American Fame and Fortune Chapter 122

 Chapter 122 Internal Promotion

William Morris, at the end of the regular partner meeting every Monday, a group of big guys discussed the situation of important customers, and the topic came to potential customers.

Sharon, who was responsible for coordinating daily affairs, signaled to her assistant, who quickly came over and connected the projector to her laptop.

The Saturn Awards is one of the top ten film and television awards in North America. WMA executives are also paying attention. Sharon opened the news about the Saturn Awards: "Martin Davis, the company's sixth-level client, won the Saturn Award for Best Young Actor last weekend. He is currently There is a lot of attention in entertainment newspapers and the Internet, and there is a force behind him.”

 Co-partner Ali Emmanuel asked: “Have company resources been used?”

“Very little is used.” Sharon specifically asked Thomas to find out: “Except for his agent Thomas, no other resources of the company were used.”

 Ali looked up at the projection screen: "How did he win the award?"

Sharon clicked the mouse, and Wes Craven's avatar appeared: "Martin invited Craven to his private party, and he took care of Craven."

Jim Witt, another co-partner, said: "Martin was recommended to me by Louise Meyer of Pacific Pictures because he starred in the theatrical movie "Zombie Gigolo" and I listed him as a sixth-level client. the focus of attention.”

According to WMA's internal regulations, only those who have starred in at least one leading role or important supporting role in a theatrical film or TV series can become a Level 6 customer.

 This standard excludes 99% of actors in the industry.

 Level 6 clients are also called actors within WMA, but they are actors with exclusive agents.

 There are also well-known actors, celebrities, famous stars, superstars and super giants.

 The criteria for classification are simple, remuneration, power and influence.

 Remuneration is not the only standard, but it is the most intuitive, including 1 million, 5 million, 10 million, 15 million and 20 million.

 The priority of resources is clear.

 Because the brokerage company is not engaged in art, but in making money.

 Clients whose remuneration can attract higher prices can enjoy the best resources.

WMA currently has no super giants.

 The most important clients are Michael Bay and Eastwood.

"I know Thomas, a newcomer, he is not capable of dealing with Craven." Ali became interested: "This little guy has some tricks."

Sharon is very meticulous in her work: "He starred in "Horror House of Waxwork" as the male lead. The film has not yet been released, so I called the producer Susan and the director Zomi. They spoke highly of Martin's acting skills and praised him. He's good at getting along with people.”

Ali said directly: "If you have the ability and connections, Martin's customer level will increase by one level, and level five resources will be given priority to him."

 In less than two minutes, Martin's affairs were over. Potential clients would pay due attention, but whether they can get a position is also related to luck.

Sharon then mentioned the real highlight of the new client, Blake Lively.

The men discussed it for nearly ten minutes as Ernie Lively helped his daughter push a platter.

  WMA wants to get as many of its clients into this crew as possible.

 At the end of the meeting, Sharon called Thomas and chatted with him for a few words.

 In the office partition, Thomas banged the table with his fist excitedly, getting closer and closer to the independent office!

 He looked up and saw himself in the mirror.

Putting the phone back, Thomas looked in the mirror carefully. His hairline seemed to be receding again?

He scratched and a few hairs fell on the desk.

 Thomas was so excited that he blew it away in one breath. He picked up his mobile phone and dialed Martin's number: "Come to the company, there's something good going on."

 Half an hour later, Martin arrived at the office partition.

Thomas has just printed out a thick stack of documents from the company's internal system.

 Martin glanced at it, and it seemed that they were all actor recruitment emails sent by the production crew.

“Get some water yourself.” Thomas was still a little excited, his head and body shook violently, and a few hairs fell down.

He first talked about the latest situation: "If you win the Best Young Actor, the company attaches great importance to you and has raised your customer level to level five. Level five resources will be given priority to you. For many roles that fall into the fifth level, the company will Highly recommend you.”

As one of the two largest agencies in the industry, WMA's strong recommendation allows its actors to enter the third round of auditions. If the director and casting director are themselves, the chance of winning will be further increased.

 Martin knew this very well and said, "Do you have any good character recommendations?"

Thomas brought over a printout and said enthusiastically: "Castle Rock Pictures' project, "Crazy Hostages," has a dual-protagonist setting."

 Martin looked through the printout, which contained a simple script, character settings, and introductions. He recalled it carefully, but he had no impression of it.

 This is a project carefully selected by Thomas: "The production budget is US$8 million, and it is a family-friendly film. I expect the salary will not be less than US$300,000. There is always a market for family-friendly films."

  Martin closed the printout: "Are you sure that a group of adults holding weapons and fighting in Disneyland is a successful family theme?"

Thomas asked back: "What's the problem?"

“I don't feel very good.” Martin picked up another printout, a Universal Pictures project.

Thomas said: "George Romero is going to remake Land of the Living Dead, and this is one of the main roles, and the competition may be very fierce."

