制霸好莱坞

"You need a manager," Cesare pointed out to Jenny, "From now on, there will be more and more meetings like today, and you can't go to the Upper East Side every day. You need a full-time manager to take care of these trivial matters for you. Before that, I will take on these tasks concurrently, but I am actually just your film and television agent. There are too many areas in your career that require the participation of a manager."

"I thought you would like me to be directly managed by you." Jenny was a little bit mocking him. "What if I find a rebellious manager, Cesare? Encourage me to break away from your dictatorship?"

Cesare glanced at her and said without emotion, "Of course, to avoid this, I will assign you one of my servants to be a butler."

Jenny still couldn't adapt to his way of joking. As always, she was stunned for a moment, not knowing whether to laugh or talk back. She and Cesare communicated smoothly during negotiations and quarrels, but when the two were friendly, they could never get rid of the awkwardness.

She got to the point, "Find a manager, what else? Next, you're going to suggest that I hire an assistant?"

"Of course," Cesare said. "I've heard about what happened last night from Nisha, and that was just the premiere. You'll be on Broadway for six months, and you'll have to deal with fans every day, and the number may increase. There's a reason why artists like to hire assistants, and you can easily understand why you need an assistant."

"Well." Jenny didn't play dumb, "I can't possibly maintain order among the fans myself, and the security guards don't have that obligation. - Now I know what you mean when you say I'll be poorer."

"The manager will take 10% of your income, and the assistant will need to be paid monthly. In addition, Judy will definitely ask for a raise after the first contract period because the workload you bring her is growing faster than we thought." Cesare enumerated Jenny's upcoming expenses. "Also, I think you should update your personal wardrobe within a month. You're about to become the most eye-catching new face on Broadway. Some paparazzi don't mind waiting at the back door of the theater to take a couple of street shots of you."

He glanced at Jenny's long T-shirt with disapproval, and Jenny suppressed the urge to make a face at him.

"If I do everything you say, I'll be poorer than when I was a waitress," she said. "How much do I make a month now? About $16,000. Not to mention the part I have to save for taxes, I'll give you 15% and the manager 10%, which is 25%. Then there's the salary for the assistant, as well as the clothing expenses and so on. I have a feeling there won't be a penny left."

"Yes," Cesare agreed. "But this is the minimum configuration. Tell me, what do you think you can cut?"

"It seems that the clothing expenses can't be saved." Jenny said helplessly. "Otherwise Judy will make suggestions. The assistant... well, I don't want to be called stingy, so I will hire an assistant as soon as possible."

"You should also rent a car," Cesare reminded. "Of course, you can be low-key and don't choose a luxury car, but don't go the civilian route."

"Another expense." Jenny rolled her eyes. "Did you hear it? Tick, tick, tick, tick, it's the sound of my heart bleeding."

"It's good that you like to save and have healthy financial habits," Cesare said patiently. "But these are very important to you. If you want to act like a commoner, you can wait until you win your first Oscar. By then, everyone will praise you for being a simple artist who is not corrupted by vanity. But now you have to get all these supporting facilities in place, Jenny. This is a necessary upfront investment."

"Okay." Jenny didn't need Cesare to convince her anymore. In fact, she understood this logic - if there was no one to maintain order every time she went to sign autographs for fans, then it was conceivable that she would be surrounded by this group of people and would have difficulty getting away. Besides, if she had to go over in person to persuade them to line up, Jenny would not look like a star at all. "If I don't treat myself as a star, who will? I will hire an assistant, rent a car, buy some clothes, and pay attention to my appearance. Even if it means spending my retirement savings."

Cesare asked sharply, "But without a manager?"

"In your mind, what do my managers do?" Jenny asked back. "Meeting with you on my behalf, deciding things that are closely related to me, and then telling me what to do. I don't have to ask why, just do it - is that right?"

