hollywood melon man

Chapter 507 Fish and Bait
David Ellison's ability to enter Hollywood so smoothly is inseparable from the money shortage in Hollywood.

Now all film companies are short of money. Warner has launched several projects by seeking financing from Wall Street to reduce its own expenses.

Disney's financial situation is relatively good. After all, Disney's peripheral products are very profitable and can maintain a good cash flow.

Disney and Warner both have projects with Gilbert Jr., and whether from the box office or the stock market, as long as Gilbert Jr. is there, they can maintain a certain basic base.

But other companies are in a miserable situation. Sony Columbia Pictures at least had a hit movie like "Spider-Man 2" this year, but it still has to rely on its parent company Sony for transfusions to survive.

Had it not been for the Kingdom Investment Group's capital investment, MGM United Artists would have declared bankruptcy long ago.

Needless to say, DreamWorks' most profitable animation department was spun off separately, and even Spielberg's frequent investments could not solve DreamWorks' money shortage.

Besides, Spielberg now has a feeling of a hero in his twilight years, and is not as good as his student Gilbert the Younger.

The situations of other companies are also similar, with all of them experiencing a shortage of money to varying degrees, and this is usually the time when Wall Street's film funds are the hottest.

It was in this context that David Ellison's Sky Studios entered Hollywood and participated in and invested in multiple projects.

Although David Ellison is not welcomed by traditional forces in Hollywood, no one will refuse the money in his pocket, and this is what David Ellison relies on.

Cameron Diaz soon broke the news that Gilbert Jr. was very interested in the French baron's biopic of Napoleon and was willing to invest $200 million.

As soon as this news was released, it shocked the entire Hollywood and also attracted the attention of David Ellison.

But the happiest person was the French baron.

Yes, he is a con man, and this is actually a Ponzi scheme organized by him, with the purpose of attracting the attention of Hollywood bigwigs.

Who is the richest and most influential person in Hollywood today? Undoubtedly, it is the famous director Gilbert Jr.

For this reason, as soon as he arrived in Hollywood, he became good friends with Anne Hathaway. If it weren't for the special relationship between Anne Hathaway and Gilbert Jr., the two would have become boyfriend and girlfriend at this time.

But it doesn’t matter. As long as you have money, what kind of woman can’t you handle?

His target was Little Gilbert. He met Little Gilbert through Anne Hathaway's introduction and sold the project to Little Gilbert.

It’s just that Gilbert Jr. was not interested in this project at first. Unexpectedly, Gilbert Jr.’s assistant suddenly contacted him to discuss the project again.

This made the French baron happy. As long as he could fool little Guibert, the matter would be almost over.

Little did he know that he thought he was a fisherman who had patiently caught the big fish, Little Gilbert. But in fact, he was the bait, which Little Gilbert used to fish for David Ellison.

Anne Hathaway was very anxious. Last time, Gilbert Jr. had been cheating on her. This was a scam. Anne Hathaway also regretted for a while that she almost let Gilbert Jr. fall for it.

But somehow, little Gilbert expressed interest in the project again.

After the last contact, Anne Hathaway found that there was something very wrong with this French baron, and there was a fake smell all over him.

So Anne Hathaway hurried over to persuade little Gilbert, but things were not as she imagined.

"So you know the Baron is a fraud?"

"Yeah," little Gilbert motioned Anne Hathaway to sit down and put a piece of apple in her mouth.

While Anne Hathaway was eating her apple, Gilbert Jr. explained, "I'll see if David Ellison will take the bait. As for this project, don't worry. I already knew about it. I told you."

Anne Hathaway was relieved: "I really worried for nothing."

Little Gilbert hugged Anne Hathaway's waist and asked, "What are you busy with recently?"

Anne Hathaway pouted and said: "I'm currently filming The Chronicles of Narnia, and I'm also preparing to work with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal on Brokeback Mountain.

In addition, there is a film called The Devil Wears Prada with Meryl Streep in the works.”

Upon hearing this, Little Gilbert said, "These three films are all good, and they should do well in terms of box office and awards."

"Yeah," Anne Hathaway continued with a pout, "Unfortunately, they are all supporting roles. There was also a movie called 'The Tribulation of Alice', but it was too explicit, so I turned it down."

"Why was it rejected?"

Anne Hathaway rolled her eyes at Little Gilbert and said, "I just rejected it because I was afraid you would be jealous."

"What you said, am I that petty?"

"You are……"

After a while of playing around, Anne Hathaway leaned her head on Gilbert's shoulder and complained, "The competition is really fierce. There are more than a dozen or even dozens of actresses competing for a popular project.

Even with Princess Arwen's fame and your connections, I still can't get many projects."

This is the common dilemma faced by Hollywood actresses. There are too many wolves and too little meat, and there are only a few movies that seem to be able to sell well every year.

