Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 270 Digging a Trap for the Opponent
In the office, just after hanging up the phone, Link received another call from Jay Maloney.

Jay Maloney says Michael Ovitz didn't approve of Tom Hanks starring in his new movie.

If Guess What Pictures insists on inviting Tom Hanks to star in the film, it will need to pay a salary of 2000 million + 10% of the global box office share.

Link said it was impossible, the maximum was $2000 million.

At the beginning of the year, Tom Hanks won the Oscar for Best Actor for his outstanding performance in "Philadelphia". In June, the movie "Forrest Gump" starring him grossed over 6 million yuan worldwide, second only to "The Lion King" and "Seen".

Tom Hanks' salary also increased significantly, making him the second Hollywood actor after Jim Carrey to earn $2000 million.

A salary of 2000 million US dollars is already the highest record in the acting industry.

Michael Ovitz also wants to get a share of the box office for Tom Hanks, which is obviously an exorbitant demand and an attempt to destroy this cooperation.

When Link spoke to Jamalone on the phone, he said that $2000 million was the highest offer and he would not give a penny more.

Jay Maloney said he would convey his meaning.

After several days of negotiations, Tom Hanks' salary was finalized at $2000 million.

Originally, CAA wanted $2000 million + 10% of the global box office, but Link refused.

CAA cut its own price, lowering it to 2000 million + 5% of the global box office, but Link still refused, with a maximum of 2000 million US dollars.

CAA said that Guess What Pictures was not sincere and announced that Tom Hanks decided to give up the project.

But it was immediately denied by Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks' agent took the initiative to contact Guess What Pictures and expressed his acceptance of the offer of 2000 million US dollars.

According to Jay Maloney, Tom Hanks publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with Michael Ovitz, believing that Ovitz should not interfere too much in his work, which violated the agreement between the two parties and hoped that it would not happen again.

It is said that Michael Ovitz was furious when he heard this, but he could do nothing about Tom Hanks, his ace client.

"Hey, Mike, do you have time to talk?"

After receiving the news, Link took the initiative to call Michael Ovitz and told him about Tom Hanks.

"Link, this is your conspiracy, right? You deliberately invited Tom Hanks to act in your movie, and used this method to alienate the relationship between Tom Hanks and me, so that conflicts would break out within CAA. Humph, you are really Chinese, and you used the Thirty-Six Stratagems very well. Now your conspiracy has succeeded, you are very happy, right? But I tell you, don't be too happy too soon, this matter is not over yet."

Michael Ovitz spoke in an aggressive tone and sounded like he was in a very bad mood.

Link leaned back in his office chair and smiled relaxedly, "Mike, can we talk calmly? In fact, I never thought of becoming an opponent of you and CAA. Guess what, the film industry is a production company, and CAA is an agency. There is no conflict of interest between the two sides of us, and there is no benefit in having a conflict.

For you and CAA, there is also no benefit in becoming a rival to Guess What? Pictures. In this case, why don’t we put aside our prejudices and talk about cooperation?
Guess what, the film industry is on the rise and has a lot of resources. CAA has a lot of artists under its umbrella and needs a lot of resources to grow. If we establish a close cooperative relationship, it will be beneficial to both of us. What do you think? "

"Humph, you talk beautifully, but don't forget what happened to Richard Gere, Robert Downey Jr., and Dustin Hoffman. If it weren't for you, would they have gotten into trouble? Would CAA have lost three key personnel and suffered tens of millions in losses? Now that you've won, you're proudly saying that there's no conflict between the two sides and asking me to put aside my prejudice and discuss cooperation. If I don't cooperate, it would make me look narrow-minded. Humph, Richard Gere is right, you really are a hypocritical guy."

Michael Ovitz laughed grimly.

Link shook his head, "Michael, you are such an idiot."

"WTF?! Are you calling me stupid?"

Michael Ovitz was furious.

Link laughed and said, "Mike, before I became famous, you big guys joined forces but still couldn't defeat me. You were not only stupid but also weak. After I became famous, you joined forces again to deal with me, and were defeated by me again, proving your stupidity and failure again.

Now I am a big shot, with money and resources, more powerful than before, and you are not as strong as before. You know you are no match for me, but you still stubbornly go against me. Isn't this stupid? Oh, well, stupid people really have a hard time understanding what stupidity is. "

"Fuck! Fuck! Damn Link, I'm going to kill you!!"

Michael Ovitz was so angry on the other end of the phone that he was swearing at Link in a very ugly way.

