After leaving the coffee shop, Lyman returned to the rented hotel.
Seemingly hearing a noise, Lyman had barely entered the room when he heard a knocking sound from outside. Opening the door, he was surprised to find René standing there.
"Hehe, where did you go last night? That girl?" René smirked with a lascivious look.
"It's none of your business!" Lyman replied firmly, further confirming René's suspicions.
"Well, when did you learn to be like this? It has never happened before," René seemed very curious.
Throughout their four years of university, René, Lyman's good friend, had never seen him with any girl, let alone staying out all night.
"Do you always enjoy prying into my privacy?" Lyman teasingly said before hopping onto the sofa.
"I'm just curious, you know? I want to know why you suddenly had an awakening and can understand the feeling," René explained.
"And have you understood it?"
"I have!" René quickly added, "Alright, enough chitchat. I've almost perfected the outline of the script you mentioned. Except for a few war scenes that I can't write, I consulted my mentor, but he didn't have any good insights. You'll have to figure it out yourself."
Saying that, he handed Lyman a manuscript. It was the script that René was commissioned to perfect two days ago.
Lyman flipped it open and carefully read it. To be fair, "Fury" had a relatively simple story structure. It was an ensemble piece that revolved around five main characters, the five soldiers who operated the same tank.
In May 1945, as the Second World War approached its end, there was only a little over a month left before Hitler's suicide. However, the Allied forces had no idea that the German troops would surrender like that. In their eyes, even until the last moment, the demons who called for throwing children and women into the battlefield, embodying the concept of "total war", would never come to utter the word "surrender".
The Allied forces crossed the Rhine River and began to penetrate deep into German territory.
The German troops had a strong sense of resistance and became increasingly desperate in their fighting.
The tank unit where "Wardaddy" was stationed had just experienced a frontal battle, resulting in the unfortunate death of the entire squad. In war, people always die, and everyone had accepted that fact. But when someone died, someone else had to take over their duties.
The new recruit, Norman, joined the battlefield in a haphazard manner, following the orders of his superior. He joined the five-man tank crew led by the "Wardaddy" and drove the tank named "Fury", with the letter "F" printed on the left side of the tank.
Their mission was to brave the enemy's powerful firepower and tear through the Eastern Front defenses.
The four experienced soldiers fought bravely and resolutely, without hesitation, while the rookie, Norman, struggled under the pressure of fear and made several mistakes.
Amidst the thunderous sounds of blood and fire, Norman gradually grew and the tank "Fury" steadily advanced. However, due to the German side's failure on the Eastern Front, they decided to strike back with firepower. They called in the elite Tiger tank unit.
The Tiger tank was a heavy tank of the Panzer VI type developed by the Germans. It had a long-barreled 88mm gun and wide tracks that supported its massive weight of 57 tons. Unlike the earlier German tanks that emphasized mobility, protection, and firepower in a balanced manner, the Tiger tank was designed solely for its striking power.
Its frontal armor reached a thickness of 102mm, and it had outstanding firepower. Although it lacked mobility, it became a formidable fortress. Equipped with the 88mm KwK 36 L56 cannon, the Tiger tank possessed tremendous firepower and armor-piercing capabilities, enabling it to hit targets from a distance of 1,000 meters, often referred to as the "land battleship" by the Allied forces. It usually took the sacrifice of dozens of Allied tanks to destroy a single Tiger tank.
In the end, well, the Allied forces emerged victorious.
This was the script that has been written so far. As for the battles in between, since René didn't have access to relevant materials, they are all left blank. But it was still fine; at least the non-combat scenes were written brilliantly, which was René's strong suit. The dialogue and language expressions for the characters always seemed vivid.
Besides, since this script was intended for actors or EuropaCorp to read, there was no need to provide detailed descriptions of the battle scenes. When it came to filming, relevant experts would be consulted to help with the visualization.
Lyman put down the script and took a sip of water. This was almost the final draft of the script. The overall framework of the story remained largely unchanged from the original, but how the story was expressed and the pacing had changed significantly. This was where he had to incorporate his own filming ideas.
