Faced with Lance's teasing, Cole chuckled and shook his head, "No, any top agent can complete this job, I am not the only commissioner who can complete it." Cole's answer with retreat to advance made the curve of the corner of Lance's mouth gently raise, "But I must admit that I hope I can get this job, and I think my ability is worthy of this job."

At this moment, Cole did not hide it anymore, but showed strong confidence, and faced Lance's scrutiny with a dignified look, conveying his firmness with a high chest.

To be honest, Lance has a limited understanding of the agent, and his understanding of actor contracts is even more limited. He almost doesn't need to worry about these things when filming "City of God". The young actors in Brazil settled completely in cash and did not have any contract problems at all. The filming "the day after tomorrow" was almost not involved, and the only tricky Dennis Quaid is far from being considered an important figure.

Obviously, Cole taught him a good lesson. Even after years of rolling in Hollywood, his understanding of the industry is still only the tip of the iceberg.

"Go back to the issue of profit distribution." Cole knew that he had taken the initiative at this time, so he would not miss the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot. "In terms of box office sharing, what you are currently participating in is the advance total box office sharing. Of course, this is a matter of course, because you participate in the share as a cooperative filming company. But with more and more success in your career, you will participate in the share of adjusted total revenue in the future, in other words, the share of net profit. In addition, there are rewards for overseas exercise, bonuses for box office performance, and so on, etc., which requires me to negotiate."

Lance raised his eyes slightly and wanted to refute, but Cole didn't give him a chance, raised his hand to stop Lance's words, and then said. "I know what you mean, you will definitely say that there is absolutely no problem with this for you to negotiate on your own. Yes. That's true, especially if you talk as a production company, I can't play any role just as an agent. But you have to realize that talking about profits with those big film companies is a very tedious thing, and it can even tear the face, let alone the tiny rights and interests I mentioned just now. But the problem is that even after the two sides have a falling out, they still need to sit down and continue talking again. So, you need a role of a bad guy, responsible for quarrel with the film company, and then you play this good guy and cooperate with the film company."

There are some words that the agent can say, but the artist cannot say; there are some conditions that the agent can mention, but the artist cannot ignore his shamelessness; there are some contradictions that the agent can ask trouble, but the artist must have some concerns.

"So, you're this bad guy." Lance smiled meaningfully.

Cole spread his hands and didn't say anything, just using this action to show affirmation, and then looked at Lance with a calm look, as if he had played all his trump cards. Now he was waiting for Lance's judgment. But Lance believed that Cole was far from showing off his trump cards.

The dirty and tired things that an agent can handle for the artist is far beyond imagination. At the same time, the agent relies on his own connections to seek services and opportunities for the artist to gain.

There was a saying in the circle that in the late 1990s, after each film project of the eight major Hollywood film companies came out, the innovative artist agency would take over immediately, and then choose them internally, and then leak it out, and William Morris Agency or International Innovation Management Company took over. After they screened it, it would be the other agency's turn. Finally, there were only a handful of opportunities to fall into the American Actors Union. Therefore, it is extremely difficult for actors without agents to win an audition.

Of course, this statement is to describe the situation where innovative artist brokerage companies dominated the country in the late 1990s, which is a bit exaggerated.

But it is undeniable that the existence of brokerage companies has greatly enhanced the artist's status in front of film companies. The actor's pay was topped off from $5 million in the mid-1980s. After twenty years of exhibitions, it has entered the era of 20 million. It has made great contributions to the brokerage industry of innovative artist brokerage companies. At the same time, driven by more self-interest, agents have also gained more benefits for artists.

Although many actors have rejected the help of their agents and assumed their own business, it must be admitted that the existence of agents has greatly changed the pattern of the entire industry. Today, there has been a check and balance triangle between Hollywood, artists, agents and producers.

Lance always underestimated the contribution of his agent, but now it seems that Chaos Pictures wants to further develop, he does need the help of his agent. Originally, contract negotiations were his shortcomings. It was with the help of Theo and Ian before that they agreed to the "day-to-day" contract. But the problem is that Theo and Ian are professionals in their respective fields, but their understanding of Hollywood is really limited. Especially as he began to enter the field of actors, the more obvious the role of agents becomes.

However, as Cole said, Lance is not short of suitors now.

