CAA's pioneering packaging model was originally created to promote its TV programs.
In the second half of the 1970s, the newly established CAA was not only suppressed by its former employer WMA, but also had very few artists under its wing. In order to quickly find work for its clients and prevent the newly established small company from falling apart, CAA president Michael Ovitz and others found a new way: gathering all suitable artists under their banner through excellent scripts and then promoting them as a package to major TV stations.
This packaging model, which broke the traditional method of first selecting actors and then customizing scripts for them, unexpectedly succeeded and subsequently gradually expanded into film production.
CAA's film packaging project, 'Tootsie', was a huge box office success, achieving the second-highest box office ranking in North America that year (the first was 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'), completely establishing the packaging mechanism as CAA's core operating model.
As CAA grew and developed, it acquired more and more top-tier stars, and this agency became increasingly dominant in Hollywood. It not only demanded higher and higher salaries for its stars but also bypassed Hollywood regulations prohibiting agencies from entering the production field by taking commissions directly from overall project budgets, further driving up the production costs of film and television programs.
Consequently, major Hollywood film and television production companies began to be wary of this project operating model, which continuously encroached upon their original power and interests.
As an established agency nearly a century old, WMA had recognized the threat of CAA's new operating model in previous years. However, due to the company's deeply ingrained conservative practices and the lack of a collaborative culture among its internal agents, WMA did not follow up in a timely manner.
It wasn't until the first half of this year, when two core executives passed away and internal turmoil led to a large number of top stars leaving, that WMA finally woke up.
Then, Simon's 'The Butterfly Effect', driven by Jonathan Freedman, coincidentally became WMA's first packaged project to be pitched to Hollywood studios.
Although a large number of top stars have left in recent months, WMA's overall scale is still far greater than CAA's.
CAA, as the fastest rising talent agency in Hollywood in recent years, still only has over fifty agents and its client base has just reached 600 people. In contrast, WMA, with over 180 agents, still has an artist roster exceeding 3,000 people.
CAA's packaging mechanism already made studios feel threatened. If Hollywood's largest talent agency also switched to this project operating model, it is not hard to imagine that major film companies would become increasingly passive in film and television production in the future.
Due to these concerns, even though 'The Butterfly Effect' was highly regarded by many studio executives, a week passed, the time when film companies should have given their responses, and the heads of several major studios had yet to give any clear response.
It was already mid-July in the blink of an eye.
At Paramount's headquarters in downtown Hollywood, it was Tuesday afternoon.
With the great success of both 'Top Gun' and 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', two films released during this year's summer blockbuster season, Paramount President Sidney Ganis has been in high spirits recently, as the company has now completely cleared away the gloom caused by the successive departures of executives like Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, and Jeffrey Katzenberg in the past two years.
Affected by the frequent departures of high-level executives, Paramount's best-performing film last year, 'Witness', only grossed 68 million dollars. Many media outlets mocked Gulf+Western (Paramount's parent company) chairman Martin Davis's foolish act of forcing out executives like Barry Diller and predicted that Paramount would never recover.
Now that Paramount has recovered its vitality, the hot-tempered Martin Davis has also stopped hounding the executive team like a slave driver recently, and everyone's lives will be much easier in the future.
Warmly ushering Jonathan Freedman, who had come to visit, into his office, Sidney Ganis waited for his secretary to serve them coffee. After a few pleasantries, he got to the point, saying, "Jon, to be fair, Paramount really wants the script for 'The Butterfly Effect', but we find it very difficult to accept WMA's overall proposal".
This was not the first film company Jonathan Freedman had visited today; he had just been to Warner Bros. Studio in the morning. Hearing Sidney Ganis and Warner Bros. executive Ed Morey's almost identical remarks, Jonathan Freedman was 100% certain that the major Hollywood film companies had definitely colluded in advance regarding 'The Butterfly Effect'.
However, on the surface, Jonathan Freedman remained calm and said, "Sid, you should be able to see that this is a very excellent project, and WMA has also put forward the best creative team we can offer".
"No, I don't think so" Sidney Ganis shook his head and said, "Let's consider Brian De Palma, he has already messed up two big productions with investments over ten million dollars. Paramount finds it very difficult to confidently let him direct another large project like this".
Jonathan Freedman countered, "Sid, Brian's last two films indeed didn't perform well at the box office, but they can't be considered messed up. Moreover, the responsibility for the box office failure doesn't entirely lie with him. Take 'Wise Guys' earlier this year, MGM not only scheduled the film in the unpopular April slot but also only gave it over 300 screens. Even so, the film still grossed 8.5 million dollars, which is enough to prove Brian's ability. Furthermore, 'The Butterfly Effect' is precisely the type of film Brian excels at".
Sidney Ganis picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, and shrugged, saying, "Alright, even so, WMA's asking price of 2 million dollars for the director's fee is too high. Paramount can only pay a maximum of 1 million dollars. And that screenwriter..."
As he spoke, Sidney Ganis put down his coffee cup, got up from his desk, retrieved a document, and sat back down on the reception sofa. He handed the document to Jonathan and said, "Simon Westeros, right? This is clearly a newcomer with no qualifications whatsoever. Therefore, we also cannot accept the script quotation of $200,000 ; it's simply too high. We will pay a maximum of $100,000, and that's for two scripts; $80,000 for 'The Butterfly Effect, and $20,000 as... um, an option fee for 'Final Destination'. Haha, it took quite a bit of effort to find this screenwriter's script through the Writers Guild. Actually, there's was a third script, but its quality is too poor; it can't even be considered a story. As for 'Final Destination', although it's only an outline, the idea is indeed good. Furthermore, these are one-time buyout prices. Simon Westeros is not a guild member, so Paramount doesn't need to give him video and TV broadcast royalties according to the guild's basic agreement".
Jonathan Freedman silently flipped through the document in his hand, but he could feel a certain malice in Sidney Ganis' terms.
However, after Sidney Ganis finished speaking, Jonathan Freedman still asked unwillingly, "So, Sid, what about the male lead? What do you think of Matthew?"
Sidney Ganis had an inexplicable smile on his face and nodded almost without hesitation, saying, "'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' did so well at the box office, so of course, we are very willing to continue working with Matthew. Although the 5 million dollar salary is a bit high, Matthew is worth that price".
Hearing Sidney Ganis say this, Jonathan Freedman finally confirmed that Paramount was clearly targeting him, the initiator of WMA's first packaged project, and even intended to sabotage the entire project through such petty tactics.
After all, Brian De Palma and Simon Westeros were both his artists, and their combined compensation was less than half of Matthew Broderick's. Paramount haggled over their salaries but decisively agreed to Matthew's high offer of 5 million dollars, which was clearly an attempt to stir up discord within WMA.