Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 383 If we don't act a little arrogantly, wouldn't it be a waste of this great situation?
……

Whether in the industry or in the eyes of the general public,
People are not very optimistic about China Film Group's idea of ​​creating a Spring Festival film season.

Gu Bei was also implicated.

But for Gu Bei, these domestic upheavals were merely ripples.

After all, compared to the booming Weibo, Tianya is a withered tree that is constantly aging.

His real crisis,
But it started to take off in North America!

In an interview, director and screenwriter John Carney said
He claimed that La La Land plagiarized his script, which he was currently writing.
Gu Bei initially thought this was just a case of staged accident.

Whenever a film achieves commercial success, many people emerge to try and steal the fruits of that success.
Just like Cameron's former friend Moraski, who is now constantly giving interviews claiming that he showed Cameron his script for "Guardians of Eden" in 1991, which included a plot similar to "mining companies destroying the rainforest" in Avatar, and that he is already preparing to file a lawsuit.

But only a few days later
John Carney then filed a lawsuit against Gu Bei directly.
Because copyright infringement lawsuits are federal cases,
Therefore, John chose to file a lawsuit against Gu Bei in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles.

Their speed of action is astonishing!
To know,
Legal fees in North America are quite expensive.

After Kevin Spacey, the Oscar-winning actor from House of Cards, was targeted by the MeToo movement, this A-list actor nearly went bankrupt due to his legal battles.

Therefore,
Typical cases of staged accidents involving insurance fraud are usually limited to media hype, like the one involving Moraski.

After much verbal sparring and careful consideration, they will take the risk of filing a lawsuit, hoping to turn their bicycle into a motorcycle.

John Carney's decisive choice to pursue litigation has led many to believe him, given that anyone in North America knows how expensive legal fees can be.

Warner Bros. Studio 9.

"The stunt performers should try again. Not every actor who auditions today has sufficient experience with wire work, so we must ensure they don't get injured!"

Gu Bei is communicating with the special effects team. There are a lot of live-action shots in Spider-Man, but it's impossible to shoot them all live. This studio will be the filming location for all the special effects shots in the future, as well as the audition location for Spider-Man actors.

at this time,

Assistant director Antonio came over to remind Gu Bei, "Bruce, Mr. Michael Barker from Sony Classics is here."

"Okay, I'm coming."

Gu Bei nodded somewhat helplessly, put down his work, and walked out.

“Bruce, I was with you in Sundance those days, and I can say with absolute certainty that guy was talking complete nonsense!”

Antonio, Gu Bei's right-hand man who started as a sound engineer, said indignantly, "I believe you absolutely could not have plagiarized!"

Gu Bei suddenly stopped, a faint smile on his face: "Antonio, you're not with me every single moment!"

"what?"

Antonio stared at Gu Bei, bewildered.

He quickly realized that Gu Bei was joking and said helplessly, "Bruce, sometimes your sense of humor is really out of place. I can't understand why you can still be so calm at a time like this?"

"I can't understand it either!"

Michael came up to greet them, his sparse hair swaying anxiously back and forth with his brisk strides.

Amy Pascal waved to Gu Bei from the side; without her, Michael wouldn't have been able to get onto the set so easily.

"The matter is actually very simple. Harvey Weinstein just didn't want me to win the award, so he supported John Carney in suing me."

This matter will fade away after the Oscars.

Now that we know the result, there's nothing to rush about.

Gu Bei said lightly.

At first, Gu Bei couldn't understand why John Carney was so certain that he had plagiarized him.
According to the documents John submitted to the court,

Gu Bei and John did indeed cross paths several times in 2007.
Both Gu Bei's "The Sound Engineer" and John's "Once Upon a Time" participated in the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Gu Bei won the Jury Prize for Short Film, while John won the Audience Choice Award for World Feature Film.

Subsequently, Gu Bei and Summit Entertainment collaborated to officially begin developing the Twilight series.
John's former global distribution rights were acquired by Summit Entertainment.

The last time the two crossed paths was at the 80th Academy Awards, where Zeng Jing's "Falling Slowly" beat Gu Bei's "Love Story" to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.

