Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 539 Ovitz Can Martial Arts

   At six o'clock Saturday morning, at the home of CAA President Michael Ovitz, Ronald and three agents came here to resolve the conflict with Stallone.

   "Huh...Ah..." Ovitz wore a white karate karate uniform with a black belt around his waist, and was training barefoot with three sparring partners, practicing a form of martial arts that Ronald had never seen before.

   Obviously Ovitz has been practicing for a while, and his forehead is starting to sweat.

   "Huh..."

   The three sparring partners rushed towards Ovitz in turn, and when they approached, Ovitz took the initiative to grab his hands. Then Ovitz used the rotation of his body to drive the sparring players' center of gravity to be unstable, and the last one exerted force to bring the sparring players down one by one to the ground.

   Ronald recognized this power-generating technique, which was very similar to Stallone's bodyguard, except that Ovitz's sparring feed was more deliberate. He touched his chin and began to wonder how the camera would look better if he used this martial art to make a movie.

  Ovitz swung the sparring around like a badminton, looking very dashing. But after all, people are not badminton. He brought down the three attacks of sparring in a row and began to get tired. He looked at the three brokers standing next to the Japanese-style training ground, and the client who caused him trouble.

  Richard Lovett is the youngest among the agents. He was frightened by his "magical power", and his eyes were full of admiration.

  Italian Nisita, and his office sweetheart Paula Wagner, the two are more mature, and they understand their own scare tricks, so it's nothing special.

The most annoying thing is Ronald. This guy actually started to study the weaknesses of his martial arts without saying a word. I heard that he is also a martial artist himself. He participated in the design of the action scenes on the "Longwei Kid" studio. Fake.

   "Hi," Ovitz cleared his throat, bowed and saluted with the three sparring partners, and ended the morning exercise on Saturday morning.

"Hello," Ovitz approached the four. "It's an Eastern martial art called Aikido. It's a combination of dance moves, chess, and the will to fight. I've been in it since I was young. Start practicing."

   "Very wonderful, very wonderful," Ronald applauded. This martial art is similar to Tai Chi in China. It seems that a lot of simplifications have been made for the rich to learn, but it still opened his eyes.

   "We can learn from each other when we have a chance, Mr. Ovitz." Ronald didn't expect Ovitz to be a martial arts fan. In Hollywood, there are very few high-level people who can really fight twice.

   "Hey, there's a chance." Ovitz snorted. He usually used this trick to scare his negotiating opponents. He had never seen anyone eager to fight him.

   "Ronald, we are old friends. When you first signed with CAA, it was also the moment when we entered the film market in a big way. I still remember negotiating the first screenwriting fee for you, $350,000."

  Ovitz picked up the linen Japanese sweat towel and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

   "I'm forever grateful for that, Mr. Ovitz." Ovitz came up to chat about the past, and Ronald had to accept his affection.

   "When Meyer and the others founded CAA, we established several principles. The first is to always give clients the fastest time to reply." Ovitz sat Ronald down and glanced at his agents.

   "So Sly came to me yesterday, hoping to mediate the problem between him and you. I'll invite you over immediately, I hope you can have a truce."

   "You understand, Mr. Ovitz, I was a victim, I didn't take the initiative to attack him." Ronald said that he was only forced to fight back.

   "But he told me he was just joking with you."

   "Michael, you can't be so biased towards Sly..." Nisita stepped forward and retorted. A joking statement that understates the damage Stallone has done to Ronald's reputation.

  Ovitz raised a hand, motioning for Nisita to wait until he had finished.

  The president bought the shares of the two founders, and now he owns more than half of the CAA shares. In addition, this year, he contributed to the big-selling movie "Ghostbusters", and he received a full $4 million in remuneration for his director client.

"Rick, I remember that when you came to CAA from William Morris, I told you that the second principle of our CAA is that when customers have conflicts, they must be resolved within the company's internal framework, not outside. .In the company gate, we can make a lot of noise, but when we face the outside world, we all fight together as a group, we only have one name, CAA."

"Mr. Ovitz, when Sly accused me of imitating his movies on the talk show, he didn't follow this principle. It seems that his agent doesn't take your principle very seriously." Ovitz suppressed it with principles, and went forward to complain that Stallone broke the rules first.

"I know, but his agent Mayer is a veteran who founded the company with me, and sometimes I need to make certain compromises. And Stallone is the first real head male star we signed, we are very Respect his choice at the time. Although sometimes we have to go to great lengths to deal with them and cause trouble."

