funbook-pk Chapter 58 Seizing the Opportunity
Chapter 58 Seizing the Opportunity
The day after returning to Beijing, Lin Ruiyang made an overseas call to Roger Sutherland.
It was evening in Los Angeles. When Roger answered the phone, there was jazz music and the clinking of glasses in the background, so he was probably talking about a project with someone at a restaurant.
Lin Ruiyang briefly explained the results of the lawyer's investigation. When he mentioned the expired priority agreement with Universal Pictures, Roger was silent for a few seconds on the other end of the line.
"The expiration of the priority agreement does not mean there are no legal risks. If Universal finds out you've touched this project, they can use that long tail to cause trouble at any time," Roger said seriously.
"However, CAA has handled this kind of thing many times. Give me a week, and I'll have someone retrieve the original agreement and confirm the scope of expiration and remaining obligations line by line. If it really is just a long tail, I have a way to help you clear this path."
"Then I'll leave it to you, Roger."
Lin Ruiyang gently stroked the photocopied project briefing with his fingertips.
"What I need is a completely clean copyright. Only in this way can the subsequent processes proceed without any worries."
"Lin, may I ask you something?" Roger lowered the volume of the background music on the other end of the line, his tone carrying a professional doubt.
"Are you sure you want to waste your energy on this project? If you're aiming for awards, CAA has plenty of scripts that are more in line with the Academy's vision."
Do you know the reputation of this script in Hollywood? It's like a cursed napkin; whoever touches it is doomed.
Lin Ruiyang smiled and said, "Precisely because it has been cursed for ten years, it is now the cheapest and the purest."
After hanging up the phone, Lin Ruiyang unfolded the project notes that recorded the dismal ten-year history of the Dallas Buyers Club.
This memoir is practically a microcosm of the hellish process of developing a Hollywood project.
The core draft of the script was written by Craig Bowden as early as 1992. At that time, Ron Woodruff himself was still alive.
But thirteen years have passed, and this story has gone around in Hollywood countless times, each time stopping at the last minute.
Lin Ruiyang's finger lingered on the name "Brad Pitt" for a long time.
To Hollywood producers, this memorandum is not a medal of honor, but a decade-long "death list."
In 1992, when screenwriter Craig Bowden returned to Los Angeles with more than 20 hours of recordings obtained from Ron Woodruff himself, he thought he had a direct ticket to the Oscars.
But reality dealt him a heavy blow.
In 1996, tough-guy actor Woody Harrelson and director Dennis Hopper first attempted to start the project, but the investors withdrew as soon as they saw the script.
After all, in those days, no one wanted to see a drug addict with AIDS who swore constantly on screen.
The script then ended up in Brad Pitt's hands. In the late 1990s, at the peak of his career, Pitt was madly in love with the role.
That was the closest the project ever came to success; Pitt had even started trying to lose weight for the role.
He later reached an agreement with director Marc Forster (director of Finding Neverland) to fully immerse himself in the role of electrician Ron.
But Universal Pictures' last-minute assessment brought the project to a complete standstill:
"Viewers don't want to see a jerk who swears constantly, is extremely homophobic, and eventually dies of AIDS."
What we need are glamorous cash cows like "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," not a hot potato that will send investors a lawyer's letter from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
Pitt ultimately chose to leave and instead went on to make the commercial blockbuster "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," which brought him fame but was also a safer option.
According to the original timeline, after Universal completely shelved the project, it would face a third failure a few years later.
That would have been a brand new project starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Craig Gillespie, but it ultimately fell through again due to difficulties in securing independent funding and the studios' lukewarm reception to the AIDS theme.
Three rounds of failures, each time at the last minute, each time leaving investors who had invested in the initial preparations penniless.
To Hollywood producers, this copyright report is not an artistic treasure, but a cursed guide to financial suicide.
Industry opinions on it are extremely polarized. In the original timeline, it was undoubtedly praised and favored by industry elites. It not only received high praise from Variety, but was also blacklisted internally, with an art rating of A+.
However, the projected business returns are a shocking E (extremely dangerous).
But that's exactly what Lin Ruiyang wanted; he astutely recognized that Hollywood was currently in a golden window of opportunity.
Brad Pitt is embroiled in the worst image storm of his career.
His marriage to Jennifer Aniston, once hailed as the golden couple of America, has completely fallen apart, with the two tearing each other apart in the headlines of major entertainment news outlets.
In 04, Pitt's marital infidelity scandal with Angelina Jolie on the set of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" was almost confirmed, which caused his public image to plummet.
In particular, the end of their nearly five-year marriage, which began with Pitt and Aniston issuing a joint statement announcing their separation in January and Aniston formally filing for divorce in March citing "irreconcilable differences," has sparked a public outcry.
In subsequent interviews, Aniston was shocked and angry when she saw photos of Pitt and Jolie, and reports say that she solidified her decision to divorce after seeing photos of Pitt, Jolie, and their adopted son on a Kenyan beach.
Currently, Pitt is preoccupied with being labeled Hollywood's number one heartbreaker and has no energy or resources to fight to the death with Universal Pictures over the expired script rights.
Universal Pictures' public relations team sees this project as a thorn in their side—they are most afraid that at this critical juncture, the media will associate "Pitt," "cheating scumbag," and "AIDS patient"—keywords with extremely negative impacts.
Universal Pictures is eager to completely erase this project from financial statements and archives.
Lin Ruiyang closed the project minutes and leaned back in his chair.
Outside the window, the traffic on Chaoyangmenwai Street moved slowly in the afternoon light, while in the distance, the tower cranes at the Guomao construction site were still turning.
He took out the copyright investigation report again and turned to the page on "Current Copyright Status".
The lawyer added a line of small print marked with an asterisk in the footer: "With the assistance of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), it has been confirmed that the copyright of the original script was re-registered in 2004 under the names of the original screenwriters, Craig Bowden and Melissa Walklake."
Turn to the next page. The lawyer briefly outlines the WGA's involvement process in the appendix:
In late 2003, the Writers Guild of America, while clearing up a backlog of copyright disputes over scripts, discovered flaws in the copyright chain of "Dallas Buyers Club".
After nearly a year of investigation and coordination, the WGA, based on the return clause in its Script Copyright Protection Ordinance, ruled that the copyright of the original script belongs to the screenwriter.
Universal Pictures did not object.
He had heard of WGA's return clause in his previous life—simply put, if a script is not put into actual production within a certain number of years after it is sold, the screenwriter has the right to apply for the return of the copyright.
This rule isn't often triggered in Hollywood because most shelved scripts aren't worth the effort for screenwriters to fight for. But Craig Bowden fought for it, and he won.
The lawyer added a note at the end of the appendix: Mr. Bowden currently resides in Austin, Texas, and has been away from the film and television industry for many years, working in journalism education.
They are open to acquiring copyrights, and specific offers are negotiable.
He picked up his phone and sent Roger a text message.
"The copyright chain is now completely clear. The original copyright is in the hands of the screenwriter himself. After Universal cleans up that long tail, help me contact Craig Bowden and Melissa Warlake to discuss the acquisition directly."
"Received. I'll get back to you within a week."