Chapter 19

As soon as Gail returned to the office, his colleagues' curious inquiries began: "Gail, what did he say about the script?" "Does he really know how to read a script?"

The fact that a wealthy Asian high school student who knew a bit about movies was interested in buying the "Little Miss Sunshine" project had become the office's hot topic of the day.

"I don't know, he seemed serious, but the whole thing is very strange," Gail said, spreading his hands in helplessness. "Anyway, he did confirm that the story of the Vido Image and 'The Wedding Date' is true. With a $2 million production budget and over $1 million in box office for the opening weekend, they still want to make a second movie. Besides having too much money to spend, I can't think of any other reasonable explanation. In any case, we finally have a buyer, so let's give it a try."

Everyone nodded, what else could they do?

Gail walked to the manager's desk by the window, sat down, and pressed his forehead, thinking about the whole situation, and let out a mocking laugh.

The "Little Miss Sunshine" project was not a treasure, but a hot potato.

Two years ago, before the five companies merged into Focus, Ben Anderson, the head of American Film Company, spent $300,000 to buy the original script of "Little Miss Sunshine."

Anderson's initial plan was to rewrite the script, focusing on the male lead "Richard Hoover," turning it into a story about midlife crisis and family pressure, rather than a family road trip with six main characters.

But things didn't go smoothly. First, the original author, Mike Arndt, strongly opposed this change, saying it was a story about ensemble cast, and changing it would mean losing its soul...

Writers always think they are right, treating every line as if it were their life. Who cares? There are plenty of screenwriters! Soon, Mike Arndt was kicked out, and American Film found another head screenwriter to rewrite the script.

However, after the new screenwriter wrote a few drafts, the five companies merged. The two co-CEOs of the new company, David Linde and James Schamus, reviewed the new script and criticized it as mediocre and getting worse with each revision. So the new script was abandoned, and only some scenes were retained in the old script.

Revisions to the old script were restarted.

At the beginning of this year, things changed again. Ben Anderson was fired due to poor production performance, and Robert Harmon became the new head of the production department.

Soon after taking office, Harmon brought Arndt back, along with a few new screenwriters, to rewrite the script based on the old one, revising draft after draft... The money spent on "Little Miss Sunshine" accumulated, but there was no end in sight.

Now, after two years and 30 revisions, everyone had lost their judgment. No one dared to say "no more revisions," and no one wanted to say "one more revision."

Continue or give up?

What he said about office politics wasn't entirely false. This was a mess left by Ben Anderson, and it was awkward for Robert Harmon to handle it.

If he could fix it with a few moves, it would be a great achievement, but now it seemed to be getting worse, repeating Anderson's mistakes. So Harmon chose to give up, and the two co-CEOs agreed to sell the project! The best outcome would be to recover the cost, and even a small loss would be considered a gain.

Last month, the company finally announced the sale of the "Little Miss Sunshine" project, but no one was interested...

This was one of the awkward situations for a successful film company. If you rarely make mistakes, why would anyone take the risk that you are wrong this time?

A project that Lind and Schamus were willing to give up was like saying "this script has terminal cancer," so they couldn't find a buyer.

However, there was one exception: the two producers of "Little Miss Sunshine," Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger. When Arndt was looking for producers, they were the first to see the potential in the script, and they found Mark Turteltaub, who then found Anderson.

Focus continued to employ them as producers after taking over, until the project was put on hold.

They were struggling with whether to buy back the script. Initially, they sold it to Turteltaub for $250,000, and Turteltaub sold it to American Film for $300,000. Now, the buyback price was $400,000, and they refused, not because they couldn't afford it, but because they lacked confidence. Besides, no one was buying, so they could haggle slowly.

Suddenly, a strange young man named Wei appeared today, and that was the situation.

Thinking about this, Gail picked up the phone and dialed a number, calling Robert Harmon, who was outside, to report the latest news.

"Robert, I gave him the script, and he seems to really like it."

"That's good... Does he really understand movies?"

"Yes, I can tell. He has studied, at least knows some screenwriting techniques, maybe read a few screenwriting books, like Syd Field and Robert McKee. He might just know some theory, but his taste is really not good."

"Okay, when he finishes reading the script, if he doesn't like it, make him like it; if he likes it, make him like it even more. Persuade him, charm him, control him."

"Hehe, don't worry, I know what to do. With this kid, Ron Yerxa and the others should be getting anxious, which is good for us."

"So, we must make sure this Wei decides to buy it, is his name Wei?"

"Yes, Wei Ye, an interesting name. If he wants to buy it, how much should we ask for?"

"A spoiled rich high school student... He doesn't care about a few thousand dollars. Ask for $500,000, not a cent less."

