American fame and fortune

In the drawing room, the preview of the new movie "Death of a Sharpshooter" starring Pete was going on. Daniel, Alan Horn, Charles Rowan and other Warner Pictures executives were all expressionless.

On the screen, Brad Pitt looks imposing in denim, with a unique sense of yuppie.

But these people from Warner thought of Coca-Cola's latest advertisement almost at the same time.

The cowboy who was originally like a yuppie gentleman is so awkward.

He even felt that this person should be trampled under his feet, crying and repenting.

It would be fine if Pitt used another look in the film, but his sharpshooter James is a typical cowboy.

It's not just Warner's people who have such an idea, even the people on Pete's side are hard to escape.

Including Maggie Darkhill.

She felt that the film might not go well.

The audition session was over, and before the producer and lead actor Pete could speak, Warner executives and film reviewers who had exchanged glances reached a tacit understanding.

Allen Horn said: "Brad, we need to have a small internal meeting, you wait a little while."

Pete smiled: "Please go ahead."

Warner's executives and viewing experts entered the adjacent office.

Alan Horn asked directly: "Is this film a bit weird?"

Several film-watching experts have reached a consensus, and one of them said: "It's not that the film is weird, it's that Pete looks weird. His cowboy style is too easy to think of the latest version of Coca-Cola's ad."

Daniel answered, "Indeed."

Charles Rowan smiled helplessly: "I saw Pete in a cowboy outfit appearing on the screen, and Coca-Cola was pouring out of his head."

Alan Horn saw other people nodding and asked, "If the audience sees it, will there be a show?"

"Maybe some of them won't." The expert who watched the film said, "But some of them will definitely be associated with that version of the advertisement."

Daniel suggested: "I remember the company signed a distribution contract with the crew?"

Alan Horn said: "When this project was established, the distribution contract was signed, but Pete was very confident at that time and refused to let us participate in the production investment. Except for today's screening, we did not make any other initial investment. , the investment is basically zero.”

Charles Rowan answered: "Since the publishing contract has been signed, we will hold it down temporarily and release it after the influence of the Coca-Cola advertisement fades."

It is impossible for Alan Horn to give up the film, and for a pure distribution, the chances of losing money are very small.

He made a decision: "Let's make this decision."

The internal discussion ended quickly in a few minutes, and Alan Horn had someone call Pete over to formally inform him of the decision.

"Later release?" Since marrying Aniston, Pete has never enjoyed this kind of second-tier treatment, and he is a little dissatisfied: "Alan, this film has already been completed, and time is the cost..."

Alan Horn raised his hand to interrupt him: "Warner Bros.'s schedule is very full, and we can't find a suitable time slot for now. We can't let such a film face the positive impact of those commercial blockbusters, right?"

For a star of Pete's level, who is still the major shareholder of Plan B, he spoke more politely: "Give Warner some time, and when there is a suitable schedule, I will let you know."

The six major publishers are in the absolute upper reaches of the industry chain, and it is normal to have tight schedules. Pete urged a few words and left Alan Horn's office.

When he went downstairs to join the other people, he happened to meet Banks, a Warner film reviewer who was participating in the screening.

"Hey, Brad, let's talk a little bit." Banks couldn't get ahead at Warner Bros., so he couldn't help but have other ideas.

Pete asked, "What's the matter?"

Banksy said: "About the release of Deadshot..."

He gave a quick rundown of Warner Bros.' concerns.

Pete didn't feel it at first, but the more he listened to it, the darker his face became, and he couldn't help but think of the Coca-Cola advertisement.

"It's roughly like this." Banks sold out and left quickly: "I still have something to do, so I'm leaving first."

Pete put his hands in his pockets, still trying to maintain his demeanor, and took the elevator downstairs.

As soon as I entered the spacious front hall of the Warner Building, I saw a new promotional poster on the Coca-Cola vending machine. On the poster, Martin, a cowboy, used Coke as a gospel to influence another bully cowboy who looked like him.

Pete came to the rest area and sat down, wanting to be alone.

He calmed down and gradually recovered his composure. It is not difficult to find that Warner's decision is fine. If "Death of a Sharpshooter" is released into theaters when this version of the advertisement has the greatest impact, there may be big problems.

It's okay to wait.

After trying to understand this, Pete's anger flared up again. Why was it me who was injured?

…………

In the soda shop of Warner Studios.

Martin came to the counter and asked for a cup of tea.

Part-time actor Mia cheerfully collected the money and changed: "Same as before, black tea, without milk and sugar?"

"Yes!" Martin passed by, and he was familiar with Mia. He was very happy to see her, and asked, "You got an important role?"

