Chapter-24 : Darkness under lamp

Finishing the Script <Matilda>, Ric made copies and send one to Drew while the rest to Ari for finding a possible studio to work with.

Richard's journey in Hollywood up until now was very smooth sailing but soon he will face his rough sea.

Its well known that Ric script is very valuable and also good, he even got two Oscars for it and the films made from this scripts also had great box office result.

But his appeal as an actor is more valuable to film studios then his script.

In-fact Matilda being the first script he wrote which was not for him. Top it off he overlooked a fact this is a kid movie with a child center not everyone is comfortable with other kids like with him.

So, when put forward a script, many came to take it even if it is a kid movie along with a condition of Drew being the main role but when they saw Ric is not staring in it, many took a back step.

This movement put not only the script in a hanging position but also Ari Emanuel in an Awkward position.

Ari Emanuel as the agent/manager of Ric, he is responsible for all the trivial things like contract negotiation, getting script for Ric which he either pacified or up to Ric's standard, determining the production company for Ric's or making sure he is getting a proper paycheck from film, books, endorsement etc. also the most important P.R works.

Ric liked a new script of a film named <Lucas> which he brought, but due low budget decided for the film, Ari along with the Director went to 20th century fox studio which is responsible for the production of this film to renegotiate.

Being a good actor with high professionalism and appeal is always attractive to movie production companies and if it is a child actor then, then its even more great to the point bring him in every child film possible.

But such actors also have high value and for this value low budget films hesitate to star them ,many even down right reject.

Such case can be seen in the case of Ric and <Lucas> film.

When fox heard Saltzer is going to star Ric, they down right rejected him, even before they can negotiate about budget.

It made Ari stumble in both side. And with the problem happening in both side, He have to chose which problem to fix first.

Richards acting career or script writing career.

This put Ari in dilemma, as both them are delicate, if not handled properly it will effect Ric image in the future.

Even though Ric is successful in Hollywood now, but as he is still a child actor its still is in foundation stage. Now everything is in a balance stage, and with each success right now is slowly tilting to his favor or increasing his value.

Hollywood is an interest driven place. More the weight in interest more they will come to you.

This favor or value can only be used to add as weight on interest when he finally shed his image as a child actor.

Any setback ether large or small can disrupt this progress and many future plans or progress will go waste just to fix it. Right now Ric can't afford a mistake.

But who made Ari Emanuel agent of Ric, even though he stumbled and was in a dilemma but he still found the way to fix this problem.

On the meeting room in 20th century Fox studio.

"I'm sorry Mr.Emanuel, it's not possible to let Richard play." said Robert Ellin a production manager responsible for this film.

"Why budget constraint." replied Ari

"Yes... unless He wants to act for low pay."

"Much much low."

"Maybe around 300,000- 500,000 USD. Of course we will give movie share of 5%"

"You must be joking..." laughed Ari

Before Ellin can say anything Ari continued,

"if that's the case, then Richard have given a proposal. That he will invest the additional budget even will take less share, including giving chance to the studio to cover for the cost first."

"Wow..Such good condition, but it's not just for acting right."

"Yes. exchange for the condition, share in the editing of both the film and script and responsible for shooting this film." said Ari while indicating the papers in front of him.

"Please wait for few days, I need to talk with the higher ups about this." replied Ellin after thinking for awhile.

"Of-course, I hope we can work together soon" said Ari while standing up and putting his hand font.

"Yes, of-course same here Mr.Emanuel." relied Ellin while also standing up and shaking Ari hand.

After the proposal was sent to the higher ups they discussed about it and finally gave the green light.

After receiving the green light, Ari and Ellin sat again for a renegotiation. After a lot of back and fort and multiple sittings finally it was completed.

After the renegotiation, the films budget increased to 12 million with Ric investing 6 million and 20th century fox investing 6 million, take 80% of the film's profit share with the priority of recovering their investment first and will produce the film <Matilda>.

While Ric got 15% of the film share with the final film and script editing rights and the rights of a producer.

And David Seltzer got 500,000 for the buyout prize of the script and 1 million for being the director with 5% profit share.

As for the script <Matilda> another set of discussion and negotiation took place where the budget was set for 20 million with the studio bearing 5 million taking 60% share with Ric investing 15 million taking 40% share of profit.

After everything finally set both the film finally step in the post-preparation stage like determining the crew's, auditioning for the roles , preparing the equipment.

As the film <Lucas> has already prepared everything except the role, it directly went for the audition process and likely to be finished by this month, resulting the film to start shooting by December.

On the other hand, <Matilda> only had her main role fixed, so the preparation will take time and the shooting will likely to be started by the end of January or mind of February next year.