If someone else takes it away, you will have nothing to eat.

The male stars are fine, but the competition between the female stars is even more intense.

Little Gilbert comforted him, "Okay, okay, it's okay. There will always be some big projects that will come to you. If it doesn't work out, how about I save a role for you?"

"What role?" "How about Catwoman?"

"You want me to be in a Batman movie? When?"

"Anyway, there is such a role. Whether it will be your turn to appear depends on the performance of this film."

Anne Hathaway was immediately happy. She felt relieved to have such a reliable man. As for whether the movie would fail? She would not even consider the possibility of failure.

How could little Gilbert fail? He never failed.

While the two were being affectionate, David Ellison, who had returned to Sky Studios, started cleaning the studio.

Purpose: to kill spiders.

At the same time, he also learned that Gilbert Jr. was very interested in a Napoleon project and was willing to invest $200 million.

He immediately discussed the matter with Michael Ovitz and asked him, "Michael, do you think this is reliable?"

Even the experienced Michael Ovitz was confused for a moment: "So many people in Hollywood are interested in this project, it can't be fake."

"How about we take this project away from Gilbert Jr.?" said David Ellison.

"It's possible," Michael Ovitz agreed in principle, "but you've already snatched away Gilbert Jr.'s Transformers. With what's happened recently, he must be paying extra attention to you. It's not easy to snatch it away!"

"Everything depends on human effort!" David Ellison was full of confidence: "Not only this project, but also any project that Gilbert wants to invest in in the future, we will grab that project.

Unfortunately, there are many projects that we cannot get. "

David Ellison felt quite regretful. If possible, he would have liked to have snatched away the "Fast and Furious" and "The Spell" series.

Of course, what excites David Ellison most is the Harry Potter series.

But unfortunately, just after "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" became a huge hit, J.K. Rowling had already signed contracts with Disney and Warner for the copyrights of the remaining novels.

Rowling's words were very clear. She said she only trusted little Gilbert.

Facts have proved that the Harry Potter series has exploded with incredible energy under the control of Gilbert Jr. and has become one of the best-selling film series in the world.

Especially the peripheral output value has reached an unprecedented height.

So David Ellison was very envious. If he had entered the industry ten years earlier, he would have snatched the project from Gilbert Jr.

He didn't think about whether he had the vision and decision-making ability.
Although he now looks down on Gilbert Jr., he actually recognizes Gilbert Jr.'s vision in movies.

So the fish took the bait successfully, and David Ellison and Michael Ovitz immediately contacted the project and even talked to the so-called baron in person several times.

After many chats, both felt that the project had a bright future and decided to increase their stakes.

Seeing that there was profit to be made, the French baron began to wait and see who would offer the highest price.

Because both Gilbert Jr. and David Ellison were involved, the rest of the hesitant investors and film companies immediately joined in, muddying the waters even further.

Gilbert Jr. asked Ivanka to warn her friends, investors, and partners to be aware of the fraud in this project and not to participate in it casually.

As for other people, he couldn't care less. After all, he was also a "victim", but the price he paid was very small and negligible.

After all, in order to make David Ellison take the bait completely, you have to put out some real money.

As for David Ellison who was deceived, he spent a huge amount of real money.

Apart from the Chicago robbery, the filming of "Batman Begins" went very smoothly and was successfully completed in Los Angeles on the first weekend after the New Year.

On the evening of the wrap, the crew held a wrap party, and senior executives from Warner and DC also attended.

At the wrap party, a Lamborghini representative approached Gilbert Jr. and asked, “Director Gilbert Jr., are you interested in shooting a commercial for Lamborghini?”

"Let me shoot a commercial?" Little Gilbert was stunned: "Did you find the wrong person?"

“No,” the Lamborghini representative said. “We saw your film and it was like a very long commercial, very attractive.

We hope that you can make a commercial for us on the scale of a movie. Of course, the price and everything else are negotiable.”

"Well," Little Gilbert did not agree immediately: "I'll think about it!"

In fact, he has shot commercials before, but that was a thing of his past life. The Lamborghini representative's suggestion instantly reminded Gilbert of several famous commercials.

In fact, this is just right, as it can combine the Lamborghini advertisement with the movie trailer.

After Gilbert Jr. proposed this idea, it was recognized by Lamborghini. Gilbert Jr. decided to take time out during post-production to shoot an advertisement.

As for the protagonists of the commercial, they were ready-made. Lamborghini immediately signed endorsement contracts with Christian Bale and Jennifer Connelly.

In fact, the main person to sign was Bale, but considering the relationship with Gilbert Jr., Lamborghini added Jennifer Connelly.

This is not bad either, you can earn some endorsement fees!

(End of this chapter)