After Simon took out the script for 'Basic Instinct', Jonathan and Amy had been busy with the project for the past week.
The original 'Basic Instinct' was made for $49 million in 1992 and grossed over $350 million worldwide. The film's success was mainly due to the strong controversy surrounding its subject matter and its almost NC-17 level of explicitness. Sharon Stone's leg-crossing scene, revealing her underwear, remained deeply etched in the memories of many viewers for years.
In fact, the box office success of 'Basic Instinct' even led to a trend of erotic thrillers featuring femme fatales throughout the 1990s.
The original director of 'Basic Instinct' was the Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, who had also directed films like 'Total Recall' and 'Starship Troopers'. However, after completing the script outline, Simon directly sent the story to Brian De Palma.
Compared to Paul Verhoeven, Brian De Palma, who had a strong preference for voyeuristic themes, was clearly more suitable to direct this film.
Although Simon explicitly told Brian De Palma during their discussion that this film, like 'The Butterfly Effect', would likely not receive good media reviews in the future and could even cause significant controversy, Brian De Palma quickly agreed to take it on.
For the male lead, Simon still favoured Michael Douglas.
Michael Douglas also happened to be a client of WMA. The unexpected success of 'Fatal Attraction' had further elevated the career of this middle-aged star from a film family. After contacting him a few times, he quickly agreed to participate.
With the two main creators secured, Jonathan and Amy officially began negotiations with 20th Century Fox. Having accumulated sufficient capital and with the promising commercial prospects of 'Basic Instinct', Simon decisively chose to co-invest this time.
Simon initially hoped that Daenerys Films would fully fund the movie and then hand it over to Fox for distribution, simultaneously fulfilling the initial three-script contract.
However, after the success of 'Run Lola Run', 'The Butterfly Effect', and 'Final Destination', even though the story Simon presented was still somewhat niche, with Simon, De Palma, and Douglas, three box office heavyweights, involved, Fox naturally wasn't willing to let go.
After a week of negotiations, Fox and Daenerys Films officially finalized the production plan.
Following 'The Butterfly Effect' and 'Fatal Attraction', both Brian De Palma and Michael Douglas's asking prices for their salaries rose to $6 million. Simon's script was still symbolically valued at $1, and the film's preliminary budget was set at $20 million.
For the $20 million production budget, 20th Century Fox and Daenerys Films would each contribute $10 million. Daenerys Films would be fully responsible for the production, while Fox would guarantee distribution and directly set the release date for July 15th of next year, increasing the minimum number of screens to 1,500.
Regarding profit distribution.
After several rounds of negotiation, it was finally decided that all revenue channels for the film would be settled with a 50/50 split based on the investment ratio. Simply put, Fox's marketing and distribution budget would no longer be considered part of the film's investment costs for profit sharing, which allowed Daenerys Films to avoid the most inflated area of the 'Hollywood accounting books'.
Hollywood film marketing and distribution costs typically reach about half of the production budget.
With a production budget of $20 million for 'Basic Instinct', the theoretical marketing and distribution budget would reach $10 million. A 50/50 split with Daenerys Films based on the investment ratio might seem like Fox Films was taking a big loss, but that wasn't actually the case.
For the 'Final Destination' project, Daenerys Films didn't invest a single cent, yet was expected to earn $10 million.
This time, if they didn't participate in the investment, Simon would at least receive a profit-sharing deal comparable to 'Final Destination' for the 'Basic Instinct' project. Now, Daenerys Films essentially gave up this portion of extra profit, and at the same time, Fox Films also gave up the deserved profit from the marketing and distribution budget, so the investments of both parties remained equal.
Moreover, the detailed clauses in the contract, even specifying how long TV trailers needed to be aired, also ensured that Fox would invest sufficient marketing and distribution resources.
Fox Studios.
It was already Tuesday, November 10th.
In a conference room in the studio's executive building, Ronald Goldberg, Amy Pascal, Jonathan Friedland, and other executives, stars, and agents from Fox Films, Daenerys Films, and WMA formally signed several investment and actor participation contracts related to the 'Basic Instinct' project.
However, Simon was not present today.
After the official press conference, at the dinner arranged by 20th Century Fox, although he had received a prior explanatory call from Simon, Ronald Goldberg still found Amy Pascal and asked about Simon's recent whereabouts.
Since mid-last month, many people around Simon had noticed that he seemed somewhat distracted during this period. Norman Brokaw, president of Orion Pictures, couldn't help but complain about the slow post-production progress of 'Pulp Fiction'; it had been over a month since filming wrapped, and the rough cut of the film still hadn't been completed.
Amy Pascal heard Ronald Goldberg's question, and recalling Simon's recent erratic behaviour, she could only shake her head inwardly, but outwardly, she still had to speak for her boss, saying, "Ronald, you know, Simon has been busy for a full year since last year. It's probably fine for him to relax a bit now".
Ronald Goldberg, however, didn't believe Amy's excuse. Holding a glass of red wine with one hand in his pocket, he hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice slightly and asked, "Amy, tell me honestly, did Simon invest the money he earned from 'Run Lola Run' into the stock market and then lose it?"
Amy immediately thought of the week Simon didn't come to the office after the North American stock market crash last month.
During this period, although the North American stock market had stabilized, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was still hovering around 2,000 points, far below its August high of 2,700 points. Simon had previously received over $100 million in earnings from 'Run Lola Run' over the past six months, and with the stock market booming at the time, it was hard to say he wouldn't have wanted to make more money.
"Well, Ronald, I really don't know much about that," Amy said, shaking her head again despite her suspicions. After a moment's thought, she added, "But, Ronald, you can rest assured that no matter what, this will not affect Daenerys Films' investment in 'Basic Instinct'".
