Chapter 181 (1/2)
Over the three days of the weekend, the ratings of ”who will be a millionaire” dropped. However, in the full weekly trial, the average number of viewers of this program in seven days is still as high as 15.6 million, making it the highest TV program in North America.
ABC, however, finds it hard to accept the $2 million bid that Denise pictures insists on for each issue.
After several unsuccessful negotiations, the negotiation team led by ABC President Daniel Burke simply returned to New York and seemed to be planning to hold a stalemate with Denise pictures.
Denise pictures has become more calm and has begun to negotiate with several other TV networks for the remaining three reality shows.
On the other hand, after the producers' Union issued a blocking order against the production companies that signed contracts with the writers' Union in advance, WGA filed an antitrust lawsuit against the producers' Union to the Federal Supreme Court on Monday, demanding to stop the producers' Union's unfair competition suspected of monopoly.
Both inside the entertainment industry and the media watching around, it is clear that WGA's lawsuit will surely win. But at the same time, we also understand that the producers' Union will never be able to honestly implement the judgment in the future, and those production companies that signed contracts with WGA in advance will not be able to avoid the fate of wearing shoes.
After more than three months of strike, WGA also began to show signs of instability.
Without any revenue for a whole quarter, some writers who couldn't stick to it began to ask WGA to relax the strike rules.
On June 27, 16 writers' union members jointly submitted a proposal to WGA, proposing that writers can sign a contract with the production company during the strike, but do not perform it temporarily.
If you can sign a contract with the production company, the screenwriter will be able to get a part of the down payment to make a living. As for not performing the contract for the time being, it's a complete cover up. It was no surprise that the proposal was rejected by the WGA.
However, this incident completely exposed the weakness of WGA.
Many media began to predict that if this situation continues, the strike organized by the writers' Union in the United States is likely to cause disastrous consequences. In the most serious case, a large number of unsustainable writers announced their withdrawal from the union, and WGA will face collapse.
This is not without precedent. In the history of the United States, strikes organized by the textile industry, the automobile industry and the newspaper industry once failed because the party who was on strike refused to compromise and led to the disintegration of the trade union.
However, this has not happened in Hollywood yet.
When things got to this point, the producers' League began to strengthen.
The new contract scheme was voted down by WGA, and the producers' Union took the initiative to propose that the next negotiation will be held in August. Until then, representatives of the producers' Union will not have any further contact with WGA.
At the same time, the producers' Union also said with confidence that major TV networks will develop more reality TV programs that do not need the participation of screenwriters based on the successful experience of who will become a millionaire, so as to fill the upcoming autumn schedule of TV series.
Such an announcement almost doomed the strike in 1988 to be the longest lasting strike in Hollywood history.
WGA's situation is bleak, but Denise pictures is booming. Not only has it been revealed by the media that it is expected to make hundreds of millions of dollars from the quarterly who will be a millionaire, but also it continues to provide the TV network with so-called ”reality TV” programs that are enough to destroy the job of a screenwriter.
As a result, the writers who are in the most anxious state soon point the spearhead at Denise pictures.
In the last few days of June, there were a lot of people who raised their cards to express their dissatisfaction outside the headquarters of Denise pictures, which immediately attracted the attention and reports of the media. Caution should be faced with this situation, but the internal work of Denise pictures has not been affected much.
The contract for Batman's hero and heroine was finalized in the last week of June.
Adam Baldwin, who is about to play Bruce Wayne, has signed a 15 year contract with Denise pictures.
Among the core terms, Adam Baldwin paid $300000 for his first song.
This is a high number for a little actor who has only played a supporting role in some movies and TV series. However, considering the difficulty of shooting Batman, Simon generously offered the reward. Denise pictures will also pay for Adam Baldwin's physical training and other expenses in the next six months.
However, after the first song, Adam Baldwin's pay will increase by up to $3 million.
In short, Adam Baldwin can only get up to $3 million from the second sequel, up to $6 million from the third, up to $9 million from the fourth, and up to $12 million from the fifth.
Of course, there is no sharing clause.
In this era, in addition to the stars who earn tens of millions of dollars by accident, there are no superstars in Hollywood who can earn tens of millions of dollars. As a result, neither wma nor Adam Baldwin himself has any comments on the contract.Simon knows that in the next few years, with the continuous and rapid expansion of the European market and the video market, Hollywood stars' pay will increase significantly.
Even according to the global box office results of Batman's first movie in the original space-time, Adam Baldwin may not be satisfied with the sequel's only $3 million.
However, Simon is not worried about Adam Baldwin's repetition.
It's not just the 15 year contract period and the pre-determined payment plan, but also many other restrictive provisions.
In order to avoid the type conflict between the other film roles Adam Baldwin takes over during the contract period and Batman, any contract other than Batman for Adam Baldwin needs to be approved by Denise pictures.
That means Adam Baldwin won't be able to play any role other than Batman for the next 15 years of his long contract if danielis doesn't nod.
If Adam Baldwin wants to terminate the contract ahead of time, it's not impossible, but he has to compensate Denise pictures for three times of its total income during the term of the contract and within three years after the termination of the contract. This harsh and expensive default clause is enough to bring Adam Baldwin back to his original form.
As for Valerie Gallino, who plays cat girl, Denise pictures has signed three films with her.
In view of the fact that Scarlett Johnson's ”black widow” in the original Marvel movie universe was able to get 20 million US dollars of top-level film remuneration next only to Robert Downey Jr., and even more than all other superhero actors, danielis pictures also signed a precautionary clause with Valerie Gallino.
Although she is the youngest queen of Venice Film Festival, European actresses are not worth much in Hollywood. Good quality and low price, which is actually one of the important reasons why Simon chose to play cat girl.
Valerie Gallino paid $200000 for her first song, a little lower than Adam Baldwin. For the next two films, danelis pictures gave an increasing base of US $2.5 million, with the maximum of US $2.5 million for the second film and US $5 million for the third film.
Simon doesn't want Valerie Gallino to play all the first heroines in the trilogy.
If the actress's performance in the first song is brilliant enough, Simon plans to split one of her three signed contracts to make a big movie of cat girl.