The sun was shining brightly, and the streets were bustling with traffic and pedestrians.
James Wong, carrying a briefcase, glanced at the office building in front of him.
He spotted the name Sand Sea Entertainment among the list of plaques, confirmed he hadn’t come to the wrong place, and hurried inside.
Finding the corresponding office, he knocked and entered.
A freckled girl greeted him.
After he stated his purpose, the girl asked him to wait a moment and went to notify someone in another office.
Sitting in a chair, he looked at the seven or eight people in the office.
James Wong wasn’t surprised; since the eighties, he and his good friend Glen Morgan had been working hard in the film and television industry, so he was quite experienced and had seen many such small production companies.
His Agent had mentioned this company and project a few days ago, and he had looked into it.
An 11 million dollar investment was quite a big gimmick.
That wasn’t his business; there were too many cases of Hollywood inflating production costs, which involved all sorts of messy situations regarding promotion, marketing, and conflicts of interest.
In fact, this wasn’t his only option.
People from Dimension Films had contacted him, wanting him to direct the parody version of scream, scary movie.
He hadn’t agreed yet because one of the conditions he proposed was flatly rejected by Dimension Films.
Thinking about the script he had developed with Glen Morgan, James Wong frowned.
Did he really have to give it up?
Having been in the industry for over a decade and working as a screenwriter for more than ten years, he knew very well that it was a good idea.
The problem was that there were too many good ideas in the industry, and too many people waiting for their good ideas to be turned into films.
When would it be his turn?
As for selling the script or story outline separately, that was out of the question.
From the mid-80s to 1993, for nearly a decade, he had worked as a screenwriter.
After experiencing countless rejections, a teen comedy script he wrote called “The Boy Next Door” was finally bought by a production company, and subsequently, he and his good friend Glen Morgan participated in writing commercial films and series like “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo” and “21 Jump Street”.
The sad thing was, by 1993, this veteran screenwriter, because the screenwriting industry was not valued, found that his income was barely enough to cover his personal expenses, and he had to find a way to pivot.
Therefore, James Wong knew very well that the script wouldn’t sell for much money at all.
At this stage, James Wong could only think of one solution: sell it bundled with himself.
After all, he wasn’t a nobody; he had served as a director and executive producer for the x-files, and had also been a co-producer on projects like “Space: Above and Beyond” and “Millennium”.
“Director Wong.” The freckled girl came over to notify him: “Mr. Anderson would like to see you.”
James Wong nodded and followed the girl into an office, where his Agent, Edward, was already inside.
“James, this is the president of Sand Sea Entertainment, Ronan Anderson.”
“Ronan, this is the Director Wong I mentioned to you.”
Seeing the black hair and yellow skin, Ronan immediately determined that he must be of Chinese descent. Find the original chapter at g.com.
He shook his hand, greeted him, and asked: “Director Wong, are you Chinese?”
James Wong replied: “I was born in Hong Kong.”
Ronan got to the point: “You worked on the x-files crew?”
This was a very successful TV series from Fox Television.
After learning the director’s name, he specifically sought it out to watch, especially the episodes James Wong was deeply involved in.
Judging by the quality of the TV series, James Wong had done quite well.
“From the first season to the fourth season, I stayed with the x-files crew.” James Wong said in a rather plain tone: “In the first and second seasons, Glen Morgan and I mainly worked on outline adjustments and corrections. During the latter half of the second season, I began serving as an assistant director to Chris Carter, and by the third and fourth seasons, I directed a few episodes on my own…”
After James Wong finished speaking, his Agent, Edward, added: “Many plots and contents of the x-files involved thriller and horror genres, and Wong is very familiar with this aspect.”
Ronan nodded.
Among the directors he had actually interviewed, James Wong had the best resume and was someone who had truly participated in directing well-known projects.
More importantly, Ronan had always felt this person’s name was somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before, but he couldn’t recall it for the moment.
He wasn’t Google; anyone in Hollywood he could remember was definitely not a nobody and must have achieved significant results.
The two sides talked a bit more about James Wong’s resume.
