Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 336 Is the World in Chaos?

New York, Manhattan, Rockefeller Center.

Aaron sat in his office chair at Universal Pictures, flipping through the project in his hands. He rubbed his eyes and muttered, "It's a complete mess!"

He casually tossed a script aside, "Spend $1750 million to get Sylvester Stallone to star in a disaster action movie?"

"This is utter nonsense!"

The screenplay "Lifeline," directed by Rob Cohen and starring Sylvester Stallone, tells the story of a former rescue team captain, played by Stallone, who risks his life to enter the tunnel and rescue people trapped inside after an explosion blocks the undersea tunnel connecting Manhattan and New Jersey.

"Boss, should we terminate this project as well?"

Etherine Beckett, who was standing nearby, inquired that the film "Urgent" was in pre-production and had a budget of $8000 million.
Sylvester Stallone's salary is $1750 million!

“Let’s quit this project. Stallone’s ‘The Specialist’ released last year received rave reviews, and now the plot of ‘Lifeline’ is even more chaotic.”

Aaron terminated the project without hesitation. As for the script, which had already cost several million dollars, he wondered if any film companies would take it on.

Director Rob Cohen is currently filming a fantasy adventure film called "Heart of Dragon" for Universal and is about to wrap up filming. Unexpectedly, his next movie is already in the works!
Then, Aaron presented another project: a screenplay titled "The Gas Chamber," adapted from the novel of the same name by author John Grisham.
John Grisham, who wrote novels such as *The Pelican Order* and *The Sugar Trap*, is undoubtedly a man of great talent.

Universal spent $400 million to acquire the adaptation rights to the novel "Gas Chambers," and also paid an additional $100 million to William Goldman to adapt it!
"The originally slated director, Ron Howard, has left to direct Disney's 'Ransom,' and the originally slated male lead, Brad Pitt, has also left."

"So, Universal brought in the relatively unknown James Foley to take over, and Chris O'Donnell was replaced as the male lead?"

Aaron shook his head again. "We've come this far, and you still want to force us to do something we're not ready for?"

"Let's put 'The Gas Chamber' on hold for now. John Grisham's novels can't be adapted by just any director. Let's find a new director!"

Etherine Beckett nodded. "Understood."

At the same time, I was secretly terrified, because the boss could decide the life or death of a movie with just a few words;

However, many projects take several years to prepare before they can be approved. What must those people be thinking when they receive news that Universal is terminating their projects?
"Alright, you can go now," Aaron said, waving his hand. Universal Pictures releases quite a few films every year.
There are various types, including self-produced, invested and distributed, etc.

Going forward, Aaron will definitely reduce the number of films he makes each year; quality will be more important than quantity!

This summer, Universal also has several big movies to be released, including Spielberg's Amblin Pictures' fantasy film "Casper".
The documentary film "Apollo 13" directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, and "Waterworld" starring Kevin Costner, among others.

With the successful conclusion of the 67th Academy Awards, unsurprisingly, Forrest Gump became the biggest winner of the night, winning six awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adaptation of the Original Story.
Pulp Fiction won the Best Original Screenplay award, and Legends of the Fall won Best Cinematography.

Aaron's highly anticipated film, The Shawshank Redemption, failed to make any money, but after a second screening, it grossed $2700 million!
In a Manhattan Upper East Side villa, Aaron rolled off Nicole Kidman and stroked her chest. "What, aren't we filming 'Heroic Journey'?"

Nicole Kidman, panting, looked at the man beside her. "I missed you. Aren't you happy that I came to see you?"

As she spoke, Nicole Kidman ruffled Aaron's hair. "You've been all the rage lately, everyone in Hollywood is talking about you!" "It's alright, anyway, Universal has a lot of problems, it'll take at least six months to a year to clean them up."

Aaron put his hands behind his head, lost in thought.

Nicole Kidman nestled against the man's chest, "At last night's Oscars, Dawn was the biggest winner again."

"However, the only downside is that there were protests at Universal City, outside the Burbank Dawn headquarters, and outside the Oscar Auditorium!"

Aaron frowned. "Whatever, they're just people who are going to be laid off, aren't they?"

With Dawn and Universal merging, layoffs in the film business are inevitable, and even Jesus couldn't stop it.

Nicole Kidman smiled. "I know you're not worried about these things, but there are a lot of differing opinions in the newspapers right now about your handling of Universal."

"You canceled several projects at Universal Studios all at once!"

Aaron scoffed, "They're just some money-losing projects. Dawn isn't Panasonic. Do you think I'd be fooled by these guys?"

Upon taking over Global, Aaron immediately swept up all of MCA's top management. Aaron wasn't worried at all about whether Global was in chaos.
There's no other reason than that Dawn is its own source of confidence. Global can stop all projects, and who dares to object?

Dawn was the number one film company in the North American box office market last year!
“I know you’re powerful,” Nicole Kidman said, rubbing against Aaron, “and now you’re getting more and more influential.”

"You've acquired Universal, one of the six major film studios. What are you going to do next?"

"Next? Dawn will definitely expand into television business," Aaron pondered, reaching out to caress the woman's delicate body.

Of course it's the television station! Time Warner originally wanted to sell its shares in TBS Broadcasting, but now there's news that Time Warner plans to directly acquire the TBS Group.
TBS owns CNN, which is the number one news network, surpassing the four major terrestrial broadcasting networks.

ABC is the second-ranked television network, and Disney is making a full-fledged acquisition of the Metropolitan/ABC Group.

Westinghouse Electric is in talks with Los Angeles to acquire the CBS broadcasting network!
NBC belongs to General Electric, the largest publicly traded company in the United States, while FOX, as the youngest, belongs to Fox Entertainment, a subsidiary of News Corporation.

Dawn currently owns only the AMC cable television network and 50% of the USA cable television network, but it does not have its own news channel.

A media group that doesn't have its own news television station can't be considered a top-tier media group!
"Do you want to learn from News Corporation? Mr. Murdoch is also heavily investing in television."

With that, Nicole Kidman crawled into the blankets.

“Hmm,” Aaron then closed his eyes, letting Nicole Kidman do as she pleased…

(End of this chapter)