish reading the script and quickly said, "This is based on a true story that happened 62 years before the famous Salem witch hunt."

He was afraid that Martin would classify his script as an original movie, and added, "It's documented."

Martin was not concerned about these things: "What about the production cost?"

"If I were to shoot it, $3 million to $4 million would be enough." Robert Eggers did not forget to highlight himself: "I plan to shoot the film first, and then go to the St. Denis Film Festival to gain a certain reputation at the film festival..."

He suddenly stopped here, because the person opposite was a good movie operator.

When Martin read one-third of the script, he found that he had an impression of the plot because he had seen it, but he was not sure about the specific response of the movie.

He recalled a little, and the most clear memory was the heroine, whose appearance was particularly recognizable. She was recognizable in the early stage, and she was more recognizable after plastic surgery in the later stage, but her face looked like a goldfish.

In the previous life, some people called her Goldfish Girl on the Internet.

Later, the goldfish girl seemed to be very popular?

"Is Natasha your agent?" Martin saw the other party nod and put away the script: "I will have someone contact her."

Robert Eggers's uneasy heart was relieved a lot, and he quickly said: "Okay, okay."

He thought that following the path arranged by Natasha was finally the right way.

If he hadn't gotten familiar with Martin and proved himself to be a capable and reliable person at work, the script would probably not have been delivered to Martin.

Who would care about a new screenwriter like himself and a director who had only made experimental films? Hollywood has a lot of them.

Robert Eggers had just left when Louise came in from outside.

Martin asked her to wait a moment and called Jessica and Natasha respectively, asking them to discuss the project with the two of them, with a maximum investment of 4 million US dollars.

Louise was a little curious when she heard Martin calling, and pointed to the script on the desk.

Martin nodded slightly.

Louise opened it and started reading. After a moment, she said, "Horror thriller type?" She was experienced and it was not difficult for her to tell the author's style from the script: "Not quite right, a little literary, right? Is this for the film festival?"

Martin put down the phone: "It's the work of assistant director Roberto Eggers. He wants to write and direct it himself."

"Robert Eggers?" Louise was very impressed with him: "He is an assistant director with outstanding work ability and a lot of ideas."

She reminded: "The film should be shot according to the style of the script. It's best to control the scale of investment."

Martin said: "The production budget is up to 4 million US dollars."

Louise pulled out a chair and sat opposite him, thinking of Martin and Leonardo. The bet, asked: "You will not be obsessed with winning awards in the future, right? The profitability of a company that operates Oscars as its main business is worrying."

Martin is very clear about this: "Before Harvey Weinstein went to jail, he actually encountered an economic crisis. Weinstein Pictures was not profitable, owed debts to many banks, and the copyrights of many award-winning films were mortgaged."

In his previous life, there were several professional companies in Hollywood that specialized in winning Oscars. Weinstein Pictures was not mentioned. Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures won many Oscars, but went bankrupt because of poor profitability. The later rising A24 seemed to win one Oscar Best Picture after another, but in the end it still had to seek to sell itself.

The two chatted for a while, and Martin thought of the goldfish girl he remembered because of "The Witch". There are two other works of the goldfish girl that impressed him the most, one of which is "Split" in his previous life.

The other is a chess theme, the Chinese name is translated as "The Queen's Gambit", and the English name seems to be different. He can't remember what it is specifically.

Martin simply asked Louise: "I remember reading a report somewhere about a female American chess player who defeated the former Soviet world champion during the Cold War. It could also be a novel or non-fiction. I took a look at it back then, and now I think it has great potential for adaptation."

Louise was a leftist, so she understood immediately: "Adapted into a drama with a female protagonist?"

Martin nodded: "A movie or TV series with a woman as the absolute protagonist, or a woman who has made great achievements internationally."

Louise recalled: "I remember there was a similar script in Hollywood... Well, I saw it many years ago. Let me think about it. It should have been seen in the 1990s. I don't know the details."

The 1990s? Martin was not surprised. He had encountered many examples of similar scripts circulating in Hollywood for more than ten or twenty years before being filmed and produced.

Louise picked up the phone and called her assistant to ask her to check the relevant content.

Martin also called Thomas and the studio.

Maybe it was too long ago. When I got off work, there was still no reply.

Martin didn't care and asked someone to continue looking for it later.

After all, there are too many scripts and copyrights purchased in Hollywood. It is normal that it will not be found for a while.

The next day, Martin came to the studio where the crew of "Split" was located.

The set is being built here. The set design team is transforming the huge Studio No. 1 into an underground residence as the main scene of the movie according to David Fincher's request.

There is also an iron cage in it.

David Fincher came out from the innermost part and saw Martin standing in front of the cage, saying: "There will be someone locked in it."

Martin said: "A beautiful woman?"

David Fincher won the Oscar for Best Director and started a cooperation with Netflix. Now everything in his works is aligned with business: "Not only the box office, but also the figure must be good enough, and it can't be over 20 years old, preferably 18 years old."

Young and beautiful female characters are standard for horror thrillers.

Martin reminded him: "It's not easy to find an 18-year-old actress with excellent acting skills."

This female supporting role locked in the cage has the most scenes besides the male protagonist, and her emotions are quite complicated, which requires a certain level of acting skills.

David Fincher said: "Most of the most spiritual female child stars in their teens will become mediocre in acting skills and their figures and looks are often not satisfactory when they are 17 or 18 years old..."

