HWI 76

Hollywood What If Chapter 76

The two reached the meeting place, which was Terry Semel's office. In the room, Kazir saw only three people. They were Terry Semel, his secretary, and Enrico Pusi. 

"Good to see you, Terry, Enrico."

"Kazir, Salvatore, please sit down."

Kazir and Salvatore found their seats. 

"So Kazir, I read your proposal and some of them are much more outrageous than the last time. Your condition for The Hangover is a 10% share. But this time, you are asking for 15%? And you want to invest at least 30% of the production cost?"

"That's right Terry. There's a reason why I want to invest in the movie."

"Let's see... It's written here that you want approval rights whenever we start a sequel of the movie. To be honest, I'm not sure if this movie will even have a sequel. This is different from your usual style."

"So what do you think, Terry?" 

Kazir kept his smile. 

"If you are going to ask me. The plot is very stupid."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. But many movies have a stupid plot." Kazir agreed.

"..."

The atmosphere in the office was a bit awkward. The two sides had clear motives.

"Kazir, I recommend you to continue filming comedy movies instead. Warner Bros will not hesitate to invest in Teddy Bear if you want. We will give you a 15% North American box office share too. Regarding The Hangover, we will even pay you $8 million plus a 15% box office share if you are interested."

Warner Bros would never hesitate to pay Kazir a good amount of money just to make sure the sequel of The Hangover would be successful. Kazir Grey has already proven his capability. He could make successful comedy movies. 

Terry Semel tried to convince Kazir. He felt like Kazir was wasting his talent by doing something stupid.

'Why bother film an action movie when his talent lies in comedy?'

"I'm going to think about it."

"..."

Terry Semel sighed. He knew that he didn't have the ability to convince him. 

'If I knew this will happen, I should have convinced Kazir to sign two more movie contracts. Now I can relate to Tom Rothman.' Terry Semel thought. 

"Anyway, what's with the plot of this movie? A man who saved his daughter from human traffickers seems reasonable. But why do you have these Ninjas, Bullets Curving, and Baba Yaga? What the hell is a Baba Yaga?"

Terry Semel frowned when he read the listed words. The plot of the movie was alright but some ingredients didn't mesh well. He was wondering why Kazir added these unnecessary things. 

"Terry, I have a reason for that. Here."

Kazir was prepared. He pulled out another script. He only showed this script to Terry Semel because of their relationship. 

Terry Semel raised his brow when he read the Title.

"John Wick? Never heard of that name."

Terry Semel started reading the script. It was only five pages script, it was not polished. He turned the page to the last and stared at Kazir. 

"Now I know the reason why you want approval rights for the sequel. These two films are connected. You want to make sure that you have authority over these projects."

"That's right." Kazir didn't have to lie about it. It was obvious anyway. 

"I call it Cinematic Universe," Kazir added. 

"Cinematic Universe? Interesting..." Terry Semel's eyes glinted. Kazir's idea was indeed interesting. 

However, he felt like this Cinematic Universe made by Kazir would flop. 

'So he's trying to make connected movies like Quentin Tarantino... Kazir, I'm so disappointed in you. You can do better.'

There was only one man who Terry Semel knew who made movies that were in the same universe. It was Quentin Tarantino. 

'If I'm not wrong, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction are connected.'

At this time, in 1996, Quentin Tarantino only directed three movies. Only Pulp Fiction had a good reception at the box office. 

So Terry Semel felt like this whole "Cinematic Universe" was not going to be successful. Unless it became successful, Warner Bros would not touch a project like this. 

"The Cinema Alliance already gave us our share, we will send you the 10% to your account later."

"I'm glad to hear that. Thanks, Terry."

The two had a handshake. Both sides understood that the meeting broke down. Warner Bros was not interested in his project. 

When Kazir and Salvatore left the office, Terry Semel shook his head with disapproval. In his opinion, Kazir should stick with what he was good at. Experimenting might bring him destruction. 

"Sir..."

Enrico Pusi wanted to say something but Terry Semel signaled him. 

"Enrico, try to find a director that will film The Hangover. And make sure that Kazir will cooperate with writing the sequel. Make him an executive producer if you have to."

"Sir, I will try my best."

Enrico Pusi nodded. 

.........

......

...

"Looks like we have to contact the other companies," Kazir muttered. 

"Paramount and 20th Century Fox are expressing their intentions to cooperate with you."

"What about Sony-Columbia?"

"Kazir, you know that Sony-Columbia are trying to make safe movies these past few years. They didn't have any strong influence...but yes, they want to cooperate with you, but with Teddy Bear. I heard they know a brand of teddy bears stuff toys in Japan that are happy to use their brand for the movie."

"Let's see about that."

The script about Teddy Bear was still in the market. Many companies wanted to buy the script and Kazir was still waiting for better conditions.