America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz-Chapter 806 - 799 Cunning and Sly

With the nomination list announced, the clamor of Oscar PR had seemingly quieted on the surface, due to the outbreak of "Emailgate," the Movie Academy once again emphasized various bans.

According to the academy's regulations, promotions could continue after the announcement of the nomination list, but lobbying the judges was no longer allowed.

In the past, most people didn't take this seriously.

But this year was different; the various award-seeking production teams suddenly became much more disciplined.

The academy had been investigating Emailgate, and any further scheming at this time could easily lead to trouble.

In the office of Davis Studio, Bruce put down the entertainment newspaper in his hand.

Martin, who had been reading Director Finch's notes, looked up and seeing that Old Cloth didn't speak, asked, "No explosive Oscar news?"

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Bruce shook his head: "The news involving the Oscars has lacked interest since the announcement of the nomination list, remaining unremarkable throughout."

Martin couldn't help but laugh: "Old Cloth, we have made outstanding contributions to the Oscars!"

Bruce puzzled, didn't know what shocking and outrageous things this shameless bastard was going to say.

Martin said seriously: "Look, the Movie Academy is now strict on Oscar PR management, and each award-seeking production team consciously abides by the rules set by the academy, why?"

Bruce's mouth twitched: "Because of what we did?"

"Exactly, because of these good deeds we did!" Martin gave examples: "Over the past nearly twenty years, Harvey Weinstein continually dragged the Oscar PR moral bar lower, causing the Oscars to fall from the clouds to the dust, while we, in just three years, have made the Oscars soar again, forcing all production teams to pay attention to the academy's rules..."

Bruce sarcastically said: "The academy really should reward us properly, give us a special contribution award or a lifetime achievement award!"

Martin said: "I think it's necessary."

Bruce muttered to himself, wondering if according to this shameless rhetoric, had Martin, that bastard, genuinely awakened the academy's attention to the rules?

"Why don't I believe it?" Bruce first showed a doubtful and puzzled look, then suddenly realized: "Because I'm one of the actual participants, I know what you did."

Martin raised a finger and shook it: "Old Cloth, your realm is still too low; all the basest actions must be wrapped in a noble guise!"

Bruce sincerely suggested: "You should run for president of the actors' union! President of the Producers' Alliance would also do."

Martin, surprised: "Why?"

Bruce said: "You're shameless enough, Hollywood can't contain you."

The office door was knocked from outside at this moment, and Thomas pushed the door and came in, interrupting the two.

Martin pointed to the guest area: "Have a seat."

Thomas didn't go over but instead came straight to the front of the desk, placing a thick file envelope he was holding onto the desk and saying: "This is a script just sent over by DreamWorks, a Spielberg project. I brought it over as soon as I received it."

During the Oscar nominees' luncheon, Martin had a brief conversation with Spielberg about a collaboration, but it was mostly polite small talk; he didn't expect Spielberg to act so quickly.

He took the envelope, opened it, and inside was a script and related reports.

Obviously, a movie adapted from real events.

Martin first read the related reports, old newspapers from the 1960s, incidents that occurred during the Cold War,

The Cold War naturally couldn't avoid two immense entities.

In 1960, Gary Powers, an American spy pilot carrying a large amount of secret intelligence, was assigned a secret mission. However, his new type U-2 "Black Widow" reconnaissance plane was ultimately shot down over Soviet airspace, resulting in his capture.

At the same time, the U.S. Army also captured a Soviet spy named Abel, and both parties were interested in exchanging the captured individuals.

A lawyer named James Donovan was chosen to represent the U.S. side in negotiations with the Soviets.

Martin then looked at the script, where below "Bridge of Spies," the names of the screenwriters were indicated, the famous names of Ethan Coen and Joel Coen.

The renown Coen Brothers.

At that moment, Thomas said: "Spielberg's father, as an engineer, was stationed in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, so he's very interested in this kind of theme."

Martin nodded, opened the script to start reading, flipping through a dozen pages, and asked, "Doesn't seem quite right, does it? The first male lead, James Donovan, is a very old lawyer, not suitable for me."

Thomas said: "Your role is Gary Powers, the pilot. The first male lead, Spielberg has chosen his old partner, Tom Hanks, and DreamWorks agrees to a base salary of 20 million US dollars for you, and invites you to bring funding to join the production."

"A supporting male role, agreeing to a base salary of 20 million US dollars for me," Martin felt something was odd: "And they agree for me to bring capital to the production, with a lead actor whose fees are not lower than mine..."

He looked at Thomas: "Does that seem normal to you?"

Thomas said: "This is a Spielberg-directed project, his projects are always attractive and reliable..."

He hadn't even finished speaking when he realized himself: "Reliable is perhaps not quite right."