This is a common phenomenon in Hollywood. Martin continued: "Hold a large-scale audition."

David Fincher nodded: "I will have someone advertise in the Screen Actors Guild and the media. The base of actors in Los Angeles is large enough. As long as we are willing to give opportunities, it is not difficult to find suitable actresses."

Martin agreed: "Actresses are easy to deal with." He said to Bruce who followed him: "Call Thomas and ask WMA to recommend some people."

David Fincher glanced at his watch and said: "Netflix people should be here soon."

Martin walked towards the door of the studio: "Netflix's founder and chairman are visiting, let's go and greet them."

The two came out of Studio 1 and waited for a few minutes. A four-wheeled electric car drove over. Reed Hastings got off the car and walked quickly to Martin and David Fincher.

He smiled and nodded at David Fincher, then shook hands with Martin vigorously: "Long time no see, Martin, you are now the leading superstar in Hollywood."

Martin smiled and replied: "I can only be considered one of them, Netflix is ​​the world's number one in streaming media."

David Fincher invited Reed Hastings and his party to visit the studio.

The two sides walked around the studio and then went to the office area on the other side.

Reed Hastings sat in the reception room, his eyes swept over Martin, and said: "I heard David talk about your new project, the role of multiple personalities, which means you have to play multiple different roles in one film."

He deliberately made a joke: "The crew should give you a few more pay."

David Fincher replied: "Martin's studio is the largest investor in this project."

Martin said: "I can pay myself a few more salaries."

Reed Hastings put away the joke and said seriously: "Netflix wants to bear your extra Several paychecks. "

Martin smiled and said, "My studio has a film distribution contract with Disney Pictures until 2019, and I can't earn Netflix's paychecks."

Reed Hastings is a man with ambitious goals: "We can talk about film cooperation after 2019."

He was moved: "You only signed a film distribution contract?"

Martin understood what he meant: "Because I was not interested in TV series in the past."

Before Netflix really rose, few of Hollywood's popular stars were willing to shoot TV series, even if the salary was high.

For example, in "House of Cards", the male lead is also the outdated Kevin Spacey.

Reed Hastings said: "Martin, if one day you are interested in TV series and want to shoot and produce TV series, Netflix is ​​always waiting."

Without waiting for Martin to speak, he specifically mentioned: "You are now one of the top individual shareholders of Netflix, and Netflix's stock price is not stable now..."

In addition to purchasing individual shares in recent years, Martin has also invested in Netflix's three financing and share expansions, holding nearly 5% of Netflix's shares.

Netflix's current market value has just exceeded 40 billion US dollars, and Martin's investment in Netflix over the years has increased nearly eightfold.

When he first invested, Netflix's market value was only a few billion US dollars.

Martin has been busy with the promotion of "Interstellar" and the post-production of "The Shallows", and has to prepare for multiple personality roles. He didn't pay much attention to the situation at Netflix and asked, "What happened?"

These are some things that are in the open. Reed Hastings said directly: "In addition to the highly successful "House of Cards", Netflix has also invested in an epic masterpiece."

When Martin heard about the epic masterpiece, he had a bad premonition, because of his previous life, he had epic type syndrome.

In his eyes, epic is about the same as death.

Director Ridley Scott definitely has a deep understanding of this.

Reed Hastings added: "The reputation of Netflix's streaming media for Marco Polo this summer is very poor, and the number of member on-demand broadcasts is not high. Netflix has invested $100 million in this project, with an average production cost of $10 million per episode."

Regarding the value of the stocks in hand, Martin said directly: "My personal suggestion is to avoid epic themes in the future."

Originally, Netflix's stock price has been soaring after House of Cards, directly breaking through $40 billion. Once Marco Polo was released, the upward momentum of the stock price was not only interrupted, but also began to fall back.

Reed Hastings said with a broken heart: "No more epics, Netflix will never do epic series again."

He looked at David Fincher: "Wait until you finish shooting this movie, come back early to host the second season of "House of Cards."

David Fincher nodded: "No problem."

Reed Hastings asked Martin again: "As a shareholder, do you have any suggestions?" He looked like he valued Martin very much: "Netflix's stock price is waiting for a savior."

Martin would not take such words seriously, but the rise in Netflix's stock price is also related to his vital interests. After thinking for a while, he said: "I have a creative intention here, but it is not yet confirmed. Let's wait for a while."

Reed Hastings asked: "What type?"

Martin said: "Modern type, let's talk about it when I have a clue?"

Of course, he would not tell Reed Hastings about the relevant content, and the cooperation was also to sell the finished film to Netflix.

Reed Hastings was confident in Martin and said, "Be sure to notify me as soon as possible."

Martin replied casually, "No problem."

One of the purposes of Reed Hastings's visit today was to express his respect for David Fincher and discuss cooperation with Martin.

These went smoothly.

At noon, the three of them had lunch together, and Reed Hastings went to Davis Studio for a visit.

In the reception room, he looked at the poster of the "John Wick" series and asked Martin, "Last time I saw the news, this series is going to expand into a wider universe. Have you considered a TV series?"

Martin knew that Chad had related plans and said, "Netflix will send a professional team here to talk to Director Chad Stahelski."

"No problem." Reed Hastings felt that he had gained a lot.

Martin was the same. Netflix was a good buyer, and the cost of purchasing the first broadcast of the series was far more than that of traditional TV stations.