Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 445 Counterattack Methods

After returning to Los Angeles, the crew of "American Beauty" officially began filming. This is an American family movie, and all the shots will be filmed on location in Los Angeles. The filming locations are all set up in the city, which will be very convenient for filming.

As filming for "American Beauty" began, the North American summer movie season entered its most intense box office battle. This week, another blockbuster is being released: Warner Bros.' disaster film "Twister."

The film grossed $5402 million in its opening week across 2785 theaters, surpassing films such as Jurassic Park, The Rock, and Austin Powers to take the top spot at the box office.

The addition of this film has made the summer movie season extremely competitive, with many low-budget films, art films, and low-quality commercial films suffering even more dismal box office results.

Harvey Weinstein described the current film market as 'suffocating,' saying that with the strong blockade and monopoly of three blockbuster films, other films can barely breathe, and if this situation continues, they will only face certain death.

How much money do we have left in our accounts?

Harvey asked with a gloomy face.

"After allocating funds to the Velvet Goldmine project, we only had $800 million left in our production department's account, enough to invest in at most one more low-budget film."

Vice President Scott Greenstein replied.

"Only 800 million?!"

Harvey felt like vomiting blood when he heard that number.

Before 1992, $800 million might have been enough to fund two or three low-budget films, but with severe inflation, rising salaries for actors and crew, and a significant increase in the cost of making films, the value of $800 million diminished.

Furthermore, after Disney successfully acquired Miramax in 1993, it allocated $5 million to them to make movies. However, due to the strong performance of Guess Movies' films and the intense competition in the North American film market, Miramax's films suffered more losses than profits.

In less than five years, the $500 million was spent, and the company owed more than $200 million in debt to the bank.

If the company's performance doesn't improve, they will be kicked out by Disney and become homeless dogs.

"Harvey, don't worry, we'll find a way."

Scott Greenstein said.

Harvey sneered, "As long as Guess Movies exists, none of us will make any money, and the company's situation will only get worse."

“Hollywood film companies are all looking to partner with Guess Movies. We’ve worked with Guess Movies before, so we have a foundation for collaboration. Should we continue our partnership?” Scott Greenstein suggested.

Harvey shook his head. Miramax had collaborated with GuessGuess on two films in the past two years: Fight Club and Evita.

The previous film has just broken $3000 million at the North American box office, with a maximum of $4000 million. Based on this figure, guess what? The studio might break even with the film's videotape rights. However, without videotape sales revenue sharing, it would be very difficult for them to break even.

The second film cost $5500 million to produce, with Miramax investing $2000 million. He now suspects that this film is also a trap.

Unless "Evita" becomes a huge hit and he makes a fortune from the box office revenue, he will never work with GuessSee Pictures again.

"Damn Guessing Pictures, it's a cancer on our entire industry. If this damn company ever goes bankrupt, I'll thank God prostrate myself. Unfortunately, the company is getting stronger and stronger, and it's unlikely we'll see it go bankrupt anytime soon."

Harvey shook his head helplessly.

boom!
While the two were chatting, Bob Weinstein suddenly burst through the door and rushed in, holding a document in his hand.

"Bob, what are you doing?"

Harvey looked at his brother, whose face was filled with anxiety, with displeasure.

“Harvey, something’s happened. Qiu Luowena, whom you raped, has suddenly come forward and spoken out to multiple media outlets about being bullied by you. She also said she would use legal means to protect her rights and make sure you are punished as you deserve. This is an interview I just received from the editorial department of USA Today, and they are also preparing to report on it.”

Bob Weinstein handed him the documents in his hand.

Harvey tried to stand up but couldn't; he reached out with trembling hands to take the documents.

Claudia Weinstein was his former assistant, a British woman of Chinese descent who joined Weinstein's team in 1992 as his second assistant. Two months after she joined, she and Weinstein went to Italy to attend the Venice Film Festival.

One night, Harvey, overcome with lust, tried to force himself on her, claiming he had never slept with a Chinese woman before and wanted to give it a try.

Churovina fought back, escaped the room, and submitted her resignation after the Venice Film Festival, also reporting the incident to the police. However, the police refused to accept the case. Subsequently, Harvey arranged for more than ten lawyers to force Churovina to accept hush money and sign a contract guaranteeing she would not pursue the matter further.

