Chapter 17: Dramatic Rights
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Venice was known as the City of Water because it was situated above the water. Canals that filled the city, gondola rides, and over 400 bridges formed a unique scenery, which attracted tourists from all around the world.
The film festival’s specific location was Lido, a barrier island that stretched across the southeast section of Venice. It was a vacation spot that was as famous as the French Riviera in France, as well as Miami and Hawaii in America. The island had private beaches, public baths, a casino, restaurants, clubs, theatres, and other entertainment facilities, making it the best venue for the film festival.
A day before the opening ceremony, which was on the 27th of August, Adrian arrived in Venice with his team. In actual fact, his team consisted only of himself, Kathrin, Dennis, and two assistants. As for miscellaneous matters such as the registration, Laverne had flown over a week ago to settle them.
Adrian was initially worried because the first post-editing version did not meet his expectations, yet Laverne was able to get it through, which was very capable of him. Nonetheless, it made sense since Paramount’s CEO from 7 years ago was now Disney’s CEO, Michael Eisner. Being one of the assistants of a powerful figure who led Disney to its success, Laverne should not be underestimated. This was also why Adrian decided to purchase Bosworth Film Company when he actually had other choices that were inexpensive and of good quality.
Once they settled down at their hotel, Adrian looked for Laverne to discuss the details. Although Adrian had been paying attention to his film company, the fact that Los Angeles and London were separated by the Atlantic Ocean made it hard for him to keep track of what was going on. Besides, the heavy phones in that era did not support global communications, and it was too troublesome to use cable phones or satellite phones for international calls. Additionally, he spent most of his time on post-production work after the shootings, and a small part of his time with Kathrin, thus the face-to-face conversation with Laverne was necessary.
“Edie Blake from the strategy department, and Clarice Sandor from the editorial department.” Moments later, Adrian went straight into the topic. “Although I guaranteed that I won’t fire any of them in half a year’s time, I also mentioned that I’ll observe them throughout this period. Honestly, I’m not happy with their performance.”
“I think there must be an understanding.” Laverne looked at the information given by Adrian, then said, “Edie and Clarice may not be the more excellent workers, but they’re responsible and diligent.”
“But it’s true that they made mistakes, right?” Adrian smiled, then raised his hand before Laverne responded. “Alright, Lave, I’m just giving my opinion. Since I put you in charge, I trust you, and I’ll respect your decision.”
“Thank you, Mr. Cowell,” Laverne replied a few seconds later.
“You can call me Eddy—let’s talk about the film festival now.” Adrian changed the topic.
“Alright, Eddy, the organizing committee has accepted ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ as an independent film,” Laverne mentioned, then handed Adrian a document.
“Great, we can save some cost.” Adrian nodded as he looked through the document.
The reason they decided to participate in the film festival by using the name of an independent film instead of their film company was that America had a law that film production companies could not produce and distribute the same film. This meant that a film produced by a film company had to be distributed by another film company, which was the result of an anti-monopoly law.
Nevertheless, the law meant nothing for Hollywood groups that had a number of film companies, because handing their films to a different distributor was simply passing it from their left hand to their right—even when the anti-monopoly law clearly stated that film companies were not allowed to have theatre chains, those big groups still found ways to slip through loopholes and were indirectly controlling theatre chains—whereas small and medium-sized film companies must abide by that law.
Despite all that, Adrian was not afraid that someone would sabotage them, because Hollywood had perfect distribution channels, hence he did not want to waste the distribution fee. Since his business had just been established, he should spend all his money on important matters, so he could simply participate in the film festival with the name of an independent film, then distribute it through his film company. In any case, he was the only one who did everything from the investments to the production—with the help of the people from his company.
“Have you seen the film? What do you think?” Adrian asked. Seeing as Laverne was hesitant, he added, “It’s alright, I just want to hear your opinion.”
“Uhm… It’s interesting, but I’m not sure if people will like the British-styled film, and it’s definitely not an R-rated film. This might affect the views,” Laverne replied carefully.
