America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 408: Selling People by Pounds
In the lobby of WMA headquarters in Century City, Beverly Hills, many partners including Whitesell and Jim Witt gathered, waiting for today's protagonist, one of the company's most important actor clients - Martin Davis to appear.

In the lounge on one side of the hall, Thomas personally checked Martin's clothes and said, "Perfect."

There was a hint of gloom on Martin's face, as if he had a lot on his mind.

Thomas stepped back and said, "It's a bit heavy for me."

Martin's brows relaxed slightly, and the stern expression on his face relaxed a little: "How about this?"

"OK!" Thomas gestured and said, "Just right."

He turned around and asked, "Old Bull, what do you think?"

Bruce looked at it carefully: "Now is the right time."

"It's already 2008." Martin walked to the door. "I have to prepare for the promotion of The Dark Knight."

Thomas thought that his clients were definitely top-quality stars, and took the initiative to help the crew attract attention.

Martin and others were waiting inside the lounge.

Ari-Emanuel walked up to the makeshift stage in the hall, stood in front of the microphone and said: "At the beginning of 2008, WMA has reached a critical moment and reached an agreement with the company's most important customer to continue to work together."

He raised his voice: "There is a star who, in just four years, went from being a marginal actor to a first-tier star. His salary soared from $10 to $1500 million. Both practitioners in the industry and relevant critics believe that he is a representative of the younger generation of acting! He was nominated for an Oscar, achieved an artistic leap, and four of the films he starred in have grossed over million in North America. His appeal is unparalleled among the new generation!"

Ali pointed to the door of the lounge and said, "Please welcome Martin Davis!"

The audience burst into warm applause.

Martin walked out of the lounge door, waved to the crowd in the hall, and went on stage.

He took the microphone and said, "Thank you Ali for the compliment, you are exaggerating."

Having received enough benefits in the actual contract, Martin does not mind showing his sentimental side: "I have never thought about leaving WMA. WMA is the first agency I signed with, and Thomas Ryan is the first agent I signed with. He has been with me until today. I will continue to witness the glory with WMA."

Thomas was standing at the edge of the stage, the light falling on his head, reflecting brightly.

After hearing Martin's last words, he took a step forward, and the agent's responsibility naturally popped up in his mind: If Martin left WMA, it must be because of him, the agent, who interfered and provoked the relationship between Martin and WMA, and it had nothing to do with Martin himself.

CAA contacted him, and he used the pressure from CAA to force the company to agree to give Martin super-giant treatment.

In the eyes of the company and Ari-Emanuel, Thomas was a traitor to WMA during the negotiations.

But Thomas didn't care.

To this day, as long as Martin continues to work with him, he is the top agent in the industry.

On stage, in the presence of representatives of the Screen Actors Guild, Martin signed a new three-year agency contract with WMA.

After exchanging contracts, Martin and Ali shook hands tightly. After shaking hands, the latter opened his arms and hugged Martin tightly.

Ali asked with concern: "You are not in a good mental state?"

Martin nodded: "I encountered some psychological barriers, but it's no big problem."

"Don't ignore it," Ali reminded: "See a doctor immediately."

The signing ceremony, which boosted the morale of the entire company, ended here, and there was a celebratory cocktail party at noon.

Martin stepped off the stage and saw Thomas's almost reflective forehead. He went over to him, bumped fists with him, and said, "Congratulations, partner!"

Taking advantage of Martin's contract renewal, Thomas also got tangible benefits and became a partner of WMA.

Thomas just wanted to laugh, but he couldn't stop laughing as soon as he opened his mouth.

There is no way. I have gained so many practical benefits and I am in such a good mood that I can’t suppress it.

But Thomas was not confused. He knew where all this came from and said, "No matter what happens in the future, even if it means asking me to kill an enemy like Pete, I will do it as long as you tell me to!"

Martin couldn't help but shake his head and laughed: "We are all law-abiding citizens, why would we do such lousy things?"

Thomas said: "Pure metaphor."

Martin said, "Let's go to the hotel together."

Just outside WMA, Ari-Emmanuel spoke to reporters and announced the contract extension with Martin.

In the new agency contract, Martin's remuneration includes the online share, and the agency's commission has been reduced to 5%. In the detailed terms of offline income, WMA no longer extracts the agency's commission for the share category that is mandatory by the union. During the one-year window period of the film's offline market, Martin's agency share of offline income is 4%, and after the window period, it will decrease by 1% each year until it reaches zero.

