'Run Lola Run' had landed on its feet; in many people's eyes it was already the 1987 North American box-office champion.
However…
Simon realized he was sliding closer and closer to being flat broke.
Lately, renting the mansion, hiring Pat Kingsley, signing Amy Pascal, keeping Daenerys Pictures afloat, even fending off the media storm, every one of those line items cost serious money.
Right now, not only were Simon's own pockets empty, Janet's little purse had been scraped clean as well. The fifty-odd thousand they'd saved on 'Run Lola Run' had long since evaporated into the whirlwind of expenses.
On top of that, although tens of millions in revenue were expected, the North American box-office split for 'Run Lola Run' wouldn't be paid until the film finished its run, and the other distribution rights still in hand had no clear timeline for turning into cash.
So…
Simon was still buried under a mountain of bills.
The mansion rent was overdue, Kingsley's commission unpaid, Amy's base salary in arrears, even the cost of the assistant Amy wanted to hire had come out of her own pocket, and the woman had given Simon quite the scolding for it.
Getting his hands on a chunk of cash immediately had become nothing short of urgent.
In fact, Simon had already told Janet last month to take Daenerys Pictures' distribution contract with Orion for 'Run Lola Run' to the bank for a collateral appraisal.
But whereas he'd once secured a $100,000 loan from Wells Fargo Bank on the strength of The Butterfly Effect script, this time he was asking for tens of millions, hardly something that could be wrapped up overnight.
The preliminary document review alone had dragged on for a full month, and then the public-relations crisis hit; several banks, spooked by the risk, simply turned him down.
In the end, only Wells Fargo Bank remained.
Los Angeles.
Cliff-top mansion, Palisades.
After the appraisal, Wells Fargo Bank capped the mortgage at twenty million dollars, ten million short of what Simon and Janet had projected from the contract.
Still, twenty million was hardly small change. Especially when he was currently flat broke.
Because the sum was so large, Wells Fargo Bank dispatched a senior VP named Paul Olsen to handle the key client-site visit with Simon and Janet.
Paul Olsen was about forty, brown-haired, square-jawed, the picture of civility. Privately he could talk your ear off, but the moment the work switch flipped he became all business, rigid to the point of stuffy.
Right now, in the mansion's study the three of them sat on the reception-area sofa.
Paul Olsen, folder in hand, finished ticking off every item on the standard questionnaire, then shifted gears, eyes fixed on Simon and Janet, and repeated, "Mr. Westeros, Miss Johnston, I must ask you both to confirm once again: the loan you're applying for is strictly for personal consumption and will not be used for film investment or any other prohibited purpose, correct?"
The third time of asking. Simon mentally counted, then nodded without hesitation. "Yes".
Janette echoed him, equally solemn.
"Then let me stress again: Mr. Westeros, Miss Johnston, we will track how this money is spent. If we find you've used it to invest in movies or anything similar, Wells Fargo Bank has the right to recall the loan immediately, and your credit records will take a serious hit".
Both wore slightly frozen smiles and nodded like marionettes.
"In that case," Paul Olsen finally closed the folder, smiled, stood up and said, "Pleasure meeting you both, let's hope we have a productive partnership".
Simon and Janette finally exhaled, hurried to their feet and shook hands with him.
After seeing Paul Olsen out, Simon returned to the living room, flopped sideways onto the sofa exhausted, and Janette, equally drained, draped herself over him like a blanket.
Simon slipped an arm around her slender waist, stared at the ceiling and sighed, "We've finally scammed the money".
Janet answered weakly, "Yeah…"
Simon's real plan for the advance was to pour it into stock-index futures later that year, but that was something he definitely couldn't say aloud.
Anyone with common sense knows a bank will never lend for that purpose, collateral or no collateral.
Yet a $20 million application still needs a legitimate stated use.
After some enquiries the two of them had simply written 'personal consumption' on the form and set the term at one year.
Plenty of A-listers in Hollywood routinely take out massive loans for 'living expenses'.
Because personal consumption usually means buying mansions, sports cars and other hard assets, the bank can always repossess and recoup if the borrower defaults, so it's an entirely accepted reason.
Still, Simon and Janette's application had raised eyebrows at Wells Fargo Bank.
The figure was simply too large.
Even if the two of them were big spenders, $20 million was definitely not pocket money you could blow without effort.
They'd even invented a story about wanting to buy a private jet, yet Wells Fargo Bank still wasn't fully convinced.
Private jets can be financed; tycoons almost always lease or finance them, so the numbers still didn't add up.