Martin thought of the business model exemplified by "Saving Private Ryan." Spielberg made a ton of money, Tom Hanks made a ton of money, and the producers made a ton of money. Then the production company lost money, while the investors didn't make a dime.

For this spy project, including himself, Hanks, and Spielberg, how much would the budget need to be? He feared that most of the actors' pay would have to come from backend participation.

As such, how much box office revenue was necessary for him to get his cut?

If it was $20 million base salary plus backend participation and he was bringing capital to the production, it meant he was financing the paychecks for himself... no, also for Hanks and Spielberg...

Were Spielberg and Tom Hanks known in Hollywood as honest men? On the surface, that certainly seemed the case.

But anyone who believed that would end up like the investors from the days of Private Ryan.

Martin didn't trust the two cunning old foxes, Spielberg and Tom Hanks, so he just closed the script and said to Thomas, "Call Spielberg tomorrow and turn down the invitation for me. Find a suitable reason."

Thomas was no stranger to handling such matters and said, "Okay, I'll make a trip to DreamWorks tomorrow and return the script."

Hollywood's Jewish power was formidable, and Martin wouldn't rashly come into conflict with them. Of course, he wouldn't foolishly step into a potential trap either.

It was common for the Jewish power in Hollywood to lay traps and skin others alive; one had to be cautious.

Thomas gathered the script and information, put them into a document bag, and quickly took his leave.

Martin continued reading Director Finch's director's notes, which contained Finch's handwritten notes from his years of directing and his accumulated experience.

If it weren't for Martin's ongoing collaboration and good personal relationship with David Finch, he would never have been able to borrow these notes.

In addition to Finch's, Martin also had some learning materials provided by Chad Stahelski.

However, Chad's materials leaned towards action.

True to outside assessments, Chad's level in directing drama scenes was mediocre at best, his real talent lying in action scenes.

Not long into his reading, Martin received a call from David Finch, asking if he was at the office.

Half an hour later, David Finch and Netflix's Head of Content, Greg Peters, entered the reception room.

After shaking hands with Martin, Peters said, "Thank you for 'The Seventh Son.'"

Martin replied with a smile, "Don't mention it, we're partners. It was just a phone call."

After the bank acquired the rights to "The Seventh Son" from the bankrupt Anna Purna Pictures, it was obvious they would sell the rights to recoup funds. At that time, Martin had Harris talk to them.

The bank refused to sell for $30 million US dollars and was preparing to spend money on widespread advertising instead.

Seeing no profit, Martin chose not to act as the middleman for a markup and instead called Netflix directly. Greg Peters eventually bought the rights to "The Seventh Son" for $38 million US dollars.

Although insiders knew this was one of a series of failed projects produced by Anna Purna Pictures and Megan Ellison, the general moviegoing public was largely unaware.

Thus, after Netflix's promotional packaging on their streaming website, it became a Netflix-exclusive $150 million US dollars fantasy epic.

The same work streamed on different sites would yield different effects.

It was like the big data movies Netflix had made in Martin's previous life, each with worse reviews than the last, but they repeatedly broke Netflix's streaming records.

To put it bluntly, those films were not made for the general public but for paying subscribers and potential paying customers.

"It's truly a shame you couldn't appear in 'House of Cards,'" Peters had always wanted to invite Martin to the show. "A partnership between you and David would have been explosive."

Martin replied, "My schedule has been too tight these past few years. We'll have opportunities to work together in the future."

Peters continued, "For David's Oscar campaign as Best Director, Netflix has invested $3.5 million US dollars to buy up a large amount of media space. The details are with David. You're more familiar with the Oscar campaign than I am, so I'll leave the operations to you."

Martin assured, "We'll definitely make good use of these resources."

David Finch added, "Martin is quite savvy with the Oscar campaign."

Martin smiled, "Nowadays, we just need to stick to the most conventional methods, maintaining good publicity and exposure."

Peters remarked, "Netflix is looking forward to good news from you guys."

Martin and David Finch didn't stand on ceremony.

Netflix was a business company, and it had its reasons for gathering media resources for an unrelated film.

After this year's Oscar ceremony, regardless of the outcome, David Finch was set to begin a comprehensive collaboration with Netflix, starting with the politically charged "House of Cards," which would receive substantial investment from Netflix.

For Netflix, there is a world of difference between partnering with a front-line Hollywood director like David Finch and an Oscar-winning Best Director like David Finch.

Of course, Netflix would prefer to work with an Oscar-winning Best Director like David Finch.

The three of them talked for a long time in the reception room, where they also discussed the new Justice League Universe plan launched by Warner Bros.

In the near future, DC and Warner were set to jointly convene a press conference.