Full-time actor

Chapter 500 [65] 18-year-old coming of age ceremony!
Two days later, Chen Yu, who had just finished filming "Narcotics", returned to the capital and received a call from Richard.

"Chan, good news!"

"Relativity has new ideas for the script of Fast & Furious 3. They intend to film it in Asia, so the chances of you being chosen are very high!"

"..."

Isn't this nonsense?

Of course Chen Yu knew the plot of Fast and Furious 3, otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned this to him specifically.

"Oh? Then when can the order of roles be determined?"

Chen Yu is actually very confident about this role, but the filming of movies in Hollywood is still somewhat different from that in China.

Generally speaking, Hollywood film and television companies will first determine a filming project and then start raising funds. Producers occupy an absolute dominant position in this system, similar to domestic directors.

Many Hollywood directors are like actors, sometimes they are chosen by producers.

Of course, if the film's financiers, main actors, and director are well-known, he can also serve as a producer.

Therefore, in Hollywood, the producer is the first person confirmed when a movie starts shooting.

He can be an actor, an investor, a director... In short, he is the main person in charge of the entire film.

After that, the producer will look for several casting directors and start contacting agencies such as CAA to select directors, screenwriters, actors, etc. The agency is responsible for the one-stop packaging business.

In between, the actors, screenwriters, directors, etc., are in different orders.

The script may be determined first, or it may be the actors or the director; the screenwriter looks at the actors, and the director negotiates with the screenwriter to create the script together.

This is a general process.

Just like Chen Yu's previous "Mission Impossible 3", the producers are Paramount, China Film and Tom Cruise, so the script is not the first to come out. Instead, the actors are confirmed, and the CAA screenwriter then develops an excellent script based on the actors. Sometimes the manuscript has to be revised until he vomits.

Now, the screenwriters of "Mission Impossible 3", Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, have an urge to kill Tom Cruise directly; because the script has been changed again and again, and it has almost tortured them to death.

Many times, before filming begins, there is only a general story.

Then, based on this story, we select actors and begin to enrich the plot.

The rumor that screenwriters in the United States have a high status is actually nonsense; many screenwriters in Hollywood are employed part-time by the union, and if they had to rely on the job of screenwriter, they might not be able to make a living.

It is basically a fantasy for you to hold a script and wait for a film company to take a fancy to it. No matter how well-written the story is, not to mention the Big Eight Studios, even the newly opened film and television companies may not even look at you.

Many screenwriters sign contracts with agencies like CAA and work as employees, which provides some security.

The reason why the status of screenwriters has been advocated is that in fact, several trade unions in the United States do have a very high status.

This includes the Screenwriters Guild, but those who have real power there are all senior screenwriters, just like the original authors such as Liu Cixin and Yu Hua, who have already been famous and must have a certain influence.

The famous screenwriters and writers in China, of course, have a very high status.

Without strength, you'll be the same wherever you are in the world.

Therefore, it is even less likely for a script written in Hollywood to be adopted by a film and television company than in China.

There are so many screenwriters, and the Screenwriters Guild has tens of thousands of new scripts in its script library every year. Why wouldn’t they choose a well-known one but a rookie like you?
In addition to successful cases such as novels, comics, and remakes, new screenwriters in the United States can only do adaptations at the beginning. Only when the adapted movie becomes famous will you gain a certain status.

And now, the "Fast and Furious 3" that Chen Yu has set his sights on happens to be facing an opportunity for casting.

The script has not yet been started, so there are many variables.

……

"I've told Ryan about your idea. He's very interested in you. The casting director is also currently looking for someone to play the role in Fast and Furious 3 so that we can finalize the script..."

"In terms of ranking, you are definitely number one!"

Richard said on the phone that the so-called ranking refers to the selection of actors; for one role, the casting director will select several actors as candidates, and will select them in order from the first to the last according to their strength, fame and other conditions.

If there is no schedule conflict with the first pick, then choose the second one...but this pick is not fixed.

At the beginning, it is just a rough ranking. The real ranking order will be announced after the audition, just like the NBA draft.

At that time, it will depend on the efforts of the agency.

"You'd better come over. We'll have an audition first and confirm your role first!"

