Hollywood Director 1992

Daniel DeVito didn't come alone; he was accompanied by a middle-aged man with brown curly hair and a hooked nose.

Link recognized this man as well. It was Donald Simpson, a Hollywood gold-medal producer and the boss of Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, the company that produced movies like 'Days of Thunder,' 'Flashdance,' and 'Beverly Hills Cop 1/2/3,' and who had launched stars like Tom Cruise.

Link was very curious about the other party's intentions.

After meeting, the two sides exchanged pleasantries, and Donald Simpson revealed his purpose. He had a major film project and wanted to find Guess Entertainment for cooperation.

Link was quite surprised. Donald Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer were gold-medal producers who often collaborated with the Big Seven film studios under the company's name, shooting big projects with costs as high as tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars.

Although the two hadn't produced any well-received films in the past five years, they were still gold-medal producers. Their reputation preceded them, and the film projects they favored were targets of competition among the Big Seven.

Now, when Guess Entertainment was facing an encirclement by the Big Seven, and many independent filmmakers and film companies didn't dare to cooperate with Guess Entertainment, Donald Simpson took the initiative to bring a film project to Guess Entertainment for cooperation.

This thoughtfulness was touching, and Link was also looking forward to cooperating with the other party.

He proactively asked for the other party's script to take a look. As long as the script wasn't too bad, he could consider cooperation.

The script Donald Simpson brought was called 'The Rock,' which could be translated as 'Rock' or 'Unbreakable,' etc. The specific translation would depend on the content of the story.

This script told the story of a civilian hero.

The story begins with retired Brigadier General Francis Hummel, a Vietnam War veteran, dissatisfied with the US government's compensation and welfare policies for veterans, fallen soldiers, and their families. He leads his men in an uprising, smuggling the US military's latest biochemical weapons to Alcatraz Island and taking 81 tourists hostage.

The rebels use the hostages as bargaining chips, demanding that the US government pay a $100 million ransom within 48 hours, or they will execute the hostages and attack San Francisco with poison gas.

Alcatraz Island was once the most heavily defended prison in the United States, with a dangerous terrain that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

After the hijacking occurred, the San Francisco police sent a task force to try to raid the island, but it ended in complete annihilation.

Just as the police were preparing to abandon the operation, a construction engineer named Stanley Goodspeed volunteered, proposing to lead the team to attack Alcatraz Island again.

Stanley had participated in the construction and maintenance of the prison and knew that there was a secret passage inside the prison that could lead directly to the core building on the island.

However, when the police asked him to draw a detailed route, Stanley said that the entrance was extremely hidden and could only be found if he was personally present.

After intense discussion, the police finally agreed to his plan and sent a second task force to accompany him to Alcatraz Island to launch a rescue operation.

In fact, the reason why Stanley volunteered was because his wife and daughter were also among the 81 hostages being held.

If the police abandoned the hostage rescue operation, his family would be doomed.

In order to save his wife and daughter, Stanley relied on his in-depth understanding of the prison structure to successfully guide the task force to sneak into the interior of Alcatraz Island.

At the critical moment of the operation, he also personally dismantled the device used by the robbers to launch biochemical weapons, completely smashing Hummel's plan.

In the end, Stanley not only rescued his wife and daughter, but also successfully rescued all the hostages, becoming a civilian hero and being cheered by everyone.

After reading the script, Link felt a little familiar. After thinking about it carefully, the first third of the plot was similar to 'The Rock,' starring Nicolas Cage.

However, the main plot of 'The Rock' is that Brigadier General Francis Hummel leads dozens of retired Marines to occupy Alcatraz Island, using 81 tourists as hostages to demand the US government.

In order to save the hostages, the US government arranges for former British agent John Mason to go to the island to rescue people.

John Mason had previously served time in the island's prison and later successfully escaped from the island. He knew the route to enter the island better. As long as he rescued the tourists, he could be exempt from his crimes.

And the male protagonist of the film is biochemical weapons scientist Stanley Goodspeed. Originally, his task was to monitor John Mason to prevent him from escaping. Later, in the operation, he helped John Mason enter the island, save the hostages, and defeat the rebels led by Francis Hummel.

The previous version was relatively rigid, and there were not many interesting lines, while the characters' lines in the movie version were more humorous and witty, and the content was rich, including many popular memes at the time.

Link read it again and thought to himself that the previous version should be the original version, and the latter version was the revised version many times.

