New Line Cinema's Interest

Louis, standing nearby, clearly felt his girlfriend's arm stiffen beside him.

"Darling, what's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing."

Naturally, Pera could not say what was on her mind. She hurriedly explained herself while reassuring herself that compared to Louis, Kevin had no advantages whatsoever.

It was impossible for a first film to become a huge success.

As long as he failed once, Kevin would never get another chance. She had no reason to care at all.

Meanwhile.

When Kevin arrived at CAA's building again, his state of mind was completely different.

Three film companies had expressed interest in his project at the same time. That showed they all thought highly of his script, and it also meant that Saw, which he had recreated from 2004, was just as well regarded in 1991.

That let him relax a little.

All that remained was to choose a suitable investor from among the three film companies.

After calling Dawson, Kevin soon saw him hurry down from upstairs.

As Dawson led him inside, he introduced the situation with the three film companies.

"Through CAA's connections, your project proposal was sent to more than ten mid-sized and larger film companies."

"In the end, three companies came to CAA to discuss it with you in detail."

"They are New Line Cinema, Big Jazz Film Company, and Great American Pictures."

"."

As Kevin listened to Dawson, he recalled what he knew about those companies. Big Jazz and Great American had practically vanished in the future, with no presence left at all.

They had presumably died out long ago.

Even five of Hollywood's largest film companies had faced bankruptcy crises, and some had even been acquired by others in the future, let alone two independent film companies.

However, Kevin had a deep impression of New Line Cinema.

After 1993, New Line would be acquired and controlled by Warner Bros. Pictures, becoming part of the Time Warner Group. Warner Group was a colossal enterprise that owned Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, Warner Bros. Games, DC Comics, The CW, and a whole host of other companies.

There was no need to elaborate on how terrifying that was.

Still, New Line Cinema loved investing in low-budget horror films, so it was no surprise that they valued Saw.

It was worth mentioning that last year, 1990, New Line Cinema had bought Golden Harvest's Hong Kong film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from Fox after Fox had not dared to distribute it. Its tremendous success had greatly boosted New Line Cinema's reputation.

Simply put, their pockets were much deeper now.

Looking at it that way, among today's three film companies, barring any surprises, New Line Cinema was most likely to be the final buyer.

Kevin nodded at Dawson to show that he had gained a preliminary understanding of the three companies before pushing open the door.

Inside, two large sofas surrounded a glass table in the middle. Three people lounged on the sofas on either side, looking very relaxed.

It was not yet time for formal negotiations. What the representatives of the three film companies needed to do now was assess whether Kevin truly had the ability to direct this film.

Once they decided which company would invest, they would move on to serious negotiations.

When they saw the door open, the three men rose and shook Kevin's hand one by one. Regardless of the outcome, all three treated Kevin with great respect, at least on the surface.

That surprised Kevin somewhat. In his previous life, he had read quite a few Hollywood entertainment webnovels, where many people constantly acted high and mighty.

He had not expected people from these film companies to show such respect to a director who had not yet produced a single real work.

But after thinking about it, Kevin realized this was normal.

Without a conflict of interest, when facing a director who might succeed, even if they truly looked down on him, they would at least not show it in front of him for now.

Unless he failed repeatedly in the future.

He would probably see the true faces of the people before him then.

Of course, he had no desire for that day to come.

After shaking hands, Kevin chose a spot and sat down opposite them.

As an executive from New Line Cinema, the company most eager to make Saw, Dean was the first to raise a question.

"Why did you make the female lead of Saw such an ultimate hottie type?"

Dean had a few suspicions, and it was precisely because of those suspicions that they believed even more strongly that the project would succeed.

But they still needed confirmation from Kevin, the director.

Kevin smiled calmly. Of course, he knew what Dean meant.

Quite a few directors had nothing but art in their minds. Such directors often found it very difficult to secure investment from film companies.

These film companies had their own way of categorizing directors.

Commercial directors and art-house directors.

Most art-house directors received their production funding from overseas investors, and very few of them made money.

Commercial directors, on the other hand, could usually obtain investment much more easily as long as they did not fail again and again.

It seemed that Dean from New Line Cinema wanted to figure out what kind of director Kevin was.

Kevin's choice, naturally, was to be a commercial director.

"Because young people like hotties."

Kevin's words immediately made everyone present burst into laughter, but the implication behind them was obvious.

He was not a director who pursued art without considering the audience.

With that premise established, the conversation that followed was very pleasant.

The three film companies offered him roughly the same terms: a total production budget of 1.3 million dollars, including his fifty-thousand-dollar directing fee and all production costs.

In Hollywood, that was unquestionably low even among low-budget films.

His salary was also very low, but Kevin did not care.

As long as Saw achieved even one-third of the success it was supposed to have, Steve Kevin would no longer be stuck earning such a meager income.

The rights to Saw in his hands would bring him enormous profits.

As for negotiating a share of the profits with them, although he was unwilling to give it up, reality was not some invincible power fantasy. As a new director who had yet to prove himself in Hollywood,

it was simply impossible for him to discuss profit-sharing with them.

But...

With a trace of hope that they might agree, Kevin voiced his idea.

"Gentlemen, I have great confidence in my film. I have an idea."

"What idea?"

As film companies, they naturally had connections with one another. The vicious competition ordinary people imagined would not happen at all.