"Mike, are you done scolding me? Would you consider cooperating with me?"

Link asked as he took a sip of his tea.

"Humph, Link, don't be so complacent. You really should not be so complacent. Although you do have some skills and Guess What Pictures is doing well, this is Hollywood, the territory of the Big Seven. Now every penny that Guess What Pictures earns is snatched from the Big Seven. If you touch their cake, they will never let you go. I bet that within three years, Guess What Pictures will go bankrupt."

Michael Ovitz yelled loudly, as if cursing Guess What? "Bet? You've never won me before. Besides, Hollywood is the territory of the Big Seven. Even if Guess What goes bankrupt, it's still the Big Seven that's making a profit. What does it have to do with you, Mike? Smart people don't easily get involved in other people's battles. And you, you're the vanguard in a battle that doesn't belong to you. I'm really sorry for your IQ."

Click!

Without waiting for Michael Ovitz to start cursing, Link hung up the phone decisively. Even if Michael Ovitz called again, he would not answer.

Link smiled softly and continued reading the information.

While preparing for The Sixth Sense, two major events occurred in Hollywood:
The first thing is that former CAA vice president Ron Mayer officially joined Universal Pictures as president of Universal Pictures.

The second thing is related to Disney. In the past two years, there have been constant internal struggles among Disney's senior management. Disney Chairman Frank Welsh, CEO Michael Eisner, and Disney Studio Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg have each formed their own faction and refused to give in to each other, forming a three-way confrontation.

But last week something unexpected happened.

Frank Welsh died in a helicopter accident.

The three-legged tripod turned into a fight between two tigers.

Although Jeffrey Katzenberg is very capable at work, he is not good at office struggles, and his influence within Disney is not as great as that of Michael Eisner.

Jeffrey Katzenberg announced his resignation from Disney on Wednesday.

Michael Eisner ultimately won.

Some media believe that after the death and departure of one of the Big Three, Disney has ended the chaotic situation and will usher in a period of rapid development.

Some media also believe that the huge sales of animated films such as "The Lion King", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin" are all due to Jeffrey Katzenberg. Now that Jeffrey has left Disney, Disney's development may suffer a serious setback.

From the perspective of public opinion, the number of media outlets that are optimistic and pessimistic about Disney is equally divided.

But it is more obvious in the stock market.

Because many shareholders did not want to see Michael Eisner dominate Disney, they sold their shares, causing Disney's stock to plummet and its market value to drop from 200 billion in May to 155 billion US dollars.

Link once again arranged for investors from Flash Gold Capital to buy 4% of Disney shares, increasing his stake in Disney to 4.06%, making him the sixth-largest shareholder of the company.

At the same time, after Jeffrey Katzenberg announced his departure from Disney, he took the initiative to call him and invited him to serve as the chairman of Guess What Pictures and give him 5% of the company's shares.

Unfortunately, Jeffrey Katzenberg did not agree. It is rumored that he is planning to set up a new film company with Spielberg and David Geffen.

Link didn't mind. He made a suggestion to Michael Eisner through personal channels and invited Michael Ovitz to join Disney as CEO.

There are three reasons:
First, the original three-way fight within Disney was mainly due to disagreements among the board members. Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Frank Welsh each had their own supporters.

Now only Michael Eisner is left, and not all board members will support him. Inviting Michael Ovitz to join can maintain the stability of the board of directors and curb the falling stock price.

Second, given Disney's current situation, Michael Eisner alone cannot end the chaos, and a strong person is needed to take charge. Michael Ovitz has been ranked first on the Hollywood power list for three consecutive years, and he is very suitable.

Third, Michael Eisner and Michael Ovitz have a good relationship, and it is easy for them to maintain consistency in work after becoming colleagues.

Link's condition was that in the future at Disney's board of directors, representatives of FlashGold Capital shareholders would fully support Michael Eisner's work.

Michael Eisner said he would consider his opinion carefully.

Link wasn't worried that Eisner wouldn't agree.

That's what Michael Eisner did originally.

When Disney was in chaos, he invited Michael Ovitz to Disney as a front, gradually consolidated power, and after completely controlling Disney, he kicked him out.

Michael Eisner was extremely skilled in office politics. Even though Michael Ovitz was the most powerful person in Hollywood, he was no match for him when he came to Disney.

Link hopes to use Michael Eisner's hand to clear the obstacle of Michael Ovitz.

(End of this chapter)