Mia nodded heavily: "Yes, there are nearly ten lines."

Martin gave her a thumbs up: "A big step forward."

Mia wore a face dotted with freckles, showing a satisfied smile: "The five people we rented together, I was the first to get the lines."

Martin took the black tea from her and suggested, "Let your agent run around more. If he runs hard, you will have more job opportunities."

"He doesn't take me very seriously," Mia said.

"Come on step by step." Martin came to the empty table with tea and sat down, waiting for Thomas to bring someone over.

Marcus has finished dealing with the funeral of the two dogs, Daisy and John, and several black people have been formally arrested. He will soon be able to get out and start working on the memoir.

Thomas found a suitable person from among WMA's contracted writers and screenwriters to serve as a ghostwriter to assist Marcus in completing the memoir.

Today, Martin wants to meet the playwright.

There were no other customers in the cold drink shop at the moment, so Mia picked up a pen and started writing in a notebook.

What she recorded was all what she saw and felt in the studio.

After working here for more than a year, Mia is still a young actress, but besides acting, she is also trying to write something.

It's not proactive, but forced to be helpless. It's too difficult for a simple actor to stand out.

Thomas then entered the store with a man in a gray shirt.

This man was in his thirties, with a slightly fat body and a beard.

Thomas introduced: "This is Robinson, a playwright signed by the company, who has participated in many film projects."

Martin shook hands with him, greeted him to sit casually, asked Mia to bring two cups of coffee, and asked directly, "Have you participated in many film projects?"

Robinson is not a rookie who has just entered Hollywood and knows the importance of a resume, saying: "I was a member of Mark Ball's screenwriting team before."

Martin had never heard of this person, and was a little puzzled.

Robinson elaborated: "Mark Bauer is the screenwriter of "Black Hawk Down", and I participated in the script writing of this project as a team member."

Martin knows that the writing of many scripts in Hollywood is also a model of division of labor and cooperation on the assembly line. Behind many well-known screenwriters, there is often a team as support.

Naturally, these screenwriters cannot be signed on the film. Hollywood can only sign a maximum of three screenwriters for each film, and signature means various online and offline divisions stipulated by the screenwriters union.

Robinson focused on war-related projects: "The last time I worked, I participated in "The Battle of the Valley of Elah" directed by Paul Haggis. Like other projects, I participated as a team member and did not Signature."

Martin asked: "Are there any scripts or works written by you?"

Robinson took out a printout and handed it to Martin: "This is the part of "Black Hawk Down", which I was responsible for writing. "The Battle of the Valley of Elah" has just finished filming and has not been released yet, so the script cannot be made public."

Martin nodded and looked at it seriously.

In terms of English writing, Martin is a scumbag, definitely the scumbag among the scumbags, but his reading ability is normal, he has read a lot of scripts, and he has a certain ability to recognize them.

"Black Hawk Down" is not an ordinary movie, he also watched it when he was pulling the film recently.

After watching it for more than ten minutes, Martin put down the script and asked, "Why did you leave Mark Bauer's team?"

Robinson hesitated, and decided to tell the truth: "I have worked in his team for five years, and I still don't have the right to sign. I think I will still be like this after another five years. Think the chances of fulfillment are very low.”

He smiled helplessly: "I also want to write my name on the script I created, and I want to sign the movie. This time, although I don't have any copyright for Marcus' memoir, I can sign it."

Martin nodded slightly: "In addition to the remuneration, there is indeed the right to authorship, but the name of the ghostwriter must be ranked after Marcus."

Robinson said, "No problem."

"Well, I'll ask Marcus to come out and meet together." Martin wants to investigate in a more practical way: "Listen to what Marcus tells, and then write it down."

Robinson agreed.

Martin called Marcus and made an appointment to meet at Davis Studios.

In less than half an hour, the two sides met in Martin's office.

The situation of Marcus is somewhat similar to that of Martin. When speaking with the mouth, there is generally no problem, but when it is translated into written expression, it will be blind.

Oral and written expression are completely different.

Seeing that Martin found a suitable playwright so quickly, Marcus was very excited, talking on his lips and gesticulating with his hands, describing a period of experience when he first entered the seal.

Robinson first recorded it in a draft, and when Marcus finished speaking, he went into the conference room next to him and began to organize and write.

When it was almost time to get off work, he came out of the conference room and handed the written paragraph to Martin.

Martin looked it over quickly and handed it to Marcus.

The latter read it once and said, "Yes, that's it!"

Martin asked Thomas to read it again, determined that there was no problem, and decided to hire Robinson.