In the following days, Lyman started writing the shot-by-shot script for "Fury" and occasionally found time to meet with CAA. They seemed interested in collaborating with him, and the tone of the conversation and conditions had become more relaxed compared to the first day. However, things still fell short, and they continued to negotiate back and forth.
During this period, other talent agencies approached him as well. Just like successful people never lacked potential collaborators. Lyman had a certain appeal in the eyes of various talent agencies. However, when it came to the two points Lyman insisted on, most people hesitated.
...
Time: After dusk. Location: Muddy ground, suitable for a military camp.
Close-up shot: "Wardaddy" blaming himself for the death of his squad.
Shot transition: "Machine" and "Bible" came together.
Scene description: A campfire was lit on the ground for cooking and regrouping.
Shot transition: New recruit Norman, under the guidance of his superiors, approached the squad where the "Wardaddy" was.
...
Lyman wrote the shot-by-shot script slowly because he had to consider his own style and the practical depiction of the scenes.
To create an authentic war atmosphere in the film, conceptualizing each segment was equivalent to mentally assembling the entire movie. It was a meticulous and labor-intensive task. However, Lyman wasn't in a hurry. The film's project approval would still take some time, and the pre-production work required a certain amount of time. As long as he could complete it before the official shooting began, it would be fine.
Just yesterday, he had submitted the relevant materials and the preliminary script to EuropaCorp for their review. With a minimum budget of $50M, EuropaCorp would undoubtedly be cautious.
Although Lyman already had two successful film projects to his name, a proper film company would conduct risk assessments in terms of production and the market before approving a new project. No one would rashly decide to invest in such a large-scale project.
"Hi, Kevin, alright, I'll be right there." Lyman picked up the phone call transferred by the hotel reception. Kevin had invited him to meet again.
They had already met three times in the past few days, but they were still in a stalemate. Negotiations over various terms were intense and uncompromising. Overall, however, the situation was progressing in a positive direction.
...
[Yesterday, after the initial meeting]
In an office, Kevin was talking to Bryan Lourd about Lyman.
"He has remarkable talent and potential, but he has an overpowering need for control," Kevin complained a bit, as Lyman's attitude of not giving an inch had been frustrating him these past few days.
Bryan Lourd, one of CAA's top executives, had a shiny bald head. "But his directing skills are what we need," he said to Kevin. "If there's an opportunity, we should have it in our hands. As far as I know, several other talent agencies have approached him these past few days."
"That's what's bothering me. He wants too much. If he were Steven Spielberg, I could give him those conditions or even better ones. But him..."
The sentence was left unfinished, but both of them understood that Lyman's potential value wasn't as outstanding as to demand any condition. In other words, the two sides couldn't reach a consensus on the exchange of interests.
"He wants on-set freedom, let's give it to him," Bryan spoke up.
"But if we can't intervene on the actor side, signing him wouldn't be of much value."
"We have plenty of actors at CAA; we'll have what he needs. Take it slow, and he will recognize our capabilities."
"You say it so easily, but his roots are in France. Isn't there an actor market there? Moreover, there's EuropaCorp, which has been collaborating with him for so long. It's even more difficult."
"Let's offer him a middle-range contract. Our investment of resources can be reduced accordingly. It's not a difficult choice to think about. Besides, he doesn't seem to care about these things, does he?" Bryan chuckled.
After thinking for a while, Kevin agreed. It would be advantageous to first win over a talented director like Lyman to their camp. As for the future, they would figure it out later.
Once they understood this, Kevin no longer dwelled on matters related to on-set shooting. As he said, Lyman was a French director, and it seemed like he didn't particularly need CAA. The industry resources they relied on could be replaced in his eyes, and EuropaCorp, which was even more trustworthy, could do it.
On their latest meeting, Lyman noticed that Kevin was much more accommodating. They also agreed not to interfere too much in Lyman's directorial rights on set. With that settled, the rest became easier. The main point of contention was indeed the freedom of shooting.
"Pleasure working with you."
They shook hands amicably, arranging to meet again at CAA headquarters to officially sign the talent agent contract.