*Chapter 205: The First Movie Project*

After spending a day at the shooting club, Richard secured the lead role in Black Hawk Down.

This film is set against the backdrop of the 1993 Somali Civil War, depicting the harrowing experience of U.S. Special Forces who were ambushed in the city of Mogadishu, suffering heavy casualties.

Overall, it's an anti-war movie. The script rarely glorifies the bravery of soldiers but instead focuses on the sacrifices and devastation caused by war, as well as the reflection that war incites.

The protagonist, Eversmann, is a Ranger, tall, strong, and tough, who is also brave on the battlefield. The production team was looking for a popular young actor for the role. Many actors were competing for it, including Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Hartnett, and Ewan McGregor.

In the end, Richard was chosen because he best fit the character's appearance and temperament.

The film is still in the preparation stage and won't start shooting until the end of the year, giving Richard plenty of time.

"Sigh, filming Miss Congeniality in April, The Fast and the Furious in May and June, and then there's The Lord of the Rings and Black Hawk Down—my entire year is already booked. I must be the busiest person in the world," Richard sighed in the car.

"Haha, four films in one year, that is pretty busy. You can take on fewer projects next year; after all, you're not short on money," Anthony laughed.

"Two movies a year will be enough in the future. Being too busy leaves no time for boxing," Richard said, clenching his fist.

"Do you have a match coming up?"

"Yes, the second round of the WBC Light Heavyweight Championship is almost over. The challenge is in June. I'm not sure if the movie will be finished by then. Make sure to discuss it with Andy."

"Got it," Anthony nodded slightly. "And there's the matter of your salary. Pitch Black has surpassed 100 million in global box office, which exceeded many expectations. No one thought a low-budget sci-fi film could achieve such box office success. It's entirely thanks to you. Your box office return rate has increased significantly, so I think we can aim for an A-list actor's pay."

"Let's give it a try."

The minimum salary for an A-list actor is $10 million, which isn't too high. "What about the salary negotiations for The Lord of the Rings?"

"We're still negotiating. They said they're open to discussion, but they're worried about your growing fame and rapidly increasing salary. They're considering signing all three films together, but we haven't reached an agreement on the profit-sharing yet."

"Alright, keep negotiating."

Back at the villa, Richard changed his clothes and went into the boxing training room to start his workout.

The next day, he went to New Century Pictures in Burbank. After two months of preparation, the basic structure of the new company was complete, consisting of five main departments: production, planning, resources, marketing, and legal.

There should have been a distribution department as well. Richard had planned to handle both production and distribution himself or acquire films at low cost and resell them. However, producer Kopelson suggested that this wasn't feasible yet.

Distributing films requires a lot of capital and connections, and New Century was just established. Without even a single movie in production, jumping into film distribution would be too much for the company to handle. Kopelson recommended delaying this for a few years until the company was better established, making it easier to self-distribute.

Richard followed his advice.

"Richard, take a look at these scripts and see which one would be suitable as our first film project."

Kopelson laid out several scripts on the table. After the company's establishment, the production department had been searching for a suitable new project. Due to limited funds and this being a trial run, they couldn't invest too much. After much deliberation, they found three relatively suitable film projects.

The first, Rock 'n' Roll Barbie, is about a transgender person making their way in the American rock scene, with an estimated budget of $5 million.

The second, The Believer, tells the story of a Jewish student struggling with his faith as he grows up, with an estimated budget of $8 million.

The third, Crash, explores the issue of racial discrimination sparked by a car crash, with an estimated budget of $7.5 million.

After reading the three scripts, Richard rubbed his forehead.

All three scripts had great stories, but the themes were very hardcore, touching on issues of faith, gender, and race—typical indie art house films.

Given the company's limited funds, they could only start with these niche films. If they were lucky and the films became box office hits, they might even win some awards. If not, the losses wouldn't be too great.

But which of these scripts could be a dark horse?

Richard had no idea.

If he saw an actor's name and photo, he might be able to recall some future information. But with just the scripts, he couldn't predict which one had the most potential.

"Did Gwen read the scripts?" Richard asked, putting the scripts down.

"Yes, she thought they were good but wanted to hear your opinion," Kopelson said, sipping his tea.Richard smiled, "I agree with her. All three scripts are great, and I'm not sure which one to pick. What does the production department think?"

Having been a producer for over twenty years, Kopelson was experienced and had a keen sense of the market. The fact that he had selected these three scripts showed that he valued Richard's opinion on this matter.

"Rock 'n' Roll Barbie could be a good choice. Rock music has been quite popular in recent years. On the one hand, a few new rock bands have been quite successful, and on the other, this topic could evoke nostalgia for some people.

From what I know, several big companies are also moving in this direction. DreamWorks is investing in Almost Famous, and Warner Bros. is backing Rock Star. Both are related to rock music, so we could give it a shot too."

Kopelson pointed to the script in the middle.

"Sounds good," Richard smiled lightly. Having a well-informed partner was certainly a plus.

"Arnold, you used to work on projects with budgets in the tens of millions. Now you're in charge of producing smaller projects like this. Are you finding it hard to adjust?" he joked.

Kopelson shook his head. "Working at a big production company has its pros and cons. The pros are lower risk, less workload, and more competition.

But large companies have many departments, with lots of red tape. A single project often requires approval from over a dozen departments. You have to wait for one project to wrap up before moving on to the next. Sometimes, it takes two or three years for a movie to go from planning to filming. Smaller companies are more flexible when it comes to making movies, but the risks are higher."

Richard nodded in agreement. New Century Pictures' structure wasn't overly complicated at the moment. There were three tiers of approval. Once the production department submitted a project, as long as he and Gwyneth were on board, and after consulting with Frank Marshall and Jane Wilson, the project was pretty much greenlit.

The advantage of this process was high efficiency, but the downside was the significant risk. If a film flopped, the company would likely incur losses, and the investments made by both of them could go down the drain.

This made Richard realize why so many film companies go out of business every year.

Some people see a good project and invest blindly, gambling on its success. If it pays off, they hit the jackpot; if not, they go bankrupt. Companies that survive in the independent film world are usually the ones that win more often than they lose.

Now that Richard was entering this world, there was an element of gambling involved for him too.

However, he believed his chances of winning were higher. For one, he wasn't short on money, and secondly, he had found a few good partners—Gwyneth Paltrow, Arnold Kopelson, Frank Marshall, and Jane Wilson—who were all highly successful in the film industry.

Plus, he had the information stored in his memory.

Unfortunately, his memories were too scattered, and without an anchor to trigger them, he couldn't immediately recall any promising projects.

He flipped through the three scripts again but still couldn't remember anything, which left him feeling a bit frustrated.

"Arnold, could you give me a copy of the script materials you guys have reviewed? I'd like to take a look."

Richard thought for a moment and asked. He hoped to find something in there that might jog his memory.

"No problem, I'll have it sent to you in a bit," Kopelson said, making a call to his assistant.

A little while later, the assistant walked into the office carrying a large cardboard box.

"That much?" Richard raised an eyebrow.

"Haha, yes. The company has received a lot of scripts over the past two months, and many writers and directors have come to us with projects looking for collaboration.

Rock 'n' Roll Barbie was brought to us by a young director named John Cameron. Crash is a new work by veteran screenwriter Paul Haggis. There’s no shortage of film projects in Hollywood, but there is a shortage of people willing to invest boldly."

Kopelson laughed.

"Alright, I'll take a look."

(End of Chapter)