American fame and fortune.

Chapter 408: Selling people by the pound
In the lobby of WMA's headquarters in Century City, Beverly Hills, many partners, including Whitesell and Jim Witt, gathered together to wait for today's protagonist, who is also one of the company's most important actor clients - Martin -Davies enters.

In the lounge on one side of the hall, Thomas personally checked Martin's clothes and said, "Perfect."

On Martin's face, however, there was a faint gloomy temperament, as if he was preoccupied.

Thomas took a few steps back and said, "I think it's a little heavy."

Martin's brows stretched slightly, and the stern expression on his face relaxed slightly: "So?"

"OK!" Thomas gestured and said, "Just right."

He turned around and asked: "Old Bu, what do you think?"

Bruce looked carefully: "Now is the time."

"It's already 2008." Martin walked towards the door: "I want to prepare for the promotion of "The Dark Knight"."

Thomas Xin said that his customers are definitely the best stars, and he took the initiative to help the crew attract attention.

Martin was waiting inside the lounge.

On the temporary stage in the hall, Ali Emmanuel walked up, stood in front of the microphone and said: "At the beginning of 2008, WMA ushered in a critical moment to reach an agreement with the company's most important customers and continue to work together. .”

He raised his voice: "There is a star who went from a fringe actor to a first-line star in just four years, and his salary soared from US$10 to US$1500 million. Regardless of the practitioners in the industry or the relevant critics, Everyone thinks that he is the representative of the younger generation of acting! He has been nominated for an Oscar and achieved an artistic leap. He has starred in four films with over [-] million box office in North America. His appeal is unparalleled among the new generation!"

Ali pointed to the lounge door: "Martin Davis please!"

The scene erupted into warm applause.

Martin walked out of the lounge door, waved to the crowd in the hall, and walked onto the stage.

He took the microphone and said, "Thank you Ali for your compliment. What you said is too exaggerated."

Having received enough benefits from the actual contract, Martin did not mind showing his emotional side: "I never thought about leaving WMA. WMA was the first agency I signed with, and Thomas Lane was the first agency I signed with. An agent has been with me until today, and I will continue to witness glory with WMA."

Thomas stood at the edge of the stage, the light falling on his head, reflecting brightly.

Hearing Martin's last words, he took a slight step forward, and the agent's responsibility naturally popped into his mind: If Martin leaves the WMA, it must be his agent who is causing trouble and instigating the relationship between Martin and the WMA. It has nothing to do with Martin himself.

CAA contacted him, and he used CAA's pressure to force the company to agree to give Martin super-giant treatment.

In the eyes of the company and Ali Emmanuel, Thomas was called a traitor to WMA during the negotiation process.

But Thomas didn't care.

To this day, as long as Martin continues to cooperate with him, he is the first-line agent in the industry.

On stage, witnessed by representatives of the Screen Actors Guild, Martin signed a new three-year agency contract with WMA.

After exchanging contracts, Martin and Ali shook hands tightly. After shaking hands, the latter opened his arms and hugged Martin hard.

Ali asked with concern: "Are you not in a good mental state?"

Martin nodded: "I encountered some mental obstacles, nothing serious."

"Don't ignore it." Ali reminded: "See a doctor in time."

The signing ceremony, which boosted the morale of the entire company, ended with a celebratory reception at noon.

Martin got off the stage and saw Thomas' almost reflective forehead. He went over to bump fists with him and said, "Congratulations, partner!"

Taking advantage of Martin's opportunity to renew his contract, Thomas also received tangible benefits and became a partner of WMA.

Thomas wanted to smile, but couldn't stop laughing when he opened his mouth.

There is no way, the actual benefits obtained are too many, and the mood is too good to be suppressed.

But Thomas's head was not dizzy, and he knew where all this came from, and said: "No matter what you do in the future, even if you ask me to kill an enemy like Pete, you just need to tell me to do it!"

Martin couldn't help shaking his head and laughing: "We are all good law-abiding citizens, how could we do those bad things?"

Thomas said: "Pure metaphor."

Martin said: "Let's go to the hotel together."

Just outside the WMA, Ali Emmanuel accepted an interview with reporters and announced the renewal of his contract with Martin.

In this new agency contract, Martin's remuneration includes online sharing, and the agency's commission is reduced to 5.00%.In terms of the breakdown of offline income, the WMA will no longer take the brokerage share according to the labor union-mandated split. During the one-year window of the film's offline market, Martin's brokerage share of offline income will be [-]%. After the window, It will decrease by one percent every year until it reaches zero.

