Jonathan Friedman

**Jonathan Friedman** is a supporting character in the novel "**狩猎好莱坞**." He is a Hollywood talent agent.

## Background

He was promoted to the post of Vice-President of **Willam Morris Agency** (W.M.A.) after 26 years at the company.

## History

### Volume 1 - 1986

One day, he received a call from Kathryn Bigelow who asked if he could meet with a young man named Simon Westeros who aspired to be a screenwriter in Hollywood. Although he didn't have any personal friendship with Kathryn Bigelow, one of his clients was trying to get a role in her new film so he decided to do meet the young man as a favor to her.

The next day, after Simon arrived for the appointment, Jonathan invited him to sit in his office. He secretly informed his assistant Owen Wright to "remind him about his other appointments" in ten minutes since he didn't think too highly of the young man. After talking to Simon, he learned that the young man had obtained a full scholarship to **Stanford University**, one of the most prestigious schools in the world, and realized that there was more to the young man than just his good looks. He was even more impressed after reading the script of *The Butterfly Effect* and inwardly decided to have his client Brian De Palma direct this dark-themed film.

When his assistant entered his office to "remind him about his other appointments," Jonathan was not pleased and sent him off before ordering him to get two cups of coffee. After reading the script a bit longer, he forced himself to stop since he truly did have other appointments and decided to sign a contract with Simon. The two signed a basic screenwriter brokerage contract with a contract period of three years and an agent commission of 10%.

Over the next month, Jonathan spent most of his time making preparations for the film since he planned to turn it into W.M.A's first packaged project. Many other agent of W.M.A, including Norman Brokaw, the new President of the agency, also became interested in the script and wanted to have their own clients star in the movie. Due to company politics, Jonathan was forced to accept the other agents' clients. Initially, the Big Six were interested in the script, however, once they learned that it was to be a packaged project, they all tacitly agreed to stop further contact with Jonathan Friedman.

Jonathan also realized that the major studios would not easily agree to the packaged project since Creative Artists Agency (C.A.A.) had already caused the cost of film production to increase greatly. If W.M.A, the biggest talent agency in the world, also succeeded in creating packaged project like C.A.A. then soon the cost of film production would skyrocket and the power held by studios in film production would dwindle.

A few days later, Jonathan met with a few **Warner Bros.** executives regarding the *The Butterfly Effect* but they put forth very strict conditions in terms of pay for his clients. Afterwards, he also met with Sid Ganis, the President of **Paramount Pictures** regarding the same. Similar to the Warner Bros. executives, Sid Ganis also put pressure on him by cutting the pay of Brian De Palma from $2 million to $1 million and only offering an $80,000 buyout for Simon's script which was in direct contravention with the common industry practice called the "basic agreement" between the Writer's Guild of America and the Producer's Guild of America.

The basic agreement stated that, in addition to the lump sum payment, the screenwriter would also get a small percentage of the film's video tape sales revenue. If sales remain within one million, the screenwriter would get 0.3% but if sales cross one million, the screenwriter would get 0.36% of the sales revenue. In addition, the screenwriter would get a small percentage of the sales revenue from the film's TV broadcasts. This long-term income would bring Simon almost $200,000, more than twice the $80,000 he would get from the buyout.

On the other hand, Sid Ganis easily agreed to pay a huge sum of $5 million to Matthew Broderick represented by Norman Brokaw. Jonathan realized that the major studios were deliberately attempting to cause infighting amongst the W.M.A agents so that the project would implode. As a result, he decided to return back to W.M.A's office to discuss countermeasures with the agency's executives rather than wasting his time at other studios.

After talking to Norman Brokaw, however, Jonathan realized that Brokaw himself didn't want the packaged project to succeed as it would allow Jonathan to gain prestige within the company and, possibly, threaten his position. Jonathan also learned that Norman Brokaw had talked to Leonard Goldberg, the President of **20th Century Fox**, without him and had reached a preliminary agreement with him. Fox had agreed to start the project but, according to the agreement, W.M.A. would only provide the director and actors, unlike Jonathan's original plan of the project using W.M.A. clients for the main creative cast and the behind-the-scenes staff, as well.

Later, he called Lou Weiss, the Chairman of W.M.A, who usually sided with him, but even he asked Jonathan to accept the conditions put forward by Leonard Goldberg for the good of the company. Left with no choice, Jonathan decided to go along with Norman Brokaw's agreement since refusal might result in him losing his newly-obtained post of Vice-President. He had his assistant call Simon for a meeting the following day and personally called Brian De Palma to inform him of the changed circumstances.

Next day, Simon arrived at Jonathan's office. There Jonathan introduced him to Matthew Broderick. To his surprise, the two already knew each other but Matthew Broderick seemed to rather dislike Simon. Simon informed him of their encounter at the bar but Jonathan just told him that it was just a small misunderstanding that could be easily resolved. He then took Simon to his office and showed him the proposed contract sent by Fox but he inwardly felt ashamed and embarrassed since even a third-rate agent could get their client a better contract.

