Chapter 34

"Just here, Nancy."

After walking around in the three-bedroom hardcover apartment, Duke nodded in satisfaction, and said to the female agent, "Leave the rest to you first. I have another appointment."

He looked at his watch, waved his hand to Nancy Josephson, went out, took the elevator down to the first floor, started the car out of this luxurious neighborhood in North Hollywood, turned around two intersections, and drove Enter Laurel Valley Avenue not far from the community, park in the parking lot opposite the Bank of America, get off the car and cross the road, and walk into the arranged cafe.

"Here..."

Just opened the glass door of the cafe, a monotonous nasal voice came from the right. Duke turned his head and walked over, sat opposite Sofia Coppola, and said to the waiter who followed, "A cup of latte ,Thank you."

"You're late, Duke." Sophia took off the baseball cap on her head and revealed her long brown hair tied into a ponytail. "It's not like your style of doing things."

"Nancy helped me find an apartment, and it took a while."

With an apologetic gesture, Duke said to the puzzled Sophia again, "Nancy Josephson is my agent."

"I know her." Sophia is in △, Hollywood's contacts far exceed Duke, "icm founder Marvin Josephson's daughter, former entertainment industry lawyer."

"Are you planning to move out?" she asked again.

"Yes." Duke said thank you to the waiter who brought the coffee, and nodded to Sophia, "I can't always live with my mother."

Sophia did not continue to struggle with these issues, she stretched out a hand directly, "What about the second script you mentioned on the phone?"

"Here..." Duke opened his handbag and handed her the bound script script. "Although Nancy has invested in a number of companies, there is no news about the establishment of the project. If the project cannot be established, I will be very happy. It's hard to pay your salary."

"I believe in you."

Replied casually, Sophia's eyes fell on the script. She was aware of Hollywood's stringent project review process. Duke now has a North American film with a box office of over 100 million. As long as the creativity of the second work is not too bad, There are still great opportunities for investment.

She opened the script and only read the first few sentences, she knew that this should be a standard man action scene.

Time: dawn. Location: The sky is gloomy.

Long shot: Six soldiers walked into the cemetery carrying the coffin.

Camera transition: In front of the mirror, the silhouette of a smoking man. Smoke obscures his figure. In front of him is a photo of his wife and a blue Marine Corps dress. (Close-up shot) Medals hang on the dress.

Voice-over: Guns, explosions, cruel fighting, panic shouts-we can't hold it anymore, general...

Camera transition: (first viewing angle) surrounded by soldiers, the national flag covers the coffin.

Voiceover: General Hammer, we request an immediate retreat...

Camera transition: The man in front of the mirror stands up, solemnly wears a dog tag, and puts on a tuxedo. The chest of the tuxedo is covered with medals. He takes off the wedding ring, puts it in front of the photo of his wife, and puts his hat on his head.

Close-up: The eyes of the Marine Corps officer, their eyes gleaming!

Voiceover: Everything must stop

The camera fades in...

Location: Heavy rain.

General Hammer put flowers in front of his wife's grave and said: I miss you so much. There is something I must do... No matter what happens, please don't look down on me.

He took out a purple heart medal and placed it on the tombstone...

For more than an hour, Sophia barely raised her head. Frankly speaking, the script did not meet her aesthetics, especially the status of female characters in it, which is completely dispensable, but she has been on the crew of "Life and Death" after all. For more than two months, after understanding the nature of the guy opposite, he is simply a saboteur and explosive, writing such a script is in line with his style, isn't it?

"It's not enough for you to destroy Santa Monica..." She closed the script. "Next, we will destroy San Francisco?"

"If possible, I want to destroy the entire North America." Duke put down the coffee cup, "Of course it is in the movie."

"Explosions, fights, sensationalism with action scenes," Sophia returned the script to Duke. "This is really a typical Duke script."

"But," she added when Duke took over the script, "the role of General Hammer is very interesting."

"Thank you." Duke put away the script, "I think he will be the biggest highlight in the film."

"When will I start working?" Sophia seemed anxious.

"You just came back from Europe." Duke was a little puzzled. "Don't you need to rest for a while?"

"My expenses are relatively high. Sophia Coppola made a gesture that you understand, "So..."

"Well, we can sign the contract another day," Duke also needs an assistant to help himself with trivial matters, "you are working for me from now on."

