American Entertainment: Starting with playing the role of Little Beaver

Chapter 27 Enemies gather together
Endeavor Talent Agency was founded in 1995.

In terms of its duration of operation, it is a newcomer to the industry, but in terms of scale, it can already rank among the top five in the brokerage circle.

However, none of this mattered to the three of them; in fact, the information only confused them.

Right now, they're reading fan mail, and Endeavour isn't even a human, so it couldn't possibly be Isabella's fan, right? So, Endeavour's letter is in the fan mail? What's going on?

"Was this put in the wrong place?"

Isabella's first reaction was that Fenjin had sent her a collaboration offer, which was then misplaced by Warner staff.

But the next second, she shook her head, "No, this shouldn't be wrong."

"If it's a business collaboration, why don't they just call my mom directly?"

Vivian has received many phone calls these days, many of which are collaboration offers related to Isabella.

Although such a telephone call is not as formal as a written invitation, in business, time is money and efficiency is life. People can no longer wait for messages to be delivered slowly as they did hundreds of years ago.

Therefore, if Fenjin wants to collaborate with her, he should call her mother instead, but this...

"I have never received a call from Fenjin."

Before her youngest daughter could even look over, Vivian spoke up.

Isabella was even more confused. "Is this a prank?"

"Shall we open it and take a look?"

Catherine, equally confused, was curious.

“I don’t think we need to. Let’s just put them in the warehouse.” Vivian shook her head. “Isha, no matter what reason Fendi has for coming to you, you don’t need them right now, do you? So… if you’re in doubt, just ignore them?”

Isabella doesn't need a management company right now because she doesn't have much autonomy in her work.

Therefore, when the other party is deliberately mysterious, not exposing them is actually the best way to expose them.

What if this isn't a letter from Fenjin, but rather someone else's inquiry, or some other weird stuff? Wouldn't that be disgusting?

Just as Isabella was convincing and preparing to throw the letter away, a voice suddenly rang out—

"What's wrong with you all today? What kind of letter is it that's keeping you reading it for so long?"

Columbus's head popped out.

The sight of children reading letters while eating has become a charming feature of the cafeteria.

Therefore, Columbus was not surprised that Catherine was reading the letter, but he was somewhat puzzled by Isabella's speed in finishing up the letter today.

In the past, Isabella would leave right after eating, because she had to film in the afternoon, and she wouldn't let personal matters take up filming time.

But today it's paused?
"Oh, that's because Isa received a very strange letter."

Catherine held up the envelope and recounted what had happened.

As the full picture appeared, Columbus blinked; he had never seen anything like it before.

"How about we take it apart?"

He became interested as well.

"Then let's tear it down."

Since Columbus had said so, Isabella no longer hesitated.

With a 'rip' sound, an A4 sheet folded into three layers appeared in front of everyone.

When unfolded, the other party's purpose was printed on it.

Yes, this letter wasn't handwritten; it was printed.

It has few words but a lot of content.

The first few sentences were greetings, followed by congratulations. Then, Endeavour explained their purpose: they wanted to discuss cooperation with Isabella, and not an agency agreement, but an invitation to work on a film project.

To be honest, when this fact came to light, the entire Heywood family remained silent.

The act of striving is too abstract.

Putting aside whether it's reasonable for a talent agency to discuss film projects, the act of mixing the collaboration with fan mail... it's fortunate that Catherine saw the letter today. If Catherine hadn't seen it, it would have remained on the shelf, unopened for who knows when. Of course, the most likely scenario is that it would never see the light of day.

"This...is interesting..."

Even though Columbus was very knowledgeable, he had never seen anything like this before.

He shook the letter in his hand and looked at Isabella. "Do you want to know the details?"

"I might not have wanted to open it before, but now... is it convenient?"

Isabella's meaning was clear: she hoped Columbus could help her.

"It's just a matter of making a phone call, of course it's convenient."

Since Isabella wanted to solve the mystery, the equally strange Columbus did not hesitate.

I took out my phone, dialed a number, and it was connected in less than ten seconds. Then—

"Hi Ali, good afternoon..."

"Yeah~ I'm in England, there's a time difference... I'm calling now mainly because I want to ask you something..."

The Ali mentioned by Columbus was Ari Emanuel, the founder of Endeavour Brokerage.

Although Columbus did not surpass Rowling last year, it was not because he lacked ability, but because Rowling had the British government behind her. Putting aside this external factor, Columbus is a boss who can stand on his own in the European and American entertainment industry.

Not convinced?

Then go ahead and tell my FBI... oops, I mean, the billions in box office revenue!

Several years ago, Columbus's solo projects were already considered valuable resources in the industry. For brokerage firms that needed to help their clients secure big opportunities, he was practically a father figure.

