Chapter 1,293 Danger and Opportunity Coexist

The morning rain in Weicheng is like silk, weaving a curtain of dreams. Where the willows are green, there are three folds of Yang Guan, and not only the green shirt is wet.

At this moment, a light rain began to fall in the capital, which moistened the hazy morning and caused a mist to appear. Fortunately, the rainfall was very light, so there was no problem in taking off and landing planes. It just meant that the ancient capital, There is an extra sense of laziness.

After walking out of the VIP channel, waiting outside the airport at the moment was George. Ye Ming's agent in Innovation Company was this guy.

Of course, it doesn't mean that Ye Ming must go through George for all his film, TV and advertising endorsements, but in Hollywood, most of the work is arranged by George. After all, he is familiar with the job.

In movies such as The Day After Tomorrow and Minority Report, it was actually George who arranged it. Ye Ming went over to audition and then signed the contract.

This is actually the benefit of having a backer and a helper, and innovation is a leader in Hollywood. It is quite a powerful existence. It has become a Hollywood duo with the William Morris Agency. If the William Morris Agency does not have a profound foundation, , then it is estimated that some may be killed by innovation. Innovation is now the most influential and powerful agency company in Hollywood.

Interestingly, the five founders of Innovation actually came from the William Morris Agency. From this point, we can also see how long the history of William Morris Company is.

Therefore, with the help of innovative companies, Ye Ming will be able to avoid many detours in Hollywood. The innovative agent George will choose roles suitable for Ye Ming based on Ye Ming's acting skills, acting skills and other conditions. In this case, Ye Ming will not have to travel around Hollywood.

After George saw Ye Ming, he greeted him and said, "Ye, here, here, God. You are finally here." Ye Ming came over and shook hands with George and said, "George, I'm glad to see you. , I am very touched by your work attitude.”

George immediately said righteously: "Don't doubt my professional quality as an agent. I am a licensed professional agent. I only serve my actors. In addition, if you have more work, my commission will also increase." It’s just too much. If you can’t bear it, just increase the commission. I think how about ten percent?”

In Hollywood, being an agent is not something you can just do. Generally speaking, agents are divided into two categories in Hollywood. One is self-employed. Generally speaking, this kind of self-employed person has a wide range of opportunities in entertainment. There is another kind of old man who has been in the industry for a long time, the kind who have a company, a background and a backer. George is naturally the kind of person who has a backer, and behind him is an innovative brokerage company.

In a place like Hollywood, not everyone can work as an agent. This requires verification. In other words, if you want to take jobs for actors, you must have an agent license, and According to the Broker Franchise Regulations, brokers, whether individual or corporate, must be licensed. Otherwise it is illegal. This broker's license is issued by SAG.

That is the abbreviation of the Hollywood Screen Actors Guild. Incidentally, the Actors Guild was also the author of the agent franchise regulations.

In California, the law clearly stipulates that the brokerage company's commission cannot exceed 10%, but Ye Ming's commission is 8%, which is already a quite high number. And it's because Ye Ming was poached by innovation, and innovation must provide some good conditions. For example, if a general star enters innovation, the commission will basically start at 10%.

Therefore, Ye Ming benefited a lot from this issue. Of course, Hollywood agencies now usually package and sell one-stop services such as directors, actors, lighting, etc. to the crew. In this case, on the one hand, in terms of the commission, they can take care of the plaintiff and the defendant.

In fact, every law and regulation has loopholes, even in Hollywood.

Therefore, there are still quite a lot of conflicts between agencies and actors.

After all, on this issue, no matter how it is said, at this time, the agency wants to charge more money, but the actor naturally wants to charge less money. This is actually quite contradictory in Hollywood.

In a situation like this, no matter what it is, problems will arise sooner or later, even in Hollywood, which seems to have relatively complete rules.

Ye Ming naturally said without politeness at this moment: "Stop dreaming, eight percent is already high enough. You still want to improve it, and I also want to reduce it. Don't forget that I still have to pay the death penalty." What about the U.S. government’s taxes?”

Do you think the brokerage company just takes 10% of your commission? According to California law, the highest personal income tax is 13.3%, which means that 13.3% of an actor’s income must be used for tax. Of course, there are some reasonable tax avoidance policies, such as Donations to charitable funds, welfare homes and other formally qualified welfare institutions can offset personal income tax.

Why do you think wealthy Americans like to do charity? A large part of it is that charity can offset taxes.

By setting up a foundation or something, the children can not only get certain benefits through the foundation, but they don't have to pay a huge amount of inheritance tax.

Therefore, don't think that rich people are fools. Those people are some of the smartest people in the world. Do you think that Bill Gates left 10 million to his children and donated all his huge family property? That is because his children can receive a large sum of money from the foundation every year.

The same is true in Hollywood. Generally, a person's salary of at least 20% cannot be taken away. They must either hand it over to their agent and the US government, or do charity.

George was just joking. People like Ye Ming actually gradually reduce their commissions under normal circumstances. Because Ye Ming's salary is getting higher and higher, in order to retain Ye Ming, the agency will naturally offer certain concessions when taking commissions. It is not impossible that some stars' salary is even 5%.