William Morris Brokerage Company, as the best brokerage company in Hollywood history, was founded for a century. However, in the late 1980s, their inadvertent intentions were reversed by the rising innovative artist brokerage company. The latter completed its dominance over Hollywood within just fifteen years and is still among the five major brokerage companies in Hollywood.

Tom is an artist under the Innovative Artist Agency.

In addition to Cole, the brokers of innovative artist brokers, William Morris brokerage, and the brokers of international innovation management brokerage, actually 66 Xuxu has also had contact with Lance. It can be said that Lance has many choices, and Cole is not necessarily the best partner.

Choosing the right agent not only means a community of interests, but also the agent will determine the exhibition direction and height of the artist. Although the two parties are originally cooperative interests and changing agents is common, Lance knows that a true top agent is still very rare.

So, why should Lance choose Cole as his agent? Just because of the friendship over the past year? No, Lance is not that soft-hearted. Now, it's time for Cole to show his trump card.

"Two conditions." Lance is not a novice, and he is confused about those detailed things, such as how Cole learned about "killing with a knife", such as why Cole used Tom as the entry point to negotiate. These things are not important. A stable and trustworthy cooperative relationship is ultimately a collision of each other's abilities and a division of interests. As for friendship, it can only be regarded as lubricant - it doesn't matter if there is no, it's better if there is.

Cole straightened his back and looked at the two fingers of Lance's right hand. He knew that the real success or failure was at this moment. He came to visit him in person today. He wanted to be the first to convince Lance before others and hold Lance's agent contract in his hand. Because Cole firmly believed that Lance's future was definitely not only that, "City of God" and "The Day Afternoon" could only be regarded as a test.

"First." Lance shook his index finger, "I don't know much about how much you know about 'Killing a Knife', but my definition is that this is a work that will hit the awards season. I hope Tom fully meets my requirements in his performance."

"Totally? To be specific." Cole was a little surprised, and Lance's confidence was also unexpected. But he did not ask why. He believed that Lance could convince Paramount and Tom, which was enough.

"Tom has not given any wonderful performances since 'Magnolia'. I need him to break his previous performance style, even change his performance habits, throw away his charming smile and the flashing puppy eyes. He performs the same way as I ask."

Lance's unscrupulous words made Cole gasp, not only because of Lance's request, but also because of Lance's big breath. You know, as a director who has only filmed two works, Lance has no evidence of trustworthy in performance, but he asked the actor to perform exactly in his way - and the subject was Tom, which was definitely a lion's mouth.

However, Cole did not rush to jump to the conclusion. He realized that Tom nodded and agreed to play "Killing with a knife" under Lance's persuasion. So, how did Lance convince Tom? Is it just an Oscar-small golden man? If this is true, this may not be feasible - when Tom played "Magnolia", he was almost Paul Thomas Anderson's puppet, and Paul was just a newbie who directed the second director at that time.

So Cole swallowed the surprise that reached his mouth, nodded, and signaled Lance to continue.

"Second." Lance pointed his middle finger, "I want the adaptation rights of 'City of Sin'." Since "killing people with a knife" has been put into filming according to Lance's idea, why not be bolder and also take the third part of the Sin Trilogy into consideration?

Of course, Lance knew that this was very difficult, he just wanted to see how much Cole was capable. If he failed, he wouldn't mind too much. Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino were determined to win the "City of Sin", Lance was impressed; but if he succeeded...

After Cole was extremely surprised, he calmed down at this time. "City of Sin" is a classic comic work by Frank Miller, affiliated with the Dark Horse Comics Company. Lance's request for the adaptation rights of this work was obviously not aimless. On the contrary, this also proves his idea again: Lance has clear goals and clear ideas, and obviously his acting career is by no means a thing in the pool.

While he chose Lance, he was also waiting for Lance to choose him. This is a two-way competition, and only with challenges can one feel fulfilled.

"Huh... I will record it in the notepad." Cole knew that he had taken an important step today. Although he did not successfully convince Lance to sign as his artist, at least it shows that Lance would not accept others as agents until he succeeded. This is a huge success. As for what happened next, although he was not sure or clue, at least it was a beginning. "Then, we can now talk about the cast of 'killing someone with a knife'."

ps: Today’s first update, I beg book friends to support genuine subscriptions, thank you everyone!
Chapter completed!