HWI 247

Hollywood What If Chapter 247

The problem with Spider-Man was the profit sharing. Note that Marvel Comics had a share of this because they were the rightful owner of the copyrights. Marvel Comics was just renting it to Sony-Columbia. If Salvatore Barlowe fought for such a big cut of profit share, then it would be bad for Sony-Columbia. 

Yet, the Spider-Man project was already late on schedule and more money would be wasted if Frank didn't make a decision. 

"... 27+27 contract and 7% peripherals profit share."

In the end, Frank Price decided to increase the salary and box office share and lower the peripherals' profit share.

Frank Price kept his face serious. The two stared at each other. A few seconds later, Salvatore Barlowe nodded. 

"Alright."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Frank Price sighed secretly. 

Salvatore Barlowe knew that it would be hard for Sony-Columbia to let go of their peripherals profit and Kazir agreed with the 7%. 

The two sides actually fought hard just to reach this amount. 

Now that the two sides agreed. They have to finalize the contract and Kazir would sign it. 

Sony-Columbia was in a desperate situation. In this case, they might as well choose the best director out there who could give them a lot of money. After all, they couldn't fuck up Spider-Man intentionally, it was written in the contract between Sony-Columbia and Marvel Comics. 

All they hoped was that Spider-Man had at least half of the performance that Wanted had right now. Oh boy they were wrong, it was more than half. The Spider-Man trilogy was the start of the superhero movie era. 

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"So you're telling me that both sides made an agreement?"

Michael Eisner asked his secretary, quite disheveled. He thought Walt Disney had the chance to work with Kazir Grey. 

'I can't understand, I thought we had an initial agreement.'

At that time, four of the Big Six had an initial agreement with Kazir Grey. But of course, Kazir could only promise one project at a time. He could not work with all of them. 

The old man sat down and sighed with defeat. He did his best though. He promised Kazir a contract that only a few directors had the privilege of getting. Yet it seemed that the guy was more interested in working with a washed superhero from a broke comic company... 

"Anyway, the project is still ongoing. We can hire other directors... Try contacting Fremont Smith, and ask him if he is interested. As long as the conditions can be met, we can work with him."

Most of Kazir's movies were original scripts except for The Bourne Identity. Since that was the case, they might as well look for others. 

Fremont Smith was related to the Continental Cinematic Universe and he had an idea of how Cinema Universe works. He fit the criteria. 

"Yes sir."

The secretary left, quite tense because the Chairman was clearly in a bad mood. 

"Kazir, are you still mad about what happened back then?"

Walt Disney and Universal Pictures joined hands together to defame Kazir, and behind them was WMA. 

"Or perhaps you didn't like that we didn't kick Harvey Weinstein out of the company?"

Honestly, he should have done it. Now, Harvey Weinstein was like a rat in the wooden wall, slowly destroying the house he built. The fat guy kept sucking up to Roy Disney. 

Harvey was still trying to hide from the public after the incident of the Blair Witch Project. But he was active in company politics. 

Now, Chairman Michael Eisner felt that his days in his position were going to end... Perhaps it the time to retire. 

"No, I love the authority that I have. It's impossible to leave this job, this drug, that keeps me and my ego high."

This John Carter, this movie should be successful.

"I should talk to Steve Jobs too. Walt Disney needs Pixar."

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Having a contract like the one had right now was the highest and absurd contract he had in his lifetime. 

What? 

27+27 contract with videotapes/DVDs/merchandise/peripherals 7% profit share? 

Kazir would receive half of the $27 million at the start of the production, then the latter half would be sent to his bank account once the project was done. 

Half of $27 million was $13.5 million. Meaning, that Kazir immediately had that amount in just the first day of his job. 

But this stuff didn't matter. 

At this moment, Kazir was just the most sought director and Sony-Columbia was insane enough to agree. 

Here was the thing, in the next two decades, James Cameron earned at least $95 million for being the director of Avatar 2. So yeah, the Big Six was insane enough to hire people for that amount. 

Anyway, Kazir's side and Sony-Columbia's side finalized the contract. 

Sony-Columbia wanted Kazir to sign a trilogy contract but Kazir could only promise 2 movies. The two sides compromised and the profit sharing of peripherals and such lowered down to 6%. 

So yeah, it was now 27+27 and 6% peripherals profit share. Was it a loss? In my opinion, no it was not... That amount was so freaking huge. 

The two sides signed a contract and the project officially started. 

However, Kazir realized that this job was not that simple at all. He realized that the project was in shambles. 

First, the production crew. Kazir has to hire his crew members from Grey Pictures. So now, the production crew responsible for the project was Grey Pictures. But this was the first time these crew members worked for the Big Six after The Hangover and they were adjusting. 

The second was the creative team of Marvel. Of course people from the Marvel Comics would participate. Especially Stan Lee, the man himself. 

Because this project was an adaptation and Kazir didn't have absolute authority, it was hard to put his opinion on some matters. 

Another problem was the producer. The producer was mostly responsible for the financial stuff and governing of the staff, she was from Sony-Columbia and Kazir had no working experience with her. 

Let's just say that she had a thing with women. No, not that thing, she hated women. Especially beautiful and sexy women, she hated them for some reason and that affected their project. 

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[I'll write two chapters again tomorrow.]