Made in Hollywood

Ask for a recommendation! Ask for collection!

"Just here, Nancy."

After walking around in the three-bedroom hardcover apartment, Duke nodded with satisfaction, and said to the female agent, "The rest of the formalities will be handed over to you first, and I have an appointment."

He looked at his watch, waved to Nancy Josephson's side, walked out, took the elevator directly to the first floor, started the car out of this luxurious community in North Hollywood, turned two intersections, and drove Entering Laurier Valley Avenue not far from the community, parked in the parking lot opposite Bank of America, got off and crossed the road and walked into the coffee shop.

"This way..."

Just as he pushed open the glass door of the cafe, there was a monotonous nasal voice from the right. Duke turned his head and walked over, sat opposite Sofia Coppola, and said to the waiter who came over, "A cup of latte. ,thanks."

"You're late, Duke." Sophia took off her baseball cap, revealing her long brown hair in a ponytail. "That's not your way of doing things."

"Nancy helped me find an apartment. It took me a while."

With an apologetic gesture, Duke said to the confused Sophia again, "Nancy Josephson is my manager."

"I know her." Sophia has far more Hollywood connections than Duke, "daughter of ICM founder Marvin Josephson, a former entertainment lawyer."

"Are you going to move out?" she asked again.

"Yeah." Duke thanked the waiter who brought the coffee and nodded to Sophia, "I can't live with my mother forever."

Sophia didn't continue to dwell on these issues, she directly stretched out a hand, "What about the second script you mentioned on the phone?"

"Here..." Duke opened his handbag and handed her the bound draft of the script, "Although Nancy has invested in a number of companies, there is no news about the project so far. If the project cannot be approved, I am very It's hard to pay your salary."

"I believe in you."

After a casual reply, Sophia's eyes fell on the script. She was aware of Hollywood's strict project approval process. Duke now has a movie with a box office of over 100 million yuan in North America. As long as the second work's creativity is not too bad, There are still great opportunities for investment.

She opened the script and only read the first few sentences, and knew that this should be a standard male action scene.

Time: Dawn. EXTERIOR: The sky is dark.

Long shot: Six soldiers carry coffins into the cemetery.

Shot change: In front of a mirror, the silhouette of a smoking man, obscured by smoke, with a picture of his wife and a blue Marine Corps gown in front. (Close-up) A medal hangs from the dress.

Voice-over: Guns, explosions, brutal battles, panicked shouts - we can't take it anymore, General...

Shot change: (first view) surrounded by soldiers, the national flag is covered on the coffin.

VOICE OVER: General Hammer, we request an immediate retreat...

Shot change: The man in front of the mirror stood up, put on the dog tag solemnly, put on a dress with medals on the chest of the dress, took off the wedding ring, put it in front of his wife's photo, and put the hat on his head upright.

LARGE CLOSE-UP: The eyes of a Marine Corps officer, eyes sparkling!

Voiceover: Everything must stop

Lens fades in...

EXT: It's pouring rain.

General Hammer put the flowers in front of his wife's grave and said: I miss you so much. There is one thing I must do... No matter what happens, please don't look down on me.

He took out a Purple Heart and placed it on the tombstone...

For more than an hour, Sophia hardly raised her head. Frankly speaking, the script did not meet her aesthetics, especially the status of the female characters, which was completely dispensable, but she had been in the crew of "Speed ​​of Life" after all. After more than two months, I learned about the character of the guy on the opposite side. He is simply a destructive and explosive maniac. Writing such a script is in line with his style, isn't it?

"It's not enough for you to destroy Santa Monica..." She closed the script. "And then to destroy San Francisco?"

"I want to destroy North America if possible." Duke put down his coffee mug. "In the movies, of course."

"Explosions, fights, and sensationalism with action scenes," Sophia returned the script to Duke. "It's really a typical Duke-style script."

"However," she added when Duke took over the script, "General Hammer is an interesting character."

"Thank you." Duke put away the script, "I think he will be the biggest highlight of the film."

"When will I start working?" Sophia seemed anxious.

"You just came back from Europe." Duke was a little puzzled, "Don't you need to take a break?"

"I have a lot of expenses. Sofia Coppola made a gesture you know, "So..."

"Well, we can sign the contract another day." Duke also needed an assistant to help him with trivial matters. "You are working for me from now on."

