American fame and fortune

Disney Studios, La La Land Studios.

Damien Chazelle sat at the long conference table, like a criminal about to go to court, nervously waiting for the verdict of his fate.

The conference room door opened and four people walked in.

Damien Chazelle knew the first two, one was the producer Louise Meyer whom he met last time, and the other was Hollywood superstar Martin Davis.

The two women at the back have never been seen before.

Louise introduced Martin, Mia and Mandy Moore and Damien Chazelle.

Martin said directly: "Director Chazelle, I saw the drummer short film you made. It's a very thoughtful film."

Damien had been looking for investment and asked directly: "Mr. Davis, are you willing to invest in this project? My original idea was to make a feature film, but I couldn't find the funds, so I had to make a short film and mail it to everyone. Big companies and film festival organizing committees…”

He glanced at Martin and knew that this was a rare opportunity: "$3 million, only $3 million, I can complete this film!"

Mia and Mandy Moore looked at Damien Chazelle curiously. They came here to interview the director of "La La Land". Why did it change to another film project?

Damien added: "I am willing to transfer the copyright of this project for $1..."

Martin raised his hand to interrupt him and asked, "Did you bring the script?"

Damien opened the bag and handed the script he had brought with him to Martin: "The script has been completed a long time ago."

Martin took the script and said to the three Louises: "You can talk to him about the rest, don't worry about me, let's get started."

Louise talked about having Damien shoot a segment based on La La Land first.

Martin's energy was completely focused on the script. "Whiplash" written on the cover of the script literally means whipping.

He read the first third of the film and then went straight to the end to see the ending. The script was very complete and the conflict in the story was mainly between the drummer student and the teacher.

After reading the script, Martin was absolutely certain that this would be the "Crackling Drummer" movie.

After Louise and the three of them finished interviewing Damien Charese and agreed on the filming of the footage, Martin returned the script to him.

Damien looked at Martin expectantly: "Mr. Davis, can we cooperate on this project?"

Martin glanced at his watch: "Wait here for a while, and someone will come over to talk to you about the copyright transfer of this project."

"Okay, I'll wait." Damien still didn't forget the most crucial thing: "There is a prerequisite for the copyright transfer, and I want to be the director."

He doesn't want to be a screenwriter with no status.

Martin nodded: "This is your story, of course you are the director."

Damien was relieved.

Davis Studio is diagonally opposite the Disney Studios, and it didn’t take long for Jessica to rush over.

After waiting for a while, Damien's agent also arrived.

The two parties have officially begun negotiations on the copyright of the "Explosive Drummer" project.

Martin, Louise and others left the conference room and discussed briefly.

Including screenwriter Mia, after the three people interviewed Damien Chazelle, they all believed that he was very suitable to be the director of "La La Land".

Mia said to Martin: "I have a very strange feeling that this young director's ideas are in perfect harmony with mine. His shooting concepts, opinions on the script and song and dance design are exactly what I want. "

Martin nodded slightly: "We will make a decision after he completes the filming."

Before noon, Jessica negotiated the transfer of the project with Damien's agent and bought the script rights for "The Exploding Drummer" for US$50,000.

Although Damien Chazelle said it was only a nominal fee of $1, his agent naturally included a later share of the fee in the negotiation.

Of course Jessica disagreed, and the script was eventually traded with a one-time buyout of the rights.

During lunch, Martin and Harris met quietly.

Depp was in urgent need of money and completed the deal with Harris as quickly as possible for a seaside villa in Malibu. The two parties are currently negotiating for a penthouse in the Columbia Building.

"The main thing is the price. They are too evil-minded and the asking price is too high." Harris said while eating: "The house with a market price of 18 million US dollars and a listing price of 16 million US dollars is not selling for 12 million US dollars less. It is too much."

Martin asked: "What's the minimum you think they can accept?"

Harris said: "According to the latest news, Depp has defaulted on the salaries of his staff and the legal fees of the contracted law firms. He is about to face Amber Heard's divorce and domestic violence lawsuit, which requires a large amount of compensation. This amount of money will help people around me respond to the lawsuit, and I am confident that I can reduce the transaction price to less than 10 million US dollars."

This is the person who turned Martin's idea of ​​selling stars into reality and earned full college tuition by selling stars in the sky. Martin believed in Harris' ability: "You can decide the details yourself."

Harris smiled and said: "We have already obtained the two-masted antique yacht. Now we can sell it for cash?"