Ronald Goldberg pressed for a few more questions, but unable to get anything from Amy, he had no choice but to turn and leave.
Amy Pascal watched Ronald Goldberg walk away, her brow furrowed. She couldn't help but recall Simon discussing the investment in 'Basic Instinct' with her a while ago.
While she didn't think investing one's own money in a film was a particularly good choice, Amy had initially assumed Simon would use the money he earned from 'Run Lola Run' for this investment. However, Simon's decision deviated from Amy's prediction: he wanted Amy to mortgage the 'Final Destination' contract to the bank and use a loan to invest in 'Basic Instinct'.
A large portion of Hollywood film production funds comes from bank loans.
At the time of financing 'When Harry Met Sally', Daenerys Films didn't have enough leverage to secure production funds from banks. Now, Simon had successfully made three consecutive films, and 'Basic Instinct' was a script personally written by Simon, so obtaining a loan from the bank was no longer too difficult.
However, connecting this matter with Simon's sudden, unexplained trip to New York yesterday morning, after late October, even missing today's signing ceremony, stringing these clues together, it was clear that her young boss, and certainly his girlfriend, had likely lost a significant sum of money in the stock market crash.
Maybe even over $100 million. She wondered how much exactly they lost.
Thinking about the brutal stock market crash on October 19th, Amy couldn't help but shake her head, concluding, "They're still young people, after all".
It's just, she wondered if her young boss would also suffer such a Waterloo in film next.
You know, 5% of the earnings from 'Final Destination' should, upon careful calculation, still belong to her. For 'Basic Instinct', or most Hollywood films produced with loans, the usual practice is to apply for a bank loan using the film's pre-sale contract. However, both Fox and Simon disagreed with pre-selling, so the film's production funds would definitely require collateral. Daenerys Films could only use the earnings contract from 'Final Destination' as leverage.
If 'Basic Instinct' failed.
If 'When Harry Met Sally' also failed.
If even 'Pulp Fiction' also failed.
Then she would have wasted over a year of hard work and might even have to look for a new job.
These thoughts flashed through Amy Pascal's mind, and the more she thought, the more worried she became. After the dinner, as soon as she returned to her own residence, also in Palisades, Amy couldn't help but pick up the phone, only to realize it was already early morning on the East Coast, and decided not to call rashly.
Having drunk wine last night and gone to sleep with worries, she had a nightmare about Daenerys Films going bankrupt and herself pitifully begging Ronald Goldberg to let her return to Fox. When she was woken by the jarring phone ring, Amy Pascal looked at her watch; it was just past four in the morning.
Oh my god.
Four o'clock in the morning, what urgent matter could there be now?
Are aliens attacking Earth?
Are we all going to flee?
Muttering these complaints, Amy still reached for the receiver.
The call was from Jonathan Friedland. The agent didn't waste words and directly told Amy to receive a fax.
A moment later.
Pulling a news clipping from the fax machine, Amy Pascal's eyes widened at a glance, her recent sleepiness completely gone.
"Simon Westeros Creates Another Miracle, Hollywood Kid Rakes in $1.6 Billion"
This, it must be a joke, right?
It would be more believable to say aliens attacked Los Angeles; she could drive to Mexico to hide, she'd been wanting a break recently anyway.
The fax machine, however, did not stop after receiving one clipping; several more clippings were subsequently sent over.
"From $75 Million to $1.62 Billion, the Youngest Billionaire is Born"
"Westeros Questioned by CFTC, Suspected of Insider Trading"
"Quantum Fund Sues Lehman Brothers, Simon Westeros Implicated"
"Simon Westeros Pours $1.1 Billion into Tech Stocks"
"..."
After reading several clippings in a row, Amy Pascal finally confirmed that, however unreal it seemed, this was genuinely not a joke.
Her young boss had, inexplicably, become a billionaire.
No, wait.
$1.6 billion.
Oh my god, how did he do it?
At the same time Amy received Jonathan Friedland's fax, in Los Angeles, where the sky had not yet brightened, countless phones and fax machines began to operate frantically. As the winter sun of Los Angeles slowly emerged above the horizon, the entire Hollywood community had received and repeatedly confirmed a certain explosive piece of news.
Simon Westeros had, in just a few months, made a staggering profit of over $1.6 billion through operations in the stock index futures market.
Although many people instinctively thought about taxes, nevertheless, suddenly, a young man who had just emerged in this circle had already become one of the wealthiest people in Hollywood, with a personal net worth even exceeding the wealth of most controlling figures of the seven major studios.
How did he do it?
What happened?
Was this just a big joke collectively played on Hollywood by those 'unscrupulous media' on the East Coast?
However, newspapers like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post would clearly not rashly play such a clumsy joke; today wasn't April Fool's Day.
However, with the news breaking almost simultaneously, many people still sensed a different meaning behind it.
Something big was definitely going to happen next.
After confirming the news, Amy Pascal, Jonathan Friedman George Norman, and everyone else connected to Simon all flew to New York. Regardless, their employer or client suddenly becoming a billionaire was a very exciting thing.
East Coast.
In the presidential suite of the Plaza Hotel, Simon stood on the balcony looking at the road in front of the hotel, at the dense crowd of one or two hundred reporters, and felt his scalp tingle.
Last week, Simon suddenly received a notice from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, requesting him to submit all trading records of Westeros Company regarding S&P 500 index futures and even stocks during this period. Simon knew that trouble was coming.
However, Simon still complied with their request, unreservedly sending a series of documents to Washington, as his operations ultimately had no irregularities.
However, today's events once again made Simon realize that this matter might have just begun, and in the eyes of many, he might have already become a fat lamb. Simon just didn't expect that when the matter truly exploded, it would be so aggressive.