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Carrying the briefcase, Nancy got out of the elevator, turned into the corridor, came to Duke's door, and gently pressed the doorbell.

The door opened, but the face of a blonde was revealed. Nancy frowned, "Why are you?"

"Hello, Nancy."

After saying hello to the agent, Naomi quickly opened the door and asked Nancy to come in, "Are you here to find Duke? He is calling in the study, I'll call him."

Looking at the hurried back, Nancy's unhappiness flashed in a flash. She walked to the sofa and sat down. She skillfully took a silver pot and poured herself a glass of water.

Hanging up Zach Schneider's phone, Duke walked into the living room, waved to Nancy casually, and placed the cordless phone on the base.

"So early?" he said to the female agent.

“There is something important.”

Nancy ignored Duke, but instead looked at Naomi Watts who came out from behind. Naomi was not stupid, grabbed the bag hanging on the hanger and said to Duke, "I have something to do, let's go first."

"goodbye."

Since Nancy came to the door directly, there must be something important, and Duke did not try to keep her and sent her out of the house.

"You guys got together?"

As soon as he closed the door, Duke heard a voice from the female agent who was not very happy, "Duke, what the agent doesn't like to see the most is that his clients are getting together!"

“It’s not what you think.”

Sitting on the sofa opposite Nancy, Duke made a gesture you understand, "This is just a game of playing around, don't worry."

Seeing that Duke seemed not to be a joke, Nancy nodded slightly, opened her briefcase and said, "There is bad news. Yesterday I contacted Twentieth Century Fox again, and they had no intention of giving in."

"There is also good news." She handed in an invitation letter, "This morning, Warner Bros. sent a formal letter to start negotiations with us on "Brave the Deadly Island."

"Warner Brothers?"

Even though he was as calm as Duke, he was excited when he heard this news, and finally... another film company was looking at him.

"And I have the exact news." Nancy seemed extremely concerned. "Warner's investment in "Batman Return" takes time to recover, and he has invested heavily in projects such as "Faith of Destiny" that will not be released next year or even the year after. His current budget is a bit tight..."

"That is, they may accept my investment?" Duke immediately understood what Nancy meant.

"It's possible..."

Before Duke was happy, Nancy continued, "Even so, you can only get short-term returns. With your current capital, you do not have the ability to share the long-term returns of the video."

"The box office, videotape and TV copyright transfer share is enough." Duke never thought about getting a long-term meal ticket.

Afterwards, the two discussed some things to pay attention to when interacting with Warner. Nancy Josephson had the greatest enthusiasm for promoting Duke's investment report. The reason was very simple. Once this matter was successful, in addition to the 10% commission of Duke's salary, she could also get 5% of Duke's investment income.

There is no free lunch in the world.

The film industry itself is like gambling. There is only the greatest chance of success, and there is no inevitable success. Duke is betting that she can succeed to a certain extent, and Nancy is also betting that he can succeed. Although there are risks, she may find that Duke's investment is losing money after a busy game and she can't get anything. But what if the film can be as successful as "Life and Death"? She will get a generous commission!

The next day, a trio of Duke, Nancy and Sophia, according to the agreement between the two parties, walked into the Burbank Warner Bros. building.

The one who received them was Jeff Robinoff, who was in charge of the film production business of Warner Bros.

"Duke, we're meeting again."

Sitting on both sides of the long conference table, the bald Jewish man said directly, "I have been wondering recently whether "The Speed ​​of Life and Death" would belong to Warner if I had given you ten more minutes."

Duke didn't say anything because the answer was obvious. Even if he gave two more hours at that time, the other party would not be moved by a newcomer like him.

The two sides quickly got to the topic. This is the most common commercial film collaboration in Hollywood, which is a fictional relationship. Warner Bros. wants to work with Duke because he can see the profit prospects from "The Island of Death", and Duke can sit here instead of hiding behind the scenes because Warner intends to accept investment.

Just like "The Speed ​​of Life and Death" and 20th Century Fox collaborated, everyone took their own needs, and then on reaching a consensus, minimize or put aside their differences.

This is just the first negotiation, and it is still early to reach an agreement. The negotiation is about to end. When Jeff Robinoff asked, Duke also truthfully answered the special requirements he needed once the movie was established.

