HWI 53

Hollywood What If Chapter 53

The next day, Producer Enrico Pusi and Agent John Harris started the negotiation. 

They spent two hours wasting their saliva just to get an agreement. 

In the end, Ed Helms's salary went to 1.7 million dollars. It was a big amount, to be honest. A person who can earn more than 1 million annually is classified to be part of the 10%. 

That's right. 

According to a YouGov survey from January 2022, U.S. Americans believe that ten percent of households in their country have an annual income of more than $1 million. Now that's the real privileged. 

Ed Helms sighed a relief when he heard from his agent that he got the role. Furthermore, his salary was a whopping 1.7 million. 

However, he would only receive half of the amount. That was usually written in the contract to make sure that the actor would finish the filming. 

Once the contract was breached, the actor had the pay the damages. In Ed Helms's case, he promised that he would finish the shooting with no problem. 

As for the WMA's intention to make Kazir's job troublesome, they didn't have too much influence on the project. 

As long as Ed Helms wanted to join the crew, WMA didn't have the strength to stop him. Even John Harris was striving for his role. Well, at least they settled a good amount of salary. This venture was worth it. 

"What do you think?"

Salvatore asked Kazir as they watched Hae-Won Park's stunt exercise. The Half-Korean actor knew how to do action stunts. 

Most of the members of the crew were hired by Salvatore Barlowe. CAA handles other workers in the filming crew too, such as make-up artists and cinematographers. 

So most of the members were from CAA. 

Kazir was actually impressed. Within a month, his small team of fifteen became forty members. The process was very fast. 

Salvatore found the right people to fill the positions. Especially Hae-Won Park, this guy actually knows Kung Fu. 

"So Hae-Won Park actually knows Kung Fu?"

"Ah, no. To be precise, Hae-Won Park is a Fifth Dan Black Belt Taekwondo practitioner."

"Impressive."

Kazir didn't know what Fifth Dan means. But he knew that Black Belt in Taekwondo was a high level.

Based on Hae-Won Park's movement, the man clearly knew what he was doing. 

"Salvatore, have you ever talked to Hae-Won Park to change his screen name?"

"We're actually thinking about it but we're still having trouble coming up with a name."

"... How about Enzo?"

To be honest, he wanted to suggest the name Bruce because Hae-Won Park reminded him of that certain legendary person. 

"Enzo? I'll talk about him later about your suggestion."

The reason why they were watching Hae-Won Park doing stunts was that there was a scene in The Hangover where a naked Asian man would come out of the car's trunk and beat the three protagonists. 

That's right, the Asian Gang Boss was Hae-Won Park. That's his role in the movie. 

This role was actually meant as a gag joke but he adjusted the script because Salvatore asked him to invite Hae-Won Park in his movie. 

So now, the role of Asian Gang Boss became badass. Especially when Hae-Won Park has handsome features of Asian people.

Because the script stated that the Gang Boss would beat the three protagonists, Hae-Won Park wanted to show Kazir that he knew many things about action stunts. Hae-Won Park's older brother was a stunt director in Hong Kong. 

"Tell him to stop, I've already seen enough."

"Okay."

Salvatore Barlowe approached Hae-Won Park. The Korean actor approached Kazir and greeted him. 

"Director Grey."

"I entrust the action scene to you. Keep your body healthy, I don't want any bad thing to happen."

"I understand."

Since Hae-Won Park was a Korean, he knew his disadvantage in Hollywood. He could not take any good role because of his nationality.

Furthermore, even though people might shrug it off, Asians were actually discriminated in this place. 

One time, when Hae-Won tried to audition for a role as an extra, the Producer yelled at him and kicked him out of the crew. The Producer kept saying that the Japanese are not allowed after what they did in World War II.

Hae-Won Park tried to explain his nationality but the Producer didn't listen. 

So he wanted to make sure that his role in this movie would bring him prosperity. As long as the audience appreciated him, then he would already achieve his purpose. 

His salary was very minuscule at 25 thousand dollars but he felt that it was worth it. 

"I'll see you tomorrow at the script reading."

"Yes, Director."

Hae-Won Park bid farewell and left after showing his stunts. 

"So who's the person you want to recommend to be my assistant?"

"Kazir, you already know him."

"Hm?" 

Kazir raised his brow. He didn't have any idea. 

Because this project was bigger than Napoleon Dynamite, Kazir need an Assistant Director who would help him. 

The role of an Assistant Director on a movie includes tracking daily progress against the production schedule, organizing logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking in with cast and crew, and maintaining order on set.

... It might be the same as the Producer but the Assistant Director had to take this job deeper. The producer would only oversee while an Assistant Director had to take part in the job. 

Clearly, Kazir needed someone who can help with these tasks. After all, he is just a person. He doesn't have the strength to do all of these things. 

"I signed a fresh graduate from UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television."

"... Are you talking about--"

"That's right. One of your interns in the last movie signed a contract with me. I recommend him to be your Assistant Director. He wants to be a Director but he needs experience, I hope you will help him."

"... You're quite greedy for planning to have another director."

"The more, the merrier."

"I need to see him first because I still have no idea who you're talking about."