   "If Sly wants to reconcile, then he should show his sincerity first." Nisita and Ovitz negotiated again.

   "Yes, I know the third principle you set for CAA, always put the interests of customers first. I am also a customer of CAA, am I not?" Ronald helped to fight for his own interests.

"Of course, of course. So I also hope that all disputes will be resolved within the company." Ovitz took the glasses on the table and put them on, "I hope you can agree to Sly's conditions, and he is willing to pay for it. price."

  Nisita represented Ronald and negotiated a price with Ovitz, and Ronald agreed not to continue attacking Stallone.

   Stallone is willing to be interviewed again, praising Ronald's "Longwei Kid" and admitting that the previous accusation of so-called "imitation" was joking with his young friend Ronald.

   In order to make up for the favor Ronald spent, and the resources of the Nisita team. Ovitz also decided to open up the first-class script that CAA had acquired to Ronald to assist in negotiations for his next film.

   In addition, Ovitz also arranged an opportunity for Ronald to be interviewed by print media, as a representative of the younger generation of directors, he was officially introduced to the public eye.

   "The first-class script, is it the 'Out of Africa' adaptation based on the autobiography of a Danish writer?" Ronald asked Nisita, who conveyed the conditions to him. Ronald has been in the circle for a long time, and he has also heard of some scripts, which are specially designed to impact Oscar.

   "That's impossible, this script is for Sidney Pollack, they're all...", Nisita touched her nose, implying that it was a game within the Jewish coterie.

"Ovitz said that there is a movie script about black people, and he is going to approach CAA. It is also adapted from a novel. The original author is Alice Walker, and the novel is called 'Purple'." Paula Wagner said, unfortunately, the protagonists are all black , Tom Cruise can't get a piece of the pie.

   "So black subjects can't compete for the Oscars, right?" Ronald thought, he was still a little far from the top resources, and he could only play movies about people of color. The last movie with all the protagonists of color was the black version of Alice in Wonderland starring MJ and Diana Ross. Nothing at the Oscars. "

   "The power of this script now rests with Peter Guber..." Richard briefed Ronald.

  Ronald remembered the former president of Polaroid Pictures, who was the one who picked Brooke Shields to star in "Endless Love".

   "Polygram is also your customer?"

   "No, Guber sold his shares and powers to Polygram last year. Together with fellow John Peterson, he founded Guber Peterson Pictures and went it alone."

"If you agree, then I'll confirm with Sly. He's going to be interviewed and praise you for your talent and talent." Ovitz watched Ronald discuss with several agents, and he came to talk to Ronaldo. Nader shook hands.

   As long as there is a handshake, with his position in the industry, there is no room for both parties to go back on this matter.

   "I always feel that negotiating with you is a loss for me." Ronald joked.

   "Then you should feel honored, I'm rarely willing to give in." Ovitz laughed.

   He turned around and went to the table next to him, took an envelope, and handed it to Ronald, "This is the opening ceremony ticket given to me by the Olympic Organizing Committee. As compensation, I will give it to you."

   Ronald took a look. In addition to the two tickets for the opening ceremony, there were many tickets for individual competitions. It seemed that Ovitz had passed the package of tickets for the "big star" to himself.

   "Okay, thank you, Mr. Ovitz." Ronald stretched out his hand and shook Ovitz hard.

  …

"I was joking, just like George Lucas said, a film director can't imitate others. I am a director myself, and I know it very well." Stallone changed his tune and said a word in an interview. One hundred and eighty degree turn.

"Ah...I like Ronald very much, he once wrote the script for the first blood 2 for me, and then because of time constraints, he went to work on 'Longwei Kid', otherwise we might cooperate. Yes, I appreciate it very much. He, he is a talented, artistic director.

  Ah... cooperation? Ah...if there is a chance. "

   Stallone hurriedly pushed the reporter away and ended the interview that made him extremely uncomfortable.

   Several bodyguards stopped the reporters who wanted to ask questions, and protected Stallone into the car.

   "Sly, I think..." The tall, bun-haired bodyguard closed the door of the luxury car. After the car started, he, who was sitting on the side, presented his resignation to Stallone.

   "Why, are you leaving me?" Stallone asked.

   "Yes, Aikido is starting to take off in Hollywood. In addition to being an action coach for Sean Connery, I also want to open my own dojo. My apprentice has already found a place in Burbank."

"Well, good luck, Steve." Stallone glanced at the bodyguard. This guy accompanied him to Mike Ovitz's house yesterday to negotiate. Maybe he saw Ovitz also practicing that aikido, Think about it.

   (end of this chapter)