Chapter 6

More than 20 minutes later, after reading more than half of the script, Jonathan Friedman forced to stop reading. There are other jobs today, and this is not a good time to read the script.

And even though it's only half finished, Jonathan Friedman has determined that the quality of the play in the butterfly effect is absolutely as good as its creative story. If it can be shot, it will definitely become a very classic film.

Of course, with Jonathan Friedman's professional eye, the short board of the play is also very obvious.

First of all, the name "Butterfly Effect" seems too small. Most ordinary people still can't understand this professional theory term which was put forward in the 1970s, which will undoubtedly hinder many people's interest in films. However, just after Simon explained the meaning of the butterfly effect, Jonathan Friedman couldn't find another more appropriate name for a while, which can only be put on hold.

Secondly, the overall style of the story is too gloomy. Especially at the end of the story, the hero returns to his mother and strangles himself with an umbilical cord. When you think about it, it even makes you feel creepy.

However, the whole play just fits the style of his client's work.

In the course of his reading, Jonathan Friedman was still working on some ideas.

Due to the internal turmoil of wma, a large number of customers have left, and Jonathan Friedman has also been affected.

Brian De Palma, a well-known Hollywood director who has directed such films as "the witch Carrie" and "Scarface", has recently been invited to change jobs to CAA. According to the information he has received, CAA has even prepared a project as a meeting ceremony.

The reason why Brian De Palma didn't leave as easily as Al Pacino, Barbara Streisand and others is mainly due to the friendship cultivated through cooperation in recent years.

However, in recent years, Brian De Palma's two major films with an investment of more than 10 million dollars have all failed. As an agent, if he can't find a high-quality project with enough box office guarantee for the other party as soon as possible, Jonathan Friedman believes that he will soon lose this client.

Now, the butterfly effect is perfect.

Enough novel ideas, wonderful story scripts, but also Brian De Palma is the best type of thriller. Moreover, from the point of view of the story, the budget of the film is not too high, which undoubtedly makes it easier for the studio to set up a project.

All these advantages add up to Jonathan Friedman's view that the butterfly effect is not likely to fail, or even worse than Bryan De Palma's famous work Carrie.

Moreover, as a group play with rich roles, this film can be used to promote young artists in its own name. Since CAA can make a series of successful packaging projects, wma, whose overall strength is no less than CAA, has no reason not to copy each other's experience.

Now, low budget and low-risk "Butterfly Effect" can obviously be a good packaging project attempt.

After weighing all the details, Jonathan Friedman looked up at the young man opposite. Maybe it's a good choice to sign a screenwriter once in a while.

Making up his mind, Jonathan Friedman said again, "so, Simon, do you have any other scripts?"

Simon listened to Jonathan Friedman's voice and knew he was going to be worth the trip today.

However, since "Butterfly Effect" has attracted Jonathan Friedman's interest, he does not intend to immediately bring out another play, which will only distract the agent's attention in the script promotion process.

In fact, Simon originally planned to submit scripts every one to two months as long as he could find an agent.

Even so, in order to continue to increase his weight in Jonathan Friedman's mind, Simon confirmed: "yes, but the script is still improving, and it will take some time. It's a story about death, combined with some kind of fatalism in the East. In the Oriental view, they believe that if death confirms the date of a person's death, then the person will not escape the entanglement of death in any case. "

Jonathan Friedman asked politely, but Simon's words aroused his interest again.

But Simon didn't go on, and Jonathan Friedman stopped asking.

There will certainly be many opportunities for chatting in the future. Now we still need to solve the current problems.

"In that case, let's talk about signing the contract. Simon, since you have done so much preparatory work, you must know something about signing a contract with a brokerage company. What are your requirements first? "

Simon nodded and said, "first of all, I only write scripts that I am interested in, and I don't accept commissioned scripts or long-term employment. Therefore, I hope to sign a pure script agency contract."

Just listening to Simon's first request, Jonathan Friedman couldn't help shaking his head.Hollywood has only a few hundred original screenplays every year. If it only relies on original screenplays to make a living, more than 10000 members of the two major writers' unions on the East and west coasts of North America may starve to death. As a result, most of the screenwriters in Hollywood rely on various adaptation scripts, script doctors and other entrusted tasks, as well as the long-term employment of film and television production companies.