In fact, the difference between many original scripts and the released movies is huge. The reason is that the script has to be revised many times before it is made into a movie, and it will be repeatedly revised during the filming process. When it comes to movie editing, in order to consider the box office and the movie market, the script story will change again.

It may even not be the same story.

This also leads many directors to write and direct themselves, the purpose is to ensure the integrity of the script story.

"Director Link, how is this script? Does it have the potential to be a box office hit?"

Donald Simpson saw that he had finished reading, put down his coffee cup and asked.

Link nodded, "Very good, gun battles, explosions, rapids, hand-to-hand combat, explosion scenes, etc., the plot is compact, thrilling, and worth investing in."

Donald Simpson's eyes lit up and said enthusiastically, "Director Link, I'm very glad you like this script. I'm currently looking for investors for this project. I wonder if you have any investment ideas?"

"What is the budget for this movie, and how much investment is still needed?" Link asked.

Donald Simpson sighed and said, "I have been preparing for this project for more than two years, but the budget is too high. The initial budget is 100 million US dollars. The Big Seven film studios are worried that they will not be able to recover the cost and have not agreed to invest.

I heard that Guess Entertainment's production capacity is good and is a good partner, so I brought the script to try it out. If Guess Entertainment has the idea of investing, this project will be completely transferred to you for investment and production.

My requirement is that this movie must be completed within two years, and I will be the producer of the project, with a salary of 5 million US dollars and 5% of the global box office split."

"Boss, a budget of 100 million is too high. Our company has more than a dozen projects this year and cannot handle such a big project."

Daniel DeVito raised objections.

Link asked Donald Simpson to wait a while, and he and Daniel DeVito would have a meeting.

"Daniel, what do you think?"

In the next office, Link took a sip of water and asked.

"Boss, the investment in this project is too large and the risk is also high. Moreover, the story of the script is also relatively old-fashioned. Compared with action movies such as 'Terminator,' 'Die Hard,' and 'Shooter,' there is a big difference. Spending 100 million to shoot such a movie is very likely to not recover the cost."

Daniel DeVito advised.

"I understand your thoughts and don't like the design of the script very much, but the basic foundation of the script story is good. The old-fashioned parts can be modified, and the budget is too high and can be reduced to reduce the risk. Overall, it is a film project worth investing in."

"Boss, are you confident that you can modify the script well?"

Daniel DeVito's eyes lit up. Link is not only a top Hollywood commercial film director, but also a top screenwriter. Almost no bad films or loss-making films have been written from his hands.

If Link is confident that he can modify it well, this project is worth investing in.

"Yes! I guarantee it's a good story."

"Okay! Then let's take on this project and try it."

Daniel DeVito left the office with full of confidence and found Donald Simpson to discuss the cooperation. In order to prevent the agreed-upon script from being snatched away by the Big Seven film studios again, the two parties first signed a copyright transaction agreement.

Guess Entertainment bought the script adaptation rights from Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films for a price of 500,000 US dollars, valid for three years.

If the movie is not made within three years, the copyright will automatically return to Donald Simpson's company.

In the future, after the film project is approved, Guess Entertainment will hire Donald Simpson as the co-producer of the film, with a salary of 2 million US dollars, without any share.

After three days of negotiations, the two parties reached a deal, and the 'The Rock' project was officially in the hands of Guess Entertainment.

Link smiled as he held the contract.

Most of the 12 film projects set this year are low-cost films, mainly art films. There are fewer heavyweight commercial films, only 'Jerry Maguire' and 'The Fifth Element,' which are still films co-produced with Columbia Pictures.

Without big-budget commercial films in hand, the competitiveness of Guess Entertainment's films in the box office market next year will not be strong, and it will not be comparable to the many blockbusters of the Big Seven film studios, and it will not be able to stabilize the rapid development momentum of Guess Entertainment.

Now that he has 'The Rock,' he will seize the time to make a few more films, and Guess Entertainment's films will still be highly competitive in the next two years.

It's just that he doesn't quite understand how this film project would automatically run to Guess Entertainment?

But this is a good thing, and he didn't think too much about it and started to modify the script.

"Hahaha, Link, you're nothing more than that."

After signing the cooperation contract with Guess Entertainment, Donald Simpson came to the business car, looked at the terms on the contract, and the 500,000 US dollar check in hand, he couldn't help but laugh.