Martin has one and only one impression of the film, zombies watching fireworks.    Be careful when choosing the protagonist, he took it aside again.

Thomas was also not in a hurry to make a choice, and took out another one and handed it to Martin: "Dimension Pictures' project "The Brothers Grimm", fantasy genre, taking the overseas financing route, the funds mainly come from Germany, dual protagonist setting, the first protagonist has been confirmed For Matt Damon, it is planned to use a newcomer actor with a lower salary. "

Martin refused without hesitation: "Fantasy-type films must be PASSed."

Louise told him that Germany is Hollywood's special toilet for money laundering.

 Who knows how much actual investment was made in this film.

 Thomas emphatically reminded: “The success of the “Lord of the Rings” series triggered a fantasy craze.”

Martin said: "'Van Helsing' was released at the beginning of this month. It has been two weeks now. How miserable is the box office and reputation?" He was straightforward: "I have no interest in fantasy and epic movies."

Thomas said: "You will miss a lot of opportunities this way."

Martin didn't want to tangle with him because he couldn't tell clearly: “I trust Louise Mayer's judgment.”

 “But she invested in Alexander the Great…”

“Louise has already regretted it.” Martin's words were like a knife: “When it comes to selecting films, I believe in the professionalism of a producer.”

 Does that mean you are an unprofessional agent? Thomas opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything to retort, because compared to the professionalism of film selection, most agents are not even as good as managers around stars, let alone producers who directly face the front-line market.

It's like a producer asking a film critic how to make a movie that will be marketable, and he will definitely fall into the trap.

"It's good to choose carefully, but you have to understand that our choices are not broad," Thomas said.

 Martin nodded slightly and asked, "That's all?"

"Those who can be called protagonists are all for now. It is impossible to recruit actors at the same time for movies in the next two years. Some crews or companies rarely cooperate with WMA." Thomas asked Martin to recognize the reality: "Although the company does not have super It's huge, but the potential for cooperation comes one after another, and when it comes to us, it's all the stars who pick the rest.”

 Martin understood this: "Nothing more?"

 Thomas pointed to the computer screen: "There are also some villains, but I don't recommend... No, I firmly object to you choosing a villain unless the villain is like a protagonist."

Martin started talking again: "Of course people like me are born to be protagonists. To be a villain? If you are killed by this protagonist in this movie, you will be killed by another protagonist in the next movie, and it will be over soon!"

 He asked Thomas: "Do you want me to be completely ruined by the choice I made out of urgency?"

When these words fell into his ears, Thomas' fiery heart and brain calmed down a little. He patted his forehead and accepted the reality of being raped: "My fault, the success of the Saturn Award, the attention of the company... I was too excited."

Seeing that he calmed down, Martin said: "Let's continue watching."

The remaining roles are all supporting roles, and the new films of the company's two major director clients, Michael Bay and Eastwood, are all recruiting supporting roles.

 The former is called "Escape from Clone Island" and the latter is "Million Dollar Baby".

Thomas discovered that the company's system had been updated, and new projects and roles were automatically pushed to his OA. He quickly clicked on it and asked Martin to come over and take a look: "For a project that fully uses young actors, one heroine has been confirmed to be Blake Lively, and Five main characters, three female and two male.”

 Martin asked: “Have you confirmed the name?”

　　"Adapted from Brashers' novel of the same name, "The Summer of Jeans." Thomas said: "The adaptation should keep this name."

 Martin had seen this movie and had the impression that it was a girl's movie, so he asked: “Two male characters?”

 Thomas said: "A football coach, a Greek guy." He was surprised: "That's ridiculous, the budget is 25 million US dollars!"

Hearing about money, Martin became interested: "If the pay for the role is high, sign it up for me. I'm very poor recently." He added: "Forget it if the pay is low."

 Thomas wrote it down: “You don't think there are any others that are suitable?”

"It's really difficult to choose a suitable role." There are indeed a lot of resources, but in Martin's eyes, the quality is worrying, and many of them are still pitfalls. The success rate of the movie is relatively low, and it is normal to have a lot of pitfalls.

Thomas smiled: "Projects with high investment naturally need celebrities with strong appeal."

“In the summer of jeans, pay attention to the pay.” Martin warned, and then said something else: “If you have time in the evening, come with me to a party.”

 Thomas said: "I made an appointment with a lady..."

  Martin sighed: "Wes Craven made an appointment with me and the French director Alexandre Aga to discuss the script." He specifically emphasized: "A horror film script created with me as the absolute protagonist."

 “I haven't heard you say that before.” Thomas was quite helpless.

Martin said: "The story comes from the collision of ideas between two directors. Before they finalized the framework, it was full of uncertainty. I can't tell you something that is uncertain. Their agents also went. I didn't bring an agent with me, which seemed unreasonable. respect."

Thomas was embarrassed and gritted his teeth: "I'll go!"

I had a busy day yesterday and didn't have time to type. I haven't finished the second update yet, so I'll post it later.

 (End of this chapter)

Chapter end