Simon's request at this time is tantamount to limiting his personal career to a very narrow scope.

He wanted to explain, but looking at the young face opposite him, Jonathan Friedman chose to give up the idea.

Since you are young and frivolous, it is better to experience more setbacks.

Simon could probably understand each other's thoughts from the change of Jonathan Friedman's expression, but without pause, he continued: "secondly, if conditions permit, I hope to try the work of film director, so I hope to retain some autonomy in my own script."

After all, Jonathan Friedman felt the corner of his eye jump, looked at Simon again, and finally said, "actually, Simon, I'm very curious about your age?"

Simon took out his wallet, handed over his driver's license and said, "Mr. Friedman, although I don't intend to hide this from you, I still feel that you need to avoid talking about my age with the top management of the film company in the process of promoting the script."

Jonathan Friedman took Simon's license and scanned the date of birth.

February 22, 1968.

Although he knew it, Jonathan couldn't help glancing at the date on the display screen of his desk. Today is June 19, 1986.

In other words, this little guy just turned 18 at the beginning of this year.

Some shook their heads and laughed speechlessly, handing their license back to Simon, and Jonathan Friedman said, "well, I'll try to ignore that next. However, Simon, you should know that most Hollywood directors get their first chance to direct films after they are 30 years old, so you are too... "

Before Jonathan Friedman could finish, Simon shook his head and interrupted, "you're wrong, Joe. Steven Spielberg is not, Martin Scorsese is not, George Lucas is not, and neither is Francis Ford Coppola. In that case, why should I be the mediocre majority? "

Jonathan Friedman was stunned.

Until many years later, Jonathan Friedman still clearly remembered the high spirited young man's loud words in his office one summer afternoon in 1986.

Steven Spielberg is not;

Martin Scorsese is not;

George Lucas is not;

neither is Francis Ford Coppola.

What's more, he didn't know that young people at that time had less than $100 left in their pockets. If they couldn't find a job to live for as soon as possible, they would probably have to sleep on the street.

It took a while for Jonathan Friedman to come back to his senses and continue to discuss signing with Simon.

Simon has left a deep impression on him in this meeting. Jonathan Friedman can't help but not put forward too harsh conditions for Simon to sign a new contract.

In fact, in the final analysis, the height that a screenwriter can reach in Hollywood is limited after all, and the income that a screenwriter can bring to an agent is irrelevant compared with that of Jonathan Friedman.

Jonathan Friedman instinctively felt that by giving the young man some convenience at this time, he might get unexpected gains in the future.

As a result, the two quickly agreed on the basic contract framework.

Pure script agency contract, the signing period is three years, the Commission is 10%. Simon has a certain degree of autonomy in his play. In short, if he is going to direct one of his plays himself, he doesn't have to prepare the project through an agent.

The details of the contract will not be so simple, so Simon needs to sign again tomorrow.

Finally, in order to ease Jonathan Friedman's fear, Simon offered to explain that his next goal was to make some ultra-low-cost experimental films as exercise.

It's about a 16mm camera, a few thousand dollars, two or three people.

Indeed, Jonathan Friedman was more willing to accept Simon's words, and offered to provide help as much as he could.

They had a good talk. When the meeting ended, it was already past 5:40.

He said goodbye to Jonathan Friedman, who personally took him to the door of his office. Simon turned around and found two men and a woman waiting in the outer lounge, both young people.

As the office door opened, the three people who were chatting stood up respectfully and looked at Simon, who had kept them waiting for more than an hour. The eyes of the two young men were obviously envious and alert. The girl with short black hair also looked at Simon curiously.Simon just nodded to the three. Although she felt that the girl with short hair was familiar, she walked out without much thought.

It was not until he left the wma headquarters that Simon remembered a name Jonathan Friedman had mentioned more than an hour ago that he realized that the girl with short hair should be Courtney Cox, the obsessive-compulsive Monica Geller in the famous friends.