Chapter 124 Oscar

The next day, "The Hollywood Reporter" used a full four pages to publish the full text of "CAA Apocalypse: How the Brokerage Giants Formed". Eric neither cared about the $1,800 royalties nor wanted it. A false name, and more importantly, he could not explain the source of the detailed information in this article, so he sent it to the newspaper anonymously.

The publication of this article immediately caused a huge wave in Hollywood circles, and the limelight almost overshadowed the 61st Academy Awards to be held in a few days.

If most of the forces were still immersed in the thrill of smearing CAA before, they suddenly calmed down and focused on this "CAA Apocalypse". In the following days, the entire American media was boiling, reprinting this highly professional article one after another, and even a large number of papers on this article appeared following the trend.

After reading this article, the executives of other Hollywood brokerage companies found out why they couldn't stop the rise of CAA. The majority of film companies also fully understand why their production costs will rise again and again, and they are completely unable to reject this trend. Michael Ovitz saw this article almost as soon as the newspaper was published, frowned and spent half an hour reading the article. Even he himself couldn't help but stunned. The article was about the broker's business radius. 's discussion almost coincides with his recent thoughts, and it is a little bit ahead. It is precisely because of this idea that he tried to participate in the acquisition of Sony and Columbia some time ago.

But after taking the case, Ovitz immediately became so angry that he even had the idea of ​​killing someone. Because this article puts the business strategy that CAA relies on directly in front of all competitors, CAA's opponents can only speciously imitate CAA's bundling strategy before, and they are not clear about the complex operation process involved. And with this article as a reference, as long as those competitors are a little bit motivated, they will definitely make a series of reforms on themselves. Even if they cannot fully imitate the CAA model, they will no longer be unstoppable in the face of the expansion of CAA. force.

Unfortunately, although The Hollywood Reporter deliberately made a statement on the front page to find the author of the article, it did not receive any response.

Two days after the article was published, the CEO of WMA stated in public that if the author of the article is willing, WMA can pay 5% of the shares in exchange for the other party to join WMA as vice president. Although the scale of WMA is now surpassed by CAA, the other party is an old brokerage company with a history of more than 100 years. On the same day, someone came to WMA with the "manuscript" of "CAA Apocalypse", and the next thing was a farce.

Under this kind of storm, CAA changed again. After Tom Cruise and several other A-level stars left, Tom Hanks chose to change jobs again, and the object of the other party's job-hopping this time was neither WMA nor ICM are those large brokerage companies, but UTA (United Elite Brokerage Company), which is not revealed by Eric's personal holdings.

Moreover, Hanks didn't go alone. He didn't know what method he used to convince a CAA gold broker who had been in charge of his brokerage affairs to join him.

This has caused all kinds of speculations in the industry. CAA gold brokers are not so easy to be, most of them have to start from the most basic mail dispatchers and climb up step by step, up to several years or even In more than ten years, it is necessary to prove one's own strength and accumulate enough qualifications to become a gold broker with an annual salary of one million.

And once Hanks' agent leaves, he will directly give up all his previous qualifications. Even if he returns to CAA again in the future, even if he has the strength of any gold agent, he can only start from the bottom agent again. Climb up step by step.

Witnessed by Kapoor, Hanks himself, Hanks' agent Simon Wilson, and the staff of a famous notary in Los Angeles, Eric and Hanks secretly signed the contract that Eric promised. Of course, Hanks kindly didn't let Eric set up a $100 million bet fund. For Hanks' job-hopping.

The only thing CAA can do is to ask Hanks for a small amount of liquidated damages, as well as a share of the salary for "Dark War". After Hanks signed an actor contract with Firefly, Cruise learned about Hanks' remuneration conditions. As expected, Eric made a big concession on the split, and finally the day before the Oscar ceremony. , The two sides quickly signed a contract to join "Dark War" with a salary of $5 million and a 5% North American profit share. This condition fully meets Eric's expectations. "Dark War" has finally determined that April 5th is the launch date.

On March 29, after more than a month of preparations, the 61st Academy Awards ceremony was officially held at the Holy Citizen Auditorium in Los Angeles.

And Eric will also serve as the guest of honor for the best supporting actress this year. It is said that the organizers originally planned to invite Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, the newlyweds. Although Don Johnson is not very famous, But Melanie Griffith jumped directly to the position of first-line actress with "Working Girl" this year. It is a pity that Melanie Griffith is destined to be unable to compete with Eric. After Colombia contacted the Oscar organizer, the other party quickly gave up the Melanie Griffiths and chose to be more famous. of Eric.

