"Mr. Stanton ..."
A middle-aged man in his thirties looked at Murphy in a Burbank cafe, "Three thousand dollars a week, that's the latest offer I can accept."
He turned to the woman slowly sipping her coffee next to Murphy, "If you weren't introduced to me by Carla, I wouldn't have considered your movie."
The words were spoken with a strong undertone.
Murphy's brows furrowed, "Mr. Claybert, with your qualifications, such a price is not excessive."
The other party had been in the industry for more than ten years, and had participated in the shooting of many films, including many second-tier productions with an investment of more than ten million dollars, and despite being a not-so-impressive props master, he was a true veteran compared to a newcomer like him.
"But the total investment in my movie is only three hundred thousand dollars." Murphy was also trying to think of ways to impress him, "If you ask for too high a price, the budget for the rest of the movie will be reduced, and my project ..."
Strictly speaking, this props master called Claybert compared to his seniority, the asking price is not too high, nowadays Hollywood's second and third tier props master's weekly salary can usually reach five thousand dollars, the problem is that this three thousand dollars is a big number for Murphy.
Murphy has formulated a relevant plan, the most optimistic estimate, the film from the pre-preparation to the completion of the shooting at least more than two months, as a props division, certainly very early to start working, even if the work of ten weeks, just one person's payroll expenses amounted to 30,000 U.S. dollars, occupying one-tenth of the total investment, which he can not accept in any case.
Claybert bit the bullet and didn't let go of three thousand dollars, Murphy also looked over at Carla Faith's side, she quietly sipped her coffee and didn't say anything, obviously not wanting to interfere in the negotiations between the two.
This is not surprising, in this place in North America, business and friendship most of the time is still divided quite clearly.
Murphy mastered the skills of many positions behind the scenes of the movie, but for props, he didn't know much, and the movie would use a lot of plasma and related props, a more outstanding props master, can solve a lot of trouble, but also is the guarantee of the project to run smoothly.
Just like Claybert, the relatively excellent props master, to pay a relatively high price.
Moreover, Claybert has already seen in the sake of Carla Faith introduced to lower salary requirements, three thousand dollars compared to his level of props master, really is relatively cheap.
Murphy has no contacts, no network, no seniority, if it is Spielberg's project, Claybert may not want money will also join.
This was just a preliminary contact, Murphy quickly got up to say goodbye and left the cafe with Carla Faith.
Out of the cafe, under the light of the street lamp, the two of them walked along this one-way street, towards the parking lot side, Carla Faith was wearing high heels, probably because she was tired from a busy day, her speed was a little slow, Murphy was carrying a briefcase in his left hand, and he followed beside her unhurriedly.
"How's the preparation going?" Carla Faith gathered up her blonde hair that had been blown away by the night breeze and turned her head to look at Murphy's face, "It looks like you've encountered quite a lot of difficulties."
Murphy pointed to his face, "Is it that obvious?"
Kara Faith shrugged her shoulders, picking up speed slightly, "You're in what is clearly a relatively successful career in journalism, and you have to make the transition towards one of the toughest industries in the business ..."
Speaking of which, she nudged Murphy's head across the room, "I really doubt you have a problem here."
"Kara, you're overlooking something." Murphy raised her head and looked at the dark night sky, like the future of her previous profession, "I'm already on the LAPD's blacklist, if I continue to film social news, will they not come after me?"
Hearing Murphy's words, Carla Faith's eyes flashed for a moment, not opening her mouth to retort.
"Also, if I continue, to what extent do you think I can do it?" Murphy withdrew his gaze and turned his head to the side, "Do you think I can own a television station?"
Kara Faith was silent.
"You know, it's harder than winning the million dollar jackpot." Murphy can't help but shake his head, "The best I can do is become the owner of a video capture company."
"But you'll be successful in the movie business?" Carla Faith finally caught the counter point and said nonchalantly, "The news video you shot is indeed unique, but it's not the same thing as shooting a movie! You're trying to break into Hollywood without any professional learning, what is it if you're not a dumbass?"
Since the Bill Road incident, she had fully recognized Murphy, especially the police shootout video provided, which directly led to a promotion, making her feel that the other party could simply be the object of her study.
And yet, someone she thought was born to be in the news business had betrayed it.
Murphy suddenly stopped in her tracks, and next to her, Carla Faith subconsciously stood still, and turned her head to look over again.
"Dear ..." Murphy looked at her in the same way and asked in a half-serious, half-joking tone, "Are you concerned about me?"
Carla Faith turned her head back toward the front of the room and threw in, "I'm looking forward to you going broke."