Therefore, at this moment, George immediately said: "Let's not talk about it. Today I am here to bring you very good news. Universal is going to shoot a road movie. In fact, this is how they made it from the beginning. Yes, but it was very overdue. It cost 50 million, but the box office was only less than 40 million. I lost so much that my pants fell off, and I was left with only my underwear and was humiliated by the people in Hollywood. So they decided to make a movie A good road movie to prove that it is still a top film company in Hollywood.

It is said that someone at Universal has a good relationship with James, so the starring role fell on you. Now Alexander from Universal is waiting for you in the hotel. This guy is the producer of the movie. "

Ye Ming didn't care about this, but thought about it and said: "George, this is not what I care about. What I care about is, what is the name of this movie, and whether it is Fast and Furious that has been agreed upon. If so, then Everything else is easy to talk about.”

To be honest, whoever will be the producer has nothing to do with Ye Ming, but what kind of movie this movie is, this is something that must be understood.

George nodded very definitely and said: "There is absolutely nothing wrong with this matter. Fast and Furious, this is a script that is highly valued by people in the company. If it weren't for Mr. James's recommendation, I don't think you would be able to get it." This opportunity to star."

Ye Ming got into the car prepared by the company and said, "Come on, George, don't I know about the company's affairs?

Business is business, and relationships are relationships. When it comes to a question like this, no matter how I do it, there seems to be only one result, and that is that I need luck to be the protagonist. Even with James' help, I estimate that if it is a script that is very promising, it will not be my turn. I heard that the prequel to this movie lost a lot of money. The Hollywood Screen Actors Guild gave this movie a C-level rating, which means it can barely break even. "

Don't look at blockbuster movies that make people a lot of money, but they are blockbusters. In fact, there are many movies in Hollywood that lose money. If it can be considered as not losing money among Hollywood movies, then it is already considered a loss. A pretty good result.

Therefore, Hollywood movies do not mean that everyone makes money. In the American entertainment industry, there is a saying, if you love someone, then send him to Hollywood, because that is heaven. Do you hate someone? Then send him to Hollywood, because that's hell.

Yes, Hollywood is a place wandering between heaven and hell. Under the neon lights here, there are also many sad stories.

Therefore, no matter how you put it, Hollywood is a place full of dangers and dreams.

George said with some embarrassment: "Well, maybe it is. People within the company are actually quite optimistic about this script. It is a very good idea for a road movie. If it can be shot well, then in Regarding a question like this, in fact, no matter how it is discussed, there is hope that it can be solved.

Of course, Universal is not very optimistic about this movie, but they are not convinced that the first movie lost. Therefore, they changed the director and the script, and this time they wanted to create a road movie again. Movie.

People in Hollywood are really not very optimistic about this movie, but I think this is an opportunity for you, a good opportunity to enter mainstream movies. Do you think, if everyone likes a movie, what are your chances of starring in it? "

These words left Ye Ming a little unable to answer, because after all, on such a question, no matter how it is said, the racial discrimination against black and yellow people in Hollywood does not mean that it does not exist, but that it does not exist. Very serious.

Although on the surface, except for some radical people, no one dares to openly say that they discriminate against black people and against yellow people.

But as far as the drivers are concerned, on this issue, they all have some discrimination against yellow people. I think it is impossible for a yellow man to be the protagonist in a Hollywood movie. Basically, there are only two or three big cats and kittens.

And if they can truly take charge, that means Cheng Long and Bruce Lee can really enjoy themselves. Among the others, Li Lianjie and Zhou Runfa were included, but in the end they did not gain a foothold in Hollywood.

Therefore, in fact, under such a situation, if Ye Ming can now be invited by Fast and Furious, that would be a very good problem. If it weren't for the fact that Ye Ming is relatively well-known in Hollywood, he is even richer in the United States. , and also the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

It was precisely because of the conditions for such talk and the recommendation of James that Universal began to use Ye Ming.

I hope Ye Ming can bring them miracles. Of course, recommendations from guys like James are also quite effective. If it weren't for James' recommendation, a movie like Fast and Furious would have been able to star Ye Ming.

In fact, there are some similarities with China's entertainment industry on this issue.

Ye Ming nodded and did not continue to dwell on this issue. He nodded and said: "Fifty million is not enough for a big production. Therefore, this opportunity only comes to me. But since it is about rounds, If it comes to me, I will take the time to prove my worth on a problem like this."

Fifty million is not a big deal for big productions, but it is still within the scope of Hollywood's top film productions. therefore. In fact, everyone was not optimistic about this and gave Ye Ming an opportunity like this.

George nodded and said, "That's right. In fact, there are still many people at Universal who are optimistic about this script. If no one is optimistic about this script, then Universal will not invest in the filming of this movie. It is just because of the failure of the prequel. , so everyone is not very optimistic about Universal’s road movies. That’s why no top star is willing to take a starring role like this. This is a chance for you.”

Universal spent money to shoot this movie, naturally because people in the company were very optimistic about the script. Otherwise, Universal would not have invested money to shoot this movie. This is not wrong at all.

Since Universal is willing to invest money, it means that a script like this is pretty good and has merit. (To be continued)