Given Simon's identity, the bank easily suspected he might funnel the money into film production.
Investing in movies is every bit as risky as stocks or futures. Normally, banks flat-out reject loans for that purpose.
Of course, nothing is absolute, when Orion was founded, Mike Medavoy and the others walked straight into a New York bank and walked out with a $200 million credit line.
However, even though 'Run Lola Run' had exploded at the box office, Simon obviously still couldn't enjoy the kind of treatment Orion had once received, after all, he had but one hit film to his name.
That was why Paul Olsen had just kept reminding, or warning, Simon about the process.
If Wells Fargo Bank knew Simon's real intention, today's conversation might never have happened.
Besides, if it were accidentally discovered later during the operation, it would still be a big headache.
Whatever…
He couldn't worry about that for now.
Loans are like that: getting the money is the skill. Once it's in hand, very few people stay completely honest.
Otherwise, banks wouldn't end up with so many bad debts.
Taking a relaxed deep breath, Simon still felt worried, it would be next week at the earliest that the cash would be available for use. Hugging Janette tighter, he said, "Baby, we're still broke. How about we tighten the belt and eat only two meals a day?"
Janette rubbed her cheek on his chest. "I'm scared of starving, three meals for me, one for you."
Simon nodded. "Got it".
"What do you mean?"
"You count as one meal, makes two".
"Hmph, should I call Kate over too?"
"Hmm?"
"She'd count as another meal, back to three".
"Ohh, best girlfriend ever, come here, let me kiss you".
"Ugh, you Little Bastard".
After a bit of playful teasing, the two quieted down again.
Simon started running through recent events once more; what intrigued him most was where that ABC videotape had come from.
Racking his brain, he still couldn't recall who had shot that footage.
He had phoned several times and even visited ABC's New York HQ while in town, but got no answer, ABC said the source wished to remain anonymous, for reasons unknown.
Today was Tuesday, March 24.
The storm had passed.
Yesterday Simon had finally signed the contract with Fox Pictures for 'Final Destination'.
Fox's production funds wouldn't arrive until next week either, and not in one lump sum: of the $8 million budget, only the first $500k would come up-front for casting, location scouting, and prep work.
Meanwhile, Orion Pictures had already begun talking about his next movie, so he'd have to start on that soon too.
Those two projects were set in stone, but the third film on Simon's slate, Nora Ephron's 'When Harry Met Sally' was still up in the air.
In fact, he hadn't even secured the script yet.
With the recent weak reviews of Ephron's last film 'Heartburn' and the unconventional structure of 'When Harry Met Sally', no studio had shown interest for now, but in their first meeting she'd said that if Daenerys Pictures wanted the script, they'd have to present a viable production plan.
Clearly Ephron feared Daenerys was just an empty shell that wanted to hoard her script without any ability to make it.
Script-hoarding is common in Hollywood: studios often buy exclusive rights for years. If they green-light within the term, the writer gets the rest of the fee; if not, the rights revert when the contract expires.
Among the three films he'd sketched out, 'When Harry Met Sally' had the safest box-office prospects; his fallback was to finance it himself if no investor stepped up.
But now, if he wanted it in theatres next summer, the project had to start immediately.
So every problem circled back to the same starting point: Money!!
Without it, nothing moved.
And by his estimate, producing 'When Harry Met Sally' might be the costliest of the three, possibly hitting $15 million.
Frankly, Simon really didn't want to fund it himself.
'Run Lola Run' would earn plenty, but he'd rather move that cash into targets with bigger upside.
After mulling it over he patted Janette. "Up you get. I've got dinner with Medavoy later, you coming?"
Janette gave a soft hum that passed for yes.
Now that the North American box-office potential of 'Run Lola Run' was confirmed, the film's ancillary rights had to be sorted. Since Orion held North-American theatrical, they had first refusal on the rest.
Simon planned to sell off all remaining rights in one go, raising quick cash for his index-future plays and other investments later in the year.
Given the domestic gross, overseas, video and TV rights should earn at least double the theatrical take.
He didn't know Orion's subsequent proceed splits, but even a rough 50/50 meant 'Run Lola Run' would generate about $100 million for Orion and Daenerys combined.
Against the tiny production and P&A spend, that $100 million was almost pure profit.
Using that yardstick, the remaining rights could yield roughly $200 million more.
Under North-American split rules, he could ask about $60 million for those ancillary rights.
Sixty million is a fortune even for The Big Seven, let alone Orion Pictures.
So to close a quick sell-off he'd have to split the rights and peddle them piecemeal.
But the contract meant he needed Orion's blessing first…