Chapter 1035: The Price Tag

[Chapter 1035: The Price Tag]

This question felt somewhat inappropriate.

Matt Gilson sensed Eric's provocative response and his expression became awkward immediately. Everything remained undecided, and Eric didn't seem interested in chatting with the three of them for too long. He simply outlined his conditions and sent them on their way.

As they watched the three leave, Jerry Bruckheimer remarked, "Eric, a lot of people saw you meeting with those three. Things might get lively from here. Are you sure they'll agree to part with the script for $1 million? Warner Bros. already offered $3 million."

"Let's say you're an actor just starting out with no reputation. Would you rather take $1 million to join my movie, or $3 million to work on some unknown director's film?" replied Eric.

Bruckheimer chuckled, "Of course your movie, but writers and actors are a bit different."

"It's practically the same logic," Eric said, taking a cup of coffee from Fernanda Tavares as she returned. "What I'm offering them is not just money, but an opportunity -- the chance to become a top-tier screenwriter. Everyone knows that in Hollywood, opportunity is what truly matters."

...

Outside, after leaving the street cordoned off by the Enemy of the State film crew, the three of them silently got into a car. As Terry Rossio fastened his seatbelt in the passenger seat, he finally spoke up, "$1 million is a bit low."

Ted Elliott started the engine, saying, "If Eric Williams really wants to turn this script into a blockbuster series, then $1 million is still quite a deal. After all, just a week ago, we hadn't even thought we could sell this script."

Matt Gilson sat in the back seat, contemplating how to quickly spread the word about their meeting with Eric Williams. He added, "Didn't Eric mention that if we auction this script, Firefly would bid as well?"

Ted Elliott responded, "But if we do that, we won't be able to participate in the project's subsequent development."

Terry Rossio played with the seatbelt he had fastened, thinking aloud, "I feel that based on what Eric said, Firefly will undoubtedly go all out for this script. As long as this project succeeds, we'll still be among the most renowned screenwriters in Hollywood, won't we? Warner's bid has already reached $3 million. If we auction it, we might pull in $5 million. Even if Firefly turns Pirates of the Caribbean into a trilogy, the total we could likely get wouldn't be too much higher than that. Either way, we gain fame. If we can't join in on the subsequent project development, we can focus our energy on writing other scripts instead."

At Ted Elliott's and Matt Gilson's words, silence fell over the car. After a moment, Matt Gilson finally spoke again, "How about this? I'll get the word out and see how the other major studios respond."

...

News of Eric meeting with the three Pirates of the Caribbean screenwriters quickly spread through Hollywood. Of course, all three decided to keep quiet about Eric's detailed plans for the project and the significant revisions he intended to make.

However, the mere fact that Eric had expressed interest in turning Pirates of the Caribbean into a series created a much greater stir than they had anticipated.

In all of Hollywood, aside from Firefly, other major studios, including MGM and Fox, were eager to develop more large-scale franchise films. After all, once a big franchise succeeded, it could keep a major movie company in high profit for years. Hollywood certainly did not lack scripts for large productions, but it needed the sharp insight to recognize these projects due to the extreme uncertainty of the film industry. Even the biggest directors and producers hesitated to guarantee success on a particular project. However, over the years, Eric Williams had clearly broken this mold.

Almost immediately, the major studios that received the news reached out to Ted Elliott and the others to increase their bids.

...

Following the disappointing performance of Godzilla last year, Sony found itself in an increasingly difficult situation.

This summer, Sony Pictures' release, The Patriot, struggled to reach just over $100 million at the North American box office. Its niche war theme made it a tough sell abroad, and while pulling in $200 million globally would be respectable, the production cost alone was $110 million. Although Sony kept its marketing costs down to $40 million, it still faced a loss of about $60 million, relying on future income from home video and TV broadcast rights to recover.

Learning from the lessons brought by Peter Guber and Jon Peters, Sony's headquarters had since become overly strict in its control over Sony Pictures.

Any slightly higher-budget film projects at Sony now required rigorous review from headquarters before they were approved, leading to a problematic situation where outsiders dictated to insiders. Consequently, aside from The Patriot, other major productions in development seemed to have a very unclear box office outlook.

When Sony purchased Columbia Pictures, the idea was originally to promote its own VCRs. But with the rapid proliferation of DVDs, that plan had become impractical, and some board members even began considering divesting from the film business altogether.

...

On a Sunday morning at Sony Pictures' headquarters in Culver City, Howard Stringer flipped through the script for Pirates of the Caribbean while Bill Mechanic sat across from him, detailing the current situation. "Yesterday, Williams personally met with the screenwriters and confirmed he values this script. By the afternoon, Warner Bros. reportedly increased their bid to $4 million, and several other studios have raised their offers, indicating the start of a bidding war."

Howard Stringer didn't look up and asked, "What about Men in Black?"

"Will Smith is currently filming Firefly's Enemy of the State, and the situation hasn't changed. As long as he and Tommy Lee Jones maintain their $20 million payout plus profit-sharing conditions, Firefly isn't planning to budge."