After returning to England, Qiu Luoweina was unable to find a suitable job, and her life became very difficult. Last year, she returned to the United States to look for work, but she encountered many obstacles because of Harvey. Once, when she met Harvey, he smugly shouted at her, "You lost."

Qiu Luoweina was very angry and went to the media to make the matter public, hoping that Harvey would receive the punishment he deserved.

Harvey's face turned red with embarrassment and anger after reading the documents. He roared angrily, "Bitch! That damn bitch! She took my money and signed a confidentiality agreement, why did she dare to publish it? Bob, go find a lawyer, I'll make that bitch go broke."

Bob didn't move. "Harvey, I'm thinking about something else. It's very unusual for Qiu Luowena to come forward and accuse you at this time. She's just an ordinary person with no money or connections. It's impossible for her to contact so many media outlets. I suspect that someone is pushing this behind the scenes."

Harvey froze for a moment, then his face darkened further. "Link! It must have been Link who did it. He knows we're spreading rumors about him, so he's deliberately using this to threaten me. Heh heh, you damn bastard, you underestimate me. You think I'm afraid of you?"

“Harvey, don’t be too optimistic,” Bob Weinstein warned. “If Link is the mastermind behind this, it’s going to be very bad. Link has money and resources. If he uses this to deal with you, things will get very complicated.”

Harvey said dismissively, "It's been five years since this happened, and there's no evidence. If Link tries to use this method against me, he will never succeed."

Bob said, “Harvey, I’m not as optimistic as you. You said Link is a very smart man who likes to use tricks and schemes. If this was his doing, he wouldn’t only have Chulovina as a witness. Maybe he found other victims besides Chulovina. Harvey, I remember you’ve forced more than one woman.”

Upon hearing this, Harvey's expression suddenly changed.

He entered the entertainment industry in the 1970s and gradually made his fortune from the 1980s onwards, becoming a well-known producer and film company owner with a net worth of hundreds of millions of US dollars.

When he was still a nobody, he was very careful and didn't do many bad things. But after he became a big shot in the entertainment industry, he started to act recklessly and often sexually harassed actresses, female assistants, and even female producers. Sometimes he would use resources to exchange for favors, and sometimes he would directly force them.

Over the past decade, he has used this method to bully many women. If Link were to find all these women and accuse them in order to deal with him, he would probably have a hard time explaining himself.

"Damn Link, I've never offended you, why are you always picking on me?"

Harvey cursed angrily.

“Harvey, stop yelling. Time is of the essence. We need to think about how to handle this properly and prevent it from escalating.”

Bob reminded him.

Harvey gritted his teeth, trying to regain his composure. "What should we do? What's your opinion?"

Bob thought for a moment and offered a few suggestions. First, he contacted Qiu Luoweina and gave her some money to shut her up.

Harvey disagreed, stating that he had already paid the money, and according to the contract, Qiu Luoweina had breached the contract and should be the one to pay compensation.

Bob told him to calm down, that this was a critical moment, and if the victims weren't calmed down first, things would get much harder to handle later if things escalated.

Harvey reluctantly agreed.

In addition to keeping Qiu Luoweina calm, we also need to find a way to contact the other victims, promise them certain benefits, and ask them not to join in the commotion.

Bob also suggested that Harvey contact Link, take the initiative to admit his mistakes, and promise not to do anything against him or Guess Movies again. The two sides were partners before and had a good relationship, so they shouldn't make things too tense now. As long as Link is willing to back down, everything can be resolved.

Harvey disagreed as well. He didn't want to beg Link, nor did he think Link would give up easily.

Bob suggested that Michael Ovitz act as a mediator to try to ease tensions between the two sides, prevent the conflict from escalating, and ideally return to the state they were in when they collaborated on the film.

“Harvey, you should know that Link is a billionaire. Compared to him, we are just small fry. It is very unwise for a small fry to provoke a big shot. In the end, it will ruin you and our careers.”

Bob said earnestly.

Harvey accepted his offer with a sullen face.

However, when they contacted Michael Ovitz for help, Ovitz refused without hesitation, saying that he couldn't reach Link and couldn't act as a middleman. He said that if they offended Link, they should apologize to Link in person.

Harvey refused; he would never stoop to begging Link for forgiveness.

(End of this chapter)