Chapter 98: Tease

[Chapter 98: Tease]

"Eric Williams' Secret Meeting with the Two Toms Likely Discussing a New Film," read the headline on the front page of the Hollywood Reporter the next day, accompanied by a photo of Eric, Cruise, and Hanks walking out of Firefly Productions side by side.

In the photo, Eric wore a gray tracksuit, looking every bit like a high school student, which suited his age perfectly. Cruise donned a black casual jacket, unbuttoned, revealing a white T-shirt underneath, while Hanks was the only one dressed formally in a black suit and tie, looking the part of a businessman. After discussing the script for the better part of the morning, both stars had let their guard down and left without sunglasses, so their expressions were quite clear as they bantered and laughed on their way to the exit -- a snapshot captured by a fortunate paparazzo.

"Yesterday morning around eight o'clock, someone spotted the two stars, Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, arriving consecutively at the headquarters of the up-and-coming director Eric Williams at Firefly Productions. Our reporter received the tip and rushed to the scene, waiting for four hours until Eric Williams finally emerged with the two stars, surrounded by a crowd. Judging by their expressions in the photo, the meeting appeared to be quite enjoyable.

Although the trio did not stop to give interviews and hurriedly left in cars, insider sources indicated that the meeting was related to Eric Williams' upcoming film project.

Since making his debut as an actor and writer with the film 17 Again, Eric had seen meteoric success in Hollywood, with his first low-budget comedy, Home Alone, propelling him directly into the $100 million box office club. While many attributed the young man's success to mere luck, just four months later, his second romantic comedy, Pretty Woman, premiered, raking in nearly $30 million in its opening week and solidifying his reputation as a capable director.

In Home Alone, Eric managed to create a remarkable box office hit using a cast of television actors and a neighborhood boy. His next film starred Al Pacino, who, despite multiple Oscar nominations, had been out of the game for four years and lacked box office clout. Julia Roberts had only played minor roles in low-budget comedies before -- but Eric elevated both to the ranks of A-list Hollywood actors.

This time, the young director had chosen two of the hottest A-listers in Hollywood. There was no doubt that this next film would break box office records once again.

But even though the photos suggested a friendly collaboration, it was worth noting that Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks were both represented by the CAA agency, and it was well-known that Eric Williams had angered CAA's higher-ups earlier this year by acquiring a prominent Hollywood agent's agency. Rumors swirled that one executive was particularly frustrated with Eric, having previously attempted to block actor Richard Gere's collaboration with Eric during the casting of Pretty Woman, even going so far as to compensate Gere with a big-budget MGM film to keep him from working with Eric.

In light of this situation, it seemed unimaginable that Eric would have a smooth collaboration with the two Toms. Of course, both Cruise and Hanks had enough clout to ignore CAA's interference; after all, they were A-list Hollywood superstars, and even without CAA's backing, their careers would likely remain unscathed.

Furthermore, given the influence of Eric's first two films, it seemed very likely that his next project would take both stars' careers to new heights. Surely, in Hollywood, no actor would resist such temptation. The real question was whether CAA's executive would muster the courage to actively block this collaboration.

The previous incident had cost Richard Gere his chance at reclaiming A-list status. Based on the poor critical reception of his recent film, Road House, its box office prospects didn't look good, and it was hardly enough to 'compensate' Gere for passing on the lead role in Pretty Woman. How Cruise and Hanks would decide to proceed, and how CAA's executives would handle Eric's invitation, remained to be seen.

...

Eric chuckled ruefully as he tossed the paper onto his desk, fantasizing about taking out the editor who had written that article. With the current state of affairs, Michael Ovitz would only raise the offers for the two stars to express mild dissatisfaction, rather than aggressively block their collaboration like last time.

After all, UTA's rise to power had become unstoppable. No matter what kind of petty moves Michael Ovitz attempted, they would only backfire on him, and if word got out, he would be perceived as narrow-minded. The narrower someone's perspective, the more fearful and resentful they became of others' judgments.

Once contracts were signed and casting announced, hinting at it to a few media outlets would create a perception of reconciled relationships, no matter what backchannel squabbles still transpired -- it would benefit both CAA's and Eric's public images.

But now that the tabloids stirred the pot, if this collaboration went through successfully, Michael Ovitz's newly claimed title of "Hollywood's Most Powerful Person" would soon become a laughingstock.

...

As expected, the day after the Hollywood Reporter published that article, Eric received disheartening news.

"It's outrageous! A $6 million offer is reasonable, but they're asking for 20% of the North American profits after the film's release! I've been in Hollywood for years, and I've never heard of any actor making such outrageous demands. Eric, do you really have to work with Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks? Other agencies have top-tier actors as well! If it comes to it, you could play a role yourself -- direct, write, and act; that would create even more buzz!" Jeffrey stormed into Eric's office, clearly outraged after speaking with Cruise and Hanks's agents.

While Eric had braced for this, the conditions proposed by the two stars still caught him off guard. The trend of Hollywood stars demanding profit shares began with Tom Cruise. Eventually, the payment model of a salary plus profit share emerged, landing in the 10% to 20% range.

Profit shares, unlike box office splits, involved the production company taking their expected share and deducting production costs to calculate gross profit, then multiplying that by the actor's requested percentage. These shares could either come from global box office revenue or specifically North American revenue.

Although Cruise and Hanks's agents hadn't yet lost their minds by requesting global profit shares, asking for twenty percent of North American grosses was still exceptionally tough to secure even many years down the line. Only actors with immense box office draw, like Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean, Robert Downey Jr. for Iron Man role achieved the highest shares, or those willing to forgo their salary in exchange for a larger split.

Yet this payment trend had only recently emerged. Cruise himself had proposed this inspired idea while filming Rain Man the previous year. Because of Cruise's incredible box office appeal and the film's relatively low production costs, the studio felt that having Cruise onboard would ensure profitability, so they agreed to his outrageous demand, but only after he reduced his salary, accepting a mere 10% profit share instead.

*****

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