Chapter 68

Please recommend and collect!

"Sorry,"

Tony Guzman took out his phone, glanced at it, and said to the few people in the room, "I need to take this call."

After speaking, he walked out of the hotel suite's living room and onto the balcony of a bedroom, pressing the answer button, "Hello, this is Tony Guzman from Fox Searchlight."

A strange voice came from the receiver. After a few words, Tony Guzman frowned, recalled for a moment, and then turned to look at the living room, speaking quite politely, "I'm very sorry, Director Stanton, but I might not be available recently. I have a project that needs my attention."

He remembered the young director and that interesting film. At the time, he had even exchanged contact information, originally planning to continue evaluating the film. However, during the screening, he encountered a more suitable project, and Fox Searchlight also placed great importance on it, requiring immediate follow-up.

Politely declining the invitation, Tony Guzman exchanged a few more polite words and hung up the phone.

With this new project in front of him, he had lost interest in new works like "Hard Candy." In the living room sat executives from Ark Entertainment, and they were discussing Todd Field's new work, "In the Bedroom."

Not only was the lead actor, Tom Wilkinson, quite famous, but the two directors were incomparable. Murphy Stanton was unknown, while Todd Field's last work, "The Haunting," had grossed $90 million in North America...

Tony Guzman knew very well which one to choose.

He had already decided to give up on the previously promising "Hard Candy" and was preparing to fully commit to "In the Bedroom."

At the Sundance Film Festival airport, a large, fat man arrived late. After getting off the plane, he instructed the driver to head to the hotel immediately, where a group of professional film reviewers and buyers were waiting for him.

Forty minutes later, the heavy-faced Harvey Weinstein sat in the hotel's meeting room, continuously flipping through the list of films and materials submitted by numerous Miramax employees. Most of these were films that had recently gained rapid popularity in the media and industry, such as "Cradle Will Rock" and "Donnie Darko," but there were no unexpected surprises.

"Is that all?" He frowned, looking at the dozen or so employees below, his voice gradually rising, "How are you doing your jobs? The festival has been going on for almost a week, and you're just focusing on these? How many distribution companies are watching them? How much will it cost to secure them?"

Although Miramax had been acquired by Disney, Harvey Weinstein's operating style was very different from Disney's. He still focused on low-budget independent films.

The meeting room was silent, showing the authority of this large, fat man in the company.

"Do you have any promising under-the-radar projects?" Harvey Weinstein asked again.

There was still silence. A project like "The Blair Witch Project" wasn't something that appeared at every Sundance Film Festival.

Harvey Weinstein slapped the conference table hard, making a loud 'bang.' It seemed this action had vented his anger. Without looking at anyone, he waved his hand, "Everyone, out."

Everyone rushed to leave, except for Jones Butler, who stayed behind.

Harvey Weinstein noticed her, "Do you have something?"

Jones Butler walked over and placed a file in front of Harvey Weinstein, "This is a film produced by a small company called Stanton Studios, recommended by CAA's Bill Rossis. I and Moore went to see it, and we believe it has market potential."

Hearing this, Harvey Weinstein temporarily put aside his work and started flipping through the materials. After a while, he looked up and said, "You gave it priority?"

"Yes," Jones Butler stood to his right, "I estimate the production cost to be around $200,000 to $300,000. I and the marketing department estimated that this could become a million-dollar project."

Harvey Weinstein was relatively confident in Jones Butler and followed up, "Did you secure the project?"

"No..." Jones Butler replied honestly, "We just had our initial negotiation, and there's a gap between our offer and their asking price."

After reviewing all the materials, Harvey Weinstein became somewhat interested, "Call them. I'll see the film tomorrow."

Murphy never imagined that when he met Jones Butler again, she would bring the actual controller of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein. Not only was he surprised, but even Bill Rossis was a minor figure in the presence of a big player like Harvey Weinstein.

Moreover, Harvey Weinstein didn't take them seriously. Apart from a polite greeting when they met, he didn't say much throughout, just patiently watching Murphy screen "Hard Candy" again in the meeting room.

After the screening, Harvey Weinstein said his second sentence, to Jones Butler, in a not-so-loud voice, which Murphy faintly heard.

"Continue the negotiations."

Leaving this message, Harvey Weinstein directly left the meeting room.

It wasn't hard to imagine that Harvey Weinstein, who was always fond of independent films, would be very busy at the Sundance Film Festival, which focused on independent films. Even if Murphy overestimated himself, he knew that Harvey Weinstein wouldn't take him and "Hard Candy" too seriously.

According to his speculation, this large, fat man's visit was merely a responsibility to the company's business, and a deal of nearly a million dollars wasn't something to be taken lightly.

Every business and project in this industry was far from as casual as outsiders imagined.

Subsequently, Murphy and Jones Butler began a protracted negotiation. The gap between $600,000 and $1.5 million was significant, making the negotiation process challenging. Fortunately, both Murphy and Jones Butler knew that to complete the deal, they had to make some compromises.

As for the unreliable distribution contracts and profit-sharing agreements for mainstream commercial films, Murphy no longer mentioned them. The cooperation would only be through a copyright buyout, and his focus was on securing as much buyout money as possible for Stanton Studios.

He couldn't keep making projects like "Hard Candy" forever; otherwise, he would remain at the bottom of Hollywood. He needed more funds to achieve his next plan.

Like 90% of Hollywood directors, Murphy's plan was to start with independent small productions, accumulate funds and experience, and gradually move towards mainstream films.

After three days and five rounds of negotiations, Murphy and Jones Butler finally reached an agreement.