He opened his handbag, took out a stack of documents, put them on the coffee table, and handed them over to Sophia, "This is my lawyer and accountant's information, you should communicate with them in time, 20th Century Fox and Lucas. The film industry and my part of the share have not been received. This is Nancy's contact information. She is in charge of following up the script. We need to keep abreast of the dynamics. I don't particularly trust her, so you have to pay attention. Also, in the past few days If you have time, go to the newspaper or the Writers Guild to post an advertisement and sign up a few screenwriters, I have two script outline templates to fill in."

"I seem to be here to be your film affairs assistant?" Sophia frowned.

"Hey, honey," Duke said, spreading his hands. "Now that we don't have a movie project, do you want to take the money and do nothing?"

"Okay." Sophia put away the information, then stared at Duke and said, "But you have to pay me three months' salary in advance."

Duke spent most of July waiting, and the script entered the review process of several companies including Fox, Warner Bros., Touchstone Pictures, etc. The minimum production cost of $50 million he marked at the back of the script would inevitably make These film companies are cautious. Even if he has a film to press the bottom, the producer must also conduct a risk assessment before setting up the project. No one will rashly decide on such a large investment project.

During the period, the role of Lucasfilm played again. Under their constant urging, 20th Century Fox quickly paid the remaining money for "Speed ​​of Life and Death", and Lucasfilm, which also made huge profits in this project, They didn't owe Duke and Mrs. Leah their share, and the money that belonged to them arrived in the account not long after.

As for when the share of other film funds will be paid by Lucasfilm, some will wait.

"Investing in movies is like gambling. Once you hit it, the payoff is huge."

Sitting on the sofa in the living room, Mrs. Leah looked at the financial statements sent by the accounting firm and said to Duke, who was also looking at the documents opposite, "If you fail, you will lose..."

She shook her head.

In any case, as a mother, she successfully helped Duke, and Duke did not let her down, and backhand created a large amount of profit for her.

"Investing in movies is risky," Duke was in a very good mood because all the shares were paid, and he rarely joked with his mother, "You need to be cautious when entering the industry."

"Duke, there's a Bentley in the garage." Mrs. Leah ignored his joke. "It belongs to you."

"Is this my reward?" Duke looked up.

"What more do you want?" Mrs. Leah looked at him with pride in her eyes, "Just bring it up."

"Mom..." Duke was a little embarrassed, scratched the back of his head, but said bravely, "Nancy called yesterday, my new movie has passed the preliminary review of Fox, can you help me make a guarantee to apply from the bank A loan?"

"You want to invest in your own movie?" Mrs. Leah looked up at Duke, "How much does it cost?"

"Three million to five million dollars..."

"I haven't moved most of the money that Lucasfilm has brought in." Mrs. Leah tapped her finger lightly, "Well, $10 million. Duke, I want ten percent when you repay the loan. Profit sharing, if you lose, then go back to Santa Fia to work and pay off the debt.”

"I understand, Mom."

Well, business is business, that's the Rosenberger's rule again.

Although he thinks so, Duke doesn't understand that his mother is reminding him that there is no free lunch in the world. If you want to gain something, you must have to pay, and his mother is obviously helping him. Don't watch him now have a successful movie. If you go for a loan, there is definitely no problem with hundreds of thousands of dollars. If this number increases to seven figures, it will be quite difficult, and you don’t have to think about it at the level of tens of millions of dollars.

Yes, he is jealous. No one is jealous of the income created by "Speed ​​of Life and Death", but as a director and screenwriter, he can only get more than 400,000 US dollars from this huge income, and he must have an idea in his heart.

Through "Speed ​​of Life and Death", Duke got a considerable degree of exercise, accumulated a certain amount of experience, and gained more confidence in the second movie, and this movie is also the type he is best at, bringing money into the game and sharing The idea of ​​profiting from my own works naturally arises.

Among them, the most difficult and most troublesome problem is the capital. If you want to share enough income and have enough right to speak in future film production, this capital must not be a small amount.

Today, it is his mother who helps him solve this problem.

According to Duke's idea, if possible, the film will still cooperate with 20th Century Fox - after all, the two sides have a basis for success, and it seems that Townsend Rothman also appreciates him - he borrowed 3 million to 5 million from the bank. About US dollars, and then convert his director's salary into the investment, so that he can occupy the investment of 6 million to 8 million US dollars, enough to give him a certain say.

As it entered late July, good news finally came from Nancy Josephson that Twentieth Century Fox would be in preliminary talks with Duke for a new movie, "Breakthrough".