"John Hughes and I have spoken on the phone a few times about 'Uncle Buck,' and he's expressed a strong interest in working with us. However, Hughes's salary contract is a $6 million base salary plus 10% of the North American box office gross".
Inside the conference room.
Simon noticed the smile on Amy's face as she introduced the proposal and said, "If he were willing to accept a $1 base salary plus a share of the box office and video sales, I might agree immediately".
John Hughes was the screenwriter and producer of 'Home Alone' in the original timeline.
Ever since he directed 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' two years ago, Simon had been keeping an eye on his movements.
This Hollywood filmmaker, who created a standard 'Hughes model', mostly produced works where a rebellious protagonist who caused all sorts of trouble. The way Kevin in 'Home Alone' used a video playback to scare off two bumbling thieves was exactly like the detail in 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' where the male protagonist, Ferris, used an electronic voice simulator to fake illness and take a day off.
After 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', John Hughes's few films in the past two years had very mediocre box office performances. If 'Uncle Buck' hadn't come along, Simon originally wouldn't have been very interested in collaborating with him. However, Simon happened to remember that John Hughes got the inspiration for 'Home Alone' precisely during the filming of 'Uncle Buck'.
Amy listened to Simon's teasing and explained, "Hughes's previous films, in addition to a base salary, all demanded a 10% share of profits across all channels. However, he probably doesn't have confidence in our distribution capabilities, which is why he mimicked your collaboration model with Fox and Orion by quoting a box office share. Actually, the compensation he would receive from both methods isn't that different; it's just that a direct cut from the box office would provide returns a few years earlier than a profit-sharing model".
Although his film style was singular, John Hughes's films rarely lost money. Coupled with the fact that this filmmaker personally wrote and produced every one of his projects, and sometimes even directed them himself, demanding a 10% share of profits across all channels wasn't excessive.
Simon flipped through the material of John Hughes's previous works.
After 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', John Hughes had created four screenplays in the past two years. Two had box office revenues exceeding $40 million, and two had only slightly over $10 million, making it a break-even situation. Of course, this was already a very good achievement in Hollywood.
As for 'Uncle Buck', the initial budget was $15 million, and John Hughes was personally responsible for the screenwriting, directing, and producing.
Simon wasn't sure about the film's box office performance. Optimistically, if calculated based on a North American box office of $40 million, with a production cost of $15 million, Hughes would still take $10 million. Including promotional and distribution costs, Daenerys Entertainment would definitely lose several million dollars at the box office and would only be able to recover costs through later video and TV broadcasting rights sales.
Since the ultimate goal was 'Home Alone', Simon quickly made a decision and said, "A $6 million base salary is too high; $5 million at most. The $15 million budget must also be strictly adhered to; if it's exceeded, it must be deducted from Hughes's share. Additionally, Daenerys Entertainment needs a first-look option on one of Hughes's future screenplays under an equivalent contract. Amy, you can negotiate with Hughes based on this framework".
Actually, Simon was hoping that the 'Home Alone' screenplay would be butterflied away.
This possibility was actually quite high. Unlike some screenwriters who often let an idea brew in their minds for many years, John Hughes was a typical standardized, mass-production screenwriter. This filmmaker consistently created two screenplays each year, then produced and distributed them. With such an assembly-line frequency, perhaps just a single thought could make an original brilliant screenplay disappear.
If the 'Home Alone' screenplay was dropped, the subsequent matters would be much easier.
Countless filmmakers in Hollywood imitated the Hughes model, even the Weinstein brothers did so. Simon creating a Hughes-style screenplay in the future wouldn't seem too abrupt; he could even say he got the inspiration from 'Uncle Buck'.
"In that case, I'll find time to fly to Chicago in the next few days to meet with Hughes. Securing this project shouldn't be a problem", Amy noted down the matter in her memo. She looked at her watch and realized it was already almost six o'clock, well past closing time. She then closed her memo and asked about what happened at noon: "How did your talk with Semel go?"
Simon briefly summarized the cooperation terms agreed upon with Semel at noon and instructed, "While I'm in Australia, finalize the specific contract with Warner as soon as possible".
Amy reopened her memo to jot down these matters and then asked, "So, which project do you plan to choose for the collaboration with Warner?"
"Amy Heckerling's 'Look Who's Talking'".
Amy's writing hand paused, and she said, "Simon, I think it would be better to go with 'The Sixth Sense.' It's a screenplay credited to you personally, and the concept is excellent; it should easily break $100 million at the box office. As for 'Look Who's Talking,' while the story is indeed very interesting, if it doesn't break $100 million, we'll have to compensate Warner with another film".
The original 'The Sixth Sense' had a North American box office of over $290 million and a global total of nearly $700 million. Simon was reluctant to use this project for collaboration with Warner, even if the new version's box office shrank to only $500 million globally.
Between 'The Bodyguard' and 'Look Who's Talking', Simon chose the latter mainly because a comedy film with a strong local flavour like 'Look Who's Talking' likely had less overseas box office potential compared to 'The Bodyguard'.
Simon didn't explain much to Amy.
He decided, "I don't want to give my own screenplay to others again. It's going to be 'Look Who's Talking'. Since we're collaborating with Warner, we can increase the budget a bit and invite some more famous leads. I'm still very confident in this project".
Amy could only nod and continue writing. She then asked, "Simon, when I discussed the 'Bodyguard' screenplay with Costner last Friday, he asked about 'Dances with Wolves.' We bought many copyrights early this year; when do you plan to make those?"
"Those are all projects I'm very optimistic about. Let's wait for the company's strength to solidify for another year or two. I don't want to mess up any of them", Simon said, closing the document in front of him. He then added, "Also, you just said you were flying to Chicago?"
Amy explained, "John Hughes has always lived in Chicago, and most of his films are shot there. He doesn't like Los Angeles".
"In that case", Simon lightly tapped his fingers on the table, "let's add another corporate jet. Egger has to fly back and forth between the East and West Coasts every week for TV business, and you and Rem also need to travel frequently. Plus, there are other company executives and James's team; one jet definitely isn't enough".
Amy looked up: "Rent or buy?"
Simon smiled, "Rent. I don't want to buy so many small planes. I don't even want that Gulfstream anymore".