"Most managers will also contact your accountant, PR, and agent for you, filter some scripts for you, manage your assistants, housekeepers, and your network of contacts," Cesare replied. "But at this stage, it is true that his main job is to meet with us and tell you what to do and when."

Jenny shook her head, "It's not that I'm reluctant to give up 10%, but I don't like to be a puppet. You saw the performance last night. I can play Roxy well, but I don't want a Billy standing behind me."

"In fact, there is already a Billy behind you." Cesare gestured to himself. "And you promised to be a good and obedient girl."

"Of course I will be obedient - I have always been obedient." Jenny thought about how to express it. "Let me put it this way. If what you, Judy, and I had just held was a product meeting, and you were deciding the marketing route for 'Jennifer Jefferson AkaJ.J.', then as Jennifer Jefferson's main producer, or front-line staff member, I demand the right to attend the meeting. I won't compete with you for the designer's job, but at least I want to be present when the product meeting is held."

Before Cesare could speak, Jenny said, "I know that my working hours are uncertain and I cannot be disturbed while working, which makes it difficult to arrange meetings, but I want to point out that you are my agent and my PR, and what you take from me is commission - I think this chain of power is very obvious, and it does not change because of each other's fame, right?"

"You are a person who is very good at fighting for your own rights." Cesare said, his handsome face was calm, and he did not seem to be angry at all because of Jenny's comments.

"A girl has to learn to think for herself." Jenny said to him sweetly, blinking her eyes slightly mockingly.

"Okay," Cesare announced that he had compromised. "Since you think you don't need the help of a manager, then we don't need the help of a manager for the time being."

"I just don't like being told the results," Jenny felt guilty every time she mocked Cesare, and she tried to make up for it. "It makes me feel that I am not very involved."

"You are not that famous yet," Cesare said. "And the workload is not that heavy - you will know later. Now, let's talk about the assistant."

After Cesare's guidance, Jenny decided to offer the future assistant a salary of about $4,000, and work from afternoon to evening every day. If the working hours are extended in the future, the salary will of course be adjusted.

And she also decided to find a short-term rental apartment after the premiere, and no longer live in a hotel, so that she can cook her own meals and don't have to endure the convenience store salad that is never fresh enough. Cesare also asked her to find a high-end short-term rental apartment, not a small room in Queens or Brooklyn, but preferably a business apartment in Manhattan.

"That's how my money disappeared," Jenny announced bitterly. "I feel very poor now."

Adding the expenses she promised to spend today, Jenny would probably have to spend more than 10,000 yuan. After that, she would have to pay the salary of her assistant and the rent every month. Add the tax money she had to save in advance and the expected shopping expenses. The money she could freely spend now was less than when she was a waitress.

After discussing the trivial matters, it was probably lunch time. Cesare would catch the afternoon flight back to Los Angeles. Lillian's mother urged Jenny to stay, so she had lunch with Cesare. He just smiled at her declaration. "We will start the second round of negotiations in three months. Your financial situation will be relieved by then."

"How much do you plan to negotiate?" Jenny asked curiously. "10,000 a week? 20,000?"

"I think 20,000 is a suitable number." Cesare said. "Any higher would be unrealistic."

This is a simple arithmetic problem. Assuming that the Shubert Theater can sell all the tickets at the original price in one night, the box office revenue of one show is about 300,000 - this is the most ideal situation. With eight shows a week, 2.4 million is all the theater's income for the week. From advertising fees, the staff of the theater from top to bottom, to the head of the troupe, director, stage manager, lighting and stage design, and even the salaries of all the actors, they all rely on this 2.4 million. Jenny can get 20,000 from this pie, which is already a very good treatment. If it is higher, only Hollywood celebrities will offer such a price, but for these celebrities, coming to perform in musicals is not to make money, so the price will not be too high. So in terms of the overall market price, being able to negotiate 20,000 is already quite good.

"20,000." Jenny nodded. "That's fine. I'm still satisfied."