Hollywood Director 1992

After finishing a round of golf, Link took a bath and changed clothes in the club hotel. Then, he followed Jerome and the others to the clubhouse to drink, chat, and socialize with other members of the 'White Headed Eagle' club.

During the chat, Aaron Kouch took the initiative to mention the news published in the last "Hollywood Reporter" that exposed the inside story of Guess Pictures' acquisition of Triangle Entertainment.

That article was based on information a senior reporter from the newspaper had gathered from within Triangle Entertainment. The newspaper found it interesting and believed it could help boost sales, so they published it.

When the decision to publish that article was made, the investigative article in the "Los Angeles Times" had not yet been published.

As a result, the two news stories collided, creating a huge impact in the entertainment industry and affecting Link and the box office of "The Witch."

In response, Aaron Kouch apologized to Link on behalf of the newspaper.

Link waved his hand and said it was okay.

Before that article came out, he had only met Aaron Kouch two or three times and didn't have much of a relationship with him. Moreover, "The Hollywood Reporter" was a large newspaper in the entertainment industry and had the freedom to report or not report. Besides, the news reported by the newspaper was true and not fabricated.

Link couldn't blame them.

In addition, the article in the "Los Angeles Times" was also collateral damage.

In the past six months, Guess Pictures had worked closely with the "Los Angeles Times," and they had turned to the "Los Angeles Times" every time they promoted a new movie. The financial transactions between the two parties exceeded one million dollars.

A thriving Guess Pictures was also beneficial to the "Los Angeles Times."

According to the tacit understanding between the two parties, if they knew that "The Blair Witch Project" was a movie from Guess Pictures, they would have contacted Guess Pictures before reporting it, or suppressed the article and not reported it.

However, "The Witch" was ostensibly a movie distributed by Triangle Entertainment, not Guess Pictures. This was also the reason why the "Los Angeles Times" published that investigative article.

After confirming that Triangle Entertainment had been acquired by Guess Pictures, Ross Stanton, the entertainment editor of the "Los Angeles Times," also called Link to explain, saying that they would cooperate with Guess Pictures to eliminate the adverse effects of the news.

At the same time, he reiterated the cooperative relationship between Guess Pictures and the newspaper's entertainment editorial department, hoping that this misunderstanding would not affect the cooperation between the two parties.

After receiving the apology, Link didn't dwell on it.

"Link, I originally thought that the article in "The Hollywood Reporter" was arranged by you, but I only found out it wasn't after listening to Aaron's explanation," Jerome Preston said with a smile.

"Why would I publish such news? To make fun of myself?"

"Haha, everyone knows that Richard Gere, Robert Downey Jr., and others don't get along with you, but they publicly support "The Blair Witch Project." If you released this news to let them know the truth, they would probably feel worse than swallowing iron nails. Isn't that a great counterattack?"

Jerome joked.

"Doing so would vent my anger, but it would also affect the box office of "The Witch," which is very uneconomical. I wouldn't do such a stupid thing that hinders my ability to make money," Link said with a smile, swirling his wine glass.

"Link, so that means you really directed "The Witch"?" Graydon Carter asked in surprise.

"No. I'm the screenwriter, supervisor, and producer, not the director."

Link insisted on saying this. Even though everyone outside now thought he was the director of the movie, he wouldn't admit it. As long as he didn't admit it, no one could say he lied.

"Haha, Gray, don't ask. It's right for Link not to admit it. Although this movie has a good box office, the word-of-mouth is too bad. It's even worse than "Paranormal Activity." There are also great hidden dangers in the publicity method. If Link isn't the director of this movie, he doesn't have to bear the subsequent negative impact," Jerome said.

"Yes, compared to "Paranormal Activity," "The Witch" is too terrible. Those shaky shots make people want to vomit. If it's said to be Link's movie, I'll have psychological trauma when I watch his movies in the future," Aaron Kouch said with a look of disgust on his face when he mentioned "The Blair Witch Project," obviously offended by the movie.

