Hollywood Director 1992

Link also received news that Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, and Julianne Moore were preparing to switch agencies.

He called Marty Bauer, the president of UTA, urging him to sign the three, emphasizing their great potential and his intention to collaborate with them in the future.

Initially, during the preparation of 'Speed,' anticipating the film's potential success and the subsequent rise in popularity of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock,

he had contacted UTA in advance, requesting them to send representatives to approach the two actors and explore the possibility of them switching agencies.

Several months had passed, and he had almost forgotten about it when the news arrived.

Marty Bauer stated that he had already arranged for a poaching team to contact the three, offering many favorable terms, including covering their breach of contract fees, compensating them for losses incurred due to the termination, and offering preferential treatment in agent commissions.

UTA demonstrated great sincerity in this matter, making the probability of success high.

However, after the news broke, WMA and ICM also contacted the three, preparing to poach them with generous offers, while CAA also tried its best to retain them.

The four agencies initiated a poaching war.

For a time, it attracted the attention of many in the industry, not only focusing on the four agencies but also on Link.

Although this matter had nothing to do with Link, the three being poached had collaborated with Link and had a good relationship with him.

Now that these three were preparing to switch agencies, it looked like Link's doing.

He was using this method to retaliate against Michael Ovitz's suppression in film.

Some media speculated that the incident might be part of the summer box office battle. Before the arrival of the summer season, CAA, in conjunction with the Big Seven studios, was preparing to suppress Guess Pictures' 'Speed' and 'Seven.' Link, unable to compete with the Big Seven in film promotion, was preparing to detonate within CAA, embarrassing Michael Ovitz.

Link's side did not comment on these speculations.

During this period, he also received calls from Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

Keanu Reeves stated that he didn't want to stay at CAA because the internal atmosphere of CAA had changed.

The higher-ups began to frequently interfere with the artists' work, asking them to help promote movies they didn't like, preventing them from working in peace, and even demanding that they negatively promote 'Speed.'

If they didn't cooperate, they would be threatened with resources.

The approach was very excessive, not treating artists as human beings at all.

Keanu Reeves strongly disliked the management style of CAA's higher-ups and decided to switch agencies.

Link supported him.

Sandra Bullock's main reason for preparing to switch agencies was her age. At 30 this year, with too many artists under CAA, internal competition was fierce, making it difficult for actors of her type to get resources.

In the past, many of the roles she received were contacted through personal channels or through hard work in auditions.

CAA provided very limited assistance, but took 10% of her salary as agent commission.

She didn't want to continue staying at CAA, and UTA's terms were good, so she was preparing to give it a try.

Sandra asked for his opinion, hoping to get his support.

Link also supported her, saying that he would still cooperate with her if he had the chance.

Sandra happily invited him to dinner.

Julianne Moore didn't call him, but mentioned it while leaning against him at Renée Zellweger's house during a date.

Julianne Moore, 34 years old this year, entered the industry in '83, and later played small supporting roles in many film and television dramas. In '92, she played the second female lead in the thriller 'The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.' With the film's success, she also became popular.

After becoming popular, CAA renegotiated her agency contract, paid more attention to her, and provided her with many film and television and endorsement resources.

Currently, she has more than 4 years left on her agency contract with CAA.

Switching agencies at this time would require paying a $2 million breach of contract fee, wasting many resources, and the loss would be relatively large. In addition, after CAA heard that she wanted to switch agencies, they gave her some film and television and endorsement resources worth several million dollars.

So she was now more conflicted, hoping to hear his opinion.

Link heard that she didn't really want to switch agencies, so he persuaded her to stay at CAA. He had a little conflict with CAA president Michael Ovitz, but no conflict with CAA. He also maintained a good personal relationship with vice president Jay Moloney.

If there were no accidents, Michael Ovitz would switch to Disney next year, and it would be uncertain who CAA would listen to then.

Julianne Moore got his support and happily burrowed back into the blanket to please him.

Renée Zellweger joked that she was greedy.

After several days of gaming, CAA retained Julianne Moore at a great cost, WMA successfully poached Keanu Reeves, and Sandra Bullock joined UTA.

In this contest, WMA picked up a bargain, UTA won a small victory, and CAA suffered a silent loss.

According to news from within CAA, Michael Ovitz was furious afterward, smashing several cups and yelling to blacklist Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

Ovitz was so angry not only because he lost to Link again, but also because he hated betrayal.

Initially, he betrayed WMA, taking a few partners to found CAA, becoming WMA's nemesis.

To prevent this from happening at CAA, he implemented a cross-responsibility system for agents.

That is, an artist has two or more agents, including the chief agent, executive agent, film agent, television agent, and endorsement agent, etc.

The artist's performing arts agency affairs and endorsement agency affairs are separated.

This is to prevent agents from switching agencies with artists, and also to prevent artists from switching agencies with agents.

But this time, Keanu and Sandra strongly terminated their cooperative relationship, and also took away several agents and assistants.

This also shows that the set he implemented in CAA's artist management was not as practical as he thought. Once an artist is determined to switch agencies, or the opponent is willing to spend a lot of money to poach people, a few agency contracts alone cannot stop it.

This matter made Ovitz even more angry, and also blamed everything on Link.

Michael Ovitz was not someone who would suffer losses, so he immediately contacted several major media companies, demanding that they refuse to promote Guess Pictures' films. As compensation, he could help them contact other promotional businesses.

Some agreed, and some refused.

The main reason was that Guess Pictures had announced that the minimum promotional budget for "Seven" was $15 million, with no upper limit.