"By the way, we need to negotiate the start time of Mission: Impossible 3, and it's better to finalize the shooting plan. You know that guy Cruise..."

"..."

Richard couldn't say that he could immediately confirm that Chen Yu would star in "Fast and Furious 3"; after all, the company Relativity was a new one, and CAA had just started their business with them, so a symbolic audition would definitely be necessary.

"Okay, I'll book the ticket!"

Nothing major happened to Chen Yu in the next month.

He is still ambitious about getting the role in "Fast and Furious 3"; not only because this series is very popular in later generations, but also because it is possible that he will get the copyright of the character.

Of course, Chen Yu would not miss this kind of Hollywood role.

These days, he also took the opportunity to log into Google and looked up information about the Relativity Media Film and Television Company.

Sure enough, it was only established at the end of last year and is a new company that has not even been in operation for half a year!

Chen Yu also did a thorough investigation on the company's founder, Ryan Kavanaugh.

The information was not much different from what he knew in his previous life, but he was not a Wall Street tycoon, but an asset intermediary who specialized in providing financial services to some celebrities.

But last year, he found a new way.

The Big Eight Studios are having a hard time now. Each of them wants to make commercial blockbusters, but the risks are too great. Kavanaugh helped the Big Eight Studios to connect with several Wall Street giants, such as Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, to obtain financing.

It means taking the bank’s money and investing directly in movies.

According to relevant regulations in the United States, financial companies such as banks, fund companies, etc. cannot directly invest in the film industry and can only provide loans.

But there are always loopholes that can be exploited; if you just do something in the middle, it will work.

And Ryan Kavanaugh, a Jew, is such an awesome trader.

This guy just got 10 billion US dollars from a New York hedge fund as a backing, and invested money in several mainstream Hollywood film companies, including Universal and Sony. The big guys accepted the funds, and as an intermediary, he got 100 million US dollars in commission from each financed film, plus a small portion of the profits.

This guy is not very old, he is only 30 years old, and he spends 10 billion US dollars at one time. Can Universal not give him the authorization for "Fast and Furious"?
This is the God of Wealth. A license can be exchanged for hundreds of millions of dollars. Everyone can calculate this deal.

So, Relativity Media was founded because Ryan Kavanaugh wanted to do it himself.

I guess he thinks being an agent is meaningless.

"Fast and Furious 3" is the first blockbuster produced by the collaboration between Relativity Media and Universal Studios.

Ryan Kavanaugh is indeed a talented person. There are many of his big words on Google, such as Hollywood reformer, new film revolution, and the man who changed Hollywood... He regards film products as financial investments, which is not wrong in itself.

The premise is that if the movies he invests in are all popular, then he has a good chance of becoming the Steve Jobs or Elon Musk of Hollywood.

There is indeed only a fine line between genius and madness.

You will definitely succeed and become the super CEO who revolutionizes Hollywood!

However, this guy's ability is completely incomparable to that of Jobs and Musk. He is ambitious and young. He started working on Wall Street at the age of 21, opened a company and earned more than 1000 million US dollars. But for any company's investment, products are king.

It is true that Jobs and Musk played with concepts, but they also had products to support their ideas; Kavanaugh was able to get money, and the entire Wall Street acted as his funding pool, but he really didn’t make any good movies.

At least New Line still has "The Lord of the Rings" and "Blade", but except for a few Fast and Furious movies, all other movies of Relativity have basically failed.

Besides, Fast and Furious is also Universal's IP and has nothing to do with Theory of Relativity.

So, in 2011, Relativity went bankrupt, becoming one of the largest bankruptcies in Hollywood history.

From 2004 to 2010, the company raised nearly $120 billion in financing for the film industry in six years. This number is of great significance; you have to know that in 2009, the total box office in the United States and Canada was only $106 billion...

But with so much money and after making more than a hundred films, the total debt eventually amounted to 11.8 billion US dollars.

Many people in the whole United States are his creditors.

This guy used the money from foundations and banks to make movies, and the ultimate victims of this money were students and middle-aged women...

Of course Chen Yu wouldn't care about these. This guy is a lunatic, but he is cooperative. In the next few years, his status in Hollywood will be even more awesome than that of the notorious rapist Weinstein.

Almost all the Big Eight film studios have good relations with him. Who can blame this guy for... being stupid and having lots of money?

