HWI 169

Hollywood What If Chapter 169

Kazir sat down in this office early in the morning. With him was a hot brew of coffee. The training for The Bourne Identity was still ongoing so Kazir was not super busy. He had some time for himself. 

Yet early in the morning, assistant Erica Mendez greeted him with a set of work. 

"Sir, Enrico Pusi from Warner Bros wanted to talk to you."

"Okay, set a schedule for him," Kazir replied. This was not new. Some people would contact him regarding his scripts. He already expected it. 

"Sir, about that... Enrico Pusi is currently waiting for you downstairs in the lobby."

"Okay. Give me five minutes, I'll meet him." Kazir nodded and stood up. He looked in the mirror and confirmed that his appearance was alright. In fact, he looked young and handsome now that he shaved his beard. 

He even saw some women in the streets who gave him flirty gazes. 

"Sir, about that... Shirley Lansing from Paramount is waiting for you in the lobby. She is sitting a few meters away Enrico Pusi and I believe they don't like each other."

"Okay. I'll be going to meet them now."

"Sir, about that--"

"Erica, tell me everything."

"Alright. Nancy Utley from 20th Century Fox wanted to meet you, she is in the lobby as well. Even Camille Green is in the lobby, she is wearing, ahem, quite a nice dress. It seems that Universal Pictures is interested in working with Grey Pictures. Another thing is Colin Dacopps from Walt Disney is with them... The lobby almost melts because of their presence."

Of course, the latter sentence was metaphorical since it would be impossible for people to melt a concrete wall with their presence. Still, Kazir realized the atmosphere in the lobby. 

He suddenly felt like it might be bad if he showed up. Unfortunately, he had to do his job. 

He sighed and decided to enter the war. He imagined that each one of the producers was holding a blade, attacking and parrying each other. 

The lobby was not that big, it was only 10 meters big and couldn't contain the producers. 

When Kazir went down, he saw the producers glaring at each other. He even saw Enrico Pusi holding a fucking vase!

"Enrico? Why are you holding a base? What are you going to do?"

Kazir Grey frowned. The vase cost 300 dollars and in the mind of a cheapskate like him, that was already expensive. 

"Me? I'm just interested in the vase. It looks good. What do you think of me? Of course, I won't use this to attack these bastards, that would be barbaric."

"Phew. That's good to hear--"

"I have my own fists to use. I will break their faces with my bare hands!"

"..."

Looking at the situation. It seemed that something happened while Erica was gone. 

Kazir glanced at Erica and his assistant shook her head. She had no idea. 

"Okay, calm down. Let's talk about it. Like civilized people."

"Civilized? Kazir, they are ready to pounce on you just to get your scripts. I believe being civilized is not an option. Look at that bitch producer, she is wearing an office blazer but she was obviously putting emphasis on her cleavage by unbuttoning her blazer!"

Camille Green just giggled. There was nothing wrong with her dress code, she strongly believed.

Seeing the situation, Kazir sighed. He thought his expectation was exaggerated but this was far worse than he expected. 

"Let's all sit down first. Enrico, drop the vase. It cost 450 dollars together with the flowers."

"It's alright, I can pay."

'Of course you can! I heard that you received a 7-digit bonus from Warner Bros because of The Hangover Part 2! The box office of The Hangover Part 2 in North America is already $254 million!'

Kazir retorted. That should be at least 1 million dollars. Perhaps that was the reason why Enrico Pusi was ready to fight to sign a contract with Kazir Grey. Because his script means a sure way of making money. 

'Unfortunately, Grey Pictures is too small to film these projects. Even two movies in a year is already hard. All I can do is sell these scripts and negotiate a better contract with the Big Six.'

The Big Six was the Big Six because of their capability to distribute movies internationally. One of the best reasons why they were better than any film companies in Hollywood. 

There were hundreds of production companies in this industry yet only three could monopoly the market, it was impossible to stand equal next to them. 

Not even the ancient Metro Goldwyn Mayer or the blossoming DreamWorks. And not even Lionsgate. 

Once all of them were sitting, Kazir decided to speak. 

"I will sell three scripts and possible scripts for their sequels."

The producers from the Big Six listened seriously. 

"Bruce Almighty, Anchorman, and Horrible Bosses. I believe you already know what I want, right?"

Kazir was looking for his coffee, but he recalled that he left it in the office. Once he returned to his office, the coffee might already be cold. 

He sighed... The result of Meet The Parents was already affecting him. 

"Director Grey! Paramount decided to continue working with you! As long as we maintain the contract of a 25% box office distribution fee, I believe we will not have a problem!"

"Thanks, Shirley."

Kazir smiled. That contract was already sincere. Very sincere to be honest. 

However, Kazir Grey was being shameless right now. Instead of showing approval, he glanced at the others. 

"I believe you guys have better conditions, right?"

The producers gritted their teeth as they looked at Kazir's toothy grin. He was like the devil who enticed them to sin! 

Any lower than 25% would affect their production. Basically bleeding them to possible death! 

Yet the producers and the higher-ups gave them the go-signal to negotiate with Kazir. Believing that Kazir Grey would be their money-maker!

'Shameless! Thick faced! You don't deserve to be a director! You should be an agent instead!'

Kazir reminds them of talent agents who would suck the budget of movies to satisfy their greed. 

[Which company should Kazir cooperate with next? Paramount, Walt Disney, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, or 20th Century Fox? Sony-Columbia is allowed too, I just didn't add them in the chapter because they didn't have much relationship with Grey Pictures.]