Hollywood What If Chapter 247
The problem with Spider-Man was profit sharing. Note that Marvel Comics had a share because they were the rightful owners of the copyrights. Marvel Comics only leased it to Sony-Columbia. If Salvatore Barlowe was fighting for such a large share of the profits, it would be bad for Sony-Columbia.
But the Spider-Man project was already behind schedule, and more money would be wasted if Frank didn't make a decision.
"...27+27 contract and 7% profit share on peripherals."
In the end, Frank Price decided to raise the salary and the box office share and lower the peripheral profit share.
Frank Price kept a straight face. The two of them stared at each other. After a few seconds, Salvatore Barlowe nodded.
"Alright."
"Glad to hear it."
Frank Price sighed privately.
Salvatore Barlowe knew it would be hard for Sony-Columbia to give up their peripheral profits, and Kazir agreed to the 7%.
In fact, the two sides had fought hard to reach that amount.
Now that the two sides have agreed. They would have to finalize the contract and Kazir would sign it.
Sony Columbia was in a desperate situation. In this case, they might as well choose the best director out there who could give them a lot of money. After all, they couldn't intentionally screw up Spider-Man, that was written into the contract between Sony-Columbia and Marvel Comics.
All they were hoping for was that Spider-Man would be at least half as good as Wanted. Oh boy, they were wrong, it was more than half. The Spider-Man trilogy was the beginning of the superhero movie era.
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"So you're telling me that both sides have come to an agreement?"
Michael Eisner asked his secretary, looking rather disheveled. He thought Walt Disney had the opportunity to work with Kazir Grey.
'I don't understand, I thought we had an initial agreement.'
At that time, four of the Big Six had an initial agreement with Kazir Grey. But of course Kazir could only promise one project at a time. He could not work with all of them.
The old man sat down and sighed in defeat. He did his best. He promised Kazir a contract that only a few directors had the privilege of receiving. But it seemed that the guy was more interested in working with a washed up superhero from a bankrupt comic company...
"Anyway, the project is still going on. We can hire other directors... Try contacting Fremont Smith and see if he is interested. As long as the conditions can be met, we can work with him."
Most of Kazir's films were original screenplays, except for The Bourne Identity. Since that was the case, they might as well look for others.
Fremont Smith was associated with the Continental Cinematic Universe, and he had an idea of how Cinematic Universe worked. He fit the criteria.
"Yes, sir."
The secretary left, quite tense because the chairman was clearly in a bad mood.
"Kazir, are you still upset about what happened?"
Walt Disney and Universal Pictures joined hands to defame Kazir, and behind them was the WMA.
"Or maybe you didn't like that we didn't kick Harvey Weinstein out of the company?"
Honestly, he should have. Now Harvey Weinstein was like a rat in a wooden wall, slowly destroying the house he built. The fat guy was still sucking up to Roy Disney.
Harvey was still trying to hide from the public after the Blair Witch Project incident. But he was active in corporate politics.
Now, Chairman Michael Eisner felt that his days in his position were coming to an end... Maybe it was time to retire.
"No, I love the authority I have. It's impossible to leave this job, this drug that keeps me and my ego high."
This John Carter, this movie should be successful.
"I should also talk to Steve Jobs. Walt Disney needs Pixar."
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Having a contract like the one he has now was the highest and most absurd contract he had in his life.
What?
A 27+27 deal with a 7% profit share on videotapes/DVDs/merchandise/peripherals?
Kazir would receive half of the $27 million at the start of production, and the other half would be transferred to his bank account when the project was completed.
Half of the $27 million was $13.5 million. This meant that Kazir had that amount of money on his first day on the job.
But that didn't matter.
At that moment, Kazir was simply the most in-demand director, and Sony-Columbia was crazy enough to go for it.
Here was the thing: over the next two decades, James Cameron made at least $95 million for directing Avatar 2. So yeah, the Big Six was crazy enough to hire people for that amount of money.
Anyway, Kazir's side and Sony-Columbia's side finalized the deal.
Sony-Columbia wanted Kazir to sign a trilogy deal, but Kazir could only promise 2 movies. The two sides compromised and the profit sharing on peripherals and such was lowered to 6.8%.
So yeah, it was now 27+27 and 6.8% profit share on peripherals. Was it a loss? In my opinion, no, it was not... The amount was so damn huge.
The two sides signed a contract and the project officially began.
However, Kazir realized that the job was not so easy. He realized that the project was in shambles.
First, the production crew. Kazir had to hire his crew members from Grey Pictures. So now the production crew responsible for the project was Grey Pictures. But this was the first time these crew members had worked for the Big Six after The Hangover, and they were adjusting.
The second was the Marvel creative team. Of course there would be people from Marvel Comics involved. Especially Stan Lee, the man himself.
Because it was an adaptation and Kazir didn't have absolute authority, it was hard to get his opinion on some things.
Another problem was the producer. The producer, who was mostly in charge of the finances and managing the crew, was from Sony-Columbia and Kazir had no experience working with her.
Let's just say she had a thing about women. No, not that thing, she hated women. Especially beautiful and sexy women, she hated them for some reason and it affected the project.
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[Author's Note: Just to be clear, the Producer is an original character and has no connection with the real-life Spider-Man Producer.]