He opened the handbag, took out a pile of documents, put them on the coffee table, and handed them to Sophia one by one. "This is the information of my lawyer and accountant. You communicate with them in time. Twentieth Century Fox and Lucas The film industry and part of my share has not been accounted for. This is Nancy's contact information. She is in charge of following up the script. We need to keep abreast of the developments. I don't particularly trust her. You have to pay attention. Also, in the last few days If you have time, go to the newspaper or the screenwriters association to post an advertisement. There are a few screenwriters. I have two script outline templates to fill in."

"I think I'm here to work as a film assistant for you?" Sophia frowned.

"Hey, dear." Duke said with an open hand, "now we don't have a movie project, don't you want to just take money and not do anything?"

"Okay." Sophia collected the information, then stared at Duke and said, "but you have to pay my salary for three months in advance."

For most of July, Duke has been waiting for it. The script entered the review process of several companies including Fox, Warner Bros., Touchstone Pictures, etc. The minimum production cost of 50 million US dollars that he marked at the back of the script would inevitably make These film companies treat it cautiously. Even if they have a film, the producer must conduct a risk assessment before approving the project. No one will recklessly decide on such a large investment project.

During the period, the role of Lucasfilm was played again. Under their continuous urging, 20th Century Fox soon paid the remaining funds of "Life and Death" in place, and Lucasfilm, which also made huge profits in this project Karma, did not default on the share owed to Duke and Mrs. Leah, and the money that belonged to them soon arrived.

As for the share of other film funds, when Lucasfilm will pay, we have to wait.

"Investing in movies is like gambling. Once you get hit, you get huge profits."

Sitting on the sofa in the living room, Mrs. Leah flipped through the financial statements sent by the accounting firm, and said to Duke, who was sitting opposite and looking through the information, "If you fail, you will lose..."

She shook her head.

In any case, as a mother, she successfully helped Duke, and Duke did not let her down, and backhanded her a large profit.

"Investing in movies is risky," Duke was in a good mood because all the shares were paid, and he rarely joked with his mother, "You need to be cautious when entering the industry."

"Duke, there is a Bentley in the garage." Mrs. Leah ignored his joke at all. "It belongs to you."

"Is this my reward?" Duke looked up.

"What else do you want?" Madam Leah looked at him with pride in her eyes, "Just ask."

"Mom..." Duke was a little embarrassed, scratching his head, and still bit his scalp, "Nancy called yesterday. My new movie has passed the initial review by Fox. Can you help me apply for a guarantee from the bank? Is it a loan?"

"Do you want to invest in your own movies?" Mrs. Leah raised her head and looked at Duke. "How much money do you need?"

"Three million to five million dollars..."

"I haven't moved most of the money imported by Lucasfilm." Mrs. Leah tapped her finger lightly. "Let's do it, 10 million dollars. Duke, I want 10% when you repay If you lose the income, you will return to Santa Feia to work and repay the debt."

"I understand, mother."

Well, business belongs to business, which is the Rosenberg's rule again.

Even though he thinks so, Duke doesn't understand why his mother reminds him that there is no free lunch in the world, and that he has to pay for something, and his mother is obviously helping him, don't watch him now have a successful movie. If you take a loan, hundreds of thousands of dollars will definitely be no problem. If this number is increased to seven digits, it will be quite difficult. Ten million dollars will be worthless.

Yes, he is very jealous. No one will be jealous of the income created by "Life and Death". As a director and screenwriter, he can only get more than 400,000 US dollars from this huge income. He must have an idea in his heart.

Through "Life and Death Speed", Duke has gained considerable training, accumulated a certain amount of experience, and has more confidence in the second movie, and this movie is also his best genre, bringing money into the game and sharing The idea of ​​benefiting from my own work naturally came into being.

Among them, the most difficult and most troublesome issue is funding. If you want to share enough income and have enough voice in future film production, this funding must not be a small amount.

Now, it is his own mother who helps him solve this problem.

According to Duke's idea, if possible, the film will still cooperate with Twentieth Century Fox. After all, the two sides have a successful foundation. It seems that Townsend Rothman also appreciates him. He borrowed 3 to 5 million from the bank. About US dollars, and then convert his director's salary into investment, so that he can occupy 6 to 8 million US dollars of investment, enough to give him a certain say.

As time entered the end of July, Nancy Josephson finally got good news. Twentieth Century Fox will start preliminary negotiations with Duke on the new movie-"Break into Death Island".