It sounds like the two of them do have a lot in common.
Furthermore, the script elements also share many similarities.
Both are about dreams and reality, both are chance encounters in a metropolis.
However... Gu Bei had absolutely no recollection of John.
His only memory of that film was the farce of the male and female leads, who were also composers, going on stage to receive an award. The male lead's acceptance speech went on for so long that the female lead only had two sentences. In the end, she was invited back by the host after all the awards were given out to give her acceptance speech again.

Until Gu Bei was in the treasure trove of entertainment,

When I was preparing to watch the other person's film, "Meeting in New York Again," once again...
The opening second of the movie features a 'Weinstein Company' logo.

The culprit has now been identified.
Throwing mud at Harvey is an old trick of his!

"Bruce, you need to be careful!"

Seeing Gu Bei's calm demeanor, Michael said with a hint of disappointment, "Many people in the academy are unwilling to vote for someone who is controversial."

After all, if the award is later proven to be plagiarism, it would be a huge blow to the college's reputation!

And now that the news has made such a big fuss...

It's obvious they're aiming for the Directors Guild Awards next week!

"I know!"

Gu Bei nodded after hearing this.

Harvey's choice of timing was very clever.
It happened some time before the Directors Guild Awards.
It's obvious they want to win the Directors Guild Award to maximize their influence with minimal cost.

If Gu Bei loses the Directors Guild Award, even winning the British Academy Film Award, which combines the three major indicators, will probably be of no use.

“I have Harvey Weinstein’s phone number, if you need to call him and say something,” Amy Pascal said, standing to the side.

Gu Bei was about to refuse.
Subsequently,

But then he suddenly thought of something: "It's not impossible."

A hint of surprise flashed in Amy's eyes, then she handed her phone to Gu Bei and watched him do the next thing with a smile.

Michael said anxiously, "Bruce, you don't need to go this far. Harvey is a complete bastard!"

Antonio also advised, "Bruce, we certainly have other ways. There's no need to apologize to Harvey!"

Who said that my making a phone call is an apology?
Gu Bei looked at the two of them with a puzzled expression.

Subsequently,

He pressed the dial button.

……

Weinstein Co.

"Hahaha!" Harvey looked at the newspaper in his hand. Many media outlets had already begun reporting on the plagiarism incident. John Carney's direct lawsuit made the plagiarism incident seem much more real.

I thought of John Carney.
A look of disdain appeared on Harvey's face.

This person genuinely believes that La La Land plagiarized his script.
But he doesn't seem to realize that all those plot points he's so proud of have appeared in classic Hollywood films.
La La Land pays homage to so many classic works, yet it abandons those classic works and has its own unique core. How could such a slight similarity constitute plagiarism?

but,

As long as it can be used by him, that's fine.
Harvey looked at Gu Bei's photo in the newspaper, which was labeled as a 'plagiarist,' and muttered to himself with a smile, "Let's see if you have any other ideas."
Even if he's Hollywood's golden boy, this year he'll fall into my hands, Harvey's!

The difficulty in this matter lies in the sudden information gap.

If Gu Bei were to clarify immediately, it would only fuel the plagiarism controversy. Harvey only needs to stir things up a little to make Gu Bei's stain grow larger and larger.

Unless the lawsuit is over, Gu Bei's stain cannot be washed away.

If Gu Bei doesn't clarify and handle the situation calmly...
Harvey then attacked Gu Bei for being guilty.
Once you win the Directors Guild Award, everything that follows will fall like dominoes.

After all, the majority of Oscar voters are older white men, and they don't want their vote for Best Director to be a plagiarist. The older they get, the more they fear plagiarism, and Harvey took advantage of this conservative mentality among the older generation!

Jingle Bell!
Harvey answered the internal call.
All that could be heard on the other end of the phone was the secretary's voice: "Mr. Weinstein, it's Ms. Pascal, president of Sony Pictures, calling, but... the person speaking is Bruce Gou."

Are they here to beg for mercy?

A victorious smile spread across Harvey's fat, bald face.