"Eric, take a look for me again, is there any problem?" Virginia turned nervously towards Eric in the Lincoln car that was slowly driving towards the Oscar red carpet. The girl never dreamed that she would be able to Walking on the Oscar red carpet so quickly, her cheeks were slightly flushed with excitement.

Eric patted Virginia's little hand: "Okay, you are beautiful, Vicky, relax."

The girl was still not confident, she reached out and touched the finished hair lightly, remembered another thing, and asked, "Well... Eric, if "Tin Tin Soldier" wins, you really let me go up Receiving the award on behalf of someone else?"

"Of course," Eric nodded, "I don't want the first award I received on stage to be the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film."

John Lasseter, who was supposed to come to the awards ceremony, is now completely in a workaholic state because of Eric's investment and decentralization. He can't wait to live in Pixar's office, if not for Oscar's invitation letter sent to Richmond , John Lasseter almost forgot about the short film being nominated for an Oscar. But after getting the invitation letter, John Lassey called directly, saying that he was too busy to leave, and if he won the award, he would ask Eric to help him.

Eric didn't persuade much. In the future, Pixar animation will almost be the overlord of the Oscar animation awards, and this time is not bad. The reason why Pixar declared this award at the beginning was mainly in the hope that by winning the Oscar, it would bring more business to Pixar. At the same time, Eric didn't want the first trophy he got on the Oscar podium to be the best animated short at the Oscars, so he gave the opportunity to show his face to the girl next to him.

Just as he was talking, Lincoln stopped at the entrance of the Oscar red carpet, and he could hear the fans' calls from a distance.

Eric got out of the car first, and on the other side of the turning car, he stretched out his arm very gentlemanly, letting the girl hold him, and slowly walked to the red carpet under the prompt of the staff.

Maybe actresses are born to be red carpet creatures. Virginia, who was still very nervous in the car, walked on the red carpet and quickly relaxed, holding Eric's arm gently, following him step by step, from time to time. He waved at the crowd gently, showing a charming smile.

There are still seven or eight meters away from the fan area, and someone found Eric's figure, and then the shouting sounded, and there were several girls' courtship sounds like "Eric, I love you". Stars over the age of 30 are generally on the red carpet, and Eric's youth and handsomeness undoubtedly have a huge advantage.

In addition, the "Return to Seventeen" he participated in was not released not long ago, but he also has a large number of fans among the youth group. If it weren't for the staff to maintain order, maybe someone would rush to the red carpet directly. It's not that this kind of thing hasn't happened. Eric slowed down and nodded at the crowd with a decent smile on his face, and then a female voice screamed.

Before he knew it, he had a movie fan, Eric sighed slightly in his heart, and continued to walk forward, holding Virginia, the girl beside him was slightly disappointed, because no one called her name, she even noticed The hostility in the eyes of many fans in the audience, this emotion subsided in the media area in front.

"Eric, look here!"

"Here, here."

"Eric, Virginia, would you like to get closer?"

Compared with fans who only pay attention to their favorite stars, the interviewers in the media area easily recognized Virginia, but they had already heard that Virginia was about to participate in Firefly Investments, and Eric was in charge of the screenplay. of a movie.

Hollywood has developed to this day, and many things in the circle have become clear rules. If an unknown beautiful actress or even a handsome actor suddenly gets an important role in a movie, many people will subconsciously ask: She (he ) who have you slept with? These beautiful actresses or handsome men get a chance for no reason and must pay a price, and for them, they can't give anything but their bodies. And most people will not look down on these men and women, they will only envy their opportunities.

The eyes of the reporters were blazing with the fire of gossip, and they pressed the shutter frantically while urging Eric and Virginia to be as close as possible.

Finally passed through the media area, and when the ABC reporter caught Michelle Pfeiffer to interview, Eric took the girl directly to the waiting area for the stars.

"Hi, Mr. Williams, I'm Robert Downey Jr."

"Hello, Mr. Downey," Eric smiled and shook hands with the other party. He was about to compliment the other party's work, but he found that he didn't remember what masterpieces this young and bumpy movie star had in his early years. He glanced at the girl beside him: "This is Virginia Madsen."

Robert Downey Jr. shook hands with Virginia politely, and the other party was just here to get acquainted. He hoped that there would be opportunities for cooperation in the future, so he did not entangle too much, and chatted with Eric a few more words. leaving soon. Eric also took the initiative to start greeting the others.

Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Melanie Griffith, Patrick Swayze, Geena Davis, Bruce Willis and wife Day Mi Moore, Cher, Jane Fonda, Jodie Foster, Sigourney Weaver...

It was like passing through the crowd, chatting with these still young stars, and after a few minutes, after being reminded by the staff, everyone began to enter the venue.

I don't know what the organizers of this year's Oscars thought, and they didn't even arrange a host.

Entering the auditorium, after finding the location of the "Home Alone" crew and recognizing the place, Eric left his seat and walked backstage. Because he was awarded the best supporting actress as a guest was placed first. There are no strict rules on the order in which the Oscars are awarded. In many cases, in order to attract the attention of the audience, the organizers will take the lead in awarding the more important Best Supporting Actor or Best Supporting Actress.

"Hello, Eric, I'm Tom Sellick." Stepping into the backstage, a tall and strong middle-aged man approached him: "I'll lead you to the stage later."

Eric reached out and shook hands with the other party: "Thank you, Mr. Selik, I like your "Three Dads and One Baby" very much. I heard that this movie is going to be a sequel?"

"Three Dads and One Baby" was the annual box office champion in 1987. Most of this warm comedy was just lucky. Because in 1987 there were no famous movies for the whole year.

As for Tom Selick, Eric has only seen "Three Dads and One Baby", and he is more impressed by the image of Monica's 20-something boyfriend in "Friends".

After Eric plans to finish "Dark War," his TV series for Fox is "Friends." Although he has a deep memory of Tom Selick's image of Monica's boyfriend, Eric knows that he must choose a newcomer. Now Tom Selick's career is still in full swing. If he asks him to play in a TV series, he will not be spat The face is weird.

Tom Selick heard Eric mention his most proud work, and laughed: "Of course, but it won't be released until next year. Seriously, I don't want to bump into your movie."

After about ten minutes of singing and dancing, Eric took the award list envelope handed over by the staff and walked to the podium under the guidance of Tom Sellick.

The lines of all the guests were written by previous screenwriters, so when the audience saw the witty words of those stars on TV, they could not actually show their own speech ability.

"Wow," walking to the center of the stage, Eric held up the microphone and sighed: "Actually, after I received the invitation, I asked Alan Carr why, why did other people have female companions on stage to present awards, I But it's not fair to be alone! Allen stared at me for a long time before saying: Because you are too young!"

Eric said here, and winked at the audience in a cute way, making an innocent look.

The audience was silent for a second, and then there was a burst of laughter, followed by applause. In the past six months, although Eric has made a series of amazing achievements in Hollywood, there will always be people who take Eric's Age is a matter of fact, and achieving such a great achievement at the age of eighteen seems to have become a 'stain' in Eric's life. When people praise geniuses, they can't help but reject geniuses.

After saying a few more one-liners and making the audience laugh, Eric brought the topic back: "In any movie, when the hero and heroine show their acting skills, there is always a supporting role. And a good supporting role will make a movie even better, so let's see what movies are nominated for best supporting actress."

After Eric finished speaking, he made a gesture, and the movie clips nominated for Best Supporting Actress appeared on the big screen one after another, namely Sigourney Weaver and Joan Cusack of "Working Girl", "Dangerous Relationship" Michelle Pfeiffer, Geena Davis of The Unexpected Traveller and Francis McDormand of Mississippi Burning.

As far as Eric is concerned, he is least optimistic about Sigourney Weaver. The other party won the Golden Globe Award for the best female supporting role with "Working Girl" before. In comparison, Eric prefers Michelle Pfeiffer and Geena Davis, and he also believes that the winner should be one of the two.

After all the nominated films were introduced, Eric slowly opened the envelope and glanced at the name, which was not what he expected.

"Best Supporting Actress was Geena Davis for The Unexpected Traveler."

Amidst the applause, a red-haired girl over 1.8 meters tall stood up with her mouth covered in excitement. After hugging the others one by one, she walked onto the stage. The girl didn't rush to pick up the little golden man, but hugged Eric excitedly. Eric could only smile and pat the girl's back. Geena Davis was originally over 1.8 meters tall, and now she is still wearing high heels, which is a little taller than Eric. When the two embraced, Eric looked really 'small', and this scene could not help but cause A chuckle from the audience.

"Hey, Ms. Davis, can you let me go? Why do I feel like you're eating my tofu." Eric patted a few times and saw that the other party was still holding him, so he could only whisper in the girl's ear.

"Impatient little guy," Geena Davis said softly, and quickly let go of Eric, and ended up with the trophy, and began to speak.