Coquettish Rebirth

"Jane, check for me. Has anyone in the industry heard that DreamWorks is going to make a Batman movie?" Robinov returned to the office and ordered his assistant with a gloomy expression. "Batman? Isn't Batman...Okay, sir, I'll do it right away!" The woman named Jane soon found out that the boss's face was in a mess, and she was smart enough not to ask, although she was very curious about what Batman was. How could someone else plan to shoot a comic film series that my company belongs to?But she was smart enough to do it right away.

This Jane made a lot of phone calls, and the first ones were various brokerage agencies.The various agency agencies in the United States are really messed up. For example, screenwriters will have an agent, at least those who can write works that think about it after their debut will have an agent, and this kind of agent is still there. You don't have to find it yourself.As long as you register with the Screenwriters Union, the union will try its best to recommend an agent to act as an agent, which will benefit both the agent and the new screenwriter.

Jane quickly distributed a series of tasks. First, the script manager in Warner Bros. Pictures called to ask if anyone in the industry had received a job writing the Batman script.The so-called script manager, like the editor of the publishing house, is mainly responsible for filtering and judging various submitted scripts—needless to say, these scripts are basically submitted by agents.The agent of the screenwriter is such a middleman role. They are very well-connected in the industry, so they themselves do this kind of agency submission business.As the script manager of Warner Bros. Pictures, of course, I am familiar with many screenwriters' agents.With a few phone calls, he can confirm whether or not more than [-]% of the well-known Hollywood screenwriters have taken over the job of Batman screenwriter!Although the matter of whether the screenwriter has taken over the script work of any movie, it seems that it should be kept secret, but there is always a gap in the secret thing in front of human feelings, isn't it?The screenwriter's agents will still place the script on the desk of Warner's script manager in the future. Can they save face?

However, the script manager made more than a dozen phone calls, and after two or three days, they replied one by one, saying that no one under their respective managers took over the script of Batman, and everyone was even curious that the script of Batman should not be written by Warner Bros. Did you find someone to write it yourself?How could anyone privately find someone to write a Batman script?And it was still without a good negotiation with Warner.The script manager didn't want to say more about this, so he hurriedly reported it after prevaricating for a while.

When Jane ordered the script manager to scan for news, she also contacted a series of big-name brokerage agencies such as CAA.This kind of big-name brokerage organization.It's not just agents who represent actors.That's even the director acting as an agent!So it can be said that after such an inquiry, it should be possible to inquire about a result!After all, considering that DreamWorks wanted to shoot Batman, why did they have to find a director with some strength and reputation to film the film?Wouldn't it be possible to directly operate the copyright without any negotiation at all?Wouldn't it be necessary to buy copyright if you don't have a book or a concept?As a result, who knew such an inquiry.I really haven't heard any news at all!

It turned out that it was Nolan's agent at this time.In fact, it was a miscellaneous agent recommended to him by the director union when he first debuted.What the agent usually does is help independent film directors find distribution agents.And the job of finding various shooting opportunities.Nolan was originally an unknown young director a year ago, so of course he was only worthy of such a small manager.Although up to now, the name of Christopher Nolan is already well-known in Hollywood.Because his "Memento" was really good, and he has already been nominated for an Oscar, but because the Oscar results haven't come out yet, so CAA or WME, that is, William Morris, a big Hollywood agency, hasn't approached him yet. !Under such circumstances, Nolan just escaped Warner's series of investigations!

Since Jia Hung-chien's "debut" in Hollywood, he has only made two and a half movies.One of the two complete films is "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and the other is "Tang Seng's Fantasy Journey", and half of the film is naturally "Memory Fragments".Although it is said that Jia Hongjian has cooperated with two directors in this way, and he has cooperated with Nolan relatively more, but it does not seem to outsiders that Jia Hongjian and Nolan have such a good relationship!In "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", as the producer, Jia Hongjian basically just invested money in it.As for a film like "Tang Monk", it is said that it was Jia Hongjian's own idea, and he also participated in the writing of the script, so it's normal for him to follow up a bit.Besides, this "Tang Monk" is still in the intense post-production process, shouldn't the director seem to be in pain and find an extra job for himself?No more Batman movies?At least all of this should be seen by outsiders, so they didn't ask what Nolan was doing in detail at all!