Even though his movies are terrible, they still do well at the box office.

The reason, of course, is that his company's films have all been given the green light in terms of distribution and scheduling. He is probably the best-performing producer in the whole of Hollywood; but even so, he is still a hopeless person.

The movie is not good, this is a fatal flaw.

It’s just like “Tiny Times” which earned 20 billion at the box office, but was really bad!
Chen Yu’s idea was very simple. He wanted to get to know this rich guy with lots of money and use his platform in case it might be useful in the future!

After figuring out the key, Chen Yu asked Ji Qiannan to book a flight to the United States.

But he himself was thinking about something he had been planning for a long time; in less than three months, it would be Liu Yifei's 3th birthday; in her previous life, Sony Music held her coming-of-age ceremony, but this time, without Sony, she could only rely on him as her boyfriend.

Moreover, this opportunity is a good opportunity to officially announce to the outside world that the two are in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

Chen Yu couldn't wait any longer.

It just so happens that there is a one-month break right now, so Chen Yu is not so busy with filming and can start making plans.

However, this month is not a complete rest. "Departures" has entered the post-production stage, and Chen Yu has to find time to go to Japan for dubbing and watching films, so as to complete the film before the registration deadline for this Venice Film Festival.

The premiere date was chosen to be the Venice Film Festival, and Yojiro Takita certainly had no objection.

In its previous life, "Departures" did not make it to the three major film festivals, but eventually participated in the Montreal International Film Festival in Canada, which is as famous as the three major ones, and won the Best Film Award; Montreal is also an international A-level film festival, but there is still some gap with the three major ones. Among the 15 international A-level film festivals, it ranks fifth.

Of course it has influence, but it is certainly not comparable to the Big Three.

At present, Chen Yu is only one award away from the Venice Prize; he thinks that he can still make a push this time.

"I also have to prepare for the release of Initial D... the audition for Fast and Furious 3, and the final confirmation for Mission: Impossible 3..."

There are still many things to do.

"First, let someone find a company to organize the party and come up with a plan for the coming-of-age ceremony!"

Chen Yu handed the matter over to his assistant Cao Yan. As for what specific surprises there would be at the coming-of-age ceremony, that was something Chen Yu had to think about himself.

CAA can get her a global endorsement and agency contract.

Chen Yu had previously sounded out Richard, and he certainly had the willingness to cooperate with Liu Yifei, who was filming "Escape Plan" with Jackie Chan; as for birthday gifts, customizing a crystal statue was just a routine project.

"It would be better to send a movie..."

"We'll have to invite some people by then, and call ahead to confirm the schedule!"

"And the teachers and classmates from the Central Academy of Drama..."

"..."

Chen Yu sat there thinking, while Cao Yan and Qiu Junjun were already busy. One of them was looking for a company to prepare such a birthday party, and the other was making a list of invitees for Chen Yu.

Chen Yu still attaches great importance to this coming-of-age ceremony.

"Then let's see if we can merge Hongxingwu as well!"

Let Liu Xiaoli be the head of the new agency. It happened that Huayi was in a period of agency vacancy, and Wang Jinhua would also be affected. Chen Yu would certainly not miss this good opportunity to profit from the conflict between the two parties.

"This coming-of-age ceremony can kill two birds with one stone..."

Chen Yu was very clear about Liu Yifei's coming-of-age ceremony in her previous life. It seemed to be a birthday party for her, but in fact it was a game between several companies behind Sony, Chen Jingfei and Zhang Jizhong.

This kind of public ceremony cannot possibly be so pure.

However, in this life, Chen Yu only wants to make Liu Yifei happy and remember this day forever; if he can gain some benefits by the way, it will be icing on the cake.

For a moment, Chen Yu began to look forward to his coming-of-age ceremony three months later.

As for choosing the venue, Liu Yifei in her previous life held the ceremony in "Fangfei Garden", Building 17 of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. Chen Yu felt that this was a bit too high-profile; the fact that Liu Yifei was criticized by so many people in her previous life was also related to this incident.

It would be better to ask An Shaokang about this matter and see what he thinks.

Thinking of this, Chen Yu immediately took out his cell phone and sent a text message to his future father-in-law...

(End of this chapter)