I am Hollywood

Chapter 335: Chapter 336: Million-Dollar Fee



[Chapter 336: Million-Dollar Fee]

Eric's 20th birthday attracted a considerable amount of media attention. With many high- profile Hollywood figures attending the birthday party, it was inevitable that the media had a field day afterward.

The tabloids focused on the female stars present at the party. After the incident at the beginning of the year took a big turn, the actresses who were originally attacked, no matter what they did in private, clarified the facts on the surface. With Eric's recent breakup with Aniston, speculation about who his next girlfriend would be became a hot topic among gossip outlets.

While in Los Angeles, Eric had always been cautious about protecting his privacy, and the paparazzi struggled to uncover much about him.

However, this time was vastly different. Many female stars had come specifically for Eric's birthday, and since this was New York and not Los Angeles, coupled with the film crew shooting a movie, keeping things under wraps became nearly impossible.

Surprisingly, the first person to be uncovered by the paparazzi was not Nicole or Julia, who had hurried over from the set to celebrate Eric's birthday; it was actually Joanna Pacula, who had only recently started appearing with Eric.

After all, Joanna's looks were on par with those of any of the actresses Eric had previously been linked with. Under the relentless probing of the paparazzi, detailed information about Joanna quickly surfaced in the media.

Almost overnight, the media spotlight shifted to her, overshadowing numerous A-list actresses, and her popularity skyrocketed. Due to the public's intense curiosity about Joanna, the production companies that held distribution rights to her earlier films quickly released videotapes of her films, making a substantial profit in the following days.

...

Facing the buzz from the outside world, Eric didn't allow anyone to make a statement and even increased security measures for the film, Ghost. After all, the movie was set to wrap up in just half a month, and much of it consisted of indoor filming. While the area surrounding the set was swarmed with paparazzi daily, the shooting process was not significantly impacted. Charlie Walker sat on the couch in Eric's living room, staring thoughtfully at the closed bedroom door.

He was Joanna Pacula's agent, arranged by ICM (International Creative Management). With all the media hype lately, Charlie had received numerous offers for Joanna to star in films, including several big productions from the major studios.

Excitedly calling from Los Angeles, Charlie found himself unable to reach Joanna; only Eric's assistant, Allen Fisman, relayed Eric's insistence to cancel everything.

Having so many offers turned down left Charlie unsatisfied. He knew that one project from Warner Brothers had offered a staggering $1 million fee, meaning he would receive a $100,000 commission. For a guy representing a few second-tier actors, that was a considerable income.

Though Charlie recognized that Eric might want to personally promote the beautiful Polish actress, Eric had yet to complete this film, and there was no sign of any follow-up project. Charlie felt that getting Joanna Pacula to accept a movie now would pose no scheduling issues.

After about seven or eight minutes, the bedroom door finally opened. Eric, having changed out of the dirty clothes he had worn all day on set, donned a simple white shirt and casual pants, while Joanna Pacula followed behind him, carrying a few garments.

Seeing them emerge, Charlie promptly stood up, smiling and greeting them.

Eric shook Charlie's hand, while Joanna merely nodded at her agent before turning to Eric and saying, "You two continue talking; I'll go do some laundry for you."

With Charlie somewhat dumbfounded, Joanna exited the room.

...

Once the door closed, Charlie looked at Eric with strong envy, thinking how lucky he was to have a stunning beauty like her taking care of his laundry and cooking. He mused that he would gladly trade ten years off his life for such a luxury.

"Sorry, are you Mr. Waller?" Eric gestured for the agent to sit and asked curiously.

Charlie, not at all offended by Eric's slip regarding his surname, quickly nodded and respectfully handed Eric his business card, saying, "Yes, Mr. Williams. I'm Charlie Walker; here's my card."

Eric took a look at the card. Though he wasn't particularly invested in it, he politely tucked it into his shirt pocket before saying to Charlie, "Mr. Walker, I recall asking Allen to get back to you."

Charlie nodded. "Yes, Mr. Williams, but I think it would still be best for Ms. Pacula to read the script herself. It would be a shame to pass up an opportunity."

After finishing his sentence, Charlie pulled out a thick stack of scripts from his briefcase, roughly seven or eight, and placed them on the coffee table in front of Eric.

With nothing else to do, Eric casually flipped through the scripts.

Charlie watched with a mix of tension and anticipation. Given Eric's string of successful films, his script choices were common knowledge in Hollywood.

If Eric approved a project, even if it wasn't the highest-paying offer from Warner Brothers, Charlie could use Eric's interest as leverage to negotiate for a better deal with the studios, confident that they would be willing to provide a more satisfactory offer.

After spending a little over ten minutes, Eric had gone through the scripts. He mainly looked at the storylines, only skimming through if something piqued his interest. However, none of the scripts stood out, and he felt none of them had the spark he hoped to see. Slightly shaking his head, Eric thought that if there were indeed some remarkable scripts here, he wouldn't mind Joanna taking them on.

"Sorry, Mr. Walker, none of these will work. I think you may have wasted your trip."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Charlie felt a wave of disappointment wash over him and replied stubbornly, "Mr. Williams, I really believe this script is solid, and Warner offered $1 million for it. Why not let Ms. Pacula give it a shot?"

"$1 million?" Eric echoed, selecting the script that Charlie had mentioned. Looking at the notes, he saw that it was indeed a script from Warner, budgeted around $30 million, telling the story of a wife who, after divorcing her ne'er-do-well husband, took drastic measures to gain custody of her daughter.

*****

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