America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 683 How to Attract New Customers

Many Hollywood stars who reach the second tier or higher, as well as some sports stars, don't have a clear financial plan after they've earned their money, and they spend it like water.

Michelle Bryan's main business is to make as much money as possible from this group of people, and she has a relatively sophisticated way of attracting clients.

She used to have a website where customers could pay to become members.

Later, after being arrested once, the website could no longer be operated and its model was changed.

Michelle has encountered many people who refuse them, but the vast majority of them, once they have experienced the services she provides, will come back again and again.

Michelle asked, "Martin Davis must be worth over a hundred million now, right?"

"More than that." Lynch recalled for a moment: "At the beginning of this year, I remember a newspaper listing a ranking list that Martin earned more than $80 million from movies alone last year. If you include commercial endorsements, it's definitely over $100 million."

Michelle was pleased: "He ruined a shipment of ours. We make $500 million a year off him, isn't that a lot?"

Lynch agreed: "That makes perfect sense."

Michelle thought it over carefully and said, "Find Martin Davis through his network. Whoever can bring Martin to our money pit, we'll give them $500,000! It can't be someone like Mene Christie who has a particularly good relationship with Martin or a very close business connection, otherwise the news will leak out."

Let alone casual acquaintances, many close friends would do incomprehensible things under the temptation of $50.

Compared to the revenue that a client of Martin's caliber could generate, this amount of money is nothing. Michelle added, "Or, if any of our existing clients can get Martin Davis, all the services will be readily available."

Upon hearing the number, Lin Qi became extremely envious: "Boss, what if I could bring him over?"

"I'll still give you $50." Michelle made the promise first, then gave a warning: "You failed to invite him to the golf party last time. If you show up in front of him again, it will arouse his suspicion."

Watching $50 slip away, Lynch felt a pang of heartache.

"You could start with Martin Davis's friends." Michelle got Johnny Depp through his friends back then.

Lynch said, "Martin has no playmates, only a driver and manager. It's hard for us to persuade that person who has been through many life-or-death situations with Martin."

Michelle is experienced in this area: "He's made so many films, there must be people he has a decent relationship with, but not the kind of people he interacts with too closely, right? If this person is our client, that would be even better."

Lynch thought for a moment and came up with a candidate: "Morgan Freeman has been our client for five years. He worked with Martin on 'Wanted' and 'The Dark Knight.' It is said that during Martin's conflict with Bale, he sided with Martin. The two have a good relationship, but they are not exactly close."

“I have a strong impression of Morgan Freeman,” Michelle said. “He spends a considerable amount of money on our women’s services every year. Claire, who often provides services to Morgan Freeman, said that the main reason he often seeks her out is because she is petite and has a baby face that looks like that of a high school student.”

Lynch continued, "It's said that Morgan Freeman has a special relationship with his step-granddaughter; he might like..."

Michelle understood: "Go talk to Morgan Freeman. If it works out, you can send him to a dream island."

Lin Qi replied, "I'll contact him right away."

…………

After filming of The Martian was completed, the production studio paid the final portion of Martin Scorsese's base salary of $2000 million.

In addition to his first-year endorsement fee for Samsung mobile payments, Martin transferred a total of $2500 million into his investment account to buy Tesla stock.

Like Apple and Netflix, these are stocks I'll hold for the long term.

Following his visit to NASA's investor conference, Musk went to Disney Studios to formally begin negotiations with Lois Lane, representing The Martian studio, regarding GG sponsorship related to SpaceX and Tesla.

Martin Scorsese specifically consulted Ridley Scott on this matter. Ridley Scott's ability to remain popular with major studios despite botching so many big-budget projects is partly due to the fact that he is not as difficult to work with as many directors.

Ridley does not reject business elements.

Ridley readily agreed to add SpaceX and Tesla's commercial activities to the video through post-production.

Ultimately, Louise reached an agreement with Musk, with SpaceX and Tesla each paying $400 million in GG sponsorship.

As for Musk's desire for Martin to endorse Tesla cars, Thomas's situation has been temporarily put on hold.

Martin's contract with Cadillac expires early next year, and Cadillac is strongly inclined to offer a higher contract renewal fee.

This week, David Fincher finished scouting locations and returned to Los Angeles.

Accompanying him was Tony Mendes, the real-life inspiration for the protagonist in the screenplay of "Argo".

Martin rushed over immediately and met with the two.

The project's producer, Kim Graham, also rushed over.

David Fincher introduced Martin and Graham to Tony Mendes.