This was a huge piece of meat.

Media companies are also profit-making organizations and are responsible to the board of directors. They won't pass up the chance to make money.

Even Time Warner, as a competitor, was the same.

Time Warner Group's business spans media, publishing, film, and television industries.

Its subsidiaries include Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Media Company.

The two companies have comparable status within the group.

The company president is appointed by the board of directors and is responsible to the board.

Companies with good performance will be rewarded by the board of directors, with increased salaries and bonuses for management.

Poor performance will be criticized or even lead to replacement.

This also led to different attitudes between the two companies towards Guess Pictures. Even though Warner Bros. Pictures was hostile to Guess Pictures, it did not prevent Warner Media Company from cooperating with Guess Pictures to help promote Guess Pictures' movies.

There is also News Corporation's subsidiary, 20th Century Fox Film, and FOX News Channel and Star Media.

Viacom Group's Paramount Pictures and MTV channels are the same.

Unless the group's senior management requires them not to promote movies under Guess Pictures, the group will be responsible for the losses.

However, with the current size of Guess Pictures, it is not enough to attract the attention of the major media groups.

This is also the reason why Link is not worried about film promotion when competing with the Big Seven.

But there are also negative effects.

Affected by multiple suppressions, the companies under the Big Seven media groups know that Guess Pictures is at a disadvantage, so the quotes they give are higher than usual, preparing to reap the benefits.

Doing so is also forcing Link to continue betting.

If he doesn't bet, the two films will only get very few promotional resources, and they will inevitably be at a disadvantage in the summer box office battle, being completely crushed by the Big Seven.

Once he bets and invests more funds to promote the films, it's fine if the films are a big hit. If the films fail at the box office, Guess Pictures will inevitably suffer greater losses.

This is also the result the Big Seven want to see.

"Will Link continue to bet?"

For a time, many people in Hollywood looked at Link.

After considering it, Link asked the company to increase the publicity budget, sparing no cost to promote "Speed" and "Seven".

The senior executives of the Big Seven couldn't help but laugh when they received the news. Link is a good director, but not a good entrepreneur. He is too naive and doesn't understand business warfare at all.

This is Hollywood, their territory, equivalent to the house in a gambling game.

They are not worried about whether Link's films can be a hit, only worried that Link is afraid and unwilling to continue gambling. As long as Link dares to sit at the table, they are confident that they can make Link lose everything.

The news that Link announced an increase in the film distribution costs was also leaked to the media.

The media believes that his approach is very risky and may lead Guess Pictures to its demise.

Many acquaintances, including Robert Shaye, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, and The Hollywood Reporter deputy editor Aaron Kouch, called to persuade him not to be too tough. The Big Seven and the media groups behind them are powerful, and it is not a good thing for Guess Pictures to be hostile to them.

Several people persuaded him to accept the entertainment capital's invitation, release some more shares, and with the support of the entertainment capital behind him, the Big Seven would also treat him as one of their own.

Link did not agree. The war with the Big Seven had just begun. He hadn't failed yet, so how could he surrender?

Even if he surrenders, he will wait until he loses before considering it.

Hearing him say this, the people who persuaded him also stopped talking, but everyone believed that Link would inevitably lose in this competition and would eventually be taken under the Big Seven.

"Link is confused. No matter how powerful he is, how can he fight a group of people?"

Harvey Weinstein looked at the newspaper and shook his head with a smile.

"He is too arrogant, thinking that winning Ovitz and others in a bet can withstand the suppression of the Big Seven. He is also too greedy to share profits with entertainment capital, so capital will naturally not allow him to continue to exist."

Castle Rock Entertainment president Rob Reiner took a sip of coffee and sneered.

Harvey Weinstein nodded in agreement.

When Miramax Films had not made a profit in the 1980s, the Big Seven would not mind Miramax making a little money.

When Miramax started making big money, the Big Seven began to pay attention to Miramax and issued an acquisition notice. If they didn't agree, the Big Seven would force him to agree.

Harvey didn't want to go against the capital, so he wisely sold the company to Disney, one of the Big Seven. Although he earned less money than before, it was very stable.

Unlike Link, who is now almost an enemy of the film industry.

Doing so is actually very unwise. In the end, Guess Pictures will fail in the competition and will still be acquired by the Big Seven, and Link's losses will be even greater.

"I heard you didn't accept Michael Ovitz's invitation?"

Rob Reiner asked.

"I still have cooperation with Guess Pictures, so it's not suitable for me to participate in your actions. Besides, so many of you are taking action, it doesn't matter whether Miramax is there or not."

Harvey tapped the ash and picked it up to take a sip.

"That's right, four of the Big Seven have agreed to take action. What can Link fight with? Let him lose the summer season first, and continue to suppress him in the winter season, so that he can't lift his head. If everything goes well, we should be able to drive Link out of Hollywood before Christmas next year. With this guy around, none of us can have a good day."

Rob Reiner said, his face full of resentment and anger when he mentioned Link.

Before Guess Pictures appeared, Castle Rock Entertainment was among the top three in the independent film field, making tens of millions of dollars in profit every year, and hundreds of millions when it was good.

After the rise of Guess Pictures, Castle Rock's revenue situation became worse and worse, almost to the point of bankruptcy.

He now expects Guess Pictures to go bankrupt more than anyone else.

Harvey nodded and looked at a piece of information in the newspaper. Guess Pictures' "Speed" was released on Friday.

After being suppressed so much, how much box office can this film get? Will Guess Pictures suffer huge losses?

Harvey likes to watch this kind of excitement.