Legendary Hollywood Director

Unlike producers, who can take care of their own work, directors, screenwriters, actors, etc. all need to deal with the film company, so it is necessary to negotiate a series of matters such as contracts, box office dividends, competition for interests, studio power, etc., as well as work contact, chores, etc. Handling, media public relations, etc., these things all use the help of agents.

This may not be a necessary choice, but it is the most correct choice.

After all, a person's energy is always limited, and a person's ability is also limited. Some things cannot be easily solved by a single person.

The emergence of brokers or brokerage companies is very necessary. They are very professional and know how to deal with the departments of major film companies. The abundant resources in their hands can also provide better needs for customers.

Of course, Ryman doesn't need that, he just wants an expert who can help him with the chores of his job or communicate with negotiation issues.

So, yesterday, after reaching a verbal agreement with Kevin Howian, Lehman entrusted a lawyer, and the two came to CAA's headquarters, a business building in Century City.

Walk into the elevator and go up to the eighth floor.

After getting out of the elevator and explaining their intention to the front desk staff, the two followed into a large and luxuriously decorated reception room.

Not long after, the relevant CAA personnel also walked in.

Lyman sat on the left side of a long conference table and turned to the last page of the contract.

After confirming that it was correct, under the guidance of the lawyer Joey next to him, he slid a pen and left his name in the blank where he needed to sign.

Duplicate contracts were signed, and Lyman exchanged contract documents with Kevin Howian and Brian Lauder, who represented CAA.

At this moment, the cameraman who was waiting on the side seized the opportunity to press the shutter of the camera in his hand to record the scene.

It's a great honor for us to reach an agreement with Director Ryman to sign this economic contract. One of CAA's five executives, the bald Brian Lauder, smiled and looked very happy, CAA welcomes people like you. The young talents join our big family!

Lehmann shook his hand in a friendly way, then smiled and said, I am also very honored to be in the arms of CAA.

Who wouldn't say anything about the scene, don't think that you can look very kind if you shave your head a lot.

The reason why we can reach an agreement is not because everyone thinks it is feasible after analyzing the pros and cons. Otherwise, can this happen?

After the cameraman took the picture, he left the reception room automatically, and lawyer Joey was also respectfully invited out by Kevin Howian.

It seems that the next step is to arrange the specific affairs personnel, and Lehman has also investigated these.

CAA, also known as Creative Artists Agency, was established in 1975. Michael Ovitz, the legendary legend of miracles, personally led CAA for 20 years. With his extraordinary personal charm and business ability, CAA has been transformed from a start-up unknown Become an industry leader.

This ambitious wage earner was first a member of the William Morris brokerage company, and then he couldn't stand the company's conservative system. A hard-working and motivated young man like him couldn't get the job at all. Senior brokers stood on top of each other. When the younger brother worked desperately to work overtime every day, but he was not the one who succeeded, such dire days made him resentful.

The eager Ovitz began to grumble privately with the other three talented agents in the company every day, until he met another anti-bones boy Ron Mayer, who advised everyone to go out and stand on their own.

They were a little hesitant at first, but decided to go to the bank to see if they could get the loan, but they didn't expect the person in charge of the bank to be a good friend of the company's CFO, so they were discovered before the five hapless plans started. They were also fired by the company's top management in a fit of rage.

As soon as the road ends, these guys are also ruthless. The company doesn't even have a business license, so they dare to fool others into saying that they are a regular brokerage company.

They have gradually become bigger and stronger by hard work and a certain amount of luck, and because their founders started by rebellion and poaching, they designed a set of special rules for the management of their employees and artists. . And these systems are still in use today.

Including:

First, everyone is equal, each broker can be called a partner of CAA instead of an employee, there is no sign in the office, and the payroll is arranged alphabetically by surname; second, there is no single exclusive broker, each client All have to arrange 4 to 5 brokers to be responsible for the service work, so as to prevent the broker from investing in another family with his client resources; third, income classification, as long as you have the strength, there is no limit to the annual income, how much you can earn , all relying on their own abilities; fourth, the famous packaging service, which uses the resources in hand to package the various resources needed for a production.