Therefore, after he stepped in, the truth came to light in less than five minutes:

At present, Fenjin does have a project from the perspective of girls aged 6-12. This is a script they received in July of this year. They have been trying to develop it for the past few months, but they couldn't find a suitable candidate. Then, Harry Potter was released.

Isabella's portrayal in Harry Potter excited them greatly, and they immediately felt that Isabella was the person they were looking for. However, disagreements arose within the group regarding extending an invitation.

One side felt it was possible to communicate with Isabella;
The other party felt there was no need to communicate with Isabella.

The former's request was very clear: they wanted Isabella to star in the film.

The latter objected for a simple reason: they felt that all communication was a waste of time. When Isabella was going to film HP, she didn't have time to take on Endeavour projects, nor would she be interested in Endeavour projects.

Right now, what project can be better than HP?

Since the loudest voice on the opposing side was Ari Emanuel, the founder of Endeavour, he forcibly suppressed the communication ideas of the inviting side. However, there were no ordinary people on the inviting side either; the most influential one was Patrick Whitesell.

This partner joined Endeavour this year, but before that, he was the head of talent at CAA.

Furthermore, he didn't come empty-handed; he brought over the management contracts of Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Hugh Jackman, and Jude Law from CAA.

So……

“Ali doesn’t want Pat to contact you, but Pat wants to give it a try.”

"Because he wanted to save face for Alibaba, and he heard that your mother had rejected all the collaborations that came your way, he figured that even if he contacted your mother, you wouldn't hear about the collaborations, so he used this method to communicate with you."

"As for how he can guarantee the letter will reach you..."

"I don't need to explain this, do I?"

Columbus winked at Isabella.

Isabella nodded.

Security in Leavesdon is tight, but that's only in the public eye. When Patrick Whitesell was an insider, wouldn't it have been easy for him to find someone he knew to slip a collaboration letter into Isabella's daily fan mail?

After all, the letters Catherine received had all been checked by Leavesden staff.

Poisoning letters is very common in Europe and America; Warner Bros. wouldn't dare to open them without checking them.

Since the reason is very reasonable, therefore...

Okay, no matter how reasonable the reasons are, these people's actions are still abstract.

Not only that, Catherine also asked the question that had been bothering her: "Director, I'd like to know, isn't Endeavour a talent agency?"

Why would they have a film project?

Isabella perked up her ears; she was also quite curious.

"Oh, that's because Hollywood's film and television production has formed a standardized industrial system."

Columbus chuckled and explained, "In Hollywood, almost every profession can sign with an agency. So when an agency also signs directors, and the director has a project they want to make, isn't it natural to ask the agency to help find investors and actors?"

Entertainment agencies in Europe and America are different from those in mainland China. In mainland China, agencies generally only sign artists and then help them find projects and endorsements, while in Europe and America, agencies mainly focus on resource integration.

If I sign both the director and the artist, then when the director has a project, can't I just use my own people directly?
One fish, two ways.

What if I also have big-name screenwriters on my team?

Okay!

I can run a project all by myself!

To put it simply, the ideal form for European and American talent agencies is to achieve a monopoly in production.

He became his own film production company.

However, the idea was beautiful, but the reality was harsh.

There's only one person in the world who can consistently produce high-quality projects for ten years straight, and that's Steven Spielberg.

When talent agencies lack the ability to consistently create blockbusters, they can never overcome the dominance of traditional studios, and at best, they can only become troublemakers within the industry.

"Oh~" Catherine understood.

Isabella also looked enlightened.

Columbus's explanation reminded her of the famous packaged service from her past life, the one from CAA.

After resolving Catherine's doubts, Columbus smiled at Isabella and said, "Would you like to see Endeavour's project? I'm not asking you to take on the project, but Ali just told me that since you already know about it, he wanted to show you the project, and then... he asked me to talk to you about it... Well, I helped."

The insincere recommendation made Isabella laugh.

Columbus was telling her that he didn't need to give these people face, and even if she didn't look at it, none of them would dare to complain about Columbus. But when Endeavour made things so bizarre, Isabella actually became interested in the projects these people were talking about.

Because at that moment, she didn't know where her future lay either.

She is indeed famous now.

But what happens after you become famous?

What should she do?

She doesn't know!

Isabella had originally thought that if Harry Potter could be made into eight movies, it would give her enough time to explore the future. But now, before she had even explored it, the invitation had already arrived. Wasn't that a good thing?

and so……

"Director, can you help me?"

"help you with what?"

"Take a look at the project after it comes in; I don't understand these things." "Isha, this isn't in accordance with the rules, and Endeavour didn't invite me..."

"But pretty girls always have special privileges, don't they?"

Isabella winked at Columbus.

The way it held its head high and acted cute left Columbus both amused and exasperated.

He glanced at his watch and waved, saying, "Go and rest, we still have filming at 1:30."

