Chapter 899 The Crisis of CAA

Century City caa headquarters. burning book library

Richard Lovett, president of caa, completely lost his calmness in the past, ignoring the surprised eyes of other employees of the company, and almost trotted into the company office building with two assistants, but he was still on the phone with someone: " Peel, calm down, calm down, things aren't as bad as you think, I'm downstairs, yes, right away."

Having said that, he rushed all the way to the elevator entrance, remembering that there was no mobile phone signal in the elevator, Richard Lovett walked towards the stairwell without hesitation, and at the same time took another mobile phone that had been connected from the assistant behind him: "Richard Lovett here, hi, Kevin... I know, something happened, there must be some misunderstanding... don't worry, you're in charge of me, don't you trust me ok...ok, ok, that's it, I'll treat you to dinner when you have time."

After receiving several calls in a row along the way, Richard Lovett found himself habitually running to the floor where his own office was located, cursed loudly, glared at the two assistants behind him who forgot to remind him, and turned towards the building again. run down.

Richard Lovett was originally negotiating a packaged movie project at Warner's headquarters in Burbank this morning, when he suddenly heard the news that MGM would drop Brosnan and re-select 007, he even thought it was someone else joking with him, With the global box office of "Casino Royale" going straight to $1 billion, MGM and Brosnan's salary negotiation will definitely have some twists and turns, but if the two sides will break up, it is estimated that the entire Hollywood will not believe it.

Richard Lovett didn't believe it was true until his assistant brought him a copy of the Yahoo Portal article. But then, another news came, which made him jump up from the chair in Warner's office and rushed out.

It turned out that Pierce Brosnan himself did not know about the fact that MGM gave up Brosnan and re-selected 007. This incident was completely made by Brosnan's agent Rick Kotzman without even knowing it at all. In Brosnan's case, he privately rejected the salary contract offered by MGM, and it was a contract that could be worth $100 million.

Omg, $100 million!

The total remuneration that caa obtains for the company's thousands of customers every year is only about 1 billion US dollars. Rick Kotzman is equivalent to one person who ruined nearly 10% of caa's annual income.

Moreover, it would be a pity if the contract was just lost, but the situation would not be much worse.

The worst part of this matter is that Rick Kotzman made the decision to reject this sky-high contract without consulting his client at all.

If this incident spreads, it will definitely seriously damage the reputation of caa in the minds of customers. In the brokerage industry, if a brokerage company loses the trust of customers and causes a large number of customers to lose, then it is not far from closing down and going bankrupt. .

However, the fact is that this matter has almost spread all over Hollywood. On the way back to the company headquarters in Burbank, Richard Lovett has received seven or eight important customer calls in a row asking about it. If this crisis cannot be handled well, it is conceivable that caa's competitors will never miss this good opportunity to take advantage of this opportunity. When Michael Ovitz left three years ago, caa had already experienced a turmoil and its vitality was severely damaged. The company has just returned to formality in the past two years, and it will definitely not be able to withstand any major shocks.

Climbing to the twelfth floor in a row and rushing down, Richard Lovett wiped the sweat from his forehead, and finally came to the ninth floor where Brosnan's agent Rick Kotzman was located. Chad Lovett saw at a glance Rick Kirtzman, who was covering the corner of his eyes with a tissue, came towards him, but there was no sign of Brosnan.

Seeing Richard Lovett, Rick Kirtzman also quickened his pace, came over and said apologetically: "Richard, I'm so sorry, I didn't expect things..."

It's not over yet,

Rick Kirtzman felt like Richard Lovett stretched out his hand and strangled his neck and dragged him to the glass wall.

Rick Kirtzman is a head taller than Richard Lovett, but he also knows how much trouble he has caused. At this time, facing the rude behavior of his boss, he does not dare to resist at all, as if accepting his fate. The little chick was dragged over. The other employees of caa in the office area were even more silent, all consciously looked back and avoided it.

"Rick, I don't want to hear you say sorry now." When he came to the glass wall, Richard Lovett continued to exert his strength, pressing Rick Cozman's head in front of him, and leaned into his ear with a sinister tone Quickly said: "Listen, I know the little things you did in the last Coca-Cola advertising contract negotiation, and I also know that you took a $100,000 rebate for introducing a spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson, and you just bought it in Beverly. A mansion with a $3 million loan to repay. So, all you have to do now is find a place for me to hide myself tightly, and in the next month, if I hear anything about you , or you reach out to the media, trust me, I will bankrupt you and send you to prison, and your wife who worked as a model for Sports Illustrated and your daughter who is going to Stanford University soon, no Without your financial support, they're nothing. I'll try my best to sell them all to the filthiest brothels in Latin America as whores, get it... well, now, get out of here."

Richard Lovett gritted his teeth with a grim expression, pushed Rick Kotzman away, suddenly thought of something, and grabbed him back: "One more thing, Mr. Kotzman, you are fired already."

He instructed his assistant to call the security guard to drag the gray-faced Rick Kotzman out. Richard Lovett raised his hand and rubbed a few times on his stiff face as he walked, and put his palm down. The fierce expression has been replaced by a friendly smiling face, and he glanced at the glass wall not far away. Richard Lovett sighed and pushed the room of Rick Kotzman's office away. door, go in.

Although it has been cleaned up briefly, the office still looks a little messy. The receiver of the landline on the desktop didn't know where it flew, and there was no glass frame for an oil painting on the wall, and there were still some fine pieces of glass on the ground. Ballast, the shutters that blocked the outside office area were also torn off a large piece, drooping haphazardly.

Another key firm partner, David O'Connor, sat comfortingly at his desk with Pierce Brosnan, whose public relations manager Sarah Lindlter was standing by the window on the phone.

