America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 31, Section 33: The King of Extras Appears

Throughout the morning, Eric received several phone calls, all congratulating him on the box office success of "Red Dragon".

Gadot and Barry Farley also called, so it seems they aren't clueless or indifferent underage girls after all.

To Eric's surprise, Elena, the female manager from JPMorgan Chase, also called.

However, apart from their debt relationship, the two didn't seem to have much in common. After chatting for a few minutes, they said they would have dinner together sometime and then hung up.

Just before lunchtime, Judy walked in carrying a thick stack of folders.

"Boss, this is what you wanted. We've sifted through the script library, and after discussion, these should be more in line with the current market positioning needs."

That's right, Judy was holding scripts in her hands, or more precisely, scripts for horror and thriller movies.

Since returning to Los Angeles from Israel, Judy has been helping the two women with some work and life arrangements. Eric has given her a new job as the deputy director of the script library.

When Eric first took over MGM, he assigned the task of sourcing horror movie scripts from the market, but the manager in charge resigned not long afterward due to family reasons.

I was too busy with other things, so this matter was delayed and the position remained vacant.

The original plan was to have Billy take over, but he is now fully focused on tracking George R.R. Martin and Thomas Harris, and is also in contact with Neil Gaiman, whose "American Gods" has received widespread attention since its release last year, ranking high on the bestseller list, and the rights have not yet been sold.

However, Eric did not have a high opinion of American Gods, or rather, he did not have a high opinion of Neil Gaiman.

It's not that Neil Gaiman's novels are bad; in fact, they are highly readable, otherwise they wouldn't have made it to the bestseller list. The problem is that the stories he describes are only suitable for print media; if they were adapted into a TV series, they would turn into a mess.

I remember HBO acquired the rights to "American Gods" but held onto them for four years, hiring a whole bunch of writers and directors. In the end, they concluded that the book was really not suitable for the screen and sold the rights to Starz.

Starz happily spent a fortune to take over the project, with an average production cost of over $800 million per episode, but the ratings were disappointing, resulting in a complete loss.

So even though Eric doesn't have a high opinion of "American Gods," he's willing to buy it if the price is right, because someone will take it over.

In addition, Billy discovered several other pretty good works, and he rarely returned to Los Angeles more than a few times a month. Moreover, this guy seemed to prefer flying around rather than sitting in an office.

Seeing how much he loved flying, Eric gave him another task: to go to England to find Michael Dobbs and acquire the rights to "House of Cards".

Warren is based at AK Films, keeping a close eye on the "Sharknado" crew every day, fearing that the budget will be exceeded. When we met last week, he told me that he had lost 7 pounds.

Bordeaux is working on the contract with Hasbro and is about to start three rounds of negotiations. He has been in New York for more than half a month.

After counting and counting, only Judy hadn't been assigned any specific tasks yet, so this task naturally fell to her.

"Besides the scripts in our library, two people just came by to sell their scripts. They didn't go through an agency, probably because they're too poor to afford one. But they were about our age, so I met with them. I think the scripts are quite interesting. Are you interested?"

Eric didn't answer directly because there are too many young people like that in Hollywood. Every day, a large number of newcomers try to persuade major companies to buy their works, but very few succeed.

Eric flipped through the script and casually asked, "What genre? How much are they asking for? You know the Writers Guild's system. If it's under $5, decide for yourself. If it's under $10, discuss it with other departments. You don't need to ask me for these kinds of small things in the future. Just use the script fund account."

The two prices Eric mentioned were roughly the market prices in Hollywood in 2002, or even the lowest prices.

Unless a new screenwriter is exceptionally talented and their brilliance cannot be overshadowed by any other talent, the price of their script will not exceed $10. Usually, it will be bought out for less than $5, and there will be no profit sharing or anything like that.

You're talking about writers' union rights? What right does a newcomer have to defend his rights? If you don't accept it, go find another company. This is a buyer's market, not a seller's market.

Compared to the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild has much less say. Otherwise, why do you think Hollywood screenwriters would stage a major strike every few years? Are they just bored? People are forced into it!

Of course, even at its weakest, it's still much stronger than China; China really doesn't treat screenwriters like human beings.

Judy hesitated for a moment: "It's a horror movie, but their requirements are a bit special. The script can be free, but the screenwriter wants to play the male lead and recommend his good friend to be the director. They can also do that without any fees, just take a share of the box office revenue."

"I think the script is quite creative and I want to buy it out for a high price, but this screenwriter is very stubborn and insists on being tied to his director friend. I really suspect they are gay."

Eric stopped turning the page, looked up, and felt that Judy's description of the request sounded somewhat familiar.

It's a horror movie, a combination of director and screenwriter. The screenwriter also wants to be the male lead and insists that the director can't do anything else.

"What are the names of these two young men?"

Judy thought for a moment: "The screenwriter's name is Whannell, and the director's name is Wen, I think. I can't quite remember. He's an Asian guy with a rather unique hairstyle."

As Judy spoke, she seemed to think of something funny and grinned and laughed a few times.

Eric stood up. "Let me confirm, Reignard and James Wan, right?"

Judy nodded quickly: "Yes, yes, that's the name, but how do you know?"

Eric checked the time: "Are they still at the company?"

"He's already left. He's probably off to promote his work at another agency. He's a newcomer, and since he doesn't have the money to hire a management company, he has to run around like crazy on his own."

"Alright, stop complaining. Help me arrange to have lunch with them. I really like the script, and I want these two people too."

Unexpectedly, "Saw" came knocking on his door. Eric then realized that the movie was released in 2004, and James Wan and Leigh Whannell were currently in a very difficult stage of raising investment. It was time for him, the angel investor, to step in.

Saw is a perennial favorite in Hollywood horror films, now in its 10th installment. Even if you haven't seen it, you've probably heard of it; it's definitely a golden goose.

Well then, I'm sorry, Lionsgate, get out of here, MGM is going to snatch it away.

Who appears more frequently in American entertainment: James Wan or Christopher Nolan?

(End of this chapter)