Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 339 Actor Salary Records
At Universal Studios Hollywood, MPAA President Jack Valentine and Aaron are seen together in the "Back to the Future" science fiction themed area.

"Aaron, aren't you being too hasty? You're making too big of a move; this could mean the livelihoods of thousands of people!"

Jack Valentine's primary responsibility is to maintain the stability and sustainable development of Hollywood. Aaron's major overhaul of Universal has almost paralyzed the company.

Aaron crossed his arms and shook his head slightly. "The Japanese and those European capitalists have broken down Hollywood's salary structure."

"The losses at Columbia, Samsung, and Universal are staggering; look at Carlock, they've even filed for bankruptcy protection."

"It's obvious that this approach won't work. Global Times needs to break with the old ways and build anew!"

As he spoke, Aaron looked to the other side, at the "Jurassic Park" attraction that opened last year, which is also one of the most popular scenes in Universal Studios.

However, Jurassic Park is produced by Amblin Films, and the novel's author, Michael Crichton, and producer and director, Steven Spielberg, split the profits annually.

"Aaron, as you know, many projects undergo a long period of preparation, from producers and screenwriters to directors, taking anywhere from one to three years, or even ten years."

"Your decision could directly cause countless people's hard work to be wasted!"

Jack Valentine was frustrated, but there was nothing he could do.

Aaron smiled. "After Dawn Films merged with Universal Pictures, the number of projects has exceeded our distribution capacity."

"For many Universal projects, I simply withdrew my investment; the production can continue filming as long as they can find new investors."

"Shuguang isn't Panasonic; they can't just invest large sums of money without any scruples, can they?"

Moreover, Aaron was also dissatisfied with Sony's approach, as they provided Jim Carrey with a $2000 million salary for "The Hitman".

This set a terrible precedent, raising male stars' salaries to $2000 million, with even Sylvester Stallone earning $1750 million for "Lifeline".

Furthermore, Sony Pictures Entertainment offered Demi Moore $1250 million for the role in "Striptease".

This directly raised actresses' salaries to over $1000 million. Demi Moore, who filmed "Striptease" this year, became the first Hollywood actress to earn more than $1000 million.

After having lunch with Jack Valentine, Aaron returned to Dawn Studios headquarters in Burbank. Now that Dawn Studios and Universal Studios have merged, Dawn owns more than 30 sound stages!
Universal City’s headquarters were originally responsible for the management of the studio and Universal Studios, while its distribution headquarters were located at Rockefeller Center in New York.

But now, after Dawn acquired Universal, its headquarters are mainly located at Dawn Base in Burbank, plus Universal City Hollywood.

"Carlock filed for bankruptcy protection, and the filming rights to his company's 'Terminator' and 'First Blood' movies are the focus of contention among various parties;"

"Especially the Terminator series, director James Cameron and lead actor Arnold Schwarzenegger have both expressed interest in developing it."

"As for the sequels to First Blood, Stallone lost interest in subsequent sequels after the poor reception of First Blood 3 in 1988."

In the office, Etherine Beckett reported on her work to Aaron.

Aaron leaned back in his chair. "Terminator 3?" Forget it. James Cameron should be preparing Titanic right now. How could he have time to develop Terminator 3?
Carlock is ridiculous; his heavily over-budget film "Cutthroat Island" from last year hadn't even been released yet when he filed for bankruptcy protection.
Previously, Carlock had confidently brought in James Cameron to collaborate with Dawn on an adaptation of the Marvel comic book Spider-Man!

"What about MGM? Doesn't Skull have any interest in MGM? CAA can completely decide whether MGM stays or goes."

Aaron was a little doubtful. MGM-United Artists was at least well-known and had a solid foundation, right? The lion logo was worth a lot of money, and United Artists' flagship 007 series had also started filming a new sequel, "GoldenEye".

Moreover, senior executives at MGM-United Artists, including MGM Chairman and CEO Frank Marcuso, President Michael Marcus, and United Artists President John Calico, are all clients of CAA.
If Edgar Bronfman Jr. wanted to acquire MGM, CAA would facilitate the deal very smoothly.

Etherine Beckett shook her head. "I haven't heard anything yet, and Michael Ovitz of the CAA has been getting very close to Disney lately."

"Many newspapers speculate that it is not long before Michael Ovitz joins Disney as president at the invitation of Michael Eisner."

Aaron rubbed his eyes. "Forget about that for now. The main focus now is on completing the business restructuring and resource integration around the Dawn Sphere."

"We have a lot of works this year, so we'll try our best to avoid any problems."

Domestic and international distribution channels are the focus of this integration, especially since Universal is withdrawing from UIP (United International Pictures) and forming Dawn Universal International Pictures with Dawn International!

In addition, there's the music business. After MCA was reorganized into Universal Music, Aaron will also expand Universal Music overseas.

PolyGram, EMI, Warner, Sony, Universal, and Bertelsmann are the six major record labels in the world today.

Universal Music's main market is still North America, with a partial share in Western Europe, but it is not as successful in Asia and Latin America!

"By the way, boss, the budget for The Rock is $7500 million."

Etherine Beckett spoke up to remind him.

Aaron nodded. "Bad Boys has been in theaters for three weeks, and its North American box office has surpassed $5000 million. The film's reviews are also quite good."

"The scale and scenes of 'The Rock' are much larger than those of 'Bad Boys,' and the actors' fame is incomparable. With a budget of $7500 million, I believe Michael Bay will deliver a satisfactory result!"

"How's the progress of Roland Emmerich's 'Independence Day'?"

The budget for "Independence Day" was only $7500 million, the same as "The Rock," but it had a lot of special effects shots and couldn't afford any big-name stars.

"Keanu Reeves has been chosen as the male lead, and filming will begin soon!"

Aaron paused for a moment, "Keanu Reeves? His work in the last two years seems rather mediocre. Since *Speed*, he hasn't had any breakout films."

"He does have the potential to become an action actor."

Roland Emmerich chose Keanu Reeves for the lead role, and Aaron didn't object, after all, he's much more famous than Will Smith now!

(End of this chapter)