Gu Bei using Pascal's phone wasn't surprising to him. After all, Gu Bei was currently working hard on the Spider-Man series. It seemed that Sony Pictures didn't want the creative lead of their flagship IP, Spider-Man, to be a plagiarist.
"Please bring it in!"

Harvey said smugly.

Subsequently,

He then heard Gu Bei's voice: "Harvey?"

"Yes, it's me!"

F*ck you!

When Gu Bei's clear and distinct Northern American swear words came out, Harvey was slightly taken aback, and for a moment he doubted that he had misheard, but he did not want to doubt that Gu Bei would dare to do such a thing.

Immediately,

A surge of anger rose within him.

How...how dare you?

Before he could speak, a dial tone came from the phone.

"F*ck!!!"

The secretary at the door heard a loud curse coming from Harvey's office, accompanied by the sound of things breaking, which made her tremble with fear, afraid that Harvey would call her in.

……

Warner Bros. Studio 9.

"Comfortable!"

Gu Bei returned the phone to Amy Pascal.

Sure enough, this direct confrontation approach suits me best.

Subsequently,

Seeing Michael and Antonio standing there dumbfounded, he laughed and said, "You guys don't really think I'd let that bastard Harvey bully me, do you?"

"But..."

Even though Antonio was already very familiar with Gu Bei's personality,

But no one expected that Gu Bei would dare to treat Harvey Weinstein like this. He was Harvey Weinstein, the king of Hollywood independent films!
Gu Bei smiled and looked at Amy: "I still have to thank Ms. Pascal for her support!"

"You're welcome!"

Amy waved her hand dismissively, "Neither Brad Grey of Paramount nor I want this matter to affect the two film series!"

Harvey is indeed a powerful figure in the independent film industry; even top actresses might have to lower their heads to win awards.

But this is not the last century anymore. There are many players in the independent film industry now, and it is no longer a situation where Harvey Weasley has the sole dominant player.

not to mention,
Gu Bei carries the weight of the Spider-Man and Mission: Impossible series on his shoulders, both of which are prized assets of Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures.
The six films preceding the two series grossed a combined total of nearly five billion US dollars, more than any project Harvey Weinstein had ever handled in his entire career.

Outside of the independent film scene, Harvey's achievements in commercial films are not as good as Rose Pictures'!

What's more, it's like running into two of the six major Hollywood studios at the same time?
Gu Bei also understood Amy's subtext.
Even without any backing, he dared to be completely disrespectful to Harvey.
With Sony and Paramount standing behind them now, wouldn't it be a waste of this great situation if they didn't act arrogantly?
Seeing Amy Pascal's attitude, Antonio immediately understood that he had it all figured out!

Michael hesitated for a moment: "Bruce, even Sony can't help you dispel the judges' concerns, can he?"

"Michael, don't worry!"

Gu Bei said with a smile, "The interview I arranged with the New York Times should be out tomorrow. At that time, the truth will be clear!"

"The New York Times?"

Upon hearing this, Michael immediately felt a sense of relief.

Because of the lifetime tenure system, a high percentage of white male Oscar voters are older.

The New York Times is arguably the most popular newspaper among older white men, and it's even a must-have for public relations campaigns during awards season.

Gu Bei has maintained a good relationship with The New York Times since he started publishing Star Fortune, which is why he was able to have such a crucial interview at this critical time.

Even without the support of Sony and Paramount, Gu Bei had long been prepared to fight back!

"It's almost time, I think we should go see our actors!"

Gu Bei glanced at the time.
It was time for Peter Parker's audition.

Michael left the set.
Gu Bei arrived at the audition venue with Amy and met the six male actors who had come to audition.

These six men can be considered the most promising young male actors in Hollywood.

to be frank,
It's not just that there's a talent gap in the Chinese entertainment industry;
Hollywood's post-80s generation, along with the post-70s generation led by Leonardo DiCaprio and the post-60s generation led by Tom Cruise,
In comparison,

He has absolutely no superstar quality.

Moreover, you can't tell just by looking at the audition clips, but when the six people stand together and compare them, Andrew Garfield and Josh Hutcherson, who will have representative works in the future, are obviously more charismatic.

(End of this chapter)