Adrian wanted to respond, but he decided not to because Laverne was right as he had only analyzed it from the perspective of America’s market.
“When will it be screened?” Adrian asked again.
“On the 31st, at Palazzo del Cinema,” Laverne answered.
“We’ll see when it’s screened.” Adrian grinned, then changed the topic again. “How are the dramatic rights of the few novels going? I heard that you had some trouble?”
“Mr. Stephen King agreed to sell the dramatic rights of his novel to us, he might have signed the contract already; Mr. Michael Crichton’s novel is still under discussion, but we’ll likely secure it based on the current situation; The main problem is with Mr. Winston Groom who insists on taking part in the script’s adaptation,” Laverne explained.
Adrian frowned instantly, then pondered for some time before he responded, “It’s best to secure the dramatic rights of Crichton’s novel as soon as possible, so make a concession if it’s necessary, even if it means letting him participate in the adaptation—but not for Groom… Is he being very persistent?”
“Yes, Mr. Groom said that it’s a required condition.” Laverne sighed.
Adrian fell silent for a while. “I understand his thoughts, because one’s work is equivalent to one’s child, and nobody will ever let someone else dress up their child, but the problem is… His novel is a satire on politics, but I intend to adapt it into a motivational film. If he participates in the adaptation, a conflict will be inevitable—this is why I stressed that we must secure the full dramatic rights to his novel.”
‘What a troublesome fella, Paramount probably did what they did because they’re helpless.’ He pressed his fingers and began thinking. “How about this, Lave, you can agree with that condition, but also prepare a special contract. Make sure that we can kick him out without any problem if we can’t resolve any conflicts during the adaptation period.”
Laverne raised his brows as he was surprised, but he nodded without comment. Once they were done discussing, Adrian returned to his room.
On the next day, the film festival officially took place under the witness of countless reporters and their cameras, and the opening film was a local film. After walking the red carpet and listening to the chairman’s speech, Adrian strolled on Venice’s streets with Kathrin.
He was not interested in interacting with European directors since this was not his aim, and he was a new director. Of course, a few heavyweights from America attended the film festival, such as Martin Scorsese who showcased his new work, ‘Goodfellas’. He was an Italian-American, thus was naturally in love with the Venice Film Festival. Moreover, his film themes usually revolved around the identity of Italian-Americans, the significance of sin and redemption in Catholicism, and the issues of violence in America’s society— which was probably one of the reasons he was involved in the Oscars for over 10 years.
Since Scorsese was here, Robert De Niro, who had been working closely with him since the ’80s and was also one of the main casts in ‘Goodfellas’, was also present. While Adrian was not very interested in Scorsese, he liked watching De Niro’s performances. However, as mentioned earlier, Adrian was only a new director who would not be able to strike a long conversation even if they had met, so he could not be bothered to socialize.
Furthermore, he had put Laverne in charge of the film, and vacation was part of the film festival, thus he began enjoying his time in Venice with Kathrin.
Places like Doge’s Palace, Bridge of Sighs, Ca’ Rezzonico, Saint Mark’s Square, and Saint Mark’s Basilica were on their list, and they made sure they traveled in a gondola across canals that were full of cobwebs. On top of that, they also visited the library where ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ was shot. In three days, they visited half of Venice.
“Venice is absolutely beautiful, I love this place!” Looking at the seagulls from the gondola, Kathrin expressed.
“If you’d like, we can come here every year,” Adrian responded while wrapping his arm around her waist.
Kathrin smiled, then looked at him deeply before placing her arms around his neck to kiss him. Adrian took advantage of the situation to kiss her deeply as he pulled her closer, and they were immersed in a passionate moment without bothering what was happening around them.
Upon seeing this, the boatman began singing. Even though he sang in Italian, the loving sentiments were very well expressed, causing Adrian and Kathrin to start kissing more intensely.
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