"Sell slowly, don't be in a hurry." Martin recalled the news he had seen before and said: "Send someone to London, England, to contact JK Rowling. Before she wrote her new work behind closed doors last year, she was said to have expressed her disapproval of Depp's two-mast project. There was a lot of interest in antique yachts, but Depp had no idea of ​​selling the yacht at that time, and finally dropped the idea.”

Harris said: "I will send someone to the UK later."

Martin said: "This thing mainly depends on the taste. In the eyes of people who like it, price is not an issue."

It is said that with the super high income brought by the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling ranks among the top five richest women in the UK.

As Martin left the restaurant, he received a call from Saoirse Ronan.

"Teacher, do you have time tonight?" She knew that Elizabeth Olsen was not in Los Angeles and said directly: "You didn't come to my eighteenth birthday party, so I can only invite you alone."

Martin said: "If you have time, where should you go?"

"I'll send you the location later." Saoirse hung up the phone.

Not long after the meeting, Martin received a screenshot of an electronic map and found that it was not a restaurant, but a small villa area outside of Beverly Hills.

He texted back: "I'll arrive around six-thirty."

Bruce, who was driving, saw Martin hang up the phone and said, "While you were eating just now, I got news that several companies that were originally interested in cooperating with Depp on film projects have given up the idea."

Martin said: "This is normal. If it was just domestic violence and divorce, Depp would still have a crew that would use it, but he screwed up two films in succession, and the box office was still ridiculously low. Except for the film company with its head in the hole, Who would want to use Depp?"

Bruce said: "Depp cannot rely on salary income to escape the current economic crisis."

"That's good news, too," Martin said with a smile.

The more assets Depp sells, the more money he loses.

…………

Santa Monica, Lionsgate headquarters.

McCormick, the company's business president, glanced at his deputy Andrew and said to director David Cape: "You previously strongly recommended Johnny Depp to play the leading role. Judging from the current situation, this is not a good choice."

Lionsgate Films has launched a comedy project called "Aristocrat", and David Cape will serve as the director of the project.

Nowadays, if there is any production crew in Hollywood that is a little bit pursuing, who would still be willing to use Johnny Depp as the protagonist?

Not only was David Cape not unhappy at all, but he felt that he was lucky enough that Depp revealed these bad things before the crew actually came into contact with him.

He said: "If I insist on using Depp as the male protagonist, won't it mean that the film will actively hit a minefield?"

"Depp will not be used in any future Lionsgate film projects," McCormick said.

Andrew answered: "Boss, you made a wise decision!"

"Transcendence" has been withdrawn from North American theaters this week, with a total North American box office of 21.54 million US dollars.

"The Lone Ranger" had a bad start, and its box office performance was even worse. The box office of $30 million seemed to be close at hand, and the gap of several million dollars seemed within reach, but in fact it was far away, and it could not cross this threshold even in the lower reaches of North America. .

…………

Burbank, Warner Pictures.

Faced with the project "Black Mass" submitted by the famous producer Brian Oliver, Jon Berg, who is always full of creative genius, finally became an ordinary person for once.

That genius brain did not let itself go when faced with Depp's name.

Jon Berg looked at the names of the four candidates behind the leading actor, including Guy Pearce, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Bale and Johnny Depp, and typed directly on Depp. Liaocha told everyone in the conference room: "From now on, all Warner Pictures projects are not allowed to cooperate with Johnny Depp, even in supporting roles."

Assistant McDonald immediately took note of it.

Brian Oliver asked tentatively: "Should Christian Bale be used as the leading actor?"

"Bell?" Jon Berg also had a bad impression of Bell. The guy messed up "Pharaohs and Gods."

However, under Brian Oliver's persuasion, Jon Berg agreed to let Bale audition for the male lead in "Black Mass."

That afternoon, various divisions within Warner Bros., including Warner Pictures, Legendary Pictures, New Line Cinema, etc., reached an agreement that they would no longer cooperate with Johnny Depp.

Companies such as Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Sony Columbia have also reached the same tacit understanding.

For an actor who is riddled with scandals, is not popular with the public and the media, and whose commercial appeal is no longer there, one can imagine the outcome that awaits him.

These news are like having wings, flying out of various Hollywood production companies, flying into the ears of media reporters, and flying into Johnny Depp's home.

Hollywood has not blocked this statement, but it is tantamount to blocking Depp in disguise.

Many acoustic guitars collected by Johnny Depp were smashed into pieces of wood this night.

It is said that Johnny Depp, who overdosed on alcohol and drugs that night, was rushed to the hospital by his bodyguards.

But there are very few sympathizers. In the eyes of the media and the public, the loser Depp is not a fighter who fights tenaciously against alcohol addiction and drugs.

But drunkards and drug addicts.