These are the benefits that only super giants have.

WMA can agree to such terms because CAA's frequent contacts with Thomas have put tremendous pressure on them. The management headed by Ali will never allow CAA to poach important customers they have cultivated and who are likely to ascend to the super giant throne.

Furthermore, Martin's own business appeal is strong enough.

"The Reader," which began screening in November, has been screened in a single theater and expanded to large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.

On its first weekend in North America, "The Reader" had a box office of US$3.9 in a single theater over the weekend, thanks to the sufficient number of seats in independent theaters.

Later, the scale of the screening was expanded. Although the film's commercial properties were not strong, thanks to Martin's huge fan and supporter group, there were always audiences wearing red Coca-Cola shirts, filling most of the seats in the theater.

Most importantly, this film is not particularly dull. Spending a few dollars to see Martin's action scenes with the almost hairless Winslet, except for the key parts of his body, is worth the price of admission.

The Reader's reputation is very strong, especially among Martin's fans.

Many female fans went crazy after seeing the marble sculpture-like back and buttocks, posting good reviews and high scores on movie websites.

As for the critics, in the eyes of film critics, films with this theme naturally have the attribute of adding one star to their rating.

To this day, after 12 weeks of screenings, the film's reputation among audiences and media is frighteningly high. MTC media gave it an average score of 85 points, and IMDB general audiences gave it a score of 8.4.

Good word of mouth, even if there are reasons for the careful operation of the crew and Warner Bros., it is also a reflection of the market and mainstream media.

After entering 2008, the screening scale of "The Reader" in North America has expanded to 1566, with a cumulative North American box office of 5589 million US dollars.

In terms of individual awards during the awards season, it can be called a trophy harvester.

Kate won eight Best Actress awards in various categories, and even Martin, who rarely appeared in person to canvass votes, won five Best Actor trophies including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award.

Second only to Daniel Day-Lewis' nine.

At the same time, Martin has been shortlisted by the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild of five shortlists for best actor.

He also received a nomination for Best Actor in a Drama Series at the Golden Globe Awards to be held in January.

If Daniel Day-Lewis hadn't stood in the way, and Martin knew that the old men at the academy loved Lewis to the bone and would cause endless trouble for him, he would have already started to compete for the Best Actor statuette.

After attending the cocktail party at noon, Martin appeared at The Reader's latest celebration party in the afternoon.

The so-called celebration party is naturally not to celebrate, but to have a formal name and invite many celebrities in the circle to attend the banquet to further promote public relations.

After all kinds of socializing, even people like Martin are a little mentally exhausted.

Finally found an opportunity to talk to Kate Winslet who was trying to cheer up.

"After I came back, I met with Nicholson and Warren Beatty first. I had no hope of winning. I would be done with the nomination." Martin had a long-term view, so he would not be in a hurry, but Kate was different. He reminded: "Blanchett was snubbed by various frontline awards and didn't even receive a Screen Actors Guild nomination. There won't be any threats. This year is your best chance."

"Thank you for helping me fix Blanchett in advance." Kate is very grateful to Martin, thinking that Martin and Nicholson got Blanchett just for her.

Martin didn't have to hide it, he said it straight away: "I have no hope of winning an award. The only hope of winning a heavyweight award is with you. If you win the Best Actress, the film will sell better. I signed This is a sharing agreement, and whether you win or not is related to how much I earn."

"You put more pressure on me." Kate pinched her eyebrows and said, "What will I do if I can't get you?"

Martin said viciously, "I'll sell you to Africa, by the pound!"

Kate wonders: "Why do you have to calculate it by the pound?"

Kate was too angry to talk to him.

Martin could easily arouse her interest: "Although Blanchett is gone, don't be careless, especially the French."

Kate asked: "Marion Cotillard from La Vie en Rose?"

"Yes, that's her, pay attention." In Martin's eyes, and from the information he got from Warren Beatty, Kate surpassed Marion Goldie in terms of qualifications, roles, performances, reputation and publicity. Ya, but he remembered that this woman seemed to have won an Oscar.

Kate nodded: "I'll keep an eye on her."

It is not unheard of for important Oscar awards to be upset in an extremely unexpected way.

"Don't be upset, otherwise no one will sympathize with you, they will only laugh at you." Martin, a bastard, constantly stimulates Kate's fighting spirit in order to get more shares: "Then the French may launch a new round of daily humiliation. "

(End of this chapter)