Time had slipped by unnoticed, and it was already late July.
Today was July 28, a Monday.
At nine in the morning, Simon arrived right on time at Fox Studios in Century City, Beverly Hills.
Since his injuries hadn't fully healed, he hadn't biked today but had called a cab instead.
Upon reaching Fox Studios, Simon realized he didn't have a pass. The guard eyed this young man claiming to be there for a production meeting with suspicion, taking his sweet time before agreeing to make a call.
A few minutes later, David Giler's assistant, the producer for *The Butterfly Effect*, rushed to the gate and escorted Simon inside.
Simon followed the assistant to David Giler's office, where Brian De Palma had already arrived early, making Simon feel a bit embarrassed. But neither David Giler nor Brian De Palma seemed to mind; they even asked with concern how his injuries were healing.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Peter Sanders, a vice president at Fox Studios, and Vincent Hill, a professional script analyst from Fox, arrived one after the other, and the meeting officially began.
In a small conference room in the Fox Studios administration building, the three key creatives—David Giler, Brian De Palma, and Simon—sat around the table with the other two. The secretary distributed copies of the script and a memo.
The original *The Butterfly Effect* script had been polished over seven long years and was already quite refined. Simon didn't think the version he'd produced, based on the final theatrical cut, had much room for changes.
But when he opened the memo prepared by the script analyst named Vincent Hill, he realized that getting the remaining $60,000 tail end of his payment might not be so straightforward.
Last Thursday, while still in the hospital, he'd already received the first $140,000 check as per his contract with Fox.
The memo in front of him covered everything from the script's title to the final ending, with Vincent Hill offering detailed evaluations and corresponding revision suggestions. Simon skimmed through it and found over fifty notes—practically one revision every two pages.
Setting down the memo, Simon looked up at the others. Except for Vincent Hill, everyone else was flipping through it too. David Giler and Peter Sanders kept neutral expressions, but Brian De Palma had a slight frown.
As a newbie screenwriter, Simon knew he didn't have much say in script revisions. To get that follow-up $60,000, he'd have to dutifully revise according to the studio's demands—or give up the rights and let Fox hire someone else.
With that in mind, Simon turned his attention back to the memo.
Even without much leverage, he was determined to preserve the script's integrity as much as possible.
A moment later, it was Brian De Palma who spoke first, his tone laced with clear dissatisfaction as he asked Fox VP Peter Sanders directly, "Peter, you guys want to make this a PG-13, right?"
Hearing Brian De Palma speak up, Simon lifted his head again.
After carefully reading the memo, Simon had picked up on Fox's intentions too.
The initial version of the *The Butterfly Effect* script had plenty of heavy adult elements, with a dark overall tone that could easily land it an R rating. That would mean anyone under 17 needed an adult to accompany them, effectively barring a huge chunk of teenage viewers from theaters.
Now, based on the suggestions in this memo, Simon realized Fox clearly wanted to scrap most of the elements that could affect the film's rating.
As the world's largest film market, the U.S. had long implemented a mature rating system.
According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), North American theatrical films were divided into five levels: G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17. G was the most lenient general audience rating, suitable for all ages. NC-17 was the strictest, banning anyone under 17 outright. The other three fell in between, with audiences narrowing the closer you got to NC-17.
From a purely commercial standpoint, Fox's move made sense.
If they could shift the film from R to PG-13—where only those under 13 needed parental guidance—the potential market would expand significantly.
But for the story of *The Butterfly Effect* itself, Fox's approach seemed incredibly unwise.
"Brian, you have to understand, this film's budget is $10 million," Peter Sanders replied evenly to Brian De Palma's challenge. "We have to consider its commercial prospects."
Brian De Palma shook his head. "As far as I'm concerned, the *Butterfly Effect* script is already pretty damn perfect. What you're doing will just wreck the whole structure. And from *Carrie* onward, every film I've directed has been R-rated. As long as it's a good movie, it'll get the commercial returns it deserves. I don't see the problem with that."
"Since Simon could write a perfect script, he can just as easily revise it to be even more perfect according to our needs," Peter Sanders countered Brian De Palma, then smoothly turned to Simon with a chummy air. "So, Simon, you up for it?"
Though Peter Sanders' tone was friendly, even carrying a touch of elder encouragement, Simon keenly sensed the underlying rudeness toward him.
Even knowing he didn't have much say in this, Simon had no intention of being a yes-man.
Feeling Peter Sanders' subtle targeting, Simon dropped the politeness. "Mr. Sanders, with all due respect, *The Butterfly Effect* is already a tightly interwoven story, like a vast web where tugging any single thread could unravel the whole thing. If we revise according to this memo, what we end up with might be an entirely different tale. So if Fox wants a PG-13 film, maybe I should just write a new script instead."
Peter Sanders hadn't expected Simon to come back so sharply. Recalling how this kid had just shattered five guys' legs last week, he swallowed the retort on his tongue, raised an eyebrow, and turned to David Giler. "David, what's your take?"
David Giler wore a half-smile as he waved the memo. "Peter, this isn't what Ronald and I discussed last week. Speaking of ratings, Fox's two summer releases this year: *Cocoon* in early June, PG, $18 million budget, and it barely scraped $9 million at the box office. Last month's *Aliens*, R-rated, similar $18.5 million budget, and in just two weeks it's already at $25 million. So I don't see any issue with *The Butterfly Effect* ending up R. If you insist on running today's meeting based on this memo, I'll have to cancel it and go talk to Ronald again."