[Chapter 206: Star Salaries]
'He surely is talented, it seemed like choosing him as the producer was definitely the right call.' Just as Linton was mentally giving himself a thumbs-up, he heard Harvey's loud voice of agreement nearby.
"Okay, okay, this idea is brilliant! Boss, you just gotta go along with it. With this move alone, I think we can achieve over $10 million in publicity impact. The box office will definitely explode."
"Ryan, Clinsman, what do you two think?"
"If it's like that, then naturally that's the best scenario," Ryan said with eager eyes looking at Linton, hoping beyond hope that Linton would agree since he was the director; the movie's box office success would determine his future and fate.
"If you can do that, that's definitely the best. But it might affect your reputation. I think we should get your PR agent to evaluate it before making a decision," Clinsman, feeling like he was already one of Linton's trusted aides, spoke. Everything he said came from Linton's image and benefits. His words made Linton feel quite comfortable. Not bad. This guy was definitely worth grooming.
"Here's the plan. I basically agree with the overall scheme, but you guys missed the two biggest selling points of the movie.
One is the breathtaking beauty of the female lead and the second lead. Just evaluate for yourselves. Christiana Reali and Monica Bellucci's looks -- how many in Hollywood can compare?
So from now on, you should promote their beauty in stages. Oh, I recently acquired a newspaper called Hollywood Gossip Daily. Later, reach out to my assistant Meena to introduce you to the editor Sharon; you can start the hype there.
The second selling point is the time loop concept of the movie. Imagine a stunning beauty being 'killed' in front of you again and again. Think how huge a draw that is for audiences. That can be part of the third-stage promotion."
"As expected, the boss is sharp."
"The boss always thinks things through thoroughly."
Everyone praised and fawned over him.
"Also, I agree in principle with Kenneth's suggestion. Later, I'll let PR agent Ellie communicate the details with you."
"Boss, you're too kind."
"Boss, thank you for your sacrifice for the film."
"Boss, you truly set a high moral standard; we're inspired by you."
--- Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on NovєlFіre.net
Before August 23, Linton, Robert, Michael Bay, Tim, Blake, along with the financial supervisors from the Firefighter Fund Insurance Company assigned to the crew, held auditions for the five main actors.
Nicholas Cage, Ed Harris, Roger Moore, Sophie Marceau, Charlize Theron all received unanimous approval, passed the auditions, and got roles.
More importantly, their salaries were extremely reasonable. The next day, Robert negotiated the salaries with their agents and signed contracts.
The highest salary was Nicholas Cage's, $2.3 million. At this time, Nicholas Cage was just a second-tier star known in indie arthouse circles, and he hadn't proven himself in commercial films yet. His agent naturally didn't dare demand a high price.
Next was Ed Harris at $1.6 million, then Sophie Marceau at $1.2 million, Roger Moore at $600,000, and Charlize Theron at $60,000. None of these included profit sharing.
What a great cost-performance ratio! Their total was less than $6 million. Linton's screenwriter and co-producer fees totaled $4 million, meaning he was the highest paid in the crew.
If they had cast Sean Connery or other top-tier male stars, the salary would have been at least $10 million.
At this time, the salary gap between male and female stars in Hollywood was huge.
Top male stars, when acting in arthouse films, often accepted lower pay for award chances and good artistic reputations.
But for commercial films, their base salary was at least $10 million. Some even demanded box office profit shares.
The very top superstars, like Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford, earned over $15 million, plus a percentage of box office profits, sometimes up to 20% of North American earnings.
They also often required script modifications to better align the character with their personas.
Additionally, they wanted producer roles with control over the crew and post-production editing rights.
Having a superstar was like adding another central figure beside the producer. But it was unavoidable -- they were worth it. Their box office pull and merchandise sales made a massive difference.
After Speed, Linton had also become a superstar. If he later made films with a $20 million plus box office profit share salary, Universal wouldn't question it.
Or if other studios invited Linton to star, without that kind of salary and profit share, Linton wouldn't even look at the script.
However, since Linton was already busy acting in his films, he wasn't considering other scripts.
Female stars' pay was a completely different story. Most commercial movies centered on male leads, and female leads were few, usually playing ornamental roles.
So, men carried the box office weight, and there was a huge pay difference.
So far, only Julia Roberts had received a $10 million salary because of successful roles in several female-driven films, but box office profit sharing was out of the question.
However, in a few years, with her films continually hitting big at the box office, Julia would break the female salary ceiling and approach the $20 million mark.
Others like Jodie Foster, Sharon Stone, and the newly promoted Naomi Watts earned barely over $6 million.
The low salaries for the The Rock main actors meant there was enough budget for great production quality and realistic special effects.
As for other roles, Linton left that to Robert and the team to hold auditions. Of course, minor roles and extras were still bundled to the William Morris Agency.
However, WMA had to provide multiple candidates as backups for each role, and final confirmation was up to the crew. Linton refused to let agency bundling override crew decisions.
All contracts also explicitly forbade drug use during filming, as usual.
https://www..com/Sayonara816.