Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 568 Reputation for Capital

"Stanley Kubrick, died so suddenly?"

In a townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Aaron leaned back on the sofa, holding a copy of The New York Times in his hand;
A significant portion of the text is about Stanley Kubrick's life and achievements.

In particular, Stanley Kubrick's posthumous work, "Eyes Wide Shut," will be released by Warner Bros. during the summer season!
Aaron certainly knew about the movie "Eyes Wide Shut," as it contained a lot of content that depicted the lives of America's wealthy elite circles.

The ugliness, darkness, and corruption of the upper class are appalling, and much of it cannot be made public. Stanley Kubrick's filming of "Eyes Wide Shut" was actually very daring.

“What a pity,” Aaron shook his head, sighing inwardly. In his mind, Stanley Kubrick was superior to Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and even James Cameron.

After all, Stanley Kubrick directed several different types of films, all of which have become classics in film history;
Lolita is an ethical drama, Dr. Strangelove is a dark comedy, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a philosophical science fiction, A Clockwork Orange is a thriller/crime, The Shining is a horror film, and Full Metal Jacket is a war film!

In Aaron's office at the Dawn Building, a low-budget horror movie from the internet caught his eye.

"The Blair Witch Project?" Aaron was taken aback when he saw the viral marketing campaign online. He had completely forgotten about this benchmark work of the low-budget, high-return series.

It looks like a mockumentary, and the distributor is the independent film company Artisan Pictures.

Aaron leaned back on the sofa and laughed. This was indeed the famous pioneer of mockumentary films, which was discovered by Artisan at the Sundance Film Festival this year, and they spent $110 million to acquire the work.

"The Blair Witch Project" was filmed by a few recent college graduates in less than 10 days with a handheld camera and a few tens of thousands of dollars!

The artisans put a lot of effort into their promotion, not only building a website but also connecting it with local horror legends.
With its offline road signs, fictional horror backdrops, and overwhelming viral marketing online, Artiz has indeed pioneered a new approach.

However, Aaron did know that "The Blair Witch Project" would be a huge success, but he certainly wasn't envious.

Dawn is now a large and established company, and it's unlikely they would risk their reputation to make money like this. As for Artisan, a small independent film company, it's not worth mentioning.

A moment later, Etherine Beckett entered Aaron's office. "Boss, this is Robert Zemeckis's new project, 'Behind the Lies,' a supernatural horror film."

Aaron paused for a moment, "Isn't Robert Zemeckis currently filming Tom Hanks' adventure film 'Cast Away'?"

As he spoke, he even took the time to look through the "Behind the Lies" project in his hand.

Etherine Beckett shrugged. "The next scene in *Cast Away* is the male lead being alone on the island."

"The director wanted to wait for Tom Hanks to lose weight and become more suitable, so he led the original production team to create the 'Behind the Lies' project!"

Aaron sighed, almost forgetting that Robert Zemeckis had indeed arranged it that way.

The $9000 million budget for "Cast Away" was mainly due to the high salaries of the director and the male lead.
This film, "Behind the Lies," also has a budget of $1 million, and Robert Zemeckis has his eye on Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer for the lead roles!
"Hmm, this project is good. Why didn't they cast Jodie Foster as the female lead?"

Aaron thought "Behind the Lies" was going for a big-star strategy, but it also required solid acting skills. Ethelyn Beckett shrugged, "Jodie Foster is filming 'Anna and the King' in Southeast Asia."

"Robert Zemeckis originally intended to work with Harrison Ford and Jodie Foster!"

Aaron nodded. Indeed, Jodie Foster and Chinese-American actor Chow Yun-fat were filming "Anna and the King".

How is the preparation for "Erin Brockovich" going?

"We are currently preparing the production team, and filming is expected to begin in San Francisco in July!"

"What about Spider-Man? Has the progress been affected?"

"No, the accident has been dealt with. The families of the injured and deceased workers have been compensated, and the court has fined Universal $59000 on safety grounds."

That evening, Aaron and Kate Beckinsale were hanging out at a bar in Midtown Manhattan. Seeing each other's MP3 players, Aaron sighed and said, "The availability of free music downloads is causing our record company sales to decline even more severely!"

Kate Beckinsale shook her head. "I just take this with me when I go out. At home, I'll definitely be listening to vinyl records."

Aaron smiled. "The main focus is still on CDs, but we can't ignore the impact of the future development of internet music on physical records."

"Universal's recent newcomer, Britney Spears, is quite impressive. Her debut album topped the charts for six weeks. Madonna Ciccone has a successor!"

With the rise of free music, the business of major record companies is shrinking. Warner, PolyGram, EMI, Sony, and Universal are all facing this problem.

Internet copyright issues are now also a key focus of the MPAA.

“Looks like you have a lot on your mind too,” Kate Beckinsale kissed Aaron. “I’m going back to England first, and then I’m getting ready to go to Morocco in Africa with the Mummy 2 crew!”

Aaron pulled Kate Beckinsale into his arms, feeling the woman's hot body, and whispered in her ear, "You know what? I have this image in my mind of you wearing a sexy, tight-fitting leather bodysuit, slaughtering monsters."

Kate Beckinsale was both amused and exasperated, saying, "I certainly didn't do that in 'The Mummy,' did I?"

Aaron shook his head. Of course, he wasn't talking about "The Mummy," but rather the visually stunning "Underworld" series from the future.
Aaron is determined to finish the script for "Underworld" as soon as possible and also create a logical background universe.

After all, Dawn missed out on the adaptation rights for Resident Evil. Aaron had someone contact Capcom when the Resident Evil game was first released, but Constantin had already negotiated the adaptation rights while Capcom was still making the game.

However, Aaron has already brought Twilight Studios and Constantin Studios into contact. If the two parties are to jointly develop a project targeting the global market, there is no one more professional than Hollywood!

(End of this chapter)