These are the treatments only super giants can get.

The fact that WMA agreed to such terms was due to the tremendous pressure CAA put on them due to frequent contact with Thomas. The management, led by Ali, would never allow CAA to poach an important client they had cultivated and who had great potential to become a superstar.

Secondly, Martin’s own commercial appeal is strong enough.

"The Reader", which began its preview in November, has expanded its screenings from a single theater to large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.

In its first weekend in North America, thanks to the large number of seats in independent theaters, "The Reader" grossed $3.9 in a single theater over the weekend.

Later, the scale of screening was expanded. Although the film did not have strong commercial attributes, thanks to Martin's large group of fans and supporters, there were always audiences wearing red Coke Cult T-shirts, filling most of the seats in the theater.

Most importantly, this film is not particularly boring. It is worth spending a few dollars to see Martin's body in all key parts and the action scenes with the almost hairless Winslet.

The reputation of "The Reader" is very strong, especially among Martin's fans.

Many female fans saw the back and butt that looked like marble sculptures, and went crazy and gave good reviews and high ratings on the movie website.

As for the critics, films of this type naturally deserve an extra star in the eyes of film critics.

To date, after 12 weeks of previews, the film has received incredibly high reviews from both the audience and the media, with an average MTC media score of 85 and an IMDB average audience score of 8.4.

The good reputation, although due to the careful operation of the crew and Warner Bros., is also in line with the market and mainstream media.

Since 2008, the scale of screenings of "The Reader" in North America has expanded to 1566 theaters, with a cumulative North American box office of 5589 million US dollars.

When it comes to individual awards during award season, he is a trophy harvester.

Kate won eight Best Actress awards in various categories, and even Martin, who rarely showed up in person to canvass for votes, won five Best Actor trophies, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award.

Second only to Daniel Day-Lewis' nine.

Meanwhile, Martin has been shortlisted for the five-person nomination list for Best Actor by the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild.

He is also nominated for Best Actor in a Drama at the Golden Globe Awards to be presented in January.

If it weren't for Daniel Day-Lewis standing in the way, and Martin knowing that the old men in the academy liked Lewis to their core and that messing with him would cause endless trouble, he would have already made a full effort to compete for the Best Actor Oscar.

After attending the cocktail party at noon, Martin appeared at the latest celebration party of "The Reader" in the afternoon.

The so-called celebration party is naturally not for celebration, but to have a formal name to invite many celebrities in the circle to attend the banquet and further carry out publicity and public relations.

After all the social engagements, even someone like Martin felt mentally exhausted.

Finally found a chance to talk to Kate Winslet, who was trying hard to cheer herself up.

"After I came back, I met with Nicholson and Warren Beatty first. I have no hope of winning, just getting nominated is enough." Martin has a long-term vision, so he is not in a hurry, but Kate is different. He reminded her: "Blanchett has been snubbed by various preliminary awards and has not even been nominated by the Screen Actors Guild. There will be no threat. This year is your best chance."

"Thank you for helping me get Blanchett in advance." Kate was very grateful to Martin and thought that Martin and Nicholson got Blanchett just for her.

Martin didn't need to hide anything and said directly: "I have no hope of winning an award. My only hope of winning a major award lies with you. If you win the Best Actress award, the film will sell better. I signed a profit-sharing agreement. Whether you win the award or not will affect how much I earn."

"You're putting more pressure on me." Kate pinched her brows and said, "What will I do if I can't get it?"

Martin said viciously: "I will sell you to Africa, by the pound!"

Kate wondered: "Why by pound?"

Kate was too angry to talk to him.

Martin could easily arouse her interest: "Although Blanchett is gone, you should not be careless, especially be careful of the French."

Kate asked, "Marion Cotillard from La Vie en Rose?"

"Yes, it's her. Pay attention." In Martin's eyes and from the information he got from Warren Beatty, Kate surpassed Marion Cotillard in terms of qualifications, roles, performances, reputation and publicity, but he remembered that this woman seemed to have won an Oscar.

Kate nodded: "I'll keep an eye on her."

It is not uncommon for important Oscar awards to be upset in extremely unexpected ways.

"Don't let yourself be taken by surprise, because then no one will sympathize with you, they will only laugh at you." Martin, the bastard, kept motivating Kate to get more commissions: "Then the French may launch a new round of daily insults against the British."

(End of this chapter)