"Okay~"

Understanding what he meant, Isabella grabbed her sister and ran away.

Vivian, who was lagging behind, thanked Columbus.

The sight of that bouncing figure made Columbus raise an eyebrow, and the next second, he tossed the enthusiastic invitation to his assistant.

"Please follow up on this matter."

"Then, if Ali and Pat don't come, just say we don't have time, okay?"

The assistant nodded.

The meaning of Columbus is very simple.

If Fenjin truly believes a project is good, then he should have his partner come and discuss it personally.

If they only send messages through their subordinates, then they'll have no choice but to say goodbye.

After all... their positions are different, and their time is precious; making a good "Escape Room" is their top priority.

I don't know if Fenjin is confident in his project, or if these guys are trying to achieve their goal of signing Isabella indirectly.
In short, shortly after receiving Columbus's reply, Patrick Whitesell arrived in London from Los Angeles the following afternoon. When he arrived, everyone was filming, so he quietly waited on the sidelines.

He didn't appear until everyone finished filming, and he greeted Isabella and the others.

Greet Columbus and praise Isabella and the others for their excellent performance.

Although there was no filming that night, everyone stayed on set. After treating him to dinner at the canteen, Columbus led him to his office, accompanied by Isabella and her family.

Because everyone was busy, the conversation was brief and efficient. Before anyone had even sat down, Whitesell took out the project from his bag, followed by a script with only a signature.
Written by: Michael Arndt
(Screenplay by Michael Arndt)

Columbus narrowed his eyes as soon as the name appeared.

He tapped his index finger on the table and said, "Is this one of Matthew Broderick's men?"

“Uh…Yeah—”

Whitesel paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Oh, I think I understand why Ali didn't let you find Isha."

Columbus said, "He probably thinks that if I see this notebook, I'll probably reject it on Isabella's behalf?"

"hahahaha——"

Whitesell put on an awkward but polite smile.

The seemingly cryptic conversation left Isabella and the others unable to understand it.

Columbus, leaning back in his chair, explained with a smile: "Matthew Broderick is Ferris Buller from 'Ferris Bueller,' John Hughes' 'Ferris Bueller,'"

"And this one is one of his men."

Columbus shook the script in his hand.

"..."

Well, so it turns out we're just enemies meeting again!

Isabella understood.

The conflict between John Hughes and Chris Columbus has been discussed earlier and will not be repeated here.

Matthew Broderick, on the other hand, was a star whom John Hughes had personally promoted.

After becoming famous, Matthew Broderick followed industry practice by building the usual staff and hiring a man named Michael Arndt as his personal assistant.

And this Michael is the screenwriter Isabella is now seeing.

Normally, these are things that would be completely unknown to most Hollywood stars.

I know you, you're a celebrity, that's okay, but what's your assistant's name?
How would I know?
Only those with genuine hatred would remember this.

As for how Matthew Broderick offended Chris Columbus?
While John Hughes certainly played a part, the blame ultimately lies with Disney's tyrant, Michael Eisner.

Well, the real blame for the feud between the two sides should fall on Michael Eisner.

It's still the same internal strife at Disney from eight years ago—

Eisner had been trying to kick Katzenberg out of Disney since 1993.

After the operation began, he suspended all of Katzenberg's privileges at Disney.

This resulted in Katzenberg being unable to take control of Disney's animated project, The Lion King.

Regarding the Lion King project, Katzenberg originally wanted his own people to do the voice acting for the film.

The first choice was actually Robert Zemeckis's good friend, Tom Hanks.

Well, that year Hanks also had "Forrest Gump," and they were aiming for both live-action and animated films to reach the top.

However, after Eisner made some changes, the voice acting for the adult Simba ended up in the hands of Matthew Broderick.

Although Katzenberg and Spielberg have their disagreements, DreamWorks is still operating relatively well. So, if Columbus can't remember this while they're still comrades in arms, then Spielberg would have truly wasted his time nurturing him.

Of course, Michael Arndt is no ordinary person either; he is an outstanding graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

She was noticed by Steven Spielberg's friend Martin Scorsese during her student days.

Chris Columbus also came from there.

He was his senior in school.

'Oh dear... what a mess this is...'

Isabella felt incredibly embarrassed.

Does every casual collaboration mean there's an underlying grudge?
Is it just bad luck on my part, or do you have too many enemies?

The thought that I'm still Rowling's person...

Isabella even wants to get rid of the project!
Let whoever wants to watch it watch it!

However, after laughing for a while, Columbus didn't continue to embarrass Whitesell and instead started flipping through the script.

The content isn't much, less than a hundred pages.

It might take an hour for an average person to skim through a script, but professionals don't even look at the details when reading it.