"So you really directed this movie?" Graydon Carter looked at Link in surprise. "You're too amazing. The production cost of the first movie was 20,000, the second one was 20,000, and the third one was, what, 50,000? The production cost of each movie is so low, but the box office is surprisingly high. You've taken low-budget movies to the extreme. Link, Hollywood can't find a second person like you who makes movies."

"It's not that exaggerated. I just pay more attention to publicity when distributing movies to increase the movie's exposure. Doing so also leads to extremely high marketing costs for each of my movies, millions or tens of millions, which is higher than the production costs of many movies.

This is equivalent to me using the money others use to make movies on movie promotion, which also leads to my movies not having high ratings. Ed Wood the Second, you should have heard of the nickname everyone gave me," Link said with a smile.

"What does that matter? Whether it's film art or other art, it's all a game of capital in the end. So, in the entertainment industry, nothing is more important than making money. I think those who have won the Oscar for Best Director, if they had the opportunity to make movies like "Paranormal Activity" or "The Witch," they would not hesitate to give up their artistic integrity and make a low-budget movie to make money, but unfortunately they can't do it," Aaron Kouch said.

"I think so too," Jerome said with a smile.

While the four of them were chatting, people would come over from time to time to say hello and greet them.

Since Link had just been listed on the "Forbes 400 Richest Americans" list and was a well-known director in the industry, more people came over to greet him.

There were colleagues from film companies, media industry professionals, bank executives, corporate executives, and several older stars, actors, and singers, mostly middle and senior managers from various industries.

Under Graydon Carter's introduction, Link also met Jay Maloney, a partner at the CAA agency at the vice president level.

Jay Maloney was a tall, thin middle-aged man in his forties, wearing an expensive suit and possessing an outstanding temperament. He ranked ninth in the management of the CAA agency, responsible for the agency affairs of CAA's artists.

After Jay Maloney met him, he proposed to chat with him alone.

Link took his wine glass and went with Jay Maloney to chat on the terrace next to the sea.

It was afternoon, and the sunset was accompanied by colorful clouds. The endless sea was connected to the sky in the distance, and several seabirds were foraging on the beach nearby. The tide kept hitting the cliffs, and the sound of pattering came from a few kilometers away, with a magnificent momentum.

"Director Link, after "Buried" became a hit last year, I arranged for someone to contact you, hoping to get your agency contract, but unfortunately, the person the company sent to contact you was not effective, and the people at WMA took the lead in signing you," Jay Maloney said.

Link smiled. After "Buried" was released at the beginning of last year, the three major agencies, CAA, WMA, and ICM, all arranged for people to sign him. However, after hearing his requirements, CAA and ICM chose to withdraw, and only Sam Haskell continued to contact him after persuading the higher-ups at WMA.

At that time, it wasn't that he didn't choose CAA, but that CAA didn't choose him.

"I heard that CAA's internal management is very strict. I'm used to being casual, and I'm afraid I'm not suitable for CAA's style."

After becoming the leader of the agency companies, CAA began to become domineering, not only doing artist agency, but also interfering in the production and distribution of film companies.

When they cooperate with film companies, they implement a 'bundled sales' policy.

Since CAA has a large number of famous directors, top stars, and gold-medal screenwriters, it is equivalent to monopolizing the celebrity resources in the entertainment industry.

They will actively help their clients choose good film projects.

Once selected, they will decide in advance the director, male and female leads, supporting actors, and other candidates for the film, and then sell it to the studio along with the script. If the studio accepts, they will cooperate; if they don't accept, they will find other film companies.

This cooperation method seriously erodes the rights and interests of the production companies and makes the film production companies increasingly disgusted with CAA's practices.

If Link had signed with CAA in the first place, when he was making a movie, he wouldn't have to publicly cast the film. CAA management could decide in advance who to use as the lead. If necessary, they could also replace him.

Under CAA's management mechanism, individual freedom is lower.

That's why Link said he wasn't suitable for CAA's style.