Chapter 10: dawn
"It's never a wise idea to invest tens of millions of dollars in the work of someone who has no qualifications!"
He said this with emphasis, "Don't forget, he also asked for the director's position! A 21-year-old who has never made any official film ..."
As executive vice president, Robert Solomon's meaning is very clear, and his words are hold more weight than Jeff Robinov. After all, considering the actual operation, The risk is indeed a bit big, so Jeff Robinov didn't insist strongly.
"That's it."
After a few minutes of consideration, CEO Kevin Tsujihara said "This script is temporarily put on hold and is included in the script library."
Duke, who had just entered the Lucas Manor, was not aware that an opportunity had passed him by during the discussions among several senior executives of Warner Bros.
After parking his car, Duke greeted the people at Lucas Manor familiarly. Although he doesn't visit as often as he used to, he was a frequent visitor here before entering college.
Perhaps it was because of Lucas's sons and daughters going on a trip that the manor seemed unusually quiet. Duke walked into a spacious living room. There was no one here, only George Lucas, who was sitting on a low-backed chair waiting for him.
"Uncle George..."
Duke politely greets George Lucas and puts his bag down on the table in front of him. and sat in chair, Lucas looks at him with interest and said, "Why not call me George."
Smiling slightly, Duke did not answer, In the past, you could sell the image of little boy, but it can't be done now.
"You can call me George, just like before."
The two families have been friends for more than 20 years. After the servant brought the black tea, George Lucas was not polite and directly extended his hand, "What about the script you talked about on the phone?"
"here."
Opening the bag, Duke handed over the script with less than 200 pages. When he called yesterday, he mentioned the script, "In the past month or so, I have been to many Hollywood film companies."
"I've heard from the CAA folks,"
Turning over the script, George Lucas said while watching, "The incompetent son of Leah Rosenberg of the Santa Fe ad agency, naively wants to be a director."
Duke frowned, then quickly returned to his normal expression.
After the two of them said a few words, George Lucas kept his mouth shut and devoted his energy to the script. Duke has met a lot of people this month, but it was the first time someone had read the script so seriously in front of him. And this person is close to his family, this is kind of ironic.
At the same time, Duke, who has been lingering on the edge of this circle, has seen the harsh realistic side of Hollywood. Without qualifications, contacts and achievements, you are just a weed that no one pays attention to.
Hollywood would rather invest heavily in bad movies of well-known figures than take a second look at newcomers. After nearly an hour, George Lucas put down the script, took a sip of the black tea that had long turned cold, and asked Duke, "Do you have anything else?".
"I have!"
Taking the videotape out of his handbag, Duke walked over to the TV cabinet, turned on the TV and the VCR, and inserted the videotape. After a brief few seconds, a clip without much post-processing, accompanied by a drum beats soundtrack appeared on the TV screen.
This video is not complicated, it always switches between the front wheel of a car and the speedometer, but the spinning wheel and the pointer hovering above 50 are obviously carefully edited, and the length of each short shot is absolutely no more than In one second, frequent and smooth switching can easily trigger a sense of tension in people's minds.
Although the picture is a bit monotonous, George Lucas watched it very seriously. He thought of the setting in the film that the bomb would explode below 50 miles, and connected these with the image...
"Duke, come and sit."
George Lucas told Duke to turn off the TV and then pointed to the chair opposite him. "Dazzling motion shots, sharp editing style, well done."
"Uncle George..."
"George." Lucas corrected.
"Okay, George."
When Duke sat down, George Lucas's business attitude changed. "The script is not very good. It's at best a medium-to-high commercial script. In Hollywood, a good idea can be made into a bad movie. and a bad idea can also be made into a good movie. And the role of the director is extremely important. If the script is handed over to an experienced director, there's a half chance it will be profitable."
Hearing these words, Duke showed a helpless smile, the meaning of George Lucas was very obvious.
"I have seen your estimated production cost. Even if the special effects of the film are all handed over to Industrial Light and Magic, the cost cannot be reduced to less than ten million US dollars."
In an instant, Lucas turned from a businessman to an elder again, "Involving such a large amount of investment, even Lucas film has to be cautious. Duke, you are still young, exercise for a few more years, in the future There will definitely be a chance."
Afterwards, George Lucas then changed the subject to Duke's mother and talked about some of the things the two started when they were young. He refused to let Duke leave until after dinner.
Not long after duke disappeared at the entrance of the manor, the phone in the living room suddenly rang.
"George, it's me."
The voice in the receiver was clearly Leah Rosenberg, "Have you seen Duke?"
"Yes."
"I have something I want to talk to you about. Are you coming to Los Angeles or should I come to San Francisco?"
"I'll come."