Howard Stringer's page-turning motion paused for a moment as he frowned. As CEO of Sony America, most of his authority revolved around Sony's film and music businesses.

Earlier this year, due to the impact of internet piracy on music, Sony's record division saw a severe drop in revenue and profits. Now, Sony Pictures was also mired in a quagmire, with whispers coming from headquarters about potentially selling off the studio. This left Howard Stringer's position at Sony increasingly unstable. If things continued this way, he might not only lose out on competing for the top non-Japanese CEO position, but might also find his current job at risk.

Given the rampant piracy in the music industry, turning around the record division's fortunes would be challenging in the short term. Howard Stringer felt he could do little but hope to bolster the film division.

The only viable project Sony Pictures had that could significantly boost company performance in the short term was the Men in Black series. However, the initiative was firmly in Firefly Group's hands.

Firefly was thriving, and even expectations of a temporary downturn during the summer season were proven wrong with blockbusters like The Day After Tomorrow. This led to surging success for films like The Ring, keeping Firefly at the forefront of North America's box office.

Eric Williams' new film, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Enemy of the State, and others...

Not to mention the blockbuster-level scale of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, and New Line's mid-budget films that boasted surprise hits like The Ring, Howard Stringer felt both envious and somewhat disheartened.

Compared to Firefly Group, Sony Pictures was falling significantly behind.

After carefully reviewing the script in his hands, Howard Stringer, though uninterested in pirate films, weighed his options for a moment, then quickly resolved to tell Bill Mechanic, "Bill, we have to do whatever it takes to secure this script. Contact them immediately and offer $5 million."

Bill Mechanic was slightly taken aback by Howard Stringer's command. Unlike the somewhat scattered Howard Stringer, he had been navigating Hollywood from day one and had a good grasp of the current script market there. He knew what it meant to offer $5 million for a single script.

In recent years, with more speculative international money flooding into the film industry, prices for top-tier Hollywood screenwriters had skyrocketed.

Without a doubt, Eric Williams was the highest-paid screenwriter, but his unique situation made his work priceless. Other studios outside of the Firefly system couldn't even access his scripts.

Following Eric, other major top-tier screenwriters also saw their prices soar. The average script price in Hollywood hovered around $100,000, but top-tier writers frequently sold their scripts for over a million dollars. Just three years prior, Shane Black's script had sold for more than $4 million, setting a record for the highest price paid for an original screenplay in Hollywood history.

Now, Howard Stringer's offer effectively reset the record for screenplay prices in Hollywood.

But even though a $5 million bid shattered the record, Bill Mechanic pragmatically pointed out, "Howard, honestly, our $5 million offer isn't guaranteed to land us this script. Warner's bid has already reached $4 million, which probably isn't their limit. Their bottom line might also be around $5 million. I believe that's likely the ceiling, considering this is just a screenplay. Going forward, the game will be about the other auxiliary conditions, such as budget, director selection, cast, or even marketing, which can influence the film's ultimate success -- and we don't have any advantages there."

Bill Mechanic's analysis made sense, and after a moment of silence, Howard Stringer made up his mind again. "Then let's go with $7 million."

Bill Mechanic gasped at that.

$7 million was seventy times the average screenplay price in Hollywood, enough for a small company to produce a decent low-budget film. A-list actors in Hollywood typically commanded around $7 million for non-sequel projects.

"Howard, that price is getting a bit... outrageous," Bill Mechanic initially intended to say "ridiculous," but changed his tone and added, "Furthermore, will headquarters even approve this?"

"Let's secure the script first, then we'll notify headquarters. I still have this degree of authority."

Internally, Howard Stringer felt uncertain about his own offer. However, he quickly resolved not to waver.

If he didn't turn around Sony Pictures' struggling situation, he might not even remain in power himself. Thus, he had to take the risk to keep developing big productions, aiming to seize a script approved by Eric Williams, which would greatly bolster their chances of success.

"But," Bill Mechanic paused, "this script is of interest to Eric Williams. Our high offer might upset Firefly's people quite a bit."

"Everyone is competing fairly. If Firefly isn't willing to pay up, they can't complain about our high offer." Howard Stringer recalled how Firefly had refused to greenlight a Men in Black sequel over a pay dispute, and his mood shifted, slamming the script onto the table, glaring at the hesitant Bill Mechanic, he emphasized, "Bill, you need to understand. If our situation here doesn't change, we both might lose our jobs."

Due to the stringent controls from Sony headquarters, coupled with Howard Stringer frequently overseeing operations and dictating orders, Bill Mechanic felt like the most underappreciated leader in Hollywood. If it weren't for Sony's lucrative salary offer, he would be unwilling to stay in that position any longer.

In all honesty, he didn't particularly care about losing his job. Sony's upper management couldn't pin the blame for Sony Pictures' dismal performance entirely on him, and as long as he didn't make any major mistakes, it would cost Sony a fortune in severance pay to break their contract with him.

He had given his warning where it mattered. With Howard Stringer's firm attitude, Bill Mechanic nodded. "Alright, I'll reach out to Ted Elliott and the others right away."

*****

https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.