When Martin shook hands with Tony, he noticed that the old man's right hand was trembling incessantly.

"I'm getting old, and I'm not as in control anymore." Tony retired in 1990 and has a very good attitude: "I now have Parkinson's disease, and my right hand trembles slightly from time to time."

He smiled and said to Martin, "You'd be perfect to play me back then. I was just as handsome as you, and I used to receive love letters from girls a lot while I was in the CIA."

"Believe me, Tony," Martin said sincerely, "you're a handsome old man now."

Tony laughed and looked at David Fincher: "With Fincher directing and Martin in the lead role, I'm confident you'll make a great film."

David Fincher said, "The main reason I asked you to come to Los Angeles this time is to have Martin talk to you face-to-face, to understand your mindset back then, and some of your thoughts."

Tony nodded and asked Martin, "Ask me anything."

Although it was described in the script, Martin was still very curious: "How did you come up with the idea of ​​using a movie crew to take the trapped people away?"

Tony recalled for a moment and said, "I'm a CIA agent. Because of the nature of my job, I sometimes need to wear makeup. Hollywood is very good at this. During my makeup training, I met John Chambers, a famous Hollywood makeup artist. I often heard him talk about Hollywood film crews and learned that people who make movies travel all over the world to choose suitable filming locations. This is exactly what I need to do in Tehran."

Martin wrote it down and then asked, "Were you scared before you went?"

"I was terrified, absolutely terrified," Tony said, recalling the past. "It was a game with no rules. If we were caught, even God couldn't save us, because God's light couldn't shine on that land."

He added, "But we have to go, someone has to take those poor children home."

David Fincher said, "I went to Tehran this time and applied to the local cultural department, but it was not approved, so we were unable to go to Tehran to film on location."

Martin deliberately said, "David, this is really good news."

Tony Mendes laughed: "Actually, Tehran isn't as bad as the media portrays it."

Martin asked, "Was the rescue operation successful?"

"It went very smoothly," Tony said. "I read the script, and the rescue wasn't as exaggerated as it was written. I used my identity as a film producer to successfully obtain approval from the Iranian Ministry of Culture, and then traveled from Istanbul to Tehran. After the Canadian authorities approved the identities of the six people, I brought them out of Tehran smoothly as members of the film crew, without encountering any trouble along the way."

David Fincher said, "If we filmed it the way you described, no audience would want to watch it."

Tony has studied Hollywood-style movies: "I know that to attract audiences, you have to create conflict and build a tense atmosphere."

Graham, who hadn't said much until now, invited, "Tony, how about becoming a consultant for the film crew? There are many things about the CIA back then that the current CIA may not know as clearly as you do."

Tony thought for a moment and said, "Filming in North America is fine, but I can't go outside of North America, after all, I'm getting old."

Graham replied, "No problem, we'll send someone to pick you up."

He made a note of this and would then have someone discuss it with Tony Mendes' family.

David Fincher added, "The crew mainly filmed in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., which made it easy for you to travel between the two locations."

Tony replied, "That's no problem. Washington is close to my home, and I have many good friends in Los Angeles. I can come over and have a get-together with them."

After talking for more than an hour, Tony gradually became exhausted, and Martin sent someone to take him to a hotel to rest.

Graham arranged for someone to take care of him.

Martin, Graham, and David Fincher then held another short meeting.

The three of them, along with Louise, will form the highest authority of the "Argo" project.

The project's investment primarily came from three companies: Graham's GK Films, Martin's Davis Studios, and Louise's Pacific Films.

The film's main scenes are concentrated in the studio, CIA headquarters, and Tehran, so filming locations include the Disney Studios in Burbank, the CIA building in Langley, and Istanbul.

David Fincher applied to the Iranian cultural authorities for permission to film inside Iran, but was refused.

All exterior scenes involving Tehran were filmed in Istanbul.

David Fincher assembled the production team after the Oscars earlier this year, and preparations are now largely complete. The next step will be to hold auditions in Los Angeles to select suitable actors.

This film is basically a one-man show by Martin Scorsese, with other actors having relatively limited roles, and no A-list or B-list actors will be used.

David Fincher plans to begin filming at the end of September, with the filming period expected to last two months.

This politically correct film will be released in the second half of next year, with its sights set on the 2013 Academy Awards.

After the meeting ended, Martin saw Graham and David Fincher off. On his way home, he received a call from Nicholson, who said that Leonardo was back and asked them to come over and keep an eye on the things.

Because Depp is getting married soon.

(End of this chapter)