And such an oversight made Robinski very helpless!The way Robinski originally thought was to poach Jia Hongjian's favored screenwriters and directors in advance, and threaten Jia Hongjian in this way—it's all negotiations anyway, and everyone is fooling each other under legal conditions. Isn't it normal?Jia Hongjian can threaten Warner by acquiring Marvel, so why can't Warner threaten Jia Hongjian with a series of methods such as poaching the director and screenwriter?

Originally, Robinski was thinking of a boss-level figure like Jia Hongjian, how could he buy the copyright without a copy?After all, the reputation of the Batman series was almost ruined before, at least the reputation of the movie was ruined, because people were afraid of losing money after they got it!So it's been three years, and no one has mentioned the acquisition of copyright, even if the acquisition of copyright within a few years is not done!And this Jia Hongjian suddenly came over and said that he wanted to buy the copyright... According to the usual practice, there is no story that he thinks can definitely make money, so can he come over and talk about it?If you buy it first without a story, and then find someone else to make it, if you look for the playwright and find that the market response for the story you write doesn’t seem to be very good, isn’t the money for buying the copyright wasted?So most people do what Jia Hongjian did, and they must think that they can make money, and they can make a lot of money, so they will talk about it, right?

But why couldn't Robinski find any clues?Could it be that Jia Hongjian wanted to use Chinese directors and screenwriters?impossible!American directors and screenwriters can't handle Batman well, and they can't make Batman movies make money. Can the Chinese?This is not to doubt the strength of Chinese film practitioners. From the perspective of living environment alone, did the Chinese grow up watching Batman?Are you familiar with Batman stories?Didn't know they could write a good Batman story?In this way, how can you please the audience?It is impossible to say that Jia Hongjian and the others bought the copyright of Batman, and then the film they made was released in China, not in the United States?So at this time Robinski is really puzzled!

After waiting for a few more days, there was still no useful news.In the end, Robinski had no choice but to bring such a matter to the company's management meeting for discussion.Such a Warner Bros. Entertainment is a relatively independent subsidiary company. Their operations are decided by themselves, as long as they give the group a relatively beautiful and impressive performance report every year.So this matter, Robinski really has no way to submit it to the group's top management for discussion. The top management of the Ren Group is still worried about the acquisition of aol, a money-losing product, and dragging the oil bottle!

"They threatened us with the acquisition of Marvel, this is the status quo. Although the two parties have not yet started to quote and bargain with each other, but now the other side's meaning is obvious, that is, they will not let us get a share of it. I personally estimate that their condition is the same as before. Like Who Am I Remake, let the copyright company have the power to distribute as an agent, and then take a certain amount of single rental fee, in exchange for the copyright company not participating in the box office share... Can you tell me what to do?" Robinov said at the meeting On the floor, he asked such words with a gloomy face, and then he looked at the senior managers of Warner Bros Entertainment present one by one...

On the other side, Jia Hongjian was discussing the plot outline with Nolan.This plot outline, of course, is related to Batman! "Well, I also think that the Penguin is not bad. Maybe he can play in the first part. In the original book, the Penguin is the owner of a high-end restaurant, but in private he is a gangster investor, smuggler and money launderer, and he He doesn't have any special abilities, so it should be ok for him to be the boss of the first level..." Nolan nodded, initially agreeing with Jia Hongjian's opinion.

But at this moment, Jia Hongjian asked with a half-joking smile, "By the way, Nolan, if you like Batman so much... What if we have written the script but can't buy the authorization?" After asking, Jia Hongjian stared at Nolan's reaction, although his face was still full of smiles. "Huh? No authorization? If there is no authorization, wait until the authorization is available!" Nolan did not hesitate at all, but shrugged his shoulders and said naturally, "I grew up watching Batman when I was young." , so I have always wanted to make a Batman movie. This is just a personal dream. But anyway, I have been waiting for so many years, and I have waited for it. A few years later is not a problem. I have no hope of becoming famous with Batman movies. , It’s just fulfilling my childhood dream. Hehe...Mr. Jia, is there a problem with the copyright negotiations?” Nolan quickly realized something.

He's not stupid. He said the plot was good, but Jia Hongjian suddenly mentioned what to do if he couldn't buy the copyright. Don't most people ask this kind of question when the situation is bad or ideal? (To be continued..)