Ronan took out the script and pushed it to James Wong: “Read the script first, and we’ll talk after you finish.”
James Wong took the script; it wasn’t thick, about eighty-some pages.
The cover was labeled “the purge”, and Ronan Anderson’s name was written after the author.
He had known this before coming and didn’t pay special attention to it.
He opened the script and started flipping through it.
After reading for a while, James Wong had a rough judgment.
The background setting of the script was good, but at its core, it was still the same old American traditional horror film—full of violence, slaughter, and gore, which could be classified as a slasher film.
As for the horror itself, it was mediocre.
In his eyes, the kind that you couldn’t see or touch was real horror.
James Wong subconsciously made a comparison; the horror script he wrote with Glen was much better than this.
But thinking carefully, besides the horror and violence elements, this script seemed to also carry American social reality issues, which he estimated could resonate with Americans.
Seeing the later part, James Wong scratched his head a bit.
Why did the Arabs become the Hero?
Although there were corresponding foreshadowing about the Arabs earlier, it didn’t fit Hollywood’s usual tropes.
When have Arabs ever had a positive image in Hollywood movies?
It seems the American movie audience doesn’t have many people of Arab descent, right?
It took a long time for James Wong to finish reading the script.
Seeing James Wong close the script, Ronan poured him a glass of water and asked: “Any thoughts?”
Because he might take over this project, James Wong said directly: “The Arab character is a bit problematic.”
Ronan smiled: “The investment comes from Abu Dhabi.”
James Wong had been in the industry for many years; how could he not understand what that meant?
Those with money are the bosses.
“The setting is very good.” He stopped mentioning the Arabs and slowly said: “This story should be able to resonate with many people living in the United States.”
Ronan turned back behind his desk: “Tell me more.”
James Wong had personal experience: “For the past few years, I’ve been following film crews, and I spent some time in France and Canada. Watching those news reports on TV, I felt very strange because the news in these two countries is very different. In France, what I saw were reports about various things in Europe. And in Canada, the news hardly had any serious matters; what was reported were just trivial things. Later, I returned to the United States, and in the news every day, there were violent incidents happening.”
He suddenly smiled: “I am an outsider. In the first few years when I came here, my biggest feeling was that in the United States, I seemed to live in violence every day.”
“Hmm.” Ronan nodded gently: “Public safety in the United States is really bad.”
Edward suddenly interjected: “With so many violent incidents, why aren’t people repulsed when they see violent movies?”
James Wong replied: “A movie against violence must have violence!”
Hearing this, Ronan looked at James Wong with a bit of admiration.
He had to say, directors are all people who like to think outside the box.
“Director Wong.” He asked directly: “If you were the director, how would you want to produce this film?”
“I would make it an anti-violence movie with many violent scenes.” After reading the script, James Wong’s ideas gradually became clear: “You wrote a good story. Although the film takes place in the future, this is not a post-apocalyptic movie. In the future, people live well, but violence is still an inescapable shadow. In other words, violence exists not only in poverty but also in wealth. This is something worth thinking about; everyone will feel like they are a part of the violence.”
Such creativity!
Ronan was speechless.
Having watched the series directed by James Wong, verified his resume, and learned his thoughts on the film, Ronan gradually felt that this Director Wong was a good choice.
He probed: “Wong, join my project.”
James Wong looked at Edward, and Edward showed a simple and honest smile: “Before you came over, I discussed the salary issue with Ronan. $300,000, paid in two installments.”
Ronan was satisfied with James Wong, which was why Edward mentioned the salary; otherwise, it would have been meaningless.
Negotiations for such small independent projects didn’t have that many formalities at all.
As long as both parties had no objections, they didn’t care much about some overly rigid industry regulations.
“Hmm…” James Wong pondered for a moment and suddenly said: “Edward, I want to talk to Ronan alone.”
Edward immediately thought of the Dimension Films matter and stood up, saying: “You are going to…”
James Wong interrupted him: “I know what I’m doing.”
Edward shook his head and walked straight out of the office.