Seeing Richard Cozman walk in, Brosnan got up immediately, completely lost his usual gentlemanly demeanor, and said loudly: "Richard, you must give me an explanation. I was fired from the Bond crew, which is ridiculous. I didn't even know anything."

"I know, Peel, I'm sorry, I'm very, very sorry," Richard Lovett said, wrapping his arms around Brosnan's shoulders, "I've called Amy Pascal at MGM and it's just a Misunderstanding, really, they're just trying to keep your paycheck down, you know, the studios love to play these dirty tricks. Trust me, I'll get your Bond contract, eh, Now, go to my office, let's discuss what to do next?"

Brosnan impatiently threw Richard Lovett's arm away and said, "I don't want to listen to your perfunctory words anymore. If you can't resolve this matter as soon as possible, I will contact the next agency immediately."

"Of course, I swear, from now on, I will be in charge of all your affairs," Richard Lovett, who was thrown away by Brosnan, was not angry at all, still smiling, and approached without discouragement, Said: "Go to my office first, Peel, let me show you something. After reading it, you will know that MGM will never dare to leave you casually."

"Okay," Brosnan reluctantly nodded, and immediately said: "And, from now on, I must be present in all negotiations, and you must not make any decisions behind my back."

"I promise, I will never hide anything from you, even if you want to know what color my wife's panties are, I can tell you, white, and I even sneak through them," Brosnan said in a relaxed tone. Chad Lovett heaved a sigh of relief, continued to tell lively rude jokes, opened the office door eagerly, and bowed in a dog-legged gesture of please.

When Brosnan was out of the office, Richard Lovett pointed to Sarah Lindelt, gave David O'Connor a quick wink, and followed him out.

The two had just spoken on the phone, and David O'Connor naturally understood Richard Lovett's mind. In fact, he eagerly coaxed Brosnan out just to create a chance for him to get in touch with Sarah Lindt. .

Sarah Lindelt was also a very shrewd woman. She didn't rush out, just hung up her phone and stood there smiling at David O'Connor.

Although Brosnan was in a fit of rage and was unlikely to notice his PR manager was behind, David O'Connor didn't dare to waste time and went straight to the point: "Sarah, you have to help us this time."

Sarah Lindelt shook her head and said, "David, what you did this time is really too much. I'm afraid I can't help much, and Peel will fire me too."

"Two clients of the same magnitude as Pierce," David O'Connor ignored Sarah Lindelt's words and directly offered his own price, saying, "You just need to guarantee Pierce's payment to MGM. It's okay to have no information about the offer being leaked, and nothing else to do."

The most critical part of this turmoil is that Rick Cozman hid the salary conditions offered by MGM from Brosnan. Sarah Lindelt also knew that if this incident spread, it would have a very bad impact on caa. She didn't speak, but just stretched out four fingers and shook it.

David O'Connor didn't hesitate: "Deal."

Sarah Lindelt continued, saying, "How can I be sure that you will keep your promise after this incident is over?"

"You know we do what we say," David O'Connor gritted his teeth, knowing that the situation was urgent and couldn't be delayed because of this trivial matter, he hesitated a little, and said: "You can find a voice recorder, I will Say it again."

"That's settled," Sarah Lindelt smiled and nodded. She didn't look for a recording pen, but just shook the latest Motorola phone that she had been holding in her hand. Obviously, she had already made a recording just now. .

David O'Connor scolded Bi Chi in his heart, with the same smile on his face, and said, "Then, let's go up now."

Sarah Lindelt also didn't mind what David O'Connor thought of herself, smiled and walked out of the office with him, saying, "You guys will definitely shut up Rick Kirtzman, right? , but what about Peel?"

David O'Connor said: "Richard will persuade him."

In the office of the president of caa.

Richard Lovett was showing Pierce Brosnan a stock chart on his computer monitor: "Look, Pierce, MGM opened at $28.37 today, but here, from MGM Claims to replace the Bond candidate began, and it took a sharp turn. Now MGM’s stock price has fallen to $27.49, a drop of 3.1%, which is equivalent to MGM’s market value from today’s opening of $12.34 billion. $11.958 billion , in just an hour, MGM's market cap increased by $400 million, all due to the announcement that they are replacing you. And, I'm sure, if MGM doesn't make some remedial Measures, this afternoon, the company's stock will fall at least another 3%, and the market value will evaporate by 800 million US dollars a day. MGM's shareholders will never allow this situation to continue. If they want to stop the stock price from falling, the only way they can What I do is to invite you back again."

Brosnan was relieved after listening to Richard Lovett, but still said: "So, what should we do now, just wait for the news?"

"Of course not, I will continue to keep in touch with Amy Pascal of MGM. Of course, I will tell you the results of any communication as soon as possible," Richard Lovett said, his eyes flashing, his tone More relaxed: "However, Peel, during this time, I need you to cooperate with me as much as possible to keep silent, to MGM, to the media, and everyone else, so that I can strive for your interests as much as possible. Well, Especially the fact that Rick was hiding from you, this bastard, I already fired him, and I think you promise that he will never appear in the brokerage business again in the future. However, this thing must not be spread out. , because it makes us all passive, you understand?"

Pierce Brosnan originally thought that if he had to, he would disclose the news that he had no knowledge of the price of Mi High School, so that it was possible to restore the 007 film contract. It's just that, being surrounded by Richard Lovett, although he felt that something was wrong, he still felt that maybe he really shouldn't spread the news that made him passive, so he nodded in cooperation.

"Very good," Richard Lovett breathed a sigh of relief, nodded with a friendly smile, and said, "Then, you drink coffee first, and then I'll make a phone call with Amy Pascal." to be continued.)