Chapter 292: Robert's Worries

After meeting on Sunset Boulevard, Eric and Murdoch had a public performance, but Eric was not without preparations. He had previously instructed someone to leak some information to the paparazzi.

Therefore, early the next morning, many newspapers had a lot of questionable news. Fox would continue to distribute all films directed by Eric for the next three years; Fox would exchange equity with Firefly to ensure deeper and longer-term cooperation; or Fox would cooperate with Firefly to produce the special effects blockbuster "Jurassic Park," and other similar news came out one after another. Although these news seemed unimportant to the general public, they caused a huge sensation in the Hollywood circle.

Undoubtedly, many people in the Hollywood circle who knew about the recent turmoil realized that Fox had completely "betrayed" the alliance of the seven major film companies and turned towards Firefly.

Without a doubt, after this storm, except for the unharmed Firefly, Fox would be the biggest beneficiary.

Despite Fox's efforts to clear things up and repeatedly stating that Fox had not collaborated with Firefly too much, the TV shows "X Files" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which were originally put on hold, quickly resumed. This unmistakably demonstrated that Fox had reached some sort of collaboration agreement with Firefly.

In this situation, the other major film companies, who were already no longer expecting anything from this suppression of Firefly, quickly fell apart. At the same time, in order to mend the rift between the two sides, several major film companies expressed goodwill to Firefly and looked forward to reaching some kind of collaboration with Eric. After all, last year, the total box office in North America broke the $5 billion mark, and a series of films related to Eric accounted for nearly one fifth of that. Therefore, no one would doubt Eric's strength in the film industry. Since suppression had no effect, then cooperation was undoubtedly the best way to achieve a win-win situation.

"Robert, the selling point of this movie is not simply a portrayal of desire, pure sex can only bring simple and short-lived excitement, but when sex is combined with bloody violence, human desire becomes extremely intense. This is the biggest selling point of the script for 'Instinct'. You must have read the script as well. If the first sex scene in the script were only a sex scene, perhaps the audience would only make a cheering gasp, but when the originally passionate sex suddenly turns into a blood-splattered slaughter, the audience's adrenaline will be quickly stimulated, thus unconsciously being drawn into the story,"

In Firefly's small conference room, Eric was introducing the script for "Instinct" to Robert Shaye. Originally, when Eric brought out this script, Robert had expressed strong interest. But when Eric subsequently indicated that he would not put his name on the script, Robert became doubtful again. Despite this, after reading the script, Robert understood that Eric was doing this for his own public image and not wanting to put his name on a script that was sure to stir up a lot of controversy after it was made into a film.

However, this reason did not completely alleviate Robert Shaye's worries. In last year's negotiations with Eric, he had only barely managed to secure the rights to independently operate two big-budget films this year. If he messed this up, it would be difficult for him to speak up and demand to lead big-budget films again, and he would have to be content with only being in charge of film distribution.

Therefore, although "Basic Instinct" was a script personally written by Eric, when Eric said he did not want to be associated with this film, Robert Shaye became apprehensive. From Eric's recent response to the recent scandal and his methods of breaking apart the alliance of the seven major film companies, Robert Shaye did not see Eric as a young person not even twenty years old. As a result, he did not dare to take Eric's script with complete confidence, thinking maybe this was a trap set by Eric. If the film turned out to be a flop, he could not imagine that Eric would not place the blame on him. After all, all the scripts Eric had written so far had been huge hits.

After thinking for a moment, Robert Shaye came up with another excuse: "Eric, I think that when this movie is made, it will definitely have a lot of trouble with classification. You just said that the production cost of this film is over 20 million US dollars. If it is classified as NC-17, we will definitely lose a lot of money. We just had a confrontation with the seven major film companies, and we can't guarantee that they won't try to hold us back in this area, after all, everyone knows that the film classification committee is controlled by the seven major studios."

Eric listened to Robert Shaye's insincere words and understood what he was worried about. He sighed inwardly and didn't plan to persuade him anymore.

Since Robert was not willing, then he would have Jeffrey take over the production of this film. This way, he could also intervene without hesitation and prevent this film from deviating too much from his previous life.

Just as he was about to speak, the mobile phone on Eric's right hand suddenly rang, the ringtone was unusually loud in the conference room where there were only the two of them.

Robert Shaye didn't show any displeasure and gestured to Eric to pick up his phone.

Eric was sitting in a small conference room with Robert Shay, discussing a new script that Eric had written. Robert was initially excited about the script, but as Eric revealed that he wouldn't be putting his name on the project, Robert began to have doubts. He had worked hard to secure a spot for two independent films this year and if this project failed, it would be hard for him to secure another big production in the future.

Eric understood Robert's concerns, but he couldn't shake off his own doubts about the script. He was concerned about the film's classification and the potential backlash from the major film studios with whom they had recently feuded.

As they were discussing the project, Robert came up with an excuse not to proceed with it, citing potential classification issues and high production costs. Eric, who had grown tired of trying to persuade Robert, suggested that they give the script to Geoffrey to handle.

As they were about to continue their conversation, Eric's phone rang. He hesitated for a moment before answering. It was an unknown number and he had a feeling it might be one of the women he had been with a few nights ago. He made a gesture to Robert and left the conference room to take the call in private.

Eric hesitated for a moment before reaching for the mobile phone, silently praying that it wasn't a debt collector.

The night before, Eric had accidentally ended up in bed with Elizabeth and Julia, and although it was thrilling at the time, he knew he had to make a quick escape in the morning before the two women woke up and found out what had happened. He figured that by leaving early, he would also give them some time to cool down and process the events of the night.

But things didn't go as planned. Eric had expected Elizabeth and Julia to come looking for him the next day to confront him about what had happened, but days passed and there was no sign of them. Instead of feeling relieved, Eric found himself becoming increasingly anxious and uneasy.

Robert Shea made a gesture to Eric, who then stepped out of the small conference room and walked to the end of the hallway to answer the call.

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