Writing Web Novels In America-Chapter 270 - 275 Persuasion

Los Angeles, inside the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Tom looked at Wang Jian standing by the window and said with a smile, "NBC is promoting you vigorously, and Universal hopes to use this incident to make you a gimmick."

"They never imagined that you’d actually propose a Chinese-American actress as the lead."

"Wang," he picked up his glass and took a sip, "tell me, what do you want in order to agree to change the actor?"

Wang Jian was stunned for a moment and asked in confusion, "Haven’t we already signed a contract with Universal?"

"The author of ’Forrest Gump’ even promised to cooperate with the promotion, and wasn’t the critical article in the New York Times written by him too?"

"You’re not an actor who can’t leave Hollywood. You’re a writer," Tom said with a look of ’I understand you very well’, "but still, give me a baseline, so I can negotiate!"

This...

Since when had Tom become so ruthlessly calculating?

Wang Jian sat down on the sofa and said seriously, "I truly hope that Miss Liu Yuling can become the lead."

Unlike Tom, who focused on the interests of individual projects, Wang Jian paid more attention to the overall benefits.

After all, the website and the community of writers were his real points of interest.

Although Universal had positioned him as an advisor with significant power in the project announcement,

if everything were filmed as usual, the community of writers would inevitably think he had colluded with the producers for personal gain.

To avoid this situation, Wang Jian had already begun to prepare excuses to find faults with the production team to assert his presence.

However, he wasn’t very sure about the effectiveness of such actions.

But if he persisted and had Liu Yuling cast as the lead, the effect would undoubtedly be explosive.

A movie competing with ’Jerry Maguire’, starring Tom Cruise, during the same release window, led by a Chinese-American actress with no box office draw?

Damn...

Then Wang Jian’s reputation among the community of writers would surely be that of a representative who had artistic integrity and successfully forced the producers to compromise!

It’s just that... the movie would most likely be a box office failure.

But the one getting screwed over would be Little Bronfman, not himself!

"I just hope that the well-known rich third-generation doesn’t suddenly get too smart..." Wang Jian muttered to himself as he sipped his milk.

Ron Meyer, the current president of Universal, was making the same prayer.

Ever since Little Bronfman had invited him to be the president of Universal, he had been over the moon.

Having been immersed in Hollywood for many years, Ron Meyer felt he had finally reached the apex of this vanity fair.

But he hadn’t anticipated that this rich third-generation, unfamiliar with the unspoken rules of production, wouldn’t manage the company according to Hollywood conventions but rather copied his family business practices.

As president, he found himself supervised and hindered by multiple departments.

"Sets, props, location shooting, all have people in charge, so what use is a president like me?"

Ron Meyer, whose financial opportunities had been blocked, was, of course, very dissatisfied with all this.

Could he only use his power to manipulate the male and female actors?

His previous position was perfectly capable of that as well.

"This is what you get for insisting on using a writer as a chief consultant and granting him so much power!" Ron Meyer let out a long breath.

"So, messing up this time should mean a return to the normal track, granting the president more power, right?"

He held a fax in his hands and looked at it seriously.

"And furthermore, Viacom’s Woodward has already gone to Europe."

So, when the time comes, the troubled bestselling author will be the perfect scapegoat for the failure of the project.

Besides, one could gain the friendship of one of the great directors, the Coppola family.

Just look at the other three directors now, how proud and successful they are!

Spielberg has established DreamWorks, practically becoming the seventh major player.

Lucasfilm, with the Star Wars series and Industrial Light & Magic, has been raking in the cash.

’Truck Driver’ Cameron is in the midst of planning a staggeringly high-budget film.

Ron Meyer couldn’t believe that the Paramount Pictures executives, with whom he maintained good relations, hadn’t profited from it.

"If the project fails, let Little Bronfman face reality," Ron Meyer muttered to himself, "Then, team up with Francis Coppola to launch a film that reaps both box office success and critical acclaim."

"I could become the Emperor of Universal just like Eisner did!"

He pondered for a moment and picked up another stack of documents on the table.

Afterward, he went to the office of the busy Little Bronfman.

"Mr. Brown," Ron Meyer said respectfully, "this is the director candidate confirmed after discussions."

"Uh-huh," Little Bronfman grunted, taking the actor’s profile to look at.

"Sofia Coppola? A female director?"

"Yes, the daughter of Francis Coppola."

"This great director has promised to serve as the producer of the film."

"Moreover," Ron Meyer shrugged meaningfully, "this Sofia is Nicholas Cage’s cousin and is very popular among the Italian-American community."

Little Bronfman pondered for a moment, remembering the unity and box office draw of Hollywood’s Italian-Americans, and then nodded.

"Heh, trading the least for the strongest cast," he said, flipping through the documents. "Francis Coppola’s final cut is also reassuring."

But just a few minutes later, Little Bronfman showed an incredulous expression.

"Liu Yuling, a Chinese actress? You must be joking!"

"Er..." Ron Meyer’s expression became one of feigned difficulty, "This is the insistent choice of that bestselling author."

"Because of the attention from the writer’s community, I can’t directly reject his suggestion."

"But I can’t use my money to curry favor with the Writers Association of all people!" Little Bronfman shouted angrily, "With a female actress in this film, could we even make 1 million US dollars at the box office?"

"Actually..." Ron Meyer carefully chose his words, "it’s not necessarily doomed to failure."

"This is the anticipated reaction of the readers on the website where the novel is serialized."

"Over 70% of readers claim that no matter how it’s made, they will go watch it."

"Moreover, Wang Jian, due to his enthusiasm for the women’s movement, also has some influence among women."

"Since we were already prepared to give up this audience due to the limited subject matter,"

"However, if we switch to a female lead..." Ron Meyer furrowed his brow, "we might be able to attract some female viewers?"

"Considering the writer’s community, critics, and award judges, we might be able to utilize the ’Oscar effect.’"

Upon hearing this, Little Bronfman paused, taking over the material to look at it.

"Heh," Ron Meyer watched the famous third-generation wealthy man as he inwardly added, "But if the audience reviews are too low, no judge would dare to actually give the film an Oscar!"

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