According to the Hollywood production formula, by checking whether the screenwriter made plot twists at important points in time, they could tell if the project was any good. And then… Columbus shook his head…

"Oh—your script is too bland—"

After reviewing the key points, Columbus shook his head. "Pat, Isa invited me to help her review the project, so all my evaluations from now on will be from a neutral standpoint."

"Your script is mediocre. From a production perspective, it has almost no ups and downs that can hold the audience's attention. In fact, you could say that the first twenty minutes of the film do not give the audience any anticipation."

"Therefore, Isa, I do not recommend that you take on this project."

No matter how much money you offer, I won't accept it.

"Filming this kind of project is a waste of reputation and time."

At this point, he waved the script in his hand and said to Whitesell, "And now I'm starting to doubt whether your project has found any investment. I doubt any studio would be willing to invest in this script."

"So, you're looking for Isha to win her over and then use her fame to attract investment?"

"..."

Whitesell pursed his lips; he was genuinely embarrassed.

Because Columbus understood it all too well.

At present, the project they brought has indeed attracted no investors.

They invited Isabella because they genuinely hoped the project would proceed more smoothly.

As for why they wanted to take the lead in the project...

The top executives at Endeavour Brokerage are all former employees of CAA.

And don't people who come from CAA all have one dream?

Monopolistic production.

The entertainment industry in Europe and America is indeed a murky place, but much of the murky stuff is left by seasoned veterans. So, once Columbus made his point very clear, whether it was Fenrir, Vivian, or Catherine, they all knew there was no need to discuss any collaboration.

But as Whitesell got up to leave, Isabella wanted to leave the notebook behind.

This situation surprised everyone, but considering that there were outsiders present, no one asked why.

They assumed she was treating the script like a novel and wanted to finish reading it.

Since the notebook was already registered, there was no possibility of it being plagiarized, so Whitesell granted her wish.

After Isabella thanked Columbus and then took her notebook back to the crew's dormitory, she waited.

As soon as she entered the bedroom, she couldn't wait to continue flipping through the script.

The accommodations in Leavesden are no different from those in regular apartments.

With an area of ​​1,000 square feet, the design of three bedrooms, one living room, one kitchen, and one bathroom can well guarantee the private space of each person.

With her elbows resting on the table and her gaze sweeping across the room, Isabella's lips gradually curled into a smile.

As for the reason?

Although she hadn't finished reading the script, the very beginning of the script gave her a sense of familiarity.

It started like this—

The Hoover family lived in Maryland and consisted of six people.
My father was a motivational speaker with lofty ideals, but he himself was not successful.
My mother is a housewife, and she hates a boring and dull life;
My brother is an oddball; he loves reading Nietzsche and wants to get into air force school to become a fighter pilot, but he fails.
My uncle was an expert on the Proust effect, but he researched it so much that he became mentally ill and even attempted suicide.

Grandpa is a master turtle who likes to fight grass, but he has no other special skills.

Hoover, on the other hand, is a little girl who wants to be a star. Her idol is Arnold Schwarzenegger because Schwarzenegger is a beauty pageant star, so Hoover wants to be like him.

Then one day, Hoover learned that Florida was going to hold a national teen beauty pageant, so he decided to participate.

After some back and forth between the family, they finally decided to help the little one fulfill his dream. Since they chose to drive from Maryland to Florida, a story of a road trip along the East Coast began...

Hmm, this plot reminds Isabella of a movie.

That's Little Miss Sunshine.

　Notes: ① Many of Endeavour's partners come from CAA, such as founder Ari Emanuel, who jumped from CAA to ICM to start his own business. ② In reality, Endeavour did indeed first scout out *Little Miss Sunshine* before it entered the production process, for the same reason described in this chapter: Endeavour had a dream. Of course, their dream was rather abstract and has yet to be realized. ③ The screenwriter of *Little Miss Sunshine* himself said the script was revised over a hundred times. The concise description in this chapter is from one version circulating online, which says that the screenwriter initially wanted to make a road movie but it was rejected due to budget constraints, forcing a script revision. The main plot of that version was similar to *American Graffiti*, with the screenwriter wanting to showcase the life stories of six people; the beauty pageant was a diversion in that version.

　　PS: To explain the "Duijiaoxiang" in the previous chapter, the term wasn't used incorrectly. In Harry Potter, "Duijiaoxiang" is "Knockdown Alley." The first instance of it appears is when Harry uses Floo Powder to go to "Diagon Alley," but he pronounces "Diagon Alley" as "diagonally," and then goes to "Knockdown Alley," which is the corresponding "diagonally." Since this is a pun in English, when the movie "The Chamber of Secrets" was shown here, in order to maintain the "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance" of the translation, the translator created "Duijiaoxiang" to match "Diagon Alley," thus trying to recreate the pun. The version available on Tencent Video now uses this translation.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)