After the clearance, not long after, four more subordinates of CAA entered the reception room. It looked like this was his agent team, and just as Lehman was looking at it secretly, Kevin Howian took the initiative to introduce it.

This is Johnson Blanton, in charge of media communications, and your daily life services.

This is Brown Galliman, who's in charge of writing the literature and picking the right script for you.

This is Garland Davis, the special opportunity part.

This is Katherine Johnson, who is also in charge of literature and documentation.

If there is something they can't handle, you can also call me, and I can also provide relevant help.

In the small group of 4, two middle-aged people, one middle-aged woman, and the last one who is slightly younger, Johnson Brandon, will be the one who is mainly responsible for his daily work. As for Kevin Howian The last sentence that Lehmann added was not taken seriously at all.

One of the five top executives of a CAA can reasonably be in charge of most of the brokerage business up and down the company, but who can trouble him often?

Lehmann shook hands with these four people very politely. In any case, they will be the small team that CAA arranges for him to manage in the future. Maybe everyone still doesn't know each other and is not familiar with each other. Will there be a relationship between work and getting along in the future? Achieving rapport requires a bit of time and a test of business ability.

Anyway, at CAA, clients can change brokers at any time.

This is also clearly marked in the economic contract signed by the two parties. When it is necessary to drive to this right, Lehmann will not hesitate in the slightest.

Brian Lauder and Kevin Howian are both important partners of CAA. They also have a lot of work to do at ordinary times. Being able to appear at the signing ceremony is also to show the importance of Lehman, a new and emerging director. , Now, the work and personnel ratio have been clearly arranged, and the attitude has been expressed in a good position. After leaving a few scenes, he immediately left the reception room.

The other three agents also had their own work to do. Except for Johnson Brandon, who was in charge of media public relations and daily business processing, the other three also left.

Mr. Lehman, Johnson-Blanton said, despite being the youngest among these people, but he didn't say much about his work attitude. After a while, he entered a state of considering customers, You need to ask me recently. something to do?

Of course. Now that he has signed a contract and is willing to pay the 10% commission (drawn from the salary or work remuneration Lehman personally receives), Lehman will certainly not be polite, I have a new project recently. , I need you to help me negotiate.

Johnson-Blanton immediately took out his pen and notebook, Is there a specific need?

Lehman thought for a while, Try to help me raise my salary package. Oh, and one more thing, I want to inject funds into new projects in the name of the studio and receive a proportional return on the box office.

Yes, no one is not interested in the income created by Three Silly Bollywood. CAA is willing to win him over, which is precisely because of this, and Lehman himself can only get from that huge income, For millions of dollars, no one can hold back their thoughts.

Moreover, he is very confident in his films, and the consideration and plan of bringing funds into the game and sharing the proceeds of his works naturally came into his mind.

Specifically, the value of the capital investment?

Eh, in terms of the specific amount... Lehmann thought about it carefully again.

At present, there are about 20 million US dollars in the studio's account, which are all accumulated by Buried Alive and Three Silly Troubles in Bollywood.

The money, certainly can't be spent in all, even if I am very confident, but I am not afraid of 10,000 just in case, if I lose it, it is estimated that it will be cold again.

Therefore, we have to leave a start-up capital, which is tentatively set at 8 million, then there is still 12 million US dollars left.

However, it is estimated that Europa Pictures will not agree with such a large amount. After all, the total investment budget of the new project is only 50 million, and he has completed nearly a quarter of it, so how else should others play?

Estimated like this, Lehman said: Talk as much as possible. The bottom line is 5 million US dollars. I will bring at least 5 million yuan into the group, and I will share the relevant income ratio.

Well, I'll follow up on this. Johnson-Blanton put away his notebook. If there is any news, I will notify you as soon as possible and discuss it with you.

He took two steps closer, If there is nothing else, then I will leave first. I still have some business handovers to deal with.

Goodbye. Lyman shook hands with him and politely watched him leave.

......

When the time passed to the next day, Lehmann took Ryan and his party together with CAA's agent Johnson on the plane and went to Paris, France.

Europa Films passed the project review and started preliminary negotiations with Lyman for the film Fury.