While he was thinking about how to gain Simon's approval, Norman Brokaw appeared and asked to talk to him outside only to inform him that Matthew Broderick didn't want to work with Simon. Thus, Simon would be fired. Jonathan Friedman became enraged since he already found it hard enough to show such a terrible contract to Simon but now he also had to tell him that he had been fired from his own film. However, Norman Brokaw didn't back down and told him to do whatever he needed to do to get Simon's approval.

Jonathan returned to his office, haggard and depressed when Simon, who was able to see his bad condition, asked him about what exactly had happened. So, he informed Simon about all the things related to the script of *The Butterfly Effect* from the major studios putting up roadblocks to the severe infighting within W.M.A. over the roles in the film. Surprisingly, Simon informed him that he would reject the contract. At the end of the day, the script was owned by Simon and if he didn't sign the contract then the film would never be made, however, Jonathan realized that if Simon did this, he would definitely be blacklisted by W.M.A. and all the major studios interested in the script. If he were to end up in that position, his career as a screenwriter would end before it even began.

Jonathan informed Simon of his thoughts, but Simon simply stated that he would never make unfair compromises with anyone since if he gave in once he would give in again and again until he became a pushover. He also informed Jonathan that he wanted to cancel the brokerage contract they signed and left. Suddenly, Jonathan had an epiphany and realized that he had spent the last 27 years making one compromise after another to climb up the corporate ladder, but had forgotten that the only people he needed to be responsible to were his clients.

Jonathan made up his mind to no longer make compromises. He called and informed Norman Brokaw that he would no longer go through with the latter's agreement with Leonard Goldberg. He then took his address book, memos and other important documents before leaving for W.M.A's headquarters in New York to bring up the matter of Norman Brokaw harming the company's interests for his own selfish gains to the Board. He also had his assistant, Owen Wright, personally meet all his clients and inform them that he still wished to remain their agent and that he would get back to them in a few days.

That evening, he arrived in W.M.A's headquarters before putting Norman Brokaw's incompetent actions before the Chairman, Lou Weiss, C.E.O, Lee Stevens, and the board of directors. Next morning, Norman Brokaw also arrived at W.M.A's headquarters and a morning of argument ensued. Seeing that they were making no progress, Lou Weiss mediated and informed the two that he would personally oversee the project. Jonathan was happy at being able to get rid of the controversial project while Norman Brokaw was a bit annoyed but he agreed. However, this matter didn't end that simply.

Next morning, *The Hollywood Reporter* unexpectedly broke the news about the infighting within W.M.A. caused by *The Butterfly Effect*. The details within the article made it obvious that the whistle-blower was someone from within W.M.A. who wanted to get both Jonathan Friedman and Norman Brokaw caught in the scandal. Forced to do public relations, Lou Weiss did an interview with the *Los Angeles Times* stating that the rumors were false and that the project had been advancing steadily and they had begun talks with Fox. In addition, W.M.A. lobbied the controlling shareholder of *The Hollywood Reporter* to stop further circulation of related news.

However, the next day, *Daily Variety* also broke the news but this time focused on the disparity between the contracts given to Norman Brokaw's client, Matthew Broderick, and Jonathan Friedman's clients, Brian De Palma and Simon Westeros. Once *Daily Variety* broke the news, many daily newspapers and media outlets, including the *Los Angeles Times*, also began to follow up on the topic giving it nation-wide coverage. With the original harsh contract leaked, Fox was forced to drastically change the contract to make it generous towards Jonathan Friedman's clients.

Next Monday, Lou Weiss and Lee Stevens flew to W.M.A's west coast office where they held a meeting with Norman Brokaw and Jonathan Friedman. Lou Weiss declared that he had obtain the assurance of Rupert Murdoch, the boss of **News Corporation**, 20th Century Fox's parent company, that Fox would continue with the project. He informed Norman Brokaw that Matthew Broderick would be replaced with another actor and would, instead, participate in a different Fox film called *Project X* with a pay of $3 million. Although he was unwilling, Norman Brokaw acquiesced. Then, Lou Weiss informed Jonathan Friedman that Brian De Palma would remain the director and would get a pay of $2 million plus 10% box office profit. In addition, Simon's pay would be doubled to $160,000 for *The Butterfly Effect* and $40,000 for a purchase priority on his other script *Final Destination*, along with the basic agreement sharing.

After leaving the meeting room, Jonathan Friedman felt completely refreshed as if he had been rid of an annoying itch. He realized that as long as he remained true to his clients, he would be fine even if he were to get fired from W.M.A. Thinking of this, he got Simon's address from his assistant and went to personally meet him.

At the 7/11 where Simon worked, Jonathan found him, along with Courteney Cox, another one of his clients. He learnt that she regularly shopped at this 7/11 since it was close to her apartment. After Simon took a two-hour break, Jonathan drove to a nearby cafe with him where he showed him the new contract given by Fox. Simon perused the contract before agreeing to it.

That afternoon, Jonathan Friedman returned to his office and began the re-casting procedure for *The Butterfly Effect*. Unlike the last time, Jonathan did not have any thoughts of compromising with other agents in terms of roles. Instead, he selected his own clients for all the roles that suited them. Only when none of his clients suited a certain role did he share the roles with other agents who had a good relationship with him. The previous turmoil had allowed Jonathan Friedman to isolate himself from office politics.