Wow! Gail couldn't help but admire Harmon's decisiveness. If they could sell it for $500,000, the project wouldn't end in a loss, and both the head and the manager would get credit. He smiled into the microphone, "Okay, I understand. Let's see if this kid really has the money."

"He better, 'Little Miss Sunshine' has been a headache for us long enough. Getting rid of it will help us sleep better at night."

"Who can argue with that?"

After the call, Gail rested for a while. Seeing that the time was right, he went to the reception room again. Wei was still reading the script intently, but his excited and absorbed expression clearly said, "I want it, I want this script!"

Great, great. Gail smiled inwardly, walked up, and asked, "Wei, have you finished reading it? How do you feel?"

"Shh...!" Wei was at the climax of the story and couldn't tolerate any disturbance. He almost angrily shushed and continued reading, his eyes getting brighter. When he turned the page, he suddenly laughed out loud, "Genius! Genius idea, everything explodes..."

Just this climax scene was enough to make it a classic. Compensation? Go to hell! This is catharsis, this is redemption, this is transcendence, this is simply a marvel!

'129 Exterior, Rest Stop, Day

...

Frank grabs a soda.

Frank: To Grandpa.

Everyone: To Grandpa.

They clink bottles and drink. Richard nods toward a nearby fast-food restaurant.

Richard: Oh... Who wants ice cream?

The scene cuts to black.

(The End)'

When he finished reading the remaining script, all 120 pages, he praised it repeatedly, unable to recover for a long time. It was amazing!

Six distinct characters, representing old age, middle age, youth, and childhood, formed a quirky family with various social issues. Because of a children's beauty pageant called "Little Miss Sunshine," the family set out on a dream-chasing journey in an old station wagon.

On the way, dreams and reality, success and failure, individuals and society, constantly clashed. Everything went wrong, and everyone became a failure. When they started their journey back home in the old car, they all had new attitudes towards life.

Hollywood ending? That would be an insult to this script!

"Gail..." Wei looked at Gail sitting opposite him, suppressing his true feelings, wanting to say, "This script is great, it hasn't been ruined, everything is well-proportioned. A few more revisions might ruin it, but now it's almost perfect."

With that future touch, he knew this was definitely an Oscar-nominated original script!

It was incomprehensible, what were these people at Focus doing? Such a good script, and they were about to give up on it.

But from his personal standpoint, he fully supported Focus's foolish decision, because it gave him the opportunity to own "Little Miss Sunshine."

"How about it?" Gail smiled.

"Cool." Wei shrugged, knowing that the other party could see his attitude, and decided to be straightforward, "A cool road story, it's much better than 'The Wedding Date.'"

"Right, as I said, it's actually ready to be produced. It's really a pity that we're giving it up." Gail sighed, realizing that he didn't need to persuade much, which was the best outcome.

Sure enough, Wei said, "I'm interested in buying it."

Welcome, welcome! A script that was about to be thrown in the trash was actually being bought. Gail suppressed his excitement and said sincerely, "Wei, there's something I need to remind you. The original producers are also trying to buy it back, and they have the right of first refusal."

"OK." Wei was prepared for this, nodded, and asked with a smile, "So, how much? How much do I need to pay to get it?"

Seeing Wei's playful smile, Gail's heart skipped a beat. The kid seemed to know the real situation?

Whatever, money doesn't lie. He still looked sincere and said, "I just asked our head, Robert Harmon, and he set a price slightly higher than the buyback price, starting at $500,000. Wei, we've spent a lot of time and effort on this script, and $500,000 is actually a bargain!"

"Just a bargain? No, it's the golden fleece." Wei laughed, rubbing the script with his thumb.

His strategy worked, but it made the other party think he was a member of the Rothschild family. But it was better than the other party knowing his true situation and kicking him out.

$500,000, huh? He first thought of the bank account at home, no! That money couldn't be touched, not a cent. The family's money was off-limits.

There is a fundamental rule in film production financing: never, ever use your own savings to make a movie, spread the risk to others.

It's cheap, but it prevents producers from being ruined by one failure.

If he really had a few million, Wei wouldn't mind investing $500,000, but now... $500,000! How could he raise $500,000?

"Wei, you might think it's expensive, but it's a decision made by the big shots," Gail said apologetically. "Sorry, I can't help you much."

"I know, big shots always don't understand the struggles of ordinary people. To hell with them," Wei laughed.

Gail chuckled and continued, "And $500,000 might not be the final price, it depends on how the buyback goes. So if you really want to buy it, you should prepare more money. Also, give us a response within a week, the sooner the better, and stay in touch."

"Okay, let me know if you have any new news. Here's my number..."

When Wei walked out of the Universal City headquarters, it was already dusk. He looked at the orange sky, took a deep breath, and set a new goal: raise $500,000 within a week!

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