"The film involves a large number of soldiers, combat and military equipment. I need professional military advisers, preferably with the support of the Pentagon."

"It is best to invite Hans Jimo in terms of soundtracks; associate director, photographer, editor and producer. Please give priority to the candidates I recommend; I hope to focus on my opinions when editing later."

In such a large scale investment, Duke knew that he could not get the final editing rights now, so he could only list such one.

None of these parties will agree immediately and need to fight for them one by one in tug-of-war negotiations.

Afterwards, Duke and his group left Warner, and the remaining negotiations were handed over to their agent Nancy. This was a time-consuming and labor-intensive process, and it was hard to say whether they could be accomplished in the end, so he did not give up the opportunity to continue to contact other companies.

Negotiations must be negotiated one by one from their respective investment amounts, income distribution to crew members, Duke's rights and obligations, etc., and written into the final contract.

“It seems I don’t need to find another job anymore.”

After leaving the Warner Building and getting into Duke's Bentley, Sophia said to the driver's seat while tying her seat belt, "Don't forget, now she is an assistant and assistant director, and in the future she is an assistant director and producer. You promised me, Duke."

Why did she return to Los Angeles from Europe? She didn't come to be someone else's assistant, but for her own movie dream.

Duke also knew this and after starting the car, he said, "We are all newbie. We can explore and grow together, and we can also fight for the ideas in our hearts."

"It seems that the difference in our film philosophy is a bit big, right?" Sophia tilted her head and looked at him. "I'm not interested in destroying a city in a crazy way... no, it's crazy how to destroy the whole world in a movie."

This difference in concept cannot be bridged. Duke shrugged and simply changed the topic, "Did you hand over the script to Nicholas? Did he have any expression?"

"He accepted it." Sofia understood that Duke was talking about his cousin Cage, "It felt interesting."

"Just something interesting?" Duke turned to look at her.

"This is not the type that Nikola likes." Sophia said naturally, "He likes some more alternative characters and is not interested in action movies."

"Today's Hollywood, if you want to become a real superstar, you must enter the mainstream movie circle." Duke turned the steering wheel and turned the car to West Hollywood. "Look at Depp, he has played so many well-received roles, but he has always been in a position of being neither up nor down, even Keanu Reeves today."

"These words..." Sofia nodded, "If you have the chance, you'd better say it to Nicholas yourself."

The actor is not in a hurry yet, after all, the negotiations with Warner have not yet come to fruition.

Then, Duke began to wait patiently, while continuing to improve the preparations he had been doing. Together with Sophia, he hid in the Duke Studio in North Hollywood, drew storyboards and formulated basic scripts; discussed with photographer John Schwartzman how to take shots that excite the audience; and discussed with Zach Schneider about the color of the picture in future production.

Movies are by no means a masterpiece. There is a team with outstanding abilities around any successful director, and no director will be an exception.

Building a team with similar ideas to yourself, cooperating and understanding is something that every director will do on the road to success, and Duke is no exception. In addition to these people, he also took time to meet Robin Grand and editor Mike Dawson several times. They have no job yet, and are very interested in working together again.

This is Hollywood, and there is not much news to be kept secret. Duke's contact with Warner Bros. was soon learned by 20th Century Fox. According to the rumor that Duke received, they were extremely dissatisfied with it and completely put aside their cooperation with Duke. However, Duke had not signed any agreement with them, and the money exchanges had long been settled, and Fox could not get his pain for a while.

It is a normal business cooperation with Twentieth Century Fox, and it is also a normal business cooperation with Warner Bros. At least on the surface, others can't say anything.

But Duke understood that the senior executives of Twentieth Century Fox must be unhappy in their hearts. They couldn't say when they would jump out and bite him. He would never overestimate the moral level of capital.

If the new movie project goes well, Twentieth Century Fox may only watch due to Warner Bros. If they encounter trouble, they will definitely jump out and take the blame.

Duke will not be afraid or escape. When any super director moves to the road to success, it will not be smooth. Hollywood is a world of fame and fortune that fights with money, power, fame and talent, not a world of pure goodness.
Chapter completed!