Carrying his briefcase, Murphy followed nonchalantly, "Keep shooting news, and at most become the owner of a small video capture company, but my potential in the movie industry is unlimited."
Carla Faith who was walking in front of her did not speak at all, taking it all as Murphy bragging.
"I've taught myself a lot of courses related to movies."
Those experiences he had in the past were not convincing at all, and the special parts of them, Murphy couldn't tell others about, so he could only use self-study as an excuse, "I think I can do something in this business."
Kara Faith stopped and turned her head to look over, her bright eyes, hidden under her long blonde hair, twinkling with questions.
Murphy understood what she meant and wasn't ashamed at all, "There's no telling if I'm the next Steven Spielberg ..."
Those bright blue eyes flooded with faint mockery, Murphy had to shrug, "There's always hope for a director of the caliber of Ridley Scott or Quentin Tastino, right? At the very least it can be the next Robert Rodriguez."
Murphy walked a few steps tighter to catch up with Carla Faith, put away the joking expression on her face, and said seriously, "I'm still missing a producer to coordinate the big picture in my project."
Carla Firth had served as the producer of the documentary of Sin City only a short while ago, naturally she could understand Murphy's meaning, "Can you afford to pay my salary?"
"This ..." Murphy slapped his own forehead for a moment and simply stopped mentioning this aspect of the topic.
With Stanton Studio's current strength, it definitely couldn't afford to pay Carla Faith's high salary.
Just as Carla Firth recognized his work ability, Murphy also recognized Carla Firth's work ability, and just like himself, in order to achieve the goal, Carla Firth can also use quite a lot of means, the most important thing is that these means are still effective.
Walking out to the parking lot, Kara Faith went to her car, looked at Murphy's used Ford next to her, and waved at him, "It's getting late, I'm heading back."
Murphy nodded and admonished, "Drive slow."
Carla Faith got into the driver's seat and just started the car, she seemed to remember something again, lowered the window glass and said to Murphy, "Is there anything I can help you with ..."
She made a gesture to call.
"I will." Murphy waved a hand to her side.
After working in the TV station for a few years, Carla Faith had more or less some connections, but Channel 6 was, after all, a small local TV station that couldn't have much to do with movie and TV production, and apart from the props master that she had just met, there was a very limited amount of places where she could help Murphy.
Leaving the parking lot, driving back to downtown Los Angeles, despite the late hour, Murphy did not sleep, sitting in front of his desk, continuing to perfect the script, especially the driving scene of the plot after the opening, which still needs to be fine-tuned.
This is just a story that takes place between two people, want to create more conflicts and points of view in the monotonous relationship between the characters, the script must be constantly polished.
In the following ten days or so, Murphy on the one hand perfected the script and drew the subplot artwork, and on the other hand did more preparatory work with Jessica Chastain, the only employee of Stanton Studios.
Interviewing applicants for numerous positions such as makeup artists, lighting technicians, set designers, etc., looking for suitable and inexpensive camera equipment to rent, and checking out filming locations that could be rented at low prices ...
All kinds of tedious work, almost let him not have a moment to spare, every day's sleep time is even compressed to five hours.
The good thing is that the former perennial in the streets of Los Angeles mess around, left behind this body has been enough to get more exercise, now Murphy is very strong, energy is also quite exuberant, coupled with the excitement of the first real contact with the film industry, so that his whole body is full of energy.
However, Murphy gave up the props master introduced by Carla Firth, the salary of 3000 dollars per week is really not something he can afford.
After half a month of busy, has interviewed dozens of applicants, Murphy from a group of mixed Hollywood losers, for his own selection seems to be good makeup artist, lighting, set designer, props, and many other behind-the-scenes staff.
Especially that male makeup artist, the ability is very outstanding, Murphy are a little curious about why he is still so downtrodden after years of mixing in Hollywood.
After a brief understanding, Murphy roughly understood the problem, the reason is two points: one is nothing but Hollywood never lack of talent, each type of work is almost always like this; the second is the make-up artist himself said - because he is not a glass, do not want to get gay with others... ...
These words also made Murphy think of many rumors that he had once read, certain unwritten conventions not only run rampant in the big industry of Hollywood, but are also widely circulated even in some small circles of work types.
For example, in the movie industry make-up artists, especially male make-up artists line, if not gay, it is bound to go a lot more detours.
In Hollywood, homosexuality and bisexuality are prevalent, and often it's not that people want to be that way, but rather it's the environment that forces them to be.
Fortunately, there is no such practice in the director's profession, and Murphy can only think so.
Murphy put down these messy thoughts